And Jehovah was with Jehoshaphat, for he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto the Baals;
Jehoshaphat became king of Judah after his father Asa. Scripture ties God's presence with him to the way he walked, which raises two questions: why David's earlier ways and not his whole life, and whether a start this good can last.
Jehoshaphat's first act was to strengthen himself against Israel, the northern kingdom next door. One writer sees more than military caution here. The danger lay more in Israel's example than in its strength.
Jehoshaphat, his son, succeeds him and begins his reign by walking faithfully with God. He strengthened his kingdom against Israel, an enemy more dangerous by their example than by their strength. When something claims to be connected with God and to acknowledge Him, there is only one safe course: to judge it with a spiritual judgment. Such judgment can only come from a true sense of God's honour. It makes no terms with what only claims to be connected with Him, and treats it as an enemy. This is what Jehoshaphat did at first. Because he did not walk in the ways of Israel, Jehovah established the kingdom in his hand.
David's life was not uniformly bright, and the verse does not pretend it was. One writer reads "earlier" as pointing to the part of David's walk that came before his great sin.
Jehoshaphat, the son of Asa, began his reign by strengthening himself against Israel. The Lord was with him, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, which means David's faithful walk before his great sin. The Lord greatly blessed him by establishing his kingdom and in giving him riches and honour in abundance. The Lord kept all His promises.
Why point back to what came first? One writer answers from David's own place at the head of Israel's kings.
David was the first king really chosen by God. Despite serious defects, he held to the worship of God. He was not turned aside after the other gods, which later crept in among both the kings and the people. What was first in the history of God's dealings with Israel's kings was the purer thing.
The same writer follows the pattern into the New Testament. There the Lord tells a church to go back to what it did at first.
The same feature meets us in Revelation 2:4. Here the question is love, not faith. And the Lord is examining a church, not separate people. By the end of the first century the church at Ephesus had left its "first love." The next verse shows that this had affected its works. So they are told to recognise how they had fallen, to repent, and to do "the first works."
Jehoshaphat refused the Baals, the other gods that drew kings and people away. One writer looks past the record to the man himself.
Jehoshaphat his son reigns. And here we find very beautiful grace and piety. I would say that piety in particular is what marks this good son. He was a man, too, whose heart was toward the Lord.
The very thing Jehoshaphat guarded against at the start later became his snare.
Jehoshaphat's first act was to "strengthen himself against Israel." This is worth noticing. Israel and Israel's king were always a snare to the heart of Jehoshaphat. But at the start of his course, while he was still fresh, he was able to fortify his kingdom against the power of Israel. We often see this in the lives of Christians. The evils that become their greatest snares later in life are the very ones they watched against most closely at first.
It was success, not hardship, that loosened his guard.
Jehoshaphat walked in the first ways of his father and of David, and Jehovah was with him; so he grew very great. When he had riches and honour in abundance, he joined himself by marriage to Ahab. How often outward prosperity leaves the heart worldly and forgetful of God! What a blessing it often is to be kept poor and low.
- First — the cause. God was with Jehoshaphat for a stated reason: he walked in the earlier ways of David and refused the Baals.
- First — the standard. "Earlier ways" means David's walk before his great sin. Even a godly example is only worth copying in part.
- First — the principle. Across Scripture, what God gives at the beginning is the purer thing; later additions adulterate, and the call is back to "the first works."
- First — the heart. Behind the record stands a man whose heart was toward the Lord, not just a king with sound policy.
- First — the fragility. The enemy he resisted hardest at the start became his later snare. Prosperity, not trouble, loosened his guard.
but he sought the God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel.
Verse 4 sums up how Jehoshaphat began: he sought his father's God, kept His commandments, and refused to copy the northern kingdom of Israel. Two questions follow: what made his seeking real, and how did he end up tied to Ahab, Israel's idol-worshipping king, one chapter later?
Jehoshaphat's obedience had a book behind it. One writer ties his blessing to the law he obeyed and sent out through Judah.
It is recorded that king Jehoshaphat sought the Lord God of his fathers. He walked in His commandments. He also sent teachers who taught in Judah, and they had the book of the law of Jehovah with them. His blessing then was so tied to obedience to the written word that on the battlefield he said, "Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be established; believe His prophets, and you will succeed." We know how remarkably God's blessing was with him.
The words "not according to the practices of Israel" point to a danger of example, not of strength. Israel still claimed God's name, and that is what made its example so dangerous.
He strengthened his kingdom against Israel, an enemy more dangerous by their example than by their strength. Sometimes a thing claims to be connected with God and to acknowledge Him. The only safety is to judge it with spiritual judgment. Such judgment comes only from a true sense of God's honour. It makes no terms with what claims to be connected with Him, and treats it as an enemy. This is what Jehoshaphat did at first; and, as he did not walk in the ways of Israel, Jehovah established the kingdom in his hand.
The verse describes a beginning, not a whole life. One writer notes that the evil Jehoshaphat guarded against here became his snare in later years.
Jehoshaphat's first act was to "strengthen himself against Israel." This is worth noticing. Israel and Israel's king were always a snare to Jehoshaphat's heart. But at the opening of his course, in the season of his early freshness, he was able to fortify his kingdom against the power of Israel. One often sees this in the history of Christians. The evils that prove their greatest snares in later life are the ones they watch against most closely at first.
Refusing Israel's practices is one thing. Refusing a partnership with Israel's king is another. Jehoshaphat did the first but not the second, and his own words to Ahab show the gap.
Yet this good king "made a marriage alliance with Ahab" (2 Chr. 18:1). He was so faithful, yet he had not learned the truth of separation, or that association with evil defiles… Ahab was king of Israel, but he was an idolater. In character he was no better than the king of Syria. Indeed his state was worse, for he had turned from the LORD and had made Israel to sin. This made Jehoshaphat's association with Ahab a very grievous sin in the sight of the LORD. How very solemn were Jehoshaphat's words, "I am as you are, and my people as your people." Was Jehoshaphat a wicked man like Ahab? Were his people not worshippers of the true God, and Ahab's worshippers of Baal? Yet this good man was led into that dreadful statement because he had not learned that association with evil defiles… It is not enough to be personally free from evil. We can be defiled by association with the evil of others.
Why does such a glowing account stand here at all? One writer answers from the purpose of the book of Chronicles.
But these verses 3 to 6 teach us yet another truth, in harmony with the character of Chronicles. This book emphasizes grace as the only means of keeping the royal line. At the time of the kingdom's complete decline, it always highlights the good which grace has produced, even if it lasted only a moment. It shows that grace covers a multitude of sins. It is different when it is a matter of responsibility, as in the book of Kings.
- Sought — Jehoshaphat turned to his father's God. That turning, not his throne, is what the record praises first.
- Walked — he kept God's commandments and sent the law out through Judah. Blessing followed the written word.
- Refused — Israel's practices were the greater threat because Israel still claimed God's name. Safety lay in making no terms with it.
- Established — he did not walk in Israel's ways, so the LORD settled the kingdom in his hand. Obedience and stability moved together.
- Guarded — the evil a believer watches hardest at the start can become the snare of later years. Jehoshaphat's alliance with Ahab proved it. Yet Chronicles still keeps the record of the good that grace produced in him.