Second Chronicles 20:13

The Bible says in Second Chronicles 20:13-19, “And all Judah stood before the LORD, 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, 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.” Notice verse thirteen that says that “all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.” Here is something that is different from that day and what we can see going on in the modern world that we am experiencing: the parents actually brought their children to the place of worship to hear the Word of God.

What a wonderful and important message they were given in verse fifteen from the Lord through the preacher: “Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.” Unfortunately, believers are almost always in the minority. We wish that more would be saved by faith in Christ and have a home in heaven. But it appears many are blinded by the lies of the evil one, and sometimes they will come against us in persecution. Jesus said, “The servant is not greater than his Lord.” And remember what they did to Jesus. But the Word of God says to all believers wherever you are: “Be not afraid.” Even though they out-number us, we have God, and He is all powerful. Every soul is in His hands. God decides everything. God loves us. He will only allow what is best for us and His great plan for the world. That is why He told them in verse fifteen, “the battle is not yours, but God's.” Do not do anything against your enemies. Just trust God. That is why they are told in verse seventeen, “Ye shall not need to fight in this battle.” Have you ever had a great problem but you did not do anything to resolve it: you just waited upon God to see what He would do?

The Bible says in Second Chronicles 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.” Jehoshaphat said, “Believe in the LORD your God.” That means to trust in Him. That sounds very basic, but most people including Christians, trust in anything or anyone but God. Right after saying “believe in the Lord,” they are told to “believe his prophets.” The prophets are those who speak forth the Word of God. That is God’s way of dealing with His believers. God sends preachers to open up the Word and to speak God’s truth. That is what Jesus did, that is what He sent the apostles to do, and that is what he sends some believers to do: preach the Word. To “preach” means to publicly proclaim.

The Bible says in Second Chronicles 20:21-23, “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.[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.[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.” This is a very important spiritual lesson. They start praising the Lord before God gives the victory. The Lord had promised victory. That is all it takes. They had prayed to the Lord. That is all it takes. Do you ever praise God for the victory even before the victory is given? We certainly do that in regards to going to heaven. Those who have been born-again through faith in Christ know that they are going to heaven even before we get there. Jesus said in John 14V1-3, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.[2] In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.[3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

Verse twenty-three tells us what happened: before the Israelites got there, all of their enemies turned on each other and killed each other with a great slaughter. God can do anything. God decides what people do. God has a plan and everyone is part of that plan: for good or for evil. Therefore, trust in God, and believe that He will take care of everything.

The Bible says in Second Chronicles 20:24-28, “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.[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, 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.[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.[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.[28] And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the house of the LORD.” They praised God before the victory and after the victory. They were happy. They were joyful. That is the way the believer’s life should be. Philippians 4V4, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.”

The Bible says in Second Chronicles 20:29-37, “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.[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 mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi.[32] And 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.[33] Howbeit the high places were not taken away: for as yet the people had not prepared 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 book of Jehu the son of Hanani, who is mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel.[35] And after this did Jehoshaphat king of Judah join himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who 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 Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the LORD hath broken thy works. And the ships were broken, that they were not able to go to Tarshish.” Everything is of God: including peace or war for a nation. Verse thirty says, “So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about.” They were blessed because war is hell. It is not just the young men and women soldiers who are killed. Sometimes even more innocent civilians are also killed and terribly wounded, and their lives upended. No wonder Christians are told in First Timothy 2:1-2, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;[2] For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.”

Even though Jehoshaphat was a very good king compared to some of the other kings, note what it says in verse thirty-three, “Howbeit the high places were not taken away: for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their fathers.” The people of the nation had not turned to the Lord. It is a blessing that the leader turned to the Lord, but if the people do not get right with God, the nation will still head in the wrong direction: right in the path of judgment.

Of course, Jehoshaphat was not perfect, and we see in verse thirty-seven that one of his big failures of the past has come full circle and he is going to make the same mistake again. It is better to make no mistakes at all, or once we have made a mistake to learn from it and to not make that mistake again. Thank God that He is merciful through faith in the Lord Jesus. If you fail a thousand times a day, he will still forgive you, if you repent and ask for forgiveness. If you do not, then the Lord will chastise you to wake you up to your need of seeking Him again. The Word of God from the prophet to Jehoshaphat is found at the end of verse thirty-seven, “Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the LORD hath broken thy works. And the ships were broken, that they were not able to go to Tarshish.” One of the reasons for human failure is sin. God sees and judges all the activities of every person on this earth, and especially the believers. “Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, and sourgeth every son whom He receiveth.”

The Bible says in Second Chronicles 21:1-6, “Now 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 fenced cities in Judah: but the kingdom gave he to Jehoram; because he was the firstborn.[4] Now when Jehoram was risen up to the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself, and slew all his brethren with the sword, and divers also of the princes of Israel.[5] Jehoram was thirty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.[6] And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like as did the house of Ahab: for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife: and he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD.” The next king after Jehoshaphat is horrible: Jehoshaphat’s oldest son named Jehoram. Six other sons of Jehoshaphat are mentioned. All of them were enriched by Jehoshaphat. Jehoram kills all of his brothers and other powerful people in Israel. It says in verse six about Jehoram that “he walked in the way of the kings of Israel.” That means that he was involved in false religion. The middle of verse six says that Jehoram “had the daughter of Ahab to wife.” That probably means that Jehoram’s wife was wicked. Be careful who you marry. It will go a long way to determining what kind of life that you will have. The end of verse six tells us something that we already know about Jehoram, “he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD.” By the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, may we be known for doing good, and not for doing evil.

___________________________________________________