31Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake in pieces the [1]pillars, and hewed down the Asherim, and brake down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities. 2And Hezekiah appointed the courses of the priests and the Levites after their courses, every man according to his service, both the priests and the Levites, for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister, and to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of the camp of the LORD. 3He appointed also the king's portion of his substance for the burnt offerings, to wit, for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the sabbaths, and for the new moons, and for the set feasts, as it is written in the law of the LORD. 4Moreover he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might [2]give themselves to the law of the LORD.
Ch. XXXI. 1 (cp. 2 Kin. xviii. 4). Destruction of Idolatrous Symbols.
1. the pillars . . . the Asherim] Cp. xiv. 3 (note).
in Ephraim also] It is obviously assumed that the Northern Kingdom had come to an end; cp. xxx. 6, 9.
2—21 (not in 2 Kin.). Organisation of the Priests. Tithe.
If the Temple had been desecrated and closed by Ahaz, it would follow that the organisation of its Priests and Levites had fallen into confusion. The Chronicler therefore makes Hezekiah the restorer of the system inaugurated by David, and treats this edifying topic at some length.
2. the courses] Cp. 1 Chr. xxiv. 1 ff.
to minister, and to give thanks, and to praise in the gates] Better, as LXX., altering the order, to give thanks and to praise and to minister in the gates. "To minister in the gates," i.e. to be doorkeepers, cp. 1 Chr. xxvi. 1.
the camp of the LORD] i.e. (in the language of Deut.) "the place which the Lord chose," Jerusalem or, more exactly, the Temple area. Cp. 1 Chr. ix. 18, note.
3. the burnt offerings] Cp. viii. 12, 13.
