2 Kings 8:26 - Exposition

Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign. The writer of Chronicles says, "two and forty" ( 2 Chronicles 22:2 ), which is absolutely impossible, since his father was but forty when he died. Even "two and twenty" is a more advanced age than we should have expected, since Ahaziah was the youngest of Jehoram's sons ( 2 Chronicles 21:17 ); he must therefore have been born in his father's nineteenth year. Yet he had several elder brothers ( 2 Chronicles 21:17 ; 2 Chronicles 22:1 )! To explain this, we have to remember