2 Kings 9:27

DEATH OF AHAZIAH, 2 Kings 9:27-29.

27. Fled by the way of the garden house That is, according to some, the summerhouse, built for purposes of rest or shade in the royal garden into which Naboth’s vineyard had been converted. 1 Kings 21:2. But house of the garden is a literal translation of the original word Beth-haggan, and it seems better, in view of what 2 Chronicles 22:9 relates of the flight of Ahaziah to Samaria, to understand it, with the Septuagint, as the name of a place between Jezreel and Samaria. A few miles south of Jezreel is Engannim, the modern Jenin, with which Beth-haggan is probably to be identified. It is still a place of gardens and abundant water, whence, doubtless, it received its names.

Jehu followed after him To this 2 Chronicles 22:9, adds: “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.” Here, it will be noticed, the author of Chronicles does not say where or how he was slain and buried, and this the book of Kings supplies. So we should understand that Ahaziah first fled by the way of Beth-haggan to Samaria, and there hid himself, but was followed by Jehu and his men, and discovered, and brought forth from his hiding-place into the presence of Jehu. It would seem that Jehu himself did not follow all the way to Samaria, but his men continued the pursuit, and when they had captured Ahaziah they brought him back to Jez-reel. Then Jehu said: Smite him also in the chariot at the going up to Gur, which is by Ibleam. These words should thus be connected together, and not separated, as in the English version, with the addition, and they did so. Ibleam was a town allotted to the tribe of Manasseh, (Judges 1:27,) though it seems to have been located in the territory of Issachar or Asher. Joshua 17:11. Its exact position is unknown, but it lay probably not far from Megiddo, and between it and Jezreel. The going up to Gur was some well-known eminence near by it, and it was perhaps from some evil association of Ahaziah or his kindred with that spot that Jehu wished him to be slain there.

Fled to Megiddo, and died there The arrows of Jehu’s archers did not prove instantly fatal, and the wounded king seized an opportunity for escape, and fled in his chariot as far as Megiddo, where he expired. According to Josephus he left his chariot, and fled on horseback to Megiddo. Megiddo, the modern el-Lejjun, was about six miles west of Jezreel. See on Joshua 12:21.