WWUTT 659 King Jehoshaphat's Prayer?

When the people of God were surrounded by their enemies, they sought Him for help and He said to them,

I will fight for you. This happened on more than one occasion. And the Lord says the same to us even now, when we understand the text.

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And don't forget our website, www .wtt .com. Here's our host, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. Well, being Thursday, we're back in our Old Testament study today, the book of 2 Chronicles.

And I'll be covering chapters 19 and 20. If you want to open up your Bible and join with me there. Or if you're driving in the car,

I will read it for you. So we're back to the story of Jehoshaphat. It's been a couple of weeks now since we were in chapter 18 and read about Jehoshaphat's alliance with Ahab, the king of Israel.

Jehoshaphat was a righteous king in Judah. Ahab was a wicked king in Israel, the northern kingdom, where they were worshipping false gods and golden calves.

But Jehoshaphat had this idea in his head that because Israel are our kinsmen, we need to be patching things up.

We need to be friends. We need to be doing things together. Well, that almost cost him his life when

Ahab double -crossed him and used him as a decoy while Ahab and Jehoshaphat were doing battle against the

Syrians. The Syrian army pursued Jehoshaphat, thinking that it was Ahab. But once they realized it wasn't, they turned from him and Jehoshaphat escaped scot -free, which is what we're going to read about here at the start of chapter 19.

Ahab, meanwhile, was killed by a stray arrow. He died just as Micaiah prophesied he would.

And the manner of his death was also the way that Elijah prophesied that he was going to die.

So Jehoshaphat still is going to pursue this allegiance with Israel, as we'll read about here today, and it will ultimately be his downfall.

So at the start of chapter 19, Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, returned in safety to his house in Jerusalem.

But Jehu, the son of Hanani, the seer, went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, should you help the wicked and love those who hate the

Lord? Because of this, wrath has gone out against you from the Lord. Nevertheless, some good is found in you, for you destroyed the

Asheroth out of the land and have set your heart to seek God.

Now Jehu is not a righteous king. The Lord is using him here to speak to Jehoshaphat, but Jehu himself has a lot of wickedness in him.

So Jehoshaphat brings a lot of great reforms to Jerusalem and to Judah, and that's what we read about here in the rest of this chapter.

Jehoshaphat lived at Jerusalem and he went out again among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and brought them back to the

Lord, the God of their fathers. He appointed judges in the land, in all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city.

And he said to the judges, consider what you do, for you judge not for man, but for the

Lord. That sounds familiar. We talked about that earlier this week, didn't we? He is with you in giving judgment.

Now then, let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with the

Lord our God or partiality or taking bribes. See, we're not to show partiality to anyone, not even to the rich or to the poor, but everybody is to be judged the same, for the

Lord himself shows no partiality. This is the way that the judges were to judge in Judah, and Jehoshaphat is telling them,

God is watching you. You are doing this first for God before you do it for any man.

Jehoshaphat even saying, you're doing this for God before you do this for me. Verse eight, moreover in Jerusalem, Jehoshaphat appointed certain

Levites and priests and heads of families in Israel to give judgment for the Lord and to decide disputed cases.

They had their seat at Jerusalem, and he charged them, thus you shall do in the fear of the

Lord in faithfulness and with your whole heart, whenever a case comes to you from your brothers who live in their cities concerning bloodshed, law or commandment, statutes or rules, then you shall warn them that they may not incur guilt before the

Lord and wrath may not come upon you and your brothers. Thus you shall do, and you will not incur guilt.

And behold, Amariah the chief priest is over you in all matters of the Lord, and Zebediah the son of Ishmael, the governor of the house of Judah in all the king's matters, and the

Levites will serve you as officers. Deal courageously and may the

Lord be with the upright. Where Jehoshaphat is saying, thus you shall do and you will not incur guilt.

He's saying, look, the law has already been laid out for you. You're just being charged with keeping it.

You're not making the law. You're keeping the law. It's already been given. We have it. It's the law of Moses.

And so you are to judge Judah accordingly. If you deviate from this law, you will incur guilt upon yourself.

But if you do according to what has been written in the fear of the Lord, you will not bring the wrath of God upon yourself.

And notice here, these folks are judges, so they are going to be judged more strictly by God than anyone else who is not in the position of judge.

And this we have given to us also in James three, one, not many of you should aspire to become teachers.

My brothers, for you know that teachers will be judged with greater strictness. And so this is the case as well.

