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.