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á . Jehoshaphat’s Measures for the external and Internal Defence of his Kingdom: 2Ch_17:1-9
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8And the king of Israel called a chamberlain, and said, Fetch quickly Michah son of Imlah. 9And the king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, sat each on his throne, clothed in robes, and they sat in a floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them. 10And Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made him iron horns, and said, Thus saith the Lord, With these thou shalt push Syria, until they are consumed. 11And all the prophets prophesied so, and said, Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and prosper; and the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.
12And the messenger that went to call Michah spake to him, saying, Behold, the words of the prophets are with one mouth good for the king: let now thy 13word then be as one of them, and speak thou good. And Michah said, As 14the Lord liveth, what my God saith, that will I speak. And he came to the king; and the king said unto him, Michah, Shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And he said, Go ye up, and prosper, and they shall be delivered into your hand. 15And the king said to him, How many times shall I adjure thee, that thou speak nothing to me but truth in the 16name of the Lord? And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd: and the Lord said, These have no master; let them return every man to his house in peace. 17And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would not prophesy good to me, but evil?
18And he said, Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord; I saw the Lord sitting upon His throne, and all the host of heaven standing on His right 19hand and on His left. And the Lord said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said this, 20and another said that. And the spirit came forth, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will entice him: and the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? 21And he said, I will go forth, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets: and He said, Thou shalt entice, and shaft also prevail: go forth, and do so. 22And now, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy 23prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil against thee. And Zedekiah son of Chenaanah drew near, and smote Michah on the cheek, and said, Which way 24went the Spirit of the Lord from me to speak with thee? And Michah said, Behold, thou shalt see on that day when thou goest from chamber to chamber 25to hide thyself. And the king of Israel said, Take ye Michah, and carry him 26back to Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king’s son. And say ye, Thus saith the king, Put him in the prison, and let him eat bread of trouble, 27and water of trouble, until I return in peace. And Michah said, If thou return at all in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me: and he said, Hear, all ye people.
28And the king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, went up to Ramoth-gilead. 29And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Disguised I will go into the battle; but thou put on thy robes: and the king of Israel disguised 30himself, and they went into the battle. And the king of Syria had commanded the captains of his chariots, saying, Fight ye not with small or great, but only with the king of Israel. 31And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, This is the king of Israel; and they compassed about him to fight; and Jehoshaphat cried out, 32and the Lord helped him, and God turned them away from him. And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king 33of Israel, that they turned from after him. And a man drew a bow in his simplicity, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: and he said to the charioteer, Turn thy hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am wounded. 34And the battle went up in that day, and the king of Israel was standing in the chariot against Syria until the evening; and he died at the time of the sun setting.
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14And upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation. 15And he said, Attend ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat; Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed before this great multitude; 16for the battle is not yours, but God’s. To-morrow go ye down against them: behold, they go up by the hill of Haziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel. 17Ye shall not have to fight here: step forth, stand ye, and see the help of the Lord who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear ye not, nor be dismayed; to-morrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you. 18And Jehoshaphat bowed his face to the ground; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, to worship the Lord. 19And the Levites of the sons of Kohath, and of the Korhites, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with an exceeding loud voice.
20And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood up and said, Hear ye me, Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, and ye shall be established; believe in His prophets, and ye shall prosper. 21And he advised the people, and appointed men singing unto the Lord, and praising in holy beauty, when they go out before the armed men, and saying, 22Give thanks to the Lord; for His mercy endureth for ever. And at the time when they began with song and praise, the Lord set an ambush against the sons of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and 23they were smitten. And the sons of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, to cut off and destroy them; and when they had ended with the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.
24And Judah came to the watch-tower in the wilderness, and looked to the multitude; and, behold, they lay as corpses on the earth, and none escaped. 25And Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their spoil, and they found with them in abundance, goods and corpses, and costly vessels; and they stripped off for themselves more than they could carry; and they were three days taking the spoil, for it was great. 26And on the fourth day they assembled in the valley of blessing; for there they blessed the Lord: therefore they 27called the name of the place the valley of blessing unto this day. And they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat at their head, to return to Jerusalem with gladness; for the Lord had made them glad over their enemies. 28And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries, and harps, and trumpets, unto the house of the Lord. 29And the fear of God was upon all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that the Lord fought against 30the enemies of Israel. And the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet; for his God gave him rest round about.
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34And the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the words of Jehu son of Hanani, which are inserted in the book of the kings of Israel.
35And afterwards Jehoshaphat king of Judah allied himself with Ahaziah 36king of Israel: he was wicked in his doing. And he allied himself with him, 37to make ships to go to Tarshish: and they made ships in Ezion-geber. And Eliezer, son of Dodavah of Mareshah, prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because thou hast allied thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath broken thy work: and the ships were wrecked, and were not able to go to Tarshish.
