2 Kings 14:16

ures of the king's house, and of the temple; and takes hostages, and returns to Samaria, 2Kgs 14:13, 2Kgs 14:14. The death and burial of both these kings, 2Kgs 14:15-20. Azariah, the son of Amaziah, made king; he builds Elath, vv. 21, 22. Jeroboam the second is made king over Israel: his wicked reign and death, vv. 23-29. Verse 1 In the second year of Joash - This second year should be understood as referring to the time when his father Jehoahaz associated him with himself in the kingdom: for he reigned two years with his father; so this second year of Joash is the first of his absolute and independent government. - See Calmet. Verse 5 As soon as the kingdom was confirmed in his hand - No doubt those wicked men, Jozachar and Jehozabad, who murdered his father, had considerable power and influence; and therefore he found it dangerous to bring them to justice, till he was assured of the loyalty of his other officers: when this was clear, he called them to account, and put them to death. Verse 6 But the children of the murderers he slew not - Here he showed his conscientious regard for the law of Moses; for God had positively said, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin, Deu 24:16. Verse 7 He slew of Edom to the valley of salt - This war is more circumstantially related in 2Chr 25:5, etc. The Idumeans had arisen in the reign of Joram king of Judah, and shaken off the yoke of the house of David. Amaziah determined to reduce them to obedience; he therefore levied an army of three hundred thousand men in his own kingdom, and hired a hundred thousand Israelites, at the price of one hundred talents. When he was about to depart at the head of this numerous army, a prophet came to him and ordered him to dismiss the Israelitish army, for God was not with them: and on the king of Judah expressing regret for the loss of his hundred talents, he was answered, that the Lord could give him much more than that. He obeyed, sent back the Israelites, and at the head of his own men attacked the Edomites in the valley of salt, slew ten thousand on the spot, and took ten thousand prisoners, all of whom he precipitated from the rock, or Selah, which was afterwards called Joktheel, a place or city supposed to be the same with Petra, which gave name to Arabia Petraea, where there must have been a great precipice, from which the place took its name of Selah or Petra. Verse 8 Come, let us look one another in the face - This was a real declaration of war; and the ground of it is most evident from this circumstance: that the one hundred thousand men of Israel that had been dismissed, though they had the stipulated money, taking the advantage of Amaziah's absence, fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria to Beth-horon, and smote three thousand men, and took much spoil, 2Chr 25:10-13. Amaziah no doubt remonstrated with Jehoash, but to no purpose; and therefore he declared war against him. Verse 9 Jehoash - sent to Amaziah - saying - The meaning of this parable is plain. The thistle that was in Lebanon - Amaziah, king of Judah, sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon - Jehoash, king of Israel, saying, Give thy daughter - a part of thy kingdom, to my son to wife - to be united to, and possessed by the kings of Judah. And there passed by a wild beast - Jehoash and his enraged army, and trode down the thistle - utterly discomfited Amaziah and his troops, pillaged the temple, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem: see 2Kgs 14:12-14. Probably Amaziah had required certain cities of Israel to be given up to Judah; if so, this accounts for that part of the parable, Give thy daughter to my son to wife. Verse 10 Glory of this, and tarry at home - There is a vast deal of insolent dignity in this remonstrance of Jehoash: but it has nothing conciliatory; no proposal of making amends for the injury his army had done to the unoffending inhabitants of Judah. The ravages committed by the army of Jehoash were totally unprovoked, and they were base and cowardly; they fell upon women, old men, and children, and butchered them in cold blood, for all the effective men were gone off with their king against the Edomites. The quarrel of Amaziah was certainly just, yet he was put to the rout; he did meddle to his hurt; he fell, and Judah fell with him, as Jehoash had said: but why was this? Why it came of God; for he had brought the gods of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burnt incense to them; therefore God delivered them into the hands of their enemies, because they sought after the gods of Edom, 2Chr 25:14, 2Chr 25:20. This was the reason why the Israelites triumphed. Verse 13 Took Amaziah king of Judah - It is plain that Amaziah afterwards had his liberty; but how or on what terms he got it, is not known. See on 2Kgs 14:14 (note). Verse 14 And he took - hostages - התערבות hattaaruboth, pledges; from ערב arab, to pledge, give security, etc., for the performance of some promise. See the meaning of this word interpreted in the note on Gen 38:17 (note). It is likely that Amaziah gave some of the nobles or some of his own family as hostages, that he might regain his liberty; and they were to get their liberty when he had fulfilled his engagements; but of what kind these were we cannot tell, nor, indeed, how he got his liberty. Verse 15 How he fought with Amaziah - The only fighting between them was the battle already mentioned; and this is minutely related in 2Chr 25:21-24. Verse 19 They made a conspiracy against him - His defeat by Jehoash, and the consequent pillaging of the temple, and emptying the royal exchequer, and the dismantling of Jerusalem, had made him exceedingly