2Chronicles
19-21
Wednesday Evening Bible Study
Pray for Manja,
GFA missionary in prison. Appeal trial
is tomorrow.
Introduction
Jehoshaphat has just barely escaped with his life. He had been involved a sort of weird
political relationship with wicked King Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel Ramothgilead Judah Israel
2Chronicles 19
:1-3
Jehu’s warning
:2 And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him
Jehu the son of Hanani –
This particular Jehu should not be confused with the man who will wipe out
the house of Ahab and then become king of the northern kingdom of Israel
But this Jehu, the prophet, had already been used by the Lord to give a
prophecy of doom to Baasha, the king of the northern kingdom of Israel
(1 Ki 16:1-4 KJV) Then the word of the LORD came to Jehu the
son of Hanani against Baasha, saying, {2} Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of
the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel; and thou hast walked in
the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to
anger with their sins; {3} Behold, I will take away the posterity of Baasha,
and the posterity of his house; and will make thy house like the house of
Jeroboam the son of Nebat. {4} Him that dieth of
Baasha in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth
of his in the fields shall the fowls of the air eat.
Baasha’s family was wiped out by Zimri, who was in turn wiped out by Omri, the father of Ahab.
Jehu would also be one of the major biographers of Jehoshaphat, one of Ezra’s sources for writing Chronicles.
(2 Chr 20:34 KJV) 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
Now Jehoshaphat has a serious word spoken to him by Jehu.
The predicted wrath came in the form of the invasion of 2Chronicles 20.
:2 Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD?
Lesson
Be careful who you help
This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t minister to ungodly people.
This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t love our enemies.
But it does mean we need to be careful about who we help and why.
Jehoshaphat isn’t trying to “help” Ahab by leading him back to the Lord.
He tried to help Ahab with his own little war.
:2 therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD.
It is thought that the attack of the three allied nations in 2Chronicles 20 is this “wrath” that is come from the Lord.
:3 Nevertheless there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God.
groves – ‘asherah – “groves (for idol worship)”; a Babylonian (Astarte)-Canaanite goddess (of fortune and happiness), the supposed consort of Baal, her images; sacred trees or poles set up near an altar
prepared – kuwn – (Hiphil) to establish, set up, accomplish, do, make firm; to fix, make ready, prepare, provide, provide for, furnish; to direct toward (moral sense); to arrange, order
Lesson
It’s okay to encourage too
Sometimes we can fall into a trap of feeling like we have to “evaluate” everything. We can fall into a critical mindset, where all we do is find what’s wrong about people or things.
Do you see any value as well as problems?
:4-11 Jehoshaphat’s reforms
:4 he went out again through the people from Beersheba mount Ephraim
from Beersheba mount Ephraim land
of Judah
Lesson
Respond to criticism
We saw earlier how Jehoshaphat’s father, Asa, threw a prophet into prison for saying things like this. But Jehoshaphat takes it all to heart and lets it challenge him to do better.
The Bible says that love,
(1 Cor 13:6 NKJV) does not rejoice in iniquity, but
rejoices in the truth;
When someone tells us the truth about ourselves, even when it hurts, how do we respond?
You can get mad at the person.
You can think about it and take it to heart. Maybe there’s
a lesson to be learned.
:5 And he set judges in the land throughout all
the fenced cities of Judah
Does this mean that there was no local court system in place? Probably not a viable court system.
This is a fulfillment of what Israel
(Deu 16:18-20 KJV) Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in
all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee,
throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment. {19}
Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a
gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the
righteous. {20} That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou
mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth
thee.
:7 there is no iniquity with the LORD our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts.
Our “judgments” ought to reflect the God we serve. Jehoshaphat lists three things that these judges are to be careful to do.
Lesson
Do what’s right
No iniquity with the Lord
iniquity – ‘evel – injustice, unrighteousness, wrong; violent deeds of injustice
God does is right every time.
These judges were to be representatives of the Lord. They would give people the impression of what God was like.
