2 Chronicleschapter 17
19 verses · Ezra, by tradition · 450 to 400 BC · History
Now the LORD was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David. He did not seek out the Baals,
Introduction
Ezra, by tradition, History, 2 Chronicles Overview.
This chapter was written for a community whose Levites read and explained the law in public assemblies. Tradition gives the book to Ezra. It opens the reign of Jehoshaphat, and the writer sets a king's piety beside his strength. Listen for the one act in this reign that no other king of Judah is recorded doing. Consider what it meant in an age when scrolls were rare. Then read the lists of tribute and troops as the writer's measure of a kingdom made secure.
Context
- Who
- A community whose Levites read and explained the law in public assemblies
- What
- Jehoshaphat's strengthening of Judah, his sending of officials, Levites and priests to teach the Book of the Law in every town, and the list of his forces.
- Where
- Jerusalem, the towns of Judah visited by the teachers, and the garrisons in the towns of Ephraim.
- When
- The first years of Jehoshaphat's reign, about 872 to 869 BC.
- Why
- To show a king blessed for seeking the God of his father and for bringing God's law to the people.
Historical context
The most unusual thing any king of Judah ever did is recorded here in a single sentence. In his third year Jehoshaphat sent five officials, nine Levites and two priests through all the cities of Judah to teach, and they took the Book of the Law of the LORD with them.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
It is worth pausing on what that meant in practice. Scrolls were expensive and rare, and most people never saw one. Bringing the scroll to the villages, rather than requiring the villages to come to the scroll, changed who could know the law.
The tribute list shows the result in political terms. The surrounding kingdoms brought gifts, the Philistines paid silver, and the Arabs brought seven thousand seven hundred rams and the same number of goats. Livestock tribute from desert peoples was ordinary, and the figures say the flocks were large.
The muster totals by commander are the standard summary of national strength, set beside store cities in Judah and garrisons in the towns of Ephraim his father had taken.
Significance
This chapter described the first hearers' own institution. When Nehemiah gathered the people at the water gate, Ezra read from the book and the Levites went through the crowd giving the sense so that the people understood the reading.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The pattern of the book carried to the people, with Levites sent to explain it, had a king's precedent behind it. His reign was remembered as strong because of it.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
2 Chronicles is not read in the synagogue. Chronicles stands among the Writings in the Hebrew canon rather than among the Prophets the Haftarah is drawn from. The division into two books came in through the Greek. The book therefore carries neither a weekly Torah portion nor a Haftarah, and this site's own reading table records the same for all thirty-six chapters. Jehoshaphat's teaching mission through Judah is met in the commentary and the midrash instead, and the rest of this card is drawn from them.
How it is read
The first ways of David draw the longest note, and Rashi gives two readings of the phrase. The one he calls most accurate reads first against last, the years before the matter of Bathsheba and before the counting of Israel. The other reads first as better than those who came between, and he works through them one by one. Solomon's wives turned his heart at the end of his days. Rehoboam abandoned the Law when he grew strong. Abijah's heart was not complete with the LORD, and Asa did not rely on Him. Jehoshaphat "resembled his father, David, who had only one heart for his Father in heaven" (Rashi on II Chronicles 17:3:1, the Judaica Press Tanach with Rashi, CC-BY). He sets the refusal to inquire of the baalim against the north in the same years, where Ahab and Israel worshipped them (Rashi on II Chronicles 17:3:2). The heart lifted up in the ways of the LORD he reads as a lifting toward one thing only, and proves the sense from the willing hearts of Exodus (Rashi on II Chronicles 17:6:1).
The teaching mission is the centre of the chapter for this reading, and Rashi treats it as law enforced rather than as a tour. Ben Hail he holds to be a man's name. He argues against those who read it as a description, since the preposition before Obadiah proves the list is of people (Rashi on II Chronicles 17:7:1). The purpose of the mission he states in seven words, to teach the Torah and instruct the children of Israel (Rashi on II Chronicles 17:7:2). The presence of priests and Levites he explains from Deuteronomy, where instruction is their charge (Rashi on II Chronicles 17:8:2). The princes went with them for a reason he makes plain. The people would not disobey the officers, so the officers were there to make the people heed the teachers. He sets it beside the pairing of judges and officers in Deuteronomy, judges to judge and officers to enforce (Rashi on II Chronicles 17:8:2). The fear that fell on the surrounding kingdoms he credits to the same cause, "in the merit of having studied Torah" (Rashi on II Chronicles 17:10:1).
