**The Reign of Amaziah: A Tale of Pride and Redemption**
In the days when the kingdom of Judah was still young and the people sought the Lord, there reigned a king named Amaziah. He was the son of Joash, a man who had once walked in righteousness but whose heart had turned away from God in his later years. Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he sat on the throne in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan, a woman of Jerusalem, and she had raised him in the fear of the Lord, though the shadow of his father’s failures loomed large over his life.
Amaziah began his reign with a heart that sought the Lord, though not with a perfect heart. He was a man of ambition, driven by a desire to restore the glory of Judah and to avenge the wrongs done to his father. Yet, in his early years, he showed a measure of faithfulness to God. One of his first acts as king was to execute the servants who had conspired to murder his father, Joash. However, he showed restraint and justice in this matter, for he did not kill the children of the conspirators, in accordance with the law of Moses, which states, “Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children for their fathers, but each one shall die for his own sin.”
Amaziah’s heart was stirred with a desire to strengthen his kingdom, and he soon turned his attention to the army of Judah. He mustered the men of war, counting them from twenty years old and upward, and found that he had three hundred thousand choice men, ready for battle, able to handle spear and shield. But Amaziah was not content with this number. He sought to bolster his forces by hiring one hundred thousand mighty men of valor from Israel, paying them a hundred talents of silver from the royal treasury.
Yet, as Amaziah prepared for war, a man of God came to him, a prophet whose face shone with the light of divine wisdom. The prophet stood before the king and said, “O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel—not with any of the children of Ephraim. But if you go, be strong for the battle; yet God will make you stumble before the enemy, for God has power to help and to overthrow.”
Amaziah, though ambitious, was not foolish. He recognized the voice of the Lord in the prophet’s words and asked, “But what shall we do about the hundred talents I have given to the army of Israel?” The prophet replied, “The Lord is able to give you much more than this.” Amaziah, humbled by the prophet’s words, obeyed the Lord. He dismissed the troops that had come to him from Ephraim, sending them home in anger. The men of Israel, furious at being sent away without spoils or glory, raided the cities of Judah on their way back, from Samaria to Beth Horon, killing three thousand people and taking much plunder.
Amaziah, now trusting in the Lord alone, led his army to the Valley of Salt, where he faced the Edomites, the descendants of Esau who had long been enemies of Judah. The battle was fierce, but the Lord was with Amaziah. He struck down ten thousand men of Seir, the stronghold of Edom, and captured another ten thousand alive. These captives were taken to the top of a cliff and thrown down, so that they were dashed to pieces. It was a brutal victory, but one that demonstrated the power of God to deliver His people when they trusted in Him.
Yet, as Amaziah returned from his triumph over Edom, something in his heart began to change. Pride crept in, subtle and insidious. He brought back the gods of the people of Seir, the very gods who had failed to deliver the Edomites, and set them up as his own gods. He bowed down before them and offered sacrifices to them. The Lord, seeing this, was angry with Amaziah and sent a prophet to confront him.
The prophet came to the king and said, “Why have you sought the gods of the people, which could not deliver their own people from your hand?” Amaziah, his heart hardened by pride, interrupted the prophet and said, “Have we made you a royal counselor? Stop! Why should you be struck down?” The prophet, undeterred, replied, “I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.”
Amaziah, now consumed by his own arrogance, refused to listen. He turned away from the prophet and from the Lord, trusting in his own strength and the gods of Edom. His pride led him to challenge Jehoash, the king of Israel, to battle. Jehoash, a shrewd and experienced ruler, tried to dissuade Amaziah, sending him a parable: “A thistle in Lebanon sent to a cedar in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as wife’; and a wild beast in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle. You say, ‘See, I have defeated Edom,’ and your heart is lifted up to boast. Stay at home now; why should you meddle with trouble, that you should fall—you and Judah with you?”
But Amaziah would not listen, for it was of God, that He might deliver them into the hand of their enemies, because they had sought the gods of Edom. The armies of Judah and Israel met at Beth Shemesh, and Judah was defeated before Israel. The men of Judah fled, and Amaziah himself was captured by Jehoash. The king of Israel broke down the wall of Jerusalem, from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate, a distance of four hundred cubits. He took all the gold and silver and all the articles found in the house of God with Obed-Edom, as well as the treasures of the king’s house and hostages, and returned to Samaria.
Amaziah, humiliated and broken, lived fifteen more years after the death of Jehoash. But his reign was marked by strife and conspiracy. The people of Judah turned against him, and he fled to Lachish. Yet even there, his enemies pursued him, and he was killed. They brought his body back on horses and buried him with his fathers in the City of David.
Thus ended the reign of Amaziah, a king who began with promise but fell because of pride. His story serves as a warning to all who would trust in their own strength or seek after false gods. For the Lord is a jealous God, and He will not share His glory with another. Yet even in His judgment, there is mercy, for Amaziah’s son, Uzziah, would reign in his place, and the line of David would continue, pointing forward to the ultimate King, Jesus Christ, who would reign in righteousness forever.
