Compromise Leading to Corruption

Transcript

GRS 2-109
5/4/2008
Compromise Leading to Corruption
2 Kings 14
Gil Rugh

We are in Second Kings and the 14th Chapter in your Bibles and as you would expect; First and Second Kings are about the kings of Israel. We started the monarchy in Samuel with Saul, then David, then we entered into the reign of Solomon. And under Solomon’s son the kingdom split into two, the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom, ten tribes basically in the north, two tribes in the south. The northern ten tribes known as Israel; the southern two tribes known as Judah and we have been unfolding the history of the Kings.

It gets rather repetitive. We find a pattern going on and that is one of disobedience. We have noted the primary emphasis in Kings is on the kings of the northern kingdom. In Chronicles there will be more of an emphasis on the kings of the southern kingdom and we will be looking into a little bit of that emphasis in Chronicles in our study together in a moment. The key to all of these is understanding, when God chose Israel as a nation to belong to Him, it wasn’t just so that they could escape judgment and condemnation. God wasn’t their fire escape from hell so to speak although in Him there is a savior and Israel along with all other nations needed God salvation and he chose Israel to be the recipients and the testimony of that salvation in the world.

But the emphasis in the Old Testament Scriptures is on the fact that Israel was chosen to manifest the marvelous work of God in their lives, they will be a people that were holy to him. Come back to the Book of Leviticus, we will just limit the passages we look at to the Book of Leviticus. We could have started in Exodus 19 and look through the law but more broadly but start in Leviticus Chapter 19. The Chapter begins; the Lord spoke to Moses saying; speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, you shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy.

This is what will mark Israel out as unique and distinct people. They belong to the living God and he is a holy God so the people that belong to him must also be a holy people. This will involve being obedient to his word, now this holiness is to come out of the fact that they have come to trust him, to submit themselves to him as their God and their savior. That is to be reflected in a life of obedience to him as their God which will enable them to manifest his holy character, so you have that instruction in verse 2 Leviticus 19, then it follows along giving them his commandments and laws and then the chapter concluded in verse 37; you shall thus observe all my statutes and all my ordinances and do them for I’m the Lord.

There is no separation between being a holy people and manifesting holiness and obedience. They go inseparably together. Look over in Chapter 20 of Leviticus, verse 7; you shall consecrate yourself therefore and be holy for I the Lord your -- I’m the Lord your God, you shall keep my statutes and practice them; I’m the Lord who sanctifies you. He is the God who has set them apart for himself and that is the key concept in holiness, set apart from sin to God, thus to be a holy people.

Over in Chapter 22 verse 32, you note the preceding verse, verse 31; so you shall keep my commandments and do them, I’m the Lord, you shall not profane my holy name but I will be sanctified among the sons of Israel, I’m the Lord who sanctifies you. God is to be treated as holy by Israel and they are to conduct themselves as his holy people, I’m the one who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God, I’m the Lord. So it will be repeated in numbers, it will be repeated in Deuteronomy. Israel had a very difficult time with this.

Seems simple, he is the Lord, he has chosen you as a nation, now the individuals who make up the nation are responsible to submit themselves in faith to God, trusting him as their God, their savior, their Lord and to live in obedience to their God. How can you declare him to be your God and honor him as your God and not be obedient to him? Anyone who truly recognizes him as the living God must walk in obedience to him. Israel’s problem was; they constantly turned away.

Now their problem wasn’t; they constantly just turned away completely. Their problem was they ended up mixing the worship of the world with the worship of God, they ended up with a corrupted practice. So at times you read about things going on with the priest and the offerings at the temple, the same time you will be talking about worship going on at the high places, the worship of other gods and this corrupted mixture destroys them as a holy people and that is why both northern and southern kingdom are on the way to the ultimate discipline of the Lord; being carried away into captivity, first the northern kingdom in 722 by the Assyrians, that will be followed by the southern kingdom in 586 by the Babylonians.

