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2
Chronicles Chapter Seventeen
2 Chronicles 17
Chapter Contents
Jehoshaphat promotes religion in Judah, His prosperity.
Jehoshaphat found his people generally very ignorant, and
therefore endeavoured to have them well taught. The public teaching of the word
of God forms, in all ages, the great method of promoting the power of
godliness. Thereby the understanding is informed, the conscience is awakened
and directed. We have a particular account of Jehoshaphat's prosperity. But it
was not his formidable army that restrained the neighbouring nations from
attempting any thing against Israel, but the fear of God which fell upon them,
when Jehoshaphat reformed his country, and set up a preaching ministry in it.
The ordinances of God are more the strength and safety of a kingdom, than
soldiers and weapons of war. The Bible requires use to notice the hand of God
in every event, yet this is little regarded. But let all employ the talents
they have: be faithful, even in that which is little. Set up the worship of God
in your houses. The charge of a family is important. Why should you not
instruct them as Jehoshaphat did his subjects, in the book of the law of the Lord.
But be consistent. Do not recommend one thing, and practise another. Begin with
yourselves. Seek to the Lord God of Israel, then call upon children and
servants to follow your example.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 2 Chronicles》
2 Chronicles 17
Verse 3
[3] And
the LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his
father David, and sought not unto Baalim;
Sought not, … — It
is true, he recovered from that fall. "Yet perhaps, says Mr. Henry, he
never, while he lived, fully retrieved the spiritual strength he lost by
it."
Verse 5
[5] Therefore the LORD stablished the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah
brought to Jehoshaphat presents; and he had riches and honour in abundance.
Brought presents — As
subjects in those times used to do to their kings, as a token of their respect
and subjection to them.
Verse 6
[6] And
his heart was lifted up in the ways of the LORD: moreover he took away the high
places and groves out of Judah.
Lifted up —
Above all discouragements, and fears. He was valiant and resolute for God and
his ways.
Groves —
Those wherein idols were worshipped, and though Asa had done this before, yet
either he did not do it thoroughly; or the Jews (who were many of them mad upon
their idols) had secretly made new ones, in the latter part of his reign, when
he grew more infirm in body, and more remiss in God's cause.
Verse 7
[7] Also
in the third year of his reign he sent to his princes, even to Benhail, and to
Obadiah, and to Zechariah, and to Nethaneel, and to Michaiah, to teach in the
cities of Judah.
To teach — To
inform the people of their duty, and of the king's pleasure, as judges teach or
instruct the people in the laws of the land, when they deliver their charges
upon the bench; so did these princes in the king's name admonish and require
the people to observe and obey the laws of God, which were the municipal laws
of that land: the particular explication and enforcement whereof, they left to
the Levites and priests here following, who were sent for this end, and
accordingly taught the people, verse 9.
Verse 9
[9] And they taught in Judah, and had the book of the law of the LORD with
them, and went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people.
And they taught, … —
And these itinerant judges and itinerant preachers together, Mr. Henry observes
were instrumental to diffuse a blessed light throughout the cities of Judah.
Verse 10
[10] And
the fear of the LORD fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round
about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat.
Fear fell —
Justly concluding from his singular piety that God would eminently appear for him,
for even the Heathens could not but observe, that the kings of Judah were
either prosperous or unhappy, according as they served God or forsook him.
Verse 13
[13] And
he had much business in the cities of Judah: and the men of war, mighty men of
valour, were in Jerusalem.
Business — To
repair and fortify them, and furnish them with provisions: and to purge out all
their relicks of idolatry and injustice.
Verse 19
[19]
These waited on the king, beside those whom the king put in the fenced cities
throughout all Judah.
Waited —
These above-mentioned were the trained bands or auxiliaries: whose chief
officers waited on the king to receive his commands, and to raise, and bring in
all, or part of their forces, to the service of the king as need required. A
vast number for so small a compass of ground, to furnish out and maintain. But
we may consider, that God had promised to make the seed of Abraham like the
sand of the sea for number; that there had now been a long peace; that many
were come to them from the kingdom of Israel and that Jehoshaphat was under a
special blessing of God. They were doubtless dispersed all the country over,
every one residing on his own land: only they were ready at call, whenever
there was occasion.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 2 Chronicles》
Steps in True Consecration
(2 Chronicles 17)
The right attitude of the soul to
the Lord is the secret of true consecration.
