Глава 14

1–22. 9th King of Judah Amaziah. 23–29. 13th king of Israel Jeroboam II. 2 Kings 14:1. In the second year of Joash the son of Jehoahaz king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah reigned: 2 Kings 14:2. He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Jehohaddan, from Jerusalem. 2 Kings 14:3. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, but not like his father David: he did in everything like his father Joash. 2 Kings 14:4. Only the heights were not abolished: the people still performed sacrifices and incense on the heights. 2 Kings 14:5. When the kingdom was established in his hands, then he killed his servants who had killed the king, his father. 2 Kings 14:6. But he did not kill the murderers’ children, as it is written in the book of the Law of Moses, in which the Lord commanded, saying: “fathers should not be punished with death for their children, and children should not be punished with death for their fathers, but everyone for his own crime should be punished with death.” The accession of the ninth king of Judah, Amaziah, falls in the 2nd year of Joash of Israel, i.e., approximately 837 BC, and lasted until 808. In general, the reign of Amaziah is similar - in terms of duality and instability in the religion of Jehovah - with the reign of his father Joash; like the latter, he served Jehovah “not with a full heart” (2 Chronicles 25:2), just like Joash, Amaziah’s first half of his reign was marked by loyalty to Jehovah and His law, and then his reign was overshadowed by pagan (Edomite) idolatry (2 Chronicles 25:14–16). The first half of Amaziah’s reign dates back to his act of humanity towards the children of the murderers of Joash his father (see John 12:21–22); in this case, Amaziah was perhaps one of the first (cf. 2 Kings 9:26) to deviate from the requirements of the law of universal bloodshed and follow the humane law (Deut. 24:16; Ezek. 18:20). 2 Kings 14:7. He defeated ten thousand Edomites in the valley of Salt, and took Selah by war, and gave it the name Jokpheel, which remains to this day. He speaks in detail about the war between Amaziah and Idumea (2 Chronicles 25:5-13), talking mainly about Amaziah’s hiring of 100 thousand Israelis to help himself in the war against Idumea and their dissolution according to the word of the prophet, and the irritated Israelis on the return journey carried out a series of robberies and murders within Judea. The purpose of Amaziah's campaign in Idumea was the new subjugation of this Judah, which had broken away from it under Jehoram (2 Kings 8:20). With 300 thousand troops (2 Chron. 25:5), Amaziah fought with the Edomites in the so-called Salt Valley (Heb. gay-gamelah, LXX: Γεμελέδ, Vulg.: in valle Salinarum, slav. in gemel), southwest of the Dead Sea, in the western part of el-Gor, between the Dead the sea and the Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea (cf. Onomast. 666; Robinson. Palast. III, 22–24). Here Joab once defeated the Edomites (2 Kings 8:13; 1 Chronicles 18:12; Isaiah 59:2): here Amaziah won a complete victory over the Edomites: 10 thousand of them were killed in battle, and 10 thousand taken captive in a barbaric manner were executed by being cast from a cliff (2 Chronicles 25:11-12). In addition, the Jews took the Edomite city of Selah (Heb. village, LXX: ή πετρα, Vulg.: petra, Slav. “stone”), later known by the Greek name Petra (Heb. and Greek. the names mean the same: “rock”), according to Eusebius, lying 10 miles from Elath (Onomast. 763, 474). The winner also gave the city a new name in the theocratic spirit: Ioctheel (Hebrew yakteel, LXX: Ιεκθοὴλ, Vulg.: Iectehel, slav.: Jephoil). From the remark (verse 7) that this new name remains behind the city “to this day,” one can conclude that the source from which the priest took. writer of the 2nd book of Kings, this message occurred around the time of Amaziah or now after it, since already under Ahaz Idumea fell away from Judah (2 Kings 16:6), and at the same time, of course, the new name, expressing the idea of ​​​​conquest, could not resist (according to Gesenius, Jokpheel - a Deo subactus, in servitutem subactus). Returning victorious, Amaziah, however, did not thank God, but, on the contrary, began to serve the gods of Seir or Edom, which he had defeated, and the prophet in vain turned him away from this (2 Chronicles 25:14-16). 2 Kings 14:8. Then Amaziah sent messengers to Joash king of Israel, the son of Jehoahaz the son of Jehu, saying: Come out, let us see each other in person. 2 Kings 14:9. And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thorn that is in Lebanon sent to the cedar tree that is in Lebanon, saying, “Give your daughter to my son as a wife.” But the wild beasts of Lebanon passed by and trampled this thorn. 