The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 203

And [thirdly] e.ll the money the.t cometh the hnnds of the delinquent order" (Ste.n- into e.ny me.n's bee.rt to bring into the house ley). On the contrnry, he left it in their of the Lord; i.e. nll the free-will offerings h1rnds (vers, 9-11). Two oh11nges only that should be made in money by any of were mnde: I. A public chest was set up the Iemelites. conspicuously in the temple court, ne11r th6l Ver. 5.-Let the ]lriests take it to them, great alto.r, and the people were invited to every me.n of hill &0que.iuta.nce. The money bring their contributious to the temple, and wu to be gathered of " all Israel," out of all hand them to the priests, who should straight- "the cities of Jucl.0.h" (2 Chron. xxiv. 5). way deposit them in the chest in the sight of The priests of each loea.lity were to be the the congregation. 2. The chest was opened eollootors, and would therefore g0.ther "of from time to time, and the money counted, theiracquuintance." As we cannot suppose in the presence of the high priest and of a that very much wonld aoerue from either royal sec1·etary. It was then delivered over the first or second sourcc, since a census was to "the overseers of the house "-persons, rarely tnken, and personal vows were not probably, of the priestly order-appointed very common, we must regard the command by Jehoiada(ch. xi. 18), who disbursed it to of Joa.sh as, in the main, the authorization the carpenters and masons (eh. xii. 11, 12). of a general collection throughout the king• The chest was e. sort of te.ngible evidence dom of volnntary contributions towards the to the people of the purpose to which their temple repairs, and so as analogous to the contributions would be applied, and natu- "letters" which our own sovereigns, or arch- rally stimulated their giving. The pre- bishops, issue from time to time for collec- sence of the king's officer at the counting of tions in churches for special objects. And the money. was equivalent, not ree.lly to an let them repair the bree.ches of the honse, "audit" (Stanley), but to e. publication of wheresoever any bree.oh shell be found. the accounts, and would prevent any sus- The "breaches," or dilapidations, may he.ve pension of the work, so long as it was clear been caused, partly by the neglect of neces- that the money found in the chest had not sary repairs during the reigns of J ehoram, been expended. Thus e. new impetus was Ahaziah, and Athalie.h; but they were given to the movement. The measures ta.ken mainly the result of the wilful violence of completely answered. Contributions flowed Athaliah (2 Chron. xxiv. 7). Apparently, in rapidly, and in a few years the whole the damage done must have been very work was accomplished (see 2 Chron. xxiv. great. 13, 14). And the other priests, and said Ver. 6.-:But it was so, that in:-the three unto them, Why repair ye not the bree.ohes and twentieth year of Xin.g Jehoaeh the of the house t This shows that no repe.irs prieBts had not repaired the breaches of the were going on in the twenty-third year of ho11.Se. No charge is made age.inst the priests Joash, but not that none had been done pre- of mal versation or embezzlement. They had viously. Now therefore reoeive no more simply been negligent. Probably very little money of your acque.intanoe. This was e. money had come in ; and they had not been revocation of the order given in ver. 5, and very active in their endeavours to obtain necessarily put an end to the local collec- larger contributions. It must be remem- tions, which that order required. :But de- bered that what went to the fabric fund liver it for the breaches of the house. If would, for the most part, be a deduction the priests were not to" receive" the money, from the ordinary revenue of the temple, they could not "deliver" it. Obscurity ie which was not, perhaps, much in excess of introduced by the desire for extreme brevity. the ordinary demands upon it. We can, In point of fact, they were to "receive" therefore, quite understand that the king's (ver. 9), but in a new way. policy woulcl not be popular with the priests Ver. 8.-And the priests consented to re- (see 2 Chron. xxiv. 5). Still, it is to be ob- oeive no more money of the people-i.e. to served th~t they are not said to have exe- put an end to the local collections ordered cuted no repairs, but only not to have in ver. 5-neither to repe.ir the bree.ohes of "made haste" and completed their task by the house; i.e. neither to be responsible the time that the king looked for its com- severally for laying out the money which pletioD. they collected in repairs. Ver. 7.-Then King Jehoa.ah called for Ver. 9.-:Snt Jehoie.de. the priest took a J ehoie.da the priest. So, too, the writer of cheat. The writer of Chronicles says, "At Chmnicles (2 Chron. xxiv. 6). The king the king's commandment, they me.de a did not take the matter into his owu hands, chest" (i Chron. xxiv. 8). The suggestion but consulted with the head of the priestly was probably the king's, but the ecclesi- order on the best steps to take in order to e.stice.l and civil authorities worked he,r- expedite the repairs. He made no" charge," moniously in the business. And bored e. hole delivered no "rebuke." He did not "re- in the lid of it-as hundreds of tl1ouse.nds move the e.druini11tration of the funds from have done since hie time-and set it be1ido on. xu. 1-21.