Amaziah

Amaziah, son of Joash, was the ninth king of Judah who reigned for 29 years.

Amaziah was the son of Joash and the ninth king of Judah. He began his reign at the age of 25 and reigned for 29 years in Jerusalem. Amaziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly like his ancestor David. He executed the officials who had murdered his father, but spared their children in obedience to the law of Moses. Amaziah also defeated the Edomites in battle, capturing Sela and renaming it Joktheel. However, he later challenged King Jehoash of Israel to battle and was defeated, resulting in the plundering of the temple and palace in Jerusalem. Amaziah outlived Jehoash by 15 years. He was eventually conspired against and killed in Lachish, and his son Uzziah succeeded him as king.

The son and successor of Joash, and eighth king of the separate kingdom of Judah (2 Kings 14:1-4). He began his reign by punishing the murderers of his father (5-7; 2 Chr. 25:3-5). He was the first to employ a mercenary army of 100,000 Israelite soldiers, which he did in his attempt to bring the Edomites again under the yoke of Judah (2 Chr. 25:5, 6). He was commanded by a prophet of the Lord to send back the mercenaries, which he did (2 Chr. 25:7-10, 13), much to their annoyance. His obedience to this command was followed by a decisive victory over the Edomites (2 Chr. 25:14-16). Amaziah began to worship some of the idols he took from the Edomites, and this was his ruin, for he was vanquished by Joash, king of Israel, whom he challenged to battle. The disaster he thus brought upon Judah by his infatuation in proclaiming war against Israel probably occasioned the conspiracy by which he lost his life (2 Kings 14:8-14, 19). He was slain at Lachish, whither he had fled, and his body was brought upon horses to Jerusalem, where it was buried in the royal sepulchre (2 Kings 14:19, 20; 2 Chr. 25:27, 28).