Scripture Daily

Context No. 361 of 4322 · 2 Chronicles

Context · Reflection

2 Chronicles 31:7-21: in context

7In the third month, they began to lay the foundation of the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month. 8When Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed the LORD and his people Israel. 9Then Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites about the heaps. 10Azariah the chief priest, of the house of Zadok, answered him and said, “Since people began to bring the offerings into the LORD’s house, we have eaten and had enough, and have plenty left over, for the LORD has blessed his people; and that which is left is this great store.” 11Then Hezekiah commanded them to prepare rooms in the LORD’s house, and they prepared them. 12They brought in the offerings, the tithes, and the dedicated things faithfully. Conaniah the Levite was ruler over them, and Shimei his brother was second. 13Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah were overseers under the hand of Conaniah and Shimei his brother, by the appointment of Hezekiah the king and Azariah the ruler of God’s house. 14Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the gatekeeper at the east gate, was over the free will offerings of God, to distribute the LORD’s offerings and the most holy things. 15Under him were Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah, in the cities of the priests, in their office of trust, to give to their brothers by divisions, to the great as well as to the small; 16in addition to those who were listed by genealogy of males, from three years old and upward, even everyone who entered into the LORD’s house, as the duty of every day required, for their service in their offices according to their divisions; 17and those who were listed by genealogy of the priests by their fathers’ houses, and the Levites from twenty years old and upward, in their offices by their divisions; 18and those who were listed by genealogy of all their little ones, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, through all the congregation; for in their office of trust they sanctified themselves in holiness. 19Also for the sons of Aaron the priests, who were in the fields of the pasture lands of their cities, in every city, there were men who were mentioned by name to give portions to all the males among the priests and to all who were listed by genealogy among the Levites. 20Hezekiah did so throughout all Judah; and he did that which was good, right, and faithful before the LORD his God. 21In every work that he began in the service of God’s house, in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart and prospered.

This passage describes a happy problem. King Hezekiah has led Judah back to God, and the people have responded by bringing their tithes and offerings so generously that the contributions pile up in literal heaps at the temple, accumulating from the third month to the seventh. When Hezekiah asks the chief priest about the mounting stacks, the answer is one of the most contented lines in the Old Testament: since the people began bringing the offerings, we have eaten and had enough, and there is plenty left over, for the LORD has blessed his people. A rightly ordered, generous community had produced not scarcity but abundance, with a great surplus.

The revealing part is what Hezekiah does with the surplus. He does not let it sit in a heap, and he does not funnel it to the important. He builds storerooms and appoints a whole roster of named, trustworthy stewards to organize and distribute it, and the text is careful to say how they distributed it: faithfully, by their divisions, to the great as well as to the small. The overflow was administered so that it actually reached everyone, regardless of rank, down to the youngest children on the rolls. Generosity had created the abundance, and faithful stewardship made sure it was shared out justly rather than pooled or captured. And the chapter sums up Hezekiah in a line worth envying: in every work he began, in the service of God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.

The passage raises a quiet question about surplus. When I find myself with more than enough, of money or time or ability or influence, what do I do with the overflow? Do I let it pile up in a heap, or hold it for the important people, or do I take Hezekiah's trouble to distribute it faithfully to the great and the small alike, whatever surplus God has entrusted to me?

Sources