2 Chronicles 22:3

He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab: for his mother was his counseller to do wickedly.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) He also.—The pronoun is emphatic: he too, like his father. Kings: “And he walked.”

Walked in the ways of the house of Ahab.—2Chronicles 21:6; 2Chronicles 21:13; Micah 6:16.

For his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly.—Not in Kings; an explanatory remark added by the chronicler. (Comp. 2Chronicles 20:35; 2Chronicles 21:6.) Her influence would be used in support of the Baal worship, which was the symbol of alliance with the northern kingdom.

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 22:3-4. He walked in the ways of the house of Ahab — Called their ways, not because they were the first inventors of them in these parts, but the chief establishers. These ways did not consist merely in the worshipping of God by an image, which was the way of Jeroboam; but in the worship of other gods besides the God of Israel, namely, Baal-gods, or Baalim. For his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly — Being a crafty and an imperious woman. Those that counsel persons to do wickedly, counsel them to their destruction. It is bad enough when strangers do this, but when parents give such counsel to their own children, it is deplorable indeed! The counsel of the ungodly is the ruin of many young people of both sexes, especially if given to them when they are setting out in life. They were his counsellors after the death of his father — Who, while he lived, seduced his son by his counsel and authority, and kept him to idolatry, and so rendered other evil counsellors unnecessary.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

22:1-12 The reign of Ahaziah, Athaliah destroys the royal family. - The counsel of the ungodly ruins many young persons when they are setting out in the world. Ahaziah gave himself up to be led by evil men. Those who advise us to do wickedly, counsel us to our destruction; while they pretend to be friends, they are our worst enemies. See and dread the mischief of bad company. If not the infection, yet let the destruction be feared, Re 18:4. We have here, a wicked woman endeavouring to destroy the house of David, and a good woman preserving it. No word of God shall fall to the ground. The whole truth of the prophecies that the Messiah was to come from David, and thereby the salvation of the world, appeared to be now hung upon the brittle thread of the life of a single infant, to destroy whom was the interest of the reigning power. But God had purposed, and vain were the efforts of earth and hell.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For "42" read "22" (see the marginal reference). Ahaziah's father, Jehoram, was but 40 when be died 2 Chronicles 21:20.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3, 4. his mother was his counsellor … they were his counsellors—The facile king surrendered himself wholly to the influence of his mother and her relatives. Athaliah and her son introduced a universal corruption of morals and made idolatry the religion of the court and the nation. By them he was induced not only to conform to the religion of the northern kingdom, but to join a new expedition against Ramoth-gilead (see 2Ki 9:10).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Being a crafty and au imperious woman.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab,.... As his father Jehoram had, 2 Chronicles 21:6.

for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly; to commit idolatry, who was of that idolatrous house.

Geneva Study Bible

He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab: for his mother was his counselor to do wickedly.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - The mother and the house of Ahab had become a proverb and a by-word for their evil. In this and the following two verses stress is laid on the evil counsel and the sources of it that prejudiced Ahaziah to his ruin. Although the parallel wants these direct statements, perhaps it scarcely says less, when it says (ver. 27), "For he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab." 2 Chronicles 22:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

He also (like his father Joram, 2 Chronicles 21:6) walked in the ways of the house of Ahab. This statement is accounted for by the clause: for his mother (a daughter of Ahab and the godless Jezebel) was his counsellor to do evil, i.e., led him to give himself up to the idolatry of the house of Ahab.