And in the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, began to reign.
This verse turns away from the kings of Israel to date the start of a new reign in Jerusalem. It seats a son of Jehoshaphat on Judah's throne while his father still lives, and it gives two kings the same name.
The first difficulty is the name itself. Judah and Israel each had a king called Jehoram, and the shorter form Joram can mean either man:
There was, therefore, a Jehoram, king over Judah, as well as a king of Israel by the same name. Both also go by the name Joram, and the two forms mean the same thing. 2 Kings 1:17 and 2 Chronicles 22:6 call both kings Jehoram. 2 Kings 9:15 and 17 call the king of Israel Joram. 2 Kings 8:21, and other places, call the king of Judah Joram. Compare 2 Kings 8:16 with verse 29, and you find the two names swapped. We mention this to clear up a possible difficulty some may find here.
Jehoram of Judah begins to reign while his father is still king. An earlier chapter dates the two kings the other way round. One writer explains this with a shared throne, then draws a lesson for the believer who meets an objection he cannot yet answer:
In 2 Kings 1, Jehoram of Israel takes his brother Ahaziah's place in the second year of Jehoram of Judah. The explanation is simple. Jehoshaphat of Judah had made his son Jehoram co-ruler. Seven years later, while Jehoshaphat was still alive, he handed him the whole kingdom, perhaps because of the trouble he might have had with his brothers... The simple Christian has received these accounts from the hand of God, so to him they are never real contradictions. He cannot always answer the objections, for he is a limited creature who does not know everything. But as he waits on the Lord, he will get the answer sooner or later — when God judges the time is right.
Jehoshaphat did more than name an heir. He shared the throne early, like a man bracing for trouble he could see coming:
Of the seven sons of Jehoshaphat, Jehoram was the eldest, and his father gave him the kingdom "because he was the firstborn." It seems, from 2 Kings 8:16, that he shared the throne with Jehoram during his own lifetime. He probably saw what was likely to happen after his death, and feared it. So he tried, if he could, to prevent any such disaster by making the throne secure for Jehoram while he still lived. To keep his other six sons content, he "gave them great gifts of silver, gold, and valuable things, together with fortified cities in Judah."
Jehoshaphat left his son two legacies: a life of faith, and one bad friendship with Ahab's family. The son took the second:
Joram, the son of Ahab, had reigned in Israel five years when Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat took the throne of Judah. Instead of following his father's faith, he followed his father's bad example in identifying himself with evil men. He reigned only 8 years. His father had been friendly with Ahab. Jehoram married Ahab's daughter Athaliah, a woman as wicked as her mother Jezebel.
The marriage was not a private matter. It set the course of Jehoram's rule, and the same holds outside royal houses:
These unholy alliances led Jehoram and his son alike into the ways of the kings of Israel. The same holds true at all times. A Christian tied to a person of the world is bound to lose his testimony, and even the appearance of his Christianity. The Christian's alliance with the world never improves the world.
Why does Judah's king appear at all in a book that is following Israel? The tie between the two houses is the reason:
The Spirit of God takes notice of the consequences of Judah's alliance with Israel; but with this exception, Judah for the time is out of sight.
- Names. Jehoram and Joram are one name. Both kingdoms had a king wearing it at the same time, so the confusion is in our reading, not in the text.
- Dates. Judah's Jehoram began to rule while his father still lived. That overlap explains the dates some call a contradiction.
- Waiting. When no answer is in hand, the believer rests on what God has spoken. The light comes in God's time.
- Inheritance. Jehoram received a throne his father had secured with care. He copied his father's worst choice, not his father's faith.
- Consequence. The marriage into Ahab's house is why Judah's king shows up in Israel's story. The alliance never lifted Israel; it pulled Judah down.
He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
Two numbers carry this verse: Jehoram took the throne of Judah as a grown man of thirty-two, and he held it only eight years. Each number raises a question — how his reign lines up with his father's, and how a kingdom at its height fell so far so fast.
The dates look tangled, because 2 Kings 1 lines these reigns up another way. One writer explains it by a shared throne, and then shows how to handle such difficulties.
Here we are told that Jehoram of Judah began to reign over Judah during the lifetime of his father, in the fifth year of Jehoram of Israel. Now in 2 Kings 1, Jehoram of Israel succeeds his brother Ahaziah in the second year of Jehoram of Judah. The explanation is simple. Jehoshaphat of Judah had given his son Jehoram the regency. Then, at the end of seven years, while Jehoshaphat was still alive, he handed the kingdom over to him fully. He may have done this in view of difficulties he might have had with his brothers. … To the simple Christian, who has received these accounts from the hand of God, these so-called contradictions are never contradictions at all. He cannot always answer the objections, since he is a limited and ignorant creature. But if he waits on the Lord, he will receive the answer sooner or later, when God sees the time is right.
At thirty-two he was no child. His father Jehoshaphat left him a faith to copy and a mistake to avoid. Jehoram took the mistake.
Joram, the son of Ahab, had reigned in Israel five years when Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, took the throne of Judah. Instead of following his father's faith, he followed his father's bad example in identifying himself with evil men. He reigned only 8 years. His father had shown friendship with Ahab, and Jehoram married Ahab's daughter Athaliah, a woman as wicked as her mother Jezebel.
One writer traces the killings at the start of Jehoram's rule back to his father's alliance with Ahab's house.
It was all the result of Jehoshaphat's ill-advised alliance with the ungodly house of Ahab, and what he sowed he reaped, at least in dreadful anticipation. And his descendants had to reap it in reality, in a most terrible way. "When Jehoram had ascended the throne of his father and was established, he killed all his brothers with the sword and also some of the princes of Israel." He had married the daughter of a "murderer," and as a natural result he soon stained his own hands with blood.
Jehoram's eight years are not just royal history. One writer reads them as a warning about who a believer ties his life to. He also notes which way the influence runs.
These unholy alliances led both Jehoram and his son into the ways of the kings of Israel. The same holds true at all times. A Christian yoked together with a child of the world is bound to lose his testimony, and even the appearance of his Christianity. The world is never improved by the Christian's alliance with it. Rather, the opposite: bad company corrupts good manners.
Jehoram's name means "exalted by Jehovah." One writer sets that name beside the grave he was given and the kingdom he handed on.
He is one of the least attractive of all the kings of Judah. "Exalted by Jehovah," he was for his wickedness pushed down to a dishonoured grave. He took the kingdom at its highest glory since the days of Solomon. After a reign of eight short years he left it with "Ichabod" — the glory has departed — written large upon it.
