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2 Chronicles 17 Bible study: Teachers in every city
In the third year of his reign Jehoshaphat sent princes, with Levites and priests, through all the cities of Judah, "having the book of the LORD’s law with them" (17:9). 1 Kings' account of his reign doesn't tell it, and the Hebrew verb for teach there, lamad, comes in 2 Chronicles only in this chapter.
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“They taught in Judah, having the book of the LORD’s law with them. They went about throughout all the cities of Judah and taught among the people.”
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“2 Chronicles 17:7 says Jehoshaphat sent his princes to teach in the cities of Judah.”
Is that in 2 Chronicles 17, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
He sought the God of his father
"Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place, and strengthened himself against Israel" (17:1). The chapter gives the reason the LORD was with him: "The LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and didn’t seek the Baals" (17:3), "but sought the God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not in the ways of Israel" (17:4) (tap seek). In Hebrew seek and sought are one verb, darash: the same seeking, with the Baals on one side and the God of his father on the other. Then: "Therefore the LORD established the kingdom in his hand" (17:5). 1 Kings says of him, "He walked in all the way of Asa his father" (1 Kings 22:43), and 2 Chronicles later says, "He walked in the way of Asa his father" (20:32). Here the way named is "the first ways of his father David" (17:3).
Where it leads to Jesus
Teaching in all the cities
2 Chronicles 17:9leads toMatthew 9:35
Jehoshaphat's princes, Levites and priests "taught in Judah, having the book of the LORD’s law with them. They went about throughout all the cities of Judah and taught among the people" (17:9). Matthew says, "Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people" (Matthew 9:35). Matthew doesn't cite 2 Chronicles 17, and no link between the Hebrew and Greek words is claimed, so setting the two side by side is a reading, resting on what both passages tell: teaching that went through all the cities, among the people. Some see in Jesus going about all the cities the work Jehoshaphat sent his teachers to do, now done by Jesus himself. Others read Matthew 9:35 in its own setting, where Jesus also preaches "the Good News of the Kingdom" and heals (Matthew 9:35), and 2 Chronicles 17 as a king's work in Judah, and draw no line from one to the other.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about 2 Chronicles 17
That was a taste
The rest of 2 Chronicles 17 is waiting in Favor
- Teachers in the cities of Judah
- No war against Jehoshaphat
- A king and the book
- Mighty men of valor
- 8 questions as you read
- 10 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it
דָּרַשׁdarashsay da-RASH
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "resort to, seek", and among its uses, "seek deity in prayer and worship". The chapter uses it both ways in two verses: Jehoshaphat "didn’t seek the Baals" (17:3), "but sought the God of his father" (17:4). 2 Chronicles comes back to it again and again (the Hebrew of the book has it 30 times). His father Asa had "commanded Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers" (14:4). In the next chapter Jehoshaphat says to the king of Israel, "Please inquire first for the LORD’s word" (18:4), and inquire is the same verb; and Jehu the son of Hanani tells him he has "set your heart to seek God" (19:3).
For your group
2 Chronicles 17 Bible study questions
- 1Jehoshaphat "didn’t seek the Baals" (17:3), "but sought the God of his father" (17:4). What else competes for your seeking, and what would seeking God first look like this week?
- 2The teachers "went about throughout all the cities of Judah and taught among the people" (17:9). Who first taught you God's word, and who might you pass it on to?
- 3Amasiah "willingly offered himself to the LORD" (17:16). What would offering yourself willingly to God look like in an ordinary week?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads 2 Chronicles 17 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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