Page:The Books of Chronicles (1916).djvu/346

282 Judah, from Samaria even unto Beth-horon, and smote of them three thousand, and took much spoil. Now it came to pass, after that Amaziah was come from the slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense unto them. Wherefore the anger of the was kindled against Amaziah, and he sent unto him a prophet, which said unto him, Why hast thou sought after the gods of the people, which have not delivered their own people out of thine hand? And it came to pass, as he talked with him, that the king said unto him, Have we made thee of the king's counsel? forbear; why shouldest thou be smitten? Then the prophet forbare, and said, I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened unto my counsel.

might have expected the two names given to be names of cities belonging to the Southern Kingdom. But Samaria is given apparently as the base from which the marauders started.

14—16 (not in Kings).&emsp;

14—16. The great disaster which befell Amaziah at the hands of Joash king of Israel and which is about to be narrated in vv. 17—24 seemed to require some heinous transgression for its cause. This the Chronicler supplies in the assertion that, after the defeat of Edom, Amaziah actually brought back Edomite images and set them up in Jerusalem for worship (vv. 14—16): a truly horrible result of a victory which had resulted from obedience to Jehovah's word by His prophet!

14. bowed down and burned incense] The tenses in the Heb. are imperfects and imply that this became Amaziah's practice. The act was according to a policy frequently pursued in ancient times. Solomon affords an instance of it (1 Kin. xi. 7).

15. which have not delivered] Such deliverance being in popular thought the proof of a deity's power; cp. Is. xxxvi. 18 ff., xxxvii. 18 ff.

16. of the king's counsel] Lit., "counsellor to the king."

hath determined] Lit., "hath counselled" (with a play on the king's word).

17—24 (= 2 Kin. xiv. 8—14).&emsp;

The overwhelming defeat of Amaziah by Joash of Israel, involving the destruction of part of the defences of Jerusalem and the plundering of the Temple, must have been an affair of the highest importance in