And after certain years. — See margin. 1 Kings 22:2 has: “And it came to pass in the third year, that Jehoshaphat went down,” &c. — a date which is relative to the three years’ truce between Syria and Israel mentioned in the preceding verse. From 1 Kings 22:51 of the same chapter we learn that this visit took place in the sixteenth or seventeenth year of the reign of Jehoshaphat. The marriage of Jehoram and Athaliah preceded the visit by eight or nine years. (Syriac and Arabic, “and after two years.”)
And Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance. — This royal hospitality is here represented as part of a deliberate plan for obtaining the co-operation of Jehoshaphat in the projected campaign.
Persuaded him. — Incited, pricked him on (Judges 1:12); especially to evil; 1 Chronicles 21:1; Deuteronomy 13:7. In 1 Kings 22:3, Ahab broaches the subject of the expedition to his court.
To go up... to. — To make an expedition against a town or country (Isaiah 7:1; Isaiah 7:6; 1 Kings 15:17). Comp. Isaiah 8:7-8.