Commentary - 2 Chronicles 25:1-4

Bird's-eye view

Here we have the beginning of the reign of Amaziah, king of Judah. The Chronicler, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, gives us the basic facts of his reign, but more than that, gives us the divine assessment of his character. This is something you do not get from secular historians. The account begins with a promising start, a start that involves a notable adherence to the law of God. But a fatal flaw is identified from the outset, a flaw that will define the man and his entire reign. He did what was right, but not with a whole heart. This is the story of a divided heart, and a divided heart is an unstable thing. It is an account of outward conformity to God's law that is not matched by an inward, total surrender to God Himself. This passage sets the stage for the tragic trajectory of Amaziah's life, showing us that partial obedience is, in the final analysis, still disobedience.

The central lesson for us is plain. God is not interested in mere external compliance. He is after the heart. A man can get many things right, as Amaziah did, and still be fundamentally wrong before God. This passage forces us to ask ourselves not just what we are doing, but why we are doing it. Is our obedience born from a heart wholly devoted to the glory of God, or is it a calculated, partial, and ultimately self-serving obedience? The answer to that question makes all the difference.

Outline

Context In 2 Chronicles

This chapter follows the account of Joash, Amaziah's father, who also began well but finished poorly. There is a recurring pattern in the kings of Judah. A king comes to the throne, there is a measure of reform or obedience, but then pride, idolatry, or some other folly enters in, and the reign ends in disaster. Amaziah's story fits squarely within this tragic pattern. The Chronicler is writing to the post-exilic community, reminding them of their history. The lesson is stark: covenant faithfulness requires wholehearted devotion to Yahweh and His law. Anything less will inevitably lead to ruin. The stability of the kingdom is directly tied to the heart-condition of the king and the people before God. Amaziah's reign is another case study in this unyielding spiritual reality.

Verse by Verse Commentary

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.

The Chronicler begins with the standard biographical data for a king. Amaziah comes to the throne as a young man, twenty-five years old. He has a respectable reign of twenty-nine years. These are the basic facts, the kind of thing you could find in a court record. His mother is named, which is a common feature in the records of the kings of Judah, indicating the importance of the royal line and, perhaps, the influence of the queen mother. Everything here is straightforward and orderly. On the surface, this is a normal, stable beginning to a new administration.

2 And he did what was right in the sight of Yahweh, yet not with a whole heart.

And here is the pivot point for the entire story. This is the divine editor’s note, the inspired commentary that reveals the truth of the matter. He did what was right in God's sight. This is high praise. It means he followed the law, he maintained the temple worship, he opposed idolatry, at least at first. From an external point of view, his policies were righteous. If you were to make a checklist, he would seem to be checking the right boxes. But God, who does not see as man sees, looks on the heart (1 Sam. 16:7). And what God saw was a heart that was not "whole," or as other translations put it, not "perfect" or "loyal."

This is a crucial distinction for every believer. It is possible to cultivate a reputation for righteousness, to perform all the external duties of the Christian faith, and yet to have a heart that is far from God. This is the essence of what the Lord Jesus condemned in the Pharisees. They tithed their mint and dill and cumin, but neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness (Matt. 23:23). Amaziah’s problem was a divided loyalty. Part of him wanted to serve Yahweh, but another part of him was serving his own pride, his own ambitions, his own sense of security. And God will not be worshiped in part. He demands all of you. A divided heart is a duplicitous heart, and it cannot please God.

3 Now it happened as soon as the kingdom was strong in his grasp, that he killed his servants who had struck down the king his father.

His first major act as king is one of justice. His father, Joash, had been assassinated by his own officials. Amaziah waits until his position is secure, until the kingdom is "strong in his grasp." This shows a certain political shrewdness. He is not rash. He consolidates his power base before acting. Then, he brings the assassins to justice. He executes them. This was his duty as the civil magistrate, to punish evildoers (Rom. 13:4). He is upholding the rule of law and avenging the murder of the Lord's anointed. This is another action that is "right in the sight of Yahweh." He is acting as a just king should.

4 But he did not put their sons to death, but did as it is written in the law in the book of Moses, which Yahweh commanded, saying, “Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor sons be put to death for their fathers, but each shall be put to death for his own sin.”

This is the capstone of his righteous beginning. Not only does he execute justice, but he does so with careful restraint, a restraint dictated by the written Word of God. The common practice in the ancient Near East was to wipe out the entire family of a traitor. This was a pragmatic political move, designed to eliminate any future rivals or avengers. But Amaziah does not follow the wisdom of the nations. He follows the wisdom of God. He explicitly references the law in the book of Moses, specifically Deuteronomy 24:16.

This is remarkable. Here is a king who not only knows the law, but submits his royal authority to it. He could have easily justified killing the sons. No one would have blinked an eye. But he feared God more than he feared potential reprisals. He understood the principle of individual responsibility that is foundational to biblical justice. Guilt is not hereditary. Each man answers for his own sin. By obeying this command, Amaziah was making a public statement that his kingdom would be governed not by the arbitrary will of the king, but by the revealed will of God. This is the high-water mark of his reign. He starts so well. But as verse two has already warned us, this righteous adherence to the letter of the law is proceeding from a heart that is not wholly right with God. And a faulty foundation, no matter how impressive the initial construction, will eventually give way.

Application

The story of Amaziah begins with a sobering warning that is as relevant to us today as it was to ancient Judah. The great temptation for all religious people is to settle for outward conformity while neglecting the heart. We can be orthodox in our doctrine, diligent in our duties, and even courageous in our public stands for justice, and still be hollow on the inside.

Amaziah's obedience was commendable, but it was compromised. He obeyed God when it suited him, when it aligned with consolidating his power and establishing his reputation. He obeyed the letter of the law in Deuteronomy, but as his story unfolds, we see that he did not embrace the spirit of the law, which is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and might. His heart was not whole.

This passage calls us to self-examination. Are we wholehearted Christians? Do we obey God in the fine print, as Amaziah did, while harboring divided loyalties in the deep places of our hearts? Do we love the praise of men more than the praise of God? The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only remedy for a divided heart. It is the gospel that cleanses us from our duplicity and gives us a new heart, a whole heart, that desires to please God from the inside out. We are not saved by the perfection of our obedience, but by the perfect obedience of Christ credited to our account. And yet, the result of that grace is a growing, Spirit-wrought desire to be wholly and completely for Him. Let us therefore not be Amaziahs, who do what is right, but with a fatal asterisk. Let us be Christians who, by grace, seek to love and obey our God with a whole heart.