12:5 repair the breaches. King Joash, seeing the disrepair of the temple and realizing that the priests had not fulfilled their responsibility of keeping it up, specified that a certain amount of the offerings of the people should be designated for that purpose. This was not carried out by the priests, however, so he and Jehoiada decided to receive the offerings directly, through a special chest by the altar of sacrifice (II Kings 12:10). This worked (II Kings 12:12-13). The people evidently had come to distrust the integrity of the priests and were withholding their money. They were very generous, however, when they knew their designated gifts were being used properly—a salutary example for modern churches and Christian ministries to follow.