2 Reis 14

ARC · Chapter 14/25

1No segundo anno de Jehoás, filho de Joachaz, rei de Israel, começou a reinar Amasias, filho de Joás, rei de Judah.

2Tinha vinte e cinco annos quando começou a reinar, e vinte e nove annos reinou em Jerusalem. E era o nome de sua mãe Joaddan, de Jerusalem.

3E fez o que era recto aos olhos do Senhor, ainda que não como seu pae David: fez porém conforme tudo o que fizera Joás seu pae.

4Tão sómente os altos se não tiraram; porque ainda o povo sacrificava e queimava incenso nos altos.

5Succedeu pois que, sendo já o reino confirmado na sua mão, matou os seus servos que tinham morto o rei seu pae.

6Porém os filhos dos matadores não matou, como está escripto no livro da lei de Moysés, no qual o Senhor deu ordem, dizendo: Não matarão os paes por causa dos filhos, e os filhos não matarão por causa dos paes; mas cada um será morto pelo seu peccado.

7Este feriu a dez mil edomitas no valle do Sal, e tomou a Sela na guerra: e chamou o seu nome Jocteel, até ao dia d'hoje.

8Então Amasias, enviou mensageiros a Jehoás, filho de Joachaz, filho de Jehu, rei de Israel, dizendo: Vem, vejamo-nos cara a cara.

9Porém Jehoás, rei de Israel, enviou a Amasias, rei de Judah, dizendo: O cardo que está no Libano enviou ao cedro que está no Libano, dizendo: Dá tua filha por mulher a meu filho: mas os animaes do campo, que eram no Libano, passaram e pizaram o cardo.

10Na verdade feriste os moabitas, e o teu coração se ensoberbeceu: gloria-te d'isso, e fica em tua casa; e porque te entremetterias no mal, para caires tu, e Judah comtigo?

11Mas Amasias não o ouviu: e subiu Jehoás, rei de Israel, e Amasias, rei de Judah, e viram-se cara a cara, em Beth-semes, que está em Judah.

12E Judah foi ferido diante de Israel, e fugiu cada um para as suas tendas.

13E Jehoás, rei de Israel, tomou a Amasias, rei de Judah, filho de Joás, filho de Achazias, em Beth-semes: e veiu a Jerusalem, e rompeu o muro de Jerusalem, desde a porta de Ephraim até á porta da esquina, quatrocentos covados.

14E tomou todo o oiro e a prata, e todos os vasos que se acharam na casa do Senhor e nos thesouros da casa do rei, como tambem os refens: e voltou para Samaria.

15Ora o mais dos successos de Jehoás, o que fez, e o seu poder, e como pelejou contra Amasias, rei de Judah, porventura não está escripto no livro das chronicas dos reis d'Israel?

16E dormiu Jehoás com seus paes, e foi sepultado em Samaria, junto aos reis d'Israel: e Jeroboão, seu filho, reinou em seu logar.

17E viveu Amasias, filho de Jehoás, rei de Judah, depois da morte de Jehoás, filho de Joachaz, rei d'Israel, quinze annos.

18Ora o mais dos successos de Amasias, porventura não está escripto no livro das chronicas dos reis de Judah?

19E conspiraram contra elle em Jerusalem, e fugiu para Lachis; porém enviaram após elle até Lachis, e o mataram ali.

20E o trouxeram em cima de cavallos: e o sepultaram em Jerusalem, junto a seus paes, na cidade de David.

21E todo o povo de Judah tomou a Azarias, que já era de dezeseis annos, e o fizeram rei em logar de Amasias, seu pae.

22Este edificou a Elath, e a restituiu a Judah, depois que o rei dormiu com seus paes.

23No decimo quinto anno de Amasias, filho de Joás, rei de Judah, começou a reinar em Samaria, Jeroboão, filho de Jehoás rei de Israel e reinou quarenta e um annos.

24E fez o que parecia mal aos olhos do Senhor: nunca se apartou de nenhum dos peccados de Jeroboão, filho de Nebat, que fez peccar a Israel.

25Tambem este restituiu os termos d'Israel, desde a entrada de Hamath até ao mar da planicie: conforme a palavra do Senhor, Deus d'Israel, a qual fallara pelo ministerio de seu servo Jonas, filho do propheta Amithai, o qual era de Gath-hepher.

26Porque viu o Senhor que a miseria d'Israel era mui amarga, e que nem havia encerrado, nem desamparado, nem quem ajudasse a Israel.

27E ainda não fallara o Senhor em apagar o nome d'Israel de debaixo do céu; porém os livrou por mão de Jeroboão, filho de Joás

28Ora o mais dos successos de Jeroboão, tudo quanto fez, e seu poder, como pelejou, e como restituiu a Damasco e a Hamath, pertencentes a Judah, sendo rei em Israel, porventura não está escripto no livro das chronicas de Israel?

29E Jeroboão dormiu com seus paes, com os reis de Israel: e Zacharias, seu filho, reinou em seu logar.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Amaziah of Judah defeats the Edomites but then foolishly challenges Jehoash of Israel to an unnecessary war, only to be defeated and humiliated, with part of Jerusalem's wall torn down. Jeroboam II considerably expands the territory of the Northern Kingdom, fulfilling a prophecy of the prophet Jonah.

