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英文原文
We read, in the foregoing chapter, of the carrying away of Jehoram's sons and his wives; but here we find one of his sons and one of his wives left, his son Ahaziah and his wife Athaliah, both reserved to be the shame and plague of his family. I. Ahaziah was the shame of it as a partaker, 1. In the sin, and, 2. In the destruction, of the house of Ahab, 2Ch 22:1-9. II. Athaliah was the plague of it, for she destroyed all the seed-royal, and usurped the throne, 2Ch 22:10-12.
1-9
Ahaziah Slain by Jehu (884 BC)
亞哈謝被耶戶所殺（主前 884 年）
¹ 耶路撒冷的居民立他的幼子亞哈謝接續他作王；因為來營攻擊的阿拉伯人下了一隊軍兵，把長子都殺了。這樣，猶大王約蘭的兒子亞哈謝作了王。 ² 亞哈謝登基的時候四十二歲，在耶路撒冷作王一年。他母親名叫亞他利雅，是暗利的女兒。 ³ 他也行亞哈家的道；因為他母親給他主謀，使他行惡。 ⁴ 他就行耶和華眼中看為惡的事，像亞哈家一樣；因他父親死後，他們就給他主謀，以致敗壞。 ⁵ 他聽從他們的計謀，同以色列王亞哈的兒子約蘭往基列的拉末去，與亞蘭王哈薛爭戰；亞蘭人打傷了約蘭。 ⁶ 約蘭因在拉末與亞蘭王哈薛爭戰時所受的傷，回到耶斯列醫治。猶大王約蘭的兒子亞撒利雅下去見亞哈的兒子約蘭，因為他病了。 ⁷ 亞哈謝從神那裡來見約蘭，這就使他敗亡；因為他到了那裡，就同約蘭出去攻擊寧示的孫子耶戶——耶戶是耶和華所膏、要剪除亞哈家的。 ⁸ 耶戶在亞哈家執行審判的時候，遇見猶大的首領和亞哈謝的弟兄的兒子們，就是服事亞哈謝的，就把他們殺了。 ⁹ 又尋索亞哈謝；他們在撒瑪利亞捉住他（因他躲藏在撒瑪利亞），解到耶戶那裡；他們殺了他，把他葬了。他們說：「他是那盡心尋求耶和華的約沙法的兒子。」這樣，亞哈謝家無力保守國權。
此處我們看到關於亞哈謝作王的記載——作王雖短（僅一年），卻除非他行得好，否則一年已經太長。他在代下二十一17稱為「約阿哈斯」，此處稱為「亞哈謝」，其實是同一個名字，意義也相同，只是組成的字前後顛倒。此處說他登基時四十二歲（代下二十二2），這是不可能的；因為他的父親、他的前任，死的時候才四十歲，而王下八26說他「登基的時候二十二歲」。有人以為這「四十二歲」是他母親亞他利雅的年齡，因為原文作「他是四十二歲的兒子」，就是他母親是那個年紀；將她年紀代替他的年紀，正是對他的羞辱，因為她操縱了他，凡事隨己意而行——實際上是她在掌權，他不過虛有王的名號。許多好的解經家樂意承認，這一點和其他幾個類似的難處，是出於某個抄寫者的錯誤——把二十二寫成了四十二，而本可改正這錯誤的抄本可能已經失傳。許多古譯本此處都讀作二十二。如今所印的書，幾乎沒有不附勘誤表的；然而作者並不因此否認其著作，印刷的錯誤也不歸咎於作者，公允的讀者根據文意或與全書其他部分對照而加以修正——我們在此也很容易如此行。
亞哈謝作王的歷史可用兩句話概括（代下二十二3、4）：他母親和她一族的人給他主謀行惡，他就敗亡了。
一、他行了惡。雖然神藉特別的護理保全了他的性命——當他所有的弟兄都被殺時，他雖然是最年幼的，卻被保留為王——雖然耶路撒冷的居民不光彩地埋葬了他父親之後，立他為王，盼望他引以為鑑，不再走他父親的路，而是為自己和國家行得更好——他卻不因神或人的恩待而受影響，反而「行亞哈家的道，像他們一樣行耶和華眼中看為惡的事」（代下二十二3、4）；就是敬拜巴力和亞斯他錄，以為（如博學的帕特里克主教所設想）藉著這些鬼魔作中保，可以更容易親近那至高的「神明」——以色列的神；或以為「這些他們可以隨時、為各樣的事去求助」，因為它們「更近、更方便」，又「不是那樣高貴」，而是「在永生神和必死的人之間」居中的本性——被神化的英雄；所以他們敬拜它們，正如羅馬教會敬拜聖徒和天使一樣。那已經夠壞了；但我恐怕還有更壞的理由可以懷疑。我擔心他們把耶和華——他們列祖的神——看作與這些巴力一樣的一位，又看巴力與祂同等、同善；不，就某方面而言，巴力還更可取，因為這些巴力在其敬拜者中鼓勵各樣的放蕩和情慾，而以色列的神嚴嚴禁止這些。