1. Jehoshaphat’s Measures for the Internal and External Defence of the Kingdom: 2Ch_17:1-9.—Strengthened himself against Israel, endeavoured to defend and secure himself against attack on the side of Israel (comp. 2Ch_1:1). This was obviously in the first part of his reign, before he formed affinity with Ahab (2Ch_18:1), and so long as the recollection of Baasha’s attack on his predecessor Asa operated.
2Ch_17:2. Placed garrisons in the land; ðְöִéáִéí , military posts, as 1Ch_9:16. On b, comp. 2Ch_15:8.
2Ch_17:3. For he walked in the former ways of his father David, not in the later ways of David, which were characterized by his crimes regarding Uriah and Bathsheba, by the foolish step of numbering the people, etc.—Sought not unto Baalim. ìְ here and in the following verse is nota accusativi, after the later usage. The Baalim (comp. Jdg_2:11) comprise all kinds of idolatry, even that finer kind, consisting in the worship of Jehovah under certain animal forms, which is designated in the following verse as the “doing of Israel” that was avoided by Jehoshaphat.
2Ch_17:5. And the Lord stablished the kingdom in his hand; comp. 2Ki_14:5. On the following îִðְçָä , “gift” (= ðְãָáåֹú , Psa_110:3), comp 2Ch_17:11, where the term denotes the tribute of a subject people. On “riches and honour in abundance,” see 2Ch_18:1, also 1Ch_29:28; 2Ch_1:12.
2Ch_17:6 ff. The Internal Defence of the Kingdom by the Extirpation of Idolatry and the Instruction of the People in the Law.—And his heart was lifted up. in the ways of the Lord, showed a heightened courage to proceed in a godly walk; âָּáַäּ ìֵá here, otherwise than in 2Ch_26:16, 2Ch_32:25, etc., not in the bad sense of an ungodly pride, but sensu bono. The following “and moreover” ( åְòåֹã ) points back to 2Ch_17:3. For the “high places” and Asherim, comp. on 2Ch_14:2.
2Ch_17:7. And in the third year of his reign; according to Hitzig’s not improbable conjecture (Geschichte, pp. 9 ff., 198 f.), a jubilee year, and indeed the year 912 b.C. The five princes, nine Levites, and two priests named in the following verse are otherwise unknown.
2Ch_17:9. And they taught in Judah, on the basis of the presently named “book of the law of the Lord,” the religious and civil enactments of which, on the occasion of this solemn ecclesiastical visitation of Jehoshaphat (Starke and other ancients), were brought to the recollection and impressed anew on the attention of the Jews. This mention of the book of the law under Jehoshaphat, almost 300 years before Josiah’s renewed inculcation and vindication of its authority, is of no small apologetic importance. It shows that, if not the whole Pentateuch in its present form, yet a work already approaching to its present compass, was already extant in the tenth century b.C. (comp. also on 2Ch_15:13). And indeed the concrete, detailed, and definite nature of the present notice leaves no doubt of this, that not merely the Chronist living after the exile, but his much older voucher, contemporary with the recorded fact (probably Jehu ben Hanani), bears this testimony to the existence of the Torah at so early a date.
2. The Effects of these Measures: Jehoshaphat’s increasing Power: 2Ch_17:10-19.—And the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands (almost literally so, 2Ch_20:29; comp. also 2Ch_14:13; 2Ch_12:8, etc.). Rightly Rambach observes: Erat hoc prœmium pietatis Josaphati, quod vicini satisque potentes hostes non auderent adversus ipsum hiscere. On the contrary, Berth. perverts the theocratic causal nexus set forth clearly enough by the writer, when he remarks on this passage: “Jehoshaphat had time to attend to the instruction of his people, because the neighbouring nations did not then venture to make war on Judah.”
2Ch_17:11. And some of the Philistines brought. îִïÎôְּìִùְׁúִּéí is subject (with partitive îִï ).—And silver in abundance, literally, “and silver a load”; comp. 2Ch_20:25. Falsely the Vulg., which assigns to the term îַùָּׂà , “load,” the meaning “tribute” (vectigal).—The Arabs also ( òַøְáִéí = òַøְáִéàִéí ; see 2Ch_21:16, 2Ch_22:1), the Beduin tribes of north-western Arabia, perhaps those whom Asa had subdued by the victory over Zerah (comp. 2Ch_14:14.).
2Ch_17:12. And Jehoshaphat became ever greater. The construction according to Ew. § 280, b; òַãÎìְîַòְìָä , as in 2Ch_16:12.—And he built in Judah castles. áִּéøָðִéּåֹú , plur. of áִּéøָðִéú (= áִּéøָä ) a Syrian form occurring only here and 2Ch_27:4. “Cities with stores,” as 2Ch_8:4.
