2 Chronicles 22:1

THE BRIEF EVIL REIGN OF AHAZIAH

VI. AHAZIAH (842 B.C.)

AHAZIAH MADE KING OF JUDAH

"And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his stead; for the band of men that came with the Arabians to the camp had slain all the eldest. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned. Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri. He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab; for his mother was his counselor to do wickedly."

"Ahaziah his youngest son" (2 Chronicles 22:1). The youngest son of Jehoram is called Jehoahaz in the previous chapter (2 Chronicles 21:17); "But Jehoahaz and Azariah are equivalent names."[1] There was nothing unusual about variations in Hebrew names. "Bathsheba was also known as Bathshua; and her father was called Amiel or Eliam. Either spelling of such duplicate names gave the same meanings in Hebrew."[2]

"Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign" (2 Chronicles 22:2). Ahaziah's father was only forty-two years old when he died (2 Chronicles 21:5), so we should follow later renditions which read, "Twenty and two years" instead of "Forty and two."

"Athaliah the daughter of Omri" (2 Chronicles 22:2). She was actually the daughter of Ahab and a granddaughter of Omri; but such a loose usage of the terms son or daughter is quite common in the O.T.