CHAPTER 20

(896 B.C.)

MOAB INVADES JUDAH

¹It 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 (this invasion was probably allowed by the Lord because of Jehoshaphats previous alliance with Ahab, which, as stated, greatly displeased the Lord [19:2]).

²Then there came some who told Jehoshaphat, saying, There comes a great multitude against you from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazon-tamar, which is En-gedi (this was more than a skirmish; it was a concentrated effort by the powers of darkness to destroy Judah).

JEHOSHAPHAT PRAYS FOR DELIVERANCE

³And Jehoshaphat feared (this is not the spirit of fear spoken of by Paul, but rather the type of fear that is supposed to drive us to the Lord, and which it did Jehoshaphat), and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

⁴And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD (regrettably, the modern Church is teaching the people to seek the help of humanistic psychologists; let it ever be known, there is no help whatsoever from that source; the Lord Alone can help!).

⁵And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the House of the LORD, before the new court,

⁶And said, O LORD God of our fathers, are not You God in Heaven? and rule not You over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand You? (Even though these heathen powers did not serve God, still, they could do nothing except that which the Lord allowed them to do. As well, while Satan may be mighty in some respects, God Alone is Almighty!)

⁷Are not You our God, Who did drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the seed of Abraham Your friend for ever? (The Lord was Israels God, and they were His Children. Now, Satan is attempting to take the possession and inheritance that was given by the Lord.

The word forever signifies the fact that our inheritance is never to be taken from us by the powers of darkness. God intends for us to keep it forever. In fact, it can be forfeited only by rebellion against the Lord.)

⁸And they dwelt therein, and have built You a Sanctuary therein for Your Name, saying (it was a House of Sacrifices, hence the shed Blood of the Lamb being the defense, and the only true defense, of Israel [7:12]),

⁹If, when evil comes upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this House, and in Your Presence, (for Your Name is in this House,) and cry unto You in our affliction, then You will hear and help (Solomon had prayed this prayer many years before [Chpt. 6]; the Lord had promised to answer, that is, if certain conditions were met [7:14]).

¹⁰And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom You would not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not (all of this proclaims the fact that Jehoshaphat knew the Word);

¹¹Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of Your possession, which You have given us to inherit (that which Satan ever attempts to do).

¹²O our God, will You not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that comes against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon You (within ourselves, we have no might against Satan, and that we must ever learn; our strength is totally in the Lord; as then, so now!).

JAHAZIEL PROMISES GODS DELIVERANCE

¹³And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children (Jehoshaphat had called upon all to seek the Lord).

¹⁴Then 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 (the Spirit of the Lord is the answer, and the only answer [Zech. 4:6]);

¹⁵And he said, Hearken you, all Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus says the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but Gods. (If we try to fight the battle on our terms, we will lose; if we fight the battle on His terms, we will win. What are those terms?

We have to trust in Christ, Who has already fought this battle and won, and did so at the Cross [Col. 2:14-15]. Doing that, the Holy Spirit will then guarantee us the victory of Christ [Rom. 8:1-2, 11].)

¹⁶Tomorrow go you down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and you shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.

¹⁷You shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand you still, and see the Salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem (stand still refers to the ceasing and desisting of our own personal efforts, i.e., the flesh, and thereby trusting the Lord completely, and what He has done for us at the Cross): fear not, nor be dismayed (ever the Word given to us by the Lord); tomorrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you (and if He is with us, who can be against us?).

¹⁸And 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.

¹⁹And 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 (indicative of a Pentecostal meeting!).

GOD FULFILLS HIS PROMISE

²⁰And they (Judah) 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 you inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God (have faith in Him), so shall you be established (established in His Word); believe His Prophets, so shall you prosper (true Prophets!).

²¹And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD (told to do this by the Lord), and that should praise the Beauty of Holiness, as they went out before the army (praise must precede our effort), and to say, Praise the LORD; for His Mercy endures for ever (praise and worship through singing and music constitute the highest form of worship, that is if it is Spirit-directed; to be sure, modern contemporary Christian music, so-called, definitely does not fall into this category, and any Christian who thinks it does is only fooling himself).

²²And 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 (the Jewish Targums say that these ambushments were caused by Angels).

²³For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, utterly to kill and destroy them (the children of Ammon and Moab became so confused that they began to destroy the Edomites instead of the Israelites): and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another (they then turned on each other all of this caused by the Lord).

²⁴And 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 (all of this portrays to us, in type and shadow, the manner presently in which our battles must be fought and won; Paul said that these are examples for us [I Cor. 10:11]).

²⁵And 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 (this is the true position of the Child of God; the Lord intends for us to take the spoil of Satan, instead of him robbing us).

²⁶And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there they blessed the LORD (thanked Him for what He had done for them): therefore the name of the same place was called, The valley of Berachah, unto this day (the valley of Blessing).

²⁷Then 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 (and this the Lord will enable all of us to do, providing we look to Christ as our Source and the Cross as the Means [Rom. 6:3-14; 8:1-2, 11; I Cor. 1:17-18, 23; 2:2; Gal. 6:14; Col. 2:14-15]).

²⁸And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the House of the LORD (they were playing these instruments and praising the Lord as they came into Jerusalem, and unto the Temple).

²⁹And 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. (Such a miraculous defeat of the Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites was soon known by all nations round about. What a victory!)

³⁰So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about (Mat. 11:28-30).

A SUMMARY OF JEHOSHAPHATS REIGN

³¹And 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.

³²And 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.

³³Howbeit the high places were not taken away (even though Jehoshaphat had given instructions that this be done [17:6]): for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their fathers (despite the great miracle which they had just experienced in the defeat of their enemies; this shows that miracles do not necessarily turn one to God).

³⁴Now 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.

³⁵And after this did Jehoshaphat king of Judah join himself with Ahaziah king of Israel (son of Ahab), who did very wickedly:

³⁶And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish: and they made the ships in Ezion-gaber (once again, Jehoshaphat will succumb to his old sin; an old sin is an easy sin).

³⁷Then Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because you have joined yourself with Ahaziah, the LORD has broken your works. And the ships were broken, that they were not able to go to Tarshish. (The prosperity of Jehoshaphat was not to be found in wicked Ahaziah, but in the Lord, always in the Lord! When it says, in the Thirty-second Verse, that Jehoshaphat departed not from doing that which was right in the sight of the Lord, it was speaking of idol-worship. Despite his sin regarding alliances with the northern kingdom of Israel, he never succumbed in any manner to idol-worship.)