The Rise & Fall of King Amaziah | Pride, Leadership & Faith | 2 Kings 14:1-14

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a

couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in

practical ways.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of the Bible Guys.

We're back. We can again. I just can't believe it.

We have different outfits for the whole week every week

we come back. Oh, which, by the way, most people

actually don't watch, they listen.

They listen. Yeah, that's about fifty to fifty now. But yeah, yeah,

it's pretty closely, you're pretty close, pretty close, gotcha.

Well, hey, listen, we're pretty excited.

It's like a gazillion and a half people who watch

and a gillion a gajillion and three quarters that listen. Yeah,

it's real close.

It's really close.

Yeah really okay, but but but it slightly favors to listen,

I think, so, yeah, I gotcha. Okay, Hey, we are

going to dive directly into uh which, by the way,

how many unique listeners do we have a month?

Unique listeners? Like five or six thousand? I don't know.

Let me look at what while you're talking already know

the answer to this? Oh, go ahead, No, it's thirteen

thousand unique listeners. Thirteen thousand unique listeners play just on YouTube. Yeah,

that's just on you. That's the problem, right, that doesn't

include the But you said listeners, not viewers. Oh we

oh so that's what I was saying, just YouTube, Yeah yeah, yeah, okay,

it's YouTubers. Yeah.

Yeah, so because it averages out to be about one

thousand listens a day.

Yeah right, that's right. And then it's about that many

more on the streams. Gotcha on Spotify and apples?

Just in case you're wondering, like, you know, how big

are we talking or how small are we talking?

It's uh taking over the world, baby, it's it's smaller

than most and bigger than some.

That's right there, it is.

So we're going to dive into a segment that's who's

most likely And this is the idea, is we read

these and then we just sort of instinctively say.

Out loine, Yeah, okay, who's more likely to do these things? Okay,

you go first? All right, here we go.

Number one, who's most likely to spend hours watching cat videos?

You? I refuse? Really? Your few to watch them? Or you?

Yeah?

Yeah, answer, honestly, my daughters no, I don't watch them.

My daughter will. We'll sit there and she loves TikTok.

You know everybody herge. Yeah, hey, look at this one. Hey,

look at this one. I'm like, quich show me videos

if I want to watch them, I sit down and

watch me. I know TikTok exists. I just don't want

to watch them it all the time. She said, I

just want to hang over with you. I said, to

hang out with me. What you want me to do

is watch the video you just laughed at ten seconds ago.

That's what I did, right, Yeah, so I just don't.

Yeah, well then I'm not massive on watching cat videos

for hours.

But if we have to pick, I would pick me.

You a little bit of a you're more of a

TikTok Instagram and reels. I don't have TikTok no, no,

but I have.

I used to, but I get rid of it, but

then I I do Instagram.

Reels, Instagram reels.

Yeah yah, yeah, so yeah.

I'll pick me. Who's most likely to be an extra

in a zombie movie? I would that's going to be you.

I would definitely say that's going to be you.

If I get a call right now for Mark, you

leave from you leave right now the studio for a

chance to put on makeup and just be in the

background Michael Jackson thriller, and I would say, you see

that top of the.

Head of the fifth that was me. I have a

friend that has been an extra in several movies. Yeah,

and he had a speaking part to Meryl Streep, oh wow,

and a thing and uh, he was all excited. And

then when he watched the movie it got cut. He

walked up to the table and walked away from the table.

He was a waiter. Yet that's me right there, right,

But yeah, that's okay, it's you. Okay, who's most likely

to win an Emmy? You? What the heck? These are me?

These are you? Because we love you? No, everybody loves you, Chris.

She knows when she types in movie and Emmy and cats.

Because she said love cats. Right, that's right, she shows

through those three from me.

Okay, that's you.

Who's most likely to claim they saw Bigfoot? Well, that

would definitely be you. That's me. You got to be

in the woods to say big foot, And chances are

this guy will be in the woods. That guy won't

be Yeah, yep, yep, that'll be me. Although I have

to say I sort of grew up in the woods. Uh.

And that's a strange one.

But I used to say that phrase all the time

because in my hometown, Youngstown, Ohio, there's a historic park

called Mill Creek Park and it's unlike probably unlike anything

you've seen, although you've seen a lot, but the park

weaves through the entire town.

Have you ever heard anything like that where you can.

Go like from one end of the town to the other,

like thirty minutes just.

Through the park. Wow? Have you ever heard of that?

Oh?

You have?

Okay, so I've never heard of that anyways.

Cool.