The two numbers also date the end of his life, not just the end of his reign.
He reigned from the age of 32 until he was 40, a brief eight years, and died with no one to mourn for him. Though he was buried in Jerusalem, his grave was not with the kings. How sad an end for the son of the faithful King Jehoshaphat!
- Sown — His reign was a harvest, not an accident. His father's friendship with Ahab led to a marriage into Ahab's house, and "what he sowed he reaped."
- Chosen — He came to the throne a grown man of thirty-two. His father's faith stood in front of him; he took his father's bad example instead.
- Spread — The influence runs one way only. The world is never improved by the believer's alliance with it, and the believer loses even the appearance of his Christianity.
- Shortened — Eight years turned the kingdom's highest glory since Solomon into "Ichabod" — the glory has departed.
- Unmourned — From thirty-two to forty, then a grave in Jerusalem but not among the kings, with no one sorry he was gone.
And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife; and he did evil in the sight of Jehovah.
Jehoram, king of Judah, had a godly father in Jehoshaphat. Yet he ruled like the kings of Israel, and the verse names the reason — his wife. How does one marriage bend a whole royal line? And what does God do about it?
Jehoram took the throne after his father died. The record itself explains how he ruled:
After the death of Jehoshaphat, his son Jehoram became sole ruler over Judah. He walked in the evil ways of the kings of Israel and the record tells the reason, "for the daughter of Ahab was his wife."
He kept his father's throne, but not his father's faith:
Instead of following his father's faith, he followed his father's bad example in identifying himself with evil men. He reigned only 8 years. His father had shown friendship with Ahab. Jehoram married Ahab's daughter Athaliah, a woman as wicked as her mother Jezebel (v.18).
The marriage went back a generation. Jehoram's father, Jehoshaphat, tied his family to the house of Ahab:
The relationship arose from this: Jehoshaphat had "allied himself with Ahab by marriage" — not personally, but Jehoram his son had taken a daughter of Ahab as wife (2 Chr. 18:1; 2 Chr. 21:6). This alliance was a great evil, and the king of Judah had to prove its serious consequences. Later Jehu the son of Hanani saw this and said to him, "Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD?" … Alliance with the world — and this cannot be said too often — makes us responsible for its evil.
Another writer points to what lay behind that alliance, and to what it produced:
When Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance, he allied himself with Ahab by marriage. How often, when outward circumstances are prosperous, worldliness and forgetting God mark the condition of the heart! … When a godly household makes friendship with an ungodly one, the consequences are very terrible. God resents the unholy intimacy, and allows the evil of the ungodly to appear in the once godly household. The nation followed in the steps of evil, and Judah became like Israel, in a way that Jehoshaphat did not mean (2 Chron. 18:3), but which was retributive judgment from God.
This wife was Athaliah. Her family and her influence are on record:
Daughter of Jezebel and Ahab, and granddaughter of Omri (compare 2 Kings 8:26 with verse 18), wife of Jehoram king of Judah. It can be said that she brought the worship of Baal into Judah. She also brought up her son to follow her evil ways… This history is a solemn example of the danger of an unholy alliance.
One writer carries the same warning into the present day:
These profane alliances led the one and the other into the ways of the kings of Israel. The same holds true at all times. A Christian yoked together with a child of the world is bound to lose his testimony, and even the appearance of his Christianity. The world is never improved by the Christian's alliance with it. On the contrary, it is bad company that corrupts good manners.
The marriage shaped what Jehoram himself did:
He had married the daughter of a "murderer" (2 Kings 6:32), and as a natural consequence he soon soaked his own hands in blood.
The cost reached even into the genealogy of the kings:
Three kings are left out after Joram. The reason seems clear: Ahaziah's mother was Athaliah, the wicked daughter of Ahab, and God removes her seed from the genealogy to the third generation (2 Kings 8:16-24).
- Cause. The verse names the reason for a king's whole course: the daughter of Ahab was his wife.
- Root. That marriage grew out of his father's alliance with Ahab, a connection God rebuked with "Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD?"
- Reach. The wife, Athaliah, brought Baal worship into Judah and raised her son in the same ways.
- Cost. A yoke with the world never improves the world. It erases the testimony of the one yoked to it — and here it put a murderer's ways into Judah's king.
- Result. God's verdict — evil in His sight — echoed for generations, even to names cut out of the royal genealogy.
But Jehovah would not destroy Judah, for David his servant's sake, as he had promised him to give him always a lamp for his sons.
Jehoram of Judah married into Ahab's family and walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. Yet God refused to destroy Judah, and the reason lay not with the king but with David and a lamp that must never go out.
Jehoram's evil did not begin with him. It began with a tie to Ahab's house. One commentator turns that into a warning for any believer, and then notes why the kingdom still stood.
These unholy alliances led both kings into the ways of the kings of Israel. The same holds true at all times. A Christian tied to a child of the world is bound to lose his testimony, and even the appearance of his Christianity. The world is never improved by the Christian's alliance with it. Rather, the opposite: bad company corrupts good manners. True, the Lord is faithful to the promises made to David, so He does not destroy Jehoram of Judah. But Jehoram finds no rest in the world. His corrupted religion cannot give him that rest, and God's discipline and chastening do not leave him any.
Spared is not the same as untouched. The king God would not destroy still lived under His discipline and chastening.
Judah had earned judgment. One writer names what stood in its way.
Jehoshaphat, good man that he was, made a fatal alliance with the house of Ahab. His son Jehoram followed his father's bad example. He married Ahab's daughter and did evil before the LORD, as Ahab his father-in-law did. But the LORD would not wipe out the house of David. His covenant with David held back His righteous wrath from Judah. That covenant was a powerful influence for mercy in dark days of unbelief and evil.
The verse promises David a lamp. Elsewhere Scripture uses the same image for David himself and, in a fuller sense, for Christ.
In the Old Testament, anointing and the lamp appear together: "There I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed" (Ps. 132:17); "that David my servant may always have a lamp before me" (1 Kings 11:36). David himself was spoken of as "the lamp of Israel" (2 Sam. 21:17); and, in a far higher sense, our Lord Jesus declares Himself "the light of the world" (John 8:12). We see, then, that oil is a type of the Holy Spirit, and that anointing was by Him, as well as the power for light or testimony.
The verse names David, not Jehoram. One writer answers the "why" behind that with a single word: grace.
God always comes back to the grace He had shown to David. Grace is more in God's eyes than all glory. Or rather, grace is the most precious part of glory, for it stands at the head of all divine perfections.
