Preached September 4, 2011
from
2 Kings 21:18-26
Theme: We must not follow the paths taken by others without carefully considering where God says those paths will lead .
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
Not long ago in our study of the kings of Judah, we considered King Manasseh. He was a remarkable king because he reigned the longest of all the kings of Judah—fifty-five years. And today, we pick up the story of his son, King Amon—a king whose reign lasted for only a brief two year period.
Bible commentators usually don’t give much attention to Amon’s two years. One commentator has written that his brief reign “is only a sort of unimportant and miserable annex to that of his father.”1 And he was a miserable king, to be sure. But in terms of the lesson that it has to teach us, I would say that his short reign was very important indeed! In fact, his experience teaches us is one of the most important and practical lessons we can ever learn.
The whole of King Amon’s story is summed up for us in 2 Kings 21:18-26—in just nine verses. Please let me read this story to you; and then, afterwards, let me share with you why I believe it is so important.
That passage says;
So Manasseh rested with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza. Then his son Amon reigned in his place.
Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done. So he walked in all the ways that his father had walked; and he served the idols that his father had served, and worshiped them. He forsook the LORD God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the LORD. Then the servants of Amon conspired against him, and killed the king in his own house. But the people of the land executed all those who had conspired against King Amon. Then the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place. Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And he was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza. Then Josiah his son reigned in his place (2 Kings 21:18-26).
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So; that’s the story. It’s tragic; and on the surface, there doesn’t seem to be much to say about it. But if you’ll please keep your finger in that passage, and turn with me to Proverbs, I’d like to share with you the important spiritual lesson that I believe this brief story illustrates to us.
In Proverbs 4, Solomon—the wisest man who ever lived, and the ancestor of King Amon—was writing wise counsel and instruction as if to his own son. It was as if he hoped to pass wisdom on to his son and spare him from a life of trouble. And in Proverbs 4:20-27, he wrote these words:
My son, give attention to my words;
Incline your ear to my sayings.
Do not let them depart from your eyes;
Keep them in the midst of your heart;
For they are life to those who find them,
And health to all their flesh.
Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life.
Put away from you a deceitful mouth,
And put perverse lips far from you.
Let your eyes look straight ahead,
And your eyelids look right before you.
Ponder the path of your feet,
And let all your ways be established.
Do not turn to the right or the left;
Remove your foot from evil (Proverbs 4:20-27).
Look particularly, if you will, at those six words of instruction in verse 26—”Ponder the path of your feet . . .” What great counsel! What wise advice! But, sad to say, how rarely it is taken!
The choices and decisions of life that we make, and the courses of action that we take, are likened by Solomon to paths laid out for our feet. If you’ll examine your own life—or the lives of those God has placed around you—you’ll discover that the course that someone’s life takes is usually determined by a relatively few number of significant choices and decisions. And yet, how very important those few choices and decisions can be! They can, through evil choices, lead us down a path to life-long misery and eternal loss; or they can, through wise choices, lead us down a path that leads to fullness of life and eternal blessedness. And so, Solomon urges us, “Ponder the path of your feet! Consider carefully the outcome of the choice you make, and the destination of the road you travel.”
And how do we know the right path to take? We’re not really left in the dark about it at all. God has given us two very reliable ways to know a good life-path from a bad one. One way—the most sure way of all—is through the Bible. As Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” As God told Joshua, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:8). Psalm 1:1-3 says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he mediates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.”
I believe that that’s the most important way to ponder the path of our feet—to consider those paths in the light of God’s sure word. We need to know God’s word well, so we can understand His good will for us, and carefully practice the fine art of walking through life wisely—placing our feet where He says they should go. The second way we can know the right path to take is secondary to, and dependent upon, that first one—but it is also very important; and that is through carefully examining the lives of others. God has given us real-life ‘case studies’ all around us through the lives of other people—if we will be careful enough—and humble enough—to pay attention.
