Commentaria in IV Regum
Chapter 14. Synopsis of the Chapter
The deeds of Amasias the son of Joas king of Juda, and his war with Joas king of Israel, in which Amasias was defeated and taken captive and Jerusalem plundered; who, at last slain by his own people, left as successor his son Azarias, as Joas king of Israel was succeeded by his son Jeroboam, and he by his son Zacharias.
1. In the second year of Joas the son of Joachaz king of Israel, Amasias the son of Joas king of Juda reigned.
2. He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign: and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem: his mother’s name was Joadan of Jerusalem. 3. And he did that which was right before the Lord, but not like David his father. He did according to all that Joas his father did: 4. Save only that he took not away the high places: for the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. 5. And when he had gotten the kingdom, he put to death his servants that had slain the king his father. 6. But the children of the murderers he did not put to death, according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, as the Lord commanded, saying: The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: but every one shall die for his own sin. 7. He slew of Edom in the valley of the Saltpits ten thousand men, and took the rock in the battle, and called the name thereof Jectehel, unto this day. 8. Then Amasias sent messengers to Joas the son of Joachaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying: Come, let us see one another. 9. And Joas king of Israel sent back to Amasias king of Juda, saying: The thistle of Libanus sent to the cedar that is in Libanus, saying: Give thy daughter to my son to wife. And the beasts of the forest that are in Libanus passed, and trod down the thistle. 10. Thou hast beaten and prevailed over Edom, and thy heart hath lifted thee up: be content with this glory, and stay at home: why provokest thou evil, that thou shouldst fall, and Juda with thee? 11. And Amasias did not rest satisfied: and Joas king of Israel went up, and they saw one another, he and Amasias king of Juda, in Bethsames, a town of Juda. 12. And Juda was put to the worse before Israel, and they fled every man to their dwellings. 13. But Joas king of Israel took Amasias king of Juda, the son of Joas the son of Ochozias, in Bethsames, and brought him to Jerusalem: and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the gate of the corner, 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 king’s treasures, and hostages, and returned to Samaria. 15. Now the rest of the acts of Joas which he did, and his valour wherewith he fought against Amasias king of Juda, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel? 16. And Joas slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel: and Jeroboam his son reigned in his stead. 17. And Amasias the son of Joas king of Juda lived after the death of Joas the son of Joachaz king of Israel, fifteen years. 18. And the rest of the acts of Amasias, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? 19. And a conspiracy was made against him in Jerusalem: but he fled to Lachis. And they sent after him to Lachis, and slew him there. 20. And they brought him away on horses, and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. 21. And all the people of Juda took Azarias who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amasias. 22. He built Elath, and restored it to Juda, after that the king slept with his fathers. 23. In the fifteenth year of Amasias the son of Joas king of Juda, Jeroboam the son of Joas king of Israel reigned in Samaria forty-one years. 24. And he did that which is evil before the Lord. He departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin. 25. He restored the borders of Israel from the entrance of Emath, unto the sea of the wilderness, according to the word of the Lord the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonas the son of Amathi, the prophet, who was of Geth, which is in Opher. 26. For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was exceedingly bitter, and that they were consumed even to them that were shut up in prison, and the lowest persons, and there was no one to help Israel. 27. And the Lord did not say that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joas. 28. And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his valour wherewith he fought, and how he restored Damascus, and Emath to Juda in Israel, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel? 29. And Jeroboam slept with his fathers the kings of Israel, and Zacharias his son reigned in his stead.
1. IN THE SECOND YEAR OF JOAS THE SON OF JOACHAZ, KING OF ISRAEL, AMASIAS REIGNED.—You will say: This seems to conflict with the preceding chapter, v. 10, where it is said that Joas king of Israel began to reign in the 37th year of Joas king of Juda, who reigned 40 years, and when he died his son Amasias succeeded him; therefore Amasias began to reign not in the second but in the fourth year of Joas king of Israel. I answer: Joas king of Israel began to reign in the 37th year of Joas king of Juda, but with his father Joachaz; and after two years, his father being dead, he began to reign alone in the 39th year of Joas king of Juda, and from that year his years are reckoned here. Wherefore when Joas king of Juda died in the following year, namely the 40th of his reign, which was the second year of Joas king of Israel, in which he reigned alone after his father Joachaz, Amasias, succeeding his father Joas in Juda, began there to reign alone in the second year of Joas king of Israel.
2. HIS MOTHER’S NAME WAS JOADAN.—Abulensis here heaps up many reasons why in the book of Kings the names of the mothers are always added for the kings of Juda, but never for the kings of Israel; the chief one is that the kingdom of Juda was the better and more famous, by the temple of the true worship of God, and by the Messias who was to be born from it. Add that the kingdom of Israel was schismatic and idolatrous, but Juda lawful and divine.
3. AND HE DID THAT WHICH WAS RIGHT BEFORE THE LORD,—because Amasias at the beginning of his reign worshipped only the true God.
