=1‒4= (= 2 Kings xiv. 1‒6).
AMAZIAH SUCCEEDS.
¹Amaziah was twenty and five years old when he began to reign;
and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem: and his
mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. ²And he did that which
was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart.
=2.= _not with a perfect heart_] In Kings, “yet not like David his
father” (because “the high places were not taken away”). The Chronicler
has something more serious in his mind; compare verses 14‒16.
³Now it came to pass, when the kingdom was established unto him,
that he slew his servants which had killed the king his father.
=3.= _unto him_] LXX., ἐν χειρὶ αὐτοῦ “in his hand,” as in Kings.
⁴But he put not their children to death, but did according
to that which is written in the law in the book of Moses, as
the LORD commanded, saying, The fathers shall not die for the
children, neither shall the children die for the fathers: but
every man shall die for his own sin.
=4.= _he put not their children to death_] Contrast Joshua vii. 24 ff.;
2 Kings ix. 26. Clearly the sparing of the children is here mentioned
as being a practice unknown or still very unusual at the time.
_according to that which is written_] i.e. in Deuteronomy xxiv. 16
(compare Ezekiel xviii. 20).
=5‒10= (not in Kings).
AMAZIAH PREPARES FOR WAR.
⁵Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together, and ordered them
according to their fathers’ houses, under captains of thousands
and captains of hundreds, even all Judah and Benjamin: and he
numbered them from twenty years old and upward, and found them
three hundred thousand chosen men, able to go forth to war, that
could handle spear and shield.
=5.= _three hundred thousand_] Compare the much larger numbers recorded
for Asa (xiv. 8) and Jehoshaphat (xvii. 14 ff.).
⁶He hired also an hundred thousand mighty men of valour out of
Israel for an hundred talents of silver.
=6.= _He hired also ... out of Israel_] The sequel to the hiring of
these mercenaries is given in verses 10 and 13. The episode, which is
entirely unknown apart from the present passage, is most interesting.
It agrees most admirably with the Chronicler’s way of thinking; for the
sin of seeking Israelite help is punished through the damage inflicted
by the disappointed soldiers after their dismissal, whilst the virtue
of dismissing them in obedience to the prophet’s command is rewarded
by the victory gained by Amaziah over Edom. The story seems too subtle
to be _wholly_ an invention, and several scholars consider it probable
that the hiring of the Israelites and their subsequent plundering has
a basis in some old tradition.
⁷But there came a man of God to him, saying, O king, let not the
army of Israel go with thee; for the LORD is not with Israel,
_to wit_, with all the children of Ephraim.
=7.= _the LORD is not with Israel_] Compare xiii. 8‒12.
_all the children of Ephraim_] the phrase is added to show that _here_
the writer has used “Israel” in the sense of the Northern Kingdom.
⁸But if thou wilt go¹, do _valiantly_, be strong for the battle:
God shall cast thee down before the enemy; for God hath power to
help, and to cast down.
¹ Or, _go thou_.
=8.= _God shall cast thee down_] i.e. If despite the warning he
persists in his purpose, God will cause his effort to fail, no matter
how well he fights.
⁹And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for
the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel¹?
And the man of God answered, The LORD is able to give thee much
more than this. ¹⁰Then Amaziah separated them, _to wit_, the
army¹ that was come to him out of Ephraim, to go home again:
wherefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and
they returned home in fierce anger.
¹ Hebrew _troop_.
=9.= _The LORD is able to give thee much more than this_] An utterance
worthy to be placed in the mouth of a prophet.
=11, 12= (compare 2 Kings xiv. 7).
VICTORY OVER EDOM.
¹¹And Amaziah took courage, and led forth his people, and went
to the Valley of Salt, and smote of the children of Seir ten
thousand.
=11.= _the Valley of Salt_] The scene of one of David’s victories
(1 Chronicles xviii. 12; see note there).
_children of Seir_] The Edomites were so called because “Mount Seir”
was part of their territory; Deuteronomy ii. 5, and see note on xx. 10.
Originally subdued in David’s reign, they had revolted in the time of
Jehoram (see xxi. 10).
¹²And _other_ ten thousand did the children of Judah carry away
alive, and brought them unto the top of the rock¹, and cast them
down from the top of the rock¹, that they all were broken in
pieces.
