Hezekiah Organizes the Priests

 

 

 

2 Chronicles 31:1-10

 

September 12, 2023

 

Hezekiah Organizes the Priests

Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and broke in pieces the pillars and cut down the Asherim and broke down the high places and the altars throughout all Judah and Benjamin, and in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the people of Israel returned to their cities, every man to his possession.

And Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and of the Levites, division by division, each according to his service, the priests, and the Levites, for burnt offerings and peace offerings, to minister in the gates of the camp of the Lord and to give thanks and praise.  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 tithe of the dedicated things that had been dedicated 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 large amount left.”

I have a dream, that the Church would awake and follow Jesus not any other.  We would come to an understanding that when Jesus said all authority has been given to Me, He was given to His Church, for it is Christ in you the hope of Glory.  Matthew 28:18-20, ^“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in^[ the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

A mighty army is the church, but until it wakes up to that truth, that it is Christ living in us, and allows Him to rule in our affairs and hearts, we will not grasp the power of prayer, nor the gift of Grace.

In chapter 31, the first verse, we find a people who had experienced God, and they began to remove the little idols and gods that could not see or hear, whom they had worshiped.  Could it be the Church, needs to do the same?  And for anyone who believes a building is a church, this paper is not going to do you much good.  My prayer is for the Church to understand that each of us has been given a place in the line and no one else can fill our place in God’s army.

Hezekiah was a great leader of his people and you can with Christ do it all for you can also be that leader.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice