Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan, of Jerusalem. He did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, but not with a perfect heart. Now when the kingdom was established to him, he killed his servants who had killed his father the king. But he didn’t put their children to death, but did according to that which is written in the law in the book of Moses, as Yahweh commanded, saying, “The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers; but every man shall die for his own sin.”
Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together, and ordered them according to their fathers’ houses, under captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, even all Judah and Benjamin. He counted them from twenty years old and upward, and found that there were three hundred thousand chosen men, able to go out to war, who could handle spear and shield. He also hired one hundred thousand mighty men of valor out of Israel for one hundred talents of silver. A man of God came to him, saying, “O king, don’t let the army of Israel go with you, for Yahweh is not with Israel, with all the children of Ephraim. But if you will go, take action, and be strong for the battle. God will overthrow you before the enemy; for God has power to help, and to overthrow.”
Amaziah said to the man of God, “But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel?” The man of God answered, “Yahweh is able to give you much more than this.”
Then Amaziah separated them, the army that had come to him out of Ephraim, to go home again. Therefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in fierce anger. Amaziah took courage, and led his people out, and went to the Valley of Salt, and struck ten thousand of the children of Seir. The children of Judah carried away ten thousand alive, and brought them to the top of the rock, and threw them down from the top of the rock, so that they all were broken in pieces. But the men of the army whom Amaziah sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, fell on the cities of Judah, from Samaria even to Beth Horon, and struck of them three thousand, and took much plunder.
Now after Amaziah had come from the slaughter of the Edomites, he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense to them. Therefore Yahweh’s anger burned against Amaziah, and he sent to him a prophet, who said to him, “Why have you sought after the gods of the people, which have not delivered their own people out of your hand?”
As he talked with him, the king said to him, “Have we made you one of the king’s counselors? Stop! Why should you be struck down?” Then the prophet stopped, and said, “I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this, and have not listened to my counsel.”
Then Amaziah king of Judah consulted his advisers, and sent to Joash, the son of Jehoahaz the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come! Let’s look one another in the face.”
Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as his wife. Then a wild animal that was in Lebanon passed by, and trampled down the thistle. You say to yourself that you have struck Edom; and your heart lifts you up to boast. Now stay at home. Why should you meddle with trouble, that you should fall, even you, and Judah with you?’ ”
But Amaziah would not listen; for it was of God, that he might deliver them into the hand of their enemies, because they had sought after the gods of Edom. So Joash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah. Judah was defeated by Israel; so every man fled to his tent.
Joash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash the son of Jehoahaz, at Beth Shemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits. He took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in God’s house with Obed-Edom, and the treasures of the king’s house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria.
Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived for fifteen years after the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel. Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, first and last, behold, aren’t they written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel? Now from the time that Amaziah turned away from following Yahweh, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem. He fled to Lachish, but they sent after him to Lachish, and killed him there. They brought him on horses, and buried him with his fathers in the City of Judah.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 24 Meaning, in respect of his predecessors albeit he had…
Meaning, in respect of his predecessors albeit he had his imperfections.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 2Ch 25:1 Amaziah [was] twenty and five years old…
2Ch 25:1 Amaziah [was] twenty and five years old [when] he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name [was] Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.
Ver. 1. Amaziah was twenty and five years old. See on 2Ki 14:1-2.
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And he reigned twenty and nine years.] But above half that time he lived in very great contempt among his own people, basely and idly.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 20, 24 Of this verse, and ver. 2-4, See Poole "2Ki…
Of this verse, and ver. 2-4, See Poole "2Ki 14:1", etc.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 14, 17 Here is, I. The general character of Amaziah: He…
Here is, I. The general character of Amaziah: He did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, worshipped the true God, kept the temple service a going, and countenanced religion in his kingdom; but he did not do it with a perfect heart (Ch2 25:2), that is, he was not a man of serious piety or devotion himself, nor had he any zeal for the exercises of religion. He was no enemy to it, but a cool and indifferent friend. Such is the character of too many in this Laodicean age: they do that which is good, but not with the heart, not with a perfect heart.
II. A necessary piece of justice which he did upon the traitors that murdered his father: he put them to death, Ch2 25:3. Though we should suppose they intended to avenge on their king the death of the prophet (as was intimated, Ch2 24:25), yet this would by no means justify their wickedness; for they were not the avengers, but presumptuously took God's work out of his hands: and therefore Amaziah did what became him in calling them to an account for it, but forbade the putting of the children to death for the parents' sin, Ch2 25:4.
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III. An expedition of his against the Edomites, who, some time ago, had revolted from under the dominion of Judah, to which he attempted to reduce them. Observe,
1. The great preparation he made for this expedition. (1.) He mustered his own forces, and marshalled them (Ch2 25:5), and found Judah and Benjamin in all but 300,000 men that were fit for war, whereas, in Jehoshaphat's time, fifty or sixty years before, they were four times as many. Sin weakens a people, diminishes them, dispirits them, and lessens their number and figure. (2.) He hired auxiliary troops out of the kingdom of Israel, Ch2 25:6. Finding his own kingdom defective in men, he thought to make up the deficiency with his money, and therefore took into his pay 100,000 Israelites. If he had advised with any of his prophets before he did this, or had but considered how little any of his ancestors got by their alliances with Israel, he would not have had this to undo again. But rashness makes work for repentance.
2. The command which God sent him by a prophet to dismiss out of his service the forces of Israel, Ch2 25:7, Ch2 25:8. He would not have him call in any assistance at all: it looked like distrust of God. If he made sure of God's presence, the army he had of his own was sufficient. But particularly he must not take in their assistance: For the Lord is not with the children of Ephraim, because they are not with him, but worship the calves. This was a good reason why he should not make use of them, because he could not depend upon them to do him any service. What good could be expected from those that had not God with them, nor his blessings upon their undertakings? It is comfortable to employ those who, we have reason to hope, have an interest in heaven, and dangerous to associate with those from whom the Lord has departed. The prophet assured him that if he persisted in his resolution to take these idolatrous apostate Israelites with him, in hopes thereby to make himself strong for the battle, it was at his peril; they would prove a dead weight to his army, would sink and betray it: "God shall make thee fall before the enemy, and these Israelites will be the ruin of thy cause; for God has power to help thee without them, and to cast thee down though thou hast them with thee."
3. The objection which Amaziah made against this command, and the satisfactory answer which the prophet gave to that objection, Ch2 25:9. The king had remitted 100 talents to the men of Israel for advance-money. "Now," says he, "if I send them back, I shall lose that: But what shall we do for the 100 talents?" This is an objection men often make against their duty: they are afraid of losing by it. "Regard not that," says the prophet: "The Lord is able to give thee much more than this; and, thou mayest depend upon it, he will not see thee lose by him. What are 100 talents between thee and him? He has ways enough to make up the loss to thee; it is below thee to speak of it." Note, A firm belief of God's all-sufficiency to bear us out in our duty, and to make up all the loss and damage we sustain in his service abundantly to our advantage, will make his yoke very easy and his burden very light. What is it to trust in God, but to be willing to venture the loss of any thing for him, in confidence of the goodness of the security he gives us that we shall not lose by him, but that whatever we part with for his sake shall be made up to us in kind or kindness. When we grudge to part with any thing for God and our religion, this should satisfy us, that God is able to give us much more than this. He is just, and he is good, and he is solvent. The king lost 100 talents by his obedience; and we find just that sum given to his grandson Jotham as a present (Ch2 27:5); then the principal was repaid, and, for interest, 10,000 measures of wheat and as many of barley.
4. His obedience to the command of God, which is upon record to his honour. He would rather lose his money, disoblige his allies, and dismiss a fourth part of his army just as they were going to take the field, than offend God: He separated the army of Ephraim, to go home again, Ch2 25:10. And they went home in great anger, taking it as a great affront thus to be made fools of, and to be cashiered as men not fit to be employed, and being perhaps disappointed of the advantages they promised themselves in spoil and plunder by joining with Judah against Edom. Men are apt to resent that which touches them in their profit or reputation, though it frees them from trouble.
