2 Chronicles 20:24
When the men of Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked for the vast army, but there were only corpses lying on the ground; no one had escaped.
Sermons
A Victory Without a BlowT. Whitelaw 2 Chronicles 20:20-30
At and After the Battle: LessonsW. Clarkson 2 Chronicles 20:23-37














Armed with a holy trust in God, the king and his people advanced to meet their multitudinous enemies with bounding heart and tuneful lip. Nor were they unwarranted in so doing; the event completely justified their hopes. We learn - I, THAT OUR ENEMIES SOMETIMES DISPOSE OF ONE ANOTHER. (Ver. 23.) We sometimes find that the enemy is best "left well alone." Let Shimei "cast stones" at us; even though they be words of false accusation, they will do him much more harm than they will do us. Let the enemy blaspheme; his profanities will be a dead weight in his own balances. Let men make virulent attacks on our holy religion; they will answer one another; we can better spend our time (as a rule) in positive endeavours to build up the kingdom of God.

II. That, under God's hand, THE EVIL WE FEAR IS MORE THAN BALANCED BY THE GOOD WE GAIN. When the Jewish army returned from the wilderness of Tekoa, richly laden with spoil (ver. 25), they would doubtless have said that it was much better for them to have had their agitation followed by their success than not to have had any invasion of the enemy. They certainly congratulated themselves upon the entire incident, and, in their hearts, blessed those Moabites and Ammonites for giving them such an opportunity of enrichment. When God is on our side we may expect that our dangers will disappear, and that from the things that threaten us we shall ultimately derive blessing. Such is now and ever "the end of the Lord" (John 5:11; Job 42:10). Only we must make quite sure that God is on our side; and this we can only do by making a full surrender of ourselves to him and to his service, and by seeing to it that we choose the side of righteousness and of humanity, and not that of selfishness and of guilty pride.

III. THAT GOODNESS OF HEART SHOULD FIRST TAKE THE FORM OF GRATITUDE. Whither but to "the house of the Lord" should that jubilant procession move? (ver. 28). Gladness finds its best utterance in sacred song, its best home in the sanctuary of God. Thus and there it will be chastened; it will be pure, it will be moderated, it will leave no sting of guilty memories behind. Moreover, if we are not first grateful to God for our mercies, but rather gratulatory of ourselves, we shall nurse a spirit of complacency that is likely to lead us astray from the humility which is our rectitude and our wisdom.

IV. THAT IT IS WELL WHEN OUR TRIUMPH IS LOST IN THE FURTHERANCE OF THE CAUSE OF GOD. It was much that Jerusalem was safe; but it was more that "the fear of God was on all the kingdoms" (ver. 29). We may heartily rejoice that our own person, our own family, our own country, has been preserved; we may much more rejoice when the cause and kingdom of Christ has been greatly advanced. This should be the object of our solicitude and of our rejoicing.

V. THAT REST IS THE RIGHTFUL PURCHASE OF LABOUR AND OF STRIFE. (Ver. 30.) The country that has won its religious liberty by heroic suffering and strife (as with Holland) may well settle down to a long period of rest and peace. The man who has gone through several decades of anxious and laborious activity may well enjoy a long evening of life when the burden is laid down and the sword is sheathed. The quieter service of the later years of life seems a fitting prelude to the peaceful and untiring activities which constitute the rest of immortality.

VI. THAT THE WORTHIEST HUMAN LIVES DO NOT CORRESPOND TO OUR IDEAL. If we were to construct an ideal human life, we should not introduce another unwise combination (ver. 37)add a disastrous expedition to cast a shadow on its closing years. Yet this was the case with Jehoshaphat. Our lives, even at their best, do not answer to our conceptions of what is perfectly beautiful and complete. We must not look for this, for we shall very seldom find even the appearance of it. We must take the good man as God gives him to us, with a true soul, with a brave spirit, with a kind and faithful heart, with a character that is very fair and perhaps very fine, but that leaves something to be desired; with a ]ire that is very useful and perhaps very noble, but that bears marks of blemish even to the end. - C.

