The Singing Army
(No. 2923)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1905.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING,
NOVEMBER 23, 1876.
"And Judah gathered themselves together to ask help of the Lord." 2
Chronicles 20:4.
JERUSALEM was startled by sudden news. There had for a great while been
quiet preparations made in the distant countries beyond Jordan. Upon
its mountains, Edom had been getting ready–the workshops of Petra had
been ringing with the hammer, the enemies of Israel had been beating
their pruning hooks into spears and swords and they were now coming
down in hordes. There were three great nations and these were assisted
by the odds and ends of all the nations round about so that a great
company eager for plunder was drawn up in battle. They had heard about
the riches of the temple at Jerusalem. They knew that the people of
Judea had for years been flourishing and they were now coming to kill
and to destroy and to sack and to plunder. They were like the
grasshoppers or the locusts for multitude. What were the people of God
to do? How were these poor Judeans to defend themselves? Their
immediate resort was to their God. They do not appear to have looked up
their armor and their swords with any particular anxiety. The fact was
that the case was so altogether hopeless, as far as they were
concerned, that it was no use looking to anything beneath the skies.
And as they were driven from all manifest earthly resorts, they were
compelled to lift up their eyes to God.
And their godly king Jehoshaphat aided them in so doing. A general fast
was proclaimed and the preparation to meet the hosts of Moab, Ammon and
Edom was prayer! No doubt if the Ammonites had heard of it, they would
have laughed. Edom would have scoffed at it and Moab would have cursed
those that made supplication. "What? Do they suppose that their prayers
can defeat us?" would have been the sneer of their adversaries. Yet
this was Israel's artillery– this was their eighty-one ton gun! When
it was ready, it would throw one bolt, and only one–and that would
crush three nations at once! God's people resorted only to the
invisible arm–the arm Omnipotent–and they did well and wisely.
Now, if the Lord shall teach us to imitate them and, by His Grace,
enable us in doing it, we shall have learned a great lesson! The
preacher needs to learn it as much as anybody and he prays that each
one of you may also be scholars in the School of Faith and become very
proficient in the Divine art of prayer and praise!
I. First, then, HOW DID THEY ASK FOR HELP? They asked for their help,
as you know, by a general fast and prayer. But I mean, what was the
style of that prayer in which they approached the Lord?
And the reply is, first, they asked for help, expressing their
confidence. "O Lord God of our fathers, are not You God in Heaven? And
rule not You over all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in Your hand is
there not power and might so that none is able to withstand You?" If we
begin by doubting, our prayer will limp. Faith is the tendon of
Achilles and if that is cut, it is not possible for us to wrestle with
God. But as long as we have that strong sinew, that mighty tendon
unhurt, we can prevail with God in prayer. It is a rule of the Kingdom,
though God often goes beyond it, "According to your faith be it done
unto you." I have known Him give us a hundred times as much as our
faith, but, Brothers and Sisters, I have never known Him give us less!
That could not possibly be. This is His minimum rule, I may say,
"According to your faith be it unto you." When, therefore, in time of
trouble you ask help of God, ask it believing that He is able to give
it! Ask it expecting that He will bestow it. Do not grieve the Spirit
of God by unworthy doubts and mistrusts–these things will be like
fiery arrows in your own soul and drink up the very life of your
strength. However hard the struggle and difficult the trial, if you
seek the Lord, seek Him in the confidence He deserves.
Then they sought God, pleading His past acts. This is a fashion of
prayer which has been very common among the saints and it has proved to
be very potent. "Are not You our God who did drive out the inhabitants
of this land before Your people, Israel, and gave it to the seed of
Abraham, Your friend forever?" Remember what God has done for you and
then say, as a sweet refrain, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today
and forever." When you are praying, recollect what He was yesterday if
you cannot see that He is comfortable towards you today. If there are
no present manifestations of Divine favor, recall the former days–the
days of old–the years of the right hand of the Most High. He has been
gracious to you–can you tell how gracious? He has abounded towards you
in loving-kindness, tenderness and faithfulness–He has never been a
wilderness or a land of drought unto you. Well, then, if in six
troubles He has delivered you, will you not trust Him for seven? If you
get to 60 troubles, cannot you trust Him for sixty-one? You have been
carried, some of you, I see, till gray hairs are on your head. How long
do you expect to live? Do you think you have got an odd 10 years left?
