2 Kings 8:29

And king Joram went back to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(29) Joram went back.—With a few personal attendants. He left the army at Ramoth (2Kings 9:14) under the command of the generals, and perhaps of Ahaziah.

In Jezreel.—The seat of the court at this time. (Comp. 2Kings 10:11; 2Kings 10:13.) To reach Samaria, moreover, Joram would have had to cross a mountainous country, while he could be carried to Jezreel by an easier route through the valley of the Jordan.

Which the Syrians had gıven.—The verb is imperfect. Ewald suggests that the Hebrew letters may indicate a dialectic pronunciation of the perfect. It is more likely that the imperfect is here used in the sense of repetition, implying that Joram was wounded on more than one occasion.

Ramah.—Height. The same as Ramoth, heights.

And Ahaziah . . . went down.—Or, now Ahaziah had gone down—scil., when the following events happened. The Hebrew construction indicates the beginning of a new paragraph. The division of chapters is again at fault, there being no real break in the narrative between this verse and what follows in chapter 9.

Ahaziah went down either from Ramoth or from Jerusalem; probably from the former, as no mention is made of his having left the seat of war and returned to Jerusalem.

Because he was sick.—The same verb as in 2Kings 1:2. The margin here is wrong.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:25-29 Names do not make natures, but it was bad for Jehoshaphat's family to borrow names from Ahab's. Ahaziah's relation to Ahab's family was the occasion of his wickedness and of his fall. When men choose wives for themselves, let them remember they are choosing mothers for their children. Providence so ordered it, that Ahaziah might be cut off with the house of Ahab, when the measure of their iniquity was full. Those who partake with sinners in their sin, must expect to partake with them in their plagues. May all the changes, troubles, and wickedness of the world, make us more earnest to obtain an interest in the salvation of Christ.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

This war of the two kings against Hazael seems to have had for its object the recovery of Ramoth-gilead, which Ahab and Jehoshaphat had vainly attempted fourteen years earlier 1 Kings 22:3-36. Joram probably thought that the accession of a new and usurping monarch presented a favorable opportunity for a renewal of the war. It may also have happened that Hazael was engaged at the time upon his northern frontier with repelling one of those Assyrian attacks which seem by the inscriptions to have fallen upon him in quick succession during his earlier years. At any rate, the war appears to have been successful. Ramoth-gilead was recovered 2 Kings 9:14, and remained probably thenceforth in the hands of the Israelites.

The Syrians wounded Joram - According to Josephus, Joram was struck by an arrow in the course of the siege, but remained until the place was taken. He then withdrew to Jezreel 1 Kings 18:45; 1 Kings 21:1, leaving his army under Jehu within the walls of the town.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ki 8:24. Ahaziah Succeeds Him.

24. Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead—(See on [334]2Ch 22:1).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The same place with Ramoth, or Ramoth-gilead.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

From Ramoth, having taken it, and left his army there:

to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah; the same with Ramothgilead:

when he fought against Hazael king of Syria; for Benhadad being dead, he was now king in his room, 2 Kings 8:15.

and Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick; of the wounds which he had received, which might occasion a feverish disorder; and so it was brought about in Providence that Ahaziah should here meet with the destruction appointed for him, of which in the following chapter. See 2 Chronicles 22:7.

Geneva Study Bible

And king Joram went back to be healed in {q} Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.

(q) This is a city belonging to the tribe of Issachar.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

29. And king Joram went back [R.V. returned] to be healed in Jezreel] The verb is changed to conform to the translation in Chronicles. Jezreel was one of the capital cities of the northern kingdom, where was a royal palace, and where all attendance could be procured.

Ramah] This is put for Ramoth-gilead, both here and in the parallel passage in Chronicles, but nowhere else. Ramah is a singular noun meaning ‘high land’ and Ramoth is the plural of it, and Ramah is used for the name of two or three other places, one in the tribe of Benjamin and one in the hill country of Ephraim, all no doubt distinguished by their elevated situation. The land of Gilead was all mountainous, and the town of Ramoth was perhaps built on more than one hill though the engagement where Joram was wounded may have taken place on one special height.

Ahaziah … went down to see Joram] After the battle Ahaziah at first returned, probably with his portion of the allied army, to Jerusalem. But the friendship between the two royal houses was so close that he presently went northward to Jezreel to pay a visit to his wounded ally and kinsman. The Chronicler says ‘the destruction of Ahaziah was of God by coming to Joram.’

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 29. - And King Joram went back to be healed in Jezreel. Jezreel was more accessible from Ramoth-Gilead than Samaria. It lay in the plain, and could be reached without traveling over any rough or mountainous country. It was also the usual place to which the court retired for rest and refreshment-the Versailles or Windsor of Samaria, as it has been called. Of the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael wing of Syria. "Ramah" is another name for "Ramoth-Gilead" or "Ramoth in Gilead," which is the full name of the place. The word means "high," "elevated," and is cognate to Aram. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram King of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel. Ahaziah would probably take the route by way of Jericho, the Jordan valley, and the Wata el Jalud, and would consequently begin his journey by the rapid descent from Jerusalem to Jericho. Because he was sick; i.e. unwell, wounded.



2 Kings 8:29

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

בּרמה equals בּלעד בּרמת, 2 Kings 8:28; see at 1 Kings 22:4.