And 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?
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And from the time that Amaziah turned aside from following Jehovah, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish; and they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there.
Amaziah's reign ends in murder, but Chronicles does not treat it as palace politics. It dates the plot: the conspiracy began the moment the king turned away from the LORD.
Scripture tells this death twice. One account lists the bare events; Chronicles adds the reason behind them.
Our chapter simply recounts that they conspired against him at Jerusalem. He fled to Lachish. They sent after him to kill him. Then they brought him on horses to bury him with his fathers in the city of David. But Chronicles gives us the solemn reason for this drama: "From the time when he turned away from the LORD they made a conspiracy against him."
The words "from the time" fix a starting point for the plot. That point was not one of the king's low moments. It was his hour of triumph.
He turned away from the Lord on his return from the victory over Edom. Then the plot took shape. He returned in triumph and thought his throne was secure. But he neither knew it nor suspected it. It was like Jonah rejoicing under the shade of the gourd while a worm at the root was destroying it. The conspiracy grew against him in the hour of his boasting. It was the judgment of God.
Amaziah's earlier failures were real, but they did not bring this. What finally broke him was the public act — setting up the gods of a defeated nation.
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 obeyed the Lord's word and sent them away, but that obedience was selfish and self-interested. Yet it was when he openly set up Edom's idols that the Lord allowed these evils to come on him. The record reads, "Now the rest of the deeds of Amaziah, 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 moment he turned from the Lord? The earlier part was not with a perfect heart. Yet only when the king openly dishonoured the LORD did the prophet announce God's determination to destroy him.
Commentators differ on which moment the verse dates. One ties it to the setting up of Edom's gods; another places it later still. The same writer notes where the king ran for safety, and how his body came home.
His "turning away from following the Lord" probably means his final and complete abandonment of the LORD God of Israel. It does not mean the moment he first bowed down to the gods of Seir. That was only the beginning of his downward course. Lachish was the first city of Judah to take up the idol worship of the kingdom of Israel. Micah calls it "the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, for in you were found the transgressions of Israel" (Micah 1:13). So it was natural for the idolatrous Amaziah to seek shelter there. They brought his body back to Jerusalem on horses, as they would carry a beast.
Judgment did not fall at once. God left the king years to use.
The Lord gave the king a long time in which to repent. He lived fifteen years after the king who had plundered Jerusalem. But Amaziah seems to have shown no sign of repentance. His history closes with the words of this verse. What a sad end after such a promising start.
Amaziah did not fall as a beginner. He fell after his greatest success, and he was not the only king of Judah to do so.
These things are written for our instruction. The failure of these seven kings of Judah should teach us that no one is safe unless they keep depending on Him. That is true whatever their experience of God's goodness may have been.
- Turning. The verse gives a date, not an accident. The plot starts at the moment the king stops following the LORD.
- Timing. The plot grew while he celebrated his win over Edom, unseen by him, like the worm at the root of Jonah's shelter.
- Threshold. His half-hearted start did not destroy him. Openly setting up Edom's idols did.
- Tolerance. God gave him fifteen years after the defeat, and the record shows no sign of repentance in them.
- Test. Past victories guard no one; safety lasts only as long as dependence on God does.
And they brought him on horses, and buried him with his fathers in the city of Judah.
Amaziah's story ends with a body carried home on horseback and laid in a royal grave. This verse says nothing about how he died. For that, and for the reason behind the plot, we have to read the sentence just before it.
Kings reports the plot. Chronicles dates it. One writer asks whether that date splits the reign in two:
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. His obedience to the Lord's word in sending them away was very selfish and self-interested. Yet it was when he publicly set up Edom's idols that the Lord allowed these evils to come on him. "Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, first and last." First and 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?
The plot did not start on the day they killed him. It started while the king felt safest:
He turned away from the Lord on his return from the victory over Edom. Then the conspiracy was formed. He came back in triumph and thought his throne was secure. But without his knowing or noticing it, a conspiracy was formed against him in the hour of his boasting. It was like Jonah enjoying the shade of the plant while a worm destroyed its root. It was the judgment of God.
The town he chose as a refuge fits the man he had become. So does the way they carried him home:
His "turning away from following the Lord" was probably his final and complete abandoning of the Lord, the God of Israel. It was not the moment when he first bowed down to the gods of Seir, though that was the beginning of his downward course. Lachish was the first city of Judah to take up the idol worship of the kingdom of Israel. It was natural for the idolatrous Amaziah to look for shelter there. They brought his body back to Jerusalem on horses, as they would a beast.
Judgment did not fall at once. One writer weighs the years between his defeat and his death:
The Lord gave the king a long time in which 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. His history closes with a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, his flight to Lachish, and his death there. What a sad end after such a promising start.
The men behind the plot were close to the king. Even so, the verse ends with a mercy his father never received:
His ungodly character became offensive even to his own servants, and they conspired against him. They carried his body back to Jerusalem for burial, and the record says it was "with his fathers" (v. 28). That sounds as though he was buried with the kings, though his father did not have such a burial.
One writer notes that the burial place, called "the city of Judah" in older translations, is the city of David.
One writer traces the reign from the influence behind its good start to the phrase that closes it:
He was killed at the age of fifty-four. His mother's name means "Jehovah-pleased," which suggests she was a godly woman. Her influence may be why he acted righteously during the earlier part of his reign. The record of his reign has the same sad sameness as so many of the kings of Judah in this period — "his acts first and last." The first is full of promise. The last is decline, or turning away. "Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall."
- Turning. The plot dates from the moment Amaziah turned away from the Lord. Chronicles gives the reason that Kings only reports.
- Timing. The plot was forming while he felt safest, just after beating Edom. Jonah sat in the shade of a plant while a worm ate its root.
- Time given. Fifteen years passed between his defeat and his death. The record shows no sign of repentance.
- Trail. He fled to Lachish, a city known for idol worship. He came back on horses, carried like an animal.
- Tomb. He was still buried with his fathers, an honour his own father missed. "Let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall."