2. Chronik 17:2 Kommentar

Here begin the life and reign of Jehoshaphat, who was one of the first three among the royal worthies, one of the best that ever swayed the sceptre of Judah since David's head was laid. He was the good son of a good father, so that, as this time, grace ran in the blood, even in the blood-royal. Happy the son that had such a father, to lay a good foundation in him and for him. Happy the father that had such a son, to build so wall upon the foundation he had laid! Happy the kingdom that was blessed with two such kings, two such reigns, together! In this chapter we have, I. His accession to and establishment in the throne (Ch2 17:1, Ch2 17:2, Ch2 17:5). II. His persona piety (Ch2 17:3, Ch2 17:4, Ch2 17:6). III. The course he took to promote religion in his kingdom (Ch2 17:7-9). IV. The mighty sway he bore among the neighbours (Ch2 17:10, Ch2 17:11). V. The great strength of his kingdom, both in garrisons and standing forces (Ch2 17:12-19). Thus was his prosperity the reward of his piety and his piety the brightest grace and ornament of his prosperity.

INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 17 This chapter relates the accession of Jehoshaphat to the throne, his settlement on it, his piety, and reformation in religion, Ch2 17:1, his care to instruct the people in the law of God, Ch2 17:7, the respect shown him by neighbouring nations, Ch2 17:10, the fortified places of his kingdom, his numerous forces and mighty men at the head of them, Ch2 17:12.

And he placed forces in all the fenced cities of Judah,.... A considerable number of soldiers, to defend them should they be attacked: and set garrisons in the land of Judah: on the frontiers and borders of it, to protect it: and in the cities of Ephraim; soldiers to keep garrison there: which Asa his father had taken; see Ch2 15:8.

Jehoshaphat succeeds his father Asa, and reigns piously, and is particularly blessed, Ch2 17:1-6. He establishes an itinerant ministry, for the instruction of the people, through all the cities of Judah, which produces the most beneficial effects, Ch2 17:7-10. The Philistines and Arabians bring him gifts, Ch2 17:11. His greatness, Ch2 17:12, Ch2 17:13. The commanders of his troops, Ch2 17:14-19.

The cities of Ephraim - This conquest from the kingdom of Israel is referred to, Ch2 15:8; but when it was made we do not know.

JEHOSHAPHAT REIGNS WELL AND PROSPERS. (Ch2 17:1-6) Jehoshaphat . . . strengthened himself against Israel--The temper and proceedings of the kings of Israel rendered it necessary for him to prepare vigorous measures of defense on the northern frontier of his kingdom. These consisted in filling all the fortresses with their full complement of troops and establishing military stations in various parts of the country, as well as in the cities of Mount Ephraim, which belonged to Jehoshaphat (Ch2 15:8).

Jehoshaphat's marriage alliance with Ahab, and his campaign with Ahab against the Syrians at Ramoth in Gilead. - Ch2 18:1. Jehoshaphat came into connection by marriage with Ahab through his son Joram taking Athaliah, a daughter of Ahab, to wife (Ch2 21:6); an event which did not take place on the visit made by Jehoshaphat to Ahab in his palace at Samaria, and recorded in Ch2 18:2, but which had preceded that by about nine years. That visit falls in the beginning of the year in which Ahab was mortally wounded at Ramoth, and died, i.e., the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat's reign. But at that time Ahaziah, the son of Joram and Athaliah, was already from eight to nine years old, since thirteen years later he became king at the age of twenty-two; Kg2 8:26, cf. with the chronol. table to 1 Kings 12. The marriage connection is mentioned in order to account for Jehoshaphat's visit to Samaria (Ch2 18:2), and his alliance with Ahab in the war against the Syrians; but it is also introduced by a reference to Jehoshaphat's riches and his royal splendour, repeated from Ch2 17:5. In the opinion of many commentators, this is stated to account for Ahab's willingness to connect his family by marriage with that of Jehoshaphat. This opinion might be tenable were it Ahab's entering upon a marriage connection with Jehoshaphat which is spoken of; but for Jehoshaphat, of whom it is related that he entered into a marriage connection with Ahab, his own great wealth could not be a motive for his action in that matter. If we consider, first, that this marriage connection was very hurtful to the kingdom of Judah and the royal house of David, since Athaliah not only introduced the Phoenician idolatry into the kingdom, but also at the death of Ahaziah extirpated all the royal seed of the house of David, only the infant Joash of all the royal children being saved by the princess, a sister of Ahaziah, who was married to the high priest Jehoiada (Ch2 22:10-12); and, second, that Jehoshaphat was sharply censured by the prophet for his alliance with the criminal Ahab (Ch2 19:2.), and had, moreover, all but forfeited his life in the war (Ch2 18:34.), - we see that the author of the Chronicle can only have regarded the marriage connection between Jehoshaphat and Ahab as a mistake. By introducing this account of it by a second reference to Jehoshaphat's riches and power, he must therefore have intended to hint that Jehoshaphat had no need to enter into this relationship with the idolatrous house of Ahab, but had acted very inconsiderately in doing so. Schmidt has correctly stated the contents of the verse thus: Josaphatus cetera dives et gloriosus infelicem adfinitatem cum Achabo, rege Israelis, contrahit. With which side the proposals for thus connecting the two royal houses originated we are not anywhere informed. Even if the conjecture of Ramb., that Ahab proposed it to Jehoshaphat, be not well founded, yet so much is beyond doubt, namely, that Ahab not only desired the alliance, but also promoted it by every means in his power, since it must have been of great importance to him to gain in Jehoshaphat a strong ally against the hostile pressure of the Syrians. Jehoshaphat probably entered upon the alliance bono animo et spe firmandae inter duo regna pacis (Ramb.), without much thought of the dangers which a connection of this sort with the idolatrous Ahab and with Jezebel might bring upon his kingdom.

He placed forces (חיל) in all the fenced cities of Judah, and garrisons (נציבים, military posts; cf. Ch1 11:16) in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim, which is father Asa had taken; cf. Ch2 15:8. God blessed these undertakings. Jahve was with him, because he walked in the ways of David his ancestor, the former ways, and sought not the Baals. The former ways of David are his ways in the earlier years of his reign, in contrast to the later years, in which his adultery with Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11) and the sin of numbering the people (1 Chron 21) fall. הבּעלים are all false gods, in contrast to Jahve, the one God of Israel; and here the word designates not only the Baal-worship properly so called, but also the worship of Jahve by means of images, by which Jahve is brought down to the level of the Baals; cf. Jdg 2:11. The ל before בּעלים stands, according to the later usage, as a sign of the accusative. In the last clause of Ch2 17:4, "and not after the doings of Israel" (of the ten tribes), הלך, "he walked," is to be repeated. The doing of Israel is the worship of Jahve through the images of the golden calves, which the author of the Chronicle includes in the לבּעלים דּרשׁ.