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2 Chronicles 20 - Jehoshaphat: Prayer and Praise Before Battle

16 min read

The king does not know what to do, and he says so before the people. A great army is approaching, but Jehoshaphat’s first response is to gather Judah before the Lord. His prayer holds together remembered mercy and present helplessness. Then a prophetic word is given, bodies bow, voices rise, and singers take the road before the army. The chapter teaches a faith that can acknowledge danger without letting danger become its god.

This complete scene is studied separately from Jehoshaphat’s teaching, alliance, and judicial reform in chapters 17-19.

Historical and Scriptural Context

The account follows Jehoshaphat’s rescue from the battle with Ahab and the reform of justice in chapter 19. No parallel account of this deliverance appears in Kings. Solomon’s temple prayer becomes the explicit language of a later king’s crisis, and the concluding alliance warning prevents gratitude from becoming complacency.

Geographical Significance ⛰️

The report places the invaders at Hazazon Tamar, identified with En Gedi beside the Dead Sea. Jerusalem is the place of gathering and prayer. Judah then goes toward Tekoa, and the return passes through the Valley of Blessing before reaching the house of the Lord. The named road matters: faith is asked to move into the place where it had feared to go.

Light from the Word 🕯️

A. Fear becomes a gathering before God (20:1-13)

20:1 And after this came the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them some of the Minæans, against Josaphat to battle. 20:2 And they came and told Josaphat, saying, There is come against thee a great multitude from Syria, from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Asasan Thamar, this is Engadi. 20:3 And Josaphat was alarmed, and set his face to seek the Lord earnestly, and he proclaimed a fast in all Juda. 20:4 And Juda gathered themselves together to seek after the Lord: even from all the cities of Juda they came to seek the Lord. 20:5 And Josaphat stood up in the assembly of Juda in Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, in front of the new court. 20:6 And he said, O Lord God of my fathers, art not thou God in heaven above, and art not thou Lord of all the kingdoms of the nations? and is there not in thy hand the might of dominion, and there is no one who can resist thee? 20:7 Art not thou the Lord that didst destroy the inhabitants of this land before the face of thy people Israel, and didst give it to thy beloved seed of Abraham for ever? 20:8 And they dwelt in it, and built in it a sanctuary to thy name, saying, 20:9 If there should come upon us evils, sword, judgment, pestilence, famine, we will stand before this house, and before thee, (for thy name is upon this house,) and we will cry to thee because of the affliction, and thou shalt hear, and deliver. 20:10 And now, behold, the children of Ammon, and Moab, and mount Seir, with regard to whom thou didst not permit Israel to pass through their border, when they had come out of the land of Egypt, (for they turned away from them, and did not destroy them;)— 20:11 yet now, behold, they make attempts against us, to come forth to cast us out from our inheritance which thou gavest us. 20:12 O Lord our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no strength to resist this great multitude that is come against us; and we know not what we shall do to them: but our eyes are toward thee. 20:13 And all Juda was standing before the Lord, and their children, and their wives.

Jehoshaphat is alarmed. Scripture does not require him to feel fearless before he can pray. He sets his face toward the Lord, proclaims a fast, and gathers the people. Fear becomes destructive when it dictates our loyalties; here it becomes the occasion for seeking God together. Fasting gives that dependence a bodily form. The families standing before the Lord recall Joel 2:15-16 and Nineveh’s communal turning in Jonah 3. Those without power to command an army still belong in the assembly’s prayer.

The prayer begins with God’s rule over the nations, then remembers the gift of the land and the sanctuary bearing His name. Verse 9 deliberately takes up Solomon’s petitions concerning sword, judgment, pestilence, and famine (6:28-30), together with the promise to hear the praying people (7:13-14). Jehoshaphat brings an inherited prayer into a present emergency. He is not the first king in Chronicles to seek help in a crisis: Abijah and Asa have already cried to God (13:14; 14:11). The distinctive force here is the explicit appeal to the temple prayer, not an exclusive claim to be the first test of divine mercy.

Brenton calls Israel Abraham’s beloved seed; NKJV describes Abraham as God’s friend. Isaiah 41:8 and James 2:23 share the theme of Abraham’s friendship with God. The different wording directs attention either to the beloved descendants or to the beloved ancestor; neither makes the inheritance a reward for this generation’s strength. The prayer also recalls Israel’s earlier restraint toward these neighboring peoples, as narrated in Deuteronomy 2. The king appeals for God’s judgment rather than imagining that might creates right.

The prayer ends in an honest confession of weakness and an attentive gaze. Psalm 123:1-2 (LXX 122:1-2) similarly places the servant’s eyes on the Lord for mercy. We often think that prayer begins after we have found words that sound composed. Here ignorance itself becomes prayer, because it is spoken to the One who knows. We can admit that we do not know the next step without concluding that no faithful step remains.

