(4) Wherefore.--And he did the evil. So 2Kings 8:27.

For they were his counsellors.--Or, became.

To his destruction.--Literally, to destruction to him, the same peculiar expression being used which occurred in 2Chronicles 20:23. This last half of the verse is evidently the chronicler's own free expansion or interpretation of the words of Kings, "for he was son-in-law of the house of Ahab."

22:1-12 The reign of Ahaziah, Athaliah destroys the royal family. - The counsel of the ungodly ruins many young persons when they are setting out in the world. Ahaziah gave himself up to be led by evil men. Those who advise us to do wickedly, counsel us to our destruction; while they pretend to be friends, they are our worst enemies. See and dread the mischief of bad company. If not the infection, yet let the destruction be feared, Re 18:4. We have here, a wicked woman endeavouring to destroy the house of David, and a good woman preserving it. No word of God shall fall to the ground. The whole truth of the prophecies that the Messiah was to come from David, and thereby the salvation of the world, appeared to be now hung upon the brittle thread of the life of a single infant, to destroy whom was the interest of the reigning power. But God had purposed, and vain were the efforts of earth and hell.Wherefore he did evil in the sight of the Lord, like the house of Ahab,.... See 2 Kings 8:27.

for they were his counsellors, after the death of his father, to his destruction; both of soul and body; for they gave him bad advice, both in religious and civil things; these were some of the family or court of the king of Israel, that his mother sent for after his father's death to be of his council.