2 Chronicles 20:33
The high places, however, were not removed; the people had not yet set their hearts on the God of their fathers.
Sermons
At and After the Battle: LessonsW. Clarkson 2 Chronicles 20:23-37
The Character of JehoshaphatE. Monro.2 Chronicles 20:30-34
The Biography of JehoshaphatT. Whitelaw 2 Chronicles 20:31-37














I. JEHOSHAPHAT'S PARENTAGE.

1. His father. Asa, a good king who enjoyed a long and honoured reign. Though good fathers have sometimes bad sons, as in the case of Jehoshaphat himself, yet there is a presumption in favour of a parent's piety being reproduced in the son. "Lord! I find the genealogy of my Saviour strangely checkered with four remarkable changes in four immediate generations.

(1) Roboam begat Abia; i.e. a bad father begat a bad son.

(2) Abia begat Asa; i.e. a bad father a good son.

(3) Asa begat Josaphat; i.e. a good father a good son.

(4) Josaphat begat Joram; i.e. a good father a bad son.

I see, Lord, from hence that my father's piety cannot be entailed: that is bad news for me. But I see also that actual impiety is not always hereditary: that is good news for my son" (Thomas Fuller, ' Good Thoughts in Bad Times,' p. 43).

2. His mother. Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi. Otherwise unknown, she was, nevertheless, the wife of a good man, the consort of a pious king - alas! also the mother of a wicked son. She was probably herself a woman of worth, and to her credit her name has been transmitted to posterity rather as her father's daughter and her husband's spouse than as her son's mother. In her case the hand of Providence has drawn a veil over her misfortune.

II. JEHOSHAPHAT'S REIGN.

1. When it began. When he was thirty-five years old. There was no room in this case for the royal preacher's woe (Ecclesiastes 10:16).

2. How long it continued. Twenty-five years - a quarter of a century; during which time he and his people experienced much of the Divine favour and blessing.

3. When it ended. When he was sixty years of age; i.e. before he reached the allotted space of three score years and ten (Psalm 90:10), and after a shorter life than was afterwards enjoyed by some of his less worthy successors, e.g. Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:3) and Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33:1) - a proof that the promise of long life as a reward for piety was not intended, even under the Old Testament, to be accepted universally and without exception.

III. JEHOSAPHAT'S REALM.

1. Its extent. He reigned over Judah, the southern kingdom.

2. Its condition. Quiet. With the exception just mentioned it had suffered no invasion. It was disturbed by no internecine feud or civil strife.

3. Its Protector. Jehovah. "God gave him rest round about."

IV. JEHOSHAPHAT'S NEIGHBOURS.

1. Their attitude. They stood in awe of Jehoshaphat and his people. Compare the terror of the peoples through the midst of whom Jacob passed on his flight from Shechem to Hebron (Genesis 35:5), and the fear which fell upon the city of Jerusalem on beholding the miracle of Pentecost (Acts 2:43).

2. The reason of it. They heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel (ver. 29). So Miriam expected the report of Jehovah's victory over Pharaoh would paralyze the surrounding peoples through whom the ransomed host had to pass (Exodus 15:14-16).

V. JEHOSHAPHAT'S CHARACTER.

1. Pious. Like his father Asa, he walked in the way of the Lord.

2. Persevering. He departed not from doing right in the sight of Jehovah, i.e. in the matter of worship.

3. Defective. Not perfect in the sense of being faultless, he allowed the high places dedicated to Jehovah to remain, though other similar high places dedicated to idols were removed (2 Chronicles 17:6); and though he was better than his people, whose hearts were not prepared for a thorough-going reformation, he yet in a blameworthy spirit of complaisance yielded to their demands and permitted the unhallowed altars to stand.

VI. JEHOSHAPHAT'S ACTS.

1. Those recorded by the Chronicler.

(1) The establishment of garrisons throughout the land (2 Chronicles 17:2).

(2) The appointment of an itinerant ministry for the religious education of the people (2 Chronicles 17:7).

(3) The fostering of commerce in the cities of Judah (2 Chronicles 17:13).

(4) The creation of courts of justice (2 Chronicles 19:5).

(5) The reformation of religion (2 Chronicles 17:6; 2 Chronicles 19:4).

