2 Chronicles 28:8-10
The men of Israel took captive 200,000 of their relatives, women, sons, and daughters. They also took much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria. But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded, and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, “Behold, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand, but you have killed them in a rage that has reached up to heaven. And now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, as your slaves. Have you not sins of your own against the Lord your God?
Tag: Do You Not Have Sins of Your Own?
In the above passage we read the account of Israel fighting against their brother, Judah. Under King Ahaz, Judah had disobeyed the Lord. So, for discipline, God sent Israel to war against them and defeat them. (Which is odd, since Israel, also, disobeyed God.). As reported above, the men of Israel not only killed almost a quarter-million of the warriors of Judah, they also intended to take captive the woman and children to make them slaves. Here is where God intervene and stops their behavior.
God’s point in the above text is to point out that He has a limit to the discipline and those who are employed by His sovereignty, have their own sins that need to be punished. God uses wicked nations to punish his people (note the story of Job and the use of Assyria and Babylon). In the above words from God, He is warning them to remember their own sin and to remember He has limits to their inflicting pain on others. Perhaps Matthew’s Words help us here:
Matthew 7:1-5
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
We are to remember that we, too, have sin and should be warned not to judge others.
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