Athaliah, Joash and Amaziah

Jehu took over Joram’s kingdom. In Judea, after the death of Ahaziah, who had reigned one year, his mother Athaliah seized supreme power. She took the government away from her grandson, whose name was Joash, who was then only a little child. But after eight years the power his grandmother had snatched from him was given back to him through the priests and the people, and his grandmother was driven into exile. At the beginning of his reign he was wholly devoted to the worship of God and adorned the temple at great expense. But later, corrupted by the flattery of the leading men and honored by them more than was right, he brought wrath on himself. For Hazael, king of Syria, made war on him, and when things went badly for him he bought peace with the gold of the temple. Yet he did not get it; instead his own people, resenting what he had done, killed him in the fortieth year of his reign. His son Amaziah succeeded him. [a]

On the side of the ten tribes, when Jehu died, his son Jehoahaz began to reign. He displeased God by his wicked deeds, and as a punishment his kingdom was ravaged by the Syrians, until, through the mercy of God, the enemy were driven back and the people of the land began to regain their former position. When Jehoahaz’s days were ended, he left the kingdom to his son Jehoash. Jehoash started a civil war against Amaziah, king of the two tribes, and having won the victory, he carried much plunder off into his own kingdom. This is said to have happened to Amaziah as a punishment for his sin, because after he had entered the territory of the Edomites as a conqueror, he had taken up the idols of that nation.

He is described as having reigned nine years, as far as I find it stated in the Books of Kings. But in the Chronicles of Scripture, and also in the Chronicle of Eusebius, he is said to have held the government twenty-nine years, and the way of reckoning that can easily be seen in these Books of Kings certainly leads to that conclusion. For Jeroboam is said to have begun to reign as king of the ten tribes in the eighth year of Amaziah’s reign, to have held the government forty-one years, and to have died at last in the fourth year of the reign of Uzziah, Amaziah’s son. By this way of reckoning, Amaziah’s reign extends over twenty-eight years. So, following this, since it is our purpose in this work to keep to the dates in their proper order, we have accepted the authority of the Chronicle.