I. THE SCENE.

1. The place.

(1) Jerusalem, the metropolis of the land, whose safety was imperilled.

(2) The house of Jehovah, the sanctuary on Mount Moriah, erected by Solomon as a dwelling-place for the God of Israel.

(3) The new court, the outer or great court of the temple (1 Kings 7:12). A quadrangle, this was probably called "new," because of having been restored or repaired by either Asa or Jehoshaphat.

2. The assembly.

(1) The inhabitants of Jerusalem with their wives and children.

(2) The representatives of Judah from all the cities of the land - whether accompanied with their wives and children uncertain.

3. The suppliant. Jehoshaphat acted as the mouthpiece for himself and his people. Standing forth in the centre of the congregation, he offered "without form or any premeditation (?) one of the most sensible, pious, correct, and, as to its composition, one of the most elegant prayers ever offered under the Old Testament dispensation" (Adam Clarke).

II. THE PRAYER.

1. The Being addressed - Jehovah. Adored as:

(1) Personal and present. The God of Jehoshaphat and his people (vers. 7, 12). "He that cometh to God must believe that he is" (Hebrews 11:6).

(2) Ancestral and faithful. The God of their fathers (ver. 6), who had covenanted with these fathers (Deuteronomy 5:2), and would remain true to the engagements then undertaken (2 Chronicles 6:14; 1 Kings 8:57).

(3) Celestial and mundane. The God of heaven as well as of earth, who dwelt among the armies of light and ruled among the kingdoms of the heathen (Daniel 4:35).

(4) Universal and local. Not the God of Israel and Judah alone, but the God to whom all empires and sovereigns owed allegiance (Psalm 103:19; Psalm 135:5, 6; 1 Chronicles 29:11; Daniel 4:17; Malachi 1:14; Revelation 11:4).

(5) Omnipresent and omnipotent. Possessed of resistless power and might which no one could withstand (ver. 6).

2. The pleas offered.

(1) The covenant mercies of Jehovah in first gifting the land to his friend, their father Abraham, and to his seed for ever (Genesis 12:1; Genesis 13:17); second, driving out the inhabitants of the land before them (Exodus 33:2; Exodus 34:11; Deuteronomy 11:23; Psalm 44:2); and third, in establishing them in possession of the vacated territory, so that for centuries they had dwelt in it (Leviticus 25:18; Deuteronomy 12:10).

(2) The expectation of Judah, that Jehovah would hear and keep them when in danger they called upon his Name (ver. 9). In this hope the temple had been built, and in the belief that this hope would be realized they now stood before Jehovah's presence (Psalm 146:5).

(3) The ingratitude of the enemy, whom Israel on her way from Egypt had not been suffered to invade (Deuteronomy 2:4, 9, 19), and who now repaid her clemency by attempting to drive her from her land. Such ingratitude on the part of nations and individuals is by no means infrequent. The only things men find it easy to remember are insults and injuries; kindnesses remain with difficulty in the human memory (Genesis 40:23; 1 Samuel 23:5-12; Ecclesiastes 9:14-16; 2 Chronicles 24:22).

(4) The helplessness of Judah. Jehoshaphat and his people were without strength to contend with so great a company. Neither knew they in what direction to turn or what to do. No better plea can be laid before Heaven than a confession of human weakness (Psalm 6:2; Psalm 22:11), since God's strength is perfected in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).

(5) The attitude in which they then stood. Their eyes were waiting upon Jehovah (Psalm 25:15; Psalm 121:1, 2; Psalm 123:1, 2), trusting, desiring, expecting. They had placed their hope in and anticipated their help from him, as in a similar crisis Asa had done (2 Chronicles 14:11; Psalm 121:1).

3. The petitions urged. That Jehovah would

(1) judge and defeat their enemies;

(2) hear and help them, the petitioners. The two requests were inseparable. Deliverance to Judah could only come through destruction of her adversaries. The Church of God may still conjoin the two petitions.

III. THE ANSWER.

1. From whom it proceeded. Jehovah (ver. 15), or the Spirit of Jehovah (ver. 14). No answers to prayer except from him. Human lips can reply for God only in so far as God puts his words into them (Isaiah 51:16; Ezekiel 3:17; Jeremiah 5:14).