You come over to Kings again. We see something of the corrupted nature of Israel at this time, Israel in all of its parts, northern and southern kingdom, by the fact as we mentioned, all 20 kings of the northern ten tribes are declared to be godless men. For the southern kingdom they do a little better, about half of the 20 kings of the southern kingdom are said to be good kings but that is not the total picture because of those ten or so who are said to be good; they started out good but they didn’t finish well and so at the last part of their reign as a king even in the southern kingdom we find them worshipping other gods and rebelling against the living God.

Before we move into Second Kings 14 come to the New Testament, the First Peter Chapter 1. Important as we look at these historical passages, you and I realize that as we talk about the people of God and his work in Israel we see something of God’s expectations of his people and we who have come to know the God of Israel as our God, to trust in his son as our savior, he is the same holy God and his expectation for his people is the same.

So Peter rights in First Peter Chapter 1 verse 13; therefore prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, as obedient children do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in ignorance but like the holy one who called you, be holy yourselves in all your behavior because it is written; you shall be holy for I’m holy. Quoting again from one of the passage in the Book of Leviticus.

So the character of God is unchanging, he is the holy God and the people who belong to him must be a holy people, that begins with holiness of heart, the inner cleansing, that is why Israel was commanded; they had to have their heart cleansed, circumcised in the analogy, a circumcised heart with sin removed and then that is to be displayed in a life of obedience to the Lord. Come back to Second Kings Chapter 14, Chapter 13 of Second Kings was concerned primarily with two kings of the northern kingdom.

Now in Chapter 14 the bulk of the chapter is devoted to the consideration of one of the kings of the southern kingdom Judah. First 22 verses will be about Amaziah and his reign and that will be elaborated over in Chronicles and we will be turning over there in a moment. Look at how the chapter begins; in the second year of Joash, son of Jehoahaz King of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash King of Judah became king. Now remember we have two kings whose reigns are overlapping, king of the northern kingdom and south who both have the same name Jehoash or Joash.

So you have that reflected in verse 1, we are in the second year of Joash King of Israel and Amaziah the son of Joash King of Judah and if you have your kings of Israel and kings of Judah list you can see something of the parallel. Amaziah, son of Joash King of Judah became king. He begins his reign, verse 2, when he is 25 and he reigns 29 years in Jerusalem, Jerusalem being the capital of the southern kingdom and as usual, characteristically get his mother’s name, he did right in the sight of the Lord yet not like David his father, he did according to all that Joash his father had done.

So Amaziah is characterized as a good king doing what is right in the sight of the Lord but his obedience falls short of David. David becomes the standard and David was not a perfect man, previously we were aware of his sin with Bathsheba, his murder of Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, but you know what; that is a black spot on David’s life but is not the characteristic of the rest of David’s life. David doesn’t come to a point in the middle of his reign where he abandons the Lord and begins to worship other gods for the rest of his life, lead Israel in rebellion against the Lord, he has a consistency that becomes a standard.

There are others, Asa; one of the early kings was said to have been consistent like his father David in his reign in Judah. He followed the pattern of his father Joash and sadly he followed the pattern of his father Joash too closely. It is good that he followed it early but he is going to fall off the wagon so to speak for the last part of his reign also and come to a disastrous end by being murdered by his own servants. Verse 4, a qualification here, only the high places were not taken away, the people still sacrificed and burnt incense on the high places.

There is a reason, this is mentioned so many times, if you have been here with our study, you realize this is mentioned often even when they have removed worship centers, the high places are left. We are reminded of that not because that has become okay in the sight of God but it is a reminder that the obedience of Israel even in the good times, when we are talking about Israel; the southern portion was less than complete. Back up to Deuteronomy Chapter 12, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy Chapter 12, note verse 31 of Chapter 11, listen to this; for you are about to cross the Jordan to go in, to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you and you shall possess it and live in it and you shall be careful to do all this statutes and the judgments which I’m setting before you today, these are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully observe in the land which the Lord the God of your fathers has given you to posses as long as you live on the earth.

Now note; you shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, now here we go, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. All the high places are to be destroyed, so we are being reminded but the high places were not destroyed and they were good as far as they went but they didn’t go far enough. You shall tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn the Asherim, cut down the graved image of their gods, obliterate their name from that place. You shall not act like this toward the Lord your God, you shall seek the Lord at the place which the Lord your God will choose.