We too are examples of what the Lord is like. Give people the right impression.
(1 John 1:5-7 KJV) This then
is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is
light, and in him is no darkness at all. {6} If we say that we have fellowship
with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: {7} But if we
walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us
from all sin.
Lesson
No Partiality
God doesn’t show partiality
respect – masso’ – a lifting up; partiality (in construct)
persons – paniym – face
He doesn’t treat rich people differently than poor people.
James was concerned about how the early church was getting caught in the trap of showing partiality:
(James 2:1-5 ICB) My dear
brothers, you are believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. So never think
that some people are more important than others. {2} Suppose someone comes into
your church meeting wearing very nice clothes and a gold ring. At the same time
a poor man comes in wearing old, dirty clothes. {3} You show special attention
to the one wearing nice clothes. You say, "Please, sit here in this good
seat." But you say to the poor man, "Stand over there," or
"Sit on the floor by my feet!" {4} What are you doing? You are making
some people more important than others. With evil thoughts you are deciding
which person is better. {5} Listen, my dear brothers! God chose the poor in the
world to be rich with faith. He chose them to receive the kingdom God promised
to people who love him.
Lesson
No Bribes
God doesn’t take bribes
gifts – shachad – present, bribe
I don’t think that God is impressed with people who try to make “deals with God”.
Do you make decisions based solely on what you’ll get out of it?
:8 for the
judgment of the LORD, and for controversies, when they returned to Jerusalem
for the judgment of the LORD – for matters covered in the Law of Moses
for controversies – for civil cases
It seems that Jerusalem Jerusalem
:10 ye shall even warn them that they trespass not against the LORD
between blood and blood – homicide cases
ye shall even warn – zahar – to admonish, warn, teach, shine, send out light, be light, be shining; (Hiphil) to teach, warn; to shine, send out light (fig.)
Lesson
Turn on the light
I think that sometimes the best warnings we can give is to simply “turn on the light” for some people.
For some people, it’s a matter of introducing them to the Light, to Jesus Christ.
For others, they’re living their lives in darkness, by hiding things. I think that sometimes helping a person to understand that somebody sees them is important.
:11 Amariah the chief
priest is over you in all matters of the LORD; and Zebadiah
the son of Ishmael, the ruler of the house of Judah
Amariah the chief priest is over you in all matters of the LORD – he was the chief judge in matters pertaining to the Law
Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the ruler
of the house of Judah
It seems that religious cases were treated differently than civil cases.
2Chronicles 20
:1-4 The enemy comes
:1 It came to pass after this also, that the
children of Moab
Moab Lot and
his incestuous relationship with one of this daughters. They lived in the area directly east of the Dead
Sea . See map
Ammon – These were the descendants of Abraham’s nephew Lot
and the other of his daughters. They
lived in the area north and east of the Dead Sea . See map
other beside the Ammonites – better translated, “Meunites”. These were people who had their capital at
the city of Maan Petra Dead Sea . See map
It seems that the three countries to the east of Judah
:2 behold, they be in Hazazontamar, which is Engedi.
Hazazontamar – a town on the west coast of the Dead Sea ,
about 22 miles southeast of Jerusalem
By the time Jehoshaphat hears of this invasion, they’re right outside the door.
:3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD
We make a lot of mistakes when we act out of fear. But sometimes fear is the thing we need to drive us to the Lord.
Lesson
You need help
Sometimes God uses our failures to bring us to the point where we call on Him and depend upon Him.
The last time Jehoshaphat was in a battle, he barely made it out alive. It was a total disaster. And now he’s facing three nations that have joined up to fight him, and they’re only twenty miles away!
Illustration
This is the lesson that Pastor Chuck learned through failure. These are his words:
“I believe that my first seventeen years of ministry, which really were
failure, was an important part of God’s training process for me to prepare me
for what He was wanting to do. I look at it as a great
education. We started out in Corona
“But God allowed us to experience those kinds of defeats, so that we would recognize that we don’t have magic formulas. We don’t have any magic ways. It isn’t us, it’s God, it’s the work of God. But He brought us to that place of brokenness, where we knew that we couldn’t do it. Looking to Him, and that was an important part of the whole training process of God, because God had this in mind, the whole while. I sure didn’t know it, I didn’t dream of it! Yet this is what God was wanting to do.
