Chapter XXII
1–4 (= 2 Kings viii. 25–27).
The Reign of Ahaziah.
¹And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah¹ 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.
¹ In chapter xxi. 17, Jehoahaz.
1. the inhabitants of Jerusalem, etc.] In consequence of the great disaster to the royal house, the people play a more prominent part than usual in deciding the succession to the throne; compare 2 Kings xxiii. 30.
to the camp] or to the host. The sense seems to be that the princes of the royal house were with the army in the field and were slain by a surprise attack of a party from the Philistine and Arabian forces (xxi. 16). The LXX. reads, Ἄραβες οἱ Ἀλειμαζονεϊς, i.e. apparently “the Arabians of Mazin”; but in all probability this reading is a mere error derived from a transliteration of the Hebrew word rendered “to the camp” (see Torrey, Ezra Studies, p. 74).
²Forty and two¹ years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was Athaliah the daughter² of Omri. ³He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab: for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly.
¹ In 2 Kings viii. 26, Two and twenty.
² Or, granddaughter.
2. Forty and two years old] The LXX. “twenty years old” is preferable, agreeing nearly with 2 Kings viii. 26, “two and twenty years old” (Hebrew and LXX.).
daughter of Omri] So 2 Kings viii. 26, but more correctly “daughter of Ahab” (2 Kings viii. verse 18).
⁴And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as did the house of Ahab: for they were his counsellors after the death of his father, to his destruction.
4. after the death of his father] This phrase suggests that he acted as regent in his father’s lifetime during his father’s two years’ illness.
5, 6 (= 2 Kings viii. 28, 29).
The Alliance with Jehoram of Israel.
⁵He walked also after their counsel, and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead: and the Syrians wounded Joram.
5. Joram] or Jehoram. The variation is unimportant.
⁶And he returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds¹ which they had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Azariah² the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Jehoram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.
¹ 2 Kings viii. 29, and in the Septuagint and Syriac versions. The text has, because the wounds which &c.
² In verse 1, Ahaziah.
6. Jezreel] A city some distance to the north of Samaria, giving its name to the plain of Jezreel (Esdraelon). Ahab had a house there (1 Kings xxi. 1), probably a country house judging from the incident of Naboth’s vineyard. It is the modern Zer’in, a town situated on a hill commanding a wide view towards the west and the east, Bädeker, Palestine⁵, p. 244.
Ramah] i.e. Ramoth-gilead (see xviii. 2, note).
Azariah] Read, as margin, Ahaziah.
7–9 (compare 2 Kings ix. 16–26, 27, 28, x. 11–14).
The Death of Ahaziah.
7–9. These verses give a hasty summary of the passages in Kings The Chronicler’s version differs in some particulars from Kings The divergences may largely be due to the extreme brevity of Chronicles, and they do not absolutely require a variant form of the tradition for their explanation (so Torrey, Ezra Studies, p. 74), particularly if Samaria here in Chronicles denotes not the city but simply the province. Verse 7 is a brief but sufficient abridgment of 2 Kings ix. 16–26 from the point of view of Ahaziah’s concern in the affair. On the other hand there is great probability in the view that the Chronicler’s account goes back to a version of the tradition independent of that in Kings; see the notes on verses 8, 9; and compare Cook in the Jewish Quarterly Review for 1908, p. 612.
⁷Now the destruction¹ of Ahaziah was of God, in that he went unto Joram: for when he was come, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab.
¹ Hebrew treading down.
7. destruction] Rather, ruin, or downfall, LXX., καταστροφή). Ahaziah’s brethren fell with him (verse 8).
had anointed] compare 2 Kings ix. 1–10.
⁸And it came to pass, when Jehu was executing judgement upon the house of Ahab, that he found the princes of Judah, and the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah, ministering to Ahaziah, and slew them.
8. the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah] LXX. “the brethren (i.e. the kinsmen) of Ahaziah”: so also 2 Kings x. 13. The brethren (in the strict sense of the word) of Ahaziah had already been killed (verse 1).
ministering] According to 2 Kings they were going to “salute the children of the king and the children of the queen” (probably a courtly expression for “salute the king and the queen”). Their murder in Kings is clearly regarded as subsequent to Ahaziah’s death, whereas in Chronicles the attack on Ahaziah (verse 9) apparently is placed after the murder of the brethren as recorded in the present verse. It is possible, however, to suppose that verses 8 and 9 are not meant to be related to each other in a time sequence, and that verses 7, 8, 9 are all relatively independent statements.
⁹And he sought Ahaziah, and they caught him, (now he was hiding in Samaria,) and they brought him to Jehu, and slew him; and they buried him, for they said, He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart. And the house of Ahaziah had no power¹ to hold the kingdom.
¹ Or, And there was none of the house of Ahaziah that had power &c.
9. now he was hiding in Samaria] If Samaria means the city, then according to Chronicles Ahaziah fled southward from Jezreel; while according to 2 Kings his flight was westward to Megiddo (to be identified with Khan el-Lejjun, Bädeker, Palestine⁵, p. 228). Perhaps however Samaria means the province (as in xxv. 13; Ezekiel iv. 10). Even so this account of Ahaziah’s wounding and death differs markedly from that in Kings, where nothing is said of his hiding, but simply that he went out with Joram when Jehu encountered Joram (so here verse 7), was wounded, fled to Megiddo, and died there, but was carried back by his servants to Jerusalem and there buried. Here it is stated that he was captured, brought to Jehu, and slain (?before him). The place of his burial is unnamed, but it would readily be supposed that he was buried by Jehu’s servants and not at Jerusalem. These divergences in verses 8, 9 are curious and are most naturally explained as originating in a variant form of the tradition.
10–12 (= 2 Kings xi. 1–3).
The Reign of Athaliah.
¹⁰Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah.
10. destroyed] This is the reading of Kings and of the LXX. of Chronicles The Hebrew reads spake with, which is perhaps a euphemism; compare the English “deal with.”
¹¹But Jehoshabeath¹, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king’s sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in the bedchamber². So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, (for she was the sister of Ahaziah,) hid him from Athaliah, so that she slew him not.
¹ In 2 Kings xi. 2, Jehosheba.
² Or, chamber for the beds.
11. Jehoshabeath] In Kings “Jehosheba.” The two are forms of the same name; compare “Elisabeth” (Luke i. 7) and “Elisheba” (Exodus vi. 23), a similar pair.
in the bedchamber] margin, in the chamber for the beds, i.e. perhaps in a store room in which bed furniture was kept: a convenient but an uncertain interpretation.
the wife of Jehoiada the priest] Compare xxiii. 1. This relationship is not given in Kings.
¹²And he was with them hid in the house of God six years: and Athaliah reigned over the land.
12. with them] i.e. with Jehoiada and Jehoshabeath. In Kings “with her.”
in the house of God] “The chamber for beds” (which was perhaps in the palace) was only a temporary hiding-place.