5. His triumphs over the Edomites, Ch2 25:11, Ch2 25:12. He left dead upon the spot, in the field of battle, 10,000 men; 10,000 more he took prisoners, and barbarously killed them all by throwing them down some steep and craggy precipice. What provocation he had to exercise this cruelty towards them we are not told; but it was certainly very severe.
6. The mischief which the disbanded soldiers of Israel did to the cities of Judah, either in their return or soon after, Ch2 25:13. They were so enraged at being sent home that, if they might not go to share with Judah in the spoil of Edom, they would make a prey of Judah. Several cities that lay upon the borders they plundered, killing 3000 men that made resistance. But why should God suffer this to be done? Was it not in obedience to him that they were sent home, and yet shall the country thus suffer by it? Surely God's way is in the sea! Did not the prophet say that God was not with the children of Ephraim, and yet they are suffered to prevail against Judah? Doubtless God intended hereby to chastise those cities of Judah for their idolatries, which were found most in those parts that lay next to Israel. The men of Israel had corrupted them, and now they were made a plague to them. Satan both tempts and torments.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 Amaziah was twenty five years old when he began…
Amaziah was twenty five years old when he began to reign,.... Of these verses; see Gill on Kg2 14:2. See Gill on Kg2 14:3. See Gill on Kg2 14:5. See Gill on Kg2 14:6.
.
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2 Chronicles 25:5
ch2 25:5
ch2 25:5
ch2 25:5Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together,.... The inhabitants thereof:
and made them captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, according to the houses of their fathers, throughout all Judah and Benjamin; he divided the people, according to their families throughout his kingdom, into thousands and hundreds, and out of their respective families appointed captains over them:
and he numbered them from twenty years old and above; the usual age men were numbered at for war, to the fiftieth, according to Josephus; the Roman law (a) obliged none to be soldiers after fifty, nor might any be dismissed before (b); the age of military men with the Romans was from seventeen to forty six, or, as some, forty five; but with the Persians from twenty as here to fifty (c):
and found them three hundred thousand choice men, able to go forth to war, that could handle spear and shield; which shows that their number was greatly decreased since the times of Jehoshaphat, Ch2 17:14, occasioned by the wars under Jehoram, Ahaziah, and Joash; some copies of the Vulgate Latin (d) have only 30,000.
(a) Seneca de Brevitate Vitae, c. 20. (b) Liv. Hist. l. 42. c. 33. (c) Alex. ab. Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 1. c. 20. (d) Ed. of Sixtus V. the Lovain and MSS. in James's Corruption of the Fathers, p. 295.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 7, 8, 10, 13, 16, 17, 20, 24 Amaziah revenges his father's death, ver. 1-4. Obeys the…
Amaziah revenges his father's death, ver. 1-4. Obeys the command of God and dismisses the Israelites, 5-10. Conquers the Edomites, ver. 11-13. Turns idolater and despises reproof, ver. 14- 16. Challenges the king of Israel and suffers for it, ver. 17-24. Ends his days ingloriously, ver. 25-28.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 10, 14, 16, 18, 24, 26, 27 Amaziah succeeds his father Joash, and begins his reign…
CHAPTER XXV
Amaziah succeeds his father Joash, and begins his reign well,
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1, 2.
He slays his father's murderers but spares their children, 3, 4.
He reviews and remodels the army, 5;
and hires a hundred thousand soldiers out of Israel, whom, on
the expostulation of a prophet, he sends home again, without
bringing them into active service; at which they are greatly
offended, 6-10.
He attacks the Syrians, kills ten thousand, and takes ten
thousand prisoners, whom he precipitates from the top of a
rock, so that they are dashed to pieces, 11, 12.
The Israelitish soldiers, sent back, ravage several of the
cities of Judah, 13.
Amaziah becomes an idolater, 14.
Is reproved by a prophet, whom he threatens, and obliges to
desist, 15, 16.
He challenges Joash, king of Israel, 17;
who reproves him by a parable, 18, 19.
Not desisting, the armies meet, the Jews are overthrown, and
Amaziah taken prisoner by Joash, who ravages the temple, and
takes away all the treasures of the king, 20-24.
The reign of Amaziah: a conspiracy is formed against him; he
flees to Lachish, whither he is pursued and slain; is brought
to Jerusalem, and buried with his fathers, 25-28.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXV
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv2, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 24 2Ch 25:2. But not with a perfect heart —…
2Ch 25:2. But not with a perfect heart — He was not an enemy to religion, but a cool and indifferent friend. He was not a man of serious piety, for his heart was not whole with God. But of this, and the two following verses, see notes on 2Ki 14:1-7.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 27 This chapter is evidently taken to a large extent…
This chapter is evidently taken to a large extent from the same document as Kings (see the marginal reference and the notes). At the same time it contains large and important additions; e. g. 2Ch 25:5-10, 2Ch 25:13-16.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 20, 24, 27, 28 Heart, and with perseverance.
Heart, and with perseverance.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14, 16, 17 HAVING HIRED AN ARMY OF ISRAELITES AGAINST THE EDOMITES,…
HAVING HIRED AN ARMY OF ISRAELITES AGAINST THE EDOMITES, AT THE WORD OF A PROPHET HE LOSES A HUNDRED TALENTS AND DISMISSES THEM. (Ch2 25:5-10)
Amaziah . . . made captains, &c.--As all who were capable of bearing arms were liable to serve, it was quite natural in making up the muster-roll to class them according to their respective families and to appoint the officers of each corps from the same quarter; so that all the soldiers who formed a regiment were brothers, relatives, friends. Thus the Hebrew troops were closely linked together, and had strong inducements to keep steady in their ranks.
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found them three hundred thousand choice men--This was only a fourth part of Jehoshaphat's army (Ch2 17:14-19), showing how sadly the kingdom of Judah had, in the space of eighty-two years, been reduced in population by foreign wars, no less than by internal corruptions. But the full amount of Amaziah's troops may not be here stated.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28 Ch. 2Ch_25:1-4 (= 2Ki_14:1-6). Amaziah Succeeds
Ch. 2Ch_25:1-4 (= 2Ki_14:1-6). Amaziah Succeeds
2. not with a perfect heart] In Kings, “yet not like David his father” (because “the high places were not taken away”). The Chronicler has something more serious in his mind; cp. 2Ch_25:14-16.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 THE REIGN OF AMAZIAH. (Comp. 2Ki_14:1-20.)
XXV.
THE REIGN OF AMAZIAH. (Comp. 2Ki_14:1-20.)
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DURATION AND CHARACTER OF THE REIGN. EXECUTION OF THE MURDERERS OF JOASH (2Ch_25:1-4).
(1, 2) Amaziah . . . the Lord.—So 2Ki_14:2.
But not with a perfect heart.—This is a brief equivalent of the words of the older text: “only not like David his father: according to all that Joash his father had done, he did.” The reference to Joash is omitted, perhaps because that king appears to less advantage in the Chronicles than ill Kings. In fact, the chronicler’s estimate of both princes is less favourable than that of the older historian. Such differences are perfectly natural, and it is needless to attempt to “reconcile” or eliminate them.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 This chapter is filled up with a very graphic…
This chapter is filled up with a very graphic account of the entire career of Amaziah, and its twenty-eight verses are paralleled by the twenty verses of 2Ki_14:1-20, where the narrative reads in several places much more curtly. Our chapter opens with the familiar anticipatory summary of the man, his age, pedigree, and character, whose course is to be detailed more precisely in following verses, again and yet again sounding the clear keynote of an unclean character and reign (vers. 1, 2); it proceeds to record the king"s avenging of his father"s murder (vers. 3, 4); his successful sally against "the children of Seir," with the incident of the affronted division of army, formed of them that "came to him out of Ephraim" (vers. 5-13); his defection to idolatry, and insult put upon the faithful "prophet" (vers. 14-16); his jaunty and provocative challenge to Joash of Israel, to his own overthrow (vers. 17-24); his end (vers. 25-28).