Two notes work on grammar. The tribute of silver he reads as loads of silver, proved from Isaiah (Rashi on II Chronicles 17:11:1). The word for the king becoming great he compares across Scripture. One form is used of Isaac, Samuel and Jehoshaphat, and another of Moses, David and Mordecai. Rashi gives the reason from reverence. It would be improper to say of Samuel that he was great with the LORD, so the text says he grew instead (Rashi on II Chronicles 17:12:1). Jehoshaphat grew to an unusual degree in the same way. The phrase for the next officer in the muster he glosses as beside him, from the field adjoining Joab's in Samuel (Rashi on II Chronicles 17:16:1).
Radak, Metzudat David and Malbim comment across this chapter as well, and one further note of Rashi himself is carried without text. The corpus gives the reason in each case, that Sefaria holds no English version of the ref, so they stand here cited and unquoted. Metzudat David on II Chronicles 17:1:1, 17:4:1, 17:6:1, 17:9:1, 17:13:1, 17:14:1 and 17:19:1. Malbim on II Chronicles 17:1:1, 17:2:1, 17:5:1 and 17:10:1. Radak on II Chronicles 17:11:1. Rashi on II Chronicles 17:15:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries three rabbinic locators for this chapter and the text of none, and all three stand on the first verse. Each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. The verse is the accession, where Jehoshaphat reigns in his father's place and strengthens himself against Israel.
The three are Midrash Tanchuma, Shoftim 1:1 and 2:1, with Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shoftim 2:1. All three come from the same midrash on the portion of Shoftim, which is the portion of judges and officers, and that is the passage Rashi himself brings into his note on the teaching mission. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on II Chronicles 17:3:1 to 17:16:1, eleven kept notes, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, CC-BY; Radak, Radak on II Chronicles 17:11:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on II Chronicles 17:1:1 to 17:19:1, seven refs cited because the corpus carries no English text; Malbim, Malbim on II Chronicles 17:1:1, 17:2:1, 17:5:1 and 17:10:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/2-chronicles/17.json, the 3 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter; This site's reading table, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, probed in this lane: 2-chronicles parashot total 0, haftarah uses total 0, hasSynagogueReading true for 0 of 36 chapters, festivalReadingForBook null.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Jehoshaphat's heart is lifted up in the ways of the LORD
2 Chronicles 17:1-2
strengthened himself against Israel: Jehoshaphat succeeds Asa and strengthens himself against Israel. He stations troops in every fortified city of Judah and holds the cities of Ephraim that Asa had captured, as 15:8 records. Chronicles will measure it by the verb it applies to every reign, whether the king seeks the LORD.
2 Chronicles 17:1
“Jehoshaphat ascended the throne in the fourth year of Ahab 1Ki 22:41, probably after that monarch had contracted his alliance with the royal family of Sidon, and before he was engaged in war with Syria. It was thus not unnatural that Jehoshaphat should begin his reign by strengthening himself against a possible attack on the part of his northern neighbor.”
the cities of Ephraim: Jehoshaphat held the border his father had pushed north. The cities of Ephraim were Asa's gains mentioned at 15:8, and Clarke notes that the date of their capture is unknown. Gill places the garrisons on the frontiers and borders of Judah.
2 Chronicles 17:2
“The cities of Ephraim - This conquest from the kingdom of Israel is referred to, 2Ch 15:8; but when it was made we do not know.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 Chronicles 17:3-4
walked in the earlier ways: The LORD is with Jehoshaphat because “he walked in the earlier ways of his father David”. He left the Baals alone, and “he sought the God of his father and walked by His commandments”. Barnes notes that some manuscripts read only “his father”, without David's name.
