2 Chronicles 31:1-21--Hezekiah Organizes the Priests

2 Chronicles 31
English Standard Version

Hezekiah Organizes the Priests
31 Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and broke in pieces the pillars and cut down the Asherim and broke down the high places and the altars throughout all Judah and Benjamin, and in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the people of Israel returned to their cities, every man to his possession.

2 And Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and of the Levites, division by division, each according to his service, the priests and the Levites, for burnt offerings and peace offerings, to minister in the gates of the camp of the LORD and to give thanks and praise. 3 The contribution of the king from his own possessions was for the burnt offerings: the burnt offerings of morning and evening, and the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths, the new moons, and the appointed feasts, as it is written in the Law of the LORD. 4 And he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and the Levites, that they might give themselves to the Law of the LORD. 5 As soon as the command was spread abroad, the people of Israel gave in abundance the firstfruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field. And they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything. 6 And the people of Israel and Judah who lived in the cities of Judah also brought in the tithe of cattle and sheep, and the tithe of the dedicated things that had been dedicated to the LORD their God, and laid them in heaps. 7 In the third month they began to pile up the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month. 8 When Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed the LORD and his people Israel. 9 And Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites about the heaps. 10 Azariah the chief priest, who was of the house of Zadok, answered him, “Since they began to bring the contributions into the house of the LORD, we have eaten and had enough and have plenty left, for the LORD has blessed his people, so that we have this large amount left.”

11 Then Hezekiah commanded them to prepare chambers in the house of the LORD, and they prepared them. 12 And they faithfully brought in the contributions, the tithes, and the dedicated things. The chief officer in charge of them was Conaniah the Levite, with Shimei his brother as second, 13 while Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah were overseers assisting Conaniah and Shimei his brother, by the appointment of Hezekiah the king and Azariah the chief officer of the house of God. 14 And Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, keeper of the east gate, was over the freewill offerings to God, to apportion the contribution reserved for the LORD and the most holy offerings. 15 Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah were faithfully assisting him in the cities of the priests, to distribute the portions to their brothers, old and young alike, by divisions, 16 except those enrolled by genealogy, males from three years old and upward—all who entered the house of the LORD as the duty of each day required—for their service according to their offices, by their divisions. 17 The enrollment of the priests was according to their fathers' houses; that of the Levites from twenty years old and upward was according to their offices, by their divisions. 18 They were enrolled with all their little children, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, the whole assembly, for they were faithful in keeping themselves holy. 19 And for the sons of Aaron, the priests, who were in the fields of common land belonging to their cities, there were men in the several cities who were designated by name to distribute portions to every male among the priests and to everyone among the Levites who was enrolled.

​20 Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, and he did what was good and right and faithful before the LORD his God. 21 And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments, seeking his God, he did with all his heart, and prospered.

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You may recall that David separated the priests and Levites into "orders" so that each order would only serve once every so many weeks, and the orders rotated their time of services in the Temple on the Sabath day where one order rotated off and the other rotated on.  Solomon put this into practice once the Temple was built.  Judah has fallen into such idolatry that the orders of the priests and Levites needed to be restored.

There is a quick summary at first of the revival that has been happening in Jerusalem spreading to the rest of Judah, and even in the regions of Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh (probably the half-tribe that was in Canaan, probably not the Trans-Jordan half-tribe of Manasseh as they are usually referred to differently to let us know they are from the other side of the Jordan River).

Hezekiah appointed the divisions, but it's unclear if he used the same divisions and the same calendar of services as David and Solomon did.  The priests and Levites were assigned their duties and tasks for when they were on rotation, and even the ones that were off rotation knew where they were to live and what they were to do while they waited for their order to come back on rotation as the priests and Levites were constantly teaching the Law to the people and helping keep the people holy as well as helping to collect the tithes that the LORD commanded the people to bring not only to the Temple, but also to the storehouses in the cities where the priests and Levites resided, and they were responsible for the cities of refuge and making sure that justice was done.  There were others to help with that role like the government officials, leaders of the tribes and families, and some appointed judges/justices, but primarily the responsibilities of health, safety, law, justice, education, welfare, and the spiritual and physical needs of the culture feel largely on the priests and Levites.  It's easy to see how the culture corroded when the priests and Levites stopped doing their jobs.

Specifically, the passage talks about Hezekiah being concerned that the people obey the command to bring their firstfruits to the LORD at the appointed time (the Feast of Firstfruits is three days after Passover, consistent with when Jesus was raised from the dead as the Firstruits of many brethren from among the dead).  These firstfruits were the first and best that the people had to offer to the LORD and by offering Him the first part of their produce (fruit, vegetables, oil, wine, and even animals), they showed they trusted the LORD to provide more fruit and better fruit that would bless them and their neighbors and that the LORD would take care of them.  There was no need for them to horde everything for fear of not having enough, and if they tried to do that, there would never be enough.  Only if they made the appropriate sacrifices did the LORD promise that they could put Him to the test in this way (the only time in Scripture we are told to test the LORD) to see if He wouldn't give the people back the full measure with which they gave and even more so that it would be "heaping up and pouring over (they would not be able to contain His blessings).  That is not the prosperity gospel, it's just a biblical principle to say that LORD wants our hearts first, then as a sign of that, He wants us to trust Him to provide everything we need.  We demonstrate that through our sacrificial given that doesn't make sense to the world--they think we need to keep everything for ourselves, but it demonstrates that we love God and our brothers and sisters in Christ more and God makes sure that there's enough to take care of not only us, but all of our brothers and sisters in Christ as well.

Along with this, there was a census to take count of how many priests and Levites there were who were eligible to stand in the place of the nation, how many were eligible to serve, and how many were too old for regular service as they had reached the age of retirement required by the LORD (where their responsibility was to train up their children and grandchildren in the Law of the LORD and focus on their communities, but let others who were younger focus on the daily needs at the Temple).  The priest and Levites did all that was commanded, and they travelled throughout Judah to make sure that all the people kept themselves holy unto the LORD according to the Law of the LORD.

So it was that Hezekiah was one of the best kings that Judah ever saw.  Not only did he do what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but He did his best as king to get the people to obey the LORD too and serve Him and Him alone with all of their hearts.  He did not neglect the service of the house of the LORD (the Temple) or the LORD Word (especially His commandments).  For this reason, the LORD blessed Hezekiah and all that He did.  However, there will be an "asterisk" next to Hezekiah's name in the after the next chapter is finished--that will be in a few days.  None of the kings of Israel or Judah were perfect--the writer of the Book of Chronicles is sure to make us know that so that we know that we are always looking for the Good and Perfect King--Jesus, the Messiah.  None of these kings, as good as they were, could stand in the place of the people and die for them because they all had their own sins to die for.  That is why the author is always careful to let us know that there is a blemish or dark spot in the lives of all the kings.  It's not because the author is being negative, but because we are looking for the fulfillment of the promise from the Garden, and the covenant with Noah, and the Covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the covenant with David and then with Solomon.  We are waiting for the Christ, the Messiah to appear.  Hezekiah was not Him, and we are still looking for someone else.  Even John the Baptist had his disciples ask Jesus, "Are you really the Christ, or should we be looking for another?"  This was the question that was perpetually in the hearts of all the God-fearing people.  "Is now the time?"  "Is this the one?"

We have a similar, but different type of waiting and expectation that we are going through now in the times we live in as we ask, "Could today be the day?" and "Are these the events that the Lord pointed to when He told us how to recognize the end was near?" We won't know for sure until we're on the other side of those events.  However, we need to be living just as expectantly and be just as ready for His second appearance as the LORD's people were to be ready for His first appearance.  "Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus!"