After years of neglect and destruction under Athaliah's rule, a new administrative system is put in place to restore the house of God. Rather than imposing a special, centralized tax on the people, a decentralized approach is chosen. The responsibility falls directly on the Temple servants. The priests are instructed to collect the donation funds and keep them. In exchange, they assume full responsibility for funding and carrying out the necessary repairs using these very funds, working gradually as the money comes in [רש״י, מצודת דוד, רד״ק, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. To gather these resources, each priest turns to his personal acquaintances, the Israelites who know him and regularly bring him their priestly gifts [רש״י, רלב״ג, רד״ק].
The primary goal of this collection is to fix the structural damage, specifically the cracks, gaps, and ruined sections of the Temple walls [רש״י, רד״ק]. The repair process requires a careful, thorough inspection of the site to evaluate the full extent of the damage and determine exactly what is missing and what must be fixed [רד״ק, רלב״ג].
Directing all these funds toward the physical renovation raises a practical issue regarding how the daily offerings, normally purchased with standard half-shekel donations, would be funded during this time. One perspective suggests that during the six years of Athaliah's reign, when the people worshipped Baal and the Temple was compromised, the regular donations ceased. When the King finally called for contributions, God-fearing individuals brought all their accumulated debts from those lost years. This resulted in a surplus large enough to cover both the building repairs and the daily offerings [חומת אנך, אברבנאל בשם רד״ק]. Alternatively, another approach maintains that the collected funds were used exclusively for the renovation. However, once the public realized the Temple treasury was completely empty, people voluntarily stepped forward to donate sheep or specific funds for the daily public offerings, naturally resolving the shortage [אברבנאל].