So, so I sort of grew up in Mill Creek Park,

and I always say I grew up in the woods.

In the woods rocks. And I just was with a

bunch of Nepoli's, Yeah, and we were talking about trekking

the base camp and I asked him if if yeties

are real? And two this, so there are four of them.

Two of them went oh, absolutely, and two of them

went no, Right, that's hilarious. So I don't know who's

telling the truth, but it was fifty to fifty yees.

So I think Yadie's and Bigfoot, you know, our cousins

or something.

Sure, sure, yeah, yeah, yeah, they see each other a

family reading.

Yeah, Bob, that's funny.

Who's most likely to participate in a historic reenactment?

I'd have to.

Say, Well, the historic part would be you, but the

reenactment part would be me.

When I look at him, I go, that'd be a

fun hobby. Oh good. Then it would definitely be you.

Have you seen I don't know who has the time

or the money for it, right, it always looks like that.

Have you ever seen a Sweet Home Alabama?

With Reech Withersmoon and Patrick Dempsey.

So she, uh, she's looking for her dad and every

year back in Alabama, they do this reenactment of the

Civil War, so she has to fight. She has talked

to them right away. So she runs into the field

and all of these soldiers right from the from the

South are laying on the field and they're just there's

gun smoke everywhere, and there must be one hundred of

them and they're all dead. And so she goes, uh,

she says Emmett Snooter and she's trying to admit I guess,

And all of a sudden, one guy who's dad gets

up and goes.

Who you look him for?

Darling? And he goes am it and then he goes,

is there an emon here? And all of a sudden,

one hundred people they left up and they gom it emmitt. Oh,

he's over by the cannons. And then they all go

PLoP and they all die.

It's hilarious. So that's really great.

Yeah, I would think it looks fun. Yeah it's it's

always interesting, but I don't have time for it. Yeah. Really,

well it's a camping and eating part. I think it's it's.

My shock face. You don't have time for it. So hey,

that was that was fun?

Okay, Yeah, now we know. Yeah, so we know you're

up for a zombie movie. Yep. And I'm gonna keep

looking for big Foot. You're gonna look for Bigfoot. Keep

so funny, keep looking. I'm not gonna start looking. Keep

looking for big When you were young, did you actually like,

oh I want to believe? Oh you do? I want

to believe?

What about wuckness monster?

I want to believe? But I don't think it's real.

Oh yeah it's you.

Don't think Bigfoot's really there?

I don't know, because it seems more believable.

Well, we we would have proof.

We've found, we've found just in the Look it up.

The number of medium and large sized animals that have

been found or discovered just in the last you know,

fifteen or twenty years is pretty extordinary. Yeah.

Well, but yet still no eyewitnesses.

Yeah, well, lots of eyewitnesses, but only greeny fuzzy video.

Yeah right, which is convenient.

Did you ever hear who is it? Who's a comedian

who said? What if Bigfoot is just blurry? Right? That's

why all the pictures are blurry, because maybe he's blurry?

Right, that's really funny. It might be right, Yeah, so

anyways funny. Yeah, I don't think big It's blurry.

No, No, I doubt that.

But yeah, I mean you know all the alien spaceship

videos are grainy too, right, Yes, look.

At this object in the skuye. They might see all

those weird things Lockness, monster, they might all just be blurry.

Yeah right, that's so funny.

I think who knows, well, I guess, say for much

of a conspiracy guy that I am, I don't.

I don't buy any of those. You don't believe in Bigfoot,

no Orlockness or or spaceships.

Speaking of conspiracies, we've been talking about a lot of

Kings that have been conspiring to kill the others. Nice.

Oh it spoke to me. Yes, that was good. And

we're cruising through the book is Second Kings. Yeah, and

today unfortunately there's no conspiracy to assassinate I don't think.

Oh maybe maybe I take it back, I take it back.

So what you were saying is speaking of conspiracy.

There's no conspiracy. No, no, no, this this one, there

is a conspiracy. He kills conspirators. Oh there you go, Yeah,

there you go. Yeah. So that's it. So we are

in Second Kings chapter fourteen today, and if you're new

to the show and you're thinking, what the heck is

this about, we'd love to try to find like the

worst possible transition, yes, correct, between the beginning of the

show and when we get into the devotional it's the.

Most difficult part. But it's the part that I sort

of enjoy the most. I think it's because it's on

the spot thinking yeah, yeah, yeah, it's hard as we

don't plan for it. No, right now, we don't plan

for any of this. Correct, walked into the studios.