¹ Or, _Sela_.
=12.= other _ten thousand ... carry away alive_) Neither this capture
nor the subsequent massacre is mentioned in Kings The huge scale of
the victory may be only a product of the Chronicler’s free imagination.
On the other hand, if any real information were available outside
the canonical books this is the sort of tradition we might expect to
survive, full allowance of course being made for great exaggeration
in the numbers given. Further, it accords with the sequence of events
given in Chronicles, see note on xxvi. 7.
=13= (no parallel in Kings).
OUTRAGES OF THE EPHRAIMITE MERCENARIES.
¹³But the men of the army¹ which Amaziah sent back, that they
should not go with him to battle, fell upon the cities of Judah,
from Samaria even unto Beth-horon, and smote of them three
thousand, and took much spoil.
¹ Hebrew _the sons of the troop_.
=13.= _the cities of Judah, from Samaria even unto Beth-horon_] We
might have expected the two names given to be names of cities belonging
to the Southern Kingdom. But Samaria is given apparently as the base
from which the marauders started.
=14‒16= (not in Kings).
AMAZIAH’S IDOLATRY AND THE PROPHET’S REBUKE.
=14‒16.= The great disaster which befell Amaziah at the hands of
Joash king of Israel and which is about to be narrated in verses
17‒24 seemed to require some heinous transgression for its cause.
This the Chronicler supplies in the assertion that, after the defeat
of Edom, Amaziah actually brought back Edomite images and set them up
in Jerusalem for worship (verses 14‒16): a truly horrible result of
a victory which had resulted from obedience to Jehovah’s word by His
prophet!
¹⁴Now it came to pass, after that Amaziah was come from the
slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the
children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down
himself before them, and burned incense unto them.
=14.= _bowed down ... and burned incense_] The tenses in the Hebrew
are imperfects and imply that this became Amaziah’s practice. The act
was according to a policy frequently pursued in ancient times. Solomon
affords an instance of it (1 Kings xi. 7).
¹⁵Wherefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against Amaziah,
and he sent unto him a prophet, which said unto him, Why hast
thou sought after the gods of the people, which have not
delivered their own people out of thine hand?
=15.= _which have not delivered_] Such deliverance being in popular
thought the proof of a deity’s power; compare Isaiah xxxvi. 18 ff.,
xxxvii. 18 ff.
¹⁶And it came to pass, as he talked with him, that _the king_
said unto him, Have we made thee of the king’s counsel? forbear;
why shouldest thou be smitten? Then the prophet forbare, and
said, I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because
thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened unto my counsel.
=16.= _of the king’s counsel_] Literally, “counsellor to the king.”
_hath determined_] Literally, “hath counselled” (with a play on the
king’s word).
=17‒24= (= 2 Kings xiv. 8‒14).
AMAZIAH CONQUERED BY JOASH.
The overwhelming defeat of Amaziah by Joash of Israel, involving the
destruction of part of the defences of Jerusalem and the plundering
of the Temple, must have been an affair of the highest importance in
Judean history. The relative weakness of Judah compared with Israel is
still less apparent in Chronicles than in Kings. For a discussion of
the evidence see Cook in _Encyclopedia Britannica_, s.v. _Jews_, p. 379.
¹⁷Then Amaziah king of Judah took advice, and sent to Joash,
the son of Jehoahaz the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying,
Come, let us look one another in the face.
=17.= _took advice_] =Took counsel=, presumably (according to the
Chronicler’s narrative) with a view to demanding satisfaction from
Joash for the ravages of the Israelite mercenaries (verse 13). The
sequel suggests that Joash refused to give satisfaction.
_let us look one another in the face_] The proposal may be either to
fight or (better) to discuss Amaziah’s claims, the two kings meeting
as equals. The latter is probably the right alternative, for the answer
of Joash draws a scoffing parallel between Amaziah’s proposition and
a thorn’s proposal of alliance with a cedar. Had Amaziah’s words been
a _challenge to fight_, Joash’s answer might rather have taken the form
of the parable in Judges ix. 15, “The thorn said, Fire shall come out
of the thorn and devour the cedars of Lebanon,” etc.
