2 Kings chapter 12

Jehoash repairs the temple. He is assassinated.

 


 

JEHOASH REPAIRS THE TEMPLE

 

VERSE 1. Jehoash began to reign in the seventh year of Jehu, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba.

the seventh year of Jehu. That is, in 835 BC.

he reigned forty years. The reign of Jehoash ended in 796 BC.

 

VERSE 2. Jehoash did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

Jehoash did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes. This is a great epitaph.

However, it is very unusual. Most of the kings outdid each other in evil.

all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him. King Joash did the will of the LORD God for as long as his mentor Jehoiada the priest lived.

 

VERSE 3. However, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.

the high places. These were places where people made sacrifices and burned incense. It was contrary to the Law of Moses.

 

VERSE 4. Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money of the holy things that is brought into the LORD’s house, in current money, the money of the people for whom each man is evaluated, and all the money that it comes into any man’s heart to bring into the LORD’s house,

the money of the holy things. The king will rebuild the temple, paying for it with money brought by the people.

the people for whom each man is evaluated. To take a census is to count the people. Moses, king David, and king Josiah all took censuses, with greatly varying results. Read more »

the money that it comes into any man’s heart to bring into the LORD’s house. This is a great portrayal of making an offering. When we find joy in contributing, we contribute.

People should not contribute out of obligation. Rather, God loves a cheerful giver. Read more »

The Bible calls us to support the people who teach us in the faith. Read more »

 

VERSE 5. let the priests take it to them, each man from his donor; and they shall repair the damage to the house, wherever any damage is found.”

 

VERSE 6. But it was so, that in the twenty-third year of King Jehoash the priests had not repaired the damage to the house.

 

VERSE 7. Then King Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and for the other priests, and said to them, “Why aren’t you repairing the damage to the house? Now therefore take no more money from your treasurers, but deliver it for repair of the damage to the house.”

Why aren’t you repairing the damage to the house. Apparently the priests had been keeping the money for themselves.

 

VERSE 8. The priests consented that they should take no more money from the people, and not repair the damage to the house.

 

VERSE 9. But Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the LORD’s house; and the priests who kept the threshold put all the money that was brought into the LORD’s house into it.

Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its lid. He set up a donation box.

 

VERSE 10. When they saw that there was much money in the chest, the king’s scribe and the high priest came up, and they put it in bags and counted the money that was found in the LORD’s house.

there was much money in the chest. When the donation box was full

the king’s scribe and the high priest came up. The donation box could only be opened by two people. That helps assure accountability.

In our day, many small churches do not do such a thing. Collections are routinely carried by one person.

The collection has a sacred nature to it. It should be safeguarded. It should never be left alone with one person.

 

VERSE 11. They gave the money that was weighed out into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the LORD’s house; and they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders who worked on the LORD’s house,

 

VERSE 12. and to the masons and the stone cutters, and for buying timber and cut stone to repair the damage to the LORD’s house, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it.

 

VERSE 13. But there were not made for the LORD’s house cups of silver, snuffers, basins, shofars, any vessels of gold or vessels of silver, of the money that was brought into the LORD’s house;

shofars. That is, “trumpets.”

 

VERSE 14. for they gave that to those who did the work, and repaired the LORD’s house with it.

 

VERSE 15. Moreover they didn’t demand an accounting from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to give to those who did the work; for they dealt faithfully.

 

VERSE 16. The money for the trespass offerings and the money for the sin offerings was not brought into the LORD’s house. It was the priests’.

 

JEHOASH IS ASSASSINATED

 

VERSE 17. Then Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath, and took it; and Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem.

 

VERSE 18. Jehoash king of Judah took all the holy things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own holy things, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of the LORD’s house, and of the king’s house, and sent it to Hazael king of Syria; and he went away from Jerusalem.

 

VERSE 19. Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

 

VERSE 20. His servants arose and made a conspiracy, and struck Joash at the house of Millo, on the way that goes down to Silla.

His servants arose and made a conspiracy. King Jehoash is assassinated by his own palace staff.

In the Book of Kings, the leaders exhibit narcissistic behaviors. They demand subservience. They commit idolatry and murder. They disobey sexual laws. Read more »

 

VERSE 21. For Jozacar the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, struck him, and he died; and they buried him with his fathers in David’s city; and Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

 


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2 KINGS

CHAPTERS: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25

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Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.