Well, do you think that the Lord who has blessed you 70 years will not
keep you the other ten? We say that we ought always to trust a man
until he deceives us. We reckon a man honest till we find him
otherwise. Let it be so with God, I beseech you! Since we have found
Him good, faithful, true, kind, tender–let us not think harshly of Him
now that we have come into strains, but let us come to Him thus and
say, "Are not You our God? Did not You bring us up out of the horrible
pit and out of the miry clay? Did You not bring us up out of the Egypt
of our sin? Surely You have not brought us into the wilderness to
destroy us? Will You leave us now? True, we are unworthy, but we always
were so and if You needed a reason for leaving us, You have had ten
thousand reasons long ago! Lord, do not be angry with Your servants–do
not cast us away." That is the style of pleading which prevails!
Imitate these men of old who asked help by recalling the past.
Proceeding a little farther in their prayer, we see that they pleaded
the promise of God, which promise was made at the time when Solomon
dedicated the Temple. "That if when evil comes upon us, we cry unto You
in our affliction, then You will hear and help." He that gets the
promise of God and grasps God with the promise–he does and must
prevail. I have known a man sometimes unable to grasp anything–the
object has slipped away, his hands have been slippery–and I have seen
him as he has taken up some sand in his hands and then he has been able
to get a grip. I like to plunge my hands into the promises–then I find
myself able to grasp with a grip of determination the mighty
faithfulness of God! An omnipotent plea with God is, "Do as You have
said." You know how a man nails you when he brings your very words
before you. "There," he says, "that is what you said you would do! Of
your own free will you pledged yourself to do this." Why then you
cannot get away from it, for it is the way with the saints that if they
swear to their own hurt they change not–they must be true to the words
they speak even if it is to their own damage! Of the saints' Master it
is always true. Has He said and shall He not do it? Or has He spoken
and shall He not make it good? Here then is a mighty instrument to be
used in prayer! "Lord, You have said this or that. You have said it,
now do as You have said. You have said, 'Many are the afflictions of
the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.' You have
said, 'He shall deliver you in six troubles, and in seven there shall
no evil touch you.' You have said, 'Surely in blessing I will bless
you.' You have said, 'The Lord your God is with you wherever you go.'
You have said, 'Your shoes shall be iron and brass, and as your days so
shall your strength be.' Lord, there is Your promise for it." With such
a plea you must prevail with a faithful God!
Again, as these people asked for help, they confessed they own unhappy
condition. There is a great power in that. One of the strongest pleas
with generosity is the urgency of poverty. And one of the most
prevailing arguments to be used in prayer with God is a truthful
statement of our condition–a confession of our sad estate. So they
said to the Lord these words, "O our 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: therefore our eyes are upon You." They had
no might and they had no plan. "We have no might, neither know we what
to do." Sometimes even if you cannot do the thing, it is a little
comfort to know how it might be done if you had the power–but these
perplexed people neither could do it, nor knew how to do it! They were
nonplussed. A little nation like Judah, surrounded by these powerful
enemies, truly had no might. Their weakness and ignorance were great
pleas–the logic was Divine. "Neither know we what to do: therefore our
eyes are upon You." It was as if they had said, "If we could do it
ourselves, well, You might very well say, 'Go and do it. What did I
give you the strength for, but that you could use the strength in doing
it?' But when we have no strength and neither know we what to do, we
come and just lay the case down at Your feet and say, 'There it is–our
eyes are upon You.'"
Perhaps you think that is not praying. I tell you it is the most
powerful form of prayer, just to set your case before God, just to lay
bare all your sorrow and all your needs and then say, "Lord, there it
is." You know a man must not beg in the streets of London–the police
will not have it–and I daresay that is a very wise regulation. But
what does the needy man do? Have you not seen him? He is dressed like a
countryman and looks half-starved. And his knees can be seen through an
old pair of corduroys as he stoops. He does not beg, not he–he only
sits down at the corner of the road. He knows quite well that the very
sight of his condition is enough. There are one or two persons about
the streets of London whose faces are a fortune to them–pale, thin and
woebegone–they appeal more eloquently than words! I was going to say
that there is a man who comes to the Tabernacle who is just of the same
sort. I could point him out, but I do not see him now. But he does come
here and the very way in which he shivers–the remarkable manner in
which he looks ill, though he is not ill–takes in people who are
continually being duped by his appearance! All the world knows that it
is the look of the thing, the very appearance and show of sorrow that
prevails with people more than any words that are used!
