But when... saw this. — Now Ahaziah... had seen it; and he fled, &c.
By the way of the garden house — i.e., in the direction of the garden house, which was probably a sort of arbour or drinking pavilion near the gates of the palace gardens, of which Naboth’s vineyard formed a part. Ahaziah wished to escape from the royal park as fast as he could.
Smite him also in the chariot. — The Hebrew is much more suited to the excitement of the occasion: Him too! shoot him in the chariot! (Here and in 2 Kings 9:13, supra, ‘el, “into,” seems equivalent to ‘al, “upon.”)
And they did so. — Some such words as these may have fallen out of the Hebrew text. So the Syriac: “Him also! slay him! and they slew him in his chariot, on the ascent of Gur,” &c. But the rendering of the LXX. involves the least change, and is probably right: “Him too! And he smote him in the chariot, in the going up,” &c. This is more graphic. Jehu simply ejaculates,” Him too! “and, after a hot pursuit, shoots his second victim, at the ascent or declivity of Gur, where Ahaziah’s chariot would be forced to slacken speed.
The ascent of Gur is not mentioned elsewhere. Ibleam lay between Jezreel and Megiddo. (Comp. Judges 1:27; Joshua 17:11.)
And he fled to Megiddo, and died there. — See the Note on 2 Chronicles 22:9, where a different tradition respecting the end of Ahaziah is recorded. The definite assignment of localities in the present account is a mark of greater trustworthiness. The way in which Rashi, whom Keil follows, attempts to combine the two accounts, is revolting to common sense. It would be better to assume a corruption of the text in one or the other narrative.
Megiddo. — Identified in the cuneiform inscriptions as Magidû or Magadû.