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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Kings 1:9-18

Here, I. The king issues out a warrant for the apprehending of Elijah. If the God of Ekron had told him he should die, it is probable he would have taken it quietly; but now that a prophet of the Lord tells him so, reproving him for his sin and reminding him of the God of Israel, he cannot bear it. So far is he from making any good improvement of the warning given him that he is enraged against the prophet; neither his sickness, nor the thoughts of death, made any good impressions upon him,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 1:17

So he died, according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken ,.... How long or how soon after this is not said; however, he died of the sickness, and on the bed to which he went up, as he said: and Jehoram reigned in his stead : who was another son of Ahab, and brother of Ahaziah, 2 Kings 3:1 , in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah; but as he must begin his reign in the nineteenth, or in the latter end of the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat, see 1... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Kings 1:17

And Jehoram reigned in his stead - The Vulgate, Septuagint, and Syriac say, Jehoram His Brother reigned in his stead, in the second year of Jehoram. There were two Jehorams who were contemporary: the first, the son of Ahab, brother to Ahaziah, and his successor in the kingdom of Israel; the second, the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, who succeeded his father in Judah. But there is a difficulty here: "How is it that Jehoram the brother of Ahaziah began to reign in the second year... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 1:1-18

THE REVOLT OF MOAB . THE ILLNESS , IMPIETY , AND DEATH OF AHAZIAH The narrative of the Second Book of Kings follows on that of the First Book in the closest possible sequence. The history of Ahaziah's reign begins in 1 Kings 22:51 , and is carried on, without any real break or pause in the sense, to 2 Kings 1:18 . How the two books came to be divided at this point is quite inexplicable. The division is most unhappy. Not only does it, without apparent reason, draw... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 1:1-18

The short reign of Ahaziah: his sins, and their punishment. For homiletic purposes we must attach to this chapter the last three verses of the First Book of the Kings. We find in that passage a short but very complete account of the general character of Ahaziah's sins; we find in this chapter a tolerably full account of one great act of sin, and a clear declaration of the manner in which that act and his other sins were punished. It will be well to consider separately I. THE SINS .... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 1:9-18

Man in three aspects. "Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty," etc. In this paragraph we have man in three aspects. I. MAN RUINED THROUGH THE CONDUCT OF OTHERS . The messengers which the king sent to Elijah—fifty each time on three different occasions—were all, except the last fifty, destroyed by lightning. This awful judgment came upon them, not merely on their own account—although, like all sinners, they had forfeited their lives to eternal justice—but as... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 1:17

So he died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken. Not only did he die in consequence of his fall without once quitting his bed, but his death was, as Elijah had said, a judgment on his sin in sending to consult Baal-zebub. REIGN OF JEHORAM. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 1:17

And Jehoram —or, Joram LXX ; "whom Jehovah exalts;" another evidence that Ahab did not regard himself as having abandoned altogether the worship of Jehovah (see the comment on 1 Kings 22:40 )—reigned in his stead ("his brother," אציו , has probably fallen out after "Jehoram," and requires to be inserted in order to give force to the last clause of the verse) in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat King of Judah. In 2 Kings 3:1 it is said that Jehoram, the son of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 1:17-18

Unwritten history. Ahaziah died, and Jehoram his brother succeeded him. "The rest of his acts" were written "in the book of the chronicles of the Kings of Israel;" but Scripture has not preserved them. Why should it? What was there in the records of that brief and evil existence to entitle the memory of it to live? "The memory of the just is blessed; but the name of the wicked shall rot" ( Proverbs 10:7 ). Enough is written to hold him up to after-ages as an example of the certainty of... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 2 Kings 1:17

The similarity of names in the two royal houses of Israel and Judah at this time, and at no other, seems to be the consequence of the close ties which united the two reigning families, and is well noted among the “undesigned coincidences” of the Old Testament. The accession of the Israelite Jehoram (Ahab’s brother) took place, according to 2 Kings 3:1, in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat. Jehoram of Judah perhaps received the royal title from his father as early as his father’s sixteenth... read more

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