II Chronicles 19:4
A plain-spoken deep dive on this verse. Read the chapter →
Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, and once again he went out among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and turned them back to the LORD, the God of their fathers.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Jehoshaphat's victory over the Moabites, Ammonites, and other nations; and the remaining items of information as to his reign. - Vv. 1-30. The victory over the hostile peoples who invaded Judah. In the succeeding time, the Moabites and Ammonites, in alliance with other tribes of Mount Seir, invaded Judah with the purpose of driving the people of God out of their country, and extirpating them (Ch2 20:1). On being informed of this invasion, Jehoshaphat sought help of the Lord, while he proclaimed a fast in the land, and in the temple before the assembled people prayed God for His help (Ch2 20:2-12); and received by the mouth of the prophet Jahaziel the promise that God would fight for Judah, and that king and people would next day behold the help the Lord would give (Ch2 20:13-18). And so it happened. On the following day, when the Judaean army, with the Levitic singers and players at their head, came into the wilderness Jeruel, their enemies had by the dispensation of God mutually destroyed each other (Ch2 20:19-24), so that Jehoshaphat and his people found the proposed battle-field full of corpses, and gathered spoil for three days, and then on the fourth day, in the Valley of Blessing, they praised the Lord for the wonderful deliverance; thereafter returning to Jerusalem with joy, again to thank the Lord in the house of God for His help (Ch2 20:25-30).
Open source ↗We have here a further account of the good reign of Jehoshaphat, I. His return in peace to Jerusalem (Ch2 19:1). II. The reproof given him for his league with Ahab, and his acting in conjunction with him (Ch2 19:2, Ch2 19:3). III. The great care he took thereupon to reform his kingdom (Ch2 19:4). IV. The instructions he gave to his judges, both those in the country towns that kept the inferior courts (Ch2 19:5-7), and those in Jerusalem that sat in the supreme judicature of the kingdom (Ch2 19:8-11).
Open source ↗19:4-11 In Jehoshaphat’s judicial reform, he appointed judges in the fortified towns (19:5) and in a central court in Jerusalem (19:8). He exhorted all the judges to think carefully, and to judge with integrity and in the fear of the Lord. This excluded acting with any partiality or taking of bribes, and included warning criminals not to sin against the Lord. The reform reestablished the law of Deuteronomy (Deut 16:18–17:13).
Open source ↗Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
And he will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.”
Now in those days, when there was no king in Israel, a Levite who lived in the remote hill country of Ephraim took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the LORD, the Eternal God.
Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out, and the congregation assembled as one man before the LORD at Mizpah.
Joshua answered them, “If you have so many people that the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go to the forest and clear for yourself an area in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim.”