2 Chronicles 20:1 - Meaning and Application

We left Jehoshaphat, in the chapter before this, busy reforming his kingdom and making sure justice and true worship were cared for. So we would expect to hear only of peace and success in his reign. Instead, we find him in trouble, yet that trouble was followed by a great rescue, which richly rewarded his devotion. When we run into hardship while doing what is right, we can trust that God intends to show us even more of his wonderful loving kindness.

Here we have, first, a serious invasion of Jehoshaphat’s kingdom by the Moabites, the Ammonites, and their allies (2 Chronicles 20:1). Jehoshaphat did not learn of it until the enemy had already entered his land (2 Chronicles 20:2). We are not told what complaint they claimed to have against him. They are said to come from beyond the sea, meaning the Dead Sea, where Sodom had once stood. It seems they marched through the lands of the ten tribes east of the Jordan, and those people let them pass through. That was very ungrateful, since Jehoshaphat had recently helped them try to recover Ramoth Gilead. Several nations joined this attack, but especially the descendants of Lot, and the others helped them along (Psalm 83:6-8). The surrounding nations had once feared Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 17:10), but his close tie with Ahab may have lowered him in their eyes. They may also have heard that God was displeased with him for that alliance, and they thought this was their chance to plunder his kingdom.

Second, we see the preparation Jehoshaphat made against the invaders. The text does not mention him gathering his army, though he likely did. We must trust God, but we must also use proper means. His greatest concern was to gain God’s favor and make sure God was on his side. He may have been especially careful because he had recently been told that wrath had gone out against him from the Lord (2 Chronicles 19:2). Yet he thought like his father David: if we must be corrected, let us not fall into human hands.

He was afraid. His awareness of guilt made him fearful, and those who feel sin least keenly are often the ones most troubled by it. The suddenness of the danger only increased his fear. Holy fear pushes us toward prayer and careful action (Hebrews 11:7).

So he set himself to seek the Lord, and first of all to make God his friend. Anyone who wants to seek the Lord in a way that truly finds him, and finds favor with him, must set their heart on it. It takes steady thought, real sincerity, and strong resolve to keep seeking. He also called a fast throughout all Judah, setting apart a day for humility and prayer, so the people could join in confessing their sins and asking God for help. Fasting from food on such an unusual occasion was a sign that they judged themselves for their sins, admitting they were not worthy of the bread they ate and that God would be right to withhold it. It also showed self-denial for the future. Fasting for sin means a resolve to turn away from sin, even when it has seemed sweet to us. Leaders should call their people to fasting and prayer in such times, so the plea may be a national one and may receive national mercy.

The people quickly came together from all the cities of Judah to pray in the temple court (2 Chronicles 20:4). They stood before the Lord like beggars at his door, bringing their wives and children with them. Their whole families were in danger, so they brought their families to seek the Lord. They were, in effect, saying, “Lord, we have been a provoking people and deserve to be left to ruin, but these little ones are innocent. Do not let them perish in the storm.” Nineveh was spared for the sake of the little ones (Jonah 4:11). They met in the house of the Lord, before the new court, which may have been a later addition to the temple courts, perhaps what was called the court of the women. In that place they could trust the promise God had given in answer to Solomon’s prayer, that his ears would be attentive to the prayer made there (2 Chronicles 7:15).

Jehoshaphat himself was the one who spoke for the people in prayer. He did not leave the whole task to the priests. Though kings were forbidden to burn incense, they were allowed to pray and teach, as Solomon and Jehoshaphat did. The prayer he offered here, or part of it, is recorded, and it is an excellent prayer.

He begins by recognizing God’s sovereign rule in providence, giving God the glory for it and taking comfort in it (2 Chronicles 20:6). “Are you not God in heaven?” he asks, meaning, “Surely you are, unlike the gods of the nations. Show it now.” “Is not your rule above every kingdom, and over all kingdoms, even the heathen nations that do not know you? Then restrain these nations. Set limits on their bold threats. Is not power and might in your hand, so that no one can stand against you? Lord, use that power for us. Display your own almighty strength.”

He then leans on their covenant relationship with God. “You are the God in heaven, the God of our fathers,” he says (2 Chronicles 20:6), “and you are our God” (2 Chronicles 20:7). Who else should they seek, and who else should they trust, except the God they have chosen and served?

He also points to their rightful claim to the land they were living in, and it was a sure claim. “You gave this land to the descendants of Abraham your friend.” Abraham was God’s friend, as James 2:23 says, to show his honor as one called the friend of God. They were Abraham’s descendants, and they hoped to be loved for the father’s sake (Romans 11:28; Deuteronomy 7:8-9). “We hold this land by your gift, Lord. Protect your own grant, and defend it against every unfair claim. Do not let us be driven out of what you gave us. We are tenants, and you are our landlord. Will you not protect what is yours?” Those who use what they have for God may confidently hope that he will keep it secure for them.

He also mentions the sanctuary, the temple they had built for God’s name (2 Chronicles 20:8). He does not speak as though the temple deserved anything from God, for they had only given back what came from God himself. But the temple was a clear sign of God’s favorable presence among them, and they had trusted that when trouble came, God would hear and help them as they cried before that house (2 Chronicles 20:8-9). “Lord, it was built to strengthen our faith in just such a time as this. Your name is here, and here we are. Help us, for the honor of your name.”

He then argues from the injustice and thanklessness of their enemies. “We are the people for whom it will glorify you to appear, and they are the kind of people against whom it will glorify you to appear. They are repaying our former kindness with evil. You would not let Israel invade them or disturb them” (Deuteronomy 2:5, 9, 19). “Do not meddle with the Edomites, do not trouble the Moabites, do not come near the children of Ammon, even if they provoke you.”

“Now look at how they are invading us.” We can safely bring our case before God against those who repay evil for good. They are also breaking into our old rights. They come to drive us out of our property and take our land for themselves. “O our God, will you not judge them?” (2 Chronicles 20:12). “Will you not pronounce sentence against them and carry it out?” God’s justice is the shelter of those who have been wronged.

He then says that he is fully depending on God for rescue. Even though he had a large, well-trained army, he said, “We have no strength against this great crowd. We have none that we can trust in apart from you, none from whom we can expect anything apart from your special presence and blessing, none to boast in, none to rely on. Our eyes are on you.” He means, “We are looking to you, and all our hope is from you.”

The trouble seems hopeless. We do not know what to do, and we are at a complete loss. But this is a sure help: “Our eyes are on you.” That means an eye of acknowledgment and humble surrender, an eye of faith and full dependence, an eye of desire and earnest prayer, and an eye of hope and patient waiting. “In you, O God, we put our trust; our souls wait for you.”