2 Chronicles 25:15

Wherefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against Amaziah, and he sent unto him a prophet, which said unto him, Why hast thou sought after the gods of the people, which could not deliver their own people out of thine hand?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(15) Could not deliver.—Delivered not. (Comp. the boast of Sennacherib concerning the gods who had failed before him: 2Kings 18:33-35.) The king’s object may have been to win their favour, and so retain his hold on what was regarded as their peculiar territory. One of these gods might be Hadad (comp. 1Chronicles 1:46; 1Chronicles 1:50; 2Kings 5:18; 2Kings 6:24); another might have been Kôsh. (Comp. the Edomite royal names Qa-us-ma-la-ka, i.e., Kosmalak, “Kosh is king,” and Qa-us-gab-ri, i.e., Kosgabri, “Kosh is my warrior;” names which are like the Hebrew Elimelech and Gabriel respectively.) The Hebrew proper name, Kish, may be the same as Kôsh. Lastly, the name of a king of Edom mentioned by Sennacherib, Mâlik-rammu, i.e., “Moloch is exalted,” indicates that Moloch also was worshipped in Edom.

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 25:15. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Amaziah — And well it might; yet, before he sent to destroy him, he sent to convince and reclaim him, and thus prevent his destruction. He sent to him a prophet, who reasoned with him very fairly and mildly, saying, Why hast thou sought after the gods which could not deliver their own people? — Is this reasonable? Is it acting like a wise man? If men would but duly consider the inability of all those things to help them, which they have recourse to when they forsake God, they would not be such enemies to themselves.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

25:14-16 To worship the gods of those whom Amaziah had conquered, who could not help their own worshippers, was the greatest absurdity. If men would consider how unable all those things are to help them, to which they look whenever they forsake God, they would not be such enemies to themselves. The reproof God sent by a prophet was too just to be answered; themselves. The reproof God sent by a prophet was too just to be answered; but he was bidden not to say a word more. The secure sinner rejoices to have silenced his reprovers and monitors; but what comes of it? Those that are deaf to reproof, are ripening for destruction.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The practice of carrying off the images of the gods from a conquered country, or city, as trophies of victory, was common among the nations of the East. Sometimes as with the Romans, the object was worship, especially when the gods were previously among those of the conquering country, and the images had the reputation of special sanctity.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14-16. Amaziah … brought the gods of the children of Seir—The Edomites worshipped the sun under different forms and with various rites. But burning incense upon altars was a principal act of worship, and this was the very thing Amaziah is described as having with strange infatuation performed. Whether he had been captivated with the beauty of the images, or hoped by honoring the gods to disarm their spite at him for his conquest and harsh treatment of their votaries, his conduct in establishing these objects of religious homage in Jerusalem was foolish, ignorant, and highly offensive to God, who commissioned a prophet to rebuke him for his apostasy, and threaten him with the calamity that soon after befell him.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Therefore thou art not only ungrateful and impious, but also ridiculously foolish, in offending that God whose power and goodness thou hast now found, and in worshipping such gods of whose impotency thou hast had late experience.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Wherefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Amaziah,.... Idolatry being always highly displeasing to the Lord; and this was a most provoking instance of it, that when the Lord had given him victory over his enemies, that he should forsake him, and worship their gods:

and he sent unto him a prophet; whether the same as before, is not certain:

which said unto him, why hast thou sought after the gods of the people which could not deliver their own people out of thine hand? and therefore it was madness in him to seek after them, and worship them.

Geneva Study Bible

Wherefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against Amaziah, and he sent unto him a prophet, which said unto him, Why hast thou sought after the gods of the people, which could not {m} deliver their own people out of thine hand?

(m) He proves that whatever cannot save himself nor his worshipper is no god but an idol.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

15. which could not deliver] R.V. which have not delivered.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 15. - He sent unto him a prophet. We are again not told whom. The tone of the prophet, and the words given us as his in the latter half of ver. 16, would lead us to think it was the same "man of God;" but we cannot assert it, and had it been the same, it would more probably have transpired. The history now often reminds us of 2 Chronicles 24:16. 2 Chronicles 25:15

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Amaziah's idolatry. - 2 Chronicles 25:14. On his return from smiting the Edomites, i.e., from the war in which he had smitten the Edomites, Amaziah brought the gods (images) of the sons of Seir (the inhabitants of Mount Seir) with him, and set them up as gods, giving them religious adoration.

(Note: This statement, which is not found in 2 Kings 14, may, in the opinion of Berth., perhaps not rest upon a definite tradition, but be merely the application of a principle which generally was found to act in the history of Israel to a particular case; i.e., it may be a clothing in historical garments of the principle that divine punishment came upon the idolatrous king, because it does not agree with the statement of 2 Kings 14:3. In that passage it is said of Amaziah: He did what was right in the eyes of Jahve, only not as David; altogether as his father Joash had done, did he. But Joash allowed his princes, after Jehoiada's death, to worship idols and Asheras, and had caused the prophet Zechariah, who reproved this idolatry, to be stoned. These are facts which, it is true, are narrated only in the Chronicle, but which are admitted by Bertheau himself to be historical. Now if Amaziah did altogether the same as his father Joash, who allowed idolatry, etc., it is hard indeed to see wherein the inconsistency of our account of Amaziah's idolatry with the character assigned to this king in 2 Kings 14:3 consists. Bertheau has omitted to give us any more definite information on this point.)

In order to turn him away from this sin, which would certainly kindle Jahve's wrath, a prophet said to Amaziah, "Why dost thou seek the gods of the people, who have not delivered their people out of your hand?" The prophet keeps in view the motive which had induced the king to set up and worship the Edomite idols, viz., the belief of all polytheists, that in order to make a people subject, one must seek to win over their gods (cf. on this belief that remarks on Numbers 22:17), and exposes the folly of this belief by pointing out the impotence of the Edomite idols, which Amaziah himself had learnt to know.