4 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,
Go up to Hilkijah the high priest, that he may sum up the money which is brought into the house of Jehovah, which the doorkeepers have gathered of the people,
Take from among you a heave-offering to Jehovah: every one whose heart [is] willing, let him bring it, Jehovah's heave-offering -- gold, and silver, and copper,
And moreover, in my affection for the house of my God I have given of my own property of gold and silver, for the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the house of the sanctuary: three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses; gold for [things of] gold, and silver for [things of] silver, and for all manner of work by the hands of artificers. And who is willing to offer to Jehovah this day? And the chief fathers and princes of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and the comptrollers of the king's business, offered willingly. And they gave for the service of the house of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, and ten thousand talents of silver, and eighteen thousand talents of brass, and one hundred thousand talents of iron. And they with whom stones were found gave [them] to the treasure of the house of Jehovah, into the hand of Jehiel the Gershonite. And the people rejoiced because they offered willingly, for with perfect heart they offered willingly to Jehovah; and David the king also rejoiced with great joy.
The children of Israel brought a voluntary offering to Jehovah, every man and woman whose heart prompted them to bring for all manner of work, which Jehovah, by the hand of Moses, had commanded to be done.
And they came, both men and women; every one who was of willing heart brought nose-rings, and earrings, and rings, and bracelets, all kinds of utensils of gold: every man that waved a wave-offering of gold to Jehovah.
When thou shalt take the sum of the children of Israel according to those of them that are numbered, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul to Jehovah on their being numbered, that there be no plague among them on their being numbered. This shall they give -- every one that passeth among them that are numbered -- half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary, -- twenty gerahs the shekel; a half shekel shall be the heave-offering for Jehovah. Every one that passeth among those that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give the heave-offering of Jehovah. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when ye give the heave-offering of Jehovah, to make atonement for your souls. And thou shalt take the atonement-money of the children of Israel, and devote it to the service of the tent of meeting; and it shall be a memorial to the children of Israel before Jehovah, to make atonement for your souls.
and brought in the heave-offerings and the tithes and the dedicated things faithfully; and over these Cononiah the Levite was ruler, and Shimei his brother was second.
for all these out of their abundance have cast into the gifts [of God]; but she out of her need has cast in all the living which she had.
and I weighed to them the silver and the gold and the vessels, the heave-offering for the house of our God, which the king and his counsellors and his princes, and all Israel present, had offered. And I weighed into their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver; and silver vessels a hundred talents, [and] of gold a hundred talents; and twenty basons of gold, of a thousand darics; and two vessels of shining copper, precious as gold. And I said to them, Ye are holy unto Jehovah; the vessels also are holy; and the silver and the gold is a voluntary offering to Jehovah the God of your fathers.
and all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon, besides the voluntary offering of the people, and of the priests, who offer willingly for the house of their God which is at Jerusalem.
They gave after their ability to the treasure of the work sixty-one thousand darics of gold, and five thousand pounds of silver, and one hundred priests' coats.
And he set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them to the service of the house of Jehovah.
And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them into the open place eastward; and he said to them, Hear me, ye Levites: hallow yourselves now, and hallow the house of Jehovah the God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the sanctuary. For our fathers have transgressed, and done evil in the sight of Jehovah our God, and have forsaken him and turned away their faces from the habitation of Jehovah, and have turned their backs. Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered up burnt-offerings in the sanctuary to the God of Israel. Therefore the wrath of Jehovah has been upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he has delivered them to vexation, to desolation, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes. And behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with Jehovah the God of Israel, that his fierce anger may turn away from us. My sons, be not now negligent; for Jehovah has chosen you to stand before him, to do service unto him, and to be his ministers and incense-burners.
and they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring to Jehovah the tribute of Moses the servant of God [laid upon] Israel in the wilderness. And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in and cast into the chest, until they had finished.
And he brought into the house of God the things which his father had dedicated, and the things which he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels.
And I know, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart have I willingly offered all these things; and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are present here, offer willingly to thee.
And Jehoash king of Judah took all the hallowed things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own hallowed things, and all the gold found in the treasures of the house of Jehovah and in the king's house, and sent it to Hazael king of Syria; and he went away from Jerusalem.
And Solomon was thirteen years building his own house; and he finished all his house.
And if any one will at all redeem of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth thereof.
