2 Kings 14:4

He did ... as Joash - There is a curious parity between the lives of Joash and Amaziah. Both were zealous for Yahweh in the earlier portion of their reigns, but in the latter part fell away; both disregarded the rebukes of prophets; and both, having forsaken God, were in the end conspired against and slain (compare 2 Chronicles 24:25 ; 2 Chronicles 25:27 ).

3-6. He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like David his father—The beginning of his reign was excellent, for he acted the part of a constitutional king, according to the law of God, yet not with perfect sincerity of heart (compare 2Ch 25:2). As in the case of his father Joash, the early promise was belied by the devious course he personally followed in later life (see 2Ch 20:14), as well as by the public irregularities he tolerated in the kingdom.

Verse 4. - Howbeit the high places were not taken away. No king ventured to touch the "high places" until the time of Hezekiah, by whom they were put down ( 2 Kings 18:4 ). Even Asa did not remove them ( 1 Kings 15:14 ). They were remnants of an old ancestral worship which went back to the time of the judges, and which had been connived at by judges and kings and prophets. Local feeling was everywhere in their favor, since they provided for local needs, and enabled men to dispense with the long] and tedious journey to the distant Jerusalem. As yet the people did sacrifice and burnt incense on the high places ; literally, were sacrificing and burning incense ; i.e. continued the practice, which had come down to them from their ancestors. (On the morality and legality of the practice, see the comment on 1 Kings 3:2.) 2 Kings 14:4

Amaziah reigned twenty-nine years in the same theocratical spirit as his father Joash, only not like his ancestor David, i.e., according to the correct explanation in 2 Chronicles 25:2 , not with שׁלם לבב (see at 1 Kings 11:4 ), since Amaziah, like his father Joash (see at 2 Kings 12:3 ), fell into idolatry in the closing years of his reign (cf. 2 Chronicles 25:14 .). - Only the high places were not taken away, etc.