2 Chronicles 20:36

And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish,.... Of which; see Gill on 1 Kings 22:48 , and though it is there said, 1 Kings 22:49 , that Jehoshaphat refused letting the servants of Ahaziah go with his, that was after he had been reproved for joining with him, and after the ships were broken: and they made the ships in Eziongeber; of which see Gill on 1 Kings 9:26.

20:31-37 Jehoshaphat kept close to the worship of God, and did what he could to keep his people close to it. But after God had done such great things for him, given him not only victory, but wealth; after this, to go and join himself with a wicked king, was very ungrateful. What could he expect but that God would be angry with him? Yet it seems, he took the warning; for when Ahaziah afterward pressed him to join him, he would not, 1Ki 22:49. Thus the alliance was broken, and the Divine rebuke had its effect, at least for a season. Let us be thankful for any losses which may have prevented the loss of our immortal souls. Let us praise the Lord, who sought after us, and left us not to perish in our sins.

36 . ships to go to Tarshish ] In Kings, ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir: cp. 2 Chronicles 9:21 (= 1 Kings 10:22 ), note. In both passages the reading of Kings, “ships (or ‘navy’) of Tarshish,” i.e. large sea-going ships (cp. Psalm 48:7 ) is to be preferred, because (1) Ezion-geber was a port for vessels sailing eastward, while Tarshish was in the west, (2) gold, the object of the voyage (cp. 1 Kings 22:48 ), came from Ophir ( 2 Chronicles 8:18 ; 1 Kings 9:28 ; 1 Kings 10:11 ; Psalm 45:9 ). Tarshish ] Cp. 1 Chronicles 1:7 (note). Ezion - geber ] Cp. 2 Chronicles 8:17 (note).

Verse 36. - This verse tells us the object with which Jehoshaphat had joined himself with Ahaziah, and 1 Kings 22:49 tells us how at last, by a point-blank refusal to Ahaziah, he withdrew from the very brief commercial alliance after he had not merely been witnessed against by the Prophet Eliezer spoken of in our next verse, but more decisively witnessed against by the shattering of his ships. To go to Tarshish . This clause, even if the text is not corrupt, yet cannot mean what it seems to say; but in the word "to go" (Hebrew, לָלֶכֶת ) must mean, of the sort that were wont to go to Tarshish, i.e. that were used for the Tarshish trade. We are guided to some such explanation by 1 Kings 22:48 , where it is said the ships were "ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir" ( 1 Kings 10:22 ; 2 Chronicles 8:18 ). That the ships could not be to go to Tarshish is plain from the fact of the place, Ezion-geber ( 2 Chronicles 8:17, 18 ; 1 Kings 9:26 ), on the Red Sea, where they were built. Some, however, have suggested that some other Tarshish ( e.g. in the Gulf of Persia)than that of Spain ( Tartessus ) may conceivably be meant. The clear statement of the parallel saves the necessity of any such supposition, however. 2 Chronicles 20:36

After this - Jehoshaphat's history had been formally completed 2 Chronicles 20:34 . Consequently we can lay no stress on the note of time contained in the words "after this," which are detached from the context to which they originally referred. On the history 2 Chronicles 20:35-37 , see marginal references and notes.

(36) And he joined himself with him. —Literally, and he joined him with himself, an expression only occurring here. To make ships to go to Tarshish.—In 1Kings 22:48-49, we read: “Jehoshaphat made ships (i.e., a fleet) of Tarshish, to go to Ophir for gold; and it went not; for the ships were broken (i.e., wrecked) in Ezion-geber. Then said Ahaziah the son of Ahab unto Jehoshaphat, Let my servants go with thy servants in the ships; and Jehoshaphat consented not.” There is no mention of a previous alliance and partnership in the ship-building with Ahaziah. Moreover, the expression of our text, “ships to go to Tarshish,” appears to be an erroneous paraphrase of “ships of Tarshish,” or “Tarshish-men,” as we might say; a phrase which really means, vessels built for long sea-voyages. According to Kings, the ships were built “to go to Ophir for gold;” in other words, to renew Solomon’s traffic with India from the port on the Red Sea. And they made the ships in Ezion-gaber.—The Edomite port at the head of the Gulf of Akaba. If Tarshish means the Phoenician Tartessus in Spain, the fleet could only go thither by doubling the Cape, or crossing the Isthmus of Suez. Therefore some have supposed another Tarshish somewhere in the Persian Gulf or on the north-west coast of India. (See on 2Chronicles 9:21.)

