3 And he gave the king's part of his private property for the burned offerings, that is, for the morning and evening offerings, and the offerings for the Sabbath and the new moons and the regular feasts, as it is recorded in the law of the Lord.
And Josiah gave lambs and goats from the flock as Passover offerings for all the people who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand oxen: these were from the king's private property.
And the ruler will be responsible for the burned offering and the meal offering and the drink offering, at the feasts and the new moons and the Sabbaths, at all the fixed feasts of the children of Israel: he will give the sin-offering and meal offering and burned offering and the peace-offerings, to take away the sin of the children of Israel.
Now this is the offering which you are to make on the altar: two lambs in their first year, every day regularly. One lamb is to be offered in the morning and the other in the evening: And with the one lamb, a tenth part of an ephah of the best meal, mixed with a fourth part of a hin of clear oil; and the fourth part of a hin of wine for a drink offering. And the other lamb is to be offered in the evening, and with it the same meal offering and drink offering, for a sweet smell, an offering made by fire to the Lord. This is to be a regular burned offering made from generation to generation, at the door of the Tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will come face to face with you and have talk with you.
Say to the children of Israel, These are the fixed feasts of the Lord, which you will keep for holy meetings: these are my feasts. On six days work may be done; but the seventh day is a special day of rest, a time for worship; you may do no sort of work: it is a Sabbath to the Lord wherever you may be living. These are the fixed feasts of the Lord, the holy days of worship which you will keep at their regular times. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at nightfall, is the Lord's Passover; And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread; for seven days let your food be unleavened bread. On the first day you will have a holy meeting; you may do no sort of field-work. And every day for seven days you will give a burned offering to the Lord; and on the seventh day there will be a holy meeting; you may do no field-work. And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, When you have come to the land which I will give you, and have got in the grain from its fields, take some of the first-fruits of the grain to the priest; And let the grain be waved before the Lord, so that you may be pleasing to him; on the day after the Sabbath let it be waved by the priest. And on the day of the waving of the grain, you are to give a male lamb of the first year, without any mark, for a burned offering to the Lord. And let the meal offering with it be two tenth parts of an ephah of the best meal mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the Lord for a sweet smell; and the drink offering with it is to be of wine, the fourth part of a hin. And you may take no bread or dry grain or new grain for food till the very day on which you have given the offering for your God: this is a rule for ever through all your generations wherever you are living. And let seven full weeks be numbered from the day after the Sabbath, the day when you give the grain for the wave offering; Let fifty days be numbered, to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you are to give a new meal offering to the Lord. Take from your houses two cakes of bread, made of a fifth part of an ephah of the best meal, cooked with leaven, to be waved for first-fruits to the Lord. And with the bread, take seven lambs of the first year, without any marks, and one ox and two male sheep, to be a burned offering to the Lord, with their meal offering and their drink offerings, an offering of a sweet smell made by fire to the Lord. And you are to give one male goat for a sin-offering and two male lambs of the first year for peace-offerings. And these will be waved by the priest, with the bread of the first-fruits, for a wave offering to the Lord, with the two lambs: they will be holy to the Lord for the priest. And on the same day, let it be given out that there will be a holy meeting for you: you may do no field-work on that day: it is a rule for ever through all your generations wherever you are living. And when you get in the grain from your land, do not let all the grain at the edges of the field be cut, and do not take up the grain which has been dropped in the field; let that be for the poor, and for the man from another country: I am the Lord your God. And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, let there be a special day of rest for you, a day of memory, marked by the blowing of horns, a meeting for worship. Do no field-work and give to the Lord an offering made by fire. And the Lord said to Moses, The tenth day of this seventh month is the day for the taking away of sin; let it be a holy day of worship; you are to keep from pleasure, and give to the Lord an offering made by fire. And on that day you may do no sort of work, for it is a day of taking away sin, to make you clean before the Lord your God. For any person, whoever he may be, who takes his pleasure on that