UNROLL
Early morning in the temple court: stacked dressed limestone blocks and long cedar beams lie ready on the paving, a wooden mallet and bronze chisels resting on a block; behind, in soft light, the long, plain stone house of the temple with its porch and two bronze pillars, a crack running down its plastered wall; a pale, calm dawn sky above.

The Book of

2 Kings 12

The temple is cracked and the repairs never get done. A king, an old priest and a plain wooden chest set things right.

21 verses≈ 5 min4 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1–8ElishaThe prophet's double portion
  2. 9–12JehuThe house of Ahab fallsChapter 12
  3. 13–17Last kings of IsraelSamaria falls
  4. 18–20HezekiahTrust in the LORD
  5. 21–23JosiahThe Book found
  6. 24–25ExileJerusalem falls

Joash Repairs the Temple

Judah

Joash of Judah · 40 years

  1. Jehu’s 7th year

    Joash becomes king

    In the seventh year of Jehu, Joash became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years.

  2. His mother Zibiah of Beersheba

    His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba.

  3. did right

    Right, while Jehoiada taught him

    And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the days he was instructed by Jehoiada the priest.

  4. The high places remain

    Nevertheless, the high places were not removed; the people continued sacrificing and burning incense there.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

Then Joash said to the priests, “Collect all the money brought as sacred gifts into the house of the LORD—the census money, the money from vows, and the money brought voluntarily into the house of the LORD. Let every priest receive it from his constituency, and let it be used to repair any damage found in the temple.”

By the twenty-third year of the reign of Joash, however, the priests had not yet repaired the damage to the temple.

Joash

So King Joash called Jehoiada and the other priests and said, “Why have you not repaired the damage to the temple? Now, therefore, take no more money from your constituency, but hand it over for the repair of the temple.”

So the priests agreed that they would not receive money from the people and that they would not repair the temple themselves.

Morning in the temple court: a plain wooden chest with a round hole bored in its lid stands on the paving beside the great square bronze altar; a priest in white linen drops a small lump of silver through the hole while a farmer in a brown wool cloak waits his turn, one bronze pillar of the temple porch at the frame's edge.

Then Jehoiada the priest took a chest, bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar on the right side as one enters the house of the LORD. There the priests who guarded the threshold put all the money brought into the house of the LORD.

took a chest, bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar

2 Kings 12:9

Question

Quick question

Years passed and the temple was still not mended. Then Jehoiada found a simple answer.

Where did Jehoiada set the chest with a hole in its lid?

However, the money brought into the house of the LORD was not used for making silver basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, trumpets, or any articles of gold or silver for the house of the LORD. Instead, it was paid to those doing the work, and with it they repaired the house of the LORD.

No accounting was required from the men who received the money to pay the workmen, because they acted with integrity.

2 Kings 12:15

The money from the guilt offerings and sin offerings was not brought into the house of the LORD; it belonged to the priests.

Reflect

They acted with integrity

“No accounting was required from the men who received the money to pay the workmen.” They were trusted with the temple’s silver because they were honest with it. Where are you trusted with what isn’t yours: money, time, someone’s confidence? What would integrity look like there this week?

The Death of Joash

Dusk seen from a far hilltop in the low hills of the Shephelah: on a low mound a small walled town with a thin column of smoke rising from inside its walls; on the plain before it the low tents and cooking fires of an Aramean army camp, tiny figures, and a road winding east into the hills.

At that time Hazael king of Aram marched up and fought against Gath and captured it. Then he decided to attack Jerusalem.

Early morning at a plain stone gate of Jerusalem: royal servants lead a short line of donkeys laden with heavy leather sacks and small corded wooden chests out through the gate and down a stony road westward, the hills hazy ahead, a calm clear sky above.

So King Joash of Judah took all the sacred objects dedicated by his fathers—Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, the kings of Judah—along with his own consecrated items and all the gold found in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the royal palace, and he sent them to Hazael king of Aram. So Hazael withdrew from Jerusalem.

0:20

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Judah

Joash’s end

  1. Chronicles of Judah

    His acts recorded

    As for the rest of the acts of Joash, along with all his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

  2. A conspiracy at Beth-millo

    And the servants of Joash rose up and formed a conspiracy and killed him at Beth-millo, on the road down to Silla.

  3. Struck down by his servants

    His servants Jozabad son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer struck him down, and he died.

  4. son of Joash

    Buried; Amaziah reigns

    And they buried him with his fathers in the City of David, and his son Amaziah reigned in his place.

Pray

Finish well

Joash “did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the days he was instructed by Jehoiada the priest.” Thank God for the faithful teachers who have helped you. Pray for leaders who began well to finish well, and for yourself, that you would keep walking with the LORD when your helpers are gone. Ask Him for honesty with what belongs to Him, and for trust in Him rather than in buying peace.

You’ve experienced

2 Kings 12

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A verse to carry with you

No accounting was required from the men who received the money to pay the workmen, because they acted with integrity.

2 Kings 12:15

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