2 Kings 22:3-7

B. THE TEMPLE REPAIR 22:3-7

TRANSLATION

(3) And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD saying, (4) Go up to Hilkiah the high priest that he may report the silver which is brought to the house of the LORD which the keepers of the door have gathered from the people. (5) And let them deliver it over to the workers, those who have been appointed over the house of the LORD; and let them give it to the workers who are in the house of the LORD to repair the dilapidation of the house, (6) to the carpenters and builders and masons in order to purchase timber and hewn stone to repair the house. (7) However, no thought was taken of the silver which was given into their hand because they worked faithfully.

COMMENTS

In his eighteenth year, the king dispatched the scribe Shaphan[640] (2 Kings 22:3) to the Temple to take a count of the monies which had been collected to pay for much needed repairs in and around the Temple. This collection must have been accumulating in a box or boxes placed at the entrance of the Temple complex for perhaps as long as six years, i.e., from the twelfth year of Josiah. The order was now given for the high priest to count the collection (2 Kings 22:4) and to distribute it among the superintendents who were in charge of the Temple renovation. They in turn were to hire the skilled laborers (2 Kings 22:5) and to purchase the necessary building materials that would be required to repair and renovate the dilapidated Temple (2 Kings 22:6). The superintendents were men of impeccable honesty in whom full confidence was placed to properly administer the funds (2 Kings 22:7). Their names are recorded in Chronicles along with the fact that they were all Levites (2 Chronicles 34:12).

[640] Chronicles adds that Shaphan was accompanied by Maaseiah the governor of the city and Joah the royal recorder or remembrancer (2 Chronicles 34:8).