day will be cut off from his people. And if any person, whoever he may be, on that day does any sort of work, I will send destruction on him from among his people. You may not do any sort of work: this is an order for ever through all your generations wherever you may be living. Let this be a Sabbath of special rest to you, and keep yourselves from all pleasure; on the ninth day of the month at nightfall from evening to evening, let this Sabbath be kept. And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month let the feast of tents be kept to the Lord for seven days. On the first day there will be a holy meeting: do no field-work. Every day for seven days give an offering made by fire to the Lord; and on the eighth day there is to be a holy meeting, when you are to give an offering made by fire to the Lord; this is a special holy day: you may do no field-work on that day. These are the fixed feasts of the Lord, to be kept by you as holy days of worship, for making an offering by fire to the Lord; a burned offering, a meal offering, an offering of beasts, and drink offerings; every one on its special day; In addition to the Sabbaths of the Lord, and in addition to the things you give and the oaths you make and the free offerings to the Lord. But on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have got in all the fruits of the land, you will keep the feast of the Lord for seven days: the first day will be a Sabbath, and the eighth day the same. On the first day, take the fruit of fair trees, branches of palm-trees, and branches of thick trees and trees from the riverside, and be glad before the Lord for seven days. And let this feast be kept before the Lord for seven days in the year: it is a rule for ever from generation to generation; in the seventh month let it be kept. For seven days you will be living in tents; all those who are Israelites by birth are to make tents their living-places: So that future generations may keep in mind how I gave the children of Israel tents as their living-places when I took them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. And Moses made clear to the children of Israel the orders about the fixed feasts of the Lord.
Take note of the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God: for in the month of Abib the Lord your God took you out of Egypt by night. The Passover offering, from your flock or your herd, is to be given to the Lord your God in the place marked out by him as the resting-place of his name. Take no leavened bread with it; for seven days let your food be unleavened bread, that is, the bread of sorrow; for you came out of the land of Egypt quickly: so the memory of that day, when you came out of the land of Egypt, will be with you all your life. For seven days let no leaven be used through all your land; and nothing of the flesh which is put to death in the evening of the first day is to be kept through the night till morning. The Passover offering is not to be put to death in any of the towns which the Lord your God gives you: But in the place marked out by the Lord your God as the resting-place of his name, there you are to put the Passover to death in the evening, at sundown, at that time of the year when you came out of Egypt. It is to be cooked and taken as food in the place marked out by the Lord: and in the morning you are to go back to your tents. For six days let your food be unleavened bread; and on the seventh day there is to be a holy meeting to the Lord your God; no work is to be done. Let seven weeks be numbered from the first day when the grain is cut. Then keep the feast of weeks to the Lord your God, with an offering freely given to him from the wealth he has given you: Then you are to be glad before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your man-servant and your woman-servant, and the Levite who is with you, and the man from a strange country, and the child without a father, and the widow, who are living among you, in the place marked out by the Lord your God as a resting-place for his name. And you will keep in mind that you were a servant in the land of Egypt: and you will take care to keep all these laws. You are to keep the feast of tents for seven days after you have got in all your grain and made your wine: You are to keep the feast with joy, you and your son and your daughter, your man-servant and your woman-servant, and the Levite, and the man from a strange country, and the child without a father, and the widow, who are living among you. Keep the feast to the Lord your God for seven days, in the place marked out by the Lord: because the blessing of the Lord your God will be on all the produce of your land and all the work of your hands, and you will have nothing but joy. Three times in the year let all your males come before the Lord your God in the place named by him; at the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of weeks, and the feast of tents: and they are not to come before the Lord with nothing in their hands; Every man is to give as he is able, in the measure of the blessing which the Lord your God has given you.
For Hezekiah, king of Judah, gave to the people for offerings, a thousand oxen and seven thousand sheep; and the rulers gave a thousand oxen and ten thousand sheep; and a great number of priests made themselves holy.