BUT NOT LIKE DAVID HIS FATHER,—who not only did not worship idols, but did not permit his subjects to worship them; which Amasias, however, did, permitting the people to sacrifice on the high places, of which it is said in 2 Paralipomenon 25:2: “And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart.”
HE DID ACCORDING TO ALL THAT JOAS HIS FATHER DID,—because as Joas worshipped only God while Joiada the high priest lived, but after his death turned aside to idols, so did Amasias his son, who toward the end turned aside to the gods of the Idumeans, as is plain from 2 Paralipomenon.
4. SAVE ONLY THAT HE TOOK NOT AWAY THE HIGH PLACES,—these words are not to be referred to the immediately preceding ones: “He did according to all that Joas his father did,” because Joas also did not take away the high places; but to the earlier ones: “And he did that which was right before the Lord,” as if to say: Amasias worshipped God rightly, but did not rightly permit the people to sacrifice on the high places. Wherefore those words (“he did according to all that Joas his father did”) contain a parenthesis, as Sanchez notes, and are to be set apart from what follows, as enclosed in a parenthesis.
7. HE SLEW OF EDOM IN THE VALLEY OF THE SALTPITS.—For the Idumeans had rebelled against the Jews sixty years before, namely from the sixth year of Joram king of Juda to the twelfth of Amasias (so the Hebrews say in the Seder Olam), who again subdued them and forced them to serve Juda. See 2 Paralipomenon 21:8 and chapter 25:11. Further, after this victory Amasias fell into idolatry, and worshipped the gods of the Idumeans, and therefore was beaten and taken by Joas king of Israel, as is said in 2 Paralipomenon 25:20.
AND TOOK THE ROCK,—he took a high and fortified rock of the enemy, from which he cast down another ten thousand of the Idumeans, as is said in 2 Paralipomenon 25:12. So Cajetan. So the Gabaonites, slain, fled to the rock of Remmon, Judges chapter 20, v. 47.
Others by “rock” understand “Petra,” a city of Arabia, which afterwards, restored by Ptolemy Philadelphus, was called “Philadelphia.”
AND CALLED THE NAME THEREOF JECTEHEL,—that is, “obedience” or “expectation of God,” as our version renders it at Genesis 49:10, that all might know that Amasias had conquered and punished the rebel Idumeans by God’s command and with his help. So Cajetan. Vatablus differently: He called it Jectehel, he says, because that was the name of the man who took it. Pagninus renders Jectehel, the congregation of God.
8. THEN (when, exulting and glorying, indeed exalting himself over the victory over the Idumeans, he thought he would in like manner subdue the Israelites) AMASIAS SENT MESSENGERS TO JOAS (king of Israel), SAYING: COME, LET US SEE ONE ANOTHER,—in battle, that is, let us fight and contend, that we may see which is the stronger: so the Chaldee: Come, he says, let us meet each other face to face in war, that is, come and let us join battle on an appointed day. Vatablus: come, let us look at each other face to face.
The Hebrews, as Vatablus testifies, think the cause of the war was that, as is told in 2 Paralipomenon 25, Amasias, by command of the prophet, dismissed the soldiers he had hired from Israel against the Idumeans; these, dismissed and indignant, plundered the kingdom of Juda; Amasias therefore wished to demand the spoils back by war from Joas and the Israelites. But Scripture indicates nothing of the sort; rather Joas reproaches Amasias that, puffed up by the victory over the Idumeans, he challenges him to battle out of pride. Hear Josephus, book 9, ch. 10: “Amasias, not bearing his good fortune, of which, however, he did not acknowledge God to be the author, but puffed up with pride, wrote to Joas king of the Israelites that he should do his bidding with his people, as that people had formerly obeyed his ancestors David and Solomon; but if he would not of his own accord do his duty, the rights of empire must be decided by war.” So also Abulensis, Historia Scholastica, Salianus and others. Amasias hoped to be the victor, because the prophet had told him, 2 Paralipomenon 25, that God was not with Israel; but he should have thought the same of himself, as being now an apostate and worshipping the gods of the Idumeans, especially because God had willed that the kingdom of Israel should be divided from the kingdom of Juda, as we have heard in 3 Kings 12 ff. Wherefore Amasias, wishing to unite it again to himself and subject it, was acting against the will of God, and therefore fell in the war.
9. THE THISTLE OF LIBANUS SENT TO THE CEDAR THAT IS IN LIBANUS, SAYING: GIVE THY DAUGHTER TO MY SON TO WIFE. AND THE BEASTS OF THE FOREST THAT ARE IN LIBANUS PASSED, AND TROD DOWN THE THISTLE.—By this fable Joas rebukes the pride of Amasias, who challenges him to war. For he contemptuously calls Amasias a “thistle,” lowly, base and prickly, “of Libanus,” however, because he himself was descended from Judea and the royal seed; but himself he calls a “cedar,” lofty, noble and precious, which the lowly “thistle,” that is Amasias, can scarcely look upon, much less equal in strength, so as to dare to say: “Give thy daughter to my son to wife,” as if to say: Join your kingdom of Israel and subject it to my kingdom of Juda, as formerly under David it was joined to it and as it were wedded to it in marriage.
