(9) Then Jehoram went forth.--And Jehoram passed over.
With his princes.--Captains ('im s?r?v); Kings, "to Zair," which appears to be a corruption of "to Seir." The chronicler has substituted an intelligible for an obscure expression.
And he rose up by night, and smote the Edomites which compassed him in.--Literally, and it came to pass, he rose. Brief as the notice is, it is evident that the verse relates not a victory of Jehoram's, but his desperate escape by cutting his way through the enemy's troops, which had surrounded him and his forces. (See on 2 Kings 8:21, where it is added, "and the people fled to their tents.") (Syriac. "And Jehoram passed over with his captains; and all his chariots with him. And it came to pass that when he rose in the night, he destroyed the Edomites, and the captains of the chariots came with him.")
Verse 9. - With his princes. The parallel, 2 Kings 8:21, reads, "to Zair." Of any such place nothing is known, and it has been proposed to supersede the word there by "Self," which a certain amount of similarity of the Hebrew characters might countenance. Possibly by some mishap, not so readily explainable by misoccurrence of characters simply, our words, "with his princes," should stand in place of "to Zair." It must be noted that the two first clauses of the verse in the parallel become something inconsequential (which is not the case with the reading of our text), in that it says, "The king and chariots went forth to a place, and rose up by night," etc. The dislocation is, perhaps, not serious, but our text avoids it in reading, "The king, princes, and chariots went forth, and rose up by night and smote," etc.
21:1-11 Jehoram hated his brethren, and slew them, for the same reason that Cain hated Abel, and slew him, because their piety condemned his impiety. In the mystery of Providence such men sometimes prosper for a time; but the Lord has righteous purposes in permitting such events, part of which may now be made out, and the rest will be seen hereafter.
With his princes.--Captains ('im s?r?v); Kings, "to Zair," which appears to be a corruption of "to Seir." The chronicler has substituted an intelligible for an obscure expression.
And he rose up by night, and smote the Edomites which compassed him in.--Literally, and it came to pass, he rose. Brief as the notice is, it is evident that the verse relates not a victory of Jehoram's, but his desperate escape by cutting his way through the enemy's troops, which had surrounded him and his forces. (See on 2 Kings 8:21, where it is added, "and the people fled to their tents.") (Syriac. "And Jehoram passed over with his captains; and all his chariots with him. And it came to pass that when he rose in the night, he destroyed the Edomites, and the captains of the chariots came with him.")