Verse 11
AMAZIAH DEFEATED; JERUSALEM SACKED; HER TREASURES LOOTED
"But Amaziah would not hear. So Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Bethshemesh, which belongeth to Judah. And Judah was put to the worse before Israel; and they fled every man to his tent. And Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Bethsehmesh, and came to Jerusalem, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim unto the corner gate, four hundred cubits. And he took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of Jehovah, and in the treasures of the king's house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria."
The facts related here become much clearer in the light of the supplemental material in Josephus and in 2 Chronicles 25. The battle was fought at Bethshemesh, some fifteen miles west of Jerusalem. A great panic (Josephus says it was sent by God) among Amaziah's troops left the king unprotected and Jehoash captured him and threatened to kill him unless he gave him admittance to Jerusalem. Amaziah submitted; and Joash broke down two hundred yards of the city's walls to provide an adequate entrance for his army, which then proceeded to loot the temple and the king's house. Having thus humiliated Amaziah, Jehoash (Joash) contemptuously left him on his throne. One may be sure that powerful enemies of Amaziah within Judah then and there resolved to kill him.
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