Introduction
Our narrator is telling us about the kings of Israel. After David, there was Solomon. And he was a great king; and the kingdom prospered under his reign; and his people enjoyed peace and quiet while he was king. But after Solomon’s death, the one kingdom of Israel was divided into two: there was the northern kingdom which kept the name Israel; and there was the southern kingdom of Judah. Two kingdoms meant two kings: and our narrator has been telling us about the kings in the north and the kings in the south.
Some of the kings were good kings who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. But most of them were bad kings who did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. And even those who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord were far from perfect. And so, as well as telling us about the kings of Israel and Judah, the narrator has been telling us about the patience and long-suffering of the Lord, who was prepared to be patient with the kings and the people and to put up with their shortcomings and sins. And though he often disciplined them, he nevertheless continued to help them and to do good to them. And as we saw last week, one reason why he was prepared to put up with them and to do them good, even though they did not deserve it, is because of the Lord’s commitment to the promise he made to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob to be their God and to be the God of their descendants and to make their descendants a mighty nation and to let them live in the Promised Land of Canaan where they would enjoy his presence in their midst. And so, despite the shortcomings of the kings and the people, and despite their unfaithfulness and unbelief and rebellion, God let them remain in the Promised Land and he continued to help them.
So, one reason he was patient with them and why he continued to do good to them was because of his promise to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. But another reason he was patient with them and why he continued to do good to them was because God had also promised that he would one day give them a new and better king to rule over them. This new king would be better than all the others and his reign will never end. And, of course, that new and better king is the Lord Jesus Christ, who rode into Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday and the people hailed him as their king. And though the people rejected him and crucified him, God the Father rescued him from death and exalted him to heaven where he now rules over all things in heaven and on earth; and his reign will never end. And he promises forgiveness and peace with God and everlasting life to all who believe in his name.
And so, all the kings we’re reading about were only filling in. They were only filling in for the true king who was to come into the world. And in today’s chapter we read about two more of these kings who were filling in while the people waited for the true king.
Verses 1 to 22
Let’s turn to verses 1 to 22 and to the account of the reign of King Amaziah. The narrator follows his normal pattern by telling us a few basic details of this king. So, he began to reign in Judah in the second year of the reign of Jehoash in Israel. He was twenty-five when he began to reign and he reigned for twenty-nine years. And the narrator tells us the name of his mother. His father, of course, was Joash, who was king before him.
And then the narrator gives us a brief assessment of his reign. And it turns out that this king did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. However, he did not meet the standard of David. David was the gold-standard for faithfulness to the Lord and I’m not sure there were any kings who came close to matching David’s faithfulness to the Lord. However, while he didn’t reach David’s standard of faithfulness, Amaziah nevertheless measured up to his father’s faithfulness. Do you see that at the end of verse 3? Is that a good thing or not? It might be a good thing, because his father was the one who arranged for the temple to be repaired after years of neglect. That was a good thing to do. But when we were studying the account of Joash’s reign, I said that he ended up being a bit of a disappointment, because he didn’t trust the Lord when the king of Aram threatened Israel. And the account of his reign in 2 Chronicles tells us that later in his life he abandoned the temple of the Lord and he began to worship idols and he also gave orders for one of the priests to be killed. And in the end, his officials conspired against him and assassinated him.
So, is it a good thing to be compared to Joash? I’m not so sure that it is. And our narrator tells us in verse 4 that Amaziah did nothing to address the longstanding problem of the high places. The one, true place of worship was the temple in Jerusalem. If someone wanted to offer sacrifices to the Lord, the only authorised place to do it was at the temple. But instead of going to the temple, the people would go to these high places to worship the Lord. So, they were worshipping the Lord, and not an idol. And that was good. But they weren’t worshipping the Lord in the right place. And that was bad. And Amaziah did nothing to address this longstanding problem.
One other thing which he did do, though, which was commendable, is how he dealt with those officials who conspired against his father and murdered him. The narrator tells us that after the kingdom was firmly in his grasp, Amaziah executed those officials. And he was right to do so, because they had killed God’s anointed king. And then the narrator adds that he did not put the sons of the assassins to death. And this was in accordance with what we read in in the law of Moses in Deuteronomy 24 where it says that fathers should not be put to death for the sins of the children; and children should not be put to death for the sins of their fathers. And so, since children should not be punished for what their parents did wrong, then Amaziah did not punish the children of his father’s assassins. His restraint and obedience to God’s word is commendable, because it would have been an easy thing for him to give the order for the children to be killed to prevent them from rising up against him at a later stage. And so, well done for showing restraint.
And so, Amaziah did some things which were good in the eyes of the Lord. But we’ve still to decide whether it was a good thing or not for him to be compared to his father. But perhaps we’ll know once we study his life a little more closely.
For now, let’s move on, because after giving us this assessment of Amaziah’s reign, the narrator goes on to do what he normally does which is to tell us about one incident or event from the life of the king. And that’s what we have now in verses 7 to 14.