(6) The marriage of his son with Ahab's daughter (2 Chronicles 18:1).

(7) The war at Ramoth-Gilead (2 Chronicles 18:28).

2. Those written in the book of Jehu, Hanani's son. (2 Chronicles 19:2.) These deeds of Judah's king are lost. How much of every life drops into oblivion, even though set down in a biography! Only that history which God writes lives for ever.

VII. JEHOSHAPHAT'S FAULTS.

1. Plentiful. Good as Jehoshaphat was, both as man and sovereign, he committed grievous blunders, and indeed fell into aggravated sins. The three worst were:

(1) The marriage of his son Jehoram with Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab - the mating of a lamb with the cub of a tigress.

(2) The war with Benhadad which he entered on to please Ahab, without thinking whether he would thereby please God.

(3) The joining of Ahaziah, Ahab's successor, in making a fleet to go to Tarshish, or a fleet of Tarshish ships in Ezion-geber.

2. Punished. None of these offences were overlooked by Jehovah. The alliance of Jehoram with Athaliah avenged itself in the depravation of Jehoram's character. The Syrian war, besides exposing him to imminent peril, brought upon him the Moabitish invasion. The fleet which he and Ahaziah made was wrecked in the Red Sea, and never went to Tarshish. So Eliezer, the son of Dodavah of Mareshah, predicted it would happen - because Jehoshaphat had a second time joined himself with the house of Omri.

3. Pardoned. Though chastised for his errors, Jehoshaphat was not abandoned to wrath. A child of the covenant and an heir of the promise, he was rebuked but not rejected, corrected but not condemned. So God deals with believers when they err (1 Corinthians 11:32).

VIII. JEHOSHAPHAT'S END.

1. His death was peaceful. "He slept with his fathers" (2 Chronicles 21:1).

2. His burial was honourable. He was entombed in the city of David, in the sepulchre of the kings of Judah.

3. His throne was confirmed. His son Jehoram reigned in his stead. Learn:

1. The fallibility of good men.

2. The infallibility of God's Word. - W.

So the reign of Jehoshaphat was quiet.
I. JEHOSHAPHAT IS NOT UNLIKE HEZEKIAH AND JOSIAH.

II. HIS PERSONAL CHARACTER SEEMS TO HAVE HAD VERY DISTINCTIVE FEATURES IN IT.

III. HE WAS DISTINGUISHED FOR HIS SIMPLE AND YET PROFOUND RELIANCE ON GOD.

IV. THE RELIGION OF MOST PERSONS OF GREAT POWER AND POSITION — such as those possessed by Jehoshaphat — IS USUALLY RESERVED, AND ANYTHING BUT CHILDLIKE. Conclusion: The practical bearing of this study is that there are many in whom the possession and exercise of great powers, which are usually called worldly, are not by any means inconsistent with the most humble and sincere piety.

(E. Monro.)

People
Ahaziah, Ammonites, Aram, Asa, Asaph, Azubah, Benaiah, Berachah, Dodavah, Eliezer, Geber, Hanani, Jahaziel, Jehoshaphat, Jehu, Jeiel, Kohathites, Korahites, Korhites, Levites, Maonites, Mattaniah, Meunim, Meunites, Moabites, Seir, Shilhi, Tamar, Tarshish, Zechariah
Places
Ammon, Edom, Egypt, Engedi, Ezion-geber, Hazazon-tamar, Jeruel, Jerusalem, Mareshah, Moab, Mount Seir, Seir, Tarshish, Tekoa, Ziz
Topics
TRUE, Directed, Fathers, Heart, Hearts, Howbeit, However, Places, Prepared, Removed, Yet
Outline
1. Jehoshaphat, invaded by Moab, proclaims a fast
5. His prayer
14. The prophecy of Jahaziel
20. Jehoshaphat exhorts the people, and sets singers to praise the Lord
22. The great overthrow of his enemies
26. The people, having blessed God at Berachah, return in triumph
31. Jehoshaphat's reign
35. His convoy of ships, according to the prophecy of Eliezer, unhappily perishes.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
2 Chronicles 20:33

