John Gill Commentary 2 Kings 12

In the seventh year of Jehu Jehoash began to reign
So that he reigned twenty one or twenty two years contemporary with Jehu's reign, for Jehu reigned twenty eight years:

and forty years reigned he in Jerusalem ;
the same number of years David and Solomon reigned:

and his mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba ;
a city in the tribe of Simeon, in the extreme part of the land of Canaan southward; her name in the Chaldee dialect is Tabitha, the same with Dorcas in Greek, (Acts 9:36) .

And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord

all his days

Worshipping the only true God, and ruling and walking according to the law of God:

wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him ;

and so long as he observed his instructions, and as long as that priest lived, he reigned well; for to that period "all his days must be limited"; for after his death he was seduced by the princes of Judah to idolatry, and lived scandalously, and died ignominiously; see (2 Chronicles 24:2 2 Chronicles 24:7 2 Chronicles 24:25) .

But the high places were not taken away

Used before the temple was built, or set up in Rehoboam's time, (1 Kings 14:23) contrary to the law of God, which required that sacrifices should only be offered in the place the Lord chose to dwell in, (Deuteronomy 12:4Deuteronomy 12:6) the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places; as they had done in the times of Athaliah, and though the pure worship of God was restored at Jerusalem; and indeed this they did in all preceding reigns; nor was it in the power of the best of kings, at least they did not think it safe to attempt to remove them till Hezekiah's time; so fond were the people of them because of their antiquity and supposed sanctity, and for the sake of ease.

And Jehoash said to the priests
Being minded or having it in his heart, to repair the temple, as in (2 Chronicles 24:4) not only because it was the sanctuary of the Lord, though that chiefly, but because it had been a sanctuary to him, where he was hid and preserved six years:

all the money of the dedicated things that is brought into the house of
the Lord :
or rather, "that is to be brought", as De Dieu, and others render it, the particulars of which follow:

even the money of everyone that passeth [the account] ;
or that passeth among them that are numbered, as in (Exodus 30:13Exodus 30:14) that were upwards of twenty years of age, and bound to pay the half shekel for the ransom of their souls; and it is called the collection or burden Moses laid on them in the wilderness, (2 Chronicles 24:6 2 Chronicles 24:9)

the money that every man is set at ;
the price the priest set upon or estimated a man at, or whomsoever that belonged to him, that he devoted to the Lord, which by the law he was bound to pay for his redemption, and, till that was done, he and they were not his, but the Lord's, of which see (Leviticus 27:1–8) and here the Targum calls it, the money of the redemption of souls, which is the gift of a man for the redemption of his soul:

and all the money that cometh into any man's heart to bring into the
house of the Lord :
vows and freewill offerings made of their own accord.

Let the priests take it to them, every man of his acquaintance ,
&c.] Of those that were most known by them; for the priests had cities assigned them in several parts of the land, and they that dwelt with them in them, or in the parts adjacent to them, were best known by them; and they were sent into all the cities, some to one and some to another, where they were most acquainted, to collect money, both what was due by law, and what the people should freely give, see (2 Chronicles 24:5)

and let them repair the breaches of the house, wheresoever any breach
shall be found :
that is, of the temple, which, according to the Jewish chronology ^F9 , had been built but one hundred and fifty five years; and being built very strong, would have needed no considerable repairs as yet, but that it had been broken up and misused by Athaliah and her sons, (2 Chronicles 24:7) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F9: Seder Olam Rabba, c. 18.