and to the masons and the stonecutters, as well as to buy timber and quarried stone for making repairs on the house of the LORD, and for any outlay for the repairs of the house.
Here the money for God's house finally reaches working men — masons, stonecutters, and the suppliers of timber and cut stone. Why did God's house need repairing at all, and what kind of people does God trust with the work?
Money That Had Been Going Elsewhere
For years people gave, but the walls stayed broken. One writer points to where the money went instead.
William Kelly"But by the twenty-third year of King Jehoash the priests had made no repairs on the house." That is, instead of using the gifts on the house of the LORD, they used them on themselves.
The push to fix this came from the king, not from the priests.
Leslie M. GrantIt was Jehoash who confronted the priests with this failure. It seems strange that Jehoiada had been slack in this needed work of repairing the temple, so that Jehoash took the lead. At this time the faithfulness of Jehoash was commendable. He called Jehoiada and the other priests. He rebuked them for their slackness. He told them to use the money they already had for the repairs, and to ask no more from the people.
What the Money Bought
This verse pays masons and stonecutters. Their trade called for great skill.
Morrish Bible DictionarySome of these stones are still in place. They are beautifully shaped and squared. They fit so closely that you cannot push a pen-knife blade between them, and there is no mortar at all. This shows the work of the stone-squarers. For such large stones this shows great skill on the part of the masons.
The Faithfulness of the Workmen
The men hired in this verse held no religious office. That is what makes them stand out in the chapter.
H. L. RossierThe priests were using for their own benefit the gifts they received from their acquaintances (vv. 7-8)... They lived from their gifts, and the house of God kept its breaches. Jehoiada himself let them do so without protesting. Further down (v. 15) we see people with no official standing — from the men set over the work down to the carpenters and masons. They "dealt faithfully," much more so than the priests themselves. Let us follow the example of these men. Let us show the same heart for the work, and the same faithfulness in the service entrusted to us, so that we "adorn the teaching which is of our Saviour God in all things" (Titus 2:10).
No one asked these workmen for receipts. One writer sees more than good management in that.
C. KnappNo strict accounts were kept. No one suspected dishonesty or misuse of funds. The most beautiful confidence prevailed, and it showed the work of God. When it is the work of God, the heart is engaged. Selfish ends are absent. There is one common object. All this produces confidence.
Repairing, Not Rebuilding
Joash invented nothing new. He went back to what Moses had laid down, and one writer applies that to us today.
H. L. RossierTo Joash the important thing was to go back to "the tribute of Moses the servant of God laid on Israel in the wilderness" (2 Chron. 24:9), and not to turn aside from the word of the law when it was a matter of honouring the house of God... Like Joash, we are not asked to start building the house, or to put 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.
What the Repairs Did Not Cover
This verse lists building work and materials only. The next verses name what the money did not buy.
Leslie M. GrantNote, however, that this work of repair did not include basins of silver, trimmers, sprinkling bowls, trumpets, or articles of gold and silver (v. 14). Does this not tell us that, though there was a good measure of recovery, the finer details of the worship of the Lord were still lacking?
Summary
- Breach — gifts meant for the temple went to the priests who lived off them. The walls stayed broken for twenty-three years.
- Bag — the work began only when the money went straight to the men holding the tools.
- Builders — the workmen in this verse held no office. Yet they "dealt faithfully" where the priests had not.
- Books — no one demanded accounts from them. Writers read that trust as proof that God Himself was at work.
- Blueprint — Joash added nothing of his own. He went back to what Moses had laid down. The task was never to build a new house, only to repair the old one.