2 Kings 14:7

He slew of Edom in the valley of salt ten thousand, and took Selah by war, and called the name of it Joktheel unto this day.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) He slew.—Rather, he it was that smote.

The valley of salt.—Comp. 2Samuel 8:13. El-Ghôr, the salt plain of the Dead Sea, which Amaziah would traverse in marching against Edom.

Ten thousand.—The number slain in one conflict.

Selah.—Heb., the Sèlac, i.e., the crag. The Hebrew name of the famous rock-hewn town of Petra.

By war.—Or, in the battle. After the decisive engagement, Amaziah’s troops forced their way through the narrow defile leading to the Edomite capital, probably meeting no great resistance.

Joktheel.—A town of Judah bore this name (Joshua 15:38). The name probably means God’s ward, referring to the wonderful strength of the natural position of the town. Others explain, subjugated of God.

Unto this day—i.e., unto the time when the original document was written, from which the writer derived this notice.

The reduction of the capital implies that of the country. The defeat of Jehoram (2Kings 8:20, seq.) was thus avenged. Chronicles gives a more detailed account of the re-conquest of Edom, and its consequences (2Chronicles 25:5-16). it is there related that Amaziah hired a large force of mercenaries from the northern kingdom, but sent them home again at the bidding of a prophet. On their way back they attacked and plundered certain of the cities of Judah. The fall of Selah was followed by a massacre of captives. The gods of Edom, which Amaziah carried off, proved a snare to him. (See the Notes on the passage.)

Benson Commentary

2 Kings 14:7. He slew of Edom — That is, of the Edomites, or the children of Seir, as they are called 2 Chronicles 25:1. The Edomites, after having been subject to Judah from the time of David, who subdued them, revolted in the days of Jehoram, (2 Kings 8:10,) and now Amaziah endeavoured to reduce them: and having, at the command of God, abandoned the help of the Israelites, although he had purchased it with a large sum, (2 Chronicles 25:7-10,) he and the men of Judah gained a great victory over them, and made the following slaughter. In the valley of Salt — Which was in the land of Edom. And took Selah — Or, the rock, as the word signifies. This city, called by other authors Petra, which also means a rock, was the metropolis of all that part of Arabia, termed from hence Arabia Petræa, or Arabia the rocky. And called the name of it Joktheel — Which word signifies, the obedience of God; so he named it, either, because, having taken it, he established in it, as some think, the laws and statutes of Moses; or rather, because he considered it as given him by God, as a reward of his obedience to God’s message by the prophet, requiring him to dismiss all the forces which he had hired of the Israelites.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:1-7 Amaziah began well, but did not go on so. It is not enough to do that which our pious predecessors did, merely to keep up the common usage, but we must do it as they did, from the same principle of faith and devotion, and with the same sincerity and resolution.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Amaziah's Idumaean war is treated at length by the writer of Chronicles (marginal reference).

The "Valley of Salt" is usually identified with the broad open plain called the Sabkah, at the southern end of the Dead Sea - the continuation of the Ghor or Jordan gorge. At the north-western corner of this plain stands a mountain of rock-salt, and the tract between this mountain and the sea is a salt-marsh. Salt springs also abound in the plain itself, so that the name would be fully accounted for. It is doubted, however, whether the original of the word "valley," commonly used of clefts and ravines, can be applied to such a sunk plain as the Sabkah; and it is certainly most unlikely that 10,000 prisoners would have been conveyed upward of eighty miles (the distance of the Sabkah from Petra), through a rough and difficult country, only in order to be massacred. On the whole, it is perhaps most probable that the "Valley of Salt" yet remains to be discovered, and that its true position was near Selah or Petra (see Judges 1:36 note). Amaziah gave to Petra the name Joktheel, "subdued by God," in a religious spirit as an acknowledgment of the divine aid by which his victory was gained. The name failed to take permanent hold on the place, because the Edomites, on not long afterward recovering their city, restored the old appellation (2 Chronicles 28:17; compare Isaiah 16:1, and Amos 1:11).

Unto this day - The writer of Kings evidently gives the exact words of his document, composed not later than the reign of Ahaz, before whose death the Edomites had recovered Petra.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ki 14:7. He Smites Edom.

7. He slew of Edom in the valley of salt ten thousand—In the reign of Joram the Edomites had revolted (see 2Ki 8:20). But Amaziah, determined to reduce them to their former subjection, formed a hostile expedition against them, in which he routed their army and made himself master of their capital.

the valley of salt—that part of the Ghor which comprises the salt and sandy plain to the south of the Dead Sea.

Selah—literally, "the rock"; generally thought to be Petra.

Joktheel—that is, "given" or "conquered by God." See the history of this conquest more fully detailed (2Ch 25:6-16).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Of Edom, i.e. of the Edomites, or the children of Seir, as they are called, 2 Chronicles 25:11; either because they dwelt in Seir; see Genesis 36:8; or because these people were confederates. And he invaded these people because they were subjects to his kingdom, from which they had revolted in Joram’s days, 2 Kings 8:20.

