Amaziah becomes king of Judah after the death of Joash. He his crowned king at the age of 25 and reigns for 29 years. Like his father, he is assassinated for turning against God.

When I look at the name Amaziah, I think "amazing," though I'm pretty sure that's not where we get the word from. For a while, Amaziah is amazing, however. He at least begins his rule by following the word of God.

When he becomes king, one of the first things he does is kill the men who killed his father. This was lawful by God's law. Not only had God not instructed the men to kill Joash, God was capable of killing those who disobeyed him on His own. Thus, these men had committed murder which was punishable by death.

Later, when Amaziah gathers an army to go into battle with Edom, God tells him to leave part of the army behind. This part of the army was from the northern kingdom, and thus not a part of Judah. Even so, this was much like the test of faith God had given many others. In battle, God often proved His presence by delivering an outnumbered Israelite army to victory. Although Amaziah was initially skeptical, considering he had already paid these men and could not be refunded, Amaziah obeys God and reaped exactly this miracle.

Unfortunately, just after this victory, Amaziah decides to take up the idols of his enemies. God becomes angry at this breach of the covenant, but Amaziah doesn't repent. He even rejects the counsel of the prophets.

Seeing that the army he hired from Israel has pillaged cities of Judah on their way back home, Amaziah wages war with Israel's king Jehoash (not to be confused with Amaziah's father Joash—both spellings are used for the names). For once, it is Israel that is shunning the war as Jehoash initially refuses to engage Amaziah. After much prompting, the two meet on the battle field and Israel claims victory. Amaziah's lack of faith and disobedience to God caused him to lose the battle. Yet still, Amaziah outlives Jehoash by 15 years. Eventually, Amaziah is assassinated by his own people because he stopped following the ways of God.

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