2 Kingschapter 14
29 verses · Jeremiah, by tradition · 6th century BC · History
This Jeroboam restored the boundary of Israel from Lebo-hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word that the LORD, the God of Israel, had spoken through His servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath-hepher.
Introduction
Jeremiah, by tradition, History, 2 Kings Overview.
Kings was written for Judeans in exile in Babylon, and Jewish tradition gives the book to Jeremiah, though the text names no writer. This chapter comes from a rare stretch when both kingdoms grew stronger at once. It sets a king of Judah beside two kings of Israel and weighs each by the same measure the whole book uses. Listen for the short fable sent as a diplomatic insult, and for the price one king pays for his pride. Notice too how much prosperity the chapter passes over in a few lines, and which prophet it names behind the north's recovery.
Context
- Who
- Israelites and Judeans living through a rare generation of prosperity and expanding borders
- What
- A regnal account of Amaziah of Judah and of Jehoash and Jeroboam the second of Israel, with the war Amaziah picked with Israel after beating Edom.
- Where
- Edom's Valley of Salt and the fortress of Sela, Beth-shemesh in the Judean lowlands, Jerusalem, and Israel's northern border at Lebo-hamath.
- When
- About 796 to 753 BC, the reigns of Amaziah of Judah and Jeroboam the second of Israel on the reckoning this site follows.
- Why
- To show that a king blessed in one battle can ruin his kingdom by pride in the next, and that the LORD kept Israel alive out of mercy.
Historical context
The chapter opens with a legal restraint that was unusual in the region. Amaziah executes the officials who murdered his father and leaves their children alive, and the text quotes the law by name. Elsewhere in the ancient Near East the family of a regicide commonly died with him, so sparing them was a choice a king could have set aside.
Show the rest of the historical context, 4 more paragraphs
The Edom campaign runs in the Valley of Salt, the flats below the Dead Sea, and takes the rock fortress of Sela in the high country. The prize was the route south to the Gulf of Aqaba and the sea trade that came up it, which is why Amaziah's son finishes the work at Elath.
The challenge to Israel is answered with a fable, which was a recognised form of diplomatic insult. A thistle in Lebanon sends to a cedar for its daughter in marriage, and a wild animal walking past treads the thistle down. The plain advice follows the figure: you have struck Edom, stay home and enjoy it.
Amaziah goes anyway. He is beaten at Beth-shemesh in the lowlands, Jerusalem loses about six hundred feet of its northern wall, the treasuries go north, and the king himself is taken.
Jeroboam II gets four verses for a reign of forty-one years, and they cover an enormous expansion. The borders are restored from Lebo-hamath in the far north to the Dead Sea, the widest Israel had been since Solomon. Archaeology fills in what the text passes over. The Samaria Ostraca, ink-written receipts for shipments of wine and oil to the capital, come from these decades and show an organised estate economy. Amos and Hosea preached in the same prosperity and described what it looked like underneath, with ivory beds, summer houses, and the poor sold for a pair of sandals.
Significance
The first hearers knew what a good economy can hide. The book gives Jeroboam II a boom and a one-line condemnation, and says plainly that God saw the bitter affliction of Israel and saved them by his hand anyway.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
For Judah the lesson is Amaziah's. A real victory over Edom went to his head, he picked a fight he had been warned off, and the wall of Jerusalem came down for it.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
How it is read
Rashi reads the chapter as the record of one king undone by the victory he won. At the naming of the rock Joktheel he does not explain the name from the war but from what followed it, "For it set his teeth on edge". He sends the reader to the account of Amaziah bringing back the gods of the children of Seir and bowing to them, and to the prophet's rebuke that God had made a plan to destroy him (Rashi on II Kings 14:7:1, the Metsudah Tanach series of Lakewood, N.J, CC-BY). Two verses later the challenge to the northern king is read as the plan working itself out, and the entry closes by attributing that reading to Metzudas Dovid (Rashi on II Kings 14:8:1). At the nineteenth verse the conspiracy against Amaziah is read as the same word coming home, because those who rose against him "heard what the prophet said" (Rashi on II Kings 14:19:1). In the thistle of Lebanon that sends to the cedar Rashi hears the parable pointed at a named man, "Shechem son of Chamor" (Rashi on II Kings 14:9:1).
