1Amaziah beginneth his reign well. 5He gathereth a great army, and hireth a hundred thousand Israelites for a hundred talents of silver, but at the word of a prophet loseth the money, and dismisseth them, who depart in great anger. 11He smiteth the Edomites in the valley of salt. 13The offended Israelites on their return spoil the cities of Judah. 14Amaziah serveth the gods of Edom, and rejecteth the admonitions of a prophet. 17His challenge to Joash, which endeth in his overthrow, and in the taking and spoiling of Jerusalem. 27He is slain by a conspiracy at Lachish.
1AMAZIAHawas twenty and five years 1old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.
a 2 Kings 14:1.
1 Hebr. a son of five and twenty years.
2And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but 2not with a perfect heart.
2 He had, it is true, restored the pure worship of God, which, in his father’s time, after the death of Jehoiada was decayed, but afterward he became an idolater and a rejecter of prophetical admonition, as also a rash, bold, presumptuous and fateful man of war.
3¶Now it came to pass, when the kingdom was established to him, that he slew 3his servants that had 4killed the king his father.
3 Of whom see 2 Chron. 24:26.
4 Or, had smitten. That is, take one’s life. See 2 Chron. 24:25. Of the verb to smite see Gen. 8 on verse 21.
4But he 5slew not their children, but did as it is written in the law inb the book of Moses, where the LORD commanded, saying, 6The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin.
5 Which seems to have been done sometimes. See the annotation at 2 Chron. 24 on verse 25.
b Deut. 24:16; 2 Kings 14:6; Jer. 31:30; Ezek. 18:20.
6 This law properly concerns the magistrates and the governors.
5¶Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together, and made them captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, according to the 7houses of their fathers, throughout all Judah and Benjamin: and he numbered them 8from twenty years old and above, and found them three hundred thousand choice men, able to go forth to war, that could handle 9spear and shield.
7 That is, the families of the most important ones. Compare Exod. 6:14.
8 Hebr. from the sons of twenty years.
9 See 2 Chron. 11 on verse 12.
6He hired also an hundred thousand mighty men of valour 10out of Israel for an 11hundred talents of silver.
10 That is, out of the ten tribes.
11 Of the value of these see Exod. 25 on verse 39.
7But there came a 12man of God to him, saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee; for the LORD is not with 13Israel, to wit, with all the 14children of Ephraim.
12 That is, a prophet. See Judges 13 on verse 6.
13 Namely, because they were turned aside from the Lord unto idols.
14 Understand by Israel as before; that is, the ten tribes, which are so called because Ephraim was indeed the most important of those tribes, and Jeroboam, their first king, descended from the tribe of Ephraim. Thus Ephraim is also used for Israel in Isa. 17:3; 28:1, etc.
8But if thou wilt go, 15do it, be strong for the battle: God shall make thee fall before the enemy: for God hath power to help, and to cast down.
15 He speaks ironically, thereby intimating that if he would needs make use of the Israelites that he had listed, that it would not prosper with him. Such kind of commands, given in an ironical way, serve to reprove and threaten men. See 1 Kings 22 on verse 15.
9And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the 16hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The LORD is able to give thee much more than this.
16 Whereof mention is made in verse 6, for which he had listed and admitted into his service an hundred thousand soldiers out of Israel.
10Then Amaziah separated them, to wit, the army that was come to him out of 17Ephraim, to go home again: wherefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in great anger.
17 That is, out of Israel or the ten tribes, as verse 7.
11¶And Amaziah strengthened himself, and led forth 18his people, and went to the 19valley of salt, and smote of the 20children of Seir ten thousand.
18 Namely, those whom he had listed out of his own subjects.
19 See 2 Sam. 8 on verse 13; 2 Kings 14 on verse 7.
20 Of the Edomites, 2 Kings 14:7, who dwelt in the country of Seir, Gen. 36:8; Deut. 2:4.
12And other 21ten thousand left alive did the children of Judah carry away captive, and brought them unto the top of the 22rock, and cast them down from the top of the rock, that they all were broken in pieces.
21 As they had slain ten thousand; in the previous verse.
22 Namely, whereupon the city of Selah was situated; of which see 2 Kings 14 on verse 7.
13¶But the 23soldiers of the army which Amaziah sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, fell upon the 24cities of 25Judah, from Samaria even unto 26Beth-horon, and smote three thousand of them, and took much spoil.
