John Gill Commentary 2 Chronicles 21

Now Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers
(See Gill on 1 Kings 22:50).

And he had brethren, the sons of Jehoshaphat That is, Jehoram had, who succeeded him: their names follow, Azariah, and Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariah, and Michael, and Shephatiah ; two of them were of the same name; though it may be observed, that in the Hebrew text they are somewhat distinguished, the latter is called Azariah;

Jehiel is said, by the Jews ^F24 , to be the same with Hiel that rebuilt Jericho; indeed it was rebuilt in the times of Jehoshaphat, and was a city of the tribe of Benjamin, (Joshua 18:21) which was under his jurisdiction; but it can never be thought that he would ever suffer a son of his to rebuild it; besides, he is expressly said to be a Bethelite, (1 Kings 16:34) ,

all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel ; which generally, since the division of the kingdom, designs the ten tribes, but cannot be the meaning here, because Jehoshaphat was only king of two tribes, Judah and Benjamin; they were tribes of Israel indeed, and so he was king of a part of Israel; and besides, many out of the ten tribes came and settled in his kingdom, and were under his government; though some think he is so called, because he concerned himself so much for the kingdom of Israel, and more than for his own; but the Vulgate Latin, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, all read king of Judah; wherefore some are of opinion that Israel is a mistake of the transcriber; but this need not be supposed, since he was of right king of Israel, and was in fact king of two tribes that belonged to Israel.

FOOTNOTES:

• F24: T. Hieros. Sanhedrin, fol. 29. 4.

And their father gave them great gifts of silver, and of gold,
and of precious things
As jewels and precious stones; or precious garments, as the Targum, in like manner as Abraham gave to his sons, when he sent them from Isaac.

with fenced cities in Judah ;
not as their own property, but he appointed them governors in them, to defend them against an enemy, and as a mark of honour to them.

but the kingdom gave he to Jehoram ,
because he was the firstborn; strictly observing the law in (Deuteronomy 21:16Deuteronomy 21:17) , which was not always done; though it was reckoned by the Heathens contrary to the law of nations to give the kingdom to the younger ^F25 .

FOOTNOTES:

• F25: Justin. e Trogo, l. 16. c. 2.

Now when Jehoram was risen up to the kingdom of his father, &c.] Succeeded him in it, and reigned alone, for he had reigned with his father some years before his death; (See Gill on 2 Kings 8:16).

he strengthened himself; in the kingdom, by some means or another closely attaching the greater part of the princes, and people of the land, unto him, when he thought himself well settled and established on the throne; though some understand it of making strong, or hardening his heart to do what is next mentioned:

and slew all his brethren with the sword; either to get their riches into his hands, or lest, being religious princes, they should oppose his restoring idolatry, and for that reason the people should depose him, and set up one of them; and therefore he dispatched them out of the way to secure himself, and carry his point:

and [divers] also of the princes of Israel; such who had removed out of the ten tribes, for the sake of religion, and therefore would never agree to the introduction of idolatry among them, for which reason Jehoram slew them; and perhaps they might express their disapprobation and abhorrence of his murder of his brethren.

Ver. 5-10. Jehoram was thirty two years old
Of these verses, (See Gill on 2 Kings 8:17) (See Gill on 2 Kings 8:18) (See Gill on 2 Kings 8:19) (See Gill on 2 Kings 8:20) (See Gill on 2 Kings 8:21) (See Gill on 2 Kings 8:22)