And when he had consulted with the people.
Anybody can sing the Te Deum after the battle is over. The German soldiers shouted when they had conquered their foe in the first battle in the war with France. It did not want much of a spirit to do that. The difference between an ordinary man of war and a Christian is this: a Christian shouts before the victory, because he knows it is sure to come. You remember how the people gave a shout of triumph before the wall of Jericho before it fell down.

I. We are here taught THE GREAT DUTY OF PATRIOTISM. In a leading newspaper it was stated that if we were not so good we might do a great many things which would be to our worldly advantage, that we are cursed with a great amount of scrupulousness with respect to our conduct in Ireland, Egypt, and Burmah; that if we were a little more unscrupulous, and did not trouble ourselves about the rights and wrongs of men, we might seize Egypt and settle all our differences in India. Yet all history proves to us that this kind of foreign policy in the long run is an utter fallacy. Why is it that the great Empires of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Rome have fallen? Why has Spain lost her position and France been humbled in our own day? Because they yielded to the foul ungodly spirit of national self-assertion and aggression; because they did not praise the beauty of holiness.

II. Our special object is to ILLUSTRATE THE HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. We are engaged in a holy war. The Bishop of Durham said the Churches of this country were indebted to the Salvation Army, because they had revived the consciousness of the. fact that the Church of God was an army, and that our great business as a country is war — not with one another, but with all human misery. What must we do? Praise the beauty of holiness. If we go forth to war, we must do as Jehoshaphat — we must needs be clothed with the Spirit of holiness. The apostle John was not ready for the great work he was called to until he had put on the power from on high, which was the Spirit of holiness. What was the practical result of the Pentecostal blessing? They were filled with the Holy Ghost. What followed? They were delivered from —

1. Cowardice.

2. Selfishness.

3. Ignorance.John Wesley and those with him at Oxford saw, after reading the Bible, that holiness comes by faith. Our great mission is to spread Scriptural holiness. If we march forth to war with confidence in the Spirit of holiness, we shall triumph even without fighting.

(Hugh Price Hughes, M.A.)

When the Spartans marched into battle, they advanced with cheerful songs, willing to fight; but when the Persians entered the conflict, you could hear, as the regiments came on, the crack of the whip, by which the officers drove the cowards to the fray. What wonder that the Spartans were like lions in the midst of Sheep! Were we enthusiastic soldiers of the Cross, through God's help, nothing would be able to stand against us.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

The biographer of Bishop Hannington says, "How often had he encouraged his companions in times of doubt or difficulty with the words, 'Never be disappointed, only praise.'"

People
Ahaziah, Ammonites, Aram, Asa, Asaph, Azubah, Benaiah, Berachah, Dodavah, Eliezer, Geber, Hanani, Jahaziel, Jehoshaphat, Jehu, Jeiel, Kohathites, Korahites, Korhites, Levites, Maonites, Mattaniah, Meunim, Meunites, Moabites, Seir, Shilhi, Tamar, Tarshish, Zechariah
Places
Ammon, Edom, Egypt, Engedi, Ezion-geber, Hazazon-tamar, Jeruel, Jerusalem, Mareshah, Moab, Mount Seir, Seir, Tarshish, Tekoa, Ziz
Topics
Army, Behold, Bodies, Carcases, Corpses, Dead, Desert, Direction, Escaped, Fallen, Ground, Judah, Lookout, Lying, Mountain-watch, Multitude, None, Overlooking, Overlooks, Stretched, Towards, Tower, Vast, Waste, Watch, Watchtower, Watch-tower, Wilderness
Outline
1. Jehoshaphat, invaded by Moab, proclaims a fast
5. His prayer
14. The prophecy of Jahaziel
20. Jehoshaphat exhorts the people, and sets singers to praise the Lord
22. The great overthrow of his enemies
26. The people, having blessed God at Berachah, return in triumph
31. Jehoshaphat's reign
35. His convoy of ships, according to the prophecy of Eliezer, unhappily perishes.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
2 Chronicles 20:15-24

