Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 12
Athaliah, Joash’s grandmother who ruled Judah before him, hated the religion of the true God. Her sons had even robbed the temple (the great house of God in Jerusalem), and took its sacred objects for use in their own evil religion. In that way, they caused serious damage to the temple’s buildings (2 Chronicles 24:7).
After Joash had been the king for some time, he made the decision to repair the temple. God’s law includes rules for a tax for this purpose in Exodus 30:11-16. Joash directed the members of the tribe (family group) of Levi, who assisted the priests, to collect this tax (2 Chronicles 24:4). The temple also received certain other payments (Leviticus chapter 27; Numbers 18:15-16), and the people gave gifts for its use.
Joash intended that all of these payments and gifts would pay for the repairs. His first plan was that the priests would receive this money to carry out the repairs.
This plan did not succeed. The reason was that the members of the tribe of Levi did not collect the money for the tax. They did not refuse to do it; rather, they delayed and so they neglected to collect it (2 Chronicles 24:5-6).
Of course, the other money should have still been available. The priests had received this money, but they had not used it to repair the temple. It seems that they used it for other proper purposes. There were other things, such as wine, oil and wood for fires, that they needed to buy for the temple. So they neglected the greater task to repair the temple, which was much more expensive.
Next part: The failure of Joash's first plan to repair the temple (2 Kings 12:6-8)
Please use the links at the top of the page to find our other articles in this series. You can download all our articles if you go to the download page for our free 1000+ page course book.
© 2025, Keith Simons.