The valley of salt; which was the land of Edom; of which see 2 Samuel 8:13 Psalm 60:1.

Selah, or,

the rock; the chief city of that part of Arabia, called by other authors Petra, which signifies a rock, because it was built upon a rock, 2 Chronicles 25:12.

Joktheel, which signifies the obedience of God, i.e. given him by God as a reward of his obedience to God’s message by the prophet, 2 Chronicles 25:8,9.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

He slew of Edom in the valley of Salt ten thousand,.... Of which valley; see Gill on 2 Samuel 8:13, the Edomites having revolted from Judah in the days of Joram, 2 Kings 8:20. Amaziah undertook to reduce them with an army of 300,000 choice men; and, besides these, hired also of Israel 100,000 valiant men, for one hundred talents of silver; but at the instance of a prophet of the Lord he dismissed the latter, and went against Edom only with his men, and slew of the Edomites 10,000, besides other 10,000 he took alive, and cast headlong from a rock, which came into his hands, see 2 Chronicles 25:5,

and took Selah by war; which signifies a rock, the same with Petra, the metropolis of Arabia Petraea, the country of the Edomites. The city itself was not a rock, nor built on one, but was situated in a plain, surrounded with rocks and mountains, as Strabo (z) and Pliny (a) relate, from whence it seems to have its name; and by the Syrians called Recem, where Rocan a king of Midian reigned (b), called in the Greek version of Numbers 31:8, Recon; though Vitringa (c) is of opinion, that not Petra, the metropolis of Edom, is meant, but Maalehakrabbim, Joshua 15:3, which lay on the south border of Judea, near the salt sea:

and called the name of it Joktheel; which signifies "the obedience of God"; in memory of his obedience to the prophet of the Lord, in consequence of which he obtained this victory: and the name continued unto this day: the time of the writing this book.

(z) Geograph. l. 16. p. 536. (a) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28. (b) Hieron. de loc. Heb. fol. 93. M. & 94. A. Vid. Joseph. Antiqu. l. 4. c. 7. sect. 1.((c) Comment. in Jesaiam, c. 16. 1.

Geneva Study Bible

He slew of {c} Edom in the valley of salt ten thousand, and took Selah by war, and called the name of it Joktheel unto this day.

(c) For the Idumeans, whom David had brought to subjection, rebelled in the time of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. He slew of Edom] The Chronicler in 2 Chronicles 25:5-10 gives an account of Amaziah’s military preparations, before the expedition against Edom. He tells us that he gathered and marshalled his men of war, from twenty years old and upward, to the number of 300,000 choice men. To these he hired mercenary troops out of Israel, another 100,000. But a man of God forbade him to take the Israelites with him, as the Lord was not with Israel. Though grieved at the loss of the hundred talents, which he had paid for this body of allies, Amaziah separated them and sent them back again, wherefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in great wrath. After this with his own troops only Amaziah undertook the war with Edom, in which he was successful. According to Josephus (Ant. IX. 9. 1) the first planned expedition was against the Amalekites and Gebalites as well as the Edomites. On Gebal, a city of Phœnicia, see note on 1 Kings 5:18.

in the valley of salt] The R.V. prints both ‘Valley’ and ‘Salt’ with capitals to mark it as a proper name. The LXX. has a transliteration of the two words Γεμελέδ. The Valley of Salt lay at the south of the Dead Sea, and was on the border of the Edomite territory. We read that the Edomites had revolted from Judah in the days of Joram (2 Kings 8:20-22), and it seems they had not as yet been reduced to subjection.

ten thousand] Beside the 10,000 slain in the battle, the Chronicler mentions 10,000 more who were taken captive, and cast headlong from the rock so ‘that they all were broken in pieces’ (2 Chronicles 25:12).

and took Selah [R.V. Sela] by war] Sela which signifies ‘a rock’ is probably the city which was known in later times as ‘Petra’. It was a city of Edom, not far from Mount Hor, about 2 days’ journey northward from the top of the gulf of Akabah. The Chronicler says nothing about Sela, but mentions ‘the rock’ as the place from which the 10,000 captives were cast down. It may have been from the height on which Sela stood and took its name, that the execution of the captives took place.

called the name of it Joktheel] This name, which is a trisyllable (Jokthe-él) is interpreted by Gesenius as ‘a Deo subactum’. It might with propriety be given by Amaziah to a city won by him after the direction which God had given him to put away the Israelite mercenaries. He would consider that the victory was a direct gift from God.