<To the chief music-maker; put to the Gittith. Of Asaph.> Make a song to God our strength: make a glad cry to the God of Jacob. Take up the melody, playing on an instrument of music, even on corded instruments. Let the horn be sounded in the time of the new moon, at the full moon, on our holy feast-day: For this is a rule for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob.
And the burned offering offered to the Lord by the ruler on the Sabbath day is to be six lambs without a mark on them and a male sheep without a mark; And the meal offering is to be an ephah for the sheep, and for the lambs whatever he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah. And at the time of the new moon it is to be a young ox of the herd without a mark on him, and six lambs and a male sheep, all without a mark: And he is to give a meal offering, an ephah for the ox and an ephah for the sheep, and for the lambs whatever he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah.
And when the ruler makes a free offering, a burned offering or a peace-offering freely given to the Lord, the doorway looking to the east is to be made open for him, and he is to make his burned offering and his peace-offerings as he does on the Sabbath day: and he will go out; and the door will be shut after he has gone out. And you are to give a lamb a year old without any mark on it for a burned offering to the Lord every day: morning by morning you are to give it. And you are to give, morning by morning, a meal offering with it, a sixth of an ephah and a third of a hin of oil dropped on the best meal; a meal offering offered to the Lord at all times by an eternal order. And they are to give the lamb and the meal offering and the oil, morning by morning, for a burned offering at all times. This is what the Lord has said: If the ruler gives a property to any of his sons, it is his heritage and will be the property of his sons; it is theirs for their heritage. And if he gives a part of his heritage to one of his servants, it will be his till the year of making free, and then it will go back to the ruler; for it is his sons' heritage, and is to be theirs. And the ruler is not to take the heritage of any of the people, driving them out of their property; he is to give a heritage to his sons out of the property which is his: so that my people may not be sent away from their property.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on 2 Chronicles 31
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 31 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Destruction of the idols and the altars of the high places. Provisions for the ordering and maintenance of the temple worship, and the attendants upon it . - 2 Chronicles 31:1. At the conclusion of the festival, all the Israelites who had been present at the feast ( הנּמצאים כּל־שׂראל to be understood as in 2 Chronicles 30:21) went into the cities of Judah, and destroyed all the idols, high places, and altars not only in Judah and Benjamin (the southern kingdom), but also in Ephraim and Manasseh (the domain of the ten tribes), utterly ( עד־לככּה , cf. 2 Chronicles 24:10), and only then returned each to his home; cf. 2 Kings 18:4.
Restoration of order in the public worship, and of the temple revenues and those of the priests . - 2 Chronicles 31:2. Hezekiah appointed the courses of the priests and Levites according to their courses, each according to the measure of his service (cf. Numbers 7:5, Numbers 7:7), viz., the priests and Levites ( ולל לכה are subordinated to אישׁ in apposition by ל ), for burnt-offerings and thank-offerings, to serve (to wait upon the worship), and to praise and thank (by song and instrumental music) in the gates of the camp of Jahve, i.e., in the temple and court of the priests; see on 1 Chronicles 9:18.
2 Chronicles 31:3
And the portion of the king from his possession was for the burnt-offerings, etc.; that is, the material for the burnt-offerings which are commanded in Num 28 and 29 the king gave from his possessions, which are enumerated in 2 Chronicles 32:27-29.
2 Chronicles 31:4-8
The priests and Levites received their maintenance from the first-fruits (Exodus 23:19; Numbers 18:12; Deuteronomy 26:2) and the tithes, which the people had to pay from the produce of their cattle-breeding and their agriculture (Leviticus 27:30-33, cf. with Numbers 18:21-24). Hezekiah commanded the people, viz., the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to give this portion to the Levites and priests, that they might hold themselves firmly to the law of Jahve, i.e., might devote themselves to the duties laid upon them by the law, the attendance upon the worship, without being compelled to labour for their subsistence; cf. Nehemiah 13:10.
