Scripture: 2 Chronicles 28: 8-15
Sermon: Three Stories – One Message
Topics: prophet, Oded, good Samaritan, unexpected heroes
Preached: May 13, 2018
Rev. Mike Abma
PREAMBLE
We are going to be reading a section out of 2 Chronicles.
If you compare 2 Kings with 2 Chronicles, you soon realize that 2 Chronicles has very little about the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
In 1 and 2 Chronicles, the focus is on the line of David.
The focus is on Jerusalem, the city of David.
The focus is on the Temple as the center of life for God’s people.
This is because 1 and 2 Chronicles was written for the exiles who had returned from Babylon and come back to Jerusalem.
It was written for the people of the southern kingdom of Judah – the Jews – who did not look that kindly to their distant cousins who lived in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, the Samaritans.
Those Northerners denied the importance of the city of Jerusalem.
They denied that the Temple was the center of worship.
Those Northerners were heretics. In fact, in Chronicles, if a king of Judah was bad and disobeyed God, Chronicles described it this way “… he walked in the way of the kings of Israel.” So that is something we need to know about Chronicles.
CONTEXT
A second thing I would like to make you aware of is the context of our particular reading.
Sure, I could simply read the text, but it is so easy to get lost in all the details of this king of that place and that king of this place.
So let me simply tell you the story, in plain English.
There was a new super-power in the world.
The super-power was Assyria. All the little countries – Israel, Judah, Aram, Edom, Moab, and the Philistine confederation of cities – they all had to decide what to do — resist or surrender?
Israel and Aram (or Syria) were old rivals. But now they became allies in their fight against Assyria. They wanted all the other little countries – like Judah — to join them. But Judah refused. So Aram and Israel got upset. When people get upset, they get violent. Judah and Aram both send armies to raid Judah and teach her a lesson.
Both the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and the Kingdom of Aram totally annihilate Judah and take 1000’s and’1000’s of prisoners.
This is where we will pick up the story — in verse 8 when all these Jewish prisoners are being led to Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
2 Chronicles 28: 8-15
8 The people of Israel took captive two hundred thousand of their kin, women, sons, and daughters; they also took much booty from them and brought the booty to Samaria.
9But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded; he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria, and said to them, ‘Because the Lord, the God of your ancestors, was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand, but you have killed them in a rage that has reached up to heaven. 10Now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, as your slaves. But what have you except sins against the Lord your God?
11Now hear me, and send back the captives whom you have taken from your kindred, for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you.’
12Moreover, certain chiefs of the Ephraimites,
Azariah son of Johanan,
Berechiah son of Meshillemoth,
Jehizkiah son of Shallum
, and Amasa son of Hadlai, stood (with Oded) and up against those who were coming from the war, 13and said to them, ‘You shall not bring the captives in here, for you propose to bring on us guilt against the Lord in addition to our present sins and guilt. For our guilt is already great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.’
14So the warriors left the captives and the booty before the officials and all the assembly.15Then those who were mentioned by name got up and took the captives, and with the booty they clothed all that were naked among them; they clothed them, gave them sandals, provided them with food and drink, and anointed them; and carrying all the feeble among them on donkeys, they brought them to their kindred at Jericho, the city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria.
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
INTRODUCTION — STORY NUMBER ONE
So, how many of you have ever heard of the prophet Oded before?
How many of you have even heard this story buried deep in the book of 2 Chronicles?
Seeing how Chronicles generally has very little to say about the northern
Kingdom of Israel ever,
and when it does say something, it is usually very negative,
you can see that this story is rather unexpected , even shocking.
But here we have this surprising story of courage and compassion coming out of the Northern Kingdom.
I say courage because you have to remember how armies and soldiers were paid back then. It wasn’t generally the case that kings raised taxed to wage a war – no one has ever liked higher taxes. No, the general way to pay for wars and raids and campaigns was through the promise of plunder – or as our version the NRSV says, — through booty (another word for plunder). That is the way wars worked.
So
when the Israelite army was corralling all those prisoners back to
Samaria as slaves,
when they were carrying all that plunder home,
they were simply enjoying what they thought were the spoils of war. Of course, part of that plunder was in the form of human beings – men, women, and children – 200,000 we are told (that would be about the whole population of Grand Rapids). The Israelite army had marched them all back to Samaria in order to keep them or to sell as slaves. Either way, they were part of the plunder, the booty. You can imagine the whoops of victory as this whole huge parade of victors and victims came marching into town.
But then something happens.
Something unexpected.
A lone man stands up and he reprimands the army for what they have done.
He stands up and proclaims, “This is not right!”
Then a few more people, influential people, tribal chiefs and leaders, stand up and do the same.
Azariah,
Berechiah
Jehizkiah
Amasa
They all stand up and face those coming into the city and repeat what Oded had said, “This is not right…do not bring those captives here…you are simply adding to our guilt.”
Eventually an amazing thing happens.
Eventually there is a tipping point — more people agree with Oded and
these leaders than disagree.
