Temples, taxes, and toddlers...

Send us Fan MailWords for the Weary (September 21st)Tuesdays in the Old Testament2 Kings 12:4-16Then Joash said to the priests, “All the dedicated silver brought to the Lord’s temple, census silver, silver from vows, and all silver voluntarily given for the Lord’s temple— each priest is to take it from his assessor and repair whatever damage is found in the temple.”But by the twenty-third year of the reign of King Joash, the priests had not repaired the damage to the temple. So King Joash called the priest Jehoiada and the other priests and asked, “Why haven’t you repaired the temple’s damage? Since you haven’t, don’t take any silver from your assessors; instead, hand it over for the repair of the temple.” So the priests agreed that they would receive no silver from the people and would not be the ones to repair the temple’s damage.Then the priest Jehoiada took a chest, bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar on the right side as one enters the Lord’s temple; the priests who guarded the threshold put into the chest all the silver that was brought to the Lord’s temple. Whenever they saw there was a large amount of silver in the chest, the king’s secretary and the high priest would go bag up and tally the silver found in the Lord’s temple. Then they would give the weighed silver to those doing the work—those who oversaw the Lord’s temple. They in turn would pay it out to those working on the Lord’s temple—the carpenters, the builders, the masons, and the stonecutters—and would use it to buy timber and quarried stone to repair the damage to the Lord’s temple and for all expenses for temple repairs.However, no silver bowls, wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, trumpets, or any articles of gold or silver were made for the Lord’s temple from the contributions brought to the Lord’s temple. Instead, it was given to those doing the work, and they repaired the Lord’s temple with it. No accounting was required from the men who received the silver to pay those doing the work, since they worked with integrity. The silver from the guilt offering and the sin offering was not brought to the Lord’s temple since it belonged to the priests.Our Father in heaven, with these words we ask that you would entice us so that we come to believe that you are truly our Father and we are truly your children, in order that we may ask you boldly and with complete confidence, just as loving children ask their loving father, knowing that you hear us; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.