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'''Amaziah''' ([[Hebrew]] '''אמציה''', strengthened by [[YHWH]]) (854-r. 839-810 BC according to [[James Ussher|Ussher]],<ref name=Ussher>[[James Ussher]], ''[[The Annals of the World]]'', [[Larry Pierce]], ed., Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2003 (ISBN 0890513600), pghh. 538, 541, 548-51, 553</ref> or 821-r. 796-767 BC according to [[Edwin R. Thiele|Thiele]]<ref name=Wood>Leon J. Wood, ''A Survey of Israel's History'', rev. ed. David O'Brien, Grand Rapids, MI: Academie Books, 1986 (ISBN 031034770X), pp. 297-298</ref>) was the eighth king of the [[Southern Kingdom]] of [[Israel]] in direct line-of-descent from [[David]]. His is yet another story of a king who starts out doing right, then backslides and brings disaster upon himself and his kingdom.<ref name=GeoCities>Authors unknown. "[http://www.geocities.com/thekingsofisrael/biography_Amaziah.html King Amaziah - Biography]." ''The Kings of Israel'', hosted at http://www.geocities.com/ Retrieved June 10, 2007.</ref><ref name=WebBible>Authors unknown. "[http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/amaziah.html Entry for Amaziah]." WebBible Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 10, 2007.</ref>

== Early Life and Family ==
Amaziah's parents were King [[Joash]] and his favorite wife [[Jehoaddan]] of [[Jerusalem]], to whom he was born in the fifteenth year of Joash's reign.

Amaziah himself married [[Jecoliah]] of Jerusalem. By Jecoliah he had his son and successor, [[Uzziah]]. This happened either when Amaziah was 37 years old (and in the thirteenth year of his reign) or when he was 12 years old (and would not take the throne for another thirteen years). The different birth dates for his son are required by the different chronological systems—a fact that Thiele never acknowledged in his lifetime, but which his disciple, [[Leslie McFall]], readily admits.<ref name=Pierce2>[[Larry Pierce]], "Some Objections Considered," in [[James Ussher]], ''[[The Annals of the World]]'', Larry Pierce, ed., Master Books, 2003, pp. 921-926 ISBN 0890513600</ref>

== Accession and Early Reign ==
Amaziah succeeded to the throne in either 839 BC or 796 BC, at the age of twenty-five.<ref>{{Bible ref|book=II_Kings|chap=14|verses=1-2}}</ref><ref>{{Bible ref|book=II_Chronicles|chap=25|verses=1}}</ref> The author of the Kings books says that this happened in the second year of King [[Joash of Israel]]. In fact, it was the second year since Joash of Israel became [[viceroy]] of the Northern Kingdom.

The Chronicler sums up the character of Amaziah's reign thus:{{Bible quote|And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, yet not with a perfect heart.|book=II_Chronicles|chap=25|verses=2|version=KJV}} Nevertheless, he continued the policies of his father [[Joash]], except that, as was usual, he failed to remove the [[high place]]s.<ref>{{Bible ref|book=II_Kings|chap=14|verses=3-4}}</ref>

His first act was to execute the palace servants who had murdered his father in his bed.<ref name=GeoCities/><ref name=WebBible/> But he did not execute their children; the [[Moses|Mosaic]] law forbade this.<ref>{{Bible ref|book=II_Kings|chap=14|verses=5-6}}</ref><ref>{{Bible ref|book=II_Chronicles|chap=25|verses=3-4}}</ref>

== The Edomite War ==
Next, Amaziah took a census of his people, and found that he had 300,000 men of military age (that is, 20 years old and older) who had weapons training.<ref>{{Bible ref|book=II_Chronicles|chap=25|verses=5}}</ref> He decided to attack the [[Edom]]ites again, and to make sure of his success, he hired 100,000 [[Ephraim (tribe)|Ephraimite]] mercenaries from King [[Joash of Israel]] for a hundred [[silver]] [[talent]]s (approximately four [[ton]]s).<ref name=GeoCities/><ref name=WebBible/>

An unnamed [[prophet]] then warned Amaziah ''not'' to go to battle with those mercenaries as part of his army. So he sent them back, to their great annoyance and displeasure.<ref name=WebBible/> He did not, however, demand a refund of his hundred talents.<ref name=GeoCities/><ref>{{Bible ref|book=II_Chronicles|chap=25|verses=6-10}}</ref>

Amaziah marched off to war with his native forces to the "valley of salt." He killed 10,000 Edomites outright and took another 10,000 Edomite prisoners and executed them all by throwing them off a high precipice.<ref name=GeoCities/><ref name=WebBible/> (The Columbia Encyclopedia asserts<ref name=Columbia>Authors unknown. "[http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0803617.html Entry for Amaziah]." ''The Columbia Encyclopedia'', 6th ed., 2007. Retrieved June 10, 2007, from <http://www.infoplease.com/></ref> that Amaziah captured the rock-hewn city of [[Petra]], but the [[Bible]] does not clearly so state.)

