Year 9, Day 319: 2 Chronicles 20

Theological Commentary: Click Here

2 Chronicles 20 is another great chapter in the normal life cycle of a nation.  There are times of spiritual feast and other times of spiritual famine.  With human beings it is typically an up and down cycle.  We get it right for a while.  Then we mess up.  We get chastised and then we get something right and score a victory.  Such is life with most of us human beings.

In this chapter, a large invading horde comes against Judah.  The horde is big enough that the people feel helpless.  Even Jehoshaphat, the king, feels fear.  He does something amazing.  Instead of trying to pay of his neighbors to join him in battle, he turns to the Lord.  The Lord responds.  The Lord causes other nations to rise up and conquer the invading horde.  Even more significantly, once the nations rise up against the horde, they turn on each other!  The problems are solved without the people needing to lift a finger of their own.  The only thing left for the people of Judah to do is to go out into the battlefield and take up the plunder.  It’s an amazing story that goes incredibly right because Jehoshaphat turned to the Lord.

All was not perfect under Jehoshaphat, though.  The truly high places of false worship were not pulled down.  Many of the altars to false gods were pulled down, but not all.  Jehoshaphat himself makes a joint economic venture with people who are not righteous.  Rather than trust solely on God’s power to prosper the nation, Jehoshaphat goes out on his own.

Note that God doesn’t approve.  Jehoshaphat received a definitive divine word that the venture will fail.  The ships where wrecked and the economic venture failed.

As stated in the beginning, it’s a great chapter to realize that human existence is filled with highs and lows.  No human always gets it right.  Even well-intentioned humans have their flaws.  The eat part about this, though, is how Jehoshaphat is remembered.  In many ways, Jehoshaphat is remembered like David.  He had flaws, but the general memory is positive.  He walked in the ways of the Lord in spite of the few times in his life that he made poor choices.  God is forgiving.  God does judge us on our actions, but He judges us more on our hearts.  We are accountable, but we are also redeemed.

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