Chapter 14 of Melachim B deals primarily with the reign of Amatzyah son of Yoash, king of Yehudah, and toward its end with the reign of Yeravam son of Yoash, king of Yisrael. This is a chapter of ascents and descents: a king who began by doing what was right in the eyes of Hashem, won a great victory over Edom, and from there deteriorated to idolatry, to a needless war of pride against the king of Yisrael, to captivity and plunder, and finally to death at the hands of conspirators. The entire chapter is a lesson in pride, in ingratitude, and in the danger of one who saw light and rejected it.
בִּשְׁנַת שְׁתַּיִם לְיוֹאָשׁ בֶּן־יוֹאָחָז מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל מָלַךְ אֲמַצְיָהוּ בֶן־יוֹאָשׁ מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה׃ בֶּן־עֶשְׂרִים וְחָמֵשׁ שָׁנָה הָיָה בְמׇלְכוֹ וְעֶשְׂרִים וָתֵשַׁע שָׁנָה מָלַךְ בִּירוּשָׁלָ͏ִם וְשֵׁם אִמּוֹ יְהוֹעַדָּן מִן־יְרוּשָׁלָ͏ִם׃ - In the second year of Yoash son of Yehoachaz, king of Yisrael, Amatzyah son of Yoash, king of Yehudah, became king. He was twenty five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty nine years in Yerushalayim; and his mother's name was Yehoadan of Yerushalayim.
This was a very long reign, close to thirty years. And yet, as we shall see, most of those years were spent in decline.
וַיַּעַשׂ הַיָּשָׁר בְּעֵינֵי יְהֹוָה רַק לֹא כְּדָוִד אָבִיו כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂה יוֹאָשׁ אָבִיו עָשָׂה׃ - And he did what was right in the eyes of Hashem, only not like David his forefather; he did according to all that Yoash his father had done.
The Malbim explains: indeed he did what was right in the eyes of Hashem, but merely as a rote human commandment. Not like David his forefather, for David did everything out of love of Hashem. And the proof is from the pasuk itself: "according to all that Yoash his father had done" - and Yoash his father, as we saw, did what was right only "all the days that Yehoyada the Kohen instructed him," and once Yehoyada died he began to act wickedly. This shows that all his service was external habit and not true inner uprightness. Therefore in Divrei HaYamim it says of him, "and he did what was right, only not with a whole heart," for one who acts out of love of Hashem acts with a whole heart.
רַק הַבָּמוֹת לֹא־סָרוּ עוֹד הָעָם מְזַבְּחִים וּמְקַטְּרִים בַּבָּמוֹת׃ - Only the high places were not removed; the people still slaughtered and burned incense on the high places.
וַיְהִי כַּאֲשֶׁר חָזְקָה הַמַּמְלָכָה בְּיָדוֹ וַיַּךְ אֶת־עֲבָדָיו הַמַּכִּים אֶת־הַמֶּלֶךְ אָבִיו׃ - And it was, when the kingdom was firmly in his hand, that he struck down his servants who had struck down the king his father.
When he felt that he had enough power to settle accounts with those who had caused trouble in his father's days, he went out to take his revenge. These are Yozachar and Yehozavad, the Moabite and the Amonite, whom we saw in chapter 12 rose up against Yoash and killed him, and the reason for their deed was that Yoash had killed Zecharyah son of Yehoyada the Kohen, who had rebuked him. Now Amatzyah his son comes and avenges his father upon these two men.
וְאֶת־בְּנֵי הַמַּכִּים לֹא הֵמִית כַּכָּתוּב בְּסֵפֶר־תּוֹרַת־מֹשֶׁה אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהֹוָה לֵאמֹר לֹא־יוּמְתוּ אָבוֹת עַל־בָּנִים וּבָנִים לֹא־יוּמְתוּ עַל־אָבוֹת כִּי אִם־אִישׁ בְּחֶטְאוֹ יוּמָת׃ - But the children of those who struck him down he did not put to death, as it is written in the book of the Torah of Moshe, where Hashem commanded, saying: Fathers shall not be put to death for children, nor shall children be put to death for fathers; rather each man shall be put to death for his own sin.
Here the pasuk shows us his righteousness. The way of kings in those days was that whoever killed a rebel would also kill his sons and his entire family, in order to ensure that no descendant of that family would remain who might harbor resentment and try to take revenge on the king for killing his father. Amatzyah did not act this way, and why? Because of his righteousness - "as it is written in the book of the Torah of Moshe."
