2 Kings 1:17 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Jehoram reigned in his stead Namely, his brother, because he had no son. In the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat To avoid confusion, the reader should take notice, that in the course of this history, there is mention made of two Jehorams; one the second son of Ahab, who succeeded Ahaziah, and was king of Israel; the other, the heir of Jehoshaphat, who reigned in Judah. By comparing 2 Kings 3:1, and 2 Kings 8:16, it will appear that there is a considerable difference in the reading of the dates, which made Houbigant suppose that some errors have crept into the text. To reconcile, however, the above-mentioned passages, some have supposed that Jehoshaphat, in his seventeenth year, when he went to Ahab, and with him to Ramoth-gilead, appointed his son Jehoram his viceroy, and (in case of his death) his successor. In the second year from that time, when Jehoram was thus made vice-king in his father's stead and absence, this Jehoram, Ahab's son, began to reign: and in the fifth year of the reign of this Jehoram, son of Ahab, which was about the twenty- fourth year of Jehoshaphat's reign, Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, was made king of Judah, together with his father. This supposition, if allowed, will, in a great degree, clear up the difficulty.