2 Kings 14:7

He slewof 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.