Chapter XXV
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.