2Ch_17:13. And he had much store. So rightly Luther, Starke, Keil, Kamph., etc. Of the same signification is îְìָàëָä , Exo_22:7-10. Otherwise (Vulg. opera magna, Clericus, Berth., Neteler, etc.): “much labour, great preparations,” to which, however, b does not suit; comp. also 2Ch_11:11.
2Ch_17:14. And this was the muster of them, the result of the muster, or also their “order”; comp. 1 Chron. 24:49.—Of Judah, the captains of thousands, leaders, field-marshals. The following statement of the three Jewish divisions of the army under Adnah, Jehohanan, and Amasiah, and of the two divisions of Benjamin under Eliada and Jehozabad (2Ch_17:15-18), is certainly historical, if we only mark the concrete form, bearing the stamp of direct historical truth, of the notice concerning Amasiah: “who willingly offered himself unto the Lord,” and also the circumstance that the kind of armour worn by the Benjamites agrees with earlier statements (comp. 1Ch_8:40; 2Ch_14:7). But the exceedingly high numbers, which give for Judah alone 780,000, for Benjamin 380,000, and thus for both tribes together the total of 1,160,000 warriors, form no inconsiderable difficulty; comp. the Evangelical and Ethical Reflections.
2Ch_17:19. These were they who ministered to the king. àֵìֶּä , “these,” refers to the five generals or commanders, not to the thousands of warriors. Likewise the following clause: “whom the king had placed in the fenced cities in all Judah,” refers to other officers besides those five, not to other troops besides those already enumerated.
3. Jehoshaphat’s Affinity with Ahab: the Campaign against Ramoth-gilead: 2 Chronicles 18 Comp. 1Ki_22:2-35, and Bähr on this passage. Here are only the statements peculiar to the Chronist to be expounded.—And Jehoshaphat . . . joined affinity with Ahab, in this way, that he gave his son Joram in marriage to Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel; see 2Ch_21:6. This affinity, which occasioned the subsequent visit of Jehoshaphat to Ahab, and the participation in his unfortunate campaign, is here clearly mentioned as something mischievous, attended with destructive effects, as the first link of a chain of misfortunes (comp. 2Ch_19:2); the åְ before éִúְçַúֵּï has accordingly, as it were, an adversative force, and the verse expresses this thought: “Although Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance, yet he was so foolish as to make affinity with Ahab.” Comp. S. Schmidt, Josaphatus, cetera dives et gloriosus, infelicem adfinitatem cum Achabo, rege Israeli-tarum, contrahit, etc. See, for the rest, Evangelical and Ethical Reflections.
2Ch_18:2. And in the course of years, nine years, as the comparison of 1Ki_22:2; 1Ki_22:41 with 2Ki_8:26 shows; the affinity of Jehoshaphat with Ahab by the marriage of Joram and Athaliah must, according to these passages, have fallen in the eighth, and the death of Ahab, in the campaign against Ramoth, in the seventeenth, year of Jehoshaphat’s reign.—And he persuaded him, partly by the great banquets and hospitalities which he prepared in his honour (comp. äֵñִéú , “entice, tempt,” in such places as Jdg_1:14; Job_2:3; Deu_11:7, etc.). In 1Ki_12:3, instead of this persuasive influence on Jehoshaphat, is set forth rather the political motive of Ahab to begin the war against the Syrians in Ramoth-gilead; our author is silent on this, because on principle he does not wish to recount anything of the deeds or enterprises of the northern king.
2Ch_18:5. Gathered the prophets, four hundred men. 1 Kings: “about 400 men,” which is the more correct, as the number is obviously a round one.—Shall we go; in 1 Kings: “Shall I go,” in harmony with the following àִí àֶçְãָּì , “or shall I forbear.” Inversely in 1 Kings (2Ch_18:14) both verbs are plural.
2Ch_18:7. Prophesied . . . always evil, literally, all his days ( ëָּìÎéָîָéå ), a phrase emphasizing the opposition, which is wanting in 1 Kings.
2Ch_18:9. And they sat in a floor. The åְéåֹùְׁáִéí , superfluous on account of the preceding éåֹùְׁáִéí , is wanting in 1 Kings.
2Ch_18:14. And they shall be delivered into your hand. Instead of this very definite prediction (which is certainly ironical), the parallel text in 1 Kings has, more indefinitely: “And the Lord shall deliver it into the king’s hand.”
2Ch_18:19. See the Crit. Notes.
2Ch_18:23. Which way went the Spirit of the Lord from me? Instead of this circumstantial àֵé æֶä äַãֶּøֶêְ (comp. 1Ki_13:1; 2Ki_3:8), 1Ki_22:24 has the simpler and shorter àֵé æֶä .