Twenty and five years old reigned twenty and nine years. Glance at notes on vers. 1, 15, 17 of foregoing chapter, from which it appears that, as Joash died aetat. forty-seven, and Amaziah was now twenty-five, he must have been born when his father was twenty-two years old, and Jehoaddan correspondingly likely to have been one of the two wives Jehoiada selected for Joash, at the age, on other data, of twenty-one years. Of Jerusalem. This affix to the mother"s name may perhaps carry credit to the memory of Jehoiada, for having been careful to select a woman of the honoured city rather than of any provincial or even less worthy city.
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Vers. 1-28.
Another type of uncertain character.
We are at once advised, in refer-once to Amaziah, that he "did right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart." The expression might be supposed to cover the description of a man whose life was in the main right, but who was betrayed by temptation into some serious sins, of which, like David, he bitterly repented, but genuinely repented, and was restored to peace.-rod favour. No such interpretation, however, is here possible. And as there are some very marked features in the character of the folly and sin of Amaziah, they must not be overlooked or missed, having due regard to the brevity and exactitude of Scripture biography. We have here, then
I A MAN WHOSE DISCERNMENT WAS SUCH THAT HE WAS EQUAL TO SEEING AND TAKING WARNING AND GODLY ADVICE. It is in the heart of Amaziah to fight with the Edomites. It is a temptation with him again, as with predecessors of his on the throne, to borrow and pay for the help of the separated kingdom of Israel. Certain kinds of friendship are certain to turn out certain snares. Our safety is often simply a complete separation from persons or things that have been found to partake of the nature of a snare. These two things look strange only too natural, if we know enough of our own weak, self-deceiving hearts in the attitude of Amaziah at this moment. He listens to the teaching of the prophet, is no doubt startled and vexed thus to be called on to forfeit his methods and arrangements for the warfare that he would war, but seems to take his stand rather on the money that he perceives he will forfeit for nothing, as it seems to him! This is one side of the matter. But the other shows him, happily, both amenable to the prophet"s reminder that God was "able to give him much more" than that hundred talents; and also equal to the effort of dismissing his hired mercenaries of Israel, and of encountering thereby their fierce indignation. Amaziah had heeded the warning of the prophet (ver. 8), and he now heeds the assurance with trustful faith of the same prophet; he goes up to war, and has a splendid Success.
II A MAN WHOSE DISCERNMENT, UNDER SOME UNTOWARD INFLUENCE, SEEMED ALMOST SUDDENLY TO BECOME SO BLUNTED THAT HE CANNOT BROOK A GODLY PROPHET"S REMONSTRANCE, BUT DEFIANTLY AND WITH MENACE REJECTS IT. There is scarcely room to doubt what had wrought in the interim the disastrous change. Success! Boastfulness and self-confidence had been the untimely growth of the very ground where gratitude, obedience, self-distrust, and the profoundest disposition of reliance on God and his prophet should have been found. Success had more than turned the brain of Amaziah. He worships the gods who had not delivered him. He worships the gods who had not delivered "their own people," whom he had destroyed. He worships not, and glorifies not, his own God and the God of his fathers, but is a marvel of an apostate, and a monster of blinded ingratitude, and a monument of blunted discernment, of perverted fatuity!
III A MAN FOR WHOM HIS TOWERING SELF-SUFFICIENCY AND SELF-GLORIFICATION EXCITE THE PITY, BEG THE WARNING, AND RECEIVE THE BEST AND THE HONEST ADVICE OF THE VERY FOE WHOM HE INSULTINGLY CHALLENGES TO FIGHT. It is evident that the King of Israel was able to read the human nature that was in Amaziah of Judah (vers. 18-20). And it is evident that the King of Israel did not desire to be answerable for the blood of the same Amaziah. He "puts him to the worse," takes much spoil of him, breaks down the walls of his city the holy city; and, bathos of humiliation for Amaziab, "took him," "brought him to" that, his own city, and left him there, in all his fallen glory and mulcted wealth, to meditate on "the wages of sin," even when they fall short of death. Men"s enemies sometimes love their lives and souls better, alas! than they do themselves.
HOMILIES BY T. WHITELAW Vers. 1-4.
The accession of Amaziah.
I THE TITLE HE HAD TO THE THRONE. The son of Joash, most likely the eldest. His mother"s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. Whether she, like her husband, had declined into idolatry cannot be told.
II THE REIGN HE ENJOYED ON THE THRONE. Twenty-nine years eleven years less than his father reigned. Eighteen years older than Joashwhen he obtained the crown, he was only seven years older when he put it off. Clearly idolatry in those days was not conducive to longevity.
III THE CHARACTER HE MAINTAINED ON THE THRONE. Mixed.
1. Good. "He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord," as his father did while Jehoiada lived; (2Ch_24:2) i.e. he abandoned idolatry and became a worshipper of Jehovah.
2. Not perfect. "Not with a perfect heart," as it should have been, (1Ki_8:61) after the examples of Asa (2Ch_15:17; 1Ki_15:14) and David (2Ki_14:3; Psa_101:2) His return to the worship of Jehovah was probably
(1) dictated by fear, occasioned by the recollection of his father"s untimely and violent death; hence
(2) deficient in extent, the high places not being removed; (2Ki_14:4) and
(3) destitute of permanence in fact, dropped when he felt himself secure upon his throne (ver. 14).
IV THE ACTS HE PERFORMED FROM THE THRONE. Two.
1. A deed of vengeance. "He slew his servants that had killed the king his father.
(1) Justice demanded this. If his father deserved to die, which seems indisputable, it is not clear that Zabad and Jehozabad had a right to be his executioners.
(2) Filial piety approved this. Under the Law it was the next kinsman"s duty to avenge the blood of a slain relative. (Deu_19:12) Amaziah would have proved himself an unnatural son had he spared any longer than he could help the assassins of his father.
(3) Prudence recommended this. Doubtless Amasiah feared that some day the fate of Joash would be his, if these men lived.
2. An exercise of clemency. "He slew not their children.
(1) Considering what the Law of Moses said, (Deu_24:16) this was right;
(2) remembering the universal practice of the Orient, it was merciful;
(3) if they were young children when the wicked deed was done, it was humane as well as right.
LESSONS.
1. The vanity of earthly glory even kings must die.
2. The imperfection of human goodness the best of men but men at thebest.
3. The impossibility of escaping for ever the due reward of one"s evildeeds,.except by repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
4. The beauty of clemency in all, but especially in kings. "Earthly powerdoth then show likest God"s when mercy seasons justice" ("Merchant of Venice," act 4. sc. 1). W.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv2, 9, 14, 18 And he did that which was right in the…
2Ch_25:2
And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart.
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Half-hearted, and therefore a failure
It was not because Amaziah was not sinless that his life proved such a failure, but because he was not thorough going in his principle and piety. English life at present seems to be afflicted with a plague of levity. There is so much hollowness and unreality, so much veneer in character and work, that it behoves us to preach aloud the gospel of thoroughness. A short time ago some workmen were engaged in trying to remove a piece of old London wall. They tried with hammers, then with pick-axes, but to no purpose, the wall seemed to smile at all their efforts; at last they were obliged to have recourse to boring, and blowing it up like a piece of solid rock. That is hardly the way they build nowadays, for a man might almost push over some of our brick walls with his hand. Now, this is just an illustration of what I mean, the want of thoroughness in every branch of industry and in every walk of life. When a mans own character is not solid, permeated through and through with Christian principle, you cannot have any guarantee of the genuineness of his work. Shams abound everywhere. Gilt and paint carry the day. Ours is an age of tinsel. And the worst of it is that this unrealness characterises much of the religion amongst us. I sometimes meet with a horrible form of Antinomianism, which virtually says, Anything will do for me--I am a disciple of Christ; and so the work is actually more slovenly and imperfect because the individual claims to be not under the law, but under grace. Why, it is almost as monstrous as the proposal a good young man made to his landlady, that his own excellent Christian example should serve in lieu of weekly payment for his lodgings! A men--I dont care who he is--dishonours Christ when any other person is put to disadvantage by his piety. If you imagine you are more free to do slipshod work because you are a Christian, I say, it is precisely the reverse. It is just because you claim to be the Lords that any sort of work will not do. Bearing His name, you are responsible to Him for every detail of your daily life. If your secular duties are more imperfectly discharged because you are a believer, you do great wrong to the Redeemer. If you snatch a little of your employers time to scatter tracts, or prepare for a Sabbath class, or even to read your Bible; or if, in business hours, your thoughts are so given to spiritual themes that you cannot do justice to your work, in any of these cases you do real harm to religion. (J. T. Davidson, D.D.)
