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2BC BIBLE STUDY NOTES

Wednesday in the Word

Second Baptist Church

December 21, 2022

2nd Chronicles 19 and 20

  1.  Verses 1-3. Pickling up from a few weeks ago, we recall that Jehoshaphat narrowly escaped death when he joined Ahab in Battle. Jehoshaphat made the mistake of aligning himself with Ahab, and the consequences almost took his life. This was a valuable lesson for the king of Judah. The 19th Chapter is a very short chapter. The original readers of this text would see the importance of trusting God and the importance of the whole nation serving God. When the king returned to his palace in Jerusalem, the prophet Jehu rebuked him for his alignment with Ahab. Jehu informed the king that God was not pleased with what happened, but the Lord still saw plenty of good in the King. The Lord was clear, but the Lord was gracious.

  2.  Verses 4-7. Instead of getting mad that the Lord was not pleased, Jehoshaphat set out to turn more and more of his furthest territories back to the Lord. The king wanted to get the people right with God and right with each other. Jehoshaphat sought to reinstate the ordinance (Deut. 16:18-17:13) of having the local judges handle matters to keep the peace. The king encouraged the local judges to judge with the Lord in mind.

  3.  Verses 8-10. The King also put priest and Levites over local matters in Jerusalem as well to rule and judge with fairness and impartiality. The priest and Levites were also supposed to encourage the people to avoid sin to keep the wrath of God from coming on the community.

  4.  Verse 11. The King told the chief priest to oversee any matters of the Lord, Zebadiah was to handle the royal matters, and the Levites were to handle the other matters in the community. The king was working hard to make sure the entire nation was on one accord and serving God. This also shows how far his predecessors had strayed from the Law of God. The priest and the Levites were not operating in their God given roles and the community was doing what they saw fit. The King recognized how important it was to get the community back in order.

  5.  Chapter 20. Verses 1-2. King Jehoshaphat was in the process of building the nation in accordance with the Law of God when he gets word that a large army is coming to attack the Judah. A large army consisting of Moabites, Ammonites and Meunites was headed towards Jerusalem, and they were already very close. Even though Jehoshaphat had a large army himself, they were no match for the armies of three nations at once. The king is facing overwhelming odds.

  6.  Verses 3-12. The king does exactly what he should have done, he seeks to inquire of the Lord on the matter. He assembles the community to seek God in prayer. When you are alarmed by something, the best thing to do is pray first. The king also calls for a fast. The fast was to get guidance on a matter. It was not uncommon for a fast to be called in ancient times when an issue affected the whole community. The entire community is fasting and praying. The king stands before the people and prays. The king first praises God in his prayers, and then he reminds the people in the prayer what God had already done. The king also includes in his prayer the promise that God said he would hear his people when they came to the place in humility. (2nd Chron. 7:11-14). Then the king makes his petition concerning the three armies that are attacking Judah. The king tells the Lord that they don't know what to do, but their eyes are on the Lord. The king admits they are powerless against such a great army and are totally dependent on the Lord.

  7.  Verses 13-17. The Lord answered the prayer of the King through the prophet and Levite Jahaziel. The prophet informed the king that the Lord said for them not to be afraid or discouraged by this great army. The "battle is not yours, but the Lord's.” the prophet then gave them instructions to march down to the battlefield and they would not have to fight, but they would see the deliverance of the Lord. All they had to do was take up positions and stand firm. God wanted them to witness his deliverance. Sometimes God doesn't want us to fight, but he needs us to witness the victory firsthand. Too many times we are trying to fight battles that belong the Lord. They would have to go face them, but not fight them. God is telling someone that you can get your victory if you just decide to face it. You don't have to fight it, but you do have to go face it.

  8.  Verses 18-19. The king responded to this word from the Lord by falling to the ground with is face at the ground and all the people worshipped the Lord. The Levites and the priest joined in the praise with a loud voice. They didn't have a victory yet, but they were already praising God. They are shouting in praise based on a word that had not manifested yet nor was there any evidence. You have to praise God based on the reliability of the word and not the current evidence you see.

  9.  Verses 20-24. The next morning the King assembled all the people and after consulting with them they lined up to go face the enemy with priest who were the musicians and singers in front of the army. When they began to sing, on the other side of the mountain, God began to confuse the three armies and they started to turn on each other. By the time the people of Judah got to the battlefield, the three armies had killed each other. Their enemies were defeated by the hand of God while they praised the Lord. God fought their battle while they were praising the Lord. It is a beautiful thing to put your problems in the Lord's hands. When things are too big for you, you need to stand and see the deliverance of the Lord. You do have to march toward the battle, but you won't have to fight the battle.

  10.  Verses 25-30. Once again, God used a battle to bless the people. God can use your battles to bless you. That's why you don't want to lose your mind because you got a battle on your hands. The battle can bless you. The king and his army found great plunder in the valley where the three foreign armies had assembled. Since there weren't any solders left to fight, the people of Judah spent 3 days carrying off the things the enemy left. On the fourth day the people worshipped God and rejoiced. The left the valley and praised God all the way home to Jerusalem and they entered the temple praising God with songs and instruments. The word traveled throughout the land and fear came on the enemies of Judah to the degree that he had peace on every side. By trusting in God, Jehoshaphat was back in good standing with the Lord. instead of trusting in wicked kings, he trusted in God.

  11.  Jehoshaphat did well for many years. Toward the end of his reign he made the same mistake he made with Ahab, but this time with wicked Ahaziah the King of the Northern Kingdom (Israel). He made this alliance because Israel had ships. God send a man of God, Eliezer, to prophesy against the king and the ships that Jehoshaphat trusted in were destroyed. The king died and reigned in Judah for 25 years.

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