二、他受母親和她一族的人的主謀而如此行。「他母親給他主謀」（代下二十二3），他父親死後，「他們」（亞哈家的人）也是如此（代下二十二4）。他父親活著時，「他」（他父親）留意使他持守偶像崇拜；但他死後，亞哈家恐怕他父親悲慘的結局會使他從中退縮，因此格外殷勤地要使他牢牢持守，並使他作「地獄之子，比他們更倍加七倍」。不敬虔人的計謀，斷送了許多年輕人初入社會時的前途。這位年輕的王本可從他好祖父時代著名的首領、審判官、祭司和利未人那裡，得到更好的指教，因為他們以教導人認識神而著稱；但亞哈家迎合他，「他聽從他們的計謀」，任憑自己被他們牽引，凡事照他們所要的去行。如此，凡離棄神聖引導的人，就自己貶低、毀滅了自己。
三、他受他們的主謀以致敗亡。事實果然如此。勸我們行惡的人，就是勸我們走向敗亡的人；他們一面奉承、諂媚、假意友善，實際上卻是我們最壞的仇敵。那些敗壞年輕人的人，就是毀滅他們。他們使他暴露在亞蘭人的刀劍之下，已經夠壞了——拉他去與以色列王約蘭同去基列的拉末出征，在那裡約蘭受了傷——這出征並不能為他增添尊榮。那些在宗教的事上給我們壞主意的人，若被我們聽從，神就可公正地使他們在我們自己的事上成為使我們愚昧的謀士。但這還不是全部：藉著使他與以色列王約蘭親密結交，他們使他捲入亞哈家共同的覆滅之中。他在耶戶正對那拜偶像的全家執行神審判之時，前去拜訪約蘭（代下二十二6），因而與他們一同被剪除（代下二十二7～9）。在此：1. 當看見並敬畏壞同伴的禍患——與罪人結交的禍患。若不懼怕其傳染，也當懼怕其毀滅。「要從巴比倫出來」——那傾倒之家（啟十八4）。2. 當看見並承認神的公義。祂的護理恰在這致命的關頭使亞哈謝來見約蘭，使他與約蘭一同傾覆，如同被網羅住。這事的記載我們先前已讀過（王下九27、28）。此處又補充說他得了體面的安葬（不像約蘭，他的屍首被拋在拿伯的葡萄園裡，王下九26），原因是他是好約沙法的孫子（「兒子」即孫子），「約沙法盡心尋求耶和華」。因此他死後許久仍被人帶著尊敬記念，甚至他那退化、不配的後裔也因他的緣故受到若干尊重。「義人的記念被稱讚，惡人的名字必朽爛。」
英文原文
Ahaziah Slain by Jehu (884 BC)
¹ And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his stead: for the band of men that came with the Arabians to the camp had slain all the eldest. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned.
² Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Athaliah the daughter of Omri.
³ He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab: for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly.
⁴ Wherefore he did evil in the sight of the LORD like the house of Ahab: for they were his counsellors after the death of his father to his destruction.
⁵ He walked also after their counsel, and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead: and the Syrians smote Joram.
⁶ And he returned to be healed in Jezreel because of the wounds which were given him at Ramah, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria. And Azariah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Jehoram the son of Ahab at Jezreel, because he was sick.
