And cast into the chest until they had made an end.
Compulsory and free-will offerings
Therestoration of Solomon’s temple by Jehoiada under Joash’s authority is a remarkable instance of cheerful giving, of a truly voluntary offering. The money was not raised by a royal edict imposing a subsidy, nor were the workmen impressed for service for so many months in the year. By taxation and by forced labour, or levies, had Solomon’s temple been erected. Such indeed was, and is, the almost invariable custom of Eastern monarchs in the construction of all great works, whether religious or secular. Though the prince might be lauded as a patron of religion or of art, a rankling sense of oppression and injustice remained in the breasts of the toilers. This Rehoboam had found to his cost, when his people demanded relief from the burdens which the glories of Solomon had entailed on them. We may illustrate this by an interesting inscription at Abilene. A splendid aqueduct and military road have been engineered along the face of the lofty cliff which bounds the deep valley. At the commencement of the aqueduct is the long inscription in honour of the Emperor Trajan, for whom the gratitude of posterity is claimed because of this great achievement. But below the inscription is chiseled deep on the face of the rock, in letters of a rather different shape, added, no doubt, after the emperor’s departure, “Impensis Abilenorum”--“At theexpense of the people of Abilene.” (Canon Tristram.)