2. Through whom communicated. Jahaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph; a man of

(1) honorable pedigree, being the fifth in descent, not from the Hemanite Mattaniah, a contemporary of David (1 Chronicles 25:4, 16), but from Nethaniah the Asaphite (1 Chronicles 25:2, 12); the letter n having been accidentally changed into an (Movers, Keil, Bertheau);

(2) honourable rank, being a Levite, and therefore of priestly station; and

(3) honourable calling, being, as a son of Asaph, a leader of psalmody in the temple worship, and now suddenly invested with the dignity of the prophetic office. God can find prophets anywhere when he wants them, not being bound to prophetical any more than to apostolical succession - Elisha at the plough (1 Kings 19:19), Amos among the herdsmen (Amos 1:1).

3. To whom it was addressed. To all Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to Jehoshaphat, the persons in whose name and on whose behalf the prayer had been offered.

4. Of what it consisted.

(1) A dissuasive against fear. "Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude," similar to that given by Moses to the fleeing Israelites (Exodus 14:13), and for a similar reason, that the battle was Jehovah's more than theirs, and he would fight with and for them (Exodus 14:14; 1 Samuel 17:47). The same is true of the battle the Christian Church is summoned to maintain against the three powers of evil, known as the world, the flesh, and the devil (Matthew 10:28).

(2) A command to advance. "Go ye down against them" (ver. 16), exactly as Moses was instructed to speak unto the children of Israel that they should go forward (Exodus 14:15). Little as God's people can or could do if left to themselves, they are not at liberty to play the coward in face of the foe (Deuteronomy 31:6; 2 Samuel 10:12; Mark 15:43; Acts 9:27; 2 Peter 1:5), to subside into despair or take to their heels. Their duty is to stand fast, quit themselves like men, be strong, and persevere.

(3) A direction where to find the enemy. "Behold, they come up by the cliff [or, 'ascent'] of Ziz, and ye shall find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel" (ver. 16). This a part of the flat country extending from the Dead Sea to the neighbourhood of Tekoa, and called El Husasah, from a wady on its northern side (Robinson, vol. 2. p. 243). The ascent or mountain-road, Hazziz, led towards it from Engedi.

(4) An instruction what to do on meeting them. To set themselves in battle array - stand still and see the salvation of God (ver. 17). They would not require to fight. Jehovah would do the rest. Compare again the orders of Moses to the Israelites (Exodus 14:13). The instruction here given has its counterpart in that given by the gospel to sinners: "To him that worketh not, but believeth," etc. (Romans 4:5)

(5) An encouragement to hope for victory. "The Lord would be with them" (Ver. 17) and fight for them as he did for Israel at the Red Sea (Exodus 14:13) and at Gibeon (Joshua 10:14), as Moses promised he would do every time they faced their enemies (Deuteronomy 20:4), and as Nehemiah (Nehemiah 4:20) afterwards believed he did. The same presence is enjoyed by the Church of God still (Matthew 27:20).

IV. THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT.

1. By the king. "Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground" (ver. 18), in token of humility and reverence, as well as of adoration and submission (2 Chronicles 29:30; Genesis 18:2; Genesis 24:26; Exodus 4:31; Exodus 34:8; Joshua 23:7).

2. By the people. "All Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord," in a solemn act of worship.

3. By the Levites. Those belonging to the children of the Kohathites and the children of the Korahites "stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with an exceeding loud voice," adding notes of thanksgiving and rejoicing to those of adoration and self-humiliation which Jehovah's gracious answer inspired. Learn:

1. The sorest need of man - a God to flee to in the hour of trouble and day of calamity.

2. The highest glory of God - that he can hear prayer and rescue the perishing.

3. The greatest peril of the Church's enemies - the fact that Jehovah fights against them.

4. The surest guarantee of victory for the Church of Jesus Christ - the fact that the battle is the Lord's.

5. The brightest hope for an anxious sinner - that he only needs to stand still and see the salvation of God. - W.

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.)