Scripture Daily

Context No. 1628 of 4322 · 2 Chronicles

Context · Reflection

2 Chronicles 29:31-36: in context

31Then Hezekiah answered, “Now you have consecrated yourselves to the LORD. Come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the LORD’s house.” The assembly brought in sacrifices and thank offerings, and as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings. 32The number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was seventy bulls, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs. All these were for a burnt offering to the LORD. 33The consecrated things were six hundred head of cattle and three thousand sheep. 34But the priests were too few, so that they could not skin all the burnt offerings. Therefore their brothers the Levites helped them until the work was ended, and until the priests had sanctified themselves, for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests. 35Also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings and with the drink offerings for every burnt offering. So the service of the LORD’s house was set in order. 36Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because of that which God had prepared for the people; for the thing was done suddenly.

Hezekiah has restored the worship of God in the temple, and now the people bring a great abundance of sacrifices and thank offerings, so many that the priests are overwhelmed. There are too few priests to prepare all the burnt offerings, so their brothers the Levites step in to help them until the work is done. And the chronicler notes, pointedly, that the Levites were more upright in heart to consecrate themselves than the priests. The service is set in order, and Hezekiah and all the people rejoice, for the thing had come about suddenly.

Two quiet observations in this passage are worth catching. The first is the Levites stepping in to help when the priests were overwhelmed. The offerings were more than the priests could handle; rather than let the work stall, the Levites came alongside and helped until it was finished. There is a readiness in that worth imitating, the willingness to step in and help with the work when others cannot keep up, not standing back because it is not strictly one's own role, but pitching in where the need is. When the work is too much for those whose task it is, the ready servant helps carry it. The second observation is more pointed, and the chronicler makes it deliberately: the Levites were more upright in heart to consecrate themselves than the priests. The Levites, who ranked below the priests, were in fact more diligent in preparing themselves for God's service than the priests whose office it was. It is a sobering note. Devotion is not guaranteed by office or rank; the ones with the higher position were the less devoted, and the supposed lesser servants the more consecrated. Holding a religious office, even a high one, does not make a person more devoted than those beneath them; sometimes it is the other way around. Both observations search us. Am I ready to step in and help when the work overwhelms those whose task it is, or do I stand back because it is not my job? And is my devotion greater than my position would suggest, or do I rest on an office or a standing while others, of lesser rank, are more truly consecrated than I am?

Am I ready to step in and help with the work when others are overwhelmed, rather than standing back because it is not strictly my role, and is my devotion to God as real as my position suggests, or might those I think beneath me be more truly consecrated than I am?

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