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.
He walked also after their counsel, and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, to the war against Hazael the king of Syria at Ramoth-Gilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram.
One decision sums up Ahaziah's one-year reign: he took his direction from the family of Ahab and marched out to war beside Ahab's son. The verse reads like a military note. Commentators see in it the harvest of a marriage arranged two generations earlier. They ask what happens when a godly family ties itself to people who do not fear God.
The chapter has already named his advisers: his mother Athaliah and the house of Ahab. One writer shows how they took full control once his father died.
2 Chronicles 22:4 seems to hint that his father Jehoram repented during his last sufferings, and had partly broken away from the house of Ahab. That verse says the house of Ahab became his counsellors after his father's death, and led him to his ruin. His father's death removed the check on him. At once he joined his mother's relatives in their sins and their wars. This friendship cost him his life.
Ramoth-gilead was not new ground. One writer sets the grandson's choice beside his grandfather's.
So Ahaziah accepted advice from the house of Ahab. He joined Jehoram the son of Ahab in war against Hazael king of Syria. His grandfather had made the mistake of joining Ahab in battle, and God rebuked him sharply for it. Yet Ahaziah was so friendly with Joram king of Israel that he went to visit him after Joram was wounded in battle.
Another writer names what the alliance was in God's eyes, and what it cost the young king.
This alliance with the kings of Israel was an abomination in the eyes of the Lord... after opposing Hazael, God's rod against Israel, Ahaziah lays himself open to the blows of Jehu, the second of God's rods against his ally. These judgments on Israel neither move him nor hold him back in his path, and now they will reach his own person!
Jehoshaphat was a godly king who made one bad friendship. His grandson copied the friendship without any of the godliness.
"He even followed their counsel and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to make war." That is, the first evil begun by a godly king carries on. His son's practice is far from godly. The bad example of a good man has immense influence, above all with those who are not good. It hardens them, and so does deep damage that cannot be rooted out.
Ahaziah did not start the trouble; he inherited it. One commentator shows him still paying a bill his grandfather ran up.
Poor, young Ahaziah still reaps the harvest of the unfortunate alliance of his grandfather Jehoshaphat. The evil keeps spreading like yeast. His mother Athaliah, granddaughter of the wicked Omri and daughter of Ahab, was his counsellor to do wickedly... What might have been if his grandfather Jehoshaphat had never tied himself by marriage to Ahab and his house, and had never married his son Jehoram to Athaliah!
The damage reached past one lost battle and one short reign. One writer follows the cost down three more generations, and back onto Jehoshaphat himself.
Turn to the first chapter of Matthew's Gospel. There you will find that these three kings — Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah — are blotted out of "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." They are not counted at all in our Saviour's genealogy... The shame of it, the tragedy, the eternal loss, to this great and good man; and all for the sake of being friends with the world... David brought blessings on his family for four generations: Jehoshaphat brought a curse.
One writer presses the point onto our own dealings with the world.
The world will never give anything to a child of God without making large demands in return. Jehoshaphat had let Ahab kill sheep and oxen for him, so he would have found it hard to refuse Ahab's wish about Ramoth-gilead. The safest way therefore is to be no debtor to the world. Jehoshaphat should have had nothing whatever to do with Ahab; he should have kept himself pure... If we join with the world in its schemes, we must expect to be identified with it in its convulsions.
- Counsel. Ahaziah's ruin came from his advisers. Once his father died, nothing held him back, and he joined his mother's relatives in their sins and their wars.
- Repetition. Ramoth-gilead was the very venture God had rebuked his grandfather for. An ignored warning becomes a road walked twice.
- Example. A good man's one compromise carries immense weight with those who are not good; it hardens them, and the mischief is hard to undo.
- Harvest. Ahaziah reaped a crop he had not planted: a marriage alliance made two generations earlier was still bearing fruit in him.
- Identification. Join the world in its plans and you share its collapse. Three of Jehoshaphat's descendants are missing from the Saviour's genealogy.