Глава 17

1–6. The distribution of troops among the fortified cities made by Jehoshaphat; God's help to Jehoshaphat for his piety. 7–9. The dignitaries and Levites sent by Jehoshaphat teach the people the law of God. 10–12. Tribute from the tribes subject to Jehoshaphat and an increase in his wealth and power. 13–19. The names of Jehoshaphat's commanders and the number of his troops. 2 Chronicles 17:1. And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead; and he strengthened himself against the Israelites. 2 Chronicles 17:2. And he placed an army in all the fortified cities of Judah and placed a guard army throughout the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa his father had taken possession of. The standing army (v. 2) among the biblical Jews dates back to the time of David (2 Samuel 8:14–18): from that time, “in addition to the general duty of every citizen at a certain age to go to war, the kings had standing troops” (Prof. Gulyaev, “Historical books of the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament,” p. 554). Jehoshaphat already had too many such regular troops, according to Art. 14–18 to 1,160,000 people, and he could more easily supply a strong garrison not only to the Jewish fortified cities themselves, but also to the cities that belonged to the territory of the northern kingdom of Israel, but were taken from the Israelites by Jehoshaphat’s father Asa (2 Chronicles 15:8). However, hostile relations between Jehoshaphat and the kingdom of Israel (v. 1) could only have taken place. at the beginning of his reign, and then were replaced by friendly and allied ones on the basis of the kinship of the reigning houses of both kingdoms and the commonality of political interests (see below (2 Chronicles 18:1-3); cf. (1 Kings 22:2-4); see "Explanatory Bible", vol. II, pp. 472-473), although the alliance of the pious king of Judah with the wicked house of Ahab Israel did not bring prosperity to the kingdom of Judah. 2 Chronicles 17:3. And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of David his father, and sought not the Baals, 2 Chronicles 17:4. but he sought the God of his father and walked according to His commandments, and not according to the deeds of the Israelites. 2 Chronicles 17:5. And the Lord established the kingdom in his hand, and all Judah gave gifts to Jehoshaphat, and he had much wealth and glory. 2 Chronicles 17:6. And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord; Moreover, he abolished the heights and oak groves in Judea. The piety of Jehoshaphat, which attracted the mercy of God to him and the kingdom of Judah under him, was expressed, like that of Asa, especially zealously for the cleansing of the cult of Jehovah not only from the pagan elements that had been attached to it since the time of Solomon (1 Kings 11:4-8), but also from the remnants of ancient superstition: “he abolished ... the high places and oak forests in Judah” (v. 6). However, like Asa (cf. (2 Chronicles 14:3) and (2 Chronicles 15:17)), Jehoshaphat abolished only pagan heights, and not those sacred to Jehovah from ancient times. 2 Chronicles 17:7. And in the third year of his reign he sent his princes Benhail and Obadiah and Zechariah and Nathanael and Micah to teach the people in the cities of Judah, 2 Chronicles 17:8. and with them the Levites: Shemaiah, and Nephaniah, and Zebadiah, and Hazael, and Shemiramoth, and Jonathan, and Adonijah, and Tobiah, and Tob-Adonijah, and with them Elisha and Joram, the priests. 2 Chronicles 17:9. And they taught in Judea, having with them the book of the law of the Lord; And they went around all the cities of Judah and taught the people. Here is given a highly significant message about the measures of Jehoshaphat to instill religious enlightenment among the Jewish people through a commission of royal dignitaries, priests and Levites, sent by the king to all cities with the book of the law. On the part of the king, this was as much an act of political wisdom as, or even more, the fruit of his deep personal piety and religious zeal, due to which he also organized the judicial part of his state on a religious-theocratic basis (see below (2 Chronicles 19: 5-11)). The priests and Levites, acting here in religious teaching, fulfilled only the direct duty of their title according to the law of Moses (Deut. 33:9-10); although in the Old Testament there is generally little information about the teaching activities of the priests and Levites, however, their always fulfilling the mentioned important official duty, of course, cannot be doubted (the authenticity of the news (2 Chronicles 17:7-9) and (2 Chronicles 19:5-11) is suspected, for example, by Wellhausen due to his biased view of the post-exilic origin of the so-called “The Priestly Tribe”, that is, among the books of the Pentateuch, in particular and the Levitical priesthood: Wellhausen, “Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels”, 3-te A. Berlin, 1886, p. 196. But Wellhausen’s theory no longer has the same credit and charm in the West). Moreover, the story of 2 Chronicles listing the names of the commission members has an obvious sign of documentary, and its inherent simplicity and naturalness, in turn, speak of the historical accuracy of the fact reported here. The participation of dignitaries in the commission for public education in the spirit of religion and law is explained by the high state significance of the measure taken by Jehoshaphat; Moreover, biblical-Jewish antiquity was alien to the sharp separation or antagonism of civil and religious relations, state and church, secular and spiritual education, as is the case in most European states, the idea of ​​theocracy that dominated among the Jewish people, on the contrary, very closely brought together all these, often opposite, areas of life in the new world. From the fact that the commission of priests takes with them “the book of the law of the Lord” (v. 9) and with it goes around the country, we can conclude that copies of the Bible have not yet been distributed among the people. 2 Chronicles 17:10. And the fear of the Lord was upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were around Judah, and they did not fight with Jehoshaphat. 2 Chronicles 17:11. And from the Philistines they brought Jehoshaphat gifts and silver as tribute; The Arabians also brought small livestock to him: seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred goats. 2 Chronicles 17:12. And Jehoshaphat rose up more and more, and built fortresses and cities for stores in Judah. The consequence of Jehoshaphat’s internal measures to instill religious enlightenment among the people was the raising of the authority of the kingdom of Judah among the surrounding tribes - the Arabians and Philistines, who paid tribute to Jehoshaphat: thus, the internal ordering of the state was accompanied by the same rise in the external prestige of the state, as was the brilliant victory of Asa over Zarai (2 Chronicles 14:14). 2 Chronicles 17:13. He had a lot of supplies in the cities of Judah, and in Jerusalem there were military and brave men. 2 Chronicles 17:14. And here is a list of them according to their generations: Judah has commanders of thousands: Adna is a commander, and he has three hundred thousand excellent warriors; 2 Chronicles 17:15. after him is Johanan the chief, and he has two hundred and eighty thousand; 2 Chronicles 17:16. behind him is Amaziah, the son of Zichri, who dedicated himself to the Lord, and he has two hundred thousand excellent warriors. 2 Chronicles 17:17. Benjamin had Eliada, an excellent warrior, and he had two hundred thousand armed with bow and shield; 2 Chronicles 17:18. behind him is Jehozabad, and he has one hundred and eighty thousand armed men. 2 Chronicles 17:19. These were those who served the king, in addition to those whom the king placed in the fortified cities throughout Judea. The number of Jehoshaphat's active army shown here, over a million (vv. 14–18), arouses serious bewilderment and suggests a copyist error in the digital data of the place in question. But the section itself (vv. 14–18) with the register of troops and military leaders, as the names of the latter already show, is undoubtedly of a documentary nature. The detail is characteristic (v. 16): “Amasiah, the son of Zichri, dedicated himself to the Lord” (Heb. hamitnaddeb lajhovah). According to some interpreters, this expression means his vow of Nazarene, however, the parallel (Judges 5:2,9) (where the same verb “nadav” is found in f. Gitp) allows us to see here the idea of ​​​​military valor, of the military heroism of the mentioned person. You might be interested in: