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2
Chronicles Chapter Twenty-two
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 22
In
this chapter we have an account of the wicked reign of Ahaziah the son of
Jehoram, 2 Chronicles 22:1
of his death, the occasion and manner of it, 2 Chronicles 22:5
and of his mother Athaliah destroying all the royal seed, excepting one, who
was hid by the king's sister, and assuming the government to herself, 2 Chronicles 22:10.
2 Chronicles
22:1 Then the
inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his place, for
the raiders who came with the Arabians into the camp had killed all the older sons.
So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, reigned.
YLT
1And the inhabitants of
Jerusalem cause Ahaziah his youngest son to reign in his stead, (for all the
elder had the troop slain that came in with the Arabians to the camp,) and
Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah reigneth.
And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son
king in his stead,.... He being the only surviving one of the sons of Jehoram, the
same with Jehoahaz, 2 Chronicles 21:17
who was saved when the rest were taken captive and slain, by his mother Athaliah,
and he made his escape, and that she also escaped is clear from 2 Chronicles 22:10.
for the band of men that came with the Arabians to the camp; that is, of
the Philistines, 2 Chronicles 21:16,
which band seems to be a band or company of thieves and robbers, as the
Septuagint, cruel and barbarous, as the action ascribed to them shows:
for they had slain all
the eldest; sons of Jehoram; the Philistines and Arabians only carried them
away captives, but those slew them in cold blood:
so Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned; being
declared his successor by the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles
22:2 2 Ahaziah
was forty-two[a] years old
when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was
Athaliah the granddaughter of Omri.
YLT
2A son of twenty and two
years [is] Ahaziah in his reigning, and one year he hath reigned in Jerusalem,
and the name of his mother [is] Athaliah daughter of Omri;
Forty two and years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign,.... In 2 Kings 8:26, he is
said to be but twenty two years old at his accession to the throne, which is
undoubtedly most correct; for this makes him to be two years older than his
father when he died, who was thirty two when he began to reign, and reigned
eight years, 2 Chronicles 21:20,
different ways are taken to solve this difficulty; some refer this to Jehoram,
that he was forty two when Ahaziah began to reign, but he was but forty when he
died; others to the age of Athaliah his mother, as if he was the son of one
that was forty two, when he himself was but twenty two; but no instance is
given of any such way of writing, nor any just reason for it; others make these
forty two years reach to the twentieth of his son Joash, his age twenty two,
his reign one, Athaliah six, and Joash thirteen; but the two principal
solutions which seem most to satisfy learned men are, the one, that he was
twenty two when he began to reign in his father's lifetime, and forty two when
he began to reign in his own right; but then he must reign twenty years with
his father, whereas his father reigned but eight years: to make this clear they
observeF2In Hieron. Trad. Heb. in Paralip. fol. 85. E. , as Kimchi
and Abarbinel, from whom this solution is taken, that he reigned eight years
very happily when his son was twenty two, and taken on the throne with him,
after which he reigned twenty more ingloriously, and died, when his son was
forty two; this has been greedily received by many, but without any proof: the
other is, that these forty two years are not the date of the age of Ahaziah,
but of the reign of the family of Omri king of Israel; so the Jewish chronologyF3Seder
Olam Rabba, c. 17. So Ben Gersom. ; but how impertinent must the use of such a
date be in the account of the reign of a king of Judah? all that can be said
is, his mother was of that family, which is a trifling reason for such an
unusual method of reckoning: it seems best to acknowledge a mistake of the
copier, which might easily be made through a similarity of the numeral letters,
מב, forty two, for כב,
twenty twoF4See Kennicott's Dissert. 1. p. 98. ; and the rather
since some copies of the Septuagint, and the Syriac and Arabic versions, read
twenty two, as in Kings; particularly the Syriac version, used in the church of
Antioch from the most early times; a copy of which Bishop Usher obtained at a
very great price, and in which the number is twenty two, as he assures us; and
that the difficulty here is owing to the carelessness of the transcribers is
owned by GlassiusF5Philolog. Sacr. p. 114. , a warm advocate for the
integrity of the Hebrew text, and so by VitringaF6Hypotypol Hist.
