M. Lahav, "Jehoshaphat's Judicial Reform", in Yaacov Gil Jubilee volume, ed. Y. Hocherman et al (Jerusalem: Rubin Mass, 1979), 141-148.

The author discusses the judicial reforms instituted by Jehoshaphat as described in 2 Chron. 19:4-11: the appointment of local judges, the establishment of a centralized court system with a High Court and the demand for absolute justice. Analysis of biblical material and an Egyptian parallel leads to the conclusion that this reform is the first of its type in ancient Israel which may be deemed historically factual. Accounts of earlier judicial measures taken by David and Moses are not historically trustworthy; they are rather literary reflections of the idea of the king as a wise judge. (B.S.J.)