Later the line of David came down to one child, Joash. One writer sets that beside the end of the royal house in the north.
The royal house of Israel is destroyed, and not a single man is left. God begins the trial of His patience again with a new dynasty, that of Jehu. But it is not so with the house of Judah. The faithful God keeps His word, for He had said He would always give David a lamp for his sons (2 Kings 8:19). In Joash He keeps alive for Himself a feeble candle stub, and He does not put it out. Through him an era of blessing and of the fear of the Lord would begin for the kingdom of Judah.
The promise has not run out. One writer says when it will be kept, and in whom.
Today there is no king reigning in the house of David. But when the times of the Gentiles are completed this will change. In Christ there will be a successor and a testimony — a lamp — for the house of David. This will last as long as sun and earth exist.
- Alliance — Jehoram's evil started with a marriage into Ahab's family. Ties like that cost a believer his testimony, and the world is never improved by them.
- Covenant — Judah stood on God's covenant with David, not on the king's worth. Grace held back the wrath Judah had earned, and grace stands at the head of God's perfections.
- Lamp — The lamp is a testimony kept burning. Scripture calls David the lamp of Israel; Christ calls Himself the light of the world.
- Discipline — Spared is not the same as unpunished. God's chastening stayed with the king He refused to destroy.
- Continuance — The flame shrank to one child, and God never put it out. In Christ the lamp will burn as long as sun and earth last.
In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and they set a king over themselves.
Jehoram had just become king in Judah, married to Ahab's daughter and copying the ways of Israel's kings. Commentators read the revolt in his days two ways: as God's government on a king tied to evil, and as an old word to Esau coming true.
Writers trace Edom's revolt back to the marriages that joined Judah's royal house to Ahab's:
These ungodly marriages led both kings into the ways of the kings of Israel. The same holds true at all times. A Christian tied to a child of the world loses his testimony, and even the appearance of his Christianity. The world is never improved by the Christian's alliance with it... Until now Edom had a governor who depended on the throne of Judah. Now it revolts and chooses a king for itself. The result is war. Jehoram has the advantage, but the revolt is not crushed, and this enemy is never subdued. It goes on "to this day."
Another writer notes what Judah's neighbours saw and did:
His power decayed at once, and the neighboring nations were quick to see it and take advantage of it... The spirit of rebellion spread: "At the same time Libnah also revolted from his rule, because he had forsaken the LORD, the God of his fathers."
Edom's people came from Esau, Jacob's brother. Writers tie the revolt back to Isaac's words to Esau, quoted here from an older translation:
Isaac said of Esau, "By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother: and when you have the dominion, you shall break his yoke from your neck." This prediction was fulfilled. The kings of Israel defeated them again and again, yet in the end they were able to declare their freedom.
One writer traces a fixed national character in Edom:
So the leading trait of Edom was envious dislike of the people of God. We do not find it so strong in any other nation. Babylon was Israel's greatest scourge except one: Rome, which punished the Jew even more terribly. Yet neither in Babylon nor in Rome was there the personal, unrelenting spite that seemed to be concentrated in Edom.
Edom's name points past the politics:
Edom is the same name as Adam, only slightly disguised. So the nation stands for the flesh, and "Those who are in the flesh cannot please God."
The same writer sets Jehoram beside his father Jehoshaphat:
Jehoshaphat had at least kept Edom under control, but not so Jehoram. If we walk faithfully with God, we will be able to keep the flesh under control. But when faith wavers, the flesh will soon show itself in deliberate evil.
Jehoram tried to win Edom back with a night attack, and he failed. One writer draws the lesson:
Edom was too strong, just as the flesh is too strong for mere human energy... Libnah also revolted at that time. Libnah means "whiteness." This teaches us that Judah lost control of moral purity at the same time as they lost control of the flesh. This will always be true.
The writers see God's own hand here, ruling over people who belonged to Him:
It is His government which we see here; for He rules over those who are in covenant with Him, those who are His house.
Behind the chastening stands a promise that Jehoram's wickedness could not cancel:
Yet despite Jehoram's wickedness, the Lord would not destroy the house of David, because of His promise to David and to David's descendants (v. 7). So the grace of God stands out as greater than judgment, even though in righteous government God would bring serious suffering on Israel.
- Cause: The alliance with Ahab's house came first; Edom's revolt followed. A believer joined to the world loses testimony, and the world is never improved by the link.
- Loss: What Jehoshaphat kept under control, Jehoram could not hold. Walk faithfully with God and the flesh stays down. When faith wavers, the flesh takes over.
- Spread: Rebellion did not stop at the border. Libnah — "whiteness" — fell too. Lose your grip on the flesh and you lose moral purity.
- Limit: Chariots and a night attack recovered nothing. Edom was too strong for mere human energy, just as the flesh is.
- Mercy: God was governing His own house, not discarding it. The promise to David stood, so grace proved greater than judgment even under real chastening.
And Joram went over to Zair, and all the chariots with him; and he rose up by night, and smote the Edomites who had surrounded him, and the captains of the chariots; and the people fled into their tents.
Judah had ruled Edom since David's day. Now Edom had broken free, and this verse records how Joram tried to win it back — a night breakout at Zair that saved his life but not his grip on Edom. Two questions follow. Why did Judah's strength fail? And why did an old word spoken over Esau come true now?
Two kings named Joram reigned at the same time — one over Israel, one over Judah. So which one fought at Zair?
There was, therefore, a Jehoram, king over Judah, as well as a king of Israel by the same name. They are also known by the name Joram. The two names swap freely. In 2 Kings 9:15 and 17 the king of Israel is called Joram; in 2 Kings 8:21 the king of Judah is called Joram.
Joram marched out with his chariots, and the Edomites surrounded him. One writer fills in what happened next:
His power decayed at once, and the neighbouring nations were quick to see it and take advantage… This happened at Zair, in Idumea, south of the Dead Sea. The enemy had him surrounded, and he only just escaped death or capture. He got himself out by a night surprise, but the expedition was a failure.
Joram struck a real blow and lived, yet Edom stayed free. One writer weighs both halves of that outcome:
The Lord, faithful to the promises made to David, does not destroy Jehoram of Judah. But Jehoram finds no rest in the world. His corrupted religion cannot give it, and the discipline and chastening of God do not leave him with it. Edom, which until now had a governor dependent on the throne of Judah, revolts and chooses a king for itself. The result is war. Jehoram has the advantage, but the revolt is not crushed, and this unsubdued enemy continues on "to this day."
