2 Chronicles 24:1–16 (NIV)✞: Joash Repairs the Temple
Passage
We now get to one of the few kings of Judah I can remember: Joash. Having come to the kingship as a young man—though, again, I don’t know how young since the text doesn’t say—he sets out on a restoration project, to repair the Temple.
We’re not sure how far into his reign he starts the work, the text just says “some time later” (v. 4✞), but regardless of when he starts it’s clear his enthusiasm isn’t initially shared by the priests:
5 He called together the priests and Levites and said to them, “Go to the towns of Judah and collect the money due annually from all Israel, to repair the temple of your God. Do it now.” But the Levites did not act at once.
6 Therefore the king summoned Jehoiada the chief priest and said to him, “Why haven’t you required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax imposed by Moses the servant of the LORD and by the assembly of Israel for the tent of the covenant law?”
7 Now the sons of that wicked woman Athaliah had broken into the temple of God and had used even its sacred objects for the Baals.
For those who didn’t read or don’t remember the last passage, Athaliah was Joash’s mother, who killed all of her sons so that she could rule (with Joash barely escaping the same fate). Though… it sounds like she had additional sons, who set up the Baal worship? Or perhaps they’d set up the Baal worship before she’d had them killed?
It’s not clear (to me) if the priests are hesitating because they’re ashamed of the Baal worship happening in the Temple, or it’s just a matter of it not being their job and they don’t want to take on the extra responsibility, or something else. Maybe they just don’t like the peremptory way Joash phrased the command!
Regardless, Joash has a chest set up outside the Temple for receiving money for its repair, and “[a]ll the officials and all the people brought their contributions gladly” (v. 10✞, emphasis added) – whatever hesitation the priests were feeling wasn’t shared by the people! They wanted the Temple restored! In fact, I don’t know if it was the author(s)’ intent, but it strikes me that it was the officials and the people were giving gladly, so it seems that there was enthusiasm for this project across social boundaries.
And it works. The chest gets filled up regularly, and every time it does they empty it and use the money to pay the workers who are doing the repairs (who are called out in verse 13✞ as being diligent), and put it back to collect more money. When they’re finished with the repairs there’s still some money left over which they use to create additional articles for the Temple: utensils and dishes and that kind of thing, made out of gold and silver.
Also called out in this passage is Jehoiada the Chief Priest. (Which, I think, would be another name for the High Priest?) He’s the one who hid Joash in the Temple for seven years, and, altogether, sounds like a good priest. The end of the passage calls him out for it:
As long as Jehoiada lived, burnt offerings were presented continually in the temple of the LORD.
15 Now Jehoiada was old and full of years, and he died at the age of a hundred and thirty. 16 He was buried with the kings in the City of David, because of the good he had done in Israel for God and his temple.
Spoiler alert: very often when a “good” person gets a summary like this at the end of a section it means that things are going to change once they’re gone. So we’ll have to see in the next passage how things go once Jehoiada is no longer in the picture…
Thoughts
It’s not spelled out for us, but I think we’re meant to see Jehoiada’s hand working behind the scenes. It’s clear the other priests don’t share Joash’s enthusiasm for the project of repairing the Temple, Joash has to really push them to do it. However, as we’ll see in the next passage, once Jehoiada passes Joash’s enthusiasm for God also wanes!
I think we often put Joash into the category of being one of the few good kings of Judah, but I’m actually wondering if he was instead just a weak king who, early in his reign, benefitted from having a good Chief Priest.
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