In the second year of Jehoash, king of Israel, Amaziah, king of Judah, began to reign, 2 Kings 14:1.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This second year should be understood as referring to the time when his father Jehoahaz associated him with himself in the kingdom: for he reigned two years with his father; so this second year of Joash is the first of his absolute and independent government.’
He was twenty-five years old and became king of Judah and reigned from 796 B.C. to 767 B.C. 2 Kings 14:1 / 2 Chronicles 25:1. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan, and she was from Jerusalem, 2 Kings 14:2 / 2 Chronicles 25:1.
Notice that ‘he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly, 2 Chronicles 25:2. 2 Kings 14:3, says, ‘but not as his father David’. The text doesn’t tell us what he did right, but it’s possible that he didn’t promote the worship of Baal and lead God’s people away from Him.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘There is a curious parity between the lives of Joash and Amaziah. Both were zealous for Yahweh in the earlier portion of their reigns, but in the latter part fell away, both disregarded the rebukes of prophets and both, having forsaken God, were in the end conspired against and slain, 2 Chronicles 24:25 / 2 Chronicles 25:27.’
He also followed the example of his father, Joash, 2 Kings 14:3, which, according to 2 Chronicles 25:14-28, involved him bringing back the pagan gods of Edom to worship them. It is clear, though, that he didn’t serve God with all his heart, because he didn’t remove the high places of worship, 2 Kings 14:4.
After taking full control of the kingdom, Amaziah killed the officials who killed his father, 2 Kings 14:5 / 2 Chronicles 25:3, but he didn’t kill the children, 2 Kings 14:6 / 2 Chronicles 25:4 / Deuteronomy 24:16.
The writer tells us who wrote the Book of the Law, that is, the first five books of the Bible, it was Moses, 2 Kings 14:6 / 2 Chronicles 25:4 / 1 Kings 2:3. 2 Chronicles 25 gives us a little more detail here. So that he could strengthen his kingdom and defeat the Edomites, Amaziah gathered together an army of men from Judah and Benjamin, 2 Chronicles 25:5.
Amaziah was the one who went to war and captured Sela, 2 Kings 14:7. Sela was the capital city of Edom, Isaiah 16:1, which today is referred to as Petra, Obadiah 1-4. As a result of Amaziah taking Sela, Edom now belonged to Judah, 2 Kings 14:7.
Amaziah called the people of Judah together and assigned them according to their families to commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds for all Judah and Benjamin, 2 Chronicles 25:5.
He gathered those twenty years old or more and found that there were three hundred thousand men fit for military service, able to handle the spear and shield, 2 Chronicles 25:5.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Asa’s army had been nearly twice as numerous, amounting to 580,000, 2 Chronicles 14:8. The diminution was due, in part, to wars, 2 Chronicles 21:8 / 2 Chronicles 21:16 / 2 Chronicles 24:23-24, in part, to the general decadence of the kingdom.’
When Amaziah was preparing to invade Edom, he paid a hundred talents in silver to hire some soldiers from the tribe of Ephraim, 2 Chronicles 25:6. A man of God now comes to Amaziah and warns him that these troops must march with him because God isn’t with Israel or the people of Ephraim, 2 Chronicles 25:7.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following concerning 2 Chronicles 25:7.
‘The man of God here made it plain that the rebellion of the northern tribes against the Davidic dynasty had forfeited their further identity as God’s Chosen People. This is the reason that the Chronicler completely ignored, inasmuch as it was possible, the entire Northern Israel, focusing his attention completely upon the fortunes of Judah.’
The man of God tells Amaziah, even if he goes and fights courageously in battle, God will overthrow him before his enemy, because God has the power to help or to overthrow, 2 Chronicles 25:8.
Amaziah asks the man of God about the hundred talents he paid for the Israelite troops and the man of God tells him that the LORD can give him much more than that, 2 Chronicles 25:9.
Amaziah takes his advice and dismissed the troops who had come to him from Ephraim and sent them home, 2 Chronicles 25:10. However, they were furious with Judah and left for home in a great rage, 2 Chronicles 25:10.
Amaziah marshalled his strength and led his army to the Valley of Salt, where he killed ten thousand men of Seir, 2 Chronicles 25:11. The army of Judah also captured ten thousand men alive, took them to the top of a cliff and threw them down so that all were dashed to pieces, 2 Chronicles 25:12.
The troops that Amaziah sent back raided towns belonging to Judah from Samaria to Beth Horon and killed three thousand people and carried off great quantities of plunder, 2 Chronicles 25:13.
