2 Kings 14

Amaziah rules Judah

In the second year of Joash’s (Joahaz’s son) reign over Israel, Amaziah (Joash’s son) began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he started to rule, and he reigned for twenty-nine years from Jerusalem. His mom was Jehoaddin from Jerusalem. He did what was right in the Existing One’s eyes, but not quite like his ancestor David. He did the same kinds of things his father Joash had done, but didn’t abolish the shrines; the people still offered sacrifices on them. As soon as the royal power was firmly in his hand, he killed his subordinates who had killed his father, the former king. But observing Moses’s Law, he didn’t kill the murderer’s children since the Existing One commanded, “Fathers should not be killed because of their children, and children shouldn’t be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall die for his own shortcomings.”

He struck down ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt and captured Sela, renaming it Joktheel which is still it’s name today.

Judah’s king challenges Israel’s King, loses

Then Judah’s King Amaziah sent messengers to Israel’s King Jehoash (Jehoahaz’s son and Jehu’s grandson) saying, “Come on, let’s fight each other face to face.” And Jehoash messaged back saying, “A bush in Lebanon said to a tree in Lebanon, ‘Let your daughter marry my son,’ and a wild beast passed by and trampled on the bush. You struck down Edom, and now your heart is prideful. Be content with your glory and stay home, for why should you stir up trouble so that you fall and take down Judah with you?”

But Amaziah wouldn’t listen, so Israel’s King Jehoash went and faced Judah’s king Amaziah in a battle at Beth-shemesh (which belongs to Judah). And Israel defeated Judah, causing all their men to flee back to their home. And King Israel’s Jehoash captured Judah’s King Amaziah (Jehoash’s son and Ahaziah’s grandson). He even went to Jerusalem and broke down their wall which was 6,000 feet high from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. He seized all the gold and silver, all the vessels in the Existing One’s temple, all the valuables in the king’s house, and took hostages before returning back to Samaria.

Now the rest of Jehoash’s history, including his strength and how he fought with Judah’s King Amaziah are recorded in the book The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. And Jehoash slept with his father in the ground and was buried in Samaria with the rest of Israel’s kings, and his son Jeroboam reigned in his place.

Jeroboam rules Israel

Amaziah (son of Judah’s King Joash) lived for fifteen years after Jehoash (son of Israel’s King Jehoahaz) died. The rest of Amaziah’s history is recorded in the book The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. They schemed against him in Jerusalem, so he fled to Lachish, but they followed him and killed him there. They brought his body on horseback and buried him in Jerusalem with his ancestors in the city of David. Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. He built Elath and restored it to Judah after the former king died.

In the fifteenth year of Amaziah, Jeroboam II (son of Israel’s King Joash) began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned for forty-one years. He did what was evil in the Existing One’s sight. He didn’t depart from the offenses of Jeroboam (Nebat’s son), leading Israel down that same path. He restored Israel’s border from Lebo-hamath all the way to the Sea of Arabah, just like Israel’s God the Existing One had said through his servant Jonah the prophet (Amittai’s son) who was from Gath-hepher. The Existing One saw that Israel was bitterly afflicted and that there was no one left who could help Israel. But the Existing One never said he would erase Israel from the earth, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam II (Joash’s son).

The rest of Jeroboam II’s history including everything he did, all his strength, and how he restored Damascus and Hamath to Judah are recorded in the book The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, and his son Zechariah reigned in his place.