Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 20:1
It came to pass after this also, [that] the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them [other] beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.
1. other beside the Ammonites ] Render, some of the Meunim (2Ch 26:7; 1Ch 4:41, R.V.). In all three places LXX. has ( ). They were an Arabian people whose name seems to be preserved in that of Ma‘n, a village (south-east of Petra) on the pilgrim route between Damascus and Mecca. Bdeker, p. 144. The Minaeans have been supposed to be a very ancient people, but the only dated inscription coming from them with which we are acquainted belongs to the reign of one of the Ptolemies and cannot be earlier than circ. 300 b.c.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ch. 2Ch 20:1-4 (no parallel in Kings). The Invasion of the Moabites and their Allies
For a discussion of the historical probabilities of the following account see Introduction, 8, and G. A. Smith, Hist. Geography, pp. 272, 3.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The present Hebrew (and English) text mentions the Ammonites twice over. Hence, some adopt a different reading and translate the children of Ammon, and with them certain of the Maonites, etc. Compare 2Ch 20:10, note; Jdg 10:12, note; 1Ch 4:41, note.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Ch 20:1
It came to pass.
It came to pass
It came to pass. The phrase occurs again and again in the Old Testament. It came to pass after four hundred and thirty years that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt, and, It came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took the harp and played with his hand, and so on. But has it ever occurred to you that the phrase is a very suitable one as describing the different events of earthly history and the varied phases of earthly experience? It hints not only that they happen, but that they are so soon over; they come, but they come to pass. We do not always realise that, but it is always true. We are not conscious that the earth is moving round the sun, or that it is revolving daily on its axis, yet it is true. Summer and winter, day and night, do not cease, there is perpetual movement.
I. All that comes to us here comes to pass, nothing lasts very long, weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. It is true a Christian has an abiding joy, it is joy that springs from an inward life, but joys that are ours through happy circumstances, through successes, recoveries, attainments, meetings, of these it is as true as of their opposites that give us trouble, they come to pass. Each period of life comes to pass. Childhood, how swiftly gone! Soon the soft limbs grow robust, the hair loses its flaxen tint; and youth, with its gaiety, novelty, and romance, it comes so quickly, but it comes to pass. And, of course, this is equally true of all that we mean by the word opportunity. Thomas a Kempis says, The wealth of both Indies cannot redeem one single opportunity which you have once let slip. Every day as it passes takes with it in its hand the opportunities that we have slighted and refused to take. The feeling of irritation that you have under trying circumstances. Things have not gone as you wish. Things do go strangely sometimes. So much disappointment and trouble are caused by one screw being loose somewhere. Well, the thing has come, but remember, like everything else, it has come to pass. Or it may be something much more serious than that. A reversal of fortune, the failure or death of one who, if not the sharer in your hearts affections was one whose presence and favour were of great value to you. That great crisis of yours came, but it came to pass. God guided you into the wilderness that He might speak comfortably to you. The stormy night full of terrors brought the vision and the morning. But some may be reminding the speaker in the silence of their own thought, there are sorrows in life that come to stay. Yes, you may say, it is the greater griefs, the darker dispensations, that come but do not come to pass. In proportion to the depth of the wound is its permanency. And yet, even in regard to the greater sorrows that come to us in life there is an example of that which the text expresses. Wounds heal, though the marks of them abide, and though in some cases, like Jacob after the night of wrestling, we halt upon our thigh, there is an assuaging influence in time; the intense grief, the sense of despair, the feeling that all has gone, that life has no recuperative power, and that there is nothing worth living for–of these feelings it is true they come, but they come to pass. Is not this equally true of very opposite experiences? Though successes and the honours of the world may remain, yet the first feeling of elation and pride of attainment, these come to pass. We get accustomed to success, it ceases to exhilarate, it no longer gives us satisfaction.
II. Now having given, I trust, sufficient illustrations of this phase of life, of the constant flux of transitory things–they come, but they come to pass–let us consider its religious significance. What does it teach us, how should it affect us?
1. What an emphasis it lends to the fact of our own continuance, the continuity of the personal life through all the changes of time! How much has come to pass! Youth, marriage, parentage, maturity, the successive seasons and steps in life, have come to pass. Friends, and even the nearest and dearest of all, have come to pass. We ourselves have changed. There is not a physical atom of our bodies that belonged to us ten years ago; the gait, the expression, all have changed. But all that makes the continuity of the I, the fundamental elements of our humanity, the more striking. I am the same being that long years ago first spoke Gods name at my mothers knee; the same being as when health gave vigour to the limbs and youth fresh beauty to the cheek; the same being who, once a prodigal son far from God, rioting in pleasure, then miserable in the consciousness of spiritual pauperism, came back unto the Father. The essence, the very constitution of man, is within, it is hidden, it is that which abides. Surely then there is nothing unreasonable in the faith that I may survive the last change of all? The world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
2. Then should not the fact that most, if not all, things only come to pass have a moderating influence on passion? The things in life which we most regret are moments when we lose control of ourselves. Said Johnson to Boswell, when something had intensely irritated that inimitable biographer, Consider, sir, how insignificant this will appear six months hence. Boswells comment on relating it is, Were this consideration applied to most of the little vexations of life by which ones quiet is too often disturbed, it would prevent many painful sensations. Exactly. There is a great argument for temperance in this text. It came to pass.
3. Surely, too, this should affect our judgment as well as our feelings. Permanency must be a factor in judgment. Should it not guide us to choose and cherish the good that abides, the better part that cannot be taken away from us? Character is an abiding thing; the evil effects as well as the good effects are lasting, but the pleasure only comes to pass; no one can enjoy the pleasures of sin more than for a season, but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. Surely, too, this should affect our judgment of movements of thought and taste, schemes that men devise for benefiting the race, will they last? Are they only a passing phase, a fashionable craze, a novelty, attractive because it is new? Here they are, they have come; wait a little, and you will see that they have only come to pass. The Word of God abides, the Christ the Sun of Righteousness is still the sun of the moral world. The Bible has been attacked ever since there was a Bible. (R. Baldwin Brindley.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XX
The Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites, invade Judah, 1, 2.
Jehoshaphat proclaims a fast, and gathers the people together
to seek the Lord, 3, 4.
His prayer to God, 5-12.
Great and small, male and female, seek the Lord, 13.
Jahaziel predicts the downfall of their enemies, 14-17.
The king, the Levites, and the people take courage; praise and
magnify God; and go forth to meet their enemies, 18-21.
The enemies are confounded, and destroy each other, 22-24.
The men of Judah take the spoil, praise the Lord, and return
with joy to Jerusalem, 25-28.
The fear of the Lord falls upon all their enemies round about;
and the land has rest, 29, 30.
Transactions and character of Jehoshaphat, 31-34.
He joins with Ahaziah, king of Israel, in building a fleet of
ships to go to Tarshish, but they are wrecked at Ezion-geber,
35-37.
NOTES ON CHAP. XX
Verse 1. Children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites] Here there must be a mistake; surely the Ammonites are the same as the children of Ammon. Our translators have falsified the text by inserting the words “other beside,” which have nothing properly to represent them in the Hebrew. Literally translated, the words are: “And it happened after this, the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them of the Ammonites:” and thus the Vulgate. The Syriac, which the Arabic follows, has felt the difficulty, and translated, Came together with warlike men to fight, c. The Septuagint have given it another turn: ‘ , And with them people of the Minaites which were a people of Arabia Felix near the Red Sea. The Targum has Ve-immehon min Edomaey, “And with them some of the Edomites.” This is very likely to be the true reading, as we find from 2Ch 20:10; 2Ch 20:22-23, that they procured men from Mount Seir; and these were the Idumeans or Edomites. We should, in my opinion, read the text thus: The children of Moab, and the children of common, and with them some of the Edomites.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Other beside the Ammonites, to wit, the people that dwelt in Mount Seir, who were now confederate with them, as appears from 2Ch 20:10,22,23. Or this is the name of a peculiar people, called either Mehumin, of whom you read 2Ch 26:7 (and so there is only a transposition of two letters in the Hebrew word, which is not unusual in that language); or Minoceans, as the LXX. interpreters render this word; or Ammonium, or Mehaammonim, as it is in the Hebrew, (the two first letters being not prefixes, as they are commonly made, but part of the word or proper name of that people,) who, as it may seem, now dwelt in Mount Seir, being either of the old stock of the Edomites, or another nation since come in their stead or mixed with them. Others render the place thus, for (as the Hebrew vau is oft taken) with them (i.e. with the Moabites) were the Ammonites, or children of Ammon; which may be distinctly noted, either to show the largeness of the confederacy, in which not only the Moabites were engaged, who dwelt near Jehoshaphats kingdom, but the Ammonites also, who lived at a greater distance from him; or to intimate that the Ammonites being possibly instigated by the Syrians, their next neighbours, were the first beginners and chief promoters of the war, and engaged both the Moabites and the inhabitants of Mount Seir in their quarrel.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. the children of Moab . . . Ammon,and with them other beside the Ammonitessupposed to be ratherthe name of a certain people called Mohammonim or Mehunim (2Ch26:7), who dwelt in Mount Seireither a branch of the oldEdomite race or a separate tribe who were settled there.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
It came to pass after this also,…. After Jehoshaphat’s return from Ramothgilead, and putting the civil and religious affairs of his people on a better footing, when he might have expected much peace and prosperity:
that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon; both the descendants of Lot, see Ps 83:8,
and with them other besides the Ammonites; a great company of Arabians, according to Josephus r; or “with the Meamonites”, which the Targum understands of the Idumaeans or Edomites; and so do other interpreters, and which they conclude from 2Ch 20:10. Jarchi thinks the Amalekites are meant, who were of the race of Edom; but the notion of Kimchi seems best, that these are the people that are so called from the name of a place, Meon, and, by an inversion of letters, the same with the Meunim or Maonites, mentioned along with the Zidonians and Amalekites, Jud 10:12 and whom the Septuagint version here calls Minaeans; some s take them to be such who counterfeited the Ammonites in their apparel and gestures:
these came against Jehoshaphat in battle; being instigated perhaps by the Syrians, who owed him ill will for assisting Ahab against them at Ramothgilead; for from that quarter they came, as the following verse shows.
r Antiqu. l. 9. c. 1. sect. 2. s Weemse of the Moral Law, l. 2. c. 6. p. 161.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
By , postea , the war which follows is made to fall in the latter part of Jehoshaphat’s reign, but certainly not in the last year in which he reigned alone, two years before his death, but only somewhat later than the events in 2 Chron 18 and 2Ch 19:1-11, which occurred six or seven years before his death. Along with the Moabites and Ammonites there marched against Jehoshaphat also . This statement is obscure. Since has unquestionably a partitive or local signification, we might take the word to signify, enemies who dwelt aside from the Ammonites ( as in 1Sa 20:22, 1Sa 20:37), which might possibly be the designation of tribes in the Syro-Arabic desert bordering upon the country of the Ammonites on the north and east; and in 2Ch 20:2 would seem to favour this idea. But 2Ch 20:10 and 2Ch 20:22. are scarcely reconcilable with this interpretation, since there, besides or along with the sons of Ammon and Moab, inhabitants of Mount Seir are named as enemies who had invaded Judah. Now the Edomites dwelt on Mount Seir; but had the Edomites only been allies of the Ammonites and Moabites, we should expect simply or , or (cf. 2Ch 25:11, 2Ch 25:14). Nor can it be denied that the interpretation which makes to denote peoples dwelling beyond the Ammonites is somewhat artificial and far-fetched. Under these circumstances, the alteration proposed by Hiller in Onomast. p. 285 commends itself, viz., the change of into , Maunites or Maonites, – a tribe whose headquarters were the city Maan in the neighbourhood of Petra, to the east of the Wady Musa; see on 1Ch 4:41. Maan lay upon Mount Seir, i.e., in the mountainous district to the west of the Arabah, which stretches upwards from the head of the Dead Sea to the Elanitic Gulf, now called Jebl (Gebalene) in its northern part, and es-Sherah in the south. The Maunites were consequently inhabitants of Mount Seir, and are here mentioned instead of the Edomites, as being a people dwelling on the southern side of the mountain, and probably of non-Edomitic origin, in order to express the idea that not merely the Edomites took part in the campaign of the Ammonites and Moabites, but also tribes from all parts of Mount Seir. In 2Ch 26:7 the are mentioned along with Arabs and Philistines as enemies of Israel, who had been conquered by Uzziah. These circumstances favour the proposed alteration; while, on the contrary, the fact that the lxx have here for proves little, since these translators have rendered in 2Ch 26:8 also by , there erroneously making the Ammonites Minaiites.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Jehoshaphat’s Prayer to God. | B. C. 892. |
1 It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. 2 Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazon-tamar, which is En-gedi. 3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4 And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD. 5 And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, 6 And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? 7 Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever? 8 And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, 9 If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help. 10 And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not; 11 Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit. 12 O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee. 13 And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.
We left Jehoshaphat, in the foregoing chapter, well employed in reforming his kingdom and providing for the due administration of justice and support of religion in it, and expected nothing but to hear of the peace and prosperity of his reign; but here we have him in distress, which distress, however, was followed by such a glorious deliverance as was an abundant recompence for his piety. If we meet with trouble in the way of duty, we may believe it is that God may have an opportunity of showing us so much the more of his marvellous loving-kindness. We have here,
I. A formidable invasion of Jehoshaphat’s kingdom by the Moabites, and Ammonites, and their auxiliaries, v. 1. Jehoshaphat was surprised with the intelligence of it when the enemy had already entered his country, v. 2. What pretence they had to quarrel with Jehoshaphat does not appear; they are said to come from beyond the sea, meaning the Dead Sea, where Sodom had stood. It should seem, they marched through those of the ten tribes that lay beyond Jordan, and they gave them passage through their borders; so ungrateful were they to Jehoshaphat, who had lately put his hand to help them in recovering Ramoth-Gilead. Several nations joined in this confederacy, but especially the children of Lot, whom the rest helped, Ps. lxxxiii. 6-8. The neighbouring nations had feared Jehoshaphat (ch. xvii. 10), but perhaps his affinity with Ahab had lessened him in their esteem, and they had some intimation that his God was displeased with him for it, which they fancied would give them an opportunity to make a prey of his kingdom.
II. The preparation Jehoshaphat made against the invaders. No mention is made of his mustering his forces, which yet it is most probable he did, for God must be trusted in the use of means. But his great care was to obtain the favour of God, and secure him on his side, which perhaps he was the more solicitous about because he had been lately told that there was wrath upon him from before the Lord, ch. xix. 2. But he is of the mind of his father David. If we must be corrected, yet let us not fall into the hands of man. 1. He feared. Consciousness of guilt made him fear. Those that have least sin are the most sensible of it. The surprise added to the fright. Holy fear is a spur to prayer and preparation, Heb. xi. 7. 2. He set himself to seek the Lord, and, in the first place, to make him his friend. Those that would seek the Lord so as to find him, and to find favour with him, must set themselves to seek him, must do it with fixedness of thought, with sincerity of intention, and with the utmost vigour and resolution to continue seeking him. 3. He proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah, appointed a day of humiliation and prayer, that they might join together in confessing their sins and asking help of the Lord. Fasting from bodily refreshments, upon such extraordinary occasions, is a token of self-judging for the sins we have committed (we own ourselves unworthy of the bread we eat, and that God might justly withhold it from us), and of self-denial for the future; fasting for sin implies a resolution to fast from it, though it has been to us as a sweet morsel. Magistrates are to call their people to the duty of fasting and prayer upon such occasions, that it may be a national act, and so may obtain national mercies. 4. The people readily assembled out of all the cities of Judah in the court of the temple to join in prayer (v. 4), and they stood before the Lord, as beggars at his door, with their wives and children; they and their families were in danger, and therefore they bring their families with them to seek the Lord. “Lord, we are indeed a provoking people, that deserve to be abandoned to ruin; but here are little ones that are innocent, let not them perish in the storm.” Nineveh was spared for the sake of the little ones, Jonah iv. 11. The place they met in was the house of the Lord, before the new court, which was perhaps lately added to the former courts (that, as some think, which was called the court of the women); thus they came within reach of that gracious promise which God had made, in answer to Solomon’s prayer, ch. vii. 15. My ears shall be attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. 5. Jehoshaphat himself was the mouth of the congregation to God, and did not devolve the work upon his chaplains. Though the kings were forbidden to burn incense, they were allowed to pray and preach; as Solomon and Jehoshaphat here. The prayer Jehoshaphat prayed, upon this occasion, is here recorded, or part of it; and an excellent prayer it is. (1.) He acknowledges the sovereign dominion of the divine Providence, gives to God the glory of it and takes to himself the comfort of it (v. 6): “Art not thou God in heaven? No doubt thou art, which none of the gods of the heathen are; make it to appear then. Is not thy dominion, supreme over kingdoms themselves, and universal, over all kingdoms, even those of the heathen that know thee not? Control these heathen then; set bounds to their daring threatening insults. Is there not in thy hand the power and might which none is able to withstand? Lord, exert it on our behalf. Glorify thy own omnipotence.” (2.) He lays hold on their covenant-relation to God and interest in him. “Thou that art God in heaven art the God of our fathers (v. 6) and our God, v. 7. Whom should we seek to, whom should we trust to, for relief, but to the God we have chosen and served?” (3.) He shows the title they had to this good land they were now in possession of; an indisputable title it was: “Thou gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend. He was thy friend (this is referred to, James ii. 23, to show the honour of Abraham, that he was called the friend of God); we are his seed, and hope to be beloved for the father’s sake,” Rom 11:28; Deu 7:8; Deu 7:9. “We hold this land by grant from thee. Lord, maintain thy own grant, and warrant it against all unjust claims. Suffer us not to be cast out of they possession. We are tenants; thou art our landlord; wilt thou not hold thy own?” v. 11. Those that use what they have for God may comfortably hope that he will secure it to them. (4.) He makes mention of the sanctuary, the temple they had built for God’s name (v. 8), not as if that merited any thing at God’s hand, for of his own they gave him, but it was such a token of God’s favourable presence with them that they had promised themselves he would hear and help them when, in their distress, they cried to him before that house, 2Ch 20:8; 2Ch 20:9. “Lord, when it was built it was intended for the encouragement of our faith at such a time as this. Here thy name is; here we are. Lord, help us, for the glory of thy name.” (5.) He pleads the ingratitude and injustice of his enemies: “We are such as it will be thy glory to appear for; they are such as it will be thy glory to appear against; for, [1.] They ill requite our ancient kindnesses. Thou wouldst not let Israel invade them, nor give them any disturbance.” Deu 2:5; Deu 2:9; Deu 2:19, Meddle not with the Edomites, distress not the Moabites, come not nigh the children of Ammon, no not though they provoke you. “Yet now see how they invade us.” We may comfortably appear to God against those that render us evil for good. [2.] “They break in upon our ancient rights. They come to cast us out of our possessions, and seize our land for themselves. O! our God, wilt thou not judge them? v. 12. Wilt thou not give sentence against them, and execute it upon them?” The justice of God is the refuge of those that are wronged. (6.) He professes his entire dependence upon God for deliverance. Though he had a great army on foot, and well disciplined; yet he said, “We have no might against this great company, none without thee, none that we can expect any thing from without thy special presence and blessing, none to boast of, none to trust to; but our eyes are upon thee. We rely upon thee, and from thee is all our expectation. The disease seems desperate: we know not what to do, are quite at a loss, in a great strait. But this is a sovereign remedy, our eyes are upon thee, an eye of acknowledgment and humble submission, an eye of faith and entire dependence, an eye of desire and hearty prayer, an eye of hope and patient expectation. In thee, O God! do we put our trust; our souls wait on thee.“
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
2Ch 20:1
Second Chronicles – Chapter 20
Enemies Threaten – Verses 1-12
Though Jehoshaphat was blessed of the Lord in escaping an invasion of the Syrians, there were other enemies who seized the advantage to attack him. They raised a huge army and invaded from the southern, wilderness lands, and were well within the kingdom’s bounds before they were discovered. They represented peoples beyond the eastern and southeastern boundaries of Israel, extending northward to the land of Syria. Foremost among them were the people of Moab and Ammon, descendants of Lot. Verse 10 also notes that many came from Mount Seir, the land of Edom, or Esau’s descendants. When news of the invading forces reached Jehoshaphat they had already advanced to Hazazon-tamar This is the ancient name of En-gedi, used in the days of Abraham (see Gen 14:7). En-gedi was about half the distance up the western coast of the Dead Sea.
Jehoshaphat was dismayed and fearful at the news. This massive force was already upon him, and he had no physical might to withstand them. The great armies he had raised and equipped (2Ch 17:12-19) had evidently disintegrated through the unwise campaign of defeat with Ahab at Ramoth-gilead. The king knew that Judah’s only hope was in the Lord, whom he now sought diligently. He proclaimed a fast throughout Judah and called for a gathering of the people of the cities to come together and seek the Lord. They met in Jerusalem at the temple, and Jehoshaphat addressed them with an appeal by public prayer to the Lord.
King Jehoshaphat first glorified God as the God of their fathers,
God in heaven, Ruler in the kingdoms of the heathen (such as those’ threatening him). God was lauded as of such power and might that none was able to withstand Him. From this praise the king continued to accredit the Lord as He who delivered the land into the hands of Israel, the ;d of Abraham, God’s friend (cf. Isa 41:8; Jas 2:23). As proof of god’s gift of the land to Israel Jehoshaphat cited the situation of the temple, God’s dwelling place, among them.
Jehoshaphat recalled the dedicatory prayer of Solomon wherein he had asked the Lord to hear the prayers, from this sanctuary, of His people in distress (2Ch 6:12 ff) and God had confirmed it (2Ch 7:1-3). They were now faced with just the circumstances for which Solomon had asked the Lord to intervene on behalf of His repentant people. These kindred nations of Moab, Ammon, and Edom bore a longtime enmity for Israel, but the Lord had given them lands and refused to allow Israel to molest them when they were coming out of Egypt (Num 20:14-21; De 2:4-5,9). So while the Lord was destroying all other nations before Israel, these were spared. Now they came to repay that goodness by driving Israel from the land the Lord had given them.
The king prayed humbly that the Lord would judge these enemies for Israel. He confessed that he had no physical power to resist them, and that all his hope was in God. He knew nothing more to do than turn to the Lord, but he relied wholly on the Lord, for, said he, “Our eyes are upon thee.” This is a wonderful lesson to God’s people at all times. When men’s abilities fail, they may look to the Lord and wait on Him with confidence.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES
IN discussing the First Book of Chronicles we called attention to the fact that according to Usshers chronology, the two Books, not reckoning the table of genealogy, covered a space of 468 years of history; the First Book only 41 of these, and this second, 427. As to the authorship of these Books, Ezra is commonly accepted.
The analysis of any book is largely the presentation of a personal view. One man divides this Second Book of Chronicles into two portions: The Reign of Solomon, chapters 1 to 9, and The Kings of Judah, chapters 10 to 36.
Scofield in his reference Bible, says of this Book: It falls into eighteen divisions, by reigns, from Solomon to the captivities; records the division of the kingdom of David under Jeroboam and Rehoboam, and is marked by an ever growing apostasy, broken temporarily by reformations under Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Hezekiah, and Josiah.
It is our purpose to follow neither of these divisions, however natural they may be, but to discuss the volume under three heads: Solomon and the Temple; Rehoboam and the Division, and the History of Judah.
SOLOMON AND THE TEMPLE
The Book opens with a declaration concerning the new king, And Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly (2Ch 1:1).
The history that follows gives occasion to say several things concerning this marvelous man of immortal reputation:
First, Solomons kingship enjoyed an auspicious beginning. The man who ascends the throne under the favor of the Lord necessarily begins a reign of promise. If, as in Solomons case, he sensibly recognizes his responsibility and seeks wisdom from the only sufficient source, he adds greater certainty to his success. When, in addition to this, his objectives are high and God-honoring, the glory of his kingdom advances accordingly. Certainly, Solomons preparation to build the temple was not only a noble objective, but one in line with his kingly fathers purpose and prayers, and the great Heavenly Fathers will for him.
The interesting history here of gathering materials and appointing men for this marvelous construction is made more interesting still by the kings personal supervision and spiritual interest. It takes some courage to conduct war, and we believe it takes almost more courage and even a clearer sense of God, to build sanctuaries, make their appointments according to the Divine pleasure, and call the people to worship within the spacious rooms of the same. Yet, when you have read but five chapters of this Book, you find such a work complete, and are not in the least amazed or even surprised to read, The glory of the Lord had filled the house of God (2Ch 5:14).
It is doubtful whether any company of men have done more for the establishment of spirituality in the earth and for the strengthening of the souls of their fellows, than have those who brought sanctuaries into existence and led congregations of people to a genuine worship of the most high God.
The on-going of this Book reveals Solomons conscious dependence. When the altar was erected he stood by it with outstretched hands (2Ch 6:12). That is the attitude of prayer and possibly of adoration. When his lips parted to speak, he says,
O Lord God of Israel, there is no God tike Thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest covenant, and shewest mercy unto Thy servants that walk before Thee with all their hearts:
Thou which hast kept with Thy servant David my father that which Thou hast promised him; and spakest with Thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with Thine hand, as it is this day.
Now therefore, O Lord God of Israel, keep with Thy servant David my father that which Thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in My sight to sit upon the throne of Israel; yet so that thy children take heed to their way to walk in My Law, as Thou hast walked before Me (2Ch 6:14-16).
Now then, O Lord God of Israel, let Thy Word be verified, which Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant David (2Ch 6:17).
Then follows an appeal that Gods eyes should be open upon their house day and night; that His ears should hearken to the prayers made in that place, and if sin were committed, that forgiveness should be granted, and if the people fail before the face of the enemy because of sin that they also should be pardoned; that if heaven be shut up on the same ground, upon repentance the dearth should end.
Then he concludes in a more personal petition to Him:
Then what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all Thy people Israel, when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house:
Then hear Thou from Heaven Thy dwelling place, and forgive (2Ch 6:29-30).
These are only samples of the long petition that followed the dedicatory sermon. They wind up with a sentence like this: O Lord God, turn not away the face of Thine anointed: remember the mercies of David Thy servant (2Ch 6:42). It is a model prayer; it is the petition of a sincere soul; it is the cry of one who knows that the mercy and love of God are the only grounds of hope.
The further text records Solomons fame and death. That fame was based upon Solomons wisdom, accentuated doubtless by the magnificence of the temple, but made more honorable still in the extent of his organization, the luxury of his court and the wealth of his treasury.
Evidently, among the rulers of the earth, the queen of Sheba held conspicuous place, and when the fame of Solomon reached her, she came to prove him with her questions, and impress him with her own riches and glory. The difficult questions were satisfactorily answered, the temple was adequately shown, the table of the king groaned with its good meats, the apparel of the servants was profoundly impressive, and the queen said to the king,
It was a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom:
Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for thou exceedest the fame that I heard.
Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, winch stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom.
Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, to be king for the Lord thy God (2Ch 9:5-8).
The compliment to the king is followed with a statement of Solomons annual income, the magnificence of his throne, the rich appointments of the palace, the extensive commercial importance of his kingdom, and the willing tributes of the earths lesser lords.
Then, as if the task of telling all was too great, we have this record,
Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the Prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat?
And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.
And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead (2Ch 9:29-31).
It is a surprising end, and yet strangely true to human history. How many men spend all their days in preparing to live, and when the preparation seems almost complete, proceed to die? The last enemy is no respecter of persons. His bow is drawn against the great as well as the humble, the rich as well as the poor, the wise as well as the ignorant. Death respects neither thrones nor kings; he holds the key to the palace room, and even to the throne room. Kings may command their humbler fellows, and even counsel their equals; but where death calls, they also obey.
REHOBOAM AND THE DIVISION
The emptying of a throne is forever fraught with perils. The eternal and pertinent question is this, Who shall come after the king? The tenth chapter answered that concerning the throne of Israel. The answer was an ill omen! Rehoboams tyrannical spirit split the kingdom. When Jeroboam and all Israel came to him, saying, Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore ease thou somewhat the grievous servitude of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve thee (2Ch 10:4), they delicately referred to the increased taxation to which the luxurious court and the personal orgies of Solomon had given rise. They thought, as people commonly do, that the new rule would prove the peoples friend. Their hope was in vain.
The old men, former counselors of Solomon, advised kindness and compassion; but the young bloods, spoiled by their fellowship with royalty, counseled increased oppression; and under their influence he said,
My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add thereto: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions (2Ch 10:14).
It was enough. The war was on; and that war has never ended until this day, for Israel and Judah are not yet one. A man who divides brethren and sets them to battle, little understands the infinite reach of his mischief. The father of Modernism in America, when he fell asleep at a comparatively early age, little dreamed that he had set influences to work that would divide every denomination on the continent, destroy the fellowship of men who loved one another as twins are commonly supposed to love, wreck schools and churches by the thousand, and start a war that may easily exceed the famous Hundred Year War of history.
Israel and Judahblood brothersbecame the bitterest of enemies. For some reason Second Chronicles pays little attention to Israel, but proceeds to trace Judahs history to the year of Cyrus, king of Persia, or through a period of almost a half millennium. The family feud occasionally projects itself into the record, but for the most part, Israel is forgotten, and the doings of Judah are recorded in detail.
The explanation of this is found in the circumstance that Jeroboam rejected the worship of Jehovah (2Ch 11:14-15). When God is once put away, when Gods priest is disposed of, and His minister is heard no more, then degeneracy compels a declining record.
Unitarianism three quarters of a century ago denied the Lord. Its history has amounted to little; and if it were recorded, it would simply prove, as the Jeroboam movement, a breeding place of apostasy; and yet this record regards not one apostasy only, but two.
The man of many favors may forget God.
When Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the Law of the Lord, and all Israel with him (2Ch 12:1).
What a sad commentary on the uncertainty and unstability of human nature! The explanation of Rehoboams failure has fitted thousands, yea millions of cases. He did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord (2Ch 12:14). Of all disappointments, none exceed thisto begin well and end badly; to give promise and create disappointment; to be the subject of Divine favor, and become the slave of Gods adversary.
THE HISTORY OF JUDAH
Chapters 11 to 36 contain the roster of kings. The fortunes of the country answer accurately and inevitably to the characters of their rulers. On the whole, the history is a down-grade. In that respect, it runs true to form. The doctrine of evolution may find an illustration in national life if it goes from the simple to the complex, but in so far as it contends for improvement, history fails to illustrate it. Degeneracy of nations has more often taken place than has social and moral progress.
The foundations of Judah were laid under David; the kingdoms glory appeared under Solomon. From that moment until this, one word expresses Judahs coursedecline.
Africa was once an advanced nation, now a heathen one; Italy once ruled the world, now she holds an inconspicuous place; Greece once represented the climax of physical and mental accomplishment, now she boasts neither. The reasons for decline are varied, but in Judah they were one the God who had made her great was too often forgotten, too willingly offended. When the nations neglect the source of their strength, weakness naturally ensues. Judahs strength was in the Lord, and when her kings forgot Him, despised His Word, entered into unholy alliances that were followed by the people, her fame declined, and her land fainted.
The mixed social condition manifested her sinfulness. We have a phrase, Like people, like priest. We can paraphrase that, Like princes, like people. The study of these kings results in no compliment to human nature. Some of them were utterly evil; most of them were a mixture of the good and bad; two or three of them were sound. Among the utterly evil ones, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Athaliah, Manasseh, Amon and Jehoiakin held first place. The ones that represent a mixture of good and bad were Jeroboam, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jehoiakim; while the truly good consisted of Jotham, Hezekiah and Josiah. In all probability the reign of each of these good kings was profoundly affected and made spiritually fruitful by the ministry of Isaiah, the greatest preacher among Old Testament Prophets. It is perhaps a fact of history that no rulers have ever proven faithful to God without the stimulating and salutary influence of the Gospel ministry.
The judgments and mercies of Second Chronicles alike vindicate Jehovah. In this record wickedness does not go unpunished; and yet it is a marvelous revelation of Divine mercy.
There is never the least sign of penitence on the part of the ruler and the people without an immediate and generous response from Jehovah.
When Jehoshaphat declined in his loyalty and effected a sinful coalition with Ahab, judgment fell; but instantly upon his repentance, mercy was shown. Judgment is always and everywhere Gods strange work, the work in which He takes no pleasure. As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Eze 33:11).
Mercy is His nature, His essential character, for to the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy (Pro 28:13).
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
CRITICAL NOTES.] Narrative to 2Ch. 20:30 entirely additional to Kings. Invasion of Moabites (2Ch. 20:1-3); fast and supplication of king and people (2Ch. 20:3-13); the message of Jahaziel (2Ch. 20:14-19); exhortation and victory of Jehoshaphat (2Ch. 20:20-30); close of his reign (2Ch. 20:31-37), which runs parallel with 1Ki. 22:41-49.
2Ch. 20:1-2.Invasion of Moabites. Ammonites, Sept., some of the Mini, inhabitants of Maon (Mehunins), a town near Petra. 2Ch. 20:2. Sea, Dead Sea. Syria, probably Edom. Has.-tam, having come round southern extremity of Dead Sea and entered Juda from Edom.
2Ch. 20:3-13.Fast and supplication. Set himself, his face (resolved, cf. 2Ki. 12:18; Jer. 42:15). Seek, i.e., to turn to Jehovah to implore help (2Ch. 15:12-13). Fast, national, the first proclaimed by authority. New, one of the two courts in Solomons temple, renovated by Jehoshaphat or by Asa (2Ch. 15:8), known now as the new court. 2Ch. 20:6-12. The supplication. 2Ch. 20:6. An appeal to God, omnipotent, supreme, and irresistible. 2Ch. 20:7. To Gods covenant, who gave them possession of land. Friend, first historic use of this title, though repeated Isa. 41:8; Jas. 2:23. 2Ch. 20:8. To God as owner of temple. 2Ch. 20:9. A brief summary of cases described in Solomons prayer (ch. 2Ch. 6:22-39). 2Ch. 20:10-11. Invaders whom Israel were not permitted to touch (Edom, Deu. 2:5; Moab, Deu. 2:9; Ammon, Deu. 2:19), have now entered the land to cast us out. 2Ch. 20:12. In despair God sought. Eyes, i.e., we look to thee for succour (cf. Psa. 25:15; Psa. 141:8).
2Ch. 20:14-19.The Message of Jahaziel. A prophet not elsewhere mentioned, but his claim verified by message and results. 2Ch. 20:15. Words familiar to people and connected with great deliverances (Deu. 1:21; Jos. 1:9, &c.) [Speak. Com.]. 2Ch. 20:16 : Cliff, ascent of Ziz (Hazziz) at end of brook, gully, or dry torrent course. 2Ch. 20:17. Stand still, directed to do nothing, watch the Lords course (Exo. 14:13-14; Num. 14:9). 2Ch. 20:18. Reverent obedience in confidence and gratitude. 2Ch. 20:19. Praise from Kohathites in general, from Korhites, a branch of them, in particular.
2Ch. 20:20-21.The March and Exhortation. Went forth early. Tekoa, ten or eleven miles from Jerusalem, southerly direction. Stood, exhorted them to be firm and confident. Singers, line of procession arranged, signal to move forward; Levites led van with musical instruments and song (Psalms 136). 2Ch. 20:22-30. Overthrow of the enemy. Ambush, liers in wait. Edomites intending to attack Jews, but through panic fell upon Moabites, and rest of enemy or angels employed by God to confuse the host and destroy it. 2Ch. 20:24. Work completed before Israel on the field, which was strewed with dead bodies. They had not to fight, but to collect and carry away spoil. 2Ch. 20:26. Set out on fourth day to return in same joyful mood as they came. 2Ch. 20:29. Fear salutary fell on surrounding kingdoms and brought blessings at home.
2Ch. 20:30-33.Close of Jehoshaphats reign (1Ki. 22:41-50). Steadfast and consistently religions (2Ch. 15:18), yet people not wholly diverted from idolatry. In deference to popular prejudice all high places not taken away. Words of Jehoshaphat not elsewhere noticed, entered into the book of Kings of Judah, same apparently as the Chronicles of Kings of Judah, mentioned in Kings [Murphy].
2Ch. 20:35-37.Alliance with Ahaziah, closely on death of Ahab, whom A. survived little more than a year (1Ki. 22:51; 2Ki. 3:1). Ships, combined fleet destined for Tartessus, but wrecked. Eliezer denounced the unholy alliance. Ahaziah attributed the disaster to unskilfulness of Jehoshaphats sailors; proposed to fit out another joint fleet with his own subjects. Jehoshaphat accepted the wreck as a judgment and declined the offer (cf. 1 Kings 22).
HOMILETICS
JEHOSHAPHATS WAR WITH MOABITES AND THEIR ALLIES.2Ch. 20:1-30
Defeated in a great battle by Joram and Jehoshaphat, the Moabites sought to retaliate (2 Kings 3). Combined with their kinsmen, they entered Judah and defied its king.
I. The invading enemy. Formidable, near, and brought surprise.
1. In a spirit of boldness. Great in number of auxiliaries, far advanced, and most eager for the fight.
2. In a spirit of ingratitude. Behold how they reward us (2Ch. 20:11). Israel not permitted to touch them nor disturb them in the least in the march through wilderness (Deu. 2:5; Deu. 9:19). Jehoshaphat had lately helped them, now they seek to get the land for themselves. Cast Israel out, and thus to requite them evil for good! O our God, wilt thou not judge them? (2Ch. 20:12).
II. Jehoshaphats preparations to meet this army. Alarmed at the intelligence, the danger brings out his religious feeling. He is equal to the occasion, does not call his forces, but determines to seek God.
1. He proclaims a national fast. The people of Judah hasten to Jerusalem. The nation bowed before God and confessed their sins as one man. The scene touching and solemn, emergency great.
2. He implores Gods help. Prayer embraces every argument which king and people could urge; concluding with earnest appeal for God to protect them, (a) They are helpless. No power, we have no might; no plan, neither know we what to do; no allies, their wives and little ones only increased their anxiety (2Ch. 20:13). (b) God could help them. In thine hand is there not power and might? (2Ch. 20:6). God supreme and omnipotent, checks the enemy and defends his people, (c) They rely upon God. Our eyes are up unto thee in hope and earnest expectation.
III. The encouragement given. Help is promised. Words familiar and inspiriting fell from the mouth of the prophet, given by inspiration.
1. Fears are calmed. Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude (2Ch. 20:15). Cowardice shall flee, and courage shall keep the field.
2. Assurance is renewed. The Lord will be with you (2Ch. 20:17). That should be sufficient for any contest!
3. Implicit trust is required. Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established (2Ch. 20:20).
4. Specific directions are given. To-morrow go ye down against them, ye shall find them at the end of the brook (2Ch. 20:16).
IV. The method of attack. Great joy and relief at the prophets message. With humble confidence they prepared for assault.
1. They engaged in reverent worship. The king bowed to the ground, the people fell before the Lord, worshipping the Lord (2Ch. 20:18).
2. They united in joyful praise. Singers were appointed to praise the Lord for his mercy (2Ch. 20:21).
3. They formed orderly procession. Officials and people united in ranks, and preceded by singers, marched till they came to the watch-tower in the wilderness (2Ch. 20:24).
4. They fought in confidence of victory. God had helped them in past (2Ch. 20:7); promised at dedication of temple that he would help them again (2Ch. 20:9). None trust him in vain.
V. The victory achieved. Easy, most signal, and wrought for them, not by them.
1. By divine agency. Whether by hosts of angels or ambushments of their own, we cannot eliminate divine agency.
2. By self-extermination. In confusion they fell upon their friends, whom they mistook for enemies. God turned them against themselves, and the army that came to fight Jehoshaphat destroyed itself. God can touch the reason of the king, rob the general of command, and blind the soldiers. A thousand ways at his disposal of which we know nothing. But victory sure to those who have him as leader. The battle is not yours, but Gods.
VI. The impression of the event on Jews and neighbours. Report spread in surrounding people; influence remarkable.
1. In giving security and peace to Judah. Nations feared to molest a people who worshipped a God who did such wonders. Idolators felt that he had justified claims to their homage. They were still satisfied among themselves. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet (2Ch. 20:30).
2. In exercising salutary influence upon others. Gods victory ended wars; the fear of God fell on all kingdoms, restrained them from invading Judah. Probably now tribute was brought to Jehoshaphat from Philistines and Arabians (cf. ch. 2Ch. 17:11). For his God gave him rest round about.
MANS EXTREMITY IS GODS OPPORTUNITY.2Ch. 20:5-13
Learn
I. That in the discipline of life we should expect dangers and extremities. These needful to touch and develop our powers. History in Old and New Testament full of instances. To know other resources we must learn the weakness of our own. We have no might against this.
II. That in these dangers and extremities God has many ways of deliverance. Human agency but a small part of holy ministry. Birds and beasts, insects, elements of nature, and hosts of angels under his command. Hence the folly of proscribing, measuring, or limiting in Gods work.
III. That in all dangers and extremities of life we should look to God for help. Depend not upon numbers, generalship, and human might; but spiritual force, prayer, and presence of God. Then war easy, loses character of conflict, and becomes a matter of spoil.
THE BATTLE IS NOT YOURS, BUT GODS.2Ch. 20:15
The text addresses a word
1. To all who are bearing Christian protest against evil.
2. To all who are undergoing severe temptation.
3. To all who are labouring for the good of the world.
4. To all who are engaged in controversy on behalf of Christian doctrine. If we had to defend everything and fight everything in our own strength, and for our own ends, the case would be perfectly different; but when God says to us, Ye have this treasure in earthen vessels; the excellency of the power is of God, and not of man, when he teaches us that we are servants and not masters, creatures and not creators, with no grasp of eternity, it becomes us patiently to wait, to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord [Dr. Parker, City Temple].
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
2Ch. 20:5-9. Invocation of God asI. The Ruler of the universe.
1. Seated in heaven. God in heaven.
2. Governing all nations. Rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen?
3. Secure in his dominions. None is able to withstand thee. II. The covenant God of Judah.
1. The friend of Abraham, the nations founder. Ahab thy friend for ever (2Ch. 20:7).
2. The guardian of the nations interests. Thou didst drive out the inhabitants, &c.
3. The centre of the nations worship. A sanctuary therein for thy name. Jehoshaphats appeal is threefold
1. Art thou not the God omnipotent, and so able to help us?
2. Art thou not our God, who hast given us this land, and so art bound to help us against invaders? And
3. Art thou not the God of this place, the temple, and so bound to help those who pray to thee here? [Speak. Com.].
2Ch. 20:7. Ab. thy friend.
1. By familiarity in devotion (cf. Gen. 18:23-33).
2. By promptitude in obedience.
3. By uprightness of life (cf. Gen. 17:1-22; Gen. 22:1-18).
2Ch. 20:17. Salvation of the Lord.
1. The deliverance, salvation. Reference always to evil, i.e., dangers in Old Testament, sins under the gospel.
2. Its greatness. Of the Lord, not by human power. So great salvation that every other is nothing; not only from evils, but to privileges.
3. Method of securing it. Stand still. Picture Israel at Red Sea. Set yourselves in hope and firm alliance; stand still, not in your power to do anything; see, wait in faith, watch Gods work for you. Wholly from him, not from you. In thee, O God, do we put our trust; our souls wait on thee.
2Ch. 20:20. Believe and be established. Faith in Gods presence, and Gods promise, confirms experience in Gods mercy, gives courage in conflict, and establishes peace and prosperity. Unbelief brings fear, frustrates Gods promise, and turns victory into defeat. Faith in God alone will overcome conflicts in heart and convulsions in the world.
2Ch. 20:21. Beauty of Holiness. Rich apparel and ornaments of old, typical of moral character and holy life. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
HOMILETICS
SONGS BEFORE VICTORY.2Ch. 20:21
Anybody can sing the Te Deum when the battle is over. The difference between an ordinary man-of-war and a Christian is this: a Christian shouts before the victory, because he knows it is sure to come.
I. We learn here, first, a lesson of patriotism. The foreign policy of Ammon and Moab seemed very brilliant for a time. They carried everything before them, but in due time were overthrown. We must not trust in the numbers of our soldiers, in the boundless resources of our country, but in the beauty of holiness, in the justice of our cause, in the purity of our motive; in one word, in the blessing of our God. II. The special object of the lesson is to illustrate the history of the Christian Church, for the Christian Church is engaged in holy war. If we go forth to war we must do as Jehoshaphat; we must be clothed with the spirit of holiness. God came down to fill the hearts of his children; then they were ready for the great work. The Pentecostal blessing delivered the early Christians from the three hindrances to the progress of the Gospelcowardice, selfishness, and ignorance. Catch the spirit of the Apostles, and you will save the whole world [H. P. Hughes].
JEHOSHAPHATS CHARACTER AND REIGN.2Ch. 20:31-34
I. His general uprightness of character. He walked in the way of Asa, his father, earnestly and constantly. Regarded Gods approval and will, doing that which was right in the sight of the Lord. A prosperous and successful ruler, his kingdom flourished, and he died in peace.
II. His besetting sins. Leaned to his own understanding in momentous concerns; put policy before principle, and sowed seeds of evil which lived and fructified long after death.
1. In his sons marriage with Ahabs daughter.
2. In his guilty alliances with kings of Israel. Alliances in war, in commerce. The subtlety of worldly wisdom, and the spurious kindness of worldly liberality interfered with the simplicity of faith in God and love toward man. As the dead fly, though only a little creature, gives ill-savour to most costly ointment; so even a small degree of folly mars a fair reputation for wisdom and honour (Ecc. 10:1).
THE WRECKED FLEET.2Ch. 20:35-37
I. Notice first the disaster to Jehoshaphats shipping. The eastern arm of Red Sea, Gulf of Akabah, is much deeper than the western; a narrow, deep ravine, with steep and rocky sides, the valley of which it forms part stretching far away to the north, till where it holds in its trough the waters of the Dead Sea. Down through the mountain gorge swept the mad hurricane with resistless might, shattering the ships of Jehoshaphat to pieces, and leaving the grey morning to look upon only pitiful wreckage all along the shore.
II. Notice the cause of this disaster. A judgment from Heaven. The grand mistake and sin of Jehoshaphat lay in associating himself with the enemies of God. This the signal error of his life. If he had been an openly wicked man, a mere man of the world, probably this disaster would not have occurred, but God would not allow one of his own servants to prosper in such an undertaking.
III. The lesson which the disaster teaches is thisDo not choose your associates amongst those who do not fear the Lord. Always safest to keep under Christian influences. A man is rarely better than the company he keeps. Jehoshaphat may hope to bring Ahaziah up to his own level; but Ahaziah is much more likely to bring Jehoshaphat down. The lesson of the text bears also, and with peculiar point, upon all business alliances. You will do well even to sacrifice a measure of financial interest and worldly prospect rather than be associated in business with a man who is out of all sympathy with you in religion [J. Thain Davidson].
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
2Ch. 20:20-21. I. The march to battle. With musical strains. In confidence of victory. Under divine command (2Ch. 20:26-27). II. The joyous return. In solemn order. In grateful spirit. In triumphant victory.
2Ch. 20:26-30. The valley of blessing. Wady Bereikut, two miles west of Tekoa. Jews assembled here after three days plunder, to arrange themselves, and return to worship in temple.
1. The place of terrible conflict.
2. Of awful defeat.
3. Of enthusiastic joy. Jehoshaphat means Jehovah judges, hence this valley the type of final conflict and final judgment, in which Jehovah will judge and overthrow (cf. Joe. 3:2-12).
2Ch. 20:35-37. The wrecked fleet.
1. The cause from God, who reigns over elements of nature and minds of men (Spanish Armada).
2. The design to instruct. Jehoshaphat had formed worldly alliances; could not be weaned from them, nor see their folly. Disaster predicted (see history), yet refused good advice. Hence must teach that his blessing rests not upon men and ways which are contrary to his will.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 20
2Ch. 20:4. Seek. Seek God upon thy way, and he will come to thee [Schiller].
2Ch. 20:17-18. Stand ye. Prayer without watching is hypocrisy, and watching without prayer is presumption [Jay].
