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2
Chronicles Chapter Twenty
2 Chronicles 20
Chapter Contents
The danger and distress of Judah. (1-13) Jahaziel's
prophecy of victory. (14-19) The thanksgiving of Judah. (20-30) Jehoshaphat's
alliance with Ahaziah. (31-37)
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 20:1-13
(Read 2 Chronicles 20:1-13)
In all dangers, public or personal, our first business
should be to seek help from God. Hence the advantage of days for national
fasting and prayer. From the first to the last of our seeking the Lord, we must
approach him with humiliation for our sins, trusting only in his mercy and
power. Jehoshaphat acknowledges the sovereign dominion of the Divine
Providence. Lord, exert it on our behalf. Whom should we seek to, whom should
we trust to for relief, but the God we have chosen and served. Those that use
what they have for God, may comfortably hope he will secure it to them. Every
true believer is a son of Abraham, a friend of God; with such the everlasting
covenant is established, to such every promise belongs. We are assured of God's
love, by his dwelling in human nature in the person of the Saviour. Jehoshaphat
mentions the temple, as a token of God's favourable presence. He pleads the
injustice of his enemies. We may well appeal to God against those that render
us evil for good. Though he had a great army, he said, We have no might without
thee; we rely upon thee.
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 20:14-19
(Read 2 Chronicles 20:14-19)
The Spirit of prophecy came upon a Levite in the midst of
the congregation. The Spirit, like the wind, blows where and on whom He
listeth. He encouraged them to trust in God. Let the Christian soldier go out
against his spiritual enemies, and the God of peace will make him more than a
conqueror. Our trials will prove our gain. The advantage will be all our own,
but the whole glory must be given to God.
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 20:20-30
(Read 2 Chronicles 20:20-30)
Jehoshaphat exhorted his troops to firm faith in God.
Faith inspires a man with true courage; nor will any thing help more to the
establishing of the heart in shaking times, than a firm belief of the power,
and mercy, and promise of God. In all our trust in the Lord, and our praises of
him, let us especially look at his everlasting mercy to sinners through Jesus
Christ. Never was an army so destroyed as that of the enemy. Thus God often
makes wicked people destroy one another. And never was a victory celebrated
with more solemn thanksgivings.
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 20:31-37
(Read 2 Chronicles 20:31-37)
Jehoshaphat kept close to the worship of God, and did
what he could to keep his people close to it. But after God had done such great
things for him, given him not only victory, but wealth; after this, to go and
join himself with a wicked king, was very ungrateful. What could he expect but
that God would be angry with him? Yet it seems, he took the warning; for when
Ahaziah afterward pressed him to join him, he would not, 1 Kings 22:49. Thus the alliance was broken, and
the Divine rebuke had its effect, at least for a season. Let us be thankful for
any losses which may have prevented the loss of our immortal souls. Let us
praise the Lord, who sought after us, and left us not to perish in our sins.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 2 Chronicles》
2 Chronicles 20
Verse 2
[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
Hazazontamar, which is Engedi.
The sea —
The dead sea, beyond which mount Seir lay.
Syria —
Largely so called, and so it includes the Moabites and Ammonites. And it may be
thus expressed, to intimate that they came by the instigation of the Syrians,
to revenge themselves of Jehoshaphat for joining with Ahab against them.
Verse 5
[5] And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the
house of the LORD, before the new court,
The house —
Largely so called, in the court of the people, upon that brazen scaffold which
Solomon had erected.
New court —
Before the priests court: which is called the new court, because it had lately
been renewed when the altar was renewed.
Verse 7
[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?
Abraham — To
whom thou hast engaged thyself by covenant to be his friend, and the friend of
his seed for ever.
Verse 9
[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.
The sword — Or
rather, the sword of judgement or of vengeance, that is, war, whereby thou
punisheth thy people for their sins.
Verse 12
[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.
Wilt thou not judge —
Wilt thou not give sentence against them, and execute it upon them? The justice
of God is the refuge of those that are wronged.
No might —
Though he had great armies, yet he seems to have been surprized by these men,
before his forces were in readiness to oppose them.
Verse 13
[13] And
all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their
children.
Little ones —
Whom they used to present before the Lord in times of great distress, to stir
up themselves to more fervent prayers, their eyes being upon their harmless and
tender children, and to move God to compassion, because God hath declared, that
he will be prevailed with, by such methods as these.
Verse 15
[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.
But God's —
God will fight for you, and he alone will do the work, you need not strike a
stroke.
Verse 16
[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.
Go down —
From Jerusalem, where he and his army now were; which stood upon high ground.
Verse 19
[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.
Stood up — By
Jehoshaphat's appointment.
On high —
With heart and voice lifted up: whereby they shewed their full assurance of the
victory.
Verse 20
[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.
Believe —
God's promise delivered to us by this prophet, and consequently all other
predictions of the prophet.
Verse 21
[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.
Consulted —
Jehoshaphat called a counsel of war, and it was resolved, to appoint singers to
go out before the army, who had nothing to do, but to praise God, to praise his
holiness, which is his beauty, to praise him as they did in the temple, that
beauty of holiness. By this strange advance to the field of battle, Jehoshaphat
shewed his firm reliance on the word of God, which enabled him to triumph
before the battle, to animate his own men and confound the enemy.
Verse 22
[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.
To sing — So
acceptable are the fervent prayers of God's people to God, and so terrible to
their enemies.
Ambushments —
Or, liers in wait, either 1. the holy angels, who appeared in the shape of men,
and possibly put on the appearances and visages of the Moabites or Ammonites,
and in that shape slew the rest, who supposing this slaughter to be done by a
part of their own army, fell upon them, and so broke forth into mutual
slaughters. Or, 2. God raised jealousies and animosities among themselves,
which broke forth, first into secret ambushments, which one party laid for
another, and then into open hostilities to their utter destruction. So vain are
all mens attempts against God, who needs none to destroy his enemies but
themselves, and their own mistakes, and passions, which he can, when he
pleaseth, arm against them.
Verse 24
[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.
The watch tower —
Which stood upon the cliff of Ziz, mentioned verse 16, and looked toward the wilderness, where
their enemies lay encamped, whose numbers, and order, and condition, they could
descry from thence.
Verse 25
[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.