A point worth noting: our Sages expounded "fathers shall not be put to death for sons" to mean that fathers shall not be put to death by the testimony of sons, for a father does not testify about his son nor a son about his father. But this is a derashah learned from the redundancy in the verse, since "every man shall be put to death for his own sin" already includes that the son shall not die because of the father nor the father because of the son, so why the repetition? Perforce, the end of the verse speaks of sin, and the beginning of the verse adds the matter of testimony. Here, when Amatziah relates to the verse, he relates to its plain meaning, that a father is not killed for his son's sin nor a son for his father's sin, and therefore he took vengeance only upon the sinners themselves.
הוּא־הִכָּה אֶת־אֱדוֹם בְּגֵי־מֶלַח עֲשֶׂרֶת אֲלָפִים וְתָפַשׂ אֶת־הַסֶּלַע בַּמִּלְחָמָה וַיִּקְרָא אֶת־שְׁמָהּ יׇקְתְאֵל עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה׃ - He struck Edom in the Valley of Salt, ten thousand, and captured Sela in battle, and called its name Yokte'el, to this day.
"The Valley of Salt" is a place name. The text here is very brief, and does not even relate what happened to Amatziah himself afterward. In order to understand the matter and the continuation of the chapter, we will quote from Divrei HaYamim II, chapter 25.
"And Amatziah gathered Yehudah and set them by fathers' houses, under captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, for all Yehudah and Binyamin, and he numbered them from twenty years old and upward, and found them three hundred thousand chosen men able to go to war, who could handle spear and shield." Amatziah prepares for war and conducts a census. But he was not satisfied with this: "And he hired from Israel a hundred thousand mighty men of valor for a hundred talents of silver" - he was from Yehudah, and he went and hired mercenaries from the kingdom of Israel, a hundred thousand soldiers for an enormous sum.
"And a man of God came to him, saying: O king, let not the army of Israel go with you, for Hashem is not with Israel, all the children of Ephraim." The children of Ephraim - for Yaravam ben Nevat was from the tribe of Ephraim, and although there were ten tribes there, he names them after him. And as is known, Israel in their lowly state is called Ephraim, "Is Ephraim a precious son to Me." "But if you go, do it, be strong for the battle: God will make you fall before the enemy, for God has power to help and to make fall." That is: go alone and prevail. And if you say I am still short a hundred thousand men, God has the power to help, and He has the power to make you fall even with the additional hundred thousand.
"And Amatziah said to the man of God: But what is to be done about the hundred talents that I have given to the troop of Israel?" The money has already been paid, what will become of it? "And the man of God said: Hashem has the means to give you much more than this." The Holy One, blessed be He, can give you far more than a hundred talents, and about this you worry? And beyond that, what is the concern over losing money, when if you are defeated you will lose yourself and your entire army?
"And Amatziah separated them, the troop that had come to him from Ephraim, to go to their place, and their anger was greatly kindled against Yehudah, and they returned to their place in fierce anger." Imagine the force of the insult: a hundred thousand men separated out and sent home, told that they are unfit for battle. The money is not asked back. Today perhaps a person would leave satisfied: I got money and did not have to go to war. But whoever knows the nature of military men knows that they love battle. There is always disagreement between the generals and the politicians: the politicians want as few wars as possible, and the generals are in favor. There is new weaponry and they want to see it in action, the soldiers are fresh from training and want the "real thing" after working the dry runs. And beyond all this, there is the blow to the ego: these go to battle and us they sent home like weaklings, like the fearful and fainthearted.
"And Amatziah strengthened himself and led his people and went to the Valley of Salt and struck the children of Se'ir, ten thousand. And another ten thousand the children of Yehudah captured alive, and brought them to the top of the rock and threw them down from the top of the rock, and they were all dashed to pieces." This is what is said in our text, "and captured Sela in battle." "And the men of the troop that Amatziah had sent back from going with him to war" - those who had been insulted - "raided the cities of Yehudah from Shomron to Beit Choron, and struck three thousand of them, and took much plunder." We just warmed up the engines, if not against Edom then against Yehudah.
"And it was, after Amatziah came from striking the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the children of Se'ir and set them up as gods for himself, and prostrated himself before them and burned incense to them." A wonder of wonders, the thing is incomprehensible to the mind. He defeated Edom, and who helped him? Hashem, just as the prophet told him. And he takes the god of the nation that fell and begins to worship it.
