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,

Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us look one another in the face. Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash ... king of Israel.

Let us fight personally, and with our armies. This challenge he sent, partly upon the late and great injuries done by the Israelites to his people, ,13, and partly from self-confidence, and a desire of advancing his glory and empire by his arms.

2 Kings 14:8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us look one another in the face.Ver. 8. Then Amaziah sent.] Being puffed up with his recent victory over the Edomites, he had a proud conceit that he should prosper in whatsoever he undertook; albeit he had now forsaken the Lord, and served the gods of those Edomites, whom he had erst subdued. By a like folly, the old Romans, after that they had subdued any nation, were wont to set up their gods to themselves, to win their favour. Come, let us look one another in the face,] i.e., Let us fight it out in the open field. He had been wronged in his absence by those one hundred thousand mercenaries of Israel, whom he had dismissed at the command of the prophet, who had told him that God was not with the Israelites. He was apt enough also to believe that his own forces were invincible, and that victory was now pinned to his sleeve; but he was soon confuted.

(8) Then.—After the reduction of Edom. The more extended narrative which follows is plainly taken from a different source than that of the brief extract preceding it. Come, let us look one another in the face.—A challenge to battle, the ground of which might be found in the outrages committed by the Israelite mercenaries on their homeward march. It appears likely, however, that Amaziah, intoxicated by his recent success, aimed at nothing less than the recovery of the Ten Tribes for the house of David. So Josephus (Antt. ix. 9, § 2), who gives what purport to be the letters which passed between the two kings on this occasion.

Verse 8. Come, let us look one another in the face.] This was a real declaration of war; and the ground of it is most evident from this circumstance: that the one hundred thousand men of Israel that had been dismissed, though they had the stipulated money, taking the advantage of Amaziah's absence, fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria to Beth-horon, and smote three thousand men, and took much spoil, 2 Chronicles 25:10-13. Amaziah no doubt remonstrated with Jehoash, but to no purpose; and therefore he declared war against him.

8–16. Amaziah’s challenge to Joash king of Israel. Answer of Joash. Defeat of Amaziah. Death of Joash (2 Chronicles 25:17-24) 8. Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash] The Chronicler gives a history anterior to the challenge of Amaziah, which explains why the king who had been divinely guided before the Edomite expedition was left without the like guidance afterwards. We are told that Amaziah brought back from Edom the gods of the children of Seir and set them up to be his gods, and when a prophet was sent to rebuke him, he threatened the messenger of God with punishment. Upon this the prophet forbare, but left the king with the words, ‘I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this and hast not hearkened unto my counsel’. The Chronicler also says that before his challenge ‘Amaziah king of judah took advice’, which forces one to think of the counsellors whom Rehoboam listened to at the time of his accession, and by following whom he brought about the revolt of the ten tribes. It may be that the conduct of the Israelitish soldiers whom Amaziah had sent home (see note on verse 7) incited the king of Judah to take some revenge on Israel. In 2 Chronicles (2 Kings 25:13) we read that these men ‘fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria even unto Beth-horon, and smote three thousand of them and took much spoil’. The ‘three thousand’ of course means ‘of the inhabitants’. If this attack occurred while Amaziah was on his expedition against Edom, we can better understand his action. Come, let us look one another in the face] A figurative expression equivalent to ‘Let us measure swords’, let us test each other’s power. It was under all circumstances rash for the smaller power, the king of two tribes, to challenge the king of ten. Moreover if Amaziah had been victorious over Edom, Jehoash had repulsed the Syrians and recovered those portions of the land which had been lost in the time of Jehoahaz.

Amaziah’s success against Edom had so elated him that he thought himself more than a match for his northern neighbor.

8. Let us look one another in the face — An idiomatic expression used in a hostile sense. Equivalent to, Let us see each other’s face by coming into close conflict on a field of battle.