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Amaziah, 9th King of Judah 1–4. Beginning of the reign, execution of the killers of Joash. 5–13. War with Idumea. 14–16. Amaziah's worship of the gods of Seir and prophetic reproof. 17–24. The war of Amaziah with Joash of Israel, the defeat and captivity of Amaziah, the robbery of the church and palace. 25–28. The second half of the reign of Amaziah, his violent death. 2 Chronicles 25:1. Amaziah reigned for twenty-five years and reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years; His mother's name was Jehohaddan from Jerusalem. 2 Chronicles 25:2. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a full heart. 2 Chronicles 25:3. When the kingdom was established for him, then he killed his servants who had killed the king, his father. 2 Chronicles 25:4. But he did not kill their children, as it is written in the law, in the book of Moses, where the Lord commanded, saying: fathers must not be killed for their children, and children must not be killed for their fathers, but each one must die for his own crime. Wed. (2 Kings 14:2-6). In characterizing the religious duality of Amaziah in (2 Chronicles 25:2) it stands (he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, however) “not with a full heart” (glory: “not with a perfect heart”) instead of standing in (2 Kings 14:3) (he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, however) “not as his father David.” Amaziah was distinguished by greater loyalty to Jehovah in the first half of his reign (See The Explanatory Bible, vol. II, pp. 520–521). 2 Chronicles 25:5. And Amaziah gathered the Jews and put them by generation under the authority of captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, all Judah and Benjamin, and he counted them from twenty years old and upward, and found them three hundred thousand chosen men going to war, holding a spear and a shield. 2 Chronicles 25:6. And he also hired a hundred thousand brave soldiers from Israel for a hundred talents of silver. 2 Chronicles 25:7. But the man of God came to him and said: King! Let not the army of Israel go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel, even with all the children of Ephraim. 2 Chronicles 25:8. But go alone, do the work, fight courageously in the war. Otherwise, God will overthrow you in the face of the enemy, for God has the power to support and overthrow. 2 Chronicles 25:9. And Amaziah said to the man of God, “What shall I do with the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel?” And the man of God said, The Lord is able to give you more than this. 2 Chronicles 25:10. And Amaziah separated them, the army that had come to him from the land of Ephraim, so that they would go to their own place. And their anger was kindled greatly against Judah, and they went back to their place in the heat of anger. 2 Chronicles 25:11. But Amaziah took courage and led his people, and went to the valley of Salt and killed the sons of Seir ten thousand; 2 Chronicles 25:12. and the children of Judah took ten thousand alive captive, and brought them to the top of the rock, and cast them down from the top of the rock, and they were all utterly broken. 2 Chronicles 25:13. The army that Amaziah sent back, so that it would not go to war with him, scattered throughout the cities of Judea from Samaria to Bethhoron and killed three thousand in them, and plundered a lot of booty. There is only a brief mention of Amaziah’s war with the Edomites in (2 Kings 14) in one verse - 7th; here this event is described in full detail (cf. our explanatory notes on (2 Kings 14:7), The Explanatory Bible, vol. II, p. 521). 2 Chronicles here first of all adds the message that Amaziah, having informed the number of his own fighting army of the kingdom of Judah - 300,000 soldiers (v. 5), also hired 100,000 Israeli troops for 100 talents of silver (about 150,000 rubles) (v. 6). This is the first and only case in biblical-Jewish antiquity of hiring foreign troops to help one’s own army. Among the classical peoples, as well as among the Jews in the last centuries of their independent existence, such hiring was often practiced and usually consisted of paying money to the king or generally the commander of the troops, while the troops and soldiers themselves received nothing except booty and robbery. It is clear what an evil such a mercenary army represented for the country. And for this reason alone, and even more so in view of the criminality of the Kingdom of Israel from a theocratic point of view and the unfavorable nature of the union of the Kingdom of Judah with it (cf. 2 Chronicles 20:37), the prophet of God demanded that Amaziah release the Israeli army he had hired (vv. 7-8), which Amaziah did, although with regret about the wasted payment to the Israeli army (vv. 9). The latter was extremely irritated by the refusal (v. 10) and on the way back rewarded himself with great robbery and murder within Judea (v. 13). The historical authenticity of this entire message of 2 Chronicles about the hiring of the Israeli army by King Amaziah and its subsequent disbandment cannot be doubted: the reliability of the fact is supported by its consequence: the war with Jaish of Israel started on the initiative of Amaziah (v. 17, etc.), the prevailing reason for which can only be Amaziah’s desire to avenge the outrages of the Israeli soldiers in Judah (v. 13), and also to reward yourself for the amount lost on hiring troops (vv. 6, 9). Verses 11–12. In describing the brilliant victory of Amaziah over the Edomites, 2 Chronicles adds, in comparison with (2 Kings 14:7), that, in addition to 10,000 killed in the battle. Amaziah threw the other ten thousand captives from the cliff - a particularly cruel method of execution; the inhabitants of Nazareth once wanted to apply a similar execution to Jesus Christ (Luke 4:29); The Romans usually had the overthrow of those executed from the Terpeian Rock. In this case, between (2 Kings 14:7) and (2 Chronicles 25:12) there is the following difference: whereas according to 2 Kings Amaziah took the Edomite city of Selah (Greek Petra), 2 Chronicles only mentions the rock (Heb.: sela, LXX: τοῦ κρημνοῦ, Vulgata: petrae, slav.: “rapids”). Obviously, both books here complement each other. 