2 Chronicles 22 commentary

The counsel of the ungodly ruins many young persons when they are setting out in the world. Ahaziah gave himself up to be led by evil men. Those who advise us to do wickedly, counsel us to our destruction; while they pretend to be friends, they are our worst enemies. See and dread the mischief of bad company. If not the infection, yet let the destruction be feared, Re 18:4. We have here, a wicked woman endeavouring to destroy the house of David, and a good woman preserving it. No word of God shall fall to the ground. The whole truth of the prophecies that the Messiah was to come from David, and thereby the salvation of the world, appeared to be now hung upon the brittle thread of the life of a single infant, to destroy whom was the interest of the reigning power. But God had purposed, and vain were the efforts of earth and hell.

CHAPTER 22

2Ch 22:1-9. Ahaziah Succeeding Jehoram, Reigns Wickedly.

1. the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah ... king--or Jehoahaz (2Ch 21:17). All his older brothers having been slaughtered by the Arab marauders, the throne of Judah rightfully belonged to him as the only legitimate heir.

2. Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign--(Compare 2Ki 8:26). According to that passage, the commencement of his reign is dated in the twenty-second year of his age, and, according to this, in the forty-second year of the kingdom of his mother's family [Lightfoot]. "If Ahaziah ascended the throne in the twenty-second year of his life, he must have been born in his father's nineteenth year. Hence, it may seem strange that he had older brothers; but in the East they marry early, and royal princes had, besides the wife of the first rank, usually concubines, as Jehoram had (2Ch 21:17); he might, therefore, in the nineteenth year of his age, very well have several sons" [Keil] (compare 2Ch 21:20; 2Ki 8:17).

Athaliah the daughter of Omri--more properly, "granddaughter." The expression is used loosely, as the statement was made simply for the purpose of intimating that she belonged to that idolatrous race.

3-4. his mother was his counsellor ... they were his counsellors--The facile king surrendered himself wholly to the influence of his mother and her relatives. Athaliah and her son introduced a universal corruption of morals and made idolatry the religion of the court and the nation. By them he was induced not only to conform to the religion of the northern kingdom, but to join a new expedition against Ramoth-gilead (see 2Ki 9:10).

5. went ... to war against Hazael, king of Syria--It may be mentioned as a very minute and therefore important confirmation of this part of the sacred history that the names of Jehu and Hazael, his contemporary, have both been found on Assyrian sculptures; and there is also a notice of Ithbaal, king of Sidon, who was the father of Jezebel.

6. Azariah went down--that is, from Ramoth-gilead, to visit the king of Israel, who was lying ill of his wounds at Jezreel, and who had fled there on the alarm of Jehu's rebellion.

9. he sought Ahaziah, and they caught him (for he was hid in Samaria)--(compare 2Ki 9:27-29). The two accounts are easily reconciled. "Ahaziah fled first to the garden house and escaped to Samaria; but was here, where he had hid himself, taken by Jehu's men who pursued him, brought to Jehu, who was still near or in Jezreel, and at his command slain at the hill Gur, beside Ibleam, in his chariot; that is, mortally wounded with an arrow, so that he, again fleeing, expired at Megiddo" [Keil]. Jehu left the corpse at the disposal of the king of Judah's attendants, who conveyed it to Jerusalem, and out of respect to his grandfather Jehoshaphat's memory, gave him an honorable interment in the tombs of the kings.

So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom--His children were too young to assume the reins of government, and all the other royal princes had been massacred by Jehu (2Ch 22:8).

2Ch 22:10-12. Athaliah, Destroying the Seed Royal Save Joash, Usurps the Kingdom.

10. Athaliah ... arose and destroyed all the seed royal--(See on 2Ki 11:1-3). Maddened by the massacre of the royal family of Ahab, she resolved that the royal house of David should have the same fate. Knowing the commission which Jehu had received to extirpate the whole of Ahab's posterity, she expected that he would extend his sword to her. Anticipating his movements, she resolved, as her only defense and security, to usurp the throne and destroy "the seed royal," both because they were hostile to the Phoenician worship of Baal, which she was determined to uphold, and because, if one of the young princes became king, his mother would supersede Athaliah in the dignity of queen mother.

12. he was with them hid in the house of God--Certain persons connected with the priesthood had a right to occupy the buildings in the outer wall, and all within the outer wall was often called the temple. Jehoiada and his family resided in one of these apartments.

Made Ahaziah his youngest son king - All the others had been slain by the Arabians, etc.; see the preceding chapter, 2Chr 21:17 (note).

