2 CHRON. XXII. to ver. 10. 2 KING. VIII. 25. to the end.
[World 3117] [Iehoram 8] [Iehoram 12] [Division 88] AHAZIAH the son of Joram reigneth, and dieth this year by the sword of Jehu, 2 King. 8. 26. In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab, King of Israel, did Ahaziah the son of Jehoram King of Judah begin to reign. Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem, and his mothers name was Atha∣liah, the daughter of Omri King of Israel. And 2 King. 9. 29. In the ele∣venth year of Joram the son of Ahab, began Ahaziah to raign over Judah. 2 Chron. 22. 2. Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, &c. Here the Reader seeth two plain and visible differences, the one about the age of Ahaziah, and the other about the time when he began to reign. The same Book of Kings saith he began to raign in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab, and he began to raign in the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab. Now the reconciling of this difference is easie, when it is observed, that Joram the son of Ahab reigned one whole year in the life time of his father, and eleven years afterward. And so one Text calleth his last year his twelfth, that is, of his whole raign; and another Text calleth it his eleventh, that is, of his sole reign after his fathers death. But the other difference is both the more visible and the more difficult; for the Book of Kings saith Ahaziah was but two and twenty years old when he began to raign; and the Book of Chronicles saith he was two and forty; and so this latter reckoning maketh him two years older then his father; for his father began to raign when he was two and thirty years old, and and reigned eight years, and so died, being forty, 2 King. 8. 17. Now for the reconciling of this scruple, the Original helpeth us, which in our translation is not visible. The Original meaneth thus, Ahaziah was the son of the two and forty years, namely, of the house of Omri, of whose seed he was by the mothers side; and he walked in the ways of that house, and came to ruine at the same time with it. This the Text directed us to look after, when it calleth his mother the daughter of Omri, which was indeed the daughter of Ahab. Now these forty two years are easily reck∣oned by any that will count back in the Chronicle to the second of Omri. Such another reckoning there is about Jechoniah or Jehojachin, 2 King. 24. 8. Jehojachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign: But 2 Chron. 36. 9. Jehojachin was the son of the eight years: That is, his beginning of