1 Kings 22 Jehoshaphat part 15
Last week weak we finished up looking at what happened to King Ahab and we were learned a little bit about the King we are going to talk about tonight. Tonight we will be looking at Jehoshaphat and if you are using the hand out I gave you will see that he became king after Asa died and he is king of the southern kingdom. In first 1 Kings 22:41 we are given a short description of Jehoshaphat’s reign and so very little of lesson will come from the verses tonight because we have a much more detailed account of this great king starting in 2 Chronicles 17.
2 Chronicles 17:1 Then
Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place, and strengthened himself against
If you will recall
Asa was a king who faithful to God overall and now his son who was raised by
his example wants to be pleasing to God as well. This goes to show you that we parents
have a great influence on how children will be with they grow up. Since
Jehoshaphat was so faithful, God established his kingdom. Now I want to point
out in verse 6 we can see that he took down the high places in Judah however he
did not take down all the high places everywhere and so that is why we see in
other places where it simply says that he did not take down the high places such as in 1 Kings 22:43.
2 Chronicles 17:7 Also in
the third year of his reign he sent his leaders, Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah,
Nethanel, and Michaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah. 8 And with them he sent Levites:
Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah,
Tobijah, and Tobadonijah -- the Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, the
priests. 9 So they taught in
You really have to
appreciate what he was doing here because he was making sure that his people
understood what God expected from them. Because of His great efforts he was
blessed by God and has the respect of the kingdom around him. This is further
shown as we continue on.
2 Chronicles 17:11 Also some
of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents and silver as tribute; and
the Arabians brought him flocks, seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven
thousand seven hundred male goats. 12
So Jehoshaphat became increasingly powerful, and he built fortresses and
storage cities in
As you can see he even
had the respect of the Philistines. Now the rest of the verses of this chapter
just give you the number of men had ready for war and how they helped fortify
his cities.
We already looked at the
events that takes place in chapter 18 which has to do with Jehoshaphat and King
Ahab joining forces to take back Ramoth Gilead. One detail I want to point out comes from verse 1.
2 Chronicles 18:1 Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance;
and by marriage he allied himself with Ahab.
We find out later in 2
Chron. 21:6 that Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram married Ahab’s daughters. This is
what bound them together and this was one of the mistakes that Jehoshaphat
makes by joining forces with the evil king Ahab. If you will remember
Jehoshaphat wanted to hear a word from God on whether they should go to battle
or not and he did not want to hear it from the 400 false prophets of Ahab. Then
the prophet of God Micaiah came and told them that they should not go to battle
and that if they did Ahab would be killed. Well, the decide to go against the
prophets word and enter into battle and sure enough Ahab dies as we looked at
last week and Jehoshaphat almost lost his life.
After this happens we
find out what Jehoshaphat does next as we look at,
2 Chronicles 19:1 Then
Jehoshaphat the king of
As Jehoshaphat was
resting up in safety Jehu comes and speaks 2 things against him. 1. He was
guilty of helping the wicked which of course is referring to King Ahab as he
was at that time the most wicked king that had ever lived. 2. He was guilty of
helping those who hated God. Again this is a reference to Ahab and all of
John 14:15 " If you love Me, keep My commandments.
Now Jehu didn’t just have
bad things to say because also points out the good of how he had been removing
the high places and how heart was prepared to seek God. This was all it
took for Jehoshaphat to get stirred once
again for God because as we are about to see, he is going to start working hard
on what he began to do in the beginning of his reign and that is to get rid of
the false way and make to sure his people understand what God wants from them.
2 Chronicles 19:4 So
Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem; and he went out again among the people from
Beersheba to the mountains of Ephraim, and brought them back to the LORD God of
their fathers. 5 Then he set
judges in the land throughout all the fortified cities of
From the text we just
read you can see how determined Jehoshaphat was to restore his people back to
God.
First, he "brought
them back unto the Lord God of their fathers" (2 Chr. 19:4).
Second, he set up judges
in all the cities. He reminded them that
they were judging "not for man, but for the Lord" (2 Chr. 19:6). They were to judge in fear of the Lord (2
Chr. 19:7a). They were to show "no
respect of persons." They were not
to take gifts or bribes (2 Chr. 19:7b).
Third, he also set up
Levites and priests "for the judgment of the Lord, and for
controversies" (2 Chr. 19:8).