The detail of the war and the court is read as administration. Rashi explains the hostages taken from Jerusalem as "The children of the princes, who were placed in the king's palace as security that their fathers would not rebel against him", and notes that Targum Jonathan renders the phrase the same way (Rashi on II Kings 14:14:1).
The chronology of the chapter is where Rashi works hardest, and it is the place his reading parts from the plain sequence of the verses. He takes the fifteen years Amaziah outlived Jehoash of Israel as years in which Uzziah already reigned, resting the point on the wording of the parallel account (Rashi on II Kings 14:17:1). At the twenty-second verse he argues it out: "From here you deduce that Uzziyoh reigned during his father's lifetime", since the recovery of Elath is dated after the king slept with his fathers. He adds that the fifteen years have to be subtracted or the years of the house come out fifteen too many, with the Talmud's own figure at Yoma 9a behind the subtraction (Rashi on II Kings 14:22:1). A reader who counts the regnal numbers straight down the chapter and a reader who follows Rashi will not reach the same total, and the difference is the overlap of a father and a son on one throne.
Two short glosses close the chapter. The restoring of the border under Jeroboam the son of Joash is read as recovery "From the hand of Arom" (Rashi on II Kings 14:25:1). On the bitterness of Israel's affliction Rashi gives the sense as very vexing and reaches past Hebrew for one word of Old French, contrarios, setting three verses of the Torah and the Prophets beside it. He then records the other reading, that the word means very low (Rashi on II Kings 14:26:1).
Metzudat David, Radak and Malbim all comment across this chapter, and the corpus carries their refs with the reason that Sefaria holds no English version of them, so they stand here cited and unquoted: Metzudat David on II Kings 14:1:1, 14:10:1, 14:23:1 and 14:27:1; Radak on II Kings 14:1:1, 14:6:1, 14:7:1, 14:11:1, 14:12:1, 14:13:1, 14:20:1 and 14:28:1; and Malbim on II Kings 14:3:1, 14:6:1 and 14:15:1. Radak stands on the chronology at the first verse and on the rock at the seventh, beside Rashi on both, and what he makes of either waits on a fetch that carries the text.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty rabbinic locators for this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. Ten of the forty stand on the ninth verse, the parable of the thistle and the cedar: Bereshit Rabbah 80:3, Midrash Lekach Tov, Deuteronomy 1:7:1, Midrash Tanchuma, Vayishlach 7:2, Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Vayishlach 15:1, Midrash Tannaim on Deuteronomy 1:7:9, Otzar Midrashim, Baraita of The 32 Midot of Aggadah 1:31, Sifrei Devarim 6:2, and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah at 134:1, 766:6 and 801:5.
Nine more stand on the twenty-fifth verse, where the prophet Jonah the son of Amittai is named: Bereshit Rabbah 98:11, Ein Yaakov, Yevamot 11:1, Jerusalem Talmud Challah 2:1:8, Jerusalem Talmud Sukkah 5:1:3, Midrash Tanchuma, Vayikra 8:1, Otzar Midrashim, Midrashim on Sefer Yonah, Midrash Yonah (From Pirkei d'Rabi Eliezer) 3, Otzar Midrashim, Midrashim on Sefer Yonah, Midrash Yonah (version 1) 3, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 10:1, and Sifrei Devarim 8:2, with Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Yevamot 11:1 anchored two verses earlier at the twenty-third.
Five stand on the sixth verse, where the children of the murderers are not put to death for their fathers: Bamidbar Rabbah 19:33, Midrash Tanchuma, Shoftim 19:1, and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah at 815:1 and 886:3. Five stand on the twenty-seventh, where the LORD does not blot out the name of Israel from under heaven: Bamidbar Rabbah 5:3, Esther Rabbah 7:11, Midrash Tanchuma, Bamidbar 25:1, Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Bamidbar 31:1, and Shemot Rabbah 44:10. Three stand on the twenty-sixth, on the affliction the LORD saw: Midrash Lekach Tov, Deuteronomy 32:36:1, Sifrei Devarim 326:7, and Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah 17:1.