23 Hebr. the sons of the army, that is, the hundred thousand Israelites, whom Amaziah had listed, to use them in the war against the Edomites, verse 6.
24 Which cities were the frontier towns of the kingdom of Judah, bordering all along in the breadth thereof upon the kingdom of Israel.
25 That is, pertaining to the kingdom of Judah.
26 See of two different Beth-horon, namely the lower and the upper, 1 Kings 9 on verse 17. Here it seems to be spoken of the lower; which was situated in the tribe of Benjamin.
14¶Now it came to pass, after that Amaziah was come from the slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the 27gods of the children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense unto them.
27 Understand the images of the idols of the Edomites.
15Wherefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against Amaziah, and he sent unto him a prophet, which said unto him, 28Why hast thou sought after the gods of the people, which could not deliver their own people out of thine hand?
28 This question reproves the king, and threatens him that he would be no more helped by those idols than the Edomites had been helped by them.
16And it came to pass, as he talked with him, that the king said unto him, Art thou made of the king’s counsel? 29forbear; why shouldest 30thou be smitten? Then the prophet forbare, and said, I know that God hath 31determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened unto my counsel.
29 Hebr. forbear for thyself, that is, for thine own good, or that shall be best for thee. See Gen. 12 on verse 1.
30 Understand his guard, who were present there. He threatens the prophet that if he does not forbear to reprove him, he would give his guard charge to kill him, or at least to hurt and mischief him.
31 Hebr. advised, took counsel, or, determined in his counsel.
17¶Thenc Amaziah king of Judah took advice, and 32sent to Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us see one 33another in the face.
c 2 Kings 14:8.
32 Namely, messengers or ambassadors, 2 Kings 14:8.
33 That is, march out into the field against one another, to fight together, and to encounter each other with armed power, and so to look on one another in the face. See 2 Kings 14 on verse 8.
18And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, 34The thistled that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle.
34 See the exposition of this parable 2 Kings 14 on verse 9.
d Judges 9:8.
19Thou sayest, Lo, thou hast 35smitten the Edomites; and thine heart lifteth thee up to boast: abide now at home; why shouldest thou meddle to thine hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee?
35 Yea, smiting smitten; as is stated in 2 Kings 14:10; that is, smitten them stoutly and terribly.
20But Amaziah would not hear; for 36it came of God, that he might deliver them into the hand of their enemies, because they sought after the gods of Edom.
36 See 1 Kings 12:15, and thereon the annotation.
21So Joash the king of Israel went up; and they 37saw one another in the face, both he and Amaziah king of Judah, at Beth-shemesh, which belongeth to 38Judah.
37 See on verse 17.
38 And is therefore to be distinguished from another of this name, situated in Naphtali, Joshua 19:38; Judges 1:33.
22And Judah was put to the worse before Israel, and they fled every man to his tent.
23And Joash the king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of 39Jehoahaz, at Beth-shemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem, and brakee down the wall of Jerusalem from the 40gate of Ephraim to the 41corner gate, four hundred cubits.
39 Otherwise called Ahaziah and Azariah. See 2 Chron. 21:17; 22:1, 6, with the annotations.
e 2 Chron. 32:5.
40 See 2 Chron. 14 on verse 13.
41 Hebr. which was looking out, or, to the gate looking out. It is so called, because it stuck out at the corner of the city; wherefore it is also called the corner gate both here and 2 Kings 14:13.
24And he took all the gold and the silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of God 42with Obed-edom, and the treasures of the king's house, the 43hostages also, and returned to Samaria.
42 That is, with the posterity of Obed-edom, who were porters and keepers of the treasures in the house of God, 1 Chron. 26:15.
43 Hebr. sons of pledges or of pawns. See 2 Kings 14 on verse 14.
25¶And Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years.
26Nowf the rest of the acts of Amaziah, first and last, behold, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel?
f 2 Kings 14:18.
27¶Now after the time that Amaziah did turn away 44from following the LORD they 45made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to 46Lachish: but they sent to Lachish after him, and slew him there.
44 Or, from after the LORD.
45 See 1 Kings 15 on verse 27.
46 See of this city, 2 Kings 14 on verse 19.
28And they brought him upon horses, and buried him with his fathers 47in the city of Judah.
47 That is, in Jerusalem; which city, although it was partly situated in the borders of Benjamin and partly in Judah, yet, notwithstanding, it was mainly called a city of Judah, because it was the capital city where the kings of Judah kept their court. See 2 Kings 14:20.