2 Crônicas 25
G. Campbell Morgan · Citado em PreceptAustin
2 Crônicas 25
Morgan - 2 Chronicles 25:9 - Much More Borrow From This Verse In 1865, when Hudson Taylor founded the China Inland Mission (now Overseas Missionary Fellowship), he determined to depend on God alone for the needed finances. From that day no direct solicitation of funds has occurred, yet the Mission’s needs have been continuously met from unexpected sources at critical times, in answer to prayer. Several years ago, Phyllis Thompson chronicled many stories of God’s faithfulness to CIM in her little book, Proving God. “Through the ninety and more years of its history,” she wrote, “although no public or private appeal for funds has ever been authorized, its work and workers have been sustained by an unfailing supply.” For example, Thompson recalls that in December, 1954, when funds were especially low, Mission personnel heard of a gift coming their way from a wealthy American lady. Nobody at CIM remembered having met the lady, but she had sometimes sent small donations to the Mission’s London office. Now she had apparently included CIM in her will to the tune of $5,500. As it turned out, however, the money was not for the China Inland Mission. It went instead to a Bible school organized by Chinese in the Far East. While the CIM personnel were glad for their Chinese brothers, they naturally felt a bit disappointed. But their attention was soon drawn to 2 Chronicles 25:9, and they claimed the verse as their own: “The Lord is able to give you much more than this.” Within days another communication came from the woman’s estate. She had indeed remembered the mission, but not for $5,500. The amount being sent was $75,000, with an additional $60,000 coming later! Mission directors met for prayer with overflowing and humbled hearts. They sang the Doxology and thanked the Lord for his goodness in sending them “much more than this.” C H
2 Crônicas 25
Morgan - Two or three years ago, when I was deeply troubled over a problem that seemed to have no solution, I looked up verses in the Bible on this subject and jotted them down for myself. I’d like to quote them for you now, for they bolster and confirm the words Gabriel speaks in Luke 1: • Is anything too hard for the LORD?—Genesis 18:14 • The LORD is able.—2 Chronicles 25:9 • Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.—Jeremiah 32:17 • Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?—Jeremiah 32:27 • And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You.”—Mark 14:36 • I know that You can do everything.—Job 42:2 • God is able.—Matthew 3:9 • The things which are impossible with men are possible with God—Luke 18:27 • Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God, for with God all things are possible.”—Mark10:27 • Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”—Mark 9:23 • Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.—Matthew 17:20 • For with God nothing will be impossible.—Luke 1:37 2 Chronicles 25:10 Then Amaziah dismissed them, the troops which came to him from Ephraim, to go home; so their anger burned against Judah and they returned home in fierce anger. Amaziah: 1Ki 12:24 their anger burned against Judah 2Sa 19:43 Pr 29:22 Parallel Passages: No parallel in 2 Kings 14 with 2 Chronicles 25:5-10 AMAZIAH DISMISSES BUT ANGERS ISRAELITES Then Amaziah dismissed them - Amaziah heeded the words of God's prophet. The troops which came to him from Ephraim, to go home; so their anger burned against Judah and they returned home in fierce anger The dismissed Israelite mercenaries felt humiliated, cheated, and rejected, and their rage turned into hostility toward Judah. They were mercenaries and thus counting not on just the wages Amaziah had paid but on the plunder that would come with victory. Notice their anger was directed not just at Amaziah (which it must have been) but against Judah. We see the fallout in 2Ch 25:14 when they kill those in Judah and took plunder from them. 2 Chronicles 25:11 Now Amaziah strengthened himself and led his people forth, and went to the Valley of Salt and struck down 10,000 of the sons of Seir. NET Amaziah boldly led his army to the Valley of Salt,21 