And Amaziah king of Judah took counsel, and sent to Joash the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us look one another in the face.
Amaziah has just crushed Edom. Now he sends a challenge to Joash king of Israel, dressed up as an invitation to meet. Two small details carry the verse: he "took advice" first, and the man he picks a fight with is a fellow Israelite.
One writer notes who had hired the northern soldiers who wronged Judah.
But success with Amaziah (as with most of us) puffs him up. Puffed up by his conquest of the Edomites, he had the nerve to challenge the king of Israel to meet him in combat: "Come, let us look one another in the face." The Ephraimites, who felt offended, really had wronged some of his subjects without cause. Yet the king of Israel was less to blame for that than Amaziah himself, who had hired them into his army.
He asked for advice before he acted — but not God's advice.
However, this deluded king invited his own destruction. He asked advice — not God's advice — from his own idolatrous counselors, and sent word to Joash, king of Israel, asking that they meet in battle (v. 17). He had previously given 100 talents of silver to Israel to enlist their help. But now he thought he was strong, since he defeated Edom and was confident he could subdue Israel. Such is the pride of human nature.
One writer presses the question the verse leaves open:
Yet for this act of foolish pride he took advice — whose advice? Like Rehoboam he sought the mind of flatterers.
Joash ruled the ten northern tribes and Amaziah ruled Judah. The two peoples were family, and one writer recalls what God said when an earlier king of Judah planned the same move.
When Rehoboam gathered a great army to do the same thing, God sent word to him, "You shall not go up or fight against your relatives the people of Israel" (1 Kings 12:24). Separations between brothers are not going to be healed in this way. If Israel had attacked, the case would be very different. But Amaziah should have known better than to start a fight with his own relatives, the people of Israel.
Amaziah had begun his reign doing right, yet God let the challenger lose.
So Amaziah shows a measure of righteousness. But in the end his heart is lifted up, and he challenges the king of Israel. Then this solemn fact appears: God will never approve the presumption of a righteous man. He will take the side of the bad man who is presumptuously challenged rather than the side of the righteous man who presumes to challenge him... God will always be where righteousness is. And where righteousness fails, even in God's own people, God always sets His face against it.
One writer traces this recklessness back to what Amaziah brought home from Edom.
Amaziah's foolish stubbornness refused to consider such a serious warning. He did not realize that God was moving him in this bad direction because he had adopted the idols of Edom (v. 20). Anyone who gives himself up to idolatry can expect to give way to any evil influence. He has looked for folly instead of wisdom.
One writer sets this rise and fall beside a life that ran the opposite way.
It is true that Amaziah, flushed with pride at having struck down Edom, had challenged Joash to battle. Joash replied and warned Amaziah where his rash challenge would lead, but Amaziah would not listen. God then allowed Israel to defeat him. Pride still goes before a fall and a haughty spirit before destruction. God's Word gives many examples of this. All of them stand in clear contrast to the One who humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross.
- Cause — idolatry. The trouble started when Amaziah brought Edom's gods home. Giving himself to idols left him open to any evil influence.
- Pride — after Edom. Beating Edom puffed him up, until he thought he could subdue Israel too.
- Counsel — flatterers. He "took advice," but not God's; like Rehoboam he asked the men who would tell him what he wanted.
- Target — his own people. He picked a fight with relatives, and quarrels between brothers are never healed that way.
- Result — the fall. God would not back a good man's presumption. Pride went before destruction — the reverse of the One who humbled Himself.
And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thorn-bush that is in Lebanon sent to the cedar that is in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son as wife; and there passed by the wild beast that is in Lebanon, and trode down the thorn-bush.
Amaziah has just crushed Edom, and the win goes to his head. He challenges Joash, king of Israel, to battle, and Joash answers with a parable that tells him what he really is.
The picture is an insult. One commentator names who each figure stands for:
To Amaziah's rash challenge the king of Israel makes a scornful reply in the language of a parable. He says: "A thistle on Lebanon (Amaziah) sent to a cedar on Lebanon (himself, Joash)… and a wild beast of Lebanon (Joash's army) passed by and trampled down the thistle."