     5810   complacency

2 Chronicles 20:31-33

     7241   Jerusalem, significance

2 Chronicles 20:32-33

     7374   high places

Library
A Strange Battle
'We have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon Thee.'--2 CHRON xx. 12. A formidable combination of neighbouring nations, of which Moab and Ammon, the ancestral enemies of Judah, were the chief, was threatening Judah. Jehoshaphat, the king, was panic-stricken when he heard of the heavy war-cloud that was rolling on, ready to burst in thunder on his little kingdom. His first act was to muster the nation, not as a military levy
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Holding Fast and Held Fast
'As they went forth Jehoshaphat stood and said, Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established.'--2 CHRON. xx. 20. Certainly no stronger army ever went forth to victory than these Jews, who poured out of Jerusalem that morning with no weapon in all their ranks, and having for their van, not their picked men, but singers who 'praised the beauty of holiness,' and chanted the old hymn, 'Give thanks unto the Lord, for His mercy endureth for ever.' That was all that men had to do in the battle,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Of the Public Fast.
A public fast is when, by the authority of the magistrate (Jonah iii. 7; 2 Chron. xx. 3; Ezra viii. 21), either the whole church within his dominion, or some special congregation, whom it concerneth, assemble themselves together, to perform the fore-mentioned duties of humiliation; either for the removing of some public calamity threatened or already inflicted upon them, as the sword, invasion, famine, pestilence, or other fearful sickness (1 Sam. vii. 5, 6; Joel ii. 15; 2 Chron. xx.; Jonah iii.
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

The Coast of the Asphaltites, the Essenes. En-Gedi.
"On the western shore" (of the Asphaltites) "dwell the Essenes; whom persons, guilty of any crimes, fly from on every side. A nation it is that lives alone, and of all other nations in the whole world, most to be admired; they are without any woman; all lust banished, &c. Below these, was the town Engadda, the next to Jerusalem for fruitfulness, and groves of palm-trees, now another burying-place. From thence stands Massada, a castle in a rock, and this castle not far from the Asphaltites." Solinus,
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

"Thou Shall Keep Him in Perfect Peace, Whose Mind is Stayed on Thee, Because He Trusteth in Thee. "
Isaiah xxvi. 3.--"Thou shall keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee." Christ hath left us his peace, as the great and comprehensive legacy, "My peace I leave you," John xiv. 27. And this was not peace in the world that he enjoyed; you know what his life was, a continual warfare; but a peace above the world, that passeth understanding. "In the world you shall have trouble, but in me you shall have peace," saith Christ,--a peace that shall make trouble
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

That the Employing Of, and Associating with the Malignant Party, According as is Contained in the Public Resolutions, is Sinful and Unlawful.
That The Employing Of, And Associating With The Malignant Party, According As Is Contained In The Public Resolutions, Is Sinful And Unlawful. If there be in the land a malignant party of power and policy, and the exceptions contained in the Act of Levy do comprehend but few of that party, then there need be no more difficulty to prove, that the present public resolutions and proceedings do import an association and conjunction with a malignant party, than to gather a conclusion from clear premises.
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Commerce
The remarkable change which we have noticed in the views of Jewish authorities, from contempt to almost affectation of manual labour, could certainly not have been arbitrary. But as we fail to discover here any religious motive, we can only account for it on the score of altered political and social circumstances. So long as the people were, at least nominally, independent, and in possession of their own land, constant engagement in a trade would probably mark an inferior social stage, and imply
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

Concerning Peaceableness
Blessed are the peacemakers. Matthew 5:9 This is the seventh step of the golden ladder which leads to blessedness. The name of peace is sweet, and the work of peace is a blessed work. Blessed are the peacemakers'. Observe the connection. The Scripture links these two together, pureness of heart and peaceableness of spirit. The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable' (James 3:17). Follow peace and holiness' (Hebrews 12:14). And here Christ joins them together pure in heart, and peacemakers',
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Chronicles
The comparative indifference with which Chronicles is regarded in modern times by all but professional scholars seems to have been shared by the ancient Jewish church. Though written by the same hand as wrote Ezra-Nehemiah, and forming, together with these books, a continuous history of Judah, it is placed after them in the Hebrew Bible, of which it forms the concluding book; and this no doubt points to the fact that it attained canonical distinction later than they. Nor is this unnatural. The book
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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