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2 Kings Chapter
Twelve
2 Kings 12
Chapter Contents
Jehoash orders the repair of the temple. (1-16) He is
slain by his servants. (17-21)
Commentary on 2 Kings 12:1-16
(Read 2 Kings 12:1-16)
It is a great mercy to young people, especially to all
young men of rank, like Jehoash, to have those about them who will instruct
them to do what is right in the sight of the Lord; and they do wisely and well
for themselves, when willing to be counselled and ruled. The temple was out of
repair; Jehoash orders the repair of the temple. The king was zealous. God requires
those who have power, to use it for the support of religion, the redress of
grievances, and repairing of decays. The king employed the priests to manage,
as most likely to be hearty in the work. But nothing was done effectually till
the twenty-third year of his reign. Another method was therefore taken. When
public distributions are made faithfully, public contributions will be made
cheerfully. While they were getting all they could for the repair of the
temple, they did not break in upon the stated maintenance of the priests. Let
not the servants of the temple be starved, under colour of repairing the
breaches of it. Those that were intrusted did the business carefully and
faithfully. They did not lay it out in ornaments for the temple, till the other
work was completed; hence we may learn, in all our expenses, to prefer that
which is most needful, and, in dealing for the public, to deal as we would for
ourselves.
Commentary on 2 Kings 12:17-21
(Read 2 Kings 12:17-21)
Let us review the character of Jehoash, and consider what
we may learn from it. When we see what a sad conclusion there was to so
promising a beginning, it ought to make us seek into our spiritual declinings.
If we know any thing of Christ as the foundation of our faith and hope, let us
desire to know nothing but Christ. May the work of the blessed Spirit on our
souls be manifest; may we see, feel, and be earnest, in seeking after Jesus in
all his fulness, suitableness, and grace, that our souls may be brought over
from dead works to serve the living and true God.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 2 Kings》
2 Kings 12
Verse 3
[3] But the high places were not taken away: the people
still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.
Burnt incense — To the true God.
Verse 4
[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 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,
And Jehoash said, … — Remembering that he
owed his preservation and restoration to the temple, and that he was made by
God the guardian of his temple, he now takes care to repair it.
Dedicated things — The money which had
been either formerly or lately vowed or dedicated to the service of God and of
his house.
That is brought — Or rather, that shall be brought:
for though the people might vow to bring it thither in convenient time, yet it
is not likely they would bring much money thither in the tyrannical and
idolatrous reign of Athaliah.
The money — The half shekel, which was paid
for every one that was numbered from twenty years old and upward.
Is set at — Heb. the money of souls, or
persons according to his taxing, the money which every man that had vowed his
person to God, paid according to the rate which the priest put upon him.
That cometh — All that shall be freely offered.
Verse 15
[15] Moreover they reckoned not with the men, into whose hand
they delivered the money to be bestowed on workmen: for they dealt faithfully.
Faithfully — For they perceived by many
experiments that they were faithful.
Verse 20
[20] And his servants arose, and made a conspiracy, and slew
Joash in the house of Millo, which goeth down to Silla.
And slew Joash — We are told, in the Chronicles,
that his murdering the prophet, Jehoiada's son, was the provocation. In this,
how unrighteous so ever they were, yet the Lord was righteous. And this was not
the only time, that he let even kings know, it was at their peril, if they touched
his anointed, or did his prophets any harm. Thus fell Joash, who began in the
spirit, and ended in the flesh. And indeed God usually sets marks of his
displeasure upon apostates, even in this life.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 2 Kings》
12 Chapter 12
Verses 1-21
Verse 2
And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord.