2 Chronicles 25:14. Amaziah, coming after the defeat of the Edomites, brought the gods of the sons of Seir and made them his gods, and bowed to them and burned incense to them. 2 Chronicles 25:15. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Amaziah, and He sent a prophet to him, and he said to him: Why do you resort to the gods of this people, who have not delivered their people out of your hand? 2 Chronicles 25:16. When he spoke to him, the king answered: Have you been appointed as the king’s adviser? stop so they don't kill you. And the prophet stopped, saying: I know that God has decided to destroy you, because you have done this and do not listen to my advice. The news of Amaziah’s worship of some gods of Seir, found only in 2 Chronicles, characterizes Amaziah’s instability in the faith of Jehovah, all the more criminal since it manifested itself soon after the victory over the Edomites granted to him by God. It is possible that Amaziah initially took the “gods of the sons of Seir” and placed them only as military trophies, monuments of his victory over Seir, and then descended to actual worship of them, for which he was rebuked by the prophet, who predicted his death due to his arrogance. 2 Chronicles 25:17. And Amaziah the king of Judah consulted, and sent to Joash the son of Jehoahaz the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come out, let us see each other in person. 2 Chronicles 25:18. 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 thy daughter to my son to wife. But the wild beasts that were in Lebanon passed by and trampled this thorn. 2 Chronicles 25:19. You say: behold, I have beaten the Edomites, and your heart has risen to the point of vanity. Better stay at home. Why do you want to start a dangerous business? You and Judea will fall with you. 2 Chronicles 25:20. But Amaziah did not listen, since this was from God, in order to betray them into the hand of Joash because they began to resort to the gods of Edom. 2 Chronicles 25:21. And Joash king of Israel went out, and he and Amaziah king of Judah met in person at Beth-shemesh of Judah. 2 Chronicles 25:22. And Judah was defeated by the Israelites, and every man fled to his tent. 2 Chronicles 25:23. And Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash the son of Jehoahaz, captured Joash king of Israel in Bethshemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the gate of the coal, four hundred cubits; 2 Chronicles 25:24. and he took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were in the house of God at Obed-edom, and the treasures of the king's house, and the hostages, and returned to Samaria. Wed. (2 Kings 14:8–14), see The Expository Bible, vol. II, p. 522. The only reason for Amaziah to send a military challenge to Joash of Israel (v. 17) could be, as already said, the desire to take revenge on the kingdom of Israel for the robberies and murders carried out by Israeli soldiers on the territory of the kingdom of Judah. Verse 20: “since this is from God...” - this remark of 2 Chronicles, found only here, establishes the religious pragmatism of events: the causal connection of the defeat of Amaziah with the ungodly service of his idols of Seir (v. 14, etc.): here there was God's permission in relation to the evil actions of the human will, just as in the hardening of the heart of Pharaoh ((Ex. 14:4) and other places), or in relation to Rehoboam's foolishness ((1 Kings 12:15), see The Explanatory Bible, vol. II, p. 424). Stronger and, it seems, too sharply, the thought of the sacred writer 2 Chronicles Josephus is expressed: “in my opinion, the Eternal One himself encouraged Amaziah to start a war in order to punish him for all his iniquities” (“Antiquities of the Jews,” book IX, chapter 9, 2). They rightly point out here in Josephus the traces of his Pharisaic worldview, namely the Pharisaic doctrine of fate (cf. G. Skardanitsky, “Pharisees and Sadducees”, Kiev, 1905, p. 79 etc.). About the situation of Bethshemesh (v. 21). See comments on (Joshua 15:10) and on (2 Kings 14:13). Tolkov. Bible vol. II, p. 92.522. On the situation in ancient Jerusalem of the Gates of Ephraim and the Gates of Coal, see The Explanatory Bible, vol. II, p. 522. In verse 23 Amaziah's grandfather is called Jehoahaz - in the accepted text Heb. Iehoachaz, LXX (Ἰοαχάζ), Vulgata: (Ioachaz) and Russian Synodal translation; Meanwhile, everywhere in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, excluding only (2 Chronicles 21:17) (Joahaz), this king is called Ahaziah (cf. commentary on (2 Chronicles 21:17), “Explanatory Bible”, vol. III, p. 139). In the Hebrew codes 117, 188, 224 in Kennicott and 31, 196, 737 in Roosi the name Ahaziah appears, as well as in the Greek codes 19, 93, 108, 121 in Golmes. Thus, the name Joahaz arose here as in (2 Chronicles 21:17) by accident, as a result of the rearrangement of the name of God Jehovah from the end (Ahaziah) to the beginning (Joahaz) (cf. Prof. Gulyaev, “Historical books of the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament,” p. 557). Obed-Edom (famous “Avdedom”) - probably a person from the descendants of that Obed-Edom, who, during the initial division of duties of the Levites, was entrusted with the supervision of the treasures of the church (1 Chronicles 26:15) (Gulyaev, “Historical Books of the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament,” p. 557). 2 Chronicles 25:25. And Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Joash the son of Joash, king of Israel. 2 Chronicles 25:26. The rest of the deeds of Amaziah, the first and the last, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 2 Chronicles 25:27. And after the time that Amaziah had departed from the Lord, they formed a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. And they sent for him to Lachish, and killed him there. 2 Chronicles 25:28. And they brought him on horses, and buried him with his fathers in the city of Judah. Wed. (2 Kings 14:17–20), The Expository Bible, vol. II, p. 523. You might be interested in: