Same Kings, Different Takes

2 Chronicles 19-20

            Here’s a weird thing: in Kings, Jehoshaphat is introduced in 1 Kings 15:24; we read the story of his alliance with Ahab in 1 Kings 22; and his story wraps up with 10 verses at the end of chapter 22. In Chronicles, his story occupies chapters 17 to 20. Further in Chronicles Elijah, who is ministering about the time of Jehoshaphat, is mentioned once, in passing (2 Chronicles 21:12), and Elisha is never mentioned. Israel’s great prophets are hardly mentioned in Chronicles, and we learn a great deal about a rather obscure but mostly faithful king. It has to do with the purposes of the two books. The author of Kings wants to explain the exile. His question is, “Why did the Lord cast us away?” So, he focuses on the rampant idolatry of Ahab, the prophetic challenge to that idolatry, and the stain on Jehoshaphat for dabbling in that idolatry. The author of Chronicles wants to demonstrate that the Lord is still with Israel after the exile, so he focuses on the faithfulness of the Davidic kings, the times they trusted the Lord, and the Lord’s faithfulness to them. He even shifts the blame: in Kings, the kings should have removed the high places and they are criticized for not doing it (cf. 1 Kings 22:43). In Chronicles, the kings often try to remove the high places, and they instruct the people in the ways of the Lord (1 Chronicles 19:10), but it is the people whose hearts turn away (2 Chronicles 20:33). Same kings; very different takes.

           Maybe the lesson is simple: people are complex; their motivations are mixed up; and their actions can seem inconsistent. The same king can be described in unflattering ways and in flattering ways. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that we are called on to judge slowly, because our temptation is to see only the good or only the bad in a person and we should strive to see the whole person…