Synopsis of the Chapter
King Amaziah avenges the death of his father Joash and defeats the Edomites in battle; but having fallen into idolatry, he is routed by Joash king of Israel, captured and plundered, and is murdered by his own people in Lachish.
Verse 6: A Hundred Thousand for a Hundred Talents ¶
6. HE ALSO HIRED FROM ISRAEL ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND MIGHTY MEN FOR ONE HUNDRED TALENTS OF SILVER. — A talent of silver contained three thousand silver shekels, that is, three thousand Brabantine florins, each of which contains four Roman Julii, or four Spanish Reales. Therefore one hundred talents of silver amount to three hundred thousand Brabantine florins, which, if distributed equally among the hundred thousand Israelites hired at this price, would give each soldier three Brabantine florins, or twelve Julii, which in that age, when money was scarce and provisions were at a low price, was an immense and highly valued sum. Therefore some without reason suppose these talents were of gold, when Scripture expressly says they were of silver.
Verse 7: A Man of God Came ¶
7. BUT A MAN OF GOD CAME — a prophet sent by God. The Hebrews in Seder Olam report that this prophet was Amos, who was the brother of King Amaziah and the father of the prophet Isaiah, and they prove this from Isaiah 37:2, where St. Jerome reads: "To Isaiah the son of Amos the prophet," and so it was once read; although now the Hebrew, Septuagint, and Roman editions consistently read: "To Isaiah the son of Amos, the prophet."
O KING, LET NOT THE ARMY OF ISRAEL GO WITH YOU, FOR THE LORD IS NOT WITH ISRAEL — as His enemies who worship idols, namely the golden calves. Let Christian kings and princes learn here not to seek the help of heretical princes or soldiers, of Turks, and other infidels; because if they do, they will have God as their enemy and will feel His vengeance, as Jehoshaphat felt it, whose ships God destroyed because they were joined with those of the impious Ahaziah king of Israel, chapter 20:37. Our Salianus gives the reason, at the year of the world 3208, number 6. The Lord, he says, did not want the impious and unfaithful to be joined with the faithful. And so, although He favored each separately by His marvelous providence and gave them victory, yet when they were joined together He not infrequently struck them and rendered them defeated. Jehoshaphat was with Ahab (3 Kings / 1 Kings 22) when Ahab was killed, and Jehoshaphat himself ran a great risk to his life. He was likewise with Jehoram when the army, nearly perishing of thirst, almost became the prey of the Moabites (4 Kings / 2 Kings 3). Ahaziah was with Jehoram at Ramoth-Gilead when Jehoram was grievously wounded by the Syrians, and both kings were soon afterward killed by Jehu (4 Kings / 2 Kings 8:28). Therefore He says that He will not be present with them even now when joined, indeed He threatens destruction and ruin to both; but to the separated ones He gave victory. For soon afterward Amaziah was victorious against the Edomites, Joash against Amaziah, and Jeroboam against the Syrians. In the end, God preferred, and from God's will Amaziah the king preferred, to lose one hundred talents of silver, and indeed to have Judah plundered by the dismissed Israelites, as is clear from verse 13, rather than to admit them into alliance for war.
Verse 15: Why Did You Worship Gods? ¶
15. WHY DID YOU WORSHIP GODS? — Hear Josephus narrating the event more fully: "Wherefore he was addressed by a prophet who said he marveled that he believed in these Gods who had been unable to bring any help to their own worshipers, nor had they protected them from the might of the Hebrews, but had suffered them to be slaughtered and led captive as though it were no concern of theirs. Indeed, the gods themselves, carried off by right of war among the rest of the crowd of captives, had arrived at Jerusalem. The king, provoked to anger by these words, ordered him to be silent on this matter, threatening punishment if he continued to meddle in affairs not his own. Then the prophet said he would indeed be silent, but God would not fail to avenge such innovations."
Verse 16: You Did Not Heed My Counsel ¶
16. YOU DID NOT HEED MY COUNSEL. — "He would have heeded his counsel," says St. Jerome in the Traditions, "if he had burned them with fire, torn his garments, sprinkled ashes on his head, and given himself entirely to penitence. For this was the counsel the prophet had given him;" but because he did not heed, therefore the prophet freely and boldly declares to him: I KNOW THAT GOD HAS DETERMINED TO DESTROY YOU — and indeed He did destroy him, as is clear from verse 27. For the author of the Books of Chronicles wrote them with this purpose: to show, from the happy end of pious kings and the unhappy end of impious ones, that the happiness of kings and kingdoms consists in true religion and the true worship of God, and their unhappiness in its neglect.