⁷ And the destruction of Ahaziah was of God by coming to Joram: for when he was come, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the LORD had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab.
⁸ And it came to pass, that, when Jehu was executing judgment upon the house of Ahab, and found the princes of Judah, and the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah, that ministered to Ahaziah, he slew them.
⁹ And he sought Ahaziah: and they caught him, (for he was hid in Samaria,) and brought him to Jehu: and when they had slain him, they buried him: Because, said they, he is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with all his heart. So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom.
We have here an account of the reign of Ahaziah, a short reign (of one year only), yet long enough, unless it had been better. He was called Jeho-ahaz (2Ch 21:17); here he is called Ahaz-iah, which is the same name and of the same signification, only the words of which it is compounded are transposed. He is here said to be forty-two years old when he began to reign (2Ch 22:2), which could not be, for his father, his immediate predecessor, was but forty when he died, and it is said (2Ki 8:26) that he was twenty-two years old when he began to reign. Some make this forty-two to be the age of his mother Athaliah, for in the original it is, he was the son of forty-two years, that is, the son of a mother that was of that age; and justly is her age put for his, in reproach to him, because she managed him, and did what she would—she, in effect, reigned, and he had little more than the title of king. Many good expositors are ready to allow that this, with some few more such difficulties, arise from the mistake of some transcriber, who put forty-two for twenty-two, and the copies by which the error should have been corrected might be lost. Many ancient translations read it here twenty-two. Few books are now printed without some errata, yet the authors do not therefore disown them, nor are the errors of the press imputed to the author, but the candid reader amends them by the sense, or by comparing them with some other part of the work, as we may easily do this.
The history of Ahaziah's reign is briefly summed up in two clauses, 2Ch 22:3,4. His mother and her relations were his counselors to do wickedly, and it was to his destruction.
I. He did wickedly. Though by a special providence of God he was preserved alive, when all his brethren were slain, and reserved for the crown, notwithstanding he was the youngest of them—though the inhabitants of Jerusalem, when they had buried his father ingloriously, made him king, in hopes he would take warning by that not to tread in his steps, but would do better for himself and his kingdom—yet he was not influenced by the favours either of God or man, but walked in the way of the house of Ahab, did evil in the sight of the Lord like them (2Ch 22:3,4), that is, he worshipped, Baalim and Ashtaroth, supposing (as the learned bishop Patrick thinks) that by these demons, as mediators, they might have easier access to the supreme Numen, the God of Israel, or that these they might resort to at all times and for all matters, as being nearer at hand, and not of so high a dignity, but of a middle nature between the immortal God and mortal men—deified heroes; so they worshipped them as the church of Rome does saints and angels. That was sufficiently bad; but I wish there was no reason to suspect worse. I am apprehensive that they looked upon Jehovah, the God of their fathers, to be altogether such a one as these Baalim, and them to be as great and as good as he, nay, upon one account, more eligible inasmuch as these Baalim encouraged in their worshippers all manner of lewdness and sensuality, which the God of Israel strictly forbade.
II. He was counselled by his mother and her relations to do so. She was his counsellor (2Ch 22:3) and so were they, after the death of his father, 2Ch 22:4. While his father lived he took care to keep him to idolatry; but, when he was dead, the house of Ahab feared lest his father's miserable end should deter him from it, and therefore they were very industrious to keep him closely to it, and to make him seven times more a child of hell than themselves. The counsel of the ungodly is the ruin of many young persons when they are setting out in the world. This young prince might have had better advice if he had pleased from the princes and the judges, the priests and the Levites, that had been famous in his good grandfather's time for teaching in the knowledge of God; but the house of Ahab humoured him, and he walked after their counsel, gave himself up to be led by them, and did just as they would have him. Thus do those debase and destroy themselves that forsake the divine guidance.