     5607   warfare, examples

2 Chronicles 20:20-24

     5612   weapons

2 Chronicles 20:22-26

     1416   miracles, nature of

Library
A Strange Battle
'We have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon Thee.'--2 CHRON xx. 12. A formidable combination of neighbouring nations, of which Moab and Ammon, the ancestral enemies of Judah, were the chief, was threatening Judah. Jehoshaphat, the king, was panic-stricken when he heard of the heavy war-cloud that was rolling on, ready to burst in thunder on his little kingdom. His first act was to muster the nation, not as a military levy
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Holding Fast and Held Fast
'As they went forth Jehoshaphat stood and said, Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established.'--2 CHRON. xx. 20. Certainly no stronger army ever went forth to victory than these Jews, who poured out of Jerusalem that morning with no weapon in all their ranks, and having for their van, not their picked men, but singers who 'praised the beauty of holiness,' and chanted the old hymn, 'Give thanks unto the Lord, for His mercy endureth for ever.' That was all that men had to do in the battle,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Of the Public Fast.
A public fast is when, by the authority of the magistrate (Jonah iii. 7; 2 Chron. xx. 3; Ezra viii. 21), either the whole church within his dominion, or some special congregation, whom it concerneth, assemble themselves together, to perform the fore-mentioned duties of humiliation; either for the removing of some public calamity threatened or already inflicted upon them, as the sword, invasion, famine, pestilence, or other fearful sickness (1 Sam. vii. 5, 6; Joel ii. 15; 2 Chron. xx.; Jonah iii.
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

The Coast of the Asphaltites, the Essenes. En-Gedi.
"On the western shore" (of the Asphaltites) "dwell the Essenes; whom persons, guilty of any crimes, fly from on every side. A nation it is that lives alone, and of all other nations in the whole world, most to be admired; they are without any woman; all lust banished, &c. Below these, was the town Engadda, the next to Jerusalem for fruitfulness, and groves of palm-trees, now another burying-place. From thence stands Massada, a castle in a rock, and this castle not far from the Asphaltites." Solinus,
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

"Thou Shall Keep Him in Perfect Peace, Whose Mind is Stayed on Thee, Because He Trusteth in Thee. "
Isaiah xxvi. 3.--"Thou shall keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee." Christ hath left us his peace, as the great and comprehensive legacy, "My peace I leave you," John xiv. 27. And this was not peace in the world that he enjoyed; you know what his life was, a continual warfare; but a peace above the world, that passeth understanding. "In the world you shall have trouble, but in me you shall have peace," saith Christ,--a peace that shall make trouble
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

That the Employing Of, and Associating with the Malignant Party, According as is Contained in the Public Resolutions, is Sinful and Unlawful.
That The Employing Of, And Associating With The Malignant Party, According As Is Contained In The Public Resolutions, Is Sinful And Unlawful. If there be in the land a malignant party of power and policy, and the exceptions contained in the Act of Levy do comprehend but few of that party, then there need be no more difficulty to prove, that the present public resolutions and proceedings do import an association and conjunction with a malignant party, than to gather a conclusion from clear premises.
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Commerce
The remarkable change which we have noticed in the views of Jewish authorities, from contempt to almost affectation of manual labour, could certainly not have been arbitrary. But as we fail to discover here any religious motive, we can only account for it on the score of altered political and social circumstances. So long as the people were, at least nominally, independent, and in possession of their own land, constant engagement in a trade would probably mark an inferior social stage, and imply
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

Concerning Peaceableness
Blessed are the peacemakers. Matthew 5:9 This is the seventh step of the golden ladder which leads to blessedness. The name of peace is sweet, and the work of peace is a blessed work. Blessed are the peacemakers'. Observe the connection. The Scripture links these two together, pureness of heart and peaceableness of spirit. The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable' (James 3:17). Follow peace and holiness' (Hebrews 12:14). And here Christ joins them together pure in heart, and peacemakers',
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Chronicles
The comparative indifference with which Chronicles is regarded in modern times by all but professional scholars seems to have been shared by the ancient Jewish church. Though written by the same hand as wrote Ezra-Nehemiah, and forming, together with these books, a continuous history of Judah, it is placed after them in the Hebrew Bible, of which it forms the concluding book; and this no doubt points to the fact that it attained canonical distinction later than they. Nor is this unnatural. The book
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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