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).