Now, when you cannot pray in words, go and lay bare your sorrow before
God–just go and show your soul. Tell God what it is that burdens and
distresses you and you will prevail with the bounteous heart of our God
who is not moved by eloquence of words and oratory of tongue–but is
swift to answer the true oratory, the true eloquence of real
distress–and who is as wise to detect sham misery as to succor real
sorrow!
I wonder whether I recall to some of you any particular times of trial?
To myself I do. If I do not to you, at any rate, there is one common
affliction which has overwhelmed us all–that is the great affliction
of sin. When sin, with its multitudinous host of offenses, becomes
manifest to us under conviction and we do not know how to meet one
single sin or to answer one of a thousand of the charges that might be
brought against us. When we feel that we have no might whatever and
perhaps we realize that through sin we have brought ourselves into such
peculiar circumstances that we do not know how to get out of it, though
we feel that we must get out somehow. When we go to the right that
seems blocked up and the left seems equally closed to us–when to go
back we dare not or to go forward we cannot–then how wonderfully God
clears the way! In what a marvelous manner we find our enemies all dead
that we thought were going to kill us! And as for those that were going
to rob us, we are enriched by them! Instead of taking us for a spoil,
there they fall and their spoil becomes our right and we take it home
with us rejoicing. Oh, what wonders God can do! He loves us to state
the difficulty we are in, so that when He gets us out of it, we may
remember that we were in such a condition! It was a real disaster and a
time of real trial–and yet the Lord redeemed us from it.
What did they do after asking for help, after pleading the promise and
confessing their condition? Why, they expressed their confidence in
God. They said, "Our eyes are upon You." What did they mean by that?
They meant, "Lord, if help does come, it must come from You. We are
looking to You for it. It cannot come from anywhere else, so we look to
You. But we believe it will come. Men will not look for that which they
know will not come. We feel sure it will come, but we do not know how,
so we are looking. We do not know when, but we are looking. We do not
know what You would have us do, but as the servant looks to her
mistress, so are we looking to You, Lord. Lord, we are looking." That
is a grand posture!
Do you not know that is the way you are saved–by looking unto Jesus?
And that is the way you have got to be saved, all the way between here
and Heaven. Whatever trouble comes, looking is to save you. Looking,
often waiting, looking like the weary watcher from the tower when he
wants to see the gray tints of the coming morning, when the night is
long and he is weary, but still looking. "Our eyes are upon You." They
are full of tears, but still they are upon You. They are getting hazy,
too, with sleep, but still they are upon You–such eyes as we have. We
do look to You." I have sometimes blessed the Lord that He has not
said, "See Jesus–see Me and be saved." What He has said is, "Look."
Sometimes if you cannot see you have done your part if you have
looked–looked into the darkness. "Lord, that Cross of Yours, it would
give me such joy if I could see it. I cannot quite see it–it looms
very indistinctly on my gaze–but I do look." It is looking, you know,
that saves, for as we look, the eyes get stronger and we are
enlightened. And so in this case they looked and they found
deliverance. God help us, Brothers and Sisters, to do the same! That is
how they asked for help. II. Now, secondly, HOW DID THEY RECEIVE HELP?
Their help came to them, first, by a message from God. They received a
fresh assurance of God's goodness. A new Prophet was raised up and he
spoke with new words. "Be not afraid, not dismayed," he said, "by
reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours but God's."
Now, in our case, we shall not have a new promise–that would not be
possible–
"What more can He say than to you He has said, You who unto Jesus for
refuge have fed?'
