2 Kings 8:16, commentary and pictures

The verse dates the accession of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat as king of Judah to a time when his father Jehoshaphat was still king of Judah and Joram son of Ahab was king of Israel. The Jehoram who then began in Judah is distinct from Jehoram son of Ahab, the contemporary king of Israel. He was thirty-two years old when he began joint rule with Jehoshaphat, two years before Jehoshaphat's death. That beginning is placed in 796 B.C., which puts Jehoram's own birth in 828 B.C.

The joint rule probably began when Jehoshaphat left Judah to help the king of Israel, and Jehoram's eight-year reign is counted from that accession alongside his father. This chronology supports the reckoning that Jehoram's son Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign. By the same reckoning Jehoram was sixteen years old when Ahaziah was born in 812 B.C., and Ahaziah's co-regency fell during the two years of his father's disease. On this counting Ahaziah began to reign in 789 B.C.

The verse falls during the noble, godly life of Elisha, by whose miracles God reproved and instructed backsliding Israel, while the history follows the house of Ahab to its extinction. Through this reign Athaliah, the wicked daughter of Ahab, carried the spirit of Jezebel her mother into Judah. Jehoshaphat was the one truly good king among the Judahite rulers in view, and his alliance with the house of Omri brought lasting evil consequences for Judah. The verse also supplies a Hebrew-history example of a ruler left to govern while the senior king is away or of a successor selected in advance, showing that Belshazzar could properly be called king while acting as regent.