The character of Amaziah
This history is adduced to lead to self-scrutiny.
I. The act of assembling is in accordance with Gods revealed wishes; and therefore the act of assembling is a right act. But am I able to believe that every men and woman joins the assembly from such motives as would stand the test of Heaven? Not with a perfect heart.
II. Again, in the matter of listening to Gods Word preached. Some listen from the desire of passing away a dull hour--as a sort of religious entertainment. Alas for the perfect heart!
III. As to your conduct outside the walls of the sanctuary. You are upright and honourable in trade. But why? It is a sad thing when a mans actions are right because he wishes to be aggrandised, or because he wishes a high place in human estimation, and knows not the only right motive--a desire to please Him who hath loved us, and given Himself for us. (T. W. Thompson, B.A.)
Not with a perfect heart
Off Cape Horn we witnessed a singular sight. For some miles there was a narrow strip of water, where the great waves flew in broken spray and dashed high over the ship. On either side the sea was comparatively calm, whilst this boiled with fury, rolling and surging. Yet there was no rock about which the sea surged, nor was there any such fierce wind as to account for it. Overhead the air was thick with sea-fowl. Thousands of the birds dived into this troubled water. The smaller fish were, I suppose, flung up by the toss, and thus fell a prey to the birds. I asked, naturally, what was the reason of this strange sight, and found it was the point at which the tide met the strong current of the sea, and here they raged together. Within, the tide only ran, and it was calm. Without, the current prevailed, and there, too, was calm. On this troubled bit they met, and neither prevailed. It is the picture of those who are at once too religious to belong to the world--too worldly to belong to religion; torn by both and satisfied by neither. (Mark Guy Pearse.)
Whole-hearted religion required
At one of the conferences between the Northern and Southern States of America during the war of 1861-1866 the representatives of the Southern States stated what cession of territory they were prepared to make, provided that the independence of the portion that was not ceded to the Federal Government was secured. More and more attractive criers were made, the portions to be ceded being increased, and those to be retained in a state of independence being proportionately diminished. All the offers were met by a steadfast refusal. At last President Lincoln placed his hand on the map so as to cover all the Southern States, and in these emphatic words delivered his ultimatum: Gentlemen, this Government must have the whole. God cannot share us with the world. (A. Plummet, D.D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 CRITICAL NOTES.] We have succession of A. (2Ch_25:1-4), his…
CRITICAL NOTES.] We have succession of A. (2Ch_25:1-4), his expedition against Moat (5–13), his idolatry (14–16), his war with Joash (17–24), and his death and burial (25–28). Parallel 2Ki_14:1-20.
2Ch_25:1-4.—A.’s succession (cf. 2Ki_14:2-6). Perfect, single heart; not like ancestor David, but like Joash, father. 2Ch_25:3. Slew, executed justice; an instance of right-doing. 2Ch_25:4. Not, as Deu_24:16. Families of traitors often destroyed.
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2Ch_25:5-13.—Expedition against Moab. 2Ch_25:5. Old method of organisation by families (Num_2:34), under captains of hundreds, &c. Hired, paid for others, his own army too reduced to protect country. 2Ch_25:8. If, &c., some suppose not dropped out, and would read, “Go alone, and God will not make thee fall.” Generally thought to be ironical. “Go (if thou wilt be self-willed) thou, act, be strong, it will be of no avail.” 2Ch_25:10. Anger, caused through sudden and apparently unreasonable dismissal. 2Ch_25:11. Salt. South of Dead Sea, where dwelt Seirites, associated with Edom (Gen_36:18). 2Ch_25:12. Rock, unto the height of Selah. “Battle probably fought not far from Selah (Petra); the captains marched to Petra itself, and precipitated from the steep cliffs in its neighbourhood” [Speak. Com.]. 2Ch_25:13. Soldiers, mercenaries sent by Joash to ravage Jewish cities from Sam. to Beth., in revenge for considered insult.
2Ch_25:14-16.—A.’s idolatry. Not in Kings. Gods, common practice to carry gods of conquered places as trophies of victory, not generally to be worshipped. 2Ch_25:16. Talked, prophets entitled to counsel kings. Art thou, &c.? lit., “Have we made thee a king’s counsellor?” Forbare, ceased remonstrance, asserted his right, and consequences of disobedience.
2Ch_25:17-24.—A.’s war with Joash (cf. 2Ki_14:8-14). Advice, counsel not from God. Face, a challenge to combat (2Sa_2:13). 2Ch_25:18. Thistle. Parabolic forms employed in East to carry unwelcome truths, or express contemptuous sneers. This designed here. A thistle, low shrub; represents A. a petty prince; cedar, the potentate of Israel. The wild beast, the overwhelming army of Israel, would destroy the strength of Judah. The moral of fable in 2Ch_25:19. 2Ch_25:20. Not, sarcastic tone incited more. Asa in a judicial state of blindness. From God, characteristic of the author. Joash overcame A., plundered palace and temple, and took hostages to prevent further war.
2Ch_25:25-28.—A.’s end. Turn away, apostasy followed by maladministration. King lost respect, fled to Lachish, frontier town of Philistines, there traced and murdered. Body brought without pomp in a chariot to Jerusalem, and interred among ancestors.
HOMILETICS
AMAZIAH’S BEGINNING.—2Ch_25:1-4
Son and successor of Joash, ninth king on throne of Judah; 25 years old at accession, reigned 29 years, B.C. 837–808 (2Ki_14:1-2).
I. In ordinary circumstances of succession. A privilege to inherit a crown, great natural rights and positions. Better to become kings and priests, aristocracy of God, to rule over the hearts and affections of men, than on thrones of empires.
II. With considerable zeal for Jehovah. Did right, “but not with a perfect heart,” not like David his father. Half-hearted, zealous for God, but “high places not taken away.” Obeying God and making sacrifices, but honouring the idols of Edom. Double-minded, his good beginning as that of Joash unlike his later conduct.
III. By an act of justice and mercy. Punished traitors who murdered his father, as an act of justice; but was moderate. “With a mercy shown apparently for the first time in Hebrew annals, their children were spared” [Stanley]. Generally families of traitors were destroyed. This act, therefore, had regard for law of God more than customs of nations; displayed kindly feeling, and became a king.
“No ceremony that to great ones ’longs—
Not the king’s crown, nor the deputed sword,
The marshal’s truncheon, nor the judge’s robe,
Become them with one half so good a grace
As mercy does” [Shakes.].
EXPEDITION AGAINST EDOM.—2Ch_25:5-24
This chief event in reign, an attempt to impose upon Edomites the yoke cast off in time of Jehoram (2Ki_8:20; 1Ki_22:48).
I. An expedition ambitious in design. Might be natural and prudent to assemble army, class according to respective families, and appoint officers from among brethren, that all might be an army of brothers, relatives, and friends. Might be patriotic to reduce insurgents to former subjection. But A. the slave of reckless ambition; adventurous, fond of conquest and military renown, prone to “meddle to his hurt.” Real wisdom to cultivate peace, develop internal resources of kingdom; real “strength to sit still” at home.
“Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself,
And falls on the other side.”
II. An expedition in which alien forces were hired for the accomplishment of the design. Edom strong. A. considered his 300,000 troops unequal, hired 160,000 men from Israel, and sets first example of employing mercenary forces. Such help useless, dangerous, and opposed to God’s will. He should go alone, in dependence upon God, “who hath power to help and to cast down.” Any other plan would displease God and result in defeat. With God’s presence our own resources sufficient; without, numbers only ruin, and “make thee fall before the enemy.”
III. An expedition the success of which was turned into a curse. A. heeded not prophet, went, conquered, and captured cities.
