2 Chronicles 17:2

“And he placed forces in all the fenced cities of Judah, etc.] A considerable number of soldiers, to defend them should they be attacked: and set garrisons in the land of Judah: on the frontiers and borders of it, to protect it: and in the cities of Ephraim; soldiers to keep garrison there: which Asa his father had taken; (see <141508>2 Chronicles 15:8).”

“placed forces: Ch2 11:11, Ch2 11:12 in the cities: Ch2 15:8 2 Chronicles 17:3”

“He placed forces (חיל) in all the fenced cities of Judah, and garrisons (נציבים, military posts; cf. Ch1 11:16) in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim, which is father Asa had taken; cf. Ch2 15:8. God blessed these undertakings. Jahve was with him, because he walked in the ways of David his ancestor, the former ways, and sought not the Baals. The former ways of David are his ways in the earlier years of his reign, in contrast to the later years, in which his adultery with Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11) and the sin of numbering the people (1 Chron 21) fall. הבּעלים are all false gods, in contrast to Jahve, the one God of Israel; and here the word designates not only the Baal-worship…”