"And the anger of Hashem was kindled against Amatziah, and He sent to him a prophet who said to him: Why have you sought the gods of the people who did not save their own people from your hand?" Where is the sense in this? Their god is "old fashioned," the batteries have run out, do you not see that it could not save its own people? And you take a failed god, when you have a living God, in whose merit you won the war.
"When he had spoken to him, the king said: Have you been made a royal advisor? Stop yourself! Why should you be struck down?" See how much he loved rebuke. The prophet rebukes the king, and the king answers him: Who appointed you an advisor? Watch your head, for when a prophet does not suit the king, they take off his head. "So the prophet ceased, but he said: I know that God has resolved to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel." In other words: because of this deed you will pay a heavy price, for you continued in your way and did not abandon the idolatry of the people of Seir, whom by God's kindness you had struck down. This price we will see later in the chapter.
And now we can understand what was said earlier, "and he called its name Yokte'el." Rashi explains that it was a place that set his teeth on edge (kehiyon shinayim). In the end this place set his teeth on edge, for from there he returned with the idolatry, and following it all the harm came upon him.
אָז שָׁלַח אֲמַצְיָה מַלְאָכִים אֶל־יְהוֹאָשׁ בֶּן־יְהוֹאָחָז בֶּן־יֵהוּא מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר לְכָה נִתְרָאֶה פָנִים׃ - Then Amatzyah sent messengers to Yehoash son of Yehoachaz son of Yehu, king of Israel, saying: Come, let us face each other.
This does not mean a friendly meeting nor a summit conference, but a call to battle: you draw up your army and I will draw up mine. In plain words he told him: leave aside the cleverness of sending companies to raid and plunder, that is what cowardly guerrilla fighters do. If you want to fight, come and let us fight face to face. And why did he even get into this whole affair? For the prophet had told him "God has resolved to destroy you," and here it is revealed where that counsel lay: that God placed in his heart the thought to go and fight the king of Israel.
וַיִּשְׁלַח יְהוֹאָשׁ מֶלֶךְ־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל־אֲמַצְיָהוּ מֶלֶךְ־יְהוּדָה לֵאמֹר הַחוֹחַ אֲשֶׁר בַּלְּבָנוֹן שָׁלַח אֶל־הָאֶרֶז אֲשֶׁר בַּלְּבָנוֹן לֵאמֹר תְּנָה־אֶת־בִּתְּךָ לִבְנִי לְאִשָּׁה וַתַּעֲבֹר חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה אֲשֶׁר בַּלְּבָנוֹן וַתִּרְמֹס אֶת־הַחוֹחַ׃ - And Yehoash king of Israel sent to Amatzyahu king of Yehudah, saying: The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give your daughter to my son as a wife; but a wild beast that was in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle.
Yehoash replies with a parable no less insulting and cutting than the deed Amatzyahu had done, sending his men away in shame. He says to him: you defeated the Edomites and pride went to your head, you killed ten thousand and captured ten thousand, and now it seems to you that you can take me on as well. The thistle, the thorn, sends to the cedar saying "Give your daughter to my son as a wife." Who is the thistle? Shechem son of Chamor. Who is the cedar? Yaakov our forefather. That donkey came to take the daughter of Yaakov. And who is the wild beast that trampled the thistle? The sons of Yaakov, who were called so because they were compared to beasts: "Yehudah is a lion's cub," "Yissachar is a strong-boned donkey," and the like. That is: just as there he thought to go against one greater than himself and fell in utter ruin, so you think to go against those greater than you, and this will be your end.
הַכֵּה הִכִּיתָ אֶת־אֱדוֹם וּנְשָׂאֲךָ לִבֶּךָ הִכָּבֵד וְשֵׁב בְּבֵיתֶךָ וְלָמָּה תִתְגָּרֶה בְּרָעָה וְנָפַלְתָּה אַתָּה וִיהוּדָה עִמָּךְ׃ - You have indeed struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Enjoy your honor and stay at home; why should you provoke disaster, so that you fall, you and Yehudah with you?
You struck Edom and feelings of pride have already stirred in you. "Enjoy your honor and stay at home" - if you stay at home you will remain in your honor, in the honor of your victory over Edom. But if you go out to fight me, the disgrace will make the victory be forgotten. Is it not better for you to remain on the path of honor and victory?
