II Kings 12
Jehoiada gives wise counsel to King Jehoashverses 1-3
In the seventh year of Jehu – Jehoash began to reign
and forty years reigned he in Jerusalem
and his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba
And Jehoash did that which was RIGHT
in the sight of the LORD all his days
wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him
BUT the high places were not taken away
the people still sacrificed and burnt incense
in the high places
King Jehoash asks priest to repair Templeverses 4-5
And Jehoash
said to the priests
All the money of the dedicated things that is brought
into the house of the LORD
even the money of every one that passes
the account the money that every man is set at
and all the money that comes into
any man’s heart to bring
into the house of the LORD
Let the priests take it to them – every man of his acquaintance
and let them REPAIR the breaches of the house
wheresoever any breach shall be found
King Jehoash confronts priestsverses 6-8
But it was so – that in the three and twentieth year of king Jehoash
the priests had not REPAIRED the breaches of the house
Then king Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest
and the other priests and said to them
Why REPAIR you not the breaches of the house?
Now therefore receive no more money of your acquaintance
but deliver it for the breaches of the house
And the priests consented to receive no more money of the people
neither to repair the breaches of the house
Jehoiada puts chest for moneyverses 9-12
But Jehoiada the priest took a chest – and bored a hole in the lid of it
and set it beside the altar
on the right side as one comes
into the house of the LORD
and the priests that kept the door put therein all the money
that was brought into the house of the LORD
And it was so – when they saw that there was much money in the chest
that the king’s scribe and the high priest came up
and they put up in bags
and told the money that was found in the house of the LORD
and they gave the money – being told
into the hands of them that did the work
that had the oversight of the
house of the LORD
and they laid it out to the carpenters and builders
that wrought upon the house of the LORD
and to masons – and hewers of stone
and to buy timber and hewed stone
to repair the breaches of the
house of the LORD
and for all that was laid out for the house
to repair it
Money collected was used only for repairsverses 13-15
Howbeit there were not made for the house of the LORD
bowls of silver – snuffers – basins – trumpets
any vessels of gold or vessels of silver
of the money that was brought
into the house of the LORD
but they gave that to the workmen
and repaired therewith the house of the LORD
Moreover they reckoned not with the men
into whose hand they delivered the money
to be bestowed on workmen
for they dealt FAITHFULLY
Priest receive trespass and sin offeringsverse 16
The trespass money and sin money was not brought into the
house of the LORD – it was the priests
Syrian king given money to avert attackverses 17-18
Then Hazael king of Syria went up – and fought against Gath
and took it and Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem
And Jehoash king of Judah took all the hallowed things
that Jehoshaphat – Jehoram – Ahaziah – his fathers
kings of Judah had dedicated
and all his own hallowed things
and all the gold that was found
in the treasures of the house of the LORD
and in the king’s house
and sent it to Hazael king of Syria
and he went away from Jerusalem
History of acts of King Jehoash recordedverse 19
And the rest of the acts of Joash – and all that he did
Are they not written in
the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
King Jehoash assassinated by advisersverses 20-21
And his servants arose – and made a conspiracy
and slew Joash in the house of Millo – which goes down to Silla
for Jozachar the son of Shimeath
and Jehozabad the son of Shomer
his servants – smote him – and he died
and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David
and Amaziah his son reigned in his stead
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 2 And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him. (3384 “instructed” [yarah] means direct, teach, point out, impart knowledge to, display or give guidance)
DEVOTION: Good teachers are hard to find these days. We had some good ones at Grand Rapids over the years. There are still some that want to train people to serve the LORD faithfully. That is not true in many “Christian” seminaries today. Many men are coming out as good CEO’s of churches but not good sound biblical preachers are that are training people to face the world with a good working knowledge of the Word of God. There are many baby Christian sermons instead of sermons with some meat in them for believers that want to truly grow in the LORD.
Most growing believers have to be good students of the Word of God or know of good Bible teachers that will challenge them to grow. Remember that even believers take laziness and stubbornness into their Christian life. It is work to grow in the LORD today as it was in any day in Biblical history starting with Adam and Eve. They were not good listeners either.
Well, here we have a man who is very old teaching a very young king. In fact, Jehoiada died when king Jehoash was only thirty years old. This means that he had a good teacher at the beginning of his reign but then had to move on his own when he was thirty. It is stated that he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD while Jehoiada taught him but that all changed at the age of thirty.