I'm ready just go lights, camera action right here goes

King's Chapter fourteen, says Amaziah son of joe Ash, began

to rule over Judah in the second year of the

reign of King Jehoash. Don't make those two up. I

know Jehoash, I know, I know of Israel. Amaziah was

twenty five years old when he became king, and he

reigned in Jerusalem twenty nine years. His mother was Jehoyaden

from Jerusalem. Amaziah did what was pleasing in the Lord's site,

but did not like his ancestor David. No, but not

like his but not like okay that I said, but

did not like him. That makes sense. I hate my

ancestor David. Okay, but not like his ancestor David. Instead,

he followed the example of his father joe Ash. Amaziah

did not destroy the pagan shrines, and the people still

offered sacrifices and burned incense there. When Amaziah was well

established as king, he executed the officials who had assassinated

his father. However, he did not kill the children of

the assassins, for he obeyed the command of the Lord

is written by Moses in the bok law. Parents must

not be put to death for the sins of their children,

or children for the sins of their parents. Those deserving

to die must be put to death for their own crimes.

Amaziah was killed also killed ten thousand Edomites in the

Valley of Salt. He also conquered Sela and changed his

name to Jockthel probably should have left it Cela, as

it is called to this day. One day Amaziah sent

messengers with this challenge to Israel's King joe Ash. Jehoash,

the son of Jehoah has and grandson of Jehu come

and meet me in battle. The King Jehoash of Israel

replied to King Amaziah of Judah with this story. Out

in the Lebanon Mountains, a thistle sent a message to

a mighty cedar tree, give your daughter a marriage to

my son. But just then a wild animal of Lebanon

came by and stepped on the thistle, crushing it. You

have indeed defeated edom and you are very proud of it.

But be content with your victory and stay at home.

Why stir up trouble that will only bring disaster on

you and the people of Judah. But Amazia refused to listen,

so King Jehoash of Israel mobilized his army against King

Amazia of Judah. The two armies drew up their battle

lines at Beth Shemish in Judah. Judah was routed by

the army of Israel, and its army scattered and fled

for home. King Jehoash of Israel captured Judas King Amaziah,

son of Joash and grandson of a Haziah at Beth Shemish,

and then he marched to Jerusalem, where he demolished six

hundred feet Jerusalem's wall from the Ephraim gate to the

corner gate. He carried off all the gold and silver

and all the articles from the Temple of the Lord.

He also sees the treasures from the royal palace along

with hostages, and then returned to Samaria. Wow, well, wow, Amaziah,

you bit up more. You can choo buddy.

Well, no, he's the one that won, didn't he. No,

jeho Ash one is Jehoash the king of the North.

Yes, that gummt.

I'm reading it and I'm giving confused again. But because

I'm I'm like, he went down and he raided.

From the temple.

You know what it is? It is It is the Jays.

That's what confused me again. As stinking jas Amaziah was

the son of joe Ash, and he went after joho ash.

Oh wow, I'm telling you it's confusing.

Is sometimes you made a comment last week off camera

and you had said you believe that sometimes that's what

trips people up from reading the bottle.

I think so yeah, well I think we mentioned it

on camera too. Yeah, yeah, I think we did it.

Sometimes you get remember because I said, hey, sometimes people

just will read. I have friends that will just read,

you know, King A and and King J. Right, that's

what it is are going through because it's hard to write. Yeah, yeah,

yeah yeah.

So so wow, don't.

Get bogged down by read the story. Don't get bogged

down by the names. You say, this guy and that guy.

Right, this guy, that guy so so he said a

thistle to a cedar tree. So that was the warning.

The warning was like, hey, you're the thistle and I'm

the cedar tree. Right.

That was kind of what that was.

And he was saying, he was saying, uh, hey, let

me tell you a little parable, right and the Lebanon

mountains and uh you.

Wiped out eat them, right, be happy with your little victory,

your little victory. Don't come messing with the big cedars Elebanon.

Right. It's hilarious.

That's great. So he's warning him don't don't bite off,

don't bite off more than you can chew. Well, which,

by the way, hey, I just want to say this

Sila here that they named jock deal. Yeah, is the

ancient city of Petra. Oh for real? Card notes? Yeah?

Well that's cool.

Does it say anything else that's interesting or just that one?

So the note says Sila was an ancient stronghold of Petra,

a city carved into a rock cliff. It was not

only a stronghold for eatam, but also a wealthy outpost

for trade with India.

So for those people who saw Indiana Jones in the

Last Crusade and they saw the car Yeah, okay, so

how does that at why was that building carved? And

how does it connect to the Bible.