First of all, he tells us that Amaziah defeated ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt. This was similar to what David did many years before, because we read in 2 Samuel 8 that David became famous after striking down eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt. David killed eighteen thousand and Amaziah killed ten thousand. So, the two kings both won a tremendous victory over the Edomites, but Amaziah’s victory was not quite as impressive as David’s.
However, this victory seems to have encouraged Amaziah to do more. According to verse 8 he sent messengers to Jehoash in the north with a challenge: ‘Come, meet me face to face.’ But this wasn’t an invitation to meet for a drink and a chat. This was an invitation to fight. He was challenging Jehoash to meet him face to face on the battle field. So, he’s just had a victory over the Edomites, as David had done. Maybe he’s thinking that he’ll be able to conquer Israel in the north and re-unite the two kingdoms.
But Jehoash responded to his challenge by telling Amaziah a little fable to get him to think again. He said that a thistle sent a message to a cedar. Now, a thistle is prickly. If you touch it, it will hurt. But it’s only a thistle. And so, while it may hurt you slightly, it’s not going to do any real harm to you. And, of course, it’s only a weed. And a weed is nothing compared to a mighty cedar tree. And so, in the fable, a weed sent a message to a cedar tree, demanding that the cedar tree hand over its daughter to the weed so that they can be married. It’s an odd thing for a weed to ask for, but this is a fable. And in the fable, a wild beast came along and stepped on the thistle and that was the end of the thistle.
And the thistle in the fable stands for Amaziah in the south; and the cedar in the fable stands for Jehoash in the north. And Jehoash is saying to Amaziah: you may think you’re powerful, but you’re only a thistle, a weed, and you’re easily squashed. So, you beat Edom. That’s great. But don’t let it go to your head. Enjoy your victory, but stay at home. And don’t think about picking a fight with me!
And take a look at verse 11 where it says that Amaziah, however, would not listen. There are lots of people in the world like Amaziah, aren’t there? They receive good advice. They receive wise advice. Everyone knows it’s good advice. However, they do not listen to it. And Amaziah did not listen to Jehoash. And so, Jehoash attacked Amaziah. With their armies, they faced each other in Judah. And according to verse 12, Amaziah’s Judah was routed by Jehoash’s Israel. And every man in Judah fled the battle field.
And the king of Israel captured the king of Judah. This is the first time ever that a king in the south has been captured by another king. And Jehoash then went to Jerusalem, the capital city of Judah, where David once built a palace for himself and where Solomon once built a temple for the Lord. Jehoash went to Jerusalem and he broke down the wall surrounding it and he took all the gold and silver and all the articles found in the temple of the Lord and in the royal treasuries. And he also took hostages. And then he returned to Samaria. And presumably he took Amaziah with him.
And this was a kind of foretaste of what was going to happen in the future when both Israel and Judah were sent away by God into exile. Because the people in the north and south rebelled against the Lord, and because they worshipped idols instead of the true God, and because they would not repent and return to the Lord, even though the Lord sent them prophets to warn them, because of these things the Lord sent them into exile. He sent the Assyrians against Israel and then he sent the Babylonians against Judah. Jerusalem was destroyed, and the best of the people were taken away, and the country was left desolate. And as a kind of foretaste of that, Amaziah and the people of Jerusalem suffered a kind of mini-exile when Jehoash and his army attacked Jerusalem.
But why would the Lord afflict them with a mini-exile, whenever our narrator told us at the beginning of the chapter that Amaziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord? Why would God let the king be captured if the king was devoted to the Lord? I think it’s because he was like his father. And just as his father turned away from the Lord, so Amaziah turned away from the Lord. How do we know that? Well, think about what he did. He picked a fight with Israel. And the people of Judah and the people of Israel were family, weren’t they? All the people of Israel and all the people of Judah came from Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. They weren’t strangers. They were family. And more than that, they belonged to the Lord. All the people of Israel and all the people of Judah were God’s chosen people. He had bound himself to all of them with a promise to be their God and to take care of them. And I wonder do you remember what happened when the one kingdom of Israel was divided into two after the death of Solomon? Jeroboam became king of the north and Rehoboam became king of the south. And Rehoboam mustered his army in order to make war on the north. But the Lord sent a prophet to tell Rehoboam not to attack Israel. This is what the Lord said:
Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Go home, every one of you….
Don’t fight against them, because they are your brothers. You are family.
And just as it was wrong for Rehoboam to lead Judah into war against Israel, so it was wrong for Amaziah to lead Judah into war against Israel. It was wrong of them to fight against their brothers.
Furthermore, we read in 2 Chronicles 25 that after Amaziah defeated the Edomites, he began to worship false gods and idols. And when the Lord sent a prophet to call on him to repent, he would not listen. And so, in this, he was just like his father, because his father began well, but he turned away from the Lord and he turned to idols. And the writer of 2 Chronicles goes on to say that the reason Amaziah did not listen to Jehoash’s wise advice about not picking a fight with him was because the Lord was going to use Jehoash to punish Amaziah for going after these false gods. Our God is merciful. And since he is merciful, since he is good to us, then he often stops us from carrying out our foolish plans. He keeps us from doing foolish things, because he is merciful and kind to us. On the other hand, when God is angry with someone, he can use their foolish plans to punish them. He lets them go headlong into disaster. And that’s what God did to Amaziah.
