Bible Commentaries

2 Kings 14:1 In the second year of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel reigned Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah.

Ver. 1. In the second year, &c., ] viz., When he reigned alone, after his father’s death.

Reigned Amaziah.] A notorious hypocrite, and one that filled up the measure of his fathers. [Matthew 23:32] Yet Salianus and some others say that he died a penitent and a reformed man.

2 Kings 14:2 He was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name [was] Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.

Ver. 2. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddan.] The mothers of the kings of Judah are expressed by name; not so of Israel. See on 1 Kings 15:10.

2 Kings 14:3 And he did [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD, yet not like David his father: he did according to all things as Joash his father did.

Ver. 3. Yet not like David his father.] Who did all the wills of God [Acts 13:22] with a perfect heart. [1 Samuel 13:14] Not so Amaziah, who had a good name, but answered it not; as the Emperor Probus did, witness Flav. Vopiscus.

2 Kings 14:4 Howbeit the high places were not taken away: as yet the people did sacrifice and burnt incense on the high places.

Ver. 4. Howbeit the high places were not taken away.] So that he did not that which was right, &c. [2 Kings 14:3] - that which was, for the substance of it, approved of God - but with an exception: and was accepted accordingly. See 1 Kings 15:14.

2 Kings 14:5 And it came to pass, as soon as the kingdom was confirmed in his hand, that he slew his servants which had slain the king his father.

Ver. 5. As soon as the kingdom was confirmed in his hand] He politically dissembled his displeasure till he found his time. Qui nescit dissimulate, nescit regnare, saith Louis XI of France to his son. It is a weakness in a prince always to carry his love and hatred in his forehead.

2 Kings 14:6 But the children of the murderers he slew not: according unto that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, wherein 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 be put to death for his own sin.

Ver. 6. But the children of the murderers he slew not.] Which yet carnal policy would have prompted him to do. See on 2 Kings 10:6.

Nor the children be put to death, &c.] This was a law for man to follow; but God, the supreme Lord of life and death, is above law. [Jeremiah 3:1]

2 Kings 14:7 He slew of Edom in the valley of salt ten thousand, and took Selah by war, and called the name of it Joktheel unto this day.

Ver. 7. In the valley of Salt.] Near to the Lake Asphaltites, which yielded much salt. ^(a) See 2 Samuel 8:13.

Ten thousand.] Besides ten thousand more whom he cast down from a rock; [2 Chronicles 25:11-12] not to make himself and the soldiers sport with, as the cruel Spaniards have dealt by the poor Indians, - but because they still stood out, as it is likely.

And took Selah.] Or, Petra, {see Isaiah 16:1} the chief city of Arabia Petraea, called afterwards Philadelphia by Ptolemy Philadelph, who repaired it. ^(b) Amaziah calleth it Jockteel, i.e., obedience to God, or the congregation of God, as Pagnine expoundeth it.

2 Kings 14:8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us look one another in the face.

Ver. 8. Then Amaziah sent.] Being puffed up with his recent victory over the Edomites, he had a proud conceit that he should prosper in whatsoever he undertook; albeit he had now forsaken the Lord, and served the gods of those Edomites, whom he had erst subdued. By a like folly, the old Romans, after that they had subdued any nation, were wont to set up their gods to themselves, to win their favour.

Come, let us look one another in the face,] i.e., Let us fight it out in the open field. He had been wronged in his absence by those one hundred thousand mercenaries of Israel, whom he had dismissed at the command of the prophet, [2 Chronicles 25:10; 2 Chronicles 25:13] who had told him that God was not with the Israelites. He was apt enough also to believe that his own forces were invincible, and that victory was now pinned to his sleeve; but he was soon confuted.

2 Kings 14:9 And 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 thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast that [was] in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle.

Ver. 9. The thistle that was in Lebanon.] Not the shrub, but the thistle, which is prickly indeed, and can say Nemo me impune lacessit, but a low, vile, weak weed, and not to be named in the same day with the cedar, that tallest and firmest of trees. Thus Joash setteth Amaziah at nought, and looketh upon him as a petty king in comparison of himself.

Give thy daughter to my son,] q.d., I would scorn to have any affinity with thee, though we were never so good friends.

And there passed by a wild beast.] Whereby he meaneth his own forces. Bellum quasi belluinum: soldiers are brutish and barbarous, skilful to destroy; and the time of war is fitly called "a time of trouble, and of treading down." [Isaiah 22:5]

2 Kings 14:10 Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, and thine heart hath lifted thee up: glory [of this], and tarry at home: for why shouldest thou meddle to [thy] hurt, that thou shouldest fall, [even] thou, and Judah with thee?

Ver. 10. And thine heart hath lifted thee up.] Here vice correcteth sin, as we say. Calcat Amaziae fastum, at maiori cum fastu: for by this scornful answer it appeareth that Jehoash was every whit as proud and bold as Amaziah.

2 Kings 14:11 But Amaziah would not hear. Therefore Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Bethshemesh, which [belongeth] to Judah.

