And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his stead; for the band of men that came in the camp with the Arabians had slain all the elder ones. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Athaliah, daughter of Omri.
A king's record here holds three facts: his age, the length of his reign, and his mother's name. Each one carries weight. The age raises a well-known question about the text. The mother's name explains everything that follows.
Older English translations read "forty and two years old" here. But 2 Kings 8:26 says twenty-two. Commentators treat the higher number as a copying slip, and the reason is simple.
"Forty-two" in 2 Chronicles 22:2 is doubtless a transcriber's error. His father was only forty at his death.
A son cannot be two years older than his own father. Old copies in other languages agree. "The Syriac and Arabic copies read 22 in both passages," notes the Morrish Bible Dictionary.
So does a scribe's mistake damage the Bible? One writer answers with a distinction:
Names, numbers, and the like are especially liable to error in transcription. The way people keep or use Scripture is different in its very nature from inspiration. Only ignorance or fraud confuses the two.
Another writer notes how rare such cases are:
In some extremely rare cases an error may have occurred. In 2 Kings 8:26 Ahaziah's age is 22 years, while in 2 Chronicles 22:2 it is 42 — possibly the result of a copying error. But our faith does not depend on this detail.
The verse calls her the daughter of Omri, though she belongs to the next generation down. Her family ties run through both kingdoms at once.
His mother was Athaliah, daughter of Omri. This was a common way of speaking among the Jews. She was in fact the granddaughter of Omri, the head of this dynasty. She was the daughter of Ahab and the wife of Jehoram of Judah. So she was the sister of Jehoram of Israel.
Athaliah did not arrive in Judah by accident. Ahaziah's grandfather Jehoshaphat put her there.
Poor young Ahaziah still reaps the harvest of the unfortunate alliance of his grandfather Jehoshaphat. The evil is spreading like yeast and doing its dreadful work. His mother Athaliah, granddaughter of the wicked Omri and daughter of Ahab, was his adviser in doing evil. What might have been, if his grandfather Jehoshaphat had not allied himself with Ahab and his house, and married his son Jehoram to Athaliah!
The damage did not stop with Ahaziah:
The godly Jehoshaphat's alliance with Ahab was the origin of all this, for evil bears fruit that goes on reproducing itself for a long time.
Ahaziah came to the throne as the only son left alive, and he lasted a year. The record names his mother because she guided him. Another king dealt with his own mother very differently.
All Jehoram's sons had been killed except Ahaziah, the youngest, so the people made him king. He took the throne at the age of 22, and he reigned only one year. Sadly, the Lord's judgment on his father did not turn him to the Lord. Instead, he followed the ways of the house of Ahab. His mother was Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, and he accepted the wicked advice of his mother. How different from Asa, who removed his mother from the place of queen mother because she had made an idol.
This has a direct message for homes today:
This should make Christian mothers realise their responsibility. It should stir them up to bring up their children in the fear of the Lord. On the other hand, it shows what happens when the head of a Christian family marries a woman of the world. The result is morally disastrous for the children born of that marriage.
- Alliance — Jehoshaphat, a godly king, married his son into Ahab's house. Commentators call that step the origin of the ruin that followed.
- Mother — that marriage made Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and granddaughter of Omri, the queen mother in Judah.
- Counsel — the record names her because she guided her son. Asa shows the other way: he removed his own mother from that place.
- One year — Ahaziah's whole reign lasted twelve months. It was the short, bitter harvest of a seed planted two generations before.
- Numbers — the "forty-two" of older versions is taken as a copying slip, since his father died at forty. How people copy Scripture is one thing; inspiration is another. Faith does not rest on a digit.
He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab; for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly.
Ahaziah took the throne of Judah as the last surviving son of a wicked father. The verse names the reason his one-year reign went the way it did: the ways of Ahab reached him through his own mother. What happens when the person closest to a young king is the one steering him away from God?
Athaliah came from the royal house of Israel and married into the royal line of David. One writer follows how she survived, and finds a hint that Ahaziah's father had pulled back from Ahab's house near the end:
He was the youngest and only remaining son of Jehoram. His mother's name was Athaliah, the daughter (or granddaughter) of Omri king of Israel. He was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab. Somehow his mother escaped what happened to Jehoram's other wives, who were taken away captive when the Philistines and Arabians invaded. She "was his counselor in doing wickedly." 2 Chronicles 22:4 seems to give a slight hint that his father Jehoram repented during his last sufferings, and had pulled back a little from the house of Ahab: "for after the death of his father they were his counselors, to his undoing." His father's death removed the check, and he at once joined his mother's relatives in their sins and wars.
Ahaziah did not start this link with Ahab. It began with his grandfather Jehoshaphat, a good king who tied his family to Ahab's by marriage:
Poor young Ahaziah still reaps the harvest of the unfortunate alliance of his grandfather Jehoshaphat. The bad influence keeps spreading and doing its dreadful work. His mother Athaliah, granddaughter of the wicked Omri and daughter of Ahab, was his counselor in doing wickedly. So he did evil in the sight of the LORD, like the house of Ahab. After the death of his father they were his counselors, and they led him to his destruction. What might have been, if his grandfather Jehoshaphat had never allied with Ahab's house and married his son Jehoram to Athaliah!
A godly man's wrong step does not stay with him. It lands hardest on people who had no desire to follow God anyway:
His mother was that infamous Athaliah, the daughter of Omri. … The first evil, begun by a godly king, continues. The way his son lives is far from godly, for the bad example of a good man has immense influence, especially with those who are not good. It hardens them, and so works deep mischief that cannot be rooted out. "The destruction of Ahaziah was of God," as we are told, "by his going to Joram: for when he came, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu." And so he came under the same judgment.
