And Jehoash said to the priests, All the money of the hallowed things that is brought into the house of Jehovah, the money of every one that passes [the account], the money at which every man is valued, [and] all the money that comes into any man's heart to bring into the house of Jehovah,
Jehoash, also called Joash, was a young king, and he turned the nation's giving toward one thing: the neglected temple in Jerusalem. The verse names three streams of money and hands them all to the priests — the men whose faithfulness the rest of the chapter tests.
The temple was not simply worn out. Something had been done to it.
The leading work of Jehoash's reign was the repairing of the temple. This had become necessary because the family of Athaliah had broken it up and used the dedicated things in the worship of Baal (2 Chron. 24:7). The king took the initiative, but the neglect of the priests made the work practically impossible.
Joash started with the house of God. That choice is the mark of a real revival.
Joash's first concern was the temple of the Lord, the place of God's presence in the midst of His people. When there is a revival of godliness, this neglected object requires a totally new value. God's children feel the need to gather where the Lord has chosen to make His name dwell. They also feel the need to honour His presence among His own people by their work, their devotion, and all their conduct.
The verse lists three separate payments. Each one comes straight out of the law of Moses.
The wording comes from Exodus 30:13, about everyone who passes among those who are counted: the money is the half-shekel. Here it is for the Temple; in Exodus this money was meant for the tent of meeting. Secondly, the money at which the persons, or souls, were valued, Lev. 27:2-8... and thirdly, the freewill money. Without the five books of Moses this verse would make no sense.
Joash was not inventing a scheme. He was going back to the law God had already given.
What mattered to Joash was going back to "the tribute of Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness" (2 Chr. 24:9). He would not turn aside from the word of the law when it came to honouring the house of God and everything connected with it. It is the same in our day. For us, as for Joash, the question is not about beginning to build the house or putting up a new Church. It is only about repairing the breaches. And for that, God does not leave us to our own ideas, which would only add new breaches to the old evils.
The money goes to the priests, and Joash's own history with them gives the order its weight.
As long as Jehoiada was there, some outward care for the things of God remained. The priests had watched over Jehoash in his childhood. Now Jehoash, grown up, watches over them.
The arrangement failed. Money came in, and the breaches stayed.
Still, there is no true zeal for the LORD. The priests keep the money to themselves, which they had agreed to use for repairing the house of the Lord, until the king steps in to set things in order.
The priests had a right to live from the offerings. The problem lay deeper, in what they put first.
They did have the right to live from the things offered at the altar. But in their hearts their own interests came before the interests of the Lord and of His house... They lived from their gifts, and the house of God kept its breaches. Jehoiada himself let them do so without protesting. Later (v. 15) we see men with no official position — from the foremen over the work down to the carpenters and masons — who "dealt faithfully," far more than the priests themselves.
- Breach — Athaliah's family broke up the temple and spent its dedicated things on Baal. Unfaithfulness caused the ruin, not age.
- Concern — Joash put God's house first. That is what a real revival of godliness looks like.
- Provision — Three streams of money flow in, and all three come from the law of Moses. Without those earlier books the verse makes no sense.
- Trust — Joash handed the money to the priests who had once cared for him. They kept it for themselves, so the king stepped in.
- Repair — The task was never to build something new, only to mend what was broken. The workmen with no official position did that faithfully.
let the priests take it, every man of his acquaintance; and let them repair the breaches of the house, wherever any breach is found.
Jehoiada the priest rescued Joash as a baby and raised him inside the temple. Now, as king, Joash cares first about the building that sheltered him. The order he gives sounds simple — let the priests collect the money and mend whatever is broken. But it raises two questions the chapter then answers. What had damaged God's house? And why did such a sensible plan stall for over twenty years?
The temple was not just worn out by age. Commentators point to a deliberate cause.
The leading work of Jehoash's reign was the repairing of the temple. The repair had become necessary because Athaliah's family had broken it up and used the dedicated things in the worship of Baal (2 Chron. 24:7). The king made the first move, but the priests neglected the work and made it almost impossible.
The king's thoughts turn first to God's dwelling place. One writer sees here what happens whenever godliness revives.
Joash's first concern was the temple of the Lord, the place of God's presence among His people. When godliness revives, this neglected object takes on a completely new value. God's children feel the need to gather where the Lord has been pleased to make His name dwell. They feel the need to honour His presence among His own by their activity, their devotion, and all their conduct.
The verse points to money coming in from more than one source.
Jehoash cared about the proper welfare of the temple of God. He ordered that two kinds of money should pay for its repair: the money the people owed, and the money they brought willingly.
Some older translations read "every man of his acquaintance"; the ESV has "each from his donor."
Joash invented nothing. He went back to what Moses had laid down, and one writer draws a line from that to believers today.
To Joash the important thing was to go back to "the tribute of Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness" (2 Chr. 24:9). He would not turn aside from the word of the law when it came to honouring the house of God and everything connected with it. It is the same in our day. Like Joash, we are not asked to start building the house, or to set up a new Church. We only have to repair the breaches. And for that God does not leave us to our own ideas, which would only add new breaches to the old evils. In the Word of God we too have our tribute of Moses, the sign of what God expects from us. And if our hearts are willing, they will seek only one thing: the interests of Christ and of the house of God on earth.
The order was clear, and still nothing happened. The problem lay in what the priests put first.
The priests were using for themselves the gifts they received from the people they knew. They did have the right to live from the things offered at the altar. But in their hearts their own interests came before those of the Lord and of His house, and their conduct showed it. They lived off their gifts, and the house of God kept its breaches. Jehoiada himself let them do so without protesting.
Joash knew the word of God for himself. That gave him the standing to speak.
He stayed true to what he had learned in the word of God. So he did not hesitate to correct even the high priest when the high priest failed to carry it out, for that Word is above all. He owed his uncle a lasting debt of gratitude for saving his life as a baby. Yet when the moment called for it, he could ask him, as God's high priest, to do his duty over the repairs that house needed — the house God had set him over.
- Breach — Athaliah's family broke up the house and spent its dedicated things on Baal. Every breach in God's house has a cause.
- Burden — A renewed heart turns first to God's dwelling place. The neglected object takes on a completely new value.
- Bounty — What the people owed and what they gave willingly paid for the repair. Joash followed the pattern Moses laid down. He invented nothing new.
- Blockage — The priests put their own interests before the Lord's. They lived off the gifts, and the house kept its breaches.
- Backbone — Joash learned the Word and lived by it. So he corrected even the high priest who had saved his life, because that Word stands above all.