2 Chronicles · chapter 19 of 36
Updated on
2 Chronicles 19 tells how Jehoshaphat returns safely to Jerusalem after his alliance with Ahab, and the prophet Jehu rebukes him for helping the wicked while also recognizing the good in him. The king travels through the land to bring the people back to the Lord and appoints judges in the cities and in Jerusalem, charging them to judge in the fear of the Lord, without injustice, partiality or bribes.
The previous chapter ended with Ahab's death at Ramoth-gilead, where Jehoshaphat had fought beside him. Now the Chronicler shows what the king of Judah did when he came home. After a dangerous alliance, Jehoshaphat accepts a prophet's correction and answers with reform: he brings the people back to the Lord and sets up judges who reflect God's justice.
Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, returns safely to his palace in Jerusalem. There the seer Jehu, son of Hanani, goes out to meet him and asks whether it is right to help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord. Because of this, Jehu says, the Lord's anger is on him. But Jehu adds that some good has also been found in the king: he removed the Asherah poles from the land and set his heart to seek God.
Jehoshaphat does not answer with anger. He lives in Jerusalem again and goes out among the people once more, from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim, to bring them back to the Lord, the God of their fathers. Then he appoints judges in all the fortified cities of Judah and warns them that they judge not for men but for the Lord, who is with them when they give a verdict. They must act in the fear of the Lord, because with him there is no injustice, partiality or bribery.
In Jerusalem Jehoshaphat also sets up a court of Levites, priests and heads of families, for cases of the Lord's law and disputes among the inhabitants. He charges them to act faithfully and with a whole heart, and to warn their brothers not to sin against the Lord. Amariah the chief priest is placed over matters of the Lord, and Zebadiah, governor of Judah, over the king's matters. The chapter ends with a call to act with courage and a prayer that the Lord be with the good.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Jehu asks the king whether it is right to help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord, and warns that God's anger is on him for it. The passage shows that an alliance that looks prudent can still be unfaithful to the Lord.
Even so, the prophet recognizes the good in Jehoshaphat: he removed the Asherah poles and set his heart to seek God. Scripture places correction and recognition side by side, as a good shepherd would.
Jehoshaphat reminds the judges that they judge not for men but for the Lord, who is with them when they pass sentence. Human justice is a responsibility before God, not a mere office.
The king asks that the fear of the Lord be on the judges, because with the Lord our God there is no injustice, no partiality and no bribe-taking. Whoever judges must resemble the God he represents.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: The seer Jehu, son of Hanani. — 2 Chronicles 19:2
Answer: Whether it was right to help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord. — 2 Chronicles 19:2
Answer: That he had removed the Asherah poles from the land and had set his heart to seek God. — 2 Chronicles 19:3
Answer: He went among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim. — 2 Chronicles 19:4
Answer: That they judged not for man but for the Lord, who was with them in giving judgment. — 2 Chronicles 19:6
Answer: Injustice, partiality and taking bribes. — 2 Chronicles 19:7
Jehoshaphat receives a hard rebuke and does not reject it. That is a lesson for any leader, teacher or parent: correction from a brother or from the Word may hurt, but it is a grace that brings us back to the path. A small group can ask which alliances, friendships or business ties we have given more weight than they deserved, and how they look in light of faithfulness to the Lord.
The second lesson is justice. Jehoshaphat is not content to correct himself; he wants the people to live under honest, impartial judgment. Anyone who leads others, in church, at work or at home, represents God in some way and must treat everyone without favoritism. Ask your class to think of a recent decision in which partiality was a temptation.
2 Chronicles 19 shows a king who accepts correction and turns it into reform: he brings the people back to the Lord and gives them judges who fear God. With that inner steadiness, Jehoshaphat faces an enormous threat from three allied peoples in chapter 20, and there he will learn to depend on the Lord alone.
Because Ahab was a king who had turned away from the Lord, and Jehoshaphat had joined him in war and in a marriage between their families. Jehu does not deny Jehoshaphat's faith; he shows that the alliance with someone who hated the Lord put his faithfulness at risk and brought consequences.
He was a seer, that is, a prophet, who had already spoken for the Lord in the days of the divided kingdom. He should not be confused with Jehu son of Nimshi, the king of Israel who later destroyed Ahab's house. In this chapter he stands for the voice of God correcting the king.
It means God judges with complete impartiality: he does not favor the rich or powerful, and he cannot be bought. The chapter asks the judges to follow that model, and the New Testament repeats that God shows no partiality.