2 Kings 8:19

Yet the LORD would not destroy Judah for David his servant's sake, as he promised him to give him alway a light, and to his children.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(19) To give him alway a light.—Comp. 1Kings 15:4; 1Kings 11:36; and for the promise to David, 2Samuel 7:12-16.

And to his children.—The reading of many Heb. MSS., the LXX., Vulg., and Targum. Thenius calls this a reading devised for the removal of a difficulty, and asserts that the promise was made to David alone. He would omit the conjunction, and render, “To give him alway a lamp in respect of (i.e., through) his sons.” (See 2Chronicles 21:7, Note.) Keil adopts the same reading, but translates, “To give him, that is, his sons, a lamp,” making “to his sons” an explanatory apposition.

Benson Commentary

2 Kings 8:19. To give him always a light — A son and successor, until the coming of the Messiah: for so long, and not longer, this succession might seem necessary for the making good of God’s promise and covenant made with David. But when the Messiah was once come, there was no more need of any succession, and the sceptre might and did without any inconvenience depart from Judah, and from all the succeeding branches of David’s family, because the Messiah was to hold the kingdom for ever in his own person, though not in so gross a way as the carnal Jews imagined.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:16-24 A general idea is given of Jehoram's badness. His father, no doubt, had him taught the true knowledge of the Lord, but did ill to marry him to the daughter of Ahab; no good could come of union with an idolatrous family.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The natural consequence of Jehoram's apostasy would have been the destruction of his house, and the transfer of the throne of Judah to another family. Compare the punishments of Jeroboam 1 Kings 14:10, Baasha 1 Kings 16:2-4, and Ahab 1 Kings 21:20-22. But the promises to David (marginal references) prevented this removal of the dynasty; and so Jehoram was punished in other ways 2 Kings 8:22; 2 Chronicles 21:12-19.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

18. daughter of Ahab—Athaliah, through whose influence Jehoram introduced the worship of Baal and many other evils into the kingdom of Judah (see 2Ch 21:2-20). This apostasy would have led to the total extinction of the royal family in that kingdom, had it not been for the divine promise to David (2Sa 7:16). A national chastisement, however, was inflicted on Judah by the revolt of Edom, which, being hitherto governed by a tributary ruler (2Ki 3:9; 1Ki 22:47), erected the standard of independence (2Ch 21:9).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Alway, Heb. all days, until the coming of the Messiah, as it is elsewhere limited and explained; for so long, and not longer, this succession might seem necessary for the making good of God’s promise and covenant made with David. But when the Messiah was once come, there was no more need of any succession, and the sceptre might and did without any inconvenience depart from Judah, and from all the succeeding branches of David’s family, because the Messiah was to hold the kingdom for ever in his own person, though not in so gross a way as the carnal Jews imagined, but in a spiritual manner.

A light, i.e. a son and successor. Of this phrase, See Poole "1 Kings 11:36".

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Yet the Lord would not destroy Judah for David his servant's sake,.... Not for his merits, but for the mercy he assured him of:

as he promised him to give to him always a light, and to his children; or a kingdom, as the Targum; therefore he would not utterly destroy the tribe, nor suffer the sceptre or government to depart from it till the Messiah came, see Psalm 132:11.

Geneva Study Bible

Yet the LORD would not destroy Judah for David his servant's sake, as he promised him to give him alway a light, and to his children.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19. Yet [R.V. Howbeit] the Lord would not destroy] The R.V. has adopted the rendering of Chronicles, where the original is the same as here.

as he promised him to give him alway a lights, and to his children] R.V. as he promised him to give unto him a lamp for his children alway. The italic ‘and’ in A.V. shews that there is no conjunction in the Hebrew. Hence the change in R.V. But in 2 Chronicles 21:7 the ‘and’ is expressed, and probably should be here. In 2 Samuel 21:17 David is called ‘the lamp of Israel’. For the promise to David and his seed see 2 Samuel 7:12-16, and for the expression ‘to give him a lamp’ see 1 Kings 11:36; 1 Kings 15:4, in which last passage the A.V. renders the noun ‘lamp’, which for consistency the R.V. has adopted in all the parallel places.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 19. - Yet the Lord would not destroy Judah for David his servant's sake. The natural punishment of apostasy was rejection by God, and on rejection would, as a matter of course, follow destruction and ruin. God had declared by Moses, "If thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and statutes, which I command thee this day; all these curses shall come upon thee The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it. The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee till thou perish. And thy heaven which is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is underneath thee shall be iron.... The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten of thine enemies; thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and thou shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.... Thou shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee" (Deuteronomy 28:15-37). The apostasy of Jeheram, and of the nation under him, was calculated to bring about the immediate fulfillment of all these threats, and would have done so but for a restraining cause. God had made promises to David, and to his seed after him (2 Samuel 7:13-16; Psalm 89:29-37, etc.), which would be unfulfilled if Judah's candlestick were at once removed. He had declared, "If thy children forsake my Law, and walk not in my statutes... I will visit their offences with the rod, and their sin with scourges. Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take away, nor suffer my truth to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips; I have sworn once by my holiness that I will not fail David." If he had now swept away the Jewish kingdom, he would have dealt more hardly with these who clave to David than with those that broke off from him. He would not have shown the "faithfulness" or the "mercy" which he had promised, he would have forgotten "the loving-kindnesses which he aware unto David in his truth" (Psalm 89:49). Therefore he would not - he could not - as yet "destroy Judah," with which, in point of fact, he bore for above three centuries longer, until at last the cup of their iniquities was full, and "there was no remedy." As he promised him to give him always a light, and to his children. There is no "and" in the original. Translate - As he promised him to give him always a light in respect of his children, and compare, for the promise of "a light" (1 Kings 11:36; 1 Kings 15:4; and Psalm 132:17). 2 Kings 8:19

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Joram had married a daughter of Ahab, namely Athaliah (2 Kings 8:26), and walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, transplanting the worship of Baal into his kingdom. Immediately after the death of Jehoshaphat he murdered his brothers, apparently with no other object than to obtain possession of the treasures which his father had left them (2 Chronicles 21:2-4). This wickedness of Joram would have been followed by the destruction of Judah, had not the Lord preserved a shoot to the royal house for David's sake. For ניר לו לתת see 1 Kings 11:36. The following word לבניו serves as an explanation of ניר לו, "a light with regard to his sons," i.e., by the fact that he kept sons (descendants) upon the throne.