Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1891-05-29
THE TEMPLE REPAIRED.
LESSON TX, SECOND QUARTER, IN
TERNATlONAL SERIES, MAY 81.

|
mission Of II. S. Hoffman, publisher, Philadel-
phial
4. And it came to pass after this that
Joash was minded to repair the house of
the Lord"
We now go backward in the history to
period about hundred years earlier than
the last lesson. Joash was the seventh king
of the two tribes, and began to reign about
a hundred years after the death of Solo
mon. Only seven yeats old when he began
to reign, he reigned forty years Tvs. y.
). And he gathered together the priests
and the Levites."
$50 out unto the cities of Judah, and
gather of all Israel money to repair the
house of your God from year to year, and
see that We hasten the matter"
This would have beea a sort of compul
sorry taxation for the house of God, and
was contrary to the principle laid down in
EX. XIV, 2-"Of every man that Civ
eth it willingly with his heart We shall
take my Offering" And again in Ex. xxxv,
5, "Whosoever is of a willing heart let
him bring it, an offering of the Lord"
6. And the king called for Jehoiada,
the chief and said unto him, Why hast
thou not required of the Levites to bring
in out of Judah and Jerusalem the collec-
tions"
Inc priest ana Jne leN1UeS prODauly
understood their business better than the
king did. 1t was not in their commission
to go out collecting money, but it was
commanded that the people should bring
in their offerings according to their ability
Deut. xvi, l6, IL NAL iii, l0l.
:. For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked
woman, had broken up the house of God"
This was the woman who counseled her
son Ahazah (the last king to do wickedly,
and who, after his death, reigned six years
| (chap. xxi, 3 3, 12). See her miserable end
in chap. xiii, 10. She was the daughter
of Ahab xxi, g, and when we remember
| that Jczebel was Ahabs wife we cannot
wonder ut her conduct and that of her sons
"And also all the dedicated things of the
house of the Lord did they bestow upon
| Baalim."
5. And at the kings commandment
they made "A chest and set it without at
the gate of the house OF the Lord"
There was a hole in the lid of this chest,
and it was set beside the altar on the right
side as one cometh into the house of the
Lord OH Kings xii, %. Things are looking
better now; this is more like Gods way,
and there will surely be blessing
o. And they made proclamation
through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in
to the Lord the collection that Moses, the
servant of God, laid upon Israel in the
wilderness"
This is more fully stated in II Kings xii,
4, 5, and carries US back to Elk. XxX l1-16,
where all who were Numbered were to give
half shekel as an Offering unto the Lord
to make an atonement for their souls, the
rich not giving more and the poor not Civ
ing less than half shekel.
10. And all the princes and all the peo-
Pile rejoiced, and brought in and cast into
the chest until they had made an end"
This pleased the Lord, for God loveth a
cheerful giver" and ''if there be first
willing mind, it is accepted according to
that IA man hath, and not according to
that he hath not II Cor. tx, Z; viii, ~.
H. "Thus they did, day by day, and
gathered money in abundance"
As the chest was filled it was emptied,
counted, put up in bags and set in its place
again Oh Kings, xii, l0). At the building
of the tabernacle Of Moses the money and
material from the willing hearted oiTerers
came in so abundantly that orders had to
be issued to restrain the people from bring
ing, for they brought much more than
enough (EX. XxXvi, q, y.
II. And the king and Jehoiada gave it
80 such us did the work of the service of
the house of the Lord"
Anu IItN lllNl IL Oup 10 llle carpenters
and builders, and to masons and hewers of
stone, and to buy timber and hewed stone
to repair the breaches of the house of the
Lord Oh Kings xii, II, ~. They did not
like many nowadays, get the work done
first and then look for the money to pay
for it, but they first saw the wherewitnal on
hand and then went forward with the work.
1t does seem so unscriptural to have debt
upon any building dedicated to God, or to
undertake any work for God without see
ing how to pay for 1t.
10. 80 the workmen wrought, and the
work was perfected by them"
King, priest, people and workmen, all
laborers together. So now every preacher,
teacher, missionary, evangelist, ort the hum
blest scholar who gives a penny to help
send the gospel to others, are all laborers
together in building up the great temple,
the church or body of Christ, which shall
in due time be perfected (Eph. ii, 1922;
Cor. iii, 81. a strange thing is written
concerning the overseers of this work to
whom the money was given to pay the
workmen, which is also written of Others
in the days of Josiah-viz., that they dealt
so faithfully that no reckoning was kept
with them Ql Kings, xii, Is; xxi, y.
And they set the house of God in his
state and strengthened it,"
In the margin of the II. V. Ellis state" is
ACCORDING to the proportion thereof. "
The Spirit had given David the plans for
the temple Il Chron. xviii, l2-l9), and
t!iey ECw repaired it according to the de
sign of the Spirit When we by the Spirit
act and speak according to His will we
shall then glority God.
H. And when they had finished it they
brought the rest of the money before the
king and JehOiada."
Why did they not use up all the money,
or put in bill for extras! What fools
they would be in the eyes of many today!
How easy to say that the work cost more
than they expected! But see their faith
fulness. The surplus was made into yes
sells of gold and silver for the house of the
Lord. Let the surplus of wealthy Chris
tains be devoted to sending forth vessels OF
mercy to the unsaved, and what joy such
faithfulness would bring both in heaven
4 and on earth!
"They offered burnt offerings in the
house of the Lord continually all the days
of Jehoada."
Tb;u ,,oo1 INTACT l;ya1 tba ax,t