You don’t do it like the nations do, you can’t say we are going to worship the God of Israel but we will do it on the high places, but we won’t worship the pagan gods we will worship God -- because you can’t do that like the pagans do. You don’t act like this towards me, you worship me where I tell you, how I tell you, you shall seek the Lord at the place which he the Lord your God will choose from all your tribes to establish his name there for his dwelling, there you shall come, there you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the contribution of your hand, your vowed offerings, your free will offerings, the first born of your herd, your flock, there also you and your household shall eat before the Lord your God, rejoice in all your undertakings in which the Lord has blessed you.

Could God be any clear, don’t do it like the nations, not on the high places, not on the hills, you don’t worship me like that, you do it in the place where I tell you, in the tribe because you notice when he is telling this; he is going to narrow it down to a focal place with one tribe, it will be the tribe of Judah, one place; the temple at Jerusalem, that is where you bring all your offerings, all your tithes, all your sacrifices, now there are no options here so you see what is going to take place. Israel’s incomplete obedience will open the door, you can’t allow corruption. Disobedience; well, it’s not major, I mean we didn’t get rid of all the high places but at least we encourage people to worship the Lord on those high places, you can’t, it is not acceptable.

You worship the Lord according to his instruction, you come and tell; Lord you are very fortunate, I’m going to worship you, I’m not going to do it where you said or how you said or in line with your instructions but you should be really pleased, I’m going to worship you. It never works that way and you allow these centers of disobedience spread throughout Judah and that corruption spreads. It is just the way it works, why you are in this chapter. Verse 10; when you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, he gives you rest from all your enemies around you, so that you live in security then it shall come about that the place in which the Lord your God will choose for his name to dwell there you shall bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, you sacrifices, your tithes, the contribution of your hand, all your choice votive offerings which you will vow to the Lord.

Verse 13; be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every cultic place you see but in the place which the Lord chooses in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, there you shall do all that I command you. Now we come over to Second Kings again, Chapter 14 and you read verse 4; only the high places were not taken away, the people still sacrificed and burnt incense on the high places, can you worship God on the high places, no. Seems like the southern kingdom is doing so much better than the northern kingdom and in one sense they are, they don’t have major cultic centers at Bethe and Dan that characterize the northern kingdom in their calf worship.

But they have tolerated these sights and it is a deceptive thing for Judah to think it could go and worship the God of Israel in one of the high places because God said you can’t and so even in the “good times.” And the first part of Amaziah’s reign at least is a good time in Israel and he is commended; he did right in the sight of the Lord but we are reminded -- but the high places were not taken away. So the genuine worship of God at the temple is corrupted by the worship that is permeating the nation and that will lead to its destruction, just like a disease in your body, you say well 90% of my body is good and healthy but you tolerate the diseased part and it spreads and that is what is happening in Israel.

So even the southern kingdom by 586 will have to go into captivity and the nation lives in judgment to this day. Alright let us move on to this -- through this chapter and see how it unfolds. Verse 5; now it came about as soon as the kingdom was firmly in his hand he killed his servants who had slain the king his father. Remember his father had been killed by his servants and so once he firmly gets a grip on the kingdom and make sure that his reign, his throne is secure then he proceeds to punish the men guilty of murdering his father, father Joash, the record of his death is found in Chapter 12 verses 20 and 21. At this point in his life Amaziah is careful to do what the law commanded him to do.

Verse 6; but of the sons of the slayers he did not put to death according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses as the Lord commanded saying; the father shall not be put to death for the sons nor the sons be put to death for the fathers, each shall be put to death for his own sin, Deuteronomy Chapter 24 verse 16. You see Amaziah knows what the law says, this portion of the law he is obeying but the high places is there. So it is not like maybe they didn’t remember it, it is said that; they know what the law says and here the law is careful, each one is responsible and accountable for his own sin. So Amaziah is careful not to wreak vengeance by wiping out all the family and descendants here of the two guilty men who murdered his father.