I. Companioning with the Lord (v.3)
The Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he was with Lord by obedience to His
Word. To be is to have.
II. Directing to the Lord (v.4). As
the ship will be kept on its right course as the helmsman is guided by the
compass, so the believer will be right in life as he directs his way by the
written Word of the living God.
III. Blessing from the Lord (v.5).
The way of Jehoshaphat was established, because he was steadfast, for the time
being in the way of the Lord. If we are faithful to the Lord by obeying His
Word, He will be faithful to us in giving us His blessing.
IV. Encouraged in the Lord (v.6).
The king was encouraged in the ways of the Lord by the Lord’s blessing. There
is no fear of the Lord’s blessing; the only fear is, lest we should fail to
fear the Lord who blesses.
V. Word of the Lord (v.9). To teach
the Word of the Lord’s to impart the greatest blessing upon mankind. See Psalm
19:7~11 as to what the Word of God is and does.
VI. Power through the Lord (v.10).
The greatest influence that any man can exert is the influence that comes from
the presence of God with him.
VII. Offering unto the Lord (v.16).
To give ourselves to the Lord, and to allow ourselves to remain in His hands,
is the very essence of consecration (Rom. 6:13; 12:1).
──
F.E. Marsh
17 Chapter 17
Verses 1-19
And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead.
The conditions of national prosperity
This chapter shows--
I. That true
religion is the basis of the State; and that wherever it prospers there the
State prospers.
II. That it is the
wisdom of kings to encourage religion with all their power and influence.
III. That a
religious nation is ever a great nation.
IV. That a
religious nation is ever a peaceful and united nation. (A. Clarke, D. D.)
Jehoshaphat
I. His policy as a
statesman.
1. It was protective (2 Chronicles 17:1-2).
2. It was wise.
3. It was eminently patriotic.
II. His character
as a man.
1. He was distinguished for true piety.
2. The inspiration of his heart came from the consciousness of his
obedience to God (2 Chronicles 17:6).
III. His wisdom as a
ruler.
1. He removed temptation from his people (2 Chronicles 17:6).
2. He provided for his people the highest means of good (2 Chronicles 17:7-9). (Metropolitan
Pulpit.)
Jehoshaphat’s prosperity
I. Its measure.
Everything indicates that it was great and genuine. Not an element of true
prosperity is wanting, whether we consider him individually or as identified
with the realm. It involved--
1. The safety of the kingdom.
2. Wealth.
3. Honour from abroad.
4. The love and confidence of his own people.
II. Its origin.
This was partly natural, partly supernatural.
1. Natural.
2. Supernatural. “The Lord stablished the kingdom in his hand.” It was
a reward of piety. He honoured God, and God honoured and exalted him. Lessons:
1. The union of prudence and piety. Each is helpful to the other;
neither is sufficient without the other. Prudence gives tone and practicality
to piety; piety gives sweetness and mellowness to prudence. Piety alone tends
to feebleness and inefficiency; prudence alone inclines to coldness and
covetousness. United they round out the character in beauty and strength.
2. Reform through religion and law. Jehoshaphat united the civil and
religious power in securing national reform. How necessary is this union in the
great struggle with intemperance and other moral defilements. (Monday Club
Sermons.)
Verses 1-19
And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead.
The conditions of national prosperity
This chapter shows--
I. That true
religion is the basis of the State; and that wherever it prospers there the
State prospers.
II. That it is the
wisdom of kings to encourage religion with all their power and influence.
III. That a
religious nation is ever a great nation.
IV. That a
religious nation is ever a peaceful and united nation. (A. Clarke, D. D.)
Jehoshaphat
I. His policy as a
statesman.
1. It was protective (2 Chronicles 17:1-2).
2. It was wise.
3. It was eminently patriotic.
II. His character
as a man.
1. He was distinguished for true piety.
2. The inspiration of his heart came from the consciousness of his
obedience to God (2 Chronicles 17:6).
III. His wisdom as a
ruler.
1. He removed temptation from his people (2 Chronicles 17:6).
2. He provided for his people the highest means of good (2 Chronicles 17:7-9). (Metropolitan
Pulpit.)
Jehoshaphat’s prosperity
I. Its measure.
Everything indicates that it was great and genuine. Not an element of true
prosperity is wanting, whether we consider him individually or as identified
with the realm. It involved--
1. The safety of the kingdom.
2. Wealth.
3. Honour from abroad.
4. The love and confidence of his own people.
II. Its origin.
This was partly natural, partly supernatural.
