2 Chronicles 19
PAThe was so far from being angry (as his father Asa had been, xvi.7.) that he laid it to heart, jind seriously resolved upon a farther reformation, in other matters, as well, as religion.. And Tie went out again through the people.] lie.had sent out his officers before, (chap, xvii.7.) who went out by his authority, and acted in his name, about this very business; but now he went in person, as then by his orders. From Beer-sheba to Mount Ephraim.]Thc former of theso had always been the utmost bound southward of the tribe of Judah: and the latter, since the division of the kingdom, had been the northern bound, as before the division was Dan. And brought them back unto the Lord God of their fathers.] Since the last reformation, it seems, some had revolted to their former idolatry, whom he now reduced; especially those cities which his father had taken in Mount Ephraim, (chap. xv. 8.) who, being Israelites, might have been drawn in again to worship the calves.
2 Chronicles 19:1
XJlND Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem. I suppose, as soon as the battle was over, he immediately went to Jerusalem; to return thanks to God for his wonderful preservation.
2 Chronicles 19:2
And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer. See 1 Kings xvi. 1.,; -, <. • -. Went out to meet him.] Before he came into the city: that, being admonished by him, he might be the more affected with the mercy of God towards him in his deliverance. •’,.* > And said to king Jehoshaphat, Shoutdest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord?] As much as to say, This is contrary to common reason, which taught the gentiles to make no friendship with such as were God’s enemies. So Callimachus in his hymn to Ceres,, ver. 117,118……. k Aa//7]T£p, fir) TiqvoQ Ijxlv <p(\og, 8$ rot cnrr)(6r)G, “Eorcu, ftTjS* 6fxoTot)(og* quoi KaKoydrortg ^^pol. O Ceres, he shall be none of my friend who is hated by thee; nor shall he live under my roof: such neighbours are odious unto me. Where the illustrious Spanhemius hath observed many the like sayings among the heathens; and shews how the ancient Greeks, abhorred to lodge jn the same house with a murderer, ot other grievous criminals; with whom they would not eat, much less be with theta in their sacred assemblies; looking upon them as impure creatures. TJierefore is wrath upon thee from before, the Lord.] Upon which account God threatens to punish him: which some think he did by raising such numerous enemies to invade him, as we read of in the next chapter. But most of all, by suffering all his sons to be murdered by their elder brother, (chap. xxi. 4.) and his grandchildren by Jehu, (2 Kings ix: 27.x. 13, 14.);., VeT. 3. Nevertheless there are good things found in thee.] For the sake of which he so far pardoned his error as not to punish him in his own person, but in his posterity. In 4hat thou hast taken away the groves out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God.] The chief thing wherein he pleased God was by abolishing idolatrous worship: which he had done, rigorously, and served God with a sincere heart.,. -
2 Chronicles 19:4
And Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem. Being settled at Jerusalem after his visit to Ahab, and the war with Syria, he had time to reflect upon his. escape out of the late battle, and the reproof of the prophet: at which 4L
2 Chronicles 19:5
rAnd he set judges in the land, throughout all the fenced cities of Judah, city by city. That is,inevery one of these cities: or, as Bertram thinks it should be translated, for city, and city. That is, he placed judges in the principal cities, unto which all causes were brought from the lesser cities and villages. This was a means both to have justice done between man and man, and also to preserve them in the worship of God, when judges were ready at hand, to call those to an account who went after other gods. Ver. G, And said to the judges, Take heed what ye do:.for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment.] He gave them this very solemn admonition when be settled them in their places: which the Targum thus translates, Ye do not judge before the sons of men, but before the Word of the Lord; and his glorious presence resides among you in tlie act of judgment. Which is a most illustrious testimony that the ancient Jews believed more persons than one in the Deity.