2 Chronicles 17:3
“Of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, it is written, "And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, who walked in the first ways of David, his father." From this it is clear that Jehoshaphat possessed the justice that David first possessed and that he did not commit the sins that David later committed. "He trusted not in Baalim," he says, "but in the God of his father and walked in his commandments, and not according to the sins of Israel. And the Lord established the kingdom in his hand and all Judah brought presents to Jehoshaphat.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Against the Pelagians 2.21patristic
2 more voices on this verse
2 Chronicles 17:3
“The first ways of his father David - The Septuagint and several Hebrew manuscripts omit “David,” which has probably crept in from the margin, for David’s “first ways” are nowhere else contrasted with his later ways. The real meaning of the writer is, that Jehoshaphat followed the example set by his father Asa in his earlier years 2Ch 14:1-15; 15. Baalim - On the plural form, see 1Ki 18:18 note.”
2 Chronicles 17:3
“Paul himself thus limits our imitation of him ( 1 Cor. xi. 1 ): Follow me, as I follow Christ, and not otherwise. Many good people have had their first ways, which were their best ways, their first love, which was their strongest love; and in every copy we propose to write after, as we must single out that only which is good, so that chiefly which is best.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
sought the God of his father: Jerome reads the earlier ways of David as the justice David possessed at first, before his later sins, and Jehoshaphat as keeping the first. Barnes takes the practices of Israel as the idolatry of that time, the worship of Baal and the groves. The north had turned to Baal.
2 Chronicles 17:4
“The doings of Israel - i. e. the especially idolatrous doings of the time - the introduction and establishment of the worship of Baal and the groves.”
2 Chronicles 17:5-6
established the kingdom in his hand: The LORD establishes the kingdom in Jehoshaphat's hand. His heart “took delight in the ways of the LORD”, and he removes the high places and Asherah poles. The Hebrew idiom there usually means pride, and Barnes reads it here as courage in God's ways.
2 Chronicles 17:5
“A government that answers the end of government will be supported. The effect of the favour both of God and his kingdom was that he had riches and honour in abundance. It is undoubtedly true, though few will believe it, that religion and piety are the best friends to outward prosperity.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
his heart took delight: Asa had cut down Asherah poles, and Wesley explains their return two ways: the first purge was incomplete, or the people set up new ones. Henry holds that the high places removed were those used for idols, while those dedicated to the LORD remained, as chapter 20 shows.
2 Chronicles 17:6
“His heart was lifted up - This expression generally occurs in a bad sense Deu 8:14; 2Ch 26:16; Psa 131:1; Pro 18:12; but here it must be taken differently. The margin “was encouraged” expresses fairly the true meaning. He first began by setting an example of faithfulness to Yahweh. He then proceeded to use his best endeavors to extirpate idolatry. He took away the high places - Compare 2Ch 20:33, and see the 2Ch 15:17 note.”
2 more voices on this verse
2 Chronicles 17:6
“He was valiant and resolute for God and his ways. Groves - Those wherein idols were worshipped, and though Asa had done this before, yet either he did not do it thoroughly; or the Jews (who were many of them mad upon their idols) had secretly made new ones, in the latter part of his reign, when he grew more infirm in body, and more remiss in God's cause.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2 Chronicles 17:6
“It is meant of those in which idols were worshipped; for those that were dedicated to the true God only were not taken away, ch. xx. It was only idolatry that he abolished.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Princes and Levites carry the law through every city
2 Chronicles 17:7-9
to teach in the cities of Judah: Jehoshaphat sends five officials, nine Levites and two priests to teach in the cities, “taking with them the Book of the Law of the LORD”. Samuel and Kings have no parallel to this mission. Barnes takes the book to be the Pentateuch, carried because full copies were scarce.
2 Chronicles 17:7
“The princes were not sent as teachers themselves, but had the duty committed to them of seeing that the people were taught. The actual teachers were the priests and Levites of 2Ch 17:8.”
Gill takes these nine Levites as leading men fit for the work, and none of them appears anywhere else. The priests Elishama and Jehoram held the office Malachi 2:7 describes, lips that keep knowledge and a mouth where the law is sought. Officials, Levites and priests taught together throughout Judah.