Explanation

Amaziah's arrogance after his victory over Edom leads him into an unnecessary war that results in national shame — a pattern showing that success without humility often leads to downfall. The mention of the prophet Jonah here, decades before the book that bears his name, shows that he had an active ministry of political prophecies favorable to Israel before his famous mission to Nineveh, offering interesting historical context about this reluctant prophet.

Fun facts

  • Jehoash's reply to Amaziah, using the fable of the thistle that asks the cedar's daughter in marriage only to be trampled by an animal, is one of the rare examples of a political fable used as a form of diplomatic mockery in the Old Testament.
  • Jeroboam II expanded Israel to its greatest territorial size since the days of David and Solomon, a period of great material prosperity that, according to the prophets Amos and Hosea (contemporaries of this reign), coincided with deep moral and social corruption.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 2 Reis 14:1Amaziah son of Joash begins to reign over Judah (the southern kingdom) in the second year of Jehoash of Israel (the north).
  2. 2 Reis 14:2Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Jehoaddan, of Jerusalem.
  3. 2 Reis 14:3Amaziah does what is right, but not at the same level as David — he follows the partly good pattern set by his own father, Joash.
  4. 2 Reis 14:4Like his father, Amaziah does not remove the high places, the shrines outside the temple where the people kept insisting on sacrificing.
  5. 2 Reis 14:5Common practice at the time was to wipe out a conspirator’s whole family, but the text praises Amaziah for following the Law of Moses, which said each person answers only for his own sin. It is an explicit exception to the chain-vengeance rule common among neighboring kings.
  6. 2 Reis 14:6Unlike common custom, Amaziah does not kill the children of his father’s murderers, following the Law of Moses to the letter: each person answers only for his own sin.
  7. 2 Reis 14:7Amaziah defeats ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt, captures the city of Selah in battle, and renames it Joktheel, a name still in use when the book was written.
  8. 2 Reis 14:8Puffed up by his victory over Edom, Amaziah challenges Jehoash of Israel (the north) to a direct, face-to-face confrontation.
  9. 2 Reis 14:9Jehoash of Israel answers Amaziah’s challenge with a mocking fable comparing kings to plants: an arrogant thistle demands that a cedar give its daughter in marriage to the thistle’s son, but a wild animal passes by and tramples it. It is an ironic way of warning that Judah is punching far above its weight in challenging Israel.
  10. 2 Reis 14:10Jehoash warns Amaziah, with a fable about a thistle that compares itself to a cedar and ends up trampled, not to get into a war that will only bring ruin on him and on Judah.
  11. 2 Reis 14:11Amaziah ignores the warning, and the two kings meet in battle at Beth-shemesh, inside the territory of Judah (the south).
  12. 2 Reis 14:12Judah is defeated before Israel, and every soldier flees back home in a rout.
  13. 2 Reis 14:13Jehoash captures Amaziah at Beth-shemesh, advances to Jerusalem, and tears down a large stretch of the city’s wall.
  14. 2 Reis 14:14Jehoash carries back to Samaria all the gold, the silver, the treasures of the temple and the palace, plus hostages from Judah (the south).
  15. 2 Reis 14:15The closing formula for Jehoash again mentions his victorious war against Amaziah of Judah (the south).
  16. 2 Reis 14:16Jehoash dies and is buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel (the north); his son Jeroboam (the second) takes the throne.
  17. 2 Reis 14:17Amaziah survives fifteen years after the death of Jehoash, his old rival — but his own tragic end is still to come.
  18. 2 Reis 14:18The closing formula for Amaziah points to the chronicles of the kings of Judah (the southern kingdom).
  19. 2 Reis 14:19A conspiracy forms against Amaziah in Jerusalem; he flees to Lachish, but is pursued and killed there.
  20. 2 Reis 14:20Amaziah’s body is brought back on horses and buried in Jerusalem, with his ancestors in the City of David.
  21. 2 Reis 14:21The people of Judah (the south) crown Azariah, only sixteen years old, in place of his father Amaziah.
  22. 2 Reis 14:22Azariah rebuilds Elath and restores it to Judah (the south) after his father’s death.
  23. 2 Reis 14:23Jeroboam, son of Jehoash, begins to reign over Israel (the northern kingdom) in Samaria in the fifteenth year of Amaziah of Judah, and reigns forty-one years — a long reign.
  24. 2 Reis 14:24Jeroboam (the second) also does what is evil, never turning away from the sins of the first Jeroboam.
  25. 2 Reis 14:25Despite being described with the standard negative formula, this Jeroboam presides over a period of territorial expansion and prosperity for Israel. The text credits this to God’s compassion for the people’s suffering, not to any religious merit of the king.
  26. 2 Reis 14:26The Lord sees that the misery of Israel (the north) has reached a bitter point, with no one to help the people.
  27. 2 Reis 14:27Even so, the Lord had not yet decided to blot out Israel entirely, and He saves them through this very Jeroboam.
  28. 2 Reis 14:28The closing formula mentions Jeroboam’s wars and how he recovered Damascus and Hamath for Israel (the northern kingdom).
  29. 2 Reis 14:29Jeroboam (the second) dies, and his son Zechariah takes the throne of Israel (the north) in his place.

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