He was independent of a good Biblical teacher and started to go in a direction that didn’t please the LORD. So, we can train our children while they are young but they can turn from the LORD when they get older. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to be good parents and grandparents in our times of imparting Biblical knowledge to our children and grandchildren. We have to leave the results to the LORD. Our prayer life should NEVER stop including our children and grandchildren. The prayers of each pastor who loved the LORD and trains his people to become mature growing believers should not stop either. There is a prone to wander at any age in the life of a believer.
CHALLENGE: Listen to good Biblical teachers and pray that you are not one who is prone to wander to far from the LORD without heeding the chastening of the LORD.
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 7 Then king Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and the other priests, and said to them, Why repair you not the breaches of the house? Now therefore receive no more money of your acquaintance, but deliver it for the breaches of the house. (“breaches” (a gap in a wall, barrier, or defense, especially one made by an attacking army)
DEVOTION: While the king was under the training of Jehoiada he wanted to repair the Temple that had been run down by the previous administrations. He had told the priests to start the repairs but the giving was such that they could only do their regular daily activities with the money. This was not to the liking of the king.
He commanded this practice to change. So, he bored a hole in a chest for the money and it was given to the workers who were going to do the repairs on the Temple. The priests had to live on the trespass and sin money they received.
We read that the workers who were repairing the Temple were trustworthy individuals that didn’t need to give an account for the work or money. It had to please the king that something was getting done.
We find in many small churches that most of the time they are just getting by with the offerings to pay the pastor and do the basic work around the church. One of problems might be the need of a chest with a hole in it to have the people bring the money to do some of the extra things that need to be done.
We had a man in my last church that did just that. He had a container at the back of the church for just change in the pockets of the individuals worshiping the LORD each Sunday. Some would put more than change in it. He had a list of needed small project that could be done with the money and he checked off the ones that were done on a regular basis until all the ones on the list were done. It gave the people a taste of accomplishment.
The house of the LORD needs to look good to visitors and if we are not doing the little things to cause this to happen they will not return. Many times throughout the Old Testament the saints were more concerned with their own houses rather than the local church where they attended.
CHALLENGE: Repairs are always with us but we can still have times of repair that can encourage both the church member and community. If you see something you can do, no matter what your age, ask if you can do it.
: 11 And they gave the money, being told, into the hands of them that did the work, that had the oversight of the house of the LORD: and they laid it out to the carpenters and builders, that wrought on the house of the LORD. (3701 “money” [keceph] means silver, price, shekels, talents, a substitute for trading goods directly, precious metals, or belongings)
DEVOTION: The worker is worthy of his hire. Here we find that the workers probably didn’t use the money for themselves but for the building of the House of the LORD.
All the money was brought in to rebuild the House of the LORD. It had been in disrepair for a while now the people were concerned to make sure that the place of worship was good for the LORD.
These are skilled laborers who loved the LORD and wanted to see that HIS house was worthy of HIS name.
Today we build churches as places of worship. They should be built with the same love as the House of the LORD was built. The money should be used wisely. The decorum of the church should be pleasing to the LORD.
Too often the church building is more for the people than for the LORD. We need to make sure when we enter the church that we think of worshiping the LORD and not looking at all the decorations.
God wants us to worship HIM today as they did in the Old Testament with their whole heart. We should think of the LORD as we enter the church and when we exit the church. Our focus should not be on all the expense that was put into the church but on the LORD who gave us so great a salvation.
CHALLENGE: The church building needs to bring glory to the LORD which in turn causes us to give HIM more glory.
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 15 Moreover they reckoned not with the men, into whose hand they delivered the money to be bestowed on workmen: for they dealt faithfully. (2803 “reckoned” [chashab] means to fabricate, account, consider, count, esteem, impute, or purpose)
DEVOTION: Two names for the same king can make it confusing for some people: Jehoash and Joash. He became king at the age of seven. He had Jehoiada the priest as his counselor. All of the time that he listened to Jehoiada he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD. Having a good counselor is a great find for any individual, especially for a leader of a nation.
One of the burdens that king Jehoash had was that the house of the LORD be repaired. He commanded the priests not to use the money for their personal expenses but only for the repairing of the house of the LORD. This didn’t happen at first.
Jehoiada made a chest with a hole in the top of it for the money for the repairs. The high priest and the king’s scribe counted that money. The money that came in was given to the workmen, so that, they could repair the temple. The work was getting done.