Teach us in watchfulness and prayer
To wait for the appointed hour;
And fit us by thy grace to share
The triumphs of thy conquering power.
2Ch. 20:35-37. Gold. Midas longed for gold, and insulted the Olympians. He got gold, so that whatever he touched became gold, and he with his long ears was little the better for it. Midas had insulted Apollo and the gods; the gods gave him his wish, and a pair of long ears, which also were a good appendage to it. What a truth in these old fables! [Carlyle].
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
5. THE REIGN OF JEHOSHAPHAT (1721:3)
TEXT
2Ch. 17:1. And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead, and strengthened himself against Israel. 2. And he placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa his father had taken. 3. And Jehovah was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto the Baalim, 4. but sought to the God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel. 5. Therefore Jehovah established the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat tribute; and he had riches and honor in abundance. 6. And his heart was lifted up in the ways of Jehovah: and furthermore he took away the high places and the Asherim out of Judah.
7. Also in the third year of his reign he sent his princes, even Ben-hail, and Obadiah, and Zechariah, and Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah; 8. and with them the Levites, even Shemaiah, and Nethaniah, and Zebadiah, and Asahel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehonathan, and Adonijah, and Tobijah, and Tobadonijah, the Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, the priests. 9. And they taught in Judah, having the book of the law of Jehovah with them; and they went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught among the people.
10. And the fear of Jehovah fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat. 11. And some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents, and silver for tribute; the Arabians also brought him flocks, seven thousand and seven hundred rams, and seven thousand and seven hundred he-goats. 12. And Jehoshaphat waxed great exceedingly; and he built in Judah castles and cities of store. 13. And he had many works in the cities of Judah; and men of war, mighty men of valor, in Jerusalem. 14. And this was the numbering of them according to their fathers houses: Of Judah, the captains of thousands: Adnah the captain, and with him mighty men of valor three hundred thousand; 15. and next to him Jehohanan the captian, and with him two hundred and fourscore thousand; 16. and next to him Amasiah the son of Zichri, who willingly offered himself unto Jehovah; and with him two hundred thousand mighty men of valor. 17. And of Benjamin: Eliada a mighty man of valor, and with him two hundred thousand armed with bow and shield; 18. and next to him Jehozabad, and with him a hundred and fourscore thousand ready prepared for war. 19. These were they that waited on the king, besides those whom the king put in the fortified cities throughout all Judah.
2Ch. 18:1. Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance; and he joined affinity with Ahab. 2. And after certain years he went down to Ahab to Samaria. And Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance, and for the people that were with him, and moved him to go up with him to Ramoth-gilead. 3. And Ahab king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat king of Judah. Wilt thou go with me to Ramoth-gilead? And he answered him, I am as thou art, and my people as thy people; and we will be with thee in the war.
4, And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Inquire first, I pray thee, for the word of Jehovah. 5. Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for God will deliver it into the hand of the king. 6. But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah besides, that we may inquire of him? 7. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of Jehovah: but I hate him; for he never prophesieth good concerning me, but always evil: the same is Micaiah the son of Imla. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so. 8. Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said, Fetch quickly Micaiah the son of Imla. 9. Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, arrayed in their robes, and they were sitting in an open place at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them. 10. And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron and said, Thus saith Jehovah, With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until they be consumed. 11. And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and prosper; for Jehovah will deliver it into the hand of the king.
12. And the messenger that went to call Micaiah spake to him, saying, Behold, the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one mouth: let thy word therefore, I pray thee, be like one of theirs, and speak thou good. 13. And Micaiah said, As Jehovah liveth, what my God saith, that will I speak. 14. And when he was come to the king, the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And he said, Go ye up, and prosper; and they shall be delivered into your hand. 15. And the king said to him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou speak unto me nothing but the truth in the name of Jehovah; 16. And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd: and Jehovah said, These have no master; let them return every man to his house in peace. 17. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil? 18. And Micaiah said, Therefore hear ye the word of Jehovah: I saw Jehovah sitting upon his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left. 19. And Jehovah said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one spake saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner. 20. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before Jehovah, and said, I will entice him. And Jehovah said unto him. Wherewith? 21. And he said, I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt entice him, and shalt prevail also: go forth, and do so. 22. Now therefore, behold, Jehovah hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets; and Jehovah hath spoken evil concerning thee.
23. Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and smote Micaiah upon the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of Jehovah from me to speak unto thee? 24. And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt see on that day, when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself. 25. And the king of Israel said, Take ye Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the kings son; 26. and say, Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I return in peace. 27. And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in peace, Jehovah hath not spoken by me. And he said, Hear, ye peoples, all of you.
28. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead. 29. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and go into the battle; but put thou on thy robes. So the king of Israel disguised himself; and they went into the battle. 30. Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains of his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel. 31. And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, It is the king of Israel. Therefore they turned about to fight against him: but Jehoshaphat cried out, and Jehovah helped him; and God moved them to depart from him. 32. And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him. 33. And a certain man drew his bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the armor: wherefore he said to the driver of the chariot, Turn thy hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am sore wounded. 34. And the battle increased that day? howbeit the king of Israel stayed himself up in his chariot against the Syrians until the even; and about the time of the going down of the sun he died.
2Ch. 19:1. And Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem. 2. And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the wicked, and love them that hate Jehovah? for this thing wrath is upon thee from before Jehovah. 3. Nevertheless there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast put away the Asheroth out of the land, and hast set thy heart to seek God.
4. And Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem: and he went out again among the people from Beer-sheba to the hill-country of Ephraim, and brought them back unto Jehovah, the God of their fathers. 5. And he set judges in the land throughtout all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city, 6. and said to the judges, Consider what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for Jehovah; and he is with you in the judgment. 7. Now therefore let the fear of Jehovah be upon you; take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with Jehovah our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of bribes.
8. Moreover in Jerusalem did Jehoshaphat set of the Levites and the priests, and of the heads of the fathers houses of Israel, for the judgment of Jehovah, and for controversies. And they returned to Jerusalem. 9. And he charged them, saying, Thus shall ye do in the fear of Jehovah, faithfully, and with a perfect heart. 10. And whensoever any controversy shall come to you from your brethren that dwell in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and ordinances, ye shall warn them, that they be not guilty towards Jehovah, and so wrath come upon you and upon your brethren: this do, and ye shall not be guilty. 11. And, behold, Amariah the chief priest is over you in all matters of Jehovah; and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the ruler of the house of Judah, in all the kings matters: also the Levites shall be officers before you. Deal courageously, and Jehovah be with the good.
2Ch. 20:1. And it came to pass after this, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them some of the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. 2. Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea from Syria; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar (the same is En-gedi). 3. And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek unto Jehovah; and he proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4. And Judah gathered themselves together, to seek help of Jehovah: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek Jehovah.
5. And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of Jehovah, before the new court; 6. and he said, O Jehovah, the God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and art not thou ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? and in thy hand is power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee. 7. Didst not thou, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and give it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever? 8. And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, 9. If evil come upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before thee (for thy name is in this house), and cry unto thee in our affliction, and thou wilt hear and save. 10. And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir. whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned aside from them, and destroyed them not; 11. behold, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit. 12. O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee. 13. And all Judah stood before Jehovah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.
14. Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite, of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of Jehovah in the midst of the assembly; 15. and he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king of Jehoshaphat: Thus saith Jehovah unto you, Fear not ye, neither be dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but Gods. 16. To-morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the ascent of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel. 17. Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of Jehovah with you, O Judah and Jerusalem; fear not, nor be dismayed: to-morrow go out against them; for Jehovah is with you. 18. And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before Jehovah, worshipping Jehovah. 19. And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites, stood up to praise Jehovah, the God of Israel, with an exceeding loud voice.
20. And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem: believe in Jehovah your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. 21. And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed them that should sing unto Jehovah, and give praise in holy array, as they went out before the army, and say, Give thanks unto Jehovah; for his lovingkindness endureth for ever. 22. And when they began to sing and to praise, Jehovah set liers-in-wait against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, that were come against Judah; and they were smitten. 23. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.
24. And when Judah came to the watch-tower of the wilderness, they looked upon the multitude; and behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and there were none that escaped. 25. And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches and dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in taking the spoil, it was so much. 26. And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berach; for there they blessed Jehovah: therefore the name of that place was called The valley of Berach unto this day. 27. Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for Jehovah had made them to rejoice over their enemies. 28. And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the house of Jehovah. 29. And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of the countries, when they heard that Jehovah fought against the enemies of Israel. 30. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet; for his God gave him rest round about.
31. And Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah: he was thirty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem: and his mothers name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. 32. And he walked in the way of Asa his father, and turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah. 33. Howbeit the high places were not taken away; neither as yet had the people set their hearts unto the God of their fathers. 34. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the history of Jehu the son of Hanani, which is inserted in the book of the kings of Israel.
35. And after this did Jehoshaphat king of Judah join himself with Ahaziah king of Israel; the same did very wickedly: 36. and he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish; and they made the ships in Ezion-geber. 37. Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, Jehovah hath destroyed thy works. And the ships were broken, so that they were not able to go to Tarshish.
2Ch. 21:1. And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Jehoram his son reigned in his stead. 2. And he had brethren, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, and Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariah, and Michael, and Shephatiah; all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel. 3. And their father gave them great gifts, of silver, and of gold, and of precious things, with fortified cities in Judah: but the kingdom gave he to Jehoram, because he was the first-born.
PARAPHRASE
2Ch. 17:1. Then his son Jehoshaphat became the king and mobilized for war against Israel. 2. He placed garrisons in all of the fortified cities of Judah, in various other places throughout the country, and in the cities of Ephraim that his father had conquered. 3. The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed in the good footsteps of his fathers early years, and did not worship idols. 4. He obeyed the commandments of his fathers Godquite unlike the people across the border in the land of Israel. 5. So the Lord strengthened his position as king of Judah. All the people of Judah cooperated by paying their taxes, so he became very wealthy as well as being very popular. 6. He boldly followed the paths of Godeven knocking down the heathen altars on the hills, and destroying the Asherim idols.
7, 8, 9. In the third year of his reign he began a nationwide religious education program. He sent out top government officials as teachers in all the cities of Judah. These men included Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah. He also used the Levites for this purpose, including Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah; also the priest Elishama and Jehoram. They took copies of The Book of the Law of the Lord to all the cities of Judah, to teach the Scriptures to the people.
10. The fear of the Lord fell upon all the surrounding kingdoms so that none of them declared war on King Jehoshaphat. 11. Even some of the Philistines brought him presents and annual tribute, and the Arabs donated 7,700 rams and 7,700 male goats. 12. So Jehoshaphat became very strong, and built fortresses and supply cities throughout Judah. 13. His public works program was also extensive, and he had a huge army stationed at Jerusalem, his capital. 14, 15. Three hundred thousand Judean troops were there under General Adnah. Next in command was Jeho-hanan with an army of 280,000 men. 16. Next was Amasiah (son of Zichri), a man of unusual piety, with 200,000 troops. 17. Benjamin supplied 200,000 men equipped with bows and shields under the command of Eliada, a great general. 18. His second in command was Jehozabad, with 180,000 trained men. 19. These were the troops in Jerusalem in addition to those placed by the king in the fortified cities throughout the nation.
2Ch. 18:1. But rich, popular King Jehoshaphat of Judah made a marriage alliance (for his son) with (the daughter of) King Ahab of Israel. 2. A few years later he went down to Samaria to visit King Ahab, and King Ahab gave a great party for him and his aides, butchering great numbers of sheep and oxen for the feast. Then he asked King Jehoshaphat to join forces with him against Ramoth-gilead.
3, 4, 5. Why, of course! King Jehoshaphat replied. Im with you all the way. My troops are at your command! However, lets check with the Lord first. So King Ahab summoned 400 of his heathen prophets and asked them, Shall we go to war with Ramoth-gilead or not? And they replied, Go ahead, for God will give you a great victory! 6, 7. But Jehoshaphat wasnt satisfied. Isnt there some prophet of the Lord around here too? he asked. Id like to ask him the same question. Well, Ahab told him, there is one, but I hate him, for he never prophesies anything but evil! His name is Micaiah (son of Imlah). Oh, come now, dont talk like that! Jehoshaphat exclaimed. Lets hear what he has to say. 8. So the king of Israel called one of his aides. Quick! Go and get Micaiah (son of Imlah), he ordered. 9. The two kings were sitting on thrones in full regalia at an open place near the Samaria gate, and all the prophets were prophesying before them. 10. One of them, Zedekiah (son of Chenaanah), made some iron horns for the occasion and proclaimed, The Lord says you will gore the Syrians to death with these! 11. And all the others agreed. Yes, they chorused, go up to Ramoth-gilead and prosper, for the Lord will cause you to conquer.
12. The man who went to Micaiah told him what was happening, and what all the prophets were sayingthat the war would end in triumph for the king. I hope you will agree with them and give the king a favorable reading, the man ventured. 13. But Micaiah replied, I vow by God that whatever God says is what I will say. 14. When he arrived before the king, the king asked him, Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth-gilead or not? And Micaiah replied, Sure, go ahead! It will be a glorious victory! 15. Look here, the king said sharply, how many times must I tell you to speak nothing except what the Lord tells you to? 16. Then Micaiah told him, In my vision I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountain as sheep without a shepherd. And the Lord said, Their master has been killed. Send them home. 17. Didnt I tell you? the king of Israel exclaimed to Jehoshaphat. He does it every time. He never prophesies anything but evil against me. 18. Listen to what else the Lord has told me, Micaiah continued, I saw him upon his throne surrounded by vast throngs of angels. 19, 20. And the Lord said, Who can get King Ahab to go to battle against Ramoth-gilead and be killed there? There were many suggestions, but finally a spirit stepped forward before the Lord and said, I can do it! How? the Lord asked him. 21. He replied, I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all of the kings prophets! It will work, the Lord said; go and do it. 22. So you see, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these prophets of yours, when actually he has determined just the opposite of what they are telling you!
23. Then Zedekiah (son of Chenaanah) walked up to Micaiah and slapped him across the face. You liar! he yelled. When did the Spirit of the Lord leave me and enter you? 24. Youll find out soon enough, Micaiah replied, when you are hiding in an inner room! 25. Arrest this man and take him back to Governor Amon and to my son Joash, the king of Israel ordered. 26. Tell them, The king says to put this fellow in prison and feed him with bread and water until I return safely from the battle! 27. Micaiah replied, If you return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me. Then, turning to those around them, he remarked, Take note of what I have said.
28. So the king of Israel and the king of Judah led their armies to Ramoth-gilead. 29. The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Ill disguise myself so that no one will recognize me, but you put on your royal robes! So that is what they did. 30. Now the king of Syria had issued these instructions to his charioteers: Ignore everyone but the king of Israel! 31. So when the Syrian charioteers saw King Jehoshaphat of Judah in his royal robes, they went for him, supposing that he was the man they were after. But Jehoshaphat cried out to the Lord to save him, and the Lord made the charioteers see their mistake and leave him. 32. For as soon as they realized he was not the king of Israel, they stopped chasing him. 33. But one of the Syrian soldiers shot an arrow haphazardly at the Israeli troops, and it struck the king of Israel at the opening where the lower armor and the breastplate meet. Get me out of here, he groaned to the driver of his chariot, for I am badly wounded. 34. The battle grew hotter and hotter all that day and King Ahab went back in, propped up in his chariot, to fight the Syrians, but just as the sun sank into the western skies, he died.
2Ch. 19:1. As King Jehoshaphat of Judah returned home, uninjured. 2. the prophet Jehu (son of Hanani) went out to meet him. Should you be helping the wicked, and loving those who hate the Lord? he asked him. Because of what you have done, Gods wrath is upon you. 3. But there are some good things about you, in that you got rid of the shame-idols throughout the land, and you have tried to be faithful to God.
4. So Jehoshaphat made no more trips to Israel after that, but remained quietly at Jerusalem. Later he went out again among the people, traveling from Beer-sheba to the hill country of Ephraim to encourage them to worship the God of their ancestors. 5. He appointed judges throughout the nation in all the larger cities, 6. and instructed them: Watch your stepI have not appointed youGod has; and he will stand beside you and help you give justice in each case that comes before you. 7. Be very much afraid to give any other decision than what God tells you to. For there must be no injustice among Gods judges, no partiality, no taking of bribes.
8. Jehoshaphat set up courts in Jerusalem, too, with the Levites and priests and clan leaders and Judges 9. These were his instructions to them: You are to act always in the fear of God, with honest hearts. 10. Whenever a case is referred to you by the judges out in the provinces, whether murder cases or other violations of the laws and ordinances of God, you are to clarify the evidence for them and help them to decide justly, lest the wrath of God come down upon you and them; if you do this, you will discharge your responsibility. 11. Then he appointed Amariah, the High Priest, to be the court of final appeal in cases involving violation of sacred affairs; and Zebadiah (son of Ishmael), a ruler in Judah, as the court of final appeal in all civil cases; with the Levites as their assistants. Be fearless in your stand for truth and honesty. And may God use you to defend the innocent, was his final word to them.
2Ch. 20:1. Later on, the armies of the kings of Moab, Ammon, and of the Meunites declared war on Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah. 2. Word reached Jehoshaphat that a vast army is marching against you from beyond the Salt Sea, from Syria. It is already at Hazazon-tamar (also called Engedi). 3. Jehoshaphat was badly shaken by this news and determined to beg for help from the Lord; so he announced that all the people of Judah should go without food for a time, in penitence and intercession before God. 4. People from all across the nation came to Jerusalem to plead unitedly with him.
5. Jehoshaphat stood among them as they gathered at the new court of the Temple, and prayed this prayer: 6. O Lord God of our fathersthe only God in all the heavens, the Ruler of all the kingdoms of the earthyou are so powerful, so mighty. Who can stand against you? 7. O our God, didnt you drive out the heathen who lived in this land when your people arrived? And didnt you give this land forever to the descendants of your friend Abraham? 8. Your people settled here and built this Temple for you, 9. truly believing that in a time like thiswhenever we are faced with any calamity such as war, disease, or faminewe can stand here before this Temple and before youfor you are here in this Templeand cry out to you to save us; and that you will hear us and rescue us. 10. And now see what the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir are doing. You wouldnt let our ancestors invade those nations when Israel left Egypt, so we went around and didnt destroy them. 11. Now see how they reward us! For they have come to throw us out of your land which you have given us. 12. O our God, wont you stop them? We have no way to protect ourselves against this mighty army. We dont know what to do, but we are looking to you. 13. As the people from every part of Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, wives, and children,
14. the Spirit of the Lord came upon one of the men standing thereJahaziel (son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Je-iel, son of Mattaniah the Levite, who was one of the sons of Asaph). 15. Listen to me, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem, and you, O king Jehoshaphat! he exclaimed. The Lord says, Dont be afraid! Dont be paralyzed by this mighty army! For the battle is not yours, but Gods! 16. Tomorrow, go down and attack them! You will find them coming up the slopes of Ziz at the end of the valley that opens into the wilderness of Jeruel. 17. But you will not need to fight! Take your places; stand quietly and see the incredible rescue operation God will perform for you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem! Dont be afraid or discouraged! Go out there tomorrow, for the Lord is with you! 18. Then king Jehoshaphat fell to the ground with his face to the earth, and all the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem did the same, worshiping the Lord. 19. Then the Levites of the Kohath clan and the Korah clan stood to praise the Lord God of Israel with songs of praise that rang out strong and clear.
20. Early the next morning the army of Judah went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. On the way Jehoshaphat stopped and called them to attention. Listen to me, O people of Judah and Jerusalem, he said. Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall have success! Believe his prophets, and everything will be all right! 21. After consultation with the leaders of the people, he determined that there should be a choir leading the march, clothed in sanctified garments and singing the song His Lovingkindness Is Forever as they walked along praising and thanking the Lord! 22. And at the moment they began to sing and to praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to begin fighting among themselves, and they destroyed each other! 23. For the Ammonites and Moabites turned against their allies from Mount Seir and killed every one of them. And when they had finished that job, they turned against each other!
24. So, when the army of Judah arrived at the watchtower that looks out over the wilderness, as far as they could look there were dead bodies lying on the groundnot a single one of the enemy had escaped. 25. King Jehoshaphat and his people went out to plunder the bodies and came away loaded with money, garments, and jewels stripped from the corpsesso much that it took them three days to cart it all away! 26. On the fourth day they gathered in the Valley of Blessing, as it is called today, and how they praised the Lord! 27. Then they returned to Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat leading them, full of joy that the Lord had given them this marvelous rescue from their enemies. 28. They marched into Jerusalem accompanied by a band of harps, lyres, and trumpets and proceeded to the Temple. 29. And as had happened before, when the surrounding kingdoms heard that the Lord himself had fought against the enemies of Israel, the fear of God fell upon them. 30. So Jehoshaphats kingdom was quiet, for his God had given him rest.
31. A thumbnail sketch of King jehoshaphat: He became king of Judah when he was thirty-five years old, and reigned twenty-five years, in Jerusalem. His mothers name was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi. 32. He was a good king, just as his father Asa was. He continually tried to follow the Lord, 33. with the exception that he did not destroy the idol shrines on the hills, nor had the people as yet really decided to follow the God of their ancestors. 34. The details of Jehoshaphats reign from first to last are written in the history of Jehu the son of Hanani, which is inserted in The Annals of the Kings of Israel.
35. But at the close of his life, Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, went into partnership with Ahaziah, king of Israel, who was a very wicked man. 36. They made ships in Ezion-geber to sail to Tarshish. 37. Then Eliezer, son of Dodavahu from Mareshah, prophesied against Jehoshaphat, telling him, Because you have allied yourself with King Ahaziah, the Lord has destroyed your work. So the ships met disaster and never arrived at Tarshish.
2Ch. 21:1. When Jehoshaphat died, he was buried in the cemetery of the kings in Jerusalem, and his son Jehoram became the new ruler of Judah. 2. His brothersother sons of Jehoshaphatwere Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah. 3, 4. Their father had given each of them valuable gifts of money and jewels, also the ownership of some of the fortified cities of Judah. However, he gave the kingship to Jehoram because he was the oldest. But when Jehoram had become solidly established as king, he killed all of his brothers and many other leaders of Israel.
COMMENTARY
Asas son, Jehoshaphat, sat on the throne in Judah. Jehoshaphats name means Jehovah is judge. He was one of the best kings of the southern kingdom.[60] A continual condition of civil strife persisted between Judah and Israel. Jehoshaphat concerned himself with necessary fortifications to protect the territory of Judah. This involved strengthening several villages in Judah and in the territory on the border of Ephraim. Judahs king opposed every form of Baalism. In every matter pertaining to the kingdom he sought Jehovahs counsel. Jehovah was with him. The southern kingdom enjoyed a period of prosperity and Jehoshaphat was held in high honor as king. The lifting up of the heart sometimes meant boastful and foolish pride; however, Jehoshaphat boasted in Jehovah and gave his people strong spiritual leadership.
[60] Oehler, Grustave F., Theology of the Old Testament, p. 403
Jehoshaphat was deeply concerned that his people be trained in the word of God. He appointed princes, Levites, and priests to travel throughout the borders of Judah to teach the people out of the book of the law of Jehovah. He wanted all of his people to be involved in religious education. In this matter he approximated the ideal in Deu. 17:18-19 which stated that the king should rule by the law of God. This is the only mention in the Bible of these particular princes of the Levites. They filled an important place of service in the days of Jehoshaphat.
This course of action chosen by Judahs king brought great blessings upon the king and the people. Judah enjoyed an era of comparative peace. The Philistines brought tribute. Arab tribes in the environs of Judah brought great numbers of rams and goats. Store cities were built throughout the kingdom and much attention was given to improving social conditions. In addition to all of his peaceful pursuits, Jehoshaphat maintained a standing army of considerable proportions. Seven hundred eighty thousand warriors were numbered in Judah and three hundred eighty thousand warriors were numbered in Benjamin. They manned the fortified cities and helped the king in any assigned tasks. We do not know anything else about the captains or mighty men who are named in connection with Jehoshaphats army.
LESSON NINETEEN 1820
JEHOSHAPHAT AND AHAB WAR WITH MOAB AND AMMON
5. THE REIGN OF JEHOSHAPHATContinued (1721:3)
INTRODUCTION
Judahs alliance with Ahab of Israel displeased Jehovah. The prophets were mistreated. Jehoshaphat worked diligently to bring his people back to God. He activated the priestly high court. The Moabites and Ammonites were defeated in Jehoshaphats day.
TEXT
(Scripture text in Lesson Eighteen)
PARAPHRASE
(Scripture text in Lesson Eighteen)
COMMENTARY
Jehoshaphats relation with the northern kingdom was not entered into with a view to weakening the southern kingdom. The king of Judah probably wanted to share some of the prosperity of his kingdom with Ahab. Jehoshaphats reign extended over a period of twenty five years. His peaceful overtures toward the northern kingdom probably came during the first half of his reign. The affinity with Ahab was effected in the marriage of Jehoshaphats son, Jehoram, with Athaliah, daughter of Ahab. As there had been a Jezebel in Samaria, there would be an Athaliah in Jerusalem. There were state visits between the royal houses. On such an occasion Ahab made lavish provisions for Jehoshaphat. The Syrians had set a great army against Ramoth-gilead, a village thirty miles southeast of the southern tip of the Sea of Chinnereth. Ahab needed military assistance. Jehoshaphat agreed to bring Judahs army into this conflict. Certainly in these matters Judahs king failed to seek Jehovahs will.
Jehoshaphat knew that Ahab did not serve Jehovah. On the occasion when Judahs king agreed to go to battle against Syria with Ahabs army, Jehoshaphat suggested that they determine Jehovahs will in this matter. Ahab proceeded to ask counsel of the four hundred heathen prophets of Israel.[61] They advised him to go to war and assured him of victory through God (Elohim). Jeroboam had set up calf worship in convenient places in the northern kingdom at the beginning of his reign. His successors to the throne maintained these centers of worship. Ahab had married Jezebel, the Phoenician princess. She had brought Baalism out of her country into the northern kingdom. Ahab had completely committed himself to this heathen worship and had forsaken Jehovah. We marvel that these heathen prophets would presume to speak for Israels God. Jehoshaphat loved Jehovah. He was not satisfied with the word of Ahabs false prophets. Upon inquiring as to whether or not a prophet of Jehovah was available, the king of Judah was informed about a man named Micaiah. This true prophet had declared Jehovahs word to Ahab on previous occasion and had condemned Ahab for his heathenism. Ahab told Jehoshaphat that he hated Micaiah. The king of Judah urged Jehoshaphat to weigh his words. Micaiahs location wasnt exactly known. He may have been imprisoned at the time. While the officer was sent to bring Micaiah to the court, the two kings held court at the gate of Sainaria. Ahabs prophets continued their formal worship and stoutly maintained that Ahab should go to battle. One of the false prophets, Zedekiah, put on a mask fashioned like the head of a bull and equipped with iron horns. He moved among his fellow prophets and before Ahab and Jehoshaphat like an attacking animal. Zedekiah claimed that Jehovah had told him that Israel would be victorious. Whenever Zedekiah spoke, he was fully supported by the four hundred Baalists.
[61] Beecher, Willis, J., The Prophets and the Promise, p. 55
The officer who was sent to bring Micaiah tried to condition the prophet to say an agreeable word when he stood before the kings. Micaiah asserted his independency in relation to other prophets and his dependency upon God. He said, What my God saith, that will I speak. In the presence of the kings in a sarcastic manner Micaiah told Ahab to join the battle and anticipate victory. Ahabs own conscience convicted him in this matter. Micaiahs attitude and manner of expression revealed to Ahab that the prophet had a true message from Jehovah. Since Micaiah had bound himself by Jehovahs name to declare Gods will and since Ahab bound Micaiah under oath to reveal the truth, Micaiah said that Israel was a scattered flock without a shepherd. Ahabs army should be dismissed. In wrath Ahab interrupted Micaiah and contended that Micaiah ought not to have been called for advice. Micaiah described his vision of Jehovah. Ahab had hardened his heart. A lying spirit from Jehovah moved the false prophets to advise Ahab to go to battle.
Zedekiah humiliated Micaiah by striking him in the face and challenging him to identify the spirit that had prompted this insulting gesture. Zedekiah was informed that his own life would be in jeopardy at the hands of Israels enemies (most likely, the Syrians). Ahab consigned Micaiah to prison where he would be sustained only by bread and water. The kings order was that Micaiah should be imprisoned until he returned from the battle front in peace. He may have intended to kill the prophet at that time. Even though he was under this sentence, Micaiah insisted that Ahab would not return in peace. Ahab, himself, was under the sentence of death.
This would have been the proper time for Jehoshaphat to withdraw himself and his army from the northern kingdom. In spite of this demonstration of Jehovahs will, the two kings went to war with Syria at Ramoth-gilead. Ahab was so confident that he could win the battle that he had no hesitancy to join the ranks of the fighting men. He knew that as king of Israel, he would be a special prize to the enemy. So he disguised himself. Jehoshaphat was especially vulnerable because he wore robes identifying himself as a king. In the heat of the battle when the king of Judah was recognized by the enemy, he was miraculously spared. Somewhere on the battle-field a Syrian soldier shot an arrow toward the army of Israel.[62] He did not aim at any particular Hebrew soldier. Jehovah guided that Syrian arrow in its flight and it penetrated Ahabs armor striking a vital organ in the kings body. In mortal pain Ahab withdrew from the battle and died at the close of the day.
[62] Spence, H. D. M., The Pulpit Commentary, II Chronicles, p. 216
After these tragic experiences with Ahab, Jehoshaphat returned to Jerusalem. His alliance with wicked Ahab did not go unrebuked. A prophet named Jehu stood in Jehoshaphats presence and condemned him. Judahs king was also informed that Jehovah approved his efforts to rid his land of Baalism. With renewed determination Jehoshaphat visited all of his people from Beersheba in the south to Ephraim in the north encouraging them to worship Jehovah. He set up a system of judges and courts throughout his kingdom charging these officials to fear the Lord and not respect persons or accept bribes. He also re-established the high court at the Temple in Jerusalem in which the priests passed judgment on very serious matters which the lesser courts could not handle (Deu. 17:8-13). Amariah, the high priest, was in charge of the Temple court and all of the matters of business that were associated with Gods House. Jehoshaphats alliance with Ahab had not completely turned him from Jehovah.
Later in Jehoshaphats reign the Moabites, Ammonites, and some Edomites (Meunim) rebelled against the southern kingdom. Reports were brought to Judahs king to the effect that a great army was moving around the southern end of the Dead Sea and organizing for attack at Hazazon-tamar or Engedi on the west coast of the Dead Sea. In this crisis once more Jehoshaphat turned to Jehovah. He asked all of his people to fast and to pray for Gods help. The people were called to Jerusalem. There in the court of the priests the king plead with Jehovah for mercy and deliverance. The content of Jehoshaphats prayer is worth careful study. Jehovah is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is ruler over all kingdoms. He gave Palestine to Abrahams seed. The Temple is in Jerusalem. As Solomon had said in his prayer (1 Kings 8), if the Hebrews would pray toward this house, Jehovah would hear. Jehoshaphat reminded God that Israel had been prohibited from attacking Moab and Ammon when Moses brought Israel through that territory. Now, these very people who were spared rise up to attack Jehovahs people. Jehoshaphat said that he and his people were not able to defend themselves, so they cast themselves completely upon Gods mercyour eyes are upon Thee.
When the king had prayed, Jahaziel, a Levite, was filled with the Spirit of Jehovah. He declared the word that the people longed to hear. Dont be afraid of the enemy. The battle is not your concern; it is Gods. The army of Jehoshaphat was to be drawn up against Moab, Ammon, and Edom. The place called Ziz is difficult to locate, but it is believed to have been in the vicinity of Engedi. The Hebrews were told that they would not have to fight. They were to come to the battle-field, stand still, and wait for Jehovah to act. Jehoshaphat and his people received the news gladly and they worshipped God.
The next morning the king of Judah moved his army toward Tekoa, southeast of Bethlehem about six miles. As the army moved, the king encouraged his people. Believe in Jehovah. Believe His prophets. The soldiers sang as they marched, Give thanks unto Jehovah (Psa. 106:1; Psa. 136:1). The ancient strategy of ambush was used. Jehovah was in complete control. The result of the ambush was that the Ammonites and Moabites supposed that the Edomites had turned upon them. So the enemies of Israel fought among themselves. The complete overthrow of the enemy is described in 2Ch. 20:24-30. Somewhere beyond Tekoa in the vicinity of the Dead Sea the battlefield was covered with the corpses of the fallen enemy soldiers. Jehoshaphats warriors stripped the dead and carried off much booty. They called the place Beracah, which means blessing. Jehoshaphats people returned to Jerusalem praising Jehovah for this miraculous deliverance.
The total picture of Jehoshaphats reign leaves a good impression. His reign extended through twenty five years. The leadership provided by this king is compared with that of his father, Asa. In the days of the Judges every man did that which was right in his own eyes (Jdg. 21:25). Judahs king did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah (2Ch. 20:32). The reforms of Jehoshaphat were not complete, probably because idolatry had been rooted so deeply in the southern kingdom. In spite of the kings devotion to Jehovah, it was difficult to secure the same commitment on the part of his people. The prophet Jehu (1Ki. 16:1) was used by Jehovah as a writer of history. An account of Jehoshaphats reign was written by Jehu and incorporated in a larger book.
Sometime after Jehoshaphat had been humiliated in his alliance with Ahab he covenanted with Ahaziah, son of Ahab and king of Israel. This venture involved building and equipping ships like those used on the Mediterranean by the Phoenicians for the Tarshish trade. Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah intended to use Ezion-geber at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba for their home port. They would send the vessels to Ophir which was far to the South and from there extend their trade to the East. The project was disastrous because Jehovah sent a prophet named Eliezer to condemn Jehoshaphat for his renewed alliance with Israel. The ships were ruined by a terrible storm before they ever left the home port.
LESSON TWENTY 2123
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JEHORAM
THE REIGN OF AHAZIAH.
ATALIAHS DEATH. THE CORONATION OF JOASH.
5. THE REIGN OF JEHOSHAPHAT-Continued (17:121:3)
INTRODUCTION
Jehorams marriage to Athaliah brought serious trouble to Judah. Ahaziahs death at the hands of Jehu led Athaliah to murder all possible candidates for Judahs throne. Joashs rescue and Athaliahs death proved that Jehovah still directed affairs in Judah.
TEXT
(Scripture text in Lesson Eighteen)
PARAPHRASE
(Scripture text in Lesson Eighteen)
COMMENTARY
A brief summary note on Jehoshaphats life is added in chapter 2Ch. 21:1-3. Upon his death he was accorded a very honorable burial in the royal cemetery in Jerusalem. The sons of Jehoshaphat were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah. Two of these sons were called by the same name, Azariah. The Hebrew names show a slight variation. One son is called Azarihu. In addition to these six sons, Jehoram is named as successor to his fathers position. Jehoram is identified as the first-born son. These princes received splendid gifts from their father and held positions of authority in the kingdom.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) It came to pass after this also.Rather, And it came to pass afterwards, i.e., after the battle of Ramoth-Gilead, and Jehoshaphats reformation of law and religion.
And the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites.This is an attempt to get a reasonable sense out of a corrupted text. What the Heb. says is: And the sons of Ammon, and with them some of the Ammonites. So the Vulg., et filii Ammon et cum eis de Ammonitis. Transpose a single Hebrew letter, and there results the intelligible reading: And the sons of Ammon, and with them the Maonites (Heb., Menm. See on 1Ch. 4:41-42.) The Maonites are mentioned again (2Ch. 26:7) in company with Arabs. They appear to have been a tribe, whose chief seat was Maon, on the eastern slopes of the chain of Mount Seir, after which they are called sons, or inhabitants of Mount Seir in 2Ch. 20:10; 2Ch. 20:22-23. Accordingly Josephus (Ant. ix. 1, 2) calls them a multitude of Arabs. [The LXX. reads: And with them some of the Minaioi, a name which possibly represents the menm of the Heb. text of 1Ch. 4:41. Syriac, and with them men of war; Arabic, brave men. Perhaps the expression rendered and with themweimmahmis a relic of an original reading, and the Maonites; and the some of the Ammonites (mhammnm) which follows, is merely a gloss on an obscure name by some transcriber].
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
VICTORY OVER MOAB AND AMMON, 2Ch 19:1-11.
1. Moab, and Ammon These nations on the east of the Dead Sea seem to have made no attempt against the kingdom of Judah since the time of their disastrous defeat by David. Comp. 2Sa 8:2; 2Sa 12:26-30.
Besides the Ammonites This is doubtless a corrupt reading, and by a simple transposition of letters in the Hebrew text we have Mennim, or Maonites, instead of Ammonites. The Maonites, or Mehunims, seem to have been a nomadic tribe in the vicinity of Mount Seir. Comp. 2Ch 26:7 ; 1Ch 4:41; and Jdg 10:12. Instead of besides the Ammonites, we should read, then, and with them some of the Maonites.
2Ch 20:1-30 Jehoshaphat Defeats the Moabites with Praise to the Lord – Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah from c. 873 B.C. to 849 B.C.
In his book The Hallelujah Factor Jack Taylor uses the story of Jehoshaphat’s defeat of the Moabites when he teaches on ‘The Process of Praise” (chpt 3). [42]
[42] Jack Taylor, The Hallelujah Factor, revised edition (Mansfield, PA: Kingdom Publishing, c1983, 1999), 29-35.
Jehoshaphat’s prayer (2Ch 20:6-12).
1. Reminder of God’s exalted position (vs.6)
2. Recounting of God’s efficient performance (vs.7)
3. A reliance upon God’ enabling power or promises (vs.8-9)
4. Honest description of the problem (vs.10-11)
5. Cease all trust in flesh (vs.12)
6. Completely concentrated on God (2Ch 20:12)
Israel praised the Lord and obeyed His word (2Ch 20:13-28)
7. They continued before God (vs.13)
8. They heard from God (vs.14-17)
9. They worshipped God (vs.18-19)
10.They obeyed God (vs.20-23)
11. They saw God’s miraculous deliverance (2Ch 20:24)
12. They collected spoil of crisis (vs.25)
13. They praised God (vs.26-28)
The result was rest and peace and protection from God (2Ch 20:29-30)
Note how praise continued throughout the problem in various forms. Praise overcame fear and resulted in rest and peace.
2Ch 20:1 It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.
2Ch 20:1 2Ch 20:10, “And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir , whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not;”
2Ch 20:1 Word Study on “Jehoshaphat” Strong says the Hebrew name “Jehoshaphat” ( ) (H3092) means, “Jehovah-judged.” PTW says it means, “Jehovah is judge.”
2Ch 20:1 Comments – Moab and Ammon were descendants of Lot. PTW says the Hebrew name “Moab” means, “from my father.” PTW says the Hebrew name Ammon (Ben ammi) means, “son of my people.” (Gen 19:37-38)
Gen 19:37-38, “And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.”
2Ch 20:2 Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazontamar, which is Engedi.
2Ch 20:2 2Ch 20:3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
2Ch 20:3 Mat 10:28, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Luk 8:50, “But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.”
The result that we long for from God are “rest and peace,” which happened in 2Ch 20:30.
2Ch 20:30, “So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet : for his God gave him rest round about.”
“and set himself to seek the LORD” – Comments – The key to overcoming fear begins with us seeking God personally! Note Jehoshaphat’s prayer in 2Ch 20:6-12:
1. 2Ch 20:6-7 = Acknowledges who God is.
2. 2Ch 20:8-9 = Recognising God’s promises.
3. 2Ch 20:10-11 = Explaining the situation to God (God already knew).
4. 2Ch 20:12 = Making the Request.
“and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah” Comments – Fasting humbles a man’s soul (Psa 35:13). This was part of the requirement in 2Ch 7:14. The whole man, spirit, body and soul can humble himself before God.
Psa 35:13, “But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.”
2Ch 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
2Ch 20:4 And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.
2Ch 20:4 Mat 18:18-20, “Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
2Ch 20:5 And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court,
2Ch 20:5 Heb 4:16, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
2Ch 20:6 And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?
2Ch 20:6 2Ch 20:9 If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.
2Ch 20:9 Compare Solomon’s prayer in 1Ki 8:33-34 and God’s reply in 1Ki 9:1-9.
2Ch 20:9 Scripture References – Note:
Exo 20:24, “An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.”
2Ch 20:10 And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not;
2Ch 20:10 2Ch 20:12 O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.
2Ch 20:12 2Ch 20:12 “but our eyes are upon thee” Comments – The eyes of faith are upon the Lord. Physical eyes only see physical surroundings. Spiritual insight perceives the ways of God.
2Ch 20:13 And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.
2Ch 20:13 Psa 27:14, “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.”
2Ch 20:14 Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the LORD in the midst of the congregation;
2Ch 20:14 However, for the nation of Judah at this time, the genealogy of Jahaziel reveals a long and faithful history as a Levite among the people. He was apparently well-known among his own people so that his words carried authority as a divine prophecy. Had he been virtually unknown among his own people, his words would carry little weight of authority. His strong Levitical heritage prepared him for this moment as his prophecy served as the point of faith to deliver his nation.
2Ch 20:15 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.
2Ch 20:15 Exo 14:14, “The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.”
Jos 23:10, “One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.”
1Sa 17:47, “And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD’S , and he will give you into our hands.”
Neh 4:20, “In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us: our God shall fight for us .”
Zec 4:6, “Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts .”
2Ch 20:15 “Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude” – Scripture References – Note similar verses:
Luk 8:50, “But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only , and she shall be made whole.”
Heb 13:5-6, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”
2Ch 20:16 To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.
2Ch 20:16 [43] “Ziz, Ascent of,” in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, ed. James Orr (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., c1915, 1939), in The Sword Project, v. 1.5.11 [CD-ROM] (Temple, AZ: CrossWire Bible Society, 1990-2008).
2Ch 20:17 Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.
2Ch 20:17 2Co 10:4-6, “(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.”
Eph 6:12, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
2Ch 20:17 Comments – Take your position on God’s Word and stand firm on it.
2Ch 20:19 And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on high.
2Ch 20:15-19 Exo 14:13, “And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.”
2Ch 20:20 And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
2Ch 20:20 Word Study on “so shall ye prosper” Strong says the Hebrew word “so shall ye prosper” ( ) (H6743) means, “break out, come (mightily), go over, be good, be meet, be profitable, to prosper.”
Scripture References – Note:
Joh 6:29, “Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”
2Ch 20:21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever.
2Ch 20:21 Psa 8:2, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.”
Psa 22:3, “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.”
2Ch 20:21 Scripture References – Note:
Mat 11:25, “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.”
1Co 1:27-31, “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”
2Ch 20:22 And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.
2Ch 20:22 [44] John Gill, 2 Chronicles, in John Gill’s Expositor, in e-Sword, v. 7.7.7 [CD-ROM] (Franklin, Tennessee: e-Sword, 2000-2005), comments on 2 Chronicles 20:22.
2Ch 20:22 “and they were smitten” Comments – Gesenius says the Hebrew word ( ) (H5062) means, “to be smitten, defeated” in the Nifal.
2Ch 20:22 Comments – God began to move when his people began to praise God.
2Ch 20:26 And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there they blessed the LORD: therefore the name of the same place was called, The valley of Berachah, unto this day.
2Ch 20:26 2Ch 20:27 Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for the LORD had made them to rejoice over their enemies.
2Ch 20:30 2Ch 20:30 2Ch 20:34 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Jehu the son of Hanani, who is mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel.
2Ch 20:34 1Ki 16:1, “Then the word of the LORD came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying,”
1Ki 16:7, “And also by the hand of the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani came the word of the LORD against Baasha, and against his house, even for all the evil that he did in the sight of the LORD, in provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam; and because he killed him.”
The Threatened Invasion
v. 1. It came to pass after this also, v. 2. Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria, v. 3. And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, v. 4. And Judah gathered themselves together, v. 5. And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, v. 6. and said, O Lord God of our fathers, art not Thou God in heaven, v. 7. Art not Thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land, v. 8. And they dwelt therein, and have built Thee a Sanctuary therein for Thy name, saying,
v. 9. If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house and in Thy presence, v. 10. And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom Thou wouldest not let Israel invade, v. 11. behold, I say, how they reward us to come to cast us out of Thy possession which Thou hast given us to inherit. v. 12. O our God, wilt Thou not judge them? v. 13. And all Judah stood before the Lord, EXPOSITION
Of this chapter, with its thirty-seven verses, only the six verses (31-36) find any duplicate or parallel in Kings (1Ki 22:41-49). The chapter is occupied with a statement of the invasion of Judah by Moabites and Ammonites and certain problematical others (2Ch 20:1, 2Ch 20:2); with an account of the way in which the king and people prepared to meet the crisis (2Ch 20:3-13); with the prophecy of Jahaziel the Levite as to how, under certain conditions, things would go (2Ch 20:14-19); and with the narration of the victory, and the manner of it (2Ch 20:20-30); while the remaining verses partly summarize and then conclude the account of the life, character, and reign of Jehoshaphat.
2Ch 20:1
The children of Moab. In 2Ki 3:5-27 we read of a rebellion on the part of Moab, and of the victory of Israel’s king Joram, together with Jehoshaphat and the King of Edom, over Moab, now probably in quest of revenge. Beside the Ammonites. The reading of our Authorized Version here cannot stand. The Septuagint gives us some guidance in the name “the Minoei.” By the mere transposing of one Hebrew character in the name Ammonites, we obtain the name Maonites (read for ), i.e. the people of Maon, a town near Petra, no doubt Edomitish (see 2Ki 3:10, 2Ki 3:22, 2Ki 3:23), and possibly the same with the Septuagint Minoei (see also 2Ch 26:7).
2Ch 20:2
Beyond the sea on this aide Aram (Syria); i.e. south-east of the Salt Sea, and something west of Edom (the right reading in place of Aram, where a resh had turned out a daleth), Hazon-tamar Engedi; i.e. the place Engedi (Ain-jiddy), a living “spring of water” from a lime-cliff, half-way up the west coast of the Salt Sea, “in the midst of palms” (interpalmas), the compound word “Hazazon-tamar” meaning literally, “the division of the palm.”
2Ch 20:3
Proclaimed a fast. This is the first recorded occasion of a general fast by royal proclamation, and of individual fasting it is remarkable that there is no record before the time and the act of Moses (as e.g. Exo 34:28); after which, for individual fasting, come occasions like those of David (2Sa 12:16) and Elijah (1Ki 19:8); for general fasting, occasions like those of Jos 7:6; Jdg 20:26; 1Sa 7:6; and for partial fasting, by semi-royal authority, that “proclaimed” by Jezebel (1Ki 21:9, 1Ki 21:12).
2Ch 20:4
This verse expresses the response of all the kingdom to the proclamation of Jehoshaphat.
2Ch 20:5
The new court (see 2Ch 4:9; 2Ch 15:8).
2Ch 20:6-12
The recorded prayers of Scripture are indeed what they might be expected to be, model prayers, and the present a model instance of the same (see homiletics). The prayer before us invokes the one God “in heaven;” claims him the God “of our fathers;” recites his universal authority above, below; pleads his former conduct of the “people Israel,” in especial his stablishing of that people in their present land; most touchingly recalls his covenant of condescending, everlasting “friendship” with Abraham, the grand original of the people (Gen 18:17-19,Gen 18:33; Gen 17:2; Exo 33:11); makes mention of the consecration of the land by the sanctuary, and in particular of the very service of consecration and the special foreseeing provision in that service for a crisis like the present (1Ki 8:33-45; 2Ch 6:24-35; 2Ch 7:1); and then (2Ch 20:10, 2Ch 20:11) states pointedly the case and complaint with its aggravations (Deu 2:4, Deu 2:8, Deu 2:9, Deu 2:19; Num 20:21; Jdg 11:18), and with a parting appeal, confession of their own weakness, ignorance, and dependence unfeigned, commits the cause of the alarmed people to God. Our eyes are upon thee. So, with a multitude of other passages, that supreme pattern one, Psa 123:2.