Forty and two years old was Ahaziah - See the note on 2Kgs 8:26. Ahaziah might have been twenty-two years old, according to 2Kgs 8:26 (note), but he could not have been forty-two, as stated here, without being two years older than his own father! See the note there. The Syriac and Arabic have twenty-two, and the Septuagint, in some copies, twenty. And it is very probable that the Hebrew text read so originally; for when numbers were expressed by single letters, it was easy to mistake מ mem, Forty, for כ caph, Twenty. And if this book was written by a scribe who used the ancient Hebrew letters, now called the Samaritan, the mistake was still more easy and probable, as the difference between caph and mem is very small, and can in many instances be discerned only by an accustomed eye.

The reading in 2Kgs 8:26 is right, and any attempt to reconcile this in Chronicles with that is equally futile and absurd. Both readings cannot be true; is that therefore likely to be genuine that makes the son two years older than the father who begat him? Apage hae nugae!

His mother was his counsellor - Athaliah, the wicked daughter of a wicked parent, and the wicked spouse of an unprincipled king.

Went with Jehoram - See on 2Kgs 8:28 (note).

He sought Ahaziah - See a different account 2Kgs 9:27 (note), and the note there, where the accounts are reconciled.

All the seed royal of the house of Judah - Nothing but the miraculous intervention of the Divine providence could have saved the line of David at this time, and preserved the prophecy relative to the Messiah. The whole truth of that prophecy, and the salvation of the world, appeared to be now suspended on the brittle thread of the life of an infant of a year old, (see 2Chr 24:1), to destroy whom was the interest of the reigning power! But God can save by few as well as by many. He had purposed, and vain were the counter-exertions of earth and hell.

Hid in the house of God - "In the house of the sanctuary of God." - Targum. Or, as he says on 2Chr 22:11, בקודש קודשיא bekudash kudeshaiya "in the holy of holies." To this place Athaliah had no access, therefore Joash lay concealed, he and his affectionate aunt-nurse. - See on 2Kgs 11:1 (note).

Forty two years - Some acknowledge an error in the transcribers of the present Hebrew copies, in which language the numeral letters for 22 and 42 are so like, that they might easily be mistaken. For that it was read 22 here, as it is in the book of Kings, in other Hebrew copies, they gather from hence, that it is at this day so read in divers ancient Greek copies, as also in those two ancient translations, the Syriack and the Arabick, and particularly in that most ancient copy of the Syriack which was used by the church of Antioch in the primitive times, and to this day is kept in the church of Antioch. The daughter - Of Ahab, Omri's Son. Grand - children are often called sons and daughters.

His father - Who, while he lived, seduced his son himself, and made other evil counsellors unnecessary.

Ahaziah - Who, tho' wounded, had made an escape, 2Kings 9:27.

1 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.

Either 1. A cruel fort of Men who came along wich the Arabians, and therefore slew those whom the Arabians had spared and onely carried into Captivity. Or 2 The Philistins, who did accompany the Arabians in this Expedition, ch. 21. 16. who lived near the Kingdom of Judah, and therefore thought to make as sure work as they could in destroying all the Branches of the Royal Family▪ who otherwise, they expected, would recover Strength and revenge themselves upon them.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1+ letters] Kin. [illegible: 1 word]. 24, &c.; Ch▪ 2[illegible: 1+ letters]. 1[illegible: 1+ letters].

2 Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign , and he reigned one year in Jerusalem: his mothers name also was Athaliah the daughter of Omri .

