The kings of Israel and Judah

King Amaziah

The kingdom of Judah (the south) · Reigned twenty-nine years (2 Kings 14:2) · A mixed reign · 2 Kings 14:1 to 20; 2 Chronicles 25

Amaziah, the son of Joash, did right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a whole heart. He began well, obeying God's word to dismiss hired Israelite mercenaries before a battle, and won a victory over Edom. But then, strangely, he brought back the gods of the people he had just defeated and worshipped them, provoked a needless war with Israel that ended in his defeat and the plundering of Jerusalem, and finally, like his father, was killed in a conspiracy.

And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart.2 Chronicles 25:2 (KJV)

A divided obedience

Amaziah did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart. That one qualification governs his whole story. He obeyed God in some things and defied him in others, and his life swings between the two. Early on he executed the servants who had murdered his father, but obeyed the law of Moses in sparing their children, who were not to die for the fathers' sin.

Preparing for war with Edom, he hired a hundred thousand soldiers from Israel, but a man of God told him not to let the army of Israel go with him, for the LORD was not with Israel. Amaziah obeyed, sent them home at the loss of the money he had paid, and trusting God, went and defeated Edom.

The folly of worshipping defeated gods

Then came his strangest sin. After defeating the Edomites, Amaziah brought back the gods of the children of Seir, set them up to be his gods, bowed down to them, and burned incense to them. The absurdity was not lost on God, who sent a prophet to ask, Why hast thou sought after the gods of the people, which could not deliver their own people out of thine hand? Amaziah threatened the prophet into silence, and the prophet warned that God had determined to destroy him.

Puffed up by his victory over Edom, Amaziah picked a quarrel with Jehoash king of Israel, who warned him with a parable of a thistle that fancied itself a cedar, and told him to stay home and enjoy his glory. Amaziah would not listen, and Israel came and defeated Judah at Beth-shemesh, captured Amaziah, broke down part of the wall of Jerusalem, and carried off the treasures of the temple and palace.

The biblical verdict

Amaziah's epitaph is that half-hearted phrase: he did right, but not with a perfect heart, and after the time that he turned away from following the LORD they made a conspiracy against him. He fled to Lachish but was pursued and killed there, and his body was brought back on horses and buried in Jerusalem.

Kings and Chronicles agree in this careful, qualified verdict. He was not a wicked king like Ahaz or Manasseh, but neither was he a whole-hearted one like Hezekiah. His obedience was partial, and his pride undid the good he had done.

Where it points

Amaziah is the danger of a divided heart, obeying God enough to be counted among the better kings, yet holding back the whole allegiance that God asks. His victory became the occasion of his idolatry and pride, showing how success can be more dangerous to the soul than defeat.

The prophet's question, why seek gods that could not save their own, exposes the folly of all idolatry, and turns the heart toward the one God who does save. The line of David needed, and Scripture keeps pointing toward, a King whose heart would be perfect toward God through victory and defeat alike, who would not turn aside, and that King is Christ.

A note on the record: everything here is drawn from the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. Kings and Chronicles sometimes tell a reign differently, Chronicles often adding a king's repentance or building works, and where they differ this is said plainly rather than smoothed over. The exact lengths and overlaps of the reigns are genuinely complex, because kings often shared the throne with a son for a time, so the totals in Scripture do not always add up in a simple line. The verdict good or evil is the Bible's own assessment, whether a king did right or evil in the sight of the LORD.

Related: Joash of Judah · Uzziah · Jehoash of Israel · All the kings of Israel and Judah