Chapter XXI.
1 (= 1 Kings xxii. 50).
Jehoshaphat succeeded by Jehoram.
2–4 (no parallel in Kings).
The Names and the Fate of the other
Sons of Jehoshaphat.
2–4. Presumably the Chronicler has drawn the information given in these verses from traditional sources. The details of the names of the brethren, their possessions, and their massacre by Jehoram are not likely to be the product of the Chronicler’s unaided imagination.
¹And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Jehoram his son reigned in his stead. ²And he had brethren the sons of Jehoshaphat, Azariah, and Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariah, and Michael, and Shephatiah: all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.
2. brethren the sons of Jehoshaphat] It was necessary to define brethren, for the word by itself means no more than “kinsmen”; compare 1 Chronicles xii. 3 (note).
Azariah] Since this name (with a slight variation of spelling) is repeated in the list it is probable that the text is corrupt. Yet the error may be no more than the omission of some epithet which distinguished one Azariah from the other in the original text of the verse. The LXX. gives no help.
king of Israel] Compare xi. 3, note.
³And their father gave them great gifts, of silver, and of gold, and of precious things, with fenced cities in Judah: but the kingdom gave he to Jehoram, because he was the firstborn.
3. their father gave them] Rehoboam did the same; xi. 23.
precious things] Hebrew migdānōth; compare xxxii. 23.
⁴Now when Jehoram was risen up over the kingdom of his father, and had strengthened himself, he slew all his brethren with the sword, and divers also of the princes of Israel.
4. strengthened himself] Compare i. 1 (note).
5–7 (= 2 Kings viii. 17–19).
The Evil Character of Jehoram’s
Reign.
⁵Jehoram was thirty and two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ⁶And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab: for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.
6. of Ahab] Compare xviii. 1 (note).
⁷Howbeit the Lord would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised to give a lamp to him and to his children alway.
7. the house of David] In 2 Kings Judah, a term sparingly used in Chronicles; compare xi. 3 (note).
a lamp] Thus figuratively applied the Hebrew word is written nīr; ordinarily “lamp” is nēr in Hebrew.
8–10 (= 2 Kings viii. 20–22).
The Revolt of Edom.
⁸In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made a king over themselves.
8. In his days Edom revolted] From 1 Chronicles xviii. 11–13 (compare 2 Samuel viii. 13 f.) it appears that Edom was subjugated in the reign of David, and it seems to have remained so until Jehoram’s reign. If, as is probable, the Meunim are to be reckoned an Edomitic tribe (see the notes on xx. 1, 10), Edom may have made a vain attempt to throw off the Judean suzerainty in Jehoshaphat’s time, and this would suit the remark in 1 Kings xxii. 47 “And there was no king in Edom: a deputy was king”—i.e. a nominee of Jehoshaphat. Moreover the tradition of Jehoshaphat’s shipbuilding at Ezion-geber on the Gulf of Akaba implies the maintenance of his hold over Edom.
⁹Then Jehoram passed over with his captains, and all his chariots with him: and he rose up by night, and smote the Edomites which compassed him about, and the captains of the chariots.
9. Then Jehoram passed over] In Kings “passed over to Zair” (the place is not otherwise known; for a suggestion that the Moabite Zoar should be read, see Encyclopedia Britannica s.v. Moab, p. 631 ad fin.). Without the addition of a place name the verb “passed over” in Chronicles is somewhat awkward. It is possible that the Chronicler used it in the meaning that Jehoram with a vanguard of chariots passed by his main body of “the people” to take the lead. Although the text in 1 Kings viii. 21 appears to have suffered some corruption, it is fairly clear that Jehoram pushed on with his chariots as a vanguard, was hemmed in by the Edomites, and, though he succeeded in cutting his way out by a night attack, his main army had dispersed in the belief that the king and the chariots were cut off and lost.
and the captains of the chariots] The clause is governed by the verb “compassed” (read perhaps el for eth in the Hebrew).
¹⁰So Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, unto this day: then did Libnah revolt at the same time from under his hand: because he had forsaken the Lord, the God of his fathers.
10. then did Libnah revolt at the same time] The exact position of Libnah is not known, but it was in the south of Judah, probably not far from Lachish (Tell el-Hesi) and the Edomite territory. The active hostility of the Edomitic (Arabian) and Philistine districts about this period afforded an opportunity to any elements of discontent in the townships of southern Judah; see the note on xxvi. 7. Probably the population of Libnah included many Edomite and Philistine families, compare the Peshitṭa rendering of this clause, viz. “Then did the Edomites who dwell in Libnah revolt.”
became he had forsaken, etc.] Not in Kings; a moralistic comment by the Chronicler.
11–15 (not in Kings).
Jehoram’s Sins and Elijah’s written
Denunciation.
¹¹Moreover he made high places in the mountains¹ of Judah, and made the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, and led² Judah astray.
11. in the mountains] So Peshitṭa, but LXX., in the cities. The difference between the two readings in Hebrew is very small.
made ... to go a whoring] a much used metaphor of Scripture, meaning led ... into idolatry.
led Judah astray] Literally, drew or thrust away Judah, i.e. from the presence of Jehovah.
