Bible Commentaries
2 Kings 12

Verse 2

12:2 And Jehoash did [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD all his days wherein {a} Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

(a) As long as rulers give ear to the true ministers of God, they prosper.

Verse 3

12:3 But {b} the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

(b) So hard a thing it is for them, that are in authority, to be brought to the perfect obedience of God.

Verse 4

12:4 And Jehoash said to the priests, All the money of the dedicated things that is brought into the house of the LORD, [even] the money of every one that passeth [the {c} account], the money that every man is set at, [and] all the money that cometh into any man’s heart to bring into the house of the LORD,

(c) That is, the money of redemption Exodus 30:12 , also the money which the priest valued the vows at Leviticus 27:2 , and their free gift.

Verse 5

12:5 Let the priests take [it] to them, every man of his acquaintance: and let them repair the {d} breaches of the house, wheresoever any breach shall be found.

(d) For the temple which was built a hundred and fifty-five years before, had many things decayed in it, both by the negligence of the king’s predecessors, and also by the wickedness of the idolaters.

Verse 7

12:7 Then king Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and the [other] priests, and said unto them, Why repair ye not the breaches of the house? now therefore {e} receive no [more] money of your acquaintance, but deliver it for the breaches of the house.

(e) He takes from them the ordering of the money, because of their negligence.

Verse 9

12:9 But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on the {f} right side as one cometh into the house of the LORD: and the priests that kept the door put therein all the money [that was] brought into the house of the LORD.

(f) That is, on the south side.

Verse 11

12:11 And they gave the money, being told, into the hands of them {g} that did the work, that had the oversight of the house of the LORD: and they laid it out to the carpenters and builders, that wrought upon the house of the LORD,

(g) For the king had appointed others who were fit for that purpose, 2 Kings 22:5.

Verse 13

12:13 Howbeit there were {h} not made for the house of the LORD bowls of silver, snuffers, basons, trumpets, any vessels of gold, or vessels of silver, of the money [that was] brought into the house of the LORD:

(h) For these men only had charge of the repairing of the temple, the rest of the money was brought to the king who caused these to be made later, 2 Chronicles 24:14.

Verse 18

12:18 And Jehoash king of Judah took all the hallowed things that Jehoshaphat, and Jehoram, and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own hallowed things, and all the gold [that was] found in the treasures of the house of the LORD, and in the king’s house, and {i} sent [it] to Hazael king of Syria: and he went away from Jerusalem.

(i) After the death of Jehoiada, Joash fell to idolatry: therefore God rejected him, and stirred up his enemy against him, whom he pacified with the treasures of the temple: for God would not be served with those gifts, seeing the king’s heart was wicked.

Verse 20

12:20 And his servants arose, and made a conspiracy, and {k} slew Joash in the house of {l} Millo, which goeth down to Silla.

(k) Because he had put Zachariah the son of Jehoiada to death, 2 Chronicles 24:25.

(l) Read 2 Samuel 5:9.