Ahaziah in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE

AHAZIAH a-ha-zi'-a ('achazyah and 'achazyahu, "Yah holds, or sustains"): I. Ahaziah. Son of Ahab and Jezebel, eighth king of Israel (1 Ki 22:51 through 2 Ki 1:18). 1. His Reign: Ahaziah became king over Israel in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and he reigned two years, 854- 853 BC. There is, here an incongruity between the synchronism and the length of the reigns of the kings. Jehoshaphat began to reign in the fourth year of Ahab (1 Ki 22:41), and he reigned 22 years (1 Ki 16:29). Accordingly Ahaziah's first year, in the twenty-second year of Ahab, would fall in the nineteenth year of Jehoshaphat. The chronological statement in 2 Ki 1:17 is probably taken from the Syriac, and both are in harmony wrath a method of computation followed by certain Greek manuscripts. 2. His Character: A good name does not insure a good character. Ahaziah, the "God-sustained," served Baal and worshipped him, and provoked to anger Yahweh, the God of Israel, Just as his father before him had done. He appears to have been weak and unfortunate, and calamities in quick succession pursued him...