Daddy ~
Where would this money have come from which was collected from the people? Would it have been money that wasn’t supposed to be collected b/c nobody knew what the law actually taught during this period in Judah’s history? And/or maybe a special collection for temple restoration?
Thanks,
Bekah
2 Kings 22:3-7 ESV
“In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, the secretary, to the house of the Lord, saying, “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money that has been brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people. And let it be given into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord, and let them give it to the workmen who are at the house of the Lord, repairing the house (that is, to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons), and let them use it for buying timber and quarried stone to repair the house. But no accounting shall be asked from them for the money that is delivered into their hand, for they deal honestly.””
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Good question!
The money in the temple would have come from a mixed bag of sources. God always had His few who kept His commandments even under the worst of conditions, and under the worst of kings. At the same time, even though most Israelites were idolatrous throughout the Old Testament history, those idolatrous children of God would still have brought, at least, occasional offerings to Jehovah. It almost never was the case that an Israelite stopped serving Jehovah altogether. To do so would have been contrary to the spirit of idolatry, which was very inclusive. Even heathen priests and prophets would have encouraged the Israelites to show respect to their national God, even though, in their eyes, He would have been a minor deity. In all my research of the ancient world, I have yet to find a priest or prophet among the Gentiles who denied the real existence of the gods of nations beyond their own.
So, the money that Josiah knew was in the temple had been brought there by both faithful people of God and unfaithful people of God. And that there was money at the temple was not treated in the text as if it was an unusual situation. That, too, indicates that tithes and offerings from faithful Israelites, as well as tithes and offerings from unfaithful Israelites (yes, they liked that commandment – Amos 4:4-5) were routinely brought there, But there could well have been a third source. It was common among all cultures in the ancient world for travelers to make offerings to the gods of the territories through which they passed. So, foreigners wanting no trouble from Jehovah as they traveled through His territory might well have brought a few gifts to him.
Thanks for the question, Bekah!
PS The ESV translation makes it sound as if the servants of the temple had “taken up a collection” from God’s people, so to speak, but that is not the case. Not under King Josiah, and not without a word from God to the king commanding that such a special offering be taken. I think it would be better to use some other word, such as “gathered” in this case.