Influence
For the right understanding of the character and reign of Jehoash
we should consult not only the account given in the present chapter, but also
that in the parallel chapter in the book of Chronicles; the narrative in the
book of Kings being more full of matters pertaining to the early piety of the
monarch, while that of the Chronicles details with more minuteness the causes
that led to his declension, and the occasion of his shameful fall. During the
minority of Jehoash the affairs of the kingdom went on comparatively well. His
beginnings were full of promise, and even for several years after he was of
full age the young king seemed chiefly anxious to carry out the plans and
projects of Jehoiada; not only on account of the comfort he would naturally
feel in leaning on a stronger arm, but in some degree, no doubt, from gratitude
to one to whom he felt he was indebted both for his life and his throne. So
that, as both histories inform us, “All the days of Jehoiada, Jehoash did that
which was right in the sight of the Lord.” But while the king was yet in his
prime, his faithful adviser died, and very soon other and far different
counsels were in the ascendant. The princes of Judah, knowing that a want of
self-reliance was a great infirmity of the king’s character, seeing that his
prop was gone, and persuaded that he was as much dependant upon that prop for
his religion as upon anything else, plied him with audacious proposals to
forsake the temple of God, and to transfer his worship to the idols of the
grove “And he hearkened to them.” From this time his fall was rapid. The moral
of it, the point which stands out from all others, is the evil of a religion
which is based upon the influence of another mind; which has no root in itself,
but which, being unstable as water, and flexible as a reed shaken with the
wind, will neither bear fruit unto holiness, nor have its end in everlasting
life.
1. And, first, let us advert to the habit of mind itself against
which we are cautioned, in order that we may detach from it for separate consideration
so much as may be due to a constitutional weakness of character--to a natural
diffidence end dread of having to go alone, which, as not coming within the
scope of our moral powers entirely to eradicate, we must believe either the
mercy of God will pardon, or His grace will rectify and render harmless. We
cannot doubt that the existence of this is a common form of mental infirmity,
which allies itself to intellects of the highest reach, and to souls of the
most indomitable and commanding power. That tyrant, who at the beginning of the
present century made more than half the nations of Europe tremble, had as
little of the self-reliant element in his nature as the lowest subaltern he
ever ordered to the field. True, when he had resolved upon a step, neither
difficulty nor danger moved him; but to make him resolve upon it he must have
the consents of some trusted and approving mind; in private life, being as much
influenced by his empress, as in public matters, he leaned on the counsels of
Talleyrand. If this practical subjugation to the will and counsel of another,
this tendency to hang on, and hold on by what is felt to be a stronger
judgment, be found among the higher and more towering spirits of our race, how
much more shall we look for it in the humbler and more dependant ranks. Some
men are born into the world with a soft, pliant, treacherous debility of will.
They must have somebody to think after, and speak after, and act after. They
hold their wills, as it were, by feudal tenure under other people’s will,
changing both Lord and service, if need be, seven times a day. Such persons
appear, at first sight, to be a good deal at the mercy of their providential
lot, in the power of those accidents and associations which shall bring them
under the permanent ascendant of a better or of a more corrupt mind; of a
Jehoiada who will lead them in the good and the right way, or of the dissolute
princes of Judah who will be as oracles to mislead, and as guides to destroy.
But we allow not that our soul’s life can be suspended on any such precarious
issues we must not make a god of temperament, nor a god of circumstances; but
we must believe of original tendencies of character as of any other cause which
may be injurious to our moral steadfastness, that there is provided for us, in
the economy of grace, a way of escape, an ordained antidote to our nature’s
evil, whereby God may get honour upon our infirmities, and out of weakness make
us strong. But passing from the case of any constitutional liability to be
influenced by other minds, let us address ourselves to the evil of the habit
itself, when it allows others to think and act for us in the great concerns of
personal religion. And proceeding upon the example furnished by our text, we
ought to take a case where the influencing or ascendant mind is, according to
our common human estimates, a strong mind, a good mind, a mind formed to lead,
and honestly and earnestly bent on leading right. In many cases, no doubt, this
may be a great advantage. It is a happy thing for young people setting out in
life to be under the instruction and control of one whose desire is always to
lead them in the good and the right way. And yet we ought to show that if our
religion stands only in the power which this mental control wields over us, and
goes no lower down to the depths of our moral being than that example can
reach, or that influence can minister to, such religion will be vain, will
never become more than a surface religion, will not keep itself fixed and
fastened in the roots of our moral nature, and consequently in time of
temptation we shall fall away. The relation out of which this subordinating
influence arises, makes no difference in the evil and danger of becoming
enslaved to it. It may be that of a parent exercising a control over the filial
conscience which belongs to him by the eternal prescription of heaven; or that
of a husband drawing the wife into assimilations of thought and feeling, almost
before she is aware of it--affection promoting the influence, and the marriage
sanctities giving to it the force of law. Or it may be that of a pastor, having
begotten us, in Christ Jesus through the Gospel. You will ask me why? I answer,
first, because such a religion is essentially false and defective in principle.