The men who handled the money for the repairs of the temple were honest men and didn’t have to give an account of how they spent the money. Everyone trusted them. They were individuals who were called FAITHFUL.
We need to be faithful handlers of the LORD’S money. All the money that we receive from our work and other places comes from the LORD. We have to answer to HIM for how we spend it. There are many programs in our Christian world to help us spend our money wisely.
We should be people that others can trust with their money. We need to spend what comes into any ministry with faithfulness. The people need to give, but the ones receiving need to be faithful to the LORD in their spending.
We are not to love money but we are to use it for the glory of God. Are we giving to the LORD as we should? Are we spending the rest the way the LORD would have us? Let’s be honest in our workplace and in our church.
One fact that I keep in front of me all the time is that if I take too much from the ministry, I have to answer to the LORD. If those giving are not giving what the LORD wants them to, they have to answer to the LORD. Also, there should be no worrying about the IRS or anyone else questioning our use of money.
CHALLENGE: We each have to be faithful to the LORD with the money HE has allowed in our life. Our giving has to match HIS blessing of us each week.
: 18 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 that was found in the treasures of the house of the LORD, and in the king’s house, and sent it to Hazael king of Syria: and he went away from Jerusalem. (6944 “hallowed” [qodesh] means holy, things that are sacred or proper for religious worship, sacredness, holiness, votive gifts, offerings, apartness, or sanctuary)
DEVOTION: One of the missing ingredients on this occasion was there was no consulting of the LORD. This was happening after Jehoiada had died and his son was someone who gave the king advice.
Well, the king killed the son of Jehoiada for giving him advice that he didn’t like regarding what he should do at this time. The people didn’t like the fact that he had the High Priest’s son killed.
So, we find that his only solution was to pay off this foreign king who was worshiping a false god instead of consulting the one TRUE God about what to do. He had not carried the teaching of his teacher into his adult years. He went out on his own and probably had people around him his own age who told him what to do instead of trusting the LORD to work out the details of a victory over the Syrians.
We need to watch what happens to the training we had when we were young in the faith. We need to continue to consult the right counselors regarding our adult actions.
If we didn’t have good instructions when we were young, we need to ask the LORD to bring the right older Christians into our life to give us new training to offset the bad training we received when we were young. Our parents might have been religious but not Biblical in their training.
Today we find that many young families are struggling with understanding the way of the LORD. There are so many confusing things happening in our world and they need to not become confused regarding proper training of children.
There are a lot of good programs that train children today. Two of them are AWANA and Word of Life Clubs. There are others but something must be taught during Sunday School and Children’s church to give our children any hope of receiving good basic training. What they do as adults can be left in the LORD’S hand if we train them lovingly as children.
CHALLENGE: Some will turn out like this king but a majority can turn out in the other direction. Work with the LORD throughout the lives of your children.
DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Money of dedicated thingsverse 4
Money that every man is set atverse 4
Money that comes into any man’s heartverse 4
Money to be used to repair Templeverses 5-8
Money in chest at entrance of Templeverse 9
Money in hand of workersverse 11
Money used for repairsverses 12-15
Money not given correctlyverse 18
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Book of Chroniclesverse 19
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
Jehoiada – the priestverses 2, 7-9
Instructed Jehoash
Took a chest and bored a hole
For money for house of the LORD
House of the LORDverses 4-18
Repair the breaches
Trespass moneyverse 16
Sin moneyverse 16
After 23 years it still didn’t happen
DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
Book of Chroniclesverse 19
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal)verses 2, 4, 9-14, 16, 18
Sight of the LORDverse 2
House of the LORDverses 4, 9-14, 16, 18
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead – God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Hazael – king of Syriaverses 17-18
Paid money by king Jehoash of Judah
Gath taken from Philistinesverse 17
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Worshiping in high placesverse 3
Sacrificed and burnt incense
Not repairing the Templeverses 6-8
Paying Hazael LORD’S moneyverse 18
Conspiracyverse 20
Murderverse 20
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Right in the eyes of the LORDverse 2
Instructedverse 2
Offering for repair of Templeverse 9
Reckoned not workers regarding moneyverse 15
Faithful workersverse 15
Priests paid with trespass and sin offeringsverse 16
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Jehuverse 1
Jehoashverses 1-18
Forty years reigned in Jerusalem