They're not exactly sure. And that building would have been

carved about the time of Jesus. Wow. Yeah, so another

eight hundred years after this wow. But yeah. So the

Manayans at that point had taken over not the Edomites.

But that area is this really steep, rugged canyons, so

the canyon floors are all sand and then you got

this really heavy the Crescent moon yeah, exactly, yep. According

to the movie. Yeah, and then after the Manaians, the

Romans came in and took it. So it's kind of

a Nabutens I'm sorry, not Maneyans, Nabuteans. And they were

very sophisticated. And how they managed water. I mean, it's

just such an inhospitable place. But they carved all these

troughs in the in the rock to catch the few

times it does rain, and then these giant basins to

hold the water. And there were actually spouts that it

would run down, and water would run run along the

side in these troughs that they cut would run along

the side of the mountain. You just scoop wa out.

It was really amazing, it was It was a really

incredible place. But that's this this area that Edomites would

have been in the Valley of Salt. This would have

been in the area of what is the southern portion

of modern day Jordan. Wow. Okay, yeah, so that's where

he goes down and wipes them out. And Amazi he's

twenty five, he's feeling his oats now sure, he's ready

to go, and he's like, hey, let's let's go get

jeho Ash and he's going to march up there and

whoop up on them because he thinks he can. And

jeho Ash goes hey, just that it back, buddy, right, right.

Right, And he was twenty five years old. And then

what did say he reigned twenty nine years?

Yeah? Wow, fifty four.

Yeah, that's not too bad.

And then okay, so again just for our listeners, we

all understand that Israel was one uh, you know people,

one land, right for a very long time, and then

it's up into you know, uh, I think right around

the time of Joseph, right, it was divided into twelve tribes. Right,

it was given twelve tribes because those are representative of

the twelve brothers of Joseph.

Right, that's correct. So it's around that, yeah, or the

sons of Jacob, Yes, twelve sons of Jacob.

Twelve sons of Jacob. And then and then the southern

part is Judah and Benjamin. Uh, and then the upper

parts are And by the way, Judah wasn't he the

first one born?

He was the first one, Okay, I think so, I.

Believe he was, and I think that Benjamin was the last.

That's correct.

Yeah, So it's interesting. So it's like it's like the

greatest and the last, right yeah. And then and then

the other ten tribes were the northern part of Israel,

and they were divided for just centuries, right yeah, and

then and eventually they do get back together and become one.

So yeah, and then you have but they're fighting now, right,

And joho Ash is smart. Listen, you know, sometimes it's

just better to have peace, just be quiet. And Amaziah

is his strength and his skills don't match. So he's

got this tough army. They just come out of this

great victory. He's got momentum. Let's seize this momentum. But

you know there's a note here his strength and his ambition.

His ambition was greater than his ability is the note.

Oh wow, right, and and that can happen sometimes. So

the sweet spot for anybody, if you're gonna make a

ven diagram where you know, you draw the circles and

try to get that sweet spot, the sweet spot would

be where your your abilities and your strength and your

ambition and opportunities all kind of converge. When they converge there,

And so sometimes in your youth you want to get

out ahead of yourself. And then and and you know,

you're confident in the few victories you have had. But

what he didn't do is, we don't see anything here

where he's going and getting advice. He's not going and

finding the wise elders that his father had because joe Ash,

you know, didn't get defeated by Johoesh right in the

later times in there thing. But Amaziah comes in his

dad or you know, his son, and he's not looking

for his dad's wisdom and the wisdom of the elders

and that kind of thing. He just goes, hey, we

won one, We're probably gonna win them all. And it

can be surprising to a young person when you you

lose the first time. And I remember the first time

you lost. I remember, I remember it felt like everything

I touch turned to gold until from like I don't know,

thirteen fourteen on until like I don't remember losing a

race during that window into my twenties, right, I remember

it everything everything I did, I just I won it,

and it became a custom at it was kind of

a weird thing. And then I lost a job, I

failed to class, I got really bad sick, and it

all happened back to back to back within like two months,

three months, and I remember thinking, what happened? I lost

my mojo. I peaked. I peaked at you know, twenty,

and now I'm going to be a failure of the

rest of my life. And I kind of the only

time in my life I remember really kind of spiraling

into I think depression was during that time where I

had these three back to back failures, and it was

the first failures of my life really. I mean, I'd

gotten in trouble before, but I had positivity I'm going

to overcome it. But in those those things were outside

of my control, quite honestly, and at that point I

couldn't manage them. I couldn't figure ot how to control them,

can manage them. I just thought, I've lost everything. I

don't have any more, you know, God gave up on

me or something. And so letting your abilities catch up

with your ambition, I think is super important. And that's

all that happened as I got way out ahead of myself,

a little too prideful. And God will use those opportunities

to kind of pull you back in line and correct you,

so be humble and accept those corrections. Sometimes so because

he was.

