2 Kings 14:13

_AND JUDAH WAS PUT TO THE WORSE BEFORE ISRAEL; AND THEY FLED EVERY MAN TO THEIR TENTS._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

8-14 For some time after the division of the kingdoms, Judah suffered much from the enmity of Israel. After Asa's time, it suffered more by the friendship of Israel, and by the alliance made with them. Now we meet with hostility between them again. How may a humble man smile to hear two proud and scornful men set their wits on work, to vilify and undervalue one another! Unholy success excites pride; pride excites contentions. The effects of pride in others, are insufferable to those who are proud themselves. These are the sources of trouble and sin in private life; but when they arise between princes, they become the misery of their whole kingdoms. Jehoash shows Amaziah the folly of his challenge; Thine heart has lifted thee up. The root of all sin is in the heart, thence it flows. It is not Providence, the event, the occasion, whatever it is, that makes men proud, secure, discontented,...

Verse 2 Kings 14:13. _TOOK AMAZIAH KING OF JUDAH_] It is plain that Amaziah afterwards had his liberty; but how or on what terms he got it, is not known. See on the 2 Kings 14:13....

The object of breaking down the wall was to leave Jerusalem at the mercy of her rival; and it must have been among the conditions of the peace that the breach thus made should not be repaired. Gates in Oriental cities are named from the places to which they lead. The gate of Ephraim must therefore have been a north gate: perhaps also known, later on, by the name of the “gate of Benjamin” Jeremiah 37:13; Zechariah 14:10. The corner gate was probably a gate at the northwest angle of the city, where the north wall approached the Valley of Hinnom. The entire breach was thus in the north wall, on the side where Jerusalem was naturally the weakest. Josephus says that Joash drove his chariot through the breach into the town, a practice not unusu

EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 14:1 REIGNS OF AMAZIAH, SON OF JOASH KING OF JUDAH, OVER JUDAH, AND OF JEROBOAM, SON OF JOASH KING OF ISRAEL, OVER ISRAEL. 2 KINGS 14:1 THE REIGN OF AMAZIAH OVER JUDAH. This chapter takes up the history of the kingdom of Judah from the each of...

AND JEHOASH KING OF ISRAEL TOOK AMAZIAH KING OF JUDAH, THE SON OF JEHOASH THE SON OF AHAZIAH, AT BETHSHEMESH,.... And then they looked one another in the face indeed, but Amaziah must look very silly: AND CAME TO JERUSALEM; the metropolis of Judah, with his royal prisoner: AND BROKE DOWN THE WALL OF JERUSALEM; in at the breach of which he went with his chariot, as Josephus says e, in triumph: FROM THE GATE OF EPHRAIM UNTO THE CORNER GATE, FOUR HUNDRED CUBITS; the gate of Ephraim was to the north of the city, towards the tribe of Ephraim, from whence it had its name; and the corner gate was that which joined the northern and western walls together, or rather the northern and eastern walls; for Rauwolff says f, there is still the corner gate in its old place, where the north and east walls meet on large and high rocks, and is still called by some the gate of Naphtali. e Antiqu. l. 9. c...

6. KINGS OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH CHAPTER 14 _ 1. Amaziah's reign over Judah (2 Kings 14:1; 2 Chronicles 25)_ 2. The conflict between Israel and Judah (2 Kings 14:8; 2 Chronicles 25:17) 3. Judah's defeat and Jerusalem taken (2 Kings 14:12) 4. Jehoash and his successor (2 Kings 14:15) 5. Death of Amaziah (2 Kings 14

THE REIGN OF AMAZIAH, SON OF JOASH, KING OF JUDAH. Amaziah was a virtuous king like his father Joash, but not according to the standard of David. This is the judgment of the Deuteronomist, who refers to the law-book of his age, approving the king's forbearance in not punishing the sons of his father's murderers (Deuteronomy 21:1 *, Deuteronomy 24:16). Amaziah was successful in his wars with Edom, whose territory was peculiarly important to Judah as giving access to the Red Sea. The Edomites were defeated in the Valley of Salt as in David's time (2 Samuel 8:13, LXX). There is a place of the same name near Beersheba, but the topography here seems to require it to be in the southern Arabah, S. of the Dead Se

CUBITS. See App-51....

_took Amaziah_ i.e. Took him prisoner. And there is some difficulty in deciding what became of Amaziah at this time and afterwards. In 2 Chronicles 25:23 it is added that Jehoash brought him to Jerusalem, and the _Kethib_(they came) in this verse is intended to give that idea. Both A.V. and R.V. have translated the _Keri_(he came). Josephus (_Ant._IX. 9. 3) has given an account which makes Amaziah be brought as a captive into his own capital. -When the troops (of Judah) were scattered in alarm, Amaziah was left alone and was taken prisoner by the enemy. Then Jehoash threatened to put him to death unless he persuaded the people of Jerusalem to open their gates and admit him with his army into the city. And Amaziah through necessity and in fear for his life caused the enemy to be received. And Jehoash having broken down about four hundred cubits of the walls, drove in