CHAPTER 20 Oct. 24 
Jehoshaphat Prays to God for Deliverance
It happened after this that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them some of the other Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. 2Then some came who told Jehoshaphat saying, A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea from Syria. Behold, they are in Hazazon Tamar (that is, En Gedi). 3Jehoshaphat was alarmed, and set himself to seek to Yahweh. He proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4Judah gathered themselves together to seek help from Yahweh. They came out of all the cities of Judah to seek Yahweh. 5Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of Yahweh, before the new court; 6and he said, Yahweh, the God of our fathers, aren’t You God in heaven? Aren’t You ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand, so that no one is able to stand against You. 7Didn’t You, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and give it to the seed of Abraham Your friend forever? 8They lived in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name saying, 9If evil comes on us—the sword, judgment, plague or famine—we will stand before this house and before You, (for Your name is in this house), and cry to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save. 10Now, consider the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom You would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned aside from them, and didn’t destroy them. 11See how they reward us, to come to cast us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit. 12Our God, will You not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that comes against us; neither know we what to do, but our eyes are toward You. 13All Judah stood before Yahweh, with their little ones, their wives and their children. 
Judah Win the Battle without Fighting
14Then the Spirit of Yahweh came on Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, the Levite, of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. 15He said, Listen, all Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, king Jehoshaphat. Thus says Yahweh to you, ‘Don’t be afraid, neither be dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they are coming up by the ascent of Ziz. You shall find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel. 17You will not need to fight this battle. Set yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of Yahweh with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Don’t be afraid, nor be dismayed. Go out against them tomorrow, for Yahweh is with you’. 18Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before Yahweh, worshipping Yahweh. 19The Levites, of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites, stood up to praise Yahweh, the God of Israel, with an exceeding loud voice. 20They rose early in the morning and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa. As they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Listen to me, Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in Yahweh your God, so you shall be established! Believe His prophets, so you shall prosper. 21When he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who should sing to Yahweh and give praise in holy array, as they went out before the army, and say, Give thanks to Yahweh; for His grace endures forever. 22When they began to sing and to praise, Yahweh set ambushers against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were struck. 23For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, utterly to kill and destroy them. When they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, each one helped to destroy another. 24When Judah came to the place overlooking the wilderness, they looked at the multitude which were now dead bodies fallen to the earth, and there were none who escaped. 25When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their spoil, they found among them in abundance both riches and dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away. They were three days in taking the spoil, it was so much. 26On the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Beracah; for there they blessed Yahweh. Therefore the name of that place is called The valley of Beracah to this day. 27Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in their forefront, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for Yahweh had made them to rejoice over their enemies. 28They came to Jerusalem with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets to the house of Yahweh. 29The fear of God was on all the kingdoms of the countries, when they heard that Yahweh fought against the enemies of Israel. 
Jehoshaphat’s Last Years
30So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet; for his God gave him rest all around. 31Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah: he was thirty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem.  His mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. 32He walked in the way of Asa his father, and didn’t turn aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh. 33However the high places were not taken away; neither as yet had the people set their hearts to the God of their fathers. 34Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the history of Jehu the son of Hanani, which is inserted in the book of the kings of Israel. 35After this, Jehoshaphat king of Judah joined himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who did very wickedly. 36He joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish; and they made the ships in Ezion Geber. 37Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat saying, Because you have joined yourself with Ahaziah, Yahweh has destroyed your works. The ships were broken, so that they were not able to go to Tarshish.

Commentary

20:2 A great multitude is coming- Jehoshaphat was expected to have learnt the lesson from Asa’s experience when hugely outnumbered (16:8), and it seems he did. The whole purpose of Biblical history is for our sakes, that we might learn from the experiences of others who in essence were in our situation- and be strengthened, warned and encouraged (Rom. 15:4).
20:12 God, will You not judge them?- Jehoshaphat like David in the Psalms saw the crises of life as a foretaste of the final judgment; he stated the situation before God in detail (:10) and felt his prayer was a coming before God’s throne of judgment. Our prayers likewise come before the throne of grace (Heb. 4:16); our feelings toward God in prayer now are as they will be in essence at the final judgment.
20:21 There is a strong theme of praise; and praise is something one does to their Godafter a victory, not before it. Humanly, they must have feared that they were being asked to trust in mere words. Yet Jehoshaphat praised God for the assurance of victory as if it had already happened; and his battle plan was hardly humanly wise. He sent out ahead of his troops a group of priests who were praising God for the victory. Such faith is all about adopting God’s perspective, who speaks of things which are not yet as if they are, so sure is His word of promise of fulfilment (Rom. 4:17). 
20:35 Jehoshaphat king of Judah joined himself with Ahaziah king of Israel- When he earlier joined himself with a king of Israel, he nearly lost his life and was rebuked for it severely in 19:2. We too can deal with a situation in the wrong way, repent for doing so, and then the essence of the situation is repeated in another context- and again we fail. And yet although at the end of his life, Jehoshaphat failed in this matter, he was on balance reckoned as righteous (:32). This shouldn’t lead us to think that some aspects of human behaviour don’t matter and we can ‘get away’ with them. But it helps us in not rejecting brothers or sisters who clearly have weakness in one point of their lives at some period of their spiritual journey, even if as with Jehoshaphat it’s right at the end of their lives when we might expect more spiritual maturity from them. We will all come to the end of our journeys with some incomplete spirituality, and we should show others the same grace God shows us.