Wednesday, 27th October 2021
Rev Daniel Xi An Poon
Section One V1-7 Receive Life in Following
V1-2 ‘In the second year of Joash the son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, became king. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.’ The kings were called and lifted by God, and from their lives, we can see the principles of the Kingdom of God. The name of Amaziah means ‘the strength of the Lord’, and the name of Jehoaddan means ‘pleasure of the Lord’. The Name of the Lord is already in all their names, but they still did not destroy the high places for idol worshipping.
V5-6 ‘Now it happened, as soon as the kingdom was established in his hand, that he executed his servants who had murdered his father the king. But the children of the murderers he did not execute, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, in which the Lord commanded, saying, “Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; but a person shall be put to death for his own sin.”’ From here, we can see that Amaziah seemed to be following the Law of Moses, he seemed to be following God at the beginning of his reign.
In II Chronicles 25:5-8, it also talks about Amaziah, ‘Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together and set over them captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, according to their fathers’ houses, throughout all Judah and Benjamin; and he numbered them from twenty years old and above, and found them to be three hundred thousand choice men, able to go to war, who could handle spear and shield. He also hired one hundred thousand mighty men of valour from Israel for one hundred talents of silver. 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—not with any of the children of Ephraim. But if you go, be gone! Be strong in battle! Even so, God shall make you fall before the enemy; for God has power to help and to overthrow.”’
Amaziah wanted to use money to gather more people from Israel to his army, but a man of God reminded him that it was God, who he should seek to win the battle, not by how many men he had. After Amaziah heard this, he asked the man of God, “But what shall we do about the hundred talents which I have given to the troops of Israel?” And the man of God answered, “The Lord is able to give you much more than this.” When we make decisions, we don’t seek God, then when God tells us to turn back, we have a lot of reasons and excuses not to follow.
But at the end, Amaziah still decided to let go and let God. Amaziah discharged the troops that had come to him from Ephraim, to go back home. Therefore, their anger was greatly aroused against Judah, and they returned home in great anger. Amaziah was willing to listen to the man of God, even though the troops from Ephraim was angry at his decision, but God let Amaziah receive victory over the enemy. When Amaziah first reigned, he did not know a lot of things, but he was willing to listen to the man of God and believe everything is from God, so God gave him victory.
Section Two V8-22 Receive Death in Pride
V8 ‘Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us face one another in battle.”’ When Amaziah won the battle with Edomites, he was unsatisfied with what he had, and without the revelation from God, he decided to fight the Israelites and won back the land. Amaziah did not realise that it was always God, who enabled him to win the battles, instead he thought it was by his own strength and called out the Israelites for battle.
Jehoash, the king of Israel also sent messengers to see Amaziah and said, “You have indeed defeated Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Glory in that, and stay at home; for why should you meddle with trouble so that you fall—you and Judah with you?” Jehoash was giving Amaziah a chance to change his mind, but Amaziah did not listen. He still thought he was doing God a favour and he still thought he was doing the right thing.
V11-12 ‘But Amaziah would not heed. Therefore Jehoash king of Israel went out; so he and Amaziah king of Judah faced one another at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah. And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to his tent.’ Sadly, when Amaziah decided to continue being prideful, he lost the battle and Judah was defeated by Israel. V19 ‘And they formed a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there.’
When Amaziah did not seek God, God’s favour left him. When Judah was defeated, Amaziah still did not ask God for help, he ran away to Lachish, and there he was killed by his own people, who betrayed him.
Section Three V23-29 Deliverance at the End
V23-24 ‘In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, became king in Samaria, and reigned forty-one years. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin.’ At the end Jeroboam still did not destroy the golden calf, even though they thought worshipping the golden calf was worshipping God.
But God is a merciful God, in the end He still has compassion on His people Israel and did not destroy them. God is always there for us, are we willing to be humble and follow Him?
