2 Kings 18:2 KJV
Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also [was] Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.
2 Kings 18:2 MKJV
He [was] twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name [was] Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.
2 Kings 18:2 NKJV
He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name [was] Abi the daughter of Zechariah.
2 Kings 18:2 KJV 2000
Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.
Interlinear KJV
Twenty /`esriym/ and five /chamesh/ years /shaneh (in pl. only),/ old /ben/ was he when he began to reign; /malak/ and he reigned /malak/ twenty /`esriym/ and nine /tesha`/ years /shaneh (in pl. only),/ in Jerusalem. /Y@ruwshalaim/ His mother’s /’em/ name /shem/ also was Abi, /’Abiy/ the daughter /bath/ of Zachariah. /Z@karyah/
Matthew Poole’s Commentary
Ver. 2. Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign. How is this credible? For then Ahaz, who lived but six and thirty years, 2Ki 16:2, must beget Hezekiah at the eleventh year of his age.
Answ. 1. There are some like instances mentioned by credible authors; which these very men will not deny, who are so ready to quarrel with the Holy Scriptures for such matters.
2. This being the confessed custom of sacred and other writers, in the numbering of years, sometimes to omit, and sometimes to add, those which are imperfect or unfinished; and so Ahaz might be near one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and near seventeen years older when he died. And on the other side, Hezekiah, when he began to reign, might be only four and twenty years old complete, and but entered into his five and twentieth year. And thus Ahaz might be between thirteen and fourteen years old when he got Hezekiah; which is not at all strange, especially in that nation, to which God had promised a singular degree of fruitfulness, and in that house of David, to which God had made so many and such great promises.
3. It is not certain that Ahaz lived only thirty six years; for those sixteen years which he reigned, 2Ki 17:2, may be computed, not from the first beginning of his reign, when he reigned with his father, (of which See Poole “2Ki 15:30”,) which was at the twentieth year of his age, but from the beginning of his reign alone.
4. Some affirm that Hezekiah was not the natural, but only the legal son and successor of Ahaz; for the name of son is given in Scripture to such persons; as 1Ch 3:16, compared with 2Ki 24:17; Mt 1:12, compared with Jer 22:30; and to adopted sons, Ac 7:21; Heb 11:24; and to sons-in-law, 1Sa 24:16; 26:17; Lu 3:23. Any of these solutions are far more credible to any man of common prudence, than that these sacred books, whose Divine original hath been so fully evidenced both by God and men, are but the fictions and contrivances of a base impostor. And if none of these solutions were sufficient, it is absurd to conclude that a true resolution cannot be found because it is not yet found; because it is manifest, that many difficulties, both in Scripture and in the arts, which were formerly judged insoluble, have been cleared in later times; and therefore we may justly expect the resolution of other difficulties, which may be thought not yet fully explained. Abi, or Abijah, 2Ch 29:1.
Patrick/Lowth/Whitby/Lowman Commentary
Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign, &c. Unto this it is objected, that Ahaz lived but thirty and, six years 2Ki 16:2; and therefore according to this account, begat Hezekiah when he was but eleven years old, which seems incredible. To which Capellus in his Chronologia answers, that he reigned two or three years with his father; which is not likely, for the text saith he was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, after his father’s death, which is before mentioned. And the solution of the Jews, mentioned by St. Jerome, is not much better, who say, he did not begin to reign presently after his father’s death, but there was an interregnum for some years, because of a sedition that was in Jerusalem. But as there is no proof of this, so it improbable that Hezekiah, who was a grown man, and beloved of the people, should not presently succeed his father. Calvisius’ account is still worse, who will have Hezekiah to have been only the adopted son of Ahaz: which spoils the descent of our Saviour from David, as Bochartus observes: who therefore plainly admits that he did beget Hezekiah, when he was eleven or twelve years old. For so it may be understood, that he was but just entered upon the twenty-fifth year of his age, when he began his reign; and so but twenty-four complete. Therefore his father begat him about the twelfth year of his age. For if, from thirty-six years, four-and-twenty be taken, there remain twelve. And if we suppose, as we may very well, that Ahaz was near one-and-twenty years old when he began to reign, and near seventeen years older before he died (for the scriptures, no more than other writers, do not take notice whether the year be perfect or imperfect), then he might be near fourteen years old when he begat Hezekiah. But take it according to the first account, that he was but eleven or twelve years old, Bochartus hath given a vast number of instances of persons that procreated children at that age. For ripeness for procreation is not to be precisely determined; either by physicians, philosophers, or lawyers (who have been pleased to fix the time) ; but consideration is to be had of the climate wherein men live, of the temper and constitution of their bodies, of their diet, and many other things; as he observes in an epistle to Nicol. Carbonellus, in his additions to the last edition of his Phaleg. p. 920.
Thomas Scott Commentary
Verse 2. Twenty and five, &c. If we suppose that Ahaz at his death had nearly completed his thirty-seventh year, and Hezekiah was only entering on his twenty-fifth when he began to reign, Ahaz must have been under thirteen years of age when his son was born! (Note, 2Ki 16:1.) But there are on record well attested instances, especially in those climates, of men having children at as early a period: and there seems to have been a peculiar wisdom Providence displayed in this uncommon circumstance; for thus Ahaz had a son of mature age to succeed him, when he had filled up so speedily the measure of his iniquities. And as Hezekiah was about nine years of age at the death of Jotham his grand-father, perhaps some good seed, which that pious prince had sown in his tender mind, might conduce to the excellency of his character. (Note, 1Ki 16:3-4)