2 Chronicles 17:8
“And with them he sent Levites,.... With the five princes he sent nine Levites: even Shemaiah, and Nethaniah, and Zebadiah, and Asahel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehonathan, and Adonijah, and Tobijah, and Tobadonijah, Levites; of whom we nowhere else read; no doubt they were principal persons, and fit for the work they were sent about: and with them Elishama and Jehoram, priests; whose lips were to keep knowledge, and at whose mouth the law was to be sought, Mal 2:7.”
the Book of the Law: Clarke calls the Book of the Law their text book, taught and received as the book of God. In his reading the Levites showed the worth of the ritual institutions, and the priests showed the moral use of the whole. Gill adds that they went beyond the Levitical cities.
2 Chronicles 17:9
“There is no reasonable doubt that this “book of the law” was the Pentateuch - nearly, if not quite, in the shape in which we now have it. Copies of the whole Law were, no doubt, scarce; and therefore Jehoshaphat’s commission took care to carry a copy with them.”
fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands: The dread of the LORD falls on the kingdoms around Judah, and none of them makes war on Jehoshaphat. Genesis 35 records the same kind of protection, when a terror from God kept the surrounding cities from pursuing Jacob's sons. The text places this dread after the teaching mission.
2 Chronicles 17:10
“God's good providence so ordered it that, while the princes and priests were instructing and reforming the country, none of his neighbours gave him any molestations, to take him off from that good work. Thus when Jacob and his sons were going to worship at Bethel the terror of God was upon the neighbouring cities, that they did not pursue after them, Gen. xxxv.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
brought gifts and silver as tribute: Philistines pay tribute silver and Arabians bring flocks of rams and goats, a second gift list beside the one Judah itself gave at verse 5. Gill and Barnes both read these as neighboring peoples buying peace rather than risking the fate the Arabians met when Asa defeated them at 14:15.
2 Chronicles 17:11
“Also some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents and tribute silver,.... Perhaps those of Gerar, and the parts adjacent, Asa took and spoiled, and made tributary, 2Ch 14:14, and the Arabians brought him flocks, seven thousand and seven hundred rams, and seven thousand and seven hundred he goats; with which their country abounded; and these might be the Scenite Arabs, who fearing lest Jehoshaphat should fall upon them, and take away their flocks as his father had done, 2Ch 14:15, brought these presents to him.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 17:11
“Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents - i. e. “some of the Philistines were among his tributaries.” Compare 2Sa 8:2; 1Ki 4:21. Tribute silver - Or, “much silver” - literally “silver of burthen.” The Arabians - The Arab tribes who bordered Judaea to the south and the southeast paid Jehoshaphat a fixed tribute in kind. Compare 2Ki 3:4 note.”
The mighty men of valor who waited on the king
2 Chronicles 17:12-13
grew stronger and stronger: Jehoshaphat waxes great, building castles and store cities and keeping much business running through the cities, while his standing men of war are at Jerusalem. Clarke reads the busy cities as full employment, the domestic strength that fills out the military strength verse 1 opened with.
2 Chronicles 17:12
“And Jehoshaphat waxed great exceedingly,.... In wealth and riches, power and authority, in his forces and fortifications: and he built in Judah castles, and cities of stores; castles for the defence of his kingdom, and store cities to lay up corn, and wine, and all provisions, in case of an invasion, or against a time of war.”
kept vast supplies: The vast supplies filled the store cities of verse 12. Gill says those cities held corn, wine and all provisions, laid up against invasion or a time of war. Henry judges the army in better order than at any time since David modelled it.
2 Chronicles 17:13
“He had much business in the cities - He kept the people constantly employed; they had wages for their work; and by their labors the empire was both enriched and strengthened.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 Chronicles 17:14-16
the houses of their fathers: The roster opens with Judah's commanders: Adnah with 300,000, Jehohanan with 280,000, and Amasiah son of Zichri with 200,000, called “the volunteer for the LORD”. Gill gives two senses for that phrase. It may mean service given without pay, or, following Kimchi, gold and silver given to the temple treasury.
2 Chronicles 17:14
“Adnah, the chief - He was generalissimo of all this host. These are the numbers of the five battalions: under Adnah, three hundred thousand; Jehohanan, two hundred and eighty thousand, Amasiah, two hundred thousand; Eliada, two hundred thousand; Jehozabad, one hundred and eighty thousand; in all, one million one hundred and sixty thousand.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 17:14
“The army of Jehoshaphat, commanded by five great generals and consisting of five unequal divisions, comprised one million one hundred and sixty thousand men, without including those who garrisoned the fortresses. No monarch, since the time of Solomon, equalled Jehoshaphat in the extent of his revenue, in the strength of his fortifications, and in the number of his troops.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jehohanan the commander: Gill takes next to him as a place in the camp, following the Targum's he that encamped next to him. Jehohanan held the same rank as Adnah with twenty thousand fewer men. The order may mark place alone.