2Ch 20:13
If the whole narration called for one more touch, it has it in the pathetic, Brief, telling graphicness of this verse. Their little ones. The familiar Hebrew word () is expressive of the quick, tripping step of the young and of women. Gesenius would regard it in this passage as designating the whole family as distinguished from the head of it, and as amplified by “wives” and “children” instanced afterward, quoting the very insufficient support of Gen 47:12. Our text occurs again in 2Ch 31:18.
2Ch 20:14
Jahaziel. This Jahaziel, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, is not mentioned elsewhere. His genealogy is traced to Mattaniah, i.e. Nethaniah (1Ch 25:2), who is parallel with Amariah of 1Ch 6:11. It is very possible that Psa 83:1-18; which is a psalm of Asaph, and which mentions the enmity of Moab, Ammon, and Edom, may be synchronous with this history.
2Ch 20:15
The battle is not yours, but God’s; i.e. God will do the fighting (see 2Ch 20:17, first and third clauses); so also 1Sa 17:47.
2Ch 20:16
The cliff of Ziz. Read with Revised Version, the ascent of Ziz (or probably Hazziz), a place named only here. The Hebrew word here rendered “cliff ‘ is the familiar , meaning “an ascent,” or “a rising ground.” It is replaced in the Septuagint by both and . Stanley, in an interesting note on the word, says it is applied to several localities in Palestine, viz.:
(1) The “Ascent of Akrabbim,” i.e. scorpions (Num 34:4; Jdg 1:36; Jos 15:3), on the south border of Judah and probably the same as the Pass of Safeh.
(2) “The going up to (or of) Adummim,“ i.e. the “ascent of the Red,“ near Gilgal, on border of Judah and Benjamin (Jos 15:7; Jos 18:17), probably the same with the “Pass of Jericho.”
(3) The” going up to Gut” (2Ki 9:27).
(4) Our present text.
(5) The “mounting up of Luhith” in Moab (Isa 15:5; Jer 48:5). The word is also applied to the steep pass from Gibeon to Beth-heron (Jos 10:10; 1 Macc. 3:16); to the road up the Mount of Olives (2Sa 15:30); and to the approach to the city in which Samuel anointed Saul (1Sa 9:11), i.e. “the hill up to the city.” The passage, Jdg 8:13, Authorized Version “before the sun was up,” Revised Version “from the ascent of Heres,” possibly designates a rising ground, named ‘the Ascent of the Sun,“ or, “of Heres.” The following extract from Keil, with its quotations from Robinson, is interesting. “The wilderness Jezreel was without doubt the name of a part of the great stretch of fiat country bounded on the south by the Waddy El Ghar, and extending from the Dead Sea to the neighbourhood of Tekoa, which is now called El Hassasah, after a waddy on its northern side. The whole country on the west side of the Dead Sea,” where it does not consist of mountain ridges or deep valleys, is high table-land sloping gradually towards the east, wholly waste, merely covered here and there by a few bushes and without the slightest trace of having ever been cultivated’ (Robinson’s ‘Palest.,’ sub voce). Our present ascent of Ziz, or Hazziz, has perhaps remained in the Waddy El Hassasah Robinson takes it to be the pass, which at present leads from Ain-jiddy to the table-land. Yet it is described by him as a ‘fearful pass,’ and it can hardly be thought of here even if the enemy like the Bedouins, now when on their forays, may be supposed to have marched along the shore of the sea, and ascended to the tableland only at Engedi; for the Israelites did not meet the enemy in this ascent, but above upon the table-land.” Josephus translates by , but with no legitimate justification. The end of the brook; i.e. rather the end of the brook-way, or course of the brook when there was water to make one.
2Ch 20:17
Stand and see the salvation of the Lord with you. The grand original of these words (Exo 14:13) would be known to both Jahaziel and Jehoshaphat.
2Ch 20:18
The infinite relief to the mind of Jehoshaphat and his people finds now fit expression in simple adoration. Would that such first gratitude were but sustained to the end more frequently than it is common to find the case!
2Ch 20:19
Of the children of the Korhites; i.e; with Revised Version, of the Korahites, who were the best of the Kohathite family (1Ch 6:22; also at head of Psalm 42-49; Authorized Version and Revised Version). Keil would translate, “Of the sons of Kohath, yea, of the Korahites.”
2Ch 20:20
The wilderness of Tekoa. The king and people, army and prophet and Levite singers, start early for the wilderness of Tekoa, not less than ten miles’ distance south of Jerusalem, and from it a waddy running to the Dead Sea. So shall ye be established. (So Isa 7:9.) Jehoshaphat’s own faith and zeal make him nervously anxious that his people should not fall behind him, and fall short of their duty and the grandeur of the occasion.
2Ch 20:21
And when he had consulted with the people; i.e. possibly simply “conferred with” those who were over the singers, as to who should be the most prominent in leading the service of praise, or as to what should be the words sung and other like matters of detail; or more probably, considering the exact form of language used, the reference is to what we are told Jehoshaphat had just done, to wit, counselled well the people and given good advice to them. Praise the beauty of holiness. The rendering should no doubt be in the beauty of holiness, i.e. in garments of beauty. Praise the Lord; Revised Version, give thanks to the Lord.
2Ch 20:22
Set ambushments. The Hebrew is , i.e. “set persons lying in wait,” or “in ambush” (piel part. plur. of ). So Jdg 9:25, but kal participle with apparently future equivalent meaning occurs eighteen times in Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Ezra, Jeremiah, and Lamentations. Who the persons were, supernatural or not, or what their mode of operation, is not told, and is not plain. The effects are quite plainthat first the two confederates, Moab and Ammon, thought they saw reason to fall on them “of Mount Seir,” and secondly, having this done, to fall on one another to the end of mutual extermination. They were smitten. The marginal, “they smote one another,” may be better, but it is not at all necessary, the meaning being that collectively they became the smitten instead of the smiters!
2Ch 20:23
This verse proceeds to explain how this resulted in a kind of triangular duel on large scale.
2Ch 20:24
The watch-tower. See 2Ch 26:10, where, however, the ordinary , and not the present word (only found, except as a proper name, here and Isa 21:8), is employed. It is scarcely likely that a built watch-tower is intended even here, but rather a lofty site and point of view from which a large number of people could see. The proper names Mitzpeh (Mizpeh) and Mitzpah (Mizpah) are of course familiar. They looked unto the multitude. Judah and its army and heralding Levite singers would see now in new significance the thing said by Jahaziel in our 2Ch 26:16, “Ye shall find them at the end of the brook-course, before the wilderness of Jeruel.” And none escaped; i.e. “without an exception.
2Ch 20:25
Both riches with the dead bodies. The Hebrew text reads literally, both riches and dead bodies (no article). The of the text, however, appears in several (“old authorities,” Revised Version) manuscripts, as (“garments”), and the versions of both Septuagint and Vulgate lend their authority to this reading. Jewels. The Hebrew term is , the most frequent rendering of which is “vessels,” so rendered, that is, a hundred and sixty times out of about three hundred and eight times in all of its occurrence. It is, however, a word of very generic quality, and is rendered as here “jewels” about twenty-five other times. It would seem nugatory to tell us that there were “dead bodies,” in the bald rendering of “and dead bodies.” Our Authorized Version rendering, “riches with the dead bodies,” of course both ingeniously glosses the difficulty and makes a sufficiently good meaning.
2Ch 20:26
Berachah. This is just the Hebrew fern. subst, from a verb. It is used in 1Ch 12:3 as the name of a man. The present name of the valley survives in the Waddy Bereikat on the Hebron road, beyond, therefore, the date unto this day of the writer.
2Ch 20:27
The Lord had made them to rejoice. Note the extremely similar and almost identical language of Ezr 6:22 and Neh 12:43, and add also to the comparison the last sentence of our Neh 12:29.
2Ch 20:29
With this verse compare particularly 2Ch 20:10, 2Ch 20:11 of 2Ch 17:1-19.
2Ch 20:30
His God gave him rest (so see 2Ch 15:15).
2Ch 20:31
With this verse recommences the parallel of 1Ki 22:41-50. In this verse we find the addition in the parallel very naturally to be accounted for, of “began to reign in the fourth year of Ahab King of Israel.” Otherwise the verses are almost identical. Of Azubah nothing more is heard.
2Ch 20:33
Howbeit the high places the people had not prepared. The statements so precisely made in this verse evidently serve the purpose of distinguishing between the wishes and orders of the king and the unequal conduct of his people.
2Ch 20:34
The rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, etc. These “acts of Jehoshaphat” are said in this verse to find their record in the book of Jehu mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel. The parallel has, “in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.” For our “mentioned,” note margin, literal, made to ascend and Revised Version “inserted.” The “book of the kings of Israel” may (note also the remarkable apparent misnomers of our writer, as illustrated by 2Ch 12:6; 2Ch 21:2, 2Ch 21:4) very possibly be one with the parallel, “book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah”. Of this larger collected cyclopaedia of royal biography, Jehu’s account () of Jehoshaphat was one component part. Though Jehu’s () book is not mentioned elsewhere, he himself is particularly in 1Ki 16:1, as well as in our 1Ki 19:2.
2Ch 20:35
And after this. The historical episode of these three verses (35-37) is evidently misplaced. As Ahaziah succeeded his father Ahab in Jehoshaphat’s seventeenth year, we of course are at no loss to fix the time of Jehoshaphat’s “joining himself with Ahaziah.” He had “joined himself” with Ahab, and had smarted for it, and yet “after” that, he “joined himself” with his son Ahaziah. We do not doubt that the “who” of this verse refers to Ahaziah, not, as some think, to Jehoshaphat.
2Ch 20:36
This verse tells us the object with which Jehoshaphat had joined himself with Ahaziah, and 1Ki 22:49 tells us how at last, by a point-blank refusal to Ahaziah, he withdrew from the very brief commercial alliance after he had not merely been witnessed against by the Prophet Eliezer spoken of in our next verse, but more decisively witnessed against by the shattering of his ships. To go to Tarshish. This clause, even if the text is not corrupt, yet cannot mean what it seems to say; but in the word “to go” (Hebrew, ) must mean, of the sort that were wont to go to Tarshish, i.e. that were used for the Tarshish trade. We are guided to some such explanation by 1Ki 22:48, where it is said the ships were “ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir“ (1Ki 10:22; 2Ch 8:18). That the ships could not be to go to Tarshish is plain from the fact of the place, Ezion-geber (2Ch 8:17, 2Ch 8:18; 1Ki 9:26), on the Red Sea, where they were built. Some, however, have suggested that some other Tarshish (e.g. in the Gulf of Persia)than that of Spain (Tartessus) may conceivably be meant. The clear statement of the parallel saves the necessity of any such supposition, however.
2Ch 20:37
Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mareshah. Nothing beside is known of this prophet. For Mareshah, see 2Ch 11:8, and note there. The ships were broken; i.e. presumably by some storm. One general remark may be made upon these verses (34-37), together with verses 45-50 of 1Ki 22:1-53; viz. that the dislocation of both manner and matter, observable in both, of them, probably betrays something out of order for whatever reason or accident, in the more original source, from which both drew, the apparently disjointed mixture of matter in the parallel being the more patent of the two.
HOMILETICS
2Ch 20:1-37
The last chapter in Jehoshaphat’s career.
The aspects in which the character of Jehoshaphat offers itself to our view, in the last seen of him, are now to be considered. Few men there are who bear themselves well in prosperity, especially if the prosperity be great; and many there are who fail to submit well to the discipline of adversity. Of this latter weakness of human nature it can scarcely be said that Jehoshaphat was an illustration. The punishment that had been foretold, that solemn consequence, at any rate, of “helping the ungodly, and loving them that hate the Lord; therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord” (2Ch 19:2), now impended; and almost the entirety of what remains to be recorded respecting Jehoshaphat is occupied with the subject in this chapter, of the manner in which Jehoshaphat met his evil days. He did not defy them, he did not aggravate them, he did not make them a case of hopeless repining; he met them in a calm, brave, religious spirit. The indications and the proofs of this are noticeable as follows.
I. THE ALARM OF WHAT WAS COMING IS ATTENDED TO AT ONCE, AND IS AT ONCE PREPARED FOR. (2Ch 20:1-4.)
II. THE IMMEDIATE FIRST PREPARATION IS THE RESORT TO PRAYER. In the presence of all “the congregation of Judah and Benjamin, in the house of the Lord,” when “all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children” (2Ch 20:5, 2Ch 20:13), prayer is made to Godprayer that recounts his great attributes; that claims his Fatherhood as vouchsafed by promise and covenant of old; that rehearses his mighty works; that lays faith’s clinging hold upon the comparatively recently built and consecrated and dedicated temple, with all that it involved; that finds an argument, even, in the specially ungrateful turpitude of the foe, who now is the attacking party; and that closes with an unreserved and a beautiful expression of confidence in God and utter self-distrust (2Ch 20:5-12).
III. THE PROMISE, BY WHICH THAT PRAYER IS ANSWERED, IS TAKEN HOLD OF, IS GRATEFULLY GRASPED, IS UNFALTERINGLY BELIEVED. The promise is a very gracious one, a most liberal one, conveyed in a very inspiriting and encouraging manner, and Jehoshaphat is overwhelmed with the impression of it (2Ch 20:18).
IV. JEHOSHAPHAT AND THE PEOPLE AND THE LEVITES, ALL WITH ONE ACCORD ACCEPT IT WITH SUCH FAITH, THAT JOY AND PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING ARE ALL RENDERED BY ANTICIPATION. (2Ch 20:14-19.) The inspired Levite had communicated the promise, and had added to it all encouragement and exhortation, in the first place; but we read that Jehoshaphat himself took up after him both these ministries in the presence of the people, and in his great desire to keep them thoroughly up to the mark (2Ch 20:20, 2Ch 20:21).
V. WHEN THE PROMISE IS FULFILLED TO THE MOST SIGNAL EXTENT, THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF IT, AND DUE THANKSGIVING FOR IT, ARE NOT FORGOTTEN, AND ARE NOT STINTED; BUT TO THE MEASURE OF HUMAN ABILITY CORRESPOND WITH IT. The testimony of this is explicit and repeated, while the description of it is exceedingly graphic (2Ch 20:26-28).
VI. THE FINAL TESTIMONY TO THE CONSISTENT, HONEST ENDEAVOUR OF THE LIFE OF JEHOSHAPHAT, THE SOLIDITY OF HIS WORK, AND THE BLESSING THAT RESTED UPON IT FROM ABOVE. It is most true that the work of Jehoshaphat had not been absolutely perfect, inasmuch as he had not absolutely succeeded (2Ch 20:33) in what nevertheless he had earnestly and conscientiously endeavoured (2Ch 17:6). And it is most true that his character and life and work had not been absolutely perfect, inasmuch as his defection in regard of his intimacy with Ahabnow strangely repeated in the lesser instance of Ahaziah and “the ships of Tarshish” (2Ch 20:35-37)stands against him. This latter also met with its punishment (2Ch 20:37); but we may judge that it was acknowledged and repented of in the best way, by being forsaken (1Ki 22:49). Yet we cannot be wrong to follow, with the tenor of the testimony of the mingled faithfulness and graciousness of Scripture biography, and say that, like its ultimate Inspirer and Author, it loves to “forgive transgression,” and to “cover sin,” and that the last note of Jehoshaphat is that his heart was right, that he “did that which was right,” and that he and his work were graciously accepted of God.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
2Ch 20:1-13
The source of safety in the hour of peril.
Very suddenly does the scene change in these chronicles of the kingdom of Judah. From the peaceful and pleasant duty of completing the arrangements for securing justice throughout the land, Jehoshaphat was driven to consider the alarming intelligence that a powerful combination of enemies was threatening the independence of his kingdom. We learn from these facts
I. THAT WE MAY SUDDENLY FIND OURSELVES IN MOST SERIOUS PERIL. Judah does not seem to have done anything to provoke this attack, or to have had any reason to expect it. It came upon them like a clap of thunder in a clear sky. Such things do occur to nations, to Churches, to families, to individual men. In some wholly unexpected quarter a grave difficulty arises. That power which should have been an ally suddenly becomes an enemy; that very institution which had been the source of sustenance threatens to drag us down with itself into financial ruin; the very men who promised to be, and who were, our best friends on whom we could rely, turn into our opponents and thwart our purposes; the bright, the brilliant morning has become a clouded noon, and a severe storm impends. Unhappily all history, observation, and experience will furnish abundant proof that this is not a remarkably exceptional, but an occasional or even a frequent occurrence in human life. It is a possibility that has so much of probability about it that we do well to be prepared for it lest we should be called to face it.
II. THAT OUR TRUE REFUGE IS IN GOD.
1. But if that is to be so, we must be in a right relation to him. We must be able to say, with a deep significance, not only “O Lord God of our fathers,” but also “Art not thou our God?” (2Ch 20:6, 2Ch 20:7). We must be true children of Abraham, who was himself the “friend of God” (2Ch 20:7). We must be distinctly and definitely on the Lord’s side; we must be with Christ and not against him (Mat 12:30). We cannot look for the delivering grace of God if we have not been reconciled unto him through Jesus Christ, if we have remained amongst those whose “sin has separated between them and their God.”
2. Then there must be a consciousness of rectitude under the special circumstances. Jehoshaphat could plead that he and his people were in the land as rightful possessors of the soil; they inherited from God himself (2Ch 20:11), and these invaders were wholly in the wrong; their attack was utterly indefensible (2Ch 20:10). The king could plead that the cause of Judah was just and right. This consciousness of integrity we also must have, if we would fall back on God. “If our heart condemn us not, then we have confidence toward God” (1Jn 3:21); but otherwise we cannot raise our hopes. We cannot ask him to intervene on behalf of a cause which is one of unrighteousness, or one in which we have been acting quite unworthily of our Lord and Leader.
3. We must bring to God the attitude of conscious dependence. “Our eyes are upon thee,” we must be able to say, sincerely (Psa 27:1; Psa 46:1; Psa 62:5, Psa 62:6).
4. We should be united in our attitude and action. “All Judah stood before the Lord, with their wives and little ones” (2Ch 20:13). It is not only the leaders or the representatives that should make their appeal to God. Let all the people, let the “little ones,” whose presence and whose prayer might not seem to be so essential, appear before God and join in seeking his help.
III. THAT WE MUST MAKE DIRECT AND EARNEST APPEAL TO HIM. Jehoshaphat took active measures to enlist the intervention of Jehovah; he “set himself to seek the Lord” etc. (2Ch 20:3-6). It behoves us, in the day of our trial and our peril, to take active measures to secure the merciful and mighty succour of our God. We must make our earnest and our persevering appeal to him, and be waiting upon while we wait for him. And our appeal will, at any rate, be threefold. We shall plead:
1. Our utter helplessness apart from his effectuating power. “We have no might,” etc. (2Ch 20:12). We shall, of course, be alert, diligent, energetic; we shall put forth all our skill and strength; but we shall feel that all will be wholly unavailing except our God works with us and through us.
2. His almighty power. (2Ch 20:6, 2Ch 20:7.)
3. His Divine faithfulness. (2Ch 20:6-9.) We also, like the King of Judah, can plead the inviolable word of our Lord. He has promised to be with us, to provide for us, to guide us through all our journey, to give us the victory over our enemies, to reward our faithful labour with a blessed increase; “And none shall find his promise vain.”C.
2Ch 20:7
Friendship with God.
“Abraham thy friend.”
1. Before Jesus came to reveal God to our race as he did reveal him, the Eternal One was known and worshipped chiefly as the Almighty One, or as the Creator of all things, or as the Divine Sovereign, whose rule we are bound to obey. Not exclusively; for he was known as the Father of men (see Deu 32:6; 1Ch 29:10; Isa 63:16; Isa 64:8; Psa 103:13). Here also he is spoken of as a Friend (and see Isa 41:8; Jas 2:23). But it is evident that it was only in a restricted sense, and by a very limited number, that God was thus apprehended.
2. It was Jesus Christ that revealed the Father as the Father of souls; it was he who taught us to address him as such, to think and speak of him as such, to approach him and to live before him as such.
3. It is Jesus Christ also who has enabled us to think and to feel toward God as our Friend. “I have called you friends,” he said to his disciples (Joh 15:15). And he has so related himself to us that in him we can recognize God as our Divine Friend; as One of whom we may rightly speak, and toward whom we may venture to feel and to act as our Friend indeed. But on what ground and in what respects? On the ground of
I. RECIPROCATED LOVE; including, what all true love must include, both affection and trust. God loves us. He loves us with parental affection, as his children who were once indeed estranged from him, but are now reconciled unto him; as those who have become endeared to him, both by his great sacrifice for their sake, and by their seeking after him and surrender of themselves to him. And God trusts us. He does not treat us as slaves, but as sons; he does not lay down a strict and severe code of rules by which our daily conduct is to be regulated; he gives us a few broad principles, and he trusts us to apply them to our own circumstances. We, in return, love and trust him. Not having seen him, but having understood his character and his disposition toward us in Jesus Christ, having realized how great and all-surpassing was his kindness toward us in him (Tit 3:4), we love him in response (1Jn 4:19). And in him, in his faithfulness and in his wisdom and in his goodness, we have an unfaltering trust. Thus we have the reciprocal love of friendship.
II. CLOSE RESEMBLANCE OF CHARACTER AND SYMPATHY. There cannot be friendship worthy of the name where there is not this. Our character and our sympathies must be essentially alike, must be substantially the same. And so it is with the Divine Lord and those who worthily bear his Name. His character is theirs; his principles are theirs; his sympathies are theirs. What he loves and what he hates, they love and they hate. Towards all that to which (and towards all those to whom) he is drawn, they are drawn; that which repels him repels them. Here is the true basis of friendship, and even that distance of nature that separates the Divine from the human is no barrier in the way. Being so essentially like Christ as his true followers are, they are his friends and he is theirs.
III. ONENESS OF AIM AND ACTION. Friendship is established and nourished by a common aim and by fellow-labouring. They who join heart and hand in any noble enterprise become united together in strong bonds of true companionship. It is so with our Master and ourselves. He is engaged in the sublime task of recovering a lost world to the knowledge, the love, the likeness of God; so are we. He has laboured and suffered to achieve that most glorious end; so do we. We are “workers together with him.” His cause is ours; he and we are bent on the fulfilment of the same great purpose; and while he works through us and in us, he also works with us in this greatest and noblest of all earthly aims. “We are labourers together with God” (1Co 3:9); “We then, as workers together with him” (2Co 6:1). We are his friends. Let us:
1. Realize how high is the honour he has thus conferred upon us.
2. See that we walk worthily of such a lofty estate.
3. Take care that we never do that or become that which will make us forfeit so great a heritage. Let us be found faithful as the friends of God.C.
2Ch 20:14-19
Before the battle: lessons.
Having made their appeal to the Lord God of their fathers, Judah now waited for God. Nor had the king and his subjects to wait long. We have here an instance of
I. GOD‘S READINESS TO ANSWER THE PRAYER OF HIS PEOPLE. “In the midst of the congregation,” while they were still before the Lord, in the very act and attitude of prayer, an answer was vouchsafed to them. While they were yet speaking, God heard (Isa 65:24). Though he does not constantly grant us so speedy a response, yet we may be quite sure that he always hearkens and heeds; and if there be such reverence and faith as there were on this occasion, we may be sure that God always purposes at once to send us the best kind of deliverance, even if he does not at once start the train of events or forces that will bring it to pass.
II. THAT WE NEED NOT BE GREATLY AFFECTED BY MERE MAGNITUDE. “Be not afraid by reason of this great multitude” (2Ch 20:15). We are in no little danger of overestimating the worth of numbers, whether they be on our side or against us. It is a great mistake to imagine we are safe because we are in a large majority. There is no king and there is no cause “saved by the multitude of an host” (Psa 33:16). History has shown again and again that the presence of a vast number of people (soldiers or supporters) often begets confidence, and confidence begets carelessness and negligence, and these lead down to defeat and ruin. Besides, it is never quantity but quality, never size but spirit, never numbers but character, that decides the day. Better the small band of fearless men under Gideon’s command, than the large numbers of the faint-hearted who were left behind, or even than the innumerable host of the Midianites. We may not trust in the number of our friends, and we need not fear the hosts of our enemies. If the “battle is not to the strong,” it certainly is not to the multitudinous.
III. THAT IT IS EVERYTHING TO HAVE GOD ON OUR SIDE. We may be sure that when the people of Judah had this assurance from Jahaziel, they were not only calmed and comforted, but they had a sense that all would be well with them.
1. That God had made their cause his own. “The battle is not yours, but God’s” (2Ch 20:15).
2. That God’s presence would be granted to them. “The Lord will be with you” (2Ch 20:17).
3. That God had promised them his salvation, and would therefore work on their behalf. “The salvation of the Lord” (2Ch 20:17). This was enough even for the timid and the fearful-hearted. This should be enough for us. Conscious that the battle we fight is that of the Lord himself, and is not ours only or chiefly; knowing that he will be with us, and assured that he will work out a blessed issue, we may be calm, and even confident, though the enemy is advancing.
IV. THAT WE MUST BE READY TO TAKE OUR PART AND TO DO OUR WORK, whatever that may be. “Go ye down against them” (2Ch 20:16); “Set yourselves, stand ye still” (2Ch 20:17). To do this may have been too much for the inclination of the cowardly or the indulgent; it may have been too little for the active and the militant among the people; but it was enough for the obedient and the trustful. God will have us bring our contribution of activity as well as devotion to the great spiritual campaign. But it may not be just that kind or just that measure which we should select if we had our choice. We must let him choose our service as well as our inheritance (Psa 47:4) for us; and whether that be high or humble, greater or smaller, we should be more than content that he is calling us to the field in which Christ is our Captain.
V. THAT A SPIRIT OF REVERENT GRATITUDE IS ALWAYS BECOMING. (2Ch 20:18, 2Ch 20:19.) Before the shouts of victory are in the air, while we are going forth to the battle in which God is leading us, while we are serving under a Divine Saviour, while we are anticipating the issue, so long as we are trustful in him and not confident in ourselves, we do well to let our hearts be filled and to let our songs be heard with reverent joy.C.
2Ch 20:23-37
At and after the battle: lessons.
Armed with a holy trust in God, the king and his people advanced to meet their multitudinous enemies with bounding heart and tuneful lip. Nor were they unwarranted in so doing; the event completely justified their hopes. We learn II. That, under God’s hand, THE EVIL WE FEAR IS MORE THAN BALANCED BY THE GOOD WE GAIN. When the Jewish army returned from the wilderness of Tekoa, richly laden with spoil (2Ch 20:25), they would doubtless have said that it was much better for them to have had their agitation followed by their success than not to have had any invasion of the enemy. They certainly congratulated themselves upon the entire incident, and, in their hearts, blessed those Moabites and Ammonites for giving them such an opportunity of enrichment. When God is on our side we may expect that our dangers will disappear, and that from the things that threaten us we shall ultimately derive blessing. Such is now and ever “the end of the Lord” (Joh 5:11; Job 42:10). Only we must make quite sure that God is on our side; and this we can only do by making a full surrender of ourselves to him and to his service, and by seeing to it that we choose the side of righteousness and of humanity, and not that of selfishness and of guilty pride.
III. THAT GOODNESS OF HEART SHOULD FIRST TAKE THE FORM OF GRATITUDE. Whither but to “the house of the Lord” should that jubilant procession move? (2Ch 20:28). Gladness finds its best utterance in sacred song, its best home in the sanctuary of God. Thus and there it will be chastened; it will be pure, it will be moderated, it will leave no sting of guilty memories behind. Moreover, if we are not first grateful to God for our mercies, but rather gratulatory of ourselves, we shall nurse a spirit of complacency that is likely to lead us astray from the humility which is our rectitude and our wisdom.
IV. THAT IT IS WELL WHEN OUR TRIUMPH IS LOST IN THE FURTHERANCE OF THE CAUSE OF GOD. It was much that Jerusalem was safe; but it was more that “the fear of God was on all the kingdoms” (2Ch 20:29). We may heartily rejoice that our own person, our own family, our own country, has been preserved; we may much more rejoice when the cause and kingdom of Christ has been greatly advanced. This should be the object of our solicitude and of our rejoicing.
V. THAT REST IS THE RIGHTFUL PURCHASE OF LABOUR AND OF STRIFE. (2Ch 20:30.) The country that has won its religious liberty by heroic suffering and strife (as with Holland) may well settle down to a long period of rest and peace. The man who has gone through several decades of anxious and laborious activity may well enjoy a long evening of life when the burden is laid down and the sword is sheathed. The quieter service of the later years of life seems a fitting prelude to the peaceful and untiring activities which constitute the rest of immortality.
VI. THAT THE WORTHIEST HUMAN LIVES DO NOT CORRESPOND TO OUR IDEAL. If we were to construct an ideal human life, we should not introduce another unwise combination (2Ch 20:37)add a disastrous expedition to cast a shadow on its closing years. Yet this was the case with Jehoshaphat. Our lives, even at their best, do not answer to our conceptions of what is perfectly beautiful and complete. We must not look for this, for we shall very seldom find even the appearance of it. We must take the good man as God gives him to us, with a true soul, with a brave spirit, with a kind and faithful heart, with a character that is very fair and perhaps very fine, but that leaves something to be desired; with a ]ire that is very useful and perhaps very noble, but that bears marks of blemish even to the end.C.
HOMILIES BY T. WHITELAW
2Ch 20:1-4
An alarm of war-an invasion from the East.
I. A STARTLING REPORT. The safety of Jehoshaphat’s empire was threatened by a formidable foe.
1. The composition of the enemy. (2Ch 20:1.)
(1) The children of Moab. Descendants of Lot and his elder daughter (Gen 19:37). Their territory lay east of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, and had for its northern boundary first the Jabbok (Deu 2:20), and afterwards the Amen (Num 21:13-26), the modem Wddy Mojeb, opposite Engedi. After the conquest a large portion of this region was occupied by the tribe of Reuben, which caused the Moabites to put forth long-continued efforts to recover their lost possessions. This they did soon after Joshua’s death, and even acquired ascendancy over Israel until their yoke was broken by Ehud (Jdg 3:12, etc.). In Saul’s time troublesome, they were by David completely subdued (1Sa 14:47; 2Sa 8:2). Under Solomon or the first kings of Israel they must have again broken loose, for they were once more reduced by Omri, who, according to the Moabite inscription, “took the land of Medeba, and occupied it in his days and his son’s days forty years” (‘Records,’ etc; 11:166). On the accession of Jehoram, Ahab’s son, to the Israelitish throne, Mesha, the son of Chemoshgad, rebelled and successfully asserted his independence (2Ki 3:5).
(2) The children of Ammon. Likewise descendants of Lot (Gen 19:38). These originally occupied the same region as their kinsmen, the Moabites, but were eventually “obliged to retreat eastwards to the water-shed (Deu 2:37), where they remained in the mountains, in a district not annexed by Israel, in which their name is still preserved at Amman, the ancient Rabbath-Ammon (Num 21:24)”. The Ammonites worshipped the supreme Being, under the name of Moloch or Milcom (1Ki 11:7).
(3) The Ammonites. Probably the Mennites, or Maonites (2Ch 26:7)”a tribe whose head-quarters were the city of Maan, in the neighbourhood of Petra, to the east of the Wady Musa” (Keil); they are afterwards described as “inhabitants of Mount Seir” (verses 22, 23).
2. The number of their army. “A great multitude” (verse 2) had often before assailed Israel (2Ch 14:11; Jdg 6:5; Jos 11:4), and afterwards did assail Judah (2Ch 32:7). When Solomon spoke of Israel as a people like the dust for multitude (2Ch 1:9), it was rhetoric.
3. The place of their entrapment. Hazazon-tamar, or “the pruning of the palm tree” (Gen 14:7)”a name probably preserved in that of the tract called Hasasah, ‘pebbles’ near ‘Ain-Jidy”otherwise Engedi, or “fountain of the kid,” the modern ‘Ain-Jidywas situated on the west coast of the Dead Sea, about the middle and directly opposite the mountains of Moab. “Few landscapes are more impressive than the sudden unfolding of the Dead Sea basin and its eastern wall from the top of the pass of Engedi” (Tristram, in ‘Picturesque Palestine,’ 3.191). The allied forces had probably not crossed the lake (Josephus), but rounded its southern extremity.
II. AN UNEASY APPREHENSION. The fear felt by Jehoshaphat was justified by a variety of circumstances.
1. The character of the invasion. It was the first time Jehoshaphat’s kingdom had been exposed to the horrors of war within its own borders. Heretofore Judah’s campaigns had been beyond the limits of her own territory, as at Ramoth-Gilead (2Ch 18:28). Foreign wars are apt to be invested with a spurious glory; war at home discovers its repulsive features to all. When a land becomes a battle-field, then
“All her husbandry doth lie on heaps, (‘King Henry V.,’ act 5. sc. 2.)
2. The combination of powers. It was three against one; yet Jehoshaphat had no scruples in combining formerly with Ahab against Benhadad, or afterwards with Israel and Edom against Moab (2Ki 3:7). “With what measure ye mete,” etc. (Mat 7:7), applies to kingdoms and kings no less than to private individuals.
3. The prediction of Jehu. Hanani’s son had spoken of wrath upon Jehoshaphat for helping Ahab: was this invasion a fulfilment of that threatening? Jehoshaphat might well tremble as he turned his thoughts southward to Engedi.
III. A PRUDENT RESOLVE. In the sudden and dangerous emergency Jehoshaphat concluded to do three things.
1. To set himself to seek the Lord. So David had commanded Israel (1Ch 16:10 : Psa 105:3) and Solomon (1Ch 22:19), if they would prosper as people and sovereign. So had Oded’s son, Azariah, directed Asa and his subjects if they would protect themselves against all future assailants (2Ch 15:2). So Asa and his subjects did; and the Lord gave them rest round about. Jehoshaphat, perhaps recalling these details of national history, possibly also remembering how disastrously he had fared by going up against Benhadad without Jehovah’s help, decided that the first thing to do was to draw more closely together the alliance between himself and Jehovah, by a more diligent observance of worship and a more faithful performance of duty. Like all sincere reformers, whether in Church or state, Jehoshaphat began with himself (Luk 4:23; Rom 2:21-23), and began in earnest, setting his heart in it as a work he delighted in and intended to carry through.
2. To proclaim a fast throughout all Judah. Fasting a usual accompaniment of religious exercises in Israel, especially in times of anxiety and distress, whether individual or national. Witness the cases of David (2Sa 12:16, 2Sa 12:21), Esther (Est 4:16), Nehemiah (Neh 1:4), Daniel (Dan 9:3), Darius (Dan 6:18), and of the Jews at Mizpeh (Jdg 20:26; 1Sa 7:6), the returning exiles at Ahava (Ezr 8:21), and the Ninevites (Jon 3:5). It was intended as a sign of self-humiliation, an expression of sorrow, and a confession of guilt.
3. To hold a national convention at Jerusalem. Whether he actually summoned the heads and representatives of the people, as Asa previously did (2Ch 15:9), is not stated; but the princes, chiefs of the fathers’ houses, and principal men out of all the cities of Judah hastened to the capital to ask help of Jehovah in the crisis that had arisen.
LESSONS.
1. The hostility of the world-powers to the Church of God, exemplified in this combination against Judah.
2. The distinction between fear and cowardice in front of danger, illustrated by the behaviour of Jehoshaphat.
3. The place and value of fasting in religion.
4. The best defence for a nation in the time of perilprayer and piety.
5. The duty and advantage of kings and peoples standing shoulder to shoulder when their safety is threatened.W.
2Ch 20:5-19
The prayer of Jehoshaphat.
I. THE SCENE.
1. The place.
(1) Jerusalem, the metropolis of the land, whose safety was imperilled.
(2) The house of Jehovah, the sanctuary on Mount Moriah, erected by Solomon as a dwelling-place for the God of Israel.
(3) The new court, the outer or great court of the temple (1Ki 7:12). A quadrangle, this was probably called “new,” because of having been restored or repaired by either Asa or Jehoshaphat.
2. The assembly.
(1) The inhabitants of Jerusalem with their wives and children.
(2) The representatives of Judah from all the cities of the landwhether accompanied with their wives and children uncertain.
3. The suppliant. Jehoshaphat acted as the mouthpiece for himself and his people. Standing forth in the centre of the congregation, he offered “without form or any premeditation (?) one of the most sensible, pious, correct, and, as to its composition, one of the most elegant prayers ever offered under the Old Testament dispensation” (Adam Clarke).
II. THE PRAYER.
1. The Being addressedJehovah. Adored as:
(1) Personal and present. The God of Jehoshaphat and his people (2Ch 20:7, 2Ch 20:12). “He that cometh to God must believe that he is” (Heb 11:6).
(2) Ancestral and faithful. The God of their fathers (2Ch 20:6), who had covenanted with these fathers (Deu 5:2), and would remain true to the engagements then undertaken (2Ch 6:14; 1Ki 8:57).
(3) Celestial and mundane. The God of heaven as well as of earth, who dwelt among the armies of light and ruled among the kingdoms of the heathen (Dan 4:35).
(4) Universal and local. Not the God of Israel and Judah alone, but the God to whom all empires and sovereigns owed allegiance (Psa 103:19; Psa 135:5, Psa 135:6; 1Ch 29:11; Dan 4:17; Mal 1:14; Rev 11:4).
(5) Omnipresent and omnipotent. Possessed of resistless power and might which no one could withstand (2Ch 20:6).
2. The pleas offered.
(1) The covenant mercies of Jehovah in first gifting the land to his friend, their father Abraham, and to his seed for ever (Gen 12:1; Gen 13:17); second, driving out the inhabitants of the land before them (Exo 33:2; Exo 34:11; Deu 11:23; Psa 44:2); and third, in establishing them in possession of the vacated territory, so that for centuries they had dwelt in it (Le 2Ch 25:18; Deu 12:10).
(2) The expectation of Judah, that Jehovah would hear and keep them when in danger they called upon his Name (2Ch 20:9). In this hope the temple had been built, and in the belief that this hope would be realized they now stood before Jehovah’s presence (Psa 146:5).
(3) The ingratitude of the enemy, whom Israel on her way from Egypt had not been suffered to invade (Deu 2:4, Deu 2:9, Deu 2:19), and who now repaid her clemency by attempting to drive her from her land. Such ingratitude on the part of nations and individuals is by no means infrequent. The only things men find it easy to remember are insults and injuries; kindnesses remain with difficulty in the human memory (Gen 40:23; 1Sa 23:5-12; Ecc 9:14-16; 2Ch 24:22).
(4) The helplessness of Judah. Jehoshaphat and his people were without strength to contend with so great a company. Neither knew they in what direction to turn or what to do. No better plea can be laid before Heaven than a confession of human weakness (Psa 6:2; Psa 22:11), since God’s strength is perfected in weakness (2Co 12:9).
(5) The attitude in which they then stood. Their eyes were waiting upon Jehovah (Psa 25:15; Psa 121:1, Psa 121:2; Psa 123:1, Psa 123:2), trusting, desiring, expecting. They had placed their hope in and anticipated their help from him, as in a similar crisis Asa had done (2Ch 14:11; Psa 121:1).
3. The petitions urged. That Jehovah would
(1) judge and defeat their enemies;
(2) hear and help them, the petitioners. The two requests were inseparable. Deliverance to Judah could only come through destruction of her adversaries. The Church of God may still conjoin the two petitions.
III. THE ANSWER.
1. From whom it proceeded. Jehovah (2Ch 20:15), or the Spirit of Jehovah (2Ch 20:14). No answers to prayer except from him. Human lips can reply for God only in so far as God puts his words into them (Isa 51:16; Eze 3:17; Jer 5:14).
2. Through whom communicated. Jahaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph; a man of
(1) honorable pedigree, being the fifth in descent, not from the Hemanite Mattaniah, a contemporary of David (1Ch 25:4, 1Ch 25:16), but from Nethaniah the Asaphite (1Ch 25:2, 1Ch 25:12); the letter n having been accidentally changed into an m (Movers, Keil, Bertheau);
(2) honourable rank, being a Levite, and therefore of priestly station; and
(3) honourable calling, being, as a son of Asaph, a leader of psalmody in the temple worship, and now suddenly invested with the dignity of the prophetic office. God can find prophets anywhere when he wants them, not being bound to prophetical any more than to apostolical successionElisha at the plough (1Ki 19:19), Amos among the herdsmen (Amo 1:1).
3. To whom it was addressed. To all Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to Jehoshaphat, the persons in whose name and on whose behalf the prayer had been offered.
4. Of what it consisted.
(1) A dissuasive against fear. “Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude,” similar to that given by Moses to the fleeing Israelites (Exo 14:13), and for a similar reason, that the battle was Jehovah’s more than theirs, and he would fight with and for them (Exo 14:14; 1Sa 17:47). The same is true of the battle the Christian Church is summoned to maintain against the three powers of evil, known as the world, the flesh, and the devil (Mat 10:28).
(2) A command to advance. “Go ye down against them” (verse 16), exactly as Moses was instructed to speak unto the children of Israel that they should go forward (Exo 14:15). Little as God’s people can or could do if left to themselves, they are not at liberty to play the coward in face of the foe, to subside into despair or take to their heels. Their duty is to stand fast, quit themselves like men, be strong, and persevere.
(3) A direction where to find the enemy. “Behold, they come up by the cliff [or, ‘ascent’] of Ziz, and ye shall find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel” (verse 16). This a part of the flat country extending from the Dead Sea to the neighbourhood of Tekoa, and called El Husasah, from a wady on its northern side. The ascent or mountain-road, Hazziz, led towards it from Engedi.
(4) An instruction what to do on meeting them. To set themselves in battle arraystand still and see the salvation of God (verse 17). They would not require to fight. Jehovah would do the rest. Compare again the orders of Moses to the Israelites (Exo 14:13). The instruction here given has its counterpart in that given by the gospel to sinners: “To him that worketh not, but believeth,” etc. (Rom 4:5)
(5) An encouragement to hope for victory. “The Lord would be with them” (Verse 17) and fight for them as he did for Israel at the Red Sea (Exo 14:13) and at Gibeon (Jos 10:14), as Moses promised he would do every time they faced their enemies (Deu 20:4), and as Nehemiah (Neh 4:20) afterwards believed he did. The same presence is enjoyed by the Church of God still (Mat 27:20).
IV. THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
1. By the king. “Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground” (vers18), in token of humility and reverence, as well as of adoration and submission (2Ch 29:30; Gen 18:2; Gen 24:26; Exo 4:31; Exo 34:8; Jos 23:7).
2. By the people. “All Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord,” in a solemn act of worship.
3. By the Levites. Those belonging to the children of the Kohathites and the children of the Korahites “stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with an exceeding loud voice,” adding notes of thanksgiving and rejoicing to those of adoration and self-humiliation which Jehovah’s gracious answer inspired.
Learn:
1. The sorest need of mana God to flee to in the hour of trouble and day of calamity.
2. The highest glory of Godthat he can hear prayer and rescue the perishing.
3. The greatest peril of the Church’s enemiesthe fact that Jehovah fights against them.
4. The surest guarantee of victory for the Church of Jesus Christthe fact that the battle is the Lord’s.
5. The brightest hope for an anxious sinnerthat he only needs to stand still and see the salvation of God.W.
2Ch 20:20-30
A victory without a blow.
I. THE MARCH TO TEKOA. (2Ch 20:20, 2Ch 20:21.)
1. The composition of the army.
(1) The king commanded in person (2Ch 20:25, 2Ch 20:27). Modern monarchs stay at home when their soldiers go to war, and even when they do not, seldom place themselves like Jehoshaphat in the forefront of their troops. Perhaps “discretion is the better part of valour;” but the arrangement commends itself as reasonable that kings and captains should share the perils of their subjects and followers.
(2) The inhabitants of Jerusalem contributed their contingent to the force. Probably the flower of the nation’s troops, these may have served as the king’s body-guard.
(3) The warriors of Judah completed the armament. The entire army mustered at and took its departure from Jerusalem.
2. The time of its setting forth. “Early in the morning,” i.e. the next after Jahaziel’s assurance. An indication of
(1) faith, since without this they had hesitated and delayed, if not sat still and trembled (Psa 27:13);
(2) zeal, discovering the eagerness with which they entered on the path of duty once it had been pointed out (Psa 119:33);
(3) courage, as being afraid of nothing with Jehovah as Leader and Commander (Psa 27:1).
3. The address of its king. Standing in the city gate as regiment after regiment filed into line and sallied forth, Jehoshaphat exhorted them (successively) to calm confidence in the ultimate success of the campaign upon which they were entering.
(1) Two things he recommendedabsolute faith in Jehovah as their covenant God, and perfect trust in his prophets as he bearers of his message.
(2) Two things he promisedthe permanent establishment of their kingdom in spite of all attacks from without; its certain prosperity through being exempt from unbelief a sure but fatal source of weakness and division.
4. The arrangements or its march. Jehoshaphat made special preparations for encountering the foe.
(1) A consultation was held with the people. Besides exhorting them as above recorded (Bertheau, Keil), he took them into counsel with himself, in the disposition next made. This conference occurred before the army left Jerusalem rather than on its reaching Tekoa.
(2) Singers were appointed to march in front of the troops. Arrayed in sacred vestments, Levitical musicians were to praise the beauty of holiness, or to praise the Lord in the beauty of holiness, saying, “Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever” (Psa 136:1-26.). Their singing and praising most likely began as they left the capital, was discontinued on the way to Tekoa, and was again resumed on reaching the vicinity of the enemy (2Ch 20:22).
5. The advance towards the foe. A singular method of warfare it must have seemedas ridiculous as the march of Joshua’s warriors round the walls of Jericho and the music of their rams’ horns must have appeared to the inhabitants of that old Canaanitish fortress (Jos 6:12-16).
II. THE SCENE FROM THE WATCH–TOWER. (Verse 24.) This “watch-tower,” a height in the wilderness of Tekoa which overlooked the desert of Jeruel, where the invading host lay encamped (verse 16), was probably the conical hill Jebel Fureidis, or the Frank Mountain, from which a view can be obtained of the Dead Sea and the mountains of Moab (‘Picturesque Palestine,’ 1:137). From this elevation Jehoshaphat and his soldiers beheld the whole ground strewn with corpses, and not the vestige of a living foe to be seen. The enemy had been:
1. Completely slaughtered. The dead bodies were so numerous that “to all appearance none had escaped” (Keil); but the Chronicler manifestly intended to describe a case of not apparent, but real extermination. Not merely all whom the men of Judah beheld prostrate on the field were dead, but of all who had come up against Judah none had escaped.
2. Self-destroyed. They had fallen on and annihilated one another. That perhaps was not remarkable; thieves, robbers, and wicked men in general often fall out and destroy one another. The pity is they do not always do so before attacking other people. In this case two things were remarkablethe time when and the mode in which it happened.
(1) It occurred when the army began to march and the Levites to sing and to praise the Lord in the beauty of holiness (verse 22). Exactly, then, when God’s people were manifesting forth their obedience, faith, zeal, and holiness, their enemies were destroying one another. The same thing would happen in the experience of the New Testament Church were she in a similar fashion to confront her adversaries, first arraying herself in the sacred garments of holiness, next trusting in God for the victories he had promisedin fact, praising him beforehand on account of them, and then going forth to behold them and gather up their fruits; her enemies, too, would destroy themselves.
(2) It occurred through the direct instrumentality of God. Jehovah set against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir (verse 22) “liers in wait,” supposed to have been angels or heavenly powers sent by God, and called insidiatores because of the work they did against the enemy (Bertheau, Ewald), but more probably “Seirites, greedy of spoil, who from an ambush made an attack upon the Ammonites and Moabites” (Keil) These, becoming alarmed for their safety, not only repelled the “liers in wait,” but turned with fury upon the Seirites marching with them, and absolutely exterminated them; after which, growing suspicious of one another, they flew at each other’s throats and rested not until they had completely destroyed one another.
