2 Kings 1:17-18 - Homilies By J. Orr

Unwritten history.

Ahaziah died, and Jehoram his brother succeeded him. "The rest of his acts" were written "in the book of the chronicles of the Kings of Israel;" but Scripture has not preserved them. Why should it? What was there in the records of that brief and evil existence to entitle the memory of it to live? "The memory of the just is blessed; but the name of the wicked shall rot" ( Proverbs 10:7 ). Enough is written to hold him up to after-ages as an example of the certainty of retribution. Then Scripture buries him with the epitaph, "So he died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken."—J.O.