But you will have that promise sweetly laid home to your soul and the
Spirit of God will bear witness with that promise, and so strengthen
and comfort you that you will get deliverance even before deliverance
comes because it often happens that to be saved from the fear of the
trouble is the main business! To be quieted, calmed and assured is
really to be saved from the sting of trial. The trial itself is nothing
if it does not bring a sting to your soul. If your heart is not
troubled, then there is not much trouble in anything else. All the
poverty and all the pain in the world would prevail nothing if the evil
of it did not enter into the soul and vex it. So, in this emergency,
God began to answer His people by quieting them. "Be not afraid nor
dismayed, for the battle is not yours but God's: the Lord will be with
you."
As that gracious promise calmed their fears so that they were able,
without fear, to face the impending attack, they then received distinct
direction what to do on the morrow, which was to be the day of the
assault. That direction was, "Go out to meet the foe." How often has
God given His people deliverance by quieting them as to their course of
action. Already the step they have taken has delivered them before they
know it. The Israelites, by then marching out to meet the foe–and
marching out with songs and hosannas, as we shall see–were doing the
best possible thing to rout their foes! As we have already said, there
is no doubt that their enemies were unable to comprehend such a defense
as this–they must have supposed that there was some treachery or
ambush intended–and so they began to slay each other! And Israel had
nothing to do but to keep on singing!
Then came the real Providence–they received actual deliverance. When
the people of Judah came to their foes they found there were no foes.
There they all lay dead! None of the men of might could raise their
hands against those whom God had favored. After this fashion will God
deliver you, Brothers and Sisters–in answer to prayer He will be your
defense! Therefore, sing unto His name! Did not He deliver you thus
when you went out to meet the great army of your sins? You saw that
Christ had put them away and your heart danced within you as you said,
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ
Jesus, for He has slain our sins and they can curse us no more." So has
it been with a great many troubles that have appeared to you to be
overwhelming! When you have come to them, lo, they have disappeared!
They have been cleared out of your way as you have advanced and you
have had nothing to do but to sing and praise the name of the Lord!
III. And now, thirdly, and this is the main point, let us note HOW THEY
ACTED AFTER THEY HAD PRAYED
AND HEARD GOD'S VOICE. They asked for help and they had it! How did
they then behave?
Well first, as soon as they had an assurance that God would deliver
them, they worshipped. That is one of the intentions of trial–to
revive in us the spirit of devotion and communion with God. And mercy,
when it comes on the back of a great trouble, leads us sweetly to
prayer. I guarantee you there had not been such a piece of worship in
all Jerusalem as there was that day, when, after that young son of the
Levites had stood and delivered the Word of the Lord, the king bowed
his head and all the people bowed their heads and did homage to the God
of Israel! You could have heard the sound even of the wind among the
trees at the time, for they were as hushed and as quiet as you were
just now. Oh, when you know the Lord means to deliver you, bow your
head and just give Him the quiet, deep, solemn worship of your spirit!
I do not suppose we shall ever fall into Quakers' worship in our public
assemblies, though an occasional experience of it would do you a world
of good–to sit still before the Lord and to adore, and to adore, and
to adore again and again, and still again, braces the spirit and clears
the soul for the understanding of eternal realities! They worshipped,
but why did they do it? They were not delivered. No, but they were sure
they were going to be delivered. Their enemies were not dead. No, they
were all alive, but they were sure they would be dead, so they had
worship–and their devotion rose from trustful and grateful hearts! May
we get into a worshipping frame of mind and be kept in it. Then God
will appear for our help.
As soon as the worship had closed, or rather before it had quite
closed, they began to praise. As we read just now, up went the loud
voices of the trained singers under the leadership of the chief
musician and they praised the name of the Lord. They sang, as we do–
"For His mercies shall endure, Ever faithful, ever sure."
That is the way you should deal with God. Before the deliverance comes,
praise Him. Praise Him for what is coming! Adore Him for what He is
going to do! No song is so sweet, I think, in the ear of God as the
song of a man who blesses Him for "Grace he has not tasted yet"–for
what he has not got, but what he is sure will come! The praise of
gratitude for the past is sweet, but that praise is sweeter which
adores God for the future in full confidence that it shall be well.
