Jehoshaphat (; alternatively spelled Jehosaphat, Josaphat, or Yehoshafat; ; el, Ἰωσαφάτ, Iosafát; la, Josaphat), according to 1 Kings 22:41, was the son of
Asa, and the fourth king of the
Kingdom of Judah
The Kingdom of Judah ( he, , ''Yəhūdā''; akk, 𒅀𒌑𒁕𒀀𒀀 ''Ya'údâ'' 'ia-ú-da-a-a'' arc, 𐤁𐤉𐤕𐤃𐤅𐤃 ''Bēyt Dāwīḏ'', " House of David") was an Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. ...
, in succession to his father. His children included
Jehoram, who succeeded him as king. His mother was
Azubah. Historically, his name has sometimes been connected with the
Valley of Josaphat.
Reign
2 Chronicles chapters 17 to 21 are devoted to the reign of Jehoshaphat. 1 Kings 15:24 mentions him as successor to Asa, and 1 Kings 22:1-50 summarizes the events of his life. The
Jerusalem Bible
''The Jerusalem Bible'' (JB or TJB) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd. As a Catholic Bible, it includes 73 books: the 39 books shared with the Hebrew Bible, along with the seven deuterocanonical ...
states that "
the Chronicler
The Chronicler is the author, or group of authors, to whom biblical scholars have attributed the composition of the Books of Chronicles, the Book of Ezra, and the Book of Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;[type
Type may refer to:
Science and technology Computing
* Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc.
* Data type, collection of values used for computations.
* File type
* TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file.
* Ty ...]
of the peaceful, Jehoshaphat of the strong king". According to these passages, Jehoshaphat ascended the throne at the age of thirty-five and reigned for twenty-five years. He "walked in the ways" of his father or ancestor,
King David. He spent the first years of his reign fortifying his kingdom against
the Kingdom of Israel. His zeal in suppressing the idolatrous worship of the "high places" is commended in 2 Chronicles 17:6.
[Driscoll, James F.]
"Josaphat"
''The Catholic Encyclopedia''. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910, accessed 8 January 2014
In the third year of his reign, Jehoshaphat sent out priests and
Levite
Levites (or Levi) (, he, ''Lǝvīyyīm'') are Jewish males who claim patrilineal descent from the Tribe of Levi. The Tribe of Levi descended from Levi, the third son of Jacob and Leah. The surname ''Halevi'', which consists of the Hebrew d ...
s over the land to instruct the people in the
Law, an activity which was commanded for a
Sabbatical year in Deuteronomy 31:10-13 (taking place in Jerusalem). Later reforms in Judah instituted by Jehoshaphat appear to have included further religious reforms, appointment of judges throughout the cities of Judah and a form of "court of appeal" in Jerusalem. Ecclesiastical and secular jurisdictions, according to 2 Chronicles 19:11, were by royal command kept distinct.
[Hirsch, E. G. (1906)]
Jehoshaphat
Jewish Encyclopedia
The author of the
Books of Chronicles
The Book of Chronicles ( he, דִּבְרֵי־הַיָּמִים ) is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third sec ...
generally praises his reign, stating that the kingdom enjoyed a great measure of peace and prosperity, the blessing of God resting on the people "in their basket and their store".
Alliances
Jehoshaphat also pursued alliances with the kingdom of Israel in the North. Jehoshaphat's son
Jehoram married
Athaliah, daughter of king
Ahab
Ahab (; akk, 𒀀𒄩𒀊𒁍 ''Aḫâbbu'' 'a-ḫa-ab-bu'' grc-koi, Ἀχαάβ ''Achaáb''; la, Achab) was the seventh king of Israel, the son and successor of King Omri and the husband of Jezebel of Sidon, according to the Hebrew Bible. ...
of Israel.
In the eighteenth year of his reign Jehosaphat visited Ahab in
Samaria
Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first ...
, and nearly lost his life accompanying his ally to the siege of
Ramoth-Gilead. While Jehoshaphat safely returned from this battle, he was reproached by the prophet
Jehu, son of
Hanani, about this alliance.
We are told that Jehoshaphat repented, and returned to his former course of opposition to all
idolatry, and promoting the worship of God and in the government of his people.
Later it appears that Jehoshaphat entered into an alliance with
Ahaziah of Israel, for the purpose of carrying on maritime commerce with
Ophir. He subsequently joined
Jehoram of Israel in a war against the
Moabites, who were under tribute to Israel. The Moabites were subdued, but seeing
Mesha's act of offering his own son (and singular heir) as a
propitiatory human sacrifice
Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherei ...
on the walls of
Kir of Moab filled Israel with horror, and they withdrew and returned to their own land.
