Reference: Amaziah
American
1. Eighth king of Judah, son of Joash, began to reign B. C. 835, and reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. He did well in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart. Having established himself in his throne and slain the murderers of his father, he mustered a host of 300,000 men of Judah, and hired 100,000 men of Israel, for a war upon Edom. These hired forces he reluctantly dismissed at the command of God, who gave him the victory without their aid. But this did not prevent him from carrying home with him the idols of Edom, and setting them up to be his gods. For this defiance of Jehovah, he was threatened with destruction by a prophet of the Lord; and soon after, went headlong into war with Israel, in which he was defeated and humbled. Fifteen years after, he was slain by conspirators, after flying to Lachish to escape them, 2Ki 14:1-20; 2Ch 25.
2. A priest of the golden calf at Bethel, who denounced the prophet Amos to Jeroboam, and sought to banish him into Judah for his fidelity, Am 7:10-17.
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Easton
strengthened by Jehovah.
(1.) A Levite, son of Hilkiah, of the descendants of Ethan the Merarite (1Ch 6:45).
(2.) The son and successor of Joash, and eighth king of the separate kingdom of Judah (2Ki 14:1-4). He began his reign by punishing the murderers of his father (2Ki 5-7; 2Ch 25:3-5). He was the first to employ a mercenary army of 100,000 Israelite soldiers, which he did in his attempt to bring the Edomites again under the yoke of Judah (2Ch 25:5-6). He was commanded by a prophet of the Lord to send back the mercenaries, which he did (2Ch 25:7-10,13), much to their annoyance. His obedience to this command was followed by a decisive victory over the Edomites (2Ch 25:14-16). Amaziah began to worship some of the idols he took from the Edomites, and this was his ruin, for he was vanquished by Joash, king of Israel, whom he challenged to battle. The disaster he thus brought upon Judah by his infatuation in proclaiming war against Israel probably occasioned the conspiracy by which he lost his life (2Ki 14:8-14,19). He was slain at Lachish, whither he had fled, and his body was brought upon horses to Jerusalem, where it was buried in the royal sepulchre (2Ki 14:19-20; 2Ch 25:27-28).
(3.) A priest of the golden calves at Bethel (Am 7:10-17).
(4.) The father of Joshah, one of the Simeonite chiefs in the time of Hezekiah (1Ch 4:34).
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Fausets
1. Son of Joash; on his accession to the Jewish throne punished his father's murderers, but not their children (De 24:16); a merciful trait of character, which it is implied other kings had not. He had reigned jointly with his father at least one year before Joash's death; for 2Ki 13:10 compared with 2Ki 14:1 proves he reigned in the 39th year of Jonah of Judah; 2Ch 24:1 shows that Joash of Judah reigned 40 years; therefore Amaziah must have been reigning one year before Joash's death, The reason comes out in that incidental way which precludes the idea of forgery, and confirms the truth of the history. In 2Ch 24:23,25 we read: "the host of Syria came up against him (Joash) ... to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes; ... and when they were departed (for they left him in great diseases) his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed."
The "great diseases" under which Joash labored, at the time of the Syrian invasion, were no doubt the cause of Amaziah his son being admitted to a share in the government. Blunt well observes how circuitously we arrive at the conclusion, not by the book of Kings alone nor Chronicles alone; either might be read alone without suspicion of such a latent congruity. He slew of Edom in the Valley of Salt (S. of the Dead Sea, the scene of David's general's victory: 2Sa 8:13; Psalm 60 title; 1Ki 11:15-16; 1Ch 18:12) 1-Chronicles/18/10/type/bbe'>1Ch 18:10,1, and his forces threw 10,000 captives from the rocks, and he took Selah or Petra their capital, which he named Jokteel (the reward of God) after a Jewish city (Jos 15:38). Then he showed that, whereas he partly did "right in the sight of the Lord," it was "not like David his father, with a perfect heart" (2Ch 25:2; 2Ki 14:3).
He brought the gods of Seir to be his gods and bowed down himself before them and burned incense unto them. The Lord's prophet reproved him: "Why hast thou sought after the gods which could not deliver their own people out of thine hand?" "Art thou made of the king's counsel? forbear; why shouldest thou be smitten?" was the king's reply; for God had determined to destroy him, and therefore gave him up to judicial hardening (Ro 1:28). Already he had provoked Israel by sending back 100,000 Israelite soldiers whom he had hired for 100 talents of silver, but whom, as being estranged from God (1Co 15:33), God forbade him to take with him (compare 2Ch 19:2; 20:37); God assuring him that He could give him much more than the 100 talents which he thereby forfeited. The Israelites in returning fell upon the cities of Judah from Samaria to Bethheron.
The God who gave him the Edomite capital in compensation for his loss of money could have given amends for the Israelite depredations, if he had not lost His favor. Refusing advice from God's prophet (Pr 12:1), Amaziah "took advice" of bad counselors, and, irritated at the Israelite depredations, Amaziah challenged Joash, who by the parable of "the thistle (or rather thorn bush) and cedar" warned him not to overrate his strength through pride in his Edomite victories, as though the thorn bush were to think itself a match for the cedar, and to meddle to his own hurt. Routed at Bethshemesh, he was taken by Joash to Jerusalem, the wall of which Joash broke down from the gate of Ephraim to the grainer gate 400 cubits, facing Israel's frontier, besides taking the vessels of God's house, with Obed Edom, and the king's treasures and hostages.
Jerusalem, according to Josephus, yielded so quickly, as Joash threatened otherwise to slay Amaziah. Amaziah survived Joash 15 years, and then was slain by conspirators at Lachish, whither he had fled. He reigned from 837 B.C to 809.