Ahaziah was not the only king of Judah with an idolatrous mother. An earlier king faced the same problem and dealt with it, which makes Ahaziah's choice to listen all the more his own:
Sadly, the Lord's judgment on his father did not move him to turn to the Lord. Instead he followed the ways of the house of Ahab. His mother was Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, and he accepted the wicked advice of his mother (v. 3). How different to Asa, who removed his mother from the place of queen mother because she had made an idol, an image of Asherah (2 Chronicles 15:16). Anyone who deliberately ignores the Lord leaves the door open for every kind of evil to lead him.
Once her son was dead, Athaliah turned on her own descendants. One writer names what drove her:
Athaliah, in her anger, now starts on a most cruel plan — the destruction of the royal family — for she worshipped idols, and she hated the word and the purpose of God. She had all the power, and she had no conscience. Hatred and bitterness against the true God and the house of David filled her heart, though she was herself a mother of that house. What will hatred of God not do in overturning every natural affection?
- Sown — Jehoshaphat, a godly king, tied his family to Ahab's by marriage. Ahaziah reaped the harvest.
- Spread — a good man's bad example carries immense weight. It hardens most the people who never wanted to follow God.
- Counselled — Athaliah came from Ahab and Jezebel, and Ahaziah accepted her wicked advice.
- Refused — Asa removed his mother from her position over an idol she had made. Ahaziah could have acted too. He chose not to.
- Destroyed — his father's death removed the check. His counsellors led him to ruin, and his mother then turned on the royal line she belonged to.
And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah like the house of Ahab; for they were his counsellors after the death of his father, to his destruction.
Ahaziah became king of Judah, and his reign ended in violence. This verse gives the reason in two strokes: the pattern he copied, and the people he listened to.
Ahaziah did not invent his evil; he copied it. One writer traces the first evil in this family back to a good king.
The first evil begun by a pious king continues. The practice of his son is far from pious, for the bad example of a good man has immense influence, especially with those who are not good. It hardens them, and therefore works deep and lasting mischief.
The verse dates the bad counsel: it began "after the death of his father." One writer takes that as a hint that Jehoram himself had started to pull away from Ahab's family before he died.
His mother somehow escaped the fate of the rest of Jehoram's wives, and "was his counsellor to do wickedly." 2 Chronicles 22:4 seems to give a slight hint that his father Jehoram repented during his last illness, and had broken away a little from the house of Ahab. It says "they were his (Ahaziah's) counsellors after the death of his father, to his destruction." His father's death removed the check. He at once joined his mother's relatives in their sins and their wars.
Another king of Judah had faced the same pressure from a mother and answered it differently.
His mother was Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, and he accepted the wicked advice of his mother (v. 3). How different from Asa! He removed his mother from her place as queen mother, because she had made an idol, an image of Asherah (2 Chron. 15:16). One who deliberately ignores the Lord leaves himself open to being led into every form of evil.
Ahaziah's advisers were in his house because his grandfather Jehoshaphat, a good king, had married his son to Ahab's daughter. Writers trace the whole disaster back to that one decision.
The kings of Israel had been the fatal examples of a course which had led Judah and all Israel to their ruin (see 2 Kings 16:3). The pious Jehoshaphat's alliance with Ahab was the origin of all this, for evil bears fruit which continues long to reproduce itself.
The same point is put in terms of sowing and reaping, with a direct word to parents:
Jehoshaphat had joined affinity with Ahab (18:1), and married his son Jehoram to Athaliah. "What a man sows that will he reap." His unholy alliance began to bear fruit. And how often have Christian parents seen their children depart from God and follow altogether the wicked ways of the world, because they themselves had set the example.
Repenting of a sin is not the same as judging what led to it. One writer reads Jehoshaphat that way, and draws a wider lesson:
It is evident that although Jehoshaphat had repented of his former evil, and been restored, he had not thoroughly judged himself before God for the unholy alliance. Like many more in this day, the king found it hard to grasp that association with evil defiles. Whatever man may think, God has made it crystal clear in both the Old and New Testaments that He views very seriously the association of His saints with the ungodly of this world.
The verse ends with the result: "to his undoing" — rendered "to his destruction" in older translations. One writer sets Ahaziah's end beside his father's.
How marked the judgment of God upon these two kings! The former (Jehoram) dying of a dreadful disease, the latter slain by the sword, a poor runaway fugitive. But it was the vengeance of God (2 Chron. 22:7).
Ahaziah's death left David's royal line hanging on one hidden baby.
The line from David to Messiah is at this time thinned to a mere feeble thread. The promised glory seemed to hang upon the fragile life and safe hiding of an infant. Yet the promise of God is as sure and His counsels as firm while the infant Joash is in hiding. Joash's unnaturally wicked grandmother, a mere tool in the hands of a greater enemy, would seek his life. The purpose of God was as sure, and His decree as unchangeable, as when Solomon was in all his glory.
- Counsel — Ahaziah's ruin came from who he listened to. His mother and Ahab's family filled the space his father's death left empty.
- Copy — He did not invent his evil; he imitated it. One writer notes that a good man's bad example hardens those who were never good.
- Cause — Jehoshaphat, a godly king, married his son into Ahab's house. What he sowed there was still bearing fruit in his grandson.
- Cost — The counsel did what the verse says it would do: it undid him. He died by the sword, a runaway fugitive, under the judgment of God.
- Covenant — A greater enemy came within one infant of ending David's line, and failed. The line hung on a thread, and God's promise held it.