It is clear, though, that he didn’t serve God with all his heart, because he didn’t remove the high places of worship, 2 Kings 14:1-6. He also followed the example of his father, Joash, which, according to 2 Chronicles 25:14, involved him bringing back the pagan gods of Edom to worship them, 1 Samuel 5:1-2.
Ellison, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Amaziah held the debased view that Jehovah was the supreme God, but yet was only one god among many gods. His purpose in carrying away the gods of Edom, of whom we know nothing, was perhaps that of depriving the Edomites of any support they might have been supposed to give Edom. Amaziah’s worshipping them and burning incense to them was a cardinal violation of the Law of Moses and the Decalogue, ‘thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, that is, images’, Exodus 20:5.’
The people’s gods weren’t able to defend or help the Edomites, yet Amaziah worshipped them; hence, God sends a prophet to make this point clear to Amaziah, 2 Chronicles 25:15.
While he was still speaking, Amaziah asked him, have we appointed him an adviser to the king? Stop! Why be struck down? So the prophet stopped but said, he knows that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to his counsel, 2 Chronicles 25:16.
Amaziah sends messengers to Jehoash, king of Israel, asking for a face-to-face battle, 2 Kings 14:8 / 2 Chronicles 25:17.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This was a real declaration of war and the ground of it is most evident from this circumstance, that the one hundred thousand men of Israel that had been dismissed, though they had the stipulated money, taking the advantage of Amaziah’s absence, fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria to Beth-Horon, and smote three thousand men, and took much spoil, 2 Chronicles 25:10-13. Amaziah no doubt remonstrated with Jehoash, but to no purpose and therefore he declared war against him.’
Amaziah wanted to punish those who had plundered the cities of Judah, and so, he called upon Joash of Israel to battle. He was very confident he could win; after all, with an army of three hundred thousand men, he just killed twenty thousand Edomites, 2 Chronicles 25:5 / 2 Chronicles 25:11-12.
Jehoahaz of Israel appeared very weak, having only fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers after being defeated by the Arameans, 2 Kings 13:7. It’s not surprising he’s confident.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following about the parable, 2 Kings 14:9 / 2 Chronicles 25:18.
‘The thistle’ that was in Lebanon, Amaziah, king of Judah, sent to ‘the cedar’ that was in Lebanon, Jehoash, king of Israel, saying, ‘Give thy daughter a part of thy kingdom to my son to wife’, to be united to and possessed by the kings of Judah. And there passed by a ‘wild beast’, Jehoash and his enraged army, and ‘trod down the thistle’, utterly discomfited Amaziah and his troops, ‘pillaged the temple, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem’, 2 Kings 14:12-14. Probably, Amaziah had required certain cities of Israel to be given up to Judah; if so, this accounts for that part of the parable, ‘Give thy daughter to my son to wife’.
The parable was given to Amaziah so that he would back down from his threat, 2 Kings 14:10 / 2 Chronicles 25:19, but it appears that Amaziah was overconfident, probably because he just defeated the Edomites, 2 Kings 14:7.
Amaziah refused to listen, 2 Kings 14:11 / 2 Chronicles 25:20, and so, Judah was routed by Israel, and every man fled to his home, 2 Chronicles 25:22 / 2 Kings 14:12.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The author of Chronicles notes that Amaziah’s obstinacy, and his consequent defeat and captivity, were judgments upon him for an idolatry into which he had fallen after his conquest of Edom, 2 Chronicles 25:14 / 2 Chronicles 25:20.’
Jehoash captured Amaziah at Beth Shemesh, 2 Kings 14:13 / 2 Chronicles 25:21. Jehoash went to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate, a section about four hundred cubits long, that is, six hundred feet, 2 Kings 14:13 / 2 Chronicles 25:23.
Jehoash then goes on to plunder the treasury of the royal palace and the temple, 2 Kings 14:14 / 2 Chronicles 25:24. He also took hostages and returned to Samaria, 2 Kings 14:14 / 2 Chronicles 25:24.
The other events of the reign of Jehoash, what he did and his achievements, including his war against Amaziah, king of Judah, 2 Chronicles 25:21-24, are written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel, 2 Kings 14:15 / 2 Kings 13:12-13. Jehoash rested with his ancestors and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel, and Jeroboam, his son, succeeded him as king, 2 Kings 14:16.
