Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - 2 Chronicles 25:1 - 25:13
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
The Overthrow of the Edomites
v. 1. Amaziah was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem, one of the wives selected for his father by Jehoiada, the priest.
v. 2. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, in maintaining, the worship of Jehovah, but not with a perfect heart, with undivided loyalty; not only did he tolerate idolatry, but he even encouraged its practise.
v. 3. Now it came to pass, when the kingdom was established to him, when he was universally acknowledged and accepted as king, that he slew his servants that had killed the king; his father, 2Ch_24:25.
v. 4. But he slew not their children, literally, "and their sons not put he to death," but did as it is written in the Law, in the book of Moses, where the Lord commanded, saying, The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin, Deu_24:16.
v. 5. Moreover, Amaziah gathered Judah together, mustering its strength for service in war, and made them captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, according to the houses of their fathers, by the divisions of the tribe known as father-houses, throughout all Judah and Benjamin; and he numbered them from twenty years old and above, and found them three hundred thousand choice men, veteran soldiers, a much smaller number than at the time of Jehoshaphat; some eighty years before, able to go forth to war, that could handle spear and shield.
v. 6. He hired also an hundred thousand mighty men of valor out of Israel, the northern kingdom, for an hundred talents of silver (about two hundred thousand dollars). The smallness of Judah's army drove the king to this unusual act of hiring mercenaries to bring up his forces to what he considered fighting strength.
v. 7. But there came a man of God, one of the prophets, to him, saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee; for the Lord is not with Israel, to wit, with all the children of Ephraim, this section of the northern kingdom being the headquarters of the idolatry practised since the days of Jeroboam and Ahab.
v. 8. But if thou wilt go, if he would make up his mind to enter upon the campaign alone, do it, be strong for the battle; God shall make thee fall before the enemy, namely, if he persisted in his determination to keep the mercenaries of Ephraim; for God hath power to help and to cast down. It was both a promise and a warning.
v. 9. And Amaziah said to the man of God. But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? The troop, the body of mercenaries, had been paid, and the prudence of the king would naturally ask such a question. And the man of God answered, The Lord is able to give thee much more than this, for in His hand is all the wealth of the world.
v. 10. Then Amaziah separated them, to wit, the army that was come to him out of Ephraim, to go home again, discharged without having seen duty in the proposed campaign; wherefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in great anger, literally, "in the glow or heat of their anger," chiefly, perhaps, because the hope of booty was withdrawn from them and the sum which they received as mercenaries alone was not sufficient in their estimation.
v. 11. And Amaziah strengthened himself, he was filled with courage and energy, and led forth his people, and went to the Valley of Salt, southeast of the Dead Sea, and smote of the children of Seir, of the Edomites, ten thousand.
v. 12. And other ten thousand left alive, after being captured, did the children of Judah carry away captive, and brought them unto the top of the rock, a well-known hill or rocky point, probably that on which the capital of Idumaea was situated, and cast them down from the top of the rock, that they all were broken in pieces, a common mode of execution among ancient nations.
v. 13. But the soldiers of the army which Amaziah sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, the members of the host from Ephraim, fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria even unto Beth-horon, all along the northern boundary, and smote three thousand of them, and took much spoil. In this way they took their revenge for the supposed insult heaped upon them. The victory of Amaziah shows that the fear of the Lord is a power in overcoming all enemies, in granting victory and blessing.