We have no ground for accusing either king of any want of courage; yet it was obviously impolitic of Jehoram to linger unnecessarily in his luxurious capital, while the army of Israel was engaged in service on a dangerous frontier. The wounds inflicted by the Syrian archers may have been originally severe. Their arrows at this time played as momentous a part in history as the cloth-yard shafts of our English bowmen which "sewed the French ranks together" at Poictiers, Creçy, and Azincour. But Jehoram had at any rate so far recovered that he could ride in his chariot; and if he had been wise and bravely vigorous, he would not have left his army under a subordinate at so perilous an epoch, and menaced by so resolute a foe. Or if he were indeed compelled to consult the better physicians at Jezreel, he should have persuaded his nephew Ahaziah of Judah--who seems to have been more or less of a vassal as well as a kinsman--to keep an eye on the beleaguered fort. Both kings, however, deserted their post,--Jehoram to recover perfect health; and Ahaziah, who had been his comrade--as their father and grandfather had gone together to the same war--to pay a state visit of condolence to the royal invalid. The army was left under a popular, resolute, and wholly unscrupulous commander, and the results powerfully affected the immediate and the ultimate destiny of both kingdoms.
[141] The following genealogy may help to elucidate the troublesome identity of names:--
OMRI ____|____ | | JEHOSHAPHAT Ahab = Jezebel | _______|__________________ | | | | | Ahaziah Jehoram Athaliah = Jehoram (of Israel). (of Israel). | (of Judah). | Ahaziah (of Judah).
[142] Jotham ben-Uzziah was not the colleague of his father, but his public representative.
[143] The only other king of Judah whose mother's name is not mentioned (perhaps because his father Jotham had but one wife) is Ahaz.
[144] 2 Kings xi. 18; 2 Chron. xxi. 11, xxiv. 7.
[145] Vulg., _Seira_; Arab., _Sa'ir_ (but the historian never uses the name Mount Seir); LXX., [Greek: Siôr]. There is perhaps some corruption in the text, and the reading of the Chronicler "with his princes" shows that it may have once been [Hebrew: tzam-sarav].
[146] 2 Kings viii. 21. "The people" (_i.e._, the army of Judah) "fled to their tents." Apparently this means that they slunk away home. The word "tents" is a reminiscence of their nomad days, like the treasonable cry, "To your tents, O Israel."