1. In the cruelty exercised. Savage cruelty dealt out in revenge for barbarities inflicted on Hebrews, or to strike terror into a rebellious people. “Man’s inhumanity to man.”
2. In the spirit which it begot. Not a spirit of gratitude and caution. Flattered probably by those from whom he “took advice” (2Ch_25:17), he became proud and presumptuous. Burning with revenge for Israel’s insult, not satisfied without defiant challenge, he undertakes aggressive war. The fruits of victory misappropriated. Unsanctified successes often turned into curses.
DUTY AND SELF-INTEREST.—2Ch_25:9
A. made every preparation for expedition, ready to start, but suddenly “there came a man of God” and forbids. But what must he do for the money? Lose it and go to war in right way. Learn—
I. That we often invest our resources without prudence or security. Money, friends, position, and life pledged for wrong purposes. Enterprises without divine guidance, gifts used sinfully. Men morally going astray, poor and insecure, though strong and sufficient in their own estimation. The “man of God,” the ministry of the word ever meets in the ways of life, condemning our treaties and alliances, reproving our plans and investments, and calling us back to God.
II. That we are often called upon to sacrifice our resources thus invested. Reluctant to give up besetting sins, worldly pleasure, and to forsake evil ways. Often much at stake in worldly friendships, Sunday trading, and unlawful compacts. “What must we do with our money risked upon it?” “Why forfeit the deposit?” But why strike the bargain if wrong? Why make the deposit without prudence and security, &c.? The answer to all questions, God demands. Before divine authority objections ridiculous. In divine promise compensation for any loss. “The Lord is able to give thee much more than this.”
III. That when called to duty obedience guarantees success and brings abundant reward. Impossible to induce obedience without offer of superior good. Motive power needful. Think not that nature or some law of mind breaks the chains of desire confirmed by habit and long years of life! Calculate not too confidently on moral powers wasted in sinful pursuits! It is never easy for a selfish man to renounce himself even with help of gospel! But God imparts disposition and strength. In sin “the first loss is the best.” In duty we find compensation and gain. “The Lord is able to give thee much more than this”—abundant reward for leaving all and following him. “Manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.”
AMAZIAH’S FALL INTO IDOLATRY.—2Ch_25:14-16
A. took the gods of Edom as tokens of victory, but deserted God who gave victory, and worshipped the idols he captured, like the Romans subduing nations and paying tribute to their gods.
I. Idolatry most gratuitous. This not asked of him. Probably he sought to disarm spite of Edomites for harsh treatment, or attracted by pomp and splendour of worship of idols. Idolatry, sin fascinates unholy men. But what humility and disgrace voluntarily and slavishly to bow down!
II. Idolatry most unreasonable. The gods could neither protect themselves nor worshippers, senseless and most absurd to lean upon them or put them in place of Jehovah! The sinner, a criminal and a fool, can give no reason for his choice. “Why hast thou sought after the gods of the people, &c.?”
III. Idolatry most dangerous. It estranges further from God, confirms self-will, and binds us faster to the false and debasing. It brings down rebuke from God, and leads to destruction. “Wherefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Amaziah.”
THE DANGERS OF SUCCESS AND AMBITION.—2Ch_25:17-28
Dangerous to succeed without God. Amaziah’s false step at beginning, and the spirit in which it was originated turned the end into misfortune.
I. Success begetting pride and ambition. The victory of Edom made A. proud; its issue unblest; kindled boldness and a spirit of revenge. He glories in strength. Success led him on to fresh undertakings which involved defeat. “Pride cometh before destruction, &c.”
II. Pride leading into presumption. Thought himself more than a match for King of Israel. He cannot sit still, must punish him for wrong-doing, and sends the challenge, “Come, let us look one another in the face.” The bitter and contemptuous language of the parable only enraged him to repeat the challenge. Nothing checks. “He is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied.”
III. Presumption ending in destruction. Exultation often the prelude to downfall, downfall more dismal and complete on account of previous eminence. Prosperity of fools destroys them.
1. Warning unheeded. Edom conquered. Be content. Stay at home. Why meddle to thy hurt?
2. Blinded by self-security. He could not be defeated, could see no danger, and knew not that God had forsaken him.
3. Miserable failure. Joash surprised him before ready for war; defeated him in a pitched battle; routed his army, and took him prisoner. The disasters of his conduct created opposition and conspiracy, and he was slain. No real, permanent success to ungodly man. If no reverses in life, death makes him a wreck. His honours and achievements buried in the dust, and he stands naked in the presence of God!
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
2Ch_25:2. Right, but not with perfect heart. Many good things in A., had respect for ordinances of religion, knew Scriptures, and had desire to do right. But failed because not thoroughgoing in principle and piety.
1. Much half-heartedness, levity, and superficial goodness.
2. A perfect heart required. Earnest, consecrated feeling and energy. “He had a good name; it imported ‘one strong in the Lord and in the power of his might;’ but he was far enough from that” [Trapp].
2Ch_25:3-4. Two practices. Revenge and forbearance. One natural to man and prevalent in the East. “Revenge is sweet to man.” Difficult to stop with one life, without taking another. But God controls and educates men by law. The other practice of divine authority. “It is strange at first sight, that when the law contained so very plain a prohibition, the contrary practice should have established itself. But we must remember first; that the custom was that of the East generally (see Dan_6:24; Herod. III. 119, &c.); and secondly, that it had the sanction of one who might be thought to know thoroughly the mind of the legislator, viz., Joshua (cf. Jos_7:24-25)” [Speak. Com.]. Always better to forbear than revenge.
“Revenge at first, though sweet,
Bitter ere long back on itself recoils”
[Milton].
2Ch_25:16.
1. The question of the king. “Art thou of the king’s counsel?” Who authorises, entitles thee to give advice?
2. The prophet’s reply. Consists of two parts—(a) He “forbare” to dispute. Silence best answer to some; contention makes them worse. (b) He predicts. “The prophet ceased his remonstrances and retired, but aimed a Parthian shaft on quitting the royal presence, ‘If I am not of thy counsel, I am of God’s counsel, and know what is determined there. God has counselled to destroy thee.’ For fulfilment of prophecy, see 2Ch_25:12-24; 2Ch_25:27” [Speak. Com.]. Not hearkened.
1. A sign of hardness, judicial blindness and obduracy.
2. A ground of desertion by God. Ignored and forsaken, the result natural.
3. A prelude to destruction.
2Ch_25:18-19. The parable of Cedar and Thistle.
1. The inequalities of character and condition of men. Great and little, contented and restless, &c.
2. The ridiculous conduct and ambition of some men. The less, the more unsettled and ambitious, the more meddlesome, &c.
3. The need to be satisfied with present possessions. Grasping after more may lose what you have. The miseries of discontent. Quench that fire which
“Preys upon high adventure, nor can tire
Of aught but rest; a fever at the core,
Fatal to him who bears, to all who ever bore “[Byron].
Tarry at home.
1. Better for individuals, than meddle, create mischief with neighbours, seek home comforts and decencies. Officious interference creates discord. Meddling the parent of strife. “It is an honour for a man to cease from strife; but every fool will be meddling.”
2. Better for nations to look to themselves, stay at home and cultivate arts of peace than engage in aggressive wars. Kings dethroned, governments upset, and empires rent asunder through hasty war.
2Ch_25:27. Providential consequences. “After the time from following the Lord. The writer means to observe that the violent death of A. followed on his apostasy not closely in point of time—for it must have been at least fifteen years after (2Ch_25:25)—nor was, humanly speaking, caused by it; but in the way of a divine judgment—a complete fulfilment of the prophecy, 2Ch_25:16” [Speak. Com.]. Sequences in the natural as well as moral world. Forsake God and duty, violate law, then risk and disaster. “For it came of God, that he might deliver them into the hand of their enemies, because they sought after the gods of Edom.”
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 25
2Ch_25:4. Law. When the Lord laid down that law he taxed human forbearance to the uttermost. It may not seem to be so in reality, but test the matter by human consciousness and by human action. Have we not wronged whole families? Have we not often thrown in the child as if he were part of the father, and let both be crushed by the mill of revenge? [Dr. Parker].
