(14) Whereof were made vessels for the house of the Lord.--Literally, and he (i.e., Jehoiada) made it into vessels for the house of Jehovah, vessels of ministering and of offering, &c. For "vessels of ministering," comp. Numbers 4:12. Spoons.--Cups or bowls (kappoth, Exodus 25:29). The chronicler apparently reverses the statement of 2Kings 12:13-14, "Howbeit there were not made for the house of the Lord, bowls of silver, snuffers, basons, trumpets, any vessels of gold or vessels of silver of the money that was brought into the house of the Lord. But they gave (used to give) that to the workmen, and repaired (used to repair) therewith the house of the Lord." The solution of the difficulty may be found in the fact that the writer of Kings is relating what was done with the money so long as the repairs of the Temple were in progress, while the chronicler is accounting for the surplus after the restoration was complete. Still the appearance of contradiction is sufficiently curious, and suggests the influence of the didactic aims of the later historian. And they offered.--And they were offering, i.e., offered habitually, as a matter of regular observance (the same construction as in 2Chronicles 24:12, "they were hiring"). The legal ritual was duly carried out in the Temple so long as the influence of Jehoiada was paramount--a remark peculiar to the chronicler. On the other hand, the present writer omits what is stated in closing the account of the Temple repairs (2Kings 12:15-16). There we are told that no reckoning was made with the overseers of the workmen in respect of the moneys entrusted to them, "for they dealt faithfully." It is added that the priests still received the trespass and sin money. Verse 14. - And to offer withal. The insertion of the italic type in the Authorized Version "withal" unnecessarily helps suggest uncertainty in this rendering, while the Revised Version gives that word in the ordinary type; margin, both Authorized Version and Revised Version, gives "pestles." The Hebrew word is (הַעֲלות) the hiph. turin, of the familiar verb עָלָה or plural of עֲלי with article prefixed; this word, however, seems to occur only once (Proverbs 27:22), and then in the singular number. The rest of the money... made vessels for the house of the Lord. This passage may harmonize not unsatisfactorily with the parallel (2 Kings 12:13), and on the very suggestion of the circumstantial evidence that arises from the place in which the information of our own text is found, by laying emphasis on the expression,."the rest of the money." The writer of Kings meant that nothing interfered with, nothing whatsoever ran even with the execution of the substantial work of reparation of the building, and he neglects to record that finally a remanet of money being available, vessels were made of it for the inner furnishing of the house. 24:1-14 Joash is more zealous about the repair of the temple than Jehoiada himself. It is easier to build temples, than to be temples to God. But the repairing of places for public worship is a good work, which all should promote. And many a good work would be done that now lies undone, if active men would put it forward.And when they had finished it,.... The repairs of the house, all that were necessary:they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada: that is, the overseers, when they had paid the workmen, brought what was left of the money collected to the king and the priest, to dispose of as they should think fit: whereof were made vessels for the house of the Lord; in the room of such that Athaliah and her sons had taken away, and converted to the use of Baal; for though it is said, 2 Kings 12:13, that none were made of this money, the meaning is, that none were made of it until the work was finished, and the workmen paid: even vessels to minister and offer withal; which, according to Jarchi, were pestles and mortars to beat spices with; but Kimchi thinks they were small vessels with which they drew wine out of the bin for drink offerings: and spoons and vessels of gold and silver: see 2 Kings 12:13, and they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Jehoiada; the daily sacrifice, morning and evening. |