I want to tell you a story that you've probably never heard before about a king you've probably never heard about and a method of taking care of clergy you've probably never heard about.
In case you're keeping score at home, it's found in 2 Chronicles, the 24th chapter.
It goes like this: Joash was seven years old when he became king; he was king for forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Gazelle (Zibiah). She was from Beersheba. Taught and trained by Jehoiada the priest, Joash did what pleased God throughout Jehoiada's lifetime. Jehoiada picked out two wives for him; he had a family of both sons and daughters. The time came when Joash determined to renovate The Temple of God. He got the priests and Levites together and said, "Circulate through the towns of Judah every year and collect money from the people to repair The Temple of your God. You are in charge of carrying this out." But the Levites dragged their feet and didn't do anything.
Then the king called in Jehoiada the chief priest and said, "Why haven't you made the Levites bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax Moses, servant of God and the congregation, set for the upkeep of the place of worship? You can see how bad things are—wicked Queen Athaliah and her sons let The Temple of God go to ruin and took all its sacred artifacts for use in Baal worship." Following the king's orders, they made a chest and placed it at the entrance to The Temple of God. Then they sent out a tax notice throughout Judah and Jerusalem: "Pay the tax that Moses the servant of God set when Israel was in the wilderness."
The people and their leaders were glad to do it and cheerfully brought their money until the chest was full. Whenever the Levites brought the chest in for a royal audit and found it to be full, the king's secretary and the official of the chief priest would empty the chest and put it back in its place. Day after day they did this and collected a lot of money. The king and Jehoiada gave the money to the managers of The Temple project; they in turn paid the masons and carpenters for the repair work on The Temple of God. The construction workers kept at their jobs steadily until the restoration was complete—the house of God as good as new! When they had finished the work, they returned the surplus money to the king and Jehoiada, who used the money for making sacred vessels for Temple worship, vessels for the daily worship, for the Whole-Burnt-Offerings, bowls, and other gold and silver liturgical artifacts.
Whole-Burnt-Offerings were made regularly in The Temple of God throughout Jehoiada's lifetime. He died at a ripe old age—130 years old! They buried him in the royal cemetery because he had such a distinguished life of service to Israel and God and God's Temple."
There are a few things to notice here, I think. One, there was no separation of church and state. Two, Joash became king when he was seven and served for forty years, which means he was 47 when he left the throne. While he was king, things were swell. When he died, the Bible says things fell apart.
Leadership, it would seem, matters.
I've read in the past couple of weeks that this country has begun to fall apart because George W. Bush felt faith was one of his guiding forces. They miss the point. If, and I stress if, Bush led us down a bad path it was not because of his faith but because he was a dunce. Faith in leadership is important, I believe. Faith in lives of those on the throne is important.
Instead, now, we have someone who wants to include all faiths, all beliefs, all religions into some mass conglomeration of, I don't know what.
It won't work.
Jesus said, as clearly as anything is said in scripture, he was THE way, THE truth and THE life. His way. His truth. Our lives.
They paid the clergy what the people felt was the right amount. They put the moneyh into the temple. They worshiped the Lord.
Simple truth.
Simple times.
Simply the way it should be.
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