2 Crônicas 18:2 Comentário

The story of this chapter we had just as it is here related in the story of the reign of Ahab king of Israel, 1 Kings 22. There it looks more creditable to Ahab than any thing else recorded of him that he was in league with so good a man as Jehoshaphat; here it is a great blemish in the reign of Jehoshaphat that he thus connected himself with so bad a man as Ahab. Here is, I. The alliance he contracted himself with Ahab (Ch2 18:1). II. His consent to join with him in his expedition for the recovery of Remoth - Gilead out of the hands of the Syrians (Ch2 18:2, Ch2 18:3). III. Their consulting with the prophets, false and true, before they went (v. 4-27). IV. The success of their expedition. Jehoshaphat hardly escaped (Ch2 18:28-32) and Ahab received his death's wound (Ch2 18:33, Ch2 18:34).

Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance,.... Still more and more, see Ch2 17:5, and which moved Ahab to desire friendship and affinity with him, to which Jehoshaphat agreed: and joined affinity with Ahab; king of Israel, married his son Joram to Athaliah, a daughter of Ahab by Jezebel of Zidon; which marriage proved of bad consequence to Jehoshaphat and his family.

And after certain years,.... Two years, according to the Syriac and Arabic versions, or in the third year after the affinity was contracted, see Kg1 22:2, he went down to Ahab to Samaria; to pay him a visit upon the alliance, civil and matrimonial, contracted between them: and Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance, and for the people that he had with him; entertained him and his retinue in a very grand and liberal manner: and persuaded him to go up with him to Ramothgilead; from hence, to the end of the chapter, it is the same with Kg1 22:4. Next: 2 Chronicles Chapter 19

Jehoshaphat joins affinity with Ahab, king of Israel, Ch2 18:1, Ch2 18:2; who invites him to assist him in the war against the Syrians, to which Jehoshaphat agrees, Ch2 18:3. They consult the prophets concerning the success of the war; and all, except Micaiah, promise Ahab victory, Ch2 18:4-17. Micaiah relates his vision concerning the lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab's prophets, Ch2 18:18-22. Zedekiah, a false prophet, opposes Micaiah; and Micaiah is put in prison, Ch2 18:23-27. Both the kings go against the Syrians; the confederate armies are defeated, and the king of Israel slain, Ch2 18:28-31.

JEHOSHAPHAT AND AHAB GO AGAINST RAMOTH-GILEAD. (2Ch. 18:1-34) after certain years he went down to Ahab to Samaria--This is word for word, the same as 1Ki. 22:1-53. (See commentary on that chapter). Next: 2 Chronicles Chapter 19

The prophet Jehu's declaration as to Jehoshaphat's alliance with Ahab, and Jehoshaphat's further efforts to promote the fear of God and the administration of justice in Judah. - Ch2 19:1-3. Jehu's declaration. Jehoshaphat returned from the war in which Ahab had lost his life, בּשׁלום, i.e., safe, uninjured, to his house in Jerusalem; so that the promise of Micah in Ch2 18:16 was fulfilled also as regards him. But on his return, the seer Jehu, the son of Hanani, who had been thrown into the stocks by Asa (Ch2 16:7.), met him with the reproving word, "Should one help the wicked, and lovest thou the haters of Jahve!" (the inf. with ל, as in Ch1 5:1; Ch1 9:25, etc.). Of these sins Jehoshaphat had been guilty. "And therefore is anger from Jahve upon thee" (על קצף as in Ch1 27:24). Jehoshaphat had already had experience of this wrath, when in the battle of Ramoth the enemy pressed upon him (Ch2 18:31), and was at a later time to have still further experience of it, partly during his own life, when the enemy invaded his land (2 Chron 20), and when he attempted to re-establish the sea trade with Ophir (Ch2 20:35.), partly after his death in his family (2 Chron 21 and Ch2 22:1-12). "But," continues Jehu, to console him, "yet there are good things found in thee (cf. Ch2 12:12), for thou hast destroyed the Asheroth..." אשׁרות = אשׁרים, Ch2 17:6. On these last words, comp. Ch2 12:14 and Ch2 17:4.

The campaign undertaken along with Ahab against the Syrians at Ramoth in Gilead, with its origin, course, and results for Ahab, is narrated in 1 Kings (in the history of Ahab) in agreement with our narrative, only the introduction to the war being different here. In Kg1 22:1-3 it is remarked, in connection with the preceding wars of Ahab with the Syrians, that after there had been no war for three years between Aram and Israel, in the third year Jehoshaphat king of Judah came up to the king of Israel; and the latter, when he and his servants had determined to snatch away from the Syrians the city Ramoth in Gilead, which belonged to Israel, called upon Jehoshaphat to march with him to the war against Ramoth. In the Chronicle the more exact statement, "in the third year," which is intelligible only in connection with the earlier history of Ahab, is exchanged for the indefinite שׁנים לקץ, "at the end of years;" and mention is made of the festal entertainment which Ahab bestowed upon his guest and his train (עמּו אשׁר העם), to show the pains which Ahab took to induce King Jehoshaphat to take part in the proposed campaign. He killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance, ויסיתהוּ ,ecnadn, and enticed, seduced him to go up with him to Ramoth. הסית, to incite, entice to anything (Jdg 1:14), frequently to evil; cf. Deu 13:7, etc. עלה, to advance upon a land or a city in a warlike sense. The account which follows of the preparations for the campaign by inquiring of prophets, and of the war itself, vv. 4-34, is in almost verbal agreement with 1 Kings 22:5-35. Referring to 1 Kings for the commentary on the substance of the narrative, we will here only group together briefly the divergences. Instead of 400 men who were prophets, Ch2 18:5, in Kg1 22:5 we have about 400 men. It is a statement in round numbers, founded not upon exact enumeration, but upon an approximate estimate. Instead of אהדּל אם...הנלך, Ch2 18:5, in Kings, Kg1 22:6, we have אהדּל אם...האלך, both verbs being in the same number; and so too in Ch2 18:14, where in Kings. Kg1 22:15, both verbs stand in the plural, notwithstanding that the answer which follows, והצלח עלה, is addressed to Ahab alone, not to both the kings, while in the Chronicle the answer is given in the plural to both the kings, והצליחוּ עלוּ. in Ch2 18:7, "he prophesies me nothing good, but all his days (i.e., so long as he has been a prophet) evil," the meaning is intensified by the כּל־ימיו, which is not found in Kg1 22:8. In Ch2 18:9, the ויושׁבים, which is introduced before the בּגרן, "and sitting upon the threshing-floor," is due to difference of style, for it is quite superfluous for the signification. In Ch2 18:15, the ambiguous words of Micah,' and Jahve will give into the hand of the king" (Kg1 22:15), are given in a more definite form: "and they (the enemy) shall be given into your hand." In Ch2 18:19, in the first כּכה אמר זה, the אמר after the preceding ויּאמר is not only superfluous, but improper, and has probably come into the text by a copyist's error. We should therefore read only בּכה זה, corresponding to the כּכה זה of Kg1 22:20 : "Then spake one after this manner, and the other spake after another manner." In Ch2 18:23, the indefinite אי־זה of Kg1 22:24, is elucidated by הדּרך זה אי, "is that the manner" (cf. Kg1 13:12; Kg2 3:8)., and the verb. עבר follows without the relative pronoun, as in the passages cited. In Ch2 18:30, only הרכב שׂרי of the king are mentioned, without any statement of the number, which is given in Kg1 22:31, with a backward reference to the former war (Kg1 20:24). In Ch2 18:31, after the words, "and Jehoshaphat cried out," the higher cause of Jehoshaphat's rescue is pointed out in the words, "and Jahve helped him, and God drove them from him," which are not found in Kg1 22:32; but by this religious reflection the actual course of the event is in no way altered. Bertheau's remark, therefore, that "the words disturb the clear connection of the events," is quite unwarrantable. Finally, in Ch2 18:34, מעמיד היה, he was holding his position, i.e., he held himself standing upright, the Hiph. is more expressive than the Hoph. מעמד (Kg1 22:35), since it expresses more definitely the fact that he held himself upright by his own strength. With Ahab's death, which took place in the evening at the time of the going down of the sun, the author of the Chronicle concludes his account of this war, and proceeds in Ch2 19:1-11 to narrate the further course of Jehoshaphat's reign. In Kg1 22:36-39, the return of the defeated army, and the details as to Ahab's death and burial, are recorded; but these did not fit into the plan of the Chronicle.