The rest are single. On the second verse, Seder Olam Rabbah 19:2, the chronological midrash. On the tenth, where Amaziah is told to stay at home, Bamidbar Rabbah 11:1 with the Babylonian Talmud at Moed Katan 17a:17 and the Jerusalem Talmud at Moed Katan 3:1:12. On the eleventh, Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 42:1:3. On the thirteenth, where the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 38:29:4 and Tractate Soferim 7:1. On the fourteenth, Esther Rabbah 1:5. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on II Kings 14:7:1, 14:8:1, 14:9:1, 14:14:1, 14:17:1, 14:19:1, 14:22:1, 14:25:1 and 14:26:1, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J, CC-BY; Radak, Radak on II Kings 14:1:1, 14:6:1, 14:7:1, 14:11:1, 14:12:1, 14:13:1, 14:20:1 and 14:28:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on II Kings 14:1:1, 14:10:1, 14:23:1 and 14:27:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Malbim, Malbim on II Kings 14:3:1, 14:6:1 and 14:15:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/2-kings/14.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Amaziah spares the children of the murderers
2 Kings 14:1-2
In the second year of the reign of Jehoash: Amaziah's accession is dated against Jehoash of Israel's second year, though Jehoash himself began to reign in the thirty seventh year of Amaziah's father Joash. The commentators resolve the seeming clash with a co-regency, years counted from when Amaziah reigned alone rather than from his father's death.
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. As Joash king of Israel began to reign in the thirty seventh of Joash king of Judah, 2Ki 13:10, who reigned forty years, Amaziah must therefore begin his reign in the fourth of Joash king of Israel; this therefore must be understood of his second year after he reigned alone, for he reigned two or three years in his father's lifetime.”
Jehoaddan: John Gill divided the twenty-nine years into fourteen beside Jehoash of Israel and fifteen after his death, the fifteen years that verse 17 names. His mother, Jehoaddan, came from Jerusalem itself. Gill found nothing more written of her.
2 Kings 14:2
“Joash of Judah reigned forty years 2Ki 12:1, and Joash of Israel ascended the throne in his namesake’s thirty-seventh year 2Ki 13:10; hence, we should have expected to hear that Amaziah succeeded his father in the fourth rather than in the second year of Joash (of Israel). The usual explanation of the discrepancy is to suppose a double accession of the Israelite Joash - as co-partner with his father in the thirty-seventh year of his namesake, as sole king two years afterward.”
2 Kings 14:3-4
but not as his father David had done: Amaziah does right, but the text withholds David's full commendation and measures him against his father Joash, whose early promise gave way to a fall. The high places stand though the king begins well, the same qualified line used of Joash at 12:3.
2 Kings 14:3
“And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord,..... At least externally, and at the beginning of his reign: yet not like David his father; not with a perfect heart, with that sincerity and uprightness as he did, see 2Ch 25:2, he did according to all things as Joash his father did; who at first reigned well, and then fell into idolatry, as this his son did.”
the high places: were altars where people sacrificed away from the temple, the practice Deuteronomy 12 confined to the one place the LORD would choose. Long custom kept them in use. Matthew Henry observed how hard it is to be rid of a practice that long usage has made respectable.
2 Kings 14:4
“Howbeit the high places were not taken away,.... Though he first did that which was right before God; nor did his father take them away; see 2Ki 12:3.”
2 Kings 14:5-6
the kingdom was firmly in his grasp: Amaziah executes his father's murderers but spares their children. The text names its source, “the Book of the Law of Moses,” and quotes Deuteronomy's rule: “each is to die for his own sin”. The commentators note that in the surrounding nations a conspirator's whole household commonly died with him.