Commentators differ on whether the parable is only a taunt or also a piece of family history. Another writer traces the figures back to a marriage request between the two royal families:
Joash answers him with a very clear parable. Jehoram of Judah was the thorn-bush of Lebanon. He was married to Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab. He had sent to Jehoram of Israel, the cedar of Lebanon, to ask for a wife from Ahab's family for his son Ahaziah. Then Jehu, the wild beast in Lebanon, trampled Ahaziah, the king of Judah, underfoot… And now his successor, instead of humbling himself, was glorying in his victory over Edom!
Joash read Amaziah correctly. Behind the challenge was not strategy but a swollen view of himself.
But now he thought he was strong, since he defeated Edom and was confident he could subdue Israel. Such is the pride of fleshly men.
The striking thing is where the reply comes from. The man with no faith saw Amaziah more clearly than Amaziah saw himself.
So the unbeliever corrected the believer. Joash saw that Amaziah's win over Edom had filled him with pride, and that this pride made him think he could beat Israel too. He advised Amaziah to stay at home. If he meddled with trouble he would fall, and Judah with him.
Amaziah had already shut one mouth. God sent a prophet to him, and the king answered with a threat.
The Lord was angry with Amaziah and sent to him a prophet, who said to him, "Why have you sought the gods of a people who did not deliver their own people from your hand?" A child might understand such reasoning. As the prophet spoke, the king said to him, "Have we made you a royal counselor? Stop! Why should you be struck down?" Then the prophet stopped, but said, "I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel." So God let him take other counsel (since he refused His own), that led to his ruin.
That is why the parable fell on deaf ears. One writer traces where a refusal that is kept up ends:
To sin is to deserve condemnation. But to refuse mercy and correction brings out God's determination to destroy. His own pride and folly become the immediate cause of his ruin. His victory over Edom lifted him up, and he challenges the king of Israel. How contemptuously Joash treats him! Amaziah, driven by his own vanity, would not hear. It was the first step on the path that led to his downfall… Man's pride and folly, when he keeps at them, are the forerunner of God's judgment.
Joash did not invent a punishment. He acted out the story he had told.
The king of Israel made good his parable. It was the thistle against the cedar, and the result was a complete rout. A wild beast trampled the thistle and crushed it underfoot… Amaziah is a captive. Jerusalem's walls are broken down for 400 cubits. Joash takes the gold and silver of both the temple and the palace, and takes hostages too. This was an effective stop to Judah's boasting against Israel. Whatever glory Amaziah won by his victory over Edom is overshadowed for good.
- Victory — Edom fell to Amaziah, and the win lifted him up. His own pride became the immediate cause of his ruin.
- Pride — A man who defeats one enemy imagines he can defeat any enemy. That is the thistle asking the cedar for a marriage alliance.
- Contempt — Joash's reply was scornful but true, and it came from an unbeliever. God can send a warning through a man who does not know Him.
- Refusal — Amaziah had already silenced God's prophet with a threat. He pushed God's counsel away, so God left him to the counsel that destroyed him.
- Trampled — The parable was not a threat but a forecast. Joash crushed the thistle, broke Jerusalem's wall, carried off the temple treasure, and wiped out the glory Amaziah had won over Edom.
Thou thinkest, Lo, thou hast smitten Edom; and thy heart has lifted thee up to boast abide now at home; why shouldest thou contend with misfortune, that thou shouldest fall, thou and Judah with thee?
Joash of Israel answers Amaziah's challenge with a diagnosis, not a threat: the win over Edom has gone to Amaziah's head. He tells him to stay home, but a king who has just ignored God's prophet is unlikely to listen to an enemy.
Amaziah's reign had started better than it ended. One commentator traces the slide from an unsteady walk with God to bowing before the gods of Seir, the gods of Edom.
Amaziah, up to a certain point, walks with God, but in weakness and with an unsteady step. He leans upon an arm of flesh, but he listens to the prophet, and this saves him from being defeated... Lifted up by the victory that he had obtained over Edom, he takes the gods of Seir which could not deliver their own people, and bows down before them. He then turns a deaf ear to the prophet who rebukes him. But pride goes before confusion, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Joash of Israel did not worship the Lord. Yet he read Amaziah's heart, and that is part of the lesson.