The two kingdoms of Israel and Judah were now beyond the point of reconciliation, and because Israel was now at war within itself, they became easy targets for the Assyrians. The Northern Kingdom of Israel were soon to go into captivity in Assyria because of their apostasy.
Amaziah lived for fifteen years after the death of Jehoash, king of Israel, 2 Kings 14:17 / 2 Chronicles 25:25. The other events of Amaziah’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel, 2 Chronicles 25:26.
2 Kings 14:18 tells us that they are written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah. Because Amaziah was defeated by Jehoash, and because the royal treasury and temple had been plundered, it’s no wonder that Amaziah had become very unpopular. The last fifteen years of his life were filled with trouble and distress.
He fled to Lachish, which tells us how unpopular he had become, he was later killed in Lachish, 2 Chronicles 25:27 / Micah 1:13. He was assassinated, just like his father was, 2 Kings 12:20-21, and his death was a complete fulfilment of the prophecy of 2 Chronicles 25:16. The last fifteen years of his life were filled with trouble and distress.
In 2 Kings 14:19, we read about a conspiracy, but we’re not told the reason behind it. However, 2 Chronicles 25:27 tells us that many in Judah were still trying to be faithful to the Lord. This may have been the centre of the conspiracy.
It was Amaziah’s apostasy from the Lord in bringing in those pagan deities from Edom, 2 Chronicles 25:14-28, that caused the opposition to take his life, 2 Kings 14:19 / 2 Chronicles 25:27.
Amaziah was brought back by horse and was buried in Jerusalem with his ancestors, in the City of David, 2 Kings 14:20 / 2 Chronicles 25:28. Then all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, 2 Chronicles 26:1, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah, 2 Kings 14:21.
We are told that he was the one who rebuilt Elath, 1 Kings 9:26 / 2 Chronicles 26:2, and restored it to Judah after Amaziah rested with his ancestors, 2 Kings 14:22.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This city belonged to the Edomites and was situated on the eastern branch of the Red Sea, thence called the Elanitic Gulf. It had probably suffered much in the late war and was now rebuilt by Uzziah, and brought entirely under the dominion of Judah.’
In the fifteenth year of Amaziah, king of Judah, Jeroboam, king of Israel, became king in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years, 2 Kings 14:23. Jeroboam II reigned in the Northern Kingdom of Israel from 782 to 753 B.C. Sadly, he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and he didn’t turn away from the sins of Jeroboam I, 2 Kings 14:24.
In other words, he maintained the division between the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom by promoting loyalty to the altars at Bethel and Dan, 1 Kings 12:25-30.
Because he was a wise leader and a great administrator, he took the Northern Kingdom of Israel to its peak in terms of power and prosperity, 2 Kings 14:25. As a leader, he reclaimed a lot of land that had been taken by the Arameans. There’s no doubt that the prophet Jonah mentioned here, 2 Kings 14:25, is the same prophet who wrote the Book of Jonah, Jonah 1:1.
God had seen how bitterly everyone in Israel, whether slave or free, was suffering and that there was no one to help them, 2 Kings 14:26 / 2 Kings 10:32-33 / 2 Kings 13:3 / 2 Kings 13:7 / 2 Kings 13:22.
Since God hadn’t said He would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, notice that God ‘saved them by the hand of Jeroboam’, 2 Kings 14:27. In other words, God saved Israel from total destruction through the leadership of Jeroboam II, and in doing so, He fulfilled the prophecy of 2 Kings 13:5.
The other events of Jeroboam’s reign, all he did, and his military achievements, including how he recovered for Israel both Damascus, 1 Kings 20:34, and Hamath, Amos 6:2, which had belonged to Judah, are written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel, 2 Kings 14:28 / Amos 7:10.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘We learn from 1 Chronicles 18:3-11, that David had conquered all Syria, and put garrisons in Damascus and other places, and laid all the Syrians under tribute; but this yoke they had not only shaken off, but they had conquered a considerable portion of the Israelitish territory, and added it to Syria. These latter Jeroboam now recovered; and thus the places which anciently belonged to Judah by David’s conquests, and were repossessed by Syria, he now conquered, and added to Israel.’
Jeroboam rested with his ancestors, the kings of Israel and Zechariah his son succeeded him as king, 2 Kings 14:29. There is a sense in which Jeroboam was Israel’s last chance to get back to being right with God and repent of their idolatry.
Zechariah who succeeded Jeroboam, was a weak ruler, and with this, Israel began to deteriorate. This deterioration would eventually lead to their destruction, some thirty years after Jeroboam died, Amos 7:10-17.