2 Kings 14:23-29

Reign of Jeroboam II. The Deuterono-mistin a short section gives the dry details of Jeroboam's reign, the most famous of Israel's kings. During his forty-one years he completely freed Israel from the Syrians, and extended his territory from the entering in of Hamath to the Dead Sea. Israel's flourishing condition during his reign is depicted by Amos, who saw the hollowness underlying the apparent prosperity of his age. Hamath (Isaiah 10:9 *) lies far N. of the Holy Land, on the Orontes in Syria. It was the limit of the kingdom of David and Solomon (2 Samuel 8:9; 1 Kings 8:65). The words which had belonged to Judah (2 Kings 14:28) are very obscure. Burney proposes a bold emendation, and reads instead of Hamath the similar Heb. word wrath: he turned away the wrath of Yahweh against Israel. Amos speaks of Hamath (Amos 6:2 *) as an independent kingdom, and its fall in Sennacherib's days deeply impressed Judah (2 Kings 18:34).

2 Kings 14:25. Jonah the son of Amittai: this prophet can hardly be the author of the Book of Jonah, called the son of Amittai, whose adventures are there related. His native village of Gath-hepher is in the neighbourhood of Nazareth (Joshua 19:13). Jonah is mentioned in Tob_14:4-8, but the reading is doubtful. Tobit-' e home was in Naphtali.