2 Chronicles 25:9

2 Chronicles PRUDENCE AND FAITH2 Chronicles 25:9 . The character of this Amaziah, one of the Kings of Judah, is summed up by the chronicler in a damning epigram: ‘He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart.’ He was one of your half-and-half people, or, as Hosea says, ‘a cake not turned,’ burnt black on one side, and raw dough on the other. So when he came to the throne, in the buoyancy and insolence of youth, he immediately began to aim at conquests in the neighbouring little states; and in order to strengthen himself he hired ‘a hundred thousand mighty men of valour’ out of Israel for a hundred talents of silver. To seek help from Israel was, in a prophet’s eyes, equivalent to flinging off help from God. So a man of God comes to him, and warns him that the Lord is not with Israel, and that the alliance is not permissible for him. But, instead of yielding to the prophet’s advice, he parries it with this misplaced question, ‘But what shall we do for the hundred talents that I have given to the army of Israel?’ He does not care to ask whether the counsel that he is receiving is right or wrong, or whether what he is intending to do is in conformity with, or in opposition to, the will of God, but, passing by all such questions, at once he fastens on the lower consideration of expediency-’What is to become of me if I do as this prophet would have me do? What a heavy loss one hundred talents will be!

It is too much to sacrifice to a scruple of that sort. It cannot be done.’ A great many of us may take a lesson from this man. There are two things in my text-a misplaced question and a triumphant answer: ‘What shall we do for the hundred talents?’ ‘The Lord is able to give thee much more than this.’ Now, remarkably enough, both question and answer may be either very right or very wrong, according as they are taken, and I purpose to look at those two aspects of each. I. A misplaced question. I call it misplaced because Amaziah’s fault, and the fault of a great many of us, was, not that he took consequences into account, but that he took them into account at the wrong time. The question should have come second, not first. Amaziah’s first business should have been to see clearly what was duty; and then, and not till then, the next business should have been to consider consequences. Consider the right place and way of putting this question. Many of us make shipwreck of our lives because, with our eyes shut, we determine upon some grand design, and fall under the condemnation of the man that ‘began to build, and was not able to finish.’ He drew a great plan of a stately mansion; and then found that he had neither money in the bank, nor stones in his quarry, to finish it, and so it stood-a ruin.

2 Chronicles 25:9 . And Amaziah said, But what shall we do for the hundred talents — The money remitted for the hire of the one hundred thousand Israelitish soldiers. He considered, if he sent the men back he should lose that. Such is the objection which men often make against complying with their duty: they are afraid of losing by it. And the man of God answered, The Lord is able to give thee much more — He hath many ways to make up that loss to thee, and certainly will not suffer thee to be a loser by obeying his command. Observe, reader, a firm belief of God’s all-sufficiency to bear us out in our duty, and to make up abundantly all the loss and damage we sustain in his service, will render his yoke very easy, and his burden very light. What is it to trust in God, but to be willing to venture the loss of any thing for him, in confidence that it shall be amply made up to us in the way that he sees will be best for us. This king lost one hundred talents of silver by his obedience; and we find just that sum given to his grandson Jotham, as a present, 2 Chronicles 27:5 . Then the principal was repaid, and for interest, ten thousand measures of wheat, and as many of barley, were given him.