Did what was right in sight of the LORD
Took temple money to pay Hazael of Syria
King’s scribe and High Priest collected money
and put in to bags verses 10-16
Gave money to workers on House of the LORD
Jehoshaphatverse 18
Jehoramverse 18
Ahaziahverse 18
Joashverse 19
Acts written in book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah
Killed by his servants
Jozachar the son of Shimeath
Jehozahad the son of Shomer
City of David (Jerusalem)verse 21
Amaziah – reigned in Judahverse 21
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
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QUOTES regarding passage
The decline in Joash’s character is tragic. He does not fulfill his potential. Hubbard observes, “Once a promising, God-fearing young ruler, Joash died a disappointment. By bribing Hazael with Temple treasures, he tarnished his one great achievement, the Temple restoration.” Perhaps his problem was that he never learned to make solid decisions on his own. Honeycutt writes, “In the final analysis the individual, under God’s leadership, must make his own decisions, create his own integrity, and achieve his own destiny.”129 Besides these flaws, Joash becomes proud and disloyal, even to the extent that he kills his mentor’s son for preaching his mentor’s message. It is hard to imagine a sadder case of moral failure. (House, P. R. (1995). 1, 2 Kings (Vol. 8, p. 304). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)
2. Joash did what was right (see Introduction, pp. 51–52) all the years or ‘so long as’ (neb) Jehoiada helped him (so 2 Chr. 24:2). The older man was respected for this and was eventually buried among the kings (2 Chr. 24:15–16). When the priest became old and Joash independent, the king, alas, followed evil ways (2 Chr. 24:17–27). The benefit of an experienced spiritual advisor may be seen by Joash’s departure from the faith when Jehoiada’s influence is removed. (Wiseman, D. J. (1993). 1 and 2 Kings: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 9, p. 250). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.)
Lack of zeal by the priests (2 Chr. 24:5) and perhaps lack of supervision by the ageing Jehoiada (who was to die aged 124) led Joash, now aged thirty (v. 6), to make new arrangements (vv. 9–16) for making good the repairs needed (v. 7, damage, ‘breaches’ av). There seems also to be concern over possible mishandling of financial affairs which ever brings shame on God’s house. Joash’s transfer of responsibility to the whole people may have been directed to making the temple self-supporting and to get all the people involved in sharing in provision for God’s work. The priests now relinquish both the collection of funds and the management of repairs on the fabric (vv. 7–8).
The breach between Jehoiada and Joash may have occurred about this time. (Wiseman, D. J. (1993). 1 and 2 Kings: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 9, p. 251). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.)
It was more likely direct revenge on Joash for having stoned to death Jehoiada’s son Zechariah in the temple after he had criticized the king. (Wiseman, D. J. (1993). 1 and 2 Kings: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 9, p. 253). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.)
The beginning of Joash’s reign marks the commencement of over 100 years of consecutive rule by four men who were all judged as good kings. None of these four—Joash, Amaziah, Azariah (Uzziah), and Jotham—was as good for Judah as Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, or Josiah, but together they did provide the longest continuous span of God-approved leadership in Judah’s history. (Constable, T. L. (1985). 2 Kings. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 561). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
Several events transpired during the reign of Joash that are not recorded in 2 Kings but do appear in 2 Chronicles. Jehoiada the high priest died at the uncommonly advanced age of 130 years (2 Chron. 24:15–16). After Jehoiada’s voice was silenced Joash followed the counsel of certain Judean officials who advised him to do things that resulted in his turning from the Lord. When the king did this God sent prophets to warn the nation (2 Chron. 24:17–19). Jehoiada’s son, Zechariah, who had replaced his father as high priest, also sounded a prophetic warning. But Joash had him stoned to death for his rebuke (2 Chron. 24:20–22). (Constable, T. L. (1985). 2 Kings. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 562). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
Teaching is the special task of the wisdom school as seen especially through the book of Prov and of the priesthood. The latter accompanies a revealed religion. The priests are to teach the law given by Moses (Lev 10:11; Deut 33:10); e.g. King Jehoash acted uprightly because he was instructed by the high priest (II Kgs 12:2 [H 3]). Ezra the priest faithfully taught the Law of Moses in the fall Feast of Tabernacles in accordance with the Deuteronomic injunction (Deut 31:9–11; Ezr 8:1ff.). Unfortunately, the priests were not always true to God; they taught for money and became teachers of lies (Isa 9:15 [H 14]; Mic 3:11). Similarly, an idol is deemed “a teacher of lies” (Hab 2:18f). (Hartley, J. E. (1999). 910 יָרָה. (R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke, Eds.)Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Chicago: Moody Press.)
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