Long before Joram, Isaac had told Esau that a day would come when he would throw off his brother's yoke. Writers point to Joram's reign as the moment it came true. David had made Edom serve; Joram could not hold what David won.
The blessing of Esau was: "By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; but when you grow restless you shall break his yoke from your neck" (Genesis 27:40)… David put garrisons throughout all Edom, and all the Edomites became his servants (2 Samuel 8:14). But later, in the days of Joram, Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah. Joram was able to punish them, yet Judah was growing weaker.
Does that cancel the older promise to Jacob? One writer says it only delays it, and traces the delay to Jacob's own faith:
This will be made good in its season, for the elder shall serve the younger — the promise is yes and amen. But from the days of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, of the house of David and the line of Jacob, Esau or Edom has been in revolt. So the promise is delayed, tangled and weighed down in ways the grace of God and the gift by grace had never designed. Jacob would never have gone through any of it, had his faith been simpler.
The failure had a cause older than the battle. Joram had tied his house to Ahab's by marriage:
It was all the result of his unwise alliance with the ungodly house of Ahab. He reaped what he sowed — at least as a dreadful foretaste of it. And his descendants had to reap it in full, in a most terrible way… He had married the daughter of a murderer, and as a natural result his own hands were soon stained with blood.
One writer draws a lesson from the failed night attack:
Jehoram (also called Joram) tried again to bring Edom under control. He took all his chariots with him and attacked by night, but his own troops fled. Edom was too strong, just as the flesh is too strong for mere human energy.
- Cause. Joram's alliance with Ahab's house was the root. What he sowed there he reaped in his own kingdom, and his descendants reaped it worse.
- Collapse. His power decayed at once, and the nations nearby saw it. Edom threw off Judah's rule and crowned its own king.
- Cost. The night attack at Zair was an escape, not a conquest. Surrounded, he broke out and lived — God kept His promise to David — but the campaign failed.
- Consequence. He had the advantage in battle and still lost the war; the revolt was never crushed, and Edom stayed free "to this day."
- Continuity. Isaac's word about breaking the yoke came true here. Yet "the elder shall serve the younger" is delayed, not undone.
But the Edomites revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time.
Jehoram of Judah lost two things at once: a conquered nation to the south and a town inside his own borders. The verse gives no explanation. It leaves the reader asking why a king of David's line could not hold what his fathers had won.
Jehoram did fight back, and the campaign nearly cost him his life. One writer describes how fast the kingdom weakened.
Decline of power set in at once, and the neighbouring nations were quick to notice it and take advantage. The Edomites revolted from the rule of Judah and made themselves a king. Then Jehoram went out with his princes and all his chariots. He rose up by night and struck the Edomites who had surrounded him. This happened at Zair, in Idumea, south of the Dead Sea. The enemy surrounded him, and he barely escaped destruction or capture. He got himself out by a night surprise, but the expedition was a failure. The spirit of rebellion spread.
Edom was the nation descended from Esau. One reference work reads its revolt as words Isaac once spoke coming true.
The words of Isaac were fulfilled. David put garrisons throughout all Edom, where the descendants of Esau lived, and all the people of Edom became his servants, 2 Samuel 8:14. Later, in the days of Joram, Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah. Joram was able to punish them, but Judah was growing weaker: "So Edom revolted from the rule of Judah to this day." Obadiah announces Edom's final judgement: no remnant is restored.
Commentators read Edom as a picture of the flesh — the old nature in us. On that reading, Jehoram's failure was a failure of faith.
In Jehoram's days Edom revolted from the authority of Judah and made a king over themselves. Jehoshaphat had at least kept Edom under control, but not so Jehoram. By faithfully walking with God we shall be able to keep the flesh under control, but when faith wavers, the flesh will soon assert itself in wilful evil.
Others press the point further: this is an enemy no treaty can win over.
You cannot turn this enmity into friendship. It is exactly the same with the flesh: "For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law, indeed, it cannot." So the barrier is there. And it stands even though many refuse to believe in any irredeemable old nature like this inside the Christian. They claim kinship, and would gladly make a brother out of Edom. It cannot be.
The second revolt struck inside Judah itself. One writer reads the town's name as a clue to what was really slipping away.
Edom was too strong, just as the flesh is too strong for mere human energy. So Judah regained no authority over Edom, right up to the day this account was written. Libnah also revolted at that time. Libnah means "whiteness." This teaches us that Judah lost control of moral purity at the same time as they lost control of the flesh. This will always be true. If we do not keep the flesh in subjection, we shall not have moral purity.
Libnah was no ordinary town.
Libnah was a city of Judah, a priestly city belonging to the sons of Aaron. What a shame for Jehoram! In his own kingdom one of the morally most important cities detached itself from him.
Jehoram had married Ahab's daughter. One writer puts the danger of such a partnership in everyday terms.
A Christian yoked together with a child of the world is bound to lose his testimony, and even the appearance of his Christianity. The world is never improved by the Christian's alliance with it. Instead, it is bad company that corrupts good manners.
One commentator sets God's correction beside the promise that kept David's line in place.
He went even further than his father in alliance with evil, "for Ahab's daughter was his wife, and he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD." Yet "the LORD would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that He had made with David." So when the Edomites revolted and Jehoram went out, he struck them. Still, God chastised him: "At the same time Libnah revolted from his rule, because he had forsaken the LORD, the God of his fathers."
- Yoking — it started with a marriage into Ahab's house. A believer yoked to the world loses his testimony, and the world is never improved by it.
- Forsaking — Libnah's revolt had a stated cause. Jehoram had forsaken the LORD, the God of his fathers.
- Losing — Edom pictures the flesh. Walking with God keeps it under control. When faith wavers, the flesh takes over.
- Spreading — control of the flesh and moral purity go together. So Libnah, whose name means "whiteness", went the way of Edom, and a priestly city inside Judah broke away.
- Kept — God would not destroy David's house, because of His covenant. Yet He still corrected the king. Being kept is not the same as escaping discipline.
And the rest of the acts of Joram and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
Kings closes the reign of Joram — also called Jehoram — the way it closes many other reigns in Judah. The rest of what he did sits in another book, and Scripture does not copy it out. So what was in those royal records? And why does God leave them out, while keeping the short, damning account we have?
The chronicles named here were records kept by the kings of that time. They were never Scripture, and they are gone.
These books often refer to the chronicles of the kings of Israel or to those of the kings of Judah. Men drew up these chronicles during the reigns of all the rulers of those times, whether Jewish or Gentile. They have nothing to do with the Word of God. What the Lord has not been pleased to record or explain is recorded there. These chronicles have been lost. The believer has no need for any of them; he has God's Word. In God's account he finds all that he needs, and God's own estimate of people, events, and things.