When Amaziah foolishly determined to attack his brothers, the ten tribes of Israel, Joash sent him a crushing reply. He used a parable that belittled Amaziah by calling him a "thistle" challenging a cedar tree, and a wild beast trampled the thistle. So the unbeliever reproved the believer. Joash saw that Amaziah's defeat of Edom had left him flushed with the pride that thought he could defeat Israel also.
One commentator sets Joash's words beside two proverbs about staying out of other people's quarrels. He writes about Josiah, a later king of Judah who repeated Amaziah's mistake. (Where older translations read "meddle to your hurt," the ESV has "provoke trouble.")
"Why should you meddle to your hurt, so that you fall?" said the king of Israel to Amaziah, Josiah's ancestor, years before. Josiah should also have been familiar with the proverb copied by the men of Hezekiah: "Whoever meddles in a quarrel not his own is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears." And another: "It is an honour for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarrelling."
Joash ends by widening the damage — "and Judah with you."
Joash advised Amaziah to stay at home, for if he meddled where he ought not, he would involve not only himself in a humiliating fall, but Judah also.
Amaziah had already turned a deaf ear to God's prophet. Having refused the one counsel worth having, he went looking for counsel he liked better.
To sin is to be worthy of condemnation, but to refuse mercy and reproof brings out God's determination to destroy. His own pride and folly become the immediate occasion of his ruin. He was lifted up because of his victory over Edom and challenges the king of Israel. How contemptuously Joash treats him! Amaziah, driven by his own vanity, would not hear... Man's pride and folly, when persisted in, become the forerunner of God's judgment. Yet for this act of foolish pride he took advice — whose advice? Like Rehoboam, he sought the mind of flatterers.
Everything Joash predicted happened, and the glory Amaziah was so proud of did not survive it.
The king of Israel made good his parable. It was the thistle against the cedar, and the result was a complete rout... Amaziah is a captive. The walls of Jerusalem are broken down for four hundred cubits. The treasures of gold and silver of both the temple and the palace are taken, and hostages too... Whatever glory Amaziah won by his victory over Edom is overshadowed beyond recovery. He returned in triumph and thought his throne was secure. But unknown and unnoticed — as when Jonah rejoiced under the shade of the gourd while a worm at the root was destroying it — a conspiracy was formed against him in the hour of his boasting.
- Victory. Edom fell to Amaziah — and the success he could not handle became the thing that undid him.
- Pride. The win lifted him up, so he bowed to Edom's gods and then picked a fight with Israel.
- Warning. God sent a prophet; Amaziah would not listen. So the warning came instead from an unbelieving king who read his heart.
- Deafness. He refused the counsel he needed and hunted for flatterers instead. Pride, kept up, runs ahead of God's judgment.
- Fall. The parable came true: Amaziah a captive, Jerusalem's wall broken, the treasuries emptied, and Judah pulled down with him.
But Amaziah would not hear; for it was of God, that he might deliver them into [the enemy's] hand, because they had sought after the gods of Edom.
Amaziah's refusal to listen looks like a proud king ignoring good advice. Yet the verse says the deafness came from God. It traces that back to the idols he had carried home from Edom. So how can a man's stubbornness be his own and God's judgment at once?
The verse ties the king's closed ears to something earlier: the gods he brought home after beating Edom. One writer puts the warning and the idols side by side:
The king of Israel advised him to stay at home. If he meddled where he should not, he would bring down not only himself but Judah as well. Amaziah's foolish stubbornness refused to consider such a serious warning. He did not realise that God was moving him in this bad direction because he had adopted the idols of Edom. When someone gives himself up to idolatry, he can expect to fall to any evil influence. He has sought folly instead of wisdom.
Before this, a prophet had rebuked Amaziah for worshipping gods that had not saved their own worshippers. The king silenced him — and that silencing is what settled his case:
If the king cannot answer he can threaten. That is how the world stops the mouths of God's witnesses. "Have we made you a royal counselor? Stop! Why should you be struck down?" So the king answers God's merciful message with threats, though God sent it to show him his sin and folly. "Stop," said the king. The prophet stopped, and the king pushed the merciful reproof away. He could refuse the mercy and shut the prophet's mouth; but he must hear God's judgment with no mercy mixed in. "I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel." And when God determines to destroy, can man escape?
