The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 293

house of tho Lorcl," i.e. the free-will offerings of the people. Accorrli □~ to another interpretation (Rii.hr), only the two last sorts were intended, and the phrase, "money of the numbered," should be rendered "in current money" (Revised Version)--the reason for this instruction that the contributions should be in current money beina- it is said that the money" was to be paid out at once to mechanics for their labour ,?'(TheDins/ (2) Why it failed. Not because the priests embezzled the moDey (J. D. Michaelis, De Wette), which is not stated, and should not be suggested (Pa. ex!. 3; Titus iii. 2), but probably because of (a) their dilatoriness in settiDg about the work entrusted to them-that the work should have been entrusted to them was the first mistake in the proposed plan; (b) the difficulty they had in gatheriDg in the money, which from the manner of its levying had the appearaIJce of a compulsory payment-this the second mistake in the proposed plan; and (c) the too lavish expenditure demanded by their own personal necessities (a legitimate charge upon the collected funds), leaving too small a balance for the work of temple-repairing-that the priests should have been left to distribute the taxes and offerings of the people between their own needs and the public requirements was the third mistake in the proposed plaD. "If self the wavering balance shake, It's rarely right adjusted." (Burns.) The result was that in the three and twentieth year of Joash-tbe year of a new reign in Israel (2 Kings xiii. 1)-the priests had done little or nothing in the way of repairin!J the breaches of the temple (2 Kings xii. 6). 2. The plan that succeeded. (1) Th6 details of the new plan. According to 2 Kings, the work of collecting money for themselves, the temple worship, and the repair of the building was no more to be entrusted to their haDds, neither were these three items of expense to be in future defrayed out of a common fund; but the trespass-money and sin-money should be nssigned to the priests for the first two of these purposes, as the Law of Moses pre- scribed (Lev. v. 16; Numb. v. 8), while the taxes and the free-will offerings should be devoted to the third (2 Kings xii. 7-16). .According to the Chronicler, whose state- ments are supported by those of the Book of Kings, by Joash's command a chest or collection-box of wood was made with a hole bored in its lid, and placed "without at the gate of the house of the Lord," i.e. in the outer court "beside the altar as one cometh into the house of the Lord" (2 Kings xii. 9). Next a. proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem that the people should themselves, of their own free will and pleasure, bring in the temple rates prescribed by the Law, 11.Ild the free-will offeringFI to which they were impelled by their own hearts, and deposit these, unseen by any eye but Jebovah's, into the box. Again, it was arranged that, a.s often as the chest or box was full, it should be conveyed by the hands of the Levites into the king's office, where the money should be emptied out by or before the king's secretary and the high priest's assistant, who should put it into bags, weigh it and band it over to them "that did the service of the house of the Lord," after which the chest should be carried back again to its place at the temple gate. (2) The recommendations of the new plan. It avoided the mistakes of the first scheme. It put the work into the hands of a board of oversight better fitted to command the confidence of the com- munity. It avoided the irritating weapon of compulsion, and relied upon the free will of the people, even with regard to the levying of taxes. It simplified the financial arrangements by keeping the money given for the temple separate from that paid to the priests. (3) The success of the new plan. The people entered into it as their forefathers had done when invited to contribute towards the building of the tabernacle (Exod. xxxv. 21, etc.), universally-" all the princes and all the people cast into the chest;" cheerfully, with no sense of constraint or compulsion upo~ them-" they rejoiced;" liberally-money was "gathered in abundance;" un~eanedl:y-Dot o~ce or twice merely, but regularly and constantly they went o~ with their co~l~ctmg "until they had made an end," i.e. of the enterprise they had m hand, the repamug of the temple. N.B.-'l'he above principles should regulate Christian giving, which should bo universal-" every one of you" (1 Cor. xvi. 2); cheerful-" God loveth t, cheer- ful giver" (2 Ccr, ix. 7); liberal-" see that ye abound i_n this grace [ of ~/berality Jalso" (2 Cor, viii. 7); constant-" to <lo good and to co:nmumcate forget not (Heb. :uu. 16). 294 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [olI. xx1v. 1-27,