Obj. He was then onely 22 years old, as is affirmed, 2 King. 8. 26. Besides, Joram his Father, died in his fortieth year, as is twice noted, ch. 21. 5, 20. how then can this be true? Ans. 1. In the Hebrew it is, A son of 42 years, &c. which is an ambiguous Phrase, and though it doth for the most part, yet it doth not always signifie the Age of the Person, as is manifest from 1 Sam. 13. 1 where see the Notes. And therefore it is not necessary that this should note his Age, (as it is generally presumed to do, and that is the onely ground of the difficulty) but it may note either 1. The Age of his Mother Athaliah; who being so great, and infamous, and mischievous a person to the Kingdom and Royal Family of Judah, it is not strange if her Age be here described, especially seeing she her self did for a season sway this Scepter. Or, rather 2. Of the Reign of that Royal Race and Family from which by his Mother he was descended, to wit, of the house of Omri, who reigned 6 years, 1 King. 16. 23▪ Ahab his son reigned 22 years, 1 King. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. 29. Ahaziah his Son 2 years, 1 King. 22. 51. [illegible: 1+ letters]oram his Son 12 years, 2 King. 3. 1. All which put together make up exactly these 42 years. For Ahaziah began his Reign in Jorams 12th. year, 2 King. 8. 25. And such a kind of Computation of the years not of the Kings Person, but of his reign or Kingdom [illegible: 1 word] we had before, ch. 16. 1. where see the notes. And so we have [illegible: 1 word] of the Persons Age, in 2 King. 8. 26. and here of the K[illegible: 1+ letters] to which he belonged. Ans. 2. Some acknowledge an [illegible: 1 word] in the Transcribers of the present Hebrew Copies, in which Language the num[illegible: 1+ letters]l Letters for 22 and 42 are so like, that they might easily be mistaken. For that it was read 22 here, as it is in the Book of Kings, in other Hebrew Copies, they gather from hence, that it is at this day so read in divers ancient Greek Copies, as also in those two Ancient Translations, the Syriack and the Arabick, and particularly in that Famous and most Ancient Copy of the Syriack which was used by the Church of Antioch in the Primitive Times, and to this day is kept in the Church of Antioch, from which that most Reverend, Learned, Pious, and Publick-spi[illegible: 1+ letters]ted Archbishop Usher did at his own great Charge get another Copy transcribed, in which he hath published to all the World that he found it here written, Twenty and two years old, &c. Nor doth this overthrow the Authority of the Sacred Text, as Infidels would have it, partly because it is onely an Historical Passage of no Importance to the Substantial Doctrines of Faith and a good Life; and partly because the Question here is not whether this Text be true, but which is the true Reading of the Text, whether that of the generality of present Copies, or that which was used in the Ancient Copies, which the Ancient and Venerable Translators above mentioned did follow: For it seems unreasonable and uncharitable to think that all of them would have conspired to have changed the Text, and put in twenty and two, for forty and two, if they had so read it in their Hebrew Copies. Nor can this open any great Door to those innumerable Changes which some have boldly and rashly made in the Hebrew Text without any such pretence of Authority, as there is for this, which as they are affirmed without reason, or authority, or necessity, so they may as easily be rejected. If all this will not satisfie our present Infidels, I desire them onely to consider what hath been hinted before upon such Occasions, that many Difficulties which did seem unanswerable, being now fully cleared by later Writers, it is but reasonable to think that this may be so in after times, either by finding of some Hebrew Copies in which it may be Twenty and two years, &c. or by some other way.

i. e. Of Omri's Family: Or of Ahab Omri's Son. Grandchildren are oft called Sons and Daughters, as Mat. 1. 1. Luk. 3. 26.

Marginal references: Chr. 2[illegible: 1+ letters]. 2.

3 He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counseller to do wickedly.

Being a Crafty and an Imperious Woman.

4 Wherefore he did evil in the sight of the LORD, like the house of Ahab: for they were his counsellers after the death of his father , to his destruction.

Who, whilest he lived, seduced his Son by his Counsel and Authority, and made other Evil Counsellers then unnecessary.

5 He 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 smote Joram.

Following the Evil Example of Jehoshaphat therein. ch. 18. though he would not follow him in what was good. But of this and the following verses see 2 King. 8. 28, 29. & 9. 21, 27.

7 And the destruction of Ahaziah was of God by coming to 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.

By his Providence so disposing Occasions and Ahaziah's Inclinations, that he should come at that season to receive his deserved Judgment.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1+ letters] ing [illegible: 1 word].; Iu[illegible: 1+ letters]g. 14. 4.; 2 Kin. 9. [illegible: 1+ letters].

8 And it came to pass that when Jehu was executing judgment upon the house of Ahab, and found the princes of Judah, and the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah, that ministred to Ahaziah, he slew them .

Either properly so called: Or the Sons of his Cousins or near Kinsmen, who are oft called Brethren: for his Brethren were slain, v. 1.

That came thither to wait upon their King Ahaziah, as is here implyed, and withal to visit Joram and his Children, as is noted, 2 King. 10. 13.

Marginal references: 2 Kin. 10. [illegible: 1 word]

9 And he sought Ahaziah : and they caught him, (for he was hid in Samaria and brought him to Jehu: and when they had slain him, they buried him , because (said they) he is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with all his heart. So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom.

Who, though wounded, had made an escape, 2 King 9. 27.

