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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
21:2-22:12 Jehoram and Ahaziah. God demonstrates his faithfulness to his promise to preserve David's house, even when the spirit of Ahab is manifested in specific Davidic kings.
21:2-6 Jehoram reigned , including a co-regency with his father from (see 2 Kings 1:17 and note on 2 Kings 8:16). His marriage to Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, implicated him in the evil ways of that kingdom. Once in sole possession of the throne, Jehoram demonstrated his true character through the murder of his brothers and other possible rivals (a policy that Athaliah would later repeat; see 2 Chron. 22:10). Alliance with the ungodly would bring the dynasty to the brink of destruction.
21:6 he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. See note on 2 Kings 8:18.
21:7 Because of the covenant that he had made with David is the Chronicler's comment added to his source (see 1 Chron. 17:14). a lamp to him and to his sons forever. A metaphor of persistence and permanence in the darkest times, perhaps suggested by the constantly burning temple lamps (2 Chron. 13:11). As the subsequent narrative shows, the Davidic line will be brought perilously close to extinction through murder and war (21:4, 17; 22:10), until it hangs by the slenderest thread. Against all odds, the dynasty will be preserved in God's grace, but Jehoram must still bear the punishment of his own wickedness (21:10-20; cf. notes on 2 Kings 8:19; 8:20-22).
21:8-10 This is taken from 2 Kings 8:20-22, with the additional comment that the revolts happened because Jehoram had forsaken the Lord, the God of his fathers (see 1 Chron. 28:9). Libnah was a Judahite city on the border with Philistia.
21:11-20 This is the Chronicler's own material. In contrast to his father Jehoshaphat, who sought to suppress the heathenish high places (17:6), Jehoram actually promotes their construction, probably as a consequence of his marriage alliance with the northern kingdom. Whoredom was a traditional term among the prophets for apostasy into idolatry (see Ezek. 16:16; Hos. 4:17-18). As always in Chronicles, the errant king is subject to prophetic rebuke; here, it takes the singular form of a letter . . . from Elijah the prophet. The last years of Elijah's ministry overlapped with the beginning of Jehoram's reign (2 Kings 1:17). As he had opposed Ahab (1 Kings 17-18), Elijah now condemns Ahab's spiritual successor (2 Chron. 21:6, 13) for leading Judah into idolatry and for murdering his own brothers. The destruction of Jehoram's own family is decreed, to be fulfilled at the hands of the Philistines and of the Arabians, while Jehoram himself is condemned to a fatal bowel disease. On disease as divine punishment, see 16:12; 26:19-21; and note on John 9:2. Jehoram's exclusion from burial in the tombs of the kings is a final indication that he belonged to the ways of Ahab rather than David.
22:1-9 The Chronicler's account of Ahaziah's brief reign () is adapted from 2 Kings 8:24-29; 9:21, 28; 10:13-14. The main interest lies with the malignant influence of the house of Ahab over the young and ineffectual king. Ahaziah's mother Athaliah is a daughter of Ahab (see 2 Chron. 18:1; 22:2) and his counselor in doing wickedly (the Chronicler's addition to the text). As queen mother, she held an official position in the court as a royal adviser. Her role was supplemented by other officials from the house of Ahab, who were Ahaziah's counselors, to his undoing (v. 4b, the Chronicler's addition).
22:5-9 Ahaziah's decision to join Jehoram (a variant spelling of Joram), king of Israel, in his bid to recapture Ramoth-gilead from Hazael, king of Syria, comes at the behest of his "Ahabite" counselors. Some years previously, Jehoshaphat had allied himself with Joram's father Ahab in an identical mission, ending in Ahab's death (ch. 18). Joram was wounded at Ramoth-gilead, and withdrew to Jezreel to recuperate. Ahaziah came to visit his ally there, only to fall into the hands of Jehu, Joram's commander, whom God had chosen to destroy the house of Ahab (see 1 Kings 19:15-17). Jehu's violent coup is described in detail in 2 Kings 9:1-28. The Chronicler assumes his readers' acquaintance with this narrative and focuses instead on Ahaziah's fate, which he remarks was ordained by God (see 2 Chron. 10:15; 24:20). Ahaziah falls under the same judgment as the house of Ahab, insofar as he followed the ways of that apostate dynasty.
22:9 In contrast to Joram, whose body was left exposed on Naboth's field (2 Kings 9:26), Ahaziah is granted a decent burial out of respect for his grandfather Jehoshaphat.
22:10-12 Athaliah is nothing more than a violent usurper who attempts to secure the throne for herself by massacring rivals from the royal family, including her own relatives. Like Jehoram (21:4), she brings the Davidic dynasty to the brink of destruction. But while she rules the land for (probably ), she does so without legitimacy: no statements at the beginning or end of her rule make her reign official. The contrasting figure to her is Ahaziah's sister Jehoshabeath, who courageously conceals the infant heir Joash throughout those years. The Chronicler adds the comment that Jehoshabeath is also the wife of Jehoiada the high priest, which helps explain how the child could be concealed in the temple buildings throughout Athaliah's rule. Mention of Jehoiada here also prepares the way for the following account of Athaliah's overthrow by the high priest.