Turn over to Ezekiel Chapter 18, later Prophet at the end of the southern kingdom, time of the Babylonian captivity, Ezekiel and the 18th Chapter; the Lord elaborates on the instructions found in the Law of Moses and rebukes Israel because Israel was complaining they were suffering and being punished for their parent’s sins. The word of the Lord came to me saying verse 1; what do you mean by using this proverb concerning the land of Israel saying; the father’s eats sour grapes but the children’s teeth are set on edge. In other words I’m paying the penalty for my dad’s sin. As I live declares the Lord, you surely are not going to use this proverb in Israel anymore behold, all souls are mine, the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine, the soul who sins will die.

Then he goes on, if a man is righteous, practices justice and righteousness, does not eat at the mountain shrines, lift up eyes to the idols of the house of Israel and on with the matters of obedience. Verse 9; if he walks in my statutes, my ordinances, to deal faithfully, he is righteous, he will surely live declares the Lord. Then he may have a violent son, remember being a godly parent doesn’t guarantee a godly child. You may have a violent son who sheds blood, who does any of these things to a brother, violates the commandment in any number of ways and enumerates that.

Down in verse 13; he will not live. Verse 14; now behold, he has a son who has observed all his father’s sins which he committed, and observing and does not do likewise. Down to the end of verse 17; he will not die, so you may have a godless father, but the son is godly, he won’t be punished for his father’s sins, so it goes both ways. The father won’t be punished for the son’s sins; the son won’t be punished for the father’s sins. Verse 20; the person who sins will die, the son will not bear the punishment for the father’s inequity nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s inequity. The righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.

You cannot transfer your righteousness to your children, righteous children cannot back up their righteousness to cover their parents and it goes the same with sin. Now naturally godly parents want to impact their children with godliness but I must remember; there are no guarantees here. We sometimes think there is something automatic, every generation is a new generation, these young people we saw tonight, they have to place their faith in Christ as their savior. They are blessed to have been raised in an environment with godly parents and a church where they were taught the word of God, have Christian friends, Christian fellows here but that doesn’t change your heart.

That exposes them to the truth that must be believed to change your heart and God deals with each sinner according to his sin; he deals with each righteous person according to their righteousness. So you come back to Second Kings, Amaziah is careful in the carrying out of that. Verse 7; we move quickly, remember we have compressed synopsis of this history, only what God wants to reveal at this time to move the history along in great strides. Verse 7; he killed of Edom in the valley of salt 10,000 and took Sela by war and named it Joktheel to this day, often common to change the name of a conquered city to indicate your sovereignty now over that and your power.

When you are in the area called the valley of salt, you are down south of the Dead Sea, the salt sea, dead because of the high salt content. Sela is of interest, some of you will be going to visit Israel and related areas here in the next few weeks and Sela is of interest because we know it as the city of Petra which was the capital of Edom, the Rock City of Petra which I believe you will be visiting, you have to remember this and the impact that Amaziah had here. Leave a marker in Second Kings 14 and go after Kings to Chronicles. We are going to go to Second Chronicles Chapter 25.

Second Chronicles Chapter 25, and you see as the chapter begins; Amaziah was 25 years old when he became king and reigned 29 years and what he did. In verse 4; he didn’t put their children to death, so basically covers what we have already seen in Kings, now verse 5; we pick up with this battle between Amaziah, King of Judah and the Edomites that was just summarized in that statement; he killed 10,000 of the Edomites in the valley of salt, captured Sela. Verse 5; moreover Amaziah assembled Judah and appointed them according to their father’s households under commanders of thousand, commanders of hundreds throughout Judah and Benjamin, took a census of the men of age to go to war, found them to be 300,000 choice men.

