Commentaria in II Paralipomenon
Chapter 25. Synopsis of the chapter
King Amasias avenges the death of his father Joas, and overcomes the Idumeans in battle; but, falling into idolatry, he is routed by Joas king of Israel, taken and despoiled, and is slain by his own people in Lachis.
1. Amasias was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem, the name of his mother was Joadan of Jerusalem.
2. And he did that which was good in the sight of the Lord: but not with a perfect heart.
3. And when he saw his empire strengthened, he put to death the servants that had killed the king his father,
4. but their children he slew not, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, where the Lord commanded, saying: The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither the children for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin.
5. And Amasias gathered together Juda, and set them by their families, and tribunes, and centurions in all Juda and Benjamin: and he numbered them from twenty years old and upward, and found three hundred thousand young men, that could go out to battle, and hold the spear and shield.
6. He hired also of Israel a hundred thousand strong men, for a hundred talents of silver.
7. But a man of God came to him, and said: O king, let not the army of Israel go out with thee: for the Lord is not with Israel, and all the children of Ephraim:
8. but if thou think that the strength of an army consists in battles, God will make thee be overcome by the enemies: for it is God’s to help, and to put to flight.
9. And Amasias said to the man of God: What then shall become of the hundred talents, which I have given to the soldiers of Israel? And the man of God answered him: The Lord is able to give thee much more than this.
10. So Amasias separated the army that was come to him out of Ephraim, that they might return to their own place; but they, being exceedingly angry against Juda, returned into their own country.
11. And Amasias confidently brought out his people, and went to the Valley of the salt pits, and slew of the children of Seir ten thousand.
12. And other ten thousand men the children of Juda took, and brought them to the top of a rock, and threw them down headlong from the top, and they all burst asunder.
13. But that army which Amasias had sent back that it should not go with him to battle, spread themselves in the cities of Juda, from Samaria to Bethoron, and having killed three thousand, took a great booty.
14. And Amasias after the slaughter of the Idumeans, and the bringing in of the gods of the children of Seir, set them up for gods to himself, and adored them, and burnt incense to them.
15. Wherefore the Lord being angry with Amasias, sent to him a prophet, to say to him: Why hast thou adored the gods that have not delivered their own people out of thy hand?
16. And when he spoke these words, he answered him: Art thou the king’s counsellor? hold thy peace lest I kill thee. And the prophet departing said: I know that God hath determined to kill thee, because thou hast done this evil, and moreover hast not hearkened to my counsel.
17. Then Amasias king of Juda, taking a most wicked counsel, sent to Joas the son of Joachaz the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying: Come, let us see one another.
18. But he sent messengers back, saying: The thistle that is in Libanus sent to the cedar of Libanus, saying: Give thy daughter to my son to wife; and behold the beasts that were in the forest of Libanus passed, and trod down the thistle.
19. Thou hast said: I have smitten Edom, and therefore thy heart is lifted up with pride; sit in thy house, why provokest thou evil against thyself, that thou shouldst fall, and Juda with thee?
20. Amasias would not hear, because it was the will of the Lord that he should be delivered into the hands of enemies for the gods of Edom.
21. So Joas king of Israel went up, and they saw one another: but Amasias king of Juda was at Bethsames of Juda;
22. and Juda fell before Israel, and fled to their dwellings.
23. And Joas king of Israel took Amasias king of Juda, the son of Joas the son of Joachaz, in Bethsames, and brought him to Jerusalem, and broke down its wall from the gate of Ephraim to the gate of the corner, four hundred cubits.
24. And all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that he found in the house of God, and with Obededom, and in the treasures also of the king’s house, and the hostages, he brought back to Samaria.
25. And Amasias the son of Joas king of Juda lived after the death of Joas the son of Joachaz king of Israel fifteen years.
26. Now the rest of the acts of Amasias first and last are written in the book of the kings of Juda and Israel.
27. Who, after he revolted from the Lord, they laid snares for him in Jerusalem. And when he had fled to Lachis, they sent after him, and killed him there.