2 Kings 14:5
“The phrase, “confirmed in his hand” 2Ki 15:19, usually expresses the authorisation of a new reign by an imperial superior (see 2Ki 15:19 note); but here it describes the result when the troubles consequent upon the murder of Joash had passed away. The new king’s authority was generally recognized by his subjects.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Kings 14:5
“But it is evident that the two assassins must have possessed considerable weight and influence, as the king was obliged to retain them in his service, and durst not, for fear of their friends and supporters, institute proceedings against them until his power had been fully consolidated.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
the sons of the murderers: Albert Barnes noted that Eastern kings commonly put a traitor's whole family to death, as Darius did in Daniel 6:24, so this mercy stood out. John Wesley saw courage in it. The spared sons might one day avenge their fathers.
2 Kings 14:6
“But the children of the murderers he slew not,.... Which is an instance of his clemency and goodness, and of his strict regard to justice, and to the law of God; though he might fear, these, being spared, would one time or other revenge their fathers' deaths: according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, see Deu 24:16, wherein the Lord commanded, saying, the fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children, &c. to which command Amaziah was obedient.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Kings 14:6
“But the children of the murderers he slew not--This moderation, inspired by the Mosaic law (De 24:16), displays the good character of this prince; for the course thus pursued toward the families of the regicides was directly contrary to the prevailing customs of antiquity, according to which all connected with the criminals were doomed to unsparing destruction.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
He took Sela in battle: Ten thousand Edomites fall in the valley of salt, and Amaziah takes Selah, the rock fortress later identified with Petra, renaming it Joktheel. The victory finishes what earlier kings began, since Edom had thrown off Judah's yoke under Jehoram, and here a portion of that ground is retaken.
2 Kings 14:7
“Amaziah’s Idumaean war is treated at length by the writer of Chronicles (marginal reference). The “Valley of Salt” is usually identified with the broad open plain called the Sabkah, at the southern end of the Dead Sea - the continuation of the Ghor or Jordan gorge. At the north-western corner of this plain stands a mountain of rock-salt, and the tract between this mountain and the sea is a salt-marsh. Salt springs also abound in the plain itself, so that the name would be fully accounted for.”
2 more voices on this verse
2 Kings 14:7
“Joktheel - Which signifies, the obedience of God, that is, given him by God as a reward of his obedience to God's message by the prophet, 2 Chron. xxv, 8, 9.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2 Kings 14:7
“Selah--literally, "the rock"; generally thought to be Petra. Joktheel--that is, "given" or "conquered by God." See the history of this conquest more fully detailed (2Ch 25:6-16).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
The thistle and the cedar: and a broken wall in Jerusalem
2 Kings 14:8-10
Flushed with Edom, Amaziah challenges Jehoash of Israel: “Come, let us meet face to face”. Jehoash answers with a fable of a thistle in Lebanon that asks a cedar for its daughter and is trampled by a wild beast. His counsel is blunt, but Amaziah will not hear it.
2 Kings 14:8
“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, 2Ch 25:10-13. Amaziah no doubt remonstrated with Jehoash, but to no purpose; and therefore he declared war against him.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
2 Kings 14:8
“Sent - This challenge he sent, from self-confidence, and a desire of advancing his glory. But he that is fond either of fighting or going to law, will probably be the first that repents it.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Adam Clarke read the thistle as Amaziah and the cedar as Jehoash, with the daughter standing for a share of Israel's kingdom. Albert Barnes warned that a fable fits only in part. The form recalls Jotham's fable of the trees at Judges 9:8 to 15.
2 Kings 14:9
“The Oriental use of apologues on the most solemn and serious occasions is well known to all, and scarcely needs illustration (compare marginal reference). It is a common feature of such apologues that they are not exact parallels to the case whereto they are applied, but only general or partial resemblances. Hence, there is need of caution in applying the several points of the illustration.”
your heart has become proud: Albert Barnes rendered the Hebrew of glory in that as be honoured, meaning enjoy the honour already won. Matthew Henry placed the fault in Amaziah's own heart, which the victory over Edom had lifted up. Jehoash warned that Judah would fall with its king.
