The army of King Jehoshaphat (2 Chr 17:13-17:19)

“King Jehoshaphat built fortresses and storage cities in Judah. He carried out great works in the cities of Judah. He had soldiers, mighty warriors in Jerusalem. This was the muster of them by ancestral houses. The commanders of thousands in Judah were Adnah the commander, with three hundred thousand mighty warriors. Next to him was Jehohanan the commander, with two hundred and eighty thousand. Next to him was Amasiah son of Zichri, a volunteer for the service of Yahweh, with two hundred thousand mighty warriors. From Benjamin, Eliada was a mighty warrior with two hundred thousand men armed with bow and shield. Next to him was Jehozabad with a hundred and eighty thousand armed for war. These were in the service of the king, besides those whom the king had placed in the fortified cities throughout all Judah.”

King Jehoshaphat built fortresses around the cities of Judah. He developed storage cities like King Solomon. However, he had a large army of over a million men. Each commander had a large group of people under their command. They were divided into the troops of Judah and Benjamin. Judah had 3 commanders, Adnah with 300,000 men, Jehohanan with 280,000 men, and Amasiah with 200,000 men. In Benjamin, Eliada had 200,000 men while Jehozabad had 180,000 men. That meant that his army had over 1,160,000 men. What a large army? This is twice the size of the army of his father, who only had a half million men. In fact, there were others that were in the fortified cities in Judah. This was clearly a military state. This is the only mention of these commanders, Adnah, Jehohanan, Amasiah, and Eliada, with a few mentions of other people with the same name of Jehozabad. There is no other mention of these leaders and their troops elsewhere in the biblical literature.