He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Amaziah had done. – 2 Chronicles 26:4

Today's Scripture Reading (February 8, 2023): 2 Chronicles 26

Succession is never an easy process. And it is an error to think it is only a royal problem. Succession happens any time a significant leader steps down or dies and is replaced by someone else. The problem is that separating the new leader from the old is almost always impossible. If the previous leader did a great job at whatever the task was, then the new leader is forever trying to measure up to the leader that was. In many ways, this is precisely the task with which King Charles III has been presented. Queen Elizabeth II turned out to be a good and long-reigning monarch. And everything that Charles does will be compared to her legacy, whether that is fair or not.

But if a leader follows a bad or incapable leader, then a level of trust must be earned before the new leader is allowed to move forward. Neither of these are easy situations, but they are the reality of life, and new leaders often have to learn to overcome the reign of the one who went before.

The biblical record indicates that Amaziah had been a good king, at least mostly. The hesitancy when talking about the reign of Amaziah is that he refused to remove the high places. And toward the end of his life, he made a series of bad decisions. He was the first Judean king to hire mercenaries, 100,000 soldiers, to help him with a war against Edom, an act for which an unnamed prophet condemned him. Amaziah repented and didn't use the mercenaries in his fight with Edom. Instead, he depended on God for the victory, and he defeated Edom. But the mercenaries didn't react well to not being used in the battle. They turned to attack and loot several of the towns in Judea. Amaziah, elated by his victory over Edom, decided to attack Jehoash, King of Israel. In his arrogance, Amaziah was soundly defeated by Israel, and he was taken captive by the Northern Kingdom. Then the Northern Kingdom attacked Jerusalem, tearing a portion of the city wall down and looting the Temple for some of its treasure. When Amaziah was finally released from Israel and returned home, he was murdered, suffering a similar fate to that of his father, Joash.

And it was into this situation that the sixteen-year-old Uzziah stepped. That the Chronicler can assert that Uzziah did what was right in the eyes of God is a bit of a miracle considering what was going on in Judah. The addition of "just as his father Amaziah had done" is a bit of a mystery. There is no doubt that Amaziah had started well. But his finish was a bit of a disaster, something that Uzziah would want to avoid in his reign.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Amos 1