2 Kings 14 Amaziah of Judah

Amaziah of Judah follows Joash, his father. Amaziah starts out following the Lord, but then runs full tilt off the rails. God punishes his sins using his own arrogance.

Amaziah follows in his father’s early footsteps. When Joash first took the throne, at the age of seven, he followed the Lord with his whole heart. Not until after Jehoiada died did Joash turn away from the Lord. He started listening to the wrong people.

His son Amaziah decides to fix that when he becomes king. But it doesn’t last. He goes after the gods of the people he conquered. And it was a downhill slide from there. Let’s rejoin our journey and see where the Spirit takes us today with Amaziah.

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Amaziah vows in his heart that he will NOT follow in his abba’s later footsteps. All the while, as he is growing up, his abba serves the Lord. Amaziah knows the stories of old as well as he knows his own name. He knows the stories of the Lord’s hand for Judah in battle. The stories of the Lord providing for the people in the face of certain disaster. And of peace from the enemies. This is the kind of kingdom Amaziah wants to rule over, now that he is king.

Joash sleeps with his fathers and Amaziah is tasked with tending to the people of Judah. His very first task is to ‘repay’ those who killed his abba.  Jozacar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of Shomer murdered Joash in the house of Millo. They conspired against him for years, and when they finally got their chance, they killed him in cold blood. Amaziah insists that they pay for their crimes. But he will NOT put their families to death. They had nothing to do with the plot.

Amaziah watches as Jozacar and Jehozabad are brought into the garrison, bound by ropes. They are taken to the gallows and hanged. Amaziah does not look away as their bodies bear the fruits of their actions. Now, he feels that he can move on in life.

Edom is a problem for Amaziah. For years they have been raiding on the edges of Judah. Amaziah has finally had enough. “Muster ALL the forces of Judah. Every male who is twenty years and up, is fit, and can handle a sword of spear” Amaziah commands his chief captain.

Within a month, the armies of Judah number 300,000. Amaziah is thrilled with the swell in his troops, but isn’t sure that will be enough. “I want annihilate Seir” growls Amaziah. “I don’t want them to be able to come at us ever again.”

“There are no more troops to be had in Judah, my king.”

“I have been watching Israel. Joash of Israel has rebuilt their forces. Hire 100,000 of their best men. I will pay 100 talents of silver for their services.”

“It will be done my king.”

Relations weren’t the best between Judah and Israel, but they were not currently at war. Hiring troops proved to be an easy task. Judah’s chief commander asked for volunteers. “Any who are willing to fight along side of Judah against the forces of Edom will be rewarded. I am to hire 100,000 men. Any who would be willing, form up on this side” says the commander as he points to the left of himself to an open field.

After one day of recruiting, Judah’s commander leads the troops of Israel back to Jerusalem. The men are anxious to see some action. Ben-hadad is a thing of the past now and Joash does not seem eager to begin any campaigns.

As the men are on their way, Amaziah has a visitor. A man of God comes to him at the palace. He is quickly ushered into the throne room where Amaziah is meeting with his commanders.

“This man says he has a message for you from the Lord, my king. I thought you might want to hear him now” announces the door guard.

Amaziah motions for him to come forward. After a quick bow, the man begins speaking.

“O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel, with all these Ephraimites. But go, act, be strong for the battle. Why should you suppose that God will cast you down before the enemy? For God has power to help or to cast down” (2 Kings 14:7-8).

Amaziah was torn. The man of God has not promised victory, but he has said that God would not be with him if he took the army of Israel with him. If God wanted to have him fall before the enemy, he would not have warned him to leave the men of Israel behind. But he had already paid them for their services. Amaziah makes the decision to leave them behind, but that still leaves the problem of his large payment.

“But what shall we do about the hundred talents that I have given to the army of Israel?” (2 Kings 14:9a).

The man of God looked at him with and shook his head. “The Lord is able to give you much more than this” (2 Kings 14:9b).

Amaziah is ready when the men of Israel arrive. He meets his chief commander at the gates of Jerusalem. He stops them before they can enter.

“The Lord has told me not to take the army of Israel with us. Have them return to their homes. As a gesture of good will, they may keep the payment and return to their homes a little bit richer for their trouble.”

The men of Israel are stunned by Amaziah’s words. Tempers begin to simmer as they think about all the trouble they have gone to in order to ‘help their brothers’. There is quite a bit of grumbling as the group turns around and makes their way back to Samaria.

“Can you believe this? They brought us all the way here, just to say; ‘Go home.’”

“Why do you think they really turned us away?”

“Maybe the king is afraid we will turn on him because we are so much better trained.”

“Maybe he doesn’t think we are any good.”

“Well, we will show them how good we are. When they get back from their ‘little battle’ we will have a surprise in store for them. We will become more trouble to them that Edom is.”

The men all agree to this plan. But they will wait until after Judah returns. Who knows, maybe they won’t return after all.

Amaziah and Judah’s troops go to face the army of Seir in the Valley of Salt. Amaziah is thrilled to see the hand of the Lord with him. The army of Judah strikes down 10,000 men in battle and capture another 10,000. These men are marched to the top of a mountain and thrown down onto the rocks below. The forces of Seir lay broken before Judah.

Judah goes to the camp of the men of Seir to gather the spoils. Amaziah sees among the belongings idols representing the gods of Seir that they had taken with them in battle. Some of them are made of gold and jewel encrusted. Amaziah can’t believe his luck. He has to have them!

