2 Chronicles 25:2 (NLT) Amaziah did what was pleasing in the LORD’s sight, but not wholeheartedly.
In reading through the Old Testament there is an interesting thing that happens when each king is introduced to us. It’s almost like a Google rating system that went something like this – “ ___________ did what was right before the Lord.” Or… “ ___________ did what was evil before the Lord.”
The following paragraphs would then describe the good or bad traits of that king.
In describing Amaziah it changed it up by saying “Amaziah did what was pleasing to the Lord’s sight, but not wholeheartedly.”
Which is it? Was he a good king or not?
Well, it seems that he was both. He started out right but ended up not so good. He had what I would refer to as a “lukewarm” heart.
King Amaziah took the throne after his father was assassinated. In fact, the last 3 rulers before Amaziah were all murdered … so he had good reason to be looking over his shoulder as he took the throne. According to the text, Amaziah had his father’s murderers executed, but he did not execute the sons of those assassins.
That was a tactic used by most monarchs as a “security measure.” But Amaziah was obeying the Law of Moses, which said that sons were not to be punished for their fathers’ sins. In other words, so far Amaziah did what was right in God’s eyes.
Next we see Amaziah preparing to attack the bordering nation of Edom. In order to “beef up” the army, he hired 100,000 mercenaries from Israel. These were big, tough professional warriors.
But the problem was that Israel had become unfaithful to God. God’s favor was no longer with them. And to make an alliance with an ungodly nation was against God’s law. So, a prophet came and reminded Amaziah, “It’s God who has the power to help you or overthrow you. Get rid of those mercenaries or you will lose God’s favor.”
Amaziah paid attention, but he couldn’t help hedging a bit. After all, he’d paid those mercenaries up-front and he didn’t want to lose his investment. Verse 9 tells us: Amaziah asked the man of God, “But what about the hundred talents I paid for these Israelite troops?”
This is the first hint we get that Amaziah was not whole-hearted in his desire to obey God. Now, it’s true that Amaziah was talking about a lot of money. 100 talents would be about 4 tons of precious metal. At current silver prices that would be well over $500,000 dollars.
Amaziah’s heart was set on earthly, material concerns. But the prophet re-directed his mind to focus on God and his power: The man of God replied, “The LORD can give you much more than that.”
So Amaziah obeyed God. He dismissed the mercenaries (about 25% of his entire army). And … with God’s blessing … he won a decisive military victory. But then Amaziah does something that jolts us. Verse 14 tells us that he takes the idols from Edom and sets them up. And worse than that, he worships them!
He has just won a great victory … obviously from God’s hand. He has every reason in the world to be praising God, and God alone. But instead he turns to idols. He appeared to be running the good race --- then he made a sudden U-turn. It’s obvious that his heart has suddenly gone from LUKEWARM to downright COOL.
2 Chronicles 25:14 (NLT) 14 When King Amaziah returned from slaughtering the Edomites, he brought with him idols taken from the people of Seir. He set them up as his own gods, bowed down in front of them, and offered sacrifices to them!
God’s prophet points out to Amaziah that what he’s done is not only wrong, it’s flat-out STUPID. If your army beat their army, isn’t that proof positive that your God is better than their gods?
But Amaziah’s heart was not turned toward God. Amaziah had been influenced by the godless culture around him. In those times, people believed that when a nation won a battle it was not because their gods were stronger but because the losers’ gods abandoned them and moved to the other side. By worshipping the idols, Amaziah was thanking them for “helping out” with his victory… as if the one true God could not have done it without them.
What is most disturbing about this account is that one minute Amaziah appeared to be serving God and the next minute he was blatantly bowing down to foreign idols. Have you ever seen anything like that?
Amaziah started out right, but he never put his whole heart into it. He started out with faith, but it was a flabby, lukewarm faith. Even after he sinned by worshipping idols, God … in his mercy … gave him another chance. But look at how he responded to the prophet’s warning to him…
2 Chronicles 25:15-16 (NLT) 15 This made the LORD very angry, and he sent a prophet to ask, “Why do you turn to gods who could not even save their own people from you?” 16 But the king interrupted him and said, “Since when have I made you the king’s counselor? Be quiet now before I have you killed!” So the prophet stopped with this warning: “I know that God has determined to destroy you because you have done this and have refused to accept my counsel.”
In other words, I don’t want to hear anything from God. If you don’t stop talking, I’ll have you executed. No small threat from a King. So the prophet summed up where Amaziah’s STONE COLD heart was going to take him.
The rest of the story goes down hill fast. The COLD-HEARTED King lurches from one disaster to another. First he attacks the northern nation of Israel and gets trounced. The Israelites capture him, then plunder the temple and the palace. After 10 years, Amaziah is released and returns to his ruined country of Judah. But, after a while, he is chased from his own palace and assassinated by his own people.
I Corinthians 10:6 tells us that these Old Testament accounts were recorded examples for us. So we need to ask: What can we learn from Amaziah’s example?
If nothing else, Amaziah teaches us that a lukewarm heart is a dangerous thing. If left unattended, it will ultimately grow stone cold. When we talk about the heart, we usually just think of our feelings. But when the Old Testament talks about the heart it includes not just our feelings, but our mind, our will, our entire spiritual nature. It embodies the whole life of a person.
Jesus said this was the greatest commandment: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Matthew 22:37, Deuteronomy 6:5
So, how is your heart today? When is the last time that you had a check up from the neck up? Is your heart soft and pliable to God or is it stone cold. Perhaps you are in the middle and you are neither hot nor cold (which God doesn’t like). May I encourage you today to follow and serve God with your whole heart? He is waiting to hear from you today.
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