III. THE GATHERING OF THE SPOIL. (Verse 25.)
1. The articles.
(1) Richesmovable property, such as cattle, tents, etc; the usual wealth of nomads.
(2) Dead bodies, i.e. corpses of men and carcases of animals; the former with clothing and jewellery, the latter with harness and accoutrements. The reading “garments” (Bertheau, Clarke), though not unsuitable (Jdg 8:26), is probably incorrect.
(3) Precious jewels, “vessels of desire,” gold and silver ornaments like those Gideon’s soldiers took from the Midianites (Jdg 8:25).
2. The quantity. So abundant that three days were occupied in collecting it, and when collected it was found to be more than they could carry. The ear-rings taken by Gideon’s warriors from the Midianites weighed seventeen hundred shekels of gold (Jdg 8:26); that obtained by Hannibal’s soldiers at the battle of Cannae was so great “ut tres modios aureorum annulornm Carthaginem mitteret, quos e manibus equitum Romanorum, senatorum et militum detraxerat” (‘Eutropii Historia Romana,’ 41.).
IV. THE MUSTERING AT BERACHAH. (Verse 26.)
1. The place. The valley, afterwards named from the incident of which it was the scene, must have adjoined the battlefield. A trace of it has been recovered in the Wady Bereikut, to the west of Tekoa, near the road from Hebron to Jerusalem. There is no ground for identifying it (Thenius) with the upper part of the valley of Kidron, afterwards called the valley of Jehoshaphat (Joe 3:2, Joe 3:12).
2. The time. On the fourth day after their arrival at Tekoa, the three intervening days having been employed in collecting the spoil.
3. The business.
(1) To render thanks to Jehovah. National mercies should receive national acknowledgment, just as national sins require national confession. Full of gratitude for the marvellous deliverance they had experienced, Jehoshaphat and his people blessed Jehovah on the spot he had consecrated by so wondrous an interposition on their behalf. From this circumstance the valley afterwards came to be designated Emek-Berachah, or “the valley of blessing.”
(2) To prepare for returning to Jerusalem, which they forthwith did.
V. THE RETURN TO JERUSALEM. (Verses 27, 28.)
1. Without delay. After causing the wilderness to echo with anthems to him who had smitten great and famous kings (Psa 136:17, Psa 136:18), they had nothing to detain them from their homes.
2. Without loss. Though they had gained a glorious victory, not one of their company was left upon the battle-field. “Every man of Judah and Jerusalem’ that marched to Tekoa returned to the capital.
3. Without disorder. The same solemn and orderly procession that had characterized their going forth now distinguished their coming back.
4. Without sorrow. Few returns from the battle-field are without saddening recollections; theirs was marked by unmixed joy, to which they gave formal expression with psalteries and harps and trumpets in the house of the Lord.
Learn:
1. The best evidence of faithprompt and cheerful obedience.
2. The true secret of national as of individual prosperitybelief in God and in God’s Word.
3. The value of sacred song as a means of exciting religious feeling and sustaining religious fortitude.
4. The necessity of holiness in them who would command or lead the Lord’s host.
5. The ease with which God could make the enemies of his people annihilate one another.
6. The rich spoil that belongs to faith.
7. The joyous home-coming of all God’s spiritual warriors.W.
2Ch 20:31-37
The biography of Jehoshaphat.
I. JEHOSHAPHAT‘S PARENTAGE.
1. His father. Asa, a good king who enjoyed a long and honoured reign. Though good fathers have sometimes bad sons, as in the case of Jehoshaphat himself, yet there is a presumption in favour of a parent’s piety being reproduced in the son. “Lord! I find the genealogy of my Saviour strangely checkered with four remarkable changes in four immediate generations.
(1) Roboam begat Abia; i.e. a bad father begat a bad son.
(2) Abia begat Asa; i.e. a bad father a good son.
(3) Asa begat Josaphat; i.e. a good father a good son.
(4) Josaphat begat Joram; i.e. a good father a bad son.
I see, Lord, from hence that my father’s piety cannot be entailed: that is bad news for me. But I see also that actual impiety is not always hereditary: that is good news for my son”.
2. His mother. Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi. Otherwise unknown, she was, nevertheless, the wife of a good man, the consort of a pious kingalas! also the mother of a wicked son. She was probably herself a woman of worth, and to her credit her name has been transmitted to posterity rather as her father’s daughter and her husband’s spouse than as her son’s mother. In her case the hand of Providence has drawn a veil over her misfortune.
II. JEHOSHAPHAT‘S REIGN.
1. When it began. When he was thirty-five years old. There was no room in this case for the royal preacher’s woe (Ecc 10:16).
2. How long it continued. Twenty-five yearsa quarter of a century; during which time he and his people experienced much of the Divine favour and blessing.
3. When it ended. When he was sixty years of age; i.e. before he reached the allotted space of three score years and ten (Psa 90:10), and after a shorter life than was afterwards enjoyed by some of his less worthy successors, e.g. Uzziah (2Ch 26:3) and Manasseh (2Ch 33:1)a proof that the promise of long life as a reward for piety was not intended, even under the Old Testament, to be accepted universally and without exception.
III. JEHOSAPHAT‘S REALM.
1. Its extent. He reigned over Judah, the southern kingdom.
2. Its condition. Quiet. With the exception just mentioned it had suffered no invasion. It was disturbed by no internecine feud or civil strife.
3. Its Protector. Jehovah. “God gave him rest round about.”
IV. JEHOSHAPHAT‘S NEIGHBOURS.
1. Their attitude. They stood in awe of Jehoshaphat and his people. Compare the terror of the peoples through the midst of whom Jacob passed on his flight from Shechem to Hebron (Gen 35:5), and the fear which fell upon the city of Jerusalem on beholding the miracle of Pentecost (Act 2:43).
2. The reason of it. They heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel (verse 29). So Miriam expected the report of Jehovah’s victory over Pharaoh would paralyze the surrounding peoples through whom the ransomed host had to pass (Exo 15:14-16).
V. JEHOSHAPHAT‘S CHARACTER.
1. Pious. Like his father Asa, he walked in the way of the Lord.
2. Persevering. He departed not from doing right in the sight of Jehovah, i.e. in the matter of worship.
3. Defective. Not perfect in the sense of being faultless, he allowed the high places dedicated to Jehovah to remain, though other similar high places dedicated to idols were removed (2Ch 17:6); and though he was better than his people, whose hearts were not prepared for a thorough-going reformation, he yet in a blameworthy spirit of complaisance yielded to their demands and permitted the unhallowed altars to stand.
VI. JEHOSHAPHAT‘S ACTS.
1. Those recorded by the Chronicler.
(1) The establishment of garrisons throughout the land (2Ch 17:2).
(2) The appointment of an itinerant ministry for the religious education of the people (2Ch 17:7).
(3) The fostering of commerce in the cities of Judah (2Ch 17:13).
(4) The creation of courts of justice (2Ch 19:5).
(5) The reformation of religion (2Ch 17:6; 2Ch 19:4).
(6) The marriage of his son with Ahab’s daughter (2Ch 18:1).
(7) The war at Ramoth-Gilead (2Ch 18:28).
2. Those written in the book of Jehu, Hanani‘s son. (2Ch 19:2.) These deeds of Judah’s king are lost. How much of every life drops into oblivion, even though set down in a biography! Only that history which God writes lives for ever.
VII. JEHOSHAPHAT‘S FAULTS.
1. Plentiful. Good as Jehoshaphat was, both as man and sovereign, he committed grievous blunders, and indeed fell into aggravated sins. The three worst were:
(1) The marriage of his son Jehoram with Athaliah, the daughter of Ahabthe mating of a lamb with the cub of a tigress.
(2) The war with Benhadad which he entered on to please Ahab, without thinking whether he would thereby please God.
(3) The joining of Ahaziah, Ahab’s successor, in making a fleet to go to Tarshish, or a fleet of Tarshish ships in Ezion-geber.
2. Punished. None of these offences were overlooked by Jehovah. The alliance of Jehoram with Athaliah avenged itself in the depravation of Jehoram’s character. The Syrian war, besides exposing him to imminent peril, brought upon him the Moabitish invasion. The fleet which he and Ahaziah made was wrecked in the Red Sea, and never went to Tarshish. So Eliezer, the son of Dodavah of Mareshah, predicted it would happenbecause Jehoshaphat had a second time joined himself with the house of Omri.
3. Pardoned. Though chastised for his errors, Jehoshaphat was not abandoned to wrath. A child of the covenant and an heir of the promise, he was rebuked but not rejected, corrected but not condemned. So God deals with believers when they err (1Co 11:32).
VIII. JEHOSHAPHAT‘S END.
1. His death was peaceful. “He slept with his fathers” (2Ch 21:1).
2. His burial was honourable. He was entombed in the city of David, in the sepulchre of the kings of Judah.
3. His throne was confirmed. His son Jehoram reigned in his stead.
Learn:
1. The fallibility of good men.
2. The infallibility of God’s Word.W.
2Ch 20:1. And with them other beside the Ammonites And the Edomites. Houbigant. See 2Ch 20:10; 2Ch 20:22-23. In the second verse, instead of Syria, he reads Edom, agreeable to a correction of Calmet’s.
d. Jehoshaphat: the Prophets Michah Son of Imlah and Jehu Son of Hanani.Ch. 1720
. Jehoshaphats Measures for the external and Internal Defence of his Kingdom: 2Ch 17:1-9
2Ch 17:1.And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead, and strengthened himself against Israel. 2And he placed forces in all the fenced cities of Judah, and placed garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim, which 3Asa his father had taken. And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat; for he walked in the former ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim. 4But sought to the Lord God of his father, and walked in His commandments, 5and not after the doing of Israel. And the Lord stablished the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought presents to Jehoshaphat; and he had riches and honour in abundance. 6And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord; and, moreover, he took away the high places and Asherim out of 7Judah. And in the third year of his reign he sent his princes, Benhail,1 and Obadiah, and Zechariah, and Nethaneel, and Michaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah. 8And with them the Levites, Shemaiah, and Nethaniah, and Zebadiah, and Asahel, and Shemiramoth,2 and Jehonathan, and Adonijah, and Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah, Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, priests. 9And they taught in Judah, and had with them the book of the law of the Lord, and went round all the cities of Judah, and taught among the people.
. The Effects of these Measures: Jehoshaphats increasing Power: 2Ch 17:10-19
10And the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that 11were around Judah, and they warred not with Jehoshaphat. And some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents, and silver in abundance; the Arabs also brought him flocks, seven thousand and seven hundred rams, and 12seven thousand and seven hundred he-goats. And Jehoshaphat became ever greater to the highest degree; and he built in Judah castles and cities with stores. 13And he had much store in the cities of Judah: and men of war, 14mighty men of valour, in Jerusalem. And this was the muster of them after their father-houses: of Judah, the captains of thousands: Adnah the chief, 15and with him mighty men of valour three hundred thousand. And at his hand Jehohanan the chief, and with him two hundred and eighty thousand. 16And at his hand Amasiah son of Zichri, who willingly offered himself unto the Lord; and with him two hundred thousand mighty men of valour. 17And of Benjamin: Eliada, a mighty man of valour, and with him, armed with bow 18and shield, two hundred thousand. And at his hand Jehozabad, and with 19him a hundred and eighty thousand equipped for the war. These were they who ministered to the king, besides those whom the king had placed in the fenced cities in all Judah.
. Jehoshaphats Affinity with Ahab, and the War against Ramoth-gilead: 2 Chronicles 18
2Ch 18:1 And Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance, and joined 2affinity with Ahab. And in the course of years he went down to Ahab to Samaria: and Ahab killed for him, and the people that were with him, sheep and oxen in abundance; and he persuaded him to go up with him to Ramoth-gilead. 3And Ahab king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Wilt thou go with me to Ramoth-gilead? And he said to him, I am as thou, and my people as thy people; and we will be with thee in the war. 4And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Ask now this day the 5word of the Lord. And the king of Israel gathered the prophets, four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; and God will give it into the hand 6of the king. And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides, that we may ask of him? 7And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, by whom we may inquire of the Lord; but I hate him, because he never prophesied good to me, but always evil: that is Michah son of Imlah: and Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.
8And the king of Israel called a chamberlain, and said, Fetch quickly Michah3 son of Imlah. 9And the king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, sat each on his throne, clothed in robes, and they sat in a floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them. 10And Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made him iron horns, and said, Thus saith the Lord, With these thou shalt push Syria, until they are consumed. 11And all the prophets prophesied so, and said, Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and prosper; and the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.
12And the messenger that went to call Michah spake to him, saying, Behold, the words of the prophets are with one mouth good for the king: let now thy 13word then be as one of them, and speak thou good. And Michah said, As 14the Lord liveth, what my God saith, that will I speak. And he came to the king; and the king said unto him, Michah, Shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And he said, Go ye up, and prosper, and they shall be delivered into your hand. 15And the king said to him, How many times shall I adjure thee, that thou speak nothing to me but truth in the 16name of the Lord? And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd: and the Lord said, These have no master; let them return every man to his house in peace. 17And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would not prophesy good to me, but evil?
18And he said, Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord; I saw the Lord sitting upon His throne, and all the host of heaven standing on His right 19hand and on His left. And the Lord said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said4 this, 20and another said that. And the spirit came forth, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will entice him: and the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? 21And he said, I will go forth, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets: and He said, Thou shalt entice, and shaft also prevail: go forth, and do so. 22And now, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy 23prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil against thee. And Zedekiah son of Chenaanah drew near, and smote Michah on the cheek, and said, Which way 24went the Spirit of the Lord from me to speak with thee? And Michah said, Behold, thou shalt see on that day when thou goest from chamber to chamber 25to hide thyself. And the king of Israel said, Take ye Michah, and carry him 26back to Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the kings son. And say ye, Thus saith the king, Put him in the prison, and let him eat bread of trouble, 27and water of trouble, until I return in peace. And Michah said, If thou return at all in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me: and he said, Hear, all ye people.
28And the king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, went up to Ramoth-gilead. 29And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Disguised I will go into the battle; but thou put on thy robes: and the king of Israel disguised 30himself, and they went into the battle. And the king of Syria had commanded the captains of his chariots, saying, Fight ye not with small or great, but only with the king of Israel. 31And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, This is the king of Israel; and they compassed about him to fight; and Jehoshaphat cried out, 32and the Lord helped him, and God turned them away from him. And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king 33of Israel, that they turned from after him. And a man drew a bow in his simplicity, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: and he said to the charioteer, Turn thy hand,5 and carry me out of the host; for I am wounded. 34And the battle went up in that day, and the king of Israel was standing in the chariot against Syria until the evening; and he died at the time of the sun setting.
. Judgment of Jehu the Prophet on the Covenant of Jehoshaphat with Ahab: 2Ch 19:1-3
2Ch 19:1.And Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned home in peace to Jerusalem. 2And Jehu son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Must we help the wicked, and shouldst thou love them that 3hate the Lord? and for this is wrath upon thee from the Lord. Yet good things are found with thee; for thou hast destroyed the Asherim out of the land, and thou hast directed thy heart to seek God.
. Jehoshaphats further Reforms of Worship and Law: 2Ch 19:4-11
4And Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem: and he went out again among the people, from Beersheba to mount Ephraim, and brought them back to the 5Lord God of their fathers. And he appointed judges in the land, in all the fenced cities of Judah, city by city. 6And said to the judges: See what ye do; for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord; and He is with you in judgment. 7And now let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take heed and do ye; for with the Lord our God is neither iniquity, nor respect of persons, 8nor taking of gift.And also in Jerusalem Jehoshaphat appointed of the Levites and priests, and of the chief of the fathers of Israel, for the judgment 9of the Lord, and for pleading; and they returned to Jerusalem. And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye do in the fear of the Lord, with 10truth and a perfect heart. And in6 every plea that cometh before you of your brethren that dwell in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and judgments, ye shall advise them, that they trespass not against the Lord, so that wrath come upon you and your brethren: thus shall ye do, and not trespass.7 11And, behold, Amariah the chief priest is over you for every matter of the Lord; and Zebadiah son of Ishmael, the ruler of the house of Judah, for every matter of the king; and the Levites are officers before you: take courage, and do ye, and the Lord will be with the good.
. Jehoshaphats Victory over the Moabites, Ammonites, and other Nations of the East: 2Ch 20:1-30
Ch. 20. .And 1it came to pass after this, that the sons of Moab and the sons of Ammon, and with them of the Meunites,8 came against Jehoshaphat to battle. 2And they came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh against thee a great multitude from beyond the sea, from Syria; and, behold, they are at 3Hazezon-tamar, that is Engedi. And Jehoshaphat was afraid,9 and set his 4face to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast over all Judah. And the Jews assembled to seek the Lord: even from all the cities of Judah came they to seek the Lord. 5And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, 6in the house of the Lord, before the new court. And said, Lord God of our fathers, art not Thou God in heaven, and ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? and in thy hand are strength and might, and none is with Thee 7to withstand Thee. Hast not Thou, our God, driven out the inhabitants of this land before Thy people Israel, and given it to the seed of Abraham Thy friend for ever? 8And they dwelt therein, and built Thee a sanctuary therein 9for Thy name, saying: If evil come upon us, sword, judgment, or pestilence or famine, we shall stand before this house, and before Theefor Thy name is in this houseand shall cry unto Thee out of our affliction: then Thou wilt hear and help. 10And now, behold, the sons of Ammon, and Moab, and mount Seir, whom thou wouldst not let Israel invade, when they came out of the 11land of Egypt, but they departed from them, and destroyed them not. And, behold, they requite us by coming to cast us out of Thy possession which 12Thou hast given us. Our God, wilt Thou not judge them? for in us is no might against this great multitude that cometh against us; and we know not what we shall do: but our eyes are upon Thee. 13And all Judah stood before the Lord, and their little ones, their wives, and their sons.
14And upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation. 15And he said, Attend ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat; Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed before this great multitude; 16for the battle is not yours, but Gods. To-morrow go ye down against them: behold, they go up by the hill of Haziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel. 17Ye shall not have to fight here: step forth, stand ye, and see the help of the Lord who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear ye not, nor be dismayed; to-morrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you. 18And Jehoshaphat bowed his face to the ground; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, to worship the Lord. 19And the Levites of the sons of Kohath, and of the Korhites, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with an exceeding loud voice.
20And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood up and said, Hear ye me, Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, and ye shall be established; believe in His prophets, and ye shall prosper. 21And he advised the people, and appointed men singing unto the Lord, and praising in holy beauty, when they go out before the armed men, and saying, 22Give thanks to the Lord; for His mercy endureth for ever. And at the time when they began with song and praise, the Lord set an ambush against the sons of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and 23they were smitten. And the sons of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, to cut off and destroy them; and when they had ended with the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.
24And Judah came to the watch-tower in the wilderness, and looked to the multitude; and, behold, they lay as corpses on the earth, and none escaped. 25And Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their spoil, and they found with them in abundance, goods and corpses,10 and costly vessels; and they stripped off for themselves more than they could carry; and they were three days taking the spoil, for it was great. 26And on the fourth day they assembled in the valley of blessing; for there they blessed the Lord: therefore they 27called the name of the place the valley of blessing unto this day. And they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat at their head, to return to Jerusalem with gladness; for the Lord had made them glad over their enemies. 28And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries, and harps, and trumpets, unto the house of the Lord. 29And the fear of God was upon all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that the Lord fought against 30the enemies of Israel. And the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet; for his God gave him rest round about.
. End of the Reign of Jehoshaphat: 2Ch 20:31-37
31And Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah: he was thirty and five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem and his mothers name was Azubah, daughter of Shilhi. 32And he walked in the way of his father Asa, and departed not from it, so that he did that 33which was right in the sight of the Lord. Only the high places were not taken away, and the people had not yet directed their heart to the God of their fathers.
34And the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the words of Jehu son of Hanani, which are inserted in the book of the kings of Israel.
35And afterwards Jehoshaphat king of Judah allied himself with Ahaziah 36king of Israel: he was wicked in his doing. And he allied himself with him, 37to make ships to go to Tarshish: and they made ships in Ezion-geber. And Eliezer, son of Dodavah11 of Mareshah, prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because thou hast allied thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath broken thy work: and the ships were wrecked, and were not able to go to Tarshish.
EXEGETICAL
Besides the report in 2 Chronicles 18 of the unsuccessful campaign of Jehoshaphat and Ahab against Ramoth-gilead, agreeing almost literally with 1Ki 22:2-35 and the closing section 2Ch 20:30-37, which coincides partly in matter and partly in form with 1Ki 22:41-51, the Chronist presents in this enlarged history of the reign of Jehoshaphat only original matter, serving to supplement the books of Kings, and that on the basis of those words or records of Jehu ben Hanani, which he himself names as his source in 2Ch 20:34.
1. Jehoshaphats Measures for the Internal and External Defence of the Kingdom: 2Ch 17:1-9.Strengthened himself against Israel, endeavoured to defend and secure himself against attack on the side of Israel (comp. 2Ch 1:1). This was obviously in the first part of his reign, before he formed affinity with Ahab (2Ch 18:1), and so long as the recollection of Baashas attack on his predecessor Asa operated.
2Ch 17:2. Placed garrisons in the land;, military posts, as 1Ch 9:16. On b, comp. 2Ch 15:8.
2Ch 17:3. For he walked in the former ways of his father David, not in the later ways of David, which were characterized by his crimes regarding Uriah and Bathsheba, by the foolish step of numbering the people, etc.Sought not unto Baalim.here and in the following verse is nota accusativi, after the later usage. The Baalim (comp. Jdg 2:11) comprise all kinds of idolatry, even that finer kind, consisting in the worship of Jehovah under certain animal forms, which is designated in the following verse as the doing of Israel that was avoided by Jehoshaphat.
2Ch 17:5. And the Lord stablished the kingdom in his hand; comp. 2Ki 14:5. On the following , gift (= , Psa 110:3), comp 2Ch 17:11, where the term denotes the tribute of a subject people. On riches and honour in abundance, see 2Ch 18:1, also 1Ch 29:28; 2Ch 1:12.
2Ch 17:6 ff. The Internal Defence of the Kingdom by the Extirpation of Idolatry and the Instruction of the People in the Law.And his heart was lifted up. in the ways of the Lord, showed a heightened courage to proceed in a godly walk; here, otherwise than in 2Ch 26:16, 2Ch 32:25, etc., not in the bad sense of an ungodly pride, but sensu bono. The following and moreover () points back to 2Ch 17:3. For the high places and Asherim, comp. on 2Ch 14:2.
2Ch 17:7. And in the third year of his reign; according to Hitzigs not improbable conjecture (Geschichte, pp. 9 ff., 198 f.), a jubilee year, and indeed the year 912 b.C. The five princes, nine Levites, and two priests named in the following verse are otherwise unknown.
2Ch 17:9. And they taught in Judah, on the basis of the presently named book of the law of the Lord, the religious and civil enactments of which, on the occasion of this solemn ecclesiastical visitation of Jehoshaphat (Starke and other ancients), were brought to the recollection and impressed anew on the attention of the Jews. This mention of the book of the law under Jehoshaphat, almost 300 years before Josiahs renewed inculcation and vindication of its authority, is of no small apologetic importance. It shows that, if not the whole Pentateuch in its present form, yet a work already approaching to its present compass, was already extant in the tenth century b.C. (comp. also on 2Ch 15:13). And indeed the concrete, detailed, and definite nature of the present notice leaves no doubt of this, that not merely the Chronist living after the exile, but his much older voucher, contemporary with the recorded fact (probably Jehu ben Hanani), bears this testimony to the existence of the Torah at so early a date.
2. The Effects of these Measures: Jehoshaphats increasing Power: 2Ch 17:10-19.And the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands (almost literally so, 2Ch 20:29; comp. also 2Ch 14:13; 2Ch 12:8, etc.). Rightly Rambach observes: Erat hoc prmium pietatis Josaphati, quod vicini satisque potentes hostes non auderent adversus ipsum hiscere. On the contrary, Berth. perverts the theocratic causal nexus set forth clearly enough by the writer, when he remarks on this passage: Jehoshaphat had time to attend to the instruction of his people, because the neighbouring nations did not then venture to make war on Judah.
2Ch 17:11. And some of the Philistines brought. is subject (with partitive ).And silver in abundance, literally, and silver a load; comp. 2Ch 20:25. Falsely the Vulg., which assigns to the term , load, the meaning tribute (vectigal).The Arabs also ( = ; see 2Ch 21:16, 2Ch 22:1), the Beduin tribes of north-western Arabia, perhaps those whom Asa had subdued by the victory over Zerah (comp. 2Ch 14:14.).
2Ch 17:12. And Jehoshaphat became ever greater. The construction according to Ew. 280, b; , as in 2Ch 16:12.And he built in Judah castles., plur. of (= ) a Syrian form occurring only here and 2Ch 27:4. Cities with stores, as 2Ch 8:4.
2Ch 17:13. And he had much store. So rightly Luther, Starke, Keil, Kamph., etc. Of the same signification is , Exo 22:7-10. Otherwise (Vulg. opera magna, Clericus, Berth., Neteler, etc.): much labour, great preparations, to which, however, b does not suit; comp. also 2Ch 11:11.
2Ch 17:14. And this was the muster of them, the result of the muster, or also their order; comp. 1 Chron. 24:49.Of Judah, the captains of thousands, leaders, field-marshals. The following statement of the three Jewish divisions of the army under Adnah, Jehohanan, and Amasiah, and of the two divisions of Benjamin under Eliada and Jehozabad (2Ch 17:15-18), is certainly historical, if we only mark the concrete form, bearing the stamp of direct historical truth, of the notice concerning Amasiah: who willingly offered himself unto the Lord, and also the circumstance that the kind of armour worn by the Benjamites agrees with earlier statements (comp. 1Ch 8:40; 2Ch 14:7). But the exceedingly high numbers, which give for Judah alone 780,000, for Benjamin 380,000, and thus for both tribes together the total of 1,160,000 warriors, form no inconsiderable difficulty; comp. the Evangelical and Ethical Reflections.
2Ch 17:19. These were they who ministered to the king., these, refers to the five generals or commanders, not to the thousands of warriors. Likewise the following clause: whom the king had placed in the fenced cities in all Judah, refers to other officers besides those five, not to other troops besides those already enumerated.
3. Jehoshaphats Affinity with Ahab: the Campaign against Ramoth-gilead: 2 Chronicles 18 Comp. 1Ki 22:2-35, and Bhr on this passage. Here are only the statements peculiar to the Chronist to be expounded.And Jehoshaphat . . . joined affinity with Ahab, in this way, that he gave his son Joram in marriage to Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel; see 2Ch 21:6.12 This affinity, which occasioned the subsequent visit of Jehoshaphat to Ahab, and the participation in his unfortunate campaign, is here clearly mentioned as something mischievous, attended with destructive effects, as the first link of a chain of misfortunes (comp. 2Ch 19:2); the before has accordingly, as it were, an adversative force, and the verse expresses this thought: Although Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance, yet he was so foolish as to make affinity with Ahab. Comp. S. Schmidt, Josaphatus, cetera dives et gloriosus, infelicem adfinitatem cum Achabo, rege Israeli-tarum, contrahit, etc. See, for the rest, Evangelical and Ethical Reflections.
2Ch 18:2. And in the course of years, nine years, as the comparison of 1Ki 22:2; 1Ki 22:41 with 2Ki 8:26 shows; the affinity of Jehoshaphat with Ahab by the marriage of Joram and Athaliah must, according to these passages, have fallen in the eighth, and the death of Ahab, in the campaign against Ramoth, in the seventeenth, year of Jehoshaphats reign.And he persuaded him, partly by the great banquets and hospitalities which he prepared in his honour (comp. , entice, tempt, in such places as Jdg 1:14; Job 2:3; Deu 11:7, etc.). In 1Ki 12:3, instead of this persuasive influence on Jehoshaphat, is set forth rather the political motive of Ahab to begin the war against the Syrians in Ramoth-gilead; our author is silent on this, because on principle he does not wish to recount anything of the deeds or enterprises of the northern king.
2Ch 18:5. Gathered the prophets, four hundred men. 1 Kings: about 400 men, which is the more correct, as the number is obviously a round one.Shall we go; in 1 Kings: Shall I go, in harmony with the following , or shall I forbear. Inversely in 1 Kings (2Ch 18:14) both verbs are plural.
2Ch 18:7. Prophesied . . . always evil, literally, all his days (), a phrase emphasizing the opposition, which is wanting in 1 Kings.
2Ch 18:9. And they sat in a floor. The , superfluous on account of the preceding , is wanting in 1 Kings.
2Ch 18:14. And they shall be delivered into your hand. Instead of this very definite prediction (which is certainly ironical), the parallel text in 1 Kings has, more indefinitely: And the Lord shall deliver it into the kings hand.
2Ch 18:19. See the Crit. Notes.
2Ch 18:23. Which way went the Spirit of the Lord from me? Instead of this circumstantial (comp. 1Ki 13:1; 2Ki 3:8), 1Ki 22:24 has the simpler and shorter .
2Ch 18:26. Let him eat bread of trouble, and water of trouble. Possible is also the translation proposed by Kamph. with reference to Psa 60:5 : Let him eat as bread of trouble, etc.
2Ch 18:30. And the king of Syria had commanded the captains of his chariots. In 1 Kings the number of these captains (thirty-two) is also given, by reference to the earlier war, 1Ki 20:24.
2Ch 18:31. And the Lord helped him, and God turned them away from him. This religious reflective remark is wanting in 1Ki 22:32, but is by no means a hindrance to the connection, as Berth, thinks, but rather a very seasonable enunciation of that which, to the writer, necessarily formed the point and force of the whole narrative.
2Ch 18:34. And the king of Israel was standing in the chariot. Instead of the partic. Hiph. holding himself upright, 1Ki 22:35 has, less distinctly, the Hoph. held upright. The close of the whole narrative, containing accounts of the return of the defeated army, and the more particular circumstances of the death of Ahab (1Ki 22:36-39), is omitted by our author, because it belongs properly to a history of the northern kingdom.
4. The Prophet Jehus Judgment on the Covenant with Ahab: 2Ch 19:1-3.And Jehoshaphat . . . returned home in peace to Jerusalem, so that the prophecy of Michah (2Ch 18:16) was fulfilled in him.
2Ch 19:2. And Jehu the son of Hanani . . . went out to meet him: the same prophet who, 1Ki 16:1, had acted under Baasha in the northern kingdom; perhaps a son of that Hanani whom Asa in wrath had ordered into prison (2Ch 16:7 ff.).Must we help the wicked, and shouldst thou love them that hate the Lord? The construction is as in 1Ch 5:1; 1Ch 9:25 ( with the infin.). It is to be supposed that the words are spoken in earnest indignation, but they turn with their displeasure rather against the idolatrous tyrant Ahab than against Jehoshaphat, who only for a season walked by his side.And for this is wrath upon thee from the Lord; camp. 1Ch 27:24, and with the simpler 2Ch 32:26. The words point prophetically to the soon after occurring dangerous invasion of the Ammonites, Moabites, and Meunites, and also to the unfortunate sea-voyage from Ezion-geber, 2 Chronicles 20 :
2Ch 19:3. Yet good things are found with thee, things worthy of praise; comp. 2Ch 12:12; 1Ki 14:13. For b (where the fem. appears instead of the usual plur. masc.), comp. 2Ch 17:4 f., 2Ch 12:14.
5. Jehoshaphats further Reforms of Worship and Law: 2Ch 19:4-11.And he went out again among the people, literally, and he turned and went. Reference is made to the former going out, 2Ch 17:7 ff. The following statement of the south and north boundary of the kingdom of Judah; from Beersheba to Mount Ephraim, is copied after the similar formula: from Dan to Beersheba, which refers to the whole land of Israel; comp. Jdg 20:1; 2Sa 3:10; 2Sa 17:11; 1Ki 5:5.And brought them back to the Lord, made them return; comp. 2Ch 24:19.
2Ch 19:5. City by city, or in every city ( ; comp. 1Ch 26:29), according to he legal precept, Deu 16:18.
2Ch 19:6. Not for man, but for the Lord, in Gods name, and according to His holy will, as , Rom 13:4; comp. also Pro 16:11.And he is with you in the judgment, in the judicial decision, in passing sentence; comp. Deu 17:9, also 2Ch 1:17; Exo 21:6; Exo 22:7, etc. The supplying of as subject to is indispensable, as the failure of all attempts to explain it without this supplement, for example, that of the Vulg. (et quodcunque judicaveritis, in vos redundabit), shows.
2Ch 19:7. And now let the fear of the Lord be upon you in a preserving way, that ye may beware of judging unjustly. For the phrase, comp. 2Ch 17:10.Take heed, and do ye, do it in a heedful, conscientious way, cum diligentia cuncta facite (Vulg.). On the following words, comp. Deu 10:17; Deu 16:19; Psa 89:7; Act 10:34.
2Ch 19:8-11. The Supreme Tribunal instituted by Jehoshaphat in Jerusalem,an institution resting on Exo 18:19; Exo 18:26, Deu 17:8-13; comp. Keil, Bibl. Archol. ii. 250 ff.And also in Jerusalem, not merely in the various fenced cities (2Ch 19:5), where judges of inferior instance were appointed. That besides Levites and priests, laymen, of the chiefs of the fathers of Israel, tribe-chiefs out of the rest of the people, are named as appointed by Jehoshaphat to be judges, involves no contradiction of 1Ch 23:4; 1Ch 26:29, according to which David had appointed 6000 Levites as judges and officers (); for that these Levites should exclusively administer the law was not there asserted.For the judgment of the Lord, and for pleading. Synonymous with stands, 2Ch 19:11, , for every matter of the Lord; and synonymous with that passage gives for every matter of the king or the state; so that the sense of the whole is: for all matters relating to religion or polity. As examples of the former, Berth. well adduces disputes concerning the release of the first-born, dues to the temple, the clean and the unclean, etc.And they returned to Jerusalem; Jehoshaphat and the commission accompanying him returned from their journey through the country and the fenced cities of Judah to Jerusalem; comp. 2Ch 19:4. As this statement would have been more suitable before 2Ch 19:8, and as any reference of it to others than Jehoshaphat and his companions (for example, to the Levites, priests, and chiefs nominated for the new supreme court, as Rambach, Starke, and others think) is inadmissible, the change proposed by Kamph. of into and they dwelt in Jerusalem (the supreme judges just nominated), appears not inappropriate.
2Ch 19:9. Thus shall ye do, as is fully stated in 2Ch 19:10. On , with undivided heart, comp. 2Ch 15:17, 2Ch 16:9; 1Ki 8:61.
2Ch 19:10. And in every plea. stands before as cas. absol.; the before is explicative; comp. Grit. Note. As brethren who dwell in their cities those are designated who bring appeals from the country or the smaller cities of Judah and Benjamin before the supreme court at Jerusalem, and demand its higher decision; comp. Deu 17:8.Between blood and blood, in criminal cases which involve murder and homicide (comp. Exo 21:12 ff.). The following phrase: between law and commandment, statutes and judgments, applies to a dispute concerning the import or application of certain laws, or a doubt according to what legal enactment the case in point is to be decided (comp. Deu 17:8).Ye shall advise them, by imparting instruction concerning the decisions of the law, admonish (, as in Exo 18:20; Ecc 12:12), that they may not err by the theoretical or practical abuse of the law, and thereby bring guilt () upon the whole people.
2Ch 19:11. And, behold, Amariah the chief priest, scarcely different from the fifth high priest after Zadok, mentioned 1 Chron. 5:37 (see on the passage). The ruler of the house of Judah, Zebadiah son of Ishmael, is not otherwise known.And the Levites are officers before you,, in 1Ch 23:4; 1Ch 26:29.The Lord will be with the good; is here a future, scarcely an optative: the Lord be with the good. Comp. besides, 2Ch 20:17. The good are the judges who discharge their office fitly and well.
6. Jehoshaphats Victory over the Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites: 2Ch 20:1-30.And it came to pass after this, after the events related in 2Ch 18:19, which fall perhaps six or seven years before the death of Jehoshaphat, and of which the death of Ahab almost certainly falls in the year 897 b.C. A still more exact date for the present war results from the monument of victory of the Moabitish King Mesha, discovered three years ago, which must have been erected very soon after Ahabs death, and shortly before the outbreak of the present war, and therefore about 896 b.C. See Schlottmann, Der Moabiterknig Mesa, Stud. u. Krit. 1871, p. 587 ff., especially p. 610 ff.; and comp. beneath, Evangelical and Ethical Reflections, No. 4.And with them of the Meunites. can scarcely mean, as many of the ancients, and even Hengst. (Gesch. d. Reiches Gottes. ii. 2, 211), think, nations beyond the Ammonites; for even if , according to 1Sa 20:22; 1Sa 20:37, could have the sense beyond or remote from, yet 2Ch 20:10; 2Ch 20:22 f. point distinctly to a people inhabiting mount Seir. Accordingly we must read, as of the Sept. indicates (comp. 1Ch 4:41), rather , and think of the Meunites (Meinites, 1Ch 4:41, Kethib) inhabiting the city Maon () near Petra as their capital. If in the following verse (with Calmet, Keil, and others) were read instead of the difficult , every scruple against this assumption (proposed by Hiller, Onomast. p. 285, and supported by nearly all the moderns) must vanish. But even without this further emendation, it possesses a high degree of probability; for, according to Josephus, Antiq.ix. 1, 2, they were Arabs, and probably inhabitants of Arabia Petra, who, in alliance with the Ammonites and Moabites, undertook the expedition against Jehoshaphat; and in 2Ch 26:7 Meunites are named along with Philistines and Arabs as a southern tribe subdued in war by Uzziah.
2Ch 20:2. From beyond the sea, from Syria. For must apparently be read , from Edom or Iduma for only this determination of the starting-point agrees with , beyond the sea (the Dead Sea); and the Syr. seems to have read , while the remaining old versions certainly confirm the Masoretic text. If we adhere to it, Aram or Syria must at all events be taken in a very wide sense (= North Arabia); comp. Hengst. as quoted.And, behold, they are at Hazezon-tamar, that is Engedi (comp. Gen 14:1; Jos 15:62; Son 1:14; Robinson, Pal. ii. 439 f.), where Ain Jidy now lies, at the middle of the west shore of the Dead Sea, about fifteen hours from Jerusalem. The army of the allied foes had, it appears, reached this place through a marsh surrounding the south end of the Dead Sea, or by crossing the south ford of this sea (between the eastern peninsula Lisan and the opposite point of the west shore, not far from the valley Engedi; comp. Hoffmann, Blicke in die frheste Gesch. des Gelobten Landes, 2.26 f.).
2Ch 20:3-13. Jehoshaphat and the People seek the Help of the Lord.And Jehoshaphat set his face, = ; comp. Jer 42:15; Dan 9:8. On the proclaiming of a fast over all Judah, comp. Jdg 20:26; 1Sa 7:6; Joe 2:15.
2Ch 20:5. Before the new court, the outer or great court (see 2Ch 6:9), that might have been built or repaired in Asas or Jehoshaphats time, and therefore is here called new. The place before this court, from which Jehoshaphat offered his prayer, was perhaps at the entrance of the inner or priests court.
2Ch 20:6. Lord God of our fathers. Jehoshaphat thus addresses God, to remind him of his former benefits to his people, to which is then annexed a reference to his absolute omnipotence; comp. Psa 115:3, and on None is with Thee, to withstand Thee, Psa 94:16; 1Ch 29:12; 2Ch 14:10, and like passages.
2Ch 20:7. Comp. Exo 23:20 ff.; Jos 23:9; Jos 24:12; also Gen 13:15 f., 2Ch 15:18.
2Ch 20:9. If evil come upon us, sword, judgment ( only here in this sense), or pestilence, etc. The cases enumerated in Solomons prayer at the dedication of the temple (2Ch 6:22-39) are here summarily recapitulated.
2Ch 20:10. The sons of Ammon and Moab . . whom Thou wouldst not let Israel invade, from whom our ancestors in the time of Moses and Joshua peacefully withdrew, without attacking them; comp. Num 20:14 ff.; Deu 2:4; Deu 2:9; Deu 2:19; Deu 2:29; Jdg 11:17 f.
2Ch 20:11. And behold = yea, behold.Possession which Thou hast given us, made us possess, , as in Jdg 11:24; Ezr 9:12.
2Ch 20:12. For in us is no might against this great multitude, before, in the face of this great multitude; comp. 2Ch 14:9, etc. For the following expression of confidence: our eyes are upon Thee, comp. Psa 25:15; Psa 123:2; Psa 141:8. On 2Ch 20:13 (and their little ones), comp. Jon 3:5.
2Ch 20:14-17. Gods Answer by the Prophet Jahaziel.And upon Jahaziel the Levite of the sons of Asaph. The ancestor in the fifth degree of this Jahaziel is said to be Mattaniah, possibly the same son of Asaph who is called, 1Ch 25:2; 1Ch 25:12, Nethaniah (as and in the formation of nom.propr. are often interchanged). An identity with Mattaniah the son of Heman, 1Ch 25:4; 1Ch 25:16, is not to be thought of.
2Ch 20:15. The battle is not yours, but Gods; comp. 1Sa 17:47; Neh 4:14; also Mat 10:20.
2Ch 20:16. Behold, they go up by the hill of Haziz, perhaps the Wady el Hasasah on the north border of the wilderness of the same name, which stretches from the Dead Sea to Tekoa, and no doubt corresponds to the here-named wilderness of Jeruel. With this reference to El Hasasah corresponds the rendering of the name by in the Sept., whereas certainly Josephus renders the name by (Antiq. ix. 1, 2), and thus conceives it as if it were (with the article; were this view, the necessity of which is by no means established (comp. Ew. Gesch. 2d edit. iii. p. 475), confirmed, the hill of Ziz would have to be identified with the steep pass over Ain Jidy (Robinson, ii. 438, 446).
2Ch 20:17. Ye shall not have to fight here. , in this conflict with so great a multitude of foes; comp. 2Ch 20:15.
2Ch 20:18-19. Thanksgiving of Jehoshaphat and the People for the encouraging Promise by the Prophet.And the Levites of the sons of Kohath and of the Korhites. The second before may be only explicative, as the Korhites descended from Kohath, 1Ch 6:18; 1Ch 6:22.
2Ch 20:20-23. The divine promise is fulfilled by an unexpected self-destruction of the foemen.And as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood up, probably in the gate by which the warriors went forth (the valley or dung-gate, at all events one of those facing the south). On the words: believe, and ye shall be established, comp. Isa 7:9; Isa 28:16; Deu 1:32.
2Ch 20:21. And he advised the people, busied himself as a sound adviser (), by exhorting to confidence in God; in a similar sense stands in 2Ki 6:8.And appointed men singing unto the Lord ( in as nota genitivi), and praising in holy beauty: , otherwise 1Ch 16:29; Psa 29:2; Psa 110:3.
2Ch 20:22. And at the time . . . the Lord set an ambush. signifies insidiatores, insidi (Vulg.), as in Jdg 9:25. By these waylayers .cannot be meant angels sent by God (Piscat. and other ancients, Ew., Kamph., Berth.doubtful H. Schultz, Theol. des A. T. ii. 322); for such an interference of supernatural powers, good or evil, must have been clearly indicated (as in 2Ki 6:17; 2Ki 19:35). As little can the be waylaying Jews, because the Jews, according to 2Ch 20:15; 2Ch 20:17; 2Ch 20:24, were merely spectators of the bloody encounter between their opponents. The waylaying without doubt was done by a part of the confederates themselves, probably some of the Meunites, the inhabitants of mount Seir, who, being eager for booty, had laid the crafty ambush, on whose sudden assault the Ammonites and Moabites must have regarded their Meunite allies as traitors, and thereupon opened the wild game of the self-slaughter of their army. Thus in the main, by comparison with the partly similar event in Jdg 7:22 ff., J. H. Mich., Cler., Calm., etc., and recently Keil and Hengst. (Gesch. des R. G. ii. 2, 213 f.), the latter of whom appears inclined to find in an allusion to the name Arabs (the predatory swarms, he thinks, of the tribes of Arabia Petra and Deserta might have joined the Idumans), and to lay down a hypothesis similar to that of K. H. Sack (Theol. Aufsatze, Gotha 1871), who wishes to make Arabs () also of the ravens () of Elijah, 1Ki 17:6. Comp. also Schlottmann, p. 611, who endeavours to make out the fanaticism of the Ammonites and Moabites, as heathenish polytheistic opponents of the monotheistic Edomites, to be one of the causes of the massacre, but overlooks the fact that the Edomites had properly no part in the affair.
2Ch 20:23. And when they had ended with the inhabitants of mount Seir, had completely massacred them in the affray that arose; comp. Dan 11:44. On the words: they helped to destroy one another, comp., for the substantive 22:4; Eze 5:16; Dan 10:8.
2Ch 20:24-30. The Impression of the Event on the Jews and their Neighbours.And Judah came to the watch-tower in the wilderness, to an elevated point, a rising ground not far from Tekoa, whence the wilderness of Jeruel (2Ch 20:16) might be surveyed.And none escaped: so at least it appeared. The statement is to be understood as ideal, and not strictly real.
2Ch 20:25. And they found with them in abundance, goods and corpses, and costly vessels. Intermediate between , goods, and , costly vessels (comp. Dan 11:38), are named corpses, obviously very surprising. The reading , garments, should therefore at once receive the preference; comp. Jdg 8:25 f.And they stripped off for themselves more than they could carry, literally to nothing of carrying: comp. Num 4:24.
2Ch 20:26. And on the fourth day they assembled in the valley of blessing. This vale of blessing (Emek-berachah) must be sought near the field of battle. It is evidently the present Wady Bereikut, west of Tekoa, near the road leading from Jerusalem to Hebron, in which pretty broad and open valley the ruins of a place of the name of Bereikut are still preserved (Robinson, Phys. Geogr. p. 106); comp. the Caphar Baruka of Jerome in the Vita S. Paul, with its outlook on the Dead Sea. It is inadmissible, with Thenius and Hitzig (on Joel 4:2, 12, and Gesch. p. 199), to make this valley of blessing the same with the Kidron or the valley of Jehoshaphat. For though Joel 4:11 f. names the site of the present battle the valley of Jehoshaphat, it does not follow from this poetico-prophetical designation that he had in view the upper valley of Kidron afterwards so called, which bears this name first in Eusebius, but nowhere in the sacred Scriptures of the Old and New Testament (see Berth. on this passage).
2Ch 20:27. For the Lord had made them glad over their enemies; comp. Ezr 6:22; Neh 12:43.
2Ch 20:29. And the fear of God was upon all the kingdoms of the countries bordering on Judah. On the fear of God, comp. 2Ch 17:10; on the last words, 2Ch 15:15, 2Ch 14:4.
7. End of the Reign of Jehoshaphat: 2Ch 20:31-37. Comp. 1Ki 22:41-51, a section which there forms the whole account of the reign of Jehoshaphat, but is therefore amplified with some notices that are wanting here1. With the statement that Jehoshaphat had peace with the king of Israel, 1Ki 22:45 (which appeared superfluous here on account of 1Ki 18:1 ff.); 2. With a passing reference to Jehoshaphats might and great deeds, 1Ki 22:46 (which is wanting here in the corresponding 2Ch 20:34, because the most important of these great deeds have been here recorded at length in 1 Kings 17-20); 3. With a remark on the removal of the rest of the Sodomites out of the land, 1Ki 22:47 (which is wanting here, because in the time of Asa, 16, no notice is taken of these Sodomites who are mentioned in 1Ki 15:12); 4. With the notice that Edom had no king, but only a deputy, ver 48 (which is here omitted as unimportant). To these enlargements, as exhibited in the account in 1 Kings compared with our own, are added some partly formal, partly material, deviations, which are set forth in the sequel.
2Ch 20:33. The people had not yet directed their heart. For this 1Ki 22:44 has: the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places (comp. 2Ki 12:4; 2Ki 14:4; 2Ki 15:4, etc.).
2Ch 20:34. The rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat . . . are written in the words of Jehu son of Hanani. Comp. on this citation, for which in 1 Kings we find merely the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah, Introd. 5, No. 2.
