Statues of Josaphat and Ezechias on the Monastery of El Escorial.

Jehoshaphat (pronounced /dʒəˈhɒʃəfæt/, alternately spelled Jehosaphat, Josaphat, or Yehoshafat; Hebrew: יְהוֹשָׁפָט, Modern Yehoshafat Tiberian Yəhôšāp̄āṭ ; " Jehovah has judged"; Greek: Ἰωσαφάτ; Latin: Josaphat) was the fourth king of the The Kingdom of Judah, and successor of his father Asa.^[1] His children included Jehoram, who succeeded him as king. His mother was Azubah^[2] Historically, his name has sometimes been connected with the Valley of Jehosaphat,^[3] where, according to Joel 3:2, the god of Israel will gather all nations for judgment.

Reign[link]

Jehoshaphat took the throne at the age of thirty-five and reigned for twenty-five years.^[2] William F. Albright has dated the reign of Jehoshaphat to 873 – 849 BC. E. R. Thiele held that he became coregent with his father Asa in Asa's thirty-ninth year, 872/871 BC, the year Asa was afflicted with a severe disease in his feet, and then became sole regent when Asa died of the disease in 870/869 BC, his own death occurring in 848/847 BC.^[4] Thiele's chronology for the first kings of Judah contained an internal inconsistency that later scholars corrected by dating these kings one year earlier, so that Jehoshaphat's dates are taken as one year earlier in the present article: coregency beginning in 873/871, sole reign commencing in 871/870, and death in 849/848 BC.

Jehoshaphat spent the first years of his reign fortifying his kingdom against Israel (2 Chronicles 17:1-2). The Bible lauds the king for overcoming sexual corruption (1 Kings 22:47), and for destroying the cult images or "idols" of Baal in the land.^{[citation needed]} In the third year of his reign Jehoshaphat sent out priests and Levites over the land to instruct the people in the Law (2 Chronicles 17:7-9), an activity that was commanded for a Sabbatical year in Deuteronomy 31:10-13. The author of 2 Chronicles generally praises his reign, stating that the kingdom enjoyed a great measure of peace and prosperity, the blessing of God resting on the people "in their basket and their store."

Alliances[link]

Jehoshaphat also pursued alliances with his contemporaries ruling the northern kingdom, the first being with Ahab, which was based on marriage: Jehoshaphat married his son Jehoram to Athaliah, daughter of Ahab (2 Kings 8:18). This alliance led to much disgrace, and brought disaster on his kingdom (1 Kings 22:1-33) with the Battle of Ramoth-Gilead. While Jehoshaphat safely returned from this battle, he was confronted by the prophet Jehu, son of Hanani, (2 Chronicles 19:1-3) about this alliance. We are told that Jehoshaphat repented, and returned to his former course of opposition to all idolatry, and promoting the worship of God and in the government of his people (2 Chronicles 19:4-11).

Again he entered into an alliance with Ahaziah, the king of Israel, for the purpose of carrying on maritime commerce with Ophir. But the fleet that was then equipped at Ezion-Gever was immediately wrecked. A new fleet was fitted out without the cooperation of the king of Israel, and although it was successful, the trade was not prosecuted (2 Chronicles 20:35-37; 1 Kings 22:48-49).

He subsequently joined Jehoram, king of Israel, in a war against the Moabites, who were under tribute to Israel. This war was successful. The Moabites were subdued, but seeing Mesha's act of offering his own son in a human sacrifice on the walls of Kir-haresheth filled Jehoshaphat with horror, and he withdrew and returned to his own land (Kings%203:4-27&verse=HE&src=! 2 Kings 3:4-27 HE).

Victory over Moabite alliance[link]

Triumph of Jehosaphat over Adad of Syria. Illustration by Jean Fouquet (1470s) for Flavius Josephus's Jewish Antiquities.

The last notable event of his reign occurred when the Moabites formed a great and powerful confederacy with the surrounding nations, and marched against Jehoshaphat (2 Chr. 20). The allied forces were encamped at Ein Gedi. The king and his people were filled with alarm, and betook themselves to God in prayer. The king prayed in the court of the temple, "O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do; but our eyes are upon you." Amid the silence that followed, the voice of Jahaziel the Levite was heard announcing that the next day all this great host would be overthrown. So it was, for they quarreled among themselves, and slew one another, leaving to the people of Judah only to gather the rich spoils of the slain. This was recognized as a great deliverance wrought for them by God. Soon after this victory Jehoshaphat died after a reign of twenty-five years at the age of sixty (1 Kings 22:50). According to some sources (such as the Jewish commentator Rashi) he actually died two years later, but gave up his throne earlier for unknown reasons.

