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Chapter 14 records the reign of Amaziah the 9th. King of Judah. as we saw in the last chapter with the death of Joash, his son, Am-a-ziah, became the King of Judah. He was 25 years old when he became King and he reigned for 29 years. He was considered a "good" king but certainly not as good as David. He continued the practices of his father, worshipping at the shrines on the hills at Bethel and Dan. He killed the men who had assassinated his father, but he did not kill their children. One time he killed 10,000 Edomites in the Salt Valley.
One very stupid thing he did. He once challenged Jehoash, the King of Israel, to mobilize his army and come out and fight. Jehoash tried to talk him out of it, but Amaziah would not listen. The battle began at Beth-she-mesh. The Army of Judah was defeated and Amaziah was captured. The city of Jerusalem was taken and King Jehoash took many hostages plus all the gold and silver from the Temple and Palace. Then he returned to Samaria.
Jehoash allowed Amaziah to return to Jerusalem where he lived for another 15 years when a plot to kill him caused him to flee to the city of La-chish, some 30 miles S-W of Jerusalem where he was caught and assassinated. His body was returned to Jerusalem where it was buried in the Royal Cemetery.
We wonder why he went to the city of Lachish. Well he probably thought he would be safe there. The city was considered indestructible from without, and so it was, Amaziah was done in from within. The city was built some 5,000 years before. It was built upon a limestone ridge and upon a 130-foot high mound of stone placed upon that ridge. The mound covered about 22 acres. It was believed to have been originally fortified by a stone fence. Later a double wall and a mote were constructed around it. It was a Canaanite city governed by the Amorites. It had the distinction of being the "source of sin" to the people of Zion. A 200 foot deep well supplied water and is still in existence today. With all of that water, a huge reservoir was quarried out of solid rock with 500,000 cu. ft. of rock being removed without the use of drills or explosives. It was one of the greatest feats of labor in ancient Judah.
Meanwhile up in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, with the death of King Joash, his son, Jeroboam II, became the 13th. King of Israel. He reigned for 41 years. He was considered an evil King, but the Lord was not through with Israel yet so He used Jeroboam to restore and stabilize her eastern border. He died and was buried with the other kings of Israel and his son, Zechriah, became the 14th. King of Israel.
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