Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 14
For a long time, the kings of Judah had also ruled over Edom. That situation ended about 50 years before Amaziah’s rule, at the time when Jehoram was king. Edom’s men defeated his army, and they almost caught Jehoram himself (8:20-22).
When Amaziah had been king for several years, he made a plan to regain control over Edom. At this time, there were 300,000 men in Judah who were able to fight. Amaziah tried to add another 100,000 men from northern and central Israel to this vast army. However, God directed him to send them back home before the battle. Amaziah obeyed God’s instruction – but those men were very angry.
So, Amaziah continued with only the men from Judah. They had great success in their battle: they killed 10,000 men from Edom in the fight. They also took another 10,000 men as prisoners, whom they killed.
It seems that by this cruel behaviour, Amaziah was trying to make Edom’s people too afraid to oppose him. If so, he was only partly successful. He gained control over just one extremely important city, Sela. His son Azariah would later gain control over another city in Edom: the port city called Elath (14:22).
After this success in battle, Amaziah turned away from the true God. He had taken from Edom some idols – the images of false gods. Those idols were probably very precious and beautiful objects. Amaziah gave them a place of honour and he prayed to them as his own gods.
We can read the details about this war against Edom in 2 Chronicles 25:5-16.
Next part: The story of the cedar and the thistle (2 Kings 14:8-10)
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