The chapter says Amaziah "took advice" before challenging Israel. Refusing the counsel God sent did not leave him with no counsel at all:
Like his father Joash, "the counsel of the ungodly" led him into disaster. But it was of God, to punish his idolatry… He refused God's own counsel, so God let him take other counsel, and that counsel led to his ruin.
From the outside, nothing mysterious happened here. A man won a battle, thought too much of himself, and picked a fight he could not win — and that ordinary sequence was the visible edge of something larger:
His own pride and folly become the immediate occasion of his ruin. His victory over Edom lifted him up, and he challenges the king of Israel… Amaziah, driven by his own vanity, would not listen. That was the first step on the path to his downfall. His defeat was the first public stroke of God's judgment, which was now unavoidable, for this came of God. Man's pride and folly, when persisted in, become the forerunner of God's judgment.
The pattern in this verse is not unique to Amaziah, and it never begins with God. A reader worried that God simply decides to blind people should notice the order of events:
God never sends this blindness to visit a man until he has justly exposed himself to judgment. All the cases show this. Pharaoh, for instance, had forgotten Joseph in deepest ingratitude… The nations of the old world had brought this corrupt mind on themselves. Israel "had not," Jerusalem "would not."
The verse is a hinge. What follows is the collapse of a reign that had started well:
Lifted up by the victory he had won over Edom, he takes the gods of Seir, which could not deliver their own people, and bows down before them. He then turns a deaf ear to the prophet who rebukes him. But pride goes before confusion, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Amaziah makes war against Israel. He suffers a shameful defeat, they take him prisoner, and Jerusalem itself is laid waste.
- Idols first. The deafness has a stated cause. Amaziah had sought the gods of Edom, and a man who gives himself to idols will fall to any evil influence.
- Mercy refused. God sent a prophet before He sent an army. Silencing that prophet turned a warning into a verdict with no mercy mixed in.
- Counsel replaced. Refusing God's counsel does not leave a man with no counsel. God let him take other advice, and that advice ruined him.
- Pride visible. Onlookers saw only vanity picking a fight. God was making pride the forerunner of a judgment already determined.
- Never arbitrary. God hardens no one first. In every case — Pharaoh, the nations, Jerusalem — the man ripens his own evil. Judgment then confirms him in it.
And Joash king of Israel went up; and they looked one another in the face, he and Amaziah king of Judah, at Beth-shemesh, which is in Judah.
Amaziah's boastful challenge to Joash finally gets its answer, and the two kings meet in battle on Judah's own ground. The verse looks like a plain military note, yet it raises two questions: why did Amaziah demand this meeting, and why does Scripture say it came from God?
One writer traces Amaziah's challenge back to his victory over Edom and to the advice he took.
But success with Amaziah (as with most of us) puffs him up. Full of himself after conquering the Edomites, he arrogantly challenged the king of Israel to meet him in combat, saying, "Come, let us look one another in the face."… He "took advice," we read, in doing this. Like his father Joash, "the counsel of the ungodly" led him into disaster. But it was of God, to punish his idolatry.
The chapter says this meeting came from God (v. 20). One writer sets that beside Amaziah's refusal of God's reproof.
To sin is to deserve condemnation. But to refuse mercy and reproof brings out God's determination to destroy (Prov. 1:24-31). His own pride and folly becomes the immediate occasion of his ruin. His victory over Edom lifted him up, and he challenges the king of Israel. How scornfully Joash treats him! Amaziah, driven by his own vanity, would not hear. That was the first step on the path to his downfall. His defeat was the first public stroke of God's judgment, which was now certain, for this came of God (2 Chron. 25:20). Man's pride and folly, when persisted in, become the forerunner of God's judgment.
The verse names the place and adds that it belonged to Judah. Beth-shemesh already had a history with the ark of the covenant, the chest that held the tablets of the law.
A town of the Levites on the north border of Judah. God guided the ark there by a miracle when the Philistines sent it back from Ekron, and the people there were struck down for looking into it. Here Jehoash king of Israel defeated Amaziah king of Judah.
The two kings facing each other here belong to one nation split in two.
