2 Kings 14:10 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
2 Kings 14:10
Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, and thine heart hath lifted thee up: glory of this, and tarry at home: for why shouldest thou meddle to thy hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee?
to strike (lightly or severely · verb, hiphil infinitive absolute
smitten
הִכִּ֙יתָ֙hi.Ki.ta
H5221
to strike (lightly or severely · verb, hiphil perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
Edom
אֱד֔וֹם'e.Dom
H123
Edom · proper noun, a man's name
heart
לִבֶּ֑ךָli.Be.kha
H3820
the heart · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
up
וּֽנְשָׂאֲךָ֖u.ne.sa.'a.Kha
H5375
to lift · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
glory
הִכָּבֵד֙hi.ka.Ved
H3513
to be heavy · verb, niphal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
tarry
וְשֵׁ֣בve.Shev
H3427
properly · conjunction + verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
home
בְּבֵיתֶ֔ךָbe.vei.Te.kha
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
meddle
תִתְגָּרֶה֙tit.ga.Reh
H1624
properly · verb, hithpael imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
hurt
בְּרָעָ֔הbe.ra.'Ah
H7451
bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
fall
וְנָ֣פַלְתָּ֔הve.Na.fal.Tah
H5307
to fall · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
Judah
וִיהוּדָ֥הvi.hu.Dah
H3063
Jehudah (or Judah) · conjunction + proper noun, a place name
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Deuteronomy 8:14 Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondag…
2 Chronicles 26:16 But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple o…
2 Chronicles 32:25 But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and…
Proverbs 3:30 Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.
Proverbs 15:18 A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.
Proverbs 16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 20:3 It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling.
Exodus 8:9 And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Glory over me: when shall I intreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, to destroy the frogs fr…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 14:8-14
For several successions after the division of the kingdoms that of Judah suffered much by the enmity of Israel. After Asa's time, for several successions, it suffered more by the friendship of Israel, and by the alliance and affinity made with them. But now we meet with hostility between them again, which had not been for some ages before.
I. Amaziah, upon no provocation, and without showing any cause of quarrel, challenged Joash into the field (Kg2 14:8): "Come, let us look one another in the face; let us try our strength in battle." Had he challenged him to a personal duel only, the error would have remained with himself, but each must bring all their forces into the field, and thousands o…
Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah--People in the East very often express their sentiments in a parabolic form, especially when they intend to convey unwelcome truths or a contemptuous sneer. This was the design of the admonitory fable related by Joash in his reply. The thistle, a low shrub, might be chosen to represent Amaziah, a petty prince; the cedar, the powerful sovereign of Israel, and the wild beast that trampled down the thistle the overwhelming army with which Israel could desolate Judah. But, perhaps, without making so minute an application, the parable may be explained generally, as describing in a striking manner the effects of pride and ambition, towering far beyond the…
Glory of this, and tarry at home - There is a vast deal of insolent dignity in this remonstrance of Jehoash: but it has nothing conciliatory; no proposal of making amends for the injury his army had done to the unoffending inhabitants of Judah. The ravages committed by the army of Jehoash were totally unprovoked, and they were base and cowardly; they fell upon women, old men, and children, and butchered them in cold blood, for all the effective men were gone off with their king against the Edomites. The quarrel of Amaziah was certainly just, yet he was put to the rout; he did meddle to his hurt; he fell, and Judah fell with him, as Jehoash had said: but why was this? Why it came of God; for…
The Church Fathers
The Almighty, who cannot possibly will anything unjust, is able to set in motion even the inclinations of their will in people's hearts in order to accomplish through these people whatever he wishes to achieve through their agency. What meaning can these words have that the man of God addressed to King Amaziah: "Do not allow the army of Israel to go out with you, for the Lord is not with Israel and all the children of Ephraim. And if you think to prevail over them, God will put you to flight before your enemies; for it belongs to God both to help and to put to flight"?How does the power of God help some in war by giving them confidence and turns others to flight by instilling them with fear, except for this reason, that he who has made all things as he willed in heaven and on earth, also works in the human hearts? We also read of what Joash, king of Israel, said when he dispatched a messenger to King Amaziah, who had a mind to go to war with him. Having mentioned certain things, he went on to say, "Sit at home. Why do you provoke evil that you should fall and Judah with you?" The Scripture then went on to add, "And Amaziah would not listen to him because it was the Lord's will that he should be delivered into the hands of enemies because he sought after the gods of Edom." There you see how God, wishing to punish the sin of idolatry, influenced the heart of this man with whom he was justly angry, that he would not heed salutary advice but, in his contempt for it, would engage in battle, there to perish together with his army.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Amaziah — Strengthened by Jehovah. (1.) A Levite, son of Hilkiah, of the descendants of Ethan the Merarite (1 Chr. 6:45). (2.) The son and successor of Joash, and eighth king of the separate kingdom of Judah…
Jehoash — Jehovah-given. (1.) The son of King Ahaziah. While yet an infant, he was saved from the general massacre of the family by his aunt Jehosheba, and was apparently the only surviving descendant of…
Busy-Bodies · Bring mischief upon themselves — Bring mischief upon themselves
Edomites, The · Re-conquered by Amaziah — Re-conquered by Amaziah
Jehoash · . — .
Kings · Who reigned over Judah: Amaziah — Who reigned over Judah: Amaziah
Pride · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Sarcasm · .Jehoash to Amaziah — .Jehoash to Amaziah
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, and thine heart hath lifted thee up,.... Swelled him with pride and vanity on account of the victory he had obtained over the Edomites; which pride was at the bottom of his message to him, and that goes before a fall: Proverbs 16:18.
glory of this, and tarry at home; be content with the glory of it, and boast of it at home, but do not swagger abroad, and insult thy neighbours:
for why shouldest thou meddle to thy hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee? suggesting to him, that he had better be quiet, since it would be to the harm, if not the ruin, of him and his kingdom.
Keil & Delitzsch on 2 Kings 14:1-22
Reign of Amaziah of Judah (cf. 2 Chron 25). - Kg2 14:1-7. Length and spirit of his reign, and his victory over the Edomites. - Kg2 14:1. Amaziah began to reign in the second year of Joash of Israel. Now as Joash of Israel ascended the throne, according to Kg2 13:10, in the thirty-seventh year of Joash of Judah, the latter cannot have reigned thirty-nine full years, which might be reckoned as forty (Kg2 12:1), according to the principle of reckoning the current years as complete years, if the commencement of his reign took place a month or two before Nisan, and his death occurred a month or two after, without its being necessary to assume a regency.
Kg2 14:2-4
Amaziah reigned twenty-nine year…
Jehoash’s reply came as a parable (see Judg 9:7-15). In essence, Amaziah had as much of a chance of defeating Israel in war as a thistle trying to make demands against a mighty cedar tree. Amaziah and Judah would be defeated as easily as a random step would crush the proud thistle.
Rashi on 2 Kings 14:9
“The thistle that was in Levanon. Shechem son of Chamor.
Sent [a message] to the cedar tree. Yaakov.
And it passed by the wild beast [that was in Levanon]. “Yaakov’s sons came upon the slain.”4Bereishis 34:27. Here too, you come to compare yourself to me. This comparison was to humiliate him, for he likened him [Amatzyohu] to a thistle, and himself to a cedar [tree].5Yehoash, whose grandfather Yeihu, completely destroyed Achov and his family, was mocking Amatzyohu, who was Achov’s descendant.
And the wild beast that was in Levanon passed by and trampled, etc. Because you are arrogant, the troops of my armies will trample you too.
