1And the inhabitantsH3427 of JerusalemH3389 madeH4427 AhaziahH274 his youngestH6996 sonH1121 kingH4427 in his stead: for the band of menH1416 that cameH935 with the ArabiansH6163 to the campH4264 had slainH2026 all the eldestH7223. So AhaziahH274 the sonH1121 of JehoramH3088 kingH4428 of JudahH3063 reignedH4427 . 2FortyH705 and twoH8147 yearsH8141 oldH1121 was AhaziahH274 when he began to reignH4427, and he reignedH4427 oneH259 yearH8141 in JerusalemH3389. His mother'sH517 nameH8034 also was AthaliahH6271 the daughterH1323 of OmriH6018. 3He also walkedH1980 in the waysH1870 of the houseH1004 of AhabH256: for his motherH517 was his counsellorH3289 to do wickedlyH7561 . 4Wherefore he didH6213 evilH7451 in the sightH5869 of the LORDH3068 like the houseH1004 of AhabH256: for they were his counsellorsH3289 afterH310 the deathH4194 of his fatherH1 to his destructionH4889. 5He walkedH1980 also after their counselH6098, and wentH3212 with JehoramH3088 the sonH1121 of AhabH256 kingH4428 of IsraelH3478 to warH4421 against HazaelH2371 kingH4428 of SyriaH758 at RamothgileadH7433 H1568: and the SyriansH7421 smoteH5221 JoramH3141. 6And he returnedH7725 to be healedH7495 in JezreelH3157 because of the woundsH4347 which were givenH5221 him at RamahH7414, when he foughtH3898 with HazaelH2371 kingH4428 of SyriaH758. And AzariahH5838 the sonH1121 of JehoramH3088 kingH4428 of JudahH3063 went downH3381 to seeH7200 JehoramH3088 the sonH1121 of AhabH256 at JezreelH3157, because he was sickH2470 . 7And the destructionH8395 of AhaziahH274 was of GodH430 by comingH935 to JoramH3141: for when he was comeH935, he went outH3318 with JehoramH3088 against JehuH3058 the sonH1121 of NimshiH5250, whom the LORDH3068 had anointedH4886 to cut offH3772 the houseH1004 of AhabH256. 8And it came to pass, that, when JehuH3058 was executing judgmentH8199 upon the houseH1004 of AhabH256, and foundH4672 the princesH8269 of JudahH3063, and the sonsH1121 of the brethrenH251 of AhaziahH274, that ministeredH8334 to AhaziahH274, he slewH2026 them. 9And he soughtH1245 AhaziahH274: and they caughtH3920 him, for he was hidH2244 in SamariaH8111, and broughtH935 him to JehuH3058: and when they had slainH4191 him, they buriedH6912 him: Because, saidH559 they, he is the sonH1121 of JehoshaphatH3092, who soughtH1875 the LORDH3068 with all his heartH3824. So the houseH1004 of AhaziahH274 had no powerH3581 to keepH6113 still the kingdomH4467. 10But when AthaliahH6271 the motherH517 of AhaziahH274 sawH7200 that her sonH1121 was deadH4191, she aroseH6965 and destroyedH1696 all the seedH2233 royalH4467 of the houseH1004 of JudahH3063. 11But JehoshabeathH3090, the daughterH1323 of the kingH4428, tookH3947 JoashH3101 the sonH1121 of AhaziahH274, and stoleH1589 him from amongH8432 the king'sH4428 sonsH1121 that were slainH4191, and putH5414 him and his nurseH3243 in a bedchamberH2315 H4296. So JehoshabeathH3090, the daughterH1323 of kingH4428 JehoramH3088, the wifeH802 of JehoiadaH3077 the priestH3548, for she was the sisterH269 of AhaziahH274, hidH5641 him fromH6440 AthaliahH6271, so that she slewH4191 him not. 12And he was with them hidH2244 in the houseH1004 of GodH430 sixH8337 yearsH8141: and AthaliahH6271 reignedH4427 over the landH776.
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary 1 We have here an account of the reign of Ahaziah, a short reign (of one year only), yet long enough, unless it had been better. He was called
Jeho-ahaz (
2Chr 21:17); here he is called
Ahaz-iah, which is the same name and of the same signification, only the words of which it is compounded are transposed. He is here said to be forty-two years old when he began to reign (
2Chr 22:2), which could not be, for his father, his immediate predecessor, was but forty when he died, and it is said (
2Kgs 8:26) that he was twenty-two years old when
he began to reign. Some make this forty-two to be the age of his mother Athaliah, for in the original it is,
he was the son of forty-two years, that is, the son of a mother that was of that age; and justly is her age put for his, in reproach to him, because she managed him, and did what she would - she, in effect, reigned, and he had little more than the title of king. Many good expositors are ready to allow that this, with some few more such difficulties, arise from the mistake of some transcriber, who put forty-two for twenty-two, and the copies by which the error should have been corrected might be lost. Many ancient translations read it here twenty-two. Few books are now printed without some
errata, yet the authors do not therefore disown them, nor are the errors of the press imputed to the author, but the candid reader amends them by the sense, or by comparing them with some other part of the work, as we may easily do this.
