Today in the Bible

Tishrei 17, 5784; from sunset October 1, 2023, to sunset October 2, 2023

This is an image of a bulla, a clay impression, that was used to seal documents. The bulla reads “Belonging to Hezekiah, (son of) Ahaz, king of Judah.”  It was discovered near the Temple Mount in 2015.

King Hezekiah was the son of Ahaz.  2 Chronicles 28 contains a laundry list of the wrongs that Ahaz had committed against the LORD.  He worshipped Baal, made his children pass through fire, sacrificed in the high places, and closed the Temple…just to name a few of them.

After the death of his father, Hezekiah set about undoing the wrongs committed by him.  He immediately fixed his gaze upon the Temple and gathered together the priests and Levites who had remained loyal to the LORD throughout his father’s reign.  He encouraged them to remove the debris from the Temple, make needed repairs, and sanctify themselves.  Even though everyone went to work immediately, the work was not completed until after the prescribed dates for Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Rather than wait a whole year to celebrate the Passover, Hezekiah utilized God’s provision for a second Passover which could be celebrated by those who were unclean and could not celebrate it in the first month (Numbers 9).  He sent invitations throughout Judah and even invited everyone from the Northern Kingdom to come and celebrate with them.  It was so successful that they observed the feast for a second week.  After that time, the people went out and destroyed the pagan altars located throughout the country. They, then, began bringing in tithes and offerings in the third month and continued laying up stores until the seventh month.  Though the exact date is not mentioned, it was probably during the Feast of the Ingathering…aka Sukkot.

Our story begins in 2 Chronicles 31, with the acknowledgment that Hezekiah provided the burnt offerings from his own possessions.

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.

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.  As soon as the command was spread abroad, the people of Israel gave in abundance the first fruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything.

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 dedicated things which had been consecrated to the LORD their God, and laid them in heaps.  In the third month they began to pile up the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month.  When Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed the LORD and his people Israel.  And Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites about the heaps.

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 great store left.”

Then Hezekiah commanded them to prepare chambers in the house of the LORD; and they prepared them.  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; 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.  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. – 2 Chronicles 31:3-14 (RSV)

Not only did Hezekiah instruct the priests and Levites to sanctify themselves for the LORD’s service, but he also instructed the people to bring in their tithes and offerings to support the priest and Levites.  The people responded favorably and brought in an abundance – so much so that the priests and Levites had plenty to eat and had much left over.  In just his first few months as king, Hezekiah has taken big steps to set everything right that his father had made wrong.

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