The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 231

tll8 whnlo of this down to the o.ccount of the second in the life of a nation-reform in specinl inspiration of the prophet of old; yet the matter of civil administration ol justice. that wo.s but typico.l of the intrinsio force 'fhe skeleton here given of who.t should b'ol tho.t truth foithfully spoken should wield the _character ?f a jurlgP,, and why, har- in its own right in Inter times. Religion is momzes well with the uniform stre•s laid in establia11ed in the no.tion o.nd people thAt ~cripture_upon "justice and judgment." It know o.nd do this, by the e.ceredited teachers 1s hard mdeed to see, rather impossible of it, viz. the plo.in rebuke of the wrong. upon what foundation a sure structure ol' Shouldest thou . . . love them that hate the civil growth and stability can be laid, 0-x- Lord 1 Strong suspicion must attend upon cept on that of positive religion. Note the Jehosho.phat, tho.t he ho.d been not a little positions and the succinct arguments of ver8. misled by o.nswering to some personal fas- G, 7; and how unequivocally they are based cination in Ahab. The prophet's rebuke ie upon faith in a personal God, and upon his not that Jehoshaphat helped both Israel and revealed character. It can scarcely be that therein Judah o.lso age.inst a common foe, this was the first time of judges beinv set in but that he helped the ungodly, etc. There- the cities of Judah, but possibly the ~eanino- fore wrath upon thee, etc. The significance intended to be conveyed with emphasis i;, of this sentence was probably not merely that now, looking well round his kingdom, retrospective, glancing at the fe.ct that Je- he took care that ell the cities shonld be hosilaphat returned to Jerusalem minus the properly provided with the necessary judges, victory for which he had bid, but was pro- while of late some had been, and some had bably an intimation of troubles that should not. and some, though they had been officered ripen, were already ripening for Jehoshaphat, with judges, had found them not what in the coming invasion of his own kingdom judges ought to be. The immense majority (eh. xx. 1-3). of the '' six thousand" Levite "officers and Ver. 3.-Nevertheless; Hebrew, ,;i~; one judges" of David's regulation (1 Chron. of the few particles that were affirmative in xxiii. 4; =xvi. 29) had, with their supe- the earlier Hebrew (Gen. xiii. 21), bnt ad- riors, kings and prophets, gone astray. With versative in the later (<'h. i. 4; Dan. x. 7, our present passage may be compared Dent. 21 ). It may be well rendered, "on the other xvi. 18-20, where the original enactment hand." The expression here recalls the less of judges and officers is narrated. Fenced favourable "notwithstanding" of Rev. ii. 20. cities. Hebrew for "fenced," niii:::i.; kal There are good things found in thee (see eh. passive pa.rt. plur. The word occurs· twenty- xvii. 1-9). sfa: times from the Book of Numbers to the Ver.4.-Jl'rom Beersheba to Mount Ephraim. Book of the Prophet Zecl,a.riah, and is ren- The length of the good land is not to be dered in the Authorized Version "fenced" quoted, as of old, the undivided "Dan to or "defenced" twenty-two times, "walled,. Beersheba," but Beersheba to Mount Ephraim twice, "strong" once, and '' m.ighty" once. (ch.xiii.16-19). Jehoshaphatmakesanother The ''gates" of the original institution in conscientious and vigorons endeavour to re- Deuteronomy a.re now (probably still the form his own kingdom, to keep it steadfast gates of) fenced cities. in the worship of God, and free from idolatry. Vers. 6, 7.-The statement of the Divina It is to be noticed that he does not turn away principles laid down in these verses for the his ear from the rebuke which had been foundations of the" kingdom of heaven" on given him, but turns his heart to it. As it earth, and the doing of God's " will on earth, does not appear that he broke with Israel even as it is in heo.ven," stretch from 3Ioses and Israel's kings (eh. xx. 35,.37; 2 King-s and Job (Lev. xix. 15; Deut. i. li; x. 17; iii. 7, 14, 24), it is possible, especially in xvi. 19; Job nx.iv. 19) to SS. Paul and view of ver. 37 in our eh. xx., that the Peter (Acts x. 34; Rom. ii. 11; 1 Pet. i. 1i). severity of the Divine rebuke was under- Ver. 8.-This and the following three stood to apply to the occasions which found verses close the immediate subject by stating Jehoshaphat in alliance with a king notably with ~ome emphasis the reform in the metro~ bad, and for some supposed oho.nee of ad- polis itself, of the '' supreme tribunal," as it vo.ntage to himself. This Inst element of has been called (Exod. xviii. 19, 20, 26; consideration will differenoe sufficiently the Dent. xvii. !J, 10, 12), composed of Levites, two cases just oited, to wit, the case in priests, and ohief of the fathers of Israel ; whioh Jehosho.phat joined himself with .Aza- i.e. probably heads of the whole family that riah, and is sternly " prophesied against," went by the sa.me name. Of course every and tho.t in which he helped Jehoram, and father was head of his own family, but only through Elisha's intervention gained him one (such as in modern times by primogeni- the day. ture the eldest son) the representative head Ver. 5.-Jndgea . . . fenced oities. Je- of the entire family, and under thi, ex- hosliaphnt proceeds from direct religious vression is no doubt natmally set fortl, nnly reforms to that whioh is of importance ouly tho~e families that were of aome rdati ve  232 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [cu. x1x. 1-11.