2 Kings Chapter 14
1 In the second year of Joash son of Joahaz king of Israel Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah began to reign.
2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem.
3 He did that which was right in the LORD's eyes, yet not like David his father. He did according to all that Joash his father had done.
4 However the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.
5 As soon as the kingdom was established in his hand, he killed his servants who had slain the king his father,
6 but the children of the murderers he didn't put to death; according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, as the LORD commanded, saying, "The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall die for his own sin."
7 He killed ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt, and took Sela by war, and called its name Joktheel, to this day.
8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, "Come, let's look one another in the face."
9 Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, "The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son as wife. Then a wild animal that was in Lebanon passed by, and trampled down the thistle.
10 You have indeed struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Enjoy the glory of it, and stay at home; for why should you meddle to your harm, that you fall, even you, and Judah with you?' "
11 But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah.
12 Judah was defeated by Israel; and each man fled to his tent.
13 Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Beth Shemesh, and came to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits.
14 He took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the LORD's house and in the treasures of the king's house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria.
15 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
16 Jehoash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son reigned in his place.
17 Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years.
18 Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
19 They made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish, and killed him there.
20 They brought him on horses, and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in David's city.
21 All the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the place of his father Amaziah.
22 He built Elath, and restored it to Judah. After that the king slept with his fathers.
23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria for forty-one years.
24 He did that which was evil in the LORD's sight. He didn't depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin.
25 He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of the Arabah, according to the LORD, the God of Israel's word, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath Hepher.
26 For the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter; for all, slave and free, and there was no helper for Israel.
27 The LORD didn't say that he would blot out the name of Israel from under the sky; but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.
28 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he fought, and how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath, which had belonged to Judah, for Israel, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
29 Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel; and Zechariah his son reigned in his place.
Footnotes
- Verse 13 (Cubit)
- A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man's arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimetres.
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2 Kings Chapter 14 Guide
Turning back to Judah, we find Amaziah on the throne. "He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, yet ..." The constantly repeated story of limitation in loyalty is told again. Success attended his arms, but issued in the lifting up of his own heart, and his foolish challenge to Jehoash the king of Israel, whose answer was characterized by contempt for Amaziah and yet evidenced a desire for peace. To this the king of Judah would not yield, with the result that he was defeated, and seems to have been kept a prisoner until the death of Jehoash. He was succeeded by his son Azariah.
In Israel, Jeroboam II occupied the throne. In his life, he also was evil before God. A man of war, he brought about the restoration of some lost territory, restoring the boundary line. This was accomplished under the influence of Jonah, the son of Amittai, who, without doubt, was the one sent to Ninevah. In the Book which bears his name we have only the account of that mission. It is evident, however, that he also exercised a ministry among his own people.
Jeroboam's victories were directly due to God's vision of the diction of His people. His final doom was not yet pronounced, and in all likeliliood Jeroboam was the saviour promised to Jehoahaz, who, for a while, restored a measure of liberty to the nation.
From "An Exposition of the Whole Bible" by G. Campbell Morgan.
2 Kings Chapter 14 Commentary
Chapter Outline
- Amaziah's good reign. -- (1-7)
- Amaziah provokes Jehoash king of Israel, and is overcome. -- (8-14)
- He is slain by conspirators. -- (15-22)
- Wicked reign of Jeroboam II. -- (23-29)
Verses 1-7
Amaziah began well, but did not go on so. It is not enough to do that which our pious predecessors did, merely to keep up the common usage, but we must do it as they did, from the same principle of faith and devotion, and with the same sincerity and resolution.
Verses 8-14
For some time after the division of the kingdoms, Judah suffered much from the enmity of Israel. After Asa's time, it suffered more by the friendship of Israel, and by the alliance made with them. Now we meet with hostility between them again. How may a humble man smile to hear two proud and scornful men set their wits on work, to vilify and undervalue one another! Unholy success excites pride; pride excites contentions. The effects of pride in others, are insufferable to those who are proud themselves. These are the sources of trouble and sin in private life; but when they arise between princes, they become the misery of their whole kingdoms. Jehoash shows Amaziah the folly of his challenge; Thine heart has lifted thee up. The root of all sin is in the heart, thence it flows. It is not Providence, the event, the occasion, whatever it is, that makes men proud, secure, discontented, or the like, but their own hearts do it. (2Ki 14:15-22)
Verses 15-22
Amaziah survived his conqueror fifteen years. He was slain by his own subjects. Azariah, or Uzziah, seems to have been very young when his father was slain. Though the years of his reign are reckoned from that event, he was not fully made king till eleven years afterwards.
Verses 23-29
God raised up the prophet Jonah, and by him declared the purposes of his favour to Israel. It is a sign that God has not cast off his people, if he continues faithful ministers among them. Two reasons are given why God blessed them with those victories:
- Because the distress was very great, which made them objects of his compassion.
- Because the decree was not yet gone forth for their destruction. Many prophets there had been in Israel, but none left prophecies in writing till this age, and their prophecies are part of the Bible. Hosea began to prophesy in the reign of this Jeroboam. At the same time Amos prophesied; soon after Micah, then Isaiah, in the days of Ahaz and Hezekiah. Thus God, in the darkest and most degenerate ages of the church, raised up some to be burning and shining lights in it; to their own age, by their preaching and living, and a few by their writings, to reflect light upon us in the last times.
From the "Concise Commentary on the Bible" by Matthew Henry.