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KIN0S. 245 --------------------------- --- - - ---- the altar, on the right side as one oometh only to count the pieces, but to weigh each into the house of the Lord. The altar in- bag sepo.mtely. The bags, when weighed, tended is, of course, the nltnr of burnt offer- were handed over by the high priest and ing, which wo.s in the court of the temple, the royal secretary to the officers whom direcLly opposite the porch. The chest was ,Jehoiarla had o.ppointed (eh. xi. 18) t0 have placed outside the sanctuary (2 Chron. xxiv. the general superintendence of the "house" 8), and, indeed, outside the porch, on the And they laid it out to the carpenters and right he.nd e.s one entered into the court by builders, that wrought upon the houae of the north door. It we.s thus very conspicu- the Lord. The" paid it out" of our Revisers ous. And the priests the.t kept the door- is better than "laid it out." The overseera i.e. the door of the court-put therein all the of the temple paid over to the carpenters money that was brought into the house of and the builders, from time to time, such the Lord. The priests received the money money as was needed for tiJ.e work done or from those who offered, at the gate of the doing. court, and, proceeding to the chest, dropped Ver. 12.-And to masons; rather, to the it in through the aperture. A man could masons. The "masons" (goderim) are the not see that all which he had given was put actual artisans who worke:l under instruc- in, but he reckoned on the good faith of the tions from the "builders." And hewers of priest, and was satisfied. stone-or, stone-cutters-rather, those who Ver. 10.-And it was so, when they saw sawed np the stones on the spot, than those that thero was muoh money in the chest. who hewed them in the quarries-and to "When they saw" means "when they per- buy timber and hewed stone to repair the ceived." They would not see that the chest breaohes of the house of the Lord. Tl.o was becoming full, but would know by the writer of Chronicles mentions "workers in weight, and perhaps by the sound which iron e.nd brass" (bronze) also (2 Chron. the money me.de when it was dropped in. xxiv. 12). Probably, when once the work That the king's soribe. "Royal secretaries" was taken thoroughly in hand, it was found were common in ancient Persia, and often that repairs of o.11 sorts and kinds were acted as the king's commissioners (Herod., needed. The temple had stood for n iii. 128 ; Xen., • Cyrop.,' viii. 6. § 16 ; hundred and thirty-six years, and up to • <Econom.,' iv. 8). Such persons are seen this time it had, so fe.r as we know, under- on the Assyrian sculptured slabs, with a gone no repairs at all. Certainly none are roll of paper or parchment in one hand, and mentioned. And for all that was le.id out e. pen in the other, taking account for the for the house to repair it. This general king of the spoil brought in from foreign clause shows how wide were the powers of countries (see •Ancient Monarchies,' vol. ii. the overseers. The suspicions and jealousies p. 86). And the high priest. Since the time which modern writers have imagined con- of Joshua, the high priest ho.d been called trast remarkably with the general confidence simply "the priest." The restoration of and trust which seem to have prevaile,l the full title (hac-cohen hag-gadol) murks among all those concerned in the repairs. the increasiug power of the priests and the Ver. 13.-Howbeit there was not me.de diminishing power of the kings under the for the house of the Lord bowls of silver, later monarchy. Came up, and they put up snuffers, basins, trumpets, any vessels of in bags, and told, the money that was found gold, or vessela of silver, of the money th11t in the house of the Lord. Money was was brought into the house of the Lord ; i.e. ordiunrily put up in bags, containing a while the repairs wero incomplete, while certain definite amount, the mouth of the the work wns still going on, no portion of bag being then tied round with 11 string the money taken from the chest was ex- (see eh. v. 23; and comp. Prov. vii. 20 ; Iso.. pended in the purchMe of new so.creel vessels, xlvi. 6; Hag. i. 6). Hence putting money whether of gold or silver, whether bowls, or up in bo.ga was sometimes called, o.s in this snuffers, or bl\sins, or trumpets-the whole place," binding it." No doubt they" told,'' we.s rigidly applied to the renovation of the or counted, tlie money first, and put it in the temple building. There is no contradiction bags nftenvards ; but Ocr-repav 1rp6-repa11 is o, between this stntemeut and that of the very common figure of speecll. writer of Chronicles (2 Chron. xxiv. 14), Ver. 11.-And they gave the money, being who tells us that, after the entire repaira told-rather, after weighing it-into the were completed, the surplus money was hands of them that did the work, that had expended in this we.y, on the purchase of the oversight of the house of the Lord. It " vessels to minister and to offer, spoons, must be remembernd th11t no coins existed nnd vessels of gold and silver." We can as yet; and the lumps of silver which passed well unuerstand that, after the spoiling of as shekels arnl hnlf-shekels, wern ot' very the temple by successivo kings to buy oif unccrt[\in wc•ight. •ro know tho V(l.lue of enemies-by Rehoboam to content Shishak the monoy in oaoh bo.g, it was necess1uy, not (1 Kings xiv. 26), by Asa to gratify Benhl\•  :: 1G THE SECOND BOOK OF THE.: KINGS. [en. xn. 1-21.