2Ch 20:35. And afterwards Jehoshaphat allied himself with Ahaziah: he (Ahaziah, not Jehoshaphat, as Berth, thinks) was wicked in his doing. This introduction, containing an unfavourable judgment on the covenant with Ahaziah (similar to that pronounced on the affinity with Ahab, xviii. 1), to the narrative of the unfortunate sea-voyage from Ezion-geber, is wanting in 1 Kings. The points only in general to the time after the victory over the Ammonites, Moabites, and Meunites. The date of the present undertaking follows more exactly from this, that Ahaziah came to the throne in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat, 897 or 896, and reigned two years, that is, till about 894 b.C.
2Ch 20:36. To make ships to go to Tarshish. On the contrary, 1Ki 22:49 has: Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold. The easiest solution of this difference is the assumption of an error on the part of the Chronist, who made out of the ships of Tarshish ships going to Tarshish; comp. Introd. 6, p. 25. But if we must rather harmonize the two accounts, we must assume eithera. a Tarshish in the direction of Ophir, and thus to the east or south-east, different from the Spanish Tarsis-Tartessus (with. Seetzen and others; comp. excursus on 2 Chronicles 8, No. 1), or b. that the confederates had designed both a voyage to Ophir in the east and a voyage to Tarsis in the west, for the latter of which either a circumnavigation of Africa round the Cape of Good Hope or a crossing of Lower Egypt by the canal of Seti (between the Sin. Heroopolitanus and the Nile) must have been contemplated.
2Ch 20:37. And Eliezer son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied, a prophet only named here and known by the present utterance. On the name Dodavahu, see Crit. Note; for Mareshah, on 1Ch 11:8.Were not able to go to Tarshish. , as 2Ch 13:20, 2Ch 14:10, and elsewhere. On the repeated invitation of Ahaziah to Jehoshaphat to prosecute the undertaking, when it failed at first through this mishap and Jehoshaphats refusal, our author says nothing; otherwise 1Ki 22:50.
Evangelical And Ethical Reflections, Homiletic And Apologetic Observations, On Ch. 1720
1. The history of Jehoshaphat, as our author relates it, certainly exceeds that which is recorded of him in the book of Kings in the richness and multiplicity of its details. But it furnishes no exhaustive or complete picture of that which Jehoshaphat did in war and peace during the twenty-five years of his reign (915891), as is manifest from this, that the campaign against Mesha of Moab, undertaken in conjunction with Joram of Israel (2 Kings 3), that fell probably in one of the later years of his reign (at least after the erection of the monument of Mesha, as Schlottmann has shown, Stud. u. Krit. 1871, p. 614 ff.), is altogether omitted. But with the completeness, a simple, well-grounded homogeneous form is wanting in the present description. The varied sources used gleam forth throughout; the accounts of war and peace alternate without internal organic connection; the whole by no means bears the character of a narrative produced at a single casting (comp. Berth, p. 350). Yet a certain plan and an overruling simple principle cannot be unobserved in the present sketch. It is obviously the aim of the author to draw in the reign of Jehoshaphat the picture of a government richly blessed of God, and internally, as well as externally, powerful from the good old times of the yet unimpaired theocracy. The fundamental thought which seems to bind the narrative together he expresses in the twice repeated sentence, that a terror of God came over all the kingdoms of the countries, with which he accompanies first the rule of Jehoshaphat as prince of peace (2Ch 17:10), and next the great discomfiture of the confederate nations, Moab, Ammon, and Edom (2Ch 20:29). It is the possession of a power far-ruling, spreading on all sides great fear and awe, solid, and resting on purely theocratic sentiment and organic development of the inner powers of the theocratic constitution, not on tyranny and conquest, which our author finds to admire and celebrate in Jehoshaphat. Hence he industriously sets forth, along with his orthodox reform of religion, and his endeavours to raise as high as possible the defensive and military power of the Jewish state (2Ch 17:2; 2Ch 17:14 ff.), that also which was undertaken by him for the upholding of the administration of justice, in particular the institution of a supreme court of judicature at Jerusalem (2Ch 19:8-11). He therefore relates of his military undertakings chiefly those which were either accompanied with decisive consequences, or in which at least Gods protective power and gracious help were realized to him on account of his theocratic inclination; thus, of the two wars which, according to 1Ki 22:2 ff., 2Ki 3:1 ff., he undertook as confederate of the northern kingdom, the former, that issued more fortunately for him (that against the Syrians in Ramoth-gilead, 18), is described at full length, and with all the characteristic traits found in the source common to him and the author of the book of Kings; whereas he makes no mention of the second, waged along with Joram against Mesha of Moab, probably on account of its less favourable or at least nearly barren issue.13 Finally, on account of the wish to depict in Jehoshaphat the representative of the Jewish state developed to its full power before the captivity, he expressly places him on a par with David his father (forefather); he makes him therefore enjoy the favour and help of Jehovah, because he walked in the former ways of David, that is, he worshipped God, in the main at least, and irrespective of the worship still tolerated here and there on the high places, in a theocratically pure and lawful way (2Ch 17:3). With Solomon, of whom Jehoshaphat likewise reminds us as a prince of peace, as a wise and circumspect father of his country, and as an upholder of the administration of justice, he does not compare him, probably because, first, a characteristic element of the reign of Solomon, its great pomp and splendid wealth, appears to have been wanting in the kingdom of Jehoshaphat, and secondly, notwithstanding his endeavours after peace, his reign had taken a far less peaceful course than that of the great Shelomoh (peaceful).
2. Jehoshaphat is the glorious, pious, and mighty David of the southern kingdom: to this result points the whole narrative of our author. From this point of view also will the prodigious numbers be estimated which he gives in describing the disposable forces of Judah and Benjamin under his reign. The there mentioned 780,000 Jews and 380,000 Benjamites can scarcely be accepted as literally true. Their near approach to the numbers resulting from the census taken by David (1Ch 21:5) seems intended to convey the idea that the kingdom of Judah alone had under Jehoshaphat, the alter David, attained a strength which almost matched the power of the twelve still united tribes under the first David (1,100,000 Israelites and 470,000 Jews), that Judah by itself alone had now developed a number and power which surpassed that of the northern tribes at that earlier period. If this be the meaning of those numbers, the less objection needs be made to their surprising magnitude; their ideal character is also plain from the whole connection; and there is as little need to have recourse to the assumption of some error in the transcribing of the numbers or numeral letters,an expedient, besides, which seems scarcely admissible, on account of the proportionality of the numbers in the several divisions of the troops, as to that of legendary extravagance or arbitrary fiction, whether it be that of the Chronist or of his older voucher (perhaps the prophet Jehu, 2Ch 20:34).14
3. How far, therefore, the author was from imparting to the here and there ideally-coloured picture which he drew of the great heroic king the form of a panegyric legend or a fabulous eulogium; how true, on the contrary, lie remained to his office as a historian,is shown by the circumstance that here also, as in the case of David, Asa, etc.,. he adds the shade to the light, and by no means passes over in silence a series of less favourable traits of the administration of Jehoshaphat. Especially his affinity with Ahab, the idolatrous king of Israel, is duly set forth as a fatal deviation from the path of theocratic purity and strictness (comp. Ezr 9:1 ff; Ezr 10:1 ff.; Neh 9:2; Neh 13:23 ff.) to the slippery ground of international friendship or affinity with idolatrous neighbours (comp. Solomons Egyptian spouse, 2Ch 8:11 f.). On account of this step, and the consequent often going hand in hand with Israel in warlike expeditions, the king had repeatedly to undergo censure by the mouth of God-inspired prophets, first by the stout Jehu ben Hanani, who directly charged him with helping the wicked, and loving them that hate the Lord (2Ch 19:2), afterwards by Eliezer ben Dodavah, who places the failure of the voyage from Ezion-geber under the character of a divine correction for drawing in one yoke with the unbelieving (2Ch 20:37). On the part of two other prophets, indeed, who are introduced in our section, he encounters no such rebuke: Michah son of Imlah treats him when standing out beside Ahab in the favourable light of a relatively theocratic prince, with mild forbearance, and favours him with the promise of a return in peace from the defeat and dispersion of the sheep of the house of Israel (2Ch 18:16); and so what the Levite Jahaziel says, before setting out to the war with the eastern nations, includes nothing but admonitions to take courage, and promises of deliverance by the strong hand of the Lord (2Ch 20:14-17). But certainly the critical situations to which these prophetic words refer are in and of themselves sufficiently serious and menacing: they are crises introduced by the fault of the king, by his inconsiderate entering into ungodly alliances and relations, feeble preludes of that which the unhappy marriage of his son with the daughter of Jezebel should afterwards bring down in heavy judgments on his house and people. On this account, in the dangerous posture of affairs introduced in this way, along with solemn rebuke, comforting encouragement was in place; the certainly guilty king, deserving of punishment, but not in the same degree as the sovereigns of Israel, was yet one with whom, as the rough Jehu acknowledged, good things were found (2Ch 19:3). He deserved along with reproving instruction also strengthening encouragement, that he might continue to walk in the ways of his fathers David and Asa (2Ch 17:3, 2Ch 20:32). He was worthy to be aroused to abide in the path of theocratic righteousness, that at least under his rule the inevitable evil effects of that affinity with an idolatrous house might be restrained as far as possible, and the people retained in that moderate state of piety and morality which is indicated (2Ch 20:33) by the sentence: the people had not yet directed their heart to the God of their fathers. What he himself says and does, also, in conformity with such encouraging and strengthening words of the prophets, bears the stamp of true repentance, humble acknowledgement of his guilt, and firm continuance in the path of tighteousness. As the reproof of Jehu appears to have wrought in him the counter-part of that which Asa had once done on the occasion of a similar announcement from Hanani his father (Comp. 2Ch 19:4 ff.), so his address in the campaign against the eastern nations to the people, or rather in the name of the people to the Lord (2Ch 20:6-11), vies with the following prophetic utterance of Jahaziel in realizing firm confidence in God and triumphant faith. It is, however, a confidence in God resting on the ground of penitent and believing confession of sin which he here expresses; it is a truly penitent and believing resignation to the divine grace working all in all, an essentially evangelical experience of salvation, whence his subsequent admonition to his warriors: Believe, and ye shall be established (2Ch 20:20), springs, a monitory and prophetic word, in which he himself becomes a prophet, a prophetic type, and a presumptive prophetic source, from which the greatest of the Old Testament seers for a century and a half afterwards, in all probability, drew their almost literally coinciding words (see on this passage). At all events, the assumption that Isaiah, the seer of Davidic princely blood, consciously rested on this believing word of a royal ancestor, that might have been early celebrated on account of the divine blessing attending it, is a good deal more natural than either the assertion of an only accidental dependence of the similar phrases, or than the easy expedient of a thoughtless hyper-criticism, according to which the Chronist made his royal hero speak after the manner of Isaiah, or use a play of words borrowed from this prophet.
4. It is, before all, the antique, thoroughly fresh, and concrete characteristic, foreign likewise to the tone of mythical legend or arbitrary invention in the sources, as they lie clearly discernible at the ground of our author narrative, which must be set forth in an apologetic respect, and maintained with all emphasis against such doubts as that above indicated, with respect to the originality of Jehoshaphats address, 2Ch 20:20; or as Grambergs and Credners conjecture (expressed on Joel 4:11), that the whole narrative 2Ch 20:1-30 is nothing but a free, half-poetical remodelling of the short statement in 2Ki 3:23 f. With regard to the character of our chapter, as supported throughout by definite historical traditions and solid sources, Movers and Bertheau have already made striking remarks; comp. the latter, p. 349 ff.: 1. In the accounts of Jehoshaphats institutions, which were designed to spread the knowledge of the law and secure to his people an orderly administration of justice, the many details and names (among others, that of the high priest Amariah, 2Ch 19:11, who was also in other accounts a contemporary of Jehoshaphat) are a sure proof of this, that our historian found exact statements in his sources, if he also elaborated the historical material in his own way. 2. This applies also to the reports of the defensive preparations and the division of the army, 2Ch 17:15 to 2Ch 19:3. In the remarkable narrative of the battle in which the Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites destroyed one another (2Ch 20:1-30), we discern, indeed, throughout the mode of thought and style peculiar to our author, but we discover also very distinct historical recollections: the localities are exactly described, 2Ch 20:16-20; the designation new court is found only in 2Ch 20:5 (it must be taken from a source in which the new building was mentioned); the series of the forefathers of Jahaziel, 2Ch 20:14, is a proof that he had already drawn the attention of the older writers to him, who were in a position to give an account of his forefathers. This battle of extermination was before the mind of the prophet Joel when he called the place of the divine decision the valley of Jehoshaphat (comp. on 2Ch 20:26). The statement in 2Ki 3:23 refers to a quite different situation; and as it might have presented the starting-point and the historical ground for the reports in 2 Chronicles 20, it is not to be overlooked. 4. Finally, our author must have found reports of the action of the prophets Jehu (2Ch 19:2 f.) and Eliezer (2Ch 20:37), since he tells of the contents of their speeches in their own words. The brief report also in 1Ki 22:41-51 seems to point to the contents of several narratives of Chronicles: 1Ki 22:47 refers to the extirpation of idolatry (2Ch 17:3-6); 1Ki 22:46 speaks of the military force of Jehoshaphat, of which 2Ch 17:2; 2Ch 17:10-19 treats more fully, and so forth. To the arguments for its authenticity here set forth, mostly taken from the internal value of the sources of our section, with which are to be compared the apologetic discussions of Kleinert (Das Deuteronomium, etc., p. 141) respecting the law reform of Jehoshaphat in its relation to Deuteronomy 17, is to be added a weighty, if only indirect and extra-biblical, testimonythe recently – discovered inscription of Mesha king of Moab, a highly-important monumental document for the history of one of the neighbouring states of the kingdom of Jehoshaphat, which serves to confirm, at least in general, the historical relations as our section represents them, and, especially in a chronological respect, in so far as it proceeds most probably from the time between the campaign described in 2 Chronicles 18 and that in 2 Chronicles 20, fits well into the series of events here described; comp. Schlottmann, as quoted, especially p. 621 ff.
Footnotes:
[1]For the Sept. (and Syr.) appears to have read ; for they translate appellatively, . But the word is certainly a proper name; comp. , 1Ki 4:10, and similar names.
[2]The Kethib; is a mere mistake for , the Keri.
[3] Kethib: . Keri: .
[4]The redundant after is perhaps inserted by a mistake of the tramscriber, and therefore, according to 1Ki 22:20, to be erased.
[5] Kethib: . Keri: .
[6] before is wanting in the Sept. and Vulg., but if taken explicatively it involves no difficulty.
[7]Kethib: . Keri: .
[8]Instead of is undoubtedly to be read , as the of the Sept. shows.
[9]Kethib: . Keri: .
[10]Instead of , four mss. in Kennic. and three in de Rossi, likewise some old editions (Complut., Brix., Bomberg. a. 1518, 21, Mnst.), read ; so also the Vulg. (vestes), and apparently also the Sept., as well as several recent expositors, Dathe, Berth., and Kamph.
[11]For the Sept. has , after which Berth., without sufficient reason, would write . Comp. rather such names as Hodaviah, Joshaviah.
[12]There also concerning Hitzigs hypothesis (founded on 2Ki 8:26 and 2Ch 22:2), that Athaliah was not the daughter, but the sister, of Ahab.
[13]The passage 2Ki 3:27 b imports in any case an issue of the war with Moab not quite favourable to Joram and Jehoshaphat even though we understand the expression: and there was great indignation concerning Israel, only of the displeasure and abhorrence of the human sacrifice offered by the king of Moab, and the consequent retreat from the country of the enemy (as also Bhr on the passage]. But the question is, whether Schlottmann (p. 618 f.) is not right in thinking of a divinely sent calamity, such as a plague, by which the united army of Israel and Judah was forced to a speedy retreat under heavy losses. In this case the Chronist would have had so much the more ground for the omission of this record.
[14] Moreover, that which Neteler adduces (p. 212 f.) in support of their numbers in their literal sense deserves attention. 1. The tribe of Simeon at this time belonged to the tribe of Judah (2Ch 19:4?), by which the number of warriors of the latter, amounting to almost 800,000 men, is
explained; 2. The Philistines (?) and the Edomites, who were tributary to Judah, may have been compelled to add their contingent to his force; 3. If we reckon the auxiliary troops of Simeon, Philistia, and Edom at 200,000 men, of the remaining 600,000 Jewish troops, on an average, 20,000 men were due to each of the 120 cities which belonged to the tribe (Joshua 15), which does not seem unnaturally high, as numerous villages belonged to each of these cities; 4. An increase of 130,000 men fit to bear arms since the census of David, in a period of three generations, is nothing wonderful, especially with the accession of many from the other tribes to the southern kingdom, if we consider the extraordinary fertility of the land, the small means of subsistence required in the south, and the industrial productivity of the Jews at that time. A somewhat satisfactory account would thus be furnished with regard to the 780,000 Jewish troops. But how stands it with the 380,000 warriors whom the small rocky and mountainous territory of Benjamin had to produce ?
CONTENTS
We have here Jehoshaphat in trouble. War is threatened him: he proclaimeth a fast: he offers up prayer: the Lord hears, and answers in mercy: his enemies are overthrown. The close of his reign.
This formidable attempt, planned by the enemies of Jehoshaphat, it should seem, had been carried on so secretly, that they had already invaded his country, before he was apprized of it. How subtle is the enemy of souls! What secret methods he hath, by means of his invisible agency, on the hearts of the Lord’s people, before that they are aware of his approaches!
2Ch 20:26
The word valley is a poem in itself; it is associated with a great deal that is beautiful, comforting, and that gives the soul a sense of security and plentifulness. The Bible is full of valleys, as it is full of wells. You know this beautiful land of the mountain and the stream and the great flood and the green sward and the unexpected garden and the great and terrible wilderness oh, that world of sand, that foe that mocks the spring, and smites the summer as a woman might be smitten on the cheekbone.
I. What is this valley of Berachah? In some senses I do not care much for it; I know it means the valley of blessing, and that the people, in whom I have not the slightest confidence at all, sang themselves hoarse in the valley of Berachah, because they were fed like oxen that were to be slaughtered. I suspect some things, I have no respect for anthems simply in themselves considered; I must know their history, their meaning, their ultimate purpose. There is a better time for singing than the time of all this commercial aggrandizement and secular comfort. One little song of patience is worth the whole of this blaring noise; a sigh may be vaster in its meaning than an anthem; yet there was a victory; the victory was in some sort divinely guided and secured. There are fruits of war which may be legitimately gathered by those who have won them by strategy or skill or sharp sword; all that may be true, but I do not care for a national anthem that may not be through and through nationally honest.
II. There is another valley mentioned in Num 32:9 ‘the valley of Eshcol’. What valley is that? ‘Tis the valley of grapes and summer fruits, all of which we may pluck, because it is the intent of Divine love that we should possess ourselves of such luxuriant vineyards. Do we not suddenly come upon the grapes intellectual, social, educational, spiritual? Is not hunger itself often surprised by unexpected plentifulness? Yet sometimes men cannot believe even in this uncrushed wine of the grape; they will hasten home and say, Do not, we beseech thee, venture in that direction; grapes enough there may be, even to abundance, but we had better remain where we are; can a man live upon grapes? we cannot deny the purple fruit, yea, some of the people have brought large bunches of the grapes to show us what a fruitful land is beyond; but on the whole is it not better to remain where we are? Thus enthusiasm is killed, and all daring, high exploit, and noble endeavour. Ambition may be perverted, but ambition may be one of the forms or aspects of inspiration. We want the true spies that say to us, We have seen a land worth going to; it grows life, it is warm with summer, it is boundless with an illimitable hospitality. Young souls, do not be frightened by the man sitting next you, for he is no man, he is hardly a figure in wax.
III. In Hosea there is a glorious valley ‘the valley of Achor’ (II.15). What is the meaning of Achor in this connexion? what is its broad significance, without going into the immediate geographical detail? what is the broad spiritual interpretation of Achor? It may be given in two little words, each word a syllable, one of the words a letter: ‘a door of hope’. Behold, I have set before thee a door of hope; I have given thee a new beginning, new chances, new opportunities, new mornings; this is not the end, this is the beginning; there is the great wall, go grope in blindness, but with finger-tips that can see; thou wilt in that great blank wall find a door; it is there, I made it, I made it for thee; I know the blankness of the wall, but on my word go thou forth and grope for the door, the Achor that will give thee visions beyond big as horizons, big as firmaments, big as outlined heavens: go forth in the spirit of hope. We are saved by hope. The voice of the Christian religion is a voice of hope. Realize that, and live as if you believed it.
IV. In the book of Isaiah we have a beautiful valley; in chap. 22:1 we read about ‘the valley of vision’. That is a large valley, that valley is worth living in. To live with people who have always seen new lights, new possibilities, and new and brighter interpretations than have ever been realized before; that is companionship, that is resurrection. Who cares for these dullards who never see new lights, new companions, and the outlines of new springs and summers in the morning sky?
V. Can Ezekiel be alive and not take his position in this great question of valleys? Ezekiel saw a valley, it was a valley of dry bones. It was an awful valley, a valley of dead men’s bones, a valley of death, filled not with the sheeted dead, but with those that had, so to say, been blown to pieces by some great wind of contempt; and the Lord said, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ And the son of man said, ‘O Lord God, Thou knowest’. The wisest answer to every Divine inquiry: refer the question back; let Him who propounds the problem solve it.
Joseph Parker, City Temple Pulpit, vol. III. p. 118.
References. XX. 26. R. F. Horton, Lyndhurst Road Pulpit, p. 1. XX. 35-37. B. D. Johns, Pulpit Notes, p. 138. XXI. 20. T. Champness, New Coins from Old Gold, p. 128. XXIV. 1-25. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xl. No. 2365. XXIV. 2, 17. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture 2 Kings, Chronicles, etc., p. 184. XXIV. 2, 17, 18. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xl. No. 2365. XXIV. 4-14. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture, 2 Kings, Chronicles, etc., p. 191. XXIV. 4, 5, 13. A. Phelps, The Old Testament a Living Book for All Ages, p. 67. XXIV. 20. R. F. Horton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxii. 1902, p. 217. XXV. 2. J. Thain Davidson, The City Youth, p. 253. XXV. 9. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture 2 Kings, Chronicles, etc., p. 199. E. Browne, Some Moral Proofs of the Resurrection, p. 114. C. Garrett, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xli. 1892, p. 225. F. E. Clark, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lviii. 1900, p. 33. XXVI. 16-20. A. Phelps, The Old Testament a Living Book for All Ages, p. 79.
Preparation and Power
Whose Is the Battle?
2Ch 20
JEHOSHAPHAT, the fourth king of Judah, was a man of high religious character, of much zeal in the right way, and of true and noble instinct in all political and religious controversy. Yet there was in his character a remarkably weak side; this man, like many others, had a vulnerable heel. There was in him what is exceedingly interesting and precious in personal character and social intercourse, but what is not always in such good place in a king or public man a strong vein of amiability. Amiability may lead to many and grievous faults. Under certain circumstances the king of Judah was too easily persuaded. When he fell into the hands of the impious and crafty Ahab, who occupied the rival throne of Israel, he too readily succumbed to his seductive power. Jehoshaphat fell a good deal into the hands of Ahab, and it was probably not unnatural, when it is considered that Jehoshaphat’s eldest son married Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab. So the tenderest bonds of society may harden into the chains of the worst slavery. Having been schooled by Ahab, Jehoshaphat joined his successor Ahaziah, who also did, according to the history, very wickedly. Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah went into a ship-building partnership, which ended disastrously, the ships being all broken and never able to reach Tarshish. Jehoshaphat then joined Joram, the next king of Israel, in an expedition against Moab, and then there opens a most tragic and exciting history. The war exasperated the Moabites, and impelled them to retaliate upon a great scale. Their kinsmen, the Ammonites, the Syrians, and the Edomites, combined in one tremendous offensive alliance, and, entering Judah, openly defied Jehoshaphat its king.
All this hostility of the Moabites developed to the full the deeply religious nature of Jehoshaphat. He feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. The towns of Judah hastened to Jerusalem; the whole nation became as the heart of one man. When the concourse assembled, under circumstances so touching, so terrible, Jehoshaphat the king stood in the midst of his people in the house of the Lord, before the new court, and offered the following sublime appeal to heaven:
“O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend [Historically, this is the first use of this remarkable expression, which is repeated by Isaiah (Isa 41:8 .) and St. James ( Jam 2:23 )] for ever [seeGen 13:15Gen 13:15 ; Gen 17:8 , etc.]? And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence (for thy name is in this house), and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help. And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not; behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession which thou hast given us to inherit. O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us, neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee” ( 2Ch 20:6-12 ).
A king’s prayer for his people in the time of national disaster. There was one spokesman, but he pleaded for the whole nation. All Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives and their children. It was a nation in extremity; yet in the crisis of its peril, it showed the sublimity of childlike trust in the merciful and Almighty God of heaven.
After Jehoshaphat had concluded his prayer, a strange scene occurred. There fell upon one man in the company of Jehoshaphat the Spirit of the Lord, and instantly, with a voice like the trump of God, he said:
“Be not afraid [These were words familiar to the people, and connected with several great deliverances (Deu 1:21 ; Jos 1:9 , etc.,)] nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s…. Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord [The prophet used words almost identical with those which Moses had addressed to the Israelites on the shores of the Red Sea immediately before the destruction of Pharaoh’s host ( Exo 14:13 ), thus indicating that the deliverance would now, as then, be wholly from God] ( 2Ch 20:15 , 2Ch 20:17 ).
There can be no doubt that this shows to men, in the most graphic and impressive form, the value of the religious element in national affairs. We have a common saying, much lauded, “Trust in God, and keep your powder dry.” That saying is not entirely without foundation in common sense; it comprehends a large amount of prudence. No doubt that, as used by certain men, it is a very sensible thing to say. At the same time, it is not in the mouth of every man so admirable an injunction after all. It will not bear (as used by the men now specially referred to) examination in the light of an incident like this. If we trusted God more we should give him greater scope for intervention. We have taken everything upon ourselves. We have mounted a gun wherever we could; we have worked with the desperation of atheists. Many a time, indeed, we have asked God to bless our arms; but when did we ask him to bless our simple, childlike, holy trust? It is perfectly possible for a saying like the popular expression which has just been quoted, to be used as the expression of a sneer. It is very possible for the expression also to cover a latent atheism. We are not so fanatical as to deny the use of means, and we would resent the charge of seeking peace at any price, and succumbing to overwhelming circumstances. But we do hold this, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, that if we gave God more scope, he might more obviously interpose in our national affairs. Of one place it was said, “He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”
If we take our own affairs upon our own shoulders, work like atheists, and if only when we are in extremity, begin to pray, we cannot wonder that God should allow us oftentimes to be smitten with our own weapons, and to feel how poor a thing it is to depend entirely upon our own sagacity and power. Here we have Judah in obvious peril; we have the king standing in the holy place, invoking the presence and care of God. What does God do under such circumstances? He set the men who had come to fight Judah one against another.
“And when they [the people of Jehoshaphat] began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah, and they were smitten. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir utterly to slay and destroy them, and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another” ( 2Ch 20:22-23 ).
[Upon this passage Canon Barry, in Ellicott’s Old Testament Commentary, remarks: The marvellous result, marvellously predicted, was brought to pass by a perfectly natural sequence of events, just as was Elisha’s prophecy of plenty to famine-stricken Samaria, though at the time when it was uttered fulfilment seemed impossible, unless the Lord were to “make windows in heaven” and pour down supplies from thence by a visible miracle. In neither case was the course of events foreseen by the prophet, but only their issue. (See 2Ki 7 )]
God turned the armies one upon another turned them against themselves and the army that came out to fight Jehoshaphat committed suicide. God hath many ways at his disposal of which we know nothing. We look at the things that are seen and temporal; we make calculations; we depend upon things that are visible and substantial; we eliminate the spiritual element and supernatural consideration, and it is possible to be atheists in practice whilst we are religious in mere sentiment. God can touch the reason of men; God can touch the eyes of men, so that a man shall mistake his brother for an enemy; God can send a blight upon this tremendous host and these great, wonderful, mighty, boastful, and tremendous powers may be withered like the grass under the touch of the Almighty. Very possibly some nations do require nothing short of the physical sword. Very likely nothing else would meet their case they must have social humiliation. Let us admit all that, and still it remains true, that they who have God as their captain, have victory as the sure result.
“The battle is not yours, but God’s.” Let us remember that, through all the strife, and contention, and unrest, and apprehension, which falls to every lot. It rebukes our selfishness; it humbles our powers; it shows us that patience and trust are better than edged weapons and engines of destruction.
In the training of our highest life we want principles as well as detailed laws. A law may apply to a particular point. Law may be merely local and temporary. In addition to laws which relate to the details of life, and which are exceedingly admirable for daily use and reference, we want great principles which encompass all time, touch all circumstances, which never vary in their value, and which are always certain in their application. We do not deny that a man may be clever, sagacious, inventive, full of resources as respects daily difficulties and daily trials, without having any deep religious life. But such men, as it were, may be all the while living from hand to mouth. Having no fontal spring, nor any sure place from which they can draw water all the year round, whatever may be their conditions and schemes, they are simply shrewd, sagacious men. Full of maxims, proverbs, and precepts, they want the solidity, the grasp, the grander light and mystery of love, which can only be given to men in proportion as they lay hold of great religious principles, which do not change according to policies or situation or climate or conditions or circumstances of any kind, but which go right through to the end of a man’s life, and which rejoin him in eternity as surely as they ever came unto him. Now this is the one principle referred to. The battle of life is not yours, but God’s. God is far more concerned about us than we can be about ourselves. We make a great deal of fuss about our position. We make all the noise, but he does all the work. We make tumult and demonstration, and show great anxiety and great distraction, and, after all, our Father which is in heaven, and who is looking down upon our daily strife, is really more concerned in our highest welfare than we can be ourselves. We see portions of things. We see edges of life. We mistake the fraction for the whole number; we mistake the decimal for the integer. He sees the whole circle of relations, proportions, and bearings of the inward parts of our life; and when we think him least careful to us, he may at that very moment be preparing for us, for our enjoyment and strength, some of his richest and best gifts.
In the culture of our highest life we must regard extremity as one phase of divine discipline. Jehoshaphat was driven into a corner. Me said openly in the hearing of his people, “We have no might against this great host.” We have no resources of our own in this critical, terrible emergency, but “our eyes are upon thee.” And have we not reason to be thankful for the extremities into which we have been driven? So long as we had one single inch on which we could stand, we have been self-reliant, boastful, and almost atheistically hopeful. So long as we have had one hair’s breadth that we could call our own, we have said, Even yet we may work this thing out and right the mystery ourselves; and it was not until that hair’s breadth was taken away from us and we were altogether in extremity that we began to feel how terrible a thing it would be if there were no God in the heavens, and if no Father’s heart were brooding over the earth. It was when business became imperilled, impoverished, we began to cry out for the living God. It was when physicians had given us up, and our best friends had bidden us adieu, that we began to think whether there was not, after all, some secret in religion we had not yet known, and some safety in piety of which we had been up to that time heedless. And so in many relations of life we have found in extremity what we never found in prosperity, and our weakness has become our strength. And in the consolidation of our highest life we must remember that repose, not strife, is the last result of piety. We want most succour when we are most effusive. We are only half-trained and probably ill-trained men, so long as we show the signs of anxiety, fear, suspicion, apprehension about the future. Repose, quietness, is the last phase of the highest life. Rest is the ultimate condition of motion. If the earth were to go one mile less in a thousand years she would stagger in her course: her velocity is her safety, and the last result of her motion is rest, and so it must be with us. The true test of our growth is the depth and reality of our rest and repose. When fear comes upon a nation, in proportion to the depth of piety in that nation will be its calmness. Is there some great cloud lowering and darkening over our dwelling place? In proportion to our piety will be the depth, calm, and placidity of our hearts. We shall not be going about here and there, rushing hither and thither, as if depending upon ourselves. We shall feel the time has now come in which our strength is to stand still, and in which we shall be most happy doing nothing. That is a hard lesson for some natures to learn for men who believe in what they term variety, for men of energy, men of great enthusiasm of spirits. It is a difficult lesson to learn that strength is to stand still and patiently wait for the coming of God. Calmness is not weakness; rest does not display want of ability. Men do not stand still in a true sense of that term, simply because they have nothing they can do; but they stand still with most grace, with complete and impressive dignity, when they are simply waiting for the coming down of God to their rescue.
In the text we find encouragement:
(1) For all who are trying to live in the fear and love of God under discouraging circumstances. Their business associations are worldly; the influence of these associations is chilling, depressing. To such the message is: “The battle is not yours, but God’s.” They that be with you are more than all that can be against you. If you are trusting in God, God will work out his victories in your experience; but if you take the case into your own hands, and manage your own affairs in your own way, God will very likely leave you to see how poor are your best resources and how fruitless is your utmost vigour. Your strength is in the power of Almighty God!
(2) For all who are bearing Christian protest against evil. There is a time in which men can do nothing else but protest; a time when fighting ceases, and what man does amounts to nothing; when all that a man can do is to set himself as the prophet commanded Jehoshaphat to do. “Set yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you.” You know what the meaning of this doctrine is. Many a time you would like to go forward into battle and strife, to challenge men to open fight, to test the power of your arms as against their arms, and yet it cannot be done. You know, also, what it is to be in circumstances where everything is dead against you. If you speak you are put down; if you offer to move you are driven back. You are one in a multitude, and your feeble voice is drowned by the voice of opposition. Under such circumstances you can but set yourselves; your face may be in the right direction, your protest may be sound, though you cannot go forward into battle and win victories. From this we have to learn the power of faithfulness and the strength of reliance upon God.
(3) For all who are undergoing severe temptation. Some are beset from time to time by temptations of a special severity. What, then, are we to consider that the whole answer is in the heart? Are we not to take into account God’s watchfulness over our life? Arc we to forget the great doctrine, that in these matters of temptation and trying discipline, the battle is not ours, but God’s? Then we conic to the doctrine that God is more careful for the salvation of our hearts than we can ever be ourselves. His whole sympathy is with us in the struggle, his whole resources are at our command. When the fight goes most terribly against us, there is nothing in his heart that he is not willing to communicate in the time of our spiritual extremity.
(4) For all who are labouring for the good of the world. There are some who have undertaken to do what they can for the evangelisation of all nations. Some are missionaries, some Sunday school teachers, some ministers of the gospel, others arc heads of houses who are doing their utmost to bring other men to a knowledge of the Lord and obedience in his way. Others are engaged in various ways for the extension of light, purity, and peace. What is our guarantee? Is it in our wit, our own strength, our own power of endurance? No; “The battle is not yours, but God’s.” What is our hope that the world will one day be subdued to the sceptre of Jesus Christ? It is not in the number of our instrumentalities; it is not in the number of men we send forth into the field to do the Lord’s work. What is our guarantee that from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same there shall be one kingdom, and the king of that empire shall be the crucified Christ? What is our hope? It is this. The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it: “The battle is not yours, but God’s.” And when we go up to fight, he will work out the victory.
(5) To all who are engaged in controversy on behalf of Christian doctrine. It is to be feared that we sometimes exclude God from our Christian controversies. There is a danger of thinking it is a battle of one man against another. There is a good deal of striving for mere victory in words. The anxiety of the Church is oftentimes the disgrace of the Church. If our faith in the living God were what it ought to be we should rest very calmly in the midst of all doctrinal controversy and contention. Are we told that all science is against faith that some man has made a very wonderful discovery which will have a hostile effect upon Christian position and Christian service? What becomes us under such intelligence? Anxiety, whimpering, and weakness? Not at all! The battle is not ours, but God’s. If any man has succeeded in discovering anything that will throw a light upon any portion of Christian revelation, or that will destroy any portion of Christian revelation, let us receive it with calmness. Be calm in receiving bad intelligence, and do not jump at conclusions which are against the history of the ages and the history of the Church. Let us wait patiently if men are working in this corner or that, in this field or in yonder field. Wait until they get their results put together; till they make a complete case; because after all the battle is not ours but God’s, and these men cannot get beyond God’s kingdom for any evidence and for any results wherever they are, high as heaven, deep as hell, down in the sea or flying in the air upon the wings of the morning. They are still within the boundaries of the divine empire, and if God is sending any message by them, let us wait patiently till they tell it all, till they tell it in their best manner and let us quietly and nobly take it into our devoutest consideration. Our anxiety is our disgrace; our fear is a charge, an accusation against God himself. If we had to defend everything, and to fight everything in our own strength and for our own ends, the case would be perfectly different; but when God says to us, “Ye have the treasure in earthen vessels, the excellency of power is of God and not of man,” when he teaches us that we are servants and not masters, creatures and not creators, with no grasp of eternity, it becomes us patiently to wait, to stand still, and to see the salvation of the Lord.
Let us dwell upon this word continually in all our endurances. Let us, as Christian thinkers, Christian workers, Christian sufferers, take it into the family, into commerce, into politics, and into all the relations of life, remembering that where there is a contest between right and wrong, virtue and vice, heaven and hell, nobleness and ignobleness, generosity and meanness, The battle is not ours, but God’s. It is God’s fight and it will be God’s victory. Resting upon great principles like these, delivering ourselves from the ignominious captivity of little details and petty laws, let us rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him!
Prayer
Almighty God, thou art always giving thyself to us. We live and move and have our being in God. We were made in the image and likeness of our Creator, and we feel this to be so, though not always. Sometimes we feel that we belong to the angels and to heaven, to some far-away but lost home; sometimes we feel we have no right to think of thy heavens, so high are they and pure, and unlike our life: yet we bless thee for a better thought, for an uplifted feeling, for a sacred emotion, and for an ever-ennobling aspiration. Encourage us in all our quest after thyself; give us to feel that thou hast made us for thyself, and that only in thee can we find the completion and crown of our being. We delight to pray at the cross; when we feel that there is an open way between ourselves and our Father, then how the heart warms and expands, and how the tongue pours forth all its praises, and psalms, and wants, and confessions! Give us this holy liberty, and we ask no larger freedom; to talk to God, to commune with God through his only begotten and well-beloved Son, God the Son surely this is liberty, this is joy, this is immortality. Help us to read the signs of the times; enable us to distinguish between hypocrisy and sincerity; may we not look upon the Pharisee but upon the hypocrite; and then in other cases not upon the hypocrite, but upon the sincere man: grant unto us this spiritual penetration, this power of distinguishing between right and wrong: surely this is a gift of the Holy Ghost. Make our weariness less by making our strength more; turn our sighings into hymns of praise; and us for our tears, may they be as telescopes through which we sec afar, and know that there is much beyond yet to be realised and enjoyed. We pray at the cross, we confess our sins at the cross; without the cross we arc without hope, but with the cross we defy sin and death. Amen.
2Ch 20:25
“And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels [Literally, vessels of desirable things, i.e., costly articles; a phrase only met with here], which they stripped off for themselves [Or, ‘and they spoiled them,’ i.e., the enemy (Comp. Exo 3:22 )], more than they could carry away [Literally, ‘until there was no loading or carrying’]: and they were three days in gathering [ i.e., taking away; plundering. Comp. Jdg 8:24-26 (the spoils of Midian)] of the spoil, it was so much.”
Plundering the Dead
WE speak pathetically against robbing the dead: but how can the dead be robbed? Probably there is hardly a more humiliating revelation of our boasted human nature than the spectacle which this incident presents. What are Jehoshaphat and his people doing? Taking away the dead bodies tenderly that they may bury them under the greensward, and set up memorial stones as if to preserve the recollection of brave men? Nothing of the kind. Jehoshaphat and his people have come to take what they can get of jewels, stripping off the jewels from the dead flesh, “more than they could carry away.” Can man, noble man, generous, gifted man, in whom alone the lamp of genius is lighted, do that? We must not say that other men could do it, if what other men have done we have done. We have committed every theft that ever was perpetrated, and every murder. Until we get to know that in the vitality of its meaning, we shall be ruined by our own respectability. No respectable man, as such, can be saved. It is in vain that we mourn over the crucifixion of Christ, when we are guilty of the very deed. If we mourn because we did it, then in our mourning there is the beginning of redemption, pardon, release from remorse, and pledge of heaven. There is nothing historical in morals, in any sense that relieves the contemporary reader. We are parties to all the moral history of the race. “There is no man so bad as I am,” should be the accusation which every man brings back upon himself. My name,” let him say to his boasting pharisaic self, “my name is Barabbas Iscariot.” That is the difficulty of all Christian teaching and praying and direction. The pastor is cursed with the burden of having to tell every man that consults him that he is a respectable person. Starting with that lie, what can any pastor do? So we shudder politely, as if in subtle vindication of our own magnanimity, at the idea of Jehoshaphat and his people taking the jewels from dead fingers. What sin any man ever committed that any other man may be brought to do. There is no man that liveth, and sinneth not. When a man imagines that he never could have done such and such a thing, he is going to do it almost immediately. This is the devil’s trump, this is how he gathers all our little cards into his keeping: let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
There are pious people who would scruple to rob the dead, who are spending all their time in robbing the living. Our feeling is very eccentric and incalculable in its action. There are men who would do some things in the light they would never do in the dark, and in the darkness things they would never do in the light; and some men would do in Lent what they never would do out of Lent, and out of Lent what they never would do in Lent, as if Lent were part of the calendar of eternity! How difficult to be good all the year round, in and out, through and through, just as good in one field as in another! This is impossible now, but if we are aiming in that direction, resolutely persevering along that line, who knows but that some day there may be what to our ignorance will appear to be a sudden access of strength, and out of our child-age we shall pass into our manhood? It is not difficult to conceive of persons of a certain marvellous constitution wondering that people should go into a battlefield for the purpose of taking jewels off the hands of dead soldiers, and yet these very people who so wonder are robbing their fathers and mothers and relations and clients and customers and patrons all the year round. Should not the dead body protect the jewels? There comes a different rule of estimate into our thinking, so that the soldier who would have hailed his brother soldier with salutes truly military and courteous will, when he is down and dead, take the ring off his finger. How brave some persons arc when the adversary is dead! How singularly military and chivalrous some people arc the day after the battle! This matter of robbery is a very subtle one. Will a man rob God? Certainly, night and day: for God is a Spirit. We arc theists in doctrine, we arc atheists in practice: we are orthodox intolerably in metaphysics, and as heterodox as the devil in action.
Prayer
Almighty God, mercifully save us from the counsels and devices of wicked men: they lie in wait to deceive us, and to turn our profession of righteousness into an instrument of evil; but thou canst enable us to discover their intent and bring discomfiture and humiliation upon them. May we be saved from all morally incongruous partnerships, how profitable soever they may appear to be: help us in all such things mightily to resist the devil. Help us to feel the blessedness of bearing a distinct testimony on behalf of truth; and if we are called to suffer for it, may we surely know the enduring riches of an honourable poverty. Help the young who have put their trust in thee to cut off the right hand and to pluck out the right eye rather than bring discredit upon the name of the Holy Saviour. If they have thoughtlessly entered into relations which are condemned by thy word, give them such strength and grace as will enable them, in the right spirit and the right manner, to put away from them all evil things. May the spirit of crucifixion be magnified even to rapture and triumph in their souls, and by the power of the one blessed cross may they beat down the forces that would work their destruction. Teach us all the divine meaning of suffering; show us that our loss is our gain, if we endure it for Christ’s sake; reveal the glory that gathers around the head of every cross which is borne in the Spirit of the Son of God. O Son of God, Child of the Virgin, coming to us in a strange loneliness, yet accompanied by singing angels, teach us that all loneliness which is brought upon us by love of things pure, and noble, and lovely, will be succeeded by the blessed companionship and perfect joy of heaven. Blessed Son of the Eternal Father! as thou wast separate from sinners, so may thy followers be; not in pharisaical self-love and self-honour, but in all meekness, quietness, and charity. Deepen our distaste for things that are merely earthly; refine our affections, and gather them as undivided homage offered to thyself. Teach us as thou wilt. Break our ships in pieces; send a whirlwind to smite the four corners of our banqueting halls; kindle a fire in our palaces; send a plague upon our flocks and a blight upon our fields; do these things, if thou so pleasest, only save our souls, and take not thy Holy Spirit from us! Let the Father hear us, let the Son show himself mighty on our behalf, let the Holy Ghost baptize us with fire. Amen.
Evil Compacts
2Ch 20:37
THESE words were spoken concerning Jehoshaphat, who “walked in the way of Asa his father, and departed not from it, doing that which was right in the sight of the Lord.” He was a man of mature life, being thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. Notwithstanding the ripeness of his experience, and his really substantial character, he entered into a ship-building speculation with “Ahaziah king of Israel, who did very wickedly.” Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah was the name of the royal firm of shipbuilders. There is, of course, nothing wrong in ship-building, yet this firm soon fell into adversity. The ships were made they were intended to go to Tarshish but God broke them in pieces, and gave as his reason the fact that Jehoshaphat had entered into alliance with a bad partner, “because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath broken thy works.” This is the ancient case which we proceed to modernize. We have partnerships, associations, and divers kinds of contracts in our own time, and it may be well to learn how far God takes notice of our business and our doings generally, lest we also have our ships broken, and our commerce laid in ruins.
Some partnerships are inexplicable. We have seen some strange associations. A church officer, who has led the devotions of the church, has been known to enter into partnership with a grovelling man who never hesitated to use profane language in the warehouse; a generous supporter of good institutions has associated with a man who would have sold his own father if he could have made money by the transaction. And men have wondered who have not known how two could walk together except they were agreed, and who have gone upon the principle that light could have no communion with darkness. Probably there are explanations of the difficulty. It may be very convenient to have a partner who can make promises which he never intends to fulfil; it may smooth some parts of the commercial path to have an associate who can tell lies; it may be profitable to have an ally who can stoop to pick money out of the gutter, and who can wriggle round awkward corners, and use words which admit of two different constructions. All this may be very convenient and profitable, but how about the righteousness of it? How does it look in the light of the sanctuary? Is it honest, true, lovely, pure? Of course it will be said that business is business, and religion is religion, that there is a distinction between the merchant and the man. Very well. Let us admit that, there remains this question: when the merchant is damned for his wicked deeds, where will the man go? A man cannot serve the devil with one hand and God with the other. Where is the evidence that a man may have two characters, as he may have two coats? The principle of ill-associated partnerships works in two ways: the professing Christian finds it convenient to be able to remit all questionable work to the man who has made away with his conscience and honour, and the said man finds it very satisfactory to point to his professing partner as a proof and pledge that all is straightforward and upright. But is this as it ought to be? Do not let us slur over the question; let us face it steadily, honestly with earnest intent to know the right and wrong of the case. You may say, that as partners you do not know each other except in a purely business light; you are strangers until you meet in business; you have no two pursuits in common; your tastes are marked by the strongest differences. That explanation does not touch the point. A man cannot leave his character at home when he goes to business. The character is the man himself; he cannot leave himself behind. We are not referring to some trifling eccentricity of habit, or this particular taste or that; but to the quality, so to speak, of the man’s very soul and life; and we marvel exceedingly, and cannot understand how light and darkness, right and wrong, heaven and hell, can enter into business relations.
