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2CHRONICLES
CHAPTER 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 Hazazon-tamar, 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.

For some reason the long-time enemies of Israel all gathered in collaboration against Jehoshaphat. They had gained access to his perimeter by coming through Israel, the Northern ten tribes' area. It seemed that Israel had allowed these enemies the privilege of coming through their country. How ungrateful they were to do so when Jehoshaphat had just finished fighting with his forces for them!
Jehoshaphat was afraid, but in his fear he went to God for help. In fact, he proclaimed a fast to seek God's will in this matter. And the whole nation of Judah came to participate in the fast and the prayer.

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.

Jehoshaphat stood up in the center of all the people and began to pray. Now some would say he was REMINDING God of His responsibilities. But I believe what Jehoshaphat was doing was SPEAKING TRUTH.
Look at verse 6. God is "God of our fathers," and "God in heaven," and exercises authoritative rule over ALL the nations of the earth!
Look at verse 7. God has driven out the inhabitants of the land and given that land to Abraham's seed, just as He had promised.
Look at verses 8-9. When they built the snactuary in Jerusalem, God had told them He would always be listening and always give them help.
Now watch this: verses 10-12. Jehoshaphat says these people have come against the nation, and now they NEED God's help. Jehoshaphat had a great army, but he says that they have NO POWER to defeat such a force as is against them. So he askes for GOD to "judge" the enemy, and states that Judah will WATCH and WAIT!
Jehoshaphat has not been REMINDING God of anything. What he's been doing is SPEAKING FAITH, and now he ACTS upon that faith.

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.

All the people were standing around after Jehoshaphat had finished his prayer. Then the Spirit of God moved upon a man named Jahaziel, and gave him a word of prophecy. He said, according to God, that tomorrow the enemy would be HANDED OVER to Judah!
The men of judah would NOT EVEN HAVE TO FIGHT!
God would accomplish this WITHOUT them!

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.

Jehoshaphat worshipped God for the good "word," and all the people followed suit. When God speaks a good "word" we should WORSHIP Him!

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.

The next morning Jehoshaphat exhorted the people to BELIVE God and BELIEVE His WORD! He also got the people to PRAISE God with singing.
Then they all went where God had directed them (the watch tower in the wilderness), and they found DEAD BODIES!
At the time they had been praising God and singing, they had been acting on FAITH in God's WORD. And God, at that very time, had caused a DIVISION among the nationalities that had formed the coalition against Judah. They FOUGHT EACH OTHER!
There was so much "spoil" of war that it took Jehoshphat's men three days to pick it all up!
What a GREAT and MIGHTY God we serve!!

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.

"berachah" is aname which means place of blessing. They blessed the Lord there. How can one BLESS God? By giving Him praise and honoring Him.
After they "blessed God," they went back to Jerusalem. They came in with obvious joy. The joy was because of God's DELIVERANCE!

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.

The troops went STRAIGHT to the HOUSE OF GOD in Jerusalem, singing and praising Him all the way.
From that time until the end of Jehoshaphat's reign, all nations FEARED to attack Judah.
Jehoshaphat ruled and reigned with FERVOR for God. Even better than his father Asa. And God blessed the land- they had no more wars.

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 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.

It seems Jehoshaphat was a "soft touch" for kings of Israel. He made a treaty with Ahaziah (king of Israel) to build ships for a joint trade venture. The ships were built in Eziongeber. This city was on the Northern shore of the Gulf of Aquaba which is the Eastern side of the Red Sea.
Eliezar prophesied that the ships would not prosper, and according to 2Kings 22:48, the ships were "broken." Perhaps God sent a storm? Ahaziah tried to get Jehoshaphat to commit to ANOTHER joint venture in rebuilding the ships. But Jehoshaphat wouldn't do it.
He'd learned his lesson. DON'T MAKE CONTRACTS WITH UNBELIEVERS!

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