[1] 2 Kings i. 17 seq.; see Lucian's reading (cf. Vulg. and Pesh.).
Apart from the allusion 1 Kings xxii. 49 (see 2 Chron. xx. 35), and
the narrative in 2 Kings i. (see ELIJAH), nothing is known of this
Ahaziah. Notwithstanding his very brief reign (1 Kings xxii. 51; 2
Kings iii. 1), the compiler passes the usual hostile judgment (1
Kings xxii. 52 seq.); see KINGS (BOOKS). The chronology in 1 Kings
xxii. 51 is difficult; if Lucian's text (twenty-fourth year of
Jehoshaphat) is correct, Jehoram 1 and 2 must have come to their
respective thrones at almost the same time.
[2] In vii. 6 the hostility of Hittites and Mizraim (q.v.) points to
a period _after_ 842 B.C. (See JEWS, § 10 seq.)
[3] These details are scarcely the invention of the chronicler; see
CHRONICLES, and EXPOSITOR, Aug. 1906, p. 191.
JEHOSHAPHAT (Heb. "Yahweh judges"), in the Bible, son of Asa, and king
of Judah, in the 9th century B.C. During his period close relations
subsisted between Israel and Judah; the two royal houses were connected
by marriage (see ATHALIAH; JEHORAM, 2), and undertook joint enterprise
in war and commerce. Jehoshaphat aided Ahab in the battle against
Benhadad at Ramoth-Gilead in which Ahab was slain (1 Kings xxii.; 2
Chron. xviii.; cf. the parallel incident in 2 Kings viii. 25-29), and
trading journeys to Ophir were undertaken by his fleet in conjunction no
doubt with Ahab as well as with his son Ahaziah (2 Chron. xx. 35 sqq.; 1
Kings xxii. 47 sqq.). The chronicler's account of his war against Moab,
Ammon and Edomite tribes (2 Chron. xx.), must rest ultimately upon a
tradition which is presupposed in the earlier source (1 Kings xxii. 47),
and the disaster to the ships at Ezion-Geber at the head of the Gulf of
Akaba preceded, if it was not the introduction to, the great revolt in
the days of Jehoshaphat's son Jehoram, where, again, the details in 2
Chron. xxi. must rely in the first instance upon an old source. Apart
from what is said of Jehoshaphat's legislative measures (2 Chron. xix. 4
sqq.; cf. the meaning of his name above), an account is preserved of his
alliance with Jehoram of Israel against Moab (2 Kings iii.), on which
see JEHORAM; MOAB. The "valley of Jehoshaphat" (Joel iii. 12) has been
identified by tradition (as old as Eusebius) with the valley between
Jerusalem and the mount of Olives. (S. A. C.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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