2 Kings 12:15
Moreover they reckoned not with the men, into whose hand they delivered the money to be bestowed on workmen: for they dealt faithfully. Moreover they reckoned not with the men, into whose hand they delivered the money to be bestowed on workmen: for they dealt faithfully.
The verse stands in the continuing history after Joash is proclaimed the true king of Judah and Athaliah is slain, at a time when Judah still has occasional good kings while the kings of Israel are weak or altogether bad. It stands in the closing account of the beginning of the reign of Joash in Judah under the good priest Jehoiada, together with the account of Joash's submission to Hazael and his death. It belongs to the account of Jehoash repairing the temple when he was about thirty years old. He had been for many years under the guidance of Jehoiada the high priest 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.
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 Jehoiada was an old man depending on his assistants and neglecting the work. The money handled faithfully was the annual half shekel commanded through Moses from every man twenty years old and upward for the service of the tabernacle and later for the temple. Its collection had been neglected because of the backslidden condition of the people, and gathering it had become a difficult and disagreeable task.
The men into whose hand the money was delivered to pay the workmen and meet the expenses of the temple repairs dealt faithfully, so they were considered trustworthy and were not required to give an account of it. In Joash's repair the overseers and workmen were so honest that no accounting was required of the money put into their hands for expenses. Their honesty ensured that the funds were used for the work they were meant to support, and their accounts were not checked.
In the repairs the money was raised before the work was undertaken, so the account serves as an example of carrying out God's work without borrowing. This faithfulness of the overseers and workmen, together with the liberality of the people in giving of their means to the work, is evidence of thorough repentance and earnestness in returning to Jehovah. There is no better evidence of true service than faithfulness in material things — bringing in all the tithes, liberality in offerings, and energetic labor for God and for any employer in legitimate business.