2 Chronicles 31:1

_NOW WHEN ALL THIS WAS FINISHED, ALL ISRAEL THAT WERE PRESENT WENT OUT TO THE CITIES OF JUDAH, AND BRAKE THE IMAGES IN PIECES, AND CUT DOWN THE GROVES, AND THREW DOWN THE HIGH PLACES AND THE ALTARS OUT OF ALL JUDAH AND BENJAMIN, IN EPHRAIM ALSO AND MANASSEH, UNTIL THEY HAD UTTERLY DESTROYED THEM ALL. THEN ALL THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL RETURNED, EVERY MAN TO HIS POSSESSION, INTO THEIR OWN CITIES._ All Israel ... present went out to the cities of Judah. The solemnities of this paschal season left a deep and salutary impression on the minds of the assembled worshippers; attachment to the ancient institutions of their country was extensively revived; ardour in the service of God animated every bosom; and, under the impulse of the devout feelings inspired by the occasion, they took measures at the close of the Passover for extirpating idolatrous statues and altars out of every city, as at the b...

CHAPTER XXXI _The people destroy all traces of idolatry throughout Judah,_ _Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh_, 1. _Hezekiah reforms the state of religion in general; and the_ _tithes are brought in from all quarters, and proper officers_ _set over them_, 2-13. _They bring to also the freewill-offerings, and regulate the_ _priests and Levites and their families, according to their_ _genealogies_, 14-19. _Hezekiah does every thing in sincerity and truth, and is_ _prosperous_, 20, 21. NOTES ON CHAP.

Jerusalem had been cleansed 2 Chronicles 30:14; now the land had to be purged. Hezekiah therefore gave his sanction to a popular movement directed as much against the “high places” which had been maintained since the times of the patriarchs, as against the remnants of the Baal-worship, or the innovations of Ahaz. See 2 Kings 18:4 note. The invasion of the northern kingdom “Ephraim and Manasseh” by a tumultuous crowd from the southern one, and the success which attended the movement, can only be explained by the state of weakness into which the northern kingdom had fallen (see the note at 2 Chronicles 29:24)....

EXPOSITION This chapter, after its first verse (which holds an intermediate place with relation to the enthusiastic devoutness of the people recorded in the last verse of the former chapter, and what now followed of the doings of the king), tells how Hezekiah once more settles, first, the courses of the priests and Levites, and the offerings for their support (2 Chronicles 31:2); and, secondly, both the offices and officers needful for rightly attending to the business. The Book of Kings gives us no parallel to this chapter. 2 CHRONICLES 31:1 As much as the last verse of the foregoing chapter was all of the religious fervour of the occasion, this verse is all of the, practical honest work of the people and their leaders. All Israel th

NOW WHEN ALL THIS WAS FINISHED,.... The temple cleansed, the priests and Levites sanctified, the passover and feast of unleavened bread observed, and other seven days of rejoicing kept: ALL ISRAEL THAT WERE PRESENT WENT OUT TO THE CITIES OF JUDAH, AND BRAKE THE IMAGES IN PIECES, AND CUT DOWN THE GROVES, AND THREW DOWN THE HIGH PLACES AND THE ALTARS OUT OF ALL JUDAH AND BENJAMIN; which had been erected by Ahaz, 2 Chronicles 28:2 at or about this time also the brasen serpent was broke to pieces, 2 Kings 18:4, IN EPHRAIM ALSO AND MANASSEH, UNTIL THEY HAD UTTERLY DESTROYED THEM ALL; which must be understood of such cities in those tribes that had been taken in former times by the kings of Judah from the kings of Israel; or such as were now in the hands of the Assy

GROVES (_ See Scofield) - (Judges 3:7). _...

CHAPTER 31 THE RESULTS OF THE REVIVAL _ 1. The destruction of the false worship (2 Chronicles 31:1)_ 2. The king's appointments (2 Chronicles 31:2) All was done by Hezekiah for the orderly continuance of the service in the house of the LORD. The order of the courses of the priests, after David's arrangement, which had been abandoned during the preceding apostasy, was once more settled. What was needed for the public sacrifices of the congregation was willingly given, as well as other things, by the king and the people. “For the personal support of the ministering priests and Levites nothing more was required than the re-enactment of the ancient provision of firstfruits, tithes, and firstlings ...

2 Chronicles 29:1 to 2 Chronicles 32:33. THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH (see notes on 2 Kings 18:2 f., 2 Kings 18:13; 2 Kings 18:19; 2 Kings 20:1). The Chronicler in this long section writes, from his own point of view, much that is quite unhistorical. The three main subjects treated by him here are Hezekiah's reopening of the Temple, the Passover, and the appointment of the Temple officials. In...

WHEN. After, not before. All true reformation begins within and works outward. Compare Philippians 1:2; Philippians 1:12; Philippians 1:13. ALL ISRAEL. See note on 2 Chronicles 30:1. PRESENT. found. CITIES. Jerusalem had been cleansed before the passover. Compare 2 Chronicles 30:14. GROVES. the _'Asherim._ App-42. CHILDREN. sons....

2 Chronicles 31:1 (cp. 2 Kings 18:4). Destruction of Idolatrous Symbols 1. _Israel_ Cp. 2 Chronicles 11:3 (note). _brake the images_in pieces, _and cut down the groves_ R.V. BRAKE IN PIECES THE PILLARS, AND HEWED DOWN THE ASHERIM. Cp. 2 Chronicles 14:3 (note). _threw down_ R.V. BRAKE DOWN. _in Ephraim also_ Apparently the Northern Kingdom had come to an end; cp. 2 Chronicles 30:6;...