God’s Word for You
2 Chronicles 32:24-29 this year’s cupboard
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Friday, June 6, 2025
24 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. He prayed to the LORD, who answered him and gave him a sign.
In this verse our author condenses the account of the miraculous sign of the sun’s shadow going back ten steps in 701 BC. This is in 2 Kings 20:1-11 and in Isaiah 38:1-8. The prophet writing Chronicles knows that his readers will already know the account, and so he only summarizes it here. For those who don’t remember the account, the king was suffering from a life-threatening illness. When the king wept and repented of his sins, the Lord promised to add fifteen more years to the king’s life. Isaiah said: “‘Watch! I will make the shadow of the setting sun that has moved down the stairway of Ahaz move back, ten steps higher on the staircase.’ Then the sun’s shadow moved backwards, ten steps higher on the stairway that it had just descended” (Isaiah 38:8 EHV). This was a miracle to give Hezekiah assurance.
25 But Hezekiah did not respond to the kindness shown him, for his heart was proud. Therefore the LORD’s wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. 26 Then Hezekiah repented of the pride in his heart, both he and the people of Jerusalem. So the LORD’s wrath did not come upon them during the days of Hezekiah.
Another incident is condensed for us here. Isaiah received messengers from the King of Babylon (not the same as the Assyrians who had attacked him earlier). Hezekiah’s pride got the better of him, and he foolishly showed them all of his wealth, and even all of the places were he kept his riches. It was no different than telling a robber the combination to the safe. Isaiah rebuked the king for this, and foresaw that in a following generation the people of Judah would be carried off into exile by the Babylonians. Hezekiah’s disappointing response to this was, “There will be peace and stability during my days” (Isaiah 39:8). It sounded almost as if the king had said, “At least people won’t remember that it was my fault.” Those aren’t the sentiments of a leader showing concern for his people or for their future. Hezekiah had his faults, yet Hezekiah also had faith.
27 Hezekiah had very great riches and honor, and he made treasuries for his silver and gold and for his precious stones, spices, shields and all kinds of valuables. 28 He also made storehouses for the harvest of grain, new wine and olive oil. He also made stalls for all kinds of cattle, and pens for the flocks. 29 He built cities for himself and acquired great numbers of flocks and herds, for God had given him very many possessions.
Hezekiah had a lot more wealth than I will ever have. He had to build extra buildings to hold all of his wealth (are you listening, rich man in Jesus’ parable?). He built new storehouses just for wine. Warehouses for the olive oil. Massive barns went up with stalls for the cows, sheep and goats. Not mention the treasury rooms for the other things: A room just for gemstones, another for spices, another just for his supply of extra shields. And more, for “all kinds of valuables.” Maybe he had chambers built just for pairs of boots, or pepper shakers. A fairly recent invention in his time had only come out of Egypt a couple of hundred years before: the spoon. Did Hezekiah have a closet in his palace just for his collection of spoons? Hezekiah had a lot more wealth than you or I will ever have.
More than this. Hezekiah had to build whole new cities to hold his stuff. The workforce to run the warehouses and storehouses needed a suburb or two, and Hezekiah built them. I’ve never found any evidence of any ancient city called Ir-Khafit (“Spoon City”), a word I just made up, but it wouldn’t surprise me too much.
The point of all of this is not that I struggle with the Ninth Commandment when I contemplate Hezekiah’s wealth. Instead, I marvel at the First Commandment, and the First Article of the Creed. God the Father Almighty sees fit to bless each of us, every single one of us, with all of the things that we need. Some of those things are actually things that we don’t need, but someone we might come into contact with might need them. So the Lord may park this or that possession in our closets or shelves for a while, until it’s needed by somebody, and then we can haul it down and say, “Here it is!” What a privilege to be useful to the Lord in so many ways.
He loves you and he cares about your eternal soul. His desire is that you would come to faith and come to the place he’s prepared for you in Paradise. Certainly “he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). But don’t be surprised if he asks you to hang onto a little something, a trinket, or a tidbit, or a mathom, or a strange old scarf, that a stranger or a new friend might someday need. And then give as if you’ve been waiting for that marvelous moment to give, all your life. Because that’s part of God’s plan, too. Hezekiah had to manage untold wealth and still somehow hang on to his faith (not an easy talk—the super-rich are not fond of trusting in Jesus). If God only asks you and me to give away an old keepsake once in a while for a person who needs it, what of that? What a privilege! What a moment! What a simple and loving little task: to be this year’s cupboard for the Lord’s work.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.