Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The deeds of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah, and his war with Joash king of Israel, in which Amaziah was defeated and captured, and Jerusalem was plundered: who, finally killed by his own people, left his son Azariah as his successor, just as Jeroboam succeeded Joash king of Israel, and Zechariah succeeded him.
Vulgate Text: 4 Kings 14:1-29
1. In the second year of Joash the son of Jehoahaz king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah reigned. 2. He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign: and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. 3. And he did what was right before the Lord, yet not like David his father. He did according to all things that Joash his father had done: 4. except only that he did not remove the high places; for the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. 5. And when he had established the kingdom, he struck the servants who had killed the king his father. 6. But the sons of those who had killed, he did not put to death, according to what is written in the book of the law of Moses, as the Lord commanded, saying: Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor sons for their fathers; but each shall die for his own sin. 7. He struck Edom in the Valley of Salt, ten thousand men, and seized the Rock in battle, and called its name Joktheel to the present day. 8. Then Amaziah sent messengers to Joash the son of Jehoahaz the son of Jehu king of Israel, saying: Come, let us look one another in the face. 9. And Joash king of Israel sent back to Amaziah king of Judah, saying: The thistle of Lebanon sent to the cedar that is in Lebanon, saying: Give your daughter to my son as wife. But the beasts of the forest that are in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle. 10. By striking you have prevailed over Edom, and your heart has lifted you up; be content with glory and stay in your house; why do you provoke disaster, that you may fall, you and Judah with you? 11. But Amaziah would not listen: and Joash king of Israel went up, and they faced one another, he and Amaziah king of Judah, at Beth-shemesh, a town of Judah. 12. And Judah was struck down before Israel, and each one fled to his tent. 13. And Joash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash the son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem; and he broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to 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 treasuries of the king, and hostages, and returned to Samaria. 15. Now the rest of the deeds of Joash, and his valor in fighting against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 16. And Joash slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel: and Jeroboam his son reigned in his place. 17. And Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived fifteen years after the death of Joash the son of Jehoahaz king of Israel. 18. Now the rest of the deeds of Amaziah, are they not written in the Book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 19. And a conspiracy was formed against him in Jerusalem: but he fled to Lachish. And they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there. 20. And they brought him on horses, and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the City of David. 21. And all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah. 22. He built Elath and restored it to Judah, after 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 reigned in Samaria for forty-one years: 24. and he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin. 25. He restored the borders of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord the God of Israel, which He spoke through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher. 26. For the Lord saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, and that they were consumed even to the imprisoned and the most destitute, and there was no one to help Israel. 27. And the Lord did not speak to blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, but saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash. 28. Now the rest of the deeds of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his valor in fighting, and how he restored Damascus and Hamath, of Judah, to Israel, are they not written in the Book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 29. And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, the kings of Israel, and Zechariah his son reigned in his place.
Verse 1: Amaziah the Son of Joash Reigned
1. In the second year of Joash the son of Jehoahaz king of Israel, Amaziah reigned. — You will say: This seems to contradict the preceding chapter, verse 10, where it is said that Joash king of Israel began to reign in the 37th year of Joash king of Judah, who reigned 40 years, and only upon his death was he succeeded by his son Amaziah; therefore Amaziah began to reign not in the second, but in the fourth year of Joash king of Israel. I respond: Joash king of Israel began to reign in the 37th year of Joash king of Judah, but together with his father Jehoahaz; and two years later, after his father died, he began to reign alone in the 39th year of Joash king of Judah, and from that year his years are counted here. Therefore, when Joash king of Judah died the following year, namely the 40th of his reign, which was the second year of Joash king of Israel (in which he reigned alone after his father Jehoahaz), Amaziah, succeeding his father Joash in Judah, began to reign there alone in the second year of Joash king of Israel.
Verse 2: His Mother Was Jehoaddin
2. The name of his mother was Jehoaddin. — Abulensis here gathers many reasons why in the book of Kings the names of the mothers are always added to the kings of Judah, but never to the kings of Israel; the most important is that the kingdom of Judah was more preeminent and more illustrious because of the true temple of God's worship, and the Messiah who was to be born from it. Add that the kingdom of Israel was schismatic and idolatrous, but that of Judah was legitimate and divine.
Verse 3: He Did What Was Right Before the Lord
3. And he did what was right before the Lord — because Amaziah at the beginning of his reign worshipped only the true God. Yet not like David his father — who not only did not worship idols, but did not even permit his subjects to worship them; which however Amaziah did, permitting the people to sacrifice on the high places, which in book II Paralipomenon ch. xxv, verse 2, is stated: "And he did what was good in the sight of the Lord, yet not with a perfect heart." He did according to all things that Joash his father had done — because just as Joash, while Jehoiada the High Priest was alive, worshipped only God, but after his death turned aside to idols; so also did Amaziah his son, who toward the end turned to the gods of the Edomites, as is evident from II Paralipomenon xxv, 14.