It originates neither in love to God, nor gratitude to Christ, nor deep views
of sin, nor in delight in holy service, nor in aspirations after the sanctity
and bliss of heaven; but chiefly in a desire to approve itself to some dominant
and controlling influence. Water cannot rise above its level; and as Jehoiada,
whether from temperament or policy, had done nothing to remove the high places
of sacrifice, though confessedly a reproach to the temple service, Jehoash
would do nothing either; and so the eulogium, even of his early goodness, has
to be qualified by the remark, “But the high places were not taken away.” The
examples are rare where, in the
race of goodness, the disciple outstrips his chosen guide; and if
he does so, it is because a better guide has taken him in hand, and the master
influence has become merged in the mightier power of the Spirit of God. But, as
a rule, the subject mind will keep below the religious standards and measures
of its superior. All its goodness is derived goodness, and it shines only in a
borrowed light. And as the standard of piety is low, so the acts of which it
specially consists are prompted, often by a feeble sentimentality, or perhaps
with a view to the praise of men. Conspicuous among the pious acts of Jehoash
was his zeal in setting about the repairs of the temple, injured less by the
hand of time than by the sacrilegious spoliations of idolators. It were easy to
account for this zeal on other grounds than those of personal goodness. That
temple was very dear to him. How natural to address himself vigorously to a
work so gratifying to Jehoiada, so easily mistaken by himself for the dictate
of pious emotion, and so calculated to gain him favour with his subjects for a
loving attachment to the truth of God. And so, also, it may be with us, while
our religion is in other’s keeping. We may love the temple, have joy in
ordinances, feel a thrill of sacred pleasure under the power of the Word, and
for the largeness of our alms be called “the repairer of the breach, the
restorer of the path to dwell in,” while of any principle of vital godliness we
may be as destitute as Jehoash was. Rooted and grounded in the depths of the
carnal heart may be hidden the seeds of an unsuspected idolatry, which wait bus
the scorching sun of temptation to develop into pernicious fruit, to turn the
repairer of the temple into a worshipper of the grove, and lead a lover of
faithful teaching to slay between the temple and the altar a servant of the
living God.
2. But, secondly, we say of a religion that owes its being to any
merely mental deferences, that it will always be feeble and languid, and
inefficient in itself, that it will leave its possessor unprepared for the
struggles, and temptations, and rough discipline of life, a prey to the first
evil influence that shall try to make a captive of him, and to be overcome by
the first afflictive trial which shall send him to the foundation of his
trusts. So weak was the hold which the religion of Jehoash had upon his
conscience, that he yielded to the most visible and transparent lure ever man’s
soul was taken withal, namely, the fawning sycophancy of a few unprincipled
courtiers, asking as the boon price of their service, that he should cast off
the worship of his fathers, violate the covenant of his God, and bow the knee
only before the divinities of the grove. “And the king hearkened to them.” Yes,
for why should he not? His religion had all along been the creature of influence,
and therefore, must change as often as the ascendant influence changed.