and the priest shall value it, [judging] between good and bad: according to the valuation of the priest, so shall it be. And if they will in any wise redeem it, then they shall add a fifth [part] thereof unto thy valuation. And when any one halloweth his house, that it may be holy to Jehovah, the priest shall value it, [judging] between good and bad: as the priest shall value it, so shall it stand. And if he that halloweth it will redeem his house, he shall add the fifth of the money of thy valuation unto it, and it shall be his. And if a man hallow to Jehovah [part] of a field of his possession, thy valuation shall be according to what may be sown in it: the homer of barley seed at fifty shekels of silver. If he hallow his field from the year of jubilee, according to thy valuation shall it stand; but if he hallow his field after the jubilee, then the priest shall reckon unto him the money according to the years that remain, until the year of the jubilee; and there shall be a reduction from thy valuation. And if he that hallowed the field will in any wise redeem it, he shall add the fifth of the money of thy valuation unto it, and it shall be assured to him; but if he do not redeem the field, or if he sell the field to another man, it cannot be redeemed any more; and the field, when it goeth out in the jubilee, shall be holy to Jehovah, as a field devoted; the possession thereof shall be the priest's. And if he hallow to Jehovah a field that he hath bought, which is not of the fields of his possession, the priest shall reckon unto him the amount of thy valuation, unto the year of the jubilee; and he shall give thy valuation on that day, [as] holy to Jehovah. In the year of the jubilee the field shall return unto him of whom it was bought -- to him to whom the land belonged. And all thy valuation shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs shall be the shekel. Only the firstling which is offered as firstling to Jehovah among the cattle, that shall no man hallow, whether it be ox or sheep; it is Jehovah's. But if it be of an unclean beast, then he shall ransom it according to thy valuation, and shall add a fifth of it thereto; and if it be not redeemed, it shall be sold according to thy valuation.
Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, When any one devoteth [anything] by a vow, the persons shall be for Jehovah according to thy valuation. And thy valuation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old: thy valuation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary; and if it be of a female, thy valuation shall be thirty shekels. And if it be from five years old even unto twenty years old, thy valuation of the male shall be twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels. And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, thy valuation of the male shall be five shekels of silver; and for the female thy valuation shall be three shekels of silver. And if it be from sixty years old and above, if it be a male, thy valuation shall be fifteen shekels; and for the female ten shekels. And if he be poorer than thy valuation, he shall present himself before the priest, and the priest shall value him: according to his means that vowed shall the priest value him.
If any one act unfaithfully and sin through inadvertence in the holy things of Jehovah, then he shall bring his trespass-offering to Jehovah, a ram without blemish out of the small cattle, according to thy valuation by shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass-offering. And he shall make restitution for the wrong that he hath done in the holy things, and shall add the fifth part thereto, and shall give it unto the priest; and the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass-offering, and it shall be forgiven him.
And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me a heave-offering: of every one whose heart prompteth him, ye shall take my heave-offering.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 2 Kings 12
Commentary on 2 Kings 12 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 12
2Ki 12:1-18. Jehoash Reigns Well while Jehoiada Lived.
2. Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord—so far as related to his outward actions and the policy of his government. But it is evident from the sequel of his history that the rectitude of his administration was owing more to the salutary influence of his preserver and tutor, Jehoiada, than to the honest and sincere dictates of his own mind.
3. But the high places were not taken away—The popular fondness for the private and disorderly rites performed in the groves and recesses of hills was so inveterate that even the most powerful monarchs had been unable to accomplish their suppression; no wonder that in the early reign of a young king, and after the gross irregularities that had been allowed during the maladministration of Athaliah, the difficulty of putting an end to the superstitions associated with "the high places" was greatly increased.
4. Jehoash said to the priests, &c.—There is here given an account of the measures which the young king took for repairing the temple by the levying of taxes: 1. "The money of every one that passeth the account," namely, half a shekel, as "an offering to the Lord" (Ex 30:13). 2. "The money that every man is set at," that is, the redemption price of every one who had devoted himself or any thing belonging to him to the Lord, and the amount of which was estimated according to certain rules (Le 27:1-8). 3. Free will or voluntary offerings made to the sanctuary. The first two were paid annually (see 2Ch 24:5).
7-10. Why repair ye not the breaches of the house?—This mode of collection not proving so productive as was expected (the dilatoriness of the priests was the chief cause of the failure), a new arrangement was proposed. A chest was placed by the high priest at the entrance into the temple, into which the money given by the people for the repairs of the temple was to be put by the Levites who kept the door. The object of this chest was to make a separation between the money to be raised for the building from the other moneys destined for the general use of the priests, in the hope that the people would be more liberal in their contributions when it was known that their offerings would be devoted to the special purpose of making the necessary repairs. The duty of attending to this work was no longer to devolve on the priests, but to be undertaken by the king.
11, 12. they gave the money, being told, into the hands of them that did the work—The king sent his secretary along with an agent of the high priest to count the money in the chest from time to time (2Ch 24:11), and deliver the amount to the overseers of the building, who paid the workmen and purchased all necessary materials. The custom of putting sums of certain amount in bags, which are labelled and sealed by a proper officer, is a common way of using the currency in Turkey and other Eastern countries.
13-16. Howbeit there were not made … bowls, &c.—When the repairs of the temple had been completed, the surplus was appropriated to the purchase of the temple furniture. The integrity of the overseers of the work being undoubted, no account was exacted of the way in which they applied the money given to them, while other moneys levied at the temple were left to the disposal of the priests as the law directed (Le 5:16; Nu 5:8).
17, 18. Then Hazael … fought against Gath—(See on 2Ch 24:23).
2Ki 12:19-21. He Is Slain.
20. his servants arose … and slew Joash in the house of Millo—(See on 2Ch 24:25).