God Honors

Opening

Old saying: Many people don’t plan to fail; they just fail to plan. Why do we fail to complete what we start?

Takes longer than expected

Don’t prioritize the time needed - busy doing many things

Overwhelmed with size of project, put it off hoping it will go away, someone else will do it.....

Eventually, our priorities revealed by what we do complete.

What we truely think is important, we get done.

Do our words match our actions?

Context

Jehu, king of Israel, killed Ahaziah, king of Judah.

Ahaziah’s mother Athaliah assumed control of Judah, and attempted to kill all the royal line.

Jehoida the priest protected Ahaziah’s son Joash, later arranging to crown him king (at 7 years old), and Athaliah was put to death. Jehoida then instrumental in bringing spiritual reform to Judah, and Joash served the Lord well.

Problem 4-5

2 Kings 12:4–5 (NIV)

Joash said to the priests, “Collect all the money that is brought as sacred offerings to the temple of the Lord—the money collected in the census, the money received from personal vows and the money brought voluntarily to the temple. Let every priest receive the money from one of the treasurers, then use it to repair whatever damage is found in the temple.”

How much time between being crowned and this event? Unknown. Even 2 Chron 24, which is a parallel account, only states ‘After some time...’. Probably not done while 7 years old, maybe teens, twenties?

At this point, Solomon’s temple was 125-150 years old. Normal wear and tear. Sons of Athaliah had broken in and stolen things. Used them in Baal worship.

So King Joash devises a plan to restore the temple.

Collect money brought in as Sacred offerings to the temple, made up of:

Collected in the census: Ex 30:11-16

Exodus 30:11–16 (NIV)

Then the Lord said to Moses, “When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague will come on them when you number them. Each one who crosses over to those already counted is to give a half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to the Lord. All who cross over, those twenty years old or more, are to give an offering to the Lord. The rich are not to give more than a half shekel and the poor are not to give less when you make the offering to the Lord to atone for your lives. Receive the atonement money from the Israelites and use it for the service of the tent of meeting. It will be a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord, making atonement for your lives.”

b. Personal vows: Lev 27:1-8 “The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If anyone makes a special vow to dedicate a person to the Lord by giving the equivalent value, …and there was a lengthy list of how much a person was worth based on their age and sex. If anyone making the vow is too poor to pay the specified amount, the person being dedicated is to be presented to the priest, who will set the value according to what the one making the vow can afford.” These vows might also have been given if God would provide some particular answer to a prayer, etc. The Law of Moses had detailed instructions on vows, and urged the people to keep any vows made. They did not have to make vows, but if they did, they needed to honor them. Eccl 5:4-5 “When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it.”

c. Voluntary gifts: Deut 16:10 “Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you.” There are others. The parallel passage in 2 Chron also shows that the king instructed the Levites to go to Judah’s cities and encourage people to contribute gifts for this work

2. Each priest was to receive their share of the money that came in, and was to use at least some of that to pay for repairs.

Problem 6-8

2 Kings 12:6–8 (NIV)

But by the twenty-third year of King Joash the priests still had not repaired the temple. Therefore King Joash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and asked them, “Why aren’t you repairing the damage done to the temple? Take no more money from your treasurers, but hand it over for repairing the temple.” The priests agreed that they would not collect any more money from the people and that they would not repair the temple themselves.

We don’t know what took the king so long to question why the work wasn’t being done. Not knowing at what age he gave the directive, this point in time could be anywhere from a couple years to 23 years prior.

However long it took for the king to lose patience, he was making a change in the process of paying for the repairs, in order to get it done. All of the funds that were mentioned to be used for the repairs, was money that normally went to the priests, not only to fund necessary expenses of the temple (think cleaning, communion supplies, heating, electricity, light bulbs, etc.), but also their salaries. So some of it was legitimately not being used for repairs, and it is possible that the priests resented using ‘their’ money to fund the repairs.

At any rate, the king is directing them to not take any of these funds for themselves, but it was all to be given to the work of repairing the temple. Also, the responsibility for getting the repairs done was now taken away from them. The king was going to assign the supervision of the work to someone he could trust to get the work accomplished. The priests agreed, although they probably had no choice in the matter. Their main failure was in their lack of prioritizing the work that needed to be done. They had presumably had years in which to have gotten things done, even if at a slow pace, but it was ignored.

Those who are in leadership need to set an example of prioritizing the things that need to be done. When leaders don’t prioritize the right things, then the followers won’t either. It is quite possible here that the people saw that the priests were not using the money given for the repairs, so it obviously wasn’t a priority, so why contribute to it. This would have led to the money coming in to be only enough for the regular expenses, which seemed to be their priority.