2Ch_18:26. Let him eat bread of trouble, and water of trouble. Possible is also the translation proposed by Kamph. with reference to Psa_60:5 : “Let him eat as bread of trouble,” etc.
2Ch_18:30. And the king of Syria had commanded the captains of his chariots. In 1 Kings the number of these captains (thirty-two) is also given, by reference to the earlier war, 1Ki_20:24.
2Ch_18:31. And the Lord helped him, and God turned them away from him. This religious reflective remark is wanting in 1Ki_22:32, but is by no means a hindrance to the connection, as Berth, thinks, but rather a very seasonable enunciation of that which, to the writer, necessarily formed the point and force of the whole narrative.
2Ch_18:34. And the king of Israel was standing in the chariot. Instead of the partic. Hiph. îַֽòֲîִéã “holding himself upright,” 1Ki_22:35 has, less distinctly, the Hoph. îָֽòֲîָã “held upright.” The close of the whole narrative, containing accounts of the return of the defeated army, and the more particular circumstances of the death of Ahab (1Ki_22:36-39), is omitted by our author, because it belongs properly to a history of the northern kingdom.
4. The Prophet Jehu’s Judgment on the Covenant with Ahab: 2Ch_19:1-3.—And Jehoshaphat . . . returned home in peace to Jerusalem, so that the prophecy of Michah (2Ch_18:16) was fulfilled in him.
2Ch_19:2. And Jehu the son of Hanani . . . went out to meet him: the same prophet who, 1Ki_16:1, had acted under Baasha in the northern kingdom; perhaps a son of that Hanani whom Asa in wrath had ordered into prison (2Ch_16:7 ff.).—Must we help the wicked, and shouldst thou love them that hate the Lord? The construction is as in 1Ch_5:1; 1Ch_9:25 ( ìְ with the infin.). It is to be supposed that the words are spoken in earnest indignation, but they turn with their displeasure rather against the idolatrous tyrant Ahab than against Jehoshaphat, who only for a season walked by his side.—And for this is wrath upon thee from the Lord; camp. 1Ch_27:24, and with ÷ֶöֶó îִìִּôְðֵé éְäåָֹä the simpler ÷ֶöֶó éְäåָֹä 2Ch_32:26. The words point prophetically to the soon after occurring dangerous invasion of the Ammonites, Moabites, and Meunites, and also to the unfortunate sea-voyage from Ezion-geber, 2 Chronicles 20 :
2Ch_19:3. Yet good things are found with thee, things worthy of praise; comp. 2Ch_12:12; 1Ki_14:13. For b (where the fem. äָֽàֲùֵׁøåֹú appears instead of the usual plur. masc.), comp. 2Ch_17:4 f., 2Ch_12:14.
5. Jehoshaphat’s further Reforms of Worship and Law: 2Ch_19:4-11.—And he went out again among the people, literally, “and he turned and went.” Reference is made to the former going out, 2Ch_17:7 ff. The following statement of the south and north boundary of the kingdom of Judah; “from Beersheba to Mount Ephraim,” is copied after the similar formula: “from Dan to Beersheba,” which refers to the whole land of Israel; comp. Jdg_20:1; 2Sa_3:10; 2Sa_17:11; 1Ki_5:5.—And brought them back to the Lord, “made them return”; comp. 2Ch_24:19.
2Ch_19:5. City by city, or “in every city” ( åָòִéø ìְòִéø ; comp. 1Ch_26:29), according to he legal precept, Deu_16:18.
2Ch_19:6. Not for man, but for the Lord, in God’s name, and according to His holy will, as Èåïῦ äéÜêïíïé , Rom_13:4; comp. also Pro_16:11.—And he is with you in the judgment, in the judicial decision, in passing sentence; comp. Deu_17:9, also 2Ch_1:17; Exo_21:6; Exo_22:7, etc. The supplying of éְäåָֹä as subject to åְòִîָּëֶí is indispensable, as the failure of all attempts to explain it without this supplement, for example, that of the Vulg. (et quodcunque judicaveritis, in vos redundabit), shows.
2Ch_19:7. And now let the fear of the Lord be upon you in a preserving way, that ye may beware of judging unjustly. For the phrase, comp. 2Ch_17:10.—Take heed, and do ye, do it in a heedful, conscientious way, cum diligentia cuncta facite (Vulg.). On the following words, comp. Deu_10:17; Deu_16:19; Psa_89:7; Act_10:34.