Jewels —
Which they brought with them to corrupt any of Jehoshaphat's officers as they
saw occasion: to procure necessaries for their vast army from time to time: and
because they came as to triumph rather than to fight, being confident of the
victory because of their numbers, and especially because they thought to
surprize Jehoshaphat ere he could make any considerable preparations against
them; God also permitting them to be puffed up to their own destruction.
Verse 26
[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.
Berachah —
Heb. of blessing; so called from their solemn blessings and praises given to
God in it upon this occasion.
Verse 28
[28] And
they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the house of
the LORD.
To the house — To
renew their praises in the court of the temple, the proper and usual place for
it. Praising God must not be the work of a day only, but our praises when we
have received mercy, must be often repeated, as our prayers were, when we where
in pursuit of it. Every day we must bless God: as long as we live, and while we
have any being, we must praise him, spending our time in that work, in which we
hope to spend our eternity.
Verse 33
[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.
Not taken —
Not universally; the fault was not in Jehoshaphat, but in the people, who,
though they did worship the true God, yet would not be confined to the temple,
but for their own conveniency, or from their affection to their ancient custom
chose to worship him in the high-places.
Verse 35
[35] And
after this did Jehoshaphat king of Judah join himself with Ahaziah king of
Israel, who did very wickedly:
After this —
This is mentioned as an aggravation of his sin, after so great an obligation
laid upon him by God; and after he had been so singularly reproved by a prophet
yet he relapsed into the same sin which proceeded partly from that near
relation which was contracted between the two families, and partly from the
easiness of Jehoshaphat's temper, which could not resist the solicitations of
others, in such things as might seem indifferent. For he did not join with him
in war, as he did with Ahab, but in a peaceable way only, in a matter of trade
and commerce. And yet God reproves and punisheth him for it, verse 37, to shew his great dislike of all familiar
conversation of his servants and people with professed enemies of God and of
religion, as Ahaziah was.
Very wickedly — Or
who did industriously, and maliciously, and constantly work wickedness, as the
Hebrew phrase implies, giving himself up to idolatry and all wickedness.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 2 Chronicles》
EHOSHAPHAT’S PRAYER. 11. Chronicles 20:1-13.
In the previous chapter we read of
Jehoshaphat charging Judah to take heed and obey the Lord (verse 6,7), and to
walk before Him with a perfect heart ( verse 9). At this time Judah seems to be
in a fairly prosperous state, the surrounding nations are jealous of it, and
join together to overthrow it. We find that the twentieth chapter opens with
these words, “ After this.” Often we find that after great blessing comes
trial. It was so in the case of Abraham. God gave him the promised seed, and
then called upon him to offer up his son Isaac. After Israel had been brought
out of Egypt, then they are confronted by the Red Sea. It was after Christ had
been baptized, and acknowledged from heaven with the Spirit’s anointing and the
Father’s voice, that He was led away into the wilderness to be tempted of the
devil. “ Every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it that it may bring forth
more fruit.” It is the fruitful branch that has the pruning.
Ⅰ.
Preparation. “ Set himself to seek
the Lord” (verse 3). If we would have power with God, we must have purity of
heart. An uncondemning heart will surely bring abundant blessing. We do not
expect the plant to grow while it is out of the ground, neither can we look for
answers to our prayers unless we are in the conditions laid down in the Word.
Ⅱ.
Proclamation. “ Proclaimed a fast”
(verse 3). It is interesting to note a few of the fasts mentioned in the Word,
and the reasons for them.
Direction (Ezra 8:21), Idolatry
(Jer.36:9), Confession (Dan.9:3), Humiliation (Jonah 3:5), To ask help (11.
Chron.20:3).
Ⅲ.
Consolidation. “ Gathered themselves
together” (verse 4). Union in prayer means union of power. Get plenty of sticks
and the fire will burn brightly.
Ⅳ.
Solicitation. “ Ask help of the
Lord” (verse 4). Jehoshaphat stands like a beggar knocking at the door, and
will not go away until he is answered. The Lord encourages us to importunity in
the parables of the importunate widow (Luke 18:1, ＆c.), and the importunate friend (Luke 11:5, ＆c. In Luke 11:9 we have an acrostic on the word “ Ask.”
A “
Ask, and it shall be given you.”
S “
Seek, and ye shall find.”
K “Knock,
and it shall be opened unto you.”
Ⅴ.
Supplication (verse 6-13).
Characteristics of Jehoshaphat’s prayer.
His prayer was reverent (verse 6). He
recognized God’s power and pleasure, might, majesty, and holiness.
In his prayer he reminds God of what
He has done in the past (verse 7). Past mercies lead us to hope for present
ones. He who has blessed, will bless; He who has fed, will feed; He who has
led, will lead.
He reminds God of the relationship He
holds to him. “ Our God.” “ God of our fathers” (verse 6,7). A woman may forget
her child, and a father neglect his offspring, but not so the Lord. He will
remember to help us.
He pleads the promise of God (verse
9). See 11.Chron.6:28-30. If we bring the cheque of God’s promise, signed with
the name of Jesus, He will surely keep to His word.
His prayer was pointed (verse 10). He
did not ramble, but he knew what he wanted, and waited for what he asked.
His prayer was humble (verse 12). “ We
have no might.” When we are weak, then are we strong, and when we are strong,
then we are weak. Asa relied on himself and his physicians, and was distressed
(11. Chron.16:7,12). Paul trusted in the Lord, and was strengthened (11.
Cor.12:9).
His prayer was earnest (verse 12). “
Neither know we what to do.” Sore distress means sure deliverance. Man’s
extremity is God’s opportunity.
His prayer was expectant. “ Our eyes
are upon Thee.” “Judah stood” (verse 12,13). Waiting in humble and believing
expectation is sure to bring a hearty and bountiful blessing. Plead earnestly.
Wait patiently. Trust fully. Shine brightly. Work expectantly. Behave wisely.
Do manfully. Glorify God.
── F.E. Marsh《Five Hundred Bible Readings》
20 Chapter 20
Verses 1-37
Verse 1
It came to pass.
It came to pass
“It came to pass.” The phrase occurs again and again in the Old
Testament. “It came to pass after four hundred and thirty years that all the
hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt,” and, “It came to pass, when
the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took the harp and played
with his hand,” and so on. But has it ever occurred to you that the phrase is a
very suitable one as describing the different events of earthly history and the
varied phases of earthly experience? It hints not only that they happen, but
that they are so soon over; they come, but they “come to pass.” We do not
always realise that, but it is always true. We are not conscious that the earth
is moving round the sun, or that it is revolving daily on its axis, yet it is
true. Summer and winter, day and night, do not cease, there is perpetual
movement.
