Heart disease has become one of our main ‘killers’. In the spiritual realm cardiac disorders can also be fatal. This is amply illustrated by Amaziah who ruled but ‘not with a perfect heart’. The effect of this internal problem was not immediately obvious but, given time, the cracks appeared.
His first recorded act can be approved. In the execution of his father’s assassins he was careful not to overstep the mark by extending the death penalty to the children of the guilty parties. This was in agreement with the law of Moses, Deut. 24. 16. So far, so good! After this, however, matters become more clouded and confused.
His ambition to recover Edom is laudable enough. Amaziah, not sure that his 300,000 soldiers are sufficient for the job, hires 100,000 mercenaries from Israel and, with this army of 400,000 strong, he feels comfortable. Do we not detect here some double- mindedness? Should he not rely on God rather than men and numbers?
When rebuked by a prophet of the Lord, he dismisses the extra troops and proceeds to a massive victory over Edom. Disappointingly, however, instead of giving all the glory to God, he brings home with the spoil some idols from defeated Edom, which he proceeds to worship. Despite protest from a prophet of the Lord, Amaziah would not hearken to God’s counsel. His ‘heart problem’ is now compounded by a ‘hearing problem’.
His path now becomes more erratic and irrational. Foolish counsellors advise him on a course of retaliation and confrontation with the northern kingdom. Despite the dissuasion of the king of Israel, Amaziah could not be reasoned with and once more, he ‘would not hear’, v. 20. A sorry defeat follows in which Amaziah is humiliated to see Jerusalem stripped of its wealth and part of its defences broken down. The disconsolate man flees his own capital and eventually dies at the hands of conspirators.
What a sad spiral of failure! Beginning with a divided heart it leads to a deaf ear, a defiant spirit, defeat and a death in disgrace.
