Chapter Twenty-Two
1–9. The reign of Ahaziah, the 7th king of Judah, his impious alliance with the king of Israel and his death at the hand of Jehu. 10–12. The bloody reign of the cruel Athaliah.
2 Chronicles 22:1. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, his younger son, king in his place, because the raiding party that came with the Arabians to the camp had slain all the older sons; therefore Ahaziah son of Joram, king of Judah, became king. See above (2 Chr 21:17) and the commentary on this verse in “Expository Bible,” vol. III, p. 139.
2 Chronicles 22:2. Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Athaliah, daughter of Omri. According to the Hebrew text and the Vulgate, Ahaziah was 42 years old when he became king, yet according to verse 20 of chapter 21, his father Joram was forty years old when he died; consequently his son would have been considerably younger at that time. According to (2 Kgs 8:26) Ahaziah became king at twenty-two years. The date “22” appears in the marginal annotations of the Rossi codex 500. The same date is accepted by the LXX in the Alexandrian codex and manuscripts 19, 55, 93, 108 (in the accepted Greek text we have: ὢv ἐτῶν εἴκοσι – about 20 years); it is retained in the Slavonic and Russian texts, and the parallel passage (2 Kgs 8:26) fully confirms this reading. The error in the Masoretic text could easily have arisen from the confusion of letters כ (kaph, 20) and מ (mem, 40).
2 Chronicles 22:3. He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor in wicked deeds. 2 Chronicles 22:4. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, like the house of Ahab; for they were his advisors after the death of his father, to his ruin. The impious character of Ahaziah’s one-year (cf. v. 4) reign is depicted here in the same manner as in the parallel passage (2 Kgs 8:27), but with the additional remark that his impiety was formed under the influence of Athaliah and other family members of the house of Ahab.
2 Chronicles 22:5. Following their counsel, he went with Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel, to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead. And the Syrians wounded Joram, 2 Chronicles 22:6. and he returned to Jezreel to be healed of the wounds he had received at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Ahaziah son of Joram king of Judah went down to see Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick. Concerning the fatal journey of Judah’s Ahaziah with Israel’s Joram to war against the Syrians, the account here is the same as in (2 Kgs 8:28-29). At the end of verse 5, the Hebrew word harammim, rendered in the Chaldean, Vulgate, and Russian texts as the proper name “Aramites,” that is, Syrians, is taken by the LXX as a common noun from the root ramah, “to throw,” and rendered as τοξόται; in the Slavonic text: “archers.” In verse 6, in the accepted Hebrew text Ahaziah is called Azariah (Calmet therefore supposes that this king had three names: Ahaziah, Jehoahaz, Azariah), but probably in error by a copyist. In codices 2, 17, 80, 82, 219, 224 (marginal note), 235 (marginal note), 246, 531, 602, 607, 228, 590 in Kennicott; 196, 554, 737, 380 in de Rossi stands the name Achazijahu – Ahaziah; so also in the LXX, in the Vulgate, Slavonic, and Russian texts.
2 Chronicles 22:7. And it was God’s doing that Ahaziah came to his ruin by going to Joram. For when he arrived, he went out with Joram against Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab. 2 Chronicles 22:8. When Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, he found the officials of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s brothers attending on Ahaziah, and he killed them. 2 Chronicles 22:9. And he searched for Ahaziah, and they captured him (for he was hiding in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu, and killed him. They buried him, for they said, “He is the grandson of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart.” And the house of Ahaziah had no one able to rule the kingdom. Cf. (2 Kgs 9:21-28). See “Expository Bible,” vol. II, p. 511.
2 Chronicles 22:10. Now when Athaliah, Ahaziah’s mother, saw that her son was dead, she set about to destroy all the royal family of the house of Judah. 2 Chronicles 22:11. But Jehoshabeath, the king’s daughter, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes being killed, and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus Jehoshabeath, daughter of King Joram, wife of the priest Jehoiada, sister of Ahaziah, hid Joash from Athaliah, so that she did not kill him. 2 Chronicles 22:12. And he remained hidden with them in the house of God for six years; while Athaliah reigned over the land. Cf. (2 Kgs 11:1-3). “Expository Bible,” vol. II, p. 513. From verse 11 we learn for the first time that Jehoshabeath was the wife of the high priest Jehoiada; this is not mentioned in (2 Kgs 11:2). The spelling of the name Jehoshabeath is not uniform in the Hebrew text of 4 Kings (Iehoscheva) and 2 Chronicles: Iehoschavath. This mention is entirely consistent with the documentary character of the book of Chronicles, particularly in its genealogical aspect.