Solution 9

2 Kings 12:9 (NIV)

Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its lid. He placed it beside the altar, on the right side as one enters the temple of the Lord. The priests who guarded the entrance put into the chest all the money that was brought to the temple of the Lord.

This is now the new method of collecting the money for the temple repairs. Priests were stationed at the door to the temple to keep out anyone who was not allowed on the sacred ground of the temple. They now also guarded the new money box, and made sure that any money coming in from the three sources stated by the king were put directly into this chest. Sort of like our having an offering plate in the front hallway. Think cloth offering bag with wood handles when growing up.

Solution 10-12

2 Kings 12:10–12 (NIV)

Whenever they saw that there was a large amount of money in the chest, the royal secretary and the high priest came, counted the money that had been brought into the temple of the Lord and put it into bags. When the amount had been determined, they gave the money to the men appointed to supervise the work on the temple. With it they paid those who worked on the temple of the Lord—the carpenters and builders, the masons and stonecutters. They purchased timber and blocks of dressed stone for the repair of the temple of the Lord, and met all the other expenses of restoring the temple.

Designated officials were appointed by the king to process the money coming in. Apparently they didn’t count it each week like we do, but only occasionally, when the box was getting full.

The royal secretary (or king’s scribe) - This person was in the king’s court, and was typically in charge of keeping important records, and would have been highly trusted by the king.

The high priest would have been involved in this counting to ensure the accuracy of the counting. Just like today, we always have two deacons count the offering

Once the money was counted, then it was given to the men supervising the work. Since the priests had failed to do what they were supposed to, this process got the money directly to those needing to be paid for the work being done. The Bible mentions 4 specific groups:

Carpenters (workers of wood) - probably working with cedar, if matching original

Builders (general construction workers) - would include numerous skills used in support of other more specialized workers.

Masons (craftsmen of brick or stone) - would repair breaches in the walls

Stonecutters - able to do precise cutting of stones

The funds were also used to purchase the materials needed in doing the repairs. Not only the wood and stone, but all the other things. Think of building a house today. Yes, there are boards and concrete blocks, but also nails, and glue, and windows, etc.

Jesus challenged us to use our earthly resources to invest in eternity: Matt 6:19-21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Once again, we are looking at our priorities. Do our earthly priorities, some of which are important, mortgages, food, clothing, etc., but where on that list of priorities does support of God’s work land?

If most or all of our income gets consumed on earthly priorities, and little or nothing is left for God, then we have wrong priorities, and I suggest some prayful consideration given to what needs to change.

Action 13-14

2 Kings 12:13–14 (NIV)

The money brought into the temple was not spent for making silver basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, trumpets or any other articles of gold or silver for the temple of the Lord; it was paid to the workers, who used it to repair the temple.

The thought here is that the king wanted the people contributing to the work, so he was making sure that these funds were only used for the visible repairs needed. If these other things were being purchased, the people would not see much progress being made, and might stop contributing. Those things were still needed, but other temple funds were used for those, not these designated for temple repairs.

These funds were now being paid directly to the workers (through their supervisors), not through the priests as had been done originally.

Action 15-16

2 Kings 12:15-16 “They did not require an accounting from those to whom they gave the money to pay the workers, because they acted with complete honesty. The money from the guilt offerings and sin offerings was not brought into the temple of the Lord; it belonged to the priests.

Verse 15 is quite an indictment against the priests. The writer stresses that these workers were completely honest in their financial dealings, but the priests may not have been.

A believer’s integrity in business, or any other financial aspect of our lives, people around us recognize our trustworthiness. The character trait of integrity can make us stand out vividly from those around us, but can be lost quickly by one foolish choice.

Verse 16 points out that the money from guilt and sin offerings still went to the priests. Per the Law of Moses, those were to go to the priests as their income, since they did not have land on which to make a livelihood from crops or herds. The money for repairs came only from designated offerings from the people.

Application

How might a church bring honor or shame to the name of Christ through the way it oversees its budget?

Something to point out that falls outside of today’s lesson, both before and after. 2 Kings 12:2 “Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the years Jehoiada the priest instructed him.” Very ominous ending to that sentence. Makes me think that it might have been Jehoiada letting the king know that the temple needed to be repaired. 2 Chron records that Jehoiada died at the age of 130. Very uncommon to live that long in those days. It would seem that God kept Jehoiada around as a spiritual guide for King Joash. But after he died, the king followed other advisers who turned him from the Lord. To the point that when Jehoiada’s son, who replaced him as high priest, warned the king about his actions, the king had him killed.

I see a connection here to Hebrews 10:25 “not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” We need the guidance and encouragement that we get from other Christians.

Do we model integrity to those around us? Does our walk show Christ to the world who is watching?