Theological Commentary: Click Here
Here we see
yet another human king. Amaziah does
what is right in the eyes of the Lord, but not with his whole heart. In other words, he acted the way he should,
but his heart wasn’t always in it. He
talked a good talk and maybe even walked a good walk, but his walk wasn’t
really evidence of the heart within.
Reading
through the rest of the passage, there is more evidence of this dynamic at
play. Amaziah listens to the Lord before
attacking the Edomites, but examine why.
Amaziah is worried about the money.
He is headed out for war. He buys
mercenaries from Israel to make sure he wins.
God sends a prophet to tell him to send the Israelites home. Amaziah asks about the money he’s already
spent. This decision isn’t a faith-based
decision, it is an economic one. Amaziah
only appears obedient after the Lord promises that he will recoup more than he’s
spent on the mercenaries. He obeys, but
his heart isn’t really in it.
It gets
worse. After Amaziah conquers the
Edomites, he brings their gods home with him.
He isn’t looking to follow God in his heart, he is looking for any
avenue to power. If Amaziah was in it
for the right reasons, he would have realized that the gods of the Edomites
couldn’t save them and wouldn’t do anything for him. He doesn’t take this conclusion, though. He brings them home and adds them to his
worship. His heart just isn’t in it.
God finally judges
him. Amaziah is killed by a coup. A good bit of the wealth of Judah is
plundered by Israel. A possible good
story ends much like we would expect from a person following the world with
their heart.
Before
becoming too judgmental, remember that stories like this are told for a
reason. It is far too easy to have the
world at the heart of our passion than God, who should be there. This is why Jesus teaches time and time again
that God desires a heart after Him. We
hear over and over that God desires repentance, not perfection. We all have it within us to pursue other
gods. Rather than taking a high seat of judgment,
understand the lesson and live in humble repentance for the ways we are all
like Amaziah.
<><
No comments:
Post a Comment