The warning that Jehoshaphat is giving to those whom he has appointed as judges in Judah, the apostle

Paul said to the Corinthians and first Corinthians four, six, not to go beyond what is written.

And it's stated for us plainly in the scriptures that if you add to the word of God or take away from it, you bring condemnation upon yourself.

This isn't just a new Testament concept. It's even something that is being instructed here among the judges in Judah.

Don't go beyond what is written. God has already given us the law. Follow it.

Don't try to read things into it that aren't there. Don't try to make it mean what you want it to mean.

Judge according to how God has instructed us to judge. And that's an instruction even for us now, as Jesus himself said in John chapter seven, do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.

As we as brothers and sisters in the Lord are supposed to hold one another accountable, encouraging and admonishing one another, meaning to correct with goodwill.

That means we are going to have to make judgments sometimes. If you notice somebody who is walking in sin, you have an obligation out of love for your brother or sister in the

Lord to call the point out their sin to them and call them to repentance.

But do this without anger or quarreling. So now we go on into chapter 20 and we read about Jehoshaphat's prayer.

After this, the Moabites and the Ammonites and with them, some of the Mayonites came against Jehoshaphat for battle.

Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, a great multitude is coming against you from Edom from beyond the sea.

And behold, they are in Hezazon Tamar, that is, En Gedi.

Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and he set his face to seek the Lord and he proclaimed a fast throughout all

Judah and Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord from all the cities of Judah.

They came to seek the Lord and Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the

Lord before the new court and said, Oh Lord, God of our fathers, are you not

God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations in your hand are power and might so that none is able to withstand you.

Did you not our God drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham, your friend?

And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name saying, if disaster comes upon us, the sword judgment or pestilence or famine, we will stand before this house and before you for your name is in this house and cry out to you in our affliction and you will hear and save.

And now behold the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let

Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt and whom they avoided and did not destroy.

Behold they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit.

Oh, our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us.

We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. This appeal that Jehoshaphat has made to God is very similar to the prayer that Solomon prayed in second

Chronicles chapter six and then God's response in chapter seven. We have that famous verse in chapter seven, verse 14.

If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways and seek my face, then

I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land. And the

Lord is saying this is their response. After I have sent sword and judgment, pestilence and famine out upon the land.

So what is it that Jehoshaphat says? If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, pestilence or famine, we will stand before this house and before you for your name is in this house and cry out to you in our affliction and you will hear and save.

This is Jehoshaphat remembering the words that Solomon prayed before all of Judah.

Well, all of Israel at that particular time. But in this case, Judah is the only one of the two kingdoms that is seeking after the

Lord and asking for his grace and forgiveness. There is an enemy that is waging war against us as well, that wants to take us from the possession that we have been given in Jesus Christ, our

Lord, Satan and his schemes wants to pull us away from God and into sin, into the desires of the flesh and the passions of this world.

And so we must seek the Lord in those circumstances whenever we are tempted and ask that God would deliver us from this temptation so that we would be protected from the enemy that is trying to drive us out of the possession that we have in Jesus Christ, which

God has given us to inherit as Jehoshaphat prayed, Oh, our

God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horror that is coming against us.

Likewise, we are powerless against the devil's schemes. He is a wily adversary.

And so the advice that James has given us in his book, in James chapter four, is that we would cling to God if we go to the

Lord. If we seek after him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, then the devil will flee from us.

Turn to God, the devil will run away. He is our strength and our deliverance, even in moments of temptation.

And this is the battle. This is the war that we must wage against the desires of the flesh each and every day.

My friends, when you have temptations, do not think that you have an ability in and of your flesh to be able to resist those temptations.

You might succeed at that occasionally, but you will stumble and fall as you continue to try to do that on your own.

Submit yourself to the Lord and he will deliver you. Second Chronicles chapter 20, verse 13.

Now, meanwhile, all Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, their wives and their children.

And the spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel, the son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jael, son of Mattaniah, a

Levite of the sons of Asaph in the midst of the assembly. And he said, listen, all

Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat, thus says the

Lord to you, do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde.

For the battle is not yours, but God's. Tomorrow go down against them.

Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Zeez. You will find them at the end of the valley, east of the wilderness of Jeruel.

You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position and see the salvation of the

Lord on your behalf. Oh, Judah and Jerusalem, do not be afraid and do not be dismayed.

Tomorrow go out against them and the Lord will be with you. The Lord said a very similar thing to Israel through Moses right before they crossed the

Red Sea in Exodus chapter 14 in verses 13 and 14 there, it says that Moses said to the people, fear not, stand firm and see the salvation of the

Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.

