2 Kings 14
Judah challenges Israel to a fight
King Amaziah kills men who killed his dad
2 Chronicles 25:1-24 1King Joash’s son Amaziah became king of Judah, in the south, when Israel’s King Jehoash, up north, was into his second year on the throne. 2Amaziah was 25 years old then. He ruled in Judah’s capital of Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother’s name was Jehoaddin, from Jerusalem.
3Amaziah lived his life following the good example of his father, Joash. Amaziah was a good king in God’s eyes. But his devotion to God didn’t rise to the level of King David. 4King Amaziah stopped short of dismantling the hilltop shrines to other gods. So, people kept going there with their offerings and animal sacrifices.
5As soon as Amaziah came to power, he executed the servants who had murdered his father, King Joash. 6Amaziah did not, however, kill the families of the murderers. Instead, he followed the law that Moses gave the Hebrews: “Don’t execute parents because of something their kids did. And don’t execute children for the sins of their parents. We’re accountable for ourselves. If we’re executed, it’s because we sinned.” [1]
7The king sent his soldiers to fight the neighboring nation of Edom. Judah’s army killed 10,000 people of Edom and overran the Edom city of Sela. Then they renamed the city Joktheel, a name that stuck. It’s still Joktheel. [2] Judah invites Israel to a war
8Amaziah sent Israel’s King Jehoash, son of Jehu, an invitation to a fight. The message said, “Let’s settle our differences king to king on the battlefield.”
9Jehoash sent his reply: “I heard a story about a daddy thornbush that asked a daddy cedar tree to let the cedar’s daughter marry the bush’s son. But along came a wild animal that crushed the little bush. 10You defeated Edom and you’re feeling pretty good about yourself. Enjoy the glory of victory. Why risk the agony of defeat? If you go down, so does Judah.” 11Amaziah pressed, so Jehoash complied. The two Israelite armies fought on Judah’s tribal land at the town of Beth-shemesh. [3]
12Judah lost the battle, and their soldiers raced home. Israel destroys part of Jerusalem’s walls
13Israel’s King Jehoash captured Judah’s King Amaziah, the son of King Jehoash and grandson of King Ahaziah. Israel’s King Jehoash marched into Jerusalem and tore down 200 yards [4] of the city walls, from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate.
14He raided treasuries of the Temple and the king’s palace. He took all the silver and gold, including the sacred utensils and furnishings in the Temple. He kidnapped some citizens and took them back to his capital city of Samaria.
15The rest of Jehoash’s story and his accomplishments and military defeat of Amaziah are preserved in the History of Israel’s Kings. [5] 16Jehoash died and was buried in Samaria alongside earlier kings of Israel. His son Jeroboam became the next king. 17Judah’s King Amaziah lived 15 years longer than Jehoash. 18The rest of Amaziah’s story is recorded in the History of Judah’s Kings. King Amaziah flees the coup
19He found out that some people were planning a coup, so he fled to the town of Lachish. But they caught him and killed him there. 20They carried his body on horseback to Jerusalem, where he was buried in the City of David [6] with his ancestors.
21The people crowned his 16-year-old son, Azariah, [7] the next king. 22Azariah later recaptured and rebuilt the city of Elath. Jeroboam II, a rerun of Jeroboam I
23Jeroboam II became Israel’s new king after his father, King Jehoash, died. By this time, Judah’s King Amaziah son of Joash was into his 15th year on the throne. Jeroboam II ruled Israel from his capital city of Samaria for 41 years.
24He did not make God happy. [8] He followed the sinful traditions that the first Jeroboam [9] set up in Israel many generations earlier.
25Jeroboam II recovered lost territory, restoring Israel’s border from Lebo-hamath in the north to the Dead Sea in the south. God said this would happen. A prophet named Jonah, [10] son of Amittai, said it would happen. Jonah came from the town of Gath-hepher.
26The LORD helped Jeroboam do these things because he saw how desperate the people had become. There was no one else willing to help them, free or slave. 27One more reason the LORD helped is because he promised not to let anyone erase them from the world. Those are the reasons he helped Jeroboam II, son of Jehoash.
28The rest of Jeroboam II’s story, with his capture of Damascus and Hamath, [11] which had belonged to Judah, is recorded in the History of Israel’s Kings. 29Jeroboam II died and was buried with his ancestors. His son Zechariah became the next king. 
Footnotes
114:6Deuteronomy 24:16. This law of Moses is opposite from one reported in the famous Code of Hammurabi, which allowed a son to die for a father’s mistake. Law 230 of 282 says that if a builder builds a house that collapses and kills a man’s son, then “they should put to death a son of the builder.” These normally common-sense laws were popular in Bible times throughout what is now the Middle East. Hammurabi was a king in what is now Iraq. His laws are engraved into a seven-foot-high (2 meters) black stone pillar made in the 1700s BC. That’s several centuries before Moses. The stone is on display in the Louvre Museum, in Paris.