where he defeated22 10,000 Edomites.23 BGT καὶ Αμασιας κατίσχυσεν καὶ παρέλαβεν τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπορεύθη εἰς τὴν κοιλάδα τῶν ἁλῶν καὶ ἐπάταξεν ἐκεῖ τοὺς υἱοὺς Σηιρ δέκα χιλιάδας LXE And Amasias strengthened himself, and took his people, and went to the valley of salt, and smote there the children of Seir ten thousand. CSB Amaziah strengthened his position and led his people to the Valley of Salt. He struck down 10,000 Seirites,1 ESV But Amaziah took courage and led out his people and went to the aValley of Salt and struck down b10,000 men of Seir. NIV Amaziah then marshaled his strength and led his army to the Valley of Salt, where he killed ten thousand men of Seir. NLT Then Amaziah summoned his courage and led his army to the Valley of Salt, where they killed 10,000 Edomite troops from Seir. YLT And Amaziah hath strengthened himself, and leadeth his people, and goeth to the Valley of Salt, and smiteth the sons of Seir -- ten thousand. valley: 2Sa 8:13 2Ki 14:7 Ps 60:1 Parallel Passage: 2 Kings 14:7+ (BOLD ONLY IN KINGS) He killed of Edom in the Valley of Salt 10,000 and took Sela by war, and named it Joktheel to this day. Valley of Salt at Southern End of Dead Sea NIV Study Bible Now Amaziah strengthened himself - NLT = Then Amaziah summoned his courage; ESV = Amaziah took courage; NIV = Amaziah then marshaled his strength NET = Amaziah boldly led his army and led his people forth, and went to the Valley of Salt (just sourh of Dead Sea in map above) and struck down 10,000 of the sons of Seir (Edomites). It appears that Amaziah gave God as least some of the credit in his victory because as explained below the name Joktheel means "subdued by God." Knapp: His [Amaziah’s] name means “strength of Jah”; but we read, “he strengthened himself” (2 Chronicles 25:11); his character of self-sufficiency thus belying his name – a thing not uncommon in our day. Konkel - There were two main centers in Edom. Petra was in the south, and Bozrah (Buseirah) was in the north, between Sela and Punon. The initial conquests were in the north, with the aim of dominating the southern portion of the King’s Highway, on the east side of the Arabah, the rift valley of the Jordan, which extends south from the Dead Sea. . . Uzziah was able to complete the task begun by Azariah: regaining control over the trade routes of the King’s Highway, and providing a port city on the Gulf of Aqaba. With the death of Jehoash and Amaziah, the royal houses of Samaria and Jerusalem come to a new level of cooperation, providing a temporary advantage over the Edomites. (1 & 2 Chronicles) Easton's Bible Dictionary helps us understand why Amaziah renamed Sela (Petra) as Joktheel - Amaziah, king of Judah, undertook a great expedition against Edom (2 Chr. 25:5-10), which was completely successful. He routed the Edomites and slew vast numbers of them. So wonderful did this victory appear to him that he acknowledged that it could have been achieved only by the special help of God, and therefore he called Selah (q.v.), their great fortress city, by the name of Joktheel (2 Kings 14:7). Frederick Mabie: Amaziah’s victory over the Edomites (“men of Seir”; cf. Ge 32:3; 36:8; Eze 35:15) takes place in the Valley of Salt (Wadi el-Milh), located within the Arabah to the south of the Dead (Salt) Sea. Later, Uzziah will build on Amaziah’s victory over Edom by restoring Judean control over the port city of Elath, adjacent to Ezion Geber (cf. 2Ch 26:2). Like the subsequent worship of the Edomite gods (2Ch 25:14), the heinous act against the prisoners of war should be seen as repulsive. Land of Seir Land of Seir - The name of a mountainous region occupied by the Edomites, extending along the eastern side of the Arabah from the south-eastern extremity of the Dead Sea to near the Akabah, or the eastern branch of the Red Sea. It was originally occupied by the Horites (Gen. 14:6), who were afterwards driven out by the Edomites (Gen. 32:3; 33:14, 16). It was allotted to the descendants of Esau (Deut. 2:4, 22; Josh. 24:4; 2 Chr. 20:10; Isa. 21:11; Exek. 25:8). We have both "land of Seir," (Genesis 32:3; 36:50) and "Mount Seir." (Genesis 14:6) It is the original