2 Chronicles 19:7
Wherefore now, let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take heed and do it. That is, Do as I command you, judge according to the law: for such as God is, such you ought to be, since you are in his place. For there is no iniquity ivith the Lord our God, nor resped of persons, nor taking of gifts.] He, bids them remember that as the nature of God is perfectly just, so he cannot be moved to do iniquity by respect to the greatest, or pity to the meanest, or by any gift bo bribed to do unjustly. Whom they ought to imitate, being entrusted by him with his authority. )^ 4 y M
2 Chronicles 19:8
Moreover, in Jerusalem did JehoshapJtat set of the Levites, and of the priests, and of the chief of the fathers of Israel. Many were of opinion, that as before he speaks of the courts consisting of twenty-three judges, which were settled in every considerable city of the kingdom; so here he speaks of the high court of all, consisting of seventy, called by the Jews the gTcat Sanhedrin, sitting at Jerusalem: whither appeals w r erc mado in all causes, that.could not bo determined below. But if this be true, Jchoshaphat was the first that we can find who settled this. excellent constitution: of which wc can find no footsteps in the books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, or in the foregoing kings, as I have discoursed at large upon Deut. xvi. 18. xvii. 9. (See my notes there.) And there is little in the succeeding times to persuade us of it; for Ezra and Nehemiah set up no such judicature as that the Jews call Sanhedrin. Which seems to have been, wisely constituted, when they fell under the government of the Macedonian princes, from whoso language they borrowed the name. Though Jchoshaphat therefore settled judges in Jerusalem, yet the number of them is not certains’For the judgment of the Lord, and for controversies.] These words arc variously expounded: some understanding by the judgment of the Lord, causes about sacred matters, others pecuniary matters: and by controversies, some understanding civil causes,. others criminal and capital. It is sufficient, I think, to say, they tried all sorts of causes. When they returned to Jerusalem.] That is, when Jchoshaphat, and those ^ that attended him, re turned, from the other cities, where they had appointed judges, (ver. 5.) he constituted this supreme court in the chief city of his kingdom. I say supreme, court, for there were nottwo of them; one for ecclesiastical, the other Tor civil causes, as some have imagined: but one court judged both, as Grotius hath very well proved, from the very account here given of this matter. For Jehoshaphat bids fhesc judges try what cause soever should come to them, (ver. 10.) and adds, beticeen blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and judgments. Which shews there was no kind of business in controversy, which did not come before this one court, s Nor do those words ver. 11. prove the contrary, as he shews in his book, de Impcrio Sum. Potest, circa Sacra, cap. 11. sect. 15. - *
2 Chronicles 19:9
And he charged them, saying, Thus shall ye do in the fear of the Lord; faithfully, andivith a perfect heart. He gives them the same solemn charge, which he had given the other judges; (ver. 7.) that having the fear of God before their eyes, they should do righteous judgment, and not suffer themselves to be any way corrupted, for God would judge all over again. It is a most memorable saying of Cicero, that judges, being sworn to do justice, should remember, when they come to pass sentence, " Deum se habere tcstem; id est, ut ego arbitror, mentcm suam, qua nihil homini dedit ipse Deus divinius;” that he hath God a ivitness of what he doth, even his own conscience, than which God himself hath given unto man nothing more Divine: lib. iii. de*Officiis, cap. 10. where he hath left this excellent instruction also, that a man must lay aside the person of a friend, when he puts on the person of a judge. *
2 Chronicles 19:10
And what cause soever shall come to you of your brethren that dwell in their cities. ’ By way of appeal from the other cities: where the judges wero wont to refer matters of great difficulty to this supreme court at Jerusalem, where the judges were most learned. Between blood and blood.] When the question was, who was next of kinto an estate, and should succeed him that was deceased. So some understand the word blood to signify kindred. But Jarchi understands it of a question, whether a murder was voluntary, or a man was killed by chance. ■ - • Between law and commandment, statutes and judgments.] Some take the word law to be a general word, the species of which follow. So that it is as much as to say, Ye shall judge concerning all manner of laws: first, of command- CHAP. XIX-3 