Loading AI tools
Second Book of Chronicles, chapter 21 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2 Chronicles 21 is the twenty-first chapter of the Second Book of Chronicles the Old Testament in the Christian Bible or of the second part of the Books of Chronicles in the Hebrew Bible.[1][2] The book is compiled from older sources by an unknown person or group, designated by modern scholars as "the Chronicler", and had the final shape established in late fifth or fourth century BCE.[3] This chapter belongs to the section focusing on the kingdom of Judah until its destruction by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar and the beginning of restoration under Cyrus the Great of Persia (2 Chronicles 10 to 36).[1] The focus of this chapter is the reign of Jehoram, king of Judah.[4]
2 Chronicles 21 | |
---|---|
![]() The complete Hebrew text of the Books of Chronicles (1st and 2nd Chronicles) in the Leningrad Codex (1008 CE). | |
Book | Books of Chronicles |
Category | Ketuvim |
Christian Bible part | Old Testament |
Order in the Christian part | 14 |
This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language and is divided into 20 verses.
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Aleppo Codex (10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008).[5]
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; B; 4th century), and Codex Alexandrinus (A; A; 5th century).[6][lower-alpha 1]
This section contains the record of Jehoram's reign, but uniquely also has the records of the king's brothers (verses 2–4), which only occurs with David's family in Kings or Chronicles.[4] As soon as Jehoram had established his power, he brutally murdered all his brothers, who were in charge of fortified cities, and several notables, most likely driven by his lust for control or fear of losing it.[4] However, the divine wrath was restrained for the kingdom, because of the promise to David (1 Chronicles 17:1–15; cf. 2 Kings 8:17–19).[11]
The text provides unclear description whether Jehoram managed to defeat the Edomites, only to state that Edom and Libnah successfully revolted against the kingdom of Judah (verse 10), which should give ample warning to Jehoram to repent from his sins, but instead he continued to establish idol worship in Judah.[4]
In Jehoram's regnal record, there was not a single prophet appearing in flesh and blood, and the prophetic warning only came in a letter sent by Elijah, who was active in the northern kingdom. Elijah's threats of divine punishment for Jehoram (verses 14–15) were all fulfilled and fell on Jehoram's people, family, property and own body (verses 16–19).[4]
The punishment for Jehoram came from the south-western neighbors of the kingdom ("the Arabs who are near the Ethiopians"; cf. 2 Chronicles 14:9), and left with only the youngest son of Jehoram, the Davidic line was on the brink of total eradication.[4] The Chronicler extensively describes Jehoram's final punishment in the form of a painful, incurable, yet indefinable sickness (probably a stomach ulcer leading to a chronic rectal prolapse).[4]
The repetition of Jehoram's age and length of reign (cf. verse 5) indicates a transcription from another source.[16]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.