The same writer meets this line again at the end of another king's reign. He names what such a record can never hold.
If the chronicles of the kings of Israel were ever found, they would contain the acts and all the might of Jehu. They would not contain what he was before God, or God's judgment on his conduct as king.
But that verdict is written down somewhere. Another writer asks the same question at the end of a different king's life, and then answers it:
"Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?" Yes — and they, together with the wicked acts recorded here, are written in God's books above. Those books are not records of the kings of Israel only. They hold the deeds and doings of every man's life, whether good or evil. Solemn facts for us all!
Of all Jehoram did as king, Scripture keeps his marriage and his murders. One writer ties the two together.
"Now when Jehoram had ascended to the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself and killed all his brothers with the sword, and some of the princes of Israel also." He had married the daughter of a murderer, and as a natural consequence he soon stained his own hands with blood.
Another writer turns this into a warning for today.
These ungodly alliances led both kings into the ways of the kings of Israel. The same holds true at all times. A Christian yoked together with a child of the world is bound to lose his testimony, and even the appearance of his Christianity. The world is never improved by the Christian's alliance with it.
Two revolts stand among the acts this verse sums up. One writer reads them as a picture of something in us.
Jehoram (also called Joram) tried to subdue Edom again. He took all his chariots and attacked by night, but his own troops fled. Edom was too strong, just as the flesh is too strong for mere human energy. So Judah regained no authority over Edom, down to the day this report was written. Libnah also revolted at that time. Libnah means "whiteness," and this teaches us that Judah lost control of moral purity at the time they lost control of the flesh. This will always be true. If we do not keep the flesh in subjection, we shall not have moral purity.
His reign ended in disgrace, and no one mourned him. But his line did not end with him, and the reason lay outside him.
In judgment his end was miserable, dishonoured and unmourned. No reign had been so disastrous so far, unless we count Rehoboam's, when the ten tribes revolted… And again we may ask: is he a descendant of the house of David? Yes — and therefore he and his are not beyond repair. "The Lord would not destroy the house of David because of the covenant that He had made with David."
- Two books. The state chronicles held Jehoram's remaining acts; Scripture holds what God wanted known. Only one of the two still exists.
- Missing verdict. Human records store acts and power. They never store what a man was before God. Scripture does.
- Nothing lost. What men's books left out, God's books above keep — and not for kings only, but for every life, good or evil.
- The acts that mattered. Scripture keeps his marriage into Ahab's house and the murder of his brothers. That one alliance shaped all that followed.
- The covenant outlasts the king. Jehoram lost Edom, Libnah and all honour at his death. Still God would not destroy David's house. Judgment fell on the man; the promise held.
And Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.
Second Kings closes Jehoram of Judah's reign with one line: burial in David's city, and his son Ahaziah on the throne. Yet that calm record covers a king who married into the house of Ahab, lost land he never won back, and died unmourned.
Jehoram's name and his end point in opposite directions.
"He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem, and he departed with no one's regret. And they buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings." He is one of the most unlovely of all the kings of Judah. "Exalted by Jehovah" was his name, yet for his wickedness he was thrust down to a dishonoured grave. He took the kingdom at its highest glory since the days of Solomon. After a reign of eight short years he left it with "Ichabod" — the glory is departed — written large upon it.
Commentators differ on his burial. The account above keeps him out of the royal tombs. Another writer reads this verse as placing him among the kings, and notes what Jehoram never won back.
Joram (or Jehoram) died without regaining what he had lost, though he was buried among the kings in Jerusalem (v.24).
Chronicles fills in how he died, and the mood of the nation when he did.
And so he was to die, and outward troubles came upon him. "The LORD stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and of the Arabians." In the end, "the LORD struck him in his bowels with an incurable disease." So he died. "And his people made no fire in his honour, like the fires made for his fathers." He had gone on in sin, and he died in sorrow and shame. Such was the end of a son of David, really and literally the son of Jehoshaphat, whose name means "Jehovah is judge."
One writer points to a covenant older than Jehoram's reign.
Jehoshaphat's son Jehoram followed his father's bad example. He married Ahab's daughter and did evil before Jehovah, as Ahab his father-in-law did. But Jehovah would not wipe out the house of David. His covenant with David held back His righteous wrath from Judah. That covenant was a powerful influence for mercy in dark days of unbelief and evil.
The son named here was no fresh start. His father's death removed the one check left on him.
Ahaziah must have reigned as his father's deputy during the last year of his father's sickness... He was the youngest and only remaining son of Jehoram... His mother somehow escaped the fate of the rest of Jehoram's wives. The Philistines and Arabians carried them away captive when they invaded. She "was his counsellor in doing wickedly." 2 Chronicles 22:4 seems to hint that his father Jehoram repented during his last sufferings, and had broken away somewhat from the house of Ahab: "for they were his (Ahaziah's) counsellors after the death of his father, to his undoing." His father's death removed the check, and he at once joined his mother's relatives in their sins and their wars.
One writer traces the trouble back to that marriage.
One of the sad features of Jehoshaphat's association with the house of Ahab was that his son Jehoram married Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab. This had dreadful consequences for the line of David, because she carried the murderous spirit of Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, who was probably her mother. Association with the world can bring very disastrous results for the families of the saints of God, as Scripture shows here and elsewhere.
One writer sees that marriage reaching into the genealogy of Christ in Matthew's Gospel.
Verse 8 leaves out three kings after Joram. This is evidently because Ahaziah's mother was Athaliah, the wicked daughter of Ahab, and God removes her descendants from the genealogy to the third generation (2 Kings 8:16-24).
- Name — His name meant "Exalted by Jehovah," yet his end was a dishonoured grave. He took the kingdom at its height and left it marked "the glory is departed."
- Loss — He died without regaining what he had lost. An incurable disease struck him, and he died in sorrow and shame.
- Unmourned — His people made no fire in his honour, as they had for his fathers. The throne outlived him, but no one regretted him.
- Mercy — Judah stood because of God's covenant with David, not because of its king. That covenant brought mercy in dark days.
- Harvest — The crown passed to Athaliah's son. The marriage behind that shows how association with the world can bring disastrous results for the families of God's people.
In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, began to reign.
This verse dates Judah's new king by Israel's king — a sign of how tangled the two thrones had become. Writers trace that tangle back to a marriage two generations earlier.