214:7It’s unknown why Judah changed the city’s name or what the name means. There was another city by the same name, but it was south of Jerusalem and within Judah’s tribal territory (Joshua 15:38). It seems that the city’s name eventually flipped back to Sela. The location is linked to a modern site called es-Sela or as Sala’, roughly 15 miles (25 km) southeast of the Dead Sea’s southern tip. That would have been about an 80-mile (130 km) march from Jerusalem, four days through barren land with little water.
314:11Beth-shemesh was a town 15 miles (24 km) east of Jerusalem, in the Judean foothills where the highlands start blending into the coast.
414:13That’s about 200 meters. In the ancient Hebrew measure, it was 400 cubits. A cubit was the length of a man’s forearm, from elbow to fingertips. That’s roughly 18 inches or half a meter.
514:15A lost book apparently filled with more details about the Israelite kings. Some scholars say they consider this and the History of Judah’s Kings (14:29) lost books of the Bible.
614:20The City of David was the original part of town before Solomon expanded up the hill to add the Temple and palace complexes.
714:21Azariah was also known as Uzziah. He reigned 52 years (2 Kings 15:5). But most scholars seem to agree that the numbers don’t add up. See notes for 2 Kings 15:23.
814:24No king of the northern Jewish nation of Israel pleased God, according to Bible writers. This Israel was the breakaway tribes that split the original Israel in two, with Israel in the north and Judah in the south, where Jerusalem sat on a ridge across the Kidron Valley from the Mount of Olives.
914:24King Jeroboam made golden calves for Israel to worship. He seemed to know enough of the story of Aaron and the golden calf to quote the people’s reaction to the idol when they said: “Israel, this is your God, the one who brought you out of Egypt” (Exodus 32:4). Jeroboam spent a few years in Egypt, hiding from King Solomon. And he may have chosen the calf for the same reason the Hebrews did. Egyptians worshiped calves and bulls for their power and strength. When Jeroboam ordered the two golden calves, there’s no indication that he thought of anything other than saving his skin. He was trying to keep his people from worshiping in Jerusalem. He thought if they went there regularly, they might eventually want to reunite the split nation under Jerusalem’s king of Judah.
1014:25Most scholars seem to agree that this is THE Jonah, of swallowed-fish fame. The book of Jonah never says where he came from. But this writer says he came from the town of Gath-hepher. It’s linked to the modern site called el-Meshed, about a quarter of a mile (4 km) northeast of Nazareth.
1114:28Some scholars say they are confused by the writer’s report of Hamath and Damascus belonging to Israel. Those cities, well beyond Israel’s border, hadn’t served Israel as tribute-paying vassals since the time of King David and his son King Solomon in the 900s BC. That was about 200 years before Jeroboam II. He reigned from about 782-753 BC.
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3Amaziah lived his life following the good example of his father, Joash. Amaziah was a good king in God’s eyes. But his devotion to God didn’t rise to the level of King David. 4King Amaziah stopped short of dismantling the hilltop shrines to other gods. So, people kept going there with their offerings and animal sacrifices.
5As soon as Amaziah came to power, he executed the servants who had murdered his father, King Joash. 6Amaziah did not, however, kill the families of the murderers. Instead, he followed the law that Moses gave the Hebrews: “Don’t execute parents because of something their kids did. And don’t execute children for the sins of their parents. We’re accountable for ourselves. If we’re executed, it’s because we sinned.” [1]
7The king sent his soldiers to fight the neighboring nation of Edom. Judah’s army killed 10,000 people of Edom and overran the Edom city of Sela. Then they renamed the city Joktheel, a name that stuck. It’s still Joktheel. [2]
Judah invites Israel to a war
8Amaziah sent Israel’s King Jehoash, son of Jehu, an invitation to a fight. The message said, “Let’s settle our differences king to king on the battlefield.”9Jehoash sent his reply: “I heard a story about a daddy thornbush that asked a daddy cedar tree to let the cedar’s daughter marry the bush’s son. But along came a wild animal that crushed the little bush. 10You defeated Edom and you’re feeling pretty good about yourself. Enjoy the glory of victory. Why risk the agony of defeat? If you go down, so does Judah.” 11Amaziah pressed, so Jehoash complied. The two Israelite armies fought on Judah’s tribal land at the town of Beth-shemesh. [3]
12Judah lost the battle, and their soldiers raced home.
Israel destroys part of Jerusalem’s walls
13Israel’s King Jehoash captured Judah’s King Amaziah, the son of King Jehoash and grandson of King Ahaziah. Israel’s King Jehoash marched into Jerusalem and tore down 200 yards [4] of the city walls, from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate.14He raided treasuries of the Temple and the king’s palace. He took all the silver and gold, including the sacred utensils and furnishings in the Temple. He kidnapped some citizens and took them back to his capital city of Samaria.
15The rest of Jehoash’s story and his accomplishments and military defeat of Amaziah are preserved in the History of Israel’s Kings. [5] 16Jehoash died and was buried in Samaria alongside earlier kings of Israel. His son Jeroboam became the next king. 17Judah’s King Amaziah lived 15 years longer than Jehoash. 18The rest of Amaziah’s story is recorded in the History of Judah’s Kings.
