Old Testament: 2 Chronicles 17-19
Poetry: Psalm 6
New Testament: 1 Timothy 2
“Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord?” This is a pretty challenging question that comes straight from today’s reading from 2 Chronicles 19:2 NIV. One of the questions that comes to mind for me is “help the wicked do what?” The second question is, “Why shouldn’t I love those who hate the LORD?” After all, Didn’t Jesus tell us that we are supposed to love everyone, including our enemies? (Matthew 5:44) Shouldn’t godly people treat others with love, even unbelievers, even those who have rejected God?
One of my ministry settings is as a hospital chaplain. Recently I visited a patient who informed me as soon as I walked into their room that they were an atheist, but that they still wanted to talk to me, they were going through an emotional crisis and they needed help. This was a person that didn’t simply hate the LORD but actually denies the existence of God. As a Chaplain, as a pastor, and as a Christian should I have NOT helped the patient? Should I have NOT loved the patient since they do not love God? I’ll tell you the rest of the story at the end. Let’s look at the context of this quote in today’s reading and see what God reveals to us about himself.
The story is about Jehoshaphat (isn’t that a great name). It literally means YHWH has judged. At the time of today’s reading in 2 Chronicles 17-19 Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah. Judah and Israel were at one time one nation comprised of 12 tribes that descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Israel was a strong and united nation during the reigns of kings David and Solomon, but after Solomon died the nation of Israel was divided by a civil war. The Northern Kingdom of Israel, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah separated with Judah’s capital in Jerusalem where the temple of God was. Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah and ruled from Jerusalem. He was an heir of King David and was generally a good and faithful ruler who avoided the worship of idols. Ahab was the King of Israel and he did not remain faithful to YHWH, the God of Israel, and led his people into the worship of idols which was strictly forbidden by God.
A common practice at the time for smaller nations was to enter into alliances with other nations against their enemies. God had made it clear to his people that he did not want them entering into political alliances with nations that practiced idol worship. In today’s reading, it says that Jehoshaphat entered into an alliance by marriage with Ahab and Israel. This was a violation of God’s commands and led to all kinds of trouble for Jehoshaphat and the Kingdom of Judah. Now that they were in an alliance Ahab wanted Jehoshaphat to go to war with him against their enemies. The problem was that God was not in favor of this because of Ahab’s unfaithfulness. Jehoshaphat was wise enough to ask one of the prophets to seek God on the question. Of course, Jehoshaphat should have known the answer- God did not want him to enter into an alliance with Ahab to begin with, he certainly wouldn’t want Jehoshaphat to fight in battle alongside Ahab, a battle which Ahab was destined to lose and where he would be killed.
After Ahab was indeed killed in battle as the prophet warned, Jehoshaphat returned to his palace where another prophet of God, Jehu, came to him and asked our opening question-“Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord?” The answer here was clearly “no, you should not enter into a political alliance with a king and a nation that have rejected God and his teaching. No, you should not give your son to be married to the idolatrous king’s daughter as the law clearly taught that God’s covenant people should not marry with idolatrous people who do not believe in God.
The prophet was not saying that God’s people should never help a non-believer or should never act in loving ways to people outside of the faith community. The law taught that we should love our neighbor (Leviticus 19:18). What the prophet was saying is you should never enter into a formal alliance with one who has rejected God and the teachings of God. The Apostle Paul would express this to followers of Jesus in 2 Corinthians 6:14 “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?” One obvious example of this would be marriage. If you are a Christian you should not enter into a committed relationship with one who has denied or rejected Jesus Christ as savior or God as our Father. Believers should not marry unbelievers. If you’re driving down the road and you see your non-believing neighbor with a flat tire, you can stop and help her change her tire, but you can’t marry her. You might do a favor or otherwise show kindness and love to unbelievers, but it would be potentially very spiritually dangerous to enter into a business alliance with one who has rejected God and godly values.
Jehoshaphat was basically a good man and a good king, but he got into trouble when he violated the clear teaching of God’s law by entering into a political alliance by having his son marry the idolatrous, god-rejecting king Ahab’s daughter. It might be the savvy and politically expedient thing to do, but it was spiritually deadly.
If you are committed to following God and God’s values, you can and should show love and kindness to everyone, including believers, but don’t join them or make commitments that will compromise your values and dedication to Jesus Christ.
Now for the rest of the story. The atheist and I talked for an hour. When I left they said, “I think I might want you to preach at my funeral.” A week later they came back to the hospital and asked the nurse to have me come and visit. We talked for another hour. Before I left they said, “I’m not so convinced that God doesn’t exist, is it okay if I visit your church?” We can and should show kindness and grace and caring love to everyone, including unbelievers, just don’t enter into committed relationships with them, until they give their lives to Jesus too.
-Jeff Fletcher
Reflection Questions
- Beyond dating and marriage, what are some other potentially damaging ways a Christian today might bring themself spiritual harm by entering into an alliance with one who has rejected God? How might this impact educational or career decisions? Investment decisions? What political candidates we support?
- How would Jesus want you to love your non-Christian neighbor without entering into a dangerous commitment to one who does not share your values?
- As Christians, we are called to pray for and obey our governments unless they demand that we violate our commitment to God, how is that different from supporting a political candidate who clearly has rejected God’s teaching either by what they profess or how they live?
Bio- This week’s devotions are written by pastor Jeff Fletcher. Pastor Jeff has been a participant at Fuel for over 40 years. He is a pastor and hospital chaplain in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and is a doctoral candidate for Integrative Mental Health at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville. He is married to Karen, father of eleven, and grandpa/papa to 15. He likes reading, watching baseball, and making delicious pulled pork in the smoker.
Seek Grow Love 