three · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular absolute
twentieth
עֶשְׂרִ֧ים'es.Rim
H6242
twenty · noun, common masculine plural absolute
year
בִּשְׁנַ֨תbish.Nat
H8141
a year (as a revolution of time) · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
king
לַמֶּ֣לֶךְla.Me.lekh
H4428
a king · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Jehoash
יְהוֹאָ֑שׁye.ho.'Ash
H3060
Jehoash · proper noun, a man's name
priests
הַכֹּהֲנִ֖יםha.ko.ha.Nim
H3548
literally one officiating · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
repaired
חִזְּק֥וּchi.ze.Ku
H2388
to fasten upon · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person common plural
breaches
בֶּ֥דֶקBe.dek
H919
a gap or leak (in a building or a ship) · noun, common masculine singular construct
house
הַבָּֽיִתha.Ba.yit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Samuel 2:29-30 Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation; and honourest thy sons above me, to make yo…
2 Chronicles 29:34 But the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt offerings: wherefore their brethren the Levites did help them, till…
Isaiah 56:10-12 His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
Malachi 1:10 Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in…
Philippians 2:21 For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.
1 Peter 5:2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a rea…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 12:4-16
We have here an account of the repairing of the temple in the reign of Joash.
I. It seems, the temple had gone out of repair. Though Solomon built it very strong, of the best materials and in the best manner, yet in time it went to decay, and there were breaches found in it (Kg2 12:5), in the roofs, or walls, or floors, the ceiling, or wainscoting, or windows, or the partitions of the courts. Even temples themselves are the worse for the wearing; but the heavenly temple will never wax old. Yet it was not only the teeth of time that made these breaches, the sons of Athaliah had broken up the house of God (Ch2 24:7), and, out of enmity to the service of the temple, had damaged the buildings of…
Jehoash said to the priests, &c.--There is here given an account of the measures which the young king took for repairing the temple by the levying of taxes: 1. "The money of every one that passeth the account," namely, half a shekel, as "an offering to the Lord" (Exo 30:13). 2. "The money that every man is set at," that is, the redemption price of every one who had devoted himself or any thing belonging to him to the Lord, and the amount of which was estimated according to certain rules (Lev 27:1-8). 3. Free will or voluntary offerings made to the sanctuary. The first two were paid annually (see Ch2 24:5).
Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 12:6
In the three and twentieth year - In what year Jehoash gave the orders for these repairs, we cannot tell; but the account here plainly intimates that they had been long given, and that nothing was done, merely through the inactivity and negligence of the priests; see Ch2 24:6.
It seems that the people had brought money in abundance, and the pious Jehoiada was over the priests, and yet nothing was done! Though Jehoiada was a good man, he does not appear to have had much of the spirit of an active zeal; and simple piety, without zeal and activity, is of little use when a reformation in religion and manners is necessary to be brought about. Philip Melancthon was orthodox, pious, and learned, bu…
"Therefore King Joash summoned the priest Jehoiada with the other priests and said to them, 'Why are you not repairing the house?' " The reason why king Joash and the high priest Jehoiada called a meeting to discuss the repairing of the house of God is revealed in the second book of the Annals with these words: "Athaliah instructed the children of iniquity, and undermined the house of the Lord and drove all the priests who were in the house of the Lord to the worship of the idols." And it is not surprising that Athaliah, a woman endowed with audacity and shrewdness, made that attempt in order to aspire to power and take hold of the kingdom. Therefore, when everything was under her control and the king Ahaziah himself obeyed her blindly, nothing was neglected by her in order to draw the Jews away from the divine worship and to drive them to the ancient religion of the Sidonians. For this reason, while the temple of the true God remained abandoned after the introduction of the foreign cult, it had begun to be in ruin in many spots and was in danger of collapsing because of that. So the king, in order to remedy this serious situation, together with the authority of the high priest, gathered a large sum of money freely offered by the people and entrusted with it some priests elected to accomplish that task. But later on, when he realized that they were not making the progress he had hoped for in the task they had received, he transferred the care of the temple to other men of certain integrity who could work on that assignment with the highest perseverance and dedication. From the allegorical point of view you can recognize here a type of the saints who, after receiving from God the gift of knowledge, set out to repair that same house shaken by vain cults and various crimes.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Jehoash — Jehovah-given. (1.) The son of King Ahaziah. While yet an infant, he was saved from the general massacre of the family by his aunt Jehosheba, and was apparently the only surviving descendant of…
Jehoiada · .Directs the repairs of the temple — .Directs the repairs of the temple
Joash · .Repaired the temple — .Repaired the temple
Temple, The First · Historical notices of: Repaired by Jehoash at the institution of Jehoiada — Historical notices of: Repaired by Jehoash at the institution of Jehoiada
Treasure-Houses · General references — General references
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Gill on 2 Kings 12:6
But it was so, that in the twenty and third year of King Jehoash, the priests had not repaired the breaches of the house. Either the people being backward to pay in the money, or the priests converted it to their own use: or, however, were negligent of doing the work enjoined them by the king, either in collecting the money, or in using it as they were directed.
Keil & Delitzsch on 2 Kings 12:6-9
But when the twenty-third year of the reign of Joash arrived, and the dilapidations had not been repaired, the king laid the matter before the high priest Jehoiada and the priests, and directed them not to take the money any more from their acquaintance, but to give it for the dilapidations of the temple; "and the priests consented to take no money, and not to repair the dilapidations of the house," i.e., not to take charge of the repairs. We may see from this consent how the command of the king is to be understood. Hitherto the priests had collected the money to pay for the repairing of the temple; but inasmuch as they had not executed the repairs, the king took away from them both the coll…
Joash ordered the collection of funds from the cities of Judah (2 Chr 24:5) for repairs . . . needed at the Temple. Such money would come from special Levitical levies, a census tax (2 Chr 24:9), and voluntary offerings. After some time, the priests still had not repaired the Temple. So Joash took personal control of the project and put others in charge of the repairs (see also study note on 2 Chr 24:4-8).
Rashi on 2 Kings 12:6
Let take [the money] for themselves—the kohanim. [I.e.,] it will be theirs, and [in return] they will obligate themselves to make the [necessary] repairs to the Beis [Hamikdosh] from their own [funds] .
From his friend. From his acquaintance who frequently visits him.
Restoration. Split[s] and crack[s] in the wall.5בֶּדֶק means “examination.” One must examine splits and cracks to determine their method of repair.—Radak
