Ahaziah was forty-two years old when he became king. But in the book of Kings it says, “Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king” (2 Kings 8:26)! Moreover, his father Jehoram’s entire lifespan was only forty years, for the text says as follows: “Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years” (1 Chronicles 21:5)—so how could [Ahaziah] have been forty-two years old when his father died? That would be impossible! It says in Seder Olam (17): “Once Asa married off his son Jehoshaphat to Omri’s daughter, this decree was issued—that the royal family of David be wiped out along with the house of Ahab.” And that is what happened: King Ahaziah of Judah died together with the king of Israel—for Jehu killed them—and then Athaliah, Ahaziah’s mother, saw that her son was killed and she killed off all the potential royal heirs. So that is why the text counts forty-two—from the time the decree was issued. [How so?] It was in the thirty-first year of Asa that [Jehoshaphat] married [Omri’s daughter]. For the text says, “In the thirty-first year of King Asa of Judah, Omri became king over Israel” (1 Kings 16:23)—yet he had already reigned for four years prior (1 Kings 16:15–16)! What it means, rather, is that he became king in the full sense: he married into the family of Asa, grew in stature, and killed Tibni and reigned over Israel (1 Kings 16:22). And from the thirty-first year of Asa until King Ahaziah of Judah died there are in fact forty-two years. How so? Nine years of Asa; twenty-five of Jehoshaphat (1 Kings 22:42), for a total of thirty-four; and eight years of Jehoram, for a total of forty-two. But this midrash is very far from the plain sense. It is possible to explain that Jehoram lived for more than forty years, but for purposes of [counting] the duration of his reign, the text only counts the eight years during which he ruled at full strength. It does not, however, count toward his reign the years from the time he fell in the hands of the Arabs (2 Chronicles 21:16–17) and also fell ill (ibid. vv. 18–19). In fact, his son Ahaziah was made king in his place while his father [Jehoram] was still alive—at the time of Jehoram’s fall, after which he continued on having lost all desire (ibid. 21:20)—and those years totaled twenty. So it was when they made Ahaziah king during his father’s lifetime that he was twenty-two—that is the meaning of the assertion in Kings, “Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king”—and it was when his father died that he was forty-two. And he only reigned for one year after his father’s death.

His mother’s name was Athaliah daughter of Omri. She was Ahab’s daughter, as the text says above (2 Chronicles 21:6); but it relates her to her father’s father. The same is true for: “They then returned to their father Reuel” (Exodus 2:18)—for Reuel was their father’s father.

And ha-Rammim wounded. This elides an alef: it is equivalent to “ha-Arammim (=the Arameans). The same is true for mi-bet ha-surim (=from prison; Eccl 4:14).

Because ha-makkim. This is a noun, akin to ha-makkot (=the wounds). [The phrase] means: because he had to recover from the wounds.

And King Azariah son of Jehoram of Judah. He is the same as King Ahaziah of Judah: he had two names.

The tevusah of Ahaziah. This is akin to mehumah (=degradation), as in “a day of mehumah and mevusah” (Isa 22:5). [The verse] means: God prompted Ahaziah’s degrading visit to Jehoram, so that he would die with him.

And the sons of Ahaziah’s brothers, acting in the service of Ahaziah. This refers to what is described in Kings: “Jehu came upon the brothers of Ahaziah”—meaning the sons of his brothers—“and said ‘Who are you?’ [And they replied: ‘We are the brothers of Ahaziah], and have come to ensure the safety of the sons of the king and the sons of the queen mother’” (2 Kings 10:13). For here as well, when it says “acting in the service of Ahaziah,” it means that they were going on behalf of Ahaziah to help the sons of the king of Israel.

[Ahaziah] had been hiding in Samaria. But in Kings it says, “and he fled along the road to Beth-haggan, and Jehu pursued him and said, ‘Kill him too!’ …” (2 Kings 9:27), from which it seems that they killed him on the road, when he was fleeing! It might be that they pursued him but did not catch up to him. After all, the text does not say “they killed him on the chariot,” but rather “kill him.” So they did not actually catch up to him but rather shot arrows at him, whereas he managed to flee, as it says, “He fled to Megiddo” (ibid.). Perhaps he then left Megiddo; and when the text says “and he died there” (ibid.), it does not mean that he really died. Rather, the arrows struck him on the road while he was fleeing, and he fled to Megiddo and “died” there in the sense of having been knocked out because of his wounds—just as the text says “and he died” concerning Nabal (1 Samuel 25:37) even though he did not die until ten days later (ibid. v. 38). Then afterward, [Ahaziah’s] servants carried him to hide in Samaria, which he did. But Jehu’s servants found him there and brought him to Jehu and killed him—for he had not yet died. When the text then says here, “And they buried him, for it was said, ‘He is a son of Jehoshaphat,’” it means that they designated him for burial, allowing his servants to carry him to Jerusalem, as it says in Kings, “His servants conveyed him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and they buried him in his grave with his fathers, in the city of David” (2 Kings 9:28).

The house of Ahaziah could not then muster the strength to rule. From the time he died, there was nobody left in the house of Ahaziah who could muster the strength to rule, because he did not have a son old enough to rule. Indeed, all the potential royal heirs were minors. That is why Athaliah had the ability to kill off all the potential royal heirs of the house of David (v. 10)

Vattedabber. [This means]: and she killed, akin to: “a very severe dever (=pestilence)” (Exodus 9:3). In the parallel verse in Kings it in fact says, “and she killed off” (2 Kings 11:1).

In the bedroom. [This is to be understood] as Targum Jonathan renders it in Kings (ibid. v. 2): “in the sleeping quarters”; that is, in the room in which Jehoiada and his wife Jehoshabeath slept.