Here are three kings brought to their graves in these few verses:--1.
Joash king of Israel, v. 15, 16. We attended his funeral once before,
ch. xiii. 12, 13. But, because the historian had occasion to give a
further account of his life and actions, he again mentions his death
and burial. 2. Amaziah king of Judah. Fifteen years he survived his
conqueror the king of Israel, v. 17. A man may live a great while after
he has been shamed, may be thoroughly mortified (as Amaziah no doubt
was) and yet not dead. His acts are said to be found written in his
annals (v. 18), but not his might; for his cruelty when he was a
conqueror over the Edomites, and his insolence when he challenged the
king of Israel, showed him void of true courage. He was slain by his
own subjects, who hated him for his maladministration (v. 19) and made
Jerusalem too hot for him, the ignominious breach made in their walls
being occasioned by his folly and presumption. He fled to Lachish. How
long he continued concealed or sheltered there we are not told, but, at
last, he was there murdered, v. 19. No further did the rage of the
rebels extend, for they brought him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and
buried him there among his ancestors. 3. Azariah succeeded Amaziah, but
not till twelve years after his father's death, for Amaziah died in the
fifteenth year of Jeroboam (as appears by comparing v. 23 with v. 2),
but Azariah did not begin his reign till the twenty-seventh of Jeroboam
(ch. xv. 1), for he was but four years old at the death of his father,
so that, for twelve years, till he came to be sixteen, the government
was in the hands of protectors. He reigned very long (ch. xv. 2) and
yet the account of his reign is here industriously huddled up, and
broken off abruptly (v. 22): He built Elath (which had belonged to the
Edomites, but, it is probable, was recovered by his father, v. 7),
after that the king slept with his fathers, as if that had been all he
did that was worth mentioning, or rather it is meant of king Amaziah:
he built it soon after Amaziah died.