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in case of vows, to be fixed according to the provisions of Leviticus 27:2, etc. - and from
voluntary offerings. These sources of revenue the priests were to "take to themselves,
every man of his acquaintance" (2 Kings 12:5), and with them to "repair the breaches of
the house." The Book of Chronicles explains that this money was to be gathered by
personal collection in all the cities of Judah. Considering that these contributions were
mainly of the nature of voluntary offerings, like those once gathered for the Tabernacle
(Exodus 35:21), such a mode of collection would appear the most suitable, especially in a
time of religious revival following after a widespread religious decay.
The king had bidden the priests and Levites "hasten the matter" (2 Chronicles 24:5). But
when, even in the twenty-third year of his reign, no satisfactory progress had been made
with the needful repairs of the Temple, the king, with the consent of the priesthood,
proceeded to make such alterations in the mode of collecting the money as virtually to
place it in his own hands and those of the high-priest. It is not necessary to suppose that
there had been defalcations on the part of the priesthood; indeed, the later arrangements
are inconsistent with this idea. But we can quite understand that, besides the natural
reluctance to collect from friends, the priests might find such calls interfering with the
collection of their own revenues in the various districts; while the people would feel little
confidence or enthusiasm in what was at best an irregular and disorderly mode of
securing a great religious and national object. It was otherwise when the king and high-
priest took the matter in hand. A chest for receiving voluntary contributions was placed at
the entrance into the court of the priests, at the right side of the altar. A proclamation
throughout the whole country, announcing a mode of collection identical with that when
Moses had reared the Tabernacle in the wilderness, caused universal joy, and brought
thousands of willing contributors. All the other arrangements were equally successful.
When the chest was full, it was carried into the royal office, and opened in presence of
the king's scribe and the high-priest or his representative, when the money was bound
into bags and weighed to ascertain the exact amount. "And they gave the money that had
been weighed into the hands of them that did the work [that is, them] that were appointed
for the house of Jehovah," viz., to superintend the building operations. According to 2
Chronicles 24:12, these were Levites, and men of such trusted character that it was
deemed unnecessary to require an account of their disbursements to the workmen whom
they employed. The money was in the first place exclusively devoted to the repair of the
Temple (2 Kings 12:13). But when this was completed, the rest was used for the purchase
of sacred vessels for the service of the Sanctuary (2 Chronicles 24:14). And it is specially
indicated, partly to show the liberality of the people, and partly the extent of the religious
revival, that all these contributions in no way diminished the regular revenues of the
priesthood* (2 Kings 12:16).
- The law did not assign to the priests any money in connection with sin-offerings. But
we infer that it was the practice that the priest received some money-gift besides the flesh
of the sacrifice (Leviticus 6:25-29).
(^)