2 Chronicles 17:15
“And next to him was Jehohanan the captain,.... Being of the same rank as to office, but having a lesser number of men under him; and it may respect not any kind of subordination, only nearness of place, as the Targum,"he that encamped next to him" and with him two hundred and fourscore thousand; which number was but 20,000 less than the former.”
the volunteer for the LORD: Gill sums the three commanders of Judah at 780,000 men. Spurgeon counts it a great thing for Judah to have a godly captain over so large a part of the army as 200,000 mighty men. He calls godly men in high places a great blessing to a country.
2 Chronicles 17:16
“And next him was Amasiah the son of Zichri,.... He encamped next to him, as the Targum: who willingly offered himself unto the Lord; to fight the Lord's battles, and without any stipend, as some think; or, as Kimchi, he offered gold and silver to the treasures of the house of the Lord: and with him two hundred thousand mighty men of valour; the number was 80,000 less than the former; the whole of Judah amounted to 780,000 men.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 17:16
“IT was a great thing for King Jehoshaphat to have such a pious lord-lieutenant, one who could command an army and, at the same time, obey the commands of God. Christian men ought greatly to value Christian servants, especially if such persons are employed in positions of trust. If we can have godly men to occupy our offices and transact our business, we should be very grateful and do our best to encourage and cheer them.”
2 Chronicles 17:17-19
Eliada, a mighty man of valor: Benjamin's force under Eliada is “armed with bows and shields”, the tribe's weapons since 14:8. Gill sums Judah and Benjamin at 1,160,000 men, about double the 580,000 Asa fielded at 14:8. He credits the growth to a long peace and to Israelites who had come over from the north.
2 Chronicles 17:17
“And of Benjamin, Eliada, a mighty man of valour,.... Was the chief commander: and with armed men with bow and shield two hundred thousand; which were the armour of the tribe of Benjamin they were best skilled in, 2Ch 14:8.”
and next to him, Jehozabad: Gill describes Jehozabad's men as able bodied, well disciplined, valiant and well armed. Wesley finds the number vast for so small a land, and he points to God's promise to make the seed of Abraham like the sand. Jehoshaphat, Wesley adds, stood under a special blessing of God.
2 Chronicles 17:18
“And next to him, was Jehozabad,.... According to the Targum he encamped next him: and with him one hundred and fourscore thousand ready prepared for war; being able bodied men, well disciplined, valiant, and well armed; these numbers of Judah and Benjamin put together amount to 1,160,000 men, whereas Asa only brought into the field 580,000; but it should be considered there had been a long time of peace, many had come off from the ten tribes to Judah, and the promise of multiplying the seed of Abraham was eminently fulfilled.”
who served the king: Gill reads the service in courses, as David's soldiers took their turns at 1 Chronicles 27:1, so the number never stood in Jerusalem at once. The garrisons of the fortified cities came on top of it. Clarke calls these disposable forces, always at the king's command.
2 Chronicles 17:19
“These waited on the king,.... Not this vast number of men at one time, but in course, as David's military men waited on him, 1Ch 27:1 or each of these captains, with a proper number of men under them detached from the body; and they were all ready to obey the king's orders whenever he should have occasion for them: besides those whom the king put into the fenced cities throughout Judah; and all together, the militia of the kingdom was very numerous and formidable.”