He was the last son left to Jehoram of Judah. One writer explains why Scripture gives two different dates for the start of his reign.
Ahaziah must have reigned as his father's deputy during the last year of his father's sickness. This is clear from comparing 2 Kings 8:25 with 9:29. He was the youngest and only remaining son of Jehoram (2 Chron. 21:17)... Somehow his mother escaped the fate of Jehoram's other wives, who were carried off captive during the Philistine-Arabian invasion. She "was his counsellor to do wickedly." 2 Chron. 22:4 seems to hint that his father Jehoram repented during his last sufferings, and had pulled away a little from the house of Ahab. This is because it says they "were his (Ahaziah's) counsellors after the death of his father, to his destruction." His father's death removed the check, and he at once joined himself to his mother's relatives in their sins and their wars.
Ahaziah did not invent the mixture he inherited. His grandfather Jehoshaphat had tied Judah's royal family to Ahab's house by marriage.
The record makes his connection with Ahab prominent. He too did evil in the sight of the Lord. He made an alliance with Ahab's son Joram (or Jehoram), who was still king in Israel... Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, made an unholy alliance with the wicked murderer Ahab, King of Israel (1 Kings 22). It had resulted in the marriage of his son with Athaliah, the wicked daughter of a wicked father. And Jehoram, Jehoshaphat's son, was dragged down by her and she became the ruination of her son Ahaziah. A dreadful harvest!
Another writer points to that same alliance, and to how long evil keeps bearing fruit:
The pious Jehoshaphat's alliance with Ahab was the origin of all this, for evil bears fruit which continues long to reproduce itself.
One writer draws a lesson from these two short reigns for believers today.
The short history of King Jehoram and King Ahaziah of Judah is woven in here to link the order of events together. It still presents serious and instructive features. The daughter of Ahab (the husband of Jezebel) was the wife of Jehoram of Judah. Ahaziah, Jehoram's son, was also "the son-in-law of the house of Ahab." These profane alliances led both of them into the ways of the kings of Israel. The same holds true at all times. A Christian yoked together with a child of the world is bound to lose his testimony and even the appearance of his Christianity. The world is never improved by the Christian's alliance with it.
Ahaziah's reign ended in the judgment that fell on Ahab's house. One writer links that end back to the first compromise, and shows why a good man's bad example does so much damage.
The first evil begun by a pious king continues. His son's practice is far from pious. This is because a good man's bad example has immense influence, above all with those who are not good. It hardens them, and so works deep and lasting mischief. We are told that "the destruction of Ahaziah was of God, by coming to Joram: for when he came, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu." And so he came under the same judgment.
Israel's royal line was wiped out. Judah's line survived — not because its kings were better, but because of a promise.
The royal house of Israel is destroyed, and not a single man is left. God begins the trial of His patience again with a new dynasty, that of Jehu. But it is not so with the house of Judah. The faithful God keeps His word, for He had said that He would give David "always a lamp for his sons" (2 Kings 8:19). In the person of Joash He keeps for Himself a feeble candle stub, and He does not put it out. Through Joash an era of blessing and of the fear of the Lord would begin for the kingdom of Judah.
- Seed — Jehoshaphat tied his family to Ahab's house by marriage. That alliance was the origin of all that follows, and the evil kept reproducing itself long after he died.
- Soil — Ahaziah had already ruled beside his sick father. His father's death removed the last check, and Athaliah and Ahab's relatives became his advisers.
- Fruit — The yoke that joined Judah to Israel cost Judah its distinctness. A believer tied to the world loses his testimony, and the world is never improved by the tie.
- Harvest — Ahaziah went to visit the wounded Joram, and went out with him against Jehu. He fell under the same judgment, through the friendship he inherited.
- Mercy — The line survived anyway, because God had promised David a lamp — a faint flame He refused to put out.
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, the daughter of Omri king of Israel.
Ahaziah takes Judah's throne at twenty-two and reigns a single year. Then the record pauses to name his mother — Athaliah, of the royal house of Israel. That one detail explains the rest. How did the line of David get tied to the house of Ahab?
The verse calls Athaliah the daughter of Omri, but earlier in the same chapter she is Ahab's daughter. One commentator resolves the wording and traces the family lines that put Ahaziah inside Ahab's circle from birth.
His mother was Athaliah, called the daughter of Omri. That was a common way of speaking among the Jews. She was in fact the granddaughter of Omri, the head of this royal line. She was also the daughter of Ahab and the wife of Jehoram of Judah (v. 18). So she was the sister of Jehoram of Israel. Ahaziah himself was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab.
Ahaziah did not choose his mother. A generation earlier his grandfather Jehoshaphat, a king known for his devotion, made an alliance with the house of Ahab.
The kings of Israel had set the deadly example of a path that led Judah and all Israel to ruin (see 2 Kings 16:3). The godly Jehoshaphat's alliance with Ahab was where all this began, for evil bears fruit that goes on reproducing itself for a long time.
Athaliah was more than a name in the record. She advised her son, and he took her advice. One writer sets her beside an earlier king of Judah who faced the same test and chose the opposite.
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 his mother's wicked advice (v. 3). How different from Asa! Asa removed his own mother from her place as queen mother, because she had made an idol, an image of Asherah (2 Chron. 15:16). Anyone who chooses to ignore the Lord leaves himself open to being led into every kind of evil.
The parallel record in 2 Chronicles 22:2 says Ahaziah was forty-two when he became king. One reference work shows why the number here is the right one, using the family's own dates.
2 Kings 8:26 says he was 22 years old when he began to reign, but 2 Chr. 22:2 says he was 42. The second figure is surely a copyist's mistake, since his father was only 40 years old when he died. 2 Chr. 21:5, 20. The Syriac and Arabic copies read 22 in both passages.
Ahaziah reached the throne because there was nobody else left.
Since all Jehoram's sons had been killed except Ahaziah, the youngest, the people made him king.
One writer traces how that single year ended.
He formed an alliance with Joram king of Israel and went with him against Hazael king of Syria. Joram was wounded and went to Jezreel to be healed. Ahaziah later went to visit Joram, and God brought about his death by Jehu, when Jehu cut off the house of Ahab.
One writer turns these two verses of family history into a question for parents today.
The wife of Jehoram of Judah was Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab (2 Kings 8:18); Ahaziah was the son of Athaliah (2 Kings 8:26). This should make Christian mothers realize their responsibility. It should stir them to bring up their children in the fear of the Lord. On the other hand, it shows that when the head of a Christian family marries a woman of the world, the result is morally disastrous for the children born from that marriage.
