the king” (1Ki 22:15), are given in a more definite form: “and they (the enemy) shall be given into your hand.” In 2Ch 18:19, in the first כּכה אמר זה, the אמר after the preceding ויּאמר is not only superfluous, but improper, and has probably come into the text by a copyist's error. We should therefore read only בּכה זה, corresponding to the כּכה זה of 1Ki 22:20 : “Then spake one after this manner, and the other spake after another manner.” In 2Ch 18:23, the indefinite אי־זה of 1Ki 22:24, is elucidated by הדּרך זה אי, “is that the manner” (cf. 1Ki 13:12; 2Ki 3:8)., and the verb. עבר follows without the relative pronoun, as in the passages cited. In 2Ch 18:30, only הרכב שׂרי of the king are mentioned, without any statement of the number, which is given in 1Ki 22:31, with a backward reference to the former war (1Ki 20:24). In 2Ch 18:31, after the words, “and Jehoshaphat cried out,” the higher cause of Jehoshaphat's rescue is pointed out in the words, “and Jahve helped him, and God drove them from him,” which are not found in 1Ki 22:32; but by this religious reflection the actual course of the event is in no way altered. Bertheau's remark, therefore, that “the words disturb the clear connection of the events,” is quite unwarrantable. Finally, in 2Ch 18:34, מעמיד היה, he was holding his position, i.e., he held himself standing upright, the Hiph. is more expressive than the Hoph. מעמד (1Ki 22:35), since it expresses more definitely the fact that he held himself upright by his own strength. With Ahab's death, which took place in the evening at the time of the going down of the sun, the author of the Chronicle concludes his account of this war, and proceeds in 2Ch 19:1-11 to narrate the further course of Jehoshaphat's reign. In 1Ki 22:36-39, the return of the defeated army, and the details as to Ahab's death and burial, are recorded; but these did not fit into the plan of the Chronicle.
Chap. 19
Verses 1-3
2Ch 19:1-3The prophet Jehu's declaration as to Jehoshaphat's alliance with Ahab, and Jehoshaphat's further efforts to promote the fear of God and the administration of justice in Judah. - 2Ch 19:1-3. Jehu's declaration. Jehoshaphat returned from the war in which Ahab had lost his life, בּשׁלום, i.e., safe, uninjured, to his house in Jerusalem; so that the promise of Micah in 2Ch 18:16 was fulfilled also as regards him. But on his return, the seer Jehu, the son of Hanani, who had been thrown into the stocks by Asa (2Ch 16:7.), met him with the reproving word, “Should one help the wicked, and lovest thou the haters
