2 Kings 14:25

Restored the coast] i.e. extended the territory of Israel to its original boundaries when at the height of its prosperity: see on 2 Kings 14:28. The entering of Hamath] i.e. the gorge between Lebanon and Hermon. The sea of the plain] RV 'the sea of the Arabah': i.e. the Dead Sea, the Arabah being the long depression extending from the Sea of Galilee to the Gulf of Akaba. Jeroboam's conquests probably included Moab, and to his reign the invasion of that country described in Isaiah 15:1 to Isaiah 16:12 may be most plausibly assigned. His success was facilitated by the inactivity of Assyria at the time. Jonah] The same prophet who is the subject of the book of that name.

Gath-hepher] in Zebulun, a little to the N. of Nazareth.

Jonah was not the only prophet who was active in Israel during this reign, for both Hosea and Amos were his contemporaries. Of these Hosea belonged by birth to the northern kingdom, but Amos was a native of Judah. From the writings of Amos it was plain that though the prosperity of the kingdom had greatly increased during the reign of Jeroboam, its moral condition was sadly in need of reform. Social oppression (Amos 2:6; Amos 5:11), commercial dishonesty (2 Kings 8:5), and judicial corruption (2 Kings 5:7) were rife in the land, and in consequence the prophet declared that the nation would be punished by captivity in a foreign land (2 Kings 5:27; 2 Kings 6:7; 2 Kings 7:9; 2 Kings 7:17). Amaziah the priest of Bethel denounced him to Jeroboam, and bade him flee back into Judah, counsel which the prophet requited by predicting that Amaziah would share the captivity of his countrymen and his family be destroyed by the sword.