Ver. 11. But Amaziah would not hear.] See the reason in 2 Chronicles 25:20. He was ripe for ruin, and therefore, like a sea monster, with a deaf ear, he slighteth good counsel. "A deceived heart had now turned him aside, that he could not deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?" [Isaiah 44:20]

2 Kings 14:12 And Judah was put to the worse before Israel; and they fled every man to their tents.

Ver. 12. And Judah was put to the worse; and they fled.] Josephus saith that before the fight they began to flee away; and so the king was taken by the enemy, who threatened presently to put him to a cruel death, unless he would cause the citizens of Jerusalem to open their gates and leave all to his mercy. Others think that he battered down the wall four hundred cubits, and took the city by force.

2 Kings 14:13 And Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Bethshemesh, and came to Jerusalem, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim unto the corner gate, four hundred cubits.

Ver. 13. And Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah.] Whom he used nothing so courteously as Alexander, Prince of the Bulgarians, did Andronicus II, Emperor of Constantinople, who had sent him a challenge, as here Amaziah did Jehoash. But when Alexander had beaten him out of the field, he nevertheless offered him a peace, and suffered him to return home with his shattered army, advising him to be better advised for the future, and to consider that in each year there are four different seasons; and that in a short moment there may be great changes in human affairs. ^(a)

2 Kings 14:14 And he took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and hostages, and returned to Samaria.

Ver. 14. And he took all the gold and silver, &c.] He took not the crown, as he might have done, as fearing he could hardly hold it, but, by reaching after it, might hazard all; for he well knew how fast affected the people generally were to the house of David.

2 Kings 14:15 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

Ver. 15. And his might.] Showed against the Syrians chiefly.

2 Kings 14:16 And Jehoash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son reigned in his stead.

Ver. 16. And Jehoash slept.] He died the same year wherein he had vanquished Amaziah, as may easily be gathered; so little enjoyment had he of his victory.

2 Kings 14:17 And Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years.

Ver. 17. Lived … fifteen years.] But it was a kind of a lifeless life. Mortis habet vices quae trahitur vita gemitibus. He lay all the while under the hatred and contempt of his subjects; being forced also by conspirators to flee to Lachish, and there to live as an exile, till they thought good to take away his life. Our Edward II, called Carnatron, his case was not unlike. Edvardum occidere nolite timere bonum est.

2 Kings 14:18 And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

Ver. 18. And the rest, &c.] See 1 Kings 14:10; 1 Kings 14:29.

2 Kings 14:19 Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem: and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there.

Ver. 19. Now they made a conspiracy.] The people generally did, because he had, by challenging Jehoash, subjected them to so much misery, and did, after that overthrow, spend his time idly and basely, serving false gods, &c. That he repented, is very uncertain, and upon weak grounds concluded.

2 Kings 14:20 And they brought him on horses: and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David.

Ver. 20. And they brought him on horses.] In a chariot drawn with horses. He had brought the idols of Edom to Jerusalem on horses, say the Rabbis, and is therefore so brought himself, and not on men’s shoulders.

2 Kings 14:21 And all the people of Judah took Azariah, which [was] sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah.

Ver. 21. And all the people of Judah took Azariah.] Called also Uzziah. [2 Chronicles 26:1] Itaque hic duo nomina habuit confinia, Consilium Domini et Auxilium Dei, saith Vatablus: His two names were suitable, God’s counsel, and God’s help.

2 Kings 14:22 He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers.

Ver. 22. He built Elath.] A place of great importance, as being a port town, say some, near the Red Sea.

2 Kings 14:23 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, [and reigned] forty and one years.

Ver. 23. And reigned forty and one years.] This Jeroboam II was a long lived and a victorious prince: so was our Edward III.

2 Kings 14:24 And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

Ver. 24. He departed not.] See 1 Kings 16:19. For this cause Amos prophesied against him, and was banished from Bethel. [Amos 7:10-12]

2 Kings 14:25 He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which [was] of Gathhepher.

Ver. 25. To the sea of the plain.] Called the salt sea. [Deuteronomy 3:17]

Jonah, the son of Amittai.] See on Jonah 1:1.

2 Kings 14:26 For the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, [that it was] very bitter: for [there was] not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel.

Ver. 26. For the Lord saw, &c., ] sc., In the days of Jehoahaz, when, likely, Jonah was sent with the above said prophecy.

2 Kings 14:27 And the LORD said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven: but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.

Ver. 27. And the Lord said not.] Yet afterwards he both said it, [Hosea 1:6; Hosea 1:9] and did it. [2 Kings 17:18]

2 Kings 14:28 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he warred, and how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath, [which belonged] to Judah, for Israel, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

Ver. 28. And Hamath.] Which lay near to Damascus, and fared the worse for its neighbourhood. [Zechariah 9:2]

2 Kings 14:29 And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, [even] with the kings of Israel; and Zachariah his son reigned in his stead.

Ver. 29. And Jeroboam slept.] [Amos 7:11] "Jeroboam shall die by the sword": but who said so? Not Amos, but Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, who belied him to Jeroboam.