(47) There was then no king in Edom.--This notice is apparently connected with the following verses; for Ezion-geber is a seaport of the Edomite territory. Whatever may have been the influence of Hadad in the last days of Solomon (1Kings 11:14), Edom does not seem to have regained independence till the time of Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat (2Chronicles 21:8-10); although in the confederacy against Jehoshaphat, those "of Mount Seir" are included with the Moabites and Ammonites (2Chronicles 20:10; 2Chronicles 20:22). The "king of Edom," of 2 Kings 3, who is evidently a subject ally, not regarded in consultation (see 1Kings 22:6-9), must be "the deputy" of this passage.

Verse 47. - There was then no king in Edom: a deputy [נִצָב, same word as in 1 Kings 4:7. It is implied that this officer was appointed by the king of Judah (Wordsworth)] was king. [This fact is mentioned to show how it was that Jehoshaphat was able to build a fleet at Ezion-Geber, in the territory of Edom (1 Kings 9:26). That country would seem to have regained its independence very soon after Solomon's death (1 Kings 11:14), but would also appear from the text, and from 2 Kings 8:20, 22, to have been again made subject to Judah, probably by Jehoshaphat himself; see 2 Chronicles 17:10, 11.]

22:41-50 Jehoshaphat's reign appears to have been one of the best, both as to piety and prosperity. He pleased God, and God blessed him.There was then no king in Edom, a deputy was king. Which had been the case from the times of David, who subdued Edom, and placed garrisons in it, and governors over it, 2 Samuel 8:14 and continued through the reign of Jehoshaphat, unto the times of his son, under whom the Edomites revolted, and set up a king of their own, 2 Kings 8:20, with a view to which this is observed, as also to account for it how Jehoshaphat could build ships in Eziongeber, which was in the land of Edom, of which in the next verse, because the whole country was governed by a viceroy, or deputy, under him.