וְלֹא־שָׁמַע אֲמַצְיָהוּ וַיַּעַל יְהוֹאָשׁ מֶלֶךְ־יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיִּתְרָאוּ פָנִים הוּא וַאֲמַצְיָהוּ מֶלֶךְ־יְהוּדָה בְּבֵית שֶׁמֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר לִיהוּדָה׃ - But Amatzyahu did not listen, so Yehoash king of Israel went up, and he and Amatzyahu king of Yehudah faced each other at Beit Shemesh, which belongs to Yehudah.
And again, why did he not listen? Because God placed it in his heart so that he would fall. And out of Yehoash's great confidence he did not wait for Amatzyahu to attack him, but entered the territory of Yehudah with his army, and at Beit Shemesh, which is part of Yehudah, he waged the battle.
וַיִּנָּגֶף יְהוּדָה לִפְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיָּנֻסוּ אִישׁ לְאֹהָלָו׃ - And Yehudah was defeated before Yisrael, and they fled every man to his tent.
And why was Yehudah defeated? For the sin that the king of Yehudah brought the gods of the children of Se'ir and bowed down to them. And note: the men of Yisrael themselves were wicked, and even so Yehudah was defeated before them. From here we learn that the claim against a righteous man who turned wicked is far greater than the claim against one who was wicked from the start. For a righteous man who turned wicked: you were close to God, you merited prophecy, you spoke with the prophet, the Holy One, blessed be He, sent you messages and saved you, and how could you do such a thing? Over this there is great wrath. But they, what can be demanded of them? Idol worshippers since the time of Yeravam, they never had righteous kings, and they continued in their evil way. But you merited closeness to God and rejected it, and therefore your punishment is terrible. Rabbi Chaim Shmulevitz, in Sichot Mussar, wrote an entire essay on this matter, "The Danger of One Who Sees the Light and Rejects It," and his words are wonderful: far worse is a person who saw the light and rejected it than a person who walked in darkness all his days.
וְאֵת אֲמַצְיָהוּ מֶלֶךְ־יְהוּדָה בֶּן־יְהוֹאָשׁ בֶּן־אֲחַזְיָהוּ תָּפַשׂ יְהוֹאָשׁ מֶלֶךְ־יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּבֵית שָׁמֶשׁ וַיָּבֹא יְרוּשָׁלַ͏ִם וַיִּפְרֹץ בְּחוֹמַת יְרוּשָׁלַ͏ִם בְּשַׁעַר אֶפְרַיִם עַד־שַׁעַר הַפִּנָּה אַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת אַמָּה׃ - And Amatzyahu king of Yehudah, son of Yehoash son of Achazyahu, Yehoash king of Yisrael captured at Beit Shemesh, and he came to Yerushalayim and breached the wall of Yerushalayim from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate, four hundred cubits.
Note: Amatzyahu was not killed but taken captive, and he remained in Beit Shemesh. And Yehoash goes up to Yerushalayim, the seat of the kingdom of Yehudah, and breaches the wall for four hundred cubits, about two hundred meters. And seemingly, what is the point of the breach? Does the wall not have gates? The Malbim brings the explanation of the Abarbanel: he did not do this in order to destroy the wall of Yerushalayim, but in order to honor himself. For it was the custom of the emperors of Rome, and to this day it is the custom of the great kings, that when they go out to war and win a great deliverance and an enormous victory, they do not enter the city through its opening but rather tear down part of the wall and enter through that breach, to attest that they made a great breach in their enemies. And so Yoash did to publicize his victory.
וְלָקַח אֶת־כׇּל־הַזָּהָב־וְהַכֶּסֶף וְאֵת כׇּל־הַכֵּלִים הַנִּמְצְאִים בֵּית־יְהֹוָה וּבְאֹצְרוֹת בֵּית הַמֶּלֶךְ וְאֵת בְּנֵי הַתַּעֲרֻבוֹת וַיָּשׇׁב שֹׁמְרוֹנָה׃ - And he took all the gold and silver and all the vessels found in the House of Hashem and in the treasuries of the king's house, and the hostages, and returned to Shomron.