Therefore, take down your harps from the willows, O you people, and
praise you the name of the Lord, though the fig tree still does not
blossom and the cattle still die in the stall and the sheep still
perish from the folds–though there should be to you no income to meet
your needs and you should be brought almost to necessity's door–still
bless the Lord whose mighty Providence cannot fail and shall not fail
as long as there is one of His children to be provided for! Your song
while you are still in distress will be sweet music to the ear of God!
After they had worshipped and sung, the next thing these people did was
to act–they went forth marching. If there were unbelievers in
Jerusalem, I know what they said. They stood at the gates and they
said, "Well, this is foolishness! These Moabites and Ammonites are come
to kill you and they will do it, but you might as well wait till they
get here. You are just going to deliver yourselves up." That would be
the idea of unbelief and that is also what it sometimes seems to our
little faith when we go and commit ourselves to God." What? Are you
going on your knees to confess your guilt before God and admit that you
deserve to be lost? Are you going to withdraw every excuse and apology,
every trust of your own and give yourself up, as it were, to
destruction?" Yes, that is exactly what to do and it is the highest
wisdom to do it! We are going out of the city marching away according
to orders and if, as you say, we are to give ourselves up, so we will!
Perhaps, in your case, you are going to do an action of which everybody
else says, "Well, now, that will be very foolish. You should be crafty.
You should show a little cunning." "No," you say, "I cannot do other
than I am bid. I must do the right." Probably that will turn out to be
the very best thing in the world to have done. The nearest way between
any two points is by a straight line, the straightway will always be
better than the crooked way! In the long run it is always so. Go right
out, then, in the name of God! Meet your difficulties calmly and
fairly. Do not have any plans or tricks, but just commit yourselves to
God–that is the way by which you may in confidence expect to find
deliverance. These people of old went out of the city.
But now, notice again, that as they went out, they went out singing.
They sang before they left the city, sang as they left the city and
when the adversary came in sight they began to sing again. The trumpet
sounded and the harps rang out their notes and the minstrels again
shouted for joy. And this was the song–
"For His mercies shall endure, Ever faithful, ever sure.1"
It must have had a grand significance when they sang that passage, "To
Him which smote great kings: for His mercy endures forever: and slew
famous kings: for His mercy endures forever: Sihon king of Amorites:
for His mercy endures forever: and Og the king of Bashan: for His mercy
endures forever." Why, every singer, as he sang those lines which look
to us like a mere repetition, must have felt how applicable they were
to their present condition when there was a Moabite and an Edomite and
an Ammonite to be overthrown in the name of the mighty God whose mercy
endures forever! So they kept on singing.
You will observe that while they were singing, God had worked the great
deliverance for them. When the singing ceased, they prepared to gather
up the spoil. What a different employment from what they expected! You
can see them stripping the bodies, taking off the helmets of gold and
the leg armor of brass–the jewels from the ears and from about the
necks of the princes. They stripped the dead of their Babylonian
garments and their wedges of gold. They heaped up the tents–the rich
tents of the eastern nations–till they said to one another, "We know
not what to do." But the difficulty was different from what might have
befallen them at the first. Then they did not know what to do because
of their weakness in the presence of their foes–now the difficulty was
because of the greatness of the spoil! "We cannot carry it home," they
would say to each other, "there is too much of it. It will take us days
and days to stock away this wondrous booty!" Now, child of God, it
shall be so with you also. I do not know how, but if you can only trust
God and praise Him and go straight ahead, you shall see such wondrous
things that you shall be utterly astonished!
Then what will you do? Why, you will at once again begin praising the
Lord, for so did they. They went back singing. "They came back to
Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the House of the
Lord." When God has done great things for you and brought you through
your present difficulty, you must be sure to repay Him in the courts of
His House with your loudest music and your most exultant
notes–blessing again and again the name of the
Lord!
After that they had rest. In the narrative it is added, "So the realm
of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about." His
enemies were afraid to come and touch him anymore. After a very sharp
storm it generally happens that there is long rest. So shall it be with
all the Lord's people. You will get through this trouble, Brother, and
afterwards it will be smooth sailing for a very long time. I have known
a child of God have a very cyclone–it has seemed as if he must be
utterly destroyed. But after it was over there has not been a ripple of
the calm of his life. People have envied him and wondered at his
quietness! He had had all his storms at once and when they were over he
had come into smooth water that never seemed ruffled. Perhaps you will
have the same experience–only ask the Great Pilot of the Galilean Lake
to steer you safely through your tempest and then, when the storm shall
cease at His bidding, you shall be glad because you are quiet–so will
He bring you to your desired haven.