Warned right and by the way side note, I played

baseball for eleven years and from T ball with through

high school, and I was always the second fastest.

Oh really Yeah.

We would have races and I was faster than just

about everybody, and there was always it just seemed like that.

I think maybe one year I was like tied, but

I don't think I could ever claim to be the

best or you know, in terms of speed. You know,

we would race and it'd be like and one coach

would go, dude, Zarba's the fastest, and I had another

coach going, no, no, no, no, daved about you just the fastest,

and he goes guys racing like this and he would

just beat me by like just a hair.

Was he a little bit taller? Did he have a

longer stretch?

Yeah?

Probably, So that's it, right, it's probably in those being

quick and being faster two different yeah, right, two different

things right right now? Usually the state kid with those

legs that are three inches longer than your is it

just over the course of time? Get you right? Yeah,

that's a crazy one. So then Joe Ash doesn't just

come down and beat Amazia. He tears down six hundred

feet of the wall, which is one incredibly shameful because

it takes so long, so it brings shame on the king.

It takes so long to rebuild, so it brings shame

on the king. It brings embarrassment to the people, and

it leaves them extraordinarily vulnerable to all the other enemies. Right,

So Jehosh doesn't seem to be like he wants to

just murder everybody in Jerusalem. He comes in and takes

all the good stuff from the temple, right, but he

leaves it open and some hostages, but he leaves it

open to anybody else who wants to come in to

wipe out Jerusalem. And they were very vulnerable.

Now the ancient walls of Jerusalem still stand today.

Yeah, right, so we understand that those walls are actually

quite you know, formidable. Yeah right, right, So taking down

six hundred feet of those walls took some time.

It's something else. And how do you do that?

How do you do that when you have no bulldozers,

no records.

I don't know, right, I mean they're formided? Is it

the trolls? Do the trolls do it? Because like I saw,

I saw Lord of the Rings.

Yeah, yeah, I don't know, Yeah, I didn't love Lord

of the Rings. I know, for being a movie guy.

I know, it's crazy, isn't it. It's just there are

some things that are just surprising about me.

Well, I went on record last week saying I didn't

like Wicked, that's right. So yeah, well, I mean, hey,

some people like good movies.

Hey, listen, those are two very different things, the trilogy

and Wicked. So hey, so what's another sermon we have?

We have maybe a minute or two to wrap up.

So you talked about, you know, skills and ambition, right,

we talked about humility.

That's probably the biggest one.

Isn't it. I think it is. It's it's it's probably humility.

So you know, there are times where God will humble you.

And here's this guy, he's twenty five, and uh, he's

being warned by somebody older than him, who's wiser than him,

that says, come on, young punk, right, be careful or

be happy with your little victory. But there's a cedar,

there's a thistle, don't don't go messing with the people

in the north. And but he's like, no, I'm going

to do it. So there's a there's a maybe another

sermony in there. That talks about wise counsel or you know,

just you don't know what you don't know, don't learn

lessons the hard.

Way, right, right. Well, I think the other one is

and that we overlooked. It was at the beginning where

it says Amaziah did that what was pleasing in the

Lord's sight, but not like his ancestor David. Yeah, Instead

he followed his father's example and did not destroy the

pagan shrines. So the people still offered sacrifices and burden

incense now, right, So he's following the Lord personally, he

just didn't lead his people to do the same thing, right.

And I know a lot of Christian parents that do that,

that they follow the Lord personally, they just don't lead

their children to do it right or whatever. And so

there's this temptation to go, well, my faith is very private,

you do you right, right, But as a leader, you

should be leading people to Christ as anybody who has

influence over somebody else, you should be leading them to God, right,

and that is our responsibility. And so you saw all

the people thrived under David because David would not tolerate

any other false worship, and he pushed the people towards

God through his own leadership, been through the fact that

he didn't allow all these other things. He had the

power to stop it, so he did. Uh Amaziah had

the power to stop it, he just didn't, and so

the people still kept offering sacrifices and bringing incense there.

So he personally pleased the Lord, but he didn't lead

his people to and that might have been one of

the reasons why they had a weakness. God wasn't out

there fighting in front of him.

There's a bunch of sermons in here.

Okay, well that's our time, so hopefully we will see

you next time on the Bible.

Guys,