Amaziah

Amaziah, son of Joash of Judah, became king at twenty-five and reigned twenty-nine years. 2 Kings 14:3 says he 'did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, yet not like David his father. He did in all things as Joash his father had done.' As soon as he was firmly on the throne he executed those servants who had assassinated his father, but in striking obedience to the law of Moses he did not put their sons to death (2 Kings 14:5-6; cf. Deuteronomy 24:16). He mustered Judah for war against Edom and hired 100,000 mercenaries from Israel; a man of God forbade him to take them, so he dismissed them despite the loss of the hundred talents he had paid, and the LORD gave him victory in the Valley of Salt where he killed ten thousand Edomites and captured Sela. But he brought back the gods of the men of Seir, set them up as his own gods, and burned incense to them (2 Chronicles 25:14). A prophet asked, 'Why have you sought the gods of a people who did not deliver their own people from your hand?' Provoked or proud, Amaziah challenged Jehoash of Israel to face him. Jehoash answered with the fable of the thistle and the cedar and warned him to stay home, then defeated him at Beth-shemesh, broke down 400 cubits of the wall of Jerusalem, and carried off the temple and palace treasure with hostages (2 Kings 14:8-14). Amaziah lived fifteen more years; conspirators rose against him in Jerusalem, he fled to Lachish, and they sent after him and killed him there.