“But He had to first of all prepare the vessel, by breaking, crushing, bringing us to that place of giving up in ourselves and knowing that we couldn’t do it. So that when God did do it, we would be careful not to touch the glory. We wouldn’t go around bragging about, “What we have done in building this marvelous large work for God”, it’s what God has done in building His glorious, marvelous work, and we’ve had the privilege of being the spectators and watch God work.”
I look at times in my life where I feel like I’ve failed and want to wish they never happened. But perhaps God wants to be using those things to help me learn more and more that I must learn total trust in Him.
:4 And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD
I wonder if the nation has been affected by the teachers and judges that Jehoshaphat has set up to strengthen the nation.
:5-13 Jehoshaphat prays
:6 O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven?
I think we ought to take notice of the kinds of prayers that God pays attention to. THIS is going to be one of those kinds of prayers.
Lesson
Who are you praying to?
Sometimes we really aren’t addressing God in our prayers. Sometimes we’re just “praying to ourselves”.
(Luke 18:9-14 KJV) And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: {10} Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
A Pharisee is a person who was extremely religious. A
publican was a tax-collector, considered a traitor to
{11} The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. {12} I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
I like the way the King James puts it, that he prayed “with himself”. He isn’t talking to God, he’s talking to himself, telling himself what a great guy he is. This man has NO CONCEPT of how much he needs God.
{13} And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much
as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to
me a sinner. {14} I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather
than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted.
God listens to a heart that is crying out for help. That
may be you today.
Jehoshaphat is praying to God in heaven. He knows that with God nothing is impossible.
:7 and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?
The land that Israel
Jehoshaphat is reminding God of His promises to Abraham and to Israel
Lesson
Know God’s promises
I think it’s important to know what God has promised you and what He hasn’t promised you. The best way to find out is to read His Word.
Do you know God’s promises for you?
1. God promises us eternal life.
(1 John 5:11-13 KJV) And this is the record,
that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
{12} He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath
not life. {13} These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of
the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may
believe on the name of the Son of God.
If we have the Son, we have eternal life. Have you made that choice yet to trust in Jesus? Have you made the choice to follow Jesus? Have you asked Jesus into your life? If so, then God says you HAVE eternal life. He’s promised it.
2. God promises to take care of our enemies.
(Isa 54:17 KJV) No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
If we are His servants, He will take care of the enemy.
3. God promises to work things out for the good.
(Rom 8:28
KJV) And we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose.
We may not always understand what is happening to us or when things will work out, but God says He’ll make it all good.
:9 If, when evil cometh upon us…then thou wilt hear and help.
This was part of Solomon’s request of the Lord, that God would honor cries
for help made before the Temple
There was one request in particular that Solomon made that seems to apply here.
(2 Chr 6:24-25 KJV) And if thy people Israel be put to the worse
before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee; and shall return and
confess thy name, and pray and make supplication before thee in this house;
{25} Then hear thou from the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel,
and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest to them and to their
fathers.
I wonder if Jehoshaphat is recalling what Jehu prophesied earlier, saying that “wrath” would come on Jehoshaphat because he had helped Ahab.
God’s response to Solomon’s prayer was:
(2 Chr 7:14 KJV) If my people, which are called by my name,
shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked
ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal
their land.
:10 And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab mount Seir Israel
mount Seir
When Israel Edom Moab
:12 we have no might against this great company
Yet Jehoshaphat has one of the largest armies that Judah 17:12 -19)
Lesson
Even the strong need help
Over and over we’ve seen a king make a mistake when he became “strong”.
This happened to Rehoboam.
