1 Kings 22:41-50--Jehoshaphat Reigns in Judah

1 Kings 22:41-50
English Standard Version

Jehoshaphat Reigns in Judah
41 Jehoshaphat the son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. 42 Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. 43 He walked in all the way of Asa his father. He did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the LORD. Yet the high places were not taken away, and the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. 44 Jehoshaphat also made peace with the king of Israel.

45 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he showed, and how he warred, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 46 And from the land he exterminated the remnant of the male cult prostitutes who remained in the days of his father Asa.

​47 There was no king in Edom; a deputy was king. 48 Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they did not go, for the ships were wrecked at Ezion-geber. 49 Then Ahaziah the son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants go with your servants in the ships,” but Jehoshaphat was not willing. 50 And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Jehoram his son reigned in his place.

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We're nearly done with the book of 1 Kings, but before we finish, we need to talk about the new king of Judah, Jehoshaphat, and the new king of Israel, Ahab's son, who took the throne after Ahab's death--we'll talk about him next time.  Asa was king over Judah for nearly half of this book, since around the time that Elijah started his ministry in Israel.  Many kings of Israel came and went, but Asa was given a long time on the throne because he, "Did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as David his father had done." (15:11).  Would this be passed onto his son Jehoshaphat who would rule after him, or will Jehoshaphat disappoint us in much the same way that Solomon did after David?

Jehoshaphat began to reign in Judah during the fourth year of king Ahab, so he's been king for quite some time now, but we haven't stopped to talk about him because the author of the book of 1 Kings wanted to finish the arc of the story of King Ahab first since it was central to the story of the ministry of Elijah the prophet.  Only recently did Jehoshaphat enter the picture in the war with the Syrians as an ally of Israel and we now need to have some introduction to who he was.  He was thirty-five years old when he ascended to the throne, and he reigned for twenty-five years in Jerusalem (making him 60 when he died).  Like the other kings, the name of his mother is given to prove his mother and father are given to be sure that his claim to the throne was legitimate.

Then we hear the good news that we were hoping for.  He walked in the ways of his father Asa all his days (remember that Asa had walked in the steps of David).  The texts adds that he never failed to do what was right in the sight of the LORD without ever turning aside from it.  However, just like his father, he failed to remove the high places where the people went to worship their false gods, so although he removed the idols, the people still went to these places to sacrifice and worship.  The other blot on his record is something we know about already--he made peace with the king of Israel, Ahab.

.This is all that the author of the book of 1 Kings really wants us to know about the life and reign of King Jehoshaphat.  The author tells us that if we want to know more, we should turn over to the book of Chronicles and look for more details there.  The author adds one more item to the "plus" column for King Jehoshaphat though in that he killed all the male cult prostitutes left that King Asa had not been able to completely kill.

Before we move onto the king of Israel and wrap up the book of 1 Kings, the author of the book of 1 Kings takes a look over at the neighboring country of Edom (from the descendants of Esau) and lets us know that at this time, they had no king.  Jehoshaphat tried to be like Solomon and gather wealth from other parts of the earth and bring it back to Jerusalem, but the ships wrecked and could not be sent out to bring gold back to him.  The king of Israel (who we'll talk about tomorrow) wanted this effort to go get gold from Ophir to be a joint venture--mostly likely they were greedy, and they also probably would have used this gold to make idols.  Jehoshaphat was unwilling to take them aboard the ships and make any economic treaties with them.  It seems the only treaty he made with them was regarding war that he would come to their defense if their land was invaded and attacked because he understood that it was still ancestral land that the LORD gave to the northern ten tribes--even if they treated their inheritance with contempt.

Eventually, Jehoshaphat dies and was buried among the kings in the city of David (probably referring to Jerusalem, not Bethlehem), and his son Jehoram ruled in his place.  We will have to look to the book of 2 Kings and the book of Chronicles for any additional information about the kings of Judah.  The book of 2 Kings will cover all the remaining kings of Judah and Israel until their respective exiles, and it will also tell us much of the ministry of the prophet Elisha--remember that Elijah was recently commanded to anoint him to be a prophet in his place, so we know something is going to happen that is going to bring Elijah's ministry to an end as well.  Before that though, we do have one more king to talk about, so we'll talk about King Ahaziah, son of King Ahab, king of Israel, next time.