17 Then Amazi'ah king of Judah took counsel and sent to Jo'ash the son of Jeho'ahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, "Come, let us look one another in the face." 18 And Jo'ash the 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. 19 You say, 'See, I have smitten Edom,' and your heart has lifted you up in boastfulness. But now stay at home; why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?" 20 But Amazi'ah would not listen; for it was of God, in order that he might give them into the hand of their enemies, because they had sought the gods of Edom. 21 So Jo'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. 22 And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to his home. 23 And Jo'ash king of Israel captured Amazi'ah king of Judah, the son of Jo'ash, son of Ahazi'ah, at Beth-she'mesh, and brought him to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem for four hundred cubits, from the E'phraim Gate to the Corner Gate. 24 And he seized all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of God, and O'bed-e'dom with them; he seized also the treasuries of the king's house, and hostages, and he returned to Sama'ria. 25 Amazi'ah the son of Jo'ash king of Judah lived fifteen years after the death of Jo'ash the son of Jeho'ahaz, king of Israel. 26 Now the rest of the deeds of Amazi'ah, from first to last, are they not written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel? 27 From the time when he turned away from the Lord they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there. 28 And they brought him upon horses; and he was buried with his fathers in the city of David.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 2 Chronicles 25:17-28
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 25:17-28
(Read 2 Chronicles 25:17-28)
Never was a proud prince more thoroughly mortified than Amaziah by Joash king of Israel. A man's pride will bring him low, Proverbs 25:8. And what are we when we offer to establish our own righteousness, or presume to justify ourselves before the Most High God, but despicable thistles, that fancy themselves stately cedars? And are not various temptations, is not every corruption, a wild beast of the desert, which will trample on the wretched boaster, and tread his haughty pretensions to the dust? A man's pride shall bring him low; his ruin may be dated from his turning from the Lord.