maziah's good reign. (1-7) Amaziah provokes Jehoash king of
Israel, and is overcome. (8-14) He is slain by conspirators.
(15-22) Wicked reign of Jeroboam II. (23-29)
Verses 1-7: Amaziah began well, but did not go on so. It is not enough
to do that which our pious predecessors did, merely to keep up
the common usage, but we must do it as they did, from the same
principle of faith and devotion, and with the same sincerity and
resolution.
Verses 8-14: For some time after the division of the kingdoms, Judah
suffered much from the enmity of Israel. After Asa's time, it
suffered more by the friendship of Israel, and by the alliance
made with them. Now we meet with hostility between them again.
How may a humble man smile to hear two proud and scornful men
set their wits on work, to vilify and undervalue one another!
Unholy success excites pride; pride excites contentions. The
effects of pride in others, are insufferable to those who are
proud themselves. These are the sources of trouble and sin in
private life; but when they arise between princes, they become
the misery of their whole kingdoms. Jehoash shows Amaziah the
folly of his challenge; Thine heart has lifted thee up. The root
of all sin is in the heart, thence it flows. It is not
Providence, the event, the occasion, whatever it is, that makes
men proud, secure, discontented, or the like, but their own
hearts do it.
Verses 15-22: Amaziah survived his conqueror fifteen years. He was
slain by his own subjects. Azariah, or Uzziah, seems to have
been very young when his father was slain. Though the years of
his reign are reckoned from that event, he was not fully made
king till eleven years afterwards.
Verses 23-29: God raised up the prophet Jonah, and by him declared the
purposes of his favour to Israel. It is a sign that God has not
cast off his people, if he continues faithful ministers among
them. Two reasons are given why God blessed them with those
victories: 1. Because the distress was very great, which made
them objects of his compassion. 2. Because the decree was not
yet gone forth for their destruction. Many prophets there had
been in Israel, but none left prophecies in writing till this
age, and their prophecies are part of the Bible. Hosea began to
prophesy in the reign of this Jeroboam. At the same time Amos
prophesied; soon after Micah, then Isaiah, in the days of Ahaz
and Hezekiah. Thus God, in the darkest and most degenerate ages
of the church, raised up some to be burning and shining lights
in it; to their own age, by their preaching and living, and a
few by their writings, to reflect light upon us in the last
times.
maziah's good reign. (1-7) Amaziah provokes Jehoash king of
Israel, and is overcome. (8-14) He is slain by conspirators.
(15-22) Wicked reign of Jeroboam II. (23-29)