Strength of its own, such religion has none, either to resist or attack. It is
impotent as the autumn leaf, now lifted up in circling eddies by the blast, now
waiting in passive helplessness the first footstep that shall crush it to the
earth. And hence, I say in all this religion obtained at second hand, this
derived Christianity of another mind, there will generally be found a sickly
irresolution Of purpose, a sort of letting out of one’s moral powers to the
highest and most powerful bidder. The man who trusts in it is not his own
master; he is the property of the first strong will that shall think the
appendage worth having. But true religion, that which is rooted in a Divine
principle and a Divine influence, is a hardy thing, a manly thing. It is
furnished for the cloudy and dark day, and expects its coming. Deep in the
springs of its unseen life is an element of strength which gives dignity to the
character, composure to the spirit, a settledness and perseverance to the
once-formed resolve which nothing can bend, nothing can turn aside.
3. But the text suggests a third reason for predicting the inevitable
miscarriage of a religion which is dependant for its life on surrounding
influences, namely, that the very friends that helped to make us as good as we
are, may, in the providence of God be taken away. “Jehoash did that which was
right in the sight of the Lord all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest
instructed him.” But Jehoiada died; and what did he do then? Why, evil, and
evil only. The morning cloud disperseth not sooner, nor the early dew when it
passeth away, than did that fabric of gossamer and unsubstantial goodness,
which a breath was to destroy even as a breath had made. And it seems to be in
obedience to a law, as if it was a Nemesis of God on the mind that leans on
human trusts, that Jehoash became more impious and profane for having known
something of the semblance of piety before. Just as the emperor Nero,
conspicuous for humanity and virtue while he had the counsels of Seneca to
guide him, went down to the grave a monster with the execration of posterity
upon his head. Some lessons arise from this aspect of our subject brethren,
whether as applied to those who consciously and of purpose have joined
themselves to the train of a superior mind, and, only to please him, kept up a
show of goodness, or to those who, having a loving and leaning confidence in
another’s wisdom and piety, have been content to draw from him all their soul’s
life and strength, and, unconsciously to themselves, to let him be to them
instead of God. To the former Jehoash leaves the lesson that it would have been
better for them never to have known good things at all. They are fretting under
a yoke for a season, only to indulge in more unrestrained licence as soon as it
shall be taken off. The instant the weight is lifted off, the bent bow will fly
back with more violent rebound. There may be love for a season, zeal for a
season, concern for holy things for a season, but when Jehoiada is dead, the
long pent-up energies of evil will burst forth, and like the heir long kept out
of the expected inheritance, the
heart plunges into the thick of its carnal thoughts, and as if to
take revenge on itself for its forced early goodness, the man endeavours to
crowd as much iniquity as he can into the remainder of his days. But there is a
lesson also to those who do not fret under their mental subjection, who, in
heart love their Jehoiada, and indeed, whose chief danger is that they love him
too much, and who, therefore, think within themselves, “If he should be taken
away what good will our lives be to us, or what power shall keep us faithful
unto our pious work?” So may reason the son, who, breathing from his youth the
pure atmosphere of domestic piety, has seen in the life of his parents all that
could ennoble godliness, and all that could make virtue loved. But I must
conclude with a few practical counsels, am helpful to guide us from the danger
of which this history warns us.
The fruit of wise guardianship seen in later life
At Frogmore, on the 16th of March 1861, the Duchess of Kent,
mother of our beloved Queen, passed tranquilly into eternity at the ripe age of
seventy-five. Her husband, the Duke of Kent, died six days before his father,
George III., leaving the presumptive heir to England’s crown in charge of the
Duchess, his wife. “I do nominate, constitute, and appoint my beloved wife
Victoria, Duchess of Kent,” said the Duke in his will, “to be sole guardian of
our dear child, Princess Alexandra Victoria, to all intents and for all
purposes whatsoever.” During the seventeen years which elapsed between her
husband’s death and the accession of her daughter, the Duchess devoted heart
and soul to the responsible but honourable task committed to her, and she lived
to see the blessed results of her labour of love. It is to the wise, virtuous,
and self-sacrificing discharge of her maternal duties, under the blessing of
God, that this country is largely indebted for possessing a Queen whose life
illustrates all that we most love in woman, and whose reign exemplifies all
that we most respect in a Sovereign. (William Francis.)