I. All that comes
to us here “comes to pass,” nothing lasts very long, “weeping may endure for a
night, but joy cometh in the morning.” It is true a Christian has an abiding
joy, it is joy that springs from an inward life, but joys that are ours through
happy circumstances, through successes, recoveries, attainments, meetings, of
these it is as true as of their opposites that give us trouble, they “come to
pass.” Each period of life comes to pass. Childhood, how swiftly gone! Soon the
soft limbs grow robust, the hair loses its flaxen tint; and youth, with its
gaiety, novelty, and romance,
it comes so quickly, but it “comes to pass.” And, of course, this is equally
true of all that we mean by the word “opportunity.” Thomas a Kempis says, “The
wealth of both Indies cannot redeem one single opportunity which you have once
let slip.” Every day as it passes takes with it in its hand the opportunities
that we have slighted and refused to take. The feeling of irritation that you
have under trying circumstances. Things have not gone as you wish. Things do go
strangely sometimes. So much disappointment and trouble are caused by one screw
being loose somewhere. Well, the thing has come, but remember, like everything
else, it has “come to pass.” Or it may be something much more serious than
that. A reversal of fortune, the failure or death of one who, if not the sharer
in your heart’s affections was one whose presence and favour were of great
value to you. That great crisis of yours came, but it “came to pass.” God
guided you into the wilderness that He might speak comfortably to you. The
stormy night full of terrors brought the vision and the morning. But some may
be reminding the speaker in the silence of their own thought, there are sorrows
in life that come to stay. Yes, you may say, it is the greater griefs, the
darker dispensations, that come but do not “come to pass.” In proportion to the
depth of the wound is its permanency. And yet, even in regard to the greater
sorrows that come to us in life there is an example of that which the text
expresses. Wounds heal, though the marks of them abide, and though in some
cases, like Jacob after the night of wrestling, we halt upon our thigh, there
is an assuaging influence in time; the intense grief, the sense of despair, the
feeling that all has gone, that life has no recuperative power, and that there
is nothing worth living for--of these feelings it is true they come, but they
“come to pass.” Is not this equally true of very opposite experiences? Though
successes and the honours of the world may remain, yet the first feeling of
elation and pride of attainment, these “come to pass.” We get accustomed to
success, it ceases to exhilarate, it no longer gives us satisfaction.
II. Now having
given, I trust, sufficient illustrations of this phase of life, of the constant
flux of transitory things--they come, but they “come to pass”--let us consider
its religious significance. What does it teach us, how should it affect us?
1. What an emphasis it lends to the fact of our own continuance, the
continuity of the personal life through all the changes of time! How much has
come to pass! Youth, marriage, parentage, maturity, the successive seasons and
steps in life, have come to pass. Friends, and even the nearest and dearest of
all, have come to pass. We ourselves have changed. There is not a physical atom
of our bodies that belonged to us ten years ago; the gait, the expression, all
have changed. But all that makes the continuity of the I, the fundamental elements
of our humanity, the more striking. I am the same being that long years ago
first spoke God’s name at my mother’s knee; the same being as when health gave
vigour to the limbs and youth fresh beauty to the cheek; the same being who,
once a prodigal son far from God, rioting in pleasure, then miserable in the
consciousness of spiritual pauperism, came back unto the Father. The essence,
the very constitution of man, is within, it is hidden, it is that which abides.
Surely then there is nothing unreasonable in the faith that I may survive the
last change of all? “The world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that
doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”
2. Then should not the fact that most, if not all, things only “come
to pass” have a moderating influence on passion? The things in life which we
most regret are moments when we lose control of ourselves. Said Johnson to
Boswell, when something had intensely irritated that inimitable biographer,
“Consider, sir, how insignificant this will appear six months hence.” Boswell’s
comment on relating it is, “Were this consideration applied to most of the
little vexations of life by which one’s quiet is too often disturbed, it would
prevent many painful sensations.” Exactly. There is a great argument for temperance
in this text. “It came to pass.”
3. Surely, too, this should affect our judgment as well as our
feelings. Permanency must be a factor in judgment. Should it not guide us to
choose and cherish the good that abides, the better part that cannot be taken
away from us? Character is an abiding thing; the evil effects as well as the
good effects are lasting, but the pleasure only comes to pass; no one can enjoy
the pleasures of sin more than for a season, but “he that doeth the will of God
abideth for ever.” Surely, too, this should affect our judgment of movements of
thought and taste, schemes that men devise for benefiting the race, will they
last? Are they only a passing phase, a fashionable craze, a novelty, attractive
because it is new? Here they are, they have come; wait a little, and you will
see that they have only “come to
pass.” The Word of God abides, the Christ the Sun of
Righteousness is still the sun
of the moral world. The Bible has been attacked ever since there was a Bible. (R.
Baldwin Brindley.)
Verse 3
And proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
Objections to fasting answered
(on the occasion of a public fast):--A fast may be defined to be a
voluntary abstinence from food, as a token of our humiliation before God.
Objections--
1. There may be this outward mark of repentance without any real
sorrow for sin. Answer--The outward expression then becomes a mockery.
2. A public fast has the appearance of ostentation. Answer--If you
alone were to keep the fast, it might aver the appearance of ostentation, but
in the case of public fasting, it becomes a duty not only really to fast, but
to show openly your compliance with a prescribed service, and gladly to embrace
the opportunity of humbling yourselves before God.
3. If we feel repentance in our hearts, God, who sees our hearts,
does not require to be informed of it by any external expression. Answer--The
same may be said of prayer and also of all the means of grace which God has
appointed.
4. Why should fasting in particular be selected as an external mark
of humiliation. Answer--
(a) It is a duty easily practised.
(b) Requiring no apparatus.
(c) Connected with no expense.
(d) Simple in its own nature.
(e) Equally adapted to all ranks, climates, and places.
(f) It involves an act of self-denial.
(g) It is an act connected with the mortification of those very
appetites whence many of the sins for which we thus humble ourselves proceed.
5. Fasting may disorder a person of weak health, and thus indispose
him even for the service of the day. Answer--The spirit of the Christian
system, insists only on the principle, and leaves the application of it to the
case and conscience of the worshipper.
