2 Chronicles Chapter 20

At a Glance

  • No, this is Jehoshaphat facing a coalition of Moabites, Ammonites, and others.
  • Historical & Literary Context.
  • Set in the same Juxtaposition of Kings narrative, the Chronicles retells and reframes events with an emphasis on temple-centered faithfulness.
  • - Dependence on God in crisis: prayer and fasting as primary tools in spiritual warfare.
  • - The power of communal worship: gathering the people to seek the Lord in the temple, reinforcing collective identity.

Chapter Overview

Jehoash? No, this is Jehoshaphat facing a coalition of Moabites, Ammonites, and others. War drums beat in the northeast corridor of Judah as a vast army advances against the land. The narrative centers on fear and reliance: Jehoshaphat proclaims a collective fast, the people gather in humility, and they turn their eyes to the LORD in the house of prayer. Jehoshaphat’s heartfelt prayer (invoking God’s sovereignty over heaven, earth, and all kingdoms) frames the crisis through covenant memory: God promised, through Abraham and David, to give the land to their descendants, and the house of God remains the sanctuary where cries for help ascend. The chapter introduces a pattern that recurs in 2 Chronicles: human vulnerability met by divine intervention that demands faith, prayer, and worship. The people confess their weakness—“we have no might against this great company”—but fix their gaze on God. The king’s quest for guidance yields unusual divine direction through a prophetic response or perhaps a divine move that alters the battle’s course (the narrative later unfolds in the chapter with praise and triumph). The lesson is not merely military victory but the deeper reality that trust in the LORD plus communal worship re-centers a people under God’s sovereignty.

Historical & Literary Context

Set in the same Juxtaposition of Kings narrative, the Chronicles retells and reframes events with an emphasis on temple-centered faithfulness. This chapter is part of a broader arc where Judah’s fortunes rise and fall with its fidelity to the LORD. The genre uses a blend of psalm-like prayer and historical narration to illustrate faith in crisis, often highlighting worship as the means by which God’s presence comes near. In 2 Chronicles, military threats become occasions for communal repentance and liturgical renewal. The chapter reflects the chronicler’s theology: dependence on divine power expressed through fasting, prayer in the temple, and communal worship. It also foreshadows a pattern of miraculous deliverance as confirmation of covenant loyalty. The writing is consciously post-exilic in spirit, shaping readers’ memory to see worship and trust as the true defense and source of victory.

Key Themes

- Dependence on God in crisis: prayer and fasting as primary tools in spiritual warfare.

- The power of communal worship: gathering the people to seek the Lord in the temple, reinforcing collective identity.

- Covenant memory as strategic language: recalling God’s past acts to fuel present faith.

- Divine sovereignty over nations: God as ruler over kingdoms who can turn the heart of rulers and shift battles.

- Humble vulnerability leading to deliverance: acknowledging weakness invites divine intervention and courage.

Modern Application

For today, this chapter teaches believers to lead crises through prayer, humility, and worship rather than mere tactical planning. Practical takeaways:

- In face of overwhelming odds, fast and seek God, inviting the community to participate in discernment.

- Center crises in corporate worship and lament, using liturgical practices to align desires with God’s will.

- Practice honest confession of dependence on God, resisting the urge to rely on political power or military might alone.

- Remember God’s faithfulness in the past to trust Him for the present, using communal memory as a source of courage.

- Recognize that divine intervention often comes through unlikely pathways, prompting praise and worship as response to grace.

Cross-References: Psalm 46; James 5:16–18; 1 Samuel 7; Isaiah 40; Nehemiah 9

Recommended Personas: Jesus (prayerful contemplation and reliance in crisis), Moses (leading and relying on God in conflict), Jeremiah (call to trust amid national peril)

Chapter Text

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Eziongaber.

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.

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