14:1 In the second year of the reign of Israel’s King Joash son of Joahaz, Joash’s son Amaziah became king over Judah. 

 

Most of the two books of Kings focused on the ministries of Elijah and Elisha. Now that both of these prophets had died, this section gave a quick overview of the northern and southern kingdoms from 796 to 735 B.C. After the death of these two major prophets, King Amaziah became the King of Judah.

 

14:2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jehoaddan, who was from Jerusalem. 

 

King Amaziah of Judah reigned for twenty-nine years from 796–767 B.C. The mothers were mentioned, because they were responsible for the education of their sons.

 

14:3 He did what the Lord approved, but not like David his father. He followed the example of his father Joash.

 

David was the human standard that God established for all of his kings.

 

14:4 But the high places were not eliminated; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense on the high places. 

 

King Amaziah of Judah allowed the people to worship Jehovah, but he did not take down the high places. Later in his reign, he worshiped the gods of the Edomites.

 

14:5 When he had secured control of the kingdom, he executed the servants who had assassinated his father.

 

After gaining strong control of the kingdom, Amaziah became the blood avenger of his father.

 

14:6 But he did not execute the sons of the assassins. He obeyed the Lord’s commandment as recorded in the law scroll of Moses, “Fathers must not be put to death for what their sons do, and sons must not be put to death for what their fathers do. A man must be put to death only for his own sin.” 

 

King Amaziah of Judah executed Jozachar and Jehozabad, but he spared the lives of their sons. This was against the standard operating procedure of secular kings.The Mosaic Law demanded that children were not to die for their fathers’ sins. King Amaziah trusted God to protect him from the revenge of fathers' children. This reference from Deuteronomy 24:16 also demonstrates that Deuteronomy was not written as late as some of the liberal critics of the Bible hold.

 

14:7 He defeated 10,000 Edomites in the Salt Valley; he captured Sela in battle and renamed it Joktheel, a name it has retained to this very day. 

 

King Amaziah defeated the Edomites at Petra and renamed the city. Petra was the famous rock city that many tourists visit today. The Lord Jesus Christ will return to Petra at his Second Coming.

 

14:8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel. He said, “Come, let’s meet face to face.”

 

King Amaziah of Judah challenged King Jehoash of Israel in a face to face battle.

 

14:9 King Jehoash of Israel sent this message back to King Amaziah of Judah, “A thornbush in Lebanon sent this message to a cedar in Lebanon, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ Then a wild animal of Lebanon came by and trampled down the thorn.

 

King Jehoash of Israel sent back his reply to King Amaziah of Judah in the form of a parable. His message was as such.  King Amaziah of Judah was the thistle and King Jehoash of Israel the cedar. Any wild beast can easily squash a thistle. Therefore, any nation can easily step on and squash Judah. King Amaziah’s pride was hurt, so he attacked Israel and lost.

 

14:10 You thoroughly defeated Edom and it has gone to your head! Gloat over your success, but stay in your palace. Why bring calamity on yourself? Why bring down yourself and Judah along with you?”

 

King Jehoash of Israel continued his message to King Amaziah of Judah. Just because Judah defeated Edom, that does not mean that Judah can defeat Israel. Judah was too overconfident.

 

14:11 But Amaziah would not heed the warning, so King Jehoash of Israel attacked. He and King Amaziah of Judah met face to face in Beth Shemesh of Judah. 

 

Judah attacked Israel, beginning a civil war. Civil wars decrease the male population and resources of kingdoms, making them easy prey for other nations. As Israel and Judah were decreasing their population and resources through civil war, Assyria and Babylon were increasing their populations and resources.

 

14:12 Judah was defeated by Israel, and each man ran back home.

 

Judah did not seek God’s will on this war. Judah lost the battle and returned home.

 

14:13 King Jehoash of Israel captured King Amaziah of Judah, son of Jehoash son of Ahaziah, in Beth Shemesh. He attacked Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate—a distance of about six hundred feet.

 

The king of Judah was captured and forced to stay in Samaria until the death of Jehoash in 782 B.C.

 

14:14 He took away all the gold and silver, all the items found in the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace, and some hostages. Then he went back to Samaria. 

