2Ch 17:3-5 | KD | STEP | He placed forces (חיל) in all the fenced cities of Judah, and garrisons (נציבים, military posts; cf. ) in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim, which is father Asa had taken; cf. 2Ch 15:8. God blessed these undertakings. Jahve was with him, because he walked in the ways of David his ancestor, the former ways, and sought not the Baals. The former ways of David are his ways in the earlier years of his reign, in contrast to the later years, in which his adultery with Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11) and the sin of numbering the people (1 Chron 21) fall. הבּעלים are all false gods, in contrast to Jahve, the one God of Israel; and here the word designates not only the Baal-worship properly so called, but also the worship of Jahve by means of images, by which Jahve is brought down to the level of the Baals; cf. Jdg 2:11. The ל before בּעלים stands, according to the later usage, as a sign of the accusative. In the last clause of , “and not after the doings of Israel” (of the ten tribes), הלך, “he walked,” is to be repeated. The doing of Israel is the worship of Jahve through the images of the golden calves, which the author of the Chronicle includes in the לבּעלים דּרשׁ.

‏ 2 Chronicles 17:3-5

He placed forces (חיל) in all the fenced cities of Judah, and garrisons (נציבים, military posts; cf. 1Ch 11:16) in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim, which is father Asa had taken; cf. 2Ch 15:8. God blessed these undertakings. Jahve was with him, because he walked in the ways of David his ancestor, the former ways, and sought not the Baals. The former ways of David are his ways in the earlier years of his reign, in contrast to the later years, in which his adultery with Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11) and the sin of numbering the people (1 Chron 21) fall. הבּעלים are all false gods, in contrast to Jahve, the one God of Israel; and here the word designates not only the Baal-worship properly so called, but also the worship of Jahve by means of images, by which Jahve is brought down to the level of the Baals; cf. Jdg 2:11. The ל before בּעלים stands, according to the later usage, as a sign of the accusative. In the last clause of 2Ch 17:4, “and not after the doings of Israel” (of the ten tribes), הלך, “he walked,” is to be repeated. The doing of Israel is the worship of Jahve through the images of the golden calves, which the author of the Chronicle includes in the לבּעלים דּרשׁ. 2Ch 17:5

Therefore Jahve established the kingdom in his hand, i.e., under his rule; cf. 2Ki 14:5. All Judah brought him presents. מנחה, often used of tribute of subject peoples, e.g., in 2Ch 17:11 of the Philistines, cannot here have that signification; nor can it denote the regular imposts of subjects, for these are not called מנחה; but must denote voluntary gifts which his subjects brought him as a token of their reverence and love. The last clause, “and there was to him (he attained) riches and honour in abundance,” which is repeated 2Ch 18:1, recalls 1Ch 29:28; 2Ch 1:12, and signifies that Jehoshaphat, like his ancestors David and Solomon, was blessed for walking in the pious ways of these his forefathers.