Verse 4: He Did Not Remove the High Places
4. Except only that he did not remove the high places — these words are not to be referred to the immediately preceding: "According to all things that Joash his father had done," because Joash also did not remove the high places; but to the earlier words: "And he did what was right before the Lord," meaning: Amaziah rightly worshipped God, but did not rightly permit the people to sacrifice on the high places. Therefore those words ("he did according to all things that Joash his father had done") contain a parenthesis, as Sanchez notes, and as though enclosed in parentheses, they must be separated from what follows.
Verse 7: He Struck Edom in the Valley of Salt
7. He struck Edom in the Valley of Salt. — For the Edomites had rebelled against the Jews sixty years earlier, namely from the sixth year of Joram king of Judah, to the twelfth of Amaziah (say the Hebrews in the Seder Olam), who subdued them again and compelled them to serve Judah. See II Paralipomenon xxi, 8 and ch. xxv, 11. Moreover, after this victory Amaziah fell into idolatry and worshipped the gods of the Edomites, and therefore was defeated and captured by Joash king of Israel, as is said in II Paralipomenon xxv, 20. And he seized the Rock in battle — that is, he captured the high and fortified rock of the enemies, from which he cast down another ten thousand Edomites, as is said in II Paralipomenon xxv, 12. So Cajetan. Similarly, the Gibeonites when defeated fled to the rock of Rimmon, Judges ch. xx, verse 4. Others by "the Rock" understand "Petra," the city of Arabia, which was later restored by Ptolemy Philadelphus and called "Philadelphia." And he called its name Joktheel — that is, "obedience" or "expectation of God," as our translator renders it in Genesis xlix, 10, so that all might know that Amaziah had conquered and punished the rebellious Edomites by God's command as well as by His help. So Cajetan. Otherwise Vatablus: He called it Joktheel, he says, because that was the name of the one who conquered it. Pagninus translates Joktheel as "assembly of God."
Verse 8: Then (when, Exulting and Rejoicing, Indeed Exalting Himself Over the Victory Against the Edomites
8. Then (when, exulting and rejoicing, indeed exalting himself over the victory against the Edomites, he thought he would similarly subdue the Israelites), Amaziah sent messengers to Joash (king of Israel) saying: Come, let us face one another — in battle, that is, let us duel and fight to see which is stronger. So the Chaldean: Come, he says, let us receive each other's faces in war, that is, come and let us fight on an appointed day. Vatablus: come, let us look at each other face to face. The Hebrews, according to Vatablus, consider the cause of the war to have been that, as narrated in II Paralipomenon xxv, Amaziah at the command of a prophet dismissed the soldiers he had hired from Israel against the Edomites; those dismissed, being indignant, plundered the kingdom of Judah; therefore Amaziah wished to recover this plunder from Joash and the Israelites by war. But Scripture does not indicate any such thing; rather Joash objects to Amaziah that, elated by his victory over the Edomites, he provokes him to battle out of pride. Hear Josephus, book IX, ch. x: "Amaziah, not being able to contain his good fortune — whose author, God, he did not acknowledge — but puffed up with pride, wrote to Joash king of the Israelites that he and his people should obey his commands, just as in former times the same people had obeyed his ancestors David and Solomon; and if he was unwilling to do so voluntarily, the rights of empire would have to be decided by war." So also Abulensis, the Scholastic History, Salianus, and others. Amaziah hoped he would be victorious, because a prophet had told him, II Paralipomenon xxv, that God was not with Israel: but he should have thought the same of himself, as one who was already an apostate and worshipping the gods of the Edomites, especially because God had willed the kingdom of Israel to be divided from the kingdom of Judah, as we heard in book III, ch. xii and following. Therefore Amaziah, wishing to unite and subject it to himself again, was acting against the will of God, and therefore he was defeated in war.
Verse 9: The Thistle of Lebanon Sent to the Cedar that is in Lebanon, Saying: Give Your Daughter to My Son as Wife
9. The thistle of Lebanon sent to the cedar that is in Lebanon, saying: Give your daughter to my son as wife. But the beasts of the forest that are in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle. — By this fable Joash rebuffs the pride of Amaziah who was provoking him to war. For contemptuously he calls Amaziah a "thistle," humble, worthless, and prickly. "Of Lebanon," however, because he was descended from Judah and the royal line; but he calls himself a "cedar," tall, noble, and precious, which the humble "thistle," that is Amaziah, can scarcely even look upon, much less equal in strength, so as to dare to say: "Give your daughter to my son as wife," that is: Join and subject your kingdom of Israel to my kingdom of Judah, as once under David it was joined and united as if in marriage. And the beasts of the forest that are in Lebanon passed by (so he calls his Israelite soldiers; for by "Lebanon" he means all of Palestine, that is, both Israel and Judah, strong and fierce as lions), and trampled the thistle — that is, they will trample you, O Amaziah, capture and plunder you. And so it happened, as Joash here threatened and predicted; because God through him wished to chastise the pride as well as the idolatry of Amaziah, as is said in II Paralipomenon xxv, 12. Hence to this fable Josephus adds this moral, book IX, ch. x: "This example, he says, should warn you not to desire things greater than is fitting; nor, elated by your recent victory over the Amalekites (rather the Edomites), to entrust both yourself and your kingdom to the uncertain chance of war." A similar fable is found in Judges ix, 10, where Jotham the son of Gideon compares the tyrant Abimelech to a bramble, but good princes to the fig tree, vine, and olive. See the commentary there.