And to go to war with Edom he thought he needed a larger army, so he hires mercenaries from the northern kingdom, the northern ten tribes in verse 6. He also hired 100,000 valiant warriors out of Israel, he paid a 100 talents of silver which is 3 and 3 quarter tons of silver to hire these mercenaries. But God intervenes, a man of God came to him saying, that would be a prophet, verse 7, saying; O king do not let the army of Israel go with you. Now note this; this is the northern ten tribes of the nation that God has chosen for himself, for the Lord is not with Israel nor with any of the sons of Ephraim, other name referring to the Old Testament; Ephraim being one of the tribes. But if you do it, continue and hire them and take them with you, be strong for the battle, go ahead do it, yet God will bring you down before the enemy, for God has power to help and bring down.

So here is the word from the Lord, don’t take these soldiers from the northern kingdom with you because God isn’t with Israel on these days. Now if you chose to disobey my word go ahead, strengthen yourself as much as you can but you will lose because God won’t give you the victory. God has power to help and to bring down, so reminded Amaziah, 100,000 additional soldiers aren’t what will make the difference in the battle or make the difference in the battle is whether the Lord is on your side or not. To Amaziah’s credit he said to the man of God and remember this because it is a striking contrast of what will be Amaziah’s response; the next time a man of God comes to him with a message.

Amaziah said to the man of God; what shall we do for the 100 talents which I have given to the troops of Israel. I already gave my money, it is not going to pour down the drain. The man of God answered; the Lord has much more to give you than this. Which is the good, well I don’t want to pay my money for nothing so I will take these soldiers with me and be assured of defeat, don’t worry about the money, the Lord can replace it and more, and of course that will come from the spoils of battle and you didn’t need their soldiers after all. Amaziah listens and this is a pressure situation; you are going into a war with an opponent you think is strong enough that you are willing to pay that vast sum to hire 100,000 soldiers now you are going to turn them back.

That is 25% of your army that you just said; go on home, so he dismissed them, the troops which came to him from Ephraim so there anger burned against Judah and they returned home in fierce anger. They said; why they got their money but remember would be paid to the King Israel to hire these soldiers, much of these soldiers’ personal income will come from spoils of battle, so they are not the prime beneficiaries of the money paid, that would probably go to the King of Israel who frees these soldiers to go and be mercenaries. But they by going to war then would get spoils of battle but now they are sent home, they have wasted all their time of getting everything ready, coming down getting ready for battle and then being told; go home with nothing.

So they are upset, that becomes an important matter because they are going to be upset and they are going to attack some of the cities of Judah, in other words if we are not going to get spoil and booty from the Edomites while the armies of Judah are out there doing battle with the Edomites, on their way back home they just ravaged some of the cities of Judah and carry off the spoil. So when you are told that they returned home in fierce anger that is what they are going to be doing. Verse 11 now Amaziah strengthened himself and led his people forth, went to the valley of salt struck down 10,000 of the sons of Seir, those were the Edomites.

The sons of Judah also captured 10,000 alive, brought them up to the top of a cliff and threw them down from the top of a cliff so they were all dashed to pieces. Wars in those days were bloody things and a war is always a bloody thing, casualties are always painful when we count them one by one and you see the vast numbers. Here 10,000 men captured on top of 10,000 killed, they just carry them up to the top of the highest cliff and throw them over the top. So that they are crushed in their fall but the troops whom Amaziah sent back from going with him to battle, remember those 100,000 mercenaries from the northern kingdom, raided the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth-horon and struck down 3,000 of them and plundered much spoil.

I mean these are soldiers hired out as mercenaries, these are not nice men, and they are going to get their pay. Now this will set the stage for the next series of events but at this point God has given Amaziah a great victory over the Edomites and as we saw in Second Kings 14:7; he captured Sela, the capital city of Edom which we know as Petra. Verse 14; here we come to the startling, almost unbelievable transition in Amaziah’s behavior, here God has brought him a great victory, this victory flows out of great obedience to a prophetic message on Amaziah’s part, send the 100,000 mercenaries home, be willing to accept the loss of almost 4 tons of silver that you paid to hire them. God gives him a great victory, a complete victory.