Have you ever learned to do that? Have you ever learned to make a biblically-informed personal study out of the life-paths of others? Have you ever considered the differences between them?—and why they are different? It’s one of the greatest and most profitable fields of study you can ever undertake. What happens in the lives of those who follow God’s word carefully? What happens in the lives of those who turn away from His sure word? How does the path go for the one; and how does it go for the other? What are their respective outcomes?
The Bible urges us to do think carefully—with biblically-informed reflection—on the paths that others took in life; and to take note of how their journeys ended. Paul told Timothy, “But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me” (2 Timothy 3:10-11). The Writer of Hebrews wrote to Christians about their church leaders and said, “Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct” (Hebrews 13:7). Pastor James wrote, “You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful” (James 5:11). The whole 11th chapter of Hebrews is a chronicle of the sojourns of godly saints through life, and of the results of placing their feet where God told them to go. In Psalm 37:35-38, King David could testify;
I have seen the wicked in great power,
And spreading himself like a native green tree.
Yet he passed away, and behold, he was no more;
Indeed I sought him, but he could not be found.
Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright;
For the future of that man is peace.
But the transgressors shall be destroyed together;
The future of the wicked shall be cut off (Psalm 37:35-38).
We could spare ourselves a life-time of trouble and loss if we would just make it our habit to study the lives of other people, in the light of God’s revealed word, and learn how those lives illustrate what God has said. That way, before we recklessly and thoughtlessly set our feet down some path in life, we can see in advance where God has said that path will lead—and learn, from the experience of others, to ‘remove our feet from evil’, and set our feet on the path that God promised would lead to life and blessedness instead.
“Ponder the path of your feet . . ” What great counsel! But how few there are who take it! Most people don’t ponder their paths at all. Most people blindly take-up the habits and beliefs and patterns that they learned from the people who may bear some kind of an influence in their lives—never taking the time to look into God’s word, and pondering where God says those habits and beliefs will take them. Most people do exactly as their predecessors have done before them—following in the same old footsteps without a thought; disregarding the outcome of those paths; dooming themselves to experience the same unwanted consequences that their predecessors experienced.
Can there be a more important habit to take-up in life than to be in God’s word daily, study the lives of others prudently, and ‘ponder the path of your own feet’ as a result? That, I believe, is the great lesson to be learned from Amon’s life: that we must not follow the paths taken by others without carefully considering where God says those paths will lead.
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Now; turn your Bible back again to 2 Kings 21, and to the story it tells us of King Amon.
Amon was a young man who had a great opportunity to ponder his path. The life-experiences of his father, King Manasseh, had displayed before him two very distinct, very discriminable paths in life. One path—the first one that had been taken by his father—led to horrible destruction and loss. The second path—the one that his father had taken up after having suffered so much destruction and loss—led to humble repentance and to restoration by God. Amon saw both paths as clearly as anyone could have seen anything. And yet, he didn’t learn from it to ponder his path at all—and he suffered destruction and loss as a result.
His story begins in verse 18; “So Manasseh rested with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza. Then his son Amon reigned in his place.” We studied the life of Manasseh not long ago. Do you remember him? Manasseh was, without question, the most wicked king of all the kings of Judah. He had grown up under the tutelage of his godly father Hezekiah—one of the most godly of the kings of Judah; whose obedience and faith God richly blessed. But after Hezekiah died, Manasseh turned away from all the good things that his father had taught him.
The Bible gives us Manasseh’s sad record in verses 3-9;
For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; he raised up altars for Baal, and made a wooden image, as Ahab king of Israel had done; and he worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. He also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “In Jerusalem I will put My name.” And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. Also he made his son pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft, and consulted spiritists and mediums. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger. He even set a carved image of Asherah that he had made, in the house of which the LORD had said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever; and I will not make the feet of Israel wander anymore from the land which I gave their fathers—only if they are careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that My servant Moses commanded them.” But they paid no attention, and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel (vv. 3-9).
And do you remember how God had had enough of Manasseh, and the wickedness with which he had dragged his people down? In 2 Chronicles 33:10-11; we’re told,
And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen. Therefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze fetters, and carried him off to Babylon (2 Chronicles 33:10-11).