(2 Chr 12:1 KJV) And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had
established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of
the LORD, and all
When Asa had become strong, he relied on his own abilities and not the Lord (2Chr. 16:7)
It seems that Jehoshaphat is one of the rare examples of a king who has done the right thing even after he was strong.
The truth is, whether you think you’re strong or weak, you need God’s help.
At one point in His ministry, there was a huge crowd following Jesus. The people were growing hungry. The disciples had the answer – “send the people away”. Jesus responded and said,
(Mat
That’s when the disciples admitted they needed help. And Jesus took a few loaves and fish and fed
five thousand.
:13 all Judah
Families stood together and called on the Lord together.
:14-19 God’s answer
:14 Then upon Jahaziel …a Levite of the sons of Asaph
a Levite of the sons of Asaph – this means he was a musician. The sons of Asaph were worship leaders.
:15 for the battle is not yours, but God's
Lesson
God’s battles
There are times when God asks His people to go out and swing their swords.
But this is not one of them.
How do I know which battles are God’s? I think we need to be praying and asking God to speak to us.
There are some battles that are just too big for us.
Perhaps it’s a person who hates us and we can’t do a thing about it.
Perhaps it’s some dream we have that is simply beyond our ability.
There are other battles that God wants us to trust Him with, but then go out and fight. Not every battle will be won like this one.
I get concerned when I hear an unemployed person say, “Well I’m just trusting the Lord”. God wants you to trust Him, but He also wants you to go out and look for a job.
There are other battles that we can handle, but we shouldn’t.
I think these are the most difficult to figure out.
However we are to respond, we are to respond by trusting Him.
:16 they come up by the cliff of Ziz…
Ziz – “flower” – Six miles north of Hazazon Tamar. They’re getting even closer … See map
Jeruel – Y@ruw’el – “taught by God”
:18 Jehoshaphat bowed his head
Jehoshaphat and the people recognized that this was a true prophecy.
:19 the children of the Kohathites…Korhites, stood up to praise
Jahaziel, being from the family of Asaph, was of the Levitical
family of Merari (1Chr. 6:39 -47).
The Kohathites and the Korhites
were another line of the Levitical singers,
descendants of the worship leader Heman the grandson of Samuel (1Chr. 6:33 -38).
It wasn’t just Jahaziel’s own close group that praised the Lord, all the Levites praised the Lord. God was at work.
:20-30 The Battle
:20 Tekoa …Jehoshaphat said …Believe in the LORD your God
Tekoa – A city about ten miles south of Jerusalem
Jehoshaphat is encouraging the people to keep trusting in the Lord. They are to trust in the word that the prophet had spoken the day before.
Lesson
Follow through
Sometimes in church we sense God speaking to us and we begin to think about things the Lord would like for us to do.
But the next morning, things aren’t always quite as clear.
We need Jehoshaphat’s to encourage us to keep with our commitments.
This is one reason why we give an opportunity at the end of the service to make a decision to follow the Lord.
It’s one thing to silently think to yourself about something you need to do. But when you actually open your mouth and tell someone else, then you’ve taken another step closer to following through.
:21 he appointed singers …they went out before the army
I don’t think they sent the singers out in front of the army because they might scare the enemy away with their singing.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Jahaziel was one of the singers out front.
He was a descendant of “Asaph”, which meant that he was one of the singers
in the Temple
I think this says something about people who have a “prophecy” for you, but who don’t want to take any accountability for the prophecy.
Lesson
Trust shown by praise
Some people have taken this as if we are to somehow “psych” ourselves into victory by singing praise songs. Others have this idea that if we sing enough praise songs that somehow we can twist God’s arm to respond.
I believe that this decision to begin worshipping is simply based on the fact that they’ve come to the point where they actually believe that God is going to do what He said He would. They actually believe that God is going to take care of them. They actually believe that they won’t have to fight. That means that the army can have the day off and the singers can go out and lead the people.
What you believe about God should affect the way you do things.
If you really believe that God will never leave you, are there certain things you wouldn’t do because God is standing there watching you?