Verse 13: Joash Captured Amaziah King of Judah
13. And Joash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, etc. — Behold, here the fable of Joash is fulfilled: for thus do those who provoke others to war deserve to be punished. So we see not rarely that those who challenge others to a duel succumb in it and are killed, God chastising their audacity and pride.
Verse 17: Amaziah Lived Fifteen Years After the Death of Joash
17. And Amaziah lived twenty-five years after the death of Joash. — Correct with the Roman, Chaldean, and Septuagint editions to fifteen years, as is found in II Paralipomenon xxv, 25.
Verse 19: They Killed Him
19. And they killed him. — This was a just judgment of God, that just as Joash the father, turning aside to idols, was killed by his own people, so also Amaziah his son, turning to the same, would be murdered by his own conspirators, as is evident from II Paralipomenon ch. xxv, verse 27. Probably, however, Salianus and others think that he repented before death and died piously in the worship of the one true God.
Verse 25: He Restored the Borders of Israel from the Entrance of Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, According
25. He restored the borders of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord the God of Israel, which He spoke through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai. — From this it is evident that Jonah had foretold to King Jeroboam that he would restore to Israel those cities which the Syrians had taken from it, from Hamath to the Dead Sea, even though this oracle does not appear in the prophecy of Jonah. Now "Hamath" is in the tribe of Naphtali, bordering on the Syrians, not far from Damascus, which was the capital of Syria. "Hamath" was the entrance and, as it were, the gate into the Holy Land. The same city was later called "Epiphania" after Antiochus Epiphanes who reigned there; see the commentary on Amos vi, 2. Now hear Josephus, book IX, ch. xi: "The prophet Jonah foretold to Jeroboam that, having defeated the Syrians, he would enlarge his dominion, extending its borders to the north as far as the city of Hamath, and to the south as far as the Asphaltite Lake; for by these boundaries the land of Canaan was formerly bounded, according to the definition of the commander Joshua. Stirred by this oracle, Jeroboam added all those territories taken from the Syrians to his own kingdom, with Jonah's prophecy not failing in the least." From this it is evident that Jonah the prophet prophesied under Jeroboam king of Israel and Azariah, or Uzziah, king of Judah, and was therefore a contemporary of Isaiah (whom the Hebrews say was the brother, or the nephew, of King Amaziah, as St. Jerome attests), Hosea, Joel, Amos, and Nahum. Therefore Abulensis is not correct in thinking that this Jonah is different from the Jonah who is the fourth among the minor prophets.
Verse 28: He Restored Damascus and Hamath to Israel
28. How he restored Damascus and Hamath, of Judah, to Israel. — How were these cities of Judah in Israel? For the kingdom of Judah was one thing, and Israel another. Passing over the opinions of Abulensis and others, I say briefly that David had captured these cities and assigned them to his own tribe of Judah, because he himself was descended from it, and thence these cities, although situated outside the allotment of Judah, were nevertheless called Judah's. But when the kingdom of Israel was divided from the kingdom of Judah, these cities, being nearby, fell to Israel; the meaning therefore is: Jeroboam brought it about that Damascus and Hamath, subdued by David and assigned to the tribe of Judah, but then occupied by the Syrians, were restored to Israel, of which he was king, and were again counted among the other cities of Judah that were in the territory of Israel, as they had been counted by David. That is, Jeroboam brought it about that Damascus and Hamath, once subdued and tributary to David, should now be tributary to himself and to Israel. So Salianus and Sanchez.
Verse 29: Jeroboam Slept With His Fathers
29. And Jeroboam slept (he died a natural death) with his fathers. — You will say: In Amos ch. vii, verse 11, it is said: "Jeroboam shall die by the sword." I respond that these words are not those of Amos, but of Amaziah the false prophet, who, to discredit the prophet Amos before Jeroboam, lies and pretends that Amos said this. For Amos had not said: "Jeroboam shall die by the sword," but rather, "I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword," namely by killing not Jeroboam himself, but his son Zechariah.