2 Chr. 28:9-15, Lessons form Obscurity: Prophets of Defeat

This is being posted on Thanksgiving Day in the USA.  You might think we would post something victorious rather than “prophets of defeat.”  Perhaps we will find that we should be thankful for a God who is faithful to warn His servants as well as being a God who prospers us.  Remember the words of the “man of God” in 2 Chron. 25:8: “God has power to help and to overthrow.”  We will consider two questions: why would God overthrow, and how can one avert being overthrown?

I.                  Four prophets of defeat (overthrow).

a.     Why would God overthrow? 

                               i.      1 Ki. 16:1-4,7. Baasha ended the line of Jeroboam, starting a new “dynasty” in Israel.  The new house had the opportunity to go in the right direction but didn’t.  So God sent the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani to predict his overthrow.  “Inasmuch as I lifted you out of the dust and made you ruler over My people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam, and have made my people Israel sin, to provoke Me to anger …”  He had a chance to make a change for the better but chose instead to continue in what led to the overthrow of the previous ruler.

                            ii.      1 Ki. 20:29-43.  God gave Ahab victory over Syria and King Ben-Hadad.  Instead of executing Ben-Hadad he made a treaty with him.  “A certain man of the sons of the prophets” (v35) was sent by God to predict Ahab’s overthrow.  The LORD said, “Because you have let slip out of your hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people” (v42).

                         iii.      2 Chron. 25:14-28.  Amaziah, king of Judah, took to himself the gods of an enemy he had defeated.  Again, God sent an unnamed prophet to confront him.  Amaziah refused to listen, threatening to kill him.  The prophet’s final word was, “I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not heeded my advice.?”

In each case, the king involved had a lesson from history and did not learn.  They saw God overthrowing others, but then repeated the sins that brought about the overthrow.  In each case the message came at a time when each felt secure; yet they allowed a cancer to exist that resulted in their downfall.

b.    2 Chron. 28:9-15.  How can one avert being overthrown?  Pekah, the king in Israel, defeated Judah and King Ahaz and took 200,000 Judeans captive to Israel to be slaves.  God had used Pekah (who was not a righteous king) to judge Ahaz (who was incredibly evil).  But taking their brethren from Judah to be slaves went too far.  So God sent a prophet, Oded, who told Pekah, “return the captives, whom you have taken captive from your brethren, for the fierce wrath of the LORD is upon you” (v11).  Pekah and the people of Israel repented and returned the Judeans to their homes with honor.

The prophet Habakkuk prayed to the LORD, “in wrath remember mercy!”  (Hab. 3:2).  It’s amazing to me how the LORD was merciful to some pretty evil kings.  Without any more detail than what we saw in Pekah, the key was that those evil kings responded to the word of the LORD.  There’s a lesson to learn from obscure men of God.  Let us be thankful for our God of wrath and mercy.