6. A public command to fast is a species of compulsion, and therefore
inconsistent with the notion of a voluntary act of humiliation. Answer--All
that is done by the command of the Government is, to render that convenient
which might otherwise be very inconvenient, and that practicable which might be otherwise
impracticable.
7. It is unreasonable to expect the poor to give up a day’s labour, and to
abridge their diet who scarcely ever enjoy a full meal. Answer--It is a
voluntary sacrifice: God enjoins no man to make it who is unwilling. No man
will really be a loser by serving God. (J. Venn, M. A.)
And Jehoshaphat stood in
the congregation of Judah.
Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity
I. That in the
discipline of life we should expect dangers and extremities. To know other
resources we must learn the weakness of our own.
II. That in these
dangers and extremities God has many ways of deliverance. Human agency but a
small part of holy ministry. Birds and beasts, insects, elements of Nature, and
hosts of angels under His command. Hence the folly of proscribing, measuring,
or limiting in God’s work.
III. That in all
dangers and extremities of life we should look to God for help. (J. Wolfendale.)
If, when evil cometh upon us.
The cause of famine and
our duty
I. What is the
cause of famine?
1. Dishonour of God (Ezekiel 14:13).
2. Blasphemy (Jeremiah 23:10).
3. Sabbath-breaking (Isaiah 58:13-14).
4. Contempt of God’s Word (Revelation 22:18-19).
II. What should be
our duty when God sends a famine upon the land?
1. Humbling ourselves before Him in prayer.
2. Showing kindness to our neighbours (Psalms 41:1-2). (Charles A. Maguire, M.A.)
Verse 12
For we have no might against this great company.
Embarrassment
I. There are
embarrassments concerning our country.
II. Many good men
and women are often greatly embarrassed about the divine inspiration of every
sentence in the Bible.
III. Some of us are
at times much embarrassed by the circumstances of life. Like a man who looks
out of a railway carriage at night and sees nothing, so some of us often look
towards to-morrow and see no light. This fear of to-morrow is the wet-blanket
of the Christian’s life. Act rightly now; do your duty to-day, and never mind
to-morrow. (W. Birch.)
Moral courage
I. There are often
terrible crises in men’s lives when moral courage is required. Most men are
brought at times to a crisis when they are ready to exclaim, “We know not what
to do.”
1. In the course of secular work. A great company of worldly anxieties.
2. In the course of personal moral culture. Old habits, lusts,
propensities.
3. In the process of philanthropic labour.
II. The only source
of true moral courage is trust in God. To trust Him is to trust--
1. Love.
2. Wisdom equal to every emergency.
3. Power that can make the weakest mighty. (Homilist.)
The helpless Church and the mighty God
I want to take this as a text to preach the experience of
the people of God.
I. An
appropriation of God. “O our God.”
II. The enemy to be
judged. “Wilt Thou not judge them?” The Christian has many enemies, internal,
external, and infernal, but self is the greatest enemy the people of God have.
Self must be brought under judgment.
III. The sinner’s
powerlessness. “We have no might.” We are spiritual insolvents. Perfect
poverty: all true disciples of Christ must be brought into this state. Like
Mary, we have nothing to pay, according to Christ’s parable, and yet we are
pardoned. That is the gospel.
IV. The church’s
perplexity. “Neither know we what to do.” This is often the condition of the
Church.
V. Faith’s
invigorating look. “But our eyes are upon Thee.” (J. J. West,
M.A.)
Jehoshaphat, face to face with one of life’s great emergencies,
our model
Say we not well, that prayer is a model for presidents, princes,
kings, and rulers for all time? But it has wider applications. The King of
Judah is confronted by a great and startling peril;--what does he do?
I. Let us rather
mark what he does not do.
1. He does not underestimate his danger. There are some men who think
it wisdom to pooh-pooh a difficulty. Jehoshaphat is not one of them. He is at
the farthest remove from foolhardiness or a rash contempt of the impending
peril. The men who under-estimate risks are not the wise men or the safe men,
morally, politically, or spiritually. There are many of this easy-going--if you
please, buoyant--disposition who decline to look probable defeat or disaster in
the face. They deprecate your fears, advise you to trust to luck, to go on and
take the chances with a stout heart. They are willing to do it in politics,
suffering the Ship of State to take her chances among the unknown shoals and
rocks! They do it in religion. They discount heavily the Divine requirements,
the Divine warnings, the Divine hatred of sin, the tremendous Divine penalties
pronounced upon it; for them these all mean nothing or very little.
2. So neither did Jehoshaphat over-estimate them. His was no panic
fright. Seen through the atmosphere of our fears, a man may become a monster.
The King of Judah certainly discerned the danger and appreciated it to the
full, but his brave and trustful spirit was as far as possible removed from
panic, desperation, or despair. Jehoshaphat, confronted by a danger which
seemed certainly to insure the ruin of his throne and kingdom, declines to
regard the case as by any means hopeless, refuses to believe that the Lord’s
arm is shortened that it cannot save, or His ear heavy that it cannot hear. Who
says Moab and Ammon are stronger than God? Any peril is over-estimated of which
men cry: “There is no help for him in his God!”
3. Again, if Jehoshaphat does not underestimate or over-estimate his
dangers, so neither does he place any false reliance upon human power--his
resources, his aids, or himself. Some men trust God when they are bereft of every
other ground of confidence, but not till then. They brave it out till ruin
stares them in the face, and then run to cover. Not so Jehoshaphat. The nation
had scarcely known a more prosperous and potent reign than his. He had a great
army at his command, and, it would appear from the record (2 Chronicles 17:12-19), could bring
upward of a million of men into the field, a drilled and organised militia
capable of effective service in emergency. Many a man in his position, and with
such military and national resources behind him, would have given God
altogether the go-by, and chosen, like Napoleon Bonaparte, to trust in the
heaviest battalions.
II. Turning from
this negative to a positive view, we ask, then what did he do? Where was his
real confidence? If ever there was a man who offered effective and ample
illustration of the Psalmist’s words--“Some trust in chariots and some in
horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God”--that man was
Jehoshaphat of Judah. What then did he do? He turned to God! And observe how he
did this.
1. It was publicly done. The King of Judah made no secret of his
dependence on the King of kings. “He proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah”--“And
out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord”--“And all Judah
stood before the Lord, with their little ones, and their wives, and their
children.”--“And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem,
and said.” What announcement of national and personal need and reliance upon
Jehovah could be more distinctly open and unreserved than this?