The line looks finished. Yet one writer points to the reason Judah survived.
His son Jehoram followed his father's bad example. He married Ahab's daughter and did evil before the LORD, just as his father-in-law Ahab did. But the LORD would not wipe out the house of David. His covenant with David held back His righteous anger from falling on Judah. That covenant was a powerful influence for mercy in dark days of unbelief and evil.
- Root — Jehoshaphat's alliance with Ahab started the whole disaster. Evil bears fruit, and that fruit keeps reproducing long after the man who planted it is dead.
- Marriage — the alliance brought Jehoram and Athaliah together. Through her, a king of David's line is called son-in-law of the house of Ahab.
- Counsel — a mother's voice shapes a reign. Athaliah advised Ahaziah into evil. Asa faced the same test and removed his mother from her position.
- Harvest — one year on the throne, then death at Jehu's hand. Writers read this as a warning to parents about who they marry and how they raise their children.
- Mercy — the house of David should have ended here. God's covenant with David kept the line alive through Judah's darkest generation.
And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of Jehovah, like the house of Ahab; for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab.
Ahaziah reigned one year in Jerusalem, and the verse gives a family reason for his evil: he had married into Ahab's house. So how did a king from David's line come to copy Israel's worst family, and how far back did the damage start?
The verse calls Ahaziah a son-in-law of Ahab's house. One commentator untangles who was who, and why a king of Judah was fighting Israel's wars:
His mother was Athaliah, called the daughter of Omri. That 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. She was thus the sister of Jehoram of Israel. Ahaziah himself was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab. His grandfather Jehoshaphat had made an alliance with Ahab to retake Ramoth-Gilead, which had fallen under the power of the king of Syria. Ahaziah did the same. He made an alliance with Jehoram of Israel, son of Ahab, to make war against Hazael, the king of Syria, at Ramoth-Gilead.
The evil named here did not begin with Ahaziah. It began with his godly grandfather Jehoshaphat. He made friends with Ahab and sealed the friendship with a wedding.
Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, made an unholy alliance with Ahab, king of Israel, a wicked murderer. It led to the marriage of Jehoshaphat's son to Athaliah, the wicked daughter of a wicked father. She dragged Jehoram, Jehoshaphat's son, down with her, and she ruined her own son Ahaziah. A dreadful harvest!
Another writer names the same root, and what evil does over time:
The pious Jehoshaphat's alliance with Ahab was the origin of all this, for evil bears fruit which continues long to reproduce itself.
Ahaziah did not drift into Ahab's ways by accident. His own family advised him into them. Once his father died, nothing held him back.
His mother was his counselor in doing wickedly. 2 Chronicles 22:4 seems to hint that his father Jehoram repented during his last sufferings, and had pulled away a little from the house of Ahab: "For after the death of his father they were his [Ahaziah's] counselors, to his undoing." His father's death removed the check, and he at once united himself with his mother's relatives in their sins and warfare.
The verse gives the marriage tie as the reason Ahaziah turned out like Ahab. One writer takes that as a rule for every age:
These profane alliances led the one and the other into the ways of the kings of Israel. The same holds true at all times. A Christian tied to a child of the world is bound to lose his testimony, and even the appearance of his Christianity. The world is never improved by the Christian's alliance with it. Just the opposite: bad company corrupts good manners.
One commentator marks the moment the alliance turned deadly:
Ahaziah, king of Judah, went to his wounded ally to express his sympathy. By the world's standards this was an act of simple courtesy. But he had opposed Hazael, God's rod against Israel, and now he put himself under the blows of Jehu, the second of God's rods against his ally. These judgments on Israel did not move him or hold him back on his path — and now they would reach his very own person!
Ahaziah died with the house he had joined. The record of it carries a call that is still open:
He was the seventh from Solomon, and the first king of Judah to die a violent death. His name is the first of the royal line left out of the genealogy in Matthew 1... Jehu's commission did not include killing the king of Judah. But Ahaziah was among those doomed to destruction, so he shared their fate. In that system of wickedness the spiritual Jezebel teaches and seduces God's servants. And God's call to His own is this: "Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues" (Revelation 18:4).
- Root. The evil here goes back to a good king's friendship with a bad one: "the pious Jehoshaphat's alliance with Ahab was the origin of all this."
- Marriage. A wedding sealed the tie. The verse names that tie as the reason for his evil — he was son-in-law to the house of Ahab.
- Counsel. Athaliah "was his counselor in doing wickedly"; once his father died, "his father's death removed the check."
- Course. He walked where his relatives walked. Association does not reform the world; "the world is never improved by the Christian's alliance with it."
- Cost. He died with the house he joined — first king of Judah to die violently, first name dropped from Matthew's royal list. So the call is: "Come out of her, my people."
And he went with Joram the son of Ahab to the war against Hazael the king of Syria at Ramoth-Gilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram.
Ahaziah of Judah marches out beside Israel's king, and the fighting leaves Joram wounded. The verse reads like a plain military note, but commentators see the moment when Judah's long friendship with Ahab's house comes due.
Ahaziah did not choose this war alone. His mother Athaliah came from the northern royal line, and the men around him came with her.
His mother somehow escaped what happened to Jehoram's other wives, whom the Philistines and Arabians carried away captive when they invaded. She advised him to do evil. 2 Chronicles 22:4 seems to hint that his father Jehoram repented during his last sufferings, and had broken away a little from the house of Ahab, for it says that Ahab's family became Ahaziah's counsellors after his father's death, to his ruin. His father's death removed the check on him, and he at once joined his mother's relatives in their sins and their wars.
Ramoth-gilead was not a new battlefield for Judah's royal house. His grandfather had gone there before him, in the same kind of company.
His grandfather Jehoshaphat had made an alliance with Ahab to take back Ramoth-Gilead, which had fallen under the power of the king of Syria. In the same way Ahaziah made an alliance with Jehoram of Israel, Ahab's son, to fight Hazael, the king of Syria, at Ramoth-Gilead, a city of refuge (Deut. 4:43)... This alliance with the kings of Israel was detestable in the eyes of the Lord. Jehoram of Israel met the same fate at Ramoth as Ahab, whom the Syrians had wounded in that same place earlier (1 Kings 22:34).
One writer traces the ruin that followed back to where the pattern started.
The kings of Israel set the fatal example of a course that led Judah and all Israel to ruin. The godly Jehoshaphat's alliance with Ahab was the origin of it all, for evil bears fruit that goes on reproducing itself for a long time.
