Faithfullee

Abijah's Battle Sermon

Abijah's brief reign (2 Chronicles 13) is presented more favorably in Chronicles than in Kings, where it receives a terse negative verdict. Here Abijah becomes the occasion for one of the Chronicler's clearest statements about the theological basis of Davidic kingship. When the armies of Israel and Judah face each other — Israel with 800,000 warriors, Judah with 400,000 — Abijah stands on Mount Zemaraim and delivers a speech:

The LORD gave the kingship of Israel to David forever through a covenant of salt. Jeroboam rebelled against his master's son. Israel has driven away the priests and Levites and set up golden calves and appointed priests from among those who are not Levites. Judah has kept the Levitical order and the prescribed offerings. The conclusion:

"Men of Israel, do not fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers, for you cannot succeed." — 2 Chronicles 13:12 (ESV)

Israel attacks from front and rear. Judah cries out to the LORD and the priests blow their trumpets. God defeats Jeroboam before Abijah. H.G.M. Williamson, in his 1 and 2 Chronicles commentary (NCBC, 1982), observes that Abijah's victory is won not by military strategy but by crying out to God at the moment of ambush — the battle serves as a demonstration that the LORD fights for the side with legitimate worship.

Asa's Reforms and His Failure

Asa reigns forty-one years and is one of the longer-serving and more thoroughly reformed kings in Chronicles. He removes the foreign altars and high places, smashes the sacred pillars and Asherim, commands Judah to seek the LORD and keep the law (2 Chronicles 14:4). When the Ethiopian Zerah comes against him with one million soldiers and three hundred chariots, Asa cries out to the LORD:

"O LORD, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude." — 2 Chronicles 14:11 (ESV)

The LORD defeats the Ethiopians. The prophet Azariah meets Asa and speaks the Chronicler's defining theological principle: "The LORD is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you" (2 Chronicles 15:2). Asa is encouraged, tears down more idols, and makes a covenant at Jerusalem. Peace follows.

Then, in the thirty-sixth year of his reign, Baasha king of Israel threatens Judah by fortifying Ramah. And Asa does something remarkable for a man who has just heard Azariah's sermon: he takes silver and gold from the temple treasury and sends it to Ben-hadad king of Aram to break his treaty with Baasha and help Judah instead. The alliance works militarily. But the seer Hanani rebukes Asa:

"Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you... You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars." — 2 Chronicles 16:7–9 (ESV)

Asa is furious. He throws Hanani in prison and inflicts cruelties on some of the people. In his old age he develops a severe foot disease but does not seek the LORD — he seeks physicians (2 Chronicles 16:12). Raymond Dillard, in his 2 Chronicles commentary (WBC, 1987), notes that the critique of physicians here is not anti-medicine — it is anti-idolatry. Asa's pattern in his final years is to substitute human resources (political alliances, doctors) for seeking the LORD. The man who prayed with extraordinary faith before the Ethiopian horde dies without seeking God for his diseased feet.

What strikes us about Asa's story is how close it runs to the grain of our own experience. It is easier to trust God when the threat is obvious and overwhelming — one million enemy soldiers has a way of clarifying your dependence. The harder test is the manageable threat, the one where you have options, where a political deal is available, where competent doctors are nearby. Asa passes the enormous test and fails the smaller one. We find that honest and sobering.

Jehoshaphat: Alliance, Victory, and Folly

Jehoshaphat inherits a kingdom at peace and strengthens it further — he removes the remaining high places and Asherim, sends Levites throughout Judah to teach from the Book of the Law (2 Chronicles 17:7–9), and builds a network of fortified cities. The LORD establishes his kingdom. Fear of the LORD falls on the surrounding nations, and even the Philistines and Arabs bring tribute.

But Jehoshaphat makes a fatal alliance: he marries his son to the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel and goes down to join Ahab in battle against Ramoth-gilead. When the prophet Micaiah predicts disaster and Ahab dismisses him, the battle goes badly. Ahab disguises himself but is killed by a random arrow. Jehoshaphat escapes, but the seer Jehu son of Hanani meets him on his return:

"Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, wrath has gone out against you from the LORD." — 2 Chronicles 19:2 (ESV)

The characteristic judgment — yet something good is found in you, for you have destroyed the Asheroth and set your heart to seek God — demonstrates the Chronicler's balanced assessment. Jehoshaphat is genuinely good; his alliance with Ahab is genuinely wrong.

The Valley of Berachah

The crown of Jehoshaphat's reign comes in 2 Chronicles 20, when Moab, Ammon, and their allies form a coalition against Judah. The news reaches Jehoshaphat, and he fears — but turns immediately to seek the LORD. He proclaims a fast throughout Judah. The people assemble. Jehoshaphat prays in the temple courts — one of the finest prayers in the book, acknowledging God's sovereignty over the nations, recalling his promises to Abraham, confessing Israel's helplessness, and arriving at the prayer's summit:

"We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you." — 2 Chronicles 20:12 (ESV)

The Levite Jahaziel speaks the word of the LORD: do not be afraid; the battle is not yours but God's. Go down tomorrow; stand still and see the salvation of the LORD. Jehoshaphat bows with his face to the ground. The Levites stand up to praise the LORD with a very loud voice.

The battle plan is unique in the Old Testament: Jehoshaphat appoints singers to march ahead of the army, praising God with the refrain "Give thanks to the LORD, for his steadfast love endures forever." When they begin to sing and praise, the LORD sets an ambush among the enemy coalition, and they destroy each other. Judah arrives to find only dead bodies — more plunder than they can carry away. They spend three days collecting it. On the fourth day they assemble in the Valley of Berachah — "the valley of blessing" — and bless the LORD.

Sara Japhet, in her I and II Chronicles commentary (OTL, 1993), observes that the Berachah victory is the Chronicler's most complete picture of covenant warfare: seeking the LORD through fasting and assembly, prophetic word received, trust expressed through a worshipping army, and a victory entirely credited to God. No sword of Israel's is recorded as striking the enemy. The battle of Berachah is the inverse of Asa's battle with the Ethiopians — both are won by divine intervention; Berachah is won by singers, not soldiers.

We keep coming back to "we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you." That is one of the most honest prayers in the Bible. It doesn't dress itself up. It doesn't pretend to have a plan. It simply names the limitation and the orientation: we are out of options and we are looking at you. We find that kind of prayer more courageous, not less — because it requires admitting that you don't have this. And then God sends singers to win a war.

Last updated: March 3, 2026.