2. And it was as humble and self-renouncing as it was public in its
character. National grief is an affecting spectacle. You have it here: “All
Judah, their little ones, their wives, their children, stood before the Lord.”
While speaking in their name, Jehoshaphat exclaimed: “O our God we have no
might against this great company, neither know we what to do.” Lowly-mindedness
and self-abasement in a whole people, as certainly as in a man, goes far to
secure--as truly as it solicits--the Divine favour.
3. Jehoshaphat’s plea for Judah was further marked by an unreserving
trust in God. With Jehoshaphat Jehovah is all and enough. “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?”
Never a thought here of limitation, or weakness in Him; never a suspicion that
He is unable or unwilling to rescue those that trust in Him to the uttermost.
No association of His name with any other. He is not to be a helper, a partner,
a contributor. He is to be all, to do all! The royal, the national reliance on Jehovah is entire.
4. This brings us to note finally that Jehoshaphat’s plea is marked
by the fullest recognition of the Divine Sovereignty and Providence. A writer,
quoted in one of our leading weeklies, says that, “No secular history would be
read in our schools to-day or in the schools of any enlightened community in
which the fortunes of nations were represented as controlled by special Divine
intervention.” The man who wrote that sentence would, we fancy, have been
treated with rather scant courtesy if he had chanced in the court of Jehoshaphat.
5. More than this, the King of Judah appeals to the Covenant. Now God
loves to be plied with His own promises and reminded of the gracious relations
He occupies to us. The Psalmist founded a claim to Divine help and mercy upon
the ground of a godly parentage: “O Lord, I am the son of Thine handmaid.” Our
best resource, our true “help,” is not in alliances, in circumstances, in
capacities, in luck, in others, in ourselves, but ever and only “in the name of
the Lord.” (W. T. Sabine, D.D.)
Leaving the vote with God
Sir Fowell Buxton, who shared with Wilberforce the labours which
secured the emancipation of the slaves in the West Indies, ascribed their
triumph directly to the power of prayer. Writing to his daughter when all was
over, he said, “I firmly believe that prayer was the cause of that division”
(vote in the House of Commons}. “You know how we waited upon God for
guidance, with these words in our hearts, ‘O our God, we have no might against
this great company that cometh against us, neither know we what to do; but our
eyes are upon Thee’; and the answer, ‘Ye shall not need to fight in this
battle; stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.’ You will find the whole
story in 2 Chronicles 20:1-37. Turn to my
Bible; it will open of itself to the place. We had no preconceived plan; the
course we took appeared to be the right one, and we followed it blindly.”
For the battle is not your’s, but God’s.
Victory the gift of God
I. Let us remember
the great truth enunciated here, and let us in all thankfulness address our
tribute of praise to God for the success wherewith He has crowned our
exertions.
II. Let us never
forget that war must always be considered as a judgment, however it may, in
answer to a nation’s prayers, be accompanied with victory. (J.
Bainbridge Smith, M.A.)
God in battle
This battle was--
I. A committed
thing to God. The course of events was committed by a specific act to God; and
Jehoshaphat and Judah stood in expectation of what He would do. Solemn acts of
committal are of great importance in our spiritual life. If we have a bad habit
to fight with, or a temper or special temptation to overcome; or if we have to
deal with some wayward spirit; or if we want to attain to some grace, or even
to do something that is too hard for our own strength, but which lies before us
in the path of duty, let each of these be “committed things.”
II. An accepted
thing by Him. God espoused Jehoshaphat’s cause: “The battle is not yours.” When
we commit matters to God and He accepts them, we may see them in new lights
altogether. We often do so, and wonder that we were so blind before. But we
need not wonder. The light came in with God. When matters seem very dark to us,
let us be fully assured that they are capable of being lit up.
1. “Not yours!” Why not? Because another interest had come in. In one
respect the battle is always ours, inasmuch as we are the persons to reap all
the substantial benefits, but in another it is God’s; He has interests as well
as we. In our trial time, we must view Him as an interested God.
2. How was it not to be theirs? Just by God acting in the matter in His
own way. We seem at times more as though we wished God to follow our leadings
than that we should follow His. God will lead us by ways which we know not. We
have to learn the double lesson of the insufficiency of known ways and the
all-sufficiency of unknown. God has continually to teach us the last through
the first. By taking the battle out of their hands, God severed Jehoshaphat and
Judah from the depressing thoughts of the results being affected by their
weakness. Conclusion: Consider Christ, who “committed Himself to Him that
judgeth righteously,” and Paul, who said, “I am persuaded that He is able to
keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” (P. B. Power,
M. A.)
The Divine victory
I. These words
imply that the cause is the cause of God. While the Christian life is
undoubtedly a personal matter, it is well to look away from our interest and
remember that God’s cause is chiefly concerned in the conflict of life.
1. Individually. The Divine
ideal for each man is the perfection of each man’s character, and therefore he
makes the successful prosecution of the warfare for this end his own.
2. What is true of the individual is also true of the race. A
redeemed and regenerated world is the idea of God. Our conflict, therefore, for
these ends against the evil of sin and the corruption of the world is a battle
of God.
II. These words
imply that the method of victory is Divine. If the cause is God’s, the forces
we employ and the mode of our warfare must also be His. The Koran might be
accompanied with the sword, but not the gospel. Its weapon was a Cross, and in
that sign it triumphed. So in all the battle of life he who would win the
victory for God must use the
Divine armour. Eloquence, learning, wealth, and even physical force, have
contributed at times to the success of the Church, but quite as often they have
been hindrances. The method of Jesus is meekness and truth, the Word ever
spoken, the life quietly lived, and the testimony borne and the faith kept
clear and strong in the darkest and most distressful hour. How often in the
conflict of life we try to fight the battle in our own way! We seek to conquer
indwelling sin, to overcome the attack of the enemy who would destroy us, by
some methods of our own. We always fail.
III. If the battle
be God’s, then we may be confident that the end will be the Divine end.
1. How many good people are greatly distressed about their final
salvation. But salvation is a condition of mind and heart--a present trust and
submission to God, each moment assured, and therefore assurance for the next
moment. Leave the end with God. It will be God’s triumph.
2. In respect of the final outcome of the conflict between good and
evil, in the Church and the world, let us believe that God will take care of
the issues, and that all will be well. Let us leave our doubts, and our
forebodings, and our mistrustings with Him. (Llewelyn D. Bevan, D.D.)