III. He was counselled by them to his destruction. So it proved. Those that counsel us to do wickedly counsel us to our destruction; while they fawn, and flatter, and pretend friendship, they are really our worst enemies. Those that debauch young men destroy them. It was bad enough that they exposed him to the sword of the Syrians, drawing him in to join with Joram king of Israel in an expedition to Ramoth-Gilead, where Joram was wounded, an expedition that was not for his honour. Those that give us bad counsel in the affairs of religion, if regarded by us, may justly be made of God our counsellors to do foolishly in our own affairs. But that was not all: by engaging him in an intimacy with Joram king of Israel, they involved him in the common ruin of the house of Ahab. He came on a visit to Joram (2Ch 22:6) just at the time that Jehu was executing the judgment of God upon that idolatrous family, and so was cut off with them, 2Ch 22:7-9. Here, 1. See and dread the mischief of bad company—of joining in with sinners. If not the infection, yet let the destruction be feared. Come out from Babylon, that falling house, Re 18:4. 2. See and acknowledge the justice of God. His providence brought Ahaziah, just at this fatal juncture, to see Joram, that he might fall with him and be taken as in a snare. This we had an account of before, 2Ki 9:27,28. It is here added that he was decently buried (not as Jehoram, whose dead body was cast into Naboth's vineyard, 2Ki 9:26), and the reason given is because he was the son (that is, the grandson) of good Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with his heart. Thus is he remembered with honour long after his death, and some respect shown even to his degenerate unworthy seed for his sake. The memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot.
10-12
Athaliah Usurps the Throne (884 BC)
亞他利雅篡位（主前 884 年）
¹⁰ 亞哈謝的母親亞他利雅見她兒子死了，就起來剿滅猶大王室所有的後裔。 ¹¹ 但王的女兒約示巴將亞哈謝的兒子約阿施從被殺的王子中偷出來，把他和他的乳母放在臥房裡。這樣，約蘭王的女兒、祭司耶何耶大的妻子約示巴（因為她是亞哈謝的妹妹），把他藏起來，躲避亞他利雅，免得他被殺。 ¹² 約阿施就和他們一同藏在 神的殿裡六年。亞他利雅治理那地。
此處我們所讀的，與列王紀下 11:1–16 等所記的相同。1. 一個惡婦企圖毀滅大衛的家，好使自己在它的廢墟上設立寶座。亞他利雅殘酷地剪除了一切王室後裔（代下 22:10），或許打算身後把猶大的冠冕傳給自己的親屬，使她的家族雖在以色列被耶戶剪除，卻可在猶大栽植。2. 一個好婦人切實地保全了它，使它不至被全然拔除。已故君王的一個兒子——一個一歲的孩子——從死人中被救出，因耶何耶大妻子的用心而得存活（代下 22:11–12），使「 神所膏者的燈」得以長存；因為 神的話一句也不落空。
英文原文
Athaliah Usurps the Throne (884 BC)
¹⁰ But when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah.
¹¹ But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, (for she was the sister of Ahaziah,) hid him from Athaliah, so that she slew him not.
¹² And he was with them hid in the house of God six years: and Athaliah reigned over the land.
We have here what we had before, 2Ki 11:1-16, etc. 1. A wicked woman endeavouring to destroy the house of David, that she might set up a throne for herself upon the ruins of it. Athaliah barbarously cut off all the seed-royal (2Ch 22:10), perhaps intending to transmit the crown of Judah after herself to some of her own relations, that though her family was cut off in Israel by Jehu it might be planted in Judah. 2. A good woman effectually preserving it from being wholly extirpated. One of the late king's sons, a child of a year old, was rescued from among the dead, and saved alive by the care of Jehoiada's wife (2Ch 22:11,12), that a lamp might be ordained for God's anointed; for no word of God shall fall to the ground.
在前一章我們讀到約蘭的眾子和妻妾被擄去；但本章我們發現他的一個兒子和一個妻子卻被留下了——他的兒子亞哈謝和他的妻子亞她利雅。這兩人留下來，是要成為他家族的羞恥與禍患。一、亞哈謝是這家族的羞恥，因為他與亞哈家同流：1. 在罪上有分，2. 在亞哈家的敗亡中也有分（代下 22:1-9）。二、亞她利雅是這家族的禍患，因為她滅盡了所有王室的後裔，又篡奪了王位（代下 22:10-12）。