Either 1. In the Kingdom of Samaria, to wit, in Megiddo: Or, 2. In the City of Samaria: and so he fled first to Megiddo; and, not thinking himself safe there, he fled to Samaria, where he was taken and sent thence by Jehu's Order to Samaria, where he received the Sentence of Death. See more of this matter upon 2 King. 9. 27.

They gave his Servants leave to carry him away to Jerusalem and bury him there, 2 King. 9. 28. Both God and Men are oft times said to do what they and others do by their permission when they could hinder them.

i. e. His Posterity, because they were young and feeble, being ground between two Milstones, the great and growing power of Jehu; and the craft and tyranny of Athaliah.

Marginal references: 2 Kin. 9. 27▪

10 But 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.

This, and v. 11, 12. are explained on 2 Kings 11. 1, 2, 3.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1+ letters] Kin. 11. 1.

2Ch 22:1

Instead of the short stereotyped notice, “and Ahaziah his son was king in his stead,” with which 2Ki 8:24 concludes the history of Joram, the Chronicle gives more exact information as to Ahaziah’s accession: “The inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, his youngest son (who is called in 2Ch 21:17 Jehoahaz), king in his stead; for all the elder (sons), the band which had come among the Arabs to the camp had slain.” In ימליכוּ we have a hint that Ahaziah’s succession was disputed or doubtful; for where the son follows the father on the throne without opposition, it is simply said in the Chronicle also, “and his son was king in his stead.” But the only person who could contest the throne with Ahaziah, since all the other sons of Joram who would have had claims upon it were not then alive, was his mother Athaliah, who usurped the throne after his death. All the elder sons (הראשׁנים, the earlier born) were slain by the troop which had come among (with) the Arabians (see 2Ch 21:16.) into the camp, - not of the Philistines (Cler.), but of the men of Judah; that is, they were slain by a reconnoitring party, which, in the invasion of Judah by the Philistines and Arabs, surprised the camp of the men of Judah, and slew the elder sons of Joram, who had marched to the war. Probably they did not cut them down on the spot, but (according to 2Ch 21:17) took them prisoners and slew them afterwards.

2Ch 22:2

The number 42 is an orthographical error for 22 (ב having been changed into )מ,   2Ki 8:26. As Joram was thirty-two years of age at his accession, and reigned eight years (2Ch 21:20 and 2Ch 21:5), at his death his youngest son could not be older than twenty-one or twenty-two years of age, and even then Joram must have begotten him in his eighteenth or nineteenth year. It is quite consistent with this that Joram had yet older sons; for in the East marriages are entered upon at a very early age, and the royal princes were wont to have several wives, or, besides their proper wives, concubines also. Certainly, had Ahaziah had forty-two older brothers, as Berth. and other critics conclude from 2Ki 10:13., then he could not possibly have been begotten, or been born, in his father’s eighteenth year. But that idea rests merely upon an erroneous interpretation of the passage quoted; see on 2Ch 22:8. Ahaziah’s mother Athaliah is called the daughter, i.e., granddaughter, of Omri, as in 2Ki 8:26, because he was the founder of the idolatrous dynasty of the kingdom of the ten tribes.

2Ch 22:3

He also (like his father Joram, 2Ch 21:6) walked in the ways of the house of Ahab. This statement is accounted for by the clause: for his mother (a daughter of Ahab and the godless Jezebel) was his counsellor to do evil, i.e., led him to give himself up to the idolatry of the house of Ahab.

