It seems nothing can unite Judah and Israel, not even war. I guess the kingdom is just divided for good. Actually, we know it is because the very same territories remain divided today. That was just a thought I had while reading the back-and-forth battles between Judah and Israel. Today's saga tells the story of Amaziah and Jehoash, and how they were getting along just fine until Amaziah had to go and try to prove something. From the beginning of the chapter, we get the idea that Amaziah is a pretty good king. Other than leaving the dirty pagan shrines, he did what was pleasing to the Lord. We don't really know if what Jehoash did as king was pleasing to the Lord, but Jehoash seems to have had some kind of favor, as he waylaid Judah in a war that didn't have to happen - at all. Remember, Jehoash is from a new line that now rules in Israel. While we're used to King Ahab's descendants being ruthless and doing what is wrong in the eyes of the Lord, we don't quite know how Jehu's line is fairing with the Lord. I'm not making any assumptions, for sure! I'll just keep reading and find out what's next in line for both camps.
Oh, I just remembered the whole point to what I was talking about in the beginning of this post. It's clear that Jehoash defeats Amaziah, and we've seen this in other stories: Jehu defeated both Judah and Israel, but Judah retained its king and anonymity. The same goes with this story. Israel defeated Judah - hard, but Judah's king remained, and the two kingdoms stayed separate. There's no reuniting the two lands under one ruler apparently.
Writing prompt: united we stand
Why do you think the kingdoms remained separated after Judah was defeated by both Jehu, who eventually ruled in Israel, and his grandson, Jehoash?
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