Reading – 1 Kings 20-22

Highlight Verse:

“Jehoshaphat was a good king, following the example of his father, Asa. He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight. During his reign, however, he failed to remove all the pagan shrines, and the people still offered sacrifices and burned incense there. Jehoshaphat also made peace with the king of Israel.”
‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭22‬:‭43‬-‭44‬ ‭NLT‬‬

It’s almost amusing how different the account of Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, is here compared to Chronicles.

Here it’s like “Jehoshaphat was good, not the best, but good.”

And the account is overshadowed by the story of Ahab of Israel and terrible things he did.

Chronicles extols Jehoshaphat as an awesome king and goes on and on about his good works.

Why the difference?

The books of Samuel and Kings were written during the exile. As such, they emphasized why the people of Judah and Israel were exiled. They spent far more time emphasizing the shortfalls that led to the exile than on the good things done by the kings.

Chronicles was written after the exile to encourage people to a deeper faith as the Israelites found themselves entering a time of revival.

The differences do not represent errors in facts but different perspectives and emphasis.

For this reason, if you want to learn from the actions of a particular king such as Jehoshaphat,

it is best to read both accounts of his life, remembering the perspectives of each writer.

Of the kings we’ve read about so far, which one interests you the most?
Why?