Hazael is named as the opponent in this battle, but the commentary reads him as more than a foreign threat. Earlier in the chapter he had been put on Syria's throne under God's hand.
Still, the judgments of God are being carried out. Elisha goes to Damascus, and Hazael, the rod of Jehovah to chastise His people, is placed on the throne of Syria.
Joram of Israel, also called Jehoram, had removed Baal. In that one respect he was better than his brother. Even so, the sword fell in his reign.
His brother Jehoram was not nearly so bad, for he removed Baal. But he did not remove Jeroboam's calves. No doubt he kept them for the same political reason that made Jeroboam set them up (1 Kings 12:26-30). In his day the sword of Hazael begins (2 Kings 8:28), and the sword of Jehu fulfils the prediction.
The wound Joram receives here is what draws Ahaziah to Jezreel in the next verses, and there Jehu finds them both. Writers see a principle of God's government in that outcome — Ahaziah is not spared because of the better line he came from.
King Joram was now returning to Jezreel to be healed of the wounds the Syrians had given him, and Jehu at once offered to pay a visit to his master... At that very time, sad to say, the king of Judah was there too. Here we find a very solemn fact about God's government. If a man who ought to be on the side of righteousness turns aside into a sinful alliance with evil, he suffers according to the evil he joins, and not according to the righteousness he may once have had... A sin is a sin whoever commits it, but whose sin is the greatest? Sin in a Christian is surely worse than sin in an ordinary man who has no Christianity. Sin is always measured by the privilege of the one who commits it.
The practical warning drawn from the Ramoth-gilead alliances is blunt: shared plans mean shared consequences.
If we join with the world in its schemes, we must expect to be identified with it in its convulsions.
Such a partnership only ever ran one way.
Each time Israel gained an advantage through the friendship of the king of Judah, what did it give in exchange? The loss was always on the side of those who, in some feeble measure, still bore the testimony of the true God.
- Counsel — Ahaziah's advisers came from his mother's family, the house of Ahab. With his father gone, nothing held him back.
- Alliance — He fought at the same city as his grandfather, in the same bad company. Evil sown in one generation keeps bearing fruit in the next.
- Rod — God had set Hazael on Syria's throne to chastise His people. Ahaziah marched out against God's own rod.
- Wound — The Syrians wounded Joram where they had wounded Ahab before. That wound drew Ahaziah to Jezreel, and to Jehu's sword.
- Reckoning — God judges a man by the evil he joins, not by the righteousness of the house he came from. Join the world's schemes, and you share its collapse.
And king Joram returned to be healed in Jizreel of the wounds that the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to see Joram the son of Ahab at Jizreel, for he was sick.
Two kings meet at Jezreel: one wounded in battle, the other coming to visit him. The visit looks like ordinary kindness. The commentators read it as the moment a king of Judah walked into a judgment God had already prepared.
Ahaziah of Judah was not a neutral visitor. He had joined the same war as the wounded king he came to see — the fight at Ramoth-Gilead, the Ramah of this verse. In doing so he was repeating his grandfather's choice.
His grandfather Jehoshaphat had made an alliance with Ahab to retake Ramoth-Gilead, which had fallen under the power of the king of Syria. In the same way Ahaziah the son of Jehoram of Judah made an alliance with Jehoram of Israel, son of Ahab. Together they went to war against Hazael, the king of Syria, at Ramoth-Gilead, a city of refuge (Deut. 4:43)… This alliance with the kings of Israel was an abomination in the eyes of the Lord. Jehoram of Israel suffered the same fate at Ramoth as Ahab. The Syrians had wounded Ahab earlier at that same place (1 Kings 22:34). He retired to Jezreel to be healed of his wounds. It was there that his ally Ahaziah, king of Judah, came to him to express his sympathy.
The Syrians who struck Joram fought for a king God Himself had put on the throne. The wound in this verse comes from a hand already appointed for the work.
Still, God's judgments are being carried out. Elisha goes to Damascus, and Hazael, the rod of Jehovah to discipline His people, is placed on the throne of Syria.
Scripture pauses here to record Judah's involvement, and Darby reads that as deliberate.
The Spirit of God takes notice of the consequences of Judah's alliance with Israel; but with this exception, Judah for the time is out of sight.
On the surface this is one ruler calling on a wounded ally. One writer reads it inside a longer story of warnings Israel ignored.
All these signs of patience and grace, these loud calls to repentance, met with no response from Israel, and God prepares His instruments of vengeance. Hazael, now the king of Syria, begins to carry out the sentence of God. The king of Israel is wounded in battle, and the king of Judah visits him. What is this but the professing world going to comfort the profane world? Judgment does not delay, and the next instrument of God is anointed. Jehu is called to the throne, and draws the sword of God.
Ahaziah did not invent this closeness with Ahab's house. He inherited it. The commentators trace it back to a king they call pious.
The pious Jehoshaphat's alliance with Ahab was the origin of all this, for evil bears fruit which continues long to reproduce itself. Alas, alas! What is man when he turns aside from Jehovah's ways? He leaves the narrow, straight path of God's word and will. He leaves the path of faith — the true path of an obedient spirit.
Kelly weighs what a good man's bad example does to those around him.
That is, 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 so works deep harm that cannot be rooted out.
Ahaziah made the trip to Jezreel himself. Scripture's own comment turns that friendly visit into the cause of his death.
Ahaziah's association and close friendship with the king of Israel proved his undoing. He visited the wounded king of Israel just as Jehu, at God's bidding, carried out His vengeance on the idolatrous and wicked house of Ahab. Jehu killed the king in Samaria, along with the princes of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah's brothers. The divine commentary on this is, "And the destruction of Ahaziah was of God by coming to Joram."
Leslie Grant notes the same turn in a single sentence: the warmth of the friendship, then the interruption.
Ahaziah was so friendly with him that he went down to visit him. But Chapter 9 shows us that God was intervening with some serious results for these two kings.
- Root. A good king's alliance with Ahab began it; evil, as Darby puts it, "bears fruit which continues long to reproduce itself."
- Fruit. The grandson inherits the friendship. Kelly warns that a good man's bad example hardens those who are not good.
- Battlefield. Hazael's men wound Joram at the very place Ahab was wounded. Hazael is the rod Jehovah had set on Syria's throne.
- Sickbed. The visit looks like courtesy. One writer calls it the professing world going to comfort the profane world.
- Reckoning. The writers point to Scripture's own verdict on the trip: Ahaziah's ruin came from God through his going to Joram. The friendship, not the battle, cost him his life.