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JEHOSHAPHAT.—1. The ‘recorder’ in the reigns of David and Solomon (2Sa_8:16 etc., 1Ki_4:3). 2. One of Solomon’s commissariat officers (1Ki_4:17). 3. Father of king Jehu (2Ki_9:2; 2Ki_9:14). 4. The son of Asa, king of Judah. He receives a good name from the compiler of the Book of Kings (1Ki_22:43). This is chiefly because he carried out the religious reforms of his father. The important thing in his reign was the alliance of Judah with Israel (1Ki_22:44), which put an end to their long hostility. Some suppose the smaller kingdom to have been tributary to the larger, but on this point our sources are silent. The alliance was cemented by the marriage of the crown prince Jehoram to Ahab’s daughter Athaliah (2Ki_8:18). Jehoshaphat appears as the ally of Ahab against Syria, and himself went into the battle of Ramoth-gilead (1Ki_22:1-53). He also assisted Ahab’s son against the Moabites (2Ki_3:1-27). He seems to have had trouble with his own vassals in Edom, and his attempt to renew Solomon’s commercial ventures on the Red Sea was unsuccessful (1Ki_22:48).
H. P. Smith.