2 Chronicles 17 Study Notes

17:1 Jehoshaphat: Fourth king of Judah; son of Asa; thoroughly devoted to God, but made disastrous alliances with Ahab and Ahaziah of Israel.

17:2 Despite his dubious victory over Baasha, Asa had to endure further wars at the end of his reign (16:9). His son Jehoshaphat, who succeeded him on the throne, reworked all the fortifications and stationed troops in the older locations as well as in the newly captured cities of Ephraim.

17:3-6 Jehoshaphat was one of the outstanding kings of Judah. He stood for all the things that should characterize a king of Judah, and the Chronicler praises him almost as much as David, Solomon, and (later on) Hezekiah. Since his father Asa had lost his grip on the kingdom in his later years, Jehoshaphat had to purge the land of high places and Asherah poles.

17:7-9 An important part of David’s original plan in assigning duties to the Levites was a contingent of teachers throughout the country (1Ch 26:29-32), but this proved impossible once the kingdom was divided. Jehoshaphat revived this idea and designated certain Levites as itinerant teachers. They carried copies of the law and instructed everyone in Judah how to live as God’s people.

17:10-11 The Lord rewarded Jehoshaphat’s single-minded commitment by causing the neighboring kingdoms to fear Judah; some even voluntarily brought tribute.

17:12-13 Due to Jehoshaphat’s wisdom and the blessing of the Lord, Judah achieved the greatest prosperity it had enjoyed since Solomon.

17:14-18 There was another increase in the size of the army of Judah. Rehoboam’s army had numbered 180,000 (11:1); Abijah had 400,000 soldiers (13:3); Asa’s army numbered 580,000 (14:8). The grand total for Jehoshaphat’s army was 1,160,000 valiant warriors.