When he captured the capital city that indicates the extent of your victory and all the spoil that has been his. You think Amaziah is going to be growing in faith and realizing when God speaks; you obey and when you obey there is blessing and that is the way I want to reign. Now after Amaziah came from slaughtering the Edomites he brought the gods of the sons of Seir, set them up as his gods, bowed down before them and burned incense to them. Now does that make any sense at all, I mean no other reason, you look and see what good are these gods, I just captured them, obviously my God is the god who reigns over these gods but Amaziah is enthralled.

You wonder were these statues or these Gods; are made with hands of such beauty and such striking character, people want to be drawn to something they can see. We want the aura of worship, like the big cathedrals, is to have that sense, that feeling whatever, there is no sense to it. I mean God of Israel has just given him this great victory and now he brings the gods of the people he has just conquered back and sets them up and becomes a worshipper of those gods. Then the anger of the Lord burned against Amaziah, he sent him a prophet who said to him; why have you sought the gods of the people who have not delivered their own people from your hand. Good logical question. As he was talking with him the king said to him; have we appointed you a royal counselor, stop why should you be struck down, you better be quiet or you are going to die on the spot.

What a different response, the prophet who came to him up in verse 7, Amaziah just had a question; what about the money or the silver I had already paid, let the Lord take care of it. Amaziah does what he is told. Now God sends a message graciously through one of his prophets, Amaziah says; I don’t want to hear any more. You see how completely his heart has turned, I don’t want to hear from the God of Israel and you say anything else as his spokesman, I will kill you on the spot. Then the prophet stopped and said; I know that God has planned to destroy you because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel. You signed your own death warrant by your refusal to listen to God’s word through me as evidence; God is going to destroy you.

You read the account and you can’t make any sense of it, sin never makes any sense. I’m sure it made some kind of perverted sense to Amaziah to do this but you see how gracious God is in trying to woo his people, showing them his love, his protection, his provision. I’m all you need and even when he gives them such a great victory that becomes an occasion for them to turn away from him. Verse 17; then Amaziah King of Judah took counsel and sent to Joash the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, the King of Israel, and saying; come let us face each other. You say, why in the world would he do that, well remember there is a score to settle here, the mercenaries just didn’t go home, they plundered cities of Judah.

Maybe Amaziah thinks he is going to get some revenge, maybe Amaziah swelled with pride, sees himself as the one who is going to reunite the kingdom. We don’t know, we do know that the king of Israel will tell him; you have got a big head because you won a battle over Edom, you better be satisfied with your victory. Amaziah won’t listen, so he sends to the King of Israel at this point and says; come on let us face each other, in other words we are going to war. Joash the King of Israel sent to Amaziah the King of Judah, and he sends this parable, fable says; the thorn bush which was in Lebanon sent to the cedar which is in Lebanon. So you who the thorn bush is, you know who the cedar is because the thorn bush sent to the cedar, in other words you are a thorn bush, I’m a cedar, saying; give your daughter to my son in marriage but there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon and trampled the thorn bush.

You want to make yourself my equal, you are nothing, I’m like the cedars in Lebanon, you are like the thorn bush, any wild animal comes and tramples you, you got an idea in your mind; you are going to do something that will make you my equal. Verse 19; behold you have defeated Edom and your heart has become proud and boasting, now stay at home for why you should provoke trouble so that you, even you would fall and Judah with you. Now this is the godless king of the north giving instructions to Amaziah who started out as a good king, obedient to the message of the prophets. But Amaziah would not listen, now note this, for it was from God that he might deliver them into the hand of Joash because they had sought the gods of Edom.

God uses the sinful rebellion of Amaziah who is determined to pursue his own proud ways because God is going to use that to bring destruction on Amaziah for his unfaithfulness. So Amaziah doesn’t listen, Joash King of Israel went up, he and Amaziah King of Judah faced each other at Beth-shemesh which belonged to Judah, Judah was defeated by Israel, they fled each to his tent. Joash King of Israel, captured Amaziah King of Judah, he brings him to Jerusalem, he comes in, he tears down part of the wall that has been built at Jerusalem, destroying the defenses of the city asserting his authority and power. He is satisfied not to kill Amaziah because he is totally humiliated and subjected him, he took all the gold, the silver and all utensils, verse 24, and takes treasures of the king’s house.