Sacr. p. 67. : and indeed it is more to the honour of the sacred Scriptures to
acknowledge here and there a mistake in the copiers, especially in the historical
books, where there is sometimes a strange difference of names and numbers, than
to give in to wild and distorted interpretations of them, in order to reconcile
them, where there is no danger with respect to any article of faith or manners;
and, as a learned manF7J. Gregory's Preface to his Works. has
observed of the New Testament,"it is an invincible reason for the
Scripture's part, that other escapes should be so purposely and infinitely let
pass, and yet no saving and substantial part at all scarce moved out of its
place; to say the truth, these varieties of readings, in a few by-places, do
the same office to the main Scriptures, as the variation of the compass to the
whole magnet of the earth, the mariner knows so much the better for these how
to steer his course;'and, with respect to some various readings in the Old
Testament, Dr. OwenF8Divine Original of the Scripture, p. 14.
observes, God has suffered this lesser variety to fall out, in or among the
copies we have, for the quickening and exercising of our diligence in our
search of his word:
he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was
Athaliah, the daughter of Omri, see 2 Kings 8:26.
2 Chronicles
22:3 3 He
also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother advised him to do
wickedly.
YLT
3he also hath walked in the
ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother hath been his counsellor to do
wickedly.
He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab,.... As his
father Jehoram had, 2 Chronicles 21:6.
for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly; to commit
idolatry, who was of that idolatrous house.
2 Chronicles
22:4 4 Therefore
he did evil in the sight of the Lord, like the house of Ahab;
for they were his counselors after the death of his father, to his destruction.
YLT
4And he doth the evil thing
in the eyes of Jehovah, like the house of Ahab, for they have been his
counsellors, after the death of his father, for destruction to him.
Wherefore he did evil in the sight of the Lord, like the house of
Ahab,.... See 2 Kings 8:27.
for they were his counsellors, after the death of his father, to
his destruction; both of soul and body; for they gave him bad advice, both in
religious and civil things; these were some of the family or court of the king
of Israel, that his mother sent for after his father's death to be of his
council.
2 Chronicles
22:5 5 He
also followed their advice, and went with Jehoram[b] the son of
Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth Gilead; and
the Syrians wounded Joram.
YLT
5Also, in their counsel he
hath walked, and goeth with Jehoram son of Ahab king of Israel to battle
against Hazael king of Aram, in Ramoth-Gilead, and they of Ramah smite Joram;
Verse 5-6
He walked also after their counsel,.... Did as they advised
him, as in matters of religion, so in political things, of which there is an
instance in this and the next verse; of which see Gill on 2 Kings 8:28, 2 Kings 8:29.
2 Chronicles
22:6 6 Then
he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds which he had received at
Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Azariah[c] the son of
Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to see Jehoram the son of Ahab in Jezreel,
because he was sick.
YLT
6and he turneth back to be
healed in Jezreel because of the wounds with which they had smitten him in
Ramah, in his fighting with Hazael king of Aram. And Azariah son of Jehoram
king of Judah hath gone down to see Jehoram son of Ahab, in Jezreel, for he
[is] sick;
2 Chronicles 22:7 7 His going to Joram was
God’s occasion for Ahaziah’s downfall; for when he arrived, he went out with
Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed
to cut off the house of Ahab.
YLT
7and from God hath been the
destruction of Ahaziah, to come unto Joram: and in his coming he hath gone out
with Jehoram unto Jehu son of Nimshi, whom Jehovah anointed to cut off the
house of Ahab.
