2 Kings 12:5

Let the priests take it to them, every man of his acquaintance,.... Of those that were most known by them; for the priests had cities assigned them in several parts of the land, and they that dwelt

Let the priests take it to them, every man of his acquaintance: and let them repair the breaches of the house, wheresoever any breach shall be found. No JFB commentary on these verses.

Let the priests take it to them; let them go abroad through all the parts of the land, as they have acquaintance and interest, and gather up the money, and bring it to Jerusalem. Wheresoever any breach shall be found; either through decay, or by ill accidents, or by the malice of Athaliah or her relations; of which see .

2 Kings 12:5 Let the priests take [it] to them, every man of his acquaintance: and let them repair the breaches of the house, wheresoever any breach shall be found.Ver. 5. And let them repair the breaches of the house.] Labes domus, rupturas, fissuras, scissuras, such as the temple had contracted, either by antiquity, for it had stood one hundred and fifty-five years, or by the iniquity of the times. See 2 Chronicles 24:7.

(5) Every man of his acquaintance.—See 2 Chronicles 24:5. From that passage it is evident that the chronicler understood that the priests were required to collect such moneys, each in his own city and district, year by year. Our text, taken alone, would seem to imply that persons going to the Temple to have the value of vows estimated, or to make free-will offerings, resorted to the priests whom they knew. (The word rendered “acquaintance” only occurs in this account.) The breaches of the house.—The dilapidations of the Temple were serious, not because of its age—it had only stood about 130 years—but owing to the wanton attacks of Athaliah and her sons (comp. 2 Chronicles 24:7), who had, moreover, diverted the revenues of the sanctuary to the support of the Baalworship.

5. let the priests take it to them, every man of his acquaintance] This passage is not easy to understand until we have along with it the parallel account of the Chronicler. From 2 Kings it might be thought that the words of Jehoash applied to such offerings as were made at the temple, and then it would be hard to see what a man’s acquaintance had to do with such a matter. But in 2 Chron. we are told that the priests and Levites were bidden ‘to go out unto the cities of Judah and gather money of all Israel’. Hence nothing was more natural than that each should go among the people to whom he was best known, and from whom he would have the best chance of bringing in contributions, Josephus (Ant. IX. 8. 2) says that ‘the priests and Levites were sent through the whole land to ask half a shekel from each person for the furniture and restoration of the temple, which had been broken up by Joram and Athaliah and her sons’. and let them repair] R.V. they shall repair. This is literal, and besides allows more emphasis to be given to the pronoun ‘they’ which is placed in a marked position in the original. The wish of the king at first was to put the whole matter in the charge of the priest. the breaches] The Hebrew word, which the LXX. merely transliterates (âåäÝê), is found only in this chapter and 2 Kings 22:5, and in Ezekiel 27:9; Ezekiel 27:27. But in the last-mentioned passages it is used of the filling up, by calking, of the chinks in ships. Hence we can understand the sort of decay which had taken place in the temple-building. Years of neglect had allowed the walls to crumble and crack and similar damages to arise in every part.

The collection was not to be made in Jerusalem only, but in all “the cities of Judah” 2 Chronicles 24:5; the various priests and Levites being collectors in their own neighborhoods.

5. Every man of his acquaintance — From this, and more particularly from Chronicles, (2 Kings 12:5,) it appears that the priests and Levites were not to wait at the temple to receive contributions,