2 Chronicles 31:10

And Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok answered him, and said, Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the LORD, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty: for the LORD hath blessed his people; and that which is left is this great store.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) Azariah.—Possibly the Azariah of 2Chronicles 26:17. If not, he is otherwise unknown.

Since the people began to bring the offerings.—Since they began to bring the Tĕrûmāh: a word which the Authorised Version usually renders “heave offering.” (See Note on 2Chronicles 31:6.)

To bring.—In the Hebrew a contracted form, recurring in Jeremiah 39:7.

We have had enough to eat, and have left plenty.—Literally, Eating and being satisfied, and leaving over, even unto abundance (exclamatory infinitives). (Comp. Hosea 4:2 for this construction.)

The Lord hath blessed his people.—So that they were able to give liberally.

That which is left.—After the maintenance o£ the priests has been subtracted.

This great store.—In the Hebrew these words are in the accusative case. Probably, therefore, the right reading is, “and there is left this great store” (omitting the article, and reading wĕ-nôthār, with Kamp-hausen).

Chambers.—Cells; lĕshākôth. (See Notes on 1Chronicles 9:26; 1Chronicles 23:28.) The preparation intended is probably nothing but the clearance and cleansing of some of these cells for the reception of the stores.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

31:1-21 Hezekiah destroys idolatry. - After the passover, the people of Israel applied with vigour to destroy the monuments of idolatry. Public ordinances should stir us up to cleanse our hearts, our houses, and shops, from the filth of sin, and the idolatry of covetousness, and to excite others to do the same. The after-improvement of solemn ordinances, is of the greatest importance to personal, family, and public religion. When they had tasted the sweetness of God's ordinance in the late passover, they were free in maintaining the temple service. Those who enjoy the benefit of a settled ministry, will not grudge the expense of it. In all that Hezekiah attempted in God's service, he was earnest and single in his aim and dependence, and was prospered accordingly. Whether we have few or many talents intrusted to us, may we thus seek to improve them, and encourage others to do the same. What is undertaken with a sincere regard to the glory of God, will succeed to our own honour and comfort at last.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

If this Azariah was the same as he who resisted Uzziah 2 Chronicles 26:17-20, he must have held his office at least 33 years. Compare 2 Chronicles 27:1; 2 Chronicles 28:1.

The Lord hath blessed his people - i. e. God has made the harvest unusually abundant, and hence the great amount of tithes and first-fruits.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10. Azariah … answered … we have had enough—This is probably the person mentioned (2Ch 26:17), and his reply was to the following purport: There has been an abundant harvest, and a corresponding plenty in the incoming of first-fruits and tithes; the people have testified their gratitude to Him who has crowned the year with His goodness by their liberality towards His servants.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The chief priest of the house of Zadok; either,

1. The high priest, called also Zadok, 1 Chronicles 6:12, because he was of his line and family. Or,

2. The chief priest, or the head of that family of Zadok, or of Eleazar; as there was another chief priest of the family of Abiathar, or of Ithamar; see 2 Samuel 8:17 1 Chronicles 24:3; but both subject to the high priest.

Since the people began to bring the offerings; which they did from the beginning of the harvest, according to the manner.

The Lord hath blessed his people in an extraordinary degree.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok answered him,.... Who was the high priest of the family of Eleazar, in the line of Zadok, made high priest in Solomon's time, when Abiathar was thrust out; Jarchi takes him to be the same Azariah that was in the days of Uzziah, 2 Chronicles 26:17,

and said, since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the Lord we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty; which were now four mouths since; and the priests and Levites, and their families, had partaken of them, and eat to satiety, and yet there was great plenty remaining:

for the Lord hath blessed his people: the Targum is,"the Word of the Lord has blessed them,''given them large crops this year, and a ready willing mind to bring in what is due for the service of the temple:

and that which is left is this great store; the heaps the king and princes saw, and inquired about; or what is left is for the great multitude of the priests and Levites, and their families, both at Jerusalem, and in the cities in the country; so Kimchi interprets it.

Geneva Study Bible

And Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok answered him, and said, Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the LORD, we have {i} had enough to eat, and have left plenty: for the LORD hath blessed his people; and that which is left is this great store.

(i) He shows that this plenteous liberality is expedient for the maintenance of the ministers and that God therefore prospers his people and increases by his blessing that which is given.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. Azariah the chief priest] Not mentioned in connexion with Hezekiah’s previous arrangements: he may have been only just appointed.

of the house of Zadok] Cp. 1 Chronicles 24:1-4. There were two main families of priests, (1) the descendants of Eleazar the third son of Aaron, whose chief representative in David’s day was Zadok (hence they are here called “the house of Zadok”), (2) the descendants of Ithamar the fourth son of Aaron, represented in David’s time by Ahimelech (Saul’s victim) or by Abiathar (David’s protégé). The Chronicler prefers to name the descendants of Ithamar after Ahimelech (1 Chronicles 24:3).

the offerings] R.V. the oblations (so also 2 Chronicles 31:12). The Heb. word těrûmâh denotes the heave offering (Leviticus 7:32), which the priest heaved (“lifted on high”) and was allowed to keep for himself.

we have had enough to eat) R.V. we have eaten and had enough.

hath blessed his people] Cp. Malachi 3:10.

and that which is left is this great store] LXX., καὶ κατελίπομεν ἐπὶ τὸ πλῆθος τοῦτο, “we leave (‘have left’) this great store and more.” An apparently superfluous particle (eth) in the Heb. has troubled the translators and commentators.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - Azariah... chief priest of the house of Zadok. Though this Azariah be of the house of Zadok, he is not of the line of Jozadak; and we cannot be certain that he is one with him of 2 Chronicles 26:17, 20; in which case his grandson Jotham (2 Chronicles 27:1) would be grandfather of Hezekiah, inferring a long term both for his office and his life. 2 Chronicles 31:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

When Hezekiah and the priests saw these heaps, they praised the Lord and His people Israel.

The employment and storing of these gifts, 2 Chronicles 31:9-19. - 2 Chronicles 31:9. Hezekiah questioned (ידרשׁ) the priests and Levites concerning the heaps, i.e., not as to whether they were sufficient for the support of the priests and Levites, but as to how it happened that such masses had been heaped up. Thereupon Azariah the high priest (hardly the Azariah mentioned 2 Chronicles 26:17, who forty years before tried to prevent Uzziah from pressing into the holy place), of the house of Zadok, answered him: Since they began to bring (לביא for להביא) the heave-offerings into the house of the Lord, we have eaten and satisfied ourselves, and have left in plenty. The infin. absol. והותר ושׂבוע אכול stand in animated speech instead of the first pers. plur. perf. From the same animation arises the construction of את־ההמון with הנּותר; for "that which is left" signifies, and we have left this quantity here.