1. some of the Ammonites] Read, some of the Meunim. They were an Arabian people whose name seems to be preserved in that of Ma‘īn, an Edomitic village (south-east of Petra) on the pilgrim route between Damascus and Mecca. The LXX. here, as also in xxvi. 7; 1 Chronicles iv. 41, has Μειναῖοι (Μιναῖοι), and probably intended thereby the Minaeans, a people who established a powerful kingdom in South Arabia (see the note on 1 Chronicles iv. 41).
²Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea from Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazon-tamar (the same is En-gedi).
2. from Syria] So also LXX., but undoubtedly the correct reading is from Edom. Confusion of two letters of almost identical shape in Hebrew (a ר for a ד) accounts for the difference.
Hazazon-tamar] Genesis xiv. 7. The name seems to describe the place as stony and as containing palm-trees. It is in fact an oasis.
the same is En-gedi] Compare G. A. Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land as quoted above, and Bädeker, Palestine⁵, p. 171. En-gedi is on the west coast of the Dead Sea at a point where a rugged pass leads up into the hill country of Judah.
³And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek unto the Lord; and he proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. ⁴And Judah gathered themselves together, to seek help of the Lord: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.
3. proclaimed a fast] A fast involved the assembling of the people; 1 Kings xxi. 9, 12; Jeremiah xxxvi. 6, 9; Joel ii. 15. Special fasts were proclaimed for war, famine, or any other calamity or serious event.
5–13 (no parallel in Kings).
The Prayer of Jehoshaphat.
This prayer should be compared with Solomon’s (vi. 14 ff.).
⁵And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court;