¹²And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah; ¹³but hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like as the house of Ahab did¹; and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father’s house, which were better than thyself:
12. a writing] This is the only place in which any writing of Elijah is mentioned. Even in Jehoshaphat’s reign Elijah seems to have been no longer among the living; compare 2 Kings iii. 11 (where Elisha seems already to have taken Elijah’s place). That the writing was a prophecy of Elijah denouncing Jehoram in anticipation of his reign is not only utterly improbable, but the plain words of the Chronicler do not seem even to suggest it. It is possible to suppose that some adaptation of words of Elijah to suit Jehoram’s case was placarded by an unknown hand outside Jehoram’s palace; but again the explanation seems more elaborate than the simple statement warrants. It is more probable therefore that the Chronicler means plainly a letter from Elijah, and ignores the anachronism involved in supposing the prophet to have been alive in Jehoram’s reign. So great wickedness seemed to him to require a rebuke from a well-known prophet, and it is put into the mouth of Elijah, who, as the great opponent of the idolatry of Ahab and Jezebel, seemed to be the most proper person to pronounce the denunciation. The style of the letter requires a late date, and the author is perhaps the Chronicler himself. See further the Introduction § 7, p. xlviii.
¹⁴behold, the Lord will smite with a great plague¹ thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy substance:
14. a great plague] For “plague” compare xvi. 28, 29. Jehoram’s “plague” is described in verses 16, 17.
thy substance] Genesis xii. 5; the Hebrew word includes both “goods” and “chattels” (i.e. live stock).
¹⁵and thou shalt have great sickness by disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness, day by day¹.
15. day by day] margin, year after year; a prolonged sickness.
16, 17 (no parallel in Kings).
The Invasion of the Philistines and
Arabians.
The Chronicler’s theory of life demanded that disasters should mark the close of this wicked reign, and in view of the licence which marks the Chronicler’s reconstruction of the history, it must be allowed that a raid by the very peoples who had paid tribute to Jehoshaphat (xvii. 11) may be only a conjecture to suit the requirements of his religious conviction. But neither the absence of the story from Kings, nor yet the religious appropriateness of the attack entails its rejection as unhistorical. The comparative fulness and vigour of the Chronicler’s account of these reigns yields many suggestive indications (some of which have already been noted) favouring the view that he had before him valuable independent traditions of Edomite and Philistine hostilities against Judah which were referred to this period. That being so, the possible historicity of this tradition in verses 16, 17 must be admitted; and it should be noted that such a raid would be a most natural sequel to Jehoram’s loss of control over Edom recorded in verse 8.
¹⁶And the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians which are beside the Ethiopians:
16. stirred up ... the spirit] Perhaps not without the instigation of a prophetical party, of which Eliezer of Mareshah may have been a leading representative (see xx. 37). For the phrase “stirred up,” compare xxxvi. 22 and 1 Chronicles v. 26.
which are beside the Ethiopians] Hebrew Cushites—probably certain Arabian tribes, though it seems likely that the Chronicler understood the name to mean the Ethiopians of Africa (see the note on Zerah the Ethiopian, xiv. 9). Ancient geographical ideas were very inexact. Herodotus regarded all the land east of the Nile as part of Arabia. Distant lands are apt to be conceived of as all more or less “beside” one another. Thus the present writer has heard a Tyrolese peasant woman remark that she supposed “Russia and Japan were both beside England.” We may assume that in the Chronicler’s source Arabian Cushites were meant.
¹⁷and they came up against Judah, and brake into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in¹ the king’s house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save Jehoahaz², the youngest of his sons.
17. and brake into it] The proper meaning of the Hebrew verb is “to make a breach in a city-wall [and so take the city]”; compare xxxii, 1. Here and in Isaiah vii. 6 the word is applied to a whole country.
in the king’s house] It is most unlikely that the invaders (if the raid be historical) actually entered Jerusalem, and almost certain that the Chronicler did not mean to imply that they did. Probably therefore we should translate, as the margin, belonging to the king’s house. Part of the royal possessions and the royal household might well have been in the camp; see below, the note on xxii. 1.
Jehoahaz] In xxii. 1 he is called Ahaziah, which is only another form of the name, the prefix Jeho- of the one, and the ending -iah of the other being each the representative of the Divine name Jehovah. The name in either form means “Jehovah hath taken” (or “grasped”). Parallel instances are the names Jehoshaphat and Shephatiah (verse 2) and Jehonathan and Nethaniah in xvii. 8.
18–20 (compare 2 Kings viii. 24).
Death and Burial of Jehoram.
¹⁸And after all this the Lord smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease. ¹⁹And it came to pass, in process of time, at the end of two years, that his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness, and he died of sore diseases. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers.
19. by reason of his sickness] LXX. μετὰ τῆς νόσου, i.e. in the course of his sickness.
no burning] compare xvi. 14 (note).
²⁰Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years: and he departed without being desired; and they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.
20. he departed without being desired] literally without desire: i.e. he lived so that none desired him, or he lived as no one desired. Compare LXX., ἐπορεύθη οὐκ ἐν ἐπαίνῳ, literally “he walked without praise.”
but not in the sepulchres of the kings] According to Kings he “was buried with his fathers.” Compare xxiv. 25, xxviii. 27.
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. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.