The One Year Bible for Men - Flipbook - Page 94
July 29
22 That
was how King Joash repaid Jehoiada
for his loyalty—by killing his son. Zechariah’s
last words as he died were, “May the Lord see
what they are doing and avenge my death!”
23 In the spring of the year* the Aram
ean
army marched against Joash. They invaded
Judah and Jerusalem and killed all the leaders
of the nation. Then they sent all the plunder
back to their king in Damascus. 24 Although
the Arameans attacked with only a small
army, the Lord helped them conquer the
much larger army of Judah. The people of
Judah had abandoned the Lord, the God of
their ancestors, so judgment was carried out
against Joash.
25 The Arameans withdrew, leaving Joash
severely wounded. But his own officials plot
ted to kill him for murdering the son* of Je
hoiada the priest. They assassinated him as he
lay in bed. Then he was buried in the City of
David, but not in the royal cemetery. 26 The as
sassins were Jozacar,* the son of an Ammonite
woman named Shimeath, and Jehozabad, the
son of a Moabite woman named Shomer.*
27 The account of the sons of Jo
ash, the
prophecies about him, and the record of his
restoration of the Temple of God are written in
The Commentary on the Book of the Kings. His
son Amaziah became the next king.
25:1 Amaziah
was t wenty-five years old when
he became king, and he reigned in Jerusa
lem twenty-nine years. His mother was Je
hoaddin* from Jerusalem. 2 Amaziah did
what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, but not
wholeheartedly.
3 When Am
aziah was well established as
king, he executed the officials who had as
sassinated his father. 4 However, he did not kill
the children of the assassins, for he obeyed
the command of the Lord as written by Moses
in the Book of the Law: “Parents must not be
put to death for the sins of their children, nor
children for the sins of their parents. Those
deserving to die must be put to death for their
own crimes.”*
5 Then Amaz
iah organized the army, assign
ing generals and captains* for all Judah and
Benjamin. He took a census and found that he
had an army of 300,000 select troops, twenty
years old and older, all trained in the use of
spear and shield. 6 He also paid about 7,500
pounds* of silver to hire 100,000 experienced
fighting men from Israel.
7 But a man of God came to him and said,
“Your Majesty, do not hire troops from Israel,
for the Lord is not with Israel. He will not help
those people of Ephraim! 8 If you let them go
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with your troops into battle, you will be de
feated by the enemy no matter how well you
fight. God will overthrow you, for he has the
power to help you or to trip you up.”
9 Amaziah asked the man of God, “But what
about all that silver I paid to hire the army of
Israel?”
The man of God replied, “The Lord is able
to give you much more than this!” 10 So Am
aziah discharged the hired troops and sent
them back to Ephraim. This made them very
angry with Judah, and they returned home in
a great rage.
11 Then Am
aziah summoned his courage
and led his army to the Valley of Salt, where
they killed 10,000 Edomite troops from Seir.
12 They captured another 10,000 and took
them to the top of a cliff and threw them off,
dashing them to pieces on the rocks below.
13 Meanwhile, the hired troops that Amaziah
had sent home raided several of the towns of
Judah between Samaria and Beth-horon. They
killed 3,000 people and carried off great quan
tities of plunder.
14 When King Am
a
ziah returned from
slaughtering the E
domites, he brought with
him idols taken from the people of Seir. He
set them up as his own gods, bowed down in
front of them, and offered sacrifices to them!
15 This made the Lord very angry, and he sent a
prophet to ask, “Why do you turn to gods who
could not even save their own people from
you?”
16 But the king interrupted him and said,
“Since when have I made you the king’s
counselor? Be quiet now before I have you
killed!”
So the prophet stopped with this warning: “I
know that God has determined to destroy you
because you have done this and have refused
to accept my counsel.”
17 After consulting with his advisers, King
Amaziah of Judah sent this challenge to Is
rael’s king Jehoash,* the son of Jehoahaz and
grandson of Jehu: “Come and meet me in
battle!”*
18 But King Jehoash of Israel replied to King
Amaziah of Judah with this story: “Out in the
Lebanon mountains, a thistle sent a message
to a mighty cedar tree: ‘Give your daughter in
marriage to my son.’ But just then a wild ani
mal of Lebanon came by and stepped on the
thistle, crushing it!
19 “You are saying, ‘I have defeated Edom,’
and you are very proud of it. But my advice is
to stay at home. Why stir up trouble that will
only bring disaster on you and the people of
Judah?”
5/19/2022 3:47:01 PM
