Amaziah’s Pride and Fall

In the second year of Joash’s reign over Israel, Amaziah reigned over the tribe of Judah in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddin, and she was born in Jerusalem. He was exceedingly careful to do what was right, and that while he was very young. But when he came to the management of affairs and to the government, he decided that first of all he must avenge his father Joash and punish those friends of his who had laid violent hands on him. So he seized them all and put them to death; yet he did no harm to their children, but acted in this according to the laws of Moses, who did not think it just to punish children for the sins of their fathers. After this he chose an army out of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, of men in the prime of life, about twenty years old; and when he had gathered about three hundred thousand of them, he set commanders of hundreds over them. He also sent to the king of Israel and hired a hundred thousand of his soldiers for a hundred talents of silver, for he had decided to march against the nations of the Amalekites, the Edomites and the Gebalites. [a]

But as he was preparing for his campaign and was ready to go out to war, a prophet advised him to dismiss the army of the Israelites, because they were ungodly, and because God foretold that he would be beaten if he used them as allies; whereas he would overcome his enemies even with only a few soldiers, if it so pleased God. When the king grumbled at having already paid the Israelites their hire, the prophet urged him to do what God wanted, because by doing so he would receive much wealth from God. So he dismissed them, saying that he still freely gave them their pay, and went himself with his own army and made war on the nations already named. He beat them in battle and killed ten thousand of them, and took as many prisoners alive, whom he brought to the great rock that is in Arabia and threw down from it headlong. He also carried off a great deal of plunder and vast riches from those nations. But while Amaziah was busy with this campaign, the Israelites whom he had hired and then dismissed were very resentful. They took their dismissal as an insult, supposing that it would not have been done to them except out of contempt, and they fell on his kingdom, plundered the country as far as Beth-horon, took many pack animals, and killed three thousand men.

After the victory he had won and the great deeds he had done, Amaziah grew puffed up and began to neglect God, who had given him the victory, and went on to worship the gods he had brought out of the country of the Amalekites. So a prophet came to him and said he wondered how he could regard these as gods. They had been of no use to their own people who honored them, and had not delivered them from his hands, but had looked on while many of them were destroyed and had let themselves be carried off captive; for they had been brought to Jerusalem in the same way as anyone might take some of the enemy alive and lead them there. This rebuke made the king angry. He ordered the prophet to hold his tongue, and threatened to punish him if he meddled with his conduct. The prophet replied that he would indeed hold his peace, but foretold at the same time that God would not overlook his attempts at innovation. But Amaziah could not keep himself in check amid the prosperity God had given him, even though he had insulted God because of it. In a fit of insolence he wrote to Joash, the king of Israel, and commanded that he and all his people should obey him, as they had once obeyed his forefathers David and Solomon; and he let him know that if he were not wise enough to do what he commanded, he would have to fight for his dominion. To this message Joash sent back this answer in writing: “King Joash to King Amaziah. There was a very tall cypress tree on Mount Lebanon, and a thistle as well. The thistle sent to the cypress tree, asking for the cypress tree’s daughter in marriage for the thistle’s son. But while the thistle was saying this, a wild beast came by and trampled the thistle down. Let this be a lesson to you not to be so ambitious, and to take care that your success in the fight against the Amalekites does not make you so proud that you bring dangers on yourself and on your kingdom.” [g]

When Amaziah had read this letter, he was all the more eager for this campaign. I suppose this was by the prompting of God, so that he might be punished for his offense against him. As soon as he led out his army against Joash, and they were about to join battle with him, such fear and dismay fell on Amaziah’s army as God sends on men when he is displeased, and routed them even before they came to close quarters. As it happened, while they were scattered by the terror that was on them, Amaziah was left alone and was taken prisoner by the enemy. Joash then threatened to kill him unless he persuaded the people of Jerusalem to open their gates to him and receive him and his army into the city. Amaziah was so distressed and so afraid for his life that he had his enemy received into the city. Joash threw down a part of the wall about six hundred feet long and drove his chariot through the breach into Jerusalem, leading Amaziah captive with him. In this way he became master of Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of God and carried off all the gold and silver that was in the king’s palace, and then released the king from captivity and returned to Samaria. These things happened to the people of Jerusalem in the fourteenth year of Amaziah’s reign. After this his friends made a conspiracy against him, and he fled to the city of Lachish and was killed there by the conspirators, who sent men there to kill him. They took up his dead body, carried it to Jerusalem, and gave him a royal funeral. This was the end of Amaziah’s life, because of his innovations in religion and his contempt of God, when he had lived fifty-four years and reigned twenty-nine. He was succeeded by his son, whose name was Uzziah. [h]