2 Kings 14:10
“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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 Kings 14:11-12
at Beth-shemesh in Judah: Amaziah gets the meeting he asked for at Beth-shemesh, and Judah breaks before Israel with every man fleeing to his tent. Josephus adds that panic seized the army before the lines even closed. The king who would not hear Jehoash's parable now looks him in the face, and loses.
2 Kings 14:11
“Jehoash did not wait to be attacked. Invading Judaea from the west, and so ascending out of the low coast tract, he met the army of Amaziah at Beth-shemesh (see Jos 19:21 note), about 15 miles from Jerusalem.”
every man fled to his home: The Chronicler gives the cause of the rout, as Albert Barnes noted from 2 Chronicles 25:14 and 20. After beating Edom, Amaziah had set up the gods of Seir as his own. The Targum reads that each man fled to his city.
2 Kings 14:12
“And Judah was put to the worse before Israel,.... Could not face them; but, as Josephus (d) says, a sudden fear and consternation seized them, and before they joined battle with the Israelites, turned their backs: and they fled every man to their tents; to their cities, as the Targum, and left their king alone. (d) Antiqu. l. 9. c. 9. sect. 3.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Kings 14:12
“The author of Chronicles notes that Amaziah’s obstinacy, and his consequent defeat and captivity, were judgments upon him for an idolatry into which he had fallen after his conquest of Edom 2Ch 25:14, 2Ch 25:20.”
2 Kings 14:13-14
broke down the wall of Jerusalem: Jehoash takes Amaziah captive and marches on Jerusalem. He breaks down four hundred cubits of the wall “from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate”. The breach is deliberate policy, meant to leave Jerusalem undefended against the kingdom that had beaten her, and a fellow Hebrew king does the breaking.
some hostages: Albert Barnes observed that this is the only plain mention of hostages in the Old Testament. Adam Clarke traced the Hebrew word to arab, to give a pledge, and thought Amaziah handed over nobles as security for his own release. Joash had already stripped these treasuries for Hazael at 12:18.
2 Kings 14:14
“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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
2 Kings 14:14
“It was said of Joash that he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and of Amaziah that he did that which was right; and yet Joash triumphs thus over Amaziah, and why so?”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Amaziah flees to Lachish, and dies there
2 Kings 14:15-16
how he waged war against Amaziah king of Judah: The notice of Jehoash's acts, his might, and his war with Amaziah repeats 13:12-13 nearly word for word. Jehoash rests with his fathers, and his son Jeroboam, the second king to bear Jeroboam's name, takes the throne. The repetition closes Jehoash's own record before the chapter returns to finish Amaziah's.
2 Kings 14:15
“These two verses (repeated from 2Ki 13:12-13) are out of place here, where they interrupt the history of Amaziah’s reign.”
buried in Samaria: Jehoash reigned sixteen years, by 13:10, as the third king of the house of Jehu. John Gill named his son Jeroboam the second, to set him apart from Jeroboam son of Nebat. The son would reign forty-one years.
2 Kings 14:16
“And Jehoash slept with his fathers,.... Died as they died: and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; where they were: and Jeroboam his son reigned in his stead; which was Jeroboam the second.”
2 Kings 14:17-20
lived for fifteen years after the death of Jehoash: Amaziah outlives Jehoash by fifteen years, until a conspiracy rises against him in the capital itself. He flees south to Lachish, a fortified city in Judah, but “men were sent after him to Lachish, and they killed him there”.
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. Which, with the fourteen he reigned contemporary with him, made the twenty nine years he reigned, 2Ki 14:2. The Vulgate Latin version is, "twenty five years".”
the rest of the acts of Amaziah: The formula for Amaziah leaves out the might verse 15 credits to Jehoash, and Henry read the omission as a sign his courage was hollow. John Gill identified the book as the royal annals of Judah. Part of that record survives in 2 Chronicles 25.