Victory over Moabite alliance
According to ''Chronicles'', the Moabites formed a great and powerful confederacy with the surrounding nations, and marched against Jehoshaphat. The allied forces were encamped at
Ein Gedi. The king and his people were filled with alarm. The king prayed in the court of
the Temple, "O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do; but our eyes are upon you." The voice of
Jahaziel the
Levite
Levites (or Levi) (, he, ''Lǝvīyyīm'') are Jewish males who claim patrilineal descent from the Tribe of Levi. The Tribe of Levi descended from Levi, the third son of Jacob and Leah. The surname ''Halevi'', which consists of the Hebrew d ...
was heard announcing that the next day all this great host would be overthrown. So it was, for they quarreled among themselves, and slew one another, leaving to the people of Judah only to gather the rich spoils of the slain. Soon after this victory Jehoshaphat died after a reign of twenty-five years at the age of sixty. According to some sources (such as the eleventh-century Jewish commentator
Rashi
Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compr ...
), he actually died two years later, but gave up his throne earlier for unknown reasons. As with his father Asa, a bonfire was lit in his honor.
He also had the ambition to emulate Solomon's maritime ventures to Ophir, and built a large vessel for Tarshish. But when this boat was wrecked at Ezion-Geber he relinquished the project.
In I Kings xxii. 43 the piety of Jehoshaphat is briefly dwelt on. Chronicles, in keeping with its tendency, elaborates this trait of the king's character. According to its report, Jehoshaphat organized a missionary movement by sending out his officers, the priests, and the Levites to instruct the people throughout the land in the Law of YHWH, the king himself delivering sermons.
Underlying this ascription to the king of the purpose to carry out the Priestly Code, is the historical fact that Jehoshaphat took heed to organize the administration of justice on a solid foundation, and was an honest worshiper of Yhwh. In connection with this the statement that Jehoshaphat expelled the "Ḳedeshim" (R. V. "Sodomites") from the land (1 Kings 22:46) is characteristic; while 2 Chron. 19:3 credits him with having cut down the Asherot. The report that he took away the "high places" (and the Asherim) conflicts with 1 Kings 22:44 (A. V. v. 43) and 2 Chron. 20:33. The account of Jehoshaphat's tremendous army (1,160,000 men) and the rich tribute received from (among others) the Philistines and the Arabs is not historical. It is in harmony with the theory worked out in Chronicles that pious monarchs have always been the mightiest and most prosperous.
Rabbinic literature
The question that puzzled
Heinrich Ewald
Georg Heinrich August Ewald (16 November 18034 May 1875) was a German orientalist, Protestant theologian, and Biblical exegete. He studied at the University of Göttingen. In 1827 he became extraordinary professor there, in 1831 ordinary professo ...
and others, "Where was the
brazen serpent
In the biblical Books of Kings ( 2 Kings 18:4; written c. 550 BC), the Nehushtan (Hebrew: ''Nəḥuštān'' ) is the name given to the bronze image of a serpent on a pole. The image is described in the Book of Numbers, where Yahweh instructed M ...
till the time of
Hezekiah
Hezekiah (; hbo, , Ḥīzqīyyahū), or Ezekias); grc, Ἐζεκίας 'Ezekías; la, Ezechias; also transliterated as or ; meaning "Yah shall strengthen" (born , sole ruler ), was the son of Ahaz and the 13th king of Judah according to th ...
?" occupied the Talmudists also. They answered it in a very simple way: Asa and Joshaphat, when clearing away the idols, purposely left the brazen serpent behind, in order that Hezekiah might also be able to do a praiseworthy deed in breaking it.
Chronological notes
William F. Albright estimated the reign of Jehoshaphat to 873–849 BCE.
Edwin R. Thiele
Edwin R. Thiele (10 September 1895 – 15 April 1986) was an American Seventh-day Adventist missionary in China, an editor, archaeologist, writer, and Old Testament professor. He is best known for his chronological studies of the kingdoms of Ju ...
held that he became coregent with his father
Asa in Asa's 39th year, 872/871 BCE, the year Asa was infected with a severe disease in his feet, and then became sole regent when Asa died of the disease in 870/869 BCE, his own death occurring in 848/847 BCE. So Jehoshaphat's dates are taken as one year earlier: co-regency beginning in 873/871, sole reign commencing in 871/870, and death in 849/848 BCE.