2Ch 22:4-6

The further remark also, “he did that which was displeasing in the sight of the Lord, like the house of Ahab,” is similarly explained; for they (the members of the house of Ahab related to him through his mother) were counsellors to him after the death of his father to his destruction, cf. 2Ch 20:23; while in 2Ki 8:27, the relationship alone is spoken of as the reason of his evil-doing. How far this counsel led to his destruction is narrated in 2Ch 22:5 and onwards, and the narrative is introduced by the words, “He walked also in their counsel;” whence it is clear beyond all doubt, that Ahaziah entered along with Joram, Ahab’s son, upon the war which was to bring about the destruction of Ahab’s house, and to cost him his life, on the advice of Ahab’s relations. There is no doubt that Joram, Ahab’s son, had called upon Ahaziah to take part in the war against the Syrians at Ramoth Gilead (see on 2Ch 18:28), and that Athaliah with her party supported his proposal, so that Ahaziah complied. In the war the Aramaeans (Syrians) smote Joram; i.e., according to 2Ch 22:6, they wounded him (הרמּים is a contraction for הארמּים,   2Ki 8:28). In consequence of this Joram returned to Jezreel, the summer residence of the Ahabic royal house (1Ki 18:45), the present Zerin; see on Jos 19:18. המּכּים כּי has no meaning, and is merely an error for המּכּים מן,   2Ki 8:29, which indeed is the reading of several Codd.: to let himself be cured of his strokes (wounds). ועזריהוּ, too, is an orthographical error for ועחזיהוּ: and Ahaziah went down to visit the wounded Joram, his brother-in-law. Whether he went from Jerusalem or from the loftily-situated Ramah cannot be with certainty determined, for we have no special account of the course of the war, and from 2Ki 9:14. we only learn that the Israelite army remained in Ramoth after the return of the wounded Joram. It is therefore probable that Ahaziah went direct from Ramoth to visit Joram, but it is not ascertained; for there is nothing opposed to the supposition that, after Joram had been wounded in the battle, and while the Israelite host remained to hold the city against the Syrian king Hazael, Ahaziah had returned to his capital, and thence went after some time to visit the wounded Joram in Jezreel.

2Ch 22:7-9

Without touching upon the conspiracy against Joram, narrated in 2 Kings 9, at the head of which was Jehu, the captain of the host, whom God caused to be anointed king over Israel by a scholar of the prophets deputed by Elisha, and whom he called upon to extirpate the idolatrous family of Ahab, since it did not belong to the plan of the Chronicle to narrate the history of Israel, our historian only briefly records the slaughter of Ahaziah and his brother’s sons by Jehu as being the result of a divine dispensation. 2Ch 22:7 “And of God was (came) the destruction (תּבוּסה, a being trodden down, a formation which occurs here only) of Ahaziah, that he went to Joram;” i.e., under divine leading had Ahaziah come to Joram, there to find his death. וגו וּבבאו, and when he was come, he went out with Joram against Jehu (instead of אל־יהוּא, we have in 2Ki 9:21 the more distinct יהוּא לקראת, towards Jehu) the son of Nimshi, whom God had anointed to extirpate the house of Ahab (2Ki 9:1-10).

2Ch 22:10-12 The six years’ tyranny of Athaliah. - In regard to her, all that is stated is, that after Ahaziah’s death she ascended the throne, and caused all the royal seed of the house of Judah, i.e., all the male members of the royal house, to be murdered. From this slaughter only Joash the son of Ahaziah, an infant a year old, was rescued, together with his nurse, by the princess Jehoshabeath, who was married to the high priest Jehoiada. He was hidden for six years, and during that time Athaliah reigned. The same narrative, for the most part in the same words, is found in 2Ki 11:1-3, and has been already commented upon there.

Ahaziah Slain by Jehu. (b. c. 884.)

1 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. 2 Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Athaliah the daughter of Omri. 3 He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab: for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly. 4 Wherefore he did evil in the sight of the Lord like the house of Ahab: for they were his counsellors after the death of his father to his destruction. 5 He 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 smote Joram. 6 And he returned to be healed in Jezreel because of the wounds which were given him at Ramah, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria. And Azariah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Jehoram the son of Ahab at Jezreel, because he was sick. 7 And the destruction of Ahaziah was of God by coming to 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. 8 And it came to pass, that, when Jehu was executing judgment upon the house of Ahab, and found the princes of Judah, and the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah, that ministered to Ahaziah, he slew them. 9 And he sought Ahaziah: and they caught him, (for he was hid in Samaria,) and brought him to Jehu: and when they had slain him, they buried him: Because, said they, he is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart. So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom.

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 (ch. xxi. 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 (v. 2), which could not be, for his father, his immediate predecessor, was but forty when he died, and it is said (2 Kings viii. 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, v. 3, 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 (v. 3, 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 (v. 3) and so were they, after the death of his father, v. 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 (v. 6) just at the time that Jehu was executing the judgment of God upon that idolatrous family, and so was cut off with them, v. 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, Rev. xviii. 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, 2 Kings ix. 27, 28. It is here added that he was decently buried (not as Jehoram, whose dead body was cast into Naboth's vineyard, 2 Kings ix. 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.

Athaliah Usurps the Throne. (b. c. 884.)

10 But 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. 11 But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. 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. 12 And he was with them hid in the house of God six years: and Athaliah reigned over the land.

We have here what we had before, 2 Kings xi. 1, &c. 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 (v. 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 (v. 11, 12), that a lamp might be ordained for God's anointed; for no word of God shall fall to the ground.