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? Not in the canonical book of Chronicles; though there are some things of him recorded there, which are not here; but in the annals of each reign, written by the king's historian appointed for that purpose.”
he fled to Lachish: 2 Chronicles 25:27 dates the plot from the time Amaziah turned away from following the LORD. John Gill thought the plotters included fathers of the hostages. Those hostages had gone to Samaria after the defeat at Beth-shemesh.
2 Kings 14:19
“Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem,.... Against Amaziah; the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the principal men of it; perhaps those whose sons the king of Israel had carried away as hostages, which they imputed to the ill conduct of Amaziah, as well as the breaking of the wall of Jerusalem, and the pillaging of the temple, and the king's palace: and he fled to Lachish; a fortified city in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:39 but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there; in a private manner, as Josephus (g) relates. (g) Ut supra.”
2 more voices on this verse
2 Kings 14:19
“HE IS SLAIN BY A CONSPIRACY. 19, 20. they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem--Amaziah's apostasy (2Ch 25:27) was followed by a general maladministration, especially the disastrous issue of the war with Israel.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 Kings 14:19
“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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
carried him back on horses: Albert Barnes took the phrase to mean that his body came back in the royal chariot. John Gill reported a Jewish tradition that he was carried on horses as a judgment for worshipping the gods of Edom. His killers still gave him a king's grave.
2 Kings 14:20
“And they brought him on horses,.... That is, in a chariot or hearse drawn by horses; though the Jews (h) suppose he was carried on horses, and that because he worshipped the gods of the Edomites, who were themselves carried on horses; and he was not carried on the shoulders of men, because he neglected to serve the God of Israel, whose mysteries were carried on the shoulders of men: and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David; and very probably in the sepulchre of the kings, though his father was not. (h) Hieron.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Kings 14:20
“They brought him on horses - i. e. they conveyed his body back to Jerusalem in the royal chariot. The combination of relentless animosity against the living prince with the deepest respect for his dead remains is very characteristic of an Oriental people.”
2 Kings 14:21-22
who was sixteen years old: The people of Judah install the sixteen year old Azariah in his father's place, the same king called Uzziah. He builds Elath, a port on the gulf that had belonged to Edom, and restores it to Judah. The verse closes Amaziah's account by handing his unfinished work to his son.
2 Kings 14:21
“All the people of Judah - The words imply that the conspiracy was one in which the general mass of the people did not participate. There was no confusion and trouble as on the occasion of the murder of Joash. Azariah (“the strength of Yahweh”), and Uzziah (“whom Yahweh assists”), were mere variants of one name.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Kings 14:21
“Azariah - This Azariah is called Uzziah, chap. xv, 30, both names signifying the same thing for substance; that, God's help; and this, God's strength. But this was not done till twelve years after his father's death: so long the government was in the hands of protectors.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
rebuilt Elath: Elath stood beside Ezion-geber, where King Solomon built his ships at 1 Kings 9:26. Albert Barnes saw in Azariah's rebuilding a wish to restore that trade, which Jehoshaphat had attempted before his ships were wrecked at 1 Kings 22:48. Judah lost Elath when Edom revolted at 8:22.
2 Kings 14:22
“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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Jeroboam II restores the border, as Jonah had said
2 Kings 14:23-24
he reigned in Samaria: Jeroboam the second takes Israel's throne bearing the first Jeroboam's name. He “did not turn away from all the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit”. A name given in hope of a second founder becomes one more entry under an old verdict.
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,.... So that he reigned fourteen or fifteen years contemporary with him; for Amaziah reigned twenty nine years: and reigned forty and one years; Josephus says (i) forty, giving only the round number. (i) Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 9.) c. 10. sect. 1.”
3 more voices on this verse
2 Kings 14:23
“Jeroboam - This is the only instance, in the history of either kingdom, of a recurrent royal appellation. We can scarcely doubt that Jeroboam II was named after the great founder of the Israelite kingdom by a father who trusted that he might prove a sort of second founder. Perhaps the prophecy of Jonah (see 2Ki 14:25) had been already given, and it was known that a great deliverance was approaching.”
