Amaziah, the son and successor of Joash, is the king whom here we have an account of. Let us take a view of him,

I.In the temple; and there he acted, in some measure, well, like Joash, but not like David, Kg2 14:3. He began well, but did not persevere: He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, kept up his attendance on God's altars and his attention to God's word, yet not like David. It is not enough to do that which our pious predecessors did, merely to keep up the usage, but we must do it as they did it, from the same principle of faith and devotion and with the same sincerity and resolution. It is here taken notice of, as before, that the high places were not taken away, Kg2 14:4. It is hard to get clear of those corruptions which, by long usage, have gained both prescription and a favourable opinion.

II.On the bench; and there we have him doing justice on the traitors that murdered his father, not as soon as ever he came to the crown, lest it should occasion some disturbance, but he prudently deferred it till the kingdom was confirmed in his hand, Kg2 14:5. To weaken a factious party gradually, when it is not safe to provoke, often proves the way to ruin it effectually. Justice strikes surely by striking slowly, and is often executed most prudently when it is not executed presently. Wisdom here is profitable to direct. Amaziah did thus, 1. According to the rule of the law, that ancient rule, that he that sheds man's blood by man shall his blood be shed. Never let traitors or murderers expect to come to their graves like other men. Let them flee to the pit, and let no man stay them. 2. Under the limitation of the law: The children of the murderers he slew not, because the law of Moses had expressly provided that the children should not be put to death for the fathers, Kg2 14:6. It is probable that this is taken notice of because there were those about him that advised him to that rigour, both in revenge (because the crime was extraordinary - the murder of a king) and in policy, that the children might not plot against him, in revenge of their father's death. But against these insinuations he opposed the express law of God (Deu 24:16), which he was to judge by, and which he resolved to adhere to and trust God with the issue. God visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, because every man is guilty before him and owes him a death; so that, if he require the life for the father's sin, he does not wrong, the sinner having forfeited it already by his own. But he does not allow earthly princes to do thus: the children, before them, are innocent, and therefore must not suffer as guilty.

III.In the field; and there we find him triumphing over the Edomites, Kg2 14:7. Edom had revolted from under the hand of Judah in Joram's time, Kg2 8:22. Now he makes war upon them to bring them back to their allegiance, kills 10,000 and takes the chief city of Arabia the stony (called Selah - a rock), and gave it a new name. We shall find a larger account of this expedition, Ch2 25:5, etc.

He slew of Edom to the valley of salt - This war is more circumstantially related in Ch2 25:5, etc. The Idumeans had arisen in the reign of Joram king of Judah, and shaken off the yoke of the house of David. Amaziah determined to reduce them to obedience; he therefore levied an army of three hundred thousand men in his own kingdom, and hired a hundred thousand Israelites, at the price of one hundred talents. When he was about to depart at the head of this numerous army, a prophet came to him and ordered him to dismiss the Israelitish army, for God was not with them: and on the king of Judah expressing regret for the loss of his hundred talents, he was answered, that the Lord could give him much more than that. He obeyed, sent back the Israelites, and at the head of his own men attacked the Edomites in the valley of salt, slew ten thousand on the spot, and took ten thousand prisoners, all of whom he precipitated from the rock, or Selah, which was afterwards called Joktheel, a place or city supposed to be the same with Petra, which gave name to Arabia Petraea, where there must have been a great precipice, from which the place took its name of Selah or Petra.

And Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah the king of Judah,.... By the return of his messengers:

saying, the thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon; intending by this proverbial way of speaking to humble the pride of Amaziah; comparing him to a thistle or thorn, a low, mean, abject, weak, prickly, and troublesome shrub, and himself to a cedar, a tree high and lofty, strong, large, and spreading:

saying, give thy daughter to my son to wife; signifying, that if in a peaceable manner he had desired to contract affinity with him, and so establish mutual friendship, he should have despised him as being as much below him as the thistle is below a cedar; and therefore should still more despise and defy him, who addressed him in an hostile manner, and in such haughty language:

and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trod down the thistle; and so there was an end put at once to its pride and ambition, and to its treaty with the cedar; intimating hereby, that his soldiers would as easily vanquish and destroy the army of Amaziah as a wild beast can destroy a thistle.

HE SMITES EDOM. (Kg2 14:7)

He slew of Edom in the valley of salt ten thousand--In the reign of Joram the Edomites had revolted (see Kg2 8:20). But Amaziah, determined to reduce them to their former subjection, formed a hostile expedition against them, in which he routed their army and made himself master of their capital.

the valley of salt--that part of the Ghor which comprises the salt and sandy plain to the south of the Dead Sea.

Selah--literally, "the rock"; generally thought to be Petra.

Joktheel--that is, "given" or "conquered by God." See the history of this conquest more fully detailed (Ch2 25:6-16).