Chapter XXI

=1= (= 1 Kings xxii. 50).
JEHOSHAPHAT SUCCEEDED BY JEHORAM.

=2‒4= (no parallel in Kings).
THE NAMES AND THE FATE OF THE OTHER SONS OF JEHOSHAPHAT.

=2‒4.= Presumably the Chronicler has drawn the information given in these verses from traditional sources. The details of the names of the brethren, their possessions, and their massacre by Jehoram are not likely to be the product of the Chronicler’s unaided imagination.

¹And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with
his fathers in the city of David; and Jehoram his son reigned
in his stead. ²And he had brethren the sons of Jehoshaphat,
Azariah, and Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariah, and Michael,
and Shephatiah: all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of
Israel.

=2.= _brethren the sons of Jehoshaphat_] It was necessary to define _brethren_, for the word by itself means no more than “kinsmen”; compare 1 Chronicles xii. 3 (note).

_Azariah_] Since this name (with a slight variation of spelling) is repeated in the list it is probable that the text is corrupt. Yet the error may be no more than the omission of some epithet which distinguished one Azariah from the other in the original text of the verse. The LXX. gives no help.

_king of Israel_] Compare xi. 3, note.

³And their father gave them great gifts, of silver, and of gold,
and of precious things, with fenced cities in Judah: but the
kingdom gave he to Jehoram, because he was the firstborn.

=3.= _their father gave them_] Rehoboam did the same; xi. 23.

_precious things_] Hebrew _migdānōth_; compare xxxii. 23.

⁴Now when Jehoram was risen up over the kingdom of his father,
and had strengthened himself, he slew all his brethren with the
sword, and divers also of the princes of Israel.

=4.= _strengthened himself_] Compare i. 1 (note).

=5‒7= (= 2 Kings viii. 17‒19).
THE EVIL CHARACTER OF JEHORAM’S REIGN.

⁵Jehoram was thirty and two years old when he began to reign;
and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ⁶And he walked in the
way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab: for he had
the daughter of Ahab to wife: and he did that which was evil in
the sight of the LORD.

=6.= _of Ahab_] Compare xviii. 1 (note).

⁷Howbeit the LORD would not destroy the house of David, because
of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised
to give a lamp to him and to his children alway.

=7.= _the house of David_] In 2 Kings _Judah_, a term sparingly used in Chronicles; compare xi. 3 (note).

_a lamp_] Thus figuratively applied the Hebrew word is written _nīr_; ordinarily “lamp” is _nēr_ in Hebrew.

=8‒10= (= 2 Kings viii. 20‒22).
THE REVOLT OF EDOM.

⁸In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and
made a king over themselves.

=8.= _In his days Edom revolted_] From 1 Chronicles xviii. 11‒13 (compare 2 Samuel viii. 13 f.) it appears that Edom was subjugated in the reign of David, and it seems to have remained so until Jehoram’s reign. If, as is probable, the _Meunim_ are to be reckoned an Edomitic tribe (see the notes on xx. 1, 10), Edom may have made a vain attempt to throw off the Judean suzerainty in Jehoshaphat’s time, and this would suit the remark in 1 Kings xxii. 47 “And there was no king in Edom: a deputy was king”――i.e. a nominee of Jehoshaphat. Moreover the tradition of Jehoshaphat’s shipbuilding at Ezion-geber on the Gulf of Akaba implies the maintenance of his hold over Edom.

⁹Then Jehoram passed over with his captains, and all his
chariots with him: and he rose up by night, and smote the
Edomites which compassed him about, and the captains of the
chariots.

=9.= _Then Jehoram passed over_] In Kings “passed over _to Zair_” (the place is not otherwise known; for a suggestion that the Moabite _Zoar_ should be read, see _Encyclopedia Britannica_ s.v. _Moab_, p. 631 _ad fin._). Without the addition of a place name the verb “passed over” in Chronicles is somewhat awkward. It is possible that the Chronicler used it in the meaning that Jehoram with a vanguard of chariots _passed by_ his main body of “the people” to take the lead. Although the text in 1 Kings viii. 21 appears to have suffered some corruption, it is fairly clear that Jehoram pushed on with his chariots as a vanguard, was hemmed in by the Edomites, and, though he succeeded in cutting his way out by a night attack, his main army had dispersed in the belief that the king and the chariots were cut off and lost.