The calendars for reckoning the years of kings in Judah and Israel were offset by six months, that of
Judah starting in Tishri (in the fall) and that of
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
in Nisan (in the spring). Cross-synchronizations between the two kingdoms therefore often allow narrowing of the beginning and/or ending dates of a king to within a six-month range. For Jehoshaphat, the Scriptural data allow the narrowing of the beginning of his sole reign to some time between Tishri 1 of 871 BCE and the day before Nisan 1 of 870 BCE. For calculation purposes, this should be taken as the
Judean year beginning in Tishri of 871/870 BCE. His death occurred at some time between Nisan 1 of 848 BCE and Tishri 1 of that same year.
In popular culture
The king's name in the
oath
Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to g ...
''jumping Jehosaphat'' was likely popularized by the name's utility as a
euphemism
A euphemism () is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive or suggests something unpleasant. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes ...
for
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...
and
Jehovah. The phrase, spelled "Jumpin' Geehosofat", is first recorded in the 1865-1866 novel ''
The Headless Horseman'' by the Irish-American novelist
Thomas Mayne Reid. The novel also uses "Geehosofat", standing alone, as an exclamation. The longer version "By the shaking, jumping ghost of Jehosaphat" is seen in the 1865 novel ''Paul Peabody'' by the English journalist
Percy Bolingbroke St John.
Another theory is that the reference is to Joel 3:11-12,
[''Bible'' ] where the
prophet Joel says, speaking of the judgment of the dead, "Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about."
In the 1956
Warner Brothers
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...
Merrie Melodies
''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animation, animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. starting in 1931, during the golden age of American animation, and ending in 1969. Then some new cartoons were produced from the late 197 ...
theatrical cartoon short, ''
Yankee Dood It,'' based on the
fairy tale of
The Elves and the Shoemaker, Jehosephat figures prominently as an invocation to turn elves into mice. On the TV series ''
Car 54, Where Are You?
''Car 54, Where Are You?'' is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 1961 to April 1963. Filmed in black and white, the series starred Joe E. Ross as Gunther Toody and Fred Gwynne as Francis Muldoon, two mismatched New York City p ...
'', the character Francis Muldoon cited his partner's frequent use of the phrase "Jumpin' Jehosephat!" as a source of annoyance in the episode entitled "Change Your Partners". The televised ''
Batman
Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book '' Detective Comics'' on March 30, 1939 ...
'' live-action program of the 1960s also featured
Robin
Robin may refer to:
Animals
* Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae
* Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), including:
**European robin (''Erithacus rubecula'')
**Bush-robin
**Forest rob ...
, played by
Burt Ward, uttering the phrase as an emphatic exclamation, and it was also incorporated into the talking alarm clock alarms voiced again by Burt Ward in 1974 in the "talking Batman & Robin alarm clock" made by Janex.
'Jehoshaphat!' was the standard curse-word used by
Elijah Baley, protagonist of the first three science-fiction novels of
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov ( ; 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and ...
's
''Robot'' series.
Another reference comes in Keno
Don Rosa
Keno Don Hugo Rosa (), known simply as Don Rosa (born June 29, 1951), is an American comic book writer and illustrator known for his Disney comics stories about Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck, and other characters which Carl Barks created for ...
's ''The Invader of Fort Duckburg'', a Scrooge McDuck ''Life and Times'' story. Theodore
"Teddy" Roosevelt exclaims 'Great Jumping Jehoshaphat!!' when confronted with
Scrooge McDuck
Scrooge McDuck is a cartoon character created in 1947 by Carl Barks for The Walt Disney Company. Appearing in Disney comics, Scrooge is a Scottish-American anthropomorphic Pekin duck. Like his nephew Donald Duck, he has a yellow-orange bil ...
's illegal occupation of the fictitious Fort Duckburg, also in Disney’s 1963 animated film “The Sword in the Stone” Merlin uses “Jehoshaphat” to express alarm and annoyance. Furthermore, in Disney’s 1977 animated film “The Rescuers” Bernard explains “Jehoshaphat!” during the bayou chase scene.
Rapper
MF Doom
Daniel Dumile ( ; July 13, 1971October 31, 2020), best known by his stage name MF Doom or simply Doom (both stylized in all caps), was a British-American rapper and record producer. Noted for his intricate wordplay, signature metal mask, and ...
used the phrase "Jumpin' Jehosephat!" in his song "I Hear Voices", featured on the 2001 re-release of his 1999 debut album ''
Operation: Doomsday''.
References
Attribution:
*
External links
Genealogy of the House of David- Jehoshaphat, King of Judah
{{IsraeliteKings
9th-century BC Kings of Judah
10th-century BC births
840s BC deaths
9th-century BC biblical rulers