Those who are too eager, through pride, to fight, may get enough of it in quick order.
Many would have honor and wealth enough,
if they but knew when they had enough.
II Kings 1
1 In the second year of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel reigned Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah.
2 He was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.
3 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, yet not like David his father: he did according to all things as Joash his father did.
4 Howbeit the high places were not taken away: as yet the people did sacrifice and burnt incense on the high places.
5 ¶ And it came to pass, as soon as the kingdom was confirmed in his hand, that he slew his servants which had slain the king his father.
6 But the children of the murderers he slew not: according unto that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, wherein the LORD commanded, saying, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
7 He slew of Edom in the valley of salt ten thousand, and took Selah by war, and called the name of it Joktheel unto this day.
8 ¶ Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us look one another in the face.
9 And Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle.
10 Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, and thine heart hath lifted thee up: glory of this, and tarry at home: for why shouldest thou meddle to thy hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee?
11 But Amaziah would not hear. Therefore Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth-shemesh, which belongeth to Judah.
12 And Judah was put to the worse before Israel; and they fled every man to their tents.
13 And Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim unto the corner gate, four hundred cubits.
14 And he took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and hostages, and returned to Samaria.
15 ¶ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
16 And Jehoash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son reigned in his stead.
17 ¶ And Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years.
18 And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
19 Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem: and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there.
20 And they brought him on horses: and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David.
21 ¶ And all the people of Judah took Azariah, which was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah.
22 He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers.
23 ¶ In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty and one years.
24 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
25 He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gath-hepher.
26 For the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel.
27 And the LORD said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven: but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.
28 ¶ Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he warred, and how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath, which belonged to Judah, for Israel, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
29 And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel; and Zachariah his son reigned in his stead.
II Kings 1 – J. Vernon McGee
2 Kings 14:1-14 – The Penalty of Pride.
There were good traits in Amaziah’s character, such as humanity to the children of his father’s murderers, and his willingness to forfeit the aid of the army of Israel, because of the prophet’s remonstrance (2 Chronicles 25). But he fell a victim to Edom’s idols, though he conquered Edom that worshiped them; and from that moment God’s Spirit and guidance seemed to desert him. He was puffed up with pride and vainglory, challenged the king of Israel to battle, and brought disaster on his people and himself.
But what a profound lesson is presented by his life! Do we never become elated with success, so that our heart is lifted up? Do we not fling ourselves in an hour of self-confidence from the Temple terrace, and find that no hand of might and love is stretched out to intercept our fall and make us alight uninjured on the ground? Let those who are successful and prosperous remember the Giver of every good and perfect gift and walk humbly with God. When we are evidently summoned to a supreme conflict with our foes, no weapon formed against us prospers: but if we are foolhardy, we are left to the results of our folly.
2 Kings 14:6—Every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
So ran the law of Moses. It forbade the imposition of punishment on the relatives of the wrong-doer, but it had no mercy on him. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20), was the succinct and conclusive verdict of the older law, in this reflecting the spirit and letter of one yet older, which ran (Genesis 2:17), “The day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
First, we were dead in our sins.— Ephesians 2:5 puts this beyond all doubt. In the sight of God, all who walk according to the course of this world, and obey the prince that now worketh in the children of this world, are dead in trespasses and sins. However much they may be alive as to their souls, they are dead as to their spirits, entirely destitute of the life of God.
Second, we have died for our sins.— 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 establishes this fact, and shows that in Jesus, we who believe in Him, are reckoned to have died in Him when He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. In God’s estimate, His death is imputed to us; so that we are reckoned as having satisfied, in Jesus, the demands of a broken law. It has no more to ask.
Third, we must die to our sin.— Romans 6:11. Reckon that you have died, and whenever sin arises, to menace or allure you, point back to the grave, and argue that since you died in Christ, you have passed altogether beyond its jurisdiction, for you have yielded your members as weapons of righteousness unto God. And having been crucified with Christ, you now no longer live, but Christ liveth in you. Let it become your daily habit to place the grave of Jesus between yourself and all allurements of the world, the flesh. and the devil.
2 Kings 14:15-29 – Outward Prosperity without Inward Renewal.
Azariah is elsewhere called Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:1-23; Isaiah 6:1, etc.). The two names mean respectively, “whom Jehovah assists” and “the strength of Jehovah.” After the death of his father, he finished the conquest of Edom by conquering Elath and restoring it to Judah; and this was the beginning of a long and in some respects remarkable reign, though with a sad ending, as we shall see.
The reign of Jeroboam II was the longest and outwardly the most prosperous of any of the kings of Israel; for he regained possession of the land in the north and east which had been lost (v. 25), and made the Syrians tributary (v. 28). During his long reign, Hosea and Amos were sent to Israel, reproving their idolatry, warning them of the folly of relying on foreign help, and foretelling their overthrow by Assyria, if they persisted in their sins. At the same time they did not cease to open the doors of God’s forgiveness and mercy, if Israel would repent. God could not forget the time when Israel was a child, and he loved him and brought him out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1). The memory of our early years, with their holy promise, is lovingly cherished by our Father.