2 Chronicles 20:17

. Jehoshaphat proclaims a fast, and gathers the people together to seek the Lord, 2Chr 20:3, 2Chr 20:4. His prayer to God, 2Chr 20:5-12. Great and small, male and female, seek the Lord, 2Chr 20:13. Jahaziel predicts the downfall of their enemies, 2Chr 20:14-17. The king, the Levites, and the people take courage; praise and magnify God; and go forth to meet their enemies, 2Chr 20:18-21. The enemies are confounded, and destroy each other, 2Chr 20:22-24. The men of Judah take the spoil, praise the Lord, and return with joy to Jerusalem, 2Chr 20:25-28. The fear of the Lord falls upon all their enemies round about; and the land has rest, 2Chr 20:29, 2Chr 20:30. Transactions and character of Jehoshaphat, 2Chr 20:31-34. He joins with Ahaziah, king of Israel, in building a fleet of ships to go to Tarshish, but they are wrecked at Ezion-geber, 2Chr 20:35-37. 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, etc. The Septuagint have given it another turn: Και μετ' αυτων εκ των Μιναιων, And with them people of the Minaites; which were a people of Arabia Felix near the Red Sea. The Targum has ועמהון מן אדומאי Ve-immehon min Edomaey, "And with them some of the Edomites." This is very likely to be the true reading, as we find from 2Chr 20:10, 2Chr 20:22, 2Chr 20:23, 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. Verse 2 On this side Syria - Instead of מארם mearam, from Syria, I would read with one of Kennicott's MSS. (89) מאדם meedom, from Edom, which alteration brings it to truth and does not require the change of half a letter, as it consists in the almost imperceptible difference between ר resh and ד daleth. We do not read of any Syrians in this invasion, but we know there were Edomites, or inhabitants of Mount Seir. Hazazon-tamar - "In the wood of palm trees, that is, in Engedi." - Targum. This is the meaning of the word, and it is probable that they lay hid here. Verse 3 Jehoshaphat feared - He found that he could not possibly stand against such a numerous army, and therefore could not expect to be delivered except by the strong arm of God. To get this assistance, it was necessary to seek it; and to get such extraordinary help, they should seek it in an extraordinary way; hence he proclaimed a universal fast, and all the people came up to Jerusalem to seek the Lord. Verse 6 Jehoshaphat stood - What an instructive sight was this! The king who proclaimed the fast was foremost to observe it, and was on this occasion the priest of the people; offering in the congregation, 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. Verse 7 Art not thou our God - "Hast not thou, by thy Word, driven out." - Targum. Verse 8 Therein for thy name - "For the name of thy Word." - Targum. Verse 9 For thy name is in this house - "Thy Majesty is in this house." Several of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., with the Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic, add נקרא nikra, "is invoked;" Thy name is invoked in this house - here thou dwellest, and here thou art worshipped. Verse 11 They reward us - Six of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. add רעה evil: "Behold, they reward us Evil." This is also the reading of the Targum. Verse 12 Wilt thou not judge them - That is, Thou wilt inflict deserved punishment upon them. Verse 15 For the battle is not yours, but God's - God will not employ you in the discomfiture of this great host; he himself will take the matter in hand, deliver you, and destroy them. Verse 17 For the Lord will be with you - "The Word of the Lord shall be your Helper." - Targum. Verse 20 Believe in the Lord your God - "Believe in the Word of the Lord your God, and believe in his law, and believe in his prophets; and ye shall prosper." Here the Word and the revelation are most pointedly distinguished; the Word being used personally. Verse 22 The Lord set ambushments - "The Word of the Lord placed snares among the children of Ammon and Moab; and the inhabitants of the mountain of Gibla, who came to fight with Judah; and they were broken to pieces:" so the Targum. Houbigant translates the place thus: "The Lord set against the children of Ammon and Moab ambushments of those who came from Mount Seir against Judah; and the children of Ammon and Moab were smitten: but they afterwards rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, and utterly destroyed them; who being destroyed, they rose up one against another, and mutually destroyed each other." This is probably the meaning of these verses. Calmet's version is not very different. Verse 25 Both riches with the dead bodies - For פגרים peparim, dead bodies, בגדים begadim, garments, is the reading of eight MSS. in the collections of Kennicott and De Rossi, and in several ancient editions. None of the versions have dead bodies except the Chaldee. The words might be easily mistaken for each other, as the פ pe, if a little faint in the under dot might easily pass for a ב beth; and we know that the ר resh and ד daleth, are frequently interchanged