 

Syria had already defeated and plundered Jerusalem, so Israel did not receive much plunder.

 

14:15 The rest of the events of Jehoash’s reign, including all his accomplishments and his successful war with King Amaziah of Judah, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

 

"The Annals of the Kings of Israel" was an uninspired secular book which has been lost to this day. According to the another secular inscription, the scroll of the Assyrian king Adad-Nirari III confirmed that the king boasted of recovering tribute from “Jehoash the Samarian.”

 

14:16 Jehoash passed away and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. His son Jeroboam replaced him as king.) 

 

King Jeroboam became the next king of Israel. This was the second king of Israel who was named “Jeroboam.”

 

14:17 King Amaziah son of Joash of Judah lived for fifteen years after the death of King Jehoash son of Jehoahaz of Israel. 

 

King Amaziah lived for fifteen more years.

 

14:18 The rest of the events of Amaziah’s reign are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.

 

"The Annals of the Kings of Judah" was an uninspired secular book which has been lost to this day.

 

14:19 Conspirators plotted against him in Jerusalem, so he fled to Lachish. But they sent assassins after him and they killed him there. 

 

King Amaziah was not very well respected in Israel. He went into apostasy and lost a war with Israel. Jerusalem, the temple, and his palace were plundered. He lost political hostages to Israel. Therefore, he fled to the fortress city of Lachish, which was about 25 miles from Jerusalem. Assassins found him and killed him.

 

14:20 His body was carried back by horses and he was buried in Jerusalem with his ancestors in the city of David. 

 

King Amaziah of Judah was buried with the royal house of David.

 

14:21 All the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in his father Amaziah’s place.

 

King Azariah was the same as Uzziah the leper king. He became the new King of Judah at sixteen years old. Judah was living in idolatry, so children were ruling over them. Isaiah began prophesying during Uzziah’s reign. 

 

14:22 Azariah built up Elat and restored it to Judah after the king had passed away. 

 

Elat was one of Solomon’s seaport cities.

 

14:23 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Judah’s King Amaziah, son of Joash, Jeroboam son of Joash became king over Israel. He reigned for forty-one years in Samaria.

 

Jeroboam II ruled Israel during times of great prosperity, but also great spiritual apostasy. His name has been found on an 8th century B.C. seal excavated at Megiddo. Hosea and Amos were prophets to Israel during this time.

 

14:24 He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not repudiate the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin. 

 

Syncretism continued in Israel. The people continued to combine the worship of Jehovah with the worship of the Egyptian calf god.

 

14:25 He restored the border of Israel from Lebo Hamath in the north to the sea of the Arabah in the south, in accordance with the word of the Lord God of Israel announced through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher. 

 

King Jeroboam took back land from the Syrians and the Moabites. He extended the borders of Israel similar to that of the borders of Solomon. 

 

Jonah was an actual prophet who visited the capital city of Nineveh of Assyria. These prophecies to Nineveh kept Assyria from attacking Israel for a while. Jonah predicted territorial expansion for Israel, but this prophecy was not recorded in Scripture. Gath Hepher was the hometown of Jonah. It was located near Nazareth.

 

14:26 The Lord saw Israel’s intense suffering; everyone was weak and incapacitated and Israel had no deliverer.

 

Israel was suffering intensely, but they had no strong human leader to lead them out of the suffering.

 

14:27 The Lord had not decreed that he would blot out Israel’s memory from under heaven, so he delivered them through Jeroboam son of Joash. 

 

Jehovah had promised that Israel would never be exterminated, so He delivered them from total destruction during the reign of King Jeroboam II. Hosea and Amos prophesied during this time, but Israel refused to repent and turn to God’s grace.

 

14:28 The rest of the events of Jeroboam’s reign, including all his accomplishments, his military success in restoring Israelite control over Damascus and Hamath, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

 

King Jeroboam was very clever. He led Israel to become very prosperous materially, but Israel was spiritually bankrupt. Material blessing is often a curse, because people begin to trust in wealth rather than God.

 

14:29 Jeroboam passed away and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. His son Zechariah replaced him as king.

 

Zechariah became the next King of Israel.