Cliff jumping and Amaziah

For some inexplicable reason my FaceBook feed is littered with clips of young men cliff diving from impossible heights, barely missing protruding rocks on the way down, navigating submerged rocks and shallow water and sometimes fighting treacherous currents. Not for the faint hearted!

So it was with surprise that my morning meditations took me to the account of Amaziah, king of Judah. Amaziah had decided to wipe out the Edomites and paid for 100,000 warriors from Israel to assist his army. A man of God, however, warned him to not use the Israelite warriors and to forfeit the money he had paid for them.

Amaziah went out against the Edomites killing 10,000 in the field but of another 10,000 it is said:

The sons of Judah also captured 10,000 alive and brought them to the top of the cliff. They threw them down from the top of the cliff and they were all crushed to pieces. (2 Chron. 25:12).

Perhaps because of my FaceBook exposure, this recorded event was particularly graphic in my mind and I wondered why these cruel and barbaric details were added into the record. Was Amaziah avenging the loss of the 100 talents of silver that he had paid for the 300,000 soldiers from Israel?

Whatever the reason, we can be sure God didn’t condone this brutal behaviour and we read that after this disturbing abuse of power, things went very badly for Judah. The rejected Israelite warriors attacked cities in Judah and killed 3,000 men. Amaziah fell into more and more sin. Judah was eventually defeated by Israel. Amaziah tried to flee but was captured and killed.

I think the lesson here is to always know your heart and to keep it close to God. Sin is deceptive and even after apparent obedience it is easy to fall away and let pride and power control our actions.

Therefore let the one who thinks he stands firm [immune to temptation, being overconfident and self-righteous], take care that he does not fall [into sin and condemnation]. (1 Cor. 10:12 AMP).

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