2 Kings 14:23
“Here is an account of the reign of Jeroboam the second. I doubt it is an indication of the affection and adherence of the house of Jehu to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that they called an heir-apparent to the crown by his name, thinking that an honourable name which in the book of God is infamous and stigmatized as much as any.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Kings 14:23
“While God granted him so great a measure of national prosperity and eminence, the reason is expressly stated (2Ki 14:26, 27) to be that the purposes of the divine covenant forbade as yet the overthrow of the kingdom of the ten tribes (see 2Ki 13:23).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
did evil in the sight of the LORD: The sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat caused were the golden calves at Bethel and Dan, set up at 1 Kings 12:28 to 29. John Gill took the calves as meant here. Amos prophesied at Bethel in this reign.
2 Kings 14:24
“It is a sign that God has not cast off his people if he continue faithful ministers among them; when Elisha, who strengthened the hands of Joash, was removed, Jonah was sent to encourage his son.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
through His servant Jonah son of Amittai: Jeroboam restores the boundary of Israel “from Lebo-hamath to the Sea of the Arabah”. His own book carries this Jonah to Nineveh with a message of mercy for a wicked pagan city. Here he first stands as a northern prophet with good news for a wicked dynasty at home.
2 Kings 14:26-27
saw that the affliction of the Israelites: The LORD saw that the affliction of Israel “was very bitter,” with “no one to help Israel”. Since He had said He would not blot out Israel's name, “He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Jehoash”. Mercy runs ahead of the sentence that falls later.
2 Kings 14:26
“For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter,.... Being sorely oppressed by their enemies, especially the Syrians; and he was moved to have compassion upon them, and show mercy to them: for, there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel: they were in the most forlorn and helpless condition; See Gill on Deu 32:36.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Kings 14:26
“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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
blot out the name of Israel: Barnes traced the phrase blot out the name to Deuteronomy 9:14 and 29:20, where the LORD threatens it. Gill noted that the LORD said it later through Hosea 1:4, and Israel fell under Hoshea at 17:6. Here the LORD still saved Israel through Jeroboam.
2 Kings 14:27
“And the Lord said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven,.... Had not as yet declared it by any of his prophets, that he would do it, as he afterwards did by Hosea, Hos 1:4, and was fulfilled in the reign of Hoshea king of Israel, 2Ki 17:1. but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash; the instrument of their deliverance from the hands of their enemies, and of recovering their borders as afore time.”
2 more voices on this verse
2 Kings 14:27
“And the Lord said not - Though the Israelites were brought thus low, yet the fiat did not as yet go forth for their destruction. God did not send a prophet to say that He would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven; but on the contrary sent two to announce that they should be delivered from their present enemies, and obtain triumphs over them (see 2Ki 14:25; 2Ki 13:17-19). That he would blot out ... - This is a Mosaic phrase, found only here and in Deuteronomy 2Ki 9:14; 29:20.”
2 Kings 14:27
“If this be understood of the dispersion of the ten tribes, he did say it and do it, for that name still remains under heaven in the gospel Israel, and will to the end of time; and because they, at present, bore that name which was to have this lasting honour, he showed them this favour, as well as for the sake of the ancient honour of that name, ch. xiii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Kings 14:28-29
recovered both Damascus and Hamath: The chronicle formula closes Jeroboam's reign, naming how he “recovered both Damascus and Hamath for Israel”. Jeroboam dies, and “his son Zechariah reigned in his place”, the fourth generation from Jehu, as the LORD had promised Jehu at 10:30. The promise to Jehu's house is kept to its stated limit.
2 Kings 14:28
“How he warred, and - recovered Damascus - We learn from 1Ch 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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
his son Zechariah reigned: Zechariah was the fourth generation from Jehu, the limit the LORD set for that house at 10:30, as John Gill noted. Adam Clarke pointed ahead to his end: Shallum killed him after six months, at 15:10. Hosea began to prophesy in Jeroboam's reign.
2 Kings 14:29
“And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel,.... Died, and was buried with them: and Zachariah his son reigned in his stead: who was of the fourth generation from Jehu, as was promised to him, 2Ki 10:30.”