The history of Ahaziah's reign is briefly summed up in two clauses,
2Chr 22:3,
2Chr 22:4. His mother and her relations were his counselors to do wickedly, and it was to his destruction.
I. He did wickedly. Though by a special providence of God he was preserved alive, when all his brethren were slain, and reserved for the crown, notwithstanding he was the youngest of them - though
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, when they had buried his father ingloriously, made him king, in hopes he would take warning by that not to tread in his steps, but would do better for himself and his kingdom - yet he was not influenced by the favours either of God or man, but
walked in the way of the house of Ahab, did evil in the sight of the Lord like them (
2Chr 22:3,
2Chr 22:4), that is, he worshipped, Baalim and Ashtaroth, supposing (as the learned bishop Patrick thinks) that by these demons, as mediators, they might have easier access to the supreme
Numen, the God of Israel, or that
these they might resort to at all times and
for all matters, as being
nearer at hand, and
not of so high a dignity, but of a
middle nature between the immortal God and mortal men - deified heroes; so they worshipped them as the church of Rome does saints and angels. That was sufficiently bad; but I wish there was no reason to suspect worse. I am apprehensive that they looked upon Jehovah, the God of their fathers, to be altogether such a one as these Baalim, and them to be as great and as good as he, nay, upon one account, more eligible inasmuch as these Baalim encouraged in their worshippers all manner of lewdness and sensuality, which the God of Israel strictly forbade.
II. He was counselled by his mother and her relations to do so.
She was his counsellor (
2Chr 22:3) and so were
they, after the death of his father, 2Chr 22:4. While his father lived
he took care to keep him to idolatry; but, when he was dead, the house of Ahab feared lest his father's miserable end should deter him from it, and therefore they were very industrious to keep him closely to it, and to make him
seven times more a
child of hell than themselves. The counsel of the ungodly is the ruin of many young persons when they are setting out in the world. This young prince might have had better advice if he had pleased from the princes and the judges, the priests and the Levites, that had been famous in his good grandfather's time for teaching in the knowledge of God; but the house of Ahab humoured him, and
he walked after their counsel, gave himself up to be led by them, and did just as they would have him. Thus do those debase and destroy themselves that forsake the divine guidance.
III. He was counselled by them to his destruction. So it proved. Those that counsel us to do wickedly counsel us to our destruction; while they fawn, and flatter, and pretend friendship, they are really our worst enemies. Those that debauch young men destroy them. It was bad enough that they exposed him to the sword of the Syrians, drawing him in to join with Joram king of Israel in an expedition to Ramoth-Gilead, where Joram was wounded, an expedition that was not for his honour. Those that give us bad counsel in the affairs of religion, if regarded by us, may justly be made of God our counsellors to do foolishly in our own affairs. But that was not all: by engaging him in an intimacy with Joram king of Israel, they involved him in the common ruin of the house of Ahab. He came on a visit to Joram (
2Chr 22:6) just at the time that Jehu was executing the judgment of God upon that idolatrous family, and so was cut off with them, (2Chr:22:7-9). Here, 1. See and dread the mischief of bad company - of joining in with sinners. If not the infection, yet let the destruction be feared.
Come out from Babylon, that falling house,
Revel 18:4. 2. See and acknowledge the justice of God. His providence brought Ahaziah, just at this fatal juncture, to see Joram, that he might fall with him and be taken as in a snare. This we had an account of before,
2Kgs 9:27,
2Kgs 9:28. It is here added that he was decently buried (not as Jehoram, whose dead body was cast into Naboth's vineyard,
2Kgs 9:26), and the reason given is because he was the son (that is, the grandson) of good Jehoshaphat,
who sought the Lord with his heart. Thus is
he remembered with honour long after his death, and some respect shown even to his degenerate unworthy seed for his sake.
The memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot. 10 We have here what we had before,
2Kgs 11:1, etc. 1. A wicked woman endeavouring to destroy the house of David, that she might set up a throne for herself upon the ruins of it. Athaliah barbarously cut off all the seed-royal (
2Chr 22:10), perhaps intending to transmit the crown of Judah after herself to some of her own relations, that though her family was cut off in Israel by Jehu it might be planted in Judah. 2. A good woman effectually preserving it from being wholly extirpated. One of the late king's sons, a child of a year old, was rescued from among the dead, and saved alive by the care of Jehoiada's wife (
2Chr 22:11,
2Chr 22:12), that a
lamp might be ordained for God's anointed; for no word of God shall fall to the ground.