Now; that was one path down which Manasseh’s feet took him. He had learned the right path from his godly father; but he rejected it and rebelled against it with great wickedness. And he suffered greatly as a result. But while he suffered in Babylon for his wickedness, his heart was changed;
Now when he was in affliction, he implored the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God (2 Chronicles 33:12).
God mercifully brought him home again. And the Bible tells us that, once there, he set his feet on a different path. In 2 Chronicles 33:12-17, we’re told;
After this he built a wall outside the City of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate; and it enclosed Ophel, and he raised it to a very great height. Then he put military captains in all the fortified cities of Judah. He took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem; and he cast them out of the city. He also repaired the altar of the LORD, sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel. Nevertheless the people still sacrificed on the high places, but only to the LORD their God (vv. 13-17).
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So; the experience of Amon’s father Manasseh had set before him two distinct and discernible paths: one led to destruction and loss; the other led to restoration and blessing. In verse 19 of our passage, we’re told that Amon was twenty-two years old when he began his reign. He was old enough to have seen both of the paths that his father had taken, and to reflect carefully on their outcomes. In fact, I suspect that there have been few men in history who had a greater opportunity to consider those two paths than he did.
But he didn’t do it. He didn’t learn from it all. He didn’t ‘ponder the paths of his feet’. As soon as he became king, he blindly—stupidly!—rebelliously!—wickedly!—trod down the very path of his father that had led so clearly to destruction and loss!
Look back again at 2 Kings 21. In verses 20-22 of our passage, we’re told of the things that he actively did; “So he walked in all the ways that his father had walked; and he served the idols that his father had served, and worshiped them. He forsook the LORD God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the LORD.” This would mean that the foreign gods and idols that Manasseh had removed from the temple of the Lord in his repentance were restored by Amon in his reign. It would mean that the pagan altars his father Manasseh had removed were rebuilt by Amon. It would mean that the forms of human sacrifice to the Baals—by which his father had filled the land of Judah with blood—were resumed by him. It would mean that the practices of witchcraft and spiritism that his father had turned away from were embraced once again by him. It would mean that the moral decline that his father had once brought about in the nation was advanced and made even worse by him. It would mean that the path of disobedience that his father suffered so much in—and later turned away from—was blindly trodden down once again by him.
Those were the things that Amon actively did. But there was one thing from the life of his father that he did not do. As 2 Chronicles 33:23 tells us,
And he did not humble himself before the LORD, as his father Manasseh had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more (2 Chronicles 33:23).
There’s a sense in which you could say that Amon’s wickedness was even greater than that of his father. He had restored in rebellion what his father had removed in repentance! And afterwards, he didn’t even repent as his father had done! Did he think that his father could suffer such punishment from God for following down that path, and that he himself could follow the same path and escape the same punishment?
What a fool he was to not have pondered the path of his feet—especially after he had been given such a great opportunity to ponder it!
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We’ll; of course he didn’t escape the consequences. He suffered a very undignified death. The Bible tells us; “Then the servants of Amon conspired against him, and killed the king in his own house” (v. 23). Amon didn’t die in battle. He didn’t die in exile in a foreign country. He died in his own house! His butlers did it! The people of the land executed all those who had conspired against the king. But what a humiliating end to a foolish young king—a king who had a remarkable opportunity to consider the paths of his feet, but who did not—who would not—do so.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; let’s not make the same tragic choice that Amon made. As our Lord has taught us in His Sermon on the Mount:
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).
You and I have the revealed word of God in our hands. We can know God’s will, and understand the path of life. And what’s more, we can look at the lives of others and learn from them the consequences of the path we choose.
Let’s not be foolish, then. Let’s not just place our feet wherever anyone else places theirs! By God’s grace, let’s carefully ‘ponder the path of our feet’—and to be sure we faithfully follow the Lord Jesus in the path of life!
1Dean F. W. Farrar, The Expositor’s Bible, 2 Kings (Rio, WI: AGES Software, Version 1.0, 2001) p. 227., Version 1.0, 2001) p. 227.