And the destruction of Ahaziah was of God by coming to Joram,.... Of his
appointing; it was according to his purpose and decree, and was brought about
by his overruling Providence, ordering the occasion and manner of it very
justly for his sins:
for when he was come, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the
son of Nimshi; see 2 Kings 9:21,
whom the Lord had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab; raised up to
be king of Israel for that purpose, 2 Kings 9:6, the
Targum is,"whom Elijah anointed by the command of the Word of the
Lord;'but it was not Elijah, but a prophet by the order of Elisha, that
anointed him, 2 Kings 9:1, and
this being done by direction of the Lord, is ascribed to him.
2 Chronicles 22:8 8 And it happened, when Jehu
was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, and found the princes of Judah and
the sons of Ahaziah’s brothers who served Ahaziah, that he killed them.
YLT
8And it cometh to pass, in
Jehu's executing judgment with the house of Ahab, that he findeth the heads of
Judah and sons of the brethren of Ahaziah, ministers of Ahaziah, and slayeth
them.
And it came to pass, that when Jehu was executing judgment on the
house of Ahab,.... On Joram, his son, and seventy more sons, his kinsfolks,
courtiers, and priests:
and found the princes of Judah, and or even the sons of the
brethren of Ahaziah; whose number was forty two:
that ministered to Ahaziah; had offices in his
court, or in obedience to his will, went to visit the children of the king and
queen of Israel:
and he slew them; Jehu did; of the occasion, time, and place
of his meeting with them, and slaying them, see 2 Kings 10:12.
2 Chronicles 22:9 9 Then he searched for
Ahaziah; and they caught him (he was hiding in Samaria), and brought him to
Jehu. When they had killed him, they buried him, “because,” they said, “he is
the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart.” So
the house of Ahaziah had no one to assume power over the kingdom.
YLT
9And he seeketh Ahaziah, and
they capture him, (and he is hiding himself in Samaria), and bring him in unto
Jehu, and put him to death, and bury him, for they said, `He [is] son of
Jehoshaphat, who sought Jehovah with all his heart;' and there is none to the
house of Ahaziah to retain power for the kingdom.
Verses 9-12
And he sought Ahaziah,.... Who fled on Joram's
being wounded by Jehu:
and they caught him; the soldiers of Jehu,
who were sent after him, and bid to smite him:
for he was hid in Samaria; either in some part of
the kingdom of Samaria, or in the city itself, whither he fled:
and brought him to Jehu: who was at Jezreel; see
Gill on 2 Kings 9:27,
and when they had slain him they buried him; not at
Jezreel, but delivered him to his servants to carry him to Jerusalem, and there
bury him in the sepulchres of his fathers, 2 Kings 9:28,
because, said they, he is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the
Lord with all his heart; a grandson of his, and therefore out of respect to the memory of
his name, these being religious men, ordered his burial there:
so the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom; his brethren
and their sons being slain, and his own children being young fell into the
hands of Athaliah, who murdered them all, but one, hid by his aunt, and so got
the government into her own hands, as may be observed in the following verses, 2 Chronicles 22:10.
2 Chronicles 22:10 10 Now when Athaliah the
mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the
royal heirs of the house of Judah.
YLT
10And Athaliah mother of
Ahaziah hath seen that her son is dead, and she riseth and destroyeth the whole
seed of the kingdom of the house of Judah.
2 Chronicles 22:11 11 But Jehoshabeath,[d] the
daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from
among the king’s sons who were being murdered, and put him and his nurse in a
bedroom. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada
the priest (for she was the sister of Ahaziah), hid him from Athaliah so that
she did not kill him.
YLT
11And Jehoshabeath daughter
of the king taketh Joash son of Ahaziah, and stealeth him from the midst of the
sons of the king who are put to death, and putteth him and his nurse into the
inner part of the bed-chambers, and Jehoshabeath daughter of king Jehoram, wife
of Jehoiada the priest, because she hath been sister of Ahaziah, hideth him
from the face of Athaliah, and she hath not put him to death.
2 Chronicles 22:12 12 And he was hidden with
them in the house of God for six years, while Athaliah reigned over the land.
YLT
12And he is with them in the
house of God hiding himself six years, and Athaliah is reigning over the land.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》
New King James
Version (NKJV)