1 have been desirous to speak these comfortable words to God's
children, for well I know how they are tried. And I pray the Lord, the
Comforter, to apply the word to their troubled hearts. But, I never can
finish my discourse without having the very sad thought that there are
always in our congregation some to whom these comfortable things do not
belong. They are not Believers. They have never trusted in Christ. If
this is so with you–if this is so–ah, Friend, you have to fight your
own battles! You have to bear your own briars, you have to carry your
own burdens. And when you come at the Last Great Day before the
Judgment Seat, you will have to answer for your own sins and to bear
your own punishment! God have mercy upon you and deliver you from such
a condition as this. It is a bad condition to live in–it is a terrible
condition to die in. May you be brought to receive Christ for your
Substitute and your Surety, and glorify His name forever and ever.
Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 2 CHRONICLES 20; PSALM 47.
2 Chronicles 20:1-3. It came to pass after this also, that the children
of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other besides the
Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. Then there came some
that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There comes a great multitude against
you from beyond the sea on this side of Syria; and, behold they are in
Hazazon Tamar, which is En Gedi. And Jehoshaphat feared, and set
himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
An angry God is to be sought. Even though He smite us, we must turn to
Him. It is from the hand that wields the rod that we are to expect
deliverance, if it ever comes at all.
4. And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD:
even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD. The
host of enemies were so enormous that they threatened to eat up all the
land. The men of Judah could not keep them out. They would sack and
storm and burn and destroy right and left. You see the great peril.
What a heavy chastisement it must have been to the king to see his land
thus in danger of being destroyed. But they had begun to pray.
5-12. And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem,
in the House of the LORD, before the new court, and said, O LORD God of
our fathers, are not You God in Heaven? And rule not You over all the
kkngdoms of the heathen? And in Your hand is there not power and might,
so that none is able to withstand You? Are not You our God who did
drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and
gave it to the seed of Abraham, Your friend forever? And they dwelt
therein andhave built You a sanctuary therein for Your name, saying,
If, when evil comes upon us as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or
famine, we stand before this house and in Your Presence, (for Your name
is in this house), and cry unto You in our affliction, then You will
hear and help. And now, behold, the children of
Ammon andMoab andMount Seir, whom You would not let Israel invade when
they came out of the land ofEgypt, but You turned from them, and
destroyed them not Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast
us out of Your possession, which You have given us to inherit O our
God, will You notjudge them?For we have no might against this great
company that comes against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes
are upon You. What a prayer it is! How argumentative! How it pleads his
case as an advocate in a court of law, appealing to the mercy of God as
logically as if it were to be argued out of the Divine heart. Oh, how
good it would be if we learned to pray like this–in this earnest,
importunate fashion! May the Lord teach us to pray as He taught His
disciples!
13. And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their
wives and their children. I t must have been a wonderful sight–the
vast crowd–the pleading king–his voice heard afar, and the men and
the women. But to my mind, the most touching thing of all is the little
children standing there, making their silent appeal to God that He
would not let the babies be destroyed–that He would not suffer the
young children to be slain by the cruel hosts that now threatened the
land. Young children's prayers are powerful. Little ones, may God teach
you how to pray!
14. Then upon Jahaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the
son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came
the Spirit of the LORD in the midst of the congregation. Perhaps he had
never delivered a prophecy before. This is his first sermon, but the
Spirit of God was with him and he could not hold his tongue.
15-17. And he said, Hearken you, all Judah, and you inhabitants of
Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat, Thus says the LORD unto You, Be
not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the
battle is not yours but Gods. Tomorrow go you down against them: behold
they come up by the cliff of Ziz and you shall find them at the end of
the brook before the wilderness of Jerusalem. You shall not need to
fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand you still, and see the
salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem, fear not, nor be
dismayed; tomorrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.
Oh, how those words must have fallen on the weary ears of those who
were in such trouble! And how glad those ears must have been to hear
such a message of wondrous mercy and so near at hand, too! "Tomorrow."
