The Histories · Old Testament

2 Chronicles 25

2 Chronicles 25: Amaziah, the hired army and the gods of Seir

General context

Amaziah is twenty-five at accession and reigns twenty-nine years; his mother is Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. He does right, but not with a perfect heart. He executes his father's killers but spares their children, following the law of Moses. He counts three hundred thousand fighting men of Judah and Benjamin and hires a hundred thousand from Israel for a hundred talents. A man of God warns him not to take Israel's army, since the Lord is not with Ephraim; asked about the talents already paid, he says the Lord can give much more. Amaziah sends the Ephraimites home angry. In the valley of salt he kills ten thousand of the children of Seir, and his men throw ten thousand captives from the top of the rock. Meanwhile the dismissed soldiers raid Judah's cities from Samaria to Beth-horon, killing three thousand. Returning, Amaziah sets up the gods of Seir as his own and worships them. A prophet asks why he seeks gods that could not save their own people; the king threatens him, and the prophet stops, saying God has determined to destroy him. Amaziah challenges Joash king of Israel to meet face to face. Joash answers with a fable of a thistle trampled by a beast and tells him to stay home. Amaziah refuses; the narrator says this came of God because of Edom's gods. At Beth-shemesh Judah is beaten; Joash captures Amaziah, breaks four hundred cubits of Jerusalem's wall, takes the treasures and hostages, and returns to Samaria. Amaziah outlives Joash by fifteen years. After he turns from the Lord, conspirators pursue him to Lachish and kill him; he is buried with his fathers.

Cited passages: 2 Chronicles 25:1, 2 Chronicles 25:2, 2 Chronicles 25:3, 2 Chronicles 25:4, 2 Chronicles 25:5, 2 Chronicles 25:6, 2 Chronicles 25:7, 2 Chronicles 25:8, 2 Chronicles 25:9, 2 Chronicles 25:10, 2 Chronicles 25:11, 2 Chronicles 25:12, 2 Chronicles 25:13, 2 Chronicles 25:14, 2 Chronicles 25:15, 2 Chronicles 25:16, 2 Chronicles 25:17, 2 Chronicles 25:18, 2 Chronicles 25:19, 2 Chronicles 25:20, 2 Chronicles 25:22, 2 Chronicles 25:23, 2 Chronicles 25:24, 2 Chronicles 25:25, 2 Chronicles 25:27, 2 Chronicles 25:28

2 Chronicles 25 (KJV)

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 sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart.

³Now it came to pass, when the kingdom was established to him, that he slew his servants that had killed the king his father.

⁴But he slew not their children, but did as it is written in the law in the book of Moses, where 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.

⁵Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together, and made them captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, according to the houses of their fathers, throughout all Judah and Benjamin: and he numbered them from twenty years old and above, and found them three hundred thousand choice men, able to go forth to war, that could handle spear and shield.

⁶He hired also an hundred thousand mighty men of valour out of Israel for an hundred talents of silver.

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.

⁸But if thou wilt go, do it, be strong for the battle: God shall make thee fall before the enemy: for God hath power to help, and to cast down.

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 Israel? And the man of God answered, The Lord is able to give thee much more than this.

¹⁰Then Amaziah separated them, to wit, the army 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 great anger.

¹¹And Amaziah strengthened himself, and led forth his people, and went to the valley of salt, and smote of the children of Seir ten thousand.

¹²And other ten thousand left alive did the children of Judah carry away captive, and brought them unto the top of the rock, and cast them down from the top of the rock, that they all were broken in pieces.

¹³But the soldiers of the army 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 three thousand of them, and took much spoil.

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.

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 could not deliver their own people out of thine hand?

¹⁶And it came to pass, as he talked with him, that the king said unto him, Art thou made 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.

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 see one another in the face.

¹⁸And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle 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.

¹⁹Thou sayest, Lo, thou hast smitten the Edomites; and thine heart lifteth thee up to boast: abide now at home; why shouldest thou meddle to thine hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee?

²⁰But Amaziah would not hear; for it came of God, that he might deliver them into the hand of their enemies, because they sought after the gods of Edom.

