2 Kings 8:26

25-29 Names do not make natures, but it was bad for Jehoshaphat's family to borrow names from Ahab's. Ahaziah's relation to Ahab's family was the occasion of his wickedness and of his fall. When men choose wives for themselves, let them remember they are choosing mothers for their children. Providence so ordered it, that Ahaziah might be cut off with the house of Ahab, when the measure of their iniquity was full. Those who partake with sinners in their sin, must expect to partake with them in their plagues. May all the changes, troubles, and wickedness of the world, make us more earnest to obtain an interest in the salvation of Christ....

Verse 26. _TWO AND TWENTY YEARS OLD_ WAS _AHAZIAH WHEN HE BEGAN TO_ _REIGN_] In 2 Chronicles 22:2, it is said, _forty and two years old_ was _Ahaziah when he began to reign_; this is a heavy difficulty, to remove which several expedients have been used. It is most evident that, if we follow the reading in _Chronicles_, it makes the _son two years older_ than his _own_ _father_! for his father began to reign when he was _thirty-two_ years old, and reigned _eight_ years, and so died, being _forty_ years old; see 2 Kings 8:17. Dr. _Lightfoot_ says, "The _original_ meaneth thus: _Ahaziah was the son_ _of two and forty years_; namely, of the house of _Omri_, of whose seed he was by the mother...

Such names as Athaliah, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, indicate that the Baal-worshipping kings of Israel did not openly renounce the service of Yahweh. Athaliah is “the time for Yahweh;” Ahaziah “the possession of Yahweh;” Jehoram, or Joram, “exalted by Yahweh.” THE DAUGHTER OF OMRI - “Son” and “daughter” were used by the Jews of any descendants (compare Matthew 1:1). The whole race were “the children of Israel.” Athaliah was the grand-daughter of Omri (see the margin). Her being called “the daughter of Omri” implies that an idea of special greatness was regarded as attaching to him, so that his name prevailed over that of Ahab. Indications of this ideal greatness are found in the Assyrian inscriptions, where the early name for Samaria is Beth-Omri, and where even Jehu has the title of “the son of Omri.”...

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

TWO AND TWENTY YEARS OLD WAS AHAZIAH WHEN HE BEGAN TO REIGN,.... In 2 Chronicles 22:2 he is said to be forty two years of age; for the solution of that difficulty 2 Chronicles 22:2: AND HE REIGNED ONE YEAR IN JERUSALEM; which was the whole of his reign: AND HIS MOTHER'S NAME WAS ATHALIAH THE DAUGHTER OF OMRI KING OF ISRAEL; that is, his granddaughter; for she was the daughter of Ahab the son of Omri, 2 Kings 8:18, it was usual for grandchildren to be called children, sons and daughters, and perhaps she might be educated in the family of Omri....

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

TWO AND TWENTY YEARS. See note on 2 Chronicles 22:2. AHAZIAH. Note that Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah, omitted in Matthew 1:8, all died violent deaths (2Ki 9:27. 2 Kings 12:20; 2 Kings 14:19). DAUGHTER. Put by Figure of speech _Synecdoche_ (of Genus), for grand-daughter; and even for successors not in descent by blood....

_Two and twenty years old_was _Ahaziah_ In 2 Chronicles 22:2 his age is given as _forty-two_. This cannot be correct, but is due to a misreading of the Hebrew letters which were used as numerals. Jehoram, the father of Ahaziah, was _thirty-two_years old (see verse 17) when he began to reign and he reigned eight years. If Ahaziah was two and twenty at his father's death, he was born when Jehoram was eighteen. This is not uncommon in the East. Indeed we find from 2 Chronicles 22:1 that Jehoram had other children older than Ahaziah, but they were slain by the Arabian invaders. _Athaliah, the daughter of Omri_ Athaliah was the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel and so the grand-daughter of Omri. For this manner of speech cf. verse 20 of the next chapter, where Jehu is called

ATHALIAH, THE DAUGHTER OF OMRI— Houbigant reads it, _The daughter of Ahab, the son of Omri._ REFLECTIONS.—1st, We have here, 1. An account of the wicked reign of Jehoram king of Judah, who, during his father's life, was associated with him to govern. Utterly unlike the good Jehoshaphat, he cleaved to the sins of the house of Ahab; and having taken his daughter to wife, she poisoned his heart with her idolatries. _Note;_ (1.) Good men, to their grief, have often very wicked children. (2.) A wicked wife is among the greatest of God's plagues. (3.) Nothing can be so dangerous to young men as bad connections. Much more easily will they imbibe the principles and practices of a wicked Ahab, than of a pious Jehoshaphat. 2nd, Ahaziah succeeded his father, and walked, like him, in the wicked ways of Ahab's family. What else could be expected from the son of Jezebel's daughter, and the example o...

B. THE REIGN OF AHAZIAH OF JUDAH 8:25-29 TRANSLATION (25) In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign. (26) Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Athaliah the daughter of Omri the king of Israel. (27) And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the eyes of the LORD like the house of Ahab, for he was related by marriage to the house of Ahab. (28) And he went with Joram the son of Ahab to war with Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead; and the Arameans smote Joram. (29) And Joram the king returned to convalesce in Jezreel from the wounds which the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram; and Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezre...