Later text
So Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-five years. His mother's name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.
Intertextuality Pair
2 Chronicles 20:31-21 → 1 Kings 22:41-51
Allusion
Earlier text
In the fourth year of Ahab's reign over Israel, Jehoshaphat son of Asa became king of Judah. Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-five years. His mother's name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi. And Jehoshaphat walked in all the ways of his father Asa; he did not turn away from them, but did what was right in the eyes of the LORD. The high places, however, were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. Jehoshaphat also made peace with the king of Israel. As for the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, along with the might he exercised and how he waged war, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? He banished from the land the male shrine prostitutes who remained from the days of his father Asa. And there was no king in Edom; a deputy served as king. Jehoshaphat built ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they never set sail, because they were wrecked at Ezion-geber. At that time Ahaziah son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, "Let my servants sail with your servants," but Jehoshaphat refused. And Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the city of his father David. And his son Jehoram reigned in his place. In the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat's reign over Judah, Ahaziah son of Ahab became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria two years.
Significance
These are parallel regnal summaries for Jehoshaphat. Both record his positive evaluation, his failure to remove the high places, and his death and burial in the City of David. Both note the failed maritime venture at Ezion-geber. However, the Chronicler adds that Jehoshaphat's ships were wrecked because he "made an alliance with Ahaziah" of Israel (2 Chr 20:35-37), interpreting the maritime disaster as divine judgment for an improper alliance — a detail absent from the Kings account, which simply reports the ships' destruction. This reflects the Chronicler's consistent interest in showing immediate divine response to covenantal unfaithfulness.
- Found via
- Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
- Reference Type
- Allusion
- Connection Method(s)
- Redemptive-Historical Progression — these parallel regnal summaries carry the earlier account forward with interpretive development: both record the Asa-like walk, the unremoved high places, and the wrecked ships at Ezion-geber (1 Kgs 22:43, 48; 2 Chr 20:32-33, 36-37), but where Kings simply reports the wreck, the Chronicler supplies Eliezer's prophecy that the LORD destroyed the works because of the alliance with Ahaziah (2 Chr 20:37), teaching the post-exilic community to read covenant consequence inside the same history.