fools – Moment to Moment (Bible blog)

Making peace?

It’s always good to think about context as you’re reading the Bible. And that’s particularly true when it comes to verse 44.

Jehoshaphat also made peace with the king of Israel. (1 Kings 22:44)

At first glance, this was a good thing.

But if you look at verse 43, right after praising Jehoshaphat for doing what was right in God’s sight, it criticizes him for not taking down the high places.

People were probably worshiping the Lord at these places, but the problem was that God had told them to worship, and more specifically, to offer their sacrifices in Jerusalem alone. (Deuteronomy 12:4-11, 13)

It’s right after this, that the writer talks about Jehoshophat making peace with the king of Israel.

He’s continuing his criticism of Jehoshophat, not praising him for it.

But why would he criticize Jehoshaphat for making peace? Isn’t peace a good thing?

Normally, yes. But the way he made peace was marrying his son to Ahab’s daughter Athaliah. (2 Chronicles 18:1)

And as we’ll find out Athaliah, like her father, did not follow God. In fact, as we’ll see in chapter 11 of 2 Kings, she almost wiped out all of David’s line.

More than that, through Ahab’s influence, Jehoshaphat ignored the prophet’s counsel, and joined Ahab in battle against Aram.

This despite the fact that Jehoshaphat was clearly bothered by Ahab’s attitude toward the prophet. (1 Kings 22:8)

All this nearly cost Jehoshaphat his life. And another prophet would sharply criticize him after Jehoshaphat returned from battle. (2 Chronicles 19:2)

Unfortunately, Jehoshaphat would twice more make the same kind of mistake. (2 Chronicles 20:35-37, 2 Kings 3).

Solomon once wrote,

The one who walks with the wise will become wise, but a companion of fools will suffer harm. (Proverbs 13:20)

“Fools” in the Old Testament don’t simply mean “foolish people.” It means people who set their hearts against God.

It’s one thing to do our best to be at peace with such people. It’s another to let them influence us.

If we do that, like Jehoshaphat, we can suffer great harm.

Who are you walking with?

When we reject God

Psalms 14 and 53 are nearly identical with a few changes here and there, so I’m grouping them together here.

In these psalms, we see the results of people rejecting God in their lives. Who say in their hearts, “There is no God.”

The Bible calls such people “fools.” And the idea is not one of intellectual deficiency, but of moral deficiency.

Because when people reject the idea of God in their lives, it inevitably leads to moral corruption. David writes,

They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
there is no one who does good. (Psalm 14:1)

“Now wait a minute,” you might say. “I know some perfectly ethical people who don’t believe in God. And some non-Christians I know are better than some Christians I know.”

That may be true. But comparing people to each other is one thing. Comparing our “goodness” to the holiness of God is a different thing entirely. And compared to God, our stains of sin become glaringly obvious.

The unforgiveness we hold in our hearts towards those who hurt us.

The lack of consideration we can show for our spouses.

The fits of temper that we let loose from time to time.

The selfishness that permeates our actions in the workplace and at home.

Need I go further?

“But these things are only natural. Everyone does these things. Nobody’s perfect,” you might say.

But that way of thinking, that these things are only “natural,” is the result of a corrupted nature. They were not natural in the beginning when God created us. But when we rejected God, they became, “natural.”

That’s moral corruption: when what is sinful becomes thought of as natural.

We can make up all kinds of excuses for our actions. But the truth remains, we are corrupt and our actions vile in the sight of God.

And as long as we keep God out of our lives, our sense of right and wrong will remain a corrupted version of what is truly right and wrong.

We cannot separate ourselves from the source of goodness and claim that we know goodness. People have tried, and they have always failed miserably.

What is the result of all this? Death. And ultimately, judgment. Because God will come again and judge this earth.

Those who belong to Him will rejoice on that day. But for those who rejected him, they will only have fear and dread.

Because on that day, they will see just how corrupt they are compared to a holy God, and all of the justifications that they use to explain their actions will be shown for the empty excuses that they are.

So let us not be fools. Let us acknowledge not only God’s existence, but his rightful place as king in our lives. As Solomon put it,

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10)