_and the captains of the chariots_] The clause is governed by the verb “compassed” (read perhaps _el_ for _eth_ in the Hebrew).

¹⁰So Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, unto this day:
then did Libnah revolt at the same time from under his hand:
because he had forsaken the LORD, the God of his fathers.

=10.= _then did Libnah revolt at the same time_] The exact position of Libnah is not known, but it was in the south of Judah, probably not far from Lachish (_Tell el-Hesi_) and the Edomite territory. The active hostility of the Edomitic (Arabian) and Philistine districts about this period afforded an opportunity to any elements of discontent in the townships of southern Judah; see the note on xxvi. 7. Probably the population of Libnah included many Edomite and Philistine families, compare the Peshitṭa rendering of this clause, viz. “Then did _the Edomites who dwell in Libnah_ revolt.”

_became he had forsaken_, etc.] Not in Kings; a moralistic comment by the Chronicler.

=11‒15= (not in Kings).
JEHORAM’S SINS AND ELIJAH’S WRITTEN DENUNCIATION.

¹¹Moreover he made high places in the mountains¹ of Judah, and
made the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, and led²
Judah astray.

¹ According to some ancient authorities, _cities_.

² Or, _compelled Judah thereto_.

=11.= _in the mountains_] So Peshitṭa, but LXX., _in the cities_. The difference between the two readings in Hebrew is very small.

_made ... to go a whoring_] a much used metaphor of Scripture, meaning _led ... into idolatry_.

_led Judah astray_] Literally, _drew_ or _thrust away Judah_, i.e. from the presence of Jehovah.

¹²And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet,
saying, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father,
Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy
father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah; ¹³but hast walked
in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like as the house of
Ahab did¹; and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father’s
house, which were better than thyself:

¹ Hebrew _made to go a whoring_.

=12.= _a writing_] This is the only place in which any writing of Elijah is mentioned. Even in Jehoshaphat’s reign Elijah seems to have been no longer among the living; compare 2 Kings iii. 11 (where Elisha seems already to have taken Elijah’s place). That the writing was a prophecy of Elijah denouncing Jehoram in anticipation of his reign is not only utterly improbable, but the plain words of the Chronicler do not seem even to suggest it. It is possible to suppose that some adaptation of words of Elijah to suit Jehoram’s case was placarded by an unknown hand outside Jehoram’s palace; but again the explanation seems more elaborate than the simple statement warrants. It is more probable therefore that the Chronicler means plainly a letter from Elijah, and ignores the anachronism involved in supposing the prophet to have been alive in Jehoram’s reign. So great wickedness seemed to him to require a rebuke from a well-known prophet, and it is put into the mouth of Elijah, who, as the great opponent of the idolatry of Ahab and Jezebel, seemed to be the most proper person to pronounce the denunciation. The style of the letter requires a late date, and the author is perhaps the Chronicler himself. See further the Introduction § 7, p. xlviii.

¹⁴behold, the LORD will smite with a great plague¹ thy people,
and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy substance:

¹ Hebrew _stroke_.

=14.= _a great plague_] For “plague” compare xvi. 28, 29. Jehoram’s “plague” is described in verses 16, 17.

_thy substance_] Genesis xii. 5; the Hebrew word includes both “goods” and “chattels” (i.e. live stock).

¹⁵and thou shalt have great sickness by disease of thy bowels,
until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness, day by day¹.

¹ Or, _year after year_.

=15.= _day by day_] margin, =year after year=; a prolonged sickness.

=16, 17= (no parallel in Kings).
THE INVASION OF THE PHILISTINES AND ARABIANS.

