“But by the twenty-third year of Joash’s reign, the priests still had not repaired the Temple. So King Joash called for Jehoiada and the other priests and asked them, “Why haven’t you repaired the Temple? Don’t use any more money for your own needs. From now on, it must all be spent on Temple repairs.” So the priests agreed not to accept any more money from the people, and they also agreed to let others take responsibility for repairing the Temple. Then Jehoiada the priest bored a hole in the lid of a large chest and set it on the right-hand side of the altar at the entrance of the Temple of the Lord. The priests guarding the entrance put all of the people’s contributions into the chest. Whenever the chest became full, the court secretary and the high priest counted the money that had been brought to the Lord’s Temple and put it into bags. Then they gave the money to the construction supervisors, who used it to pay the people working on the Lord’s Temple—the carpenters, the builders, the masons, and the stonecutters. They also used the money to buy the timber and the finished stone needed for repairing the Lord’s Temple, and they paid any other expenses related to the Temple’s restoration. The money brought to the Temple was not used for making silver bowls, lamp snuffers, basins, trumpets, or other articles of gold or silver for the Temple of the Lord. It was paid to the workmen, who used it for the Temple repairs. No accounting of this money was required from the construction supervisors, because they were honest and trustworthy men. However, the money that was contributed for guilt offerings and sin offerings was not brought into the Lord’s Temple. It was given to the priests for their own use.”
2 Kings 12:6-16 NLT
It took the priests over two decades to begin the repairs on the temple that they were tasked with. The answer to solving this problem was for Joash to call for them to pay workmen to do the job in their stead. Whether this was an indictment upon the priests is unclear, however, we know that it could be very difficult to care for the spiritual needs of Israel and even the early church. Whether it be Moses appointing leaders at his father in laws suggestion, or the apostles appointing deacons to take care of the distribution problems, this is precedence for the idea of outsourcing responsibility. However, it should be noted that the money had no need of accounting because these craftsmen were all honorable men. This was true of the Deacons as well. When we outsource, it should come from the need to prevent undue hardship in ministry and only be given to those who will complete the task toward its purpose. It should never be done from convenience or given to the greedy.
JOSH McGARY. COM 