The Man Of God Who Gave Two Messages To A King

Text: 2 Chronicles 25:7, KJV: But there came a man of God (ID unknown) to him, saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee; for the LORD is not with Israel, to wit, with all the children of Ephraim.

2 Chron. 25:9: And Amaziah said to the man of God (identity unknown), But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The LORD is able to give thee much more than this.

Thoughts: this story appears only in 2 Chronicles; there is no parallel account in either Book of Kings. The main characters are an unnamed and unknown man of God; the king of Judah, Amaziah at the time; and two groups of Israelite soldiers. Most were from the southern kingdom of Judah but there were 100,000 men from the northern kingdom of Israel who were hired as mercenary soldiers. The army was prepared to go to war against Edom (“the children of Seir”, verse 11), to the south of Judah’s territory. Amaziah had 300,000 soldiers already, probably more than enough to win the battle—the text does not state how many Edomite soldiers were involved in this battle—but Amaziah must have thought that if 300,000 was good, 100,000 more would be even better.

Or so he thought.

A man of God came to the king and gave him two messages. The first one was basically “don’t take the northern troops with you because if you do, you’ll fail’. No doubt Amaziah remembered the time when a small group of Syrians/Arameans plundered Judah, even though there weren’t very many of these foreign troops attacking Judah (24:23-24). He didn’t want to risk losing this battle, but he seemed to forget that if God was for him, he wouldn’t lose. So there was no need to hire these northern troops in the first place.

The second message from the unknown man of God came in reply to Amaziah’s question, “But what should I do about the money I promised these mercenaries?” The man of God replied simply, “The LORD can give you much more than this (paraphrased)”.

Amaziah’s focus seemed to be on numbers: the soldiers of Judah he had under his command, the 100,000 mercenaries he hired, and the 100 talents of silver he used to pay the mercenaries (how much did the soldiers of Judah get paid for this battle?) The man of God reminded Amaziah that his focus should be on the God of Israel, not the numbers the king seemed to be trusting.

When any person needs a reality check like this one, especially when they’re focusing on the wrong things, may there be another man of God—another unsung hero—who will bring God’s message: no matter whom, no matter what, and no matter where.

Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).