Right in the eyes of the Lord, yet not with a whole heart

Posted on by Pam Larson

2 Chronicles 25:2 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, yet not with a whole heart. 

After the reigns of King David and King Solomon, the Kingdom of Israel divided into two: Judah and Israel. It’s a little confusing to keep straight because the southern Kingdom of Judah had Jerusalem, the Temple, and the kings were the descendants of David. Even though the northern Kingdom had none of those, it retained the name of Israel.

Our passage for today takes place at a difficult time for Judah. Amaziah became king after his father was assassinated. To make the situation even more shaky, the last 3 rulers before Amaziah were all murdered. What action should he take for his own security? According to 2 Chronicles 25:3-4, Amaziah had his father’s murderers executed, but he did not execute the sons of those assassins.

And as soon as the royal power was firmly his, he killed his servants who had struck down the king his father. But he did not put their children to death, according to what is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses, where the LORD commanded, “Fathers shall not die because of their children, nor children die because of their fathers, but each one shall die for his own sin.”

Next we see Amaziah preparing for war. To strengthen his army, he hired 100,000 “mighty men of valor” from Israel. These were professional mercenaries. But a godly man came to warn Amaziah not to let those warriors from Israel go with his army. Why?

“O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the LORD is not with Israel, with all these Ephraimites. But go, act, be strong for the battle. Why should you suppose that God will cast you down before the enemy? For God has power to help or to cast down.”

Amaziah listened, but we get a glimpse into his not-quite-whole-hearted desire to obey God.

And Amaziah said to the man of God, “But what shall we do about the hundred talents that I have given to the army of Israel?”

He had paid a LOT of money up front for those Israeli mercenaries (Talents can be confusing to us … think millions, not hundreds of dollars)

The man of God answered, “The LORD is able to give you much more than this.”

Yes, the LORD is able. And Amaziah did send those warriors back home. He obeyed. But would Amaziah’s heart fully trust in the LORD, or turn away? You will have to read the rest of 2 Chronicles 25 to know the rest of the story.