Commentaria in IV Regum
Best of all Richard of St. Victor in his Harmony of the books of Kings and Paralipomenon, Arias on Daniel, Salianus, Tornielli, Sanchez and Serarius here answer that Joram king of Juda was twice named king by his father, on account of his two wars, namely, first, in the 11th year of Josaphat, in which he himself, with Achab, was about to go to war against the Syrians, 3 Kings xxii, Joram seems to have received from his father Josaphat the title of king only, so that if any evil should befall in the war, Joram might succeed him. Second, after six years, namely in the 23rd year of Josaphat, in which he himself set out to war against the Moabites, as was said in chapter iii of this book, for then Josaphat again declared his son Joram king, and handed over to him the administration of the kingdom in his absence, and from that time the eight years are to be counted in which Joram is said to have reigned; so that Joram reigned three years with his father still living, but the other four after his father’s death: the eighth and last was incomplete, and is therefore not counted. Wherefore, although some hold that Joram reigned eight years after the death of his father Josaphat, yet it is more true, as I have said, that he reigned four whole years only, and a fifth incomplete, after the death of Josaphat, whereas during his father’s life he reigned the last three years of his father; this is plain from chapter ix, 29, where Ochozias the son of Joram king of Juda, after the death of his father Joram, is said to have begun to reign in the eleventh year of Joram king of Israel: now count the years from the fifth year of Joram king of Israel to his eleventh, and thou wilt have only five whole years, in which alone the second Joram reigned in Juda after the death of his father Josaphat. Conversely, when it is said in chapter i, 17, that Joram king of Israel began to reign in the second year of Joram the son of Josaphat king of Juda, understand the second year from the time when Joram first received from his father Josaphat, about to go against the Syrians, the title of king, which was in the 17th year of Josaphat. Whence the second year of Joram the son of Josaphat falls into the 18th year of Josaphat, in which Joram the son of Achab began to reign in Israel,
18. AND HE WALKED (Joram the son of Josaphat, king of Juda) IN THE WAYS OF THE KINGS OF ISRAEL (by worshipping their idols) AS THE HOUSE OF ACHAB HAD WALKED, FOR THE DAUGHTER OF ACHAB WAS HIS WIFE;—by name Athalia; for she was the wife of Joram, and mother of Ochozias, as is plain
19. TO GIVE HIM A LIGHT,—that is, a royal stock and lineage, namely of grandsons continually succeeding one another in the kingdom of Juda.
21. AND JORAM CAME TO SEIRA,—that is, into Idumea. For as Idumea was so called from Esau the founder, who by another name was called Edom, so from the same, who was likewise called Seir, that is, hairy, shaggy, it was called Seira.
23. AND THE REST OF THE ACTS (that is, of the affairs and deeds) OF JORAM, AND ALL THAT HE DID, ARE THEY NOT WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE WORDS OF THE DAYS OF THE KINGS OF JUDA?—namely in the diaries and annals of the kings of Juda? Note, many things about Joram are passed over here, which are therefore supplied in 2 Paralipomenon xxi, where at verse 3 King Josaphat is said to have given to his sons, who were the brothers of Joram, “pensions” (some wrongly read “allowances”), that is, yearly revenues. Again, that Joram slew all his brothers, six in number, that he might reign alone in security. Moreover, that Elias, already taken up (nine years before), sent him a letter from paradise, in which, for these fratricides and for his idolatry, he threatened him with the vengeance of God, which soon befell him; for God struck him with an incurable disease, so that he voided his bowels; and also slew all his sons by the Philistines and Arabs, one only excepted, Ochozias, who, though the youngest by birth, succeeded him, and that in the punishment of retaliation, that as he had slain his brothers, so his sons also should be slain. Josephus adds that his wives were slain. So these barbarians, by the just judgment of God, by the slaughter of the king’s sons offered a funeral sacrifice to the slain royal brothers; and perhaps the foolish king said in his heart: “Thou art just, O Lord, and thy judgment is right;”
25. IN THE TWELFTH YEAR OF JORAM THE SON OF ACHAB KING OF ISRAEL, REIGNED OCHOZIAS THE SON OF JORAM KING OF JUDA.—Thou wilt say, in the following chapter, verse 29, Ochozias is said to have begun to reign in the eleventh year of Joram, not the twelfth. I answer, he began to reign in the eleventh year with his father Joram, who was in the torments of his disease; but in the following year, which is the twelfth, after his father’s death he reigned alone in Juda, so Abulensis, Sanchez, Salianus and others.
26. OCHOZIAS WAS TWO AND TWENTY YEARS OLD WHEN HE BEGAN TO REIGN.—Thou wilt say, 2 Paralipomenon xxi, verse 2, he is said to have been 42 years old? I answer, this discrepancy is most difficult and as it were irreconcilable, which I shall discuss in its place in the book of Paralipomenon.
THE NAME OF HIS MOTHER WAS ATHALIA, THE DAUGHTER OF AMRI,—that is, the granddaughter of Amri; for Athalia was the daughter of Achab, as was said at verse 18. Now Achab was the son of Amri. So Matthew i, 8, Ozias is said to be the son of Joram, though he was his grandson, nay great-grandson; for three generations and three intermediate sons are omitted there, namely Ochozias, Joas and Amasias, because Joram had mingled himself with the impious stock of Achab, and with his wife Athalia, the daughter of Jezabel, had brought idolatry into the kingdom of Juda.
The Hebrews answer otherwise, in St. Jerome in the Traditions, and Cajetan, namely that Athalia was truly the daughter of Amri, yet is called the daughter of Achab, either by imitation or by upbringing, because she was brought up by Achab, and therefore imitated his idolatry.
27. FOR HE WAS THE SON-IN-LAW OF THE HOUSE OF ACHAB.—Ochozias therefore seems to have married the daughter of Joram the son of Achab, as Joram the father of Ochozias had married Athalia the daughter of Achab, or certainly to have married the daughter of the brother or sister of Joram; for he is called “son-in-law of the house of Achab” because his father-in-law was Joram, or the brother of Joram: evidently this whole offspring of impiety and idolatry was brought into the kingdom of Juda by the impious Jezabel; for Athalia was her daughter, and her granddaughter was the wife of Ochozias, both of whom, brought up by Jezabel, who was the mother of one and grandmother of the other, imbibed her impiety and heathen manners. See here how dangerous and harmful it is to marry unbelieving or heretical wives.