TEXT [Commentary]
E. Synchronistic History of the Divided Monarchy, Resumed (1 Kgs 22:41-53 [22:41-54])
1. Jehoshaphat rules in Judah (22:41-50 [22:41-51])
41 Jehoshaphat son of Asa began to rule over Judah in the fourth year of King Ahab’s reign in Israel. 42 Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-five years. His mother was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi.
43 Jehoshaphat was a good king, following the example of his father, Asa. He did what was pleasing in the LORD’s sight. [*]During his reign, however, he failed to remove all the pagan shrines, and the people still offered sacrifices and burned incense there. 44 Jehoshaphat also made peace with the king of Israel.
45 The rest of the events in Jehoshaphat’s reign, the extent of his power, and the wars he waged are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah. 46 He banished from the land the rest of the male and female shrine prostitutes, who still continued their practices from the days of his father, Asa.
47 (There was no king in Edom at that time, only a deputy.)
48 Jehoshaphat also built a fleet of trading ships[*] to sail to Ophir for gold. But the ships never set sail, for they met with disaster in their home port of Ezion-geber. 49 At one time Ahaziah son of Ahab had proposed to Jehoshaphat, “Let my men sail with your men in the ships.” But Jehoshaphat refused the request.
50 When Jehoshaphat died, he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. Then his son Jehoram became the next king.
NOTES
22:41-50 The Old Greek has a doublet of much of this Jehoshaphat material in 16:28a-h (see note on 16:28 for details); this represents a varying, and possibly more original, chronological schema than that found here in the MT.
22:41 Jehoshaphat son of Asa. Although mentioned several times already in the Ahab material (cf. 22:2), the Deuteronomistic accession formula (in the MT) has been postponed until this verse, following the death and burial formula for Ahab. This is normal practice (see “Literary Style” in the Introduction). The name Jehoshaphat means “Yah(weh) judges” or “Yah(weh) has judged” (the sense of the verb shapat [TH8199, ZH9149] is to vindicate, or bring positive justice to a negative situation). Jehoshaphat has already been pictured somewhat as a pawn of Ahab of Israel (see commentary on 22:1-9), but he is generally described in quite positive terms here in Kings and especially in the more extensive material to be found about him in 1–2 Chronicles (2 Chr 17–20).
22:43 a good king. For a listing of these “good” kings, see endnote 2 of the Introduction (much of the present evaluative material is formulaic in nature, as is discussed at some length in endnote 33 of the Introduction).
22:44 [45] made peace. This is already alluded to in the note on 22:4.
22:45 [46] The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah. See “Literary Style” in the Introduction.
22:46 [47] male and female shrine prostitutes. See note on 14:24.
22:47 [48] There was no king in Edom. This laconic comment probably anticipates Jehoshaphat’s subsequent campaign in the area as presented in 2 Kgs 3 (especially note the comment about the “king of Edom” in 2 Kgs 3:9; cf. the first note on that verse concerning the apparent contradiction between that statement and the one found here). The present comment also prepares the hearer/reader for the reference to Ezion-geber, an Edomite port, in the next verse (22:48).
22:48 [49] a fleet of trading ships. Lit., “ships of Tarshish”; see the first note on 10:22 for details. For the Solomonic parallels, both positive and negative, that are meant to be noticed here, see the commentary below.
Ophir. See note on 9:28.
COMMENTARY [Text]
The Deuteronomistic verdict on King Jehoshaphat is quite positive (as is that of the Chronicler; see note on 22:41). Nevertheless, Seow (1999:168) has made a good case for finding here both a comparison and some subtle criticism of Jehoshaphat in terms of great King Solomon in the following areas: (1) the issue of local sanctuaries as a negative for both kings (see 22:43b; cf. 3:2-3); (2) the enactment of peace with Israel and dominion over Edom as two positive developments for both kings (see 22:44, 47; cf. 4:24; 5:12), thus gaining dominion over the Edomite port of Ezion-geber (22:48; cf. 9:26-27); and (3) the attempt to send a fleet of ships to the port of Ophir for gold (see 22:48; cf. 9:26-28, as well as Solomon’s marked success in this endeavor [10:11-12]). In this last comparison, however, Jehoshaphat was clearly no equal to Solomon, for Solomon succeeded most remarkably with the nautical help proffered by the Phoenician king Hiram (9:27); whereas Jehoshaphat, rejecting the help offered by Ahaziah, king of Israel, failed most miserably (22:49)—Ahaziah perhaps representing a latter-day Hiram, as it were (see Barnes 2009:694, where I point out the significant Phoenician influence on the northern kingdom of Israel at this time; cf. the commentary on 16:21-28). I suspect that both these Solomonic parallels and contrasts were meant to be recognized by the reader/hearer of the text.
Jehoshaphat tried, like a veritable King Solomon, to dominate his time and his region; he succeeded somewhat, but he eventually proved to be nothing like Solomon in nautical stature (cf. Japhet 1993:803). Still, as Seow concludes, he was still a Solomon in that he too was a Davidic ruler, and that is no small consideration in the overall scheme of history (see the commentary on 22:51-53 for further reflections on this issue). Meanwhile, Jehoshaphat was nevertheless reckoned in Deuteronomistic terms as a “good” king—no small thing in the eyes of the Lord and not the case for most of the descendants of David (only 8 of the 19 candidates after Solomon were so reckoned; cf. endnote 2 of the Introduction).