The young should take this lesson thoroughly to heart. You have your associations yet to form, you have to lay out your life to the best advantage, and it is more than possible that you may be tempted by the dazzling prospects which disingenuous men will not fail to paint for you. Explanations of difficulty will certainly be forthcoming; your conscientious scruples will be contemptuously pooh-poohed. You will be told that in these times men must set their sails according to the wind, and must do as other people do, if they would save themselves from bankruptcy and ruin in general. Let the example of Jehoshaphat be a warning to you. There is something of infinitely greater consequence in the world than making a fortune. What you have to settle first and foremost is, the moral basis on which you are proceeding; you must get the full consent of your judgment, and heart, and conscience before you give yourself up to any commercial course, and, having obtained such consent, according to the law of infinite righteousness, it should be a matter of very small moment to you whether you reach what is known in the world as the point of success, or whether you see little or nothing by way of result of your labour. Wealth is not everything; nay, more a man’s wealth may actually be a man’s worst poverty. The curse of God rests upon all ill-gotten wealth. You may say that your part of the business is done with uprightness, and with an honest desire to keep the whole law of equity as between man and man, but this explanation is worse than a frivolous excuse when it is offered as a plea for bad partnerships. You are responsible for more than yourself in such a case; so long as you are identified with a man who can speak an untrue word or do a mean deed, you must of necessity be implicated in the whole of his vicious course. Beware of making refined distinctions. It is one thing to have a genius for drawing delicate lines as between yourself and your partner, and another to convince him who sees the heart and tries the reins of the children of men that you are not making a convenience of such distinctions, and gilding the works of unrighteousness. Look at the ship-building speculation at Ezion-geber. The partners were men of immense resources, of the highest social position; their ships were actually built and prepared for the voyage, but God determined that they should never reach their destination; and when God commands the winds and the general forces of nature to beat against any man’s speculation, it is utterly hopeless in such cases to fight against God. Have God for your partner, if you would make your business, in the highest sense of the term, honourable and successful. “If God be for us, who can be against us?”
The principle of the text is expansive enough to include other subjects of equal importance with that which we have just discussed. For example, the subject of Marriage is fairly within the scope of its application. “Can two walk together except they be agreed?” “What concord hath Christ with Belial?” It is hardly needful to point out that much of the happiness of human life depends upon the marriage unions which are formed. It is one thing to view the subject of marriage in the light of passion or convenience, and another to regard it as an institution by which human life may be developed and trained to the highest uses and enjoyments. We do not hesitate to lay down the broad principle that where there is incongruity of religious conviction between man and woman, happiness of the deepest and purest kind is entirely out of the question. This principle is impartial in its application, having equal reference to the woman as to the man, and to the man as to the woman. Take the case of a young woman who has deep religious convictions and sympathies: she has been trained under religious influences, her habits have been identified with the sanctuary from very early life; she has taught in the schools, she has served in connection with many agencies of the Church, and altogether her name has become honourably associated with benevolent operations; she is sought in marriage by a young man who has no religious convictions or sympathies, who, in fact, is worldly-minded, grovelling, earthly; he may, indeed, be a man of education, of literary refinement, of good social position, of captivating address; nay, more he may be a man against whom society is unable justly to point the finger of reproach. Wherever he is known he is respected for many social excellences. Viewed in a strictly worldly sense, the young man may be pronounced an eligible candidate for the lady’s hand, yet, in the presence of such conditions, we do not hesitate to assert that happiness of the highest kind is impossible in such a connection. There must, on the woman’s part, be more or less of sacrifice of the convictions and sympathies which have distinguished her whole life. Her religious emphasis will be modified; more or less of a chill will subdue her Christian zeal; her works of benevolence will be in some degree impaired; there may not be any great outward difference in her manner, but her soul must have felt the desolation of an impoverishing influence. We have to consider, not what she is, so much as what she might have been, had she been united in marriage to one of kindred sympathy. To what an intense glow of love would her religious fervour have been increased! With what accelerated rapidity she might have moved in the ways of godliness! There would have been no secret force drawing her heart in the wrong direction; the whole atmosphere in which she lived would have been favourable to the development of Christian graces, and she would have abounded in all holy fruitfulness as a follower and servant of Jesus Christ. We will not dwell upon cases in which there is direct opposition as between husband and wife on religious questions; but prefer to take an instance in which the woman is a decided Christian in her convictions and habits, and where the man is accounted respectable in a worldly sense. There may never be a harsh word spoken on his part, he may never oppose any of his wife’s inclinations, yet, by his own indifference, by his self-enjoyment, by his absence from her companionship when she is seeking the culture of her highest nature, he is, in reality, encountering her with a very dreadful hostility. And here we would impress upon the young who have yet to form their social relationships the necessity of their being at one with each other upon all vitally important questions, if they would really be, not outwardly, but inwardly, sincerely, enduringly happy. You are not to look at physical beauty, at social position, or at personal charms, strictly in themselves considered; all these have their place, and an important place it undoubtedly is; but under all these considerations there lies the great question, What about the heart? If the heart is not right, if the supreme affection be not divine, the whole life will be one continuously downward course, ending in mortification, disgust, and ruin. We know the ordinary excuse that is made when the Christian marries one who has no devotional sympathies: the generous, hopeful, self-sacrificing woman openly avows her belief that in a very little time she will be able to bring her intended husband to a right decision; she knows (poor creature!) that there is something good in him; she has heard (O mocking ear!) him say words which she construed into a noble intention on his part; she is sure all will be right by-and-bye; a little patience, a little humouring, and a little instruction then all will be right! This is the dream of her love, the inspiration of her ill-directed hope, but it will prove an imposition a deceit a lie! Granted that in one case out of a thousand events do prove better than expected; we are not to be governed by exceptions, but by principles; we must get away from the accidental to the essential; and so long as right is right, we are bound to stand by it, how painful soever, how tormenting or destructive soever, the consequences. “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?” “Because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.” “Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils.” “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
The principle of the text will still further permit an earnest word about evil companionship generally. “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause; let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: we shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: my son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: for their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.” Amongst worldly men, no one will deny that there may be many flattering and alluring attractions which work mightily upon the imagination and affections of the young. The devil can come to a man in many disguises. He does not always come, so to speak, as the devil pure and simple, but often brings with him a robe of light, and adapts himself to the condition, pursuits, and tastes of his intended victim. It is not to be supposed that any young man who regularly attends public worship is prepared to identify himself with the drunkard, swearer, or thief; of course, no young man is prepared to go to such lengths at once; but the point to be insisted on is this, that if the moral tone of the party seeking our companionship be not right, there must of necessity be a descent into depth after depth of moral degradation. True, you will declare your intention of turning back when you feel that you are going too far. This is a fool’s decision. You forget that every step you take on the wrong road involves on your part a loss of power to retrace your way. The man is not the same man after he has gone a mile on the devil’s highway. He has lost force; he has gone down in the volume and quality of his manhood; and when he thinks that it is now time to turn round and come back, he will find that his way has been hedged up behind him, and that in all probability there is no way of escape. “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.” Let no young person persuade himself that, though his companions may not be all he could wish, yet he is exerting a recovering influence upon them; we dare not say that your influence is not for their advantage; neither dare we assert that they are not exerting upon you a deep and deadly, though a remote and subtle, influence. Where one good young man succeeds in recovering an evil companion, many young men succumb to the treacherous influences which are brought to bear upon them by vicious associates. It is not necessary to be the bosom companion of a man who is evil-minded in order to save him; you are rather to stand at a distance and to speak from an elevation; you are not to descend to the same moral level with him; you may be found in his society, yet you may be separate from him, as Jesus Christ himself was “separate from sinners.” Your laugh at an indecent joke may be a sanction to foul thoughts; your silence in the hearing of profane language may give some countenance to evil-speaking; your want of heroism may be regarded as an encouragement by those who have set themselves to do mischief. Even those who are related to you by nature are to be avoided, when they would invite you towards evil. There is a higher relationship than that of mere blood; even were your own father to tempt you to do that which is unrighteous, you are to resist him, and flee from him as an enemy. “If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known,. thou nor thy fathers; namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; thou shalt not consent unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him.” From these words, and from others that might be quoted bearing in the same direction, we see that the position of the Christian is to be one of the utmost distinctness. “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” This is the difficulty which every young Christian has to encounter at the very outset of his career, and throughout the whole of his Christian service and testimony. He is not only to avoid the appearance of evil himself, but he is to lift up his voice against those who serve the devil. He is called to be a witness for the truth; he is to lift up his voice, and to say distinctly what is wrong and what is right, and to fight the battles of the Lord against the mighty. He is not only then to abstain from evil companionships and confederacies; much more is required. It is needful that every man should distinctly define his Christian ground, and should constantly utter a testimony against all unrighteousness, and in favour of the things that are true and pure, honest and lovely.
Let us learn this lesson, that “though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished.” We may imagine that gathering ourselves together in great numbers, by taking counsel one of another, and by some system of unanimous cooperation, we may be able to set ourselves successfully against the divine government; but God challenges the nations of the earth, and contemptuously defies them. “Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces: and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces.” There is no need to recall the instance in which “the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech,” and in which men set themselves to do great things by way of protecting their interests from supernatural interposition; we remember that they carried their tower to a certain height, and that God came down and scattered them abroad, and confounded their language, and made them so that they could not understand one another’s speech. He will surely do this again if we combine to oppose his way. All our commercial partnerships will be examined; all our social relationships will be subjected to inexorable judgment; all our companionships will be sifted by the divine visitation; none shall be able to stay the wrath of God, when he comes to judge the earth by the light of his infinite and incorruptible holiness. Better stand alone than be found in the association of evil men. Better never hear a friendly voice than be allured by the deceits of evil men! Better be found in unpitied loneliness, yet with a conscience void of offence, than lift up our heads amongst the most influential and illustrious servants of the devil.
Prayer
Almighty God, our Father in heaven, thou knowest that our life is one daily need; thou dost give unto us one day, but we need more the next. Thou art always giving, thou dost live to give; God so loved the world that he gave gave his only-begotten Son gave all he had. May we come to the fountain that our thirst may be quenched, and may we come to the tree of life that we may eat fruit thereof, and never die. Keep us near thyself; Holy Spirit, remain with us; do not be impatient with our dulness and selfishness, but grant unto us long sojourn, until thou dost fill us with thy light and bless us with all needful grace. Thou hast done great things for us, whereof we are glad: once we were blind, now we see; we not only see, we are put in possession of a light that the apostle, chiefest of us all, called marvellous light. Once we were slaves, now we are free men, or we are in bondage to Christ, and in that bondage we find our liberty; if the Son shall make us free, we shall be free indeed. Grant unto thy ministers everywhere a sense of thy presence, a realisation of thy comfort, a preparedness to receive thine increasing gift of light; may they be true men and good, honourable and wise, faithful stewards, diligent servants, waiting for the coming of their Lord, knowing that he may come at any moment. This prayer we pray at the cross. There all prayer of the heart is answered. Amen.
V
THE REIGN OF JEHOSHAPHAT, KING OF JUDAH
2 Chronicles 17-20; 1Ki 22:1-53
The reader will observe that I omitted in the last chapter any special reference to the contemporaneous affairs in Israel, in the close of the reign of Asa, and do now limit this chapter to the record in 2 Chronicles 17-20. This limitation is to secure unity in the discussion of the two great kings of Judah: Asa and Jehoshaphat; and for the same purpose two or three later chapters will be devoted exclusively to the great house of Omri in Israel, and its battle royal with Elijah, the Tishbite.
I pause here to remark that there are some matters so very critical in this section, that I am not willing to trust myself in an offhand statement of the meaning, and so every word of this chapter is written out beforehand, just as I want it to stand verbatim, et liberatum, et punctuatim.
The glorious seventeeenth chapter of 2 Chronicles has no parallel in Kings, and well illustrates the valuable supplementary character of the later history. The history opens with Jehoshaphat devising military measures of defense against Israel. He placed regular garrisons in all the fortified cities of Judah, established and garrisoned new military posts in all the territory captured from Ephraim by his father, Asa, and grandfather, Abijah. This was the very beginning of his reign.
His moral measures of defense are far more sublime. They constitute a great lesson worthy of study in all subsequent ages. On this section, therefore, we must place our greatest emphasis. What, then, were these moral measures of defense adopted by Jehoshaphat?
(1) “He walked in the first ways of his father David” David, the ideal king, not Solomon, was his model. And the first ways of David are followed, not the last. Thus, his pattern was his lost illustrious ancestor, the man after God’s own heart, and he at his best, not at his worst. We would do well while finding a perfect ideal in Jesus, to select some human model that reflects our highest ideals of manhood or womanhood. For instance, how many young preachers say in their hearts, “I will keep my eyes on William Carey, or on Adoniram Judson, or on Charles Spurgeon”?
(2) “He sought not unto Baalim” that is the Hebrew plural, like Seraph Seraphim; cherub cherubim; so Baal Baalim. “He sought not unto Baalim, but sought unto the God of his fathers.” He whom one worships is more important than whom he makes his model. To him Jehovah alone was God. He counted as nothing Baalim, that is, the male and the female deities. Baalim being plural) that signified Baal, the male) and Astoreth the female. Astoreth has its own plural, Astoroth, and is about the same as the Venus of the Romans, or the Aphrodite of the Greeks. Baal and Ashtoreth, under some name or form, represented the world’s debased and sensual idolatry.
(3) The record tells us that he refused to find in Israel an example for his people, which under the house of Omri, turned to these infamous Phoenician deities, the Baalim-Baal and Ashtoreth.
(4) The record says that his heart was lifted up in the ways of Jehovah. That is a strong expression in the original. It is not a perfunctory service; he gloried in it; his heart exulted in it; his fervor glowed like a furnace.
(5) In such a spirit and zeal there could be no compromise; hence the record says, “He took away the high places and the Asherim out of Judah.” “The high places,” that is, the top of the hills, even when Jehovah was the object of worship, detracted from the central place of worship in Jerusalem with its holy Temple, and its glorious unifying services and feasts. The Asherim were symbolized in wooden columns that sometimes stood like groves, as when Gideon went out and cut down a grove of them in one night. The Asherim stood as a perpetual temptation to superstition and idolatry.
(6) He made abundant and systematic provision for the instruction of the people of God in the Pentateuch, “The book of the law of Jehovah.” Princes, priests, and Levites, were constituted as itinerant teaching corps. Up and down, to and fro, through all the land this great traveling faculty carried and taught the one great textbook, the Law of Moses. The word of God was not bound. Its precepts were brought by the mightiest and most honorable in the land into every village and home. And as the priests and Levites of all the tribes were assembled into one tribe, magnifying the teaching force of that tribe, Judah, under this itinerant system of instruction) became one great religious university an itinerant theological seminary.
(7) He established a graded judicial system for the determination and enforcement of civil, criminal, and ecclesiastical law (10:5-8) and here is his charge to the judges of the lower courts: “Consider what ye do; for ye judge not for man, but Jehovah; and he is with you in the judgment you render. Now, therefore, let the fear of Jehovah be upon you; take heed and do it; for there is no iniquity with Jehovah our God, nor respect of persons nor taking of bribes.” I would like to read that to all the judges of the lower courts of the United States. Here is what he says in his charge to the Supreme Court, the head of the judicial system in Jerusalem: “In the fear of Jehovah ye shall do faithfully, and with a perfect heart. And whensoever any controversy shall come to you from your brothers that dwell in the villages and cities, between blood and blood [that is, if it is a murder case], between the law [in its principles] and [their expression in] commandments) statutes, and ordinances, ye shall warn them that they be guilty toward Jehovah and so wrath come upon you [the judges] and your brethren [the appellants]. This do ye and ye shall not be guilty. Deal courageously and Jehovah be with the good in your judgment.” (2Ch 19:6-9 ). I would like to read that to our state and national supreme courts.
I pause here to remark, first, that the civil and criminal code of Moses surpasses the codes of Lycurgus, Solon, Justinian, or Napoleon, and as a foundation it underlies all of the best of modern law among the most civilized nations. I was boarding once with a very brilliant lawyer, and he asked if I could give him a digest of the Mosaic law, civil and criminal. I told him he would find it in Hitchcock’s Analysis, and I made him a present of the book. I said to him, “Now, when you read this let your quick mind answer this question as you go over its constitution, the decalogue, or each statute. How much of your law does the principle of this statute underlie?” When he got through he said, “I find that all the best of our laws, at least in their principle, come from Moses.”
Now, imagine the effect of such a trained force of teachers going over Judah teaching that law, and then such a judicial system interpreting and enforcing that law. I repeat again that mere human law, separated from the idea of responsibility to God, can never challenge respect nor be righteously enforced. The most shameful thing of modern civilization is that we cannot get Juries to render a verdict according to the law given by the judge and the evidence given by the witnesses. To this add the law’s delay, the wrangling of the paid attorneys, and the wonder is explicable that the people dread the courts more than anything else. A man in Fort Worth recently remarked to his family: “If ever I am murdered I charge you to ask the grand jury not to indict the murderer; don’t you have anything to do with the prosecution. For, if the murderer is never prosecuted, murder is all that comes to me. But if you put the case in the courts with the lawyers trying to justify the murderer, there will not be a shred of my reputation left. Not content with murdering my body, they will murder my good name.”
(8) He did not isolate himself from his people, living luxuriously in a palace and leaving subordinates to watch over the affairs of the kingdom. But the text says that “he dwelt at Jerusalem, and went out again among the people from Beersheba [the most southern part] to the hill country of Ephraim [the most northern part] and brought them back unto Jehovah the God of their fathers.” When kings become missionaries like that, and the princes become itinerant teachers like that, happy is the land.
(9) He organized and trained a vast militia corps, or war reserve, not indeed as a standing army, but ready at all times to respond to a call to arms in any emergency. Judging from the muster roll given in the record, it must have included like the German Landwehr, all the male population capable of bearing arms. There were three army corps from Judah, numbering respectively 300,000, 280,000, and 200,000: total from Judah 780,000. There were two corps from Benjamin, respectively, 200,000 and 180,000: total from Benjamin, 380,000: grand total from the two, 1,160,000 men, and all of them with a full quota of officers. The world never saw anything like the German system of war, as developed in 1870, between Germany and France. The very minute that Emperor William I signed his name to the declaration of war, that minute Von Moltke, the commander-in-chief, touched a button that rang a bell, and over a million men responded to it in twenty-four hours: and every man knew his company, colonel, regiment, major general, his division, his starting point, his line of travel) the system was so perfect.
Murphy’s Commentary on Chronicles thus explains this immense number of Jehoshaphat’s militia. He says, “First, every man fit to bear arms is enumerated. Second, Judah at this time included Simeon, part of Dan, and the auxiliaries from the Philistines and Arabs who were tributary; and Benjamin included the cities of Ephraim that were annexed to the Southern Kingdom. Third, many Israelites had, on religious grounds, attached themselves to the kingdom of Judah (2Ch 15:9 ). Hence, there were three captains, or marshals, in Judah: one for Judah proper, one for Dan and the auxiliary Philistines, and one for Simeon and the auxiliary Arabs. There were two for Benjamin, one for Benjamin proper and one for the annexed part of Ephraim. Moreover, in the text (2Ch 15:16 ) Amasiah is described as a volunteer in the service of the Lord, and had under his command, no doubt, a body of volunteers from the north.” The explanation by Murphy is very plausible in view of the context.
Now, that this 1,160,000 was a militia reserve is evident from the fact that it is contradistinguished from the regular army garrisoning the fortified cities.
The glorious results of these measures are thus set forth in the text: first, Jehovah was with Jehoshaphat, and established his kingdom; second, fear of Jehovah fell on all the kingdoms that were round about Judah, so they made no war on Jehoshaphat; third, all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat tribute; fourth, some of the Philistines brought to Jehoshaphat presents and silver for tribute; fifth, the Arabs brought him flocks of 15,400 rams and goats; sixth, and Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance, and waxed great exceedingly, and built in Judah castles and cities of stone, and he had many works in the cities of Judah.
If just here the record ended with “And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers,” we would have before us a faultless monarch; but as no man is perfect, fidelity to history requires that we pluck three roses from his wreath of glory, to wit:
First, beginning with 2Ch 18 the record says that “he made affinity” with the infamous Ahab, king of Israel. Thus by marrying his son and successor to Athaliah, the murderous daughter of Ahab and the wicked Jezebel, which led his son into idolatry, and into the shame that denied him burial with his fathers, and, as I think, into the loss of his soul, he later corrupted the kingdom of Judah and brought the seed of David down to one helpless baby, and helped to bring the kingdom of God nearer to destruction than at any period since the flood. That will be evident when we come to discuss Elijah the Tishbite.
Second, this marriage led him to visit Ahab (2Ch 18 ) in Samaria, where he was beguiled to join Ahab in his disastrous war, that did not concern Judah, against the king of Syria. That war is set forth from 2Ch 18:2-19:1 .
Third, later in his reign he joined himself with Ahaziah, the wicked son of the wicked Ahab, to build ships at Eziongeber, “to go,” as the text says, “to Tarshish” (but I say, “to go to Orphir”), thus seeking to revive the old commerce of Solomon (2Ch 20:35-37 ).
I here raise this question on 2Ch 20:35-37 : Why build a fleet at Eziongeber to reach Tarshish? Eziongeber is at the head of the gulf of Akaba, a part of the Red Sea. Tarshish is in Spain, and to reach Spain the fleet would have to circumnavigate Africa to reach Tarshish from Eziongeber. Jonah took shipping at Joppa to reach Tarshish (Jon 1:3 ). Solomon reached Tarshish from the Phoenician ports of Tyre and Sidon. The explanation of this difficulty is that “Tarshish” is a model of a ship called Tarshish and the text in 2Ch 20:36 is corrupted, it should read, “Ships of Tarshish” instead of “Ships to go to Tarshish.”
These three acts of Jehoshaphat, which were the three roses plucked from the wreath of his fame, all deserve special treatment. The disastrous marriage, the most important one, will be considered in a later chapter on Elijah the Tishbite. The other two evils will be considered now. RAMOTH-GILEAD
The second evil was accepting the invitation of Ahab to visit him in Samaria. He was there beguiled into making an alliance with Ahab to go to war against Benhadad, the king of Syria, for the recovery of Ramothgilead, a town east of the Jordan.
I will relate now a part of the history which precedes this (but which we have not yet treated, as I am reserving the history of the house of Omri for a special chapter), that Ahab had captured the king of Syria and ought to have killed him, but let him go on the pledge that he would give up Ramothgilead, which he had stolen from Ahab. But when free he would not give it up, and now Ahab is considering the reconquest. We will now continue the discussion of 2Ch 18 .
While royally entertained in Samaria by Ahab, the host embarrassed his guest by proposing joint action in the recovery of Ramoth-gilead, still held against treaty stipulations by the king of Syria. On the impulse of the moment the enticed guest responded) “I am as thou art, and my people as thy people, and we will go with thee in this war.” Sober reflection, however, imposed a condition which is stated in the next verse: “Inquire, first I pray thee, for the word of Jehovah,” i.e., “I will go with you if Jehovah says so; inquire for the word of Jehovah.” We must put this condition to the credit of the beguiled but pious Jehoshaphat.
What followed is most difficult to understand in several particulars, greatly perplexing the commentators, and calls for careful exposition. The reader should read attentively the whole paragraph of 2Ch 18:4-27 , and then note:
(1) Jehoshaphat demands an inquiry for the word of Jehovah, not for the word of Baal.
(2) Then, of course, the prophets who respond must be the prophets of Jehovah, not Baal’s prophets.
(3) Four hundred prophets, assembled by Ahab, when asked: “Shall we go to Ramothgilead to battle or shall we forbear?” unanimously responded, “Go up; for God will deliver it into the hand of the king.”
(4) Jehoshaphat is not satisfied: the promptness of assembling 400 prophets, the readiness and the unanimity of their response, or something in their bearing, awakened suspicion on his part that something was wrong. Hence his question: “Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah besides, that we may inquire of him?” Now, does he imply by that question that the 400 are not Jehovah’s prophets at all, or does the “besides” mean that they were Jehovah’s prophets, but that he wants another one?
(5) Ahab’s reply evidently claims that the 400 are Jehovah’s prophets, but admits that there is one there in the city whom he hates, because he uniformly prophesies evil and not good against Ahab.
(6) Jehoshaphat’s rejoinder, “Let not the king say so,” plainly intimates his continued dissatisfaction, and he insists on hearing this other prophet, Micaiah, the son of Imlah. In the meanwhile, while waiting for Micaiah to be brought, Zedekiah, the leader of the 400 prophets recalled the famous promise of Moses concerning Joseph (Deu 33:17 ), and put on the symbolic horns promised there, and acted out the manner in which the Syrian king would be gored to death, with all the other prophets shouting, “Go up to Ramothgilead and prosper.” This dramatic action must have made an impression. Now the reader must not take my word for the horns promised by Moses, but let him turn back and read what Moses said. Evidently Zedekiah takes what Moses said concerning the children of Joseph, Manasseh, and Ephraim, to show that he is giving a true prophecy; he puts on those iron horns and shows just how the Ephraim bull will gore the Syrian king to destruction. It must have been a funny scene.
(7) The method of sending for Micaiah and disposing of him after he is heard, implies that he was in prison in the city at the time, and is remanded back to prison because he would not prophesy smooth things to Ahab.
(8) The officer hinted to him, while bringing him before the king, to conform his reply to that of the four hundred like I have known sheriffs, when bringing in a witness, to whisper how he had better testify; to make a confession and to imply what he is going to say with what the 400 said, clearly shows how this officer, at least, was aware that the prophets around Ahab must prophesy as the king wished. It seems to place Ahab’s conception of the prophetic office on a line with Balak’s when he sent for Balaam to come and curse Israel: that a king’s money or a king’s favor could get just what he wanted from the subservient oracle. Or, it is on a line with any fortuneteller, who will gauge his forecast of the fortunes according to the fee, or according to his fear of the inquirer.
(9) We find it hard to reconcile Micaiah’s grand reply to the officer, that he would not prophesy anything except as Jehovah gave it, I say, we find it difficult to harmonize that grand reply to the officer with his first reply to Ahab, which is exactly in harmony with what the 400 advised. Now, was that first reply to Ahab sarcasm, and meant to be so understood? Did it mean: “You do not want to hear the truth, and you know it; you want to hear only what is pleasing, and I give it to you”? Or, does it mean that when a man incorrigibly insists upon being deluded, then Jehovah sends him a delusion? The last seems to be the true explanation and puts his reply in harmony with his reply to the officers. But Ahab evidently understands it according to the first explanation) and so he presumptuously demands Jehovah’s true attitude toward the proposed expedition. Thus adjured, Micaiah turns a flood of light on the whole situation. He commences by recounting a vision of all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. Ahab’s side remark to Jehoshaphat did not stay him. He draws a vivid heaven counterpart over the earth scene. On earth, as our text tells us, the throned kings are sitting in the open space in the gates of Samaria, surrounded by a throng of courtiers, and inquiring, “Shall we go up to Ramothgilead?” Now, above this the prophet’s vision sees Jehovah and his session of angels considering what answer to the question shall heaven inspire, and the means of that inspiration. More than once I have taught my students two great lessons, both illustrated right here: First, that evil angels, including Satan himself, must at intervals attend the convocations of angels on the summons of Jehovah, and must report at Jehovah’s inquisition where they have been and what they have seen and done in regard to God’s people, and must limit their deeds to what Jehovah permits (see Job 1:6-12 ; Job 2:1-7 ).
What then do they directly, since it is by the permission of God, he does indirectly. Second, that when Pharaoh continues to harden his heart, then will Jehovah himself harden it; that when men continue to shut their eyes to the truth, then Jehovah afflicts them with judicial blindness; and when men incorrigibly prefer delusion to the truth, then Jehovah sends them a strong delusion that they may believe a lie and be damned (see 2Th 2:11 ; Isa 66:4 ).
Now, in this convocation of angels Jehovah inquires for an angelic messenger, who will delude Ahab to his ruin. A lying angel responds, “I will inspire Ahab’s prophets to answer him in a way that will destroy him,” and Jehovah tells him to go and do it. Yes, the 400 prophets were inspired, but they were inspired of Satan to say, “Go up to Ramothgilead and prosper.” Had these 400 been faithful to their prophetic office, and not subservient to Ahab’s wishes, they would not have become the dupes of Satan; they would have tried the spirits attempting to inspire them, and would have been able to discern the evil kind. Micaiah thus exposes the source of the spiritual suggestion governing Zedekiah and the 400. They were conscious that an outside spirit was telling them to say what they said, and they supposed it to be Jehovah, but Micaiah shows from whom that inspiration comes.
QUESTIONS
1. What was the length of Jehoshaphat’s reign?
2. Why in the latter part of Asa’s reign and all of Jehoshaphat’s does the author omit temporarily all scriptures that relate exclusively to Israel?
3. At the beginning of his reign, what were Jehoshaphat’s measures of defense against Israel?
4. State in order the moral measures of defense.
5. Give an account of his militia organization and Murphy’s explanation.
6. Give in order the glorious results of that measure.
7. What the meaning of 2Ch 18:1 , “he made affinity with Ahab”?
8. What, then, were the three acts of his life, condemned of Jehovah and which detract from his glory?
9. What were the results of the first act?
10. Tell how he was beguiled into the second act.
11. What condition did Jehoshaphat exact?
12. Were the 400 subservient prophets of Ahab prophets of Baal or of Jehovah?
13. Did they speak by inspiration?
14. What promise had Moses made concerning the tribes of Joseph, and how did Zedekiah act out what seemed to be a fulfilment?
15. Judging from Ahab’s hatred of Micaiah, what must have been his conception of the prophetic office?
16. Where was Micaiah when sent for?
17. What suggestion did the officer make to him while conducting him before Ahab and what does this prove?
18. What was his reply to the officer and how do you harmonize it with his first reply to Ahab?
19. When adjured to give Jehovah’s attitude toward the proposed expedition what his reply?
20. What two great truths concerning God’s supreme rule have been diligently taught by the author and what the Scripture proof and application of both to Micaiah’s revelation?
21. Who then inspired the 400 and why permitted?
22. Give dramatic setting of the earth scene and the heaven scene.
23. May men now be inspired by an evil spirit?
24. What is the condition of mind that makes one susceptible to such inspiration as evidenced in the 400?
25. What is the New Testament provision that enables a Christian to discern between an evil and a good inspiration?
VI
THE REIGN OF JEHOSHAPHAT, KING OF JUDAH (CONTINUED)
In the preceding chapter we considered the marvelous prophecy of Micaiah, the son of Imlah, explaining how the 400 prophets of Ahab were deluded. The difficulties of that partakelar paragraph are so great that many commentaries skip it altogether they do not try to expound it. Even the “Speaker’s Bible” commentary, merely gives the text but does not give a word of exposition. Even my great favorite, Hengstenberg, from whom I supposed that I could get some help, passes it with a single allusion. Now, to me, there do not appear such great difficulties.
The questions of difficulty are these: Were these 400 men really the prophets of Jehovah? They were the prophets of Jehovah in the sense that they represented the calf worship in Israel: they pretended under the calf worship to still worship Jehovah. Another difficulty is Jehovah’s permitting and even directing an evil spirit to inspire these 400 men to bring about the ruin of Ahab, a moral difficulty that is more seeming than real. It is on par with the existence of all evil in the world. A little child, for instance, asked the question: “Mama, is God greater than the devil?” “Yes.” “Then why doesn’t he kill the devil?” In other words, it is simply the inquisition into Jehovah’s permission of moral evil in the world, and his inclusive government over everything, good and bad, in which he makes the wrath of man to praise him, and overrules the evil of both men and demons.
There are some other difficulties graver to my mind in the section before us. One is, to reconcile the text of certain places in Kings with the corresponding text in Chronicles. That appears in the records of events near the end of Jehoshaphat’s reign. And a still greater difficulty is to reconcile the text of both of them with the Septuagint Version. The Septuagint Version is not inspired, and it follows its own sweet will every now and then in dealing with matters. Sometimes it makes marvelously good hints and sometimes it simply follows Jewish legends and traditions.
We are now to consider the effect of Micaiah’s exposure of Zedekiah, the leader of the 400 prophets, on Ahab and on Jehoshaphat. We have Zedekiah’s effort to break the force of Micaiah’s exposure and that prophet’s response, as follows: “Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and smote Micaiah upon the cheek, and said, Which way went the spirit of the Lord from me to speak unto thee?” i.e., “since you say that an evil spirit inspired us, and that Jehovah inspired you, I put it to the test by this blow. Which way went the spirit of Jehovah from me and to you?” In other words, “Here are 400 of us, all conscious of inspiration, knowing that we speak from some impulse outside of ourselves. You stand up there by yourself and say that a lying spirit inspired us, and that Jehovah inspired you.” To that Micaiah says, “Behold, thou shalt see on the day when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself.” That means: “You wait until after the battle is over, and the army is defeated and Ahab is slain, and you are running to hide, and then you will know which one of us is speaking from Jehovah.” All this seemed to have little effect on Ahab and Jehoshaphat.
Josephus accounts for the little effect of Micaiah’s exposure on Ahab and Jehoshaphat (for we see they went right ahead into the war, both of them, notwithstanding Micaiah’s marvelous representation of the scene in heaven on this day) thus: “When Zedekiah smote Micaiah he challenged his credentials by calling for a sign: If you represent Jehovah, paralyze my hand that smote your cheek, as the prophet of God dried up the hand of Jeroboam at the altar. And if you cannot accredit what you say by a miracle of that kind, then it is because you are false and we are true.’ ” Of course, I do not know where Josephus gets his information about that, certainly not from the Bible. But it is interesting to know that this is the way this Jewish writer accounts for it, and Josephus is following the tradition of his people in thus accounting for it. What he says at least accounts for Jehoshaphat’s disregard of Micaiah. What Ahab said to Micaiah and his response are as follows: “And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king’s son; and say, Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with the water of affliction, until I come in peace.” So Ahab did not believe what Micaiah said because he did not want to believe it. Micaiah made this noble response: “If thou returneth at all in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me.” He appeals to the old prophetic test: If a prophet shall foretell an event and it does not come to pass, then that prophet is a lying prophet, but if his word is fulfilled, then he is a true prophet.
A certain clause is wanting in the Septuagint and a conjecture is based on it in view of Mic 1:2 . This is the clause that is not in the Septuagint: “And he said, Hear, ye peoples, all of you.” That is, Micaiah appeals to both the men of Israel and to the men of Judah to listen to the text. Now, these words were not in the Septuagint, but they are in the Hebrew of both Chronicles and Kings. The conjecture based on it is exceedingly idle. Mic 1:2 uses precisely these words: “Hear, ye peoples, all of you,” and so the conjecture is that Micah the prophet, whose book we have, is the same as the Micaiah here. But Micah the prophet belongs to a much later date. It was customary for the prophets to appeal to the people to bear witness to what they said.
There seems to have been no effect on Jehoshaphat. It was at his instance that Micaiah was called in; now he had heard Micaiah, but notwithstanding what he says, he goes right on to the war with Ahab. He must have been influenced by Zedekiah’s smiting Micaiah. So Jehoshaphat leads a force of Judab into this battle, but I do not see a word anywhere that tells us just what that force was. There is certainly no summons to any of the tribes of Judah. It may be that Jehoshaphat simply took with him into the battle the guard that he had with him when he came to make this visit and in the absence of any historical notice I suppose that this is so. Ahab made a proposition to Jehoshaphat before they went into the battle. The text says this: “And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself and go into the battle, and put thou on thy robes.” Now, the Septuagint says, “put thou on my robes.” And I think the Septuagint is right. And the Septuagint in a later verse says (where these captains center on Jehoshaphat), “it seemed to them that it was the king of Israel.” Now the seeming could be only by external uniform; they would not have any other way of knowing. So, then his proposition was: “I will go into the battle disguised, and you put on my robes . . . you seem to be Ahab.”
Readers of romance will recall in Scott’s famous novel, Quentin Durward , that when the Wild Boar of Ardennes had captured the city of Ghent, and the Duke of Burgundy and Louis of France were coming to oust him, he disguised himself and had a number of men put on his garb, and also had a number of others put on the garb of the noted French knight, Dunoia, in order to make the Burgundians think that the French were fighting against them instead of with them. Readers of Shakespeare will recall that when Henry IV fought his battle with “Hotspur” Percy and Douglas, a number of men had on the armor of Henry IV, and that Douglas killed several of them, thinking he was killing the king. Now, that was Ahab’s expedient, and I think Jehoshaphat was a very simple fellow to agree to it.
There are at least two reasons why Ahab disguised himself: First, there seemed to be a lingering fear that maybe Micaiah was right, and that the result of this battle would be that Israel would be without a shepherd, and he thought to thwart that prophecy, and in disguise thought to lessen the danger. And the other reason appears immediately after, as follows: “Now, the king of Syria had commanded the two and thirty captains of his chariots, saying, Fight with neither small nor great, save only with the king of Israel.” Ahab had doubtless learned that special directions had been given to the Syrian officers to single him out. Jehoshaphat did not know it, but Ahab did. “Now, brother Jehoshaphat, my ally, put on my robe, and go into the fight; I will disguise myself.”
The king of Syria had made an improvement in his army since the last battle with Ahab. We have not had that part of the history yet because we have not considered the house of Omri particularly, and I will say this: that in the first battle in which he was defeated by Ahab, the Syrian king let the thirty-two subsidiary kings command their own forces, and kings are not necessarily good captains. Anyway, they turned tail and fled, and lost him the battle. So this time he substituted war men to command these troops. At the beginning of all wars we may notice that favorites have positions, but after they lose a few battles, and matters get desperate, the success of the war demands that only real generals be put in command. So, instead of thirty-two kings, he has thirty-two real soldiers commanding.
The result, then, to Jehoshaphat of this expedient of Ahab was that it put him in extreme danger. These thirty-two captains of the chariots turning not to the right nor to the left, struck at nobody else but Jehoshaphat, supposing him to be Ahab the king of Israel.
In 2Ch 18:31-32 of the Chronicles account, it is said that when the Syrian captains centered on Jehoshaphat, “He cried out” and they turned away. Now, on that account there are two questions: First, what was his cry and to whom; and second, what caused those captains to turn away from him? Was it an impulse from Jehovah, as 2Ch 18:31 gives it, or was it the mere fact that they perceived that the man they were after was not the king of Israel, as the next verse says? One commentator says, “When he saw them coming around him he cried out, I am not your man,” or that he cried out, “Rally around me, men of Judah.” But that was not his cry. My own answer is that he cried to God, and Jehovah’s response is recorded in 2Ch 18:31 : “But Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him; and God moved them to depart from him.” They themselves were not conscious of that divine impulse, and they turned away because they believed that this was not the man they were after, as the next verse says. We frequently see these two forces combined: God overruling, and the natural human impulse governing at the same time.
The Vulgate, the Latin Version made in the fourth century, A.D., by Jerome, says that Jehoshaphat cried unto Jehovah. It says, “clamavit ad Dominum,” “He cried out to the Lord,” and certainly the context supports the Latin Version.
The text says that the expedient of Ahab failed to save him: “And a certain man drew his bow at a venture and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness, wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand and carry me out of the host; for I am sore wounded.”
May we attribute Ahab’s death to chance, fate, or providence? That is, to chance because the man that shot did not know he was shooting at him, but drew his bow at a venture? Or, may we attribute it to fate, as Josephus says, “Fate, the inevitable, found Ahab out without his robes”? Or, may we attribute it to providence because of Micaiah’s words in 2Ch 18:16 ; 2Ch 18:19 ? Micaiah said the result of that battle would be that Israel would be without a shepherd; and 2Ch 18:19 represents Jehovah as saying, “Who will go and entice him to Ramothgilead that he may fall?”
Now, this question probes all the philosophies of the world as to the cause of things. The Epicureans say, “Chance” that the world itself is the result of a fortuitous concourse of atoms. This is also the theory of modern evolution as expounded by such radicals as Haeckel and others all design eliminated. Zeno, the stoic, says that everything happens according to fate, inexorable fate. The Bible says that with God, there is neither chance nor fate, but that providence overrules all things. So far as the archer himself is concerned he, in his simplicity, shot an arrow in the battle; we might say that it was an accident, so far as he was concerned, that he killed Ahab; but it was no accident so far as God was concerned, and it was not blind, inexorable fate; it was all according to the great purpose of God, who had foreseen it and foretold it.
There is a connection of providence with this death of Ahab, as shown by a previous prophecy, and by the history of the fulfilment of that prophecy, and there is an additional degradation which this imposes on the dead Ahab. Elijah the Tishbite, as we will show in a subsequent discussion, when he met Ahab in Naboth’s vineyard (Naboth through false testimony, having been put to death in order that Ahab might obtain possession of his property) said to Ahab, that as the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, so would they lick up his blood at the very same place. A passage from 1 Kings gives the fulfilment: “So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria. And they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood: (now the harlots washed themselves there;) according unto the word of the Lord which he spake.” That parenthetical remark is the additional degradation: “Now the harlots washed themselves there” those obscene women that worshiped Ashtaroth; that was their place of bathing. Now, in this place, in the very pool, where these women bathed, shall your blood go, and the dogs shall lick up your blood. So, there is evident connection between that and the man drawing the bow at a venture, the arrow striking Ahab between the breastplate and the lower part of his armor. The history says that his blood ran down into the chariot, and that he stayed there in the chariot until the evening, when he died, and they took him, dead, in that chariot back to Samaria, and after he was taken out of the chariot they drove it to Naboth’s vineyard, where this pool was, and the dogs came and licked up his blood, and the blood ran into the very pool in which the harlot worshipers of Ashtaroth bathed. That recalls the question, Did he die by chance, or by fate, or by providence?
Jehovah announced his displeasure at this alliance of Jehoshaphat with Ahab: “And Jehu the son of Hanani the Seer went out to meet him, and said to King Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the wicked, and love them that hate the Lord? for this thing wrath is upon thee from before the Lord. Nevertheless, there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast put away the Ashtaroth out of the land, and hast set thine heart to seek God.” So God disapproved that alliance.
This wrath was fulfilled. In the same connection we see that the Moabites revolted against Israel when Israel lost the battle of Ramothgilead, and counting Israel a negligible quantity in view of this defeat, they warred with Judah. A conspiracy was made between the Moabites, the Ammonites, and other tribes beyond the Ammonites, reaching into the Arabian Desert all those wild hordes of people. A confederacy was made to strike secretly at Jehoshaphat; they became an ally of the house of Israel. That is the way the wrath came.
Now, in 2Ch 20:1 we have this statement: “And it came to pass after this, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them some of the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.” Now, we must account for the “and with them some of the Ammonites,” after just saying “the children of Ammon.” That is a corruption of the text. In one manuscript it reads: “The children of Moab, the children of Ammon, and others besides the Ammonites,” and in another verse of that chapter it says, “The children of Moab, the children of Ammon, and the children of Mount Sier,” which would mean the Edomites.
The story of that wrath is intensely interesting. This Ammonite confederacy, coming south of the Dead Sea where their approach would not be observed, had gained the western shore of the Dead Sea at Engedi, and before anybody knew they were at hand, they were within a few miles of Jerusalem. Whereupon Jehoshaphat proclaimed a fast, got all the people to come up before Jehovah and pray, and one of the most remarkable prayers in the world is the prayer of Jehoshaphat to Jehovah to avert this wrath. He appealed to God as the ruler of the universe. He then appealed to him as the friend of Abraham (that is the first place in the Bible where Abraham is called the friend of God, though we find it in the New Testament and in Isaiah). He then appealed to God on the score of the covenant with David. He piles up the reasons. He then appealed because they had built him this Temple for his service, and this vast confederacy is formed to come and take away the place that God had given to these people in the land of Canaan. Then he adds, “When we would come into this country you would not let us smite the children of Edom and of Ammon and of Moab, and now they are manifesting their gratitude by turning on us.” It was a great gathering. One of the sons of Asaph, Jahaziel, answered for Jehovah. He says, “You will be delivered: it will not be your battle, you will not have to strike a blow. You simply stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Do not go out like you are going to battle, but put your singers in front, and let them go singing praises to God. Go to a certain point, and you will overlook the destruction of this great host.” The destruction of the host is accounted for by an ambush that some of the Edomites, tributary to Judah, had laid. While some of the Edomites were working with the king of Moab, others of them still faithful to Judah, laid the ambush and when they attacked, the Moabites and the Ammonites thought the same ones in their army would be against them, and they killed all of them. And when they had killed the Edomites in their own army, they began killing one another. It was a regular “Kilkenny cat fight,” like an Irish wake. They turned their hands against each other until the whole army was destroyed, and Judah simply stood on the hill singing praises to God. The spoils that they gathered from the battle were immense, and when they came back they came back praising God. It was a marvelous demonstration of divine power. Psa 83 commemorates this alliance with Moab and Ammon and these other nations. The Moabite Stone furnishes a remarkable confirmation of the Scripture story. It tells of this very king of Moab, and how he revolted against Israel, and how many cities he captured from Israel.
QUESTIONS
1. What can you say of the treatment of the difficulties in the account of Micaiah and the 400 prophets by the commentaries?
2. What are the questions of difficulty here and what is the solution of each respectively?
3. How did Micaiah expose Zedekiah, the leader of the 400 prophets, and what was the effect on Ahab and Jehoshaphat?
4. How does Josephus account for the little effect on Ahab and Jehoshaphat and what do you think of his account?
5. What did Ahab say to Micaiah and what was his response?
6. What clause is wanting in the Septuagint, what conjecture is based upon it in view of Mic 1:2 and what was the reply to such conjecture?
7. What was the effect on Jehoshaphat and what force did he lead into the battle?
8. What proposition did Ahab make to Jehoshaphat before they went into battle, what light from the Septuagint and what illustrations from profane history and literature?
9. Why did Ahab disguise himself?
10. What improvement had the king of Syria made in his army since the last battle with Ahab and what the result of this in view of the expedient of Ahab?
11. Explain Jehoshaphat’s cry in 2Ch 18:31 and the result of this cry.
12. What light on this from the Vulgate?
13. How did the expedient of Ahab fail to save him?
14. May we attribute the death of Ahab to chance, fate, or providence? Discuss.
15. What was the connection of providence with the death of Ahab as shown by a previous prophecy and the fulfilment of it and what the additional degradation imposed on the dead Ahab?
16. How did Jehovah show his displeasure at this alliance of Jehoshaphat with Ahab?
17. In what event was this wrath fulfilled?
18. Who were the “Ammonites” of 2Ch 20:17 ? Explain.
19. Tell the story of the averted wrath of God here.
20. What psalm commemorates the alliance of Moab and Ammon with the other nations?
21. What testimony of the Moabite Stone?
2Ch 20:1 It came to pass after this also, [that] the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them [other] beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.
Ver. 1. It came to pass after this also. ] After Jehoshaphat’s great care to reform and set all to right throughout his kingdom, 2Ch 19:4-11 for his further trial, and exercise of his faith, these enemies – moved with envy, doubtless, at his growing greatness, and stirred up by the Syrians, against whom he had taken part with Ahab lately – were turned loose upon him. The best are not to account it strange when they “fall into divers temptations”; but to consider of this golden chapter, wherein ( res multae et magnae continentur, saith Lavater) are contained many great matters; neither is there any chapter in this whole book whereout we may learn more.
And with them other beside the Ammonites,
Came against Jehoshaphat to battle. a Id fuit contra ius gentium. It was be done against the law of the nations.
2 Chronicles Chapter 20
God, however, graciously met his faith when greatly tried, as we find in the 20th chapter, where the Moabites and Ammonites and others came; and a beautiful instance of the piety of faith is shown us here in this way – for I shall only mention one single feature in this mere sketch of these chapters. It is that in going forth they went singing the song of victory. It was not like the Greek who raised his paean to frighten the enemy; but here it was the piety that ventured and counted upon the Lord. How blessed is faith, in the people of God! The consequence need scarcely be told. “The children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy [them]; and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.” So when the men of Judah came, there was nothing to do but to reap the fruits. And well might they call it the valley of Berachah – the valley of praise. “For there they blessed Jehovah: therefore the name of the same place was called the valley of Berachah unto this day.”
So then ends the course of Jehoshaphat with one solitary tale more; namely, the attempt to join with “Ahaziah, king of Israel, who did very wickedly. And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish: And they made the ships in Ezion-gaber. Then Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, Jehovah hath broken thy works. And the ships were broken, and they were not able to go to Tarshish (2Ch 20:35-37 ).
What a contrast with Jehoshaphat’s going forth and the victory made ready to his hand by the Lord God. And this is all instructive to us. May the Lord keep us true to His name and glory!
after this: i.e. after Ahab’s death (2Ki 3:5).
children = sons.
