(2
CHRONICLES 20:1-19)
Now
it came about after this that the sons of Moab and the sons of Ammon, together
with some of the Meunites, came to make war against Jehoshaphat. 2 Then
some came and reported to Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming
against you from beyond the sea, out of Aram and behold, they are in
Hazazon-tamar (that is Engedi).” 3 Jehoshaphat was afraid and
turned his attention to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all
Judah. 4 So Judah gathered together to seek help from the Lord;
they even came from all the cities of Judah to seek the Lord.
5 Then
Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the
Lord before the new court, 6 and he said, “O Lord, the God of
our fathers, are You not God in the heavens? And are You not ruler over all the
kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can
stand against You. 7 Did You not, O our God, drive out the
inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and give it to the
descendants of Abraham Your friend forever? 8 They have lived
in it, and have built You a sanctuary there for Your name, saying, 9 ‘Should
evil come upon us, the sword, or judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we
will stand before this house and before You (for Your name is in this house)
and cry to You in our distress, and You will hear and deliver us.’ 10 Now
behold, the sons of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom You did not let Israel
invade when they came out of the land of Egypt (they turned aside from them and
did not destroy them), 11 see how they are rewarding us
by coming to drive us out from Your possession which You have given us as an
inheritance. 12 O our God, will You not judge them? For we are
powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know
what to do, but our eyes are on You.”
13 All
Judah was standing before the Lord, with their infants, their wives and their
children.
14 Then
in the midst of the assembly the Spirit of the Lord came 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; 15 and he said, “Listen, all Judah
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says the Lord to
you, ‘Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the
battle is not yours but God’s. 16 Tomorrow go down against
them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at
the end of the valley in front of the wilderness of Jeruel. 17 You
need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see
the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not fear
or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the Lord is with you.”
18 Jehoshaphat
bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. 19 The
Levites, from the sons of the Kohathites and of the sons of the Korahites, stood
up to praise the Lord God of Israel, with a very loud voice.
When
The Enemy Closes In
There are times in our lives when we all feel a bit
overwhelmed. Like the whole world is
closing in on us and the enemy is marching into our lives unannounced,
unprovoked, and in force. At that moment
there are one of four possible responses:
panic, shoulder up to meet the challenge head on, become withdrawn, or
turn to Someone greater than ourselves for help. This passage we are about to look at is an
example how we should respond
A
Kingdom Under Attack
Jehoshaphat was king over Judah when they came under
attack by three separate nations which, for whatever reason, decided to ally
against them. What makes it more
shocking is that these were nations who were considered kindred people: Moab, Ammon, and Edom. Moab and Ammon where the children of Lot (the
nephew of Abraham) and his two daughter’s unrighteous sexual encounters found
in Genesis 19:30-38. Edom was a nation
developed from the children of Esau the brother of Jacob in Genesis 32:3 and
36. In his prayer before the Lord,
Jehoshaphat points out in verse 10 that Israel was forbidden to drive out these
nations by God according to Numbers 20:17-21.
Even though, through the years these nations had been brought under
subjection by different Kings of Israel, there was never an attempt to drive
them out. So one can see the shock and
surprise of being attacked with the sole purpose of destroying them.
The other thing to see is the complete size of these
armies! They were not coming with a
small force. In fact verse 2 notes, “…‘A
great multitude is coming against you…’”
At this point in history Judah stands alone against them. The nation had been split because of the
unrighteousness of Solomon and his son according to 1 Kings 11:29-40 and
12:1-20 as well as 2 Chronicles 10. The
northern kingdom of Israel was severally weakened at the defeat of Ahab her
king and the overthrow of its administration by Jehu in 2 Chronicles
18:28-19:3. At this point there is no
one to turn to for help in this world.
The
Panic
It would be amiss for any of us to assume that panic did
not enter the heart and possibly the population at the revelation of what was
occurring. Verse 3 notes that
Jehoshaphat was afraid, as would anyone.
Where does he turn? What should
he do? How should he handle this
situation? The one thing we can say
about this king was that he did not shoulder up thinking if he just mustered up
enough men and if their strategies were smart enough they could defeat this
invasion. The other thing he did not do
was withdrawal. He did not attempt to
run and hide from the situation. Being
the good king that he was verse 3 reveals that even though he was afraid, he
“…turned his attention to seek the LORD…”
Just to be understood, he alone did not do this, but this was expected
to be done by everyone in the kingdom.
The
Action of Turning to Yahweh
Verse 3 clearly
states that Jehoshaphat proclaimed a fast, therefore the call to seek Yahweh’s
face is made. Verse 4 shows the concern
of the citizens by them assembling in Jerusalem at the temple to seek the face
of the LORD, together. They understood
the gravity of the situation and knew, as did their king, that they as a nation
could not overcome this combined foe alone.
They needed help and it was not coming from any other source.
The Prayer of Confidence
Jehoshaphat’s prayer is intriguing. He is not ignorant of his history, the
scriptures, the character of God, or his position in this time of
difficulty. His prayer shows depth of
knowledge from the Scripture and humility.
He proclaims who God is, who they are in His sight, and what He has done
for them. With no restraint they beg for
help from Him. (vv. 5-13)
God’s
Revelation
This time of prayer and humility brings revelation from
Jahaziel a prophet of God and family of the Levitical order. The word of God to the people is three
fold: 1) the enemy is not to be feared
(v. 15a), which was a promise made to Joshua in Joshua 1:7-9 when he was
preparing the nation of Israel to take the land; 2) the battle belongs to the
Lord (v. 15b); and 3) they needed to go out and face the enemy in order to see
what God was about to do for them (vv. 16-17).
The
Correct Response
If this moment were to be Americanized on film there
would be a great uprising and call to arms.
But, this is not America, it is Judah and their response was as it
should be, an act of deep worship of this great God. Verses 18-19 bring out that they worshiped in
prayer and in song. They had sought God,
God had answered, and now they were thankful for His grace shown to them.
Lessons
·
Great enemies will raise up against us and
often in great number from unexpected sources.
·
We should seek God when our enemies stand
against us.
·
We should be prepared to hear a word from
God when we seek Him.
·
When we hear from God we should worship
Him for His great word.
·
God will do the fighting for us.
·
Extra thought: Maybe if we followed this way of living and
worship in our churches we would hear more from God.
Please contact me with any speaking engagements please contact me contact me at:
StevenSwaim@Bedevotedministries.com
For more insight from the Bible pleased visit http://www.xulonpress.com/bookstore
to order my book
Walking Faith: A Journey from Then to Now through James
to purchase my book
