11 Chronicles Chapter 20

Jehoshaphat's Prayer

2Ch 20:1 It 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.
2 Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazontamar, which is Engedi.

Moab and Ammon were descendants of Abraham's nephew, Lot. It is sad to see them fight with their relatives like this and not respect each other's right to life. They were idol worshippers also and had become enemies of the nation of Israel throughout history.

2Chronicles 20:3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
4 And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

Fasting and prayer before Christ came when they were under the law of God given through Moses and also after the grace of God came through Jesus the Son of God, is a way to humble oneself and seek God for specific reasons. Fasting to seek the Lord has to be accompanied by giving ourselves to prayer also. We set ourselves aside solely to seek the Lord's help, guidance or just a time of worship and building ourselves up in our faith.

2Chronicles 20:5 And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court,
6 And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?
7 Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?
8 And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying,
9 If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.
10 And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not;
11 Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit.
12 O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.
13 And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.

We need to do this more and more as we see the evil days approaching and the actions of people are more against God and His word. I've always been one who believed children should be in our worship services and be part of our prayer and worship as well as have separate teaching of God's word in their own level of understanding. They need both. To just have babysitters that play games is not good. They need to observe and be part of congregational worship.

2Chronicles 20:14 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.

This is part of the bible where many songs about the battle belongs to the Lord was taken from. Sometimes God wants us to do something ourselves but there are other times He wants us to stay still and see His deliverance and salvation. This reminds me of the time just before the crossing of the Red Sea written about in the book of Exodus.

Exodus 14:13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.

Jehaziel, one of the Levites prophesied victory just as Moses did many years before when they were trapped between the armies of Pharoah and the Red Sea.

2Chronicles 20:19 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.

I love hearing the shouts and praises of whole congregations all at the same time. In my memories as a child, I sometimes can hear by memory some in our congregation and home prayer meetings loudly praying to the Lord. It is an awesome memory.

2Chronicles 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.

Fasting, praying and seeking God with the same mind and one accord will surely strengthen our faith to believe in the Lord and prosper in all His ways instead of our ways.

2Chronicles 20:21 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.

Mount Seir was the descendants of Esau, the twin brother of Jacab whose name was changed to Israel. They came to wipe out Judah but ended up fighting among each other. Esau was a descendant of Abraham whereas Moab and Ammon came from Lot, the nephew of Abraham. They should have loved Judah and Israel, not come against them.

The Lord Delivers Judah

2Chronicles 20:24 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.

We see in this also the joy and praise that includes musiccal instruments as well as singing.

2Chronicles 20:29 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.

Other nations heard of this battle and feared the Lord. I wonder how they heard without our modern day news media.

This battle was the Lord's. They did nothing but praise and worship. The sound caused the enemies to start killing each other. Fervent sincere prayer and humbling ourselves before God as well as anointed praise and worship is powerful. We must remember that. Gathering together with other believers in Jesus is a must.

2Chronicles 20:31 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.

I rejoice when I read about the kings that were faithful to God. Even those that messed up a few times but repented and did not depart from their faith in God.

2Chronicles 20:33 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.

The high places were for the worship of idols and should have been taken away by all the people. There were always some that hold back and try to serve God and have their idolatry too. It never works. We must make up our minds who we will serve and believe in. Remember false religion and idolatry are under the influence of Satan. It is so evil that people that use to be good people began to sacrifice their own children to thise idols. This is happening today. We call it abortion. Especially later term when the child can feel pain. This is so evil, they just don't know what they are doing.

The End of Jehoshaphat's Reign

2Chronicles 20:35 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 Eziongeber.
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.

After so many victories, this is hard to understand but it happens to the best of us. We must strive to stay faithful all the days of our lives especially as an example to our children.

11 Chronicles Chapter 21