2 Chronicles 19:5

_AND HE SET JUDGES IN THE LAND THROUGHOUT ALL THE FENCED CITIES OF JUDAH, CITY BY CITY,_ 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 the note at Deuteronomy 16:18)....

What exact change Jehoshaphat made in the judicial system of Judah Deu 16:18; 1 Chronicles 23:4, it is impossible to determine. Probably he found corruption widely spread 2 Chronicles 19:7, and the magistrates in some places tainted with the prevailing idolatry. He therefore made a fresh appointment of judges throughout the whole country; concentrating judicial authority in the hands of a few, or creating superior courts in the chief towns (“fenced cities”), with a right of appeal to such courts from the village judge....

EXPOSITION The matter of this chapter is preserved for us by the writer of Chronicles alone, and is of much significance. After glancing at the moment's outward "peace" (2 Chronicles 19:1), which Jehoshaphat had on his return to Jerusalem, the narrative, leaving in deep oblivion all he must have thought and felt and may have spoken of the end of his brother-king, and of his own late private intimacy and public alliance with him, tells how he was reined up by Jehu, the son of Hanani the seer (2 Chronicles 19:2, 2 Chronicles 19:3); and thereupon how he wisely revisited his kingdom, as it were through its length and breadth, sought to "bring them back to the Lord God of their fathers

AND HE SET JUDGES IN THE LAND THROUGHOUT ALL THE FENCED CITIES OF JUDAH, CITY BY CITY,.... Inferior judges in lesser courts of judicature than that at Jerusalem, and that in every city, that judgment and justice might be executed everywhere; such were appointed by David, but had been neglected, and now restored, see 1 Chronicles 26:29....

CHAPTER 19 REBUKE AND RESTORATION _ 1. The rebuke by the prophet (2 Chronicles 19:1)_ 2. Further revival and restoration (2 Chronicles 19:4) At sun-down Ahab, the King of Israel died, while his ally Jehoshaphat, saved through the mercy of God, returned to his home in peace in Jerusalem. Then Jelin, the son of Hanani, met him. Asa, the father of Jehoshaphat, had been rebuked by Hanani, and had put him in prison for it. The son of Hanani rebukes Jehoshaphat. We read no answer from the king, but his actions show that the rebuke went home to his conscience. He must have repented of the unholy alliance with the enemy of the Lord. Jehu said to him, “Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD.”

Jehu the prophet reproves Jehoshaphat for having allied himself with Ahab. These verses are mainly from the Chronicler, but see 1 Kings 16:1 ff. 2 CHRONICLES 19:4. This section, a kind of _midrash_ on the name Jehoshaphat (= Yahweh judgeth), is also from the Chronicler; he imagines the judicial arrangements of his own day to have been already in existence in much earlier times. The section is, in a sense, analogous to 2 Chronicles 17:7....

_and he set judges_ Cp. 2 Chronicles 19:11 "also the Levites shall be officers"; and Deuteronomy 16:18 "judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates." In the earliest days justice was administered in Israel, as among the Bedouin of to-day, probably by all heads of families and (in difficult cases) by the one head who was distinguished above the rest for impartiality and for knowledge of tribal custom. In later days when Israel was settled in Canaan the "elders of the cities" and the "elders of the priests" exercised the same functions. Jehoshaphat's measures were twofold, (1) to establish judges throughout the cities of Judah, (2) to establish (in accordance with Deuteronomy

5. THE REIGN OF JEHOSHAPHAT (17-21:3) TEXT 2 Chronicles 17:1. And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead, and strengthened himself against Israel. 2. And he placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa his father had taken. 3. And Jehovah was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto the Baalim, 4. but sought to the God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel. 5. Therefore Jehovah established the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat tribute; and he had riches and honor in abundance. 6. And his heart was lifted up in the ways of Jehovah: and furthermore he took away the high places and the Asherim out of Judah. 7. Also in the third year of his reign he sent his pri

REIGN OF JEHOSHAPHAT (CONTINUED) The chapter narrates how Jehoshaphat was reproved by the seer Jehu for helping Ahab, and how he instituted judges in the cities of Judah. This chapter is entirely supplementary to the account of Jehoshaphat as given in 1 K....

2 CHRONICLES: GOD DESIRES LOYAL PEOPLE The *Kingdom called Judah 2 CHRONICLES CHAPTER S 10 TO 36 _IAN MACKERVOY_ CHAPTER 19 JEHU’S *PROPHECY – 2 CHRONICLES 19:1-3 V1 Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned in peace to his house in Jerusalem. V2 The *prophet Jehu, son of Hanani went out to meet him. He said to the king, ‘You went to help evil people. You love those who hate the *LORD. Because of that, the *LORD is angry with you. V3 However, you have done some good things. You removed the *Asherah poles from this country. And you have tried to obey God.’ Verse 1 The battle of Ramoth in Gilead was the end of the war. Ahab was dead. The attack by the two k