2 Chronicles 25:12

12 The Judean forces captured another ten thousand alive, brought them to the top of a cliff, and threw them off so that all were dashed to pieces.

2 Chronicles 25:12 Meaning and Commentary

2 Chronicles 25:12

And other ten thousand left alive did the children of Judah
carry away captive
The rest of the army of the Edomites, which amounted to the same number, fell into their hands, and they took them, and carried them off:

and brought them unto the top of the rock;
very probably the same on which the city Petra, the metropolis of Edom, was built, called also Selah, ( 2 Kings 14:7 ) both which names signify a rock. Josephus ^F7 calls it the great rock in Arabia; that is, Arabia Petraea:

and cast them down from the top of the rock, that they were broken all
in pieces;
burst asunder, bones broken, and limb from limb separated. This sort of punishment was inflicted by the Romans on various malefactors, by casting them down from the Tarpeian rock ^F8; and in Greece, according to the Delphian law, such as were guilty of sacrilege were led to a rock, and cast down headlong from thence ^F9: and now in Turkey, at a place called Constantine, a town situated on the top of a great rock, the usual way of executing great criminals is by pushing them from off the cliff ^F11; see ( Luke 4:29 ) , but to use captives taken in war after this manner seems cruel and barbarous; and what should be the reason of such treatment of them is not easy to say.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Antiqu. l. 9. c. 9. sect. 1.
F8 Liv. Hist. l. 6. c. 20. Patercul. Hist. Roman. l. 2. Aurel. Victor. de Vir. Illustr. c. 27, 70. Vid, Rycquium de Capitol. Roman. c. 4. p. 45
F9 Aelian. Var. Hist. l. 11. c. 5.
F11 Pitt's Account of the Mahometans, ch. 1. p. 10.

2 Chronicles 25:12 In-Context

10 Amaziah released the Ephraimite troops who had joined him so they could go home, but this only infuriated them against Judah, and they left in a rage.

11 Amaziah courageously led his people to the Salt Valley, where they killed ten thousand people from Seir.

12 The Judean forces captured another ten thousand alive, brought them to the top of a cliff, and threw them off so that all were dashed to pieces.

13 Meanwhile, the troops Amaziah had released from fighting alongside him raided cities in Judah from Samaria to Beth-horon, killing three thousand people and carrying off a large amount of loot.

14 When Amaziah returned after defeating the Edomites, he brought the gods of the people of Seir. He set them up as his own gods, bowed down before them, and burned incense to them.