2 more voices on this verse
2 Kings 14:29
“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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 Kings 14:29
“Jeroboam - It was in the reign of this Jeroboam, that Hosea began to prophesy, and he was the first that wrote his prophecies. At the same time Amos prophesied, soon after Micah, and then Isaiah in the days of Ahaz and Hezekiah.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
How this psalm is built
The form: Regnal narrative, two Judean reigns and two Israelite reigns carried on the book's fixed accession formula, as Kings classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The thistle sent to the cedar | Jehoash answers Amaziah's challenge with a fable rather than an army. A thistle of Lebanon asks a cedar for its daughter, and a wild beast tramples the thistle in passing without noticing it. The point of the figure is proportion, a small king demanding what only a great one could ask, and the counsel attached to it is to glory in the victory already won and stay home. | 2 Kings 14:8, 2 Kings 14:9, 2 Kings 14:10 |
| He departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat | The verdict the book has used for every northern king since the division falls again on Jeroboam the second without a new charge attached to it. The refrain reaches a king who carries the first Jeroboam's own name, so a name given in hope of a second founder is filed under an old verdict. | 2 Kings 14:24 |
| Obedience at the start, a fall at the end, a conspiracy at the close | Joash and Amaziah are set in the same shape and the narrator marks it twice. Each begins doing right with the high places left standing, each falls away, and each dies in a conspiracy. The measuring of Amaziah against his own father rather than against David at verse 3 is the hinge of the pairing.the compiler of Kings, the qualified formula used of Joash at 2 Kings 12:3 and of Amaziah at 2 Kings 14:3. | 2 Kings 14:3, 2 Kings 14:4, 2 Kings 14:19 |
The historical value
8 more paragraphs on the patterns
The chapter's geography is checkable and the commentators check it. Albert Barnes identifies the Valley of Salt with the broad plain called the Sabkah at the southern end of the Dead Sea. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown gloss Selah as the rock and take it for Petra. The two readings of the new name Joktheel stand side by side. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown give it as given or conquered by God. John Wesley gives it as the obedience of God, a reward for obeying the prophet's message.
Verse 25 fixes a prophet in a reign. Jeroboam the second restores the border from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of the plain. The recovery is credited to the word of the Lord spoken by Jonah the son of Amittai of Gath Hepher. That is the historical setting the book of Jonah assumes, and it stands here in a regnal notice rather than in a prophetic book.
Verse 29 discharges a promise made five chapters earlier. Jeroboam dies and Zechariah his son succeeds him as the fourth generation from Jehu, which is the limit the Lord set at 10:30. The book states the promise and its expiry in two places and leaves the reader to set them together.
The debated concept
The regnal numbers are the standing question of this book, and this chapter is one of the places they press hardest. John Gill works the clash at verses 1 and 2 through a co-regency, counting Amaziah's years from his sole reign. The site's own guide carries the wider chronological question inside its authorship material. The book's manuscript entry notes that the Greek chronological figures differ from the Hebrew because of the kaige recension. That recension is the first place to look when the numbers disagree. This row states the co-regency reading and names the recension rather than arguing the chronology a second time.
A second question is how Amaziah regained his liberty. Adam Clarke states plainly that Amaziah afterwards had his liberty and that how or on what terms he got it is not known, which is the honest limit of the evidence.
The New Testament's use
The chapter carries no direct New Testament citation. Its bearing on the New Testament runs through verse 25, which places Jonah the son of Amittai in a named reign. Jesus names that same prophet as the sign given to his own generation at Matthew 12:39 to 41 and Luke 11:29 to 32, so the historical setting this verse supplies stands underneath the sign.
Keep studying
Studies8
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1832 to 1869, on 2 Kings 14:7; the compiler of Kings, the regnal formula as it stands at 2 Kings 14:1 to 2, 14:15 to 16, 14:23 to 24 and 14:28 to 29 and the site's own guide to this book, the book's own guide module, src/components/book/guides/2-kings/Book2KingsGuide.tsx.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Bede, Thirty Questions on the Book of Kings; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.