2 Chronicles 25:1 Comentariu

Amaziah's reign, recorded in this chapter, was not one of the worse and yet for from good. Most of the passages in this chapter we had before more briefly related, 2 Kings 14. Here we find Amaziah, I. A just revenger of his father's death (Ch2 25:1-4). II. An obedient observer of the command of God (Ch2 25:5-10). III. A cruel conqueror of the Edomites (Ch2 25:11-13). IV. a foolish worshipper of the gods of Edom and impatient of reproof for it (Ch2 25:14-16). V. Rashly challenging the king of Israel, and smarting for his rashness (Ch2 25:17-24). And, lastly, ending his days ingloriously (Ch2 25:25-28).

Here is, I. The general character of Amaziah: He did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, worshipped the true God, kept the temple service a going, and countenanced religion in his kingdom; but he did not do it with a perfect heart (Ch2 25:2), that is, he was not a man of serious piety or devotion himself, nor had he any zeal for the exercises of religion. He was no enemy to it, but a cool and indifferent friend. Such is the character of too many in this Laodicean age: they do that which is good, but not with the heart, not with a perfect heart. II. A necessary piece of justice which he did upon the traitors that murdered his father: he put them to death, Ch2 25:3. Though we should suppose they intended to avenge on their king the death of the prophet (as was intimated, Ch2 24:25), yet this would by no means justify their wickedness; for they were not the avengers, but presumptuously took God's work out of his hands: and therefore Amaziah did what became him in calling them to an account for it, but forbade the putting of the children to death for the parents' sin, Ch2 25:4. III. An expedition of his against the Edomites, who, some time ago, had revolted from under the dominion of Judah, to which he attempted to reduce them. Observe, 1. The great preparation he made for this expedition. (1.) He mustered his own forces, and marshalled them (Ch2 25:5), and found Judah and Benjamin in all but 300,000 men that were fit for war, whereas, in Jehoshaphat's time, fifty or sixty years before, they were four times as many. Sin weakens a people, diminishes them, dispirits them, and lessens their number and figure. (2.) He hired auxiliary troops out of the kingdom of Israel, Ch2 25:6. Finding his own kingdom defective in men, he thought to make up the deficiency with his money, and therefore took into his pay 100,000 Israelites. If he had advised with any of his prophets before he did this, or had but considered how little any of his ancestors got by their alliances with Israel, he would not have had this to undo again. But rashness makes work for repentance. 2. The command which God sent him by a prophet to dismiss out of his service the forces of Israel, Ch2 25:7, Ch2 25:8. He would not have him call in any assistance at all: it looked like distrust of God. If he made sure of God's presence, the army he had of his own was sufficient. But particularly he must not take in their assistance: For the Lord is not with the children of Ephraim, because they are not with him, but worship the calves. This was a good reason why he should not make use of them, because he could not depend upon them to do him any service. What good could be expected from those that had not God with them, nor his blessings upon their undertakings? It is comfortable to employ those who, we have reason to hope, have an interest in heaven, and dangerous to associate with those from whom the Lord has departed. The prophet assured him that if he persisted in his resolution to take these idolatrous apostate Israelites with him, in hopes thereby to make himself strong for the battle, it was at his peril; they would prove a dead weight to his army, would sink and betray it: "God shall make thee fall before the enemy, and these Israelites will be the ruin of thy cause; for God has power to help thee without them, and to cast thee down though thou hast them with thee." 3. The objection which Amaziah made against this command, and the satisfactory answer which the prophet gave to that objection, Ch2 25:9. The king had remitted 100 talents to the men of Israel for advance-money. "Now," says he, "if I send them back, I shall lose that: But what shall we do for the 100 talents?" This is an objection men often make against their duty: they are afraid of losing by it. "Regard not that," says the prophet: "The Lord is able to give thee much more than this; and, thou mayest depend upon it, he will not see thee lose by him. What are 100 talents between thee and him? He has ways enough to make up the loss to thee; it is below thee to speak of it." Note, A firm belief of God's all-sufficiency to bear us out in our duty, and to make up all the loss and damage we sustain in his service abundantly to our advantage, will make his yoke very easy and his burden very light. What is it to trust in God, but to be willing to venture the loss of any thing for him, in confidence of the goodness of the security he gives us that we shall not lose by him, but that whatever we part with for his sake shall be made up to us in kind or kindness. When we grudge to part with any thing for God and our religion, this should satisfy us, that God is able to give us much more than this. He is just, and he is good, and he is solvent. The king lost 100 talents by his obedience; and we find just that sum given to his grandson Jotham as a present (Ch2 27:5); then the principal was repaid, and, for interest, 10,000 measures of wheat and as many of barley. 4. His obedience to the command of God, which is upon record to his honour. He would rather lose his money, disoblige his allies, and dismiss a fourth part of his army just as they were going to take the field, than offend God: He separated the army of Ephraim, to go home again, Ch2 25:10. And they went home in great anger, taking it as a great affront thus to be made fools of, and to be cashiered as men not fit to be employed, and being perhaps disappointed of the advantages they promised themselves in spoil and plunder by joining with Judah against Edom. Men are apt to resent that which touches them in their profit or reputation, though it frees them from trouble. 5. His triumphs over the Edomites, Ch2 25:11, Ch2 25:12. He left dead upon the spot, in the field of battle, 10,000 men; 10,000 more he took prisoners, and barbarously killed them all by throwing them down some steep and craggy precipice. What provocation he had to exercise this cruelty towards them we are not told; but it was certainly very severe. 6. The mischief which the disbanded soldiers of Israel did to the cities of Judah, either in their return or soon after, Ch2 25:13. They were so enraged at being sent home that, if they might not go to share with Judah in the spoil of Edom, they would make a prey of Judah. Several cities that lay upon the borders they plundered, killing 3000 men that made resistance. But why should God suffer this to be done? Was it not in obedience to him that they were sent home, and yet shall the country thus suffer by it? Surely God's way is in the sea! Did not the prophet say that God was not with the children of Ephraim, and yet they are suffered to prevail against Judah? Doubtless God intended hereby to chastise those cities of Judah for their idolatries, which were found most in those parts that lay next to Israel. The men of Israel had corrupted them, and now they were made a plague to them. Satan both tempts and torments.

INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 25 This chapter begins with the reign of Amaziah, and some of the first acts of it, slaying those that killed his father, Ch2 25:1, raising a large army in his own kingdom, to which he added 100,000 more he hired out of Israel, whom yet he sent home by the advice of a prophet, Ch2 25:5, and with his own army marched against the Edomites, and obtained a victory over them, Ch2 25:11, but the Israelites being displeased with him for dismissing them, fell on some of his cities, and slew many in them, Ch2 25:13, and such was his stupidity, as to worship the gods of the Edomites he had conquered, for which he was reproved by a prophet, Ch2 25:14 and being elated with his victory, he sent a challenge to the king of Israel, who accepting of it, a battle ensued, in which Judah was worsted, their king taken, and treasuries spoiled, Ch2 25:17, and the chapter is closed with the death and burial of Amaziah, Ch2 25:25.

Amaziah was twenty five years old when he began to reign,.... Of these verses; see Gill on Kg2 14:2. See Gill on Kg2 14:3. See Gill on Kg2 14:5. See Gill on Kg2 14:6. . 2 Chronicles 25:5 ch2 25:5 ch2 25:5 ch2 25:5Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together,.... The inhabitants thereof: and made them captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, according to the houses of their fathers, throughout all Judah and Benjamin; he divided the people, according to their families throughout his kingdom, into thousands and hundreds, and out of their respective families appointed captains over them: and he numbered them from twenty years old and above; the usual age men were numbered at for war, to the fiftieth, according to Josephus; the Roman law (a) obliged none to be soldiers after fifty, nor might any be dismissed before (b); the age of military men with the Romans was from seventeen to forty six, or, as some, forty five; but with the Persians from twenty as here to fifty (c): and found them three hundred thousand choice men, able to go forth to war, that could handle spear and shield; which shows that their number was greatly decreased since the times of Jehoshaphat, Ch2 17:14, occasioned by the wars under Jehoram, Ahaziah, and Joash; some copies of the Vulgate Latin (d) have only 30,000. (a) Seneca de Brevitate Vitae, c. 20. (b) Liv. Hist. l. 42. c. 33. (c) Alex. ab. Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 1. c. 20. (d) Ed. of Sixtus V. the Lovain and MSS. in James's Corruption of the Fathers, p. 295.

