2 Chronicles 17:1 - Exposition

Jehoshaphat . In 2 Chronicles 20:31 and 1 Kings 22:41 , 1 Kings 22:42 we are told that Jehoshaphat was now thirty-five years of age. He must, therefore, have been born when Asa was in the sixth year of his reign, and presumably not under sixteen years of age. His reign extended to twenty-five years, i.e. from B.C. 914 to B.C. 889. The name signifies "whom God judges," or "pleads for." Ahab is now in the fourth year of his reign, and the symptoms he manifests ( 1 Kings 16:30-33 ) are those that the rather urge Jehoshaphat to strengthen himself , i.e. strengthen the defences of his kingdom on the Israel side.