How this psalm is built
The form: Regnal narrative built around a teaching mission, the whole of it without parallel in Samuel or Kings, as Barnes classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Sixteen teachers named one by one | Verses 7 to 9 name five officials, nine Levites and two priests, each by name, and then say what they carried. John Gill reads the teaching as the people's duty toward God and man, taught from the text and confirmed by its own authority. The naming is the point, since a circuit with named men in it is an administration rather than a gesture.John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763, on 2 Chronicles 17:9. | 2 Chronicles 17:7, 2 Chronicles 17:8, 2 Chronicles 17:9 |
| He sought the God of his father | Verses 3 and 4 plant the book's measuring verb at the head of the reign. The LORD was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the earlier ways of David, he did not seek out the Baals, and he sought the God of his father instead. Everything the rest of the chapter reports is offered as what that seeking produced.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on 2 Chronicles 17:3 to 6. | 2 Chronicles 17:3, 2 Chronicles 17:4 |
| The dread of the LORD that fell on the lands | Verse 10 credits the peace to a dread that fell on the surrounding kingdoms, using the same idea the book uses at 14:14 when the terror of the LORD went ahead of Asa's army. Matthew Henry reads the timing as providence covering the teachers, since the neighbours stay still while the circuit is still out in the country.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on 2 Chronicles 17:10. | 2 Chronicles 17:10 |
| The muster counted by commander | Verses 14 to 19 give five commanders with their totals, three from Judah and two from Benjamin, and close by noting these were besides the garrisons already posted in the fortified cities. Amasiah is named as the volunteer for the LORD, which John Gill reads either as service without pay or, following Kimchi, as gold and silver given to the temple. Charles Spurgeon preached from the phrase itself.John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763, on 2 Chronicles 17:16. | 2 Chronicles 17:14, 2 Chronicles 17:16, 2 Chronicles 17:17, 2 Chronicles 17:19 |
The historical value
13 more paragraphs on the patterns
The practical weight of the mission is in what a scroll cost. Full copies of the law were scarce and expensive, and Albert Barnes takes the book carried on the circuit to be the Pentateuch essentially as it stands. Carrying the text out to the villages changed who could hear it, since the villages could not come to the text.
The tribute at verse 11 has the shape such payments took. Philistines brought silver, and the Arabs brought livestock, seven thousand seven hundred rams and the same number of goats, which is what desert peoples paid with. John Gill and Albert Barnes both read these as neighbours buying peace.
The pattern the chapter records has a long life in Israel. When Nehemiah gathered the people at the water gate, Ezra read from the book and the Levites went through the crowd giving the sense so that the people understood the reading. This chapter gives that arrangement a king's precedent.
The debated concept
Verse 3 says Jehoshaphat walked in the earlier ways of his father David, and the name raises a question the commentators state openly.
Albert Barnes notes that some manuscripts read simply his father, without naming David, and gives a reason for preferring that reading: the earlier and later ways of David are contrasted nowhere else in Scripture. On this reading the comparison is with Asa, whose own last years went badly, which fits the chapter that has just closed.
The reading that keeps David is the one the Berean text carries, and it holds up the founding king's devotion as the standard. Either way the standard named is an earlier and better season rather than a whole life.
A second question stands at verse 6. The idiom rendered as taking delight is the one usually translated as a heart lifted up, which in the book's other uses marks pride and precedes a fall. Albert Barnes reads it here as encouraged rather than proud, since a king praised in the same breath is unlikely to be charged with pride in it.
The third is the high places again. Verse 6 says Jehoshaphat removed them, and 20:33 says they were not removed because the people had not set their hearts on the God of their fathers. Both verses stand, and the book says the same thing of Asa at 14:3 and 15:17. A royal reform and a popular relapse are both true of one reign.
The divine connection
The chapter states its cause and effect at verse 10 and states it about God rather than about policy. The dread of the LORD fell on the kingdoms around Judah, and they did not make war on Jehoshaphat.
The same shape stands one reign earlier, where the terror of the LORD had fallen on the cities around Gerar at 14:14. In both places the fear arrives ahead of the army rather than behind it.
The claim is kept at the level the text keeps it. The chapter reports a mission, a fear and a peace in that order, and leaves the connection between them where the verse puts it.
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament, 1832 to 1869, on 2 Chronicles 17:7, which treats the circuit as material Chronicles carries alone; the compiler of Chronicles, 2 Chronicles 17:1 to 19, read with chapters 18, 19 and 20 and the site's own guide to this book, src/components/book/guides/2-chronicles/Book2ChroniclesGuide.tsx, the LEDGER table, Jehoshaphat at 17:1 to 20:37.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Charles Spurgeon; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Against the Pelagians 2.21; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.