unto this day] That Sela continued to be called Jokteel at the time when the book of Kings was compiled is in the highest degree improbable. We know that Edom reconquered some of the lost territory very soon (2 Chronicles 28:17) and during the captivity made inroads into the south of Judah as far as Hebron (Joseph. Ant. xii. 8.6). But in this passage the compiler takes the words of an earlier writer, exactly as they stood, and that earlier record was made before Sela was recovered and before the name Joktheel had fallen into disuse.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - He slew of Edom in the valley of salt ten thousand. Edom had revolted from Judah and recovered complete independence in the reign of Jehoram, about fifty years previously (2 Kings 8:20). Since that time the two countries had remained at peace. Now, however, Amaziah resolved upon a great effort to resubjugate them. According to Josephus ('Ant. Jud.,' 9:9. § 1) and Chronicles (2 Chronicles 25:5), he levied an army of 400,000 men - 300,000 Jews, and 100,000 hired Israelites - with which he marched against the three nations of the Amalekites, the Idumaeans, and the Gabalites. Rebuked by a prophet for want of faith in calling to his aid the wicked Israelites, he consented to dismiss them, and made the invasion at the head of his own troops only. These were carefully organized (2 Chronicles 25:5), and met with a great success. Ten thousand of his enemies fell in battle, and an equal number were made prisoners. These last were barbarously put to death by being precipitated from the top of a rock (2 Chronicles 25:12). "The valley of salt," the scene of the battle, is probably identified with the sunken plain, now called Es Sabkah, at the southern extremity of the Dead Sea. This is "a large flat of at least six miles by ten, occasionally flooded" (Tristram), but dry in the summertime. It is full of salt springs, and is bounded on the west and northwest by a long ridge of pure salt, known as the Khasm Usdum, so that the name "valley of salt" would be very appropriate. And took Selah by war. Selah with the article (has-Selah) can only be the Idumaean capital, which the Greeks called Petra (Πέτρα or ἡ Πέτρα), and which is one of the most remarkable sites in the world. In the rocky mountains which form the eastern boundary of the Arabah or sandy slope reaching from the edge of the Sabkah to the Red Sea, amid cliffs of gorgeous colors, pink and crimson and purple, and ravines as deep and narrow as that of Proffers, partly excavated in the rook, partly emplaced upon it, stood the Edomite town, difficult to approach, still more difficult to capture, more like the home of a colony of sea-gulls than that of a number of men. Petra is graphically described by Dean Stanley ('Sinai and Palestine,' pp. 88-92), and has also received notice from Robinson ('Researches,' vol. it. pp. 518-538), Highten ('Dictionary of the Bible,' vol. 3. p. 1191), and others. And called the name of it Joktheel; i.e. "subdued by God." The name took no permanent hold. Selah is still "Sela" in Isaiah (Isaiah 16:1), Obadiah (ver. Obadiah 1:3), and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 49:16). It is known only as "Petra" to the Greeks and Romans. Unto this day; i.e. to the time of the writer who composed the account of Amaziah's reign for the 'Book of the Kings,' and whoso words the author of Kings transcribes here as so often elsewhere. 2 Kings 14:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The brief account of the defeat of the Edomites in the Salt Valley and of the taking of the city of Sela is completed by 2 Chronicles 25:6-16. According to the latter, Amaziah sought to strengthen his own considerable army by the addition of 100,000 Israelitish mercenaries; but at the exhortation of a prophet he sent the hired Israelites away again, at which they were so enraged, that on their way home they plundered several of the cities of Judah and put many men to death. The Edomites had revolted from Judah in the reign of Joram (2 Kings 8:20.); Amaziah now sought to re-establish his rule over them, in which he was so far successful, that he completely defeated them, slaying 10,000 in the battle and then taking their capital, so that his successor Uzziah was also able to incorporate the Edomitish port of Elath in his own kingdom once more (2 Kings 14:22). On the Salt Valley (גּי־המּלח for גּיא־המּלח in the Chronicles), a marshy salt plain in the south of the Dead Sea, see at 2 Samuel 8:13. According to 2 Chronicles 25:12 of the Chronicles, in addition to the 10,000 who were slain in battle, 10,000 Edomites were taken prisoners and cast headlong alive from the top of a rock. הסּלע (the rock) with the article, because the epithet is founded upon the peculiar nature of the city, was probably the capital of the Edomites, called by the Greeks ἡ Πέτρα, and bore this name from its situation and the mode in which it was built, since it was erected in a valley surrounded by rocks, and that in such a manner that the houses were partly hewn in the natural rock. Of this commercial city, which was still flourishing in the first centuries of the Christian era, splendid ruins have been preserved in a valley on the eastern side of the ghor which runs down to the Elanitic Gulf, about two days' journey from the southern extremity of the Dead Sea, on the east of Mount Hor, to which the Crusaders gave the name of vallis Moysi, and which the Arabs still call Wady Musa (see Robinson, Pal. ii. pp. 512ff., and for the history of this city, pp. 574ff., and Ritter's Erdkunde, xiv. pp. 1103ff.).