Reflections on 2 Kings 12

 2 Kings 12(Contemporary English Version)

1. Joash became king of Judah in Jehu's seventh year as king of Israel, and he ruled forty years from Jerusalem. His mother Zibiah was from the town of Beersheba.
   
2. Jehoiada the priest taught Joash what was right, and so for the rest of his life Joash obeyed the LORD.
   
3. But even Joash did not destroy the local shrines, and they were still used as places for offering sacrifices.
   
4. One day, Joash said to the priests, "Collect all the money that has been given to the LORD's temple, whether from taxes or gifts,
   
5. and use it to repair the temple. You priests can contribute your own money too."
   
6. But the priests never started repairing the temple. So in the twenty-third year of his rule,
   
7. Joash called for Jehoiada and the other priests and said, "Why aren't you using the money to repair the temple? Don't take any more money for yourselves. It is only to be used to pay for the repairs."
   
8. The priests agreed that they would not collect any more money or be in charge of the temple repairs.
   
9. Jehoiada found a wooden box; he cut a hole in the top of it and set it on the right side of the altar where people went into the temple. Whenever someone gave money to the temple, the priests guarding the entrance would put it into this box.
   
10. When the box was full of money, the king's secretary and the chief priest would count the money and put it in bags.
    
11. Then they would give it to the men supervising the repairs to the temple. Some of the money was used to pay the builders, the woodworkers,
    
12. the stonecutters, and the men who built the walls. And some was used to buy wood and stone and to pay any other costs for repairing the temple.
    
13. While the repairs were being made, the money that was given to the temple was not used to make silver bowls, lamp snuffers, small sprinkling bowls, trumpets, or anything gold or silver for the temple.
    
14. It went only to pay for repairs.
    
15. The men in charge were honest, so no one had to keep track of the money.
    
16. The fines that had to be paid along with the sacrifices to make things right and the sacrifices for sin did not go to the temple. This money belonged only to the priests.
    
17. About the same time, King Hazael of Syria attacked the town of Gath and captured it. Next, he decided to attack Jerusalem.
    
18. So Joash collected everything he and his ancestors Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah had dedicated to the LORD, as well as the gold in the storage rooms in the temple and palace. He sent it all to Hazael as a gift, and when Hazael received it, he ordered his troops to leave Jerusalem.
    
19. Everything else Joash did while he was king is written in The History of the Kings of Judah.
    
20. At the end of his rule, some of his officers rebelled against him. Jozabad son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer murdered him in a building where the land was filled in on the east side of Jerusalem, near the road to Silla. Joash was buried beside his ancestors in Jerusalem, and his son Amaziah became king.
    
21. (SEE 12:20)

---

This account in 2 Kings chapter 12 of the reign of king Joash is rather abbreviated compared to that given in 2 Chronicles. Joash was secretly raised in the temple by his uncle, Jehoiada, who was the priest in the temple of the Lord. This was necessary since Joash's grandmother, Athaliah, killed all of his brothers, and would have killed him so she could have the throne. Joash was only seven years old when he became king and ruled under the influence of his uncle Jehoiada. As long as his uncle was alive he was a godly king.

One of Joash's accomplishments was the restoration of the temple which had come into disrepair during the reign of Athaliah who turned everyone to Baal worship. His first attempt at restoration did not succeed. He instructed the priests, "All the dedicated money brought to the LORD's temple, census money, money from vows, and all money voluntarily given for the LORD's temple, each priest is to take from his assessor and repair whatever damage to the temple is found." (12:4-5) The parallel passage in 2 Chronicles makes these instructions a bit clearer: "So he gathered the priests and Levites and said, 'Go out to the cities of Judah and collect money from all Israel to repair the temple of your God as needed year by year, and do it quickly.' However, the Levites did not hurry." (2 Chronicles 24:5)

So the plan was to use a temple tax established by Moses for the repairs to the temple. However, the tax was evidently not sufficient for both the support of the priests and repair of the temple so the priests were reluctant to divert it to repairs. After considerable time had gone by and the repairs still were not done, Joash grew impatient and called the priests together to ask why his instructions had not been followed. We are not given their reply. Whatever the reply, the king gave new instructions. The priests were no longer to take money from the tax for their own use. It was all to go to the temple repair. The priests were to live off of the sin offerings. In addition, the responsibility for the repair was no longer theirs. It was handed off to others.

A hole was bored in the top of a chest and the people dropped their taxes into the chest when they came to the temple. As the chest became full the king's secretary and the high priest would count it and give it to those responsible for the repairs. Initially, the money covered only the structural repairs. When those repairs were made the money was then used for the temple articles such as the silver bowls, wick trimmers, etc.
This account of the temple restoration is all we are told of Joash's reign in 2 Kings except for an account of how he died. What we must learn from 2 Chronicles is that after the king's uncle died, he turned away from the Lord. During this period his cousin, Zechariah, who became high priest following the death of his father, spoke out against Joash's apostacy. Because of this, Joash had him killed. This sin led to his death. 2 Kings 12:17-21 tells of the events leading up to his death. We gather further details from 2 Chronicles chapter 24 for a clearer picture.

The Arameans sent a small army into Judah and the Lord gave them victory over Judah and they were able to kill many of the leaders. They also wounded Joash. After the king was wounded the Arameans retreated, but two of the king's servants conspired against him and killed him because he had killed the high priest.