Imminent danger brings eminent mercy and when the lion is about to leap
upon his prey, then comes the lion slayer and breaks his teeth and
delivers his lamb even from between his jaws! Glory be to God for such
promises as He gives to His people in times of trouble, even such
promises as He gave here.
18. And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: andall
Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD,
worshipping the LORD. What a sight! That is the kind of ritualism one
likes–when the posture is suggested by the feelings–when the man
feels that there is nothing else to do but to bow before the Lord! The
king could not speak, he was too full of gratitude–too joyous at the
thought that God had so appeared for him. And he felt that the only
thing he could do was in silence to bow his head and prostrate himself
before God. Have you not sometimes felt so full of gratitude that you
could not express yourself?–
"A sacred silence checks our songs And praise sits silent on our
tongues." Now, while they were worshipping, and just as they had
finished that silent adoration, the joy-strains were heard. They had
taken a breath!
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. Here, again, we seem to be carried by great
waves of excitement and devotion. One moment we are sinking down in
adoration, now all rising up to listen to the loud voice of God's
priests and Levites. But they have to wait for the morrow.
20. 21. 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 you inhabitants of Jerusalem, Believe in the
LORD your God, so shall you be established; believe His Prophets, so
shall you prosper. And when he had consulted with the people, he
appointed singers unto the LORD, and who should praise the beauty of
holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say Praise the LORD;
for His mercy endures forever. So you can see them marching out of the
city gate with the king at their head and, as they go out, the army is
marching with banners and with songs and hosannas! This is their style
of going out to meet the foe!
22, 23. And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set
ambushes against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir which were
come against Judah and they were smitten. For the children of Ammon and
Moab stood up
against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy
them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Mount Seir,
everyone helped to destroy each other. There were three or four nations
and some jealousy or mistrust must have manifested itself. Or some
mistake had been made and the motley host divided itself into
self-destroying bands. The Israelites had nothing to do but to sing!
Perhaps their very singing was the cause of that disruption among the
bands. They could not make it out. They had seen the people rush to
battle with discordant cries, but these were marching along as if they
were coming to a wedding feast, singing hymns and chants. That was a
new style of fighting. So the Moabites and the Ammonites thought that
there must be something wrong. "Surely there must be some confederates
in the camp," they would say. They suspected each other, as bad men
very soon do, and so they fell afoul of one another and spared the
Israelites the trouble of killing them.
24-26. And when Judah came toward the watchtower in the wilderness,
they looked unto the multitude and, behold, they were dead bodies
fallen to the earth, and none escaped. 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. 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. This is the Valley of
Blessing–surely an appropriate name worthy of long remembrance!
27. Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and
Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, to go again to Jerusalem with
joy. Another march of hosannas. What a wonderful sight it must have
been! We have read of the Battle of the Spurs, but here is the Battle
of the Song–the battle of praise! How wondrously it was won!
Jehoshaphat is now in the forefront of those who go back singing. He
feels he must sing the loudest who has had such signal mercy after his
sin.
27-30. For the LORD had made them to rejoice over their enemies. And
they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the
House of the LORD. And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those
countries, when they had heard that the LORD fought against the enemies
of Israel So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him
rest round about. Now, it is a long piece we have read, but I think it
would not be complete if I did not read you the song which they sang.
In all probability it was the 47th Psalm. You can almost hear them
singing it as they are marching back.
Psalm 47:1-9. O clap your hands allyoupeople; shout unto God with the
voice of triumph. For the LORD most high is terrible; He is a great
king over all the earth. He shall subdue the people under us, and the
nations under our feet. He shall choose our inheritance for us, the
excellency of Jacob whom He loved. Selah. God is gone up with a shout,
the LORD with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing
praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises. For God is the King
of all the earth: sing you praises with understanding. God reigns over
the heathen: God sits upon the throne of His holiness. The princes of
the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of
Abraham: for the shields of the earth belong unto God: He is greatly
exalted. The delivered people give God all the glory. He reigns, and He
it is who subdues the people. Let Him be exalted in the congregations
of the people and praised in the assembly of the elders now and
evermore!