2 Kings 12:13, commentary and pictures

The verse belongs to the account of Jehoash, or Joash, repairing Solomon's temple under the guidance of Jehoiada the high priest and at his instigation. The repair took place in the twenty-third year of Joash's reign after he had grown to manhood in the king's office, when he was about thirty years old. For many years under Jehoiada's guidance his early inclinations were toward the religious interests of the kingdom, and his determination to repair the house of the Lord went beyond any suggestion of even his aged and pious uncle, resolved not to forsake the house of God.

The repair stands in the continuing record after Joash, the true king of Judah hidden until old enough, was proclaimed king and Athaliah was slain. It is part of the history of 2 Kings 1 to 12 in which Judah now and then has good kings while Israel's kings are invariably weak or altogether bad. Within that history it is grouped with the closing sketch of the beginning of Joash's reign, his submission to Hazael, and his death.

The history of Solomon's temple is the history of the religious experience of Israel: when they departed from the Lord the temple was neglected and suffered violence, and this repair was one restoration in that cycle, before Jehoash himself afterward robbed its treasures. The money brought into the house of the Lord was the annual half shekel commanded through Moses from every man twenty years old and upward for the service of the tabernacle and later the temple. Its collection had been neglected because of the backslidden condition of the people, so that gathering it was a difficult and disagreeable task. The delay in the work came through Jehoiada, now an old man depending on his assistants for the performance of priestly duties. The tent of the testimony was the tabernacle in Moses' time and later the temple containing God's holy law, bearing constant witness of Jehovah's presence and His covenant with Israel.

The money brought into the Lord's house was used to repair its breaches, not to make bowls of silver, snuffers, basins, trumpets, any vessels of gold, or vessels of silver. No temple vessels were made from the donated money while the designated repairs were still underway. The vessels mentioned in 2 Chronicles 24:14 were made only after that work was finished, so the money was not diverted from its original purpose before then. The account is an example of raising what was needed for the Lord's work before carrying it out, without borrowing.

The overseers and workers in the temple repair under the young king Joash, who two centuries before Josiah repaired the house of God in Jerusalem in a similar way, were so honest that they were not required to give account of the money put into their hands for expenses. This faithfulness in material things, together with the liberality of the people in giving means for the work, is evidence of thorough repentance and earnestness in returning to Jehovah, just as with the faithful workmen and liberal giving under Josiah and with the faithfulness in bringing in the tithe and liberality in offerings in the time of Hezekiah. There is no better evidence of true service than bringing in all the tithes, liberality in offerings, and energetic labor for God and for any employer in legitimate business.