Amaziah then took several idols from the Edomite battle and began to worship them himself and even burn incense to them. Another prophet tried to advise him of the absurdity of his practice: these idols had not proved sufficient to save the Edomites from his army, so why should he worship ''them''? Amaziah told him to mind his own business if he didn't want to be executed. The prophet's last words were that [[God]] would certainly destroy Amaziah for his refusal to listen.<ref name=GeoCities/><ref name=WebBible/><ref>{{Bible ref|book=II_Chronicles|chap=25|verses=11-16}}</ref>

== War with Joash of Israel ==
The Ephraimite mercenaries whom Amaziah had sent home, attacked several Southern Kingdom cities, killed 3,000 people, and took much spoil.<ref name=GeoCities/> This is the only provocation Amaziah could be said to have had for what he did next.

Amaziah challenged Joash to a battle. Joash advised Amaziah as gently as he could that he ought to revel in his recent victory and go home, rather than start a war that he would not win. Amaziah did not heed the advice. Thus the two kings met in battle at [[Bethshemesh]], a city belonging to the Southern Kingdom. Joash won the day, took Amaziah prisoner, and then marched to [[Jerusalem]], where he broke a four-hundred-cubit-wide hole in its wall. Then Joash took great spoil, including all the [[gold]] and [[silver]]  in the Temple and palace treasuries, and returned to [[Samaria]], his capital. This battle likely took place in 825 BC or 782 BC.<ref name=GeoCities/><ref name=WebBible/><ref name=Columbia/><ref>{{Bible ref|book=II_Kings|chap=14|verses=8-14}}</ref><ref>{{Bible ref|book=II_Chronicles|chap=25|verses=17-24}}</ref>

== Later reign, murder and succession ==
Shortly after this disastrous war, Joash of Israel died, and his [[viceroy]] [[Jeroboam II]] began to reign alone. Amaziah lived on for another fifteen years.<ref>{{Bible ref|book=II_Kings|chap=14|verses=17}}</ref><ref>{{Bible ref|book=II_Chronicles|chap=25|verses=25}}</ref> Then another conspiracy formed against him. He fled to [[Lachish]] (where the remains of a [[high place]] stand in modern times), and the conspirators found him and killed him there. They brought his body back on horseback, and he was buried in the sepulchres of the kings.<ref name=GeoCities/><ref name=WebBible/><ref name=Columbia/><ref>{{Bible ref|book=II_Kings|chap=14|verses=19-20}}</ref><ref>{{Bible ref|book=II_Chronicles|chap=25|verses=27-28}}</ref> His son Uzziah reigned in his place.

== Chronological problem ==
Two verses plainly state that the people of the [[Southern Kingdom]] acclaimed [[Uzziah]] as their next king. Those same verses ''also'' seem, to all appearances, to state that Uzziah was sixteen years old at the time.<ref>{{Bible ref|book=II_Kings|chap=14|verses=21}}</ref><ref>{{Bible ref|book=II_Chronicles|chap=26|verses=1}}</ref> Furthermore, the author of Kings states that Uzziah began his reign in the twenty-seventh year of [[Jeroboam II]] of the [[Northern Kingdom]]. Jeroboam II became viceroy of the Northern Kingdom twelve years before Joash of Israel's death; these twelve years added to the fifteen that Amaziah outlived Joash make twenty-seven. More to the point, those same verses also state that Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign.<ref>{{Bible ref|book=II_Kings|chap=15|verses=1-2}}</ref>

All of the above are entirely in accord with Ussher's chronology of the Divided Kingdoms. From these statements Ussher concluded that Uzziah was born to Amaziah when the latter was thirty-seven years old, and that he began his sole reign when he was sixteen.

Thiele, however, insists<ref name=Wood/> that Uzziah began to reign in 792 BC—this although Amaziah died in 767 BC according to the Thiele system. Only two resolutions are possible, and one of these is physically ''im''possible:

# Uzziah was made viceroy of the Southern Kingdom fully eight years before he was born.<ref name=Pierce>[[Larry Pierce]], [http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v15/i1/chronology.asp Evidentialism–the Bible and Assyrian chronology] ''TJ'' 15(1):62–68 April 2001</ref>
# Uzziah was made viceroy ''at sixteen'' and then became sole ruler of the Southern Kingdom twenty-four years later, and then reigned alone for another seventeen years.<ref name=Pierce2/> But that would mean that Amaziah sired Uzziah when he, Amaziah, was twelve years old. That is entirely possible—and in fact a future king of the Southern Kingdom must surely have sired his own successor when he was even younger. But it requires much "multiplication of guesses" because it violates the plain reading of so many verses. It also assumes that Uzziah granted his son a ten-year viceroyship.

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

== See also ==
* [[Joash]]
* [[Joash of Israel]]
* [[Uzziah]]
* [[Southern Kingdom]]
* [[Northern Kingdom]]
* [[Biblical chronology dispute]]


[[Category:Kings of Israel]]
{{nb Kings}}