Jim Gallagher

2 Chronicles 17:1

“​Then Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place, and strengthened himself against Israel.”

Sometimes, when reading our way through the Bible, we come across phrases that don’t seem to make sense. This is one of those times. In this text we find the king of Judah, a man reigning over the nation God chose to be a light to the whole world, strengthening himself against Israel. He is building defenses, not against the nations around him, but against the northern tribes who had the same call as he did. Instead of reading that the twelve tribes developed a unified front to reach the world with the message of God, we find Judah had to build defenses against the attacks from Israel.

Sadly, this was not a one time occurrence. Paul’s ministry was plagued with attacks from those claiming to follow Christ. They targeted his character, his audience…