2BC BIBLE STUDY NOTES
Wednesday in the Word
Second Baptist Church
March 8, 2023
2nd Chronicles 25
Verses 1-4. Today we will continue our study on the Kings of Judah found in Chronicles. Let’s remember that the book of 1st and 2nd Chronicles teaches the Jews, returning to Judah from exile, what to do and what not to do. It is important for the people to know why they ended up in exile in the first place. The main issue is the nation repeatedly turned away from the Lord. Consistency was the problem. The leaders and the people would serve God for a while and then decided to turn away from the Lord. We will see this pattern repeat itself in our lesson for today. The king we will focus on today is Amaziah the son of Joash. As we know from our lesson several weeks ago. Joash followed the example of the Priest Jehoiada until his death. Upon the death of the priest, Joash drifted away from God. He drifted so far, he found himself under the severe judgment of the Lord. Ultimately, he was killed by his own officials who blamed him for their troubles. Upon his death his 25-year-old son, Amaziah, became the next king. Amaziah set out to gain full control of the southern kingdom of Judah and Benjamin. When he was able to gain control of the kingdom, he had the men who murdered his father executed. He didn’t kill their children according to the law found in Deuteronomy 24:16. He probably assumed that these men would always pose a threat to his life as long as they lived.
Verses 5-6. Most likely the men who Amaziah killed were leaders over the people. Amaziah needs to assign rulers over the people and the fighting men. As he is assigning leaders, he also organizes the men who can serve in the military. He can muster 300K men over 20. In his mind this is not enough to go into battle with Edom. Without the Lord’s permission he decides to contract with some mercenaries from the northern kingdom. Amaziah does this out of fear and not trust. These mercenaries are not men of good character. At this point the folks in the northern kingdom were heavily into idolatry. God didn’t want that influence in Judah.
Verses 7-10. God sends a prophet to speak to Amaziah about this contract he has entered with the mercenaries from northern Israel. The man of God warns Amaziah that being connected to these men would result in the favor of God not being on him in battle. The favor of God is more than anything you could ever bring to the table. The prophet warns Amaziah that if he goes into battle with these men by his side the Lord will not be with him and he will lose in battle. Amaziah asks the prophet about the money he already gave them. The prophet responds don’t worry; God will make it up to you. This is a reminder that even if we made a mistake in judgment, it is never too late to count your losses and trust God will make it up to you. It is better to take the loss and gain God’s favor than to continue and lose the favor of God. Amaziah dismissed the troops, but they left very angry. You might wonder why they left angry despite the fact that they were paid. The pay was just a down payment. In ancient times. Mercenaries expected to get a percentage of the spoils of war. The men left angry because they were expecting some plunder from the war.
Verses 11-13. We see that Amaziah was victorious in battle but decided to force some of the enemy to walk off a cliff and perish. This was extremely harsh as far as war tactics is concerned. While he was torturing troops, the mercenaries were raiding villages in Judah, killing thousands, and taking off with great quantities of plunder.
Verses 14-16. Amaziah returned to Judah victorious, but he decided to bring back idols from Edom. For some reason he was enthralled by these man-made idols. So much so, that he placed them a sacred space and worshipped these false gods. Worshipping these idols was often seen as being more sophisticated. The worship of these idols often included various sexual rituals that enticed the flesh of many. Amaziah is quick to abandon the faith that requires humility for a false religion that appease your ego. This infuriated the Lord. God gave Amaziah victory with a small army and now Amaziah abandons God. God send another prophet to condemn Amaziah for worshipping these false Gods. The prophet tells Amaziah that God said that those idols could not protect the Edomites so why are you worshipping them. As soon as the man of God spoke, the king told him to be quiet since he was not a royal official. The man of God stopped giving the warning, but shared that he now is sure that God has ordered Amaziah’s destruction.
Verses 17-20. On the heels of his previous victory Amaziah decides to challenge the northern kingdom. Proud from his success against Edom, Amaziah decided to make war against the northern kingdom of Israel, no doubt in retaliation for the plundering attacks by the dismissed mercenaries of Israel. Amaziah is demonstrating a flaw in his character. He is extremely arrogant thinking his victory was due to his army and his military prowess. The King of Israel responds to Amaziah by basically saying, you don’t want no parts of me; I am a Cedar, and you are a twig. Even the king of Israel sees how arrogant Amaziah has become. He gives him a warning, but Amaziah, who is drunk with his own ego, decides to go to battle.
Verses 21-24. The two kings face off and the King of Israel defeats Amaziah. The king and many men are captured, and their towns are plundered. Even articles of gold and silver in the temple are taken. He lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash (which probably prompted his release from imprisonment in Israel), After his release he tried to return to Jerusalem only to find men who wanted him dead. He fled to Lachish, but they sent men there to kill him. His body was brought back to Jerusalem to be buried in the city of his ancestors.
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