28. And bringing him back upon horses, they buried him with his fathers in the city of David.
I explained this chapter in 4 Kings XIV.
Verse 6. He hired also of Israel a hundred thousand strong men, for a hundred talents of silver.—A talent of silver contained three thousand silver sicles, that is, three thousand Brabant florins, each of which contains four Roman Julii, or four Spanish reals. Wherefore a hundred talents of silver make three hundred thousand Brabant florins, which, if thou distribute equally among the hundred thousand Israelites hired at this price, there will fall to each soldier three Brabant florins, or twelve Julii, which in that age, when money was scarce and corn cheap, was large and of great value. Wherefore some wrongly hold that these talents were of gold, since Scripture expressly says they were of silver.
Verse 7. But a man of God came—a prophet sent by God. The Hebrews in Seder Olam relate that this prophet was Amos, who was the brother of king Amasias and the father of the prophet Isaias, and prove it from Isaias XXXVII, 2, where St. Jerome reads: “To Isaias the son of Amos the prophet,” and so it was once read; although now the Hebrew, the Septuagint, and the Roman constantly read: “To Isaias the son of Amos the prophet.”
O king, let not the army of Israel go out with thee: for the Lord is not with Israel—as being his enemies, and worshippers of idols, namely the golden calves. Let Christian kings and princes learn here not to seek the aid of princes or soldiers who are heretics, Turks, or other unbelievers; because, if they do, they will have God as an enemy, and will feel him an avenger, as Josaphat felt, whose ships God broke, because they were joined with the ships of the impious Ochozias king of Israel, chapter XX, 37.
Our Salianus gives the reason, in the year of the world 3208, no. 6. The Lord, he says, would not have the impious and unbelievers joined with the faithful. And so, although by his wonderful providence he favoured each separately, and gave victory; yet when they were joined he not seldom struck them and made them vanquished. Josaphat was with Achab, 3 Kings XXII, when the latter was slain, and he himself ran into a great peril of life. He was likewise with Joram, when the army, nearly dead with thirst, was all but made the prey of the Moabites, 4 Kings III. Ochozias was with Joram in Ramoth Galaad, when Joram was afflicted with many wounds by the Syrians, and soon both kings were slain by Jehu, 4 Kings VIII, verse 28. Therefore not even now does he say that he will be with them joined, but rather threatens defeat and destruction to both; but to them separated he gave victory. For soon Amasias was victor against the Idumeans, and Joas against Amasias, and Jeroboam against the Syrians. Finally God preferred, and from God king Amasias, to lose a hundred talents of silver, nay, to have Judea despoiled by the Israelites when dismissed, as is clear from verse 13, than to admit them into the fellowship of the war.
Verse 15. Why hast thou adored the gods?—Hear Josephus relating the matter more fully: “Wherefore he was addressed by the prophet, who said that he wondered if he believed these to be gods which had been able to offer no help to their worshippers; and had not shown them safe from the force of the Hebrews, but as though not belonging to them had suffered them to be slain and dragged captive. Nay, even they themselves, carried off by the law of war, had come to Jerusalem among the rest of the throng of captives. The king, roused to anger by these words, ordered him to be quiet about this matter, threatening punishment if he continued to meddle in others’ affairs. Then he said that he would indeed be quiet, but that God the avenger would not be wanting to such novelties.”
Verse 16. And thou hast not hearkened to my counsel.—“He would have hearkened to his counsel,” says St. Jerome in the Traditions, “if he had burned them [the idols] with fire, rent his garments, scattered ashes on his head, and given himself wholly to penance. For this counsel the prophet had given him”; but because he hearkened not, the prophet freely and boldly declares to him:
I know that God hath determined to kill thee—and in truth he slew him, as is clear from verse 27. For the author of Paralipomenon wrote them with this end, that from the happy end of pious kings and the unhappy end of the impious he might show that the happiness of kings and kingdoms consists in true religion and the true worship of God, but unhappiness in neglect of it.