and mistaken for each other, both in Hebrew and Syriac. I believe garments to be the true reading; and as to the clause which they stripped off for themselves, it should be understood thus: Which they seized for themselves, etc. Verse 26 Assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah - "The valley of Benediction;" and so in the latter clause. - Targum. Verse 27 Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them - He was their leader in all these spiritual, holy, fatiguing, and self-denying exercises. What a noble and persuasive pattern! Verse 29 The Lord fought - "The Word of the Lord made war against the enemies of Israel." - Targum. Verse 33 The high places were not taken away - The idolatry, as we have seen, was universally suppressed; but some of the places where that worship had been performed were not destroyed. Some of them still remained; and these, to such a fickle people, became the means of idolatry in reigns less propitious to truth and religion. Verse 34 In the book of Jehu - This is totally lost, though it is evident that it was in being when the books of Chronicles were written. Verse 36 To go to Tarshish - "In the great sea." - Targum. By which expression they always meant the Mediterranean Sea. Verse 37 The Lord hath broken, etc. - "The Word of the Lord hath broken." - Targum. Concerning Tarshish, Ezion-geber, and Ophir, and the voyage thither, see the notes on 1Kgs 10:22, and at 1Kgs 10:29 (note), and on 2Chr 9:26-28 (note). The Tarshish here is called by the Chaldee Torsos in the great sea, some place in the Mediterranean. On this subject the reader has, no doubt, already seen a great variety of opinions. Introduction Jehoram succeeds his father Jehoshaphat; and commences his reign with the murder of his brethren, and of several of the princes of Israel,

God's Promise of Victory. ( b. c. 892.) 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; 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. 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. 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. 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 . 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. We have here God's gracious answer to Jehoshaphat's prayer; and it was a speedy answer. While he was yet speaking God heard: before the congregation was dismissed they had assurance given them that they should be victorious; for it is never in vain to seek God. 1. The spirit of prophecy came upon a Levite that was present, not in any place of eminency, but in the midst of the congregation, v. 14 . The Spirit, like the wind, blows where and on whom he listeth. He was of the sons of Asaph, and therefore one of the singers; on that office God would put an honour. Whether he was a prophet before this or no is uncertain, most probably he was, which would make him the more regarded. There needed no sign, the thing itself was to be performed the very next day, and that would be confirmation enough to his prophecy. 2. He encouraged them to trust in God, though the danger was very threatening ( v. 15 ): " Be not afraid; you have admitted fear enough to bring you to God, do not now admit that which will drive you to God, do not now admit that which will drive you from him again. The battle is not yours; it is not in your own strength, not for your own cause, that you engage; the battle is God's: he does and will, as you have desired, interest himself in the cause." 3. He gives them intelligence of the motions of the enemy, and orders them to march towards them, with particular directions where they should find them. To-morrow (the day after the fast) go you down against them, v. 16, 17 . It is fit that he who commands the deliverance should command those for whom the deliverance is to be wrought, and give the necessary orders, both for time and place. 4. He assures them that they should be, not the glorious instruments, but the joyful spectators, of the total defeat of the enemy: "You shall not need to strike a stroke; the work shall be done to your hands; only stand still and see it," v. 17 . As Moses said to Israel at the Red Sea ( Exod. xiv. 13 ), " God is with you, who is able to do his work himself, and will do it. If the battle be his, the victory shall be his too." Let but the Christian soldier go out against his spiritual enemies, and the God of peace will tread them under his feet and make him more than a conqueror. 5. Jehoshaphat and his people received these assurances with faith, reverence, and thankfulness. (1.) They bowed their heads, Jehoshaphat first, and then all the people, fell before the Lord, and worshipped, receiving with a holy awe and fear of God this token of his favour, and saying with faith, Be it unto us according to thy word. (2.) They lifted up their voices in praise to God, v. 19 . An active faith can give thanks for a promise though it be not yet performed, knowing that God's bonds are as good as ready money. God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, Ps. lx. 5 .