Teaching the Law Through the Towns
1 Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place, and strengthened himself against Israel. 2 He placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa his father had taken. 3 Yahweh was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and didn’t seek the Baals, 4 but sought the God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not in the ways of Israel. 5 Therefore Yahweh established the kingdom in his hand. All Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he had riches and honor in abundance. 6 His heart was lifted up in the ways of Yahweh. Furthermore, he took away the high places and the Asherah poles out of Judah. 7 Also in the third year of his reign he sent his princes, even Ben Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah; 8 and with them Levites, even Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah, the Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, the priests. 9 They taught in Judah, having the book of Yahweh’s law with them. They went about throughout all the cities of Judah and taught among the people. 10 The fear of Yahweh fell on all the kingdoms of the lands that were around Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat. 11 Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents and silver for tribute. The Arabians also brought him flocks: seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred male goats. 12 Jehoshaphat grew great exceedingly; and he built fortresses and store cities in Judah. 13 He had many works in the cities of Judah; and men of war, mighty men of valor, in Jerusalem. 14 This was the numbering of them according to their fathers’ houses: From Judah, the captains of thousands: Adnah the captain, and with him three hundred thousand mighty men of valor; 15 and next to him Jehohanan the captain, and with him two hundred eighty thousand; 16 and next to him Amasiah the son of Zichri, who willingly offered himself to Yahweh, and with him two hundred thousand mighty men of valor. 17 From Benjamin: Eliada, a mighty man of valor, and with him two hundred thousand armed with bow and shield; 18 and next to him Jehozabad, and with him one hundred eighty thousand ready and prepared for war. 19 These were those who waited on the king, in addition to those whom the king put in the fortified cities throughout all Judah.
A king sends officials and Levites on circuit with the law book, and treats teaching as an instrument of government.
The reign is summed up before it is described, and the summary is about direction rather than achievement. Jehoshaphat didn't seek the Baals, but sought the God of his father 2 Chronicles 17:3–4. The same verb, twice, once negative and once positive.
One phrase in the opening is worth watching, because the book uses it elsewhere as a warning. His heart was lifted up in the ways of Yahweh 2 Chronicles 17:6. Lifting up of the heart destroys Uzziah and nearly destroys Hezekiah; here it is qualified by the direction it took, and produces a demolition of the high places rather than a trespass in the temple.
Then, in his third year, the measure that distinguishes this reign from every other one in the book.
He sends a commission on circuit: five princes, nine Levites and two priests, named individually 2 Chronicles 17:7–8. They taught in Judah, having the book of Yahweh's law with them. They went about throughout all the cities of Judah and taught among the people 2 Chronicles 17:9.
Several things about that are unusual. It is systematic — every town, not the capital. It is mixed — royal officials travel with clergy, so the state's authority is behind the instruction and the content is the priests' business. And it is textual: they carry the book, so what is taught can be checked against something.
No other king in either volume does this. Others repair the house, purge the shrines, or keep a festival; those are acts at a center, and the people come to them. Jehoshaphat's officers go out, and what they bring is not a demand but a text.
The results reported next are unusual in the same way. The surrounding kingdoms make no war on him, Philistines and Arabians bring tribute in remarkable quantities, and he builds 2 Chronicles 17:10–12. Security arrives without a campaign, which is the pattern established two reigns earlier when quiet was called a gift.
The muster that closes the chapter is enormous, and one man in it is described by something other than his numbers. Amasiah commands two hundred thousand, and willingly offered himself to Yahweh 2 Chronicles 17:16.
In a list of five commanders and their divisions, one gets a note about his own consecration. The word is the one the previous volume used of the people giving to the temple 1 Chronicles 29:9, and here it describes a soldier volunteering himself rather than his goods.
settled What this mark means