Chronological notes[link]

The calendars for reckoning the years of kings in Judah and Israel were offset by six months, that of Judah starting in Tishri (in the fall) and that of Israel in Nisan (in the spring). Cross-synchronizations between the two kingdoms therefore often allow narrowing of the beginning and/or ending dates of a king to within a six-month range. For Jehoshaphat, the Scriptural data allow the narrowing of the beginning of his sole reign to some time between Tishri 1 of 871 BC and the day before Nisan 1 of the 870 BC. For calculation purposes, this should be taken as the Judean year beginning in Tishri of 871/870 BC, or more simply 871 BC. His death occurred at some time between Nisan 1 of 848 BC and Tishri 1 of that same BC year, i.e. in the Judean regnal year 849/848 BC, which for calculation purposes can be taken as 849 BC. These dates are one year earlier than those given in the third edition of Thiele's Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, thereby correcting an internal consistency that Thiele never resolved, as explained in the Rehoboam article.

Popular culture[link]

The king's name in the oath jumping Jehosaphat was likely popularized by the name's utility as a euphemism for Jesus and Jehovah. The phrase is first recorded in the 1866 novel The Headless Horseman by Thomas Mayne Reid.^[5] The longer version "By the shaking, jumping ghost of Jehosaphat" is seen in the 1865 novel Paul Peabody by Percy Bolingbroke St. John.^[6]

Another theory is that the reference is to Joel 3:11-12, where the prophet Joel says, speaking of the judgment of the dead:

Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.

Jehosaphat is one of the "mighty ones" who has come down to judge the wakened heathens (or he is one of the wakened himself, thus, a "ghost".)

Jehosaphat is used repeatedly as an expletive by Elijah Baley in Isaac Asimov's Robot series.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jewish Encyclopedia: "Jehoshaphat"

Max Romeo
Background information
Birth name	Maxwell Livingston Smith
Also known as	Adulfus Dulfile, Maxie Smith, The Son of Selassie[1]
Born	(1947-11-22) 22 November 1947 (age 64)
Origin	St. D'Acre, St. James, Jamaica
Genres	Reggae, roots reggae
Years active	1966–present
Associated acts	The Upsetters

Max Romeo (born Maxwell Livingston Smith, 22 November 1947, St. D'Acre, St. James, Jamaica^[2]) is a reggae and roots reggae recording artist who has achieved chart success in his home country, and in the UK. Romeo was responsible for launching a new sub-genre of reggae with overtly suggestive lyrics. At the time of release of his infamous "Wet Dream," Romeo had already had several hits with the vocal trio the Emotions. Romeo established himself as one of the most important figures in the roots scene.^[3]

Career[link]

Romeo left home at the age of 14 and worked on a sugar plantation outside Clarendon, cleaning out irrigation ditches, before winning a local talent competition when he was 18. This prompted a move to the capital, Kingston, in order to achieve a successful musical career.^[2][3]

In 1965 he joined up with Kenneth Knight and Lloyd Shakespeare in The Emotions, whilst also working as a record plugger for Ken Lack's Caltone label.^[2] The group were unsuccessful in auditions for other producers, but Lack offered them an audition after overhearing Smith singing to himself as he worked one day.^[2] In 1966, the group had their first hit, with the Lack-produced, "(Buy You) A Rainbow".^[3] The Emotions went on to have several hit singles and by 1968, the singer, by this point known as Max Romeo, felt confident enough to launch a solo career. Working with producer Bunny Lee, the young star recorded a number of pop songs, mainly love ballads, but they failed to be popular and so he returned to The Emotions, now recording for Phil Pratt.^[2][3] During this time he began work as a sales representative for Bunny Lee and did some recording with The Hippy Boys, which would later became The Upsetters.

Later on in 1968, Romeo wrote new lyrics for the rhythm track of Derrick Morgan's "Hold You Jack" and handed them over to Lee. Morgan, who was due to add his vocals to the track, ultimately gave it a miss, as did several other vocalists (including John Holt and Slim Smith), leading the producer to turn to Romeo to sing the lyrics he had written. The result, "Wet Dream" (1969), was an instant hit in Jamaica, although in the UK it was met with a BBC Radio ban, despite Romeo's somewhat-disingenuous claim that the song was actually about a roof that has a leak. Made more popular by the ban the single entered the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 10 and ultimately spending almost six months in the chart^[4] before featuring on his LP, A Dream (1969), which included several follow-up singles in a similar vein, such as "Mini Skirt Version", "Fish in the Pot", "Belly Woman", and "Wine Her Goosie".^[2] A UK tour also met with Romeo being banned from performing at several venues, although many allowed him to play, the singer staying in the UK for eighteen months.^[2]

