Bible Commentaries
2 Chronicles 19

Verses 1-11

4. Jehoshaphat’s appointment of judges ch. 19

Even though God had spared Jehoshaphat’s life in the battle, his close brush with death was the result of an unwise decision to help ungodly Ahab. A prophet rebuked him for this alliance (2 Chronicles 19:2).

"A Christian’s attachment to God is necessarily expressed in the kind of atmosphere in which he prefers to live and move and have his being. Company, pursuits, ambitions will all bear upon them the mark of a love of God. This is by no means to put an embargo upon normal social intercourse with those who are not basically like-minded. It has to do with the sort of life-pattern which one chooses to construct. The task of construction is no easy one, and the temptation is to model oneself upon the ’architects’ about us. This was Jehoshaphat’s fault, and his error calls us to consistency in exhibiting the characteristics which are truly Christian. (See further Romans 12:1 f.; Galatians 5:16-26.)" [Note: McConville, pp. 188-89.]

Jehoshaphat sought to help the upright and to punish the wicked by appointing judges in Judah. Perhaps Jehu’s words encouraged Jehoshaphat’s decision to appoint judges (2 Chronicles 19:2). The king instructed the judges to remember that they were acting in God’s place when they judged. Therefore they needed to be fair (2 Chronicles 19:6-7).

Jehoshaphat’s judges not only made legal decisions, they instructed the people in God’s ways. In this, Jehoshaphat followed Moses’ example (Exodus 18:17-26). As in Israel’s earlier history, there were both local judges and a supreme court of appeals in Jehoshaphat’s day (2 Chronicles 19:5; 2 Chronicles 19:8; 2 Chronicles 19:11). The king himself became actively involved in judging and teaching the people. Evidently the Israelites had failed to continue the judicial policy that Moses had established, and Jehoshaphat revived it.

"One of the greatest sadnesses of Christians who have been in positions of responsibility within the Church, but who have become burdened by guilt because of some sin, is a sense that they are no more qualified to serve. The author of the greatest penitential Psalm feared as much. Yet in the throes of his prayer for restoration he gains the assurance that he shall again ’teach transgressors thy ways’ (Psalms 51:13). The experience of Jehoshaphat proves the point." [Note: Ibid., pp. 189-90.]