2 Chronicles 31:1-4 Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke the images in pieces… I. A POPULAR CRUSADE AGAINST IDOLATRY. (Ver. 1.) 1. When begun. "When all this was finished," i.e. after the temple had been purified and rededicated (ch. 29.), and the Passover celebrated (ch. 30.). Everything in its order. "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven;" "a time to pluck up that which is planted;" "a time to break down;" "a time to rend" (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 2, 3, 7). This time had arrived in Judah, and partially also in Israel, in the days of Hezekiah. 2. By whom undertaken. "All Israel that were present," i.e. all the members of the two kingdoms (Judah and Israel proper) that were in the metropolis observing the Passover. That they felt themselves stirred to such a vigorous assault upon the instruments and institutions of idolatry was an indication of the depth to which they had been moved by the high ceremonial in which they had borne a part. A pity was it that the nation's zeal for the true religion was so evanescent, not in Judah alone (2 Chronicles 33:2, 9), but also in Ephraim (Hosea 6:4). It is no contradiction to this that the Book of Kings ascribes this destruction of the altars, etc., to the king (2 Kings 18:4). 3. To what extent carried. (1) Geographically, the wave of reformation swept over all Judah and Benjamin, i.e. all the southern kingdom, and over Ephraim and Manasseh, i.e. a considerable portion of the northern kingdom - that portion which had furnished feast-pilgrims to Jerusalem. (2) Religiously, it paused not until within those territories it had swept away every vestige of idol-worship. The iconoclastic zeal of the people "brake in pieces the pillars or obelisks, hewed down the Asherim, and brake down the high places and the altars, until it had destroyed them all." A similar outbreak against the symbols of idolatry, only on a smaller scale, had taken place in the days of Jehoiada, immediately after the fall of Athaliah and the coronation of Joash (2 Chronicles 23:17, which see); never before had the land experienced such a purgation of idolatrous institutions and instruments. So thorough-going was it that even the brazen serpent made by Moses in the wilderness (Numbers 21:9), and in Hezekiah's day become an object of idolatrous veneration, was called Nehushtan, "a piece of brass," and ground to pieces (2 Kings 18:4). II. A KINGLY ESTABLISHMENT OF THE TRUE RELIGION. (Vers. 2-4.) 1. The public ordinances of religion arranged. (1) The priests and the Levites were divided into courses according to the plan of David (1 Chronicles 24:3, etc.), as in the reformation under Jehoiada. (2) Each man was appointed to the special service for which he was designed - each had his own work to attend to and perform. In the New Testament Church Christ gives "to every man his work" (Mark 13:34). (3) The works distributed amongst them were such as pertained to the temple-worship, viz. the offering of sacrifice, burnt offerings, and peace offerings, and the ministering, i.e. giving thanks and praising by means of vocal and instrumental music, "in the gates of the camp of the Lord" - a remarkable expression (see next homily). 2. The state service of religion provided for. The expense of keeping up that part of the temple-worship which was, properly speaking, national, i.e. the morning and evening burnt offerings, with the burnt offerings for the sabbaths, the new moons, and the set feasts prescribed in the Law of Jehovah (Numbers 28., 29.), the king took upon himself and discharged out of his own possessions (2 Chronicles 32:27-29). As the crown wealth was, to all intents and purposes, the nation's property, the act of the king was right; still, in. so far as the national wealth was under his control, his act was a deed of liberality. Whether Mugs or parliaments under the Christian dispensation are required or permitted to allocate national wealth to the support of religion may be open to debate; there is no room for doubting that neither kings nor statesmen are hindered from devoting portions of their own wealth to the cause of Christ, i.e. to the up-keep and propagation of the true religion. 3. A maintenance assigned to the ministers of religion. The portion which belonged to the priests and Levites by the Law of Jehovah, i.e. the firstfruits (Exodus 23:19; Numbers 18:12, 13; Deuteronomy 26:2-4), and the tithes of land and beast (Leviticus 27:30-33; Numbers 18:21-24) - the firstfruits being assigned specially to the priests, and the tithes to the whole tribe of Levi - the king commanded the people residing in Jerusalem to render. Under the Christian dispensation the support of the ministers of religion devolves exclusively upon believers (1 Corinthians 9:7-14; 2 Corinthians 11:7-12; Galatians 6:6; 1 Thessalonians 2:6). Kings and parliaments in their official capacities have not been charged with the duty of supporting ministers of religion out of public revenues. LESSONS. 1. It is good to be zealously affected in a good thing, such as the suppression of idolatry. 2. It is not permissible under the gospel to suppress idolatry by violence, but only by argument and the force of truth. 3. The lawfulness of state establishments of religion in Christian times cannot be inferred from the existence of such an institution among the Hebrews. 4. Compulsory payments in support of Christ's religion are indefensible. 5. It is open to all to practise Christian liberality. - W. Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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