2Ch_19:8-11. The Supreme Tribunal instituted by Jehoshaphat in Jerusalem,—an institution resting on Exo_18:19; Exo_18:26, Deu_17:8-13; comp. Keil, Bibl. Archœol. ii. 250 ff.—And also in Jerusalem, not merely in the various fenced cities (2Ch_19:5), where judges of inferior instance were appointed. That besides Levites and priests, laymen, “of the chiefs of the fathers of Israel,” tribe-chiefs out of the rest of the people, are named as appointed by Jehoshaphat to be judges, involves no contradiction of 1Ch_23:4; 1Ch_26:29, according to which David had appointed 6000 Levites as “judges and officers” ( ùׁèøéí ); for that these Levites should exclusively administer the law was not there asserted.—For the judgment of the Lord, and for pleading. Synonymous with ìְîִùְׁôַּè éְäåָֹä stands, 2Ch_19:11, ìְëֹì ãְּáַø éְäåָֹä , “for every matter of the Lord”; and synonymous with ìָøִéá that passage gives ìְëֹì ãְּáַø äַîֶּìֶêְ “for every matter of the king or the state”; so that the sense of the whole is: “for all matters relating to religion or polity.” As examples of the former, Berth. well adduces disputes concerning the release of the first-born, dues to the temple, the clean and the unclean, etc.—And they returned to Jerusalem; Jehoshaphat and the commission accompanying him returned from their journey through the country and the fenced cities of Judah to Jerusalem; comp. 2Ch_19:4. As this statement would have been more suitable before 2Ch_19:8, and as any reference of it to others than Jehoshaphat and his companions (for example, to the Levites, priests, and chiefs nominated for the new supreme court, as Rambach, Starke, and others think) is inadmissible, the change proposed by Kamph. of åַéָּùֻׁáåּ into åַéֵּùְׁáåּ “and they dwelt in Jerusalem” (the supreme judges just nominated), appears not inappropriate.
2Ch_19:9. Thus shall ye do, as is fully stated in 2Ch_19:10. On áְּìֵá ùָׁìֵí , “with undivided heart,” comp. 2Ch_15:17, 2Ch_16:9; 1Ki_8:61.
2Ch_19:10. And in every plea. áָּìÎøִéá stands before as cas. absol.; the åְ before is explicative; comp. Grit. Note. As “brethren who dwell in their cities” those are designated who bring appeals from the country or the smaller cities of Judah and Benjamin before the supreme court at Jerusalem, and demand its higher decision; comp. Deu_17:8.—Between blood and blood, in criminal cases which involve murder and homicide (comp. Exo_21:12 ff.). The following phrase: “between law and commandment, statutes and judgments,” applies to a dispute concerning the import or application of certain laws, or a doubt according to what legal enactment the case in point is to be decided (comp. Deu_17:8).—Ye shall advise them, by imparting instruction concerning the decisions of the law, admonish ( äִæְäִéø , as in Exo_18:20; Ecc_12:12), that they may not err by the theoretical or practical abuse of the law, and thereby bring guilt ( àָùָׁí ) upon the whole people.
2Ch_19:11. And, behold, Amariah the chief priest, scarcely different from the fifth high priest after Zadok, mentioned 1 Chron. 5:37 (see on the passage). The “ruler of the house of Judah,” Zebadiah son of Ishmael, is not otherwise known.—And the Levites are officers before you, ùֹׁèְøִéí , in 1Ch_23:4; 1Ch_26:29.—The Lord will be with the good; åִéäִé is here a future, scarcely an optative: “the Lord be with the good.” Comp. besides, 2Ch_20:17. The good are the judges who discharge their office fitly and well.
6. Jehoshaphat’s Victory over the Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites: 2Ch_20:1-30.—And it came to pass after this, after the events related in 2Ch_18:19, which fall perhaps six or seven years before the death of Jehoshaphat, and of which the death of Ahab almost certainly falls in the year 897 b.C. A still more exact date for the present war results from the monument of victory of the Moabitish King Mesha, discovered three years ago, which must have been erected very soon after Ahab’s death, and shortly before the outbreak of the present war, and therefore about 896 b.C. See Schlottmann, “Der Moabiterkönig Mesa,” Stud. u. Krit. 1871, p. 587 ff., especially p. 610 ff.; and comp. beneath, Evangelical and Ethical Reflections, No. 4.—And with them of the Meunites. îֵäָòַîּåֹðִéí can scarcely mean, as many of the ancients, and even Hengst. (Gesch. d. Reiches Gottes. ii. 2, 211), think, nations beyond the Ammonites; for even if îִï , according to 1Sa_20:22; 1Sa_20:37, could have the sense “beyond or remote from,” yet 2Ch_20:10; 2Ch_20:22 f. point distinctly to a people inhabiting mount Seir. Accordingly we must read, as ἐê ôῶí Ìéíáßùí of the Sept. indicates (comp. 1Ch_4:41), rather îֵäַîְּòåּðִéí , and think of the Meunites (Meinites, 1Ch_4:41, Kethib) inhabiting the city Maon ( îָòåֹï ) near Petra as their capital. If in the following verse (with Calmet, Keil, and others) îֵàֱãֹí were read instead of the difficult îֵàֲøָí , every scruple against this assumption (proposed by Hiller, Onomast. p. 285, and supported by nearly all the moderns) must vanish. But even without this further emendation, it possesses a high degree of probability; for, according to Josephus, Antiq.ix. 1, 2, they were Arabs, and probably inhabitants of Arabia Petræa, who, in alliance with the Ammonites and Moabites, undertook the expedition against Jehoshaphat; and in 2Ch_26:7 Meunites are named along with Philistines and Arabs as a southern tribe subdued in war by Uzziah.
