2 Kings 14:15 - Meaning and Application

Here are three kings brought to their graves in these few verses. First is Joash, king of Israel, in 2 Kings 14:15-16. We already followed his funeral in 2 Kings 13:12-13, but since the writer had more to say about his life and deeds, he mentions his death and burial again here.

Second is Amaziah, king of Judah. He outlived the king of Israel, his conqueror, by fifteen years, in 2 Kings 14:17. A man may live a long time after he has been shamed and deeply humbled, and Amaziah surely was. His acts are said to be recorded in the annals, or official records, of Judah (2 Kings 14:18), but not his strength. His cruelty as conqueror over the Edomites, and his pride when he challenged the king of Israel, showed that he lacked true courage.

He was killed by his own subjects, who hated him for his poor rule (2 Kings 14:19). They made Jerusalem itself unsafe for him, and the broken wall of the city came about because of his foolishness and arrogance. He fled to Lachish. We are not told how long he stayed hidden or protected there, but at last he was murdered there too (2 Kings 14:19). The rebels did not go any further. They carried his body back to Jerusalem in a chariot and buried him there with his ancestors.

Third is Azariah, who succeeded Amaziah, but not until twelve years after his father’s death. Amaziah died in the fifteenth year of Jeroboam, as seen by comparing 2 Kings 14:23 with 2 Kings 14:2. Azariah did not begin to reign until Jeroboam’s twenty-seventh year (2 Kings 15:1), because he was only four years old when his father died. So for twelve years, until he reached sixteen, the kingdom was ruled by guardians or protectors.

He reigned for a very long time (2 Kings 15:2), yet the account of his reign is quickly summed up here and then cut off at once (2 Kings 15:1-2). It says that he built Elath, which had belonged to the Edomites, though it is likely his father had already recovered it (2 Kings 14:7). The words “after that the king slept with his fathers” seem to point to Amaziah, as if this were the main thing worth mentioning, or else the meaning is that Azariah built it soon after Amaziah died.