2 Kings 8:21

_YET THE LORD WOULD NOT DESTROY JUDAH FOR DAVID HIS SERVANT'S SAKE, AS HE PROMISED HIM TO GIVE HIM ALWAY A LIGHT, AND TO HIS CHILDREN._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

16-24 A general idea is given of Jehoram's badness. His father, no doubt, had him taught the true knowledge of the Lord, but did ill to marry him to the daughter of Ahab; no good could come of union with an idolatrous family....

Verse 2 Kings 8:21. _JORAM WENT OVER TO ZAIR_] This is the same as _Seir_, a chief city of Idumea. So Isaiah 21:11: _The burden of Dumah_ (Idumea.) _He calleth to me out of Seir_. _SMOTE THE EDOMITES_] It appears that the Israelites were _surrounded_ by the Idumeans; and that in the night Joram and his men cut their way through them, and so got every man to his tent, for they were not able to make any farther head against these enemies; and therefore it is said, _that Edom revolted from under_ _the hand of Judah unto this day_....

ZAIR - Perhaps Seir, the famous mountain of Edom Genesis 14:6. THE PEOPLE - i. e., The Edomites. Yet, notwithstanding his success, Joram was forced to withdraw from the country, and to leave the natives to enjoy that independence 2 Kings 8:22, which continued until the time of John Hyrcanus, who once more reduced them....

EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 8:1 THE SEQUEL OF THE STORY OF THE SHUNAMMITE. THE KILLING OF BENHADAD BY HAZAEL; AND THE WICKED REIGNS OF JEHORAM AND AHAZIAH IN JUDAH. 2 KINGS 8:1 Elisha is still the _protagonistes_ of the historical drama. The writer brings together in the present section two more occasions of a public character in which he was c

SO JORAM WENT OVER TO ZAIR,.... A city in Edom, the same with the Zaara of Ptolemy i; some take it to be the same with Seir, the mountain or country of that name: AND ALL THE CHARIOTS WITH HIM; all the chariots of war he had: AND HE ROSE BY NIGHT, AND SMOTE THE EDOMITES WHICH COMPASSED HIM ABOUT; who came out of their cities in great numbers, and surrounded him, he having entered into their country in an hostile way, to subdue them: AND THE CAPTAINS OF THE CHARIOTS: which belonged to the Edomites; those he smote, 2 Chronicles 21:9 AND THE PEOPLE FLED INTO THEIR TENTS; the army being routed. i Geograph. l. 5. c. 17....

ELISHA AND THE SHUNAMMITE. HAZAEL, KING OF SYRIA. This chapter is somewhat varied as to composition. It opens with a short story about Elisha (2 Kings 8:1), of which we may presuppose (_a_) that it is earlier than 5, because Gehazi (2 Kings 8:4) is not a leper; (b) that the king of Israel is an admirer of the prophet, By Elisha's advice the Shunammite lady, whose husband is apparently dead, leaves her home to avoid a famine (_cf_. Ruth 1:1), and her lands were restored when the king ascertained who she was. 2 Kings 8:6 is a second narrative of the prophet. Jehoram must have been king of Israel at the time, as Hazael was contemporary with Jehu. Th

THE PEOPLE: i.e. of Judah....

_So Joram went_[R.V. THEN JORAM PASSED] _over to Zair_ The name Zair is only found here. In the parallel passage of 2 Chronicles 21. we find -with his princes" instead of -to Zair", and as there is some similarity of sound between the two Hebrew forms, it has been thought by some that there is a mistake in Kings from some misreading of the scribe. Others have suggested that -Zair" is for -Zoar", through which place troops marching from Judæa into Edom would have to pass. Others with much more probability have taken Zair (צעיר), to be a miswriting for Seir (שׂעיר) the name of the mountain ridge which extends southward from the Dead Sea through the desert. It is true -Seir" is not named elsewhere by the writer of Kings, but there seems to be no occasion where he might be expected to mention it. _and he rose_[R.V. inserts UP] by night and smote the Edomites w

III. CONTEMPORARY EVENTS IN JUDAH 8:16-29 At this point the author picks up the history of Judah from 1 Kings 22:50 and gives a brief resume of the reigns of (1) Jehoram (2 Kings 8:16-24), and (2) Ahaziah (2 Kings 8:25-29). These men are the fifth and sixth successors of Solomon on the throne of Judah. A. THE REIGN OF JEHORAM OF JUDAH 8:16-24 TRANSLATION (16) Now in the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah began to reign. (17) He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and eight years he ruled in Jerusalem. (18) And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel according to all which th