He was not content with victory but also plundered: the gold and silver and the precious vessels of the House of Hashem, the treasuries of the king's house, and the hostages. And who are the hostages (b'nei hata'aruvot)? The officers who were in the kingdom were liable to rebel against the king, for they are inside the palace and know his comings and goings and his secrets. How does the king ensure they will not rebel? Each of them brings a pledge, and the most precious pledge for a man is his son: your son will grow up with me in the royal palace. And there was in this both risk and opportunity: on the one hand the child is a hostage, and on the other hand he grows up at the king's table, receives a high education and royal manners and learns all the wisdoms, and grows up like a prince. Therefore the hostages were attached to the king. And when Yehoash came to plunder, he plundered them too. And there was in this both a tactical advantage and a moral advantage: tactical, for all the brains were there, since in whom did the king invest and whom did he teach? The sons of the officers; and moral, for all the sons of the important and distinguished ones were taken captive, and there was no longer any need for a pledge.
וְיֶתֶר דִּבְרֵי יְהוֹאָשׁ אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה וּגְבוּרָתוֹ וַאֲשֶׁר נִלְחַם עִם אֲמַצְיָהוּ מֶלֶךְ־יְהוּדָה הֲלֹא־הֵם כְּתוּבִים עַל־סֵפֶר דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים לְמַלְכֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - And the rest of the acts of Yehoash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amatzyahu king of Yehudah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisrael?
We have explained several times that the "book of chronicles" mentioned here is not the Book of Divrei Hayamim that we have, but rather books that each king had, in which he wrote history as he wished. To this day the kings of Arabia have books of chronicles in which it is written that they won all the wars, were never defeated, never had losses or rebellions, and were always elected with ninety-eight percent. And why not a hundred? To show that we too have democracy: two percent did not want me, and even so, see that all the people want me. The kings did in their books as they saw fit, and therefore it is difficult to learn from them about what happened in their times.
An example of this: people ask, why is there in the Egyptian writings no mention of a nation of slaves that struck Egypt and left there with a mighty hand? And of course it would not be written, for this is an enormous defeat for the Egyptians, and among them the king was a god, and would they write about the defeat of a god? And there is no need to go far: look at the Pope. When he spoke in his time against the savagery of the Muslims and an uproar arose in the world and they demanded that he apologize, the people of the Church said that you do not understand what you are talking about, for the Pope cannot err, and if so how could he apologize. And this is in our times, when it is clear to every person that we are dealing with flesh and blood. All the more so in their times, when they held the kings to be divine, and would a king fall or fail? Therefore everything is rewritten. And what do we in fact have? The Ipuwer Papyrus, found in a museum in Leiden, in which there is a description by a man who lived in that period and describes the plagues of Egypt. Part of it was preserved, and this part is enough to recognize accurate descriptions of the plagues and catastrophes that occurred in Egypt.
וַיִּשְׁכַּב יְהוֹאָשׁ עִם־אֲבֹתָיו וַיִּקָּבֵר בְּשֹׁמְרוֹן עִם מַלְכֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיִּמְלֹךְ יָרׇבְעָם בְּנוֹ תַּחְתָּיו׃ וַיְחִי אֲמַצְיָהוּ בֶן־יוֹאָשׁ מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה אַחֲרֵי מוֹת יְהוֹאָשׁ בֶּן־יְהוֹאָחָז מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל חֲמֵשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה׃ - And Yehoash lay with his fathers and was buried in Shomron with the kings of Israel, and Yaravam his son reigned in his place. And Amatzyahu son of Yoash king of Yehudah lived after the death of Yehoash son of Yehoachaz king of Israel fifteen years.
Notice this: the conquering king dies, and the conquered king outlives him by fifteen years. What does this come to teach us? That in the end the conqueror failed, for he died after a short span of years, while the conquered one lived long. True, Amatzyahu paid a heavy price and lost his kingship for having gone after the gods of Seir. But since Yehoash came in a manner of arrogance and haughtiness, I am the cedar and you are the thistle, they showed him that sometimes the thistle outlives the cedar. Let one not be proud, and let the one girding his sword not boast like the one unfastening it, for the kingship is already yours. You won the battle, but you died not long afterward, while he went on living for another fifteen years.
וַיִּקְשְׁרוּ עָלָיו קֶשֶׁר בִּירוּשָׁלַ͏ִם וַיָּנׇס לָכִישָׁה וַיִּשְׁלְחוּ אַחֲרָיו לָכִישָׁה וַיְמִתֻהוּ שָׁם׃ - And they made a conspiracy against him in Yerushalayim, and he fled to Lachish, and they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there.
