seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
2 Kings 12:1 In the seventh year of Jehu, Joash became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba. 2 Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the years Jehoiada the priest instructed him. 3 The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there.
4 Joash said to the priests, “Collect all the money that is brought as sacred offerings to the temple of the Lord—the money collected in the census, the money received from personal vows and the money brought voluntarily to the temple. 5 Let every priest receive the money from one of the treasurers, then use it to repair whatever damage is found in the temple.”
6 But by the twenty-third year of King Joash the priests still had not repaired the temple. 7 Therefore King Joash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and asked them, “Why aren’t you repairing the damage done to the temple? Take no more money from your treasurers, but hand it over for repairing the temple.” 8 The priests agreed that they would not collect any more money from the people and that they would not repair the temple themselves.
9 Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its lid. He placed it beside the altar, on the right side as one enters the temple of the Lord. The priests who guarded the entrance put into the chest all the money that was brought to the temple of the Lord. 10 Whenever they saw that there was a large amount of money in the chest, the royal secretary and the high priest came, counted the money that had been brought into the temple of the Lord and put it into bags. 11 When the amount had been determined, they gave the money to the men appointed to supervise the work on the temple. With it they paid those who worked on the temple of the Lord—the carpenters and builders, 12 the masons and stonecutters. They purchased timber and blocks of dressed stone for the repair of the temple of the Lord, and met all the other expenses of restoring the temple.
13 The money brought into the temple was not spent for making silver basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, trumpets or any other articles of gold or silver for the temple of the Lord; 14 it was paid to the workers, who used it to repair the temple. 15 They did not require an accounting from those to whom they gave the money to pay the workers, because they acted with complete honesty. 16 The money from the guilt offerings and sin offerings was not brought into the temple of the Lord; it belonged to the priests.
17 About this time Hazael king of Aram went up and attacked Gath and captured it. Then he turned to attack Jerusalem. 18 But Joash king of Judah took all the sacred objects dedicated by his predecessors—Jehoshaphat, Jehoram and Ahaziah, the kings of Judah—and the gifts he himself had dedicated and all the gold found in the treasuries of the temple of the Lord and of the royal palace, and he sent them to Hazael king of Aram, who then withdrew from Jerusalem.
19 As for the other events of the reign of Joash, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 20 His officials conspired against him and assassinated him at Beth Millo, on the road down to Silla. 21 The officials who murdered him were Jozabad son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer. He died and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. And Amaziah his son succeeded him as king.
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Here's the link to the commentary I read.
Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the LORD all the days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him: This implies that when Jehoiada died, Jehoash no longer did what was right in the sight of the LORD. 2 Chronicles 24:15-23 tells us that he turned to idolatry when Jehoiada died, and judgment followed.
Let them repair the damages of the temple: It was natural for Joash to have a high regard for the condition of the temple, because it was his home as a young boy.
Now therefore, do not take more money from your constituency, but deliver it for repairing the damages of the temple: King Joash got to the heart of the problem — the building project was plagued by poor administration and financial mismanagement. Through Jehoiada the priest, he implemented a system where the money would be set aside, saved, and then wisely spent for the repair and refurbishing of the temple.
It belonged to the priests: The point is made that the project succeeded without taking anything away from the priests. The temple was not repaired and refurbished at their expense; they still received money from the trespass offerings and from the sin offerings.
Then Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem: At this time, the kingdom of Syria attacked Judah with an inferior army, but God used them as an instrument of judgment against the disobedient Joash. King Joash was wounded in a battle outside of Jerusalem.
And Jehoash king of Judah took all the sacred things… and sent them to Hazael king of Syria: Instead of trusting God, Jehoash traded prior blessing — the sacred treasures of the temple — to protect his capital and kingdom against the attacking Syrians.
His servants arose and formed a conspiracy, and killed Joash: This is startling, and shows that the blessing of God long before vanished from the compromised king who began so well, but failed to finish well.
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Did the people of Judah kill Joash because he gave all the riches of Judah's Temple to Syria?
Were the people of Judah upset because Joash took so long to get the financing issues in the temple straightened out?
Were the people of Judah upset with Joash because he let the army in Judah get so depleted, they couldn't defend themselves against Syria?
That temple was huge. Could it have been completely repaired in five years? I guess everything had to be done by hand, as there were no power sanders or power saws.
I bet it seemed like all the money collected was going right into the priests' pockets.
Do you think the people of Judah were angry because it looked like the priests were stealing?
Well at any rate, Jehoiada, the priest, put a lock on a box, slit a hole in the top of the box, and made a savings bank. When the box got full, they bagged the money inside, and put it back beside the door. Repairs were finally getting done by honest workmen for a fair wage.
But as luck would have it......
That's about the time Hazael, king of Syria, came along and threatened to attack Jerusalem.
Joash didn't have enough faith in God to try to battle Hazael.
Joash paid Hazael, just like a wimp giving up his lunch money to a schoolyard bully!
Joash was murdered by his own people over money!
Joash had the people put all the money into the church.
There was nothing left of the military but a few chariots, some horses, and some foot soldiers.
It would have taken a miracle for them to defeat the Syrian army.
Joash tried to do it all on his own. He didn't ask God for anything!
Joash didn't really trust God.