2Ch_25:7-9. What of hundred talents? Do your duty and leave the rest with God [R. Cecil]. This is the first of rights, the only absolute duty. No right more sacred [Vinet]. There is little or nothing in this life worth living for, but we can all of us go straight forward and do our duty [Wellington].
2Ch_25:11-13. Success. There is a glare about worldly success which is very apt to dazzle men’s eyes [Hare]. Watch lest prosperity destroy generosity [Beecher]. Success at first, doth many times undo men at last [Venning].
2Ch_25:14-16. The gods of the people. Idolatry is one of the most unconquerable of all the corrupt propensities of the human soul. Miracles under the new dispensation had scarcely ceased, apostolic fathers were scarcely cold in their graves, before idolatrous forms were again superinduced upon the pure spirituality of the Holy Gospel [Walker].
2Ch_25:17-24. See one another in face. Every presumption is properly an encroachment, and all encroachment carries in it a still further and a further invasion upon the person encroached upon. Presumption never stops in its first attempt. If Cæsar comes once to pass the Rubicon, he will be sure to march further on, even till he enters the very bowels of Rome, and break open the Capitol itself. He that presumes steps into the throne of God [Dr. South].
2Ch_25:27-28. Buried.
“Death lays his icy hand on kings;
Sceptre and crown must tumble down,
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade” [Shirley].
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 2Ch 25:2
2Ch 25:2
There were not wanting certain good elements about Amaziah; and had he not given way to a haughty temper and ambitious pride, his career might have been a useful and happy one. He was acquainted with the Scriptures, and paid respect to the ordinances of religion. He had the desire to live a virtuous and godly life, but the secret of his failure was that his heart was not right with God. His goodness was superficial, and therefore artificial; it was not the outcome of a regenerate nature.
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I. Do not misunderstand this word "perfect." No man is perfect, in the absolute sense of the term, though we are to strive after this as the goal. It was not because Amaziah was not sinless that his life proved such a failure, but because he was not thorough-going in his principle and piety.
II. English life at present seems to be afflicted with a plague of levity. There is so much hollowness and unreality, so much veneer in character and work, that it behoves us to preach aloud the gospel of thoroughness. It is just because you claim to be the Lord’s that any sort of work will not do. Bearing His name, you are responsible to Him for every detail of your daily life. Our religion is given us to be a universal blessing, to sharpen our faculties, to quicken our diligence, to increase our likelihood of success.
III. Remember that religion is something within you, working outward from the centre, and that centre a heart possessed by the grace of God. It is not, as too many imagine it, a reformation commencing in the outer circumference of one’s life and habits, and then working its way to the core, till the heart is reached and changed; it takes its start in the innermost recesses of our being, and from thence reaches outwards, till the whole character and conduct are brought under its blissful sway.
J. Thain Davidson, The City Youth, p. 253.
2Ch 25:9
The subject brought before us in the text is the weighing of consequences. It is the looking before we leap; it is the propriety of considering what is to follow from what we do before we do it.
I. The great principle which should guide all wise Christian people with regard to the consideration of consequences is this: Wherever we are sure that duty leads, wherever we are sure that God bids us go, then that way we should go, whatever and however painful the consequences may be. The rule is that we are to do right, and as for the consequences, leave them with God.
II. We are to do this humbly; we are not to do it in any strength of our own, but in simple reliance on the promised grace of God. The grand thing is, not that a man should say that he will go on in the path of duty, whatever loss that may bring him, but that those around him should see that he is going on in the path of duty, though that should not be the path of worldly gain.
III. This subject is a most practical one. The time will often come in which we see plainly enough what is the path of duty, but are tempted to ask, What shall we do for the hundred talents? There can be no doubt that in this world honesty is often the very worst policy. But in the long run no man will ever lose by obeying God’s bidding; and, just as assuredly, no man will ever gain by disobeying it. To go where God commands and to do what God commands, though loss may come of it, is truly not a disdaining of consequences; it is a fuller and truer weighing of consequences. It is to look farther on; it is to throw eternity into the scale of duty and interest; it is to draw the wise and sound conclusion that what is wrong can never be expedient, because it would be no profit to gain the whole world and to lose the immortal soul.
A. K. H. B., Counsel and Comfort Spoken from a City Pulpit, p. 199.
Reference: 2Ch 25:9.—Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 335.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v9 2 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
PRUDENCE AND FAITH
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2Ch 25:9.
The character of this Amaziah, one of the Kings of Judah, is summed up by the chronicler in a damning epigram: ‘He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart.’ He was one of your half-and-half people, or, as Hosea says, ‘a cake not turned,’ burnt black on one side, and raw dough on the other. So when he came to the throne, in the buoyancy and insolence of youth, he immediately began to aim at conquests in the neighbouring little states; and in order to strengthen himself he hired ‘a hundred thousand mighty men of valour’ out of Israel for a hundred talents of silver. To seek help from Israel was, in a prophet’s eyes, equivalent to flinging off help from God. So a man of God comes to him, and warns him that the Lord is not with Israel, and that the alliance is not permissible for him. But, instead of yielding to the prophet’s advice, he parries it with this misplaced question, ‘But what shall we do for the hundred talents that I have given to the army of Israel?’ He does not care to ask whether the counsel that he is receiving is right or wrong, or whether what he is intending to do is in conformity with, or in opposition to, the will of God, but, passing by all such questions, at once he fastens on the lower consideration of expediency-’What is to become of me if I do as this prophet would have me do? What a heavy loss one hundred talents will be! It is too much to sacrifice to a scruple of that sort. It cannot be done.’
A great many of us may take a lesson from this man. There are two things in my text-a misplaced question and a triumphant answer: ‘What shall we do for the hundred talents?’ ‘The Lord is able to give thee much more than this.’ Now, remarkably enough, both question and answer may be either very right or very wrong, according as they are taken, and I purpose to look at those two aspects of each.
I. A misplaced question.
I call it misplaced because Amaziah’s fault, and the fault of a great many of us, was, not that he took consequences into account, but that he took them into account at the wrong time. The question should have come second, not first. Amaziah’s first business should have been to see clearly what was duty; and then, and not till then, the next business should have been to consider consequences.
Consider the right place and way of putting this question. Many of us make shipwreck of our lives because, with our eyes shut, we determine upon some grand design, and fall under the condemnation of the man that ‘began to build, and was not able to finish.’ He drew a great plan of a stately mansion; and then found that he had neither money in the bank, nor stones in his quarry, to finish it, and so it stood-a ruin. All through our Lord’s life He was engaged rather in repressing volunteers than in soliciting recruits, and He from time to time poured a douche of cold water upon swiftly effervescing desires to go after Him. When the multitudes followed Him, He turned and said to them, ‘If you are counting on being My disciples, understand what it means: take up the cross and follow Me.’ When an enthusiastic man, who had not looked consequences in the face, came rushing to Him and said: ‘Lord, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest,’ His answer to him was another pull at the string of the shower bath: ‘The Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.’ When the two disciples came to him and said: ‘Grant that we may sit, the one on Thy right hand and the other on Thy left, when Thou comest into Thy kingdom,’ He said: ‘Are ye able to drink of the cup that I drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized withal?’ Look the facts in the face before you make your election. Jesus Christ will enlist no man under false pretences. Recruiting-sergeants tell country bumpkins or city louts wonderful stories of what they will get if they take the shilling and put on the king’s uniform; but Jesus Christ does not recruit His soldiers in that fashion. If a man does not open his eyes to a clear vision of the consequences of his actions, his life will go to water in all directions. And there is no region in which such clear insight into what is going to follow upon my determinations and the part that I take is more necessary than in the Christian life. It is just because in certain types of character, ‘the word is received with joy,’ and springs up immediately, that when ‘the sun is risen with a burning heat’-that is, as Christ explains, when the pinch of difficulty comes-’immediately they fall away,’ and all their grand resolutions go to nothing. ‘Lightly come, lightly go.’ Let us face the facts of what is involved, in the way of sacrifice, surrender, loss, if we determine to be on Christ’s side; and then, when the anticipated difficulties come, we shall neither be perplexed nor swept away, but be able quietly to say, ‘I discounted it all beforehand; I knew it was coming.’ The storm catches the ship that is carrying full sail and expecting nothing but light and favourable breezes; while the captain that looked into the weather quarter and saw the black cloud beginning to rise above the horizon, and took in his sails and made his vessel snug and tight, rides out the gale. It is wisdom that becomes a man, to ask this question, if first of all he has asked, ‘What ought I to do?’ But we have here an instance of a right thing in a wrong place. It was right to ask the question, but wrong to ask it at that point. Amaziah thought nothing about duty. There sprang up in his mind at once the cowardly and ignoble thought: ‘I cannot afford to do what is right, because it will cost me a hundred talents,’ and that was his sin. Consequences may be, must be, faced in anticipation, or a man is a fool. He that allows the clearest perception of disagreeable consequences, such as pain, loss of ease, loss of reputation, loss of money, or any other harmful results that may follow, to frighten him out of the road that he knows he ought to take, is a worse fool still, for he is a coward and recreant to his own conscience.
