2 Chronicles 19

2Ch 19:1-4.

JEHOSHAPHAT

VISITS

HIS

KINGDOM.

1-4. Jehoshaphat . . . returned to his house in

peace--(See

2Ch 18:16).

Not long after he had resumed the ordinary functions of royalty in

Jerusalem, he was one day disturbed by an unexpected and ominous visit

from a prophet of the Lord

[2Ch 19:2].

This was Jehu, of whose father we read in

2Ch 16:7.

He himself had been called to discharge the prophetic office in Israel.

But probably for his bold rebuke to Baasha

(1Ki 16:1),

he had been driven by that arbitrary monarch within the territory of

Judah, where we now find him with the privileged license of his order,

taking the same religious supervision of Jehoshaphat's proceedings as

he had formerly done of Baasha's. At the interview here described, he

condemned, in the strongest terms, the king of Judah's imprudent and

incongruous league with Ahab--God's open enemy

(1Ki 22:2)

--as an unholy alliance that would be conducive neither to the honor

and comfort of his house nor to the best interests of his kingdom. He

apprised Jehoshaphat that, on account of that grave offense, "wrath was

upon him from before the Lord," a judgment that was inflicted soon

after (see on

2Ch 20:1-37).

The prophet's rebuke, however, was administered in a mingled strain of

severity and mildness; for he interposed "a nevertheless"

(2Ch 19:3),

which implied that the threatened storm would be averted, in token of

the divine approval of his public efforts for the promotion of the true

religion, as well as of the sincere piety of his personal character and

life.

4. he went out again through the people--This means his reappointing

the commissioners of public instruction

(2Ch 17:7-9),

perhaps with new powers and a larger staff of assistants to overtake

every part of the land. The complement of teachers required for that

purpose would be easily obtained because the whole tribe of Levites was

now concentrated within the kingdom of Judah.

2Ch 19:5-7.

HIS

INSTRUCTIONS TO THE

JUDGES.

5-7. he set judges in the land--There had been judicial courts

established at an early period. But Jehoshaphat was the first king who

modified these institutions according to the circumstances of the now

fragmentary kingdom of Judah. He fixed local courts in each of the

fortified cities, these being the provincial capitals of every district

(see on

De 16:18).

2Ch 19:8-11.

TO THE

PRIESTS AND

LEVITES.

8. set of the Levites . . . priests, and of the chief of the fathers of

Israel--A certain number of these three classes constituted a supreme

court, which sat in Jerusalem to review appellate cases from the

inferior courts. It consisted of two divisions: the first of which had

jurisdiction in ecclesiastical matters; the second, in civil, fiscal,

and criminal cases. According to others, the two divisions of the

supreme court adjudicated: the one according to the law contained in

the sacred books; the other according to the law of custom and equity.

As in Eastern countries at the present day, the written and unwritten

law are objects of separate jurisdiction.