2Ch_20:2. From beyond the sea, from Syria. For îֵàֲøָí must apparently be read îֵàֱìí , “from Edom or Idumæa” for only this determination of the starting-point agrees with îֵòֵáֶø ìְéָí , “beyond the sea” (the Dead Sea); and the Syr. seems to have read îֵàֱãֹí , while the remaining old versions certainly confirm the Masoretic text. If we adhere to it, “Aram” or Syria must at all events be taken in a very wide sense (= North Arabia); comp. Hengst. as quoted.—And, behold, they are at Hazezon-tamar, that is Engedi (comp. Gen_14:1; Jos_15:62; Son_1:14; Robinson, Pal. ii. 439 f.), where Ain Jidy now lies, at the middle of the west shore of the Dead Sea, about fifteen hours from Jerusalem. The army of the allied foes had, it appears, reached this place through a marsh surrounding the south end of the Dead Sea, or by crossing the south ford of this sea (between the eastern peninsula Lisan and the opposite point of the west shore, not far from the valley Engedi; comp. Hoffmann, Blicke in die früheste Gesch. des Gelobten Landes, 2.26 f.).
2Ch_20:3-13. Jehoshaphat and the People seek the Help of the Lord.—And Jehoshaphat … set his face, ùׂåּí ôָּðִéí = ðָúַï ôָּðִéí ; comp. Jer_42:15; Dan_9:8. On the “proclaiming of a fast over all Judah,” comp. Jdg_20:26; 1Sa_7:6; Joe_2:15.
2Ch_20:5. Before the new court, the outer or great court (see 2Ch_6:9), that might have been built or repaired in Asa’s or Jehoshaphat’s time, and therefore is here called new. The place before this court, from which Jehoshaphat offered his prayer, was perhaps at the entrance of the inner or priest’s court.
2Ch_20:6. Lord God of our fathers. Jehoshaphat thus addresses God, to remind him of his former benefits to his people, to which is then annexed a reference to his absolute omnipotence; comp. Psa_115:3, and on “None is with Thee, to withstand Thee,” Psa_94:16; 1Ch_29:12; 2Ch_14:10, and like passages.
2Ch_20:7. Comp. Exo_23:20 ff.; Jos_23:9; Jos_24:12; also Gen_13:15 f., 2Ch_15:18.
2Ch_20:9. If evil come upon us, sword, judgment ( ùְׁôåֹè only here in this sense), or pestilence, etc. The cases enumerated in Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple (2Ch_6:22-39) are here summarily recapitulated.
2Ch_20:10. The sons of Ammon and Moab . . whom Thou wouldst not let Israel invade, from whom our ancestors in the time of Moses and Joshua peacefully withdrew, without attacking them; comp. Num_20:14 ff.; Deu_2:4; Deu_2:9; Deu_2:19; Deu_2:29; Jdg_11:17 f.
2Ch_20:11. And behold = “yea, behold.”—Possession which Thou hast given us, “made us possess,” äåֹøִéùׁ , as in Jdg_11:24; Ezr_9:12.
2Ch_20:12. For in us is no might against this great multitude, “before, in the face of this great multitude”; comp. 2Ch_14:9, etc. For the following expression of confidence: “our eyes are upon Thee,” comp. Psa_25:15; Psa_123:2; Psa_141:8. On 2Ch_20:13 (“and their little ones”), comp. Jon_3:5.
2Ch_20:14-17. God’s Answer by the Prophet Jahaziel.—And upon Jahaziel … the Levite of the sons of Asaph. The ancestor in the fifth degree of this Jahaziel is said to be Mattaniah, possibly the same son of Asaph who is called, 1Ch_25:2; 1Ch_25:12, Nethaniah (as î and ð in the formation of nom.propr. are often interchanged). An identity with Mattaniah the son of Heman, 1Ch_25:4; 1Ch_25:16, is not to be thought of.
2Ch_20:15. The battle is not yours, but God’s; comp. 1Sa_17:47; Neh_4:14; also Mat_10:20.