We have to look into our own hearts for the most solemn and pressing illustrations of this sin, and I daresay we all of us can remember clear duties that we have neglected, because we did not like to face what would come from them. A man in business will say, ‘I cannot afford to have such a high standard of morality; I shall be hopelessly run over in the race with my competitors if I do not do as they do,’ or he will say, ‘I durst not take a stand as an out-and-out Christian; I shall lose connections, I shall lose position. People will laugh at me. What am I to do for the hundred talents?’ But we can find the same thing in Churches. I do not mean to enter upon controversial questions, but as an instance, I may remind you that one great argument that our friends who believe in an Established Church are always bringing forward, is just a modern form of Amaziah’s question, ‘What shall we do for the hundred talents? How could the Church be maintained, how could its ministrations be continued, if its State-provided revenues were withdrawn or given up?’ But it is not only Anglicans who put the consideration of the consequences of obedience in the wrong place. All the Churches are but too apt to let their eyes wander from reading the plain precepts of the New Testament to looking for the damaging results to be expected from keeping them. Do we not sometimes hear, as answer to would-be reformers, ‘We cannot afford to give up this, that, or the other practice? We should not be able to hold our ground, unless we did so-and-so and so-and-so.’
But not only individuals or Churches are guilty in this matter. The nation takes a leaf out of Amaziah’s book, and puts aside many plain duties, for no better reason than that it would cost too much to do them. ‘What is the use of talking about suppressing the liquor traffic or housing the poor? Think of the cost.’ The ‘hundred talents’ block the way and bribe the national conscience. For instance, the opium traffic; how is it defended? Some attempt is made to prove either that we did not force it upon China, or that the talk about the evils of opium is missionary fanaticism, but the sheet-anchor is: ‘How are we ever to raise the Indian revenue if we give up the traffic?’ That is exactly Amaziah over again, come from the dead, and resurrected in a very ugly shape.
So national policy and Church action, and-what is of far more importance to you and me than either the one or the other,-our own personal relation to Jesus Christ and discipleship to Him, have been hampered, and are being hampered, just by that persistent and unworthy attitude of looking at the consequences of doing plain duties, and permitting ourselves to be frightened from the duties because the consequences are unwelcome to us.
Prudence is all right, but when prudence takes command and presumes to guide conscience, then it is all wrong. In some courts of law and in certain cases, the judge has an assessor sitting beside him, an expert about some of the questions that are involved. Conscience is the judge, prudence the assessor. But if the assessor ventures up on the judgment-seat, and begins to give the decisions which it is not his business to give-for his only business is to give advice-then the only thing to do with the assessor is to tell him to hold his tongue and let the judge speak. It is no answer to the prophet’s prohibition to say, ‘But what shall I do for the hundred talents?’ A yet better answer than the prophet gave Amaziah would have been, ‘Never mind about the hundred talents; do what is right, and leave the rest to God.’ However, that was not the answer.
II. The triumphant answer.
‘The Lord is able to give thee much more than this.’ Now, this answer, like the question, may be right or wrong, according as it is taken. In what aspect is it wrong? In what sense is it not true? I suppose this prophet did not mean more than the undeniable truth that God was able to give Amaziah more than a hundred talents. He was not thinking of the loftier meanings which we necessarily, as Christian people, at a later stage of Revelation, and with a clearer vision of many things, attach to the words. He simply meant, ‘You will very likely get more than the hundred talents that you have lost, if you do what pleases God.’ He was speaking from the point of view of the Old Testament; though even in the Old Testament we have instances enough that prosperity did not always attend righteousness. In the Old Testament we find the Book of Job, and the Book of Ecclesiastes, and many a psalm, all of which were written in order to grapple with the question, ‘How is it that God does not give the good man more than the hundred talents that he has lost for the sake of being good?’ It is not true, and it is a dangerous mistake to suggest that it is true, that a man in this world never loses by being a good, honest, consistent Christian. He often does lose a great deal, as far as this world is concerned; and he has to make up his mind to lose it, and it would be a very poor thing to say to him, ‘Now, live like a Christian man, and if you are flinging away money or anything else because of your Christianity, you will get it back.’ No; you will not, in a good many cases. Sometimes you will, and sometimes you will not. It does not matter whether you do or do not.
But the sense in which the triumphant answer of the prophet is true is a far higher one. ‘The Lord is able to give thee much more than this,’-what is ‘more’? a thousand talents? No; the ‘much more’ that Christianity has educated us to understand is meant in the depths of such a promise as this is, first of all, character. Every man that sacrifices anything to convictions of duty gains more than he loses thereby, because he gains an inward nobleness and strength, to say nothing of the genial warmth of an approving conscience. And whilst that is true in all regions of life, it is most especially true in regard to sacrifices made from Christian principle. No matter how disastrous may be the results externally, the inward results of faithfulness are so much greater and sweeter and nobler than all the external evil consequences that may follow, that it is ‘good policy’ for a man to beggar himself for Christ’s sake, for the sake of the durable riches-which our Lord Himself explains to be synonymous with righteousness-which will come thereby. He that wins strength and Christ-likeness of character by sacrificing for Christ has won far more than he can ever lose.
He wins not only character, but a fuller capacity for a fuller possession of Jesus Christ Himself, and that is infinitely more than anything that any man has ever sacrificed for the sake of that dear Lord. Do you remember when it was that there was granted to the Apostle John the vision of the throned Christ, and that he felt laid upon him the touch of the vivifying Hand from Heaven? It was ‘when I was in Patmos for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus.’ He lost Ephesus; he gained an open heaven and a visible Christ. Do you remember who it was that said, ‘I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ’? It was a good bargain, Paul! The balance-sheet showed a heavy balance to your credit. Debit, ‘all things’; credit, ‘Christ.’ ‘The Lord is able to give thee much more than this.’
Remember the old prophecy: ‘For brass I will bring gold; and for iron, silver.’ The brass and the iron may be worth something, but if we barter them away and get instead gold and silver, we are gainers by the transaction. Fling out the ballast if you wish the balloon to rise. Let the hundred talents go if you wish to get ‘the more than this.’ And listen to the New Testament variation of this man of God’s promise, ‘If thou wilt have treasure in heaven, go and sell all that thou hast, and follow Me.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Reign of Amaziah
Reign of Amaziah
This chapter is derived in the main from 2Ki_14:1-20, but with two insertions, 2Ki_14:5-10 and 2Ki_14:13-16.
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5. Made them captains, etc.] better, 'arranged them according to their fathers' houses under captains.' From twenty years old] Under this age military service was not required: Num_1:3; 1Ch_27:23.
7. With all.. Ephraim] added to explain the sense in which 'Israel' is used, since ordinarily in Chronicles it is equivalent to Judah: see on 2Ch_12:6. For the protest against an alliance with the northern kingdom cp. 2Ch_19:2; 2Ch_20:37.
