2 Chronicles 20:5-19 - Homilies By T. Whitelaw

The prayer of Jehoshaphat.

I. THE SCENE .

1 . The place.

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

2 . The assembly .

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:

2 . The pleas offered.

3 . The petitions urged. That Jehovah would

III. THE ANSWER .

1 . From whom it proceeded. Jehovah ( 2 Chronicles 20:15 ), or the Spirit of Jehovah ( 2 Chronicles 20:14 ). 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

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.

IV. THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT .

1 . By the king. "Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground" (vers18), 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.