2 Kings 14:1 - Meaning and Application

Amaziah, the son and successor of Joash, is the king we read about here. Let us look at him in three settings.

In the temple, he acted in part like Joash, but not like David (2 Kings 14:3). He began well, but he did not keep it up. He did what was right in the Lord’s eyes, and he kept worshiping at God’s altars and listening to God’s word, yet he did not do it with David’s full heart. It is not enough to copy what godly people before us did. We must also act from the same faith, devotion, sincerity, and resolve.

The text also notes, as before, that the high places were not removed (2 Kings 14:4). It is hard to break free from sins and habits that have been around so long they seem acceptable and even respected. Long use can give corruption a false sense of right.

On the bench, Amaziah did justice on the men who had murdered his father, but he did not do it as soon as he came to the throne, because he wisely waited until his kingdom was secure (2 Kings 14:5). Weakening a rebellious party little by little, when it is not safe to stir it up, is often the best way to finish the work. Justice often acts most wisely when it is not rushed. Wisdom is useful for deciding the right time.

Amaziah acted according to the law, the old rule that whoever sheds a man’s blood must have his own blood shed. Traitors and murderers should never expect to die like ordinary men. Let them run to destruction, and no one should protect them. He also acted within the limits of the law: he did not kill the murderers’ children, because the law of Moses had plainly said that children must not die for their fathers (2 Kings 14:6). This command is given in Deuteronomy 24:16.

It is likely this detail is mentioned because some around him may have urged him toward harsher revenge. They may have argued both from anger, since this was the murder of a king, and from policy, since the children might later seek revenge. But Amaziah stood against those suggestions with God’s clear law, which was the rule he meant to follow. He chose to trust God with the outcome.

God does visit the sins of fathers on their children, because every person is guilty before him and already deserves death. So if God takes a person’s life because of a father’s sin, he does no wrong, since that sinner has already lost his right to life through his own guilt. But earthly rulers are not allowed to act that way. Children are innocent before them and must not be punished as if they were guilty.

In the field, Amaziah won a victory over the Edomites (2 Kings 14:7). Edom had broken away from Judah during Joram’s reign (2 Kings 8:22). Now Amaziah went to war to bring them back under Judah’s rule. He killed 10,000 men and took their chief city, Selah, which means “a rock,” in Arabia the stony country, and gave it a new name. A fuller account of this campaign is given in 2 Chronicles 25:5 and following.