2 Chronicles 31:5-6
When the word (the royal command) went forth (spread abroad), the Israelites brought in abundance the first-fruits which had been assigned to the priests (2 Chronicles 18:12.), and the tithes, which were paid to the whole tribe of Levi (Numbers 18:21-24). ישׂראל בּני , 2 Chronicles 31:6, are not the inhabitants of the northern kingdom, but the Israelites who had emigrated from that kingdom into Judah (as 2 Chronicles 30:25; 2 Chronicles 11:16; 2 Chronicles 10:17). קדשׁים מעשׂר , the tenth from the holy gifts which were consecrated to Jahve, is surprising, since in the law, Numbers 18:8., it is not the tenth of the consecrated gifts which is spoken of, but only הקּדשׁים תרוּמות (Numbers 18:19). Proceeding upon the assumption that all קדשׁים which were consecrated to Jahve were given over to the tribe of Levi, Bertheau finds no correspondence between the law and the statement of our verse, that the tenth of the holy things was given, and points out that the lxx seem to have read והקּשׁים ועז instead of קדשׁים m`sr, without, however, himself deciding in favour of that reading. But the lxx have rendered the words hmqdsym קדשׁים קדשׁים by ἐπιδέκατα αἰγῶν, καὶ ἡγίασαν, and consequently cannot have read ועז for מעשׂר , since in their translation epide'kata corresponds to m`sr. But the deviation of the statement in our verse from the law, Num 18, arises partly from an incorrect or inexact interpretation of the provisions of the law, Numbers 18:8. In the law, קדשׁים as such were not assigned to the tribe of Levi, or more correctly to the priests (Aaron and his sons), but only the לכל־קדשׁים תּרוּמות , the heave-offerings of all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, i.e., the pieces or parts of the sacrificial gifts of the Israelites which were not burnt upon the altar, consequently the greater part of the meal, and oil, and flesh of the oblations, the sin-offerings, the trespass-offerings, and of the peace-offerings, the wave-breast and wave-thigh, and whatever else was waved in wave-offerings; see on Numbers 18:8. These Therumoth of the consecrated gifts are in our verse designated קדשׁים מעשׂר , because they were only a fragment of that which was consecrated to the Lord, just as the tenth was a fragment of the whole herd, and of the field produce. The statement of our verse, therefore, differs only in expression from the prescription of the law, but in substance it completely agrees with it. ער ערמות ויּתּנוּ , and they made many heaps, i.e., they brought the first-fruits and tithes in heaps.
2 Chronicles 31:7
In the third month, consequently immediately at the end of the grain harvest, they commenced to found the heaps (to lay the foundation of the heaps); and in the seventh month, i.e., at the end of the fruit and wine harvest, they completed them (the heaps). In the third month fell pentecost, or the harvest feast; in the seventh, the feast of tabernacles, after the gathering in of all the fruits. ליסּוד has Daghesh in ס , because this verb in the imperf. assimilates its י like נ to the second radical, and the infinitive is formed after the imperf.; cf. Ew. §245, a .
2 Chronicles 31:8-10
When Hezekiah and the priests saw these heaps, they praised the Lord and His people Israel.
The employment and storing of these gifts, 2 Chronicles 31:9-19. - 2 Chronicles 31:9. Hezekiah questioned ( ידרשׁ ) the priests and Levites concerning the heaps, i.e., not as to whether they were sufficient for the support of the priests and Levites, but as to how it happened that such masses had been heaped up. Thereupon Azariah the high priest (hardly the Azariah mentioned 2 Chronicles 26:17, who forty years before tried to prevent Uzziah from pressing into the holy place), of the house of Zadok, answered him: Since they began to bring ( לביא for להביא ) the heave-offerings into the house of the Lord, we have eaten and satisfied ourselves, and have left in plenty. The infin. absol. והותר ושׂבוע אכול stand in animated speech instead of the first pers. plur. perf. From the same animation arises the construction of את־ההמון with הנּותר ; for “that which is left” signifies, and we have left this quantity here.