列王纪下 14 – 神国的法则
2021年10月27日 星期三
潘锡安牧师
犹大王和以色列王都是蒙神选召的人。我们从一个蒙召的人生命里面可以看到神国的法则。
一、跟从得生（v.1-7）
V1-2 亚玛谢名字的意思是“耶和华是强大的”，他二十五岁登基做犹大王，五十四岁死亡。他的母亲名字“约耶但”的意思是“耶和华欣喜”- 说明神欣赏喜欢这人。
V3-4 “亚玛谢行耶和华眼中看为正的事”，只是他还允许犹大人拜外邦的偶像，没有废去丘坛。
V5-6 亚玛谢很聪明，他知道他的国不能只靠一个王厉害，他还需要周围的臣仆帮助。他很沉得住气，等到国位坚定之后才为父报仇，只是“没有治死杀王之人的儿子，是照摩西律法书上耶和华所吩咐的”。
V7 历代志下25:5-10介绍了这段记录的背景。犹大和以色列两国有姻亲关系，在犹大王亚玛谢想借助以色列增加自己兵力时，神人提醒亚玛谢王不要重蹈覆辙，因为犹大国属于神，应该同拜偶像的以色列国分别为圣；他警告道：如果犹大倚靠自己人多而不是倚靠神，反而会招致“倾败”。听了这个劝告，亚玛谢王担心自己已经付出的订金，但神人告诉他：“耶和华能把更多的赐给你。”（代下25:9）我们做决定前若没有求问神，但是如果后来有神人来告诉我们要收手，我们愿意有这样的信心放下之前所倾注的心血和财物吗？亚玛谢王在攻打以东人这件事上虽然一开始的心不对，但后来他听从神人的话，愿意吃亏，所以他“在盐谷杀了以东人一万，又攻取了西拉，改名叫约帖”（王下14:7）。“约帖”意思是“神的赐福”，说明亚玛谢知道这次他能得胜是靠神的祝福。
二、骄傲得死（v.8-22）
V8 亚玛谢王在执政初期还愿意谦卑听从神人的教导，信靠神，尝到胜利的甜头，但后来就开始骄傲。他没有看到当时犹大人能打败以东是因为神给他们机会可以去拆毁他们所拜的以东偶像，反而去把偶像带回来拜（代下25:14）。亚玛谢以为自己的三十万精兵很厉害，在没有神的启示的情况下，就想凭血气去收回以色列的十个支派。
V9-10 以色列王约阿施用一个寓言来回复犹大王亚玛谢。约阿施用“黎巴嫩的香柏树”比喻以色列愿意放下自己的高贵下嫁到低微的犹大国（蒺藜）。约阿施提醒亚玛谢两国之间的姻亲关系，给亚玛谢机会停止他们自不量力的行为。
V11-14 亚玛谢不愿意安静下来在犹大国专心照顾好神给他们的两个支派和圣殿，非要靠自己的力量去为神打江山，结果“犹大人败在以色列人面前”，并且亚玛谢王自己还被以色列王生擒。以色列王拆毁犹大王原本为保护自己而建立的“耶路撒冷的城墙”，甚至“将耶和华殿里与王宫府库里所有的金银和器皿都拿了去，并带人去为质”。以色列王顾念两国的亲戚关系，没有杀死亚玛谢，“就回撒马利亚去了”。
V19-20 “拉吉”的意思是“难以攻取”，亚玛谢面对与以色列打仗的失败和人的背叛，没有悔改寻求神，只是跑到一个他以为别人无法攻取的地方逃命。但那里没有保护他，他反被叛党杀死，之后他的尸首被马“驮到耶路撒冷”，被众人看到。亚玛谢的骄傲让他落下这个悲惨的结局。
三、最终得救（v.23-29）
“约阿施的儿子耶罗波安”是以色列第13个王，跟第一个“耶罗波安”王同一个名字。耶罗波安二世用在以色列拜金牛犊代替去耶路撒冷朝拜神，但他们毕竟还是敬畏耶和华神，神仍然怜悯他们，“因为耶和华看见以色列人甚是艰苦，无论困住的、自由的，都没有了，也无人帮助以色列人”。我们现今的生活也有很多人为了还房贷而过着为奴为仆的生活，这些神都看到了。
人虽然活在蒙蔽当中，神还是会借着他所拣选的人来拯救他的百姓。当我们谦卑跟随，神的恩惠慈爱就不离开我们。