Most kings of Judah, the southern kingdom of Israel, tend to fall into two categories in the Bible: all good or all bad. Seldom do we meet someone who lies somewhere in between. That is . . . until we meet a king named Amaziah in the Bible.
He starts his reign strong, similar to Solomon. But then he starts to fall wayward. His cockiness ends up becoming the death of him. A model king turns into a cautionary tale.
In today’s article, we’ll uncover the person of Amaziah, what he did right, and his failings that ended up being his undoing.
King Amaziah in the Bible
King Amaziah is mentioned in several passages within the Old Testament, primarily in the books of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles. Here are the key scriptures and verses that discuss his reign, actions, and the events of his life:
2 Kings 14:1-22 provides an overview of Amaziah's reign over Judah, detailing his ascension to the throne, his execution of the officials who killed his father, his victory over Edom, and his defeat by Israel under King Jehoash. It also mentions his worship of Edomite gods and his eventual assassination.
2 Chronicles 25:1-28 offers a more detailed account of Amaziah's reign, including his adherence to the Law of Moses in the beginning, his hiring and then dismissal of Israelite troops, his victory over the Edomites, his idolatry following the victory, the confrontation with the prophet, and his eventual downfall and death.
King Amaziah of Judah is a biblical figure who reigned from 796 to 767 BC, as described in the books of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles. He was the son and successor of King Joash, and his reign is noted for both its faithful beginnings and its tragic end. Initially, Amaziah followed the ways of the Lord by executing justice on the assassins of his father, but unlike his ancestor David, he did not fully remove the idolatrous high places.
His reign saw a mixture of obedience and failure. Amaziah achieved a significant military victory over the Edomites, which unfortunately led to his downfall. In a moment of pride, he brought back idols from Edom and worshipped them, leading to a rebuke from a prophet of God. His defiance against God's counsel and his subsequent challenge to King Jehoash of Israel culminated in his defeat and capture.
Despite his earlier achievements, Amaziah’s later years were marred by idolatry and a loss of support among his people, leading to a conspiracy against him. He fled to Lachish, where he was eventually assassinated. Amaziah's story is a cautionary tale of a ruler who, despite early promise, turned away from God and suffered the consequences.
King Amaziah's Family Tree
To first understand Amaziah, we need to understand his father, Joash.
Joash, like Amaziah, started as a good king in 2 Kings 12. He mainly helped to repair the temple, that had fallen into disrepair under the rules of former kings. This was good.
What was not good, however, is Joash continued to let people worship foreign gods. He gave sacred temple objects to his enemies as a tribute to get on their good side. Because of this, he winds up assassinated at the end of his reign—by his officials, no less.
Then enters his son, Amaziah, in 2 Kings 14. Amaziah becomes king at a relatively young age, 25. Although not as young as some other kings, he certainly enters into the position earlier than he’d anticipated, with his father being murdered and all.
He first seeks to kill the people who assassinated his father. He succeeds.
The Bible makes an important distinction here. He doesn’t kill the family members of the assassins. This points back to a Levitical law: family members should not receive the same punishment as the sinners. This looked different than the practices of other nations at the time. For instance, we see the Medo-Persians throwing the entire families of the wrongdoers into the lion’s den in Daniel 6.
In this regard, King Amaziah set himself apart from the other nations, obeying God’s commandments. Some other highlights of his ruling period include defeating a group of people called the Edomites, descendants of Esau who turned into enemies of Israel.
The good stuff appears to stop there. Perhaps he continued some of his father’s temple repairs and reforms. After all, the passage says he followed in his father’s footsteps. However, we also see quite a bit of bad happening in Amaziah’s life.
Even the historian Josephus makes a distinction that Amaziah had started as a very good king who started his reign trying to do right. So, where did it all go wrong?
How Did King Amaziah Sin?
King Amaziah became prideful after his victory against the Edomites. Josephus describes him as “puffed up.”
Pide ultimately leads to his downfall.
King Amaziah appears to sin on three accounts in his lifetime. Let’s break down all of them.