Jehoshaphat helped of God
I. Jehoshaphat’s
prayer teaches us when we may expect help of God.
1. In matters which we know God has at heart.
2. In matters for which Christ’s atonement stands pledged.
3. In matters for which we have not ourselves to blame.
4. In matters wherein we are powerless to help ourselves.
II. How we may
secure God’s help.
1. We must come into communion with Him.
2. We must pray for God’s help.
3. We must implicitly follow God’s guidance.
4. Faith is an especial prerequisite to God’s aid.
III. How god’s help
is given.
1. Not always or necessarily in the shape we desire it. God makes
spiritual growth His first aim in all His dealings with His people.
2. But when compatible with higher advantages, God aids us in
temporal things.
3. God gives us blessings beyond His promise or our asking.
Conclusion:
1. In God’s people the Divine help awakens gratitude.
2. Those who are not Christians are never unaffected when they see
God help His children: “the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those
countries when they heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel.”
(Monday Club Sermons.)
The battle is not yours, but God’s
The text addresses a word--
1. To all who are bearing Christian protest against evil.
2. To all who are undergoing severe temptation.
3. To all who are labouring for the good of the world.
4. To all who are engaged in controversy on behalf of Christian
doctrine. (J. Parker, D.D.)
The Lord’s battle
Luther’s strength lay in the way in which he laid the burden of
the Reformation upon the Lord. Continually in prayer he pleaded, “Lord, this is
Thy cause, not mine. Therefore do Thine own work; for if this gospel do not
prosper, it will not be Luther alone who will be a loser, but Thine own name
will be dishonoured.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Ye shall not need to fight in this battle.
The conditions and certainty of obtaining God’s deliverance
I. That since our
enemies’ designs are known to us, we ought to set ourselves, that is, make what
provision we can against them.
II. That having
thus set ourselves, we must then stand still, that is, do nothing which is
unlawful, although it be for, our own preservation.
1. By doing any unlawful action we deprive ourselves of God’s care
and protection.
2. By doing anything unlawful we bring a scandal upon our religion.
3. To do evil, although for our own preservation, would be most
likely to unsettle and ruin us. When once we break down the fences of duty, who
can tell where we shall stop? If we allow ourselves the liberty of doing one
sinful act, we may easily be prompted on to commit a thousand.
III. Repentance and
amendment of life being supposed, we haste all reason to hope that we shall see
the salvation of God.
1. Whatever our danger, God hath sufficient power to save and deliver
us.
2. This is to be inferred from the design of God’s sending judgments
upon any nation. (Jeremiah 18:7). (Thomas Lynford, A.M.)
For the Lord is with you.--
The power behind us
In my firewood factory we use a circular saw for cutting timber.
Until recently this saw was worked by a crank turned by men. It was slow work,
and we bought a gas engine. The saw, driven by this engine, does more work and
at less cost. It is the same saw, but the difference lies in the power
that drives it. It was driven by hand-power, now by an equivalent for steam, we
only need to keep the connecting
band tight. It is not a question of our abilities, but of the power behind us.
(F. B. Meyer.)
Believe in the Lord your God.
Salvation by faith
Judah is to be “saved by faith” from Moab and Ammon, as the
Christian is delivered by faith from sin and its penalty. The incident might
almost seem to have been recorded in order to illustrate the truth that Paul was
to teach. It is strange that there is no reference to this chapter in the
Epistles of St. Paul and St. James, and that the author of the Epistle to the
Hebrews does not remind us how “by faith Jehoshaphat was delivered from Moab
and Ammon.” (W. H. Bennett, M.A.)
God-fearing makes grand soldiers
Carlyle has taught the present generation many lessons, and one of
these is that “God-fearing” armies are the best armies. Before his time people
laughed at Cromwell’s saying, “Trust in God and keep your powder dry.” But we
now know that the trust was of as much use as the powder, if not of more. That
high concentration of steady feeling makes men dare everything and do anything.
Those kinds of morals and that kind of religion which tend to make the firmest
and most effectual character are sure to prevail, all else being the same; and
creeds or systems that conduce to a soft limp mind tend to perish, except some
hard extrinsic force keep them alive. Strong beliefs win strong men, and then
make them stronger. (J. Bagehot.)
And when he had consulted with the people.
Shouting before the victory
Anybody can sing the Te Deum after the battle is over. The
German soldiers shouted when they had conquered their foe in the first battle
in the war with France. It did not want much of a spirit to do that. The
difference between an ordinary man of war and a Christian is this: a Christian
shouts before the victory, because he knows it is sure to come. You remember
how the people gave a shout of triumph before the wall of Jericho before it
fell down.
I. We are here
taught the great duty of patriotism. In a leading newspaper it was stated that
if we were not so
good we might do a great many things which would be to our worldly advantage,
that we are cursed with a great amount of scrupulousness with respect to our
conduct in Ireland, Egypt, and Burmah; that if we were a little more
unscrupulous, and did not trouble ourselves about the rights and wrongs of men,
we might seize Egypt and settle all our differences in India. Yet all history
proves to us that this kind of foreign policy in the long run is an utter
fallacy. Why is it that the great Empires of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia,
and Rome have fallen? Why has Spain lost her position and France been humbled
in our own day? Because they yielded to the foul ungodly spirit of national
self-assertion and aggression; because they did not praise the beauty of
holiness.
II. Our special
object is to illustrate the history of the Christian Church. We are engaged in
a holy war. The Bishop of Durham said the Churches of this country were
indebted to the Salvation Army, because they had revived the consciousness of
the fact that the Church of God was an army, and that our great business as a
country is war--not with one another, but with all human misery. What must we
do? Praise the beauty of holiness. If we go forth to war, we must do as Jehoshaphat--we
must needs be clothed with the Spirit of holiness. The apostle John was not
ready for the great work he was called to until he had put on the power from on
high, which was the Spirit of holiness. What was the practical result of the
Pentecostal blessing? They were filled with the Holy Ghost. What followed? They
were delivered from--
1. Cowardice.
2. Selfishness.
3. Ignorance.
John Wesley and those with him at Oxford saw, after reading the
Bible, that holiness comes by faith. Our great mission is to spread Scriptural
holiness. If we march forth to war with confidence in the Spirit of holiness,
we shall triumph even without fighting. (Hugh Price Hughes, M.A.)