2Ch_20:16. Behold, they go up by the hill of Haziz, perhaps the Wady el Hasasah on the north border of the wilderness of the same name, which stretches from the Dead Sea to Tekoa, and no doubt corresponds to the here-named “wilderness of Jeruel.” With this reference to El Hasasah corresponds the rendering of the name äַöִּéõ by ’ Áóóåῖò in the Sept., whereas certainly Josephus renders the name by ἀíÜâáóéò ëåãïìÝíç ἐîï÷ῆò (Antiq. ix. 1, 2), and thus conceives it as if it were öִéõ ( ἐîï÷Þ with the article; were this view, the necessity of which is by no means established (comp. Ew. Gesch. 2d edit. iii. p. 475), confirmed, the hill of Ziz would have to be identified with the steep pass over Ain Jidy (Robinson, ii. 438, 446).
2Ch_20:17. Ye shall not have to fight here. áָּæֹàú , in this conflict with so great a multitude of foes; comp. 2Ch_20:15.
2Ch_20:18-19. Thanksgiving of Jehoshaphat and the People for the encouraging Promise by the Prophet.—And the Levites of the sons of Kohath and of the Korhites. The second åְ before îִïÎáְּðֵé äַ÷ָּøְçִéí may be only explicative, as the Korhites descended from Kohath, 1Ch_6:18; 1Ch_6:22.
2Ch_20:20-23. The divine promise is fulfilled by an unexpected self-destruction of the foemen.—And as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood up, probably in the gate by which the warriors went forth (the valley or dung-gate, at all events one of those facing the south). On the words: “believe, and ye shall be established,” comp. Isa_7:9; Isa_28:16; Deu_1:32.
2Ch_20:21. And he advised the people, busied himself as a sound adviser ( éåֹòֵõ ), by exhorting to confidence in God; in a similar sense stands éִåָּòֵõ àֶì in 2Ki_6:8.—And appointed men singing unto the Lord ( ìְ in ìéäåä as nota genitivi), and praising in holy beauty: ìְäַãְøַúÎ÷ þ × þþ , otherwise áְּäַãְøַúÎ÷× 1Ch_16:29; Psa_29:2; Psa_110:3.
2Ch_20:22. And at the time . . . the Lord set an ambush. îְàָֽøְáִéí signifies insidiatores, insidiœ (Vulg.), as in Jdg_9:25. By these waylayers .cannot be meant angels sent by God (Piscat. and other ancients, Ew., Kamph., Berth.—doubtful H. Schultz, Theol. des A. T. ii. 322); for such an interference of supernatural powers, good or evil, must have been clearly indicated (as in 2Ki_6:17; 2Ki_19:35). As little can the îàøáéí be waylaying Jews, because the Jews, according to 2Ch_20:15; 2Ch_20:17; 2Ch_20:24, were merely spectators of the bloody encounter between their opponents. The waylaying without doubt was done by a part of the confederates themselves, probably some of the Meunites, the inhabitants of mount Seir, who, being eager for booty, had laid the crafty ambush, on whose sudden assault the Ammonites and Moabites must have regarded their Meunite allies as traitors, and thereupon opened the wild game of the self-slaughter of their army. Thus in the main, by comparison with the partly similar event in Jdg_7:22 ff., J. H. Mich., Cler., Calm., etc., and recently Keil and Hengst. (Gesch. des R. G. ii. 2, 213 f.), the latter of whom appears inclined to find in îàøáéí an allusion to the name Arabs (“the predatory swarms,” he thinks, of the tribes of Arabia Petræa and Deserta might have joined the Idumæans), and to lay down a hypothesis similar to that of K. H. Sack (Theol. Aufsatze, Gotha 1871), who wishes to make Arabs ( òֲøָáִéí ) also of the ravens ( òֹøְáִéí ) of Elijah, 1Ki_17:6. Comp. also Schlottmann, p. 611, who endeavours to make out the fanaticism of the Ammonites and Moabites, as heathenish polytheistic opponents of the monotheistic Edomites, to be one of the causes of the massacre, but overlooks the fact that the Edomites had properly no part in the affair.
2Ch_20:23. And when they had ended with the inhabitants of mount Seir, had completely massacred them in the affray that arose; comp. Dan_11:44. On the words: “they helped to destroy one another,” comp., for the substantive îַùְׁçִéú 22:4; Eze_5:16; Dan_10:8.
2Ch_20:24-30. The Impression of the Event on the Jews and their Neighbours.—And Judah came to the watch-tower in the wilderness, to an elevated point, a rising ground not far from Tekoa, whence the wilderness of Jeruel (2Ch_20:16) might be surveyed.—And none escaped: so at least it appeared. The statement is to be understood as ideal, and not strictly real.
2Ch_20:25. And they found with them in abundance, goods and corpses, and costly vessels. Intermediate between øְëåּùׁ , “goods,” and ëְּìֵé çֲîֻãåֹú , “costly vessels” (comp. Dan_11:38), are named “corpses,” obviously very surprising. The reading áְּâָãִéí , garments, should therefore at once receive the preference; comp. Jdg_8:25 f.—And they stripped off for themselves more than they could carry, literally “to nothing of carrying”: comp. Num_4:24.
