(29) In the eleventh year of Joram.--2Kings 8:25 says "in the twelfth year of Joram." Such a difference is not remarkable, inasmuch as the synchronisms between the reigns of the two kingdoms are not based upon exact records. Moreover, different computations might make the same year the eleventh or tweftth of Joram. (The verse is a parenthesis, and perhaps spurious.)Verse 29. - And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Israel. In 2 Kings 8:25 the accession of Ahaziah is placed in Joram's twelfth, instead of his eleventh, year. The slight discrepancy is sufficiently explained By the double reckoning of a king's "first year," familiar to chronologists, either (1) from the date of the accession to the end of the current civil year; or (2) from the date of the accession to the same day in the ensuing year. Vers. 30-37. - Death of Jezebel. 9:16-29 Jehu was a man of eager spirit. The wisdom of God is seen in the choice of those employed in his work. But it is not for any man's reputation to be known by his fury. He that has rule over his own spirit, is better than the mighty. Joram met Jehu in the portion of Naboth. The circumstances of events are sometimes ordered by Divine Providence to make the punishment answer to the sin, as face answers to face in a glass. The way of sin can never be the way of peace, Isa 57:21. What peace can sinners have with God? No peace so long as sin is persisted in; but when it is repented of and forsaken, there is peace. Joram died as a criminal, under the sentence of the law. Ahaziah was joined with the house of Ahab. He was one of them; he had made himself so by sin. It is dangerous to join evil-doers; we shall be entangled in guilt and misery by it.And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah. In 2 Kings 8:25, it is said to be in the twelfth year of his reign; it was at the close of the eleventh, and the beginning of the twelfth; or he began to reign with his father in the eleventh as here, and in the twelfth as there, when his father was dead. |