Bird's-eye view
Following the triumphant destruction of idols and high places, Hezekiah's reformation moves into its second, crucial phase: positive reconstruction. True revival is never merely about what you tear down; it is about what you build up in its place. Here, Hezekiah restores the right and orderly worship of God according to the pattern laid down in the Mosaic law. He reorganizes the priests and Levites, reestablishes the sacrificial system, and calls the people to their covenantal duty of supporting the ministry through tithes and offerings. The response is not grudging compliance but an overwhelming, joyful outpouring of generosity that results in literal heaps of provisions. The central lesson is a demonstration of the kingdom's economic principle: when God's people put God first, starting with right worship and faithful giving, God opens the windows of heaven and pours out a material blessing so great there is not room enough to store it. This is not a health and wealth gospel; it is covenantal cause and effect.
The passage demonstrates a top-down reformation. The king leads, first by organizing the ministry and then by giving from his own resources. The leaders follow, and the people respond with an infectious zeal. The result is a priesthood strengthened for their work, a people blessed in their obedience, and a God glorified by the abundance His faithfulness produces. The heaps in the temple courts are a tangible sermon on the reality that you cannot out-give God.
Outline
- 1. The Reconstruction of Worship (2 Chron 31:2-10)
- a. The King Restores Order (2 Chron 31:2)
- b. The King Leads in Giving (2 Chron 31:3)
- c. The King Commands the People (2 Chron 31:4)
- d. The People's Abundant Response (2 Chron 31:5-7)
- e. The Leadership's Doxological Response (2 Chron 31:8)
- f. The Priest's Report of God's Blessing (2 Chron 31:9-10)
Context In 2 Chronicles
This chapter is the direct and necessary consequence of the events in chapters 29 and 30. In chapter 29, Hezekiah cleansed and reconsecrated the temple. In chapter 30, he reinstituted the Passover, inviting not only Judah but also the remnant of the northern kingdom of Israel to participate in a great national act of covenant renewal. The immediate result of that great worship service was a nationwide zeal to purge the land of idolatry (2 Chron 31:1). Having removed the false, the people are now ready to establish the true. This chapter, then, is about putting the newly cleansed house in order. It is about establishing the structures, personnel, and finances necessary to maintain the right worship of God for the long haul. It is the practical and economic foundation that must undergird any lasting spiritual reformation.
Key Issues
- The Importance of Liturgical Order
- Leadership by Example
- The Purpose of the Tithe
- Gospel-Motivated Generosity
- The Connection Between Faithfulness and Abundance
- Corporate Doxology
The Economics of Right Worship
We live in a time that is deeply suspicious of connecting money and faith, and for some good reasons. The landscape is littered with charlatans who promise a divine return on investment if you will only sow a seed into their ministry, which is to say, their pocket. But our reaction against the counterfeit must not be to reject the genuine article. The Bible is a profoundly earthy book and is not shy about economics. This passage in Chronicles lays out the divine economy with perfect clarity.
The principle is this: God has ordained that the ministry of His Word and sacraments be supported by the material gifts of His people. This provision is not for the enrichment of the priests, but for their consecration. It frees them from worldly cares so that, as verse 4 says, "they might be strong in the law of Yahweh." When the people are faithful in this duty, God is faithful to bless the people. The tithe is not a transaction where we buy a blessing. Rather, it is an act of worship and trust that acknowledges God as the source of all our wealth, and this act of faithful acknowledgment becomes the very channel through which God delights to pour out further blessing. The heaps are not a payment; they are a testimony.
Verse by Verse Commentary
2 And Hezekiah set up the divisions of the priests and the Levites by their divisions, each according to his service, both the priests and the Levites, for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister and to give thanks and to praise in the gates of the camp of Yahweh.
Reformation begins with a return to God's established order. Hezekiah does not innovate; he restores. He consults the book and puts the priests and Levites back into the divisions that David had originally organized. True worship is not a free-for-all. It has structure, roles, and a scriptural pattern. Notice the comprehensive nature of their work: sacrifices (burnt and peace offerings), service (ministering), and song (thanks and praise). This is the full-orbed work of the Church: the proclamation of the cross, deeds of mercy, and joyful doxology. Hezekiah is putting the engine of worship back together according to the manufacturer's specifications.
3 He also appointed the king’s portion of his goods for the burnt offerings, namely, for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the sabbaths and for the new moons and for the appointed times, as it is written in the law of Yahweh.