What a sad picture before us here! We have seen conflict between Israel and Judah at other times. But this conflict goes beyond anything before it. Joash (Jehoash), Jehu's grandson, defeats Amaziah, king of Judah. He captures Jerusalem, Amaziah's capital, breaks down a large part of its wall, and takes away its treasure… Pride still goes before a fall, and a proud spirit before destruction. God's Word gives many examples of this. Each one stands in clear contrast to the One who humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross.
Joash had answered the challenge with a parable of a thistle and a cedar.
The king of Israel made good his parable. It was the thistle against the cedar, and the result was a complete rout. A wild beast trampled the thistle underfoot. "And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to his home" (2 Chron. 25:22). Amaziah is a captive. The walls of Jerusalem are broken down for 400 cubits. The gold and silver treasures of both the temple and the palace are carried off, and hostages too. This was an effective stop to Judah's boasting against Israel. Whatever glory Amaziah won by his victory over Edom is now permanently overshadowed.
One writer holds Amaziah up as a mirror for today.
A prophet is sent and rebukes Amaziah for his amazing folly… He could refuse the mercy and shut the mouth of the prophet; but he had to hear God's judgment with no mercy mixed in… Amaziah is but a sample of man. God still sends a message of mercy, and the spirit of the world still says "Stop," or listens only to an authority that men have appointed… God's dreadful judgment on those who do not obey the truth is not announced as God gives it. It is toned down, so that no one takes it as meant for himself.
- Face one — success. Beating Edom lifted Amaziah up. A proud heart then took ungodly counsel, and it led him into disaster.
- Face two — the prophet. God's mercy came first, in a rebuke he could have accepted. Silencing it left him with God's sentence alone.
- Face three — Joash. He got the meeting he demanded. Scripture says it came from God, so his own pride carried out the judgment on his idolatry.
- Face four — his own ground. The battle fell at Beth-shemesh, a town of Judah. The loss reached past the king to Jerusalem's wall, treasures and hostages.
- Face five — ours. The world still says "stop" to God's warning and tones down His judgment. Set against Amaziah stands the One who humbled Himself to the death of the cross.
And Judah was routed before Israel; and they fled every man to his tent.
Amaziah had just crushed Edom, then brought Edom's gods home and bowed to them; he refused to listen when a prophet rebuked him. This verse records where that road ended. Judah broke and ran, and Israel took their king prisoner.
This collapse is the last stage of a longer story. One commentator traces Amaziah's whole reign: a king who walked with God unsteadily, leaned on human strength, then let success go to his head:
Amaziah, up to a certain point, walks with God, but in weakness and with an unsteady step. He leans on human strength… Lifted up by his victory over Edom, he takes the gods of Seir, which could not save their own people, and bows down before them. He then refuses to listen to the prophet who rebukes him… Amaziah goes to war with Israel. Israel defeats him shamefully, takes him prisoner, and lays Jerusalem waste.
Scripture shows the same fall many times. It also shows the opposite path, taken by Christ:
It is true that Amaziah, flushed with pride at having beaten Edom, had challenged Joash to battle. Joash had replied, warning Amaziah of the consequences of his rash challenge, but Amaziah would not listen. God then allowed him to be routed before Israel. Pride still goes before a fall and a haughty spirit before destruction. We have many examples of this in God's Word, all in clear contrast to that One who humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross.
Joash had answered Amaziah's challenge with a picture: a thistle against a cedar. The defeat made that picture real.
The king of Israel proved his parable true. It was the thistle against the cedar, and the result was a complete rout. A wild beast trampled the thistle down… Amaziah is a captive. They break down the walls of Jerusalem for 400 cubits, carry off the treasures of gold and silver from both the temple and the palace, and take hostages too. This put an effective stop to Judah's boasting against Israel. Whatever glory Amaziah won by his victory over Edom is now overshadowed beyond recovery.
Another commentator sums up this verse in one line:
The result of the battle had been settled beforehand, and Amaziah simply went to his certain defeat (v. 22).
God had not left Amaziah without warning. He sent a prophet, and Amaziah refused to hear him. That refusal, more than the sin itself, is what drew out the sentence:
To sin is to deserve condemnation, but to refuse mercy and correction brings out God's determination to destroy (Prov. 1:24-31). His own pride and folly become the direct cause of his ruin. His victory over Edom lifted him up, and he challenges the king of Israel… Amaziah, driven by his own vanity, would not listen. That was the first step on the path to his downfall, and his defeat was the first public stroke of God's judgment, which was now unavoidable.
