Concise Bible Dictionary:
1. Son and successor of Asa king of Judah, B.C. 914 to 891. He sought God, walked in the “first” ways of David, and took away the high places and groves out of Judah. God established the kingdom in his hand, and the fear of the Lord fell upon the kingdoms around. God gave him peace, and the Philistines and the Arabians brought him presents. He increased in riches, and was strengthened greatly. He not only feared the Lord himself, but he sent Levites and priests throughout all Judah, to teach the people (2 Chron. 17:1-12). He erred, however, in making alliance with idolatrous Israel, and in allowing his son to marry Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. He went with Ahab to war against Ramoth-gilead, and nearly lost his life, but God delivered him (1 Kings 22; 2 Chron. 18). He was rebuked by Jehu the seer, who said, “Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord? Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord.” Then he sought the Lord, and set his heart to bring all his people to fear the Lord (2 Chron. 19).
After this, the men of Moab and of Ammon, a great multitude, came against Jehoshaphat. He turned to the Lord, proclaimed a fast, and prayed for help in the house of the Lord, where the Lord had set His name, pleading that He was their God, who had given the land to the seed of Abraham His friend, pleading also His response to the prayer of Solomon. He was at once assured by a prophet that the battle was not theirs, but God’s, whose name they had invoked: they should see the salvation of the Lord. Jehoshaphat and all the people fell down and worshipped the Lord, and the next morning they marched toward the enemy singing. They had no need to fight, for the enemy destroyed one another, and there was much spoil. Praise was given to Jehovah. Subsequently the king, forgetting what was due to the name of the Lord, associated himself with the wicked Ahaziah king of Israel in sending ships to Tarshish. This action was condemned by the prophet Eliezer, and his ships were wrecked (2 Chron. 20). He is called JOSAPHAT in Matthew 1:8.
In Jehoshaphat there was a heart true to Jehovah, and a desire to bring his subjects to the true worship of God, but his history was marred by his inconsistently allying himself with the ungodly and idolatrous kings of Israel. The faithfulness of the Lord in chastening Jehoshaphat is very marked, and in not allowing him to be in a false position which practically denied the name of the Lord.
2. Son of Ahilud, and recorder to David and Solomon (2 Sam. 8:16; 2 Sam. 20:24; 1 Kings 4:3; 1 Chron. 18:15).
3. Son of Paruah, and a commissariat officer of Solomon (1 Kings 4:17).
4. Son of Nimshi, and father of king Jehu (2 Kings 9:2,14).
5. Priest who assisted in bringing up the ark (1 Chron. 15:24).
Potts’ Bible Proper Names:
Jehovah―judged:―name of six Israelites; also a valley near Jerusalem [JOSAPHAT], 2 Sam. 8:16. {Dominus iudicavit}