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. ments, such as have a naturalequity in them; then statutes, or positive laws belonging to rites and ceremonies; and judgments, concerning those precepts, which direct the manner of proceeding in judgment. Ye shall even warn them that they trespass not against the Lord, and so wrath come upon you, and upon your brethren.] This seems to be a command, that they should not only pronounce a righteous sentence in every cause that came before them, but that they should admonish him, who was in the wTong (and all other persons in the like case), to beware of injuring their neighbours for the time to come. This do, and ye shall not trespass J] But worthily discharge their office. “. - • iM >
2 Chronicles 19:11
And, behold, Amariah the chief priest. See concerning him, what I have noted upon 1 Chron. vi. 9, 10, &c. Is over you’ in all matters of the Lord; and Zebadiah the son oflshmael, the ruler of the house ofJudah, for all the Icing’s matters.’] Many understand by the matters of the Lord, all things sacred; and by the king’s matters, all civil and political causes. But Grotius hath judiciously observed, (in his book de Imperio Sum. Potest, circa Sacra, cap. 11. sect. 15.) that it is most agreeable to the Scripture to understand by the things of God, those which were defined by the law of God, and were to be judged by that law: and by the king’s matters, such as, not being defined by the Divine law, were left to the judgment of the king. Of which kind were all deliberations about what was expedient or not expedient. And thus he observes, the most learned of the Jewish interpreters explain these words in his book, de Jure Belli et Pacis, lib. i. cap. 3. sect. 20. But which way soever w r e distinguish the things of God and the king’s things, yet one and the same court took cognizance of them both: only with this difference, that the court had different presidents according to the nature of the causes. In things pertaining to God, Amarias the highpriest sat as the first judge; in things pertaining to the king, Zebadiah, a principal person about the king, had the chair, and w r as the moderator. For, as the high-priest was most conversant in the law of God, and therefore fittest to direct in such matters; so the chief ruler about the king was most exercised in matters left undetermined by the law, and so fittest to preside in such consultations. There are/indeed,, very learned men who think these words plainly prove two different courts: in one of which ecclesiastical matters.were determined; in the other civil; in the former of which Amarias presided; in the latter, Zebadiah. Thus Corn. Bertram, in his book Do Itepubl. Judaica, p. 137. 139. whom Const. I/Empereur defends in his annotations on that place: and endeavours to prove out of Deuteronomy, that God himself instituted an ecclesiastical senate, distinct from the civil, p. 389. But this is not a fit place to meddle further with that controversy: I shall only say, that I think Grotius hath sufficiently confuted this opinion in the book and chapter beforementioned; de Imperio, &c. And in his annotations also upon St. Matt. v. 22. (on those words tvoxog tarat r< t 7 <rvvz$pt(o) where he makes this paraphrase upon this Speech of Jehoshaphat: “Do not despond, as not able to discharge so weighty an office, for want of such learning and knowledge as are necessary for such a work: you have excellent men to guide you with their counsel. Such is the prince of the senate Amarias the priest, a man skilled in judgment; and if any thing fall out belonging rather to civil prudence than to the knowledge of the law, Sabadias the Ishmaelite is ready at hand, who is a principal person in such kind of deliberations. And besides (as it here follows).you have the Levites their assessors, who are very well skilled in many arts.”:’… K»v&:,<"»’;.… <: ■ a. Also the Levites shall be officers before you.] Some of the Levites were members of this great court, who sat in judgment: (ver. 8.) the rest, who were not judges, were ministers under them to see their sentence executed. But it appears bythis place; that the word shoterim doth not here signify, as in others, mere apparators who summoned men to the court, or such officers as executed the sentence of _ the court; but persons of some authority, who had power to make offenders sensible of the justice of the sentence, and convince them of their error: which was a great encouragement to the judges to undertake this office, and to judge uprightly. > - « Deal courageously, and the Lord shall be ivith the good.] He bids them not be afraid of any man: for God, who employed them, would stand by them and defend them, if they were good and upright judges. The Targum hath it, The Word of the Lord will help’ you, who is good.