2 Kings 14:7

7 He killed ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt and took Sela by storm; he called it Jokthe-el, which is its name to this day.

2 Kings 14:7 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 14:7

He slew of Edom in the valley of Salt ten thousand
Of which valley, (See Gill on 2 Samuel 8:13), the Edomites having revolted from Judah in the days of Joram, ( 2 Kings 8:20 2 Kings 8:22 ) . Amaziah undertook to reduce them with an army of 300,000 choice men; and, besides these, hired also of Israel 100,000 valiant men, for one hundred talents of silver; but at the instance of a prophet of the Lord he dismissed the latter, and went against Edom only with his men, and slew of the Edomites 10,000, besides other 10,000 he took alive, and cast headlong from a rock, which came into his hands, see ( 2 Chronicles 25:5-12 ) ,

and took Selah by war;
which signifies a rock, the same with Petra, the metropolis of Arabia Petraea, the country of the Edomites. The city itself was not a rock, nor built on one, but was situated in a plain, surrounded with rocks and mountains, as Strabo F26 and Pliny F1 relate, from whence it seems to have its name; and by the Syrians called Recem, where Rocan a king of Midian reigned F2, called in the Greek version of ( Numbers 31:8 ) , Recon; though Vitringa F3 is of opinion, that not Petra, the metropolis of Edom, is meant, but Maalehakrabbim, ( Joshua 15:3 ) ( Judges 1:36 ) , which lay on the south border of Judea, near the salt sea:

and called the name of it Joktheel;
which signifies "the obedience of God"; in memory of his obedience to the prophet of the Lord, in consequence of which he obtained this victory: and the name continued unto this day: the time of the writing this book.


FOOTNOTES:

F26 Geograph. l. 16. p. 536.
F1 Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28.
F2 Hieron. de loc. Heb. fol. 93. M. & 94. A. Vid. Joseph. Antiqu. l. 4. c. 7. sect. 1.
F3 Comment. in Jesaiam, c. 16. 1.

2 Kings 14:7 In-Context

5 As soon as the royal power was firmly in his hand he killed his servants who had murdered his father the king.
6 But he did not put to death the children of the murderers; according to what is written in the book of the law of Moses, where the Lord commanded, "The parents shall not be put to death for the children, or the children be put to death for the parents; but all shall be put to death for their own sins."
7 He killed ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt and took Sela by storm; he called it Jokthe-el, which is its name to this day.
8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to King Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, of Israel, saying, "Come, let us look one another in the face."
9 King Jehoash of Israel sent word to King Amaziah of Judah, "A thornbush on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, "Give your daughter to my son for a wife'; but a wild animal of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thornbush.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.