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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - 2 Chronicles 20:14 - 20:25
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The Miraculous Overthrow of the Enemies
v. 14. Then upon Jehaziel, 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, putting a wonderful prophecy into his mouth;
v. 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; it was He whose honor was at stake, and who would take steps to defend it.
v. 16. Tomorrow go ye down against them; behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz, the ascent of Haziz, the pass which led from the lowlands of the Dead Sea to the valley near Tekoa, southeast of Bethlehem; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel, for to that point this large, flat valley extends.
v. 17. Ye shall not need to fight in this battle, it would be fought and won without their swords and bows; set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem, the deliverance which they would experience. Fear not nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord will be with you.
v. 18. And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, in grateful acknowledgment of the announcement made by God through His prophet; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshiping the Lord, joining the king in his act of thanksgiving.
v. 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, in an anthem of praise flowing from the conviction of faith that the victory was even new gained.
v. 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, in an address delivered to the people at some convenient place, probably near the gate of the city from which they set forth, Hear me, O Judah and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord, your God, placing their trust in Him in unwavering faith, so shall ye be established; believe His prophets, as the bearers of His messages, so shall ye prosper.
v. 21. And when he had consulted with the people, advised them, exhorted them to confidence in God, he appointed singers unto the Lord, to lead the procession as it was led forth to the valley, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, the holy beauty and glory of Jehovah as the one true God and Savior, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord, for His mercy endureth forever, probably Psalms 136, which sets forth the great deeds of God.
v. 22. And when they began to sing and to praise, in a singular service of worship based upon faith in the victory promised to them, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir which were come against Judah, and they were smitten. It seems that certain divisions of the invading hordes, eager for booty, had determined to waylay any forces that might come along. When these attacked their own confederates, however, the result was a wild self-slaughter of the invading army, every man regarding his neighbor as a traitor and an enemy.
v. 23. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, the Meunites, utterly to slay and destroy them; and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, when practically the entire force of the Meunites was annihilated, everyone helped to destroy another, the wild slaughter continued, because they were all crazed with the lust of blood.
v. 24. And when Judah, the procession which had left Jerusalem in the morning, came toward the watch-tower in the wilderness, on a rise of ground not far from Tekoa, where they could overlook the entire valley, they looked unto the multitude, they watched for the approaching hordes, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth and none escaped, the entire hostile army was exterminated.
v. 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, costly dress-goods and garments, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away, an immense booty, for the nomadic tribes carried all their costly possessions with them. And they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much. Thus the victory came to Jehoshaphat without the use of arms, as a gift of God's goodness, in return for the simple trust which he and the people had placed in Him alone. The same almighty God is the Refuge of His children today.