1. King Amaziah Allowed Pagan Practices to Continue
Like his father King Joash, he doesn’t tear down any “high places.” In Israel at the time, they would’ve had Asherah poles and other religious shrines to foreign deities. As we can imagine, this didn’t go over well with God, who clarified that the Israelites could not worship any other gods.
Some of the good kings of Judah tore down such places and drove out people practicing such things. We don’t see this happen with Amaziah. Perhaps his father gave an incorrect model of how to handle the situation. Perhaps he’d stepped into the position at too young an age. No matter what the case, he lets his people continue to do detestable practices.
2. King Amaziah Ignores a Prophet
2 Chronicles 25 shows us when Amaziah’s pride started to fester. Although he’d previously listened to prophets of God, he decided to bring some foreign gods back with him when he returned from a campaign.
A prophet confronts the king, but he ignores the prophet. Because of this, the prophet says God will wipe Amaziah out. It seems the once-good king has officially spoiled by this point.
This same pride brings Amaziah into captivity. The king of Israel captures him and plunders his temple—the same temple Amaziah’s father sought to repair.
3. He Winds Up Like His Father in the End
I don’t know what certain kings of Judah must’ve done to their advisors, but we see quite a few of the advisors conspiring to kill the kings. Some men of Judah decide to do the same with him.
Amaziah gets word of this and flees. But they catch up to him and kill him. Thus ends his reign over Judah.
Amaziah’s story starts strong. He’d wanted to do everything right by the Lord’s standards. However, as he ages, he becomes bitter and arrogant. He believes himself to be untouchable and then sees his kingdom crumble and ends up in a pitiful demise afterward.
As we can imagine, we can learn a lot from him—from his good and bad choices. Before we dive into the bad, we can remark that it is admirable that he wants to start his reign by following God’s laws.
Considering he didn’t necessarily have the best example to follow with his father, Joash, he did well initially, and we can commend him for that.
Lessons from King Amaziah's Story
First, we need to understand our families.
For whatever reason, many families tend to repeat the same mistake. We see this several times in the Bible. For example, Abraham and Isaac lie about their wives to Egyptian pharaohs.
Had Amaziah recognized how his behavior echoed his father’s life, perhaps he could’ve stopped his terrible demise. Perhaps he could’ve seen his kingdom flourish.
In the same way, we need to have an understanding of our past so that our families cannot repeat the same mistakes.
Second, no one is immune to pride.
Since Amaziah had started his reign well, he likely assumed he couldn’t be corrupted. So when he sees victories for his army, he lets his guard down. And allows Satan to grab a foothold.
Pride festered in Amaziah and caused him to bring foreign gods into the land and challenge enemies whom his army didn’t stand a chance against. Because he allowed himself to get knee-deep into pride, he sees his father’s work undone by the northern kingdom. He winds up a captive. And later, his very own people assassinate him.
We need honest people in our lives (like the prophet who warned Amaziah) to tell us when we’ve allowed pride to blind us.
Finally, our own efforts don’t get us far.
One of the saddest takeaways of his story is that he tried to start his rule well. Perhaps he saw what happened to his dad and convinced himself he would not end up the same.
When he stops seeking God’s guidance and protection, he allows himself to wind up in misery. He tries to do it on his own, and that’s why he fails.
If you find you start well at doing things (good deeds, spiritual practices, etc.) but struggle because good habits are hard to keep, you may want to pay attention to Amaziah’s story. Instead of trying to do it all alone, seek God’s help. He will help you.
Photo created and edited using AI.
Hope Bolinger is an acquisitions editor at End Game Press, book editor for hire, and the author of almost 30 books. More than 1500 of her works have been featured in various publications. Check out her books at hopebolinger.com for clean books in most genres, great for adults and kids. Check out her editing profile at Reedsy.com to find out about hiring her for your next book project.
This article is part of our People of Christianity catalog that features the stories, meaning, and significance of well-known people from the Bible and history. Here are some of the most popular articles for knowing important figures in Christianity:
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