3 And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he went in the early ways of his father, not turning to the Baals,
And Asa, hearing these words of Azariah, the son of Oded the prophet, took heart and put away all the disgusting things out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the towns which he had taken from the hill-country of Ephraim; and he made new again the altar of the Lord in front of the covered way of the Lord's house. And he got together all Judah and Benjamin and those of Ephraim and Manasseh and Simeon who were living with them; for numbers of them came to him out of Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. So they came together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the rule of Asa. And that day they made offerings to the Lord of the things they had taken in war, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. And they made an agreement to be true to the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and all their soul; And that anyone, small or great, man or woman, who was not true to the Lord, the God of Israel, would be put to death.
<A Song of the going up.> Lord, give thought to David, and to all his troubles; How he made an oath to the Lord, and gave his word to the great God of Jacob, saying, Truly, I will not come into my house, or go to my bed, I will not give sleep to my eyes, or rest to my eyeballs, Till I have got a place for the Lord, a resting-place for the great God of Jacob.
And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God; For he took away the altars of strange gods and the high places, and had the upright stones broken and the wood pillars cut down; And he made Judah go after the Lord, the God of their fathers, and keep his laws and his orders. And he took away the high places and the sun-images from all the towns of Judah; and the kingdom was quiet under his rule.
And he did the same sins which his father had done before him: his heart was not completely true to the Lord his God, like the heart of David his father. But because of David, the Lord gave him a light in Jerusalem, making his sons king after him, so that Jerusalem might be safe;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 2 Chronicles 17
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 17 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 17
2Ch 17:1-6. Jehoshaphat Reigns Well and Prospers.
1. 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 (2Ch 15:8).
3-5. he walked in the first ways of his father David—He imitated the piety of his great ancestor in the early part of his reign before he made those unhappy lapses which dishonored his character.
and sought not unto Baalim—a term used for idols generally in contradistinction to the Lord God of his father.
4. and not after the doings of Israel—He observed with scrupulous fidelity, and employed his royal influence to support the divine institutions as enacted by Moses, abhorring that spurious and unlawful calf-worship that now formed the established religion in Israel. Being thus far removed, alike from gross idolatry and Israelitish apostasy, and adhering zealously to the requirements of the divine law, the blessing of God rested on his government. Ruling in the fear of God, and for the good of his subjects, "the Lord established the kingdom in his hand."
5. all Judah brought … presents—This was customary with the people generally at the beginning of a reign (1Sa 10:27), and with the nobles and high functionaries yearly afterwards. They were given in the form of voluntary offerings, to avoid the odious idea of a tax or tribute.
6. his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord—Full of faith and piety, he possessed zeal and courage to undertake the reformation of manners, to suppress all the works and objects of idolatry (see on 2Ch 20:33), and he held out public encouragement to the pure worship of God.
2Ch 17:7-11. He Sends Levites to Teach in Judah.
7-11. Also in the third year of his reign he sent to his princes, … to teach in the cities of Judah—The ordinary work of teaching devolved on the priests. But extraordinary commissioners were appointed, probably to ascertain whether the work had been done or neglected. This deputation of five princes, assisted by two priests and nine Levites, was to make a circuit of the towns in Judah. It is the first practical measure we read of as being adopted by any of the kings for the religious instruction of the people. Time and unbroken opportunities were afforded for carrying out fully this excellent plan of home education, for the kingdom enjoyed internal tranquillity as well as freedom for foreign wars. It is conformable to the pious style of the sacred historian to trace this profound peace to the "fear of the Lord having fallen on all kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah."
9. the book of the law—that is, either the whole Pentateuch or only the book of Deuteronomy, which contains an abridgment of it.
11. Also some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents, and tribute silver—either they had been his tributaries, or they were desirous of securing his valuable friendship, and now made a voluntary offer of tribute. Perhaps they were the Philistines who had submitted to the yoke of David (2Sa 8:1; Ps 60:8).
the Arabians—the nomad tribes on the south of the Dead Sea, who, seeking the protection of Jehoshaphat after his conquest of Edom, paid their tribute in the way most suitable to their pastoral habits—the present of so many head of cattle.
2Ch 17:12-19. His Greatness, Captains, and Armies.
14. these are the numbers—The warriors were arranged in the army according to their fathers houses. The army of Jehoshaphat, commanded by five great generals and consisting of five unequal divisions, comprised one million one hundred and sixty thousand men, without including those who garrisoned the fortresses. No monarch, since the time of Solomon, equalled Jehoshaphat in the extent of his revenue, in the strength of his fortifications, and in the number of his troops.