2 Kings 22:4

4 "Go up to Hilkiyahu the cohen hagadol, and have him total the money that has been brought into the house of ADONAI, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people.

2 Kings 22:4 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 22:4

Go up to Hilkiah the high priest
Who had an apartment in the temple; there was an Hilkiah, a priest, in those times, who was the father of Jeremiah the prophet, ( Jeremiah 1:1 Jeremiah 1:2 ) , whom an Arabic writer F12 takes to be the same with this; but it is not likely:

that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the Lord
which the people voluntarily offered for the repairing of it; this he would have the priest take an account of, that the sum total might be known; his meaning is, that he should take it out of the chest in which it was put, and count it, that it might be known what it amounted to; see ( 2 Kings 12:9 2 Kings 12:10 ) , some understand this of melting and coining the silver thus given

which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people:
who were Levites, ( 2 Chronicles 34:9 ) , either porters of the door, or rather the treasurers, as the Targum; the keepers of the vessels of the sanctuary, that had the care of them, as the Jewish commentators generally interpret it.


FOOTNOTES:

F12 Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. p. 68.

2 Kings 22:4 In-Context

2 He did what was right from ADONAI's perspective, living entirely in the manner of David his ancestor and turning away neither to the right nor to the left.
3 In the eighteenth year of King Yoshiyahu, the king sent Shafan the son of Atzalyahu, the son of Meshulam, the secretary, to the house of ADONAI after instructing him,
4 "Go up to Hilkiyahu the cohen hagadol, and have him total the money that has been brought into the house of ADONAI, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people.
5 Then have them give it to the supervisors of the work being done in the house of ADONAI; they in turn are to use it to pay the laborers in the house of ADONAI to repair damaged places in the building -
6 the carpenters, construction-workers and stonemasons - and to purchase timber and worked stone for doing the repairs on the building."
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.