2 Kings 14:7

7. Slew of Edom The Edomites had cast off the yoke of Judah in the days of Jehoram, (2 Kings 8:20,) and had so strengthened themselves that, according to 2 Chronicles 25:5-6, Amaziah considered it necessary to lead an army of four hundred thousand men against them. See the parallel passage in Chronicles for a fuller record of this Edomite war.

Valley of salt The broad, open plain at the lower end of the Dead Sea, which virtually forms the southern termination of the Ghor, or great Jordan valley. It is appropriately called the Salt Valley from the salt mountain at its northwestern extremity, and the brackish springs and streams that are found in it. In this same valley David once smote the Edomites. See note on 2 Samuel 8:13.

Selah More properly written, as in Isaiah 16:1, Sela; Hebrew, שׂלע , or השׂלע , the rock. The capital city of the Edomites, situated in Mount Seir, two days’ journey south of the Valley of Salt, at the eastern base of Mount Hor. By the Greek writers it is called Petra. Strabo and Pliny describe it as a narrow valley, shut in by precipitous rocks and inaccessible mountains, but having a stream running through it fed by copious fountains and supplying water for the irrigation of gardens. After the Mohammedan conquest its site was long unknown, but, discovered A.D. 1812 by Burckhardt, it has since been many times visited and described by travellers. Its site and ruins are represented as among the most wonderful things of the Orient. It is a city whose most imposing remains consist of tombs and temples sculptured in the solid rock. And not the least remarkable thing, according to Robinson, is the colour of the rocks. “They present an endless variety of bright and living hues, from the deepest crimson to the softest pink, verging also sometimes to orange and yellow.” The principal entrance to the city is from the east, through a wild, deep chasm, called the Sik, varying in width from twelve to fifty feet. At a point where this chasm takes a sharp turn stands the celebrated structure called the Khazneh, which, says Palmer, “in beauty of form and colouring surpasses all the other tombs and temples. The facade is of a deep but delicate rose colour, and that of the uncut rock around it varies from every shade of red to chocolate.” This writer plausibly conjectures that it represents “the museum of Petra, the philharmonic institution of the place.” The other principal remains are the theatre, the tomb with three rows of columns, the ruined bridges, and the triumphal arch. “In looking at the wonders of this ancient city,” writes Robinson, “one is at a loss whether most to admire the wildness of the position and natural scenery, or the taste and skill with which it was fashioned into a secure retreat, and adorned with splendid structures, chiefly for the dead.”

Called the name of it Joktheel The name signifies subdued by God, but does not seem to have been commonly applied to the place for any considerable length of time, for it does not again occur, and Isaiah calls the place by its old name, Sela. 2 Kings 16:1. The phrase unto this day, indicates, therefore, that this record of Amaziah’s conquest was written during the Jewish rule over Edom, and before the time of Ahaz, when the Edomites had again thrown off the Hebrew yoke. 2 Chronicles 28:17.