I. JEHOSHAPHAT'S PARENTAGE.

1. His father. Asa, a good king who enjoyed a long and honoured reign. Though good fathers have sometimes bad sons, as in the case of Jehoshaphat himself, yet there is a presumption in favour of a parent's piety being reproduced in the son. "Lord! I find the genealogy of my Saviour strangely checkered with four remarkable changes in four immediate generations.

(1) Roboam begat Abia; i.e. a bad father begat a bad son.

(2) Abia begat Asa; i.e. a bad father a good son.

(3) Asa begat Josaphat; i.e. a good father a good son.

(4) Josaphat begat Joram; i.e. a good father a bad son.

I see, Lord, from hence that my father's piety cannot be entailed: that is bad news for me. But I see also that actual impiety is not always hereditary: that is good news for my son" (Thomas Fuller, ' Good Thoughts in Bad Times,' p. 43).

2. His mother. Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi. Otherwise unknown, she was, nevertheless, the wife of a good man, the consort of a pious king - alas! also the mother of a wicked son. She was probably herself a woman of worth, and to her credit her name has been transmitted to posterity rather as her father's daughter and her husband's spouse than as her son's mother. In her case the hand of Providence has drawn a veil over her misfortune.

II. JEHOSHAPHAT'S REIGN.

1. When it began. When he was thirty-five years old. There was no room in this case for the royal preacher's woe (Ecclesiastes 10:16).

2. How long it continued. Twenty-five years - a quarter of a century; during which time he and his people experienced much of the Divine favour and blessing.

3. When it ended. When he was sixty years of age; i.e. before he reached the allotted space of three score years and ten (Psalm 90:10), and after a shorter life than was afterwards enjoyed by some of his less worthy successors, e.g. Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:3) and Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33:1) - a proof that the promise of long life as a reward for piety was not intended, even under the Old Testament, to be accepted universally and without exception.

III. JEHOSAPHAT'S REALM.

1. Its extent. He reigned over Judah, the southern kingdom.

2. Its condition. Quiet. With the exception just mentioned it had suffered no invasion. It was disturbed by no internecine feud or civil strife.

3. Its Protector. Jehovah. "God gave him rest round about."

IV. JEHOSHAPHAT'S NEIGHBOURS.

1. Their attitude. They stood in awe of Jehoshaphat and his people. Compare the terror of the peoples through the midst of whom Jacob passed on his flight from Shechem to Hebron (Genesis 35:5), and the fear which fell upon the city of Jerusalem on beholding the miracle of Pentecost (Acts 2:43).

2. The reason of it. They heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel (ver. 29). So Miriam expected the report of Jehovah's victory over Pharaoh would paralyze the surrounding peoples through whom the ransomed host had to pass (Exodus 15:14-16).

V. JEHOSHAPHAT'S CHARACTER.

1. Pious. Like his father Asa, he walked in the way of the Lord.

2. Persevering. He departed not from doing right in the sight of Jehovah, i.e. in the matter of worship.

3. Defective. Not perfect in the sense of being faultless, he allowed the high places dedicated to Jehovah to remain, though other similar high places dedicated to idols were removed (2 Chronicles 17:6); and though he was better than his people, whose hearts were not prepared for a thorough-going reformation, he yet in a blameworthy spirit of complaisance yielded to their demands and permitted the unhallowed altars to stand.

VI. JEHOSHAPHAT'S ACTS.

1. Those recorded by the Chronicler.

(1) The establishment of garrisons throughout the land (2 Chronicles 17:2).

(2) The appointment of an itinerant ministry for the religious education of the people (2 Chronicles 17:7).

(3) The fostering of commerce in the cities of Judah (2 Chronicles 17:13).

(4) The creation of courts of justice (2 Chronicles 19:5).

(5) The reformation of religion (2 Chronicles 17:6; 2 Chronicles 19:4).

(6) The marriage of his son with Ahab's daughter (2 Chronicles 18:1).

(7) The war at Ramoth-Gilead (2 Chronicles 18:28).

2. Those written in the book of Jehu, Hanani's son. (2 Chronicles 19:2.) These deeds of Judah's king are lost. How much of every life drops into oblivion, even though set down in a biography! Only that history which God writes lives for ever.

VII. JEHOSHAPHAT'S FAULTS.

1. Plentiful. Good as Jehoshaphat was, both as man and sovereign, he committed grievous blunders, and indeed fell into aggravated sins. The three worst were:

(1) The marriage of his son Jehoram with Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab - the mating of a lamb with the cub of a tigress.

(2) The war with Benhadad which he entered on to please Ahab, without thinking whether he would thereby please God.

(3) The joining of Ahaziah, Ahab's successor, in making a fleet to go to Tarshish, or a fleet of Tarshish ships in Ezion-geber.

2. Punished. None of these offences were overlooked by Jehovah. The alliance of Jehoram with Athaliah avenged itself in the depravation of Jehoram's character. The Syrian war, besides exposing him to imminent peril, brought upon him the Moabitish invasion. The fleet which he and Ahaziah made was wrecked in the Red Sea, and never went to Tarshish. So Eliezer, the son of Dodavah of Mareshah, predicted it would happen - because Jehoshaphat had a second time joined himself with the house of Omri.

3. Pardoned. Though chastised for his errors, Jehoshaphat was not abandoned to wrath. A child of the covenant and an heir of the promise, he was rebuked but not rejected, corrected but not condemned. So God deals with believers when they err (1 Corinthians 11:32).

VIII. JEHOSHAPHAT'S END.

1. His death was peaceful. "He slept with his fathers" (2 Chronicles 21:1).

2. His burial was honourable. He was entombed in the city of David, in the sepulchre of the kings of Judah.

3. His throne was confirmed. His son Jehoram reigned in his stead. Learn:

1. The fallibility of good men.

2. The infallibility of God's Word. - W.

II. HIS PERSONAL CHARACTER SEEMS TO HAVE HAD VERY DISTINCTIVE FEATURES IN IT.

III. HE WAS DISTINGUISHED FOR HIS SIMPLE AND YET PROFOUND RELIANCE ON GOD.

IV. THE RELIGION OF MOST PERSONS OF GREAT POWER AND POSITION — such as those possessed by Jehoshaphat — IS USUALLY RESERVED, AND ANYTHING BUT CHILDLIKE. Conclusion: The practical bearing of this study is that there are many in whom the possession and exercise of great powers, which are usually called worldly, are not by any means inconsistent with the most humble and sincere piety.

(E. Monro.)