8. But if thou wilt go] LXX has 'if thou thinkest to prevail with these' (i.e. the forces from Ephraim) 'God shall make thee fall.'
11. The children of Seir] i.e. the Edomites.
13. From Samaria] i.e. from the frontier of the kingdom (not from its capital).
14. He brought the gods, etc.] Similarly the Philistines brought away the ark which the Israelites had carried with them into battle at Ebenezer: 1Sa_4:11.
17. Come, let us, etc.] In connexion with the preceding narrative Amaziah's challenge might be explained as due to a desire to have satisfaction for the conduct of the Israelite forces as described in 2Ch_25:13, but see on 2Ki_14:8.
23. Jehoahaz] i.e. Ahaziah: 2Ch_21:17.
24. With Obededom] i.e. with the descendants of Obededom, who were porters of the Temple: 1Ch_26:4-8.
28. The city of Judah] LXX has 'the city of David,' as in 2Ki_14:20 and 2Ch_24:1; 2Ch_16:14; 2Ch_21:1, 2Ch_21:20, etc.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v7 Used in a collective sense for the northern ten-tribe…
Ephraim
Used in a collective sense for the northern ten-tribe kingdom, called also "Israel."
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 5. Decline and Apostasy under Amaziah, Uzziah, Jotham and…
5. Decline and Apostasy under Amaziah, Uzziah, Jotham and Ahaz
CHAPTER 25 The Reign of Amaziah
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1. The record of Amaziah’s reign (2Ch 25:1-4)
2. The war against Edom (2Ch 25:5-13)
3. His idolatry and the divine rebuke (2Ch 25:14-16)
4. The war between Judah and Israel (2Ch 25:17-25)
5. The death of Amaziah (2Ch 25:26-28)
Joash’s son Amaziah (strength of the Lord) took up the government in Judah when he was twenty-five years old. His mother’s name, Jehoaddan, means “Jehovah is pleased.” Perhaps it was through her influence, as her name indicates godliness, that her son began the reign well. He did that which was right in the sight of the LORD. But the Lord, who looks deeper and knows the heart of man, knew that it was “not with a perfect heart.” He dealt out justice to the murderers of his father, and also adhered closely to the law of God. In the account in 2 Kings 14 but a passing statement is given on the war with Edom. The details are recorded in the present chapter. He gathered a large army and hired 100,000 mighty men of the kingdom of Israel. It was a hasty deed and showed that Amaziah was not acting in faith. A man of God appeared next and warned him to have nothing to do with the 100,000 hirelings, “for the LORD is not with Israel.” This is a good test still in all undertakings. Every believer should ask before he enters upon anything: Can the Lord approve of it? Is the Lord with it? But Amaziah had already paid the hundred talents to the soldiers. So he asked about the money. And the man of God gave a beautiful answer. “The LORD is able to give thee much more than this.” Whenever believers face pecuniary losses on account of being true to the Lord and to His Word, they should remember that the Lord, who is thus honored, is able to make up for it and give much more. How many have found out that this is true! He dismissed the hirelings and Israel was angry. Cruel was Amaziah’s deed done to the Edomites. After smiting 10,000 of them he took another 10,000 captive and brought them unto the top of the rock and cast them down so that they were broken in pieces. It was a horrible crime. The deed was committed in the wild regions of Selah or Petra (2Ki 14:7). Evidently Amaziah had become greatly impressed with the magnificent rock temples which he saw in Mount Seir. In their weird and grand temples the Edomites practised their abominable idol-worship with human sacrifices. Some of these “gods” of the children of Seir, Amaziah brought back from his expedition and set them up to be his gods. A prophet rebuked him with a statement of much force. And the king answered with a sneer and a threat, showing how hopeless was his case. Then the prophet became silent after he made the solemn declaration: “I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened to my counsel” (verses 15-16).
The comment on the war between Amaziah and the king of Israel is given in 2 Kings 14. Amaziah was slain in Lachish.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 14 The Overthrow of the Edomites
The Overthrow of the Edomites
v. 1. Amaziah was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem, one of the wives selected for his father by Jehoiada, the priest.
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v. 2. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, in maintaining, the worship of Jehovah, but not with a perfect heart, with undivided loyalty; not only did he tolerate idolatry, but he even encouraged its practise.
v. 3. Now it came to pass, when the kingdom was established to him, when he was universally acknowledged and accepted as king, that he slew his servants that had killed the king; his father, 2Ch 24:25.
v. 4. But he slew not their children, literally, "and their sons not put he to death," but did as it is written in the Law, in the book of Moses, where the Lord commanded, saying, The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin, Deu 24:16.
v. 5. Moreover, Amaziah gathered Judah together, mustering its strength for service in war, and made them captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, according to the houses of their fathers, by the divisions of the tribe known as father-houses, throughout all Judah and Benjamin; and he numbered them from twenty years old and above, and found them three hundred thousand choice men, veteran soldiers, a much smaller number than at the time of Jehoshaphat; some eighty years before, able to go forth to war, that could handle spear and shield.
v. 6. He hired also an hundred thousand mighty men of valor out of Israel, the northern kingdom, for an hundred talents of silver (about two hundred thousand dollars). The smallness of Judah’s army drove the king to this unusual act of hiring mercenaries to bring up his forces to what he considered fighting strength.
v. 7. But there came a man of God, one of the prophets, to him, saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee; for the Lord is not with Israel, to wit, with all the children of Ephraim, this section of the northern kingdom being the headquarters of the idolatry practised since the days of Jeroboam and Ahab.
v. 8. But if thou wilt go, if he would make up his mind to enter upon the campaign alone, do it, be strong for the battle; God shall make thee fall before the enemy, namely, if he persisted in his determination to keep the mercenaries of Ephraim; for God hath power to help and to cast down. It was both a promise and a warning.
v. 9. And Amaziah said to the man of God. But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? The troop, the body of mercenaries, had been paid, and the prudence of the king would naturally ask such a question. And the man of God answered, The Lord is able to give thee much more than this, for in His hand is all the wealth of the world.
v. 10. Then Amaziah separated them, to wit, the army that was come to him out of Ephraim, to go home again, discharged without having seen duty in the proposed campaign; wherefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in great anger, literally, "in the glow or heat of their anger," chiefly, perhaps, because the hope of booty was withdrawn from them and the sum which they received as mercenaries alone was not sufficient in their estimation.
v. 11. And Amaziah strengthened himself, he was filled with courage and energy, and led forth his people, and went to the Valley of Salt, southeast of the Dead Sea, and smote of the children of Seir, of the Edomites, ten thousand.
v. 12. And other ten thousand left alive, after being captured, did the children of Judah carry away captive, and brought them unto the top of the rock, a well-known hill or rocky point, probably that on which the capital of Idumaea was situated, and cast them down from the top of the rock, that they all were broken in pieces, a common mode of execution among ancient nations.
v. 13. But the soldiers of the army which Amaziah sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, the members of the host from Ephraim, fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria even unto Beth-horon, all along the northern boundary, and smote three thousand of them, and took much spoil. In this way they took their revenge for the supposed insult heaped upon them. The victory of Amaziah shows that the fear of the Lord is a power in overcoming all enemies, in granting victory and blessing.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 20, 23, 25, 27 twenty-five years ... twenty-nine years
twenty-five years ... twenty-nine years
"25 years ... 29 years" (See: Numbers)
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Jehoaddan
This is a woman's name. (See: How to Translate Names)
what was right in the eyes of Yahweh
Here the word "eyes" represents sight, and sight represents Yahweh's judgment or evaluation. See how you translated a similar phrase in 2 Chronicles 14:02. AT: "what Yahweh judged to be right" (See: Metaphor)
but not with a whole heart
Here the phrase "whole heart" is an idiom that means "completely." AT: "but not completely" (See: Idiom)
translationWords
Amaziah
reign
Jerusalem
Yahweh
perfect
heart
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 11, 14, 20, 21, 23 25:1 The twenty-nine years of Amaziah’s reign (796–767 BC)…
25:1 The twenty-nine years of Amaziah’s reign (796–767 BC) included a long co-regency with his son Uzziah from 792 BC.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.