²¹So Joash the king of Israel went up; and they saw one another in the face, both he and Amaziah king of Judah, at Beth-shemesh, which belongeth to Judah.

²²And Judah was put to the worse before Israel, and they fled every man to his tent.

²³And Joash the 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 to the corner gate, four hundred cubits.

²⁴And he took all the gold and the 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.

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 after 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 to Lachish after him, and slew him there.

²⁸And they brought him upon horses, and buried him with his fathers in the city of Judah.

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Historical context

Two kings named Joash appear: Amaziah's father, the Joash of Judah killed in the previous chapter, and Joash the son of Jehoahaz the son of Jehu, king of Israel; one verse names both. The chapter's two messengers are anonymous, a man of God and a prophet. The children of Seir are the Edomites, as the text itself says when it calls the campaign the slaughter of the Edomites and their gods the gods of Edom. The law Amaziah follows is quoted as written in the book of Moses. The Israelite army is glossed as all the children of Ephraim. The captives thrown from the rock number ten thousand, and the raid on Judah by the dismissed troops kills three thousand; both are stated without further comment. Beth-shemesh is said to belong to Judah, and the wall breach is measured at four hundred cubits between two named gates. The burial place is given in the text's own words as the city of Judah. The conspiracy is dated only after the time Amaziah turned from following the Lord, with no cause beyond that given. The chapter refers the rest of his acts to the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

Cited passages: 2 Chronicles 25:23, 2 Chronicles 25:17, 2 Chronicles 24:25, 2 Chronicles 25:7, 2 Chronicles 25:15, 2 Chronicles 25:14, 2 Chronicles 25:20, 2 Chronicles 25:4, 2 Chronicles 25:12, 2 Chronicles 25:13, 2 Chronicles 25:21, 2 Chronicles 25:28, 2 Chronicles 25:27, 2 Chronicles 25:26

Literary context

The opening verdict, right but not with a perfect heart, is the pattern the chapter then illustrates. Amaziah obeys the written law about children, obeys the man of God about the hired army even at a cost, and then bows to the gods of the people he has just killed. Two counsel scenes are set against each other: in the first the king asks a question and accepts the answer; in the second he silences the prophet with a threat, and the prophet's last words name the refused counsel. Money is a thread, from the hundred talents to the promise of much more to the plunder of Jerusalem's treasures. Joash of Israel answers a challenge with a fable in which a thistle presumes on a cedar and a passing beast tramples it, and the narrator explains the king's deafness with the phrase it came of God, because of Edom's gods. The chapter ends as the previous one did, with a conspiracy and a king killed away from his throne, so the son repeats the father's death. The phrase about a heart lifted up to boast returns in the next chapter for Uzziah.

Cited passages: 2 Chronicles 25:2, 2 Chronicles 25:4, 2 Chronicles 25:10, 2 Chronicles 25:14, 2 Chronicles 25:9, 2 Chronicles 25:16, 2 Chronicles 25:24, 2 Chronicles 25:18, 2 Chronicles 25:20, 2 Chronicles 24:25, 2 Chronicles 25:27, 2 Chronicles 25:19, 2 Chronicles 26:16

Key moments

The children spared (2 Chronicles 25:4). Amaziah executes his father's killers but not their children, following the law of Moses.
The hundred talents (2 Chronicles 25:9). The man of God says the Lord can give much more than the silver already paid.
Captives thrown from the rock (2 Chronicles 25:12). Judah casts ten thousand prisoners from the top of the rock.
The gods of Seir set up (2 Chronicles 25:14). Returning from Edom, Amaziah worships the gods he captured.
The prophet silenced (2 Chronicles 25:16). The king threatens the prophet, who stops and declares God's decision to destroy him.
Thistle and cedar (2 Chronicles 25:18). Joash of Israel answers the challenge with a fable and a warning.
Killed at Lachish (2 Chronicles 25:27). Conspirators pursue the fleeing king to Lachish and kill him there.

For reflection

Amaziah lets a hundred talents go on a prophet's word, then brings home the gods of the people he defeated and bows to them. What changed between the loss he could accept and the gain he could not refuse?

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