2 Chronicles 25 - Summary

Amaziah succeeded his father Joash, doing right in the Lord's sight but not with a whole heart, and once his kingdom was established he executed his father's murderers but spared their children according to the law of Moses. He assembled 300,000 warriors from Judah and Benjamin and hired 100,000 Israelite mercenaries for a hundred talents, but a man of God warned him that Israel's presence would ensure defeat because the Lord was not with them; Amaziah dismissed the Israelites, who angrily raided Judean cities on their return home. Amaziah defeated Edom spectacularly but foolishly brought back Edomite gods and worshiped them, provoking a prophet's rebuke; then, emboldened by victory, he challenged Jehoash of Israel who replied with a mocking fable about a thistle and cedar, warning him not to invite disaster; Amaziah refused to listen (for it was from God to deliver him into Israel's hands for his idolatry), and Jehoash captured him at Beth-shemesh, broke down 400 cubits of Jerusalem's wall, and plundered the temple and palace treasures; after Jehoash's death Amaziah lived fifteen more years before being assassinated in Lachish while fleeing a conspiracy.