Our narrator concludes his account of Amaziah’s reign in an odd way. It’s odd because verses 15 to 17 are not about Amaziah. They’re about Jehoash. The narrator once again tells us about the end of Jehoash’s reign. But then he returns to Amaziah in verse 17 to tell us that he outlived Jehoash. So, he lived for fifteen years after Jehoash. It’s likely that he was released and was allowed to return to Jerusalem. But his life didn’t end well, because we’re told that people conspired against him in Jerusalem and he fled to Lachish, where he was killed. And his remains were brought back to Jerusalem for burial. And his son was enthroned in his place.
Verses 23 to 29
That’s Amaziah. What about King Jeroboam? This, of course, is the second King Jeroboam in the Bible. The first one became king of Israel immediately after Solomon’s death. I mentioned him a moment ago. This is another Jeroboam, but he too was king of Israel.
And we’re told in verse 23 that he reigned for forty-one years. I think his is the longest reign of all the kings in Israel and Judah. But look at the narrator’s assessment of his reign: he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord and he did not turn away from the sins of the first Jeroboam.
And yet remarkably, despite his wickedness, he was the one who restored the border of Israel. He restored the border of Israel to the way it was in the heyday of Israel when Solomon was king. And our narrator tells us that this was in accordance with the word of the Lord spoken through the prophet Jonah. This is the Jonah who was swallowed by the great fish. And by mentioning the word of the Lord, the narrator is telling us that God foretold that Jeroboam would restore Israel’s border. In other words, it was the will of the Lord for Jeroboam to restore the border. The Lord enabled him to do it.
And why would God help such a wicked king in this way? That’s what verses 26 and 27 are about. The Lord had seen how bitterly everyone in Israel was suffering; and there was no-one to help them. This recalls what happened when the people were slaves in Egypt. At that time, the people were suffering terribly at the hands of the Egyptians. And they began to cry out because of their suffering. And God saw their suffering and he heard their cries and he saved them. And here he is, doing the same thing, hundreds of years later. He saw the suffering of his people. And there was no-one to help them. And so, since the Lord hadn’t said that he would blot them out from under heaven, he saved them. And he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam. God used this wicked king in order to save his people from their suffering at that time. He used this wicked king to prevent their name from being blotted out and forgotten.
Conclusion
And the bitter suffering of the people of Israel is a kind of picture of the whole world, isn’t it? All around the world, there’s bitter suffering. People are suffering bitterly because of wars and violence and because of injustice and poverty. People are suffering bitterly because of natural disasters and illness and disease. And so, whole communities suffer bitterly. But families also suffer bitterly because marriages breakup and children rebel against their parents. And we suffer bitterly in our own personal lives because of all the trials of this troubled life.
This is not the way things were meant to be, because when God made the world, everything was good, even very good. But because Adam disobeyed God’s command in the beginning, sin came into the world and spread to all of us so that all of us are now sinners by nature or by birth. And with sin, there came misery, because sin causes misery to ourselves and to others and even the natural world was affected and ruined because of Adam’s sin in the beginning.
And the Bible makes clear that the Lord saw how bitterly everyone was suffering. And the Lord saw that there was no-one to help us. The best of us was not able to save us from our bitter suffering. And just as the Lord was unwilling to blot out Israel, so he was unwilling to blot out this world which he created. He was not going to destroy the world be made in the beginning. And he did not want to leave us in our sin and misery. And so, what did he do? Just as God saved Israel by the hand of Jeroboam the king so he saved us by the hand of Christ the king. He sent his Only-Begotten Son into the world as one of us and to be our king and to rescue us from our sin and from our bitter suffering in this life. And the way Christ the king saved us was not by leading an army into battle. The way he saved us was by giving up his life on the cross to make up to God for all that we have done wrong. He paid for our sins with his life. And now that he has paid for our sins with his life, he promises us a new life in a renewed world where there will be no more sin or bitter suffering, but only perfect peace and rest and happiness. He promises us a new life. And the way we receive all of what God promises us is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And unlike Amaziah who wanted to make war on his brothers, Christ our King makes peace for us with God and with one another. He unites us together as members of his kingdom and as members of God’s family and he commands us to love one another instead of hating one another. And he commands us to forgive one another just as, in Christ, God has forgiven us. And he fills us with his Spirit to renew us and to restore us to what we were always meant to be. And his Spirit living inside us helps us to love God and to love each other the way that we should.
God saw how bitterly everyone in Israel was suffering; and there was no-one to help them. And so, he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the king. And God saw bitterly everyone in the world was suffering; and there was no-one to help them. And so, he saved them by the hand of Christ the king, who comes to us in the preaching of his word and he invites the weary and those who are burdened down by a load of sin and guilt and those who are suffering bitterly in this life to come to him for rest and peace and for everlasting life in the new and better world to come. And so, praise be to God the Almighty for saving us by his Son. And the way we show him our gratitude is by honouring him in all we do and say each day.
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