The hostages also returned to Samaria; practiced there, you take key people as hostage and so on, so that it is hard to foment a rebellion because all those who might support you in a rebellion think; if we rebel our family will be executed immediately so that helps guarantee the ongoing subjugation. You know what happens in a time like this; Amaziah has lost all the respect of his people and then you have a conspiracy, Amaziah will be killed. We will come back to First Kings 14 and pick it up to wrap up the account there. Second Kings 14 in verse 11; Amaziah wouldn’t listen, picking up with the instruction of the King of Israel to him to stay at home and so verse 12; Judah was defeated, all the treasures of Jerusalem are carried away verse 14.

Then we are told in verses 15 and 16 that Jehoash the King of the north dies. His death is recorded here and we will pick up with his successor further down in the chapter. So he dies then we pick up with verse 17; Amaziah the son of Joash, King of Judah live 15 years after the death of Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz king of Israel. The rest of his acts, acts of Amaziah are written in the Books of the Chronicles of Kings of Judah, they conspired against him in Jerusalem, he fled to Lachish, they sent after him to Lachish and killed him and brought his body back and buried him in Jerusalem. So you see the end, he doesn’t die in battle but that crushing defeat causes the people to decide; he is not a king we want, there is nothing about him, he is no good to us, all he did is bring ruin, so he is executed. You know the sad account of another man who began well but did not finish well.

Sad testimony of a life, verse 23 picks up again with the northern kingdom. So we have verses 15 and 16 tell us about the death of the king of the North after he defeated Amaziah. Amaziah, now we are told live 15 years after that king of the north had died and he died at the hands of the rebellion, those who led the rebellion in Jerusalem. Now verse 23; we go back to the northern kingdom, in the 15th year of Amaziah the son of Joash, King of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, King of Judah became king in Samaria. He reigned 41 years, major king here, probably the best political ruler for his abilities that the northern kingdom would have. He is Jeroboam II, he is named after the first king of the northern kingdom.

When the kingdom divided the first king of the northern ten tribes was Jeroboam, this is Jeroboam II, in the list he is number 14, on your list of Israel’s kings and you can see he has a long reign. He reigned 41 years, he did evil in the sight of the Lord, he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, King of Israel, son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. In other words he continued the calf worship of his name sake. He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath as far as the sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord the God of Israel which he spoke through his servant and here is somebody we know; Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet who was of Gath-hepher and Jonah the Prophet opens his Book by his name Jonah, being identified as Jonah the son of Amittai.

So we know the Book of Jonah and when he sent to Nineveh to prophesy but Jonah was prophesying. Here you see there is a restoration going on why of the nation even though the nation Israel those northern ten tribes are living in rebellion worshipping at the calf centers. Right, verse 26; for the Lord saw the affliction of Israel which was very bitter for there was neither bond nor free nor was there any help for Israel. The Lord did not say that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam, the son of Joash. Now here is a man that verse 24 says he did evil in the sight of Lord but the Lord is still going to use him as an instrument to preserve his people and protect his people because the Lord never said he would destroy or annihilate the northern kingdom and that is not his intention.

In his most severe punishment he will not annihilate his people because his covenant promises are at stake, so you have God graciously preserving and protecting Israel through the rulership of Jeroboam II and we will have enough time to go to the prophets. But you know what Israel did with this time, this time of prosperity, protection where the city, the kingdom can prosper, is protected from enemies. They used it to indulge in greater sin, as we move along we will see how the nation become more corrupted, more involved in false worship, more involved in all the benefits of prosperity and it has just turned them further away from the Lord.

Chapter ends then with the death of Jeroboam and his successor Zechariah being named. Alright, a few conclusions just to mention quickly of what we have looked at, back in Chapter 14 of Kings, verses 3 and 4; when we are told his obedience wasn’t complete in the high places were not removed, first point, unbiblical compromise prepares the way for more serious disobedience. How many times we have seen this. You tolerate the high places, where is this going, is it a total surprise that Amaziah would adopt the gods of Edom, he is already determined he will not limit himself and his people to the worship that is required by the word of God, so where do we stop.