A lean-to religion
“Many men owe their religion, not to grace, but to the favour of
the times; they follow it because it is in fashion, and they can profess it at
a cheap rate, because none contradict it. They do not build upon the rock, but
set up a shed leaning to another man’s house, which costs them nothing.” The
idea of a lean-to religion is somewhat rough, hut eminently suggestive. Weak
characters cannot stand alone, like mansions; but must needs lean on others,
like the miserable shops which nestle under certain Continental cathedrals.
Under the eaves of old customs many build their plaster-nests, like swallows.
Such are good, if good at all, because their patrons made virtue the price of their
patronage. They love honesty because it proves to be the best policy, and piety
because it serves as an introduction to trade with saints. Their religion is
little more than courtesy to other men’s opinions, civility to godliness. (C.
H. Spurgeon.)
Verses 4-15
And Jehoash said to the priests.
The temple repaired
1. The house of
God is apt to show a decline of religion, and should share the blessings of a
reformation. The tabernacle, and the temple which replaced it, were constructed
with the utmost care. They were designed to resist wear and decay; but because
the most durable materials are perishable, provision was made for the care of these sacred
buildings. Moses, under Divine direction, created a temple fund, which was
sustained by a uniform tax of half a shekel upon every member of the
congregation of twenty years old and upward. In the troubled times which
preceded the succession of Joash to the throne, this fund had not been
collected; and in the general decline into irreligion, the temple and its
furniture had been neglected, plundered, and wasted. One of the conspicuous
signs of the religious condition of the nation was this house. By viewing it
one could see at a glance that the service of God had been exchanged for
idolatry. It is a pretty safe rule that we may judge of the state of religion
in a town by the condition of the
churches; if these are in good repair, without and within, the
inference is,--it will not always hold, but it is the rule--that the religious
institutions are flourishing, God is honoured, and His blessings are with His
faithful people.
2. One reason why the temple had been neglected was that the people
worshipped in the high places. We have references to these places in all the
Jewish history. They were not necessarily places of idol worship. God was
worshipped in them. Devout Jews, who worshipped in the temple, worshipped also
at private or local altars, the high places. But, as religion declined, the
tendency was to prefer the high places to the temple, and to corrupt the purer
worship of these shrines by idolatries. The high places became rivals of the
temple.
3. The king thought of the temple before Jehoiada, though the great
priest was the reformer of his age. This seems strange. The position of
Jehoiada throughout the work was strange; he seems never to have fully
appreciated the importance of the repair of the temple. Probably the reason was
that he was absorbed in other parts of the mighty task to which he had devoted
himself. It has not been uncommon for reformers to be guilty of extraordinary
oversight, their very zeal preventing their viewing their work in its true
proportions. But while this was the case, the training of Jehoiada appears in
the devotion of the king.
4. The first plan adopted for raising money for the repair was
excellent. The priests were directed to set apart the regular income of the
temple, and also to go through the country, among their acquaintances, and
raise a general subscription. Each priest was to present the case to his personal friends.
There could be no better plan. This is the simple scriptural method by which
religion is extended. Every Christian is to go among his friends and
acquaintances, and enlist them one by one.
5. The most excellent plans may fail. The plan of Jehoash failed. The
failure lay immediately at the door of the priests. These good men seem to have
shared the want of interest of Jehoiada in the work. They failed to collect the
popular tax. And instead of using the collections which they made for the
purpose for which they were raised, they expended them for current needs, and
for furniture which needed to be replaced, candlesticks, tongs, and spoons.
