Commentaire sur Chroniques 2 22:15

forty two years old But in II Kings (8:26), Scripture says: “twenty-two years old.” How is this possible? Moreover, according to this, the son was two years his father’s senior, [because Joram ascended the throne at thirty-two and died eight years later, making him forty years old upon his death,] but two years before Joram his father was born, this decree was issued upon the house of David that it would end with the house of Ahab, and so Scripture states (below verse 7): “And from God was Ahaziah’s downfall, etc.” and on the day that Asa took Omri’s daughter for Jehoshaphat his son, this decree was issued. So it was taught in Seder Olam (ch. 17) and in the Tosefta of Sotah (12:3). But throughout Scripture we do not find that Jehoshaphat married Omri’s daughter, but I did find (above 18:1): “and he allied himself in marriage with Ahab,” and perhaps that was his sister that he married, and in the thirty first year of Asa he married her, as it is said in (I Kings 16:23): “And (sic) in the thirty-first year of Asa, etc. Omri reigned.” And when Asa married his daughter to Jehoshaphat his son, Omri gained importance, and they slew Tibni. Figure from the thirty-first year of Asa until Ahaziah reigned, and you will find forty two years. Further, one verse states (II Kings 8:25): “In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab, etc., Ahaziah the son of Joram reigned,” and another verse states (ibid. 9:29): “And in the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah became king.” Perforce, his father did not die until the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab, because it is written (ibid. 8: 16f.): “In the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab, etc., Joram the son of Jehoshaphat became king, etc., and he reigned eight years.” And that which Scripture states further, “In the eleventh year of Joram,” is because he reigned one year during his father’s lifetime since his father was smitten with severe illnesses, as it is written (above 21:18.): “And after all this, the Lord plagued him, etc.” (22: 1) “And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, his youngest son, king,” for one year during his father’s lifetime, and that is what is written: “In the eleventh year of Joram.” And where Scripture says: “In the twelfth year of Joram,” it means that after his father died, it was the twelfth year of Joram.

and the Arameans smote Joram - Heb. הָרַמִּים, like הָאֲרַמִּים. In many places the “aleph” is missing, as for instance (II Sam. 19:14): “And to Amasa you shall say (תֹמְרוּ).” And sometimes the “aleph” is added to a word, for instance (Ps. 89:1): “Ethan the Ezrahite (הָאֶזְרָחִי),” like הַזַּרְחִי, [descendant of Zerah], and the “aleph” of (Job 13:17): “and to my speech (וְאַחְוָתִי) in your ears.”

because of the smiters who smote him כִּי הַמַּכִּים. The meaning is: מִן הַמַּכִּים, because of the smiters, and so it is in II Kings (8:29).

and Azariah the son of Jehoram This is Ahaziah, and so Scripture states (ad loc.): “and Ahaziah the son of Joram went down to see Joram.”

downfall Heb. תְּבוּסַת. The meaning is confusion, like (Ezek. 16:6): “wallowing (מִתְבּוֹסֶסֶת) in your blood.”

and the sons of Ahaziah’s brothers He does not mention Ahaziah’s brothers because they were slain in the days of Joram their father, as it is written (above 21:17): “And they marched upon Judah and split it, etc., and no son was left to him except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.”

she arose and destroyed - Heb. וַתְּדַבֵּר, an expression of דֶּבֶר, pestilence. In II Kings (11:1), it is written: וַתְּאַבֵּד. Concerning this generation, David recited: (Ps. 12:1): “For the conductor on the sheminith,” for David foresaw with the holy spirit that in the eighth generation [of his dynasty] all his descendants would be slain by Athaliah, for there are eight generations from Solomon till here. And he prayed that his seed would survive for a remembrance, and said, (ibid. verse 2): “Save, O Lord, for the pious are gone, etc.” In II Kings (11:2), Scripture states that she killed them by poisoning them, for it is written: “and she stole him away from the dying (הַמְמוֹתִים) children of the king”; we read: הַמּוּמָתִים the slain. Both the traditional reading and the masoretic text have authority. הַמּוּמָתִים means that they already died, and the masoretic text in which the word used is הַמְמוֹתִים means that they were dying in agony. This is written in the continuous present tense, i.e., not all at once but continuously being crushed by illnesses, and then dying. An example is (Jer. 16:4): “Dying of (מְמוֹתֵי) sicknesses they shall die, etc. and with famine,” because they too will not die immediately.

in the bed chamber The Targum [Jonathan to II Kings 11:2] renders: in the chamber of the beds, i.e., in the forecourt, in the room where the priests sleep, but Rabbi Solomon of blessed memory (Rashi ad loc) explained it as the attic of the Holy of Holies, as it is written in Kings (verse 3): “And he hid with her in the House of the Lord, etc.,” and concerning him, David said, (Ps. 27:5): “For He will hide me in His Tabernacle, etc.” He calls it the bed chamber based on (Song 1:13): “between my breasts he will lie,” and that is what the Kallir, Rabbi Eliezer Kara composed (in Zichronoth for the first day of Rosh Hashanah in the section devoted to the letter “nun”): If He said to cause them to totter, the smashing of the bed-chamber He will remember for an atonement. The destruction of the Temple will atone for them.