In 1970, Romeo returned to Jamaica and set-up Romax, an unsuccessful record label and sound system.^[3] Following which, he recorded several singles, mainly with old producer Bunny Lee, before going on to work a host of other producers including Niney Holness. This was followed by a period of which saw the release of a series of politically charged singles, most advocating the democratic socialist People's National Party (PNP), which chose his song, "Let The Power Fall On I", as their campaign theme for the 1972 Jamaican general election. Romeo joined the PNP Musical Bandwagon, travelling around Jamaica, playing on the back of a truck.^[2] After this, Romeo recorded a number of religious songs, until he worked with producer Lee "Scratch" Perry, producing the classic singles "Three Blind Mice" (an adaptation of the nursery rhyme with lyrics about a police raid on a party), "Sipple Out Deh", and "I Chase the Devil". A remixed version of "Sipple Out Deh", entitled "War Ina Babylon", was another popular track in the UK, the first fruits of his deal with Island Records, and was followed by an album of the same name, and a follow-up single "One Step Forward".^[5] Shortly after this the pair fell out, leaving Romeo to self-produce his follow-up album, Reconstruction, which could not match the success of its predecessor.^[3][6] Perry's animosity towards Romeo was demonstrated by his single "White Belly Rat", with Perry also writing the word "Judas" over a photograph of Romeo on the wall of his Black Ark studio.^[2]

Romeo moved to New York City in 1978, where he co-wrote (with Hair producer Michael Butler) the musical Reggae, which he also starred in.^[2] In 1980 he appeared as a backing vocalist on "Dance" on The Rolling Stones album Emotional Rescue. In 1981, the favour was returned when Keith Richards (of The Rolling Stones) co-produced and played on Romeo's album Holding Out My Love to You.^[3] The rest of his output during the decade went practically unnoticed, with Romeo finding work at a New York electronics store. He returned to Jamaica in 1990, and began touring and recording more regularly.

He visited the UK again in 1992, recording the albums Far I Captain of My Ship and Our Rights with Jah Shaka.^[2] In 1995 he recorded Cross of the Gun with Tappa Zukie, and he joined up with UK rhythm section/production team Mafia & Fluxy in 1999 for the album Selassie I Forever.^[2]

Romeo's music has been sampled by other artists. The Prodigy sampled his track "I Chase the Devil" for their 1992 UK Top Ten hit "Out of Space". Kanye West has also used samples from it to produce Jay-Z's hit song "Lucifer", which appeared on Jay-Z's 2003 release, The Black Album.

"I Chase the Devil" is featured on the reggae radio station K-JAH Radio West in a popular videogame Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, released in October 2004. Romeo's single "Sipple Out Deh" appeared in John Peel's Record Box.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• A Dream (1969) Pama
• Let The Power Fall (1971) Dynamic
• Revelation Time (1975) Tropical Sound Tracs
• War Ina Babylon (1976) Island
• Reconstruction (1979) Island/Dynamic
• Rondos (1980) King Kong
• Holding Out My Love to You (1981) Shanachie
• I Love My Music (1982) Solid Groove
• One Horse Race (1985), Island in the Sun
• Transition (1989) Rohit
• Fari - Captain of My Ship (1992) Jah Shaka
• Our Rights (1992) Jah Shaka
• Cross or the Gun (1995) Tappa Zukie
• Selassie I Forever (1999) Mafia & Fluxy
• Love Message (1999) Warriors
• Something is Wrong (1999) Warriors
• In This Time (2001) 3D (Max Romeo & Tribu Acustica)
• Pocomania Songs (2007) Ariwa Sounds

Compilation albums[link]

• Max Romeo Meets Owen Gray At King Tubby's Studio (1984) Culture Press (with Owen Gray)
• Max Romeo and the Upsetters (1989)
• Wet Dream (1993) Crocodisc
• McCabee Version (1995) Sonic Sounds
• Open The Iron Gate (1999) Blood & Fire
• The Many Moods of Max Romeo (1999) Jamaican Gold
• Pray For Me: The Best of Max Romeo 1967-73 (2000) Trojan Records
• Perilous Times (2000) Charmax
• On The Beach (2001) Culture Press
• The Coming of Jah (2002) Trojan
• Ultimate Collection (2003) (compiled by David Katz)
• Holy Zion (2003) Burning Bush
• Wet Dream: The Best of Max Romeo (2004) Trojan
• Crazy World of Dub (2005) Jamaican Recordings
• Max Romeo Sings Hits of Bob Marley (2006), Jet Star

See also[link]

• List of reggae musicians
• List of roots reggae artists
• Island Records discography
• Pama Records

References[link]

External links[link]

• Max Romeo biography at Allmusic website