2Ch_20:26. And on the fourth day they assembled in the valley of blessing. This “vale of blessing” (Emek-berachah) must be sought near the field of battle. It is evidently the present Wady Bereikut, west of Tekoa, near the road leading from Jerusalem to Hebron, in which pretty broad and open valley the ruins of a place of the name of Bereikut are still preserved (Robinson, Phys. Geogr. p. 106); comp. the Caphar Baruka of Jerome in the Vita S. Paulœ, with its outlook on the Dead Sea. It is inadmissible, with Thenius and Hitzig (on Joel 4:2, 12, and Gesch. p. 199), to make this valley of blessing the same with the Kidron or the valley of Jehoshaphat. For though Joel 4:11 f. names the site of the present battle “the valley of Jehoshaphat,” it does not follow from this poetico-prophetical designation that he had in view the upper valley of Kidron afterwards so called, which bears this name first in Eusebius, but nowhere in the sacred Scriptures of the Old and New Testament (see Berth. on this passage).
2Ch_20:27. For the Lord had made them glad over their enemies; comp. Ezr_6:22; Neh_12:43.
2Ch_20:29. And the fear of God was upon all the kingdoms of the countries bordering on Judah. On the “fear of God,” comp. 2Ch_17:10; on the last words, 2Ch_15:15, 2Ch_14:4.
7. End of the Reign of Jehoshaphat: 2Ch_20:31-37. Comp. 1Ki_22:41-51, a section which there forms the whole account of the reign of Jehoshaphat, but is therefore amplified with some notices that are wanting here—1. With the statement that “Jehoshaphat had peace with the king of Israel,” 1Ki_22:45 (which appeared superfluous here on account of 1Ki_18:1 ff.); 2. With a passing reference to Jehoshaphat’s might and great deeds, 1Ki_22:46 (which is wanting here in the corresponding 2Ch_20:34, because the most important of these great deeds have been here recorded at length in 1 Kings 17-20); 3. With a remark on the removal of the rest of the Sodomites out of the land, 1Ki_22:47 (which is wanting here, because in the time of Asa, 16, no notice is taken of these Sodomites who are mentioned in 1Ki_15:12); 4. With the notice that Edom had no king, but only a deputy, ver 48 (which is here omitted as unimportant). To these enlargements, as exhibited in the account in 1 Kings compared with our own, are added some partly formal, partly material, deviations, which are set forth in the sequel.
2Ch_20:33. The people had not yet directed their heart. For this 1Ki_22:44 has: “the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places” (comp. 2Ki_12:4; 2Ki_14:4; 2Ki_15:4, etc.).
2Ch_20:34. The rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat . . . are written in the words of Jehu son of Hanani. Comp. on this citation, for which in 1 Kings we find merely “the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah,” Introd. § 5, No. 2.
2Ch_20:35. And afterwards Jehoshaphat allied himself with Ahaziah: he (Ahaziah, not Jehoshaphat, as Berth, thinks) was wicked in his doing. This introduction, containing an unfavourable judgment on the covenant with Ahaziah (similar to that pronounced on the affinity with Ahab, xviii. 1), to the narrative of the unfortunate sea-voyage from Ezion-geber, is wanting in 1 Kings. The àַֽçֲøֵéÎëֵï points only in general to the time after the victory over the Ammonites, Moabites, and Meunites. The date of the present undertaking follows more exactly from this, that Ahaziah came to the throne in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat, 897 or 896, and reigned two years, that is, till about 894 b.C.
2Ch_20:36. To make ships to go to Tarshish. On the contrary, 1Ki_22:49 has: “Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold.” The easiest solution of this difference is the assumption of an error on the part of the Chronist, who made out of the ships of Tarshish ships going to Tarshish; comp. Introd. § 6, p. 25. But if we must rather harmonize the two accounts, we must assume either—a. a Tarshish in the direction of Ophir, and thus to the east or south-east, different from the Spanish Tarsis-Tartessus (with. Seetzen and others; comp. excursus on 2 Chronicles 8, No. 1), or b. that the confederates had designed both a voyage to Ophir in the east and a voyage to Tarsis in the west, for the latter of which either a circumnavigation of Africa round the Cape of Good Hope or a crossing of Lower Egypt by the canal of Seti (between the Sin. Heroopolitanus and the Nile) must have been contemplated.
2Ch_20:37. And Eliezer son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied, a prophet only named here and known by the present utterance. On the name Dodavahu, see Crit. Note; for Mareshah, on 1Ch_11:8.—Were not able to go to Tarshish. òָöַø ,