2 Chronicles 24:1-14
Joash Repairs the Temple (2 Kings 11:21—12:16)
1 Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. 2 Joash did what was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest. 3 And Jehoiada took two wives for him, and he had sons and daughters.
4 Now it happened after this that Joash set his heart on repairing the house of the LORD. 5 Then he gathered the priests and the Levites, and said to them, “Go out to the cities of Judah, and gather from all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that you do it quickly.”
However the Levites did not do it quickly. 6 So the king called Jehoiada the chief priest, and said to him, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and from Jerusalem the collection, according to the commandment of Moses the servant of the LORD and of the assembly of Israel, for the tabernacle of witness?” 7 For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the house of God, and had also presented all the dedicated things of the house of the LORD to the Baals.
8 Then at the king’s command they made a chest, and set it outside at the gate of the house of the LORD. 9 And they made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring to the LORD the collection that Moses the servant of God had imposed on Israel in the wilderness. 10 Then all the leaders and all the people rejoiced, brought their contributions, and put them into the chest until all had given. 11 So it was, at that time, when the chest was brought to the king’s official by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, that the king’s scribe and the high priest’s officer came and emptied the chest, and took it and returned it to its place. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance.
12 The king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the service of the house of the LORD; and they hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the LORD, and also those who worked in iron and bronze to restore the house of the LORD. 13 So the workmen labored, and the work was completed by them; they restored the house of God to its original condition and reinforced it. 14 When they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada; they made from it articles for the house of the LORD, articles for serving and offering, spoons and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the LORD continually all the days of Jehoiada.
King Joash was a godly man who set his heart on doing what God said was right according to His word as witnessed by the prophets to the people. Because he had such a heart for God like king David before him, he saw the disrepair that the house of God had fallen into by neglect as the people pursued idolatry, and he did something about it as soon as he saw it. He sent the priests and Levite servants of the temple quickly throughout the land to gather offerings to fund the work of the repair and restoration to honor and worship the LORD in that meeting place before the mercy seat in the holy place. When they dragged their feet on the task, he strongly reminded them the commandment of Moses, the servant of the LORD and of the assembly of Israel, to keep up and serve in the temple of the tabernacle of witness before the LORD. He reminded them also how evil Athaliah’s sons had desecrated the temple with offering the holy dedicated things of God’s house to idols of false gods to shame them into action due to the seriousness of the state of God’s temple in disrepair and dishonor. Due to the slow action to personally collect what was needed, the king had boxes made so the people could themselves put their tithe offerings in the box to sustain the work to restore and maintain upkeep of the house of God. They hired workers for the restoration work that it might be brought back to the original condition and then made it better by reinforcing it. They renewed and made the temple even better in their restoration work to have a place worthy for the LORD to meet them in their worship and continued sacrifices to honor and serve Him there. Do we take the same care not only of our church buildings where we meet and worship the Lord, but also of these temples of our bodies where He dwells (1 Corinthians 6:19, Ephesians 2:21-22, 1 Peter 2:4-5) in us personally and corporately?
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