Before you know it,
the prisoners are freed,
the naked are clothed
the hungry and thirsty are given something to eat and drink
the people needing sandals are given sandals,
the injured are anointed with oil,
the people too feeble to walk are put on donkeys
and this whole entourage of 200,000 men, women, and children is escorted back to Jericho.
Why Jericho?
Jericho would have been neutral territory.
This entourage of prisoners traveled from Samaria to Jericho.
Many of the families of the prisoners would be traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho to find missing loved ones.
THE GOOD SAMARITAN — STORY NUMBER TWO
Does this story in 2 Chronicles have something of a familiar ring to it?
Do the cities of Samaria, Jerusalem and Jericho ring any bells?
Perhaps you remember a story Jesus told of
unexpected kindness and compassion.
Jesus told of a man ambushed and left for dead as he was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho.
A priest passes him by and gives no help.
A levite passes him by and gives no help.
But who stops to help?
Who anoints the wounds,
clothes this naked man,
puts him on his own donkey
and brings him to a neutral place of safety?
It was a Samaritan.
A Samaritan.
What was a Samaritan?
The word “Samaritan” has its roots in the name of the capital city of the Northern Kingdom, Samaria.
Samaritans were the left-over people from the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
And the Jews – to whom the priests, the levites belonged – are people belonging to the Southern Kingdom.
These New Testament Jews had a “Chronicles viewpoint” –
People of the Southern Kingdom were good
And people of the Northern Kingdom were bad.
Remember, even the disciples once asked if they could pray that fire come
down from heaven to obliterate a Samaritan town.
Jews generally hated Samaritans.
But it is this Samaritan who is the unexpected hero of this parable.
He acted as the true neighbor.
THE RIGHTEOUS NAZI — STORY NUMBER THREE
History is full of unexpected heroes who are heroic precisely because they showed unexpected love for their neighbor.
They are heroic because they stood up for what is right and showed dramatic courage and compassion even in the face of danger.
In 1937 the Japanese army invaded China.
One of the first cities they captured was the city of Nanking (now called Nanjing), just down river from Shanghai, and the Chinese capital at that time. The Japanese occupation of Nanking was particularly brutal. Historians debate how many people died in the occupation — the Japanese have one figure; the Chinese have another figure double or triple that amount. But even if we take a figure somewhere in the middle, we are talking about 200,000 residents of Nanking dying within a short 3-4 month period.
Most Westerners fled from Nanking, so that just 22 different European and North Americans remained in Nanking at the time of the Japanese occupation. Some were missionaries. Some were diplomats. Some were business men. But they all shared one thing in common – they were horrified at what was happening to the innocent civilians of Nanking. So they organized what they called a “Nanking Safety Zone.” They promised the Japanese that this zone would have absolutely no military personnel, only civilians. Once established, this small 2 square mile zone of the city became a refuge for about 200,000 people (two hundred thousand people.) They literally crammed in – trying desperately to find safety.
The leader of this small group of courageous foreigners that created this zone was a man named John Rabe. He not only created this zone, but daily he would patrol the border of the zone, making sure Japanese soldiers stayed out. Time and time again he pulled innocent Chinese men and often women away from the Japanese soldiers who were abusing them. John Rabe personally pulled hundreds of them into the safety zone risking his own life in the process. He housed 650 refugees on his own property. For his actions, he was referred to by the Chinese as the Angel of Nanking – a man of courage and compassion.
But here is the twist.
John Rabe was a German businessman.
Not only that, but he was a Nazi German businessman.
He was, in fact, the leader of the Nazi party of Nanking and a supporter of Adolph Hitler
We are not used to thinking of German Nazi’s as heroes – compassionate and courageous heroes. But here is one that was.
Here is a man who did what he could to save as many innocent men, women and children that he could.
An unexpected hero.
A good Samaritan.[1]
CONCLUSION
When 1st and 2nd Chronicles was put together, why was this story of the merciful citizens of Samaria included?
And why did Jesus tell his Jewish questioner the story of the merciful Samaritan?
And why did I tell you a third story about John Rabe, the righteous Nazi?
Isn’t the point of all these stories simply to emphasize what Jesus says at the end of the parable of the Good Samaritan – Jesus said: “Go and do likewise?”
Go and do likewise.
Stand up for what is right no matter where you are.
Stand up for what is right no matter what the odds.
Stand up for what is right no matter how unpopular.
When at school,
stand up for the person who is continually picked on;
When at work,
stand up for the people who are always given the worst jobs and
lowest pay;
When in our neighborhoods,
stand up for the people without a voice;
When in our world,
stand up for the innocent victims,
whoever they are,
from whatever nationality,
whatever religion,
whatever ethnic group.
Stand up, blow the whistle on what we know is not right
even if it costs us dearly.
For in this we are simply following the One who gave up everything, even his life,
to love the Jew, the Samaritan, and the Gentile.
Amen.
-
The story of John Rabe is told in the gripping book The Rape of Nanking, by Iris Chang and his diary has been published by Erwin Wickert (editor). (1998). The Good German of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe, Knopf. ISBN 0-375-40211-X. ↑
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