2 Chronicles 31:11-12
Then the king commanded to prepare cells in the house of God for the storing of the provisions. Whether new cells were built, or cells already existing were prepared for this purpose, cannot be decided, since הכין may signify either. Into these cells they brought the תּרוּמה , which here denotes the first-fruits (cf. 2 Chronicles 31:5), the tithes, and the dedicated things, בּאמוּנה , with fidelity, cf. 2 Chronicles 19:9. עליהם , over them (the first-fruits, etc.) the Levite Cononiah was set as ruler (inspector), and his brother Shimei as second ruler ( משׁנה ).
2 Chronicles 31:13-14
To them at their hand, i.e., as subordinate overseers, were given ten Levites, who are enumerated by name. Of the names, Jehiel and Mahath occur in 2 Chronicles 29:12 and 2 Chronicles 29:14. בּמפקד is translated by the Vulg. ex imperio , better ex mandato Hizkiae . Azariah, the prince of the house of God, is the high priest mentioned in 2 Chronicles 31:10. - To the fourteen Levites named in 2 Chronicles 31:13 and 2 Chronicles 31:14 was committed the oversight and storing of the first-fruits, tithes, and consecrated gifts. Besides these, there were special officers appointed for the distribution of them. - In 2 Chronicles 31:14-19 these are treated of; 2 Chronicles 31:14 dealing with the distribution of the voluntary gifts of God, i.e., all which was offered to God of spontaneous impulse (Leviticus 23:38; Deuteronomy 12:17), to which the first-fruits and tithes did not belong, they being assessments prescribed by the law. Over the freewill offerings the Levite Kore, the doorkeeper towards the east (see on 1 Chronicles 9:18), was set. His duty was to give (distribute) “the heave-offerings of Jahve,” i.e., that portion of the thank-offerings which properly belonged to Jahve, and which was transferred by Him to the priests (Leviticus 7:14; Numbers 5:9), and the “most holy,” i.e., that part of the sin and trespass offerings (Leviticus 6:10, Leviticus 6:22; Leviticus 7:6) and of the oblations (Leviticus 2:3, Leviticus 2:10) which was to be eaten by the priests in the holy place.
2 Chronicles 31:15-16
At his hand ( ידו על = מיּד , 2 Chronicles 31:13), i.e., under his superintendence, there were six Levites, enumerated by name, in the priests' cities, with fidelity, “to give to their brethren in their courses, as well to the great as to the small” (i.e., to the older and to the younger), sc. the portion of the gifts received which fell to each. By the brethren in their courses we are to understand not merely the Levites dwelling in the priests' cities, who on account of their youth or old age could not come into the temple, but also those who at the time were not on duty, since the Levites' courses performed it by turns, only some courses being on duty in the temple, while the others were at home in the priests' cities. The object to לתת , 2 Chronicles 31:15, is not to be taken straightway from the objects mentioned with לתת in 2 Chronicles 31:14. For the most holy gifts could not be sent to the priests' cities, but were consumed in the holy place, i.e., in the temple. Nor can we confine לתת to the האלהים נדבות ; for since the gifts of the people, laid up in the cells, consisted in first-fruits, tithes, and consecrated gifts (2 Chronicles 31:11), and special officers were appointed for the storing and distribution of them, the business of distribution could not consist merely in the giving out of freewill offerings, but must have extended to all the offerings of the people. When, therefore, it is said of the Levite Kore, in 2 Chronicles 31:14, that he was appointed over the freewill offerings, to distribute the heave-offerings and the most holy, only his chief function is there mentioned, and the functions of the officials associated with and subordinated to him in the priests' cities are not to be confined to that. The object to לתת , 2 Chronicles 31:15, is consequently to be determined by the whole context, and the arrangements which are assumed as known from the law; i.e., we must embrace under that word the distribution of the first-fruits, tithes, and consecrated gifts, of which the Levites in the priests' cities were to receive their portion according to the law. - In 2 Chronicles 31:16, the b| מחלקות אחיהם of 2 Chronicles 31:15 is more closely defined by an exception: “Besides their catalogue of the men (i.e., exclusive of those of the male sex catalogued by them) from three years old and upward, namely, of all those who came into the house of Jahve to the daily portion, for their service in their offices according to their courses.” בּיומו דּבר־יום signifies, in this connection, the portion of the holy gifts coming to them for every day; cf. Nehemiah 11:23. The meaning of the verse is: From those dwelling in the priests' cities were excluded those who had come to perform service in the temple; and, indeed, not merely those performing the service, but also their male children, who were catalogued along with them if they were three years old and upward. Thence it is clear that those entering upon their service took their sons with them when they were three years old. These children ate in the place of the sanctuary of the portion coming to their parents.
