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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - 2 Chronicles 18:2 - 18:2
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The campaign undertaken along with Ahab against the Syrians at Ramoth in Gilead, with its origin, course, and results for Ahab, is narrated in 1 Kings (in the history of Ahab) in agreement with our narrative, only the introduction to the war being different here. In 1Ki 22:1-3 it is remarked, in connection with the preceding wars of Ahab with the Syrians, that after there had been no war for three years between Aram and Israel, in the third year Jehoshaphat king of Judah came up to the king of Israel; and the latter, when he and his servants had determined to snatch away from the Syrians the city Ramoth in Gilead, which belonged to Israel, called upon Jehoshaphat to march with him to the war against Ramoth. In the Chronicle the more exact statement, “in the third year,” which is intelligible only in connection with the earlier history of Ahab, is exchanged for the indefinite שָׁנִים לְקֵץ, “at the end of years;” and mention is made of the festal entertainment which Ahab bestowed upon his guest and his train (עִמֹּו אֲשֶׁר הָעָם), to show the pains which Ahab took to induce King Jehoshaphat to take part in the proposed campaign. He killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance, וַיְסִיתֵהוּ ,ecnadn, and enticed, seduced him to go up with him to Ramoth. הַסִית, to incite, entice to anything (Jdg 1:14), frequently to evil; cf. Deu 13:7, etc. עָלָה, to advance upon a land or a city in a warlike sense. The account which follows of the preparations for the campaign by inquiring of prophets, and of the war itself, vv. 4-34, is in almost verbal agreement with 1 Kings 22:5-35. Referring to 1 Kings for the commentary on the substance of the narrative, we will here only group together briefly the divergences. Instead of 400 men who were prophets, 2Ch 18:5, in 1Ki 22:5 we have about 400 men. It is a statement in round numbers, founded not upon exact enumeration, but upon an approximate estimate. Instead of אֶהְדָּל אִם...הֲנֵלֵךְ, 2Ch 18:5, in Kings, 1Ki 22:6, we have אֶהְדָּל אִם...הֲאֵלֵךְ, both verbs being in the same number; and so too in 2Ch 18:14, where in Kings. 1Ki 22:15, both verbs stand in the plural, notwithstanding that the answer which follows, וְהַצְלַח עֲלֵה, is addressed to Ahab alone, not to both the kings, while in the Chronicle the answer is given in the plural to both the kings, וְהַצְלִיחוּ עֲלוּ. in 2Ch 18:7, “he prophesies me nothing good, but all his days (i.e., so long as he has been a prophet) evil,” the meaning is intensified by the כָּל־יָמָיו, which is not found in 1Ki 22:8. In 2Ch 18:9, the וְיֹושְׁבִים, which is introduced before the בְּגֹרֶן, “and sitting upon the threshing-floor,” is due to difference of style, for it is quite superfluous for the signification. In 2Ch 18:15, the ambiguous words of Micah,' and Jahve will give into the hand of the king” (1Ki 22:15), are given in a more definite form: “and they (the enemy) shall be given into your hand.” In 2Ch 18:19, in the first כָּכָה אֹמֵר זֶה, the אֹמֵר after the preceding וַיֹּאמֶר is not only superfluous, but improper, and has probably come into the text by a copyist's error. We should therefore read only בְּכֹה זֶה, corresponding to the כָּכָה זֶה of 1Ki 22:20 : “Then spake one after this manner, and the other spake after another manner.” In 2Ch 18:23, the indefinite אֵי־זֶה of 1Ki 22:24, is elucidated by הַדֶּרֶךְ זֶה אֵי, “is that the manner” (cf. 1Ki 13:12; 2Ki 3:8)., and the verb. עָבַר follows without the relative pronoun, as in the passages cited. In 2Ch 18:30, only הָרֶכֶב שָׂרֵי of the king are mentioned, without any statement of the number, which is given in 1Ki 22:31, with a backward reference to the former war (1Ki 20:24). In 2Ch 18:31, after the words, “and Jehoshaphat cried out,” the higher cause of Jehoshaphat's rescue is pointed out in the words, “and Jahve helped him, and God drove them from him,” which are not found in 1Ki 22:32; but by this religious reflection the actual course of the event is in no way altered. Bertheau's remark, therefore, that “the words disturb the clear connection of the events,” is quite unwarrantable. Finally, in 2Ch 18:34, מַעֲמִיד הָיָה, he was holding his position, i.e., he held himself standing upright, the Hiph. is more expressive than the Hoph. מָֽעֳמָד (1Ki 22:35), since it expresses more definitely the fact that he held himself upright by his own strength. With Ahab's death, which took place in the evening at the time of the going down of the sun, the author of the Chronicle concludes his account of this war, and proceeds in 2Ch 19:1-11 to narrate the further course of Jehoshaphat's reign. In 1Ki 22:36-39, the return of the defeated army, and the details as to Ahab's death and burial, are recorded; but these did not fit into the plan of the Chronicle.