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Context No. 1773 of 4322 · 2 Chronicles

Context · Reflection

2 Chronicles 25:20-28: in context

20But Amaziah would not listen; for it was of God, that he might deliver them into the hand of their enemies, because they had sought after the gods of Edom. 21So Joash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah. 22Judah was defeated by Israel; so every man fled to his tent. 23Joash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash the son of Jehoahaz, at Beth Shemesh and brought him to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits. 24He took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in God’s house with Obed-Edom, and the treasures of the king’s house, and the hostages, and returned to Samaria. 25Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived for fifteen years after the death of Joash, son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel. 26Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, first and last, behold, aren’t they written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel? 27Now from the time that Amaziah turned away from following the LORD, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem. He fled to Lachish, but they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there. 28They brought him on horses and buried him with his fathers in the City of Judah.

Amaziah, king of Judah, had won a victory over Edom, and, strangely, had brought back Edom's gods to worship them. Now, puffed up, he provokes a needless war with Joash, king of Israel, and will not listen to Joash's warning to stay home and not court disaster. The chronicler notes that his refusal to listen was from God, because Judah had turned to idols. Judah is defeated, Amaziah captured, Jerusalem's wall broken down and the temple plundered; and in the end a conspiracy takes his life.

Amaziah's ruin follows a familiar and dangerous pattern: success bred pride, and pride would not listen. He had won against Edom, and the victory went to his head; flushed with success, he picked a fight he did not need and would not hear the warning against it. Joash of Israel told him plainly to stay home and not provoke disaster, but Amaziah, confident in his recent triumph, refused to listen, and marched to his defeat. Pride after success had made him deaf to counsel, and the deafness led to ruin. There is a sober warning here, especially for seasons of success. Victory and achievement are dangerous precisely because they tempt us to pride, and pride closes the ears. Having succeeded, we grow confident, sure of our own judgment, dismissive of warning and counsel, certain we know best; and in that state we make the reckless choices that undo us. The very success that should have made Amaziah grateful and humble made him proud and deaf, and the pride marched him into disaster. It is often not our failures but our successes that set us up for a fall, because success breeds the pride that will not listen. The wise remain teachable in success, still open to counsel, still aware they can be wrong, still humble before God; the proud, deafened by their achievements, march past every warning to their ruin. Pride goes before destruction, and Amaziah's deaf confidence after victory led him straight to it.

In my seasons of success, am I growing proud and deaf to counsel, confident in my own judgment and dismissive of warning, as Amaziah after his victory would not listen, or can I stay humble and teachable in success, aware that pride after achievement is what sets us up for a fall?

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