In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel did Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah begin to reign. He is called Jehoahaz, and said to be the youngest son of Jehoram, 2 Chronicles 21:17 . read more
Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign ,.... In 2 Chronicles 22:2 he is said to be forty two years of age; for the solution of that difficulty See Gill on 2 Chronicles 22:2 , and he reigned one year in Jerusalem ; which was the whole of his reign: and his mother's name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri king of Israel ; that is, his granddaughter; for she was the daughter of Ahab the son of Omri, 2 Kings 8:18 , it was usual for grandchildren to be called... read more
And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the Lord, as did the house of Ahab ,.... Worshipping the calves, and Baal also: for he was the son in law of the house of Ahab ; he was the son of Jehoram, who was son-in-law to Ahab, having married his daughter, which accounts for his being guilty of the same idolatrous practices. read more
And he went with Joram the son of Ahab ,.... His mother's brother, and so his uncle: to the war against Hazael king of Syria in Ramothgilead ; which he went to recover out of the hands of the king of Syria, as his father Ahab had attempted in his time; in which he was assisted by Jehoshaphat, as now Joram was by a grandson of his: and the Syrians wounded Joram ; as they did his father Ahab at the same place, though his wound was not mortal, as his father's was. read more
From Ramoth, having taken it, and left his army there: to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah ; the same with Ramothgilead: when he fought against Hazael king of Syria ; for Benhadad being dead, he was now king in his room, 2 Kings 8:15 . and Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick ; of the wounds which he had received, which might occasion a feverish disorder; and so... 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
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Kings 8:25-29
As among common persons there are some that we call little men, who make no figure, are little regarded, as less valued, so among kings there are some whom, in comparison with others, we may call little kings. This Ahaziah was one of these; he looks mean in the history, and in God's account vile, because wicked. It is too plain an evidence of the affinity between Jehoshaphat and Ahab that they had the same names in their families at the same time, in which, we may suppose, they designed to... read more