April 13, 2020: Day 72 – II Kings 14

We find for the first time, I think, a battle between the north and the south.  So we see that there rises up a king in the south, Amaziah, who was very powerful and was successful in battle.  He did not choose to pay off his enemies, but rather to defeat them in battle.  We read in vs.3 that “he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like his ancestor David.”  That means that the people still worshiped the Lord, it was Jerusalem after all, but the high places remained.  This type of syncretistic worship seems to be permitted, not approved, but permitted by the Lord.  

We find the battle between the north and the south set up by a major victory of the south against the Edomites.  Amaziah killed 10,000 Edomites and was feeling pretty good about himself.  He asks the king of Israel, Jehoash (or Joash, they are the same person, we only differentiate between north and south), if they could have a meeting face to face.  The king of Israel told him he was feeling too big for his britches and that he should cool it and no, he did not want to meet him face to face.  Well, Amaziah was not going to take no for an answer so he goes up to see him anyway and war is waged as a result.  

Israel wins and takes over some land that used to be Judah’s, the south.  Amaziah is killed by another conspiracy, that seems to be the MO in the south.  Succession comes as a result of conspiracy.  His son, Azariah, takes over.  We find the same taking place in the north.  Joash of the north dies and his son, Jeroboam, takes over.  He dies after 41 years of ruling as a king, and then he is succeeded by his son Zechariah.  No conspiracy, just death.