B. A word received before a victory seen (20:14-19)

20:14 And Oziel the son of Zacharias, of the children of Banaias, of the sons of Eleïel the sons of Matthanias the Levite, of the sons of Asaph,—upon him came the Spirit of the Lord in the assembly: 20:15 and he said, Hear ye, all Juda, and the dwellers in Jerusalem, and king Josaphat: Thus saith the Lord to you, even you, Fear not, neither be alarmed, before all this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. 20:16 To-morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the ascent of Assis, and ye shall find them at the extremity of the river of the wilderness of Jeriel. 20:17 It is not for you to fight: understand these things, and see the deliverance of the Lord with you, Juda and Jerusalem: fear not, neither be afraid to go forth to-morrow to meet them; and the Lord shall be with you. 20:18 And Josaphat bowed with his face to the ground with all Juda and the dwellers in Jerusalem, and they fell before the Lord to worship the Lord. 20:19 And the Levites of the children of Caath, and they of the sons of Core, rose up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high.

The Spirit comes upon Jahaziel, a Levite from Asaph’s line, in the gathered assembly. The answer interrupts despair with an instruction. The people are to go out, but their salvation will not be produced by their military strength. Dependence here includes obedient action: they must take the road God names.

The language recalls Israel at the sea. Exodus 14:13-14 joins the command to stand and see deliverance with the promise that the Lord will fight. David also places the battle in the Lord’s hands before Goliath (1 Samuel 17:47). Judah is being taught to recognize the God of the Exodus in its present distress. Brenton’s wording at 20:17 differs from the familiar NKJV command to stand still, but both readings direct the people to behold God’s deliverance rather than credit themselves with it.

Jehoshaphat bows before any battlefield outcome is visible. The people fall in worship, and Levites rise to praise. Their bodies answer God’s word: lowered in reverence, lifted in thanksgiving. This is faith responding to a particular prophetic assurance, not a formula for predicting that every illness, lawsuit, or danger will end as we prefer. Christ’s own passage through the Cross teaches us that deliverance can come through suffering rather than by avoiding it.

C. Singing on the road to danger (20:20-30)

20:20 And they rose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Thecoe: and as they went out, Josaphat stood and cried, and said, Hear me, Juda, and the dwellers in Jerusalem; put your trust in the Lord God, and your trust shall be honoured; trust in his prophet, and ye shall prosper. 20:21 And he took counsel with the people, and set appointed men to sing psalms and praises, to give thanks, and sing the holy songs of praise in going forth before the host: and they said, Give thanks to the Lord, for his mercy endures for ever. 20:22 And when they began the praise and thanksgiving, the Lord caused the children of Ammon to fight against Moab, and the inhabitants of mount Seir that came out against Juda; and they were routed. 20:23 Then the children of Ammon and Moab rose up against the dwellers in mount Seir, to destroy and consume them; and when they had made an end of destroying the inhabitants of Seir, they rose up against one another so that they were utterly destroyed. 20:24 And Juda came to the watch-tower of the wilderness, and looked, and saw the multitude, and, behold, they were all fallen dead upon the earth, not one escaped. 20:25 And Josaphat and his people went out to spoil them, and they found much cattle, and furniture, and spoils, and precious things: and they spoiled them, and they were three days gathering the spoil, for it was abundant. 20:26 And it came to pass on the fourth day they were gathered to the Valley of Blessing; for there they blessed the Lord: therefore they called the name of that place the Valley of Blessing, until this day. 20:27 And all the men of Juda returned to Jerusalem, and Josaphat led them with great joy; for the Lord gave them joy over their enemies. 20:28 And they entered into Jerusalem with lutes and harps and trumpets, going into the house of the Lord. 20:29 And there was a terror of the Lord upon all the kingdoms of the land, when they heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel. 20:30 And the kingdom of Josaphat was at peace; and his God gave him rest round about.

Jehoshaphat calls the people to trust the Lord and His prophet. NKJV’s language of believing and being established recalls the wordplay in Isaiah 7:9, where firmness depends on faith. Brenton renders the encouragement as trust being honored. The point is a stable allegiance, not the intensity of a feeling. Their confidence rests on the word they have received.

The singers go in front, and the refrain names God’s enduring mercy. It is the thanksgiving heard at Solomon’s dedication (5:13; 7:3), also familiar from Psalm 136 (LXX 135). Brenton describes holy songs of praise; NKJV speaks of praising the beauty of holiness. One rendering stresses the sacred praise being sung, the other the splendor of holiness being praised. Neither makes music a force that controls God. Verse 22 assigns the saving action to the Lord as the praise begins.

The violence of the enemy’s collapse remains terrible. The narrative reports Judah’s deliverance through mutual destruction among its attackers; it is no Christian command to delight in another person’s ruin. Our struggle against the passions and the devil must not turn human opponents into people whose suffering we enjoy. The Son of God overcomes death by giving Himself, and teaches His people to love enemies while resisting evil.

The gathering in the Valley of Blessing, Berachah, completes what began in fear. The people bless the Lord there, then return with instruments to His house. Their destination is thanksgiving, not permanent fascination with the battlefield. Paul and Silas also sing before prison doors open (Acts 16:25-26). Christian praise can be truthful while the door is still shut, because the crucified and risen Christ is already Lord.

