2 Chronicles 20:31–21:3 (NIV)✞: The End of Jehoshaphat’s Reign
Passage
In some ways this is a typical type of passage we often see in the books of Kings and Chronicles: [King So-and-So] reigned over [Israel] or [Judah] for [number of years]. His mother’s name was [name], and he followed in the ways of his “father” [good king prototype; e.g. David] or [bad king prototype; e.g. Ahab]. He did [what was right] or [evil] in the eyes of the LORD. If this was a good king, it might mention that “the high places, however, were still not removed.” The other events of his reign are recorded in [some book(s)].
The summary of Jehoshaphat’s reign is very similar:
31 So Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he became king of Judah, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-five years. His mother’s name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi. 32 He followed the ways of his father Asa and did not stray from them; he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD. 33 The high places, however, were not removed, and the people still had not set their hearts on the God of their ancestors.
34 The other events of Jehoshaphat’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the annals of Jehu son of Hanani, which are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel.
The author(s) aren’t done, however, because there’s one last story to mention:
35 Later, Jehoshaphat king of Judah made an alliance with Ahaziah king of Israel, whose ways were wicked. 36 He agreed with him to construct a fleet of trading ships. After these were built at Ezion Geber, 37 Eliezer son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, “Because you have made an alliance with Ahaziah, the LORD will destroy what you have made.” The ships were wrecked and were not able to set sail to trade.
And then finally, in 21:1–3✞, we get the usual concluding statements about the end of a king’s reign: he was buried in Jerusalem, and succeeded by his son Jehoram. In this case the author(s) make a point of also telling us the names of all of Jehoram’s brothers, which they don’t always do when one king dies and is succeeded by a son; that’s probably foreshadowing of some kind, right?
Thoughts
The author(s) of Chronicles are really making some choices in this summary of Jehoshaphat’s reign! Specifically:
| Quote | Complexity |
|---|---|
| He followed the ways of his father Asa and did not stray from them; he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD. | This is a huge oversimplification of Jehoshaphat’s reign, because the last few chapters are full of mentions of him making bad alliances with evil kings in Israel—showing a lack of faith in God—for which he is called out by prophets. Even this very passage calls out another alliance with a king of Israel, for which he is chastised! |
| The high places, however, were not removed, | Earlier, in Chapter 17, Jehoshaphat was called out for praise specifically because he had removed the high places! |
| … and the people still had not set their hearts on the God of their ancestors. | In the previous passage I went on and on about how the people did seem to have set their hearts on God! |
So, as I’ve been saying all through Chronicles’ coverage of Jehoshaphat’s reign, it’s been mixed. Overall, the summary seems to be saying, he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD – even though he also had some notable failures. Overall, the summary seems to be saying, he wasn’t able to rid the land of the high places – even though he also had some notable success in this area. Overall, the summary seems to be saying, at the time his reign ended the people were not setting their hearts on God – even though the passage covered right before this seemed to show a people who were very focused on God.
The Bible simply will not allow us to have a simplistic view of this man’s reign. In this summary, the author(s) of Chronicles seem to want us to have an overall good view of him—they say he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD—but they also seem to want us to see a very mixed record, which only slightly balances out on the good side. Which… honestly, as a Christian, if that was how my overall record was seen by history1, I’d be very happy with that!
Footnotes
- Assuming history will remember me at all, which I doubt. ↩
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