AND THE BEASTS OF THE FOREST THAT ARE IN LIBANUS PASSED (so he calls his Israelite soldiers; for by “Libanus” he understands the whole of Palestine, both Israel and Juda, strong and fierce as lions) AND TROD DOWN THE THISTLE,—that is, they will trample you down, O Amasias, take you and plunder you.
So it came to pass, as Joas here threatened and foretold;
for God wished through him to chastise the pride, as well as the idolatry, of Amasias, as is said in 2 Paralipomenon 25:20.
Hence Josephus, book 9, ch. 10, adds this moral to the fable: “Let this example,” he says, “warn you not to seek greater things than is fitting; nor, puffed up by your recent victory over the Amalecites (rather Idumeans), to commit both yourself and your kingdom to the uncertain throw of the dice.”
A similar fable is in Judges 9:8 ff., where Joatham the son of Gedeon compares the tyrant Abimelech to the bramble, and the good princes to the fig tree, the vine and the olive. See what was said there.
13. BUT JOAS KING OF ISRAEL TOOK AMASIAS KING OF JUDA, etc.,—Behold, here the fable of Joas is fulfilled: for those deserve to be punished who provoke others to war. So we see that those who challenge others to a duel not rarely fall in it and are slain, God chastising their boldness and pride.
17. AND AMASIAS LIVED, etc., AFTER THE DEATH OF JOAS, TWENTY-FIVE YEARS.—Correct it to 15 years with the Roman Septuagint and the Chaldee, as is had in 2 Paralipomenon 25:25.
19. AND THEY SLEW HIM,—This was a just judgment of God, that as Joas the father, turning aside to idols, was slain by his own people, so Amasias his son, turning aside to the same, should be killed by his conspirators, as is plain from 2 Paralipomenon 25:27. Yet Salianus and others probably hold that he repented before death, and died piously in the worship of the one true God.
25. HE RESTORED THE BORDERS OF ISRAEL FROM THE ENTRANCE OF EMATH UNTO THE SEA OF THE WILDERNESS, ACCORDING TO THE WORD OF THE LORD THE GOD OF ISRAEL, WHICH HE SPOKE BY HIS SERVANT JONAS THE SON OF AMATHI.—Hence it is plain that Jonas foretold to king Jeroboam that he would restore to Israel those cities which the Syrians had taken from it, from Emath to the Dead Sea, although this oracle is not extant in the prophecy of Jonas. Now “Emath” is in the tribe of Nephthali, adjoining the Syrians, not far from Damascus, which was the capital of Syria. “Emath” was the entrance and as it were the gate into the Holy Land. Afterwards, in the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, it was called “Epiphania”; see what was said on Amos 6:2. Hear now Josephus, book 9, ch. 10: “The prophet Jonas foretold to Jeroboam that, having conquered the Syrians, he would enlarge his dominion, extending his borders northward as far as the city of Amatha, and southward as far as the Asphaltite lake; for by these boundaries Chanaan was formerly bounded, according to the definition of the commander Josue. Roused by this oracle, Jeroboam added to his kingdom all those regions taken from the Syrians, the prophecy of Jonas in no way failing.”
Hence it is plain that the prophet Jonas prophesied under Jeroboam king of Israel and Azarias or Ozias king of Juda, and therefore was a contemporary of Isaias (whom the Hebrews say, as St. Jerome testifies, was a brother, or a brother’s son, of king Amasias), Osee, Joel, Amos and Nahum. Wherefore Abulensis does not rightly think that this Jonas is different from the Jonas who is the fourth among the minor Prophets.
28. HOW HE RESTORED DAMASCUS AND EMATH TO JUDA IN ISRAEL.—How were these cities of Juda in Israel? For the kingdom of Juda was one, and that of Israel another. Leaving aside the opinions of Abulensis and others, I say that David took these cities and assigned them to his tribe of Juda, because he was descended from it, and hence these cities, though situated outside the lot of Juda, were nevertheless called Juda. But when the kingdom of Israel was divided from the kingdom of Juda, these cities, as being neighbouring, fell to Israel; the sense therefore is: Jeroboam brought it about that Damascus and Emath, subdued by David and assigned to the tribe of Juda, but afterwards occupied by the Syrians, were restored to Israel, whose king he was, and were again reckoned among the other cities of Juda which were under the dominion of Israel, as they had been reckoned by David; that is, Jeroboam made Damascus and Emath, formerly subdued and tributary to David, now tributary to himself and to Israel. So Salianus and Sanchez.
29. AND JEROBOAM SLEPT (died a natural death) WITH HIS FATHERS.—You will say: In Amos 7:11 it is said: “Jeroboam shall die by the sword.” I answer that these words are not of Amos, but of Amasias the false prophet, who, to discredit the prophet Amos before Jeroboam, lies and feigns that Amos said this. For Amos had not said: “Jeroboam shall die by the sword,” but, “I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword,” namely by slaying not Jeroboam himself but his son Zacharias.