Bible Symmetry and Sacrificial Gifts

Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its lid. He placed it beside the altar, on the right side as one enters the temple of the Lord. The priests who guarded the entrance put into the chest all the money that was brought to the temple of the Lord. Whenever they saw that there was a large amount of money in the chest, the royal secretary and the high priest came, counted the money that had been brought into the temple of the Lord and put it into bags. When the amount had been determined, they gave the money to the men appointed to supervise the work on the temple. With it they paid those who worked on the temple of the Lord—the carpenters and builders, the masons and stonecutters. They purchased timber and blocks of dressed stone for the repair of the temple of the Lord, and met all the other expenses of restoring the temple.
– 2 Kings 5:9-12 NIV

And that’s our text for this devotional. Have a great day!

…Okay, seriously, where did that passage come from? Well, I was sitting in church and we were reading the story of the widow whose coins dropped in the offering box — or relative lack of coins thereof — was noticed by those in attendance. I’m guessing she had their attention before that moment; possibly by the way she was dressed. And Jesus was there, too.

Sitting across from the temple treasury, he watched how the crowd dropped money into the treasury. Many rich people were putting in large sums. Then a poor widow came and dropped in two tiny coins worth very little. Summoning his disciples, he said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. For they all gave out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had —all she had to live on.”
– Mark 12:41-44 CSB

In the Bible app on my phone there was a menu option to consider further details, and that’s where the text in 2 Kings appeared.

At the time, I was impressed with the connection between an obscure 2 Kings text and the one in Mark’s gospel.

People often speak about the symmetry in the Bible. Things like how the tongues in various languages in the book of Acts is a reversal of Babel. One supernatural act involving language scattered the people, and the other supernatural activity united the people.

Or, take the Garden in Eden. There are trees. What is central in the book of Revelation? A tree.

Or perhaps even greater, this comparison:

There is a nice symmetry in this: Death initially came by a man, and resurrection from death came by a man. Everybody dies in Adam; everybody comes alive in Christ. But we have to wait our turn: Christ is first, then those with him at his Coming, the grand consummation when, after crushing the opposition, he hands over his kingdom to God the Father. He won’t let up until the last enemy is down—and the very last enemy is death! As the psalmist said, “He laid them low, one and all; he walked all over them.” When Scripture says that “he walked all over them,” it’s obvious that he couldn’t at the same time be walked on. When everything and everyone is finally under God’s rule, the Son will step down, taking his place with everyone else, showing that God’s rule is absolutely comprehensive—a perfect ending!
– 1 Corinthians 15:25-28 The Message

We need to learn to love what some have called the beauty of the Bible. How the pieces fit together and form something so wonderful and complex that no human imagination could have ever conceived it…

…Back to our original text. I simply found it interesting that the origins of the offering box in the narrative about Jesus and the widow were mentioned in the Old Testament text and how the practice carries through today in the form of what one Michigan church calls ‘joy boxes.’ You know how the scripture says “God loves a cheerful giver?” Well in that church they break out into applause and cheers when the reminder is made of the joy boxes located at the back of the room.

But finding the 2 Kings text this morning proved elusive, as my app no longer showed the link when I looked up the text in Mark’s gospel. Trying to find it, I came upon this footnote in the Amplified Bible:

Thirteen trumpet-shaped chests were placed around the wall in the Court of Women in the temple.The thirteen receptacles for the money were metal and the heavy silver coins contributed by the wealthy would have made quite a noise when they were deposited, calling audible attention to the size of each contribution. By contrast, the widow’s coins (v 42) would have barely made a sound.

Wait, trumpet-shaped? That doesn’t sound like a chest, does it? And 13 of them? I’ve always pictured the story of Jesus and the widow involving a single box.

As with so many things we don’t know for sure. Is the link in my Bible app misplaced? Is the commentary in the Amplified Bible confused with something else?

What matters is that the leaders prepared ahead of time to collect the offerings of the people. And in the New Testament, people purposely, intentionally gathered what they would present. And the widow, who sacrificially gave what she (barely) could, really gave more than everyone else.

If you give in envelopes on an offering plate or in a fabric bag, there isn’t the sound that her offering made; there isn’t anything to indicate to those around what the measure of your sacrifice consists of.

But God sees.