unpopular; so that probably the whole of the last fifteen years of his life were a series of troubles and distresses. Verse 21 Took Azariah - He is also called Uzziah, 2Chr 26:1. The former signifies, The help of the Lord; the latter, The strength of the Lord. Verse 22 He built Elath - This city belonged to the Edomites; and was situated on the eastern branch of the Red Sea, thence called the Elanitic Gulf. It had probably suffered much in the late war; and was now rebuilt by Uzziah, and brought entirely under the dominion of Judah. Verse 25 He restored the coast of Israel - From the description that is here given, it appears that Jeroboam reconquered all the territory that had been taken from the kings of Israel; so that Jeroboam the second left the kingdom as ample as it was when the ten tribes separated under Jeroboam the first. Verse 26 The Lord saw the affliction of Israel - It appears that about this time Israel had been greatly reduced; and great calamities had fallen upon all indiscriminately; even the diseased and captives in the dungeon had the hand of God heavy upon them, and there was no helper; and then God sent Jonah to encourage them, and to assure them of better days. He was the first of the prophets, after Samuel, whose writings are preserved; yet the prophecy delivered on this occasion is not extant; for what is now in the prophecies of Jonah, relates wholly to Nineveh. Verse 28 How he warred, and - recovered Damascus - We learn from 1Chr 18:3-11, that David had conquered all Syria, and put garrisons in Damascus and other places, and laid all the Syrians under tribute; but this yoke they had not only shaken off, but they had conquered a considerable portion of the Israelitish territory, and added it to Syria. These latter Jeroboam now recovered; and thus the places which anciently belonged to Judah by David's conquests, and were repossessed by Syria, he now conquered, and added to Israel. Verse 29 Jeroboam slept with his fathers - He died a natural death; and was regularly succeeded by his son Zachariah, who, reigning badly, was, after six months, slain by Shallum, who succeeded him, and reigned but one month, being slain by Menahem, who succeeded him, and reigned ten years over Israel. Amos the prophet lived in the reign of Jeroboam; and was accused by Amaziah, one of the idolatrous priests of Beth-el, of having predicted the death of Jeroboam by the sword, but this was a slander: what he did predict, and which came afterwards to pass, may be seen Amo 7:10-17. The interregnum referred to in the margin cannot be accounted for in a satisfactory manner. Introduction Azariah begins to reign over Judah, and acts well, but does not remove the high places, 2Kgs 15:1-4. He becomes leprous, and dies, after having reigned fifty-two years; and Jotham, his son, reigns in his stead, 2Kgs 15:5-7. Zachariah reigns over Israel, and acts wickedly; and Shallum conspires against him and slays him, after he had reigned six months, 2Kgs 15:8-12. Shallum reigns one month, and is slain by Mena

Reign of Jeroboam, King of Israel. ( b. c. 825.) 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? 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. 17 And Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years. 18 And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 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. 20 And they brought him on horses: and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. 21 And all the people of Judah took Azariah, which was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. 22 He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers. Here are three kings brought to their graves in these few verses:—1. Joash king of Israel, v. 15, 16 . We attended his funeral once before, ch. xiii. 12, 13 . But, because the historian had occasion to give a further account of his life and actions, he again mentions his death and burial. 2. Amaziah king of Judah. Fifteen years he survived his conqueror the king of Israel, v. 17 . A man may live a great while after he has been shamed, may be thoroughly mortified (as Amaziah no doubt was) and yet not dead. His acts are said to be found written in his annals ( v. 18 ), but not his might; for his cruelty when he was a conqueror over the Edomites, and his insolence when he challenged the king of Israel, showed him void of true courage. He was slain by his own subjects, who hated him for his maladministration ( v. 19 ) and made Jerusalem too hot for him, the ignominious breach made in their walls being occasioned by his folly and presumption. He fled to Lachish. How long he continued concealed or sheltered there we are not told, but, at last, he was there murdered, v. 19 . No further did the rage of the rebels extend, for they brought him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him there among his ancestors. 3. Azariah succeeded Amaziah, but not till twelve years after his father's death, for Amaziah died in the fifteenth year of Jeroboam (as appears by comparing v. 23 with v. 2 ), but Azariah did not begin his reign till the twenty-seventh of Jeroboam ( ch. xv. 1 ), for he was but four years old at the death of his father, so that, for twelve years, till he came to be sixteen, the government was in the hands of protectors. He reigned very long ( ch. xv. 2 ) and yet the account of his reign is here industriously huddled up, and broken off abruptly ( v. 22 ): He built Elath (which had belonged to the Edomites, but, it is probable, was recovered by his father, v. 7 ), after that the king slept with his fathers, as if that had been all he did that was worth mentioning, or rather it is meant of king Amaziah: he built it soon after Amaziah died.