The Chronicler’s theory of life demanded that disasters should mark the close of this wicked reign, and in view of the licence which marks the Chronicler’s reconstruction of the history, it must be allowed that a raid by the very peoples who had paid tribute to Jehoshaphat (xvii. 11) may be only a conjecture to suit the requirements of his religious conviction. But neither the absence of the story from Kings, nor yet the religious appropriateness of the attack entails its rejection as unhistorical. The comparative fulness and vigour of the Chronicler’s account of these reigns yields many suggestive indications (some of which have already been noted) favouring the view that he had before him valuable independent traditions of Edomite and Philistine hostilities against Judah which were referred to this period. That being so, the possible historicity of this tradition in verses 16, 17 must be admitted; and it should be noted that such a raid would be a most natural sequel to Jehoram’s loss of control over Edom recorded in verse 8.

¹⁶And the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the
Philistines, and of the Arabians which are beside the Ethiopians:

=16.= _stirred up ... the spirit_] Perhaps not without the instigation of a prophetical party, of which Eliezer of Mareshah may have been a leading representative (see xx. 37). For the phrase “stirred up,” compare xxxvi. 22 and 1 Chronicles v. 26.

_which are beside the Ethiopians_] Hebrew _Cushites_――probably certain Arabian tribes, though it seems likely that the Chronicler understood the name to mean the Ethiopians of Africa (see the note on _Zerah the Ethiopian_, xiv. 9). Ancient geographical ideas were very inexact. Herodotus regarded all the land east of the Nile as part of Arabia. Distant lands are apt to be conceived of as all more or less “beside” one another. Thus the present writer has heard a Tyrolese peasant woman remark that she supposed “Russia and Japan were both beside England.” We may assume that in the Chronicler’s source _Arabian_ Cushites were meant.

¹⁷and they came up against Judah, and brake into it, and carried
away all the substance that was found in¹ the king’s house, and
his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left
him, save Jehoahaz², the youngest of his sons.

¹ Or, _belonging to_.

² In chapter xxii. 1, _Ahaziah_.

=17.= _and brake into it_] The proper meaning of the Hebrew verb is “to make a breach in a city-wall [and so take the city]”; compare xxxii, 1. Here and in Isaiah vii. 6 the word is applied to a whole country.

_in the king’s house_] It is most unlikely that the invaders (if the raid be historical) actually entered Jerusalem, and almost certain that the Chronicler did not mean to imply that they did. Probably therefore we should translate, as the margin, =belonging to the king’s house=. Part of the royal possessions and the royal household might well have been in the camp; see below, the note on xxii. 1.

_Jehoahaz_] In xxii. 1 he is called _Ahaziah_, which is only another form of the name, the prefix _Jeho-_ of the one, and the ending _-iah_ of the other being each the representative of the Divine name _Jehovah_. The name in either form means “Jehovah hath taken” (or “grasped”). Parallel instances are the names _Jehoshaphat_ and _Shephatiah_ (verse 2) and _Jehonathan_ and _Nethaniah_ in xvii. 8.

=18‒20= (compare 2 Kings viii. 24).
DEATH AND BURIAL OF JEHORAM.

¹⁸And after all this the LORD smote him in his bowels with an
incurable disease. ¹⁹And it came to pass, in process of time, at
the end of two years, that his bowels fell out by reason of his
sickness, and he died of sore diseases. And his people made no
burning for him, like the burning of his fathers.

=19.= _by reason of his sickness_] LXX. μετὰ τῆς νόσου, i.e. in the course of his sickness.

_no burning_] compare xvi. 14 (note).

²⁰Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he
reigned in Jerusalem eight years: and he departed without being
desired; and they buried him in the city of David, but not in
the sepulchres of the kings.

=20.= _he departed without being desired_] literally _without desire_: i.e. he lived so that none desired him, _or_ he lived as no one desired. Compare LXX., ἐπορεύθη οὐκ ἐν ἐπαίνῳ, literally “he walked without praise.”

_but not in the sepulchres of the kings_] According to Kings he “was buried with his fathers.” Compare xxiv. 25, xxviii. 27.