Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 18:34

And the battle increased that day: howbeit the king of Israel stayed [himself] up in [his] chariot against the Syrians until the even: and about the time of the sun going down he died.

34. stayed himself up in his chariot ] 1 Kin. was stayed up. The expression in Chron. probably means that Ahab by his continued presence on the field stayed his army from retreat until sundown. Ahab sustained his reputation as a good soldier (cp. 1Ki 20:14; 1Ki 22:31) to the last; his death caused the failure of the attack on Ramoth (1Ki 22:36).

of the sun going down ] R.V. of the going down of the sun.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Verse 34. Stayed himself up – against the Syrians] There was a great deal of true personal courage and patriotism in this last act of the king of Israel: he well knew that if his troops found that he was mortally wounded, they would immediately give way, and the battle would not only be lost, but the slaughter would be great in the pursuit; therefore he stayed himself up till the evening, when the termination of the day must necessarily bring the battle to a close: and when this was done, the Israelites found that their king was slain, and so they left the field of battle to their foes. Thus Israel had a great loss, and the Syrians had got a great deliverance. Had it not been for this accident, the Syrians had probably been defeated. See on 1Kg 22:36.

IN the notes referred to above, the quibbling predictions of false prophets and lying oracles are mentioned, and several instances given; and the whole account of the lying spirit going forth from the Lord to deceive Ahab, particularly considered. See especially the notes as above on 2Ch 18:19; 2Ch 18:23-24.

The reader should never forget a truth so very frequently occurring in the Bible, that God is repeatedly represented as doing what, in the course of his providence, he only permits to be done.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

[See comments on 2Ch 18:2].

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(34) Increased.Literally, went up, grew. (Comp. Gen. 40:10; Amos 7, the growth of grass.)

Howbeit the king of Israel stayed himself up in his chariot.Literally, and the king of Israel was (or, continued) holding himself up in the chariot, facing Aram, until the evening. 1Ki. 22:35 reads: was held up in the chariot, &c, and he died in the evening. The reading of Chronicles is preferable, the sense being that Ahab bravely bore up against the pain of his wound, in order not to discourage his own side by retiring from the field. The rest of the narrative which tells of the return of the army and the washing of Ahabs chariot at the pool of Samaria (1Ki. 22:36-38) is omitted here, because Jehoshaphat was not concerned in it, and perhaps because the chronicler had a true perception of the real climax of this vivid story of the olden time.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

REFLECTIONS

PAUSE, Reader, over the perusal of this chapter, and passing by for the present other considerations, let your meditations with mine be deeply exercised in beholding the striking contrast between the false and lying prophets here represented, seducing Ahab to his ruin, and the faithful honest Micaiah, in foretelling to him what would take place.

Nothing in history, nothing in all the events of the world, nothing in the setting up, or putting down empires, bears the least proportion, in point of magnitude and importance, to that of men drawing the line of eternal distinction between true and false teachers, concerning the truths as they are in Jesus.

Who in the days of Ahab would have ventured to have called in question those four hundred prophets, who all with one voice concurred in sending Ahab to battle with full assurance of success; and who backed their commission in the name of the Lord? And who would have ventured to come forward, when the poor solitary prophet Micaiah, from the prison, foretold the awful event hanging ready to fall upon the head of the king, and to have justified his faithfulness? But the event manifested where the truth lay. It is not pomp, nor parade, though accompanied with pretended commissions from Jesus, can certify to truth. Men, destitute themselves of saving knowledge, can never be safely followed in what they deliver on divine things. And the Lord Jesus himself hath marked hirelings in such plain characters, as leave it no great matter of difficulty to discover the object of their ministry. They may, like the four hundred, be numerous, be of one mind, discourse with great confidence, and of certain success; but the apostle awfully speaks of the bringers in of heresies, even denying the Lord that brought them, that they shall bring upon themselves swift destruction.

The Micaiahs of the present day may be, as he was, exposed to much persecution. Like Paul and his few faithful followers, they may be held up as a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. And faithfulness will be sure, when exercised in the reproving sinners, to bring upon them the obloquy, the scorn, the derision, to speak the best of it, of men; and to provoke the rage of devils. But if their ministry be directed to exalt the Saviour, and humble the sinner; if they preach Christ, and not themselves; set forth the wretchedness of man in his highest attainments, and insist upon the person, offices, blood, and righteousness of Jesus, as the whole of salvation; here we may safely join issue with what so fully corresponds to the counsel of God in the salvation of sinners. Christ is declared to be both the wisdom of God and the power of God for salvation, to everyone that believeth. These are they whose faith I pray you to follow, considering the end of their conversation, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

2Ch 18:34 And the battle increased that day: howbeit the king of Israel stayed [himself] up in [his] chariot against the Syrians until the even: and about the time of the sun going down he died.

Ver. 34. About the time of the sun going down he died. ] And so proved that a whole council – of false prophets especially – may err. Ahab might now have sent for Zedekiah, with his fellows, as Rodulphus Suevus did for the Popish bishops, who had put him on to take up arms against his master, the emperor, complaining of them at his death, that they had deceived him to his destruction, with the Popes,

“Petra dedit Petro, Petrus diadems Rodulpho.”

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)