2 Kings 14:10. You have defeated the Edomites, and your heart has become proud. Be proud and stay at home. Why should you start a quarrel to your own detriment? You and Judas will fall with you. 2 Kings 14:11. But Amaziah did not listen. And Joash king of Israel went forth, and he and Amaziah king of Judah met in person at Beth-shemesh, which is in Judah. 2 Kings 14:12. And Judah was defeated by the Israelites, and fled to their tents. 2 Kings 14:13. And Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash the son of Ahaziah, captured Joash king of Israel in Bethshemesh, and went to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the gate of the coal four hundred cubits. 2 Kings 14:14. And he took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king's house, and the hostages, and returned to Samaria. Puffed up by the success of his war with the Edomites, Amaziah, apparently without any reason, sends a military challenge to Joash of Israel. (According to I. Josephus, Jude. Ancient. 9:9, 2, Amaziah demanded from Joash that he and all the people submit to Amaziah, as the 10 tribes were subject to his ancestors David and Solomon; according to the rabbis, Amaziah wanted to take revenge on the Israelites through wars for the furies carried out by hired Israelis in Judea, 2 Chronicles 25:13 ). He tried to reason with the proud Amaziah with the parable of the thorn and the cedar in Lebanon (v. 9; cf. Blessed Theodoret, question 43), showing him the superiority of the forces of the kingdom of Israel over the Kingdom of Judah (in the history of the relations of Jehoshaphat of Judah with Ahab and Joram of Israel, (1 Kings 22:1), and (2 Kings 3:1), we noted already that the kingdom of Judah, apparently, was dependent on the Israeli one, and in general, in terms of the sheer number of population and vastness and abundance of territory, the latter significantly exceeded the former), and advising to abandon the disastrous undertaking for Amaziah and Judah (v. 10). Amaziah, however, went to war, and already within the borders of Judea, in the city of Bethshemesh, Heb. Beth-Shemem - on the border with the tribe of Dan (Josh. 15:10,19:41; 1 Kings 6:19; 1 Kings 4:9 - near the land of the Philistines, now Ain-Shemem in the Sorek valley on the road from Ascalon to Jerusalem, see Onomast. 366) Joash met him, completely defeated his army and captured Amaziah himself, and, according to I. Flavius (Ant. Jude 9:9, 3) Joash, under threat of death, forced Amaziah to demand from the inhabitants of Jerusalem that they let Joash and his army into the city, which was done. Entering Jerusalem, Joash destroyed part of the Jerusalem wall from the Gate of Ephraim (cf. (Zechariah 14), in the north, near the present Damascus Gate) to the Gate of Coal (400 cubits in the northwest), this was actual evidence of Judah’s dependence on the Kingdom of Israel. Having then seized many treasures from the church and palace, as well as hostages (in return for the freed Amaziah), the victorious Joash returned to Samaria. 2 Kings 14:15. The rest about Joash, what he did, and about his courageous deeds, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, is written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. 2 Kings 14:16. And Joash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. And Jeroboam his son reigned in his stead. They repeat the final remarks about Joash of Israel, already made in (2 Kings 13:12–13), here especially relevant in connection with (v. 17), from which it is clear that after the death of Joash of Israel, Amaziah of Judah reigned for another 15 years (cf. 2 Kings 14:1–2, 13:10). 2 Kings 14:18. The rest of the deeds of Amaziah are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. 2 Kings 14:19. And they plotted against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. And they sent for him to Lachish, and killed him there. 2 Kings 14:20. And they brought him on horses, and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. The end of Amaziah was inglorious, like his father: and he fell victim to a conspiracy drawn up in Jerusalem, from where he fled to Lachish (once a Canaanite city (Joshua 10:31), then in the tribe of Judah: (Joshua 15:39); it was fortified by Rehoboam, (2 Chron. 11:9), now Umm-Lachish southwest of Bejibrin - Eleutheropolis. Onomast. 647), where he was killed. Amaziah was awarded royal burial. 2 Kings 14:21. And all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah. 2 Kings 14:22. He built Elath and returned it to Judah after the king slept with his fathers. Instead of the murdered Amaziah, all the people installed as king one of the sons of Amaziah (this shows how great was the devotion in the kingdom of Judah to the dynasty of David) Azariah (v. 21; cf. 2 Kings 15:1,6–8,17–23,27), otherwise Uzziah (Heb. Uzziah, (2 Kings 15:13,31–32,34); cf. Hos.1:1; Am.1:1; Isa.1:1,6:1): both names express almost the same idea: “the help of Jehovah” and “the son of Jehovah.” In the first half of Uzziah’s reign, he completed the task of his father’s conquest of Idumea and rebuilt Elath-port on the Red Sea (cf. note to 1 Kings 9:26). This was probably the most outstanding deed of this king, which is why it is reported about it now; other deeds of this king are reported in (2 Kings 15: 1–7); Wed (2 Chronicles 26:1). 