Chapter 20
Now in chapter 20, it records how that at this time three nations had gathered together to fight against Judah. The nation of Moab and Ammon, and those of Mount Seir, which would have been the Edomites. And word came to Jehoshaphat that Judah was being invaded by this confederacy of nations. That they had already come across the Dead Sea and they were in the area of Engedi. And they were approaching, actually, by the area of Engedi, which is the valley known also as the Valley of Passengers and became known as the Valley of Jehoshaphat, because this is where God wrought the victory for Jehoshaphat, and thus, it became known as the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
Now it is interesting, because God ultimately destroyed this invading army. And we’ll get to that in a moment. But Ezekiel tells us that there is going to be another confederacy of nations that is going to attack Israel in the last days. A confederacy of nations led by Russia and there will be with her, of course, many of the eastern Europe nations, plus the Balkan nations, plus Iran, plus Saudi Arabia, and they also will be destroyed in this Valley of Passengers. So history will be repeated, and interestingly enough, much of the destruction will be in the same way this destruction took place. For in the destruction described in Ezekiel, one aspect of it, God said, “Every man’s sword will be against his brother” ( Eze 38:21 ). So God speaks of an internal revolution that is going to take place among the communist states and nations at the time when which they seek to come against Israel, plus the judgment that God pours out.
But when, in time, people are passing through this Valley of the Passengers of Jehoshaphat, and they see the carcasses, the bones, they’ll set a flag by it and so forth. So this same valley in which God once destroyed the enemies of Israel God is going to work again and destroy invading armies that are coming against Israel in that same area. I find that very fascinating indeed.
So Jehoshaphat, when he heard that these three nations were gathered together to invade the land, called the men of Judah together and he proclaimed a fast throughout all of Judah. And he set himself to seek the Lord. The people gathered together.
And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah there at the house of the Lord, in the new court, And he said, O LORD God of our fathers, you are the God of heaven or the God of the universe and the ruler over the eaRuth ( 2Ch 20:5-6 ).
Now, in a sense God is the ruler over the earth because whatever happens on the earth happens because God has allowed it to happen. And yet, in a narrower sense, Jesus recognized that Satan was ruling the earth at the present time. Now, Satan only rules because God allows him to rule. So in an overall sense, yes, God rules, but God in His rule has allotted man free moral agency, self-determination, the power or capacity of choice. God has allowed man to choose who he desires to rule over him. And the majority of men have chosen that Satan should rule over their lives. And God has not violated man’s choice. He’s allowed him to make the choice and then respects the choice that man has made.
So in the world today, Satan is ruling. When Jesus came, Satan took Him up to a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and said, “All of these will I give to you and the glory of them if you will bow down and worship me. For they are mine and I can give them to whomever I will” ( Mat 4:9 ). Now Satan is boasting to Jesus that, “Hey, it’s all mine. I have the power to give it to whoever I want.” And Jesus did not dispute that claim. In fact, why did Jesus come? In order that He might redeem the world because it was under Satan’s power. Now Jesus called Satan “the prince of this world.” He said to His disciples the night He was betrayed, just before going to the garden where He was arrested by the soldiers, He said, “I have told you that I go to my Father. Now if you love Me, you would rejoice for my Father is greater than I. But now,” He said, “the prince of this world cometh but he hath nothing in Me” ( Joh 14:28-30 ). So Satan is referred to by Christ as the prince of the world.
Paul calls him “the god of this age.” Referring to the sinners, he said, “The god of this age has blinded their eyes that they cannot see the truth” ( 2Co 4:4 ). So in a narrow sense, Satan is ruling over the earth at the present time. This is his domain. This is his kingdom. When the antichrist comes on the scene, the book of Revelation, chapter 13 tells us that Satan, the dragon, is going to give to him his authority and his throne. Now Satan said to Jesus, “It’s mine, I can give it to whomever I will.” And he’s going to give it to the antichrist who will rule over the world.
Now it is interesting how many of the world leaders have been involved in the occult. And, of course, one of the most notable of recent times was Hitler, who actually was controlled by what the men who were called the White Masters. Those men who were steeped in the art of white magic. Many of them after Hitler’s fall fled to Peru where they still exercise quite a bit of power and control over the lives of many people. But Hitler was taking directions and following the advice of these men of the occult. And, of course, it doesn’t give me comfort to hear our President say, or at least Jeanne Dixon say, that so many of the presidents call her for advice.
Now Satan one day is going to turn over the full authority and power of this earth that is his to the antichrist. But, of course, he knows that his time is short. The scriptures said he knows that his reign is about over, and so he’s really doing his best to mess things up before he has to exit the scene.
Now Jesus said to His disciples, “When you pray you should say: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” ( Mat 6:9-10 ). We pray that His kingdom will come. We pray that His will be done here in the earth, because right now His kingdom has not come; His will is not being done. You do not see the world that God wants or God intends. He doesn’t want a world that is filled with suffering and war and hardships and inflation and pollution and all of this. The Bible tells us that when He comes to establish His kingdom that righteousness will cover the earth as the waters do cover the sea. And that there won’t be the physical maladies that men experience today. And that Satan during this period of time will be bound and be cast into the abusso while Jesus reigns upon the earth for a thousand-year period.
And so when Jehoshaphat said that You rule over the earth, that is only in an overall sense as God rules over the universe. But in the universe there is one planet that is in rebellion against the rule of God, and as the result of that rebellion against God’s rule, that planet is hurting. It’s suffering. And it’s headed… it’s on a head-on collision course with great calamity and disasters. And they are coming. There’s no escaping it. But after this time of great disaster, then Jesus will come and He will reign, and God’s kingdom will then extend and cover over the whole earth.
So Jehoshaphat in his prayer acknowledged the greatness of God. And then he acknowledged that God was the one that brought us into this land. He was the one that delivered this land to our fathers. For He had promised the land unto Abraham and to Abraham’s seed. And God drove out the inhabitants that were there. And then he said, “They built this,” and they were standing, remember, in the temple and he said, “They built this sanctuary for Thy name. That when calamity came, they might come to this place and call upon You.” And here is where he makes reference to the prayer of Solomon in verse 2Ch 20:9 when Solomon dedicated the temple.
And they dwelt in this land, they have built thee this sanctuary for thy name, saying ( 2Ch 20:8 ),
When they built it they said,
If, when evil comes upon us, as the sword, or judgment, or pestilence, or famine, and we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and we cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help ( 2Ch 20:9 ).
And so he acknowledges first the greatness of God, the purposes of God in bringing them into the land and the promise of God. That when they were in trouble, when the sword was threatening or judgment, and they come into Your house and they pray, then that You would answer. Now he lays out the cause. “Lord, here they come, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and the Edomites and they’re too many for us to handle. We don’t have the power. We don’t have the might against them.” So he’s asking God for help.
In verse 2Ch 20:12 :
O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that comes against us; neither do we know what to do: but our eyes are upon You ( 2Ch 20:12 ).
“God, we’re facing an enemy that is stronger than we are. We don’t know what to do, but we’re looking to You for help.” Now how many times I have been in a similar state. When the situation that I faced was overwhelming. I didn’t know the answer. I didn’t know what to do. And so I just turn to the Lord. “Lord, my eyes are upon You. I’m looking to You for wisdom, for guidance, for help.” And so the Lord answered Jehoshaphat by this fellow Jahaziel who was the son of Zechariah. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him in the midst of the congregation.
And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid or dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and you will find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you ( 2Ch 20:15-17 ).
And so the glorious promise of God. Commanding them to not be afraid or dismayed. “For the battle is not yours, but God’s.” It’s so wonderful when God takes up our part. When God stands up for our defense. David said, “The Lord is my refuge and my strength. I will not fear though the mountains be removed and cast into the midst of the sea” ( Psa 46:1-2 ). How wonderful when God is my strength. God is my defense, my defender. “Don’t be afraid. Don’t be dismayed. This battle isn’t yours, it’s God’s. Now you go down tomorrow by the cliff of Ziz where you get the overview of the valley of Jeruel there. And you just stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.” And then again, “Don’t be afraid, don’t be dismayed for the Lord is with you.”
The consciousness of the presence of God is always one of the greatest factors to dispel fear from our lives. I can be extremely frightened until I realize God is with me. Then all of a sudden I’m not afraid anymore. It’s only when I lose the consciousness of God’s presence with me. It’s only when I get things out of perspective and I forget that my life belongs to Him, that this is His church, and I try to start carrying the burdens myself and losing that perspective of God’s presence with me. Sometimes I become terrified. As David said, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me?” ( Psa 42:11 ) And sometimes my soul gets cast down or very disquieted. It’s because I have forgotten that it all belongs to God. That I am His, that He is with me. “Hopest thou in the Lord,” David said, “He shall yet deliver thee.” Hey, did you forget about God? Did you forget that God’s on the throne? And how many times we forget that God is on the throne. And we try to take up the battle ourselves. And we try to do things ourselves until we get into the place of despair. God says, “Don’t be afraid, don’t be dismayed. I will be with you.”
So as the result of this, of course,
Jehoshaphat bowed his face to the ground before the LORD: and all of the army, the men of Israel just fell on their faces before the LORD, and just worshipped the LORD ( 2Ch 20:18 ).
Oh, what good word this is. “Here we thought we were going to get wiped out. Here we thought there was no hope for our survival. And now the word of the Lord comes and says, hey, we’re not going to even have to fight against this huge army that’s invading the land. All we have to do is be a spectator. We’re going to go down and watch God fight the battle.” Ringside seats as God destroys the enemy.
And the priests, as the people were lying there before the Lord, worshipping God, the priests stood and they praised God with loud voices. The next morning, they left Jerusalem heading down through the valley of Hinnom and around towards the right going south towards Bethlehem, through the Shepherd’s field, the valleys below the city of Bethlehem, again taking another southern turn over near the area of the Herodians. And then on past that area, turning now again east, coming down to the little village of Tekoa, the home of Amos the prophet. And there, just beyond Tekoa, the cliffs of Ziz that overlooked the wilderness area towards Engedi, this valley where the invading army was coming up from Engedi into the land. And yet, what a strange army it must have looked like, because out in front of the army were the choir, the singers, and they were singing praises unto God. And the people were responding to their praises. They would sing, “O praise the Lord for He is good.” And the army would answer, “For His mercy endureth forever.” And so they were going towards the battle to watch the victory of God singing praises of victory already unto the Lord, for His mercy endureth forever. It is possible for you to have the victory before you have the victory.
Paul talks about being “more than conquerors through Him who loves us” ( Rom 8:37 ). What does that mean? More than a conqueror. I know what it means to be a conqueror, but what does it mean to be more than a conqueror? It means that you have the victory before you have the victory. You have the victory even before the battle starts. You have that glorious victory of God in your heart and spirit. You’re rejoicing and praising God before you ever see the accomplished work of God.
So here they were. Their hearts were lifted. They were rejoicing. They were praising the Lord, because they had the word of God and the promise of God that He was going to destroy their enemies.
Now even before they got to the battleground to see what God was doing, they were already rejoicing and shouting and praising God for the victory that had been promised unto them. Oh, what a glorious scene that must have been to see that valley full of men, probably some two hundred thousand strong being led by a choir as they were going down to see the work of God in delivering their enemies into their hand. The victory through praise. And it is at this point we read:
And as they praised the Lord, the LORD put ambushments against their enemies ( 2Ch 20:22 ).
As they were praising the Lord, the Lord began His work in destroying their enemies.
There can be glorious victory in your life through praise. As you learn to praise the Lord and just spend your time in praise of Him, for His promise, we need to take the promises of God and put them over against our situations. And then just praise the Lord for His promises that He’s given to us of victory in our situations.
Now I don’t think that you should praise the Lord that you have so many debts that you can’t pay them all. But I think you should praise the Lord in that He has promised, “I will supply all of your needs according to my riches in glory by Christ Jesus our Lord” ( Php 4:19 ). So I can’t praise the Lord for these duns that I’m getting from the bill collectors, but I can praise the Lord that He has promised to supply my needs. So my praises are in the promises of God and as I am praising God for His promises, God begins a work. His work of mystery, many times. I don’t know how He’s going to do it. I don’t know what He’s going to do. But He begins His work and He begins to accomplish His work. And it’s so glorious as they praise the Lord, the Lord put the ambushments against their enemies.
Now we do spend an awful lot of time complaining to the Lord about our situations, about our problems, about the circumstances of our life. If you would take that time that you spend complaining to the Lord and just start praising the Lord for His promise to watch over you and to deliver you and to keep you and to bless you, then you’d find that God would, while you are praising, bring you victory in your heart. Suddenly the whole perspective changes as I’m praising the Lord. As I’m thanking Him for His Word and for His promises, my whole attitude changes. It goes from one of fear and dismay and anxiety to one of confidence and victory. “All right, Lord. Go at them.” And I just have that beautiful confidence that God is working.
So as they praised the Lord, the Lord put ambushments against their enemies so that when they got to the cliff of Ziz, and they began to look down in the valley, they saw the valley was full of all these dead bodies. For the men of mount Seir, the Edomites began to fight against those from Moab and it turned into a real brawl and a donnybrook. And the men of Ammon joined in. And so they were all fighting with each other and killing each other, so that by the time the children of Israel got there, they were all wiped out. Oh, God is so good.
I was talking with John who is one of our young men here in the church who is now a recruit in the Costa Mesa Police Department, and he was sharing how the other night the officer who was training him. He and the officer pulled a car over down here on Fairview and Fair Drive in the Exxon Station. And he said as they started pulling the guys out of the car, he said there were six big bikers. And he said that as they started pulling out the booze and as they started to get to some of the other things, the guys jumped them. He said just the two of them officers against these six big bikers. And he said, “I heard one of them say, ‘Grab his gun and we will shoot the brains out of these guys.'” And so he said he felt this guy tugging at his gun. He said, “Now the guns have a front throw on them. You have to pull them out front ways to get them out of the holster.” This guy was trying behind him and trying to pull it up straight, couldn’t get it out. and so he said he just took and elbowed the guy. And he said, “But boy,” he said, “they were swinging, rolling on the ground and everything else.” And of course, they put out the officer-in-distress call and he said, “But pretty soon,” he said, “he and his partner were standing up and these guys were all brawling with each other.” He said they were swinging away and hitting each other. He said they just stood there back to back watching these guys wiping out each other, you know. And after it was over, he said to his training officer, “Did you get hit?” And he said, “No.” And he said, “Neither did I.” In all of that swinging they never hit him. And he said he told his training officer, “Praise the Lord, you know. The Lord just put them to confusion. Got them fighting with each other and we were able to escape.”
But, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” ( Heb 13:8 ), and He could put the enemies to confusion. He can deliver His child out of distress, out of danger. He can keep you unscathed in the midst of a battle. The Lord is the same.
They went on down. They found that these guys had worn all their jewelry into the battle, all the precious gems and everything else these guys were wearing. So they began to strip the dead bodies of all of the valuables, the jewels, the ornaments and everything else, and there was so much that they could not even carry it all. It took them three days to strip all the bodies. And they came back with great rejoicing unto the Lord.
On the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah [which means, The Valley of Blessing]; for there they blessed the Lord ( 2Ch 20:26 ).
And so they named the valley, the Valley of Berachah unto this day.
Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat was in front of them, and they came back to Jerusalem with joy; for the LORD had made them to rejoice over their enemies. And as they came to Jerusalem with the psalteries and the harps and the trumpets unto the house of the LORD. The fear of God was in all of the kingdoms of those countries, when they heard how the LORD had fought against the enemies of Israel. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about. And Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah: he was thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for twenty-five years. He walked in the way of Asa his father, and departed not from it, doing that which was right in the sight of the LORD. Howbeit the high places were not taken away: for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their fathers. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, they are written in the book of Jehu who was a prophet, who is mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel ( 2Ch 20:27-34 ).
Now Jehoshaphat, then, once again joined affinity with Ahaziah, the king of Israel. Now Ahaziah was the son of Ahab. He also was an extremely wicked person, but Jehoshaphat had some strange drawing towards the kings of Israel. And so they made an agreement to build ships in order that they might go to Tarshish to get gold and all. But the ships broke up in a storm and they never made it to Tarshish. Actually Eliezer, a prophet, prophesied against Jehoshaphat saying, Because you have joined yourself with Ahaziah, the LORD hath broken thy works. And the ships were broken in a storm; they were not able to go to Tarshish.
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2Ch 20:1-3. It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazontamar, which is Engedi. And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
An angry God is to be sought. Even though he smite us, we must turn to him. It is from the hand that wields the rod that we are to expect deliverance, if it ever come at all.
2Ch 20:4. And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.
The host of enemies were so enormous that they threatened to eat up all the land. The men of Judah could not keep them out. They would soak and storm and burn and destroy right and left. You see the great peril. What a heavy chastisement it must have been to the king to see his land thus in danger of being destroyed. But they had begun to pray.
2Ch 20:5-12. And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, and said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? Art not thou our God who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever? And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help. And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom they wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not; Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit. O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.
What a prayer it is! How argumentative! How it pleads his case as an advocate in a court of law, appealing to the mercy of God as logically as if it were to be argued out of the divine heart. Oh, how good it would be if we learnt to pray like this, in this earnest, importunate fashion! Say the Lord teach us to pray as he taught his disciples!
2Ch 20:13. And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.
It must have been a wonderful eight the vast crowd the pleading king his voice heard afar, and the men and the women; but, to my mind, the most touching thing of all is the little children standing there, making their silent appeal to God that he would not let the babes be destroyed that he would not suffer the young children to be slain by the cruel hosts that now threatened the land. Young childrens prayers are powerful. Little ones, may God teach you how to pray.
2Ch 20:14. Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the LORD in the midst of the congregation;
Perhaps he had never delivered a prophecy before. This is his first sermon; but the Spirit of God was with him, and he could not hold his tongue.
2Ch 20:15-17. And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but Gods. To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel. Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.
Oh, how those words must have fallen on the weary ears of those who were in such trouble! And how glad those ears must have been to hear such a message of wondrous mercy, and so near at hand, too! To morrow. Imminent danger brings eminent mercy, and when the lion is about to leap upon his prey, then comes the lionslayer and breaks his teeth, and delivers his lamb even from between his jaws. Glory be to God for such promises as he gives to his people in times of trouble, even such promises as he gave here.
2Ch 20:18. And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the LORD.
What a sight! That is the kind of ritualism one likes when the posture is suggested by the feelings when the man feels that there is nothing else to do but to bow before the Lord. The king could not speak, he was too full of gratitude too joyous at the thought that God had so appeared for him. And he felt that the only thing he could do was in silence to bow his head, and prostrate himself before God. Have not you sometimes felt so full of gratitude that you could not express yourself? A sacred silence checks our songs and praise sits silent on our tongues. Now, while they were worshipping, and just as they had finished that silent adoration, the joy-strains were heard. They had taken breath.
2Ch 20:19. And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on high.
Here, again, we seem to be carried by great waves of excitement and devotion. One moment we are sinking down in adoration, now all rising up to listen to the loud voice of Gods priests and Levites. But they have to wait for the morrow.
2Ch 20:20-21. And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever.
So you can see them marching out of the city gate with the king at their head, and, as they go out, the army is marching with banners and with songs and hosannas. This is their style of going out to meet the foe.
2Ch 20:22-23. And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and where they had made an end of the inhabitants of mount Seir, every one helped to destroy another.
There were three or four nations, and some jealousy or mistrust must have manifested itself, or some mistake had been made, and the motley host divided itself into self-destroying bands. The Israelites had nothing to do but to sing. Perhaps their very singing was the cause of that disruption among the bands. They could not make it out. They had seen the people rush to battle with discordant cries; but these were marching along as if they were coming to a wedding-feast, singing hymns and chants. That was a new style of fighting. So the Moabites and the Ammonites thought that there must be something wrong. Surely there must be some confederates in the camp, they would say. They suspected each other, as bad men very soon do, and so they fell foul of one another and spared the Israelites all the trouble of killing them.
2Ch 20:24-26. And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped. And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much. And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there they blessed the LORD: therefore the name of the same place was called, The valley of Berachah, unto this day.
This is the Valley of Blessing: surely an appropriate name worthy of long remembrance.
2Ch 20:27. Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy;
Another march of hosannas. What a wonderful sight it must have been! We have read of the Battle of the Spurs; but here is the Battle of the Song the battle of praise. How wondrously it was won! Jehoshaphat is now in the forefront of those who go back singing. He feels he must sing the loudest who has had such signal mercy after his sin.
2Ch 20:27-30. For the LORD had made them to rejoice over their enemies. And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the house of the LORD. And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had heard that the LORD fought against the enemies of Israel. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about.
Now, it is a long piece we have read, but I think it would not be complete if I did not read you the song which they sang. In all probability it was the 47th Psalm. You can almost hear them singing it as they march back.
This exposition consisted of readings from 2Ch 20:1-30; and Psalms 47.
2Ch 20:1-4
2Ch 20:1-4
GOD DELIVERED JEHOSHAPHAT AND ISRAEL FROM AN INVASION;
A COALITION OF ENEMIES CAME AGAINST ISRAEL
“And it came to pass after this, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them some of the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. Then there came some and told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea from Syria; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamor, (the same is Engedi), And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek Jehovah; and he proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves together, to seek help of Jehovah: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek Jehovah.”
The great significance of this is found in the faith of all the people of Judah who joined their king in the fervent plea for the help of the Lord.
“And with some of the Ammonites” (2Ch 20:1). This is an accurate rendition of the Hebrew as attested by the marginal reference; but it sounds awkward, so the RSV has changed it to read, Some of the Meunites; but based upon a various reading, which has “certain of the Ammonites,” this writer views the change in the RSV to be unnecessary. The meaning is clear enough as it is. “The whole strength of the Moabites was mobilized, but only certain of the Ammonites.” Later in the chapter, it is revealed that the Edomites (those of Mount Seir) were also a part of this coalition against Israel.
E.M. Zerr:
2Ch 20:1. Moab and Ammon were the sons of Lot. Their descendants formed two of the noted nations of Biblical history. Because of their near relation to Abraham, God would not permit the Israelites to attack them as they did the other people. This favor was abused by them at times, and we now read of a threat of war coming from them.
2Ch 20:2. The Dead Sea is the place meant. The Moabites and Ammonites were east of that body of water. This side Syria is a very indefinite term as locating the people then threatening war on Judah. Syria was a term applying sometimes to a large territory northward of Palestine. This side Syria would thus mean that the invading people were from a territory east of the Dead Sea and south of Syria. At the time of this notice to Jehoshaphat, the invaders had reached Engedi, a town on the west shore.
2Ch 20:3. Jehoshaphat feared, which means he realized the danger confronting him. In times of great peril the true servants of God will seek for his help. It is necessary to manifest the proper frame of mind before the Lord will be entreated. Fasting was not generally commanded, but it was approved when done voluntarily. In the great distress of their situation, Jehoshaphat called upon the whole nation to observe a season of fasting; but the service in the homes was not enough as we shall soon see.
2Ch 20:4. There are certain acts of worship that can be done privately or in the home, and others that are done collectively. In the Christian Dispensation the latter can be done only at the place of the regular meetings of the church. Under the Jewish Dispensation they had to be done at Jerusalem. So we read of the Jews leaving their places of residence and coming to seek the Lord, which brought them to the place where he had recorded his name, and that was in the temple.
This chapter gives us the story which perhaps reveals most graphically the simplicity and splendor of the faith of Jehoshaphat. His kingdom was threatened with powerful and terrible invasion. In his extremity he gathered his people about him, and prayed. The prayer is a powerful outpouring of his consciousness of need. He pleaded, as men ever do when in need they come before God, recalled the past evidences of the faithfulness of Jehovah, and confessing his inability to cope with the danger, asked God for His help.
It is a great picture, this king surrounded by the nation, men with their wives and their children. The response was not delayed. The Spirit of God came upon Jahaziel, and the answer was the announcement that all Judah had to do was to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Then followed the united worship of the people, and the solemn chanting of praise to God. Discomfiture fell on the foe, without Judah striking a blow. It was a moment bright with light amid the darkness. Once again the arm of the Lord acted for His people as definitely as when in the ancient days it broke the power of Egypt and divided the sea, leading the Hebrews from captivity to freedom.
The closing verses of the chapter contain a brief statement of yet another lapse, in that Jehoshaphat made commercial alliances with Ahaziah, king of Israel. His enterprises were unsuccessful because God broke his ships in pieces.
2Ch 20:15
From this incident we learn:
I. That God has many ways at His disposal of which we know nothing. God can touch the reason of men, God can touch the eyes of men, so that a man shall mistake his brother for an enemy.
II. In the training of our highest life we want principles as well as detailed laws. The principle here referred to is, “The battle is not ours, but God’s.” God is far more concerned about us than we can be about ourselves. We make all the noise, but He does all the work.
III. In the culture of our highest life we must regard extremity as one phase of Divine discipline. Jehoshaphat was driven into a corner. He said openly in the hearing of his people, “We have no might against this great host.” The text addresses all who are trying to live in the fear and love of God under discouraging circumstances. “The battle is not yours, but God’s.”
IV. The text also addresses a word (1) to all who are bearing Christian protest against evil; (2) to all who are undergoing severe temptation; (3) to all who are labouring for the good of the world; (4) to all who are engaged in controversy on behalf of Christian doctrine. If we had to defend everything and to fight everything in our own strength, and for our own ends, the case would be perfectly different; but when God says to us, “Ye have this treasure in earthen vessels; the excellency of the power is of God, and not of man,” when He teaches us that we are servants and not masters, creatures and not creators, with no grasp of eternity, it becomes us patiently to wait, to stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.
Parker, City Temple, 1871, p. 15.
2Ch 20:15, 2Ch 20:17
I. The history of the Church is full of instances of this law of Divine procedure. An old saying of the German Reformers was this: “One with God on His side is a majority.” Every cause which God originates starts with only Gideon’s three hundred.
II. From this law of God’s working it is clear that in spiritual affairs the balance of power does not depend on numbers. Votes have very little to do with it. It depends on spiritual forces. It depends on insight into the spiritual wants of the world, on consecration to God’s service, on the power of prayer, on spiritual discovery of the side on which God is, and specially on intensity of Christian character.
III. It is a great thought on this subject that the human race furnishes but a small part of the holy ministries of this world. The ministry of angels probably swells what we call minorities to secret majorities.
IV. Success in spiritual affairs often loses the character of a conflict, so overwhelming and so easy is the working of Divine auxiliaries.
V. Minorities of honest and earnest men, devoted to a great cause, should never be opposed heedlessly. Let us be on the look-out for such men. Let us greet them with a “Godspeed” when they make their Divine credentials clear.
VI. Within the Church of Christ itself is to be found a minority of believers whom God regards with peculiar complacency. As a spiritual power, they are the vanguard of the Church. They are the spiritual aristocracy of Christ’s kingdom.
A. Phelps, The Old Testament a Living Book, p. 21.
2Ch 20:21
Anybody can sing the Te Deum when the battle is over. The difference between an ordinary man of war and a Christian is this: a Christian shouts before the victory, because he knows it is sure to come.
I. We learn here, first, a lesson of patriotism. The foreign policy of Ammon and Moab seemed very brilliant for a time. They carried everything before them, but in due time they were overthrown. We must not trust in the number of our soldiers, in the boundless resources of our country, but in the beauty of holiness, in the justice of our cause, in the purity of our motive, in one word in the blessing of our God.
II. The special object of the lesson is to illustrate the history of the Christian Church, for the Christian Church is engaged in a holy war. If we go forth to war, we must do as Jehoshaphat-we must be clothed with the spirit of holiness. God came down to fill the hearts of His children; then they were ready for the great work. The pentecostal blessing delivered the early Christians from the three hindrances to the progress of the Gospel-cowardice, selfishness, and ignorance. Catch the spirit of the Apostles, and you will save the whole world.
H. P. Hughes, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 152.
References: 2Ch 20:20.-Sermons for Boys and Girls, p. 185. 2Ch 20:26.-Homiletic Magazine, vol. xi., p. 140. 2Ch 20:30.-E. Monro, Practical Sermons, vol. iii., p. 97.
2Ch 20:37
I. The example of Jehoshaphat is a warning to us. There is something of infinitely greater consequence in the world than making a fortune. What you have to settle first and foremost is the moral basis on which you are proceeding; you must get the full consent of your judgment, and heart, and conscience before you give yourself up to any commercial course. Have God for your Partner if you would make your business, in the highest sense of the term, honourable and successful.
II. The principle of the text is expansive enough to include other subjects of equal importance. For example, the subject of marriage is fairly within the scope of its application. “How can two walk together except they be agreed?” “What communion hath Christ with Belial?”
III. The principle of the text bears upon evil companionship generally. “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.” Men cannot confederate themselves against God and succeed. Better stand alone than be found in the association of evil men. Better never hear a friendly voice than be allured by the deceit of evil men. Better be found in unpitied loneliness, yet with a conscience void of offence, than lift up our heads amongst the most influential and illustrious servants of the devil.
Parker, City Temple, 1870, p. 301
CHAPTER 20 Judah Invaded, Jehoshaphats Prayer and Deliverance
1. The invasion (2Ch 20:1-2)
2. Jehoshaphats great prayer (2Ch 20:3-13)
3. Jehovahs answer through Jahaziel (2Ch 20:14-17)
4. Prostrated before the LORD (2Ch 20:18-19)
5. The great deliverance (2Ch 20:20-25)
6. In the valley of Berachah (2Ch 20:26-30)
7. The record of Jehoshaphat (2Ch 20:31-34)
8. Alliance with Ahaziah (2Ch 20:35-37)
An invasion of Judah by Moab, Ammon and others followed. Then Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the LORD and proclaimed a fast throughout Judah. Though the enemy was nearing Jerusalem and the danger was great, there was no disorder or confusion. They all looked to Jehovah and that gave them calmness. In troubles and trials Gods people must always look first to the Lord and seek His face. A great company gathered together, even from the cities in Judah, to seek the LORD. It was one of the most remarkable prayer meetings reported in the Bible. The king stood in the midst of the large congregation. And what a prayer it was he uttered! What earnestness and faith breathes in every word! He addressed God as in heaven and as the ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations. In His hand there is power and might; none is able to withstand Him. It is a good way in approaching God to remember what a wonderful and almighty God and Lord He is. Then Jehoshaphat speaks of His dealing with His people Israel and speaks of Abraham–thy friend forever. The prayer of Solomon in dedicating the house is mentioned (verse 9). Then he tells the Lord of the invasion, and the object of Ammon and Moab to cast us out of thy possession which thou hast given us to inherit. Most beautiful is the ending of his prayer. O, our God, wilt Thou not judge them? They were His enemies, for they came against His land and His people. For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do; but our eyes are upon Thee. Here is the spirit and soul-attitude which pleases God. Whenever and wherever it is manifested Gods answer and gracious help is not far away. But it is just this spirit of dependence and expectation from the Lord which is so little known among Gods people.
In the midst of the congregation was a Levite by name of Jahaziel (he will be seen of God), of the sons of Asaph. Upon him came the Spirit of the LORD and through him there came the answer, Ye shall not need to fight in this battle; set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem; fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD will be with you. And the heavenly answer was believed. The king took the lead in bowing his head with his face to the ground. The people did likewise. In anticipation of the coming victory the Levites praised the Lord with a loud voice.
The next morning the divine direction was obeyed. The king addressed the people to have faith in God. Then he appointed singers arrayed in their official garments to go before the army and sing as if it were a triumphal procession: Praise the LORD; for His mercy endureth forever. (The expression, beauty of holiness is literally, holy array.) We read nothing of swords or spears. They needed no weapons. Probably they left them at home, for the Lord had said, Ye shall not need to fight in this battle. And when they began to sing and praise, trusting in the promise, the Lord began His work in overthrowing and destroying their enemies. The invading armies were annihilated and none escaped.
A great praise-service in the valley of Berachah (blessing) followed. Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, with the people returned to Jerusalem with joy. They came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the house of the LORD. And the kingdoms feared God when they heard what the Lord had done.
The prophetic application of all this is not difficult to make. Jehoshaphat and the people with him are typical of the remnant of Gods earthly people, that God-fearing remnant which dwells in the land and in Jerusalem during the great tribulation. The prayer of Jehoshaphat, the divine answer and the great deliverance, foreshadows the cry for help and deliverance of that remnant, while the overthrow of their enemies, with the coming of the Lord, is foreshadowed in the deliverance of Jehoshaphat and the people. The praise will be great in Jerusalem, when the Lord acts in behalf of His believing remnant, at the close of the times of the Gentiles. Then the kingdoms of the earth will fear God.
It would be well if Jehoshaphats life had ended with this beautiful scene. But it does not. He entered another unholy alliance, for commercial reasons, with wicked Ahaziah, King of Israel. The ships to go to Tarshish never reached their destination; they were broken. Again had Jehoshaphat to learn in the destruction of his fleet at Ezion-Gaber that undertakings, however well planned and apparently unattended by outward danger, can only end in disappointment and failure, when they who are the children of God combine with those who walk in the ways of sin.
And how many Christians have made the same experience! God cannot bless the believer when he is in fellowship with an unbeliever.
after this also: 2Ch 19:5, 2Ch 19:11, 2Ch 32:1
the children of Moab: Psa 83:5-8, Isa 7:1, Isa 8:9, Isa 8:10, Isa 16:6
came against: 2Ch 19:2, Jer 10:24, Rev 3:19
Reciprocal: Jos 9:2 – gathered Jdg 10:9 – passed 2Ch 26:8 – the Ammonites 2Ch 27:5 – the king of the Ammonites Neh 4:7 – the Ammonites Psa 46:6 – heathen Psa 48:3 – General Psa 68:30 – Rebuke Psa 83:6 – Edom Ecc 3:8 – a time of war Jer 21:2 – according Jer 49:1 – Ammonites Amo 1:13 – and for
From Defeat to Victory
2Ch 20:1-25
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
Today we study chapter 20. However, by way of introduction we want to talk over with you several important features found in chapter 19. We closed the last study with the death of Ahab, in a losing battle; and with Hanani’s reproof of Jehoshaphat for joining in battle with the ungodly. Jehoshaphat evidently acknowledged his error, and began immediately to seek the Lord and to improve every moment of his time in the service of His master.
1. Jehoshaphat made a tour from Jerusalem to Beersheba even unto mount Ephraim. Everywhere he went he brought the people back to the Lord God of their fathers. He was king and yet he was priest, to this extent, that he was representing God to the people. Is it not true that all of our leaders, whether they be kings or potentates or great captains or leaders in business, should major in using their influence in. guiding men and women to God?
2. Jehoshaphat appointed judges throughout all the fenced cities of Judah, city by city. To these judges he said, “Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord.” Then he told them that the fear of the Lord should be upon them, and that they should remember that there was no iniquity with the Lord their God nor was there respect of persons.
Herein is a lesson that we all need to learn. A holy God demands holy service. A God who is Judge of all the earth, and who is righteous in all His judgments, must have judges under Him who likewise are holy and true.
3. Jehoshaphat told his judges that the fear of the Lord should be upon them. Perhaps the people would have the fear of the judges, but the judges also are to be judged. Thus they who are set to judge others, should remember that they must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” The expression does not mean that we should be afraid of God when we are right and holy in our judgment; it does mean that we should be afraid to disobey or dishonor Him, and we should be afraid to judge unrighteously.
4. Jehoshaphat also set the Levites and the Priests and the chief fathers of Israel for the judgment of the Lord. These he charged, saying “Thus shall ye do in the fear of the Lord, faithfully, and with a perfect heart.” Jehoshaphat said: “What cause soever shall come to you of your brethren * *, ye shall even warn them that they trespass not against the Lord.” They were to deal courageously and faithfully in all matters pertaining to the Lord.
We feel that the ones who represent Christ, and who judge in spiritual things should, by all means, take their service to heart. They should never trespass against God. Let others do as they will. The leaders in spiritual life dare not do anything except that which is acceptable unto God our Father.
I. ASKING HELP FROM GOD (2Ch 20:1-4)
1. Jehoshaphat was threatened with war. The Children of Ammon and the Children of Moab, with others, had come against him to battle. When the king heard this he was very much afraid, and he feared, “And set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.” This is what every one of us should do when the tempter comes against us, when we are afraid of the overwhelming numbers who come against us to seek our harm.
2. Jehoshaphat asked help of the Lord. He gathered the people together even out of all the cities of Judah and they came, not for a frolic, but to fast, and to pray, and to cry unto God. There is a rightful place for fasting as well as for prayer. Children of God should warn one another, instead of giving themselves over to pleasures and follies. They should teach their daughters to weep and to wail because of the sins of the people.
Jesus Christ wept over Jerusalem, and we must weep. Paul one time said he could wish that himself were accursed for his brethren, and we must enter into that same spirit. It is only when the passion and compassion of Christ grips our heart that we shall be worth reckoning upon in the service of our Lord. We must have the people in our hearts. We glory in Jehoshaphat because, with breaking heart for his people, he sought the help of the Lord.
II. A REMARKABLE PRAYER (2Ch 20:5-12)
1. Jehoshaphat magnified the Lord God. He said, “O Lord God of our fathers, art not Thou God in Heaven? And rulest not Thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in Thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand Thee?”
This vision of God is what we all need. In God we must see One who rules and holds authority over all lives; One who is clothed with all power and all might.
The Lord Jesus said “All power (authority) is given unto Me in Heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, * * and, lo, I am with you.” If we do not go out in His service in the full knowledge and sway of His power and might, we will go in vain.
2. Jehoshaphat reminded God of His great dealings. He said, “Art not Thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before Thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham Thy friend for ever?” Then he said, “If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, * * we stand before this House, and in Thy presence, * * and cry unto Thee in our affliction, then Thou wilt hear and help.” Jehoshaphat therefore not only believed in the great God, the God of all authority and might, but he believed that the great God would use His might and power in behalf of the people who bore His Name.
3. Jehoshaphat believed in the efficiency and effectiveness of prayer. He said that God will help those who cry unto Him in their affliction. Such He would hear and would help. Do we believe in prayer in any real way? Too many people imagine that the only value of prayer is the effect it has upon the one who prays. They do not believe that God actually hears or answers our petitions.
Jehoshaphat believed that God would both hear and help. Have we not read that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much? When saints take hold of the hand of God in prayer, they take hold of the power that works miracles and does wonders among men.
4. Jehoshaphat told God of the coming of the enemy. He said in his prayer, “Behold, the Children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, * * come to cast us out of Thy possession, which Thou hast given us to inherit.” Then Jehoshaphat called upon God to judge them.
5. Jehoshaphat confessed his own weakness. Here is what he said, “We have no might against, this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon Thee.”
III. GOD’S REPLY (2Ch 20:14-16)
1. A Spirit-anointed man. Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, their wives, and their children. That is the way we ought always to stand. As they prayed the Spirit of the Lord came in the midst of the congregation, and came upon one of God’s servants. This servant immediately began to prophesy in the Name of the Lord. He said, “Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours but God’s.”
2. The Spirit’s message. “The battle is not yours.” If it were our battle, we would have to fight it; but it is the Lord’s battle, and He will fight it out. The Spirit gives encouragement. He tells us not to be afraid, and not to be dismayed. If the battle is God’s why should we be afraid? Is not God greater than any multitude? Is He not able to give victory under any and all conditions?
This is always the voice of the Spirit. The Holy Ghost is saying to us, even now, “We can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth us.” He is saying, “Ye shall have power, the Holy Spirit corning upon you.”
3. The Spirit’s promise. “To morrow go ye down against them: behold they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.” God always knows just where the enemy encamps. He knows their strength, their power. He knows, therefore, how to give orders unto His children as they go forth to battle.
Is it not wonderful to hear the Spirit of God saying even unto us, “As Captain of the host of the Lord am I come”? The Holy Spirit takes charge not only of the individual, but also of the Church. He directs our goings out, and our comings in.
When He is upon us to give us power, and when He dwells within us to give us wisdom and guidance, what have we to fear?
IV. IN WEAKNESS WE ARE STRONG (2Ch 20:17-18)
1. “Ye shall not need to fight in this battle.” Jehoshaphat had said, “We have no might against this great company.” God’s answer is, “Ye shall not need to fight.” Sometimes God does put strength upon our weakness, and commands us to go forth to victory. At other times He leaves us entirely out of the picture, and tells us that there isn’t any need for us to do anything.
2. “Set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord.” Perhaps we have here a little key to the reason that there was no need for them to fight. The word “salvation” gives us the key. When the enemy comes against our soul to damn us, what can we do? We seem altogether under his dominion and sway. We have no power and no might against the devil nor against his emissaries.
The Lord quietly says, “Just stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.” He is our Salvation, and He is all of it. We have nothing to do, save to stand still. We have nothing to do save what the Lord has wrought out for us on Calvary. Salvation is of grace, apart from all works on our part. We can do nothing to become a Christian, although we should do everything that becomes one. We are saved apart from works, although we are saved unto good works which God hath before prepared that we should walk in.
3. “Fear not, nor be dismayed.” God was promising Israel to undertake in her behalf, therefore they had nothing to fear. He was saying, “To morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you.”
When all this, as listed above under three quotations, happened, then Jehoshaphat “bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshipping the Lord.” To us it is very beautiful to see this king with so great a renown, and with so many admirers, falling upon his face in all humility. No wonder that all Judah likewise prostrated themselves.
V. ACCORDING TO YOUR FAITH BE IT UNTO YOU (2Ch 20:19-20)
1. Praising the Lord. After the people had fallen before the Lord in worship and adoration, then they stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice. They were, in reality, praising God before the victory. They were praising God with the Children of Moab, Ammon, and Mount Seir, still encamped against them. They were praising the Lord because they believed in their God.
It was for this cause that they lifted up their voice on high. It was for this cause that their voices were loud with praise. When we believe that we receive something from God even before we get it, we praise Him before we get it. This all lies in the scope of faith.
2. Rising up early in the morning and going forth. We not only praise God, but we obey Him, when we believe Him. God had told them that they should go forth in the morning, and they rose up early to go forth. He told them that they should go to a certain place, and they went forth to that place. Faith is necessarily followed by obedience and by an obedience that is both prompt and complete.
3. Believing in God and being established. As the people went forth, Jehoshaphat said, “Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established.” Here is a statement that we need to study. God can do nothing with the soul that doubts. The Lord demands faith. Whenever there is faith unmoved by doubt, they are building upon a rock as strong as Gibraltar. “Believe His Prophets, so shall ye prosper.” Here is the second division of faith. One is believing God, and being established; the second is believing the prophets and prospering.
We can almost hear the Apostle Paul making his declaration of faith, as he said, “This I confess, * * believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets.” There is no room for prosperity in the things of God until we have accepted by faith every statement written in the Prophets, and every statement written in the Law.
VI. THE PEOPLE DID THE SINGING, GOD DID THE FIGHTING (2Ch 20:21-24)
1. Israel’s part in the battle. 2Ch 20:21 says that Jehoshaphat appointed singers unto the Lord, and that they should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army; and say, “Praise the Lord; for His mercy endureth for ever.”
The singers were singing and praising the Lord because they were assured of the victory. They were not singing in order to overwhelm the enemy with the words of their songs. They were just singing the songs of victory before they met their enemy.
We have no doubt that their songs did play a large part in filling their foes with fear and with awe. Is it not true that we should encourage the songs of praise which magnify and glorify God? The songs which praise the beauties of holiness and which acclaim the mercy of the Lord which endureth forever, are songs of victory. One thing we know: when the people began to sing, the Lord began to work in behalf of Israel.
2. God’s part in the battle. When Israel did the singing, God did the fighting. The Children of Ammon and Moab stood up first against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, utterly to slay and to destroy them. The inhabitants of Mount Seir were their allies, but Ammon and Moab were confused, and fought against them. Then when they had overwhelmed that part of their own army, and had made an end of them, they began to destroy one another. Thus it was that Judah looked upon the multitudes, and, behold, there were dead bodies falling to the earth and none escaped.
VII. RETURNING WITH RICHES, REJOICING IN REST (2Ch 20:25-30)
1. Riches. “When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away.” The fact is they were three days in gathering the spoils, for it was much. Thus God not only overthrew the enemy, but God enriched His people.
2. Rejoicing. “On the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there they blessed the Lord.” The valley of Berachah is the valley of blessing. It is in the valley where God wants us all to live. When we live in this valley of blessing, we will live in the valley of praise. Thus they returned to go again to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies.
We can see the victorious army approaching Jerusalem with psalteries, and harps, and trumpets, even unto the House of the Lord. They went out singing, and they came back singing. They went out with the songs of faith upon their lips, the songs of assured victory not yet achieved; they came back with the songs of God’s great power and the songs of victory accomplished.
Let us sing down here in anticipation of the coming glory which shall be ours; then, when we stand around the throne of God, we shall sing once more the song of Moses and the Lamb.
3. Rest. When the nations round about heard of how God had wrought so great a victory, they were filled with fear; so they fought no more against the Lord and His people Israel. Thus it was that the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet for God gave him rest around about.
How happy we are that Jehoshaphat, who reigned 25 years over Israel, did right in the sight of the Lord. How glad we are to have had, in three studies, the lives of Jehoshaphat and Asa and how God blessed Israel during their reigns. We thank God for their victory. We thank God because they have left before us a call to courage and to faith.
Let us, too, fearlessly set our faces like a flint and make the God of Asa and of Jehoshaphat our God. Let us be encouraged to go forth without doubting, to fight the good fight of faith and to lay hold upon eternal life.
Shall we allow the saints of old to outdo us in praise, in piety, or in the triumph of their accomplishments? If God wrought through them, He will work through us. The God of Asa and Jehoshaphat is our God. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
AN ILLUSTRATION
After all, the chief asset of Jehoshaphat was his godly walk and deeds.
An American vessel was once boarded by a Malay merchant in the Indian seas; and almost the first question the Malay asked the captain was whether he had any tracts to dispose of. “Why, what do you want with them? You cannot read them,” said the captain. “True,” said the Malay, “but I have a use for them. If one of your people or an Englishman comes to trade with me, I give him a tract and watch what he does with it. If he reads it soberly, and treats it with respect, I take it he is honest, and will not cheat me; but, if he throws it down with an oath, I’ll have nothing to do with him, for he can’t be trusted.” The Malay’s method had some good sound common sense about it. “He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My words, hath One that judgeth him” (Joh 12:48).
2Ch 20:1. It came to pass after this also, &c. After Jehoshaphat had been so very well and zealously employed in reforming his kingdom, and providing for the due administration of justice, and the support of religion in it, and when one would have expected to hear of nothing but the peace and prosperity of his reign, he is interrupted in his good work, and brought into great perplexity, through a formidable invasion of his kingdom by several neighbouring nations: this, however, was permitted in order to such a glorious deliverance as was an abundant recompense for the distress he suffered. If we meet with trouble in the way of duty, we may believe it is in order that God may have an occasion of showing us so much the more of his marvellous loving-kindness.
2Ch 20:1. With them other, the LXX, , mixed people.
2Ch 20:5. Jehosphaphat stoodin the house of the Lord. This was proceeding in the good and ancient way. He prayed in open courts; the men of Judah also stood with their wives and little ones.
2Ch 20:14. Then, when the king had prayed, came the Spirit of the Lord upon Jahaziel, a man of distinction and piety, as is indicated by this act, and by his genealogy. He prophesied openly in the temple, and the prophecies were all fulfilled the next day! They were most remarkable prophecies, that the enemies should kill one another; for wicked men once taken in the net are furious as the wild beasts. Had these prophecies proved to be the mere reveries of insanity, Jahaziel had forfeited his life, as the law directs, and all his house and order would have been covered with a reproach that could never be wiped away. In that case the king, deceived and angry, would have ordered him for execution. But seeing all was fulfilled, how could the Jews ever after this doubt the truth of revelation.
2Ch 20:36. Ships to go to Tarshish. See on Isa 23:6. Eze 27:12.
REFLECTIONS.
When nations become populous, haughty, and insupportably licentious, God permits war to follow, that the land, oppressed by their crimes, may disgorge them from its bosom. The cause which induced Ammon, Moab, and Edom, to form a league against Judah, and to hire all the Mehunims, or mixed nations they could, we are not told. But so secret was the plot, and so concerted the descent, that Jehoshaphat knew nothing of it till the enemy was entering his country at Engedi.
