/19/2011 7:22:57 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Unbelief
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference:
2Ki.
14:1-7; 2Chron. 25:1-13
Message of the verses: “1 ¶
In the second year of Joash son of Joahaz king of Israel, Amaziah the
son of Joash king of Judah became king. 2
He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned
twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddin of
Jerusalem. 3 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. 4 Only the high
places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on
the high places. 5 Now it came about, as
soon as the kingdom was firmly in his hand, that he killed his servants who had
slain the king his father. 6 But 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 fathers
shall not be put to death for the sons, nor the sons be put to death for the
fathers; but each shall be put to death for his own sin." 7 He killed of Edom in the Valley of Salt 10,000
and took Sela by war, and named it Joktheel to this day.”
“1
¶ Amaziah was twenty-five years old when
he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s
name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. 2 He
did right in the sight of the LORD, yet not with a whole heart. 3
Now it came about as soon as the kingdom was firmly in his grasp, that
he killed his servants who had slain his father the king. 4 However, he did not put their children to
death, but did as it is written in the law in the book of Moses, which the LORD
commanded, saying, "Fathers shall not be put to death for sons, nor sons
be put to death for fathers, but each shall be put to death for his own
sin." 5 Moreover, Amaziah assembled
Judah and appointed them according to their fathers’ households under
commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds throughout Judah and
Benjamin; and he took a census of those from twenty years old and upward and
found them to be 300,000 choice men, able to go to war and handle spear and
shield. 6 He hired also 100,000 valiant
warriors out of Israel for one hundred talents of silver. 7 But a man of God came to him saying, "O
king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the LORD is not with
Israel nor with any of the sons of Ephraim. 8
"But if you do go, do it, be strong for the battle; yet God will
bring you down before the enemy, for God has power to help and to bring
down." 9 Amaziah said to the man of
God, "But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the
troops of Israel?" And the man of God answered, "The LORD has much
more to give you than this." 10
Then Amaziah dismissed them, the troops which came to him from Ephraim,
to go home; so their anger burned against Judah and they returned home in
fierce anger. 11 Now Amaziah
strengthened himself and led his people forth, and went to the Valley of Salt
and struck down 10,000 of the sons of Seir. 12
The sons of Judah also captured 10,000 alive and brought them to the top
of the cliff and threw them down from the top of the cliff, so that they were
all dashed to pieces. 13 But the troops
whom Amaziah sent back from going with him to battle, raided the cities of
Judah, from Samaria to Beth-horon, and struck down 3,000 of them and plundered
much spoil.”
Today’s SD begins a new chapter
in Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on 2Kings and parts of 2Chronicles. He entitles this chapter “Nine Kings—Five
Assassinations,” and it covers chapters fourteen and fifteen of 2Kings and also
chapters 25-27 in 2Chronicles. There are
five main points in Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on these five chapters from the
2Kings and 2Chronicles. He writes the
following at the beginning of his commentary:
“As we look at these nine rulers, we can gain some practical insights
into the will and ways of God as well as the terrible wages of sin.” The first main point from this chapter is
entitled “Amaziah, a presumptuous king” and it covers all of 2Chronicles
twenty-five along with the first twenty verses of 2Kings chapter fourteen.
Amaziah
was the ninth to rule Judah if you include the wicked queen Athaliah and after
he became fully into power he killed those who had killed his father, but he
did not kill the sons or other family members of those who killed his father
because of what was written in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 24:16, “Fathers
shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for
their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin.” This was done to his credit.
The
sin that is spoken about in this sub-section is Amaziah’s sin of unbelief, for
he believed that he was suppose to attack Edom for taking some of Israel’s land
and therefore he first of all took a census of all who were able to fight and
then after finding out that there were only 300,000 men he decided to hire
100,000 men from Israel to help out in the battle. He was spoken to by a prophet of the Lord
telling him not to use Israel’s men, which made him upset, but he did release
them and won a battle over Edom. Because
of his unbelief in the living Lord of Israel the men who returned to the
northern tribe came back and fought against some of the border towns and killed
3000 people taking spoils with them.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I find it hard to do what the will of God is
for my life, and so I can understand some of the mistakes that Amaziah did in
trying to get help for his battles and not entirely trust in the Lord for his
victories.
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