Year 2, Day 12: 2 Kings 14

Cliché

I love clichés, but they often get a bad reputation in our culture.  It’s as if we need to apologize for using them when we say something like: “I know it’s cliché, but…”  I don’t think we should apologize for using clichés.  After all, the reason something becomes a cliché is because there is so much truth packed into such an easily remembered statement that it gets repeated over and over! 

Why all the talk about clichés?

I have brought you three clichés today:

1. Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched
2. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence
3. Pride comes before the fall

I will endeavor to use these three clichés to talk about good old Amaziah here. 

A Full Investigation of Amaziah

Let’s begin with the first one: Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched.  The story begins with Amaziah being called a good king, one who may not have followed in the footsteps of David but at least followed in the footsteps of his dad, Jehoash.  The high places continued to be places of worship, but Amaziah himself followed the Lord, right? Well, don’t count your chickens before they are hatched.

2 Chronicles 25:14-16 gives us a bit of additional information regarding Amaziah’s conquest of Edom.  It seems as though Amaziah brings back the gods of the Edomites and sets them up for him to worship and give offerings.  Amaziah isn’t quite the follower of God that a cursory reading of 2 Kings 14 seems to indicate.  Now we understand why the author says he was a good king, but not like David.  He does some good things, and probably never does get rid of his faith in God completely.  But at best Amaziah is a polytheist with God being one of several household gods that he revered.

Polytheism vs. Monotheism

This leads us into the grass is always greener cliché.  Amaziah displays this attitude twice in what we know of his life.  I’ve already spoken about the gods of the Edomites, and that makes me wonder why it is that a victorious king would bother to bring home the gods of a conquered people.  If those gods were all that great, wouldn’t they have stopped Amaziah from being victorious?  To a monotheistic mindset, that logic makes sense.

However, we do know that God let the Hebrew people go into slavery more than once – so don’t put too much stock into that logic.  After all, even great gods allow their worshippers to choose disobedience out of free will!  There is none greater than God yet God’s people were seldom if ever considered the greatest kingdom on earth.

My guess is that Amaziah falls into the trap of thinking that “you can’t have too much of a good thing.”  Amaziah likely brings home those gods to make sure that his bases are covered.  If one God is good, the multiple gods from multiple nations are even better, right?  Well, in this case the answer is no.  The grass is not greener on the other side of that fence.  This is the danger of polytheism.

Going Too Far

The second place that Amaziah falls into the trap of this “green grass cliché” is where he marches out against Israel.  Amaziah has already conquered Edom.  Impressed with himself, he challenges Israel.  The king of Israel tries to tell him to stay put and not make enemies, but Amaziah isn’t buying it.  His ego is puffed up and he can only imagine that if conquering Edom is great, then conquering Edom and Israel will be even better.  Unfortunately, the grass isn’t greener on the other side of that fence, either.

Consequences of the Fall

This leads us right into the third cliché: pride comes before the fall.  Amaziah’s pride leads him into disaster.  Not only is Amaziah disgraced, but the holy city of Jerusalem is partially destroyed.  The temple of God is plundered.  All the work of his father in restoring the temple goes to ruin.  Amaziah’s big pride comes before a substantial fall.

Jeroboam II

We also have a story about a king of Israel in this chapter: Jeroboam II.  I don’t have much to say here.  I will simply note that Jeroboam II reigns for 41 years and is evil in the sight of the Lord.  Refer back to yesterday’s post about longevity not being a sign of God’s blessing.  Jeroboam II takes the cake as proof of this concept.  He is evil in his ways, and God sees fit to give him a long rope with which to hang himself.  Jeroboam has a long reign, and he no doubt proves his character again and again to God.

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