2 Chronicles 25:19

Thou sayest, Lo, thou hast smitten the Edomites; and thine heart lifteth thee up to boast: abide now at home; why shouldest thou meddle to thine hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(19) Thou sayest.—Slightly altered from 2Kings 14:10. Thou sayest, or thou thinkest, is added here. The word in Hebrew meaning Lo (hinnēh) is perhaps a corruption of the word meaning smiting (hakkēh) :“Thou hast indeed smitten.”

To boast.—To get glory (hakbîd). Only so used here. Kings, “thine heart lifteth thee up. Be honoured (i.e., enjoy thine honours), and abide at home” (hikkā-bēd). The difference is one of points only, and may be due to a copyist.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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, Pr 29:23; it goes before his destruction, and deservedly brings it on. He that exalteth himself shall be abased. He that goes forth hastily to strive, will not know what he shall do in the end thereof, when his neighbour has put him to shame, Pr 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Art thou made of the king's counsel? - A subtle irony: "Have I made thee one of my council? If not what entitles thee to offer thy advice?"

For the fulfillment of the prophecy, see 2 Chronicles 25:22-24, 2 Chronicles 25:27.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ch 25:17. He Provokes Joash to His Overthrow.

17. Then Amaziah … sent to Joash … Come, let us see one another in the face—(See on [452]2Ki 14:8-20).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then Amaziah king of Judah took advice,.... Not of God, nor of his prophets, but of some of his nobles like himself:

and sent to Joash--king of Israel; of his message to him here, and his answer in the two following verses, see the following notes: See Gill on 2 Kings 14:8. See Gill on 2 Kings 14:9. See Gill on 2 Kings 14:10.

Geneva Study Bible

Thou sayest, Lo, thou hast smitten the Edomites; and thine heart lifteth thee up to boast: abide now at home; why shouldest thou meddle to thine hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee?

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19. Thou sayest] i.e. to thyself.

meddle to thine hurt] R.V. mg., provoke calamity, i.e. by making claims which he could not enforce.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 19. - If the contents of this verse do not fail to impress with a persuasion of the keen mental gift of Joash, they do not fall far short of warranting some persuasion of a certain moral sense and goodness about him also. He knows human nature well, and Amaziah's particular variety therein perfectly well. And many would have snapped at the opportunity of humbling such a man. But not so Joash; he enjoys, indeed, the opportunity of satisfying his own sarcasm and patronizingness, but would still spare Amaziah's people and save him from himself. This does not resemble, at any rote, the commonest, poorest, hungriest style of soul. To boast. Our text gives us here hiph. infinitive construct, where the parallel has niph. imperative. This lends the more effective shaft to the invective of Joash, though without material difference to the sense. 2 Chronicles 25:19

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The war with Joash, king of Israel. - Instead of following the counsel of the prophet, Amaziah consulted (sc., with his public officials or courtiers), and challenged King Joash of Israel to war. The challenge, and the war which followed, are also narrated in 2 Kings 14:8-14 in agreement with our account, and have been already commented upon at that place, where we have also considered the occasion of this war, so fatal to Amaziah and the kingdom of Judah, on account of which has been handed down to us only in the supplementary narrative of the Chronicle. לך in 2 Chronicles 25:17 for לכה, come, as in Numbers 23:13 and Judges 19:13. - In 2 Chronicles 25:20 the chronicler explains Amaziah's refusal to hear the warning of Joash before the war with him, by a reference to the divine determination: "For it (came) of God (that Amaziah still went to war), that He might deliver them (the men of Judah) into the hand, because they had sought the gods of Edom." בּיד נתן, to give into the power of the enemy. - In 2 Chronicles 25:23, הפּונה שׁער is a manifest error for הפּנּה (2 Kings 14:13). Were הפּונה, the gate that turns itself, faces (in some direction), correct, the direction would have to be given towards which it turned, e.g., Ezekiel 8:3. - וגו וכל־הזּהב, 2 Chronicles 25:24, still depends upon תּפשׂ, 2 Chronicles 25:23 : and (took away) all the gold, etc. In 2 Kings 14:14, ולקח is supplied.