In the same way, because these folks realize that God has actually heard their prayer and that God is able to help them and God has promised that He will help them, they are just overjoyed and want to express their thanks to the Lord.
Has God heard your prayer? Is God able to help you? Will God help you?
:21 Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever
Lesson
Trust in His mercy
They aren’t saying, “God wipe them out because we’re so good and they’re evil”.
They know that they are only going to win because of God’s mercy.
They aren’t trusting in their own righteousness.
It makes me think of our own nation, facing this war with Iraq
:22 when they began … to praise, the LORD set ambushments …
ambushments – ‘arab – (Piel) ambushers, liers-in-wait (pl. participle). The language is pretty vague here. Something happens that causes the armies to turn on each other.
Lesson
Praise is a weapon of war
It seems that God was delighted in the praise of His people. God seems delighted that His people actually trust Him.
He responds to their praise and trust by taking care of the problem.
In contrast, when people are filled with unbelief, God sometimes chooses not to help. When Jesus was in his hometown …
(Mat 13:58
KJV) And he did not many mighty works
there because of their unbelief.
Faith is essential in our relationship with God.
(Heb 11:6 KJV) But without
faith it is impossible to please him: for he that
cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder
of them that diligently seek him.
Praise is an expression of trust, of faith.
We don’t praise Him in order to get Him to work. We praise Him because we trust Him. We trust Him no matter what He decides to do.
We need to learn to face our battles with faith-filled praise.
Sometimes you just can’t see the answer.
Put on a tape or a CD. Turn the radio to praise music.
Some of you have noticed that when we sing our praise songs, the battles get easier, even while we’re in church.
:23 every one helped to destroy another.
All three armies turned on each other.
:24 when Judah
It seems that they didn’t get to see the actual battle. They just saw the results. Dead bodies.
:25 they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much.
They got dragged into a fight they didn’t want. They trusted the Lord. They ended up carrying away the spoils.
:26 And on the fourth day they assembled
themselves in the valley of Berachah
Berachah – B@rakah – “blessing”. A valley between Tekoa and
Ziz. See map
:28-30 And they came to Jerusalem
They remembered to thank the One who had rescued them.
:31-37 End of Jehoshaphat’s reign
:33 Howbeit the high places were not taken away:
Earlier, we had read that he had removed the high places:
(2 Chr 17:6 KJV) And his heart was lifted up in the ways of
the LORD: moreover he took away the high places and groves out of Judah
Apparently, Jehoshaphat had initially removed these places of idol worship,
but later the people rebuilt them and Jehoshaphat didn’t tear them back down.
:33 for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their fathers.
Lesson
You can’t force people to follow the
Lord
This is a difficult thing on the heart when you care about people and you want them to find the Lord.
Jesus told a parable that showed how people respond differently to God’s work in their lives. He described four types of individuals as four types of soils that can have a seed planted in it. Look at how many different things can impact the growth and fruitfulness of the seed:
(Mat 13:18-23 KJV) Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. {19} When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
Satan has the ability to disrupt a person’s life and keep them from receiving from the Lord.
{20} But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; {21} Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
The person himself has a part to play. If a person isn’t willing to “go deep” with the Lord and allow the Lord to affect the deepest parts of his life, he is going to get “offended” and walk away.
{22} He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
The things in the world can affect what God wants to do on a person’s life. If a person is too caught up in “stuff”, getting more money, having nice things, the work God wants to do is going to get choked out.
{23} But he that received seed into the good ground is he that
heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth
forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Three soils were bad. Only one was good. But in the good soil, there are results – big results.
The seed itself is pretty powerful. God’s Word is able to do marvelous things in our lives if we let it.
There are other things that can impact God’s work on a person:
Prayer – I think that prayer is an important, often neglected part of our witness. I believe God honors prayer for unbelievers, even if it is going to take twenty years.
Your life – I think that when a person says one thing, but
acts in another way, it hurts the witness.
Your life ought to match your words.
Your life counts.
