2 Kings 14:8

8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, and said, Come thou, and see we us in battle/Come thou, and see we us (Come thou, let us have a meeting).

2 Kings 14:8 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 14:8

Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz the
son of Jehu king of Israel
The occasion of it was this, when Amaziah dismissed the hired soldiers of Israel they were displeased, and fell upon the cities of Judea from Samaria to Bethhoron, slew 3000 men, and took much spoil, ( 2 Chronicles 25:13 ) , wherefore, when Amaziah returned from the slaughter of the Edomites, being elated with his victories, he sent the following message to the king of Israel, in order to revenge the injuries his soldiers had done; and perhaps retaining an old grudge for what Jehu, the grandfather of the king of Israel, had done to his ancestors, and it may be in hope of reducing the ten tribes to obedience to the house of David:

saying, come, let us look one another in the face;
that is, in battle, as the Targum adds; it was a challenge to meet him in the field of battle, and fight with him, and try each other's courage, and see who was the best man.

2 Kings 14:8 In-Context

6 but he killed not the sons of them that had slain the king/that had slain his father, by that that is written in the book of the law of Moses, as the Lord commanded to Moses, and said, [The] Fathers shall not die for the sons, neither the sons for the fathers, but each man shall die in his own sin (but each man shall die for his own sin).

7 He smote Edom in the valley of (the) makings of salt, he smote ten thousand (men), and took the Stone in battle (and took Selah in battle); and he called the name thereof Joktheel , (which it is still called) unto this present day.

8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, and said, Come thou, and see we us in battle/Come thou, and see we us (Come thou, let us have a meeting).

9 And Jehoash, king of Israel, sent again to Amaziah, king of Judah, and said mystically, The carduus, or thistle, that is, a low herb, and full of thorns, of the Lebanon sent to the cedar, that is in the Lebanon, and said, Give thy daughter (as) wife to my son; and the beasts of the forest, that be in the Lebanon, passed forth, and trode down the carduus.

10 Thou hast smitten Edom, and haddest the mastery upon it, and thine heart hath raised thee (up); be thou satisfied with this glory, and sit in thine house; why excitest thou evil, or stirrest thou (up) evil, so that thou fall, and Judah with thee?