As Jehoshaphat was
working on reforming his people we find out in chapter 20 that his enemies have
joined forces and they are attacking him and he realizes that he cannot stand
against them alone so he must rely upon God and he prays a beautiful prayer
calling on God for His help.
2 Chronicles 20:1 It happened after
this that the people of
We see 4 things happening
to Jehoshaphat. 1. He was afraid of his enemy which led him to seek the Lord.
3. He called a fast. 4 Everyone came together to petition the Lord in prayer. I
really like this because these people recognized that they needed the help of
God. Many times today people want to try and do everything themselves and they
will not ask God for help no matter what but this should not be the case. We need
to start relying more upon God for the
enemies that are in our life. The more we depend on God the closer we will grow
toward him and realize how much we need him in our lives. Now let take a look
at this great prayer.
2 Chronicles 20:5 Then
Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the
LORD, before the new court, 6
and said: "O LORD God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven,
and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your
hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand
You? 7 "Are You
not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your
people
As you can see
Jehoshaphat was pouring his heart out to God and reminding him how powerful he
is and weak they are. He wanted God guidance because he did not know what to do
and he reminds him that these people who are attacking them are the same ones
he didn’t allow the children of
2 Chronicles 20:14 Then
the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of
Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph,
in the midst of the assembly. 15
And he said, "Listen, all you of
So after the prayed to
God, God responded through this prophet telling they have nothing to fear
because this battle belongs to the Lord and in fact they wont even have to
fight in it and they are instructed where to go so they can watch God at work.
Then you can see just how thankful and how confident these people were that God
would do exactly what he said as they bowed down and worshiped God and how
other stood up and praised God for what he was about to do.
2 Chronicles 20:20 So they
rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as
they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Hear me, O Judah and you
inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the LORD your God, and you shall be
established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper." 21 And when he had consulted with
the people, he appointed those who should sing to the LORD, and who should
praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were
saying: "Praise the LORD, For His mercy endures forever." 22 Now when they began to sing and
to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount
Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. 23 For the people of Ammon and
It stories like these in
the OT that gives us hope today because they show without a doubt that when we
pray God listens and he responds. When he says he is going to do something he
does what he says every single time. These OT stories just further confirm that
we can believe with our whole hearts that the promises that are made to us
under the new covenant are absolutely true and we should be like Judah here who
are praising and worshiping God for what he is going to do for us according to
His word and course we should also be just as thankful for what He has already done
for us and what He is doing for us today.
God caused all the
enemies to turn on themselves and not one had escaped and you can tell there
must have been a great number of these men for it to take 3 whole days for the
people of
2 Chronicles 20:27 Then
they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat in front of
them, to go back to Jerusalem with joy, for the LORD had made them rejoice over
their enemies. 28 So they
came to
As they made there way
back home they continued on being very thankful for what God had done for them
and the other kingdoms heard about how God had delivered them that day and
because of this they had peace all around.
2 Chronicles 20:31 So
Jehoshaphat was king over
Here
were are given a little more information about Jehoshaphat and we find out that
he makes another mistake by joining forces with Ahab son Ahaziah (a-huh-zie-uh)
who was now the new king of Israel. Eliezer the prophet condemns this
relationship and just a God said their works were destroyed which were the
ships. Now based on 1 Kings account it seems that Jehoshaphat tells Ahaziah
(a-huh-zie-uh) that he cannot be partners with him after he had received the
word from the prophet but it still didn’t change things because the boats were
still destroyed.
1 Kings 22:48
Jehoshaphat made merchant ships to go to Ophir for gold; but they never sailed,
for the ships were wrecked at Ezion Geber.
49 Then Ahaziah (a-huh-zie-uh) the son of Ahab said to
Jehoshaphat, "Let my servants go with your servants in the ships."
But Jehoshaphat would not. 50
And Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the
City of
Now before we end our
lesson tonight and the book of 1 Kings I want to read the last few verses that
tell us a little bit about Ahaziah (a-huh-zie-uh). However, when start looking
at 2 Kings we will take a closer look at his life because he found in 2 Kings
as well.
1 Kings 22:51 Ahaziah
(a-huh-zie-uh) the son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria in the
seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned two years over
Israel. 52 He did evil in the
sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his
mother and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel
sin; 53 for he served Baal
and worshiped him, and provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger, according to
all that his father had done.