Bibi’s endless war

King Amaziah is not one of your famous Israeli monarchs, but his story tells us much about the present conflict in Gaza. In the second book of Chronicles, chapter 25, we are told that he becomes king at the age of 25 and reigns for 29 years. He does right in the eyes of the Lord but does so half-heartedly. No reason is given for this lack of enthusiasm, but the following verses hint at the cause: After his regime stabilizes itself, he kills off the servants of his late father who had conspired against him and assassinated him.

No wonder Amaziah is ambivalent about his anointing! On the one hand, he is now a powerful king; on the other, he is utterly vulnerable to everyone around him, even his allegedly trustworthy servants. To underline his fealty to tradition, the verses go on to emphasize that Amaziah does not kill the children of his father’s assassins, since it is written in Moses’ Torah that one should not kill the children for the sins of the father.

As king, Amaziah raises an army of 300,000 from Judeah (the southern kingdom loyal to the line of David) and a further 100,000 troops from the Northern kingdom of Israel. This last gesture brings down upon him the wrath of God, who wants nothing to do with the rebellious idolaters of Israel. God commands the king to send them back to their own territory, and so they return, “angry as hell” (2 Chron. 25:10).