6. A new and poor plan succeeded. His patience at length worn out,
the king called a conference, discovered how things had been mismanaged, and
changed his course. He learned that, notwithstanding his order, the temple tax,
the half-skekel, had not been collected. With the counsel of Jehoiada, he had a
collection chest placed at the gate of the temple; he stopped the private
subscriptions, and had a proclamation issued, calling upon the people
throughout the nation to pay the ancient tax of Moses. Simply the uniform sum
fixed by Moses was required from all. The princes were not permitted to pay
more; the poorest man might not pay less. The confidence of the king in the
people was justified. The chest rapidly filled, and, when it was emptied, was
refilled again and again. The plan was a very poor one: one of the very poorest
which man has ever devised, this of a box at the church door. It succeeded
because the people were interested to get the work done. It is of interest to
note that, when the repair was completed, enough money was left to r furnish
the temple throughout with vessels of silver and gold.
7. The depth of the reformation in the nation is shown in what is
said of the honesty of Joash’s master-workmen. The taxes, as they were taken
from the chest at the gate of the temple, were put into the hands of these men
to pay out in wages, and, moreover, they reckoned not for materials with the
men into whose hands they delivered the money to be bestowed on workmen; for
they dealt faithfully. This is most extraordinary. This was one of the times
when Israel had a dim realization of the coming millennium, when Holiness
should be written on the bells of the horses, when public money could be
trusted to officials, high and low, with such confidence that they would deal
faithfully that they were not required to give any account. (Monday Club
Sermons.)
The history of Jehoash
The whole story of Joash is soon told. He was a son of Ahaziah,
and the only one of his children who escaped the murderous policy of Athaliah.
I. The
dilapidating influence of time upon the best material productions of mankind.
The temple had not been built more than about one hundred and sixty years, had
got into a state of dilapidation, there were breaches in it; where the breaches
were we are not told, whether in the roof, the floor, the walls, or in the
ceiling. The crumbling hand of time had touched it. No human superstructure,
perhaps, ever appeared on the earth built of better materials, or in a better
way, than the temple of Solomon. It was the wonder of ages. Notwithstanding
this, it was subject to the invincible law of decay. The law of dilapidation
seems universal throughout organic nature; the trees of the forest, the flowers
of the field, and the countless tribes of sentient life that crowd the ocean,
earth, and air, all fall into decay; and so, also, with the material
productions of feeble man. Throughout the civilised world we see mansions,
churches, cathedrals, palaces, villages, towns, and cities, in ruins. All
compound bodies tend to dissolution, there is nothing enduring but primitive
elements or substances. This being so, how astoundingly preposterous is man’s
effort to perpetuate his memory in material monuments. The only productions of
men that defy the touch of time and that are enduring are true thoughts, pure
sympathies, and noble deeds.
II. The incongruity
of worldly rulers busying themselves in religious institutions. Jehoash was no
saint, the root of the matter was not in him; he had no vital and ruling sympathy with the
Supreme Being, yet he seemed zealous in the work of repairing the temple.
III. The value of
the co-operative principle in the enterprises of mankind. It would seem that
the work of repairing the temple was so great that no one man could have
accomplished it. Hence the king called earnestly for the co-operation of all.
They obeyed his voice. The people gave the money, and all set to work. Two
remarks concerning the principle of co-operation.
1. It is a principle that should govern all men in the undertakings
of life. It was never the purpose of the Almighty that man should act alone for
himself, should pursue alone his own individual interests. Men are all members
of one great body, and was ever member made to work alone? No. But for the good
of the whole, the common weal.
2. It is a principle that has done and is doing wonders in the
undertakings of life. This principle, however, has its limits. In spiritual
matters it must not infringe the realm of individual responsibility. There is
no partnership in moral responsibility. Each man must think, repent, and believe for himself.
“Every man must bear his own burden.” The narrative reminds us of--
IV. The potency of
the religious element in even depraved men. At this time Israel was morally as
corrupt as the heathen nations. Notwithstanding this, the religious sentiment
was in them, as in all men, a constituent part of their natures, and this
sentiment is here appealed to, and roused into excitement, and being excited
men poured forth their treasures and employed their energies for the repairing
of the temple. This element in man often sleeps under the influence of
depravity, but mountains of depravity cannot crush it, it lies in human nature
as the mightiest latent force. Peter the Hermit, Savonarola the Priest, Wesley
the Methodist, and others, in every age have roused it into mighty action even
amongst the most ignorant and depraved of the race.