Gems from the Fathers 💎

St Athanasius teaches in the Letter to Marcellinus §§27-29 that psalmody serves the ordering of the soul toward God. He is explaining the Psalms, not directly commenting on Jehoshaphat. The voice, thoughts, and bodily life are to become harmonious under the Spirit instead of pulling in different directions. His description of the singer gives this purpose a memorable shape: “For a soul rightly ordered by chanting the sacred words forgets its own afflictions and contemplates with joy the things of Christ alone.”1 This is neither denial of pain nor a demand to manufacture cheerfulness. Psalmody lets our fear become a prayer addressed to God, so that fear no longer supplies the only voice within us.

D. A faithful reign with unfinished obedience (20:31-37)

20:31 And Josaphat reigned over Juda, being thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was Azuba, daughter of Sali. 20:32 And he walked in the ways of his father Asa, and turned not aside from doing that which was right in the sight of the Lord. 20:33 Nevertheless the high places yet remained; and as yet the people did not direct their heart to the Lord God of their fathers. 20:34 And the rest of the acts of Josaphat, the first and the last, behold, they are written in the history of Jeu the son of Anani, who wrote the book of the kings of Israel. 20:35 And afterwards Josaphat king of Juda entered into an alliance with Ochozias king of Israel, (now this was an unrighteous man,) 20:36 by acting with and going to him, to build ships to go to Tharsis: and he built ships in Gasion Gaber. 20:37 And Eliezer the son of Dodia of Marisa prophesied against Josaphat, saying, Forasmuch as thou hast allied thyself with Ochozias, the Lord has broken thy work, and thy vessels have been wrecked. And they could not go to Tharsis.

Chronicles gives a genuinely favorable verdict on Jehoshaphat, then preserves two unresolved failures. The high places remain, and the people have not directed their hearts to God. This stands in tension with the removal reported in 17:6. Reform may have been incomplete, uneven, or followed by renewed practices. The text does not specify the whole process, so the safest reading keeps both statements rather than declaring that either is meaningless. A ruler’s faithful action cannot substitute for the people’s own turning.

The shipping alliance with Ahaziah repeats the king’s old weakness. Eliezer’s rebuke addresses cooperation with an unrighteous ruler, and the ships are broken before the project succeeds. In 1 Kings 22:48-49 the ships are wrecked and Jehoshaphat refuses Ahaziah’s proposal. One possible reconciliation is an earlier joint venture followed by a later refusal, but neither account narrates that entire sequence. The difference should remain visible rather than be settled by an imagined chronology.

The king who could entrust an invasion to God still needed watchfulness over a profitable opportunity. A remembered deliverance does not remove the need for today’s obedience. When grace has carried us through a crisis, the quieter temptation may be to return to an old compromise because it now looks merely practical.

The Church’s Voice in Worship ⛪

At the Sixth Hour of Wednesday of Holy Pascha the Coptic Church reads Exodus 14:13-15:1, the deliverance at the sea whose language illuminates Jahaziel’s answer. That placement turns the Christian reader toward the Lord’s saving passage through death. The reading is Exodus, not an appointment of 2 Chronicles 20.

On Friday of the second week of Great Lent, the prophecies include 1 Samuel 17:1-18:4 and Isaiah 7:1-14. David’s reliance on the Lord and Isaiah’s summons to believing stability help us hear the same two truths in Jehoshaphat’s story. Psalm 123 (LXX 122), prayed at the Eleventh Hour and in the second watch of the Midnight Hour, gives words to the waiting gaze of 20:12. Deacons serve the Lord by helping the assembly pray and attend; the singers before Judah’s army offer an analogy of service in faith, not a military identity for Christian worship.

Spiritual Fruit 🍇

  • Turn alarm into an address to God. Name the actual danger in a short prayer. Admit what you cannot control, and ask for the next faithful act rather than a complete map of the future.
  • Give fear a shared place of prayer. Pray with your household for someone under strain, without making children carry adult anxieties or treating distress as failure.
  • Let the eyes wait. Pray Psalm 123 (LXX 122) slowly when answers are delayed. Refuse the urge to fill every silence with another prediction.
  • Praise without bargaining. Thank Christ for His Cross, Resurrection, and present mercy before asking for the outcome you desire. His faithfulness is greater than that single outcome.
  • Keep watch after relief. Examine an old pattern that returns when the crisis is over. Deliverance received with gratitude should make a compromise less attractive, not easier to excuse.

Footnotes

  1. St Athanasius, Letter to Marcellinus §§27-29, English text, https://www.semperreformanda.com/psalmody/a-letter-of-athanasius-on-the-interpretation-of-the-psalms/. For the numbered text see Lisa Cremaschi’s Italian translation from Greek, L’interpretazione dei salmi (Qiqajon, 1995), §§27-29, https://discere.pusc.it/pluginfile.php/131073/mod_folder/content/0/San%20Atanasio%20di%20Alessandria,%20Lettera%20a%20Marcellino.pdf?forcedownload=1. ↩

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