¹⁸And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah, king of Judah,
saying, The thistle¹ 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.
¹ Or, _thorn_.
=18.= _the thistle_] margin, =thorn=; compare Proverbs xxvi. 9 (same
Hebrew word).
¹⁹Thou sayest, Lo, thou hast smitten Edom; and thine heart
lifteth thee up to boast: abide now at home; why shouldest thou
meddle to _thy_ hurt¹, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and
Judah with thee?
¹ Or, _provoke calamity_.
=19.= _Thou sayest_] i.e. to thyself.
_meddle to thy hurt_] margin, =provoke calamity=, i.e. by making claims
which he could not enforce.
²⁰But Amaziah would not hear; for it was of God, that he might
deliver them into the hand _of their enemies_, because they had
sought after the gods of Edom.
=20.= _for it was of God_] Not in Kings. This turn is characteristic of
the Chronicler; compare x. 15, xxii. 7.
²¹So Joash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of
Judah looked one another in the face at Beth-shemesh, which
belongeth to Judah.
=21.= _he and Amaziah ... looked one another in the face_] The
historian by a kind of irony takes up Amaziah’s phrase (verse 17) and
gives it a fresh application. Compare the double application (by a
similar irony) of the phrase, “lift up the head” in Genesis xl. 13, 19.
_at Beth-shemesh_] Compare 1 Chronicles vi. 59 [44, Hebrew] (note).
²²And Judah was put to the worse before Israel; and they fled
every man to his tent.
=22.= _to his tent_] Compare vii. 10 (note).
²³And Joash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son
of Joash the son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-shemesh, and brought him
to Jerusalem, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate
of Ephraim unto the corner gate¹, four hundred cubits.
¹ So in 2 Kings xiv. 13. The text has, _the gate that looketh_.
=23.= _the son of Jehoahaz_] i.e. the son of _Ahaziah_, Jehoahaz and
Ahaziah being varying forms of the same name; compare xxi. 17 (note).
_brake down the wall_] Rather, =made a breach= (or =breaches=) =in
the wall=. The same verb is used in Nehemiah i. 3 (“broken down”) and
Nehemiah iv. 7 (“the breaches”).
_the gate of Ephraim_] Its precise position is not known, but it was no
doubt in the north or north-west wall of the city, on the road to
Ephraim. Compare Nehemiah viii. 16.
_the corner gate_] Hebrew text doubtful, but LXX. ἕως πύλης γωνίας.
Compare xxvi. 9; Jeremiah xxxi. 38; Zechariah xiv. 10. Most probably
this gate also was near the north-west angle of the walls, but nothing
certain is known of its position.
_four hundred cubits_] About 600 feet according to the ancient cubit,
and 700 according to the later standard; compare iii. 3 (note).
²⁴And _he took_ all the gold and silver, and all the vessels
that were found in the house of God with Obed-edom, and the
treasures of the king’s house, the hostages also, and returned
to Samaria.
=24.= _And_ he took] The verb is missing in Chronicles, and is supplied
from Kings.
_with Obed-edom_] i.e. with _the family of_ Obed-edom which (1
Chronicles xxvi. 4‒8, 15) served as doorkeepers in the House of God.
The words are an addition of the Chronicler.
=25‒28= (= 2 Kings xiv. 17‒20).
THE END OF AMAZIAH.
²⁵And Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the
death of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years.
²⁶Now 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? ²⁷Now from the time that Amaziah did turn away from
following the LORD they made a conspiracy against him in
Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish: but they sent after him to
Lachish, and slew him there.
=27.= _from the time_] The Chronicler characteristically connects
the conspiracy with Amaziah’s apostasy; in Kings the only fact of the
conspiracy is stated.
_a conspiracy_] Athaliah, Joash, Amaziah each fell one after the other
before a conspiracy. Jehoiada’s example had far-reaching results.
_to Lachish_] Perhaps he was trying to reach Egypt.
²⁸And they brought him upon horses, and buried him with his
fathers in the city of Judah¹.
¹ In 2 Kings xiv. 20, _the city of David_.
=28.= _upon horses_] Render, =upon the horses=; i.e. upon the horses of
some of his pursuers.
_the city of Judah_] Read, with the margin, the Versions and 2 Kings,
=the city of David=.