1. Natural.
2. Supernatural. “The Lord stablished the kingdom in his hand.” It
was a reward of piety. He honoured God, and God honoured and exalted him.
Lessons:
1. The union of prudence and piety. Each is helpful to the other;
neither is sufficient without the other. Prudence gives tone and practicality
to piety; piety gives sweetness and mellowness to prudence. Piety alone tends
to feebleness and inefficiency; prudence alone inclines to coldness and
covetousness. United they round out the character in beauty and strength.
2. Reform through religion and law. Jehoshaphat united the civil and
religious power in securing national reform. How necessary is this union in the
great struggle with intemperance and other moral defilements. (Monday Club
Sermons.)
Verse 2
And set garrisons in the laud of Judah, and in the cities of
Ephraim.
Defences
It is concerning Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, this is said. He was
a good king (see 2 Chronicles 17:1-6). The one
kingdom of Solomon was now disrupted into two. The northern kingdom, known as
the kingdom of Israel, was specially given to idolatry, to Baal-worshipping.
Along the somewhat irregular line separating the two kingdoms, Asa, the father
of Jehoshaphat, had set fortified cities to resist the perpetual incursions of
the Baal-worshipping northern kingdom. On coming to the throne, Jehoshaphat
immediately saw that these fenced, fortified cities were in good repair, that
their garrisons were strong. A young man I knew had charge of the woollen-room
in a great wholesale house. His companion clerks were wild, roistering,
dissipated, profane fellows. He was of necessity in the perpetual atmosphere of
bad speech and profanity. It seemed to him sometimes very hard to withstand it
all. What did he do? He did spiritually precisely what Jehoshaphat did
physically: he stood his ground. He fortified and kept garrisoned his defences.
Years afterward I saw that same man in high and prosperous place. He had won
the confidence of his employers. Take you example of Jehoshaphat: place your
fenced cities, set your garrisons. What sort of fortified and garrisoned cities
ought we to set along the frontiers of our lives, that we may maintain them
against encroaching evil?
I. I think the
fortified and garrisoned city of a distinct plan for life. What do I propose to
do with my life? That ought to be a question clearly conceived, and distinctly
answered by every one of us. I have certain resources--time, talent, education,
moral consciousness, etc. All sorts of sudden contingencies spring up in
experience. All sorts of moral questions constantly occur. Shall I do this or
that? Shall I enter into this or that business? Shall I allow myself in this or
that pleasure, indulgence? They are at once met and, decided by the simple
presence of the plan. This is Christ’s suggestion of moral plan: “Seek ye first
the kingdom of God and His righteousness.”
II. I think there
ought to be such city, fortified and garrisoned, of an ennobling love.
Jehoshaphat loved Jehovah better than the Baalim, therefore he could stand out
against the Baalim. A high, pure love can always hold out against lower ones.
The highest, holiest love is that for Christ.
III. I think there
ought to be such city, fortified and garrisoned, of quick volition. Temporising,
to save oneself from brave and instant choice of the right, is useless. It
breaks down defences, scatters garrisons. In Thomas Carlyle’s “Sartor Resartus”
there is a very wonderful chapter on the “Everlasting No.” There is a place
where this “everlasting no” ought, even thunderously, to be uttered.
That place is precisely where the tempting, urgent wrong begins to solicit.
IV. I think there
ought to be such city, fortified and garrisoned, of the daily prayer. (W.
Hoyt, D.D.)
Verse 6
And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord.
Encouragement in the ways of the Lord
I. The ways of the
Lord are divine. Are His ways cold and unpleasant? H we descend a deep coal-pit
and look up the shaft into the bright sky, we see the stars, but the pit is
cold and dark. So men think that when they commune with God, it is like being
in a coal-pit beholding a star; it is a beautiful sight, but makes one cold and
unpleasant. Is this the truth? No; the Bible describes God’s people as having
melody in their hearts, and one of His sweetest names is “The happy God.” Some
people are afraid of becoming religious, lest they should be miserable; but
they mistake the God in whose breast there is an ever-flowing heaven. The man
who the most loves God is the happiest in disposition and the most cheerful as
well as the most graceful in life.
II. His ways are
also humane; they constrain us to love our suffering fellow-man, when he can do
us no good but when we can do him good. (W. Birch.)