Before Hezekiah commands anyone else to give, he gives himself. He leads from the front, dedicating a portion of his own royal property to supply the constant, regular sacrifices that formed the backbone of Israel's worship. This is true leadership. A leader who says "go" is a boss; a leader who says "let's go" is a true captain. Hezekiah puts his own wealth on the altar first, modeling the very behavior he is about to require of the people. He is not levying a tax to spare himself expense; he is setting a pace of sacrificial generosity.
4 Also he said to the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and the Levites, that they might be strong in the law of Yahweh.
Having led by example, he now issues the command. The people are to give the tithe, the portion that is "due" to the priests and Levites. This is not presented as an optional offering but as a covenantal obligation. And the purpose is stated with beautiful clarity: that they might be strong in the law of Yahweh. The tithe is not primarily for the personal comfort of the ministers, but for the spiritual health of the entire nation. A well-supported ministry is a ministry that has the time and freedom to devote itself to prayer and the study of the Word. When the teachers are strong in the law, the people will be well-taught in the law. This is a profoundly practical investment in the nation's spiritual capital.
5-6 As soon as the word spread forth, the sons of Israel provided in abundance the first fruits of grain, new wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of all. Now the sons of Israel and Judah who lived in the cities of Judah also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of the holy gifts which were made holy to Yahweh their God, and put them in heaps.
The response to Hezekiah's command is immediate, widespread, and overwhelming. The phrase in abundance is key. This is not the grudging fulfillment of a duty; it is the joyful outpouring of a revived people. The revival that began in their hearts at the Passover now shows up in their wallets and barns. They bring firstfruits, which is giving God the first and best, and they bring the tithe, which is acknowledging His ownership of everything. The generosity spreads from the capital in Jerusalem to all the cities of Judah. And the result is a logistical problem of the best sort: heaps. The tangible evidence of their giving was piled high for all to see.
7 In the third month they began to make the heaps, and completed them by the seventh month.
This was not a momentary flash of enthusiasm. The giving continued for four months, through the harvest season. As God blessed the work of their hands in the fields, they continually brought the Lord's portion to the temple. This demonstrates a sustained, systematic generosity. Revival had settled into their bones and established a new habit of faithfulness. They started the work and they saw it through to completion.
8 Then Hezekiah and the rulers came and saw the heaps, and they blessed Yahweh and His people Israel.
What is the right response to such a sight? Not pride in their successful fundraising campaign, but worship. Hezekiah and the leaders see the physical evidence of God's blessing, and they immediately turn it into doxology. They blessed Yahweh, the ultimate source of both the produce and the spirit of generosity. And then they blessed the people, who had acted as such faithful and willing instruments of God's will. True leaders rejoice in the faithfulness of their people and give God the glory for it.
9-10 Then Hezekiah inquired of the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps. And Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok said to him, “Since the contributions began to be brought into the house of Yahweh, there has been much to eat and be satisfied with and have left over, for Yahweh has blessed His people, and this great quantity is left over.”
Hezekiah asks for an accounting, and the chief priest gives a glorious report. The report has three parts. First, the need has been met completely: "there has been much to eat and be satisfied with." Second, there is a massive surplus: "and have left over." Third, he gives the ultimate theological reason: for Yahweh has blessed His people. Azariah understands the divine economy perfectly. The people's giving did not create this abundance out of nothing. Rather, their obedience opened the floodgates for God's pre-existing blessing to pour through. The "great quantity" left over was not a testament to the wealth of the people, but to the infinite generosity of their God.
Application
This passage is a standing rebuke to the anemic state of giving in the modern church, and it is a glorious encouragement to all who would seek true reformation. First, we see that reformation must be structural, not just emotional. It requires putting things in right order, which includes the church's finances and the proper support of its ministers. Pastors and elders should be freed to be "strong in the law," not burdened with finding part-time work to make ends meet.
Second, leaders must lead in giving. The standard of generosity in a church will rarely rise above that of its elders and pastors. Like Hezekiah, they must lead the way with sacrificial and consistent giving from their own resources.
Third, we must recover the biblical connection between obedience and blessing. We do not give in order to get. We give because we have already gotten everything in Christ. Our giving is a joyful response to grace. And yet, God has designed the world in such a way that He delights to pour out His favor upon such responsive gratitude. When a church is joyfully and sacrificially generous, it should not be surprised when God provides for its needs in abundance, creating "heaps" of resources for the work of the kingdom. The challenge for us is simple: to trust God's promises, obey His commands, and see if He will not, as He promised in Malachi, open the windows of heaven for us as well.