Here Scripture returns to describe how his death came about. In Yerushalayim were the priests of Hashem and the servants who were the disciples of Yehoyada. As long as Amatzyahu was in captivity and not in Yerushalayim, they could do nothing to him. But once Yehoash died, Amatzyahu returned to Yerushalayim, and there they were waiting for him: the men of Yehoyada the priest, who had saved Yoash, and the men of Zecharyahu, who had been killed by Yoash. For you, Amatzyahu son of Yoash, killed those who had killed your father, and those men had killed your father in justice and rightly, because he had killed Zecharyah the prophet. So there were those waiting to take revenge on you both for what you had done and for what your father had done. And the Malbim says that after twelve years the conspirators grew strong. At first the conspiracy was in secret, and only when they saw that they could rise up and act did they rise up, go out, and kill him in Lachish.
וַיִּשְׂאוּ אֹתוֹ עַל־הַסּוּסִים וַיִּקָּבֵר בִּירוּשָׁלַ͏ִם עִם־אֲבֹתָיו בְּעִיר דָּוִד׃ וַיִּקְחוּ כׇּל־עַם יְהוּדָה אֶת־עֲזַרְיָה וְהוּא בֶּן־שֵׁשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה וַיַּמְלִיכוּ אֹתוֹ תַּחַת אָבִיו אֲמַצְיָהוּ׃ - And they carried him on the horses, and he was buried in Yerushalayim with his fathers in the City of David. And all the people of Yehudah took Azaryah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amatzyahu.
Azaryah is Uziyah, better known to us by the name Uziyahu the king, and he was then sixteen years old. It emerges that throughout that whole period when his father was not in Yerushalayim, the one who actually reigned was Uziyahu.
הוּא בָּנָה אֶת־אֵילַת וַיְשִׁבֶהָ לִיהוּדָה אַחֲרֵי שְׁכַב־הַמֶּלֶךְ עִם־אֲבֹתָיו׃ - He built Eilat and restored it to Yehudah, after the king lay with his fathers.
On the face of it this is obvious, for a son reigns after his father lies with his fathers, so why emphasize it? Rather, from here we learn that here it was not so: he began to reign even before his father's death, for Amatzyahu spent fifteen years in Beit Shemesh, and afterward fled to Lachish. Therefore Scripture emphasizes that he built Eilat and restored it to Yehudah only after his father's death, but the beginning of his reign was earlier than that.
בִּשְׁנַת חֲמֵשׁ־עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה לַאֲמַצְיָהוּ בֶן־יוֹאָשׁ מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה מָלַךְ יָרׇבְעָם בֶּן־יוֹאָשׁ מֶלֶךְ־יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּשֹׁמְרוֹן אַרְבָּעִים וְאַחַת שָׁנָה׃ וַיַּעַשׂ הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי יְהֹוָה לֹא סָר מִכׇּל־חַטֹּאות יָרׇבְעָם בֶּן־נְבָט אֲשֶׁר הֶחֱטִיא אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - In the fifteenth year of Amatzyahu son of Yoash king of Yehudah, Yaravam son of Yoash king of Israel began to reign in Shomron, for forty one years. And he did what was evil in the eyes of Hashem; he did not turn away from all the sins of Yaravam son of Nevat, who caused Israel to sin.
This is a different Yaravam, Yaravam son of Yoash. And with a name like that, what could one expect?
הוּא הֵשִׁיב אֶת־גְּבוּל יִשְׂרָאֵל מִלְּבוֹא חֲמָת עַד־יָם הָעֲרָבָה כִּדְבַר יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר בְּיַד־עַבְדּוֹ יוֹנָה בֶן־אֲמִתַּי הַנָּבִיא אֲשֶׁר מִגַּת הַחֵפֶר׃ - He restored the border of Israel from the approach to Chamat as far as the Sea of the Arava, according to the word of Hashem, the God of Israel, which He spoke through His servant Yonah ben Amitai the prophet, who was from Gat HaChefer.
These cities had been taken by the king of Aram, and Yeravam restored them. The Sages differ: some say that what Yehoshua conquered, this one conquered, and some say that this one conquered even more than Yehoshua conquered. In other words, the question is whether he only returned what had been taken, or whether he added and conquered beyond that.