Jehoshaphat
I. Some men when,
like jehoshaphat, they have riches and honour in abundance, have their hearts
lifted up, but not in the ways of the Lord. The natural tendency of such
circumstances is to create and foster a spirit of pride, of self-sufficiency,
and of independence. How necessary the warning (Deuteronomy 8:11-14). Nebuchadnezzar is a
striking exemplification of this.
II. Some men whose
hearts are not lifted up are in the ways of the Lord. They are real Christians,
but doubting, desponding Christians.
III. Some men have
their hearts lifted up, like Jehoshaphat, in the ways of the Lord. They
“rejoice in the Lord alway.” (R. Harley.)
Verse 8
And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat.
The great companionship
I. Jehoshaphat
secured the great companionship by following true example. “Because he walked
in the first ways of David his father.” Beautiful those first ways of David.
Turn to the eighteenth Psalm, which David sang in the day that the Lord
delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.
These first ways of David were ways of love to God (2 Chronicles 17:1) of trust in God (2 Chronicles 17:2); of prayer to God
(2 Chronicles 17:3); of strength in
God (verse 29) of thanks to God (verses 49, 50). But the later ways of
David--the ways concerning Bathsheba, etc., Jehoshaphat would not walk
in. This matter of true example for the ways of life is a great thing. Such
following will surely lead us into the great companionship of God.
II. The Lord was
with Jehoshaphat; he secured the great companionship by standing out against
the evil spirit of his time. “And sought not unto the Baalim.” The Baalim
represented the popular religious tendency.
III. And the Lord
was with Jehoshaphat; he secured the great companionship by right affection.
“But sought to the God of his father.” Do not imagine the set of the supreme
affection a light matter And when our heart supremely sets towards God, God
answers with companionship.
IV. And the Lord
was with Jehoshaphat; he secured the great companionship by right practice.
“And walked in His commandments, and not after the doings of Israel.”
Jehoshaphat did not mean about it, and dream about it, and think about it; he
vigorously did it. Do not imagine that inward and sentimental intention which
never finds expression in corresponding action amounts to anything. What
vigorous volition and right practise sound in that “walked”! Man is three
things--intellect, affection, will. Jehoshaphat turned these three toward God.
Intellectually, he recognised Jehovah as God, not the Baalim; affectionately,
he sought to God; volitionally, he practised for God. What wonder he was
wrapped about with the great companionship? (Homiletic Review.)
Because he walked in the
first ways of his father David.--
The first ways of David
1. We have here a pattern and a warning. It is an eulogy heightened
by a limitation. The merit of the copy is advanced at the expense of the
pattern. It is intimated that David’s first ways were his best ways. This is in
contradiction of the true order of the spiritual life. A retrograde motion in
it is a violation of its nature and a frustration of its intent. Deterioration
in goodness is a disease and an anomaly.
2. Notice the impartiality and candour which characterise the
accounts of good men in Scripture. The Bible has no human idols. Fault and
virtue it sets forth with equal distinctness and prominence. Herein it shows
itself Divine. The Bible in its way of dealing with the lives and characters of
men, almost as much as in anything, bespeaks itself the voice of God.
3. The change in David’s spiritual course was connected with an
equally marked change in his outward condition.
4. See here the danger of prosperity.
5. We infer that men are not to be our patterns, but only “the man
Christ Jesus.” Him alone we can look up to with unqualified admiration.
6. Let us always be looking out for the symptoms and beginnings of
spiritual decline. (R. A. Hallam, D.D.)
Verse 16
Who willingly offered himself unto the Lord.
Wanted, volunteers
I. Amasiah made it
his life-work to serve the Lord. This service is--
1. Reasonable.
2. Honourable.
3. Remunerative.
4. Safe.
II. Amasiah was a
ready volunteer.
1. He needed no pressing.
2. He needed no hunting out.
3. He needed no looking after.
4. He needed no leader.
III. Amasiah offered
HIMSELF to the Lord.
1. He made no reserve as to what he had.
2. He made no reserve as to what he did.
3. He made no reserve as to when it should be.
4. He made no reserve as to how that service should be rendered.
IV. When Amasiah
willingly offered himself unto the Lord, he did this in a secular calling.
1. He did not stipulate to be a prophet.
2. His was a difficult calling.
3. He rose to eminence in it.
4. He left an honourable record.
V. Amasiah not
only served the Lord himself, but he is an example to others.
1. To the young.
2. To men of position.
3. To men who are rising in the world. (C. H.
Spurgeon.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》