There is a sting in who defeated whom. Judah held the temple and the truth; the northern kingdom had abandoned both. Yet Judah ran.
Judah ought to have been the more faithful, since they had the truth in a way that Israel had not. Yet they flee before the men of Israel. What confusion when God had to stand against His own people — when He had to strike even those He cared for most, who were now the more guilty just because they had more light!
The same humbling can fall on anyone who holds the truth without living it:
Judah stayed in the place God had given them and kept their outward loyalty to God's temple. Yet Israel, who had left God's place of worship, humbled them deeply… Why are we humbled like this? Because we have not acted with a whole heart on the truths we know, and God uses such means to drive us back to walk truly in His ways.
- Success — Amaziah's ruin began at his high point. The victory over Edom, not a setback, lifted him up and set him against Israel.
- Silencing — He refused to hear God's messenger. Sin deserves judgment, but refusing mercy and correction is what drew out the sentence.
- Settled — After that refusal the battle was decided before it began. He marched out to a defeat already fixed.
- Shame — The thistle was trampled down: Amaziah a captive, the wall broken, the treasures of temple and palace carried off, every boast over Edom erased.
- Searchlight — Judah, with more light, fled before Israel, which had less. Truth held but not obeyed leaves you humbled before those who never had it.
And Joash 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 he broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits.
Amaziah, king of Judah, had just beaten Edom, and the win made him bold enough to challenge Joash, king of Israel, to battle. He lost — so why did God let Judah's king fall, and the wall of his own capital with him?
The defeat did not begin on the battlefield. It began with a victory that went to Amaziah's head.
Joash (Jehoash), Jehu's grandson, defeats Amaziah, king of Judah. He captures Jerusalem, Amaziah's capital, breaks down a large part of its wall, and takes away its treasure. It is true that Amaziah had challenged Joash to battle. He was flushed with pride at having defeated Edom. Joash had replied, warning Amaziah where his rash challenge would lead, but Amaziah would not listen. God then allowed Israel to rout him. Pride still goes before a fall, and a haughty spirit before destruction. God's Word gives us many examples of this. All of them stand in clear contrast to the One who humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross.
Amaziah's worst mistake was not the challenge itself. It was what he did when correction came.
To sin is to deserve condemnation. But to refuse mercy and correction brings out God's determination to destroy (Prov. 1:24-31). His own pride and folly become the immediate cause of his ruin. His victory over Edom lifted him up, and he challenges the king of Israel. Joash treats him with scorn! Amaziah, driven by his own vanity, would not listen. That was the first step on the path to his downfall. His defeat was the first public stroke of God's judgment, and that judgment was now certain, for this came of God (2 Chron. 25:20). When a man holds on to pride and folly, God's judgment follows.
The verse names the two gates at either end of the breach. Where that wall stood matters, and so does how Joash got inside.
No one had ever damaged the walls of Jerusalem before this. The breach was on the north — the only side from which the city is easy to reach. Josephus records that Joash got into the city by threatening to kill their captive king if the people refused to open the gates.
Joash did not kill Amaziah, and did not leave him at Beth-shemesh, where the battle was fought. He took him home to Jerusalem, and that detail carries its own sting.
Joash took Amaziah captive and brought him to Jerusalem. There he could watch the destruction of a large section of the city wall (v. 23). He also saw the house of God stripped of all the gold and silver articles in it, which Joash and Israel carried off as plunder.
The wall and the treasure tell one story. Amaziah lost in fact what he had already given up in his heart.
He had shown no regard for God's glory, of which the gold speaks. He had shown none for the need of redemption, which the silver pictures. So God let those very symbols be taken from him. What do we today think of those two vital matters — God's glory and the redemption that is in Christ Jesus? The broken wall confirms something. Amaziah had already broken down his own separation from the godless nations when he took up Edom's idols. Jerusalem, at least, ought to have stayed clear of the gross evil of idolatry. So the wall was of no practical use any more.
The same writer turns the story on the reader, and names what meddling costs.