Enthusiastic soldiers
When the Spartans marched into battle, they advanced with cheerful
songs, willing to fight; but when the Persians entered the conflict, you could
hear, as the regiments came on, the crack of the whip, by which the officers
drove the cowards to the fray. What wonder that the Spartans were like lions in
the midst of Sheep! Were we enthusiastic soldiers of the Cross, through God’s
help, nothing would be able to stand against us. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Praise
The biographer of Bishop Hannington says, “How often had he
encouraged his companions in times of doubt or difficulty with the words,
‘Never be disappointed, only praise.’”
The valley of Berachah.
Bible valleys
The word valley is a poem in itself; it is associated with a great
deal that is beautiful, comforting, and that gives the soul a sense of security
and plentifulness. The Bible is full of valleys, as it is full of wells. What
is this valley of Berachah? In some senses I do not care much for it; I know it
means the valley of blessing, and that the people, in whom I have not the
slightest confidence at all, sang themselves hoarse in the valley of Berachah
because they were fed like oxen that were to be slaughtered. That is what the
people were doing in the valley of Berachah. To me their blessing goes for
nothing until I have deeply inquired into the motive of the hymn, the intent
and the genesis of the ringing psalm. It was all right enough within given
limits, but the limits themselves were wrong. No doubt there had been great
victories, no doubt Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of
them that had been overthrown; and they found abundance of riches. I listened
with reluctance to their selfish psalm. God might see some good in it; God sees
good wherever it exists,
in how poor soever a form. Sometimes the goodness is like a little starveling
thing that has got no blood, no fire in the eyes, and no real trust in the
soul--a kind of living, self-vexing speculation. Who would not sing in carrying
off all these precious jewels? There is a better time for singing than the time
of all this commercial aggrandisement and secular comfort. One little song of
patience is worth the whole of this blaring noise. There is another valley
mentioned in Numbers 32:9 --“the valley of Eshcol.”
What valley is that? ‘Tis the valley of grapes and summer fruits, all of which
we may pluck, because it is the intent of Divine love that we should possess
ourselves of such luxuriant vineyards. Do we not suddenly come upon the grapes
intellectual, social, educational, spiritual? Is not hunger itself often
surprised by unexpected plentifulness? Yet sometimes men cannot believe even in
this uncrushed wine of the grape; they will hasten home and say, “Do not, we
beseech thee, venture in that direction; grapes enough there may be, even to
abundance, but we had better remain where we are; can a man live upon grapes?
We cannot tell what there may be beyond the river or on the other side of the
mountain; here, you see, we have grapes enough; until we have drunken of this
wine why should we strike our tents and go ahead? “We may pervert some little
mean proverbs of our own, and say, “Better bear the ills we have than fly to
others that we know not of.” We have grapes to-day: why should we care about
to-morrow? Thus enthusiasm is killed, and all daring, high exploit, and noble
endeavour. Ambition may be perverted, but ambition may be one of the forms or
aspects of inspiration. It is the future that draws us on, it is the prophetic
assurance of some fiery man that a mile further on and we shall have it that
keeps the world young and keep the rust away. You cannot silence the divinely
inspired and most restless man. We could rouse him and say, Now, why not be
content? why not rest and be thankful? of course there may be higher heights
and wider landscapes, let us admit all that for a moment; but why worry
ourselves about it? there may be something beyond the grave; when we die we shall
see what there is. Perhaps not; there is a right way of dying. The world has
been kept going by what foolish people would call sensationalism. The very
persons who now wrap their rugs around them and enjoy the immediate comfort of
the day owe the very rugs in which they wrap themselves to the sensationalism
of a former time that could not be kept back from the wilderness or the jungle
or the far-away land, no, not by the roaring sea and the tempest that seemed to
be an embodied destruction. Do not live yourselves down into saplessness and
reluctance to move. And it is easy for some persons to come and sanction such
indolence, but we want the true spies to say to us, “We have seen a land worth
going to; it grows life, it is warm with summer, it is boundless with an
illimitable hospitality.” Young souls, do not be frightened by the man sitting
next you, for he is no man, he is hardly a figure in wax. In Hosea there is a
glorious valley--“the valley of Achor” (2:15). What is the meaning of Achor in
this connection? what is the broad spiritual interpretation of Achor? It may be
given in two little words, each word a syllable, one of the words a letter’. “a
door of hope.” I have given thee a new beginning, new chances, new
opportunities, new mornings; this is not the end, this is the beginning; there
is the great wall, go grope in blindness, but with finger-tips that can see;
thou wilt in that great blank wall find a door; it is there, I made it, I made
it for thee; I know the blankness of the wall, but on my word go thou forth and
grope for the door, the Achor that will give thee visions beyond big as
horizons, big as firmaments, big as outlined heavens: go forth in the spirit of
hope. We are saved by hope. We are not saved by depression. There is a new
beginning for you if you please to avail yourself of it. I have heard your
story about lost opportunities and a wasted life and failure upon failure. That
is atheistic controversy; you had better know it, it spoils your life. What the
preacher is set to do is to proclaim the door of hope; salvation by hope, hope
that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In the book of Isaiah we have a beautiful
valley; in chapter 22:1 we read about “the valley of vision.” That is a large
valley, that valley is worth living in. To live with people who have always
seen new lights, new possibilities, and new and brighter interpretations than
have ever been realised before; that is companionship, that is resurrection.
Who cares for those dullards who never see new lights, new companions, and the
outlines of new springs and summers in the morning sky? What a poor life it is
to live without vision! In Isaiah 28:1 we come into “fat valleys.”
The poor drunkards were all lying down dead drunk and choked and suffocated
with their own wine of fatness. They were pampered creatures; their soul was
subordinated to the body, they were all flesh and next to no spirit. There are
fat valleys that have no fatness of the true sort. Then there are valleys that
are spiritually rich with all manner of nutritious food. There is a wine that
has no intoxication in it, there is a wine that does not carry the seal of
death. Into those fat valleys, and not into the other, may God lead us. Can
Ezekiel be alive and not take his position in this great question of valleys?
Ezekiel saw a valley, it was a valley of dry bones. Read Ezekiel 37:1 and the context. It was an
awful valley, a valley of death. “Son of man, can these bones live?” And the
son of man said, “O Lord God, Thou knowest.” The wisest answer to every Divine
inquiry: refer the question back; let Him who propounds the problem solve it. I wish we
could read all about the valleys. There is a beautiful historical expression:
“So we abode in the valley.” We wanted to climb the green banks and get up to
the points and coigns that catch the earliest kiss of the sun, but seeing that
it was better for us to take another course, seeing that we had better obey God
than obey your own fancy or whim, we abode in the valley. Abode in a dark, cold
place? No; you are misinterpreting the word valley when you attach such
epithets to it. I read of other valleys. The valleys are covered over with corn.