Oppressed with sudden and tremendous danger, his measures were prompt and wise. Instructed by his fathers error, he sent no treasures to Benhadad; and warned by his own folly, he asked no help of Ahab; but according to the example of Samuel, he convoked his whole people, first for devotion, and then for defence. In like manner, when assailed by sudden and great calamities, let us run to God, the refuge and hidingplace of his saints; for we have no might against the multitude which cometh against us. Thus our blessed Lord met his agony on his knees, and he conquered in the fight.
The prayers of Jehoshaphat on this eventful crisis was the language of an enlightened heart. He pleads the sovereignty and omnipotence of God, he urges the covenant claims that Israel had in his defence, he asks present aids from former favours in giving Abraham the land, and in the record of his glorious name in the temple; and he forgets not the ingratitude of the invading nations whom Israel had spared on leaving Egypt, and who were now come to cut them off. These prayers were urged with the greater effect, by a sight of the little ones present before the Lord:how happy to have recourse to Him in the day of trouble. The deliverance which a believer then feels in his soul, is a pledge to him of the future deliverance from all his foes.
No sooner had the king closed his devotion than God gave him a present answer. Jahaziel, impelled by a divine impetus, could scarcely contain himself till Jehoshaphat had ended his supplication, but promised the devout assembly a victory on the morrow, even without a battle. His words were as fire among stubble. The king and all his people caught the same spirit; and passing in a moment from sorrow to joy they fell prostrate, and already celebrated the victory over the alien host. And the music joining the shouts, banished sorrow from the courts of the Lord to the camps of Moab. Tremble, oh alien hosts, for JEHOVAH is coming against you; his sword shall be bathed in blood, and carnage shall mark the wheels of his car. Where now were the lurking idolaters and infidels who would complain that a day was lost in fasting and prayer, which ought to have been employed in going forth to meet the enemy before he reached the capital? That day is not lost which gains heaven for an auxiliary. Surely they could not but now feel, that the devotion of the nation was inspired from above.
The army, divinely animated, left the city long before the break of day; and the king, standing in the gate, delivered to every man as he passed, if I may so speak, the shield of faith, the best barrier, and the surest pledge of victory. Hear, oh Judah, said he; believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. This was armour from the Lord; and their carnal weapons were now but an encumbrance.
Mark how the Lord managed for his people, and entangled the wicked in their own net. The enemy expecting Jehoshaphat in the plain, had arranged his plans of battle, and caused Seir or Edom circuitously to advance in ambush, and take the king in the rear. But it was God that set the ambush; for the host of Ammon and Moab, mistaking the Edomites for the army of Judah, cut them off; and on the dawn of day perceiving their mistake, and seeing the army of Judah daringly approach, both those nations fled to the defiles, where for want of room the one cut its way through the other. Thus the Lord gave them the victory, and the enemies spoil for a reward. How happy for a nation when God undertakes its defence. Let our fears subside, and let us rejoice, for God will defend his Zion, and make her his inheritance for ever.
But after all this reformation and fasting, and after this most signal victory, we lament to find in Judah the roots of secret idolatry, ready to germinate whensoever the civil power should remit its vigour. Well, oh land, if neither judgments nor mercies will root out thine idols, go on, go on in thy sins; but remember the threatenings of the covenant, that God will root out thine inhabitants. Jehoshaphat had not resolution to remain firm in keeping separate from Ahab. Having taken the bloody daughter of the bloody Jezebel to be wife to his son, he seemed entangled. Though on the first solicitations to renew the fleet at Ezion-gaber to go to Tarshish, he refused, yet he yielded to future applications. But God, who would not prosper the covenant, wrecked the fleet on its leaving the port. Learn, believer, to persevere in keeping clean hands from improper connections with the wicked, and God will give thee a pure heart.
2Ch 20:1-30. Jehoshaphats victory over the Ammonites and Moabites. This story of a miraculous battle is perhaps a midrash on the war described in 1Ki 3:4 ff., and has, in so far, some historical basis; but the details are purely imaginary.
2Ch 20:5. before the new court: perhaps the same as the great court in 2Ch 4:9; the Chronicler has in his minds eye the Temple as he knew it.
2Ch 20:7. Abraham thy friend: cf. Isa 41:8, Jas 2:23.
2Ch 20:10. Cf. Num 20:21.
2Ch 20:14. By speaking of Jahaziel as one upon whom the spirit of the Lord came, the Chronicler puts him in the same category as the prophets; see note on 1Ch 25:1.
2Ch 20:16. the ascent of Ziz . . . the wilderness of Jeruel: both in the neighbourhood of Engedi in all probability; neither name occurs elsewhere (Gen 22:14*).
2Ch 20:31-37. see notes on 1Ki 22:41-43; 1Ki 22:48 f.
2Ch 20:37. This account is quite different from what is said in 1Ki 22:48; the destruction of the ships at Ezion-geber is explained by the Chronicler as being Yahwehs punishment on Jehoshaphat for having allied himself with the king of Israel, the reprobate kingdom in the eyes of the Chronicler.
THREE ENEMIES AITACKING
(vv.1-2)
The Lord now allowed a further test of the faith of King Jehoshaphat. Armies of Moab and Ammon came against Judah, and others were added in this attack. Moab speaks of self-satisfied religion (Jer 48:11), and reminds us that a smug, self-complacent attitude is a bad enemy for any of us. Let us not dare to submit to it! Ammon (meaning “peoplish”) pictures the falsehood of evil doctrine, its king in David’s time being named “Nahash,” which means “a serpent” (2Sa 10:2). So also, we must not for a moment submit to deceptive teaching.
When Jehoshaphat was told of a great multitude coming against him from beyond the sea (the sea of Galilee), he realised this was a strong enemy and he would require more than human strength for the battle. He feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, proclaiming a fast throughout all Judah (v.3). Fasting speaks of self-denial, which is the negative side of faith, for faith in the Living God gives Him the positive place of pre-eminence and therefore puts self in the negative place of unimportance.
JEHOSHAPHAT’S PRAYER
(vv.3-12)
Verse 4 therefore introduces the positive side, when Jehoshaphat gathered the people of Judah together to seek the intervention of God. He then stood in the house of the Lord to address God in earnest prayer (v.5).
In beginning his prayer Jehoshaphat asked four questions that he knew were to be answered with a resounding “Yes!” “Are you not God in heaven?” “Do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations?” “In Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You?” “Are you not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of the land before Your people Israel and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever?” Of course these are absolute facts that Jehoshaphat himself felt necessary to be reminded of and his speaking this way would be refreshing to the heart of God.
He reminded God also that Israel had dwelt in the land and had built a sanctuary for God’s name (v.8). This refers to Solomon’s building of the temple, and also he refers to Solomon’s prayer at its dedication, “If disaster comes upon us sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple) and cry out in our affliction, and You will hear and save.”
“And now” a specific case had arisen (v.10). The people of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir (who had been spared by Israel when on their way to Canaan) were attacking Judah with the object of dispossessing them of the land God had given them. Therefore Jehoshaphat rightly expects God to judge them and pleads in this way (v.12). Deeply feeling the weakness of Judah as compared to the power of the enemy, he acknowledged that they not only lacked power, but did not know what to do. Their one and only resource was therefore the God of Israel. “Our eyes are upon You,” he says.
Jehoshaphat had prayed in confiding faith to God, and God answered by choosing a Levite, Jehaziel to give the message of God in clear, decided terms, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord. Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but the God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the ascent of Zig, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem! Do not fear or be dismayed, tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you” (vv.15-17). Who could doubt that this was the plain answer of God to the prayer of Jehoshaphat?
But how good it is to see the effect this had on the godly king. He bowed his head before the Lord, and this influenced Judah to do the same, worshipping the Lord. This humble worship was followed by the standing up of the Levites to praise the Lord God of Israel with loud and strong voices. If we have prayed for God’s intervention in any matter, do we remember to really thank God when He answers our prayer?
In firm decision of faith the people rose early in the morning to meet their enemies. On their way, however, Jehoshaphat stood and addressed them simply and pointedly, ” Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established: believe His prophets, and you shall prosper” (v.28). But then he did something most unusual for the benefit of an army going to war. Consulting with the people, with whom he desired to be in concord, he appointed singers who would praise the beauty of holiness, emphasising the words of the psalm, “Praise the Lord, for His mercy endures forever” (v.21). These went before the army, a beautiful testimony of faith in the living God.
The Lord always responds to faith and He did so very remarkably on this occasion. He set ambushes against the three enemies, evidently ambushes of their own people, so that they were confused as to who was for them and who was against them. Moab and Ammon evidently thought that those of Mount Seir (Edomites) were Israelites, and vigorously destroyed them. Then in the heat of battle the Moabites and Ammonites turned against one another, possibly also confused in thinking the other army was that of Israel (v.23). It was a simple matter for God to cause this confusion, and as He had foretold, Israel would not have to fight!
Finding all their enemies dead, Israel was enriched by a great abundance of spoil that took them three days to transport from the battlefield (vv.24-25). Not only were they spared from the cruel ravages of war, but they profited greatly by the attack of the enemy! True faith will always find it this way. May we dependently cling to the Lord and calmly watch Him work against every threatening enemy.
But in leaving the scene of battle they did not forget to thank God for His great grace toward them. They assembled in the valley of Berachah (which means “a blessing”), and there expressed their thanksgiving together in blessing the Lord. They did this before they actually returned to Jerusalem. With great joy, with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets they came to the temple, the house of God (vv.27-28). How fitting a recognition of God’s honour at this time!
Other nations also heard of this marvellous occasion of God’s manifest intervention in the destruction of three nations who sought to attack Israel, and this put the fear of God into them (v.29), not the fear of Israel.
JEHOSHAPHAT’S REIGN ENDING IN PEACE
(vv.30-37)
The victory God had given Jehoshaphat had such lasting effect that the rest of his reign was quiet, with no more efforts of the enemy to molest him. It was God who gave him rest (v.30). We are told that he was 35 years of age when he took the throne over Judah, and he reigned 25 years, thus was only 60 at his death. His mother’s name is mentioned too, an indication she must have been a godly woman to have son so devoted to the Lord. He walked in the way of his father Asa, whose earlier years were admirable, though Asa acted badly near the end in putting God’s prophet in prison, which was not true of Jehoshaphat.
Yet there was one blemish that remained in the history of Jehoshaphat. He did not take the high places away. The high places indicated a desire for the recognition of men in the worship of God. just as human religion wants a church steeple that stands out in the community. How different was the character of the apostles at the beginning of Christianity! as Paul says, “we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless,” etc. (1Co 4:9-11). More than this, he took the attitude of destroying the high places when he wrote, “Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2Co 10:5).
We have read of much that was good in the history of Jehoshaphat, but other acts of his also were recorded in the book of Jehu, son of Hanani, which is not available today. But this man evidently appreciated Jehoshaphat, since he recorded his actions, but not those of Asa, who had persecuted his father (ch.16:10).
However, in spite of all the good that Jehoshaphat had done, he did not learn well enough from his experience of humiliation when he allied himself with Ahab, nor from the words of God in reproving him through Jehu (ch.19:2-3), who asked him “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord?” Did these words not burn into his heart when he allied himself with Ahaziah, the wicked son of a wicked father and mother, Ahab and Jezebel? (v.35). But he joined with Ahaziah in a business venture, building ships to go to Tarshish.
This time the Lord did not only reprove him, but sent another prophet, Eliezer to announce to him that because he had allied himself with Ahaziah, the Lord had broken his works (v.37). That word was backed up immediately by God’s intervention in wrecking his ships before any voyage to Tarshish. Nothing is said of how Jehoshaphat received this message and action against him, but we are surely reminded that God is no respecter of persons. He will not excuse sin in even the most godly persons.
20:1 It came to pass after this also, [that] the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them [other] beside the {a} Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.
(a) That is, who copied the Ammonites in language and apparel. The Hebrews thought that they were the Amalekites, but as it appeared by 2Ch 20:10 they were the Idumeans of mount Seir.
5. Victory over the Moabite-Ammonite alliance 20:1-30
This chapter does not appear in Kings. It illustrates well that "the Lord will rule (judge)," the meaning of Jehoshaphat’s name and the truth that characterized his reign. The motif of retribution is very strong here. God gave victory because Jehoshaphat and Judah trusted and obeyed Him (2Ch 20:17).
Jehoshaphat’s prayer (2Ch 20:6-12) was very similar to Solomon’s at the temple dedication (cf. 2Ch 6:12-42). Jehoshaphat based his petition for deliverance on God’s promises (2Ch 20:5-9). 2Ch 20:12 is another classic expression of trust in the Lord (cf. 1Sa 17:47).
"There is no excuse for Christian hopelessness. The Christian’s response in the blackest hour must be: ’My eyes are upon thee.’" [Note: Ibid., p. 194.]
God revealed what the king was to do. Essentially he was just to observe the victory God would give him (2Ch 20:15). The expression, "Do not fear," (2Ch 20:17) occurs 365 times in the Bible, one for every day of the year. [Note: Allen, p. 306.] Other blessings God brought to Judah as a result of Jehoshaphat’s faith were spoil from the nations (2Ch 20:25), her enemies’ fear of Judah that restricted other attacks (2Ch 20:29), and peace (2Ch 20:30).
The Meunites (2Ch 20:1) were an Arabian tribe that lived in Edom and elsewhere east and south of the Salt (Dead) Sea (cf. 2Ch 26:7; 1Ch 4:41). The wilderness of Tekoa (2Ch 20:20) was the Judean wilderness near the town of Tekoa that stood 10 miles south of Jerusalem.
JEHOSHAPHAT-THE DOCTRINE OF NONRESISTANCE
2Ch 17:1-19; 2Ch 18:1-34; 2Ch 19:1-11; 2Ch 20:1-37
ASA was succeeded by his son Jehoshaphat, and his reign began even more auspiciously than that of Asa. The new king had apparently taken warning from the misfortunes of Asas closing years; and as he was thirty-five years old when he came to the throne, he had been trained before Asa fell under the Divine displeasure. He walked in the first ways of his father David, before David was led away by Satan to number Israel. Jehoshaphats heart was lifted up, not with foolish pride, like Hezekiahs, but “in the ways of Jehovah.” He sought the God of his father, and walked in Gods commandments, and was not led astray by the evil example and influence of the kings of Israel, neither did he seek the Baals. While Asa had been enfeebled by illness and alienated from Jehovah, the high places and the Asherim had sprung up again like a crop of evil weeds; but Jehoshaphat once more removed them. According to the chronicler, this removing of high places was a very labor of Sisyphus: the stone was no sooner rolled up to the top of the hill than it rolled down again. Jehoshaphat seems to have had an inkling of this; he felt that the destruction of idolatrous sanctuaries and symbols was like mowing down weeds and leaving the roots in the soil. Accordingly he made an attempt to deal more radically with the evil: he would take away the inclination as well as the opportunity for corrupt rites. A commission of princes, priests, and Levites was sent throughout all the cities of Judah to instruct the people in the law of Jehovah. Vice will always find opportunities; it is little use to suppress evil institutions unless the people are educated out of evil propensities. If, for instance, every public-house in England were closed tomorrow, and there were still millions of throats craving for drink, drunkenness would still prevail, and a new administration would promptly reopen gin-shops.
Because the new king thus earnestly and consistently sought the God of his fathers, Jehovah was with him, and established the kingdom in his hand. Jehoshaphat received all the marks of Divine favorer usually bestowed upon good kings. He waxed great exceedingly; he had many fortresses, an immense army, and much wealth; he built castles and cities of store; he had arsenals for the supply of war material in the cities of Judah. And these cities, together with other defensible positions and the border cities of Ephraim occupied by Judah, were held by strong garrisons. While David had contented himself with two hundred and eighty-eight thousand men from all Israel, and Abijah had led forth four hundred thousand, and Asa five hundred and eighty thousand, there waited on Jehoshaphat, in addition to his numerous garrisons, eleven hundred and sixty thousand men. Of these seven hundred and eighty thousand were men of Judah in three divisions, and three hundred and eighty thousand were Benjamites in two divisions. Probably the steady increase of the armies of Abijah, Asa, and Jehoshaphat symbolizes a proportionate increase of Divine favor.
The chronicler records the names of the captains of the five divisions. Two of them are singled out for special commendation: Eliada the Benjamite is styled “a mighty man of valor,” and of the Jewish captain Amaziah the son of Zichri it is said that he offered either himself or his possessions willingly to Jehovah, as David and his princes had offered, for the building of the Temple. The devout king had devout officers.
He had also devoted subjects. All Judah brought him presents, so that he had great riches and ample means to sustain his royal power and splendor. Moreover, as in the case of Solomon and Asa, his piety was rewarded with freedom from war: “The fear of Jehovah fell upon all the kingdoms round about, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat.” Some of his weaker neighbors were overawed by the spectacle of his great power; the Philistines brought him presents and tribute money, and the Arabians immense flocks of rams and he-goats, seven thousand seven hundred of each.
Great prosperity had the usual fatal effect upon Jehoshaphats character. In the beginning of his reign he had strengthened himself against Israel and had refused to walk in their ways; now power had developed ambition, and he sought and obtained the honor of marrying his son Jehoram to Athaliah the daughter of Ahab, the mighty and magnificent king of Israel, possibly also the daughter of the Phoenician princess Jezebel, the devotee of Baal. This family connection of course implied political alliance. After a time Jehoshaphat went down to visit his new ally, and was hospitably received. {2Ch 18:1-3}
Then follows the familiar story of Micaiah the son of Imlah, the disastrous expedition of the two kings, and the death of Ahab, almost exactly as in the book of Kings. There is one significant alteration: both narratives tell us how the Syrian captains attacked Jehoshaphat because they took him for the king of Israel and gave up their pursuit when he cried out, and they discovered their mistake; but the chronicler adds the explanation that Jehovah helped him and God moved them to depart from him. And so the master of more than a million soldiers was happy in being allowed to escape on account of his insignificance, and returned in peace to Jerusalem. Oded and Hanani had met his predecessors on their return from victory; now Jehu the son of Hanani met Jehoshaphat when he came home defeated. Like his father, the prophet was charged with a message of rebuke. An alliance with the Northern Kingdom was scarcely less reprehensible than one with Syria: “Shouldest thou help the wicked, and love them that hate Jehovah? Jehovah is wroth with thee.” Asas previous reforms were not allowed to mitigate the severity of his condemnation, but Jehovah was more merciful to Jehoshaphat. The prophet makes mention of his piety and his destruction of idolatrous symbols, and no further punishment is inflicted upon him.
The chroniclers addition to the account of the kings escape from the Syrian captains reminds us that God still watches over and protects His children even when they are in the very act of sinning against Him. Jehovah knew that Jehoshaphats sinful alliance with Ahab did not imply complete revolt and apostasy. Hence doubtless the comparative mildness of the prophets reproof.
When Jehus father Hanani rebuked Asa, the king flew into a passion, and cast the prophet into prison; Jehoshaphat received Jehus reproof in a very different spirit: he repented himself, and found a new zeal in his penitence. Learning from his own experience the proneness of the human heart to go astray, he went out himself amongst his people to bring them back to Jehovah; and just as Asa in his apostasy oppressed his people, Jehoshaphat in his renewed loyalty to Jehovah showed himself anxious for good government. He provided judges in all the walled towns of Judah, with a court of appeal at Jerusalem; he solemnly charged them to remember their responsibility to Jehovah, to avoid bribery, and not to truckle to the rich and powerful. Being themselves faithful to Jehovah, they were to inculcate a like obedience and warn the people not to sin against the God of their fathers. Jehoshaphats exhortation to his new judges concludes with a sentence whose martial resonance suggests trial by combat rather than the peaceful proceedings of a law-court: “Deal courageously, and Jehovah defend the right!”
The principle that good government must be a necessary consequence of piety in the rulers has not been so uniformly observed in later times as in the pages of Chronicles. The testimony of history on this point is not altogether consistent. In spite of all the faults of the orthodox and devout Greek emperors Theodosius the Great and Marcian, their administration rendered important services to the empire. Alfred the Great was a distinguished statesman and warrior as well as zealous for true religion. St. Louis of France exercised a wise control over Church and state. It is true that when a woman reproached him in open court with being a king of friars, of priests, and of clerks, and not a true king of France, he replied with saintly meekness, “You say true! It has pleased the Lord to make me king; it had been well if it had pleased Him to make some one king who had better ruled the realm.” But something must be allowed for the modesty of the saint; apart from his unfortunate crusades, it would have been difficult for France or even Europe to have furnished a more beneficent sovereign. On the other hand, Charlemagnes successor, the Emperor Louis the Pious, and our own kings Edward the Confessor and the saintly Henry VI, were alike feeble and inefficient; the zeal of the Spanish kings and their kinswoman Mary Tudor is chiefly remembered for its ghastly cruelty; and in comparatively recent times the misgovernment of the States of the Church was a byword throughout Europe. Many causes combined to produce this mingled record. The one most clearly contrary to the chroniclers teaching was an immoral opinion that the Christian should cease to be a citizen, and that the saint has no duties to society. This view is often considered to be the special vice of monasticism, but it reappears in one form or another in every generation. The failure of the administration of Louis the Pious is partly explained when we read that he was with difficulty prevented from entering a monastery. In our own day there are those who think that a newspaper should have no interest for a really earnest Christian. According to their ideas, Jehoshaphat should have divided his time between a private oratory in his palace and the public services of the Temple, and have left his kingdom to the mercy of unjust judges at home and heathen enemies abroad, or else have abdicated in favor of some kinsman whose heart was not so perfect with Jehovah. The chronicler had a clearer insight into Divine methods, and this doctrine of his is not one that has been superseded together with the Mosaic ritual.
Possibly the martial tone of the sentence that concludes the account of Jehoshaphat as the Jewish Justinian is due to the influence upon the chroniclers mind of die incident which he now describes.
Jehoshaphats next experience was parallel to that of Asa with Zerah. When his new reforms were completed, he was menaced with a formidable invasion. His new enemies were almost as distant and strange as the Ethiopians and Lubim who had followed Zerah. We hear nothing about any king of Israel or Damascus, the usual leaders of assaults upon Judah; we hear instead of a triple alliance against Judah. Two of the allies are Moab and Ammon; but the Jewish kings were not wont to regard these as irresistible foes, so that the extreme dismay which takes possession of king and people must be due to the third ally: the Meunim we have already met with in connection with the exploits of the children of Simeon in the reign of Hezekiah; they are also mentioned in the reign of Uzziah, and nowhere else, unless indeed they are identical with the Maonites, who are named with the Amalekites in Jdg 10:12. They are thus a people peculiar to Chronicles, and appear from this narrative to have inhabited Mount Seir, by which term “Meunim” is replaced as the story proceeds. Since the chronicler wrote so long after the events he describes, we cannot attribute to him any very exact knowledge of political geography. Probably the term “Meunim” impressed his contemporaries very much as it does a modern reader, and suggested countless hordes of Bedouin plunderers; Josephus calls them a great army of Arabians. This host of invaders came from Edom, and having marched round the southern end of the Dead Sea, were now at Engedi, on its western shore. The Moabites and Ammonites might have crossed the Jordan by the fords near Jericho; but this route would not have been convenient for their allies the Meunim, and would have brought them into collision with the forces of the Northern Kingdom.
On this occasion Jehoshaphat does not seek any foreign alliance. He does not appeal to Syria, like Asa, nor does he ask Ahabs successor to repay in kind the assistance given to Ahab at Ramoth-gilead, partly perhaps because there was no time, but chiefly because he had learnt the truth which Hanani had sought to teach his father, and which Hananis son had taught him. He does not even trust in his own hundreds of thousands of soldiers, all of whom cannot have perished at Ramoth-gilead; his confidence is placed solely and absolutely in Jehovah. Jehoshaphat and his people made no military preparations; subsequent events justified their apparent neglect: none were necessary. Jehoshaphat sought Divine help instead, and proclaimed a fast throughout Judah; and all Judah gathered themselves to Jerusalem to ask help of Jehovah. This great national assembly met “before the new court” of the Temple. The chronicler, who is supremely interested in the Temple buildings, has told us nothing about any new court, nor is it mentioned elsewhere; our author is probably giving the title of a corresponding portion of the second Temple: the place where the people assembled to meet Jehoshaphat would be the great court built by Solomon. {2Ch 4:9}
Here Jehoshaphat stood up as the spokesman of the nation, and prayed to Jehovah on their behalf and on his own. He recalls the Divine omnipotence; Jehovah is God of earth and heaven, God of Israel and Ruler of the heathen, and therefore able to help even in this great emergency:-
“O Jehovah, God of our fathers, art Thou not God in heaven? Dost Thou not rule all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in Thy hand is power and might, so that none is able to withstand Thee.”
The land of Israel had been the special gift of Jehovah to His people, in fulfillment of His ancient promise to Abraham:-
“Didst not Thou, O our God, dispossess the inhabitants of this land in favor of Thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham Thy friend forever?”
And now long possession had given Israel a prescriptive right to the Land of Promise; and they had, so to speak, claimed their rights in the most formal and solemn fashion by erecting a temple to the God of Israel. Moreover, the prayer of Solomon at the dedication of the Temple had been accepted by Jehovah as the basis of His covenant with Israel, and Jehoshaphat quotes a clause from that prayer or covenant which had expressly provided for such emergencies as the present:-
“And they” (Israel) “dwelt in the land, and built Thee therein a sanctuary for Thy name, saying, If evil come upon us, the sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before Thee (for Thy name is in this house), and cry unto Thee in our affliction; and Thou wilt hear and save.”
Moreover, the present invasion was not only an attempt to set aside Jehovahs disposition of Palestine and the long-established rights of Israel: it was also gross ingratitude, a base return for the ancient forbearance of Israel towards her present enemies:-
“And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom Thou wouldest not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned aside from them and destroyed them not-behold how they reward us by coming to dispossess us of Thy possession which Thou hast caused us to possess.”
For this nefarious purpose the enemies of Israel had come up in overwhelming numbers, but Judah was confident in the justice of its cause and the favor of Jehovah:-
“O our God, wilt Thou not execute judgment against them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us, neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon Thee.”
Meanwhile the great assemblage stood in the attitude of supplication before Jehovah, not a gathering of mighty men of valor praying for blessing upon their strength and courage, but a mixed multitude, men and women, children and infants, seeking sanctuary, as it were, at the Temple, and casting themselves in their extremity upon the protecting care of Jehovah. Possibly when the king finished his prayer the assembly broke out into loud, wailing cries of dismay and agonized entreaty; but the silence of the narrative rather suggests that Jehoshaphats strong, calm faith communicated itself to the people, and they waited quietly for Jehovahs answer, for some token or promise of deliverance. Instead of the confused cries of an excited crowd, there was a hush of expectancy, such as sometimes falls upon an assembly when a great statesman has risen to utter words which will be big with the fate of empires.
And the answer came, not by fire from heaven or any visible sign, not by voice of thunder accompanied by angelic trumpets, nor by angel or archangel, but by a familiar voice hitherto unsuspected of any supernatural gifts, by a prophetic utterance whose only credentials were given by the influence of the Spirit upon the speaker and his audience. The chronicler relates with evident satisfaction how, in the midst of that great congregation, the Spirit of Jehovah came, not upon king, or priest, or acknowledged prophet, but upon a subordinate minister of the Temple, a Levite and member of the Temple choir like himself. He is careful to fix the identity of this newly called prophet and to gratify the family pride of existing Levitical families by giving the prophets genealogy for several generations. He was Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, of the sons of Asaph. The very names were encouraging. What more suitable names could be found for a messenger of Divine mercy than Jahaziel-“God gives prophetic vision” – the son of Zechariah-“Jehovah remembers?”
Jahaziels message showed that Jehoshaphats prayer had been accepted; Jehovah responded without reserve to the confidence reposed in Him: He would vindicate His own authority by delivering Judah; Jehoshaphat should have blessed proof of the immense superiority of simple trust in Jehovah over an alliance with Ahab or the king of Damascus. Twice the prophet exhorts the king and people in the very words that Jehovah had used to encourage Joshua when the death of Moses had thrown upon him all the heavy responsibilities of leadership: “Fear not, nor be dismayed.” They need no longer cling like frightened suppliants to the sanctuary, but are to go forth at once, the very next day, against the enemy. That they may lose no time in looking for them, Jehovah announces the exact spot where the enemy are to be found: “Behold, they are coming by the ascent of Hazziz, and ye shall find them at the end of the ravine before the wilderness of Jeruel.” This topographical description was doubtless perfectly intelligible to the chroniclers contemporaries, but it is no longer possible to fix exactly the locality of Hazziz or Jeruel. The ascent of Hazziz has been identified with the Wady Husasa, which leads up from the coast of the Dead Sea north of Engedi, in the direction of Tekoa; but the identification is by no means certain.
The general situation, however, is fairly clear: the allied invaders would come up from the coast into the highlands of Judah by one of the wadies leading inland; they were to be met by Jehoshaphat and his people on one of the “wildernesses,” or plateaus of pasture-land, in the neighborhood of Tekoa.
But the Jews went forth, not as an army, but in order to be the passive spectators of a great manifestation of the power of Jehovah. They had no concern with the numbers and prowess of their enemies; Jehovah Hiresell would lay bare His mighty arm, and Judah should see that no foreign ally, no millions of native warriors, were necessary for their salvation: “Ye shall not need to fight in this battle; take up your position, stand still and see the deliverance of Jehovah with you, O Judah and Jerusalem.”
Thus had Moses addressed Israel on the eve of the passage of the Red Sea. Jehoshaphat and his people owned and honored the Divine message as if Jahaziel were another Moses; they prostrated themselves on the ground before Jehovah. The sons of Asaph had already been privileged to provide Jehovah with His prophet; these Asaphites represented the Levitical clan of Gershom: but now the Kohathites, with their guild of singers, the sons of Korah, “stood up to praise Jehovah, the God of Israel, with as exceeding loud voice,” as the Levites sang when the foundations of the second Temple were laid, and when Ezra and Nehemiah made the people enter into a new covenant with their God.
Accordingly on the morrow the people rose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa, ten or twelve miles south of Jerusalem. In ancient times generals were wont to make a set speech to their armies before they led them into battle, so Jehoshaphat addresses his subjects as they pass out before him. He does not seek to make them confident in their own strength and prowess; he does not inflame their passions against Moab and Ammon, nor exhort them to be brave and remind them that they fight this day for the ashes of their fathers and the temple of their God. Such an address would have been entirely out of place, because the Jews were not going to fight at all. Jehoshaphat only bids them have faith in Jehovah and His prophets. It is a curious anticipation of Pauline teaching. Judah is to be “saved by faith” from Moab and Ammon, as the Christian is delivered by faith from sin and its penalty. The incident might almost seem to have been recorded in order to illustrate the truth that St. Paul was to teach. It is strange that there is no reference to this chapter in the epistles of St. Paul and St. James, and that the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews does not remind us how “by faith Jehoshaphat was delivered from Moab and Ammon.” There is no question of military order, no reference to the five great divisions into which the armies of Judah and Benjamin are divided in chapter 17. Here, as at Jericho, the captain of Israel is chiefly concerned to provide musicians to lead his army. When David was arranging for the musical services before the Ark, he took counsel with his captains. In this unique military expedition there is no mention of captains; they were not necessary, and if they were present there was no opportunity for them to show their skill and prowess in battle. In an even more democratic spirit Jehoshaphat takes counsel with the people-that is, probably makes some proposition, which is accepted with universal acclamation.
The Levitical singers, dressed in the splendid robes in which they officiated at the Temple, were appointed to go before the people, and offer praises unto Jehovah, and sing the anthem, “Give thanks unto Jehovah, for His mercy endureth forever.” These words or their equivalent are the opening words, and the second clause the refrain, of the post-Exilic Psa 106:1-48; Psa 107:1-43; Psa 118:1-29; Psa 136:1-26. As the chronicler has already ascribed Psa 106:1-48 to David, he possibly ascribes all four to David, and intends us to understand that one or all of them were sung by the Levites on this occasion. Later Judaism was in the habit of denoting a book or section of a book by its opening words.
And so Judah, a pilgrim caravan rather than an army, went on to its Divinely appointed tryst with its enemies, and at its head the Levitical choir sang the Temple hymns. It was not a campaign, but a sacred function, on a much larger scale a procession such as may be seen winding its way, with chants and incense, banners, images, and crucifixes, through the streets of Catholic cities.
Meanwhile Jehovah was preparing a spectacle to gladden the eyes of His people and reward their implicit faith and exact obedience; He was working for those who were waiting for Him. Though Judah was still far from its enemies, yet like the trumpet at Jericho, the strain of praise and thanksgiving was the signal for the Divine intervention: “When they began to sing and praise, Jehovah set liars in wait against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Self.” Who were these liars in wait? They could not be men of Judah: they were not to fight, but to be passive spectators of their own deliverance. Did the allies set an ambush for Judah, and was it thus that they were afterwards led to mistake their own people for enemies? Or does the chronicler intend us to understand that these “liars in wait” were spirits; that the allied invaders were tricked and bewildered like the shipwrecked sailors in the Tempest; or that when they came to the wilderness of Jeruel there fell upon them a spirit of mutual distrust, jealousy, and hatred, that had, as it were, been waiting for them there? But, from whatever cause, a quarrel broke out amongst them; and they were smitten. When Ammonite, Moabite, and Edomite met, there were many private and public feuds waiting their opportunity; and such confederates were as ready to quarrel among themselves as a group of Highland clans engaged in a Lowland foray.
“Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir utterly to slay and destroy them.” But even Ammon and Moab soon dissolved their alliance; and at last, partly maddened by panic, partly intoxicated by a wild thirst for blood, a very Berserker frenzy, all ties of friendship and kindred were forgotten, and every mans hand was against his brother. “When they had made an end of the inhabitants of Self, every one helped to destroy another.”
While this tragedy was enacting, and the air was rent with the cruel yells of that death struggle, Jehoshaphat and his people moved on in tranquil pilgrimage to the cheerful sound of the songs of Zion. At last they reached an eminence, perhaps the long, low summit of some ridge overlooking the plateau of Jeruel. When they had gained this watchtower of the wilderness, the ghastly scene burst upon their gaze. Jehovah had kept His word: they had found their enemy. They “looked upon the multitude,” all those hordes of heathen tribes that had filled them with terror and dismay. They were harmless enough now: the Jews saw nothing but “dead bodies fallen to the earth”; and in that Aceldama lay all the multitude of profane invaders who had dared to violate the sanctity of the Promised Land: “There were none that escaped.” So had Israel looked back after crossing the Red Sea and seen the corpses of the Egyptians washed up on the shore. {Exo 14:30} Set when the angel of Jehovah smote Sennacherib, –
“Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.”
There is no touch of pity for the wretched victims of their own sins. Greeks of every city and tribe could feel the pathos of the tragic end of the Athenian expedition against Syracuse; but the Jews had no ruth for the kindred tribes that dwelt along their frontier, and the age of the chronicler had not yet learnt that Jehovah had either tenderness or compassion for the enemies of Israel.
The spectators of this carnage-we cannot call them victors-did not neglect to profit to the utmost by their great opportunity. They spent three days in stripping the dead bodies; and as Orientals delight in jewelled weapons and costly garments, and their chiefs take the field with barbaric ostentation of wealth, the spoil was both valuable and abundant: “riches, and raiment, and precious jewels more than they could carry away.”
In collecting the spoil, the Jews had become dispersed through all the wide area over which the fighting between the confederates must have extended; but on the fourth day they gathered together again in a neighboring valley and gave solemn thanks for their deliverance: “There they blessed Jehovah; therefore the name of that place was called the valley of Berachah unto this day.” West of Tekoa. not too far from the scene of carnage, a ruin and a wady still bear the name “Bereikut”; and doubtless in the chroniclers time the valley was called Berachah, and local tradition furnished our author with this explanation of the origin of the name.
When the spoil was all collected, they returned to Jerusalem as they came, in solemn procession, headed, no doubt, by the Levites, with psalteries, and harps, and trumpets. They came back to the scene of their anxious supplications: to the house of Jehovah. But yesterday, as it were, they had assembled before Jehovah, terror-stricken at the report of an irresistible host of invaders; and today their enemies were utterly destroyed. They had experienced a deliverance that might rank with the Exodus; and as at that former deliverance they had spoiled the Egyptians, so now they had returned laden with the plunder of Moab, Ammon, and Edom. And all their neighbors were smitten with fear when they heard of the awful ruin which Jehovah had brought upon these enemies of Israel. No one would dare to invade a country where Jehovah laid a ghostly ambush of liars in wait for the enemies of His people. The realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, not because he was protected by powerful allies or by the swords of his numerous and valiant soldiers, but because Judah had become another Eden, and cherubim with flaming swords guarded the frontier on every hand, and “his God gave him rest round about.”
Then follow the regular summary and conclusion of the history of the reign taken from the book of Kings, with the usual alterations in the reference to further sources of information. We are told here, in direct contradiction to 1Ch 17:6 and to the whole tenor of the previous chapters, that the high places were not taken away, another illustration of the slight importance the chronicler attached to accuracy in details. He either overlooks the contradiction between passages borrowed from different sources, or else does not think it worth while to harmonize his inconsistent materials.
But after the narrative of the reign is thus formally closed the chronicler inserts a postscript, perhaps by a kind of after-thought. The book of Kings narrates {1Ki 22:48-49} how Jehoshaphat made ships to go to Ophir for gold, but they were broken at Ezion-geber; then Ahaziah the son of Ahab proposed to enter into partnership with Jehoshaphat, and the latter rejected his proposal. As we have seen, the chroniclers theory of retribution required some reason why so pious a king experienced misfortune. What sin had Jehoshaphat committed to deserve to have his ships broken? The chronicler has a new version of the story, which provides an answer to this question. Jehoshaphat did not build any ships by himself; his unfortunate navy was constructed in partnership with Ahaziah; and accordingly the prophet Eliezer rebuked him for allying himself a second time with a wicked king of Israel, and announced the coming wreck of the ships. And so it came about that the ships were broken, and the shadow of Divine displeasure rested on the last days of Jehoshaphat.
We have next to notice the chroniclers most important omissions. The book of Kings narrates another alliance of Jehoshaphat with Jehoram, king of Israel, like his alliances with Ahab and Ahaziah. The narrative of this incident closely resembles that of the earlier joint expedition to Ramoth-Gilead. As then Jehoshaphat marched out with Ahab, so now he accompanies Ahabs son Jehoram, taking with him his subject ally the king of Edom. Here also a prophet appears upon the scene; but on this occasion Elisha addresses no rebuke to Jehoshaphat for his alliance with Israel, but treats him with marked respect: and the allied army wins a great victory. If this narrative had been included in Chronicles, the reign of Jehoshaphat would not have afforded an altogether satisfactory illustration of the main lesson which the chronicler intended it to teach.
This main lesson was that the chosen people should not look for protection against their enemies either to foreign alliances or to their own military strength, but solely to the grace and omnipotence of Jehovah. One negative aspect of this principle has been enforced by the condemnation of Asas alliance with Syria and Jehoshaphats with Ahab and Ahaziah. Later on the uselessness of an army apart from Jehovah is shown in the defeat of “the great host” of Joash by “a small company” of Syrians. The positive aspect has been partially illustrated by the signal victories of Abijah and Asa against overwhelming odds and without the help of any foreign allies. But these were partial and unsatisfactory illustrations: Jehovah vouchsafed to share the glory of these victories with great armies that were numbered by the hundred thousand. And, after all, the odds were not so very overwhelming. Scores of parallels may be found in which the odds were much greater. In the case of vast Oriental hosts a superiority of two to one might easily be counterbalanced by discipline and valor in the smaller army.
The peculiar value to the chronicler of the deliverance from Moab, Ammon, and the Meunim lay in the fact that no human arm divided the glory with Jehovah. It was shown conclusively not merely that Judah could safely be contented with an army smaller than those of its neighbors, but that Judah would be equally safe with no army at all. We feel that this lesson is taught with added force when we remember that Jehoshaphat had a larger army than is ascribed to any Israelite or Jewish king after David. Yet he places no confidence in his eleven hundred and sixty thousand warriors, and he is not allowed to make any use of them. In the case of a king with small military resources, to trust in Jehovah might be merely making a virtue of necessity; but if Jehoshaphat, with his immense army, felt that his only real help was in his God, the example furnished an a fortiori argument which would conclusively show that it was always the duty and privilege of the Jews to say with the Psalmist, “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of Jehovah our God.” {Psa 20:7} The ancient literature of Israel furnished illustrations of the principle: at the Red Sea the Israelites had been delivered without any exercise of their own warlike prowess; at Jericho, as at Jeruel, the enemy had been completely overthrown by Jehovah before His people rushed upon the spoil; and the same direct Divine intervention saved Jerusalem from Sennacherib. But the later history of the Jews had been a series of illustrations of enforced dependence upon Jehovah. A little semi-ecclesiastical community inhabiting a small province that passed from one great power to another like a counter in the game of international politics had no choice but to trust in Jehovah, if it were in any way to maintain its self-respect. For this community of the second Temple to have had confidence in its sword and bow would have seemed equally absurd to the Jews and to their Persian and Greek masters.
When they were thus helpless, Jehovah wrought for Israel, as He had destroyed the enemies of Jehoshaphat in the wilderness of Jeruel. The Jews stood still and saw the working out of their deliverance; great empires wrestled together like Moab, Ammon, and Edom, in the agony of the death struggle: and over all the tumult of battle Israel heard the voice of Jehovah, “The battle is not yours, but Gods; set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the deliverance of Jehovah with you, O Judah and Jerusalem.” Before their eyes there passed the scenes of that great drama which for a time gave Western Asia Aryan instead of Semitic masters. For them the whole action had but one meaning: without calling Israel into the field, Jehovah was devoting to destruction the enemies of His people and opening up a way for His redeemed to return, like Jehoshaphats procession, to the Holy City and the Temple. The long series of wars became a wager of battle, in which Israel, herself a passive spectator, appeared by her Divine Champion; and the assured issue was her triumphant vindication and restoration to her ancient throne in Zion.
After the Restoration Gods protecting providence asked no armed assistance from Judah. The mandates of a distant court authorized the rebuilding of the Temple and the fortifying of the city. The Jews solaced their national pride and found consolation for their weakness and subjection in the thought that their ostensible masters were in reality only the instruments which Jehovah used to provide for the security and prosperity of His children.
We have already noticed that this philosophy of history is not peculiar to Israel. Every nation has a similar system, and regards its own interests as the supreme care of Providence. We have seen, too, that moral influences have controlled and checkmated material forces; God has fought against the biggest battalions. Similarly, the Jews are not the only people for whom deliverances have been worked out almost without any co-operation on their own part. It was not a Negro revolt, for instance, that set free the slaves of our colonies or of the Southern States. Italy regained her Eternal City as an incidental effect of a great war in which she herself took no part. Important political movements and great struggles involve consequences equally unforeseen and unintended by the chief actors in these dramas, consequences which would seem to them insignificant compared with more obvious results. Some obscure nation almost ready to perish is given a respite, a breathing space, in which it gathers strength; instead of losing its separate existence, it endures till time and opportunity make it one of the ruling influences in the worlds history: some Geneva or Wittenberg becomes, just at the right time, a secure refuge and vantage-ground for one of the Lords prophets. Our understanding of what God is doing in our time and our hopes for what He may yet do will indeed be small, if we think that God can do nothing for our cause unless our banner flies in the forefront of the battle, and the war-cry is “The sword of Gideon!” as well as “The sword of Jehovah!” There will be many battles fought in which we shall strike no blow and yet be privileged to divide the spoil. We sometimes “stand still and see the salvation of Jehovah.”
The chronicler has found disciples in these latter days of a kindlier spirit and more catholic sympathies. He and they have reached their common doctrines by different paths, but the chronicler teaches non-resistance as clearly as the Society of Friends. “When you have fully yielded yourself to the Divine teaching,” he says, “you will neither fight yourself nor ask others to fight for you; you will simply stand still and watch a Divine providence protecting you and destroying your enemies.” The Friends could almost echo this teaching, not perhaps laying quite so much stress on the destruction of the enemy, though among the visions of the earlier Friends there were many that revealed the coming judgments of the Lord; and the modern enthusiast is still apt to consider that his enemies are the Lords enemies and to call the gratification of his own revengeful spirit a vindication of the honor of the Lord and a satisfaction of outraged justice.
If the chronicler had lived today, the history of the Society of Friends might have furnished him with illustrations almost as apt as the destruction of the allied invaders of Judah. He would have rejoiced to tell us how a people that repudiated any resort to violence succeeded in conciliating savage tribes and founding the flourishing colony of Pennsylvania, and would have seen the hand of the Lord in the wealth and honor that have been accorded to a once despised and persecuted sect.
We should be passing to matters that were still beyond the chroniclers horizon, if we were to connect his teaching with our Lords injunction, “Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Such a sentiment scarcely harmonizes with the three days stripping of dead bodies in the wilderness of Jeruel. But though the chroniclers motives for non-resistance were not touched and softened with the Divine gentleness of Jesus of Nazareth, and his object was not to persuade his hearers to patient endurance of wrong, yet he had conceived the possibility of a mighty faith that could put its fortunes unreservedly into the hands of God and trust Him with the issues. If we are ever to be worthy citizens of the kingdom of our Lord, it can only be by the sustaining power and inspiring influence of a like faith.
When we come to ask how far the people for whom he wrote responded to his teaching and carried it into practical life, we are met with one of the many instances of the grim irony of history. Probably the chroniclers glowing vision of peaceful security, guarded on every hand by legions of angels, was partly inspired by the comparative prosperity of the time at which he wrote. Other considerations combine with this to suggest that the composition of his work beguiled the happy leisure of one of the brighter intervals between Ezra and the Maccabees.
Circumstances were soon to test the readiness of the Jews, in times of national danger, to observe the attitude of passive spectators and wait for a Divine deliverance. It was not altogether in this spirit that the priests met the savage persecutions of Antiochus. They made no lame attempts to exorcise this evil spirit with hymns, and psalteries, and harps, and trumpets; but the priest Mattathias and his sons slew the kings commissioner and raised the standard of armed revolt. We do indeed find indications of something like obedience to the chroniclers principles. A body of the revolted Jews were attacked on the Sabbath Day; they made no attempt to defend themselves: “When they gave them battle with all speed, they answered them not, neither cast they a stone at them, nor stopped the places where they lay hid and their enemies rose up against them on the sabbath, and slew them, with their wives, and their children, and their cattle, to the number of a thousand people.” No Divine intervention rewarded this devoted faith, nor apparently did the Jews expect it, for they had said, “Let us die all in our innocency; heaven and earth shall testify for us that ye put us to death wrongfully.” This is, after all, a higher note than that of Chronicles: obedience may not bring invariable reward; nevertheless the faithful will not swerve from their loyalty. But the priestly leaders of the people looked with no favorable eye upon this offering up of human hecatombs in honor of the sanctity of the Sabbath. They were not prepared to die passively; and, as representatives of Jehovah and of the nation for the time being, they decreed that henceforth they would fight against those who attacked them, even on the Sabbath Day. Warfare on these more secular principles was crowned with that visible success which the chronicler regarded as the manifest sign of Divine approval; and a dynasty of royal priests filled the throne and led the armies of Israel, and assured and strengthened their authority by intrigues and alliances with every heathen sovereign within their reach.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
I, THAT OUR ENEMIES SOMETIMES DISPOSE OF ONE ANOTHER. (2Ch 20:23.) We sometimes find that the enemy is best “left well alone.” Let Shimei “cast stones” at us; even though they be words of false accusation, they will do him much more harm than they will do us. Let the enemy blaspheme; his profanities will be a dead weight in his own balances. Let men make virulent attacks on our holy religion; they will answer one another; we can better spend our time (as a rule) in positive endeavours to build up the kingdom of God.
Corrupting in its own fertility.
Her vine, the merry cheerer of the heart,
Unpruned dies,” etc.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary