Daily Tanach Tuesday 4th Adar Sefer Melachim 2 Chapter 12 Part 1: The reign of Yoash and the deal he made with the Kohanim

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Chapter 12: The reign of Yehoash king of Yehuda

  1. The reign of King Yehoash:
  • The age that he became king: Yehoash was seven years old when he became king.
  • His year of reign: Yehoash became king in Yeihu’s seventh year of reign [which was the sixth year of the reign of Ataliah[1]].
  • The number of years of his reign: Yehoash reigned in Jerusalem for forty years.
  • His mother: Yehoash’s mother’s name was Tziviah from Beer sheva.
  • His deeds and righteousness: Yehoash was righteous throughout his life and found favor in G-d’s eyes, as he followed all that Yehoyada the priest had instructed him. [However, this righteousness was only until Yehoyada passed away, as after he passed away, Yehoash was turned into a deity by the people of Yehudah, who said that he must be a deity as otherwise he could not survive six years in the holy of holies.[2]]
  • The Bamos: The Bamos were not destroyed from the land and thus the people were still accustomed to slaughtering sacrifices and burning incense on the Bamos [even though they were prohibited from doing so and were required to bring all the sacrifices to the Temple].
  1. Yehoash diverts the temple funds to the priests in exchange for their maintenance of the temple:
  • Yehoash requested from all of the priests to collect the sanctification funds [i.e. Machatzis Hashekel, Hekdish, etc.[3]] from all of their friends and acquaintances and to keep the money for themselves, in exchange for them promising to fix and repair the temple from their own monies.
  • The failure to maintain and repair the temple and the abolishment of the deal: In the twenty-third year of King Yehoash, the priests abstained from maintaining and fixing the damages in the temple, after which King Yehoash summoned Yehoyada the priest and all of the other priests and told them that the deal they made is no longer active. They were given the rights to keep the money of sanctification from their acquaintances in exchange for their maintenance of the temple, and since they have failed to do so, they must therefore cease from taking the money for themselves and rather must give it to the special fund set up for the temple repairs. The priests agreed not to take money from the people and in exchange to no longer be responsible for the temple repairs.

[1] Metzudos Dovid 12:2

[2] Rashi 12:3

[3] Rashi 12:5

About The Author

Rabbi Yaakov Goldstein is a 6th generation descendent of the famous Chief Rabbi of Izhmir, Rav Yehoshua Avraham Krispin, who authored a number of Sefarim, and was a colleague of Rav Chaim Falagi, and father in-law of the Pesach Hadvir. He currently lives with his wife Shayna, and twelve children K”H, in Tzfas, Israel. Rabbi Goldstein received Semicha from Rabbi Schneur Zalman Labkowski of the Tomchei Temimim headquarters in 2005 and served as a chaplain in the Lotar/Kalatz and K9 unit of the IDF from years 2005-2008. He is also a certified Shochet, and has performed Hashgacha work in slaughterhouses. Rabbi Goldstein is the director of Shulchanaruchharav.com, the world’s leading web-based Halacha database, and is the director of the Home Study Semicha Program, a self-study web-based Semicha program. He is a prolific author of over 50 Sefarim studied by a wide range of readers throughout the world, which is used regularly in Semicha programs around the globe. He is a world renowned Posek, answering questions to a web-based market, and serves as a local Posek, Rav, and Lecturer, in the Tzemach Tzedek community Shul in Tzefas, Israel. His many classes can be heard both from his website, Vimeo and YouTube channel. Students can join live to classes given in the Tzemach Tzedek Shul, through the “בית חבד צפת Chabad Tsfat” YouTube channel.

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