2 Chronicles 31:17
2 Chronicles 31:17 contains a parenthetic remark as to the catalogues. ואת , as nota accus . , serves here to emphasize the statement which is added as an elucidation (cf. Ew. §277, d ): “But concerning the catalogue of the priests, it was (taken, prepared) according to the fathers'-houses; and the Levites, they were from twenty years old and upwards in their offices in their courses.” All the duties were discharged by several courses. On the age fixed on, see 1 Chronicles 23:27.
2 Chronicles 31:18
The connection and interpretation of this verse is doubtful. If we take וּלחתיחשׂ as a continuation of ואת־התיהשׁ , 2 Chronicles 31:17, it gives us no suitable sense. The addition, “and also to every priest and Levite was a larger or smaller portion given according to the catalogue” (Ramb., etc.), is arbitrary, and does not fully express the בּ before כּל־טפּם . Berth., on the other hand, correctly remarks, “After the parentheses in 2 Chronicles 31:16 and 2 Chronicles 31:17, וּלחתיחשׂ may be taken as a continuation of לתת in 2 Chronicles 31:16;” but the word itself he translates wrongly thus: The men were in the priests' cities, also to register their children, etc., disregarding the construction of התיחשׂ with בּ . - From 2 Chronicles 31:19, where the same construction recurs, we learn how to interpret בּכל־ט התיחשׁ : the catalogue = those registered in (of) all their children. According to this view, ולהתיחשׂ corresponds to the לאחיהם , 2 Chronicles 31:15 : to give to their brethren, ... and to the registered of all their children, their wives, and their sons and daughters, viz., to the whole multitude (sc., of the wives, sons, and daughters), i.e., as many of them as there were. This interpretation of the לכל־קהל seems simpler than with Schmidt and Ramb. to understand קהל to denote the coroporation of priests. There was therefore no one forgotten or overlooked; “for according to their fidelity (2 Chronicles 31:15) did they show themselves holy in regard to the holy,” i.e., they acted in a holy manner with the holy gifts, distributed them disinterestedly and impartially to all who had any claim to them.
2 Chronicles 31:19
And for the sons of Aaron, the priests, in the field of the districts of their cities (cf. Leviticus 25:34; Numbers 35:5), in each city were men (appointed) famous ( בשׁמות נקּבוּ אשׁר , as in 2 Chronicles 28:15; see on 1 Chronicles 12:31), to give portions to each male among the priests, and to all that were registered among the Levites. As for the inhabitants of the priests' cities (2 Chronicles 31:15), so also for the priests and Levites dwelling in the pasture grounds of the priests' cities, were special officers appointed to distribute the priestly revenues.
2 Chronicles 31:20-21
The conclusion of this account. Thus did Hezekiah in all Judah, and wrought in general that which was good and right and האמת before the Lord his God; and in every work that he commenced for the service of the house of God, and for the law and the commandment (i.e., for the restoration of the law and its commands), to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.