IOSAPHAT
IOSAPHAT (873–849 BC), the fourth king of Judah after the schism. Asa (v.), he ascended the throne at the age of 35 and reigned for 25 years in Jerusalem, of which 3 were in common with his aged father and the rest alone. The Bible presents him as a pious and zealous Yahwist, a valiant ruler, and an excellent statesman, though not always fortunate in his undertakings. His deeds are recounted in 1 Kings 22, 2 Kings 3, and more extensively in 2 Chronicles 17–20.
Following the best examples of his father, he zealously promoted the worship of Yahweh, uprooting abuses and superstitions that had crept in under his predecessors. He effectively fostered religious instruction among the people, and in the third year of his reign, when he began to rule alone, he established a college of catechists—a kind of traveling mission (consisting of two priests, seven Levites, and five laymen)—tasked with instructing the people with the Book of the Law in hand throughout the cities of Judah (2 Chron. 17:7–9). He himself traversed the entire land from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim, summoning the people to a more fervent practice of religion (2 Chron. 19:4). He removed from the land the *qēdhēšim* or prostitutes (idolatrous priests engaged in shameful rites), who had long infested the land and whom his father Asa had not fully succeeded in removing (2 Kings 22:47). He also strove to abolish “the high places,” scattered throughout the kingdom and tolerated before the Temple’s construction, and “the Asherah poles,” objects of idolatrous worship dedicated to the Canaanite goddess Asherah; yet he did not fully succeed, at least not with regard to the so-called *bāmōth* (2 Kings 22:44; 2 Chron. 20:33—the people continued to sacrifice and burn incense there). This, however, does not diminish the merit of the pious king.
Moreover, I. appointed governors and prefects in the principal cities (2 Chron. 17:2) and refined the judicial system, issuing wise regulations for the administration of justice. In addition to the minor courts in each city, he established two superior courts in Jerusalem: one for religious cases under the high priest Amariah, the other for civil cases, headed by Zebadiah son of Ishmael, one of the leading men of the kingdom (2 Chron. 19:4–11). In reward for such zeal, the Lord granted prosperity and stability to his kingdom (ibid., 17:5) and won him respect among neighboring nations; indeed, some Philistine cities and Arab tribes paid him tribute (2 Chron. 17:10–11).
Even in relation to the kingdom of Israel, I. held an advantage, at least in the early years (ibid., 17:1). He imposed his authority over the Edomites with a governor of his own appointment (1 Kings 22:48), though only briefly. He fortified strongholds throughout the land; he even conceived the idea, as Solomon had done before him, of dispatching a fleet of “ships of Tarshish” (i.e., long-distance vessels) to load gold from Ophir, but the enterprise failed when the ships were wrecked at Ezion-geber (1 Kings 22:49). I. made peace and alliance with King Ahab of Israel, sealing it with the marriage of his son Jehoram (v.) to Athaliah, daughter of Ahab—a IEHU (v.) son of Hanani strongly reproached him for (2 Chron. 19:2; cf. 20:37). This alliance not only gradually reduced the king of Judah to a position of inferiority vis-à-vis the king of Israel but, worse still, exposed his kingdom and family to the baleful influences of the house of Ahab, as seen during the reign of his son Jehoram and even more under the despotic tyranny of Athaliah (cf. 2 Kings 8:16–18; 11). Together with King Ahab, against the advice of the prophet Micaiah son of Imlah, he took part in the war to retake Ramoth-gilead; Ahab lost his life there, and I. only by divine aid returned unharmed to Jerusalem (2 Chron. 18–19:3). He also joined the king of Israel in the campaign against King Mesha of Moab (2 Kings 3), but the expedition ended in retreat (v. JEHORAM). I. was more fortunate when acting alone: 2 Chronicles 20 recounts a great victory over the Ammonites, who, together with some Arab and Edomite tribes (called Maonites from Maon, on the borders of Edom), perhaps encouraged by the revolt of the Moabites, had invaded Judah’s territory. In this instance, his piety and the power of divine assistance shone forth. Overall, I. was one of the best kings of Judah, and his reign, with few exceptions, was among the most prosperous and happy.
ICONOGRAPHY. — In the basilica of SS. John and Paul in Rome, King I. was depicted slaughtering Israel’s enemies; the scene is lost, but the epigraphic collections of Lorsch and Cambridge preserve the distich that illustrated the representation from the time of Pope Symmachus (498–514; cf. G. B. De Rossi, *Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae*, II, I, Rome 1888, p. 150; A. Silvagni, *La silloge epigrafica di Cambridge*, in *Riv. di arch. cris.*, 20 [1943], p. 91).