V. The power of
money to subdue enemies. Here is a man, a proud, daring monarch, who was
determined to invade Judea, and to take possession of Jerusalem. Relinquishing
his designs, what was the force that broke his purpose? Money. It is said that
Jehoash sent gold to Hazael, “and he went away from Jerusalem.” Truly money
answereth all things. Money tan arrest the march of armies and terminate the
fiercest campaigns. (David Thomas, D. D.)
Verse 9
And Jehoiada the priest took a chest.
The first contribution-box
This chapter takes us away from those confusions up in northern
Palestine, which seemed to be getting a little overcrowded with murder and
warfare and theft. There is a deep spiritual apathy in the city and the land
everywhere. The people have still idolatrous practices; around on some of the
hills there are altars and groves where decorous men and women would think it
not nice to go. The worst of this terrible ungodliness is found in the
greediness of the priests. Evidently they are self-seekers of the vile sort. They
exhaust all the income of the sanctuary, slender as it is, in their own
emoluments and perquisites. The king is inefficient, as should be expected;
what could a little boy do? The temple is all out of repair; there are breaches
in many parts of the building. A dull period of sixteen years has been slowly
drifting along. The picture is not encouraging; but let us turn ourselves to
the instruction it offers for us in these modern times. The force of the story
will come out in a series of observations.
I. Sometimes
religious depression shows itself in material dilapidations. Everything is
running behind-hand in the public spirit of the town, the city, or the
congregation.
1. It is a bad sign when the church edifice is going into ruinous
condition. Can it be said that the zeal of the Lord is eating any one up there?
2. It is a worse sign when the income of any congregation has begun
to fail. In the story here, somebody must have pushed up that little
seven-year-old king Jehoash to try to collect some money, for he issued a call
almost at once for help to put the temple under repair. But it all came to
nothing; the house of the Lord continued to discourage and chill the devotions
far more than to awake them, because it was so forlorn and unclean.
3. It is a worse sign still when the minister and the employees exhaust
the funds in their own uses and luxuries. That was the trouble during those sad
sixteen years of Jehoash’s infancy. Money went in, but the priests swallowed it
up.
4. It is the worst sign of all when the people’s heart is unmoved;
when everybody knows and nobody cares about the cheerlessness of the facts or
the prospects.
II. Sometimes the
speediest relief is found in the people’s taking the reform wholly into their
own hands.
1. In this case, it was the young king and the people who did the
work, though the high-priest organised the new movement, under royal direction.
Let us look into the whole facts and philosophy of this uprising of the
community there in Jerusalem. The religious and ordained officers in the
congregation of the temple cheerfully arose to say, “Let anybody do this great
and needed thing that can do it better than we can.” They consented to receive
none of the money, and they withdrew from ordering the repairs. In that
historic hour there came first to light the earliest contribution-box used in
the service of God. Was there ever anything imagined so rude or inartistic as
an instrument of devotion?
2. But before you smile at the prosaic expedient, pause a moment to
do simple justice to one of God’s instruments of good. From that day the
contribution-box has been an institution for the Church under the Old Testament
and the New, probably as well known as any other in the range of our
experience. It deserves now and then a decent eulogy. Its record is honourable
and fair.
III. Sometimes piety
is brought back to its level under a fresh impulse of material prosperity. This
is a reflection also that we might expect to be suggested by the history here.
1. The philosophy underlying such a conclusion is simple. We are all
creatures of human build and constitutional weakness in relation to the practical world we
live in. When the church is repulsive and the services dull, when the carpets
are soiled with long using, when the prayer-circle is languishing; then, good
friends, it is almost hopeless for even the best of saints to try and keep up
his spirits.
2. The relief is close at hand.
3. The facts, which might be offered in illustration, are without
limit. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)