name of the mountain range extending along the east side of the valley of Arabah, from the Dead Sea to the Elanitic, Golf. The Horites appear to have been the chief of the aboriginal inhabitants, (Genesis 36:20) but it was ever afterward the possession of the Edomites, the descendants of Esau. The Mount Seir of the: Bible extended much farther south than the modern province, as is shown by the words of (2:1-8) It had the Arabah on the west, vs. 1 and 8; it extended as far south as the head of the Gulf of Akabah, ver. 8; its eastern border ran along the base of the mountain range where the plateau of Arabia begins. Its northern, order is not so accurately determined. There is a line of "naked" white hills or cliffs which run across the great valley about eight miles south of the Dead Sea, the highest eminence being Mount Hor, which is 4800 feet high. Mount Seir, an entirely different place from the foregoing; one of the landmarks on the north boundary of the territory of Judah. (Joshua 15:10) only. It lay westward of Kirjath-jearim, and between it and Beth-shemesh. If Kuriel el-Enab be the former and Ain-shems the latter of these two, then Mount Seir cannot fail to be the ridge which lies between the Wady Aly and the Wady Ghurab . In a pass of this ridge is the modern village of Seir. This cannot be Edom’s Mount Seir. Why? Geographic reasons - Joshua 15 is describing the tribal boundary of Judah. The context is west of Jerusalem, moving toward: Kiriath-jearim (Chesalon), Beth-shemesh, The Shephelah. Edom’s Mount Seir is far to the south, beyond the Dead Sea — geographically impossible here 2 Chronicles 25:12 The sons of Judah also captured 10,000 alive and brought them to the top of the cliff and threw them down from the top of the cliff, so that they were all dashed to pieces. threw them down: 2Sa 12:31 1Ch 20:3 dashed to pieces. 2Ch 20:10 21:8-10 Parallel Passages: No parallel in 2 Kings 14 with 2 Chronicles 25:12-16 VICTORY BECOMES BARBARITY! The sons of Judah also captured 10,000 alive and brought them to the top of the cliff and threw them down from the top of the cliff, so that they were all dashed to pieces - This sounds like something the Nazis would have done in WWII! So having obeyed God’s earlier command not to use mercenary troops from Israel (vv. 7–10) Amaziah went to battle with his own men and God gave them a sweeping victory. However, how the soldiers treated the prisoners afterwards reveals something dark about the moral climate of Judah’s army, and perhaps of Amaziah himself. This act was mass execution, an ancient‑world practice of revenge meant to instill fear in defeated enemies. We are beginning to see what the writer meant that Amaziah had a heart problem (2Ch 25:2) Rather than reflecting Yahweh’s righteous judgment, the massacre mirrors the cruel excesses of pagan warfare. It anticipates Amaziah’s later moral collapse—most notably his adoption of the gods of Edom (2 Chronicles 25:14). The irony is striking: he kills Edom’s people, then bows to Edom’s gods. 2 Chronicles 25:13 But the troops whom Amaziah sent back from going with him to battle, raided the cities of Judah, from Samaria to Beth-horon, and struck down 3,000 of them and plundered much spoil. the troops whom Amaziah 2Ch 25:9 Samaria: 1Ki 16:24,29 Beth-horon: 2Ch 8:5 1Ki 9:17 Parallel Passages: No parallel in 2 Kings 14 with 2 Chronicles 25:12-16 Map to help visualize descriptions of boundaries ANGERED MERCENARIES PLUNDER & KILL JUDAHITES But - Term of contrast. The writer has just described Judah's victory over Edom, but here the tide shifts. This describes the price Judah had to pay for Amaziah's foolish decision to hire mercenaries from apostate Israel. The troops whom Amaziah sent back from going with him to battle, raided the cities of Judah, from Samaria to Beth-horon, and struck down 3,000 of them and plundered much spoil - The dismissed, angered Ephraimites took out their anger on Judah, raiding, killing and plundering. This was a consequence of Amaziah unwise attempt at an alliance with apostate Israelites. Beth-horon is in the tribal distribution of Ephraim (see map above - locate Ephraim) and is about 12 miles NW of Jerusalem. Bob