Bible Commentaries

The Reign of Ahaziah.

v. 1. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, his (Joram's) youngest son, who probably assumed this name upon his accession to the throne, king in his stead, this being expressly mentioned because he was not the crown prince; for the band of men that came with the Arabians to the camp, the band consisting of Arabians which had plundered the royal domain, had slain all the eldest, thus leaving this son as the only legitimate heir of Jehoram. So Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, reigned, he was proclaimed and accepted as king of the southern kingdom.

v. 2. Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, that is, it was the forty-second year of the kingdom of his mother's family and the twenty-second of his life, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri, a daughter of the house of Ahab and therefore expert in every idolatrous wickedness.

v. 3. He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab; for his mother was his counselor to do wickedly, she brought about a further corruption of religion and morals.

v. 4. Wherefore he did evil in the sight of the Lord like the house of Ahab, again named as an extreme example of ungodliness; for they, his relatives on his mother's side, were his counselors after the death of his father to his destruction.

v. 5. He walked also after their counsel, and went with Jehoram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, in another alliance which displeased the Lord, to war against Hazael, king of Syria, at Ramoth-gilead, in a second effort to recapture this city from the Syrians; and the Syrians smote Joram, 2Ki 8:28-29.

v. 6. And he returned to be healed in Jezreel, his summer residence, because of the wounds which were given him at Ramah, when he fought with Hazael, king of Syria. And Azariah (or Ahaziah), the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to see Jehoram, the son of Ahab, at Jezreel, because he was sick, this visit probably taking place after his return to Jerusalem, after the unfortunate expedition in which he participated.

v. 7. And the destruction of Ahaziah, literally, "his down-treading," his downfall, was of God by coming to Joram, God made use of this move in bringing about his destruction; for when he was come, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu, the son of Nimshi, that is, to meet Jehu, who was the grandson of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab, 2Ki 9:6-7.

v. 8. And it came to pass that, when Jehu was executing judgment upon the house of Ahab, in slaying all the kinsfolks of Ahab, 2Ki 10:10-11, and found the princes of Judah, and the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah that ministered to Ahaziah, all of whom had accompanied the king of Judah down to Jezreel, he slew them.

v. 9. And he sought Ahaziah; and they caught him (for he was hid in Samaria) and brought him to Jehu. This account is easily reconciled with that of 2Ki 9:27-29. "Ahaziah fled first to the garden-house and escaped to Samaria, but was there, where he had hid himself, taken by Jehu's men, who had pursued him, brought to Jehu, who was still in or near Jezreel and at his command slain at the hill Gur, beside Ibleam, in his chariot; that is, mortally wounded with an arrow, so that he, again fleeing, expired at Megiddo. " (Keil. ) And when they had slain him, they buried him, giving him the honor of a decent burial, because, said they, he is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart. So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom, all the other princes having been slain by Jehu, and Ahaziah's children being yet too young to become rulers of the people.

v. 10. But when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah, all the infant children of her son whom she could locate.

v. 11. But Jehoshabeath (or Jehosheba), the daughter of the king, probably a daughter of Jehoram by another wife than Athaliah, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bed-chamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada, the priest, (for she was the sister, or more exactly, the half-sister, of Ahaziah,) hid him from Athaliah, so that she slew him not.

v. 12. And he was with them hid in the house of God six years. And Athaliah reigned over the land, as queen or dowager regent, although a usurper at the same time. In this way the Lord laid affliction upon His people in order to knit their hearts more closely to Him once more; for that is ever the purpose of His visitations upon His children.