Sunday Sermonette: Sketchy History

In Ch. 14 we get a lot of random, poorly explained factoids about kings of Judah and Israel, with several references to the full story being told in The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah and The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. These books have been lost. This does not refer to the Book of Chronicles, which merely selectively recapitulates stories from the Torah and the Deuteronomic History without adding anything except a lot of genealogy consisting of nothing but lists of contextless names. It does contradict the Deuteronomic History in certain details, for example it offers yet a fourth version of the death of Saul.

The stories in Ch. 14 seem largely pointless, although it is of interest that Israel could go to war against Judah and literally plunder Jerusalem.  I'm not sure why this story would be here unless something like it had actually happened. The same goes for the unexplained conspiracies against kings. We may be getting close enough to the time this was written that we are leaving the realm of pure mythology and entering a realm inspired by real events, although likely not very reliably reported.

One passage in Ch. 14 is ridiculous, verse 6, which refers to Deuteronomy 24:16, which commands that children not be put to death for the sins of the fathers. But as we have seen, this is a routine practice throughout both the Torah and the Deuteronomic History, often extending for multiple generations and resulting in the massacre of dozens of grandchildren. SAB rounds up more  than a dozen examples, by no means an exhaustive list. Of course, the massacre of the descendants of Ahab has just happened

14 In the second year of Jo′ash the son of Jo′ahaz, king of Israel, Amazi′ah the son of Jo′ash, king of Judah, began to reign. ² He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jeho-ad′din of Jerusalem. ³ And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, yet not like David his father; he did in all things as Jo′ash his father had done. ⁴ But the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. ⁵ And as soon as the royal power was firmly in his hand he killed his servants who had slain the king his father. ⁶ But he did not put to death the children of the murderers; according to what is written in the book of the law of Moses, where the Lord commanded, “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, or the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall die for his own sin.”

⁷ He killed ten thousand E′domites in the Valley of Salt and took Sela by storm, and called it Jok′the-el, which is its name to this day.

⁸ Then Amazi′ah sent messengers to Jeho′ash the son of Jeho′ahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us look one another in the face.” ⁹ And Jeho′ash king of Israel sent word to Amazi′ah king of Judah, “A thistle on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife’; and a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle. ¹⁰ You have indeed smitten Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Be content with your glory, and stay at home; for why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?”

¹¹ But Amazi′ah would not listen. So Jeho′ash king of Israel went up, and he and Amazi′ah king of Judah faced one another in battle at Beth-she′mesh, which belongs to Judah. ¹² And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to his home. ¹³ And Jeho′ash king of Israel captured Amazi′ah king of Judah, the son of Jeho′ash, son of Ahazi′ah, at Beth-she′mesh, and came to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem for four hundred cubits, from the E′phraim Gate to the Corner Gate. ¹⁴ And he seized all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house, also hostages, and he returned to Samar′ia.

¹⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Jeho′ash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amazi′ah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ¹⁶ And Jeho′ash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samar′ia with the kings of Israel; and Jerobo′am his son reigned in his stead.

¹⁷ Amazi′ah the son of Jo′ash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Jeho′ash son of Jeho′ahaz, king of Israel. ¹⁸ Now the rest of the deeds of Amazi′ah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ¹⁹ And they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there. ²⁰ And they brought him upon horses; and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. ²¹ And all the people of Judah took Azari′ah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amazi′ah. ²² He built Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers.

Jeroboam II Reigns over Israel

²³ In the fifteenth year of Amazi′ah the son of Jo′ash, king of Judah, Jerobo′am the son of Jo′ash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samar′ia, and he reigned forty-one years. ²⁴ And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from all the sins of Jerobo′am the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. ²⁵ He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amit′tai, the prophet, who was from Gath-he′pher. ²⁶ For the Lord saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel. ²⁷ But the Lord had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jerobo′am the son of Jo′ash.

²⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Jerobo′am, and all that he did, and his might, how he fought, and how he recovered for Israel Damascus and Hamath, which had belonged to Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ²⁹ And Jerobo′am slept with his fathers, the kings of Israel, and Zechari′ah his son reigned in his stead.