And who is the prophet? Yonah ben Amitai. According to the plain sense, Yonah prophesied about this salvation, that it would come to pass that they would take from the approach to Chamat as far as the Sea of the Arava, according to the word of Hashem, and so indeed it happened in practice. But the Sages expounded it homiletically: that the matter resembles the decree pronounced by Yonah. Just as the decree against Nineveh was turned to the good, for in the end Nineveh repented and was overturned, so too a decree of destruction was pronounced against Israel and was turned to the good, for not only were they not destroyed, but they even succeeded in conquering and restoring the parts that the king of Aram had taken from them.
כִּי־רָאָה יְהֹוָה אֶת־עֳנִי יִשְׂרָאֵל מֹרֶה מְאֹד וְאֶפֶס עָצוּר וְאֶפֶס עָזוּב וְאֵין עֹזֵר לְיִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - For Hashem saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter, and there was none shut up, and none left, and none to help Israel.
And if you ask by what merit, on what grounds are they worthy? This is not a matter of merit. "Moreh me'od" - some explain it from the root of rebellion, as in "whoever rebels against your command," "you have been rebellious," and from the expression of bitterness of spirit, that they were in distress, meaning their situation was very grievous; and some interpret it from the root of descent, as in "went down into the sea," that their state was utterly lowly and degraded. And the verse comes to say that you should not think they were saved because they repented, but rather that Hashem had mercy upon them. The Holy One, blessed be He, saw that if He were to deal with them by the measure of strict judgment they would be lost forever, and in such a situation there is no choice: if He continues to punish, no benefit would come of it. Therefore He decided to save them in their state as it was, so that they would not go on and assimilate until they were lost, God forbid.
וְלֹא־דִבֶּר יְהֹוָה לִמְחוֹת אֶת־שֵׁם יִשְׂרָאֵל מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם וַיּוֹשִׁיעֵם בְּיַד יָרׇבְעָם בֶּן־יוֹאָשׁ׃ - And Hashem had not spoken to blot out the name of Israel from under the heavens, and He saved them by the hand of Yeravam ben Yoash.
The decree had not yet been pronounced, destruction had not yet been resolved upon by Hashem to wipe them out, and therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, sends to save them by the hand of Yeravam ben Yoash, even though he was wicked.
וְיֶתֶר דִּבְרֵי יָרׇבְעָם וְכׇל־אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה וּגְבוּרָתוֹ אֲשֶׁר־נִלְחָם וַאֲשֶׁר הֵשִׁיב אֶת־דַּמֶּשֶׂק וְאֶת־חֲמָת לִיהוּדָה בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל הֲלֹא־הֵם כְּתוּבִים עַל־סֵפֶר דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים לְמַלְכֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ וַיִּשְׁכַּב יָרׇבְעָם עִם־אֲבֹתָיו עִם מַלְכֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיִּמְלֹךְ זְכַרְיָה בְנוֹ תַּחְתָּיו׃ - And the rest of the acts of Yeravam, and all that he did, and his might, how he fought, and how he restored Damesek and Chamat, which had belonged to Yehuda, to Israel, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Yeravam lay with his fathers, with the kings of Israel, and Zecharya his son reigned in his place.
All his might and what he did, that he conquered Aram and restored Damesek and Chamat, which had belonged to Yehuda in the days of David and were afterward conquered, and all the details of these wars, are recounted in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
Amatzyahu began by doing what was right, but by rote observance and not with a whole heart. He acted justly when he did not put to death the sons of those who had struck down his father, and he merited a great victory over Edom after he believed the man of God and sent away the mercenaries from Israel. But when he returned from the victory he brought the gods of the children of Se'ir and bowed down to them, rejected the prophet's rebuke, and from then on "God has counseled to destroy you": his heart lifted him up to provoke Yehoash king of Israel, and his end was defeat at Beit Shemesh, captivity, the breaching of the wall of Yerushalayim, and the plunder of the House of Hashem and the king's house and the hostages. And nevertheless, the arrogant conqueror died first, and the conquered one outlived him by fifteen years, so that one who girds himself should not boast like one who unbuckles. From the entire chapter a great moral principle emerges: the claim against one who saw the light and rejected it is incomparably harsher than the claim against one who walked in darkness all his days. And alongside this, at the end of the chapter, the salvation of Israel by the hand of the wicked Yeravam ben Yoash teaches that it is not always merit that saves, but the mercy of Heaven, when the Holy One, blessed be He, sees that if He were to deal with us by strict judgment we would be lost forever.