To give him a nir. This is the equivalent of ner (=lamp), for a king is like a lamp that gives light. The same is true for bin (=son of; Exod 33:11) and ben, and for rish (=poverty; Prov 28:19) and resh (Prov 13:18).

The Edomites rebelled against Judah’s rule and set up a king of their own. For from the time of David—who subdued them and ruled over them—until this point, they remained in the same situation, under the rule of the Judean kings. They could not set up a king of their own, because they were under [the rule of] the Judean king who would appoint prefects over them.

A letter from Elijah the prophet came to him. This was after [Elijah] had ascended (2 Kgs 2:11). What happened here is that Elijah revealed himself to one of the prophets by means of prophetic inspiration. He then placed the content of this letter in the prophet’s mouth. And he instructed him to write it down in the form of a letter, bring it to Jehoram, and tell him that Elijah is sending him this letter, so that Jehoram would think it came to him from the heavens and would humble himself with the knowledge that he had done a terrible evil. How do we know that this was after [Elijah] had ascended? Because in the days of Jehoshaphat he had already ascended. After all, when Jehoshaphat allied himself with Jehoram son of Ahab to go to war against Moab, the text says, “But Jehoshaphat said, ‘Is there not a prophet here?’ … and [one of the courtiers of the king of Israel] said, ‘Elisha son of Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Elijah, is here’” (2 Kgs 3:11)—and Elisha did not separate from Elijah until his ascent. Also, it says “who poured,” and had he not ascended yet it would have said, “who pours water.” Indeed, it says in Seder Olam (17) that Elijah had already been concealed for seven years when the letter came to Jehoram from him.

Of two yamim. This means two years.