The mother and the house of Ahab had become a proverb and a by-word for their evil. In this and the following two verses stress is laid on the evil counsel and the sources of it that prejudiced Ahaziah to his ruin. Although the parallel wants these direct statements, perhaps it scarcely says less, when it says (verse 27), " For he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab." read more
The counsel that destroys, and that which saves. "His counsellors … to his destruction." The counsel we receive has much to do with the character we form and the life we live; much, therefore, with the destiny we are weaving. I. THE URGENT NEED FOR COUNSEL IN A CRITICAL PERIOD OF OUR LIFE . In our earliest years the river of our life flows between high and narrow banks. We are well fenced in, and must move according to our surroundings. But later on the banks are... read more
For “42” read “22” (see the marginal reference). Ahaziah’s father, Jehoram, was but 40 when be died 2 Chronicles 21:20. read more
A.M. 3119. B.C. 885. Ahaziah’s wicked reign, 2 Chronicles 22:1-4 . Being confederate with Joram, he is slain by Jehu, 2 Chronicles 22:5-9 . Athaliah destroys the seed royal, and usurps the kingdom, 2 Chronicles 22:10-12 . 2 Chronicles 22:1. The band of men had slain all the eldest A cruel sort of men, who came along with the Arabians, and therefore slew those whom the Arabians had spared, and only carried into captivity. Or the Philistines may be intended, who accompanied the Arabians... read more
2 Chronicles 22:2. Forty and two years old was Ahaziah It is said ( 2Ki 8:26 ) that he was but two and twenty years old when he began to reign; so that, it is probable, an error has been committed here by the copyist or transcriber. For some Greek copies have here twenty-two years old, and it is so in the Syriac and Arabic translations, and particularly in that most ancient copy of the Syriac, which was used by the church at Antioch in the primitive times, and to this day is kept in the... read more
2 Chronicles 22:3-4. He walked in the ways of the house of Ahab Called their ways, not because they were the first inventors of them in these parts, but the chief establishers. These ways did not consist merely in the worshipping of God by an image, which was the way of Jeroboam; but in the worship of other gods besides the God of Israel, namely, Baal-gods, or Baalim. For his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly Being a crafty and an imperious woman. Those that counsel persons to... read more
Jezebel’s Baalism in Judah (21:1-23:21)The Baalism of Ahab and Jezebel remained strong in the northern kingdom during the successive reigns of their sons Ahaziah and Joram (2 Kings 1:1-8:15). It spread to Judah in the reign of Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram, who was married to Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel (21:1-20; see notes on 2 Kings 8:16-24).Judah’s next king, Ahaziah, at the direction of his mother Athaliah and her northern relatives, cooperated with the idolatrous northern... read more
Forty and two years old = a son of forty-two years: i.e. of the house of Omri, on account of his connection with it through his mother (832-790 = 42). In 2 Kings 8:26 Ahaziah's actual age (twenty-two years) is given when he began to reign (790) during the two years of his father's disease. His father, Jehoram, was thirty-two when he began to reign with Jehoshaphat, two years before the latter's death (2 Kings 8:16 ). This was in 796. Jehoram therefore was born in 828. Ahaziah, his son, being... read more
ways. Compare 2 Kings 8:27 . read more
Get Bible verse every day in your inbox
Read on Mobile
The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Chronicles 22:2
Forty and two ; read, twenty and two, and see parallel, 2 Kings 8:26 ; and note on our 2 Chronicles 21:5 . Daughter of Omri ; i.e. granddaughter of Omri, as Omri was the father of Ahab. read more