Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Chronicles 17:3

"And Jehovah was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto the Baalim," — 2 Chronicles 17:3 (ASV)

He walked in the first ways. —The former or earlier ways of David, as contrasted with his later conduct—a tacit allusion to the adultery with Bathsheba and other sins of David committed in his later years (2 Samuel 11–24). A few manuscripts and the Septuagint omit David.

And sought not to Baalim. — And sought not the Baals (dârash lĕ, a late construction). The Baals were different local aspects of the sun-god. Here the term no doubt includes the illegal worship of Jehovah under the form of a bullock, as instituted by Jeroboam, and practised in the northern kingdom (the doing of Israel 2 Chronicles 17:4). Syriac, and prayed not to images.