What a lesson this is for us! Meddle where we have no right, and we will find the wall of our separation from the world broken down. Worse still, the precious things of the Lord that we hold in trust will be stolen from us! Let us pay close attention to the words Paul wrote to Timothy: "O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you" (1 Tim. 6:20).
The rubble was not the end of the story. A later king took up the rebuilding.
After that Uzziah carried out a great work of restoration. He rebuilt and fortified the northern wall of Jerusalem, which had been broken down under Amaziah (2 Chron 25:23).
- Pride opens the breach. Beating Edom lifted Amaziah's heart. The challenge that pride produced led straight to his capture — the opposite of the One who humbled Himself to death on a cross.
- Refusal seals it. Sin deserves condemnation. Refusing correction brings out God's settled purpose to destroy, and this defeat was the first public stroke of it.
- The wall only confirms. The stones fell on the north side, the easiest way in. Amaziah had already let his separation go long before Joash touched it.
- The treasure follows the wall. Gold speaks of God's glory, silver of redemption. Joash carried both away from a king who valued neither.
- The breach can be rebuilt. Uzziah later rebuilt the northern wall Amaziah lost — so guard what the Lord has placed in your trust.
And 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, and hostages, and returned to Samaria.
Amaziah began his reign walking with God, yet this verse counts what his defeat by Israel cost him: the treasure of God's house, the king's treasury, and captives carried away. Why did God let the kingdom that had abandoned His worship strip His own house?
The plunder was not a random turn of war. It came at the end of a path. One writer traces the whole descent: a weak step, then the gods of Edom, then a prophet ignored.
Amaziah, up to a certain point, walks with God, but in weakness and with an unsteady step. He leans on an arm of flesh, but he listens to the prophet, and this saves him from being defeated. The cities of Judah, however, suffer the consequences of his false step... Lifted up by the victory he had won over Edom, he takes the gods of Seir, which could not deliver their own people, and bows down before them. He then turns a deaf ear to the prophet who rebukes him. But pride goes before confusion, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Amaziah, making war against Israel, is defeated in disgrace and made prisoner, and Jerusalem itself is laid waste.
The turning point was not the sin alone but what he did with the correction sent after it.
To sin is to deserve condemnation. But to refuse mercy and reproof brings out God's determination to destroy (Prov. 1:24-31). His own pride and folly become the immediate cause of his ruin. He was lifted up because of his victory over Edom and challenges the king of Israel... Amaziah, driven by his own vanity, would not hear. That was the first step on the path to his downfall. His defeat was the first public stroke of God's judgment.
The items listed are not simply valuables. One commentator reads the loss of the gold, the silver and the wall as God removing the outward signs of things Amaziah had already treated as worthless.
What a lesson this was for Amaziah! He had shown no regard for God's glory (of which the gold speaks), nor for the need of redemption (symbolised by the silver), and therefore God allowed the very symbols to be taken from him. What do we today think of those two vital matters — God's glory and the redemption that is in Christ Jesus?
The verse names Obed-edom beside the temple vessels. Chronicles has already listed his family among the temple doorkeepers, and it gives the reason for their place there.
Obed-Edom is here, as always, the object of special blessing... He had eight sons, for it is said that God had blessed him. Had he not, together with his family, been the keeper of the ark in his house for three months?... We see him and his large family with him here as doorkeepers of Solomon's future temple.
The wound went deeper because of who won: Israel had left the very temple it now stripped.
Judah stayed in the place God had given them and kept their outward allegiance to God's temple. Yet Israel, who had left God's place of worship, humbled them deeply. This is a serious lesson for believers today. They may be humbled in the eyes of people who keep up the outward form of Christianity but have no living knowledge of Christ. Why are we humbled like this? Because we have not acted with our whole heart on the truths we know. God uses such means to drive us back to walk truly in His ways.
Amaziah still claimed the Lord as the God he served. Chronicles traces the defeat itself back to God's hand.
Amaziah does not listen to this warning, and Chronicles tells us that it was of God, so that He might deliver them into the enemy's hand, because they had sought the gods of Edom (2 Chron. 25:20). Judah is beaten. Amaziah is taken prisoner. Jerusalem is broken down. All the treasures of the king and of the temple are carried off as spoil, along with hostages. Amaziah had claimed to serve and honour his God. From the moment he forsakes Him to serve other gods, he meets Him as a consuming fire.
