2 Chronicles 25:17

Then Amaziah king of Judah took advice, and sent to Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us see one another in the face.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

AMAZIAH CHALLENGES JOASH OF ISRAEL TO BATTLE, AND SUFFERS DISASTROUS DEFEAT (2Chronicles 25:17-24). (Comp. 2Kings 14:8-14.)

(17) Then Amaziah . . . took advice.—And Amaziah took counsel (2Chronicles 10:6). Different from the counsel which the prophet would have tendered him (2Chronicles 25:16).

And sent to Joash.—See 2Kings 14:8 : “Sent messengers.” The rest of the verse is the same in both passages.

Let us see.—Let us look one another in the face; as combatants do.

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 25:17. Then Amaziah took advice — About the injury which the Israelites had done to his people, and how he should repair it. He took advice — But with whom? Not with the prophet, but with his flattering statesmen. It is good to take advice: but it should be of them who are fit to advise us. But of this and the following verses, see notes on 2 Kings 14:8-20.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

25:17-28 Never was a proud prince more thoroughly mortified than Amaziah by Joash king of Israel. A man's pride will bring him low, Pr 29:23; it goes before his destruction, and deservedly brings it on. He that exalteth himself shall be abased. He that goes forth hastily to strive, will not know what he shall do in the end thereof, when his neighbour has put him to shame, Pr 25:8. And what are we when we offer to establish our own righteousness, or presume to justify ourselves before the Most High God, but despicable thistles, that fancy themselves stately cedars? And are not various temptations, is not every corruption, a wild beast of the desert, which will trample on the wretched boaster, and tread his haughty pretensions to the dust? A man's pride shall bring him low; his ruin may be dated from his turning from the Lord.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Art thou made of the king's counsel? - A subtle irony: "Have I made thee one of my council? If not what entitles thee to offer thy advice?"

For the fulfillment of the prophecy, see 2 Chronicles 25:22-24, 2 Chronicles 25:27.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ch 25:17. He Provokes Joash to His Overthrow.

17. Then Amaziah … sent to Joash … Come, let us see one another in the face—(See on [452]2Ki 14:8-20).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Amaziah took advice, i.e. about the injury which the Israelites had done to his people, 2 Chronicles 25:13, and how he should repair it. But of this and the following verses See Poole "2 Kings 14:8", &c.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then Amaziah king of Judah took advice,.... Not of God, nor of his prophets, but of some of his nobles like himself:

and sent to Joash--king of Israel; of his message to him here, and his answer in the two following verses, see the following notes: See Gill on 2 Kings 14:8. See Gill on 2 Kings 14:9. See Gill on 2 Kings 14:10.

Geneva Study Bible

Then Amaziah king of Judah took advice, and sent to Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, {p} let us see one another in the face.

(p) That is, let us try the matter hand to hand: for he was offended, that the army of the Israelites whom he had in wages and dismissed by the counsel of the prophet, had destroyed certain of the cities of Judah.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

17–24 (= 2 Kings 14:8-14). Amaziah Conquered by Joash

17. took advice] Took counsel with a view to demanding satisfaction from Joash for the ravages of the Israelite mercenaries (2 Chronicles 25:13). The sequel suggests that Joash refused to give satisfaction.

let us see one another in the face] R.V. let us look one another in the face. The proposal may be either to fight or (better) to discuss Amaziah’s claims, the two kings meeting as equals. The latter is probably the right alternative, for the answer of Joash draws a scoffing parallel between Amaziah’s proposition and a thorn’s proposal of alliance with a cedar. Had Amaziah’s words been a challenge to fight, Joash’s answer would rather have taken the form in Jdg 9:15, “The thorn said, Fire shall come out of the thorn and devour the cedars of Lebanon,” etc.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 17. - Took advice; i.e. took counsel; as in foregoing verse, "Art thou made king's counsellor?" and as in same verse, "counselled" should read instead of "determined," The verb (יָעצ), in kal, niph., and once only in hithp., occurs just eighty times, always in this sense, and almost always so rendered in the Authorized Version, Let us see one another in the face. A refined analogy to this expression, with all its speaking significance, occurs in 2 Samuel 2:13; and, perhaps yet more remarkably, a strange some balance between vers. 14, 15, 17 of that chapter and our vers. 21, 22 may be noticed. 2 Chronicles 25:17

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The war with Joash, king of Israel. - Instead of following the counsel of the prophet, Amaziah consulted (sc., with his public officials or courtiers), and challenged King Joash of Israel to war. The challenge, and the war which followed, are also narrated in 2 Kings 14:8-14 in agreement with our account, and have been already commented upon at that place, where we have also considered the occasion of this war, so fatal to Amaziah and the kingdom of Judah, on account of which has been handed down to us only in the supplementary narrative of the Chronicle. לך in 2 Chronicles 25:17 for לכה, come, as in Numbers 23:13 and Judges 19:13. - In 2 Chronicles 25:20 the chronicler explains Amaziah's refusal to hear the warning of Joash before the war with him, by a reference to the divine determination: "For it (came) of God (that Amaziah still went to war), that He might deliver them (the men of Judah) into the hand, because they had sought the gods of Edom." בּיד נתן, to give into the power of the enemy. - In 2 Chronicles 25:23, הפּונה שׁער is a manifest error for הפּנּה (2 Kings 14:13). Were הפּונה, the gate that turns itself, faces (in some direction), correct, the direction would have to be given towards which it turned, e.g., Ezekiel 8:3. - וגו וכל־הזּהב, 2 Chronicles 25:24, still depends upon תּפשׂ, 2 Chronicles 25:23 : and (took away) all the gold, etc. In 2 Kings 14:14, ולקח is supplied.