And of Benjamin, Eliada, a mighty man of valour,.... Was the chief commander: and with armed men with bow and shield two hundred thousand; which were the armour of the tribe of Benjamin they were best skilled in, 2 Chronicles 14:8.
And next to him, was Jehozabad,.... According to the Targum he encamped next him: and with him one hundred and fourscore thousand ready prepared for war; being able bodied men, well disciplined, valiant, and well armed; these numbers of Judah and Benjamin put together amount to 1,160,000 men, whereas Asa only brought into the field 580,000; but it...
These waited on the king,.... Not this vast number of men at one time, but in course, as David's military men waited on him, 1 Chronicles 27:1 or each of these captains, with a proper number of men under them detached from the body; and they were all ready to obey the king's orders whenever he should have occasion for them: besides those whom the...
Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance,.... Still more and more, see 2 Chronicles 17:5, and which moved Ahab to desire friendship and affinity with him, to which Jehoshaphat agreed: and joined affinity with Ahab; king of Israel, married his son Joram to Athaliah, a daughter of Ahab by Jezebel of Zidon; which marriage proved of bad...
The story of this chapter we had just as it is here related in the story of the reign of Ahab king of Israel, 1 Kings xxii. There it looks more creditable to Ahab than any thing else recorded of him that he was in league with so good a man as Jehoshaphat; here it is a great blemish in the reign of Jehoshaphat that he thus connected himself with so...
And after certain years,.... Two years, according to the Syriac and Arabic versions, or in the third year after the affinity was contracted, see 1 Kings 22:2, he went down to Ahab to Samaria; to pay him a visit upon the alliance, civil and matrimonial, contracted between them: and Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance, and for the people...