Amaziah Reigns in Judah
(2 Kings 14:1–7)
Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan; she was from Jerusalem. 2Ki 14:1-6 And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not wholeheartedly. 2Ch 25:14Jas 4:82Ch 24:2Act 8:21Isa 29:131Sa 16:72Ch 26:42Ki 14:4
As soon as the kingdom was firmly in his grasp, Amaziah executed the servants who had murdered his father the king. 2Ch 24:25-262Ki 14:5-22Exo 21:14Gen 9:5-6Num 35:31-33 Yet he did not put their sons to death, but acted according to what is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses, where the LORD commanded: “Fathers must not be put to death for their children, and children must not be put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.” 1 Deu 24:16Ezk 18:202Ki 14:5-6Jer 31:29-30Ezk 18:4
Amaziah’s Victories
Then Amaziah gathered the people of Judah and assigned them according to their families to commanders of thousands and of hundreds. And he numbered those twenty years of age or older throughout Judah and Benjamin and found 300,000 chosen men able to serve in the army, bearing the spear and shield. Num 1:32Ch 17:14-182Ch 11:11Ch 13:11Ch 27:11Sa 8:122Ch 14:82Ch 26:13
He also hired 100,000 mighty warriors from Israel for a hundred talents of silver. 2 But a man of God came to him and said, “O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the LORD is not with Israel—not with any of the Ephraimites. 2Ch 19:21Ki 12:281Ki 13:11Ti 6:112Ch 13:122Sa 12:12Ti 3:17Hos 5:13-15 Even if you go and fight bravely in battle, God will make you stumble before the enemy, for God has power to help and power to overthrow.” 2Ch 14:112Ch 20:6Php 4:19Luk 18:29-301Sa 14:62Ch 1:122Ch 18:14Deu 8:18
Amaziah asked the man of God, “What should I do about the hundred talents I have given to the army of Israel?” Deu 8:18Pro 10:22
And the man of God replied, “The LORD is able to give you much more than this.”
So Amaziah dismissed the troops who had come to him from Ephraim and sent them home. And they were furious with Judah and returned home in great anger. 1Ki 12:242Sa 19:43Pro 29:22
Amaziah, however, summoned his strength and led his troops to the Valley of Salt, where he struck down 10,000 men of Seir, 2Ki 14:72Sa 8:13Psa 60:1 and the army of Judah also captured 10,000 men alive. They took them to the top of a cliff and threw them down so that all were dashed to pieces. 2Ch 20:101Ch 20:32Ch 21:8-102Sa 12:31
Meanwhile the troops that Amaziah had dismissed from battle raided the cities of Judah, from Samaria to Beth-horon. They struck down 3,000 people and carried off a great deal of plunder. 1Ki 16:241Ki 16:291Ki 9:172Ch 8:5
Amaziah Rebuked for Idolatry
When Amaziah returned from the slaughter of the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the Seirites, set them up as his own gods, bowed before them, and burned sacrifices to them. 2Ch 28:232Sa 5:21Deu 7:25Deu 7:5Exo 20:3-5Isa 44:19 Therefore the anger of the LORD burned against Amaziah, and He sent him a prophet, who said, “Why have you sought this people’s gods, which could not deliver them from your hand?” Psa 96:52Ch 25:11-121Co 10:201Co 8:42Ch 16:7-92Ch 19:22Ch 20:372Ch 24:20
While he was still speaking, the king asked, “Have we made you the counselor to the king? Stop! Why be struck down?” 1Sa 2:252Ch 16:102Ch 18:20-212Ch 18:252Ch 24:212Ti 4:3Act 4:28Amo 7:10-13
So the prophet stopped, but he said, “I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not heeded my advice.”
Jehoash Defeats Amaziah
(2 Kings 14:8–14)
Then Amaziah king of Judah took counsel and sent word to the king of Israel Jehoash 3son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu. “Come, let us meet face to face,” he said. 2Ki 14:8-142Ch 25:132Sa 2:14Pro 20:3
But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: “A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle. Jdg 9:8-151Ki 4:33Psa 80:13 You have said, ‘Look, I have defeated Edom,’ and your heart has become proud and boastful. Now stay at home. Why should you stir up trouble so that you fall—you and Judah with you?” 2Ch 26:162Ch 32:251Co 1:291Pe 5:52Ch 35:21Dan 5:20-23Deu 8:14Hab 2:4
But Amaziah would not listen, for this had come from God in order to deliver them into the hand of Jehoash, because they had sought the gods of Edom. 1Ki 12:152Ch 22:71Pe 2:82Ch 25:162Th 2:9-11Act 28:25-27Psa 81:11-12 So Jehoash king of Israel advanced, and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced each other at Beth-shemesh in Judah. 1Sa 6:19-201Sa 6:9Jos 21:16 And Judah was routed before Israel, and every man fled to his own home. 1Ki 22:361Sa 4:102Ch 28:5-6
There at Beth-shemesh, Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz. 4 2Ch 21:17Neh 8:162Ch 22:12Ch 26:9Jer 31:38Neh 12:392Ch 22:62Ch 33:11
Then Jehoash brought him to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate—a section of four hundred cubits. 5 He took all the gold and silver and all the articles found in the house of God with Obed-edom and in the treasuries of the royal palace, as well as some hostages. Then he returned to Samaria. 1Ch 26:152Ch 12:92Ki 14:14
The Death of Amaziah
(2 Kings 14:17–20)
Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah lived for fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel. 2Ki 14:17-22 As for the rest of the acts of Amaziah, from beginning to end, are they not written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel? 2Ch 20:342Ki 14:15
From the time that Amaziah turned from following the LORD, a conspiracy was formed against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But men were sent after him to Lachish, and they killed him there. 2Ch 15:22Ch 24:252Ki 14:19Jos 10:31 They carried him back on horses and buried him with his fathers in the City of Judah. 6 2Ki 14:20