The kings of Israel and Judah

King Jehoshaphat

The kingdom of Judah (the south) · Reigned twenty-five years (1 Kings 22:42) · Right before God · 1 Kings 22; 2 Chronicles 17 to 20

Jehoshaphat, the son of Asa, was one of the best kings of Judah. He sought the God of his father, walked in his commandments, and sent teachers throughout the land to teach the people the law. When a great coalition came against him he called a fast and won the battle by praise rather than the sword. His one persistent weakness was a series of alliances with the wicked kings of Israel, above all Ahab, which brought trouble on his house.

And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.2 Chronicles 20:20 (KJV)

A king who sought God and taught the people

Jehoshaphat walked in the first ways of his father David and sought not to idols but to the LORD God, and God established the kingdom in his hand, and he had riches and honor in abundance. His heart was lifted up in the ways of the LORD. Remarkably, in the third year of his reign he sent his princes and Levites throughout the cities of Judah to teach the book of the law of the LORD among the people, so that the fear of the LORD fell on the surrounding nations and none made war on him.

He also strengthened justice, appointing judges in the land and charging them to judge not for man but for the LORD, without taking bribes or respecting persons, for there was no iniquity with the LORD their God. Few kings did more to root the nation in God's word and righteous judgment.

The battle won by praise

When a vast army of Moab, Ammon, and others came against Judah, Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. He stood in the temple and prayed one of the great prayers of Scripture: We have no might against this great company; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee. The Spirit came on a Levite named Jahaziel, who said, Be not afraid; the battle is not yours, but God's. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD.

The next morning Jehoshaphat sent singers before the army to praise the beauty of holiness, and as they began to sing, the LORD set ambushes against the enemy, and they destroyed one another. Judah came to the field and found only dead bodies, and gathered spoil for three days. They called the place the Valley of Berachah, the valley of blessing, and returned to Jerusalem with harps and trumpets to the house of the LORD.

The entangling alliances

Jehoshaphat's recurring fault was his friendship with the ungodly house of Ahab. He joined Ahab in battle at Ramoth-gilead, nearly losing his life, and was rebuked by the seer Jehu: Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? He married his son to Ahab's daughter Athaliah, a decision that would nearly destroy the royal line a generation later. And he joined the wicked Ahaziah of Israel in a shipping venture that God wrecked before it sailed.

Each time, God spared him, and each time the alliances brought harm. It is a sober lesson that a genuinely godly man can be repeatedly unwise in his partnerships, and that such compromises reach far beyond the one who makes them.

The biblical verdict and where it points

The verdict on Jehoshaphat is good: he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and departed not from it. Kings notes the one qualification common to the good kings before Hezekiah, that the high places were not taken away and the people still sacrificed there. But his heart was set to seek God, and his reign was marked by teaching, justice, prayer, and dependence on the LORD in crisis.

His great prayer, our eyes are upon thee, and the promise the battle is not yours, but God's, point straight to the gospel, where the decisive battle against sin and death is won not by our might but by God himself in Christ. The King who came from Judah's line would win his greatest victory not with an army but by trusting his Father, and would teach his people that salvation is the LORD's.

A note on the record: everything here is drawn from the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. Kings and Chronicles sometimes tell a reign differently, Chronicles often adding a king's repentance or building works, and where they differ this is said plainly rather than smoothed over. The exact lengths and overlaps of the reigns are genuinely complex, because kings often shared the throne with a son for a time, so the totals in Scripture do not always add up in a simple line. The verdict good or evil is the Bible's own assessment, whether a king did right or evil in the sight of the LORD.

Related: Asa · Jehoram of Judah · Ahab · Athaliah · All the kings of Israel and Judah