He slew of Edom in the valley of salt ten thousand, and took Selah by war, and called the name of it Joktheel unto this day.
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Ephrem The Syrian
AD 373
“In the second year of King Joash son of Ahaziah of Israel, King Amaziah son of Joash of Judah began to reign,” who avenged the death of his father, but with moderation, so that he spared the life of the relatives of the conspirators according to the prescriptions of the Law and was careful that the punishment might not be too excessive for the authors of the crime. Therefore Amaziah was pious, as long as he had before his eyes his father’s unhappy end, whose cause he could not ignore: offense against the true religion [of God]. However, when his reign began to be very prosperous, [Amaziah] rejected his fear of God which he had conceived after witnessing his father’s punishment, and embraced foreign cults. In the second book of the Annals, the Scripture relating his victory against the Edomites confirms that this was the reason of his apostasy: “But Amaziah took courage, and led out his people, and went to the Valley of Salt and smote ten thousand men of Seir. The men of Judah captured...
Edom, who had rebelled under Joram, chap. viii. 20. The particulars of this war are given, 2 Paralipomenon xxv. 5. Josephus ( ix. 9.) says, Amasias designed also to attack Amalec and Gebal in the same country.
Pits. Called the woody vale, Genesis xiv. 8., (Menochius) south-west of the Dead Sea, (Adrichomius) or rather to the south of Palmyra, towards Bosra, 3 Kings ix. 18.
Rock. Petra, the capital of the country, formerly called Rekem Arke, or Hagor. Most of the houses are hewn out of the rock. Hebrew Selá signifies "a rock "and many think that this was some other place, whence the Idumeans were hurled down, after the victory. Amasias gave it the name of Jectehel, "obedience of God "in memory of his having obtained this success, in consequence of his having obeyed the prophet, and sent away 100,000, for whom he had paid 100 talents to the king of Israel.
