February 27, 2025, 2 Kings 12:4-18
February 27, 2025, 2 Kings 12:4-18
4 Jehoash
said to the priests, “All the money of the holy things that is brought
into the house of the Lord,
the money for which each man is assessed—the money from the assessment of
persons—and the money that a man's heart prompts him to bring into the
house of the Lord, 5 let
the priests take, each from his donor, and let them repair the house wherever
any need of repairs is discovered.” 6 But by the
twenty-third year of King Jehoash, the priests had made no repairs on the
house. 7 Therefore King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada
the priest and the other priests and said to them, “Why are you not repairing
the house? Now therefore take no more money from your donors, but hand it over
for the repair of the house.” 8 So the priests
agreed that they should take no more money from the people, and that they
should not repair the house.
9 Then
Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in the lid of it and set
it beside the altar on the right side as one entered the house of the Lord. And the priests who guarded the
threshold put in it all the money that was brought into the house of the Lord. 10 And
whenever they saw that there was much money in the chest, the king's secretary
and the high priest came up and they bagged and counted the money that was
found in the house of the Lord. 11 Then
they would give the money that was weighed out into the hands of the workmen
who had the oversight of the house of the Lord.
And they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders who worked on the house
of the Lord, 12 and to
the masons and the stonecutters, as well as to buy timber and quarried stone
for making repairs on the house of the Lord,
and for any outlay for the repairs of the house. 13 But
there were not made for the house of the Lord basins
of silver, snuffers, bowls, trumpets, or any vessels of gold, or of silver,
from the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, 14 for
that was given to the workmen who were repairing the house of the Lord with it. 15 And they
did not ask for an accounting from the men into whose hand they delivered the
money to pay out to the workmen, for they dealt honestly. 16 The
money from the guilt offerings and the money from the sin offerings
was not brought into the house of the Lord; it
belonged to the priests.
17 At that
time Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath and took it. But
when Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem, 18 Jehoash
king of Judah took all the sacred gifts that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and
Ahaziah his fathers, the kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own sacred
gifts, and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of
the Lord and of the
king's house, and sent these to Hazael king of Syria. Then Hazael went away
from Jerusalem.
My takeaway from this
passage is to operate with integrity. Twenty three years passed and none of the
money given to the temple was used for repairs on the temple. When the priests
were questioned by Jehoash, the priests did not appear to have much to say
about where the money had gone. Once the king brought this to their attention,
the behavior changed, and repairs began. God does not NEED our money, but He
calls us to be obedient. We should glorify God by doing what He call us to do.
I know I have struggled with disobedience at different times in my life. God
only wants what is best for His children. Check yourself today and pray about
areas in which obedience is a struggle. God will provide.
Debbie Walker
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