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 reigned in Samaria, and reigned forty-one years, 2 Kings 14:24. and he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord: he did not turn away from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin. 2 Kings 14:25. He restored the borders of Israel, from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of the desert, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which He spoke by His servant Jonah the son of Hamathite, the prophet of Hathhepher, 2 Kings 14:26. for the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, very bitter, so that there was neither imprisoned nor left, and Israel had no helper. 2 Kings 14:27. And the Lord did not want to uproot the name of Israel from under heaven, but saved them by the hand of Jeroboam, the son of Joash. 2 Kings 14:28. The rest about Jeroboam and everything that he did, and about his courageous exploits, how he fought and how he returned Damascus and Hamath, which belonged to Judah, to Israel, is written in the chronicle of the kings of Israel. 2 Kings 14:29. And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, with the kings of Israel. And Zechariah his son reigned in his stead. The date of the accession of Jeroboam II of Israel is consistent with the testimony (2 Kings 14:1–2,17), according to which Amaziah of Judah reigned for 29 years, of which 14 years together with Joash of Israel, and 15 with the latter’s son Jeroboam II. But the duration of the reign of Jeroboam II, 41 years, indicated in (2 Kings 14:21) does not reconcile with the evidence (2 Kings 15:8) that the son and successor of Jeroboam II, Zechariah, reigned only in the 33rd year of Azariah-Uzziah of Judah, the son and successor of Amaziah: if Jeroboam reigned for 15 years simultaneously with this latter and another 38 years with Uzziah, then the total number of years of the reign of Jeroboam II will be 53 years, or, assuming that 15 and 38 years were incomplete years, 51 years, and not 41 years; Therefore, it is possible to make the mistake of mixing numbers (the letters nun with mem: 50 and 40). The chronological date of the prophetic ministry of Hosea in the inscription to his prophetic book (Hos. 1:1; cf. verses 4–5; cf., however, in Prof. I. A. Brodovich. The Book of the Prophet Hosea, Kyiv. 1901, pp. XI-XVI.) also speaks in favor of lengthening the reign of Jeroboam II. About such a long and undoubtedly glorious reign of Jeroboam II the Israeli priest. the writer reports, however, only the most general information (perhaps for the sake of the wickedness of this king from a theocratic point of view 4, cf. verse 24 and (2 Kings 13:2) or, rather, due to the lack of a detailed biography of this king); mentions the significant and for the first time only after Solomon (1 Kings 8:65) the restoration of the ancient, God-promised borders of the land of Israel from Hamath of Syria (2 Kings 8:9; Onomast. 52) to the sea of ​​the desert (Heb. aym gaaraba, Vulg.: mare solitudinis art. 25). i.e. the Dead Sea (Deut. 3:17; Joshua 3:16, LXX: θάλασσα τῆς ῾Αραβα, glav.: “until the Sea of ​​Arabia”, Onomast. 495). Jeroboam, who in this case completed the work of his father Joash (2 Kings 13:25), could take advantage of the weakness of Damascus after the victories over it of the Assyrian kings Shalmaneser III and Assurdan III (Meyer, Geschichte des Alterth. I, s. 146). This feat of Jeroboam II was predicted by the famous prophet Jonah, whose name is known in the prophetic book (Jon. 1:1), which, of course, does not contain this special prediction, only containing Jonah’s prophecy about Nineveh (cf. Blessed Theodoret, question 45). The prophet Jonah came from the city of Gathhepher (Heb. Gath-Hahefer, LXX: Γεθχοφέρ, Gath quae est in Opher) - a city in the tribe of Zebulun (Joshua 19:13) under Jerome, the village of Geth 2 miles from Sepphoris - Diokesarea on the way to Tiberias, now el-Mashhad (Onomast. 335). The reason for such a happy turn of affairs for the kingdom of Israel is in the long-suffering and mercy of Jehovah, who, for the sake of fidelity to his covenant with Israel, still did not dare to put an end to the existence of the kingdom of Israel and even allowed the restoration of the ancient territory of Israel (verses 26-28) (v. 29, cf. 2 Kings 15:8). According to I. Flavius, Jude.Ant. 9:10, 1, Jeroboam II “was a very wicked man, worshiping idols and indulging in various completely inappropriate habits.” You might be interested in: