2 and go out unto his presence doth Jehu son of Hanani, the seer, and saith unto king Jehoshaphat, `To give help to the wicked, and to those hating Jehovah, dost thou love? and for this against thee `is' wrath from before Jehovah,
and Hezekiah hath not returned according to the deed `done' unto him, for his heart hath been lofty, and there is wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem;
And the rest of the matters of Jehoshaphat, the first and the last, lo, they are written among the matters of Jehu son of Hanani, who hath been mentioned on the book of the kings of Israel.
And a word of Jehovah is unto Jehu son of Hanani, against Baasha, saying,
Formerly in Israel, thus said the man in his going to seek God, `Come and we go unto the seer,' for the `prophet' of to-day is called formerly `the seer.'
and they forsake the house of Jehovah, God of their fathers, and serve the shrines and the idols, and there is wrath upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their guilt.
Do not I hate, Jehovah, those hating Thee? And with Thy withstanders grieve myself? `With' perfect hatred I have hated them, Enemies they have become to me.
if the world doth hate you, ye know that it hath hated me before you;
if any one doth come unto you, and this teaching doth not bear, receive him not into the house, and say not to him, `Hail!' for he who is saying to him, `Hail,' hath fellowship with his evil works.
for if ourselves we were discerning, we would not be being judged, and being judged by the Lord, we are chastened, that with the world we may not be condemned;
because the mind of the flesh `is' enmity to God, for to the law of God it doth not subject itself,
evil-speakers, God-haters, insulting, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
for revealed is the wrath of God from heaven upon all impiety and unrighteousness of men, holding down the truth in unrighteousness.
And the king of Israel saith unto Jehoshaphat, `Still -- one man to seek Jehovah from him, and I -- I have hated him, for he is not prophesying concerning me of good, but all his days of evil, he `is' Micaiah son of Imlah;' and Jehoshaphat saith, `Let not the king say so.'
thou dost not bow thyself to them nor serve them, for I Jehovah thy God `am' a zealous God, charging iniquity of fathers on children, and on a third `generation', and on a fourth, to those hating Me;
If I have sharpened the brightness of My sword, And My hand doth lay hold on judgment, I turn back vengeance to Mine adversaries, And to those hating Me -- I repay!
Bless, O Jehovah, his strength, And the work of his hands Thou acceptest, Smite the loins of his withstanders, And of those hating him -- that they rise not!
And also by the hand of Jehu son of Hanani the prophet a word of Jehovah hath been concerning Baasha, and concerning his house, and concerning all the evil that he did in the eyes of Jehovah to provoke Him to anger with the work of his hands, to be like the house of Jeroboam, and concerning that for which he smote him.
And Zimri destroyeth the whole house of Baasha, according to the word of Jehovah, that He spake concerning Baasha, by the hand of Jehu the prophet:
surely there hath none been like Ahab, who sold himself to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, whom Jezebel his wife hath moved,
Thou dost not bow thyself to them, nor serve them: for I, Jehovah thy God, `am' a zealous God, charging iniquity of fathers on sons, on the third `generation', and on the fourth, of those hating Me,
And the king of Israel goeth up, and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, unto Ramoth-Gilead;
Thy hand cometh to all Thine enemies, Thy right hand doth find Thy haters.
To the Overseer. -- A Psalm, a song of David. Rise doth God -- scattered are His enemies! And those hating Him flee from His face.
For we were consumed in Thine anger, And in Thy fury we have been troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee, Our hidden things at the light of Thy face,
My son, if sinners entice thee be not willing. If they say, `Come with us, we lay wait for blood, We watch secretly for the innocent without cause, We swallow them as Sheol -- alive, And whole -- as those going down `to' the pit, Every precious substance we find, We fill our houses `with' spoil, Thy lot thou dost cast among us, One purse is -- to all of us.' My son! go not in the way with them, Withhold thy foot from their path, For their feet to evil do run, And they haste to shed blood. Surely in vain is the net spread out before the eyes of any bird. And they for their own blood lay wait, They watch secretly for their own lives. So `are' the paths of every gainer of dishonest gain, The life of its owners it taketh.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 2 Chronicles 19
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 19 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 19
2Ch 19:1-4. Jehoshaphat Visits His Kingdom.
1-4. Jehoshaphat … returned to his house in peace—(See 2Ch 18:16). Not long after he had resumed the ordinary functions of royalty in Jerusalem, he was one day disturbed by an unexpected and ominous visit from a prophet of the Lord [2Ch 19:2]. This was Jehu, of whose father we read in 2Ch 16:7. He himself had been called to discharge the prophetic office in Israel. But probably for his bold rebuke to Baasha (1Ki 16:1), he had been driven by that arbitrary monarch within the territory of Judah, where we now find him with the privileged license of his order, taking the same religious supervision of Jehoshaphat's proceedings as he had formerly done of Baasha's. At the interview here described, he condemned, in the strongest terms, the king of Judah's imprudent and incongruous league with Ahab—God's open enemy (1Ki 22:2)—as an unholy alliance that would be conducive neither to the honor and comfort of his house nor to the best interests of his kingdom. He apprised Jehoshaphat that, on account of that grave offense, "wrath was upon him from before the Lord," a judgment that was inflicted soon after (see on 2Ch 20:1-37). The prophet's rebuke, however, was administered in a mingled strain of severity and mildness; for he interposed "a nevertheless" (2Ch 19:3), which implied that the threatened storm would be averted, in token of the divine approval of his public efforts for the promotion of the true religion, as well as of the sincere piety of his personal character and life.
4. he went out again through the people—This means his reappointing the commissioners of public instruction (2Ch 17:7-9), perhaps with new powers and a larger staff of assistants to overtake every part of the land. The complement of teachers required for that purpose would be easily obtained because the whole tribe of Levites was now concentrated within the kingdom of Judah.
2Ch 19:5-7. His Instructions to the Judges.
5-7. he set judges in the land—There had been judicial courts established at an early period. But Jehoshaphat was the first king who modified these institutions according to the circumstances of the now fragmentary kingdom of Judah. He fixed local courts in each of the fortified cities, these being the provincial capitals of every district (see on De 16:18).
2Ch 19:8-11. To the Priests and Levites.
8. set of the Levites … priests, and of the chief of the fathers of Israel—A certain number of these three classes constituted a supreme court, which sat in Jerusalem to review appellate cases from the inferior courts. It consisted of two divisions: the first of which had jurisdiction in ecclesiastical matters; the second, in civil, fiscal, and criminal cases. According to others, the two divisions of the supreme court adjudicated: the one according to the law contained in the sacred books; the other according to the law of custom and equity. As in Eastern countries at the present day, the written and unwritten law are objects of separate jurisdiction.