- Pride — Victory over Edom lifted Amaziah up, and a haughty spirit went before his fall.
- Refusal — Sin deserves condemnation. Refusing the prophet's reproof brought out God's determination to destroy.
- Stripping — The gold speaks of God's glory, the silver of redemption. God let the symbols go because Amaziah despised both.
- Shame — Judah kept the temple but lost its treasure to a kingdom that had left true worship. God uses such shame to drive His people back to His ways.
- Fire — He still called the Lord his God, yet met Him as a consuming fire the moment he turned to other gods.
And Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived after the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, fifteen years.
At first glance this verse only counts years. Amaziah outlived the king of Israel who had defeated him by fifteen years. Commentators read those years as time given for repentance, and ask what he did with them.
The verse sits between a crushing defeat and a violent death. Commentators see God leaving a gap between the two.
The Lord gave the king a long time to repent. He lived fifteen years after the king who had plundered Jerusalem. But there does not seem to have been any sign of repentance in Amaziah, for his history closes with the words, "From the time when he turned away from the LORD they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there" (verse 27). What a sad end after such a promising start.
Commentators see a wider principle here in how God deals with everyone.
God always gives space for repentance before He carries out judgment... How then does man treat this longsuffering of God? Sadly, men despise the riches of His goodness. Because He "forbears," men think God will never judge; because He "suffers long," men think God is indifferent to evil. Yet God forbears and suffers long for one reason: to give men space for repentance.
The fifteen years began after a humiliation Amaziah had brought on himself. Warned by Joash of Israel to stay home, he pushed for the fight anyway.
The king of Israel made good his parable. It was the thistle against the cedar, and the result was a complete rout... Amaziah is a captive. The walls of Jerusalem are broken down for four hundred cubits. Israel carries off the treasures of gold and silver from both the temple and the palace, and takes hostages too. This put an effective stop to Judah's boasting against Israel. Whatever glory Amaziah won by his victory over Edom is now beyond recovery. Fifteen years afterwards, like his father, conspirators kill him.
Being brought low is not the same as being brought back.
Though Joash had defeated Amaziah, he did not live long to enjoy his victory. He died fifteen years before Amaziah. Still, there is no sign that Amaziah recovered his treasures from Israel. Judah stayed in the place God had given them and kept up their outward allegiance to God's temple. Yet Israel, who had left God's place of worship, humiliated them greatly. This is a serious lesson for believers today. Some people keep a formal observance of Christianity but have no living knowledge of Christ, and we may be humbled in their eyes. Why are we humbled like this? Because we have not acted wholeheartedly on the truths we know, and God uses such means to drive us back to walk truly in His ways.
The chapter closes by listing Amaziah's acts "from first to last." Writers ask whether those words mark a split in his reign.
No conspiracy would have succeeded had he not turned away from the Lord. He showed little or no faith when he hired soldiers from Israel. He showed only a selfish, self-interested obedience to the Lord's word when he sent them away. But it was when he publicly set up Edom's idols that the Lord allowed these evils to come on him... "From first to last" — is there not a division here between the earlier and the later part of his reign? And is the dividing line the point where he turned from the Lord?
His end repeated his family's pattern, and even his choice of hiding place fit the man.
Amaziah lived more than fifteen years after his humiliating defeat and capture by the king of Israel. He died by violence, like his father and grandfather before him... His "turning away from following the Lord" was probably his final and complete apostasy... Lachish was the first of the cities of Judah to take up the idolatries of the kingdom of Israel... and it was natural for the idolatrous Amaziah to seek shelter there... His name means "the strength of the Lord"; but we read, "he strengthened himself" (2 Chron. 25:11) — his self-sufficiency contradicting his name, something not uncommon in our day.
- Turned — He publicly set up the gods of Edom, and the record dates his fall from that point.
- Defeated — Israel routed him and took his freedom, Jerusalem's wall, and the temple treasure. His win over Edom counted for nothing.
- Spared — Fifteen extra years left him room to return. God gives space for repentance before He judges.
- Unchanged — Humiliation changed his circumstances, not his heart. He never recovered what he had lost.
- Ruined — The record dates the plot that killed him from the day he turned from the Lord. Time given and ignored ran out.