2 Kings 14:17

THE CONCLUSION OF THE REIGN OF AMAZIAH KING OF JUDAH

"And Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years. Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish: but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there. And they brought him upon horses; and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. And all the people of Judah took Azariah (Uzziah), who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah. He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with is fathers."

The big thing here is the conspiracy against Amaziah. There is no evidence whatever that the conspiracy was either led or encouraged by the children of the murderers of Amaziah's father whom Amaziah had spared on the basis of God's commandment mentioned in 2 Kings 14:6. 2 Chronicles 25:27 reveals that the element of Judah that was faithful to the worship of Jehovah was the center of that conspiracy. We read that, "From the time that Amaziah departed from the Lord, they formed a conspiracy against him." Thus, it was Amaziah's apostasy from the Lord in bringing in those pagan deities from Edom that precipitated the opposition that took his life. Keil did not believe that such a conspiracy could possibly have lasted fifteen years,[11] but to this writer it seems possible enough, even probable.

Amaziah evidently became aware of the conspiracy and fled to Lachish, probably on his way to Egypt. That town was the second largest in Judah and was located some 35 miles southwest of Jerusalem.

"They brought him upon horses" (2 Kings 14:20). Keil suggested that this means the hearse in which they brought him to Jerusalem was drawn by horses; but the text seems to indicate that his body was merely thrown over a horse, or conveyed on a stretcher resting upon a pair of horses, and thus transported to Jerusalem.

The next paragraph relates the accession of Jeroboam. It is related in 2 Kings 13:5 that Jehovah gave Israel `a saviour'; and it would appear that this ruler was indeed that `saviour.' However, he was an evil saviour.