2. Priest of the golden calf at Bethel, under Jeroboam II. Fearing that his craft whereby he had his wealth was in danger, he informed the king: "Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words, for thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword and Israel ... be led away captive." Also he said unto Amos; "O thou seer ... get thee away into Judah and there eat bread (he judges of Amos by his own mercenary motives). But prophesy not again any more in Bethel, for it is the king's chapel and ... court."
Therefore the Lord doomed his wife to harlotry, his sons and daughters to the sword, and himself to "die in a polluted land" (Am 7:10-17). So far from seeking prophecy as a breadmaking business, Amos replies he gave up his own mode of livelihood to obey the Lord's call at all costs. Political expediency in all ages is made the pretext for dishonoring God and persecuting His servants (Joh 11:48-50; Ac 17:6-7; 19:25-27; 24:5). Probably Amaziah met his doom in Pul's invasion; God is not anxious to vindicate His word, "the majesty of Scripture does not lower itself to linger on baser persons" (Pusey): the criminal's sentence implies its execution, whether recorded or not.
3. 1Ch 4:34.
4. 1Ch 6:45.
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Hastings
1. Son of Jehoash of Judah. He came to the throne after the assassination of his father. It is recorded in his favour (2Ki 4:6) that although he put the murderers of his father to death he spared their children
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Morish
Amazi'ah
1. Son of Jehoash, or Joash, king of Judah, and who succeeded to the throne: he reigned 29 years, B.C. 839-810. He walked well at the commencement of his reign. He made war on the Edomites; 10,000 were slain, and 10,000 cast down from the top of the rock. But he brought back the gods of the children of Seir, and bowed down to them, whereby he fell under God's displeasure. He provoked a war with the king of Israel but was defeated, the treasures of Jerusalem were taken, and part of the city wall broken down. He was slain at Lachish whither he had fled from a conspiracy. 2Ki 14:1-23; 2Ch 25.
2. Descendant of Simeon. 1Ch 4:34.
3. Son of Hilkiah, a descendant of Merari. 1Ch 6:45.
4. Israelite who was priest of the idol set up in Bethel. Am 7:10-14.
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Smith
Amazi'ah
(the strength of the Lord).
1. Son of Joash, and eighth king of Judah, reigned B.C. 837-809. He succeeded to the throne at the age of 25, on the murder of his father, and punished the murderers. In order to restore his kingdom to the greatness of Jehoshaphat's days, he made war on the Edomites, defeated them in the Valley of Salt, south of the Dead Sea, and took their capital, Selah or Petra, to which he gave the name of Jokteel, i.e. "God-subdued." Flushed with his success, he challenged Joash king of Israel to battle, but was completely defeated, and himself was taken prisoner and conveyed by Joash to Jerusalem, which opened its gates to the conqueror. Amaziah lived 15 years after the death of Joash; and in the 29th year of his reign was murdered by conspirators at Lachish, whither he had retired from Jerusalem for safety.
2. A descendant of Simeon
3. A Levite.
4. Priest of the golden calf at Bethel who endeavored to drive the prophet Amos from Israel into Judah.
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Watsons
AMAZIAH, one of the kings of Judah, 2Ch 24:27, son of Joash, succeeded his father A.M. 3165, B.C. 839. He was twenty-five years of age when he began to reign, and reigned twenty-nine years at Jerusalem. "He did good in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart." When settled in his kingdom, he put to death the murderers of his father, but avoided a barbarous practice then too common, to destroy also their children; in which he had respect to the precept, "The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers; every man shall be put to death for his own sin," De 24:16; 2Ch 25:1-3.
In the muster which Amaziah made of his people, he found three hundred thousand men able to bear arms. He hired, besides, one hundred thousand men of Israel; for which he paid the king of Israel a hundred talents, about thirty-four thousand pounds English. His design was to employ these troops against Edom, which had revolted from Judah, in the reign of Joram about fifty-four years before, 2Ki 8:20. But a prophet of the Lord came to him and said, "O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee; for the Lord is not with Israel." Amaziah, hereupon, sent back those troops; and they returning, strongly irritated against Amaziah, dispersed themselves over the cities of Judah, from Bethoron to Samaria, killed three thousand men, and carried off a great booty, to make themselves amends for the loss of the plunder of Edom. Amaziah, with his own forces gave battle to the Edomites in the Valley of Salt, and defeated them; but having thus punished Edom, and taken their idols, he adored them as his own deities. This provoked the Lord, who permitted Amaziah to be so blinded as to believe himself invincible. He therefore sent to defy the king of Israel, saying, "Come, let us look one another in the face." The motive of this challenge was probably to oblige Joash, king of Israel, to repair the ravages which his troops had committed on their return homewards. Joash answered him by the fable of the cedar of Lebanon, and the thistle trodden down by a beast, 2Ki 14:8-9. But Amaziah, deaf to these reasonings, advanced to Bethshemesh, and was defeated and taken prisoner there, by Joash, who carried him to Jerusalem. Joash ordered the demolition of four hundred cubits of the city wall, carried to Samaria all the gold and silver, the rich vessels of the house of God, the treasuries of the royal palace, and the sons of those among his own people who had been hostages there. Amaziah reigned after this, fifteen or sixteen years at Jerusalem, but returned not to the Lord. He endeavoured to escape from a conspiracy to Lachish; but was assassinated. He was buried with his ancestors in the city of David, and Uzziah, or Azariah, his son, about sixteen years of age, succeeded him.