We have to be careful, in our own lives. It may not seem like a major compromise but it is a compromise that has the potential to destroy. Another point in this chapter, verse 6; each person is responsible for his own sin and that is seen when Amaziah didn’t kill the children of those who were guilty of killing his father. And we looked at Ezekiel 18; we are each accountable, doesn’t matter what kind of parents I had, I can’t blame them for my sin. When I stand before the Lord I won’t be able to blame anybody, I would be accountable, you won’t be able to blame anyone, you will be accountable, no excuses. Another point, third one I guess, we must be careful of unbiblical alliances to accomplish God’s work. It is good to them Amaziah is going to war with Edom; it is not good that he would enter into an unbiblical alliance to accomplish what needs to be done.

If the Lord wants it done he will provide the strength to do it, the way he wants it done. And those kind of unbiblical alliances and compromises are never necessary. They are never God’s way, they always -- we are permeated with it today and what we call the evangelical world. Well abortion so much an issue there are people we can align for in this battle, who the next President is going to be, who appoints supreme, this is such an important battle, there are people we can join hands with even though we may not be, what is this. So the Lord needs the help of the ungodly, he uses the ungodly purposes for his purposes, he doesn’t want his people joining an ungodly alliance. A strong warning here, great victories are also sometimes followed by great defeats.

We saw this in Second Chronicles 25:14; as a result of his great victory over Edom somehow Amaziah’s head swelled, he began to think of how powerful he is, how strong he is, that the only reason he had the victory was because God gave him the victory and when God removes his hand from Amaziah; he is crushingly defeated. So be careful sometimes it seems like the Lord uses us in a great way and we walk out of the door and fall on our face, why. Somehow I get focused on how the Lord used me and pretty soon it is not how the Lord used me, it is about me and how I did that. And instead of humbling, to see how great my God is that he would use me for his glory. So sometimes great victories are followed by great defeats, another follow up on that for all of us.

Be open to rebuke from the word of God, be thankful that perhaps when you are veering off the tracks someone comes to you with the word of God, may not be a prophet; who comes with a direct word but someone who comes to remind you of the word, what the word says. How often we become testy, we don’t like it when someone comes and tell us; I have a concern for you. I think you are taking a course here that may not be biblical. Let me share with what the word says maybe we got to, I think who are they to tell me. I mean they are nobody, they are not better than me, I don’t think they are as good as me and the Lord used me in a lot greater ways than he used them and who are they to come, tell me.

We need to be always be open to rebuke from the word of God and realize some people want to rebuke and it is not from the word of God. I have to sort that out but I have to be careful that I’m not beginning to find reason why I don’t have to hear from them, I don’t have to listen. If what they say is biblical as humbling as it may be I better pay attention. Proverbs 16:18 reminds us; pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. And that’s true, and we had been before, many begin well, few finished well.

Paul in First Corinthians 9:24 and following says; I’m concerned lest I preach to others and I myself would be disapproved. He never took for granted; I will finish well. I’m concerned that I not preach to others, but along the way I become unfaithful, disapproved. So, in Second Timothy Chapter 4 at the end of his life he says; I have finished my course, I have kept the faith, now I look forward to the crown he has laid up for me and for all those who are faithful. The goal is not just to run well, it’s to finish well. May God give us the grace to do so.

Let’s pray together. Thank you Lord for this additional account of your working so graciously, so kindly, so mercifully in Israel, and Lord it is easy to be stunned by the callousness, the hardness, the indifference that gets manifested among the people that you have chosen for yourself. People have experienced your blessings, people have seen your hand at work and people will come to the place they don’t want to hear from you anymore. They are not open to what you have to say, what a tragedy.

Lord these things are also written for our admonition on whom the ends of the ages have come. Lord we would learn how important it is to walk faithfully with you day by day. To be careful about unbiblical compromises by accepting into our life those things, which are not pleasing to you. Lord, a faithful end comes about by walking faithfully day by day, may that characterize us in the days of the week before us, we pray in Christ’s name, amen.