2 Chron 20 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: 2 Chron 20:1-19

1 After this, the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites came to wage war against Jehoshaphat.

2 Some people came and told Jehoshaphat, ‘A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Dead Sea. It is already in Hazezon Tamar’ (that is, En Gedi). 3 Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to enquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. 4 The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.

5 Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the Lord in the front of the new courtyard 6 and said:

‘Lord, the God of our ancestors, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. 7 Our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it for ever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? 8 They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying, 9 “If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.”

10 ‘But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them. 11 See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. 12 Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.’

13 All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the Lord.

14 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite and descendant of Asaph, as he stood in the assembly.

15 He said: ‘Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16 Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. 17 You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.”’

18 Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the Lord. 19 Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

A. Find Out:

1. What crisis occurred and how did Jehoshaphat respond? v.1-4
2. What point did he first make in prayer? v.5,6
3. What point did he then make to the Lord? v.7,8,10,11
4. What did he say he would do & what did he ask the Lord? v.9,12
5. How did the Lord respond and what did He say? v.14-17
6. How did Jehoshaphat respond? v.18

B. Think:

1. How is Jehoshaphat’s initial action an example to us?
2. What do we learn from his approach in prayer?
3. Be clear, what did the Lord say about the coming battle?

C. Comment:

     This is a glorious chapter and Jehoshaphat excels in his responses. First, there is his response to the coming invasion: he simply seeks the Lord. He doesn’t make massive preparations, he simply calls a fast. Humanly crazy, spiritually wisdom! The people respond and gather at the Temple in Jerusalem . His faith is rewarded.

     Second, there is his response in prayer. He first of all declares the greatness of the Lord. It is good to remind ourselves, especially in the face of crisis, that the Lord is all-powerful. He then speaks out history, ‘reminding’ the Lord that He gave His people this land. Finally he entreats the Lord to intervene on their behalf against this invading force that threatens this land.

     We then see the Lord’s response as, by His Spirit, He comes upon one of the Levites who prophesies triumph. But it is more than this, he prophesies that the Lord Himself will fight this battle and so Judah will not have to actually fight. That is amazing! So, third, we see the king’s response to this word which is clearly acceptance as he bows down and worships the Lord. This is real worship, a heart response to the wonder of God’s goodness, an instinctive bowing down. There is nothing routine about this (like our so-called ‘worship services’), it is a heart response in awareness of God’s wonder.

D. Application:

1. Is my response in a crisis to seek the Lord?
2. Is my worship a heart response to God’s goodness?

Passage: 2 Chron 20:20-30

20 Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, ‘Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.’ 21 After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendour of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying:

‘Give thanks to the Lord,
    for his love endures for ever.’

22 As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. 23 The Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the men from Mount Seir to destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Seir, they helped to destroy one another.

24 When the men of Judah came to the place that overlooks the desert and looked towards the vast army, they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground; no one had escaped. 25 So Jehoshaphat and his men went to carry off their plunder, and they found among them a great amount of equipment and clothing and also articles of value – more than they could take away. There was so much plunder that it took three days to collect it. 26 On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Berakah, where they praised the Lord. This is why it is called the Valley of Berakah to this day.

27 Then, led by Jehoshaphat, all the men of Judah and Jerusalem returned joyfully to Jerusalem, for the Lord had given them cause to rejoice over their enemies. 28 They entered Jerusalem and went to the temple of the Lord with harps and lyres and trumpets.

29 The fear of God came on all the surrounding kingdoms when they heard how the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. 30 And the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for his God had given him rest on every side.

A. Find Out:

1. What did Jehoshaphat say and do? v.20,21
2. What did the Lord do? v.22,23
3. What was it only left for Judah to do? v.24-26
4. What did they do when they returned? v.27,28
5. What happened as a result? v.29
6. With what further result? v.30

B. Think:

1. What do you see was Judah ‘s part before the impending battle?
2. What was their role after what happened?
3. How do you think the Lord brought about the defeat of the enemy?

C. Comment:

      A vast army has come against Judah (v.2), the king has called the people to seek the Lord (v.3,4), and the Lord has said that He will fight the battle (v.15). Now supposing that had been your situation: you had a crisis and people were planning to come and get you, you sought the Lord and a prophetic person came and told you that the Lord was going to deal with them? What is now the issue? It is whether you will believe God or run away!

     Jehoshaphat declares belief in God (v.20) and, as a means of strengthening that belief, appoints singers to praise the Lord as they get ready. They DO trust the Lord!

     So what does the Lord do? Well, we aren’t told how He actually did it, only that He ambushed the enemy. What is an ambush? It is when you attack with surprise. The result of this ambush is that the various tribal groups who have banded together turn on one another and fight one another so that there is wholesale slaughter. How did He do it? Well we’ve seen previously how He used a lying spirit to bring down the ungodly ( 18:19 -22), so perhaps He spoke words of upset to these groups in the same way. They are ungodly and receive God’s judgement and so perhaps He simply turns their mistrust of one another back on them so it breaks out and they kill each other. Amazing!

D. Application:

1. God speaks words of encouragement. Do I believe Him?
2. An ungodly heart is open to deception – and self destruction.

Passage: 2 Chron 20:30 – 21:1

30 And the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for his God had given him rest on every side.

31 So Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he became king of Judah, and he reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-five years. His mother’s name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi. 32 He followed the ways of his father Asa and did not stray from them; he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. 33 The high places, however, were not removed, and the people still had not set their hearts on the God of their ancestors.

34 The other events of Jehoshaphat’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the annals of Jehu son of Hanani, which are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel.

35 Later, Jehoshaphat king of Judah made an alliance with Ahaziah king of Israel, whose ways were wicked. 36 He agreed with him to construct a fleet of trading ships. After these were built at Ezion Geber, 37 Eliezer son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, ‘Because you have made an alliance with Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy what you have made.’ The ships were wrecked and were not able to set sail to trade.

21:1 Then Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. And Jehoram his son succeeded him as king. 

A. Find Out:

1. How was Jehoshaphat summarised? v.32
2. Read 1 Kings22:45,46. What else did he do?
3. Yet what was still the state of Judah ? v.33
4. What did Jehoshaphat go on to do? v.35,36
5. What did the Lord say about that and what happened? v.37

B. Think:

1. What good had Jehoshaphat done?
2. Yet what had he failed to do?
3. What seems to have been his vulnerability?

C. Comment:

     So we come to the end of Jehoshaphat’s life. Kings only records a little about him but, as we’ve seen, Chronicles records him as one of the great kings. His summary is good: “he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord”. If we had that on our tombstone that would be good wouldn’t it! Yet that summary isn’t everything. It says that in general his heart was set on the Lord but, as the Bible always does, we are also shown his weaknesses.

     The first thing perhaps, is simply that he didn’t go all out to bring the people back to God. He cleared out the shrine prostitutes that his father Asa hadn’t managed to deal to deal with, but yet some of the ‘high places’ the places where the people still worshipped idols still remained. With this idolatry still going on, the people had still not set their hearts on the Lord. That is a sad condemnation.

      The second thing, which is a specific spiritual vulnerability, is that he didn’t seem to see the awfulness of ungodliness in other kings. Thus he aligned himself with Ahab and got into difficulties and aligned himself with Ahaziah and got into difficulties. In both cases he was rebuked by the Lord. In his own relationship with the Lord he generally did what was right, but in respect of Israel he didn’t seem to be able to see their wrong. Thus in many ways he was a good king but still showed his inadequacies in these particular ways.

D. Application:

1. What could be my epitaph?
2. Do I think too lightly of those who are ungodly and unrighteous?