The Lord will fight for you and you have only to be silent. Very similar address that this prophet is now saying to Jehoshaphat and all the rest of Judah.

This is God's answer that he will fight for them. So verse 18, then

Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the

Lord, worshiping the Lord. And the Levites of the Koathites and the Korathites stood up to praise the

Lord, the God of Israel with a very loud voice. And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa.

And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, hear me, Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, believe in the

Lord, your God, and you will be established. Believe his prophets and you will succeed.

And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise him in holy attire as they went before the army and say, give thanks to the

Lord for his steadfast love endures forever. Makes me wonder if the Psalm they were singing was

Psalm 136, verse 22. And when they began to sing and praise, the

Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah so that they were routed.

For the men of Ammon and Moab rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction.

And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another.

So you see what it is that's happening here? There's one of two possibilities. Either this is the angelic army of God that is destroying these men.

We read about in second Kings, the chariots of fire that separated the Elisha from Elijah and then

Elijah was carried off into heaven. And then later on in second Kings, I believe this was chapter six, the

Syrians came up against Israel and one of Elisha's servants thought they were done in.

I mean, this is it. We're surrounded. We're going to be destroyed. And Elijah showed him that the army of the

Lord was present all around them. Those chariots of fire were still there. And then we're led to understand that this was the army of God also in Micaiah's vision of this council that was taking place before Jehoshaphat and Ahab went off into battle.

So it's possible that that's that army making another appearance here. But I think rather what we're given in this explanation is that there was confusion among these men and they destroyed themselves.

For it says that Ammon and Moab came up against Mount Seir and then once they had destroyed them, then they destroyed each other.

So God just gave them this spirit of confusion that led to them destroying themselves. This is the way that God said to Judah that he would fight for them.

And indeed, he was faithful to his promise. Verse 24, when

Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked toward the horde and behold, there were dead bodies lying on the ground.

None had escaped. When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their spoil, they found among them in great numbers goods, clothing and precious things which they took for themselves until they could carry no more.

They were three days in taking the spoil. It was so much on the fourth day they assembled in the valley of Baraka.

There they blessed the Lord. Therefore, the name of that place has been called the Valley of Baraka to this day.

Then they returned every man of Judah and Jerusalem and Jehoshaphat at their head, returning to Jerusalem with joy.

This is saying every man of Judah and Jerusalem, no one was lost in this fight.

No one lost their lives for the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies.

Verse 28, they came to Jerusalem with harps and lyres and trumpets to the house of the Lord and the fear of God came on all the kingdom of the countries when they heard that the

Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet for his

God gave him rest all around. Thus Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah.

He was 35 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 25 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was

Azuba, the daughter of Shilhai. He walked in the way of Asa, his father, and did not turn aside from it doing what was right in the sight of the

Lord. The high places, however, were not taken away. The people had not yet set their hearts upon the

God of their fathers. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat from the first to the last are written in the

Chronicles of Jehu, the son of Hanani, which are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel.

One of those other reforms that Jehoshaphat enacted, we read about it in first kings, although we don't read about it here, is that he removed all of the male cult prostitutes from the land as well.

So now verse 35, after this Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, joined with Ahaziah, king of Israel.

This was Ahab's son who acted wickedly. He joined him in building ships to go to Tarshish and they built the ships in Ezion Geber.

Then Eliezer, the son of Dodevehu of Marishah, prophesied against Jehoshaphat saying, because you have joined with Ahaziah, the

Lord will destroy what you have made. And the ships were wrecked and were not able to go to Tarshish.

So again, this is Jehoshaphat still trying to build that alliance with Israel and it ends up being his downfall.

We have that same thing recorded at the end of first kings, but Eliezer, the prophet that is talked about here in second chronicles 20, only appears here in second chronicles, not in the first king's account.

So that's the end of the story of Jehoshaphat. And then we will talk about Jehoram reigning in Judah next week.

Let's pray. Our Lord God, we thank you for the deliverance that we have in Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of sins, and also a way out of the temptation that we face daily, that we would cling to our

Lord Christ who will fight our battle for us. So may we, uh, may we continue to find our strength in the

Lord, not in ourselves, not in our own flesh, not in our own mind, but that we rely fully upon the

Lord for every good thing. For you have blessed us with so much and you have called us your children adopted through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Thank you for your grace in Jesus name, amen. This has been when we understand the text of Pastor Gabriel Hughes.

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