2 Kings 14:17

2 Kings 14:17 says, And Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years.  Amaziah the king of Judah lived for fifteen years after Jehoash died.  Still, if God's people had not become divided, there would have been only one king over all of them.  Amaziah out of pride challenged Joash to battle and lost.  Today, as followers of Christ, we cannot afford to become divided and ruled by pride, because we can only have one King, and that is Jesus Christ, and we must serve Him humbly.  Verse eighteen adds, And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?  As usual at the end of king's life, we are told that the rest of his acts were written in the chronicles of the kings.  The things that we do in life are written in God's book, and the only way to have our sins removed from the book is by having them washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ and our putting our faith in Him.  Verse nineteen continues, Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem: and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there.  He died. fleeing from his own people.  Jesus Christ died, not from other people wanting Him dead, but because of the desire of His own people to kill Him.  For each person, Jesus Christ did not die because of the actions of someone else, but because of our sin personally.  We cannot excuse ourselves from responsibility for His death.  Verse twenty states, And they brought him on horses: and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David.  Though Amaziah had fled and was killed in Lachish, his body was returned and he was buried in Jerusalem with his ancestors.  Though they had killed him, he was shown honor in death.  Of course, it really doesn't matter what happens to the body after we die, but only what happens to our soul.  Verse twenty-one adds, And all the people of Judah took Azariah, which was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah.  Azariah, who was only sixteen at the time, was made king in the place of Amaziah his father.  Maybe the people thought he would be more easily controlled being so young and having seen his father killed.  No matter how old or young we may be as Christians, we should never be controlled by anyone but the Holy Spirit.  Verse twenty-two continues, He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers.  We are told very little about Azariah, except that he built Elath, in the land formerly belonging to the Edomites according to Matthew Henry.  The things we do for Jesus Christ in the world may not be noted by the world, or even the church as a whole, but God will make note of it, and that is all that really matters.