35-37. after this did Jehoshaphat … join himself with Ahaziah … to make ships—A combined fleet was built at Ezion-geber, the destination of which was to voyage to Tartessus, but it was wrecked. Jehoshaphat's motive for entering into this partnership was to secure a free passage through Israel, for the vessels were to be conveyed across the Isthmus of Suez, and to sail to the west of Europe from one of the ports of Palestine on the Mediterranean. Eliezer, a prophet, denounced this unholy alliance, and foretold, as divine judgment, the total wreck of the whole fleet. The consequence was, that although Jehoshaphat broke off—in obedience to the divine will—his league with Ahaziah, he formed a new scheme of a merchant fleet, and Ahaziah wished to be admitted a partner [1Ki 22:48]. The proposal of the Israelitish king was respectfully declined [1Ki 22:49]. The destination of this new fleet was to Ophir, because the Israelitish seaports were not accessible to him for the Tartessus trade; but the ships, when just off the docks, were wrecked in the rocky creek of Ezion-geber.

Concluding notes on Jehoshaphat's reign, which are found also in 1 Kings 22:41-51 , where they, supplemented by some notes ( 1 Kings 22:45 , 1 Kings 22:48 , and 1 Kings 22:49 ) which are wanting in the Chronicle, form the whole account of his reign. In the statements as to Jehoshaphat's age at his accession, and the length and character of his reign, both accounts agree, except that the author of the Chronicle has, instead of the stereotyped formula, "and the people still sacrificed and offered incense upon the high places," a remark more significant of the state of affairs: "and the people had not yet determinedly turned their heart to the God of their fathers" ( 2 Chronicles 20:33 ). The notice that Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel ( 1 Kings 22:45 ) is not found in the Chronicle, because that would, as a matter of course, follow from Jehoshaphat's having joined affinity with the royal house of Ahab, and had been already sufficiently attested by the narrative in 2 Chronicles 18 , and is so still further by the undertaking spoken of in 2 Chronicles 20:35 . For the same reason, the clause introduced in 1 Kings 22:46 about the valiant acts and the wars of Jehoshaphat is omitted in the Chronicle, as these acts have been specially narrated here. As to Jehu's speeches, which were put into the book of Kings, see the Introduction.

Further, the remark on the driving out of the remaining Sodomites (קדשׁ) from the land, 1 Kings 22:47 , which refers back to 1 Kings 15:12 , is wanting here, because this speciality is not mentioned in the case of Asa. Finally, the remark that Edom had no king, but only a viceroy or deputy, serves in 1 Kings 22:48 only as an introduction to the succeeding account of Jehoshaphat's attempt to open up anew the sea traffic with Ophir. But on that subject the author of the Chronicle only recounts in 2 Chronicles 20:35-37 that Jehoshaphat allied himself with the godless Ahaziah the king of Israel to build in Ezion-gaber ships to go to Tarshish, was censured for it by the prophet Eliezer, who announced to him that Jahve would destroy his work, and that thereupon the ships were broken, doubtless by a storm, and so could not go upon the voyage. אהרי־כן does not definitely fix the time (cf. 2 Chronicles 20:1 ), but only states that the alliance with Ahaziah took place after the victory over the Ammonites and Moabites. Ahaziah ascended the throne in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat, and reigned scarcely two years, and the enterprise under discussion falls in that period. אתחבּר is an Aramaic form for התחבּר. The last clause of v. 38, "he did wickedly," Bertheau refers to Jehoshaphat: he did wrong; because the context shows that these words are intended to contain a censure on Jehoshaphat for his connection with the king of the northern kingdom.