⁴And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as did the house of Ahab: for they were his counsellors after the death of his father, to his destruction.
4. after the death of his father] This phrase suggests that he acted as regent in his father’s lifetime during his father’s two years’ illness.
5, 6 (= 2 Kings viii. 28, 29).
The Alliance with Jehoram of Israel.
⁵He walked also after their counsel, and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead: and the Syrians wounded Joram.
5. Joram] or Jehoram. The variation is unimportant.
⁶And he returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds[¹] which they had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Azariah[²] the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Jehoram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.
[¹] 2 Kings viii. 29, and in the Septuagint and Syriac versions. The text has, because the wounds which &c.
[²] In verse 1, Ahaziah.
6. Jezreel] A city some distance to the north of Samaria, giving its name to the plain of Jezreel (Esdraelon). Ahab had a house there (1 Kings xxi. 1), probably a country house judging from the incident of Naboth’s vineyard. It is the modern Zer‘in, a town situated on a hill commanding a wide view towards the west and the east, Bädeker, Palestine⁵, p. 244.
Ramah] i.e. Ramoth-gilead (see xviii. 2, note).