Amaziah succeeds his father Joash, and begins his reign well, Ch2 25:1, Ch2 25:2. He slays his father's murderers but spares their children, Ch2 25:3, Ch2 25:4. He reviews and remodels the army, Ch2 25:5; and hires a hundred thousand soldiers out of Israel, whom, on the expostulation of a prophet, he sends home again, without bringing them into active service; at which they are greatly offended, Ch2 25:6-10. He attacks the Syrians, kills ten thousand, and takes ten thousand prisoners, whom he precipitates from the top of a rock, so that they are dashed to pieces, Ch2 25:11, Ch2 25:12. The Israelitish soldiers, sent back, ravage several of the cities of Judah, Ch2 25:13. Amaziah becomes an idolater, Ch2 25:14. Is reproved by a prophet, whom he threatens, and obliges to desist, Ch2 25:15, Ch2 25:16. He challenges Joash, king of Israel, Ch2 25:17; who reproves him by a parable, Ch2 25:18, Ch2 25:19. Not desisting, the armies meet, the Jews are overthrown, and Amaziah taken prisoner by Joash, who ravages the temple, and takes away all the treasures of the king, Ch2 25:20-24. The reign of Amaziah: a conspiracy is formed against him; he flees to Lachish, whither he is pursued and slain; is brought to Jerusalem, and buried with his fathers, Ch2 25:25-28.

AMAZIAH BEGINS TO REIGN WELL. (Ch2 25:1-4) Amaziah was twenty and five years old, &c.--(See Kg2 14:1-6).

The statements as to Uzziah's attainment of dominion, the building of the seaport town Elath on the Red Sea, the length and character of his reign (Ch2 26:1-4), agree entirely with Kg2 14:21-22, and Kg2 15:2-3; see the commentary on these passages. Uzziah (עזּיּהוּ) is called in Ch1 3:12 and in 2 Kings (generally) Azariah (עזריה); cf. on the use of the two names, the commentary on Kg2 14:21. - In Ch2 26:5, instead of the standing formula, "only the high places were not removed," etc.) Kings), Uzziah's attitude towards the Lord is more exactly defined thus: "He was seeking God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God; and in the days when he sought Jahve, God gave him success." In לדרשׁ ויהי the infinitive with ל is subordinated to היה, to express the duration of his seeking, for which the participle is elsewhere used. Nothing further is known of the Zechariah here mentioned: the commentators hold him to have been an important prophet; for had he been a priest, or the high priest, probably הכּהן would have been used. The reading האלהים בּראות (Keth.) is surprising. ה המּבין ב can only denote, who had insight into (or understanding for the) seeing of God; cf. Dan 1:17. But Kimchi's idea, which other old commentators share, that this is a periphrasis to denote the prophetic endowment or activity of the man, is opposed by this, that "the seeing of God" which was granted to the elders of Israel at the making of the covenant, Exo 24:10, cannot be regarded as a thing within the sphere of human action or practice, while the prophetic beholding in vision is essentially different from the seeing of God, and is, moreover, never so called. בראות would therefore seem to be an orthographical error for ביראת, some MSS having ביראות or ביראת (cf. de Rossi, variae lectt.); and the lxx, Syr., Targ., Arab., Raschi, Kimchi, and others giving the reading בּיראת ה המּבין, who was a teacher (instructor) in the fear of God, in favour of which also Vitringa, proll. in Jes. p. 4, has decided.