When the men of Judah return to Jerusalem, Amaziah takes the gods that he found among the spoils and puts them in an honored place in his home. At first, he simply looks at them. Then he begins speaking to them. Not much later, he begins bowing down to them in worship and bringing them offerings. It took less than six months for Amaziah to abandon the Lord in favor of the gods of Seir.

God is angry with Amaziah’s behavior. To turn away so quickly, and to gods who couldn’t even defend their original owners. God reaches out to Amaziah to draw him back by sending one of his prophets to speak directly to Amaziah.

The prophet does not wait for an introduction by the guards. He walks into the throne room and begins to confront Amaziah. “Why have you sought the gods of a people who did not deliver their own people from your hand?” (2 Kings 14:15).

Amaziah stopped the prophet in midsentence. “Have we made you a royal counselor? Stop! Why should you be struck down?” (2 Kings 14:16a).

The prophet’s mouth hung open for a moment. Anger and disgust struggled on his face before settling into righteous judgment. “I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel” (2 Kings 14:16b). After saying this, the prophet shook the dust from his sandals, turned and walked away. He would never again appear before Amaziah.

Amaziah’s servants saw the way he treated the prophet. They were shocked to their cores. That evening, they found a private place to speak.

“He is going to call the wrath of God down on all of us!”

“I’m surprised that the Lord didn’t strike him dead where he stood.”

“We have to protect Judah from this madman.”

“I agree. But how?”

“I don’t know yet, but be ready. For when the opportunity presents itself, he WILL pay for his sins.”

The plot against Amaziah continued gathering supporters, but there didn’t seem to be a good time to act. Amaziah went on in his sins against the Lord.

Judah started ‘paying the price’ for Amaziah’s handling of the soldiers of Israel. The men of Israel began attacking the outer cities of Judah all along the border. When the cry was great enough, Amaziah decides to act.

“I will send word to the king of Israel and have him meet me face to face to discuss this” Amaziah tells his counselors. They agree that this is a good idea. Anything to stop the raids. Amaziah composes a simple message and sends it to Joash.

“Come, let us look one another in the face” (2 Chronicles 25:17).

Joash is NOT impressed by Amaziah’s pleas. He sees his words as arrogant and responds in his own arrogance. “A thistle on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife,’ and a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle. ¹⁹ You say, ‘See, I have struck down Edom,’ and your heart has lifted you up in boastfulness. But now stay at home. Why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?” (2 Chronicles 25:18-19).

Amaziah receives the message as a slap in the face. Instead of meeting to talk with Joash, Amaziah musters the men of Israel to go to war with Israel. From the back of his mind, he remembers the words of the one prophet who said that God was not for Israel, so Amaziah is certain he will prevail.

The battle does not go at all as Amaziah expected. The men of Israel easily defeat the men of Judah and those that don’t fall scatter and return to their homes. Amaziah is captured by Joash and taken back to Jerusalem in chains. Amaziah is forced to watch as Israel breaches the walls of Jerusalem. Then they raid the Temple treasury, the king’s treasury, and gather valuable hostages before leaving Amaziah standing in the middle of the city, still in his bonds.

This was the most humiliating thing possible to do to any king. To deem him not even worthy of death after being defeated. Not even worthy of making him into a vassal king. Amaziah was seen as insignificant.

Amaziah’s response to Joash’s dismissal of him is to slink back to his altars to the gods of Seir. He does not try and rally his troops to avenge his honor. He sends no proclamations out. He sends no troops to protect Judah’s borders. In short, he acts exactly like the king Joash portrayed him to be; useless.

The people of Judah wait for Amaziah to do SOMETHING for several years. After the death of Joash, Amaziah still does nothing. Judah has become the laughing stock with him on the throne.

The plot against Amaziah has gathered a large enough following that Amaziah hears of it. He flees to Lachish to find safety. He is not safe there at all. Finally, those who have been plotting Amaziah’s death have found the perfect opportunity. They follow Amaziah to Lachish and kill him there.

If it were not for him being the king, they would have left his body where it fell. Instead, they bring it home to Jerusalem and bury him with his fathers. The people then take his sixteen-year-old son, Azariah/Uzziah, as their king.

(to be continued)

Another king with a great start and a horrible finish. What on earth possessed him to take the gods of Seir? I cannot understand his thinking. But anything can become a ‘god’ if we place it between the Lord and us. That awesome new car that you spend all your time and money on. The ‘love of your life’ that you follow wherever they lead instead of holding fast to the things you know to be right. That new… you name it. When it is so important, that nothing else matters, it has become a god in your life.

One way that you know you are dealing with a ‘god’ issue, IF you are a child of God, is the conviction of the Holy Spirit. For those who have experienced true relationship with the Lord, walking away is NOT an easy thing. It takes refusing to listen to your heart. The Spirit cries out within you, calling you back.

DON’T be like Amaziah and tell God to STOP talking. DANGER lies that way! Even though it hurts, LISTEN anyway. I’m not saying it is easy turning away from something that you have come to love, but it is REQUIRED in order to restore your relationship with the Lord. And THAT relationship is MORE than worth whatever the ‘loss’ or the work to make things right.

Father God, THANK YOU for NEVER staying silent when I’m walking in sin! Thank You for calling out to me, even in my sleep, until I truly listen. Thank You for making ALL of my relationships right and pulling me from my sin. Thank You for dashing to pieces all the gods that I tried to place on Your throne. THANK YOU even MORE that that for showing me that I was turning them into Gods, and for giving me the strength to surrender them to You so You could destroy them. Keep me from trying to put their pieces back together or find replacements for them. I WANT ONLY YOU on the throne in my life. Let everything else be in its place under Your authority in my life.