Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Kings 8:23
Are they not written in the book of the chronicles - Several remarkable particulars relative to Joram may be found in 2 Chron. 21. read more
Are they not written in the book of the chronicles - Several remarkable particulars relative to Joram may be found in 2 Chron. 21. read more
Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign - In 2 Chronicles 22:2 , it is said, forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; this is a heavy difficulty, to remove which several expedients have been used. It is most evident that, if we follow the reading in Chronicles, it makes the son two years older than his own father! for his father began to reign when he was thirty-two years old, and reigned eight years, and so died, being forty... read more
The Syrians wounded Joram - Ahaziah went with Joram to endeavor to wrest Ramoth-gilead out of the hands of the Syrians, which belonged to Israel and Judah. Ahab had endeavored to do this before, and was slain there; see 1 Kings 22:3 ; (note), etc., and the notes there. read more
Went back to be healed in Jezreel - And there he continued till Jehu conspired against and slew him there. And thus the blood of the innocents, which had been shed by Ahab and his wife Jezebel, was visited on them in the total extinction of their family. See the following chapters, where the bloody tale of Jehu's conspiracy is told at large. I Have already had to remark on the chronological difficulties which occur in the historical books; difficulties for which copyists alone... read more
THE SEQUEL OF THE STORY OF THE SHUNAMMITE . THE KILLING OF BENHADAD BY HAZAEL ; AND THE WICKED REIGNS OF JEHORAM AND AHAZIAH IN JUDAH . read more
Striking characters. "And Elisha came to Damascus," etc. We have here— I. A DYING KING . "Benhadad the King of Syria was sick." Benhadad, for his age and country, was a great king, rich and mighty, but now he is on his dying-bed. Kings die as well as others. Observe: 1. This dying king was very anxious . What was he anxious about? Not about any great spiritual interest concerning himself or others, but concerning his own physical condition. "Shall I recover of this disease?"... read more
And in the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab King of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then King of Judah ; literally, and of Jehoshaphat King of Judah . The words are wanting in three Hebrew manuscripts, in some editions of the Septuagint, in the Peshito Syriac, in the Parisian Heptaplar Syriac, in the Arabic Version, and in many copies of the Vulgate. They cannot possibly have the sense assigned to them in our version, and are most probably a gloss which has crept into the text from the... read more
THE WICKED REIGN OF JEHORAM IN JUDAH . At this point the writer, who has been concerned with the history of the kingdom of Israel hitherto in the present book, takes up the story of the kingdom of Judah from 1 Kings 22:50 , and proceeds to give a very brief account of the reign of Jehoshaphat's eldest son, Jehoram, or (by contraction) Joram. His narrative has to be supplemented from 2 Chronicles 21:1-20 ; which contains many facts not mentioned by the writer of Kings. read more
The power of bad women for evil. All the evil wrought, all the irreligion, all the licentiousness and depravity, and almost all the misery suffered during the reigns of Ahab, Ahaziah, and Jehoram in Israel, and of Jehoram and Ahaziah in Judah, were caused by the machinations and influence of two wicked women—Jezebel and her daughter Athaliah. Jezebel, a proud imperious woman, born in the purple, a "king's daughter;" and extraordinarily strong-minded and unscrupulous, obtained a complete... read more
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Kings 8:21
Joram went over to Zair - This is the same as Seir, a chief city of Idumea. So Isaiah 21:11 ; : The burden of Dumah (Idumea). He calleth to me out of Seir. Smote the Edomites - It appears that the Israelites were surrounded by the Idumeans; and that in the night Joram and his men cut their way through them, and so got every man to his tent, for they were not able to make any farther head against these enemies; and therefore it is said, that Edom revolted from under the hand... read more