Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 14:15-22
Here are three kings brought to their graves in these few verses: - 1. Joash king of Israel, Kg2 14:15, Kg2 14:16. We attended his funeral once before, Kg2 13:12, Kg2 13:13. But, because the historian had occasion to give a further account of his life and actions, he again mentions his death and burial. 2. Amaziah king of Judah. Fifteen years he survived his conqueror the king of Israel, Kg2 14:17. A man may live a great while after he has been shamed, may be thoroughly mortified (as Amaziah no doubt was) and yet not dead. His acts are said to be found written in his annals (Kg2 14:18), but not his might; for his cruelty when he was a conqueror over the Edomites, and his insolence when he ch…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Kings 14:19
HE IS SLAIN BY A CONSPIRACY. (Kg2 14:17-20)
they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem--Amaziah's apostasy (Ch2 25:27) was followed by a general maladministration, especially the disastrous issue of the war with Israel. The ruinous condition of Jerusalem, the plunder of the temple, and the loss of their children who were taken as hostages [Kg2 14:13-14], lost him the respect and attachment not of the grandees only, but of his subjects generally, who were in rebellion. The king fled in terror to Lachish, a frontier town of the Philistines, where, however, he was traced and murdered. His friends had his corpse brought without any pomp or ceremony, in a chariot to Jerusalem, where he was…
Read the whole note in the consoleAdam Clarke on 2 Kings 14:19
They made a conspiracy against him - His defeat by Jehoash, and the consequent pillaging of the temple, and emptying the royal exchequer, and the dismantling of Jerusalem, had made him exceedingly unpopular; so that probably the whole of the last fifteen years of his life were a series of troubles and distresses.
John Gill on 2 Kings 14:19
Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem,.... Against Amaziah; the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the principal men of it; perhaps those whose sons the king of Israel had carried away as hostages, which they imputed to the ill conduct of Amaziah, as well as the breaking of the wall of Jerusalem, and the pillaging of the temple, and the king's palace:
and he fled to Lachish; a fortified city in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:39 but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there; in a private manner, as Josephus (g) relates.
(g) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 9. c. 9. sect. 3.)