That is never said about the snow mountains. Have the valleys no compensations?
Is sickness itself without advantages? When you are weak are you not sometimes
strong? Where did you get the little flower from? I know not that I have seen
aught sweeter for many a day: what is it? The lily of the valley. Tell me there
is no compensation in poverty, in sickness, in weakness, and even in failure
and disappointment? It was in the valley that the lily grew. (J.
Parker, D.D.)
Berachah
Suppose every place were to receive its name from what is done in
it! How startling and varied would be some of the names! Berashah means a
valley of blessing.
I. After prayer.
Jehoshaphat pleads with God on various grounds.
II. After conflict
in the spirit of praise.
III. After victory.
The triumph was speedy, signal, and complete. Let the valley of our life often
be made a Berachah. (H. Gammage.)
Every one helped to destroy another.
Mutual destruction
As we look upon the world at large, how do we see men
occupied but as destroying one another! This is a marked character of the lower
and worse forms of vice, that each degraded one has a wretched pleasure in
bringing down other souls to the same level of degradation and ruin; but the
same tendency to mutual destruction is to be seen in the first fallings away
from God through all the subsequent steps in the downward road. When young men
first lead one another away from home into the strange ways and strange company
against which the wise man has raised his voice, what do they but destroy one
another? And in the wildness which they call, for a time, pleasure--whatever
form the self-indulgence, the sensuality, may wear--every one still helps to
destroy another: actually, as to the misused and worn body, and with not less
reality as to the corrupted and earth-engrossed soul. In another way, also, not
less direct, not less fatal, though less regarded, each wanderer from God helps
to destroy others. Example is sufficient to make danger. It would be a bold
thing, indeed, for any one human being to look back upon his life, and to say
that his example had not been fatal to some other soul. When the Spirit has
done His work of converting the heart to God, and the saved sinner turns his
eyes upon the sins which made the Cross necessary for him, who will not have
Paul’s remembrance of having given his word for death? Who will not have John
Newton’s memory of souls led into wrong, for whom there remains no power of
recovery? And what is the record of this kind preparing for the unconverted,
when a more true and more awful scene than the great dramatist has conceived of
the presence of wronged souls in the visions of the night shall be upon the dying
man, or, yet worse, upon the man after death; when the memory, no longer
clouded by the flesh, no longer impeded by prejudice or passion, shall recall
the multitudes to whom evil has been taught by word or by example; when the
immortal spirit shall have the light of eternity poured upon the passed events
of life, and the evil example of one look or one word shall be traced through
all its train of consequences up to its final ruin of other souls? And this
mutual destruction, which belongs to the very character of the unregenerate man,
follows him hither even into the house of God. How is it that the children of our
schools have so little profit here? that they know so little of all that passes here? How
is it that we so rarely find the truth making its way from either desk or
pulpit to the hearts of our docile young ones? Simply because they are
destroying one another by combined inattention. The trifle which draws off the
mind from prayer, the whispered word which puts some thought of earth in the
place of the Bible, the merry smile which catches another’s ready eye--these
are the means by which every one helps to destroy another; so that grace is
provided and preached in vain. And we can scarcely hope that this will be with
children alone. In a congregation of merely nominal Christians, met merely for
the sake of respectability, the work of mutual destruction would go on in the
general support of their common lukewarmness, and every one would help to destroy another in the
subjects for conversation prepared in God’s house, and the discussion of them
in the homeward way. (David Laing, M.A.)
So the reign of Jehoshaphat was quiet.
The character of Jehoshaphat
I. Jehoshaphat is
not unlike Hezekiah and Josiah.
II. His personal
character seems to have had very distinctive features in it.
III. He was
distinguished for his simple and yet profound reliance on God.
IV. The religion of
most persons of great power and position--such as those possessed by
Jehoshaphat--is usually reserved, and anything but childlike. Conclusion: The
practical bearing of this study is that there are many in whom the possession
and exercise of great powers, which are usually called worldly, are not by any
means inconsistent with the most humble and sincere piety. (E. Monro.)
To make ships to go to
Tarshish.
The wrecked fleet
I. The disaster to
Jehoshaphat’s shipping.
II. The cause of
this disaster. A judgment from Heaven. If Jehoshaphat had been a mere man of
the world probably this disaster would not have occurred, but God would not
allow one of His own servants to prosper in such an undertaking.
III. The lesson
which the disaster teaches. Do not choose your associates amongst those who do
not fear God. Always safest to keep under Christian influences. You will do
well even to sacrifice a measure of financial interest and worldly prospect
rather than be associated in business with a man who is out of all sympathy
with you in religion. (J. Thain Davidson, D.D.)
Verse 37
Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath
broken thy works.
Evil compacts
Some partnerships are inexplicable. A Church officer who has led
the devotions of the Church has been known to enter into partnership with a
grovelling man who never hesitated to use profane language in the warehouse; a
generous supporter of good institutions has associated with a man who would
have sold his own father if he could have made money by the transaction. And
men have wondered who have not known how two could walk together except they
were agreed, and who have gone upon the principle that light could have no
communion with darkness. The principle of ill-associated partnerships works in
two ways: the professing Christian finds it convenient to be able to remit all
questionable work to the man who has made away with his conscience and honour,
and the said man finds it very satisfactory to point to his professing partner
as a proof and pledge that all is straightforward and upright. But is this as
it ought to be? (J. Parker, D.D.)
An immoral fallacy
It will be said that business is business, and religion is
religion, that there is a distinction between the merchant and the man. Let us
admit that there remains this question: When the merchant is damned for his
wicked deeds where will the man go? (J. Parker, D. D.)
Evil associations
The principle of the text--
I. Supplies a
lesson for the young. What you have to settle first and foremost is, the moral
basis on which you are proceeding; you must get the full consent of your
judgment and heart and conscience before you give yourself up to any commercial
course.
II. Is expansive
enough to include the subject of marriage. We do not hesitate to lay down the
broad principle that where there is incongruity of religious conviction between
man and woman happiness of the deepest and purest kind is entirely out of the
question.
III. Will permit an
earnest word about evil companionship generally. (J. Parker, D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》