King Amaziah flees the coup
19He found out that some people were planning a coup, so he fled to the town of Lachish. But they caught him and killed him there. 20They carried his body on horseback to Jerusalem, where he was buried in the City of David [6] with his ancestors.21The people crowned his 16-year-old son, Azariah, [7] the next king. 22Azariah later recaptured and rebuilt the city of Elath.
Jeroboam II, a rerun of Jeroboam I
23Jeroboam II became Israel’s new king after his father, King Jehoash, died. By this time, Judah’s King Amaziah son of Joash was into his 15th year on the throne. Jeroboam II ruled Israel from his capital city of Samaria for 41 years.24He did not make God happy. [8] He followed the sinful traditions that the first Jeroboam [9] set up in Israel many generations earlier.
25Jeroboam II recovered lost territory, restoring Israel’s border from Lebo-hamath in the north to the Dead Sea in the south. God said this would happen. A prophet named Jonah, [10] son of Amittai, said it would happen. Jonah came from the town of Gath-hepher.
26The LORD helped Jeroboam do these things because he saw how desperate the people had become. There was no one else willing to help them, free or slave. 27One more reason the LORD helped is because he promised not to let anyone erase them from the world. Those are the reasons he helped Jeroboam II, son of Jehoash.
28The rest of Jeroboam II’s story, with his capture of Damascus and Hamath, [11] which had belonged to Judah, is recorded in the History of Israel’s Kings. 29Jeroboam II died and was buried with his ancestors. His son Zechariah became the next king.
Footnotes
Deuteronomy 24:16. This law of Moses is opposite from one reported in the famous Code of Hammurabi, which allowed a son to die for a father’s mistake. Law 230 of 282 says that if a builder builds a house that collapses and kills a man’s son, then “they should put to death a son of the builder.” These normally common-sense laws were popular in Bible times throughout what is now the Middle East. Hammurabi was a king in what is now Iraq. His laws are engraved into a seven-foot-high (2 meters) black stone pillar made in the 1700s BC. That’s several centuries before Moses. The stone is on display in the Louvre Museum, in Paris.
It’s unknown why Judah changed the city’s name or what the name means. There was another city by the same name, but it was south of Jerusalem and within Judah’s tribal territory (Joshua 15:38). It seems that the city’s name eventually flipped back to Sela. The location is linked to a modern site called es-Sela or as Sala’, roughly 15 miles (25 km) southeast of the Dead Sea’s southern tip. That would have been about an 80-mile (130 km) march from Jerusalem, four days through barren land with little water.
Beth-shemesh was a town 15 miles (24 km) east of Jerusalem, in the Judean foothills where the highlands start blending into the coast.
That’s about 200 meters. In the ancient Hebrew measure, it was 400 cubits. A cubit was the length of a man’s forearm, from elbow to fingertips. That’s roughly 18 inches or half a meter.
A lost book apparently filled with more details about the Israelite kings. Some scholars say they consider this and the History of Judah’s Kings (14:29) lost books of the Bible.
The City of David was the original part of town before Solomon expanded up the hill to add the Temple and palace complexes.
Azariah was also known as Uzziah. He reigned 52 years (2 Kings 15:5). But most scholars seem to agree that the numbers don’t add up. See notes for 2 Kings 15:23.
No king of the northern Jewish nation of Israel pleased God, according to Bible writers. This Israel was the breakaway tribes that split the original Israel in two, with Israel in the north and Judah in the south, where Jerusalem sat on a ridge across the Kidron Valley from the Mount of Olives.
King Jeroboam made golden calves for Israel to worship. He seemed to know enough of the story of Aaron and the golden calf to quote the people’s reaction to the idol when they said: “Israel, this is your God, the one who brought you out of Egypt” (Exodus 32:4). Jeroboam spent a few years in Egypt, hiding from King Solomon. And he may have chosen the calf for the same reason the Hebrews did. Egyptians worshiped calves and bulls for their power and strength. When Jeroboam ordered the two golden calves, there’s no indication that he thought of anything other than saving his skin. He was trying to keep his people from worshiping in Jerusalem. He thought if they went there regularly, they might eventually want to reunite the split nation under Jerusalem’s king of Judah.
Most scholars seem to agree that this is THE Jonah, of swallowed-fish fame. The book of Jonah never says where he came from. But this writer says he came from the town of Gath-hepher. It’s linked to the modern site called el-Meshed, about a quarter of a mile (4 km) northeast of Nazareth.
Some scholars say they are confused by the writer’s report of Hamath and Damascus belonging to Israel. Those cities, well beyond Israel’s border, hadn’t served Israel as tribute-paying vassals since the time of King David and his son King Solomon in the 900s BC. That was about 200 years before Jeroboam II. He reigned from about 782-753 BC.
Discussion Questions
- Sorry, there are currently no questions for this chapter.
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