And the priests consented to receive no more money of the people, neither to repair the breaches of the house.
The verse belongs to the record after Joash, the true king of Judah who had been hidden until old enough to be proclaimed, was made king and Athaliah who had usurped the kingdom was slain, in a history in which Judah had now and then good kings but the kings of Israel were invariably weak or altogether bad. The repair of the Lord's house was Jehoash's own determined purpose, a concern shaped during his years under Jehoiada's guidance and going beyond even his uncle's suggestion. The verse belongs to the repairing of Solomon's temple by Jehoash at the instigation of Jehoiada.
The history of Solomon's temple is the history of Israel's religious experience: when they departed from the Lord the temple was neglected and even suffered violence, and in reform it was repaired and its worship restored. The arrangement was made in the twenty-third year of King Joash, after he had grown to manhood. The young King Joash repaired the temple about two centuries before Josiah, in a similar way to Josiah setting about repairing the house of God in Jerusalem after six years of cleansing the land and preparing the people, for which money was collected.
The money was the half shekel commanded through Moses to be collected annually from every man twenty years old and upward for the service of the tabernacle and later the temple. Collection of this tax had been neglected because of the backslidden condition of the people, making it a difficult and disagreeable task to gather, and the neglect of the repair work belonged to a time when Jehoiada was an old man who depended on his assistants for priestly duties. Donations for the Lord's house had continued for years without the temple being repaired, because the priests had neglected the work and failed to use the donations for their intended purpose.
After the king's order challenging them over the unrepaired damage, the priests consented to receive no more repair money from the people and no longer to take charge of repairing the breaches of the house, so the funds and the work were placed in other hands rather than repairs continuing under the priests. They agreed to stop personally collecting money for themselves and instead rely on support provided through the regular prescribed arrangements; the phrase about not repairing the breaches means they would no longer receive money intended for those repairs. The repairs were not begun until the money needed for them had been raised, so that funds could be gathered before construction proceeded, an example instructing God's people to carry out sacred building and repair work without borrowing.
The verse belongs to the record after Joash, the true king of Judah who had been hidden until old enough to be proclaimed, was made king and Athaliah who had usurped the kingdom was slain, in a history in which Judah had now and then good kings but the kings of Israel were invariably weak or altogether bad. The repair of the Lord's house was Jehoash's own determined purpose, a concern shaped during his years under Jehoiada's guidance and going beyond even his uncle's suggestion. The verse belongs to the repairing of Solomon's temple by Jehoash at the instigation of Jehoiada.
The history of Solomon's temple is the history of Israel's religious experience: when they departed from the Lord the temple was neglected and even suffered violence, and in reform it was repaired and its worship restored. The arrangement was made in the twenty-third year of King Joash, after he had grown to manhood. The young King Joash repaired the temple about two centuries before Josiah, in a similar way to Josiah setting about repairing the house of God in Jerusalem after six years of cleansing the land and preparing the people, for which money was collected.
The money was the half shekel commanded through Moses to be collected annually from every man twenty years old and upward for the service of the tabernacle and later the temple. Collection of this tax had been neglected because of the backslidden condition of the people, making it a difficult and disagreeable task to gather, and the neglect of the repair work belonged to a time when Jehoiada was an old man who depended on his assistants for priestly duties. Donations for the Lord's house had continued for years without the temple being repaired, because the priests had neglected the work and failed to use the donations for their intended purpose.
After the king's order challenging them over the unrepaired damage, the priests consented to receive no more repair money from the people and no longer to take charge of repairing the breaches of the house, so the funds and the work were placed in other hands rather than repairs continuing under the priests. They agreed to stop personally collecting money for themselves and instead rely on support provided through the regular prescribed arrangements; the phrase about not repairing the breaches means they would no longer receive money intended for those repairs. The repairs were not begun until the money needed for them had been raised, so that funds could be gathered before construction proceeded, an example instructing God's people to carry out sacred building and repair work without borrowing.