Jehoshaphat – 2 Chronicles 18:31 – ‘So it was, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, “It is the king of Israel!” Therefore they surrounded him to attack; but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD helped him, and God diverted them from him.’
As you read the story of Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, it’s fascinating to see the direction that his life took – we’ll pick him up as he prays the prayer above in a bit, but first it has to be mentioned that Jehoshaphat was a good king. They were quite a rare breed in Israel and Judah at that time, the majority of the kings being wicked, but Jehoshaphat was different. The Bible tells us that amongst other things, he pulled down false altars, set himself to seek God, and made sure that the nation of Judah was taught from the book of the law.
In the light of this it’s quite surprising when you find him making an alliance with the most wicked of the kings of Israel – King Ahab. We don’t know why he did it, possibly the thought of the security that an alliance might have brought him, or the trade benefits caused Jehoshaphat to override his principles and form the alliance – as we’ll see it pretty soon got him into a pretty sticky situation.
Following the alliance, King Ahab asked Jehoshaphat to go and fight with him against the city of Ramoth Gilead. A prophet named Michaiah even predicted that King Ahab would not return from the battle, but Ahab wasn’t going to listen and they went despite the warning. Ahab however did decide to disguise himself as he went into battle, thinking that would make him safe, while Jehoshaphat went in his kingly attire, and that’s where we pick him up in the prayer above – the King of Syria had commanded his army to target Ahab, the King of Israel, but as he was in disguise they all mistakenly thought that Jehoshaphat was Ahab, and ‘surrounded him to attack’.
I guess you could understand it if God had let Jehoshaphat die because of his foolish alliance, but at that moment God extends grace to Jehoshaphat and delivers him from the Syrian army, diverting them away from him. It’s yet another incredible example of God extending His kindness to an unworthy sinner when they turn to Him and cry for help. Ahab however wasn’t so lucky – Ahab had never humbled himself before God in the entirety of his life, and got exactly what he deserved as a random arrow struck and killed him in the midst of the battle.
So the question we ought to ask ourselves is this – did Jehoshaphat learn his lesson from what happened? The answer for a while seems to be yes.
The second major prayer in Jehoshaphat’s life comes as the armies of Ammon and of Moab came against him – a great multitude that caused Jehoshaphat to fear and to set himself to fast, and to seek the Lord, and then in the presence of the assembly of Judah he prayed this prayer:
“O LORD God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You?…
And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir… O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.” (from 2 Chronicles 20:6-12)
What an incredible prayer! Jehoshaphat begins by declaring the power and might of the God who he was praying to, and then cries out for help confessing Judah’s complete powerlessness and lack of wisdom to do anything against the multitude, and then finishes with this incredible line – ‘but our eyes are upon you.’
Whatever it was that caused Jehoshaphat to turn to Ahab to form an alliance is not there now – he’s not turning to Israel or any other surrounding nations. He’s not turning to his own power and wisdom to succeed in the battle – he turns, and he casts himself entirely upon the mercy of God, knowing that He is the only one who can deliver Judah from this army, and what an answer he gets. God sends a prophet to command Judah to go out against the multitude, telling them
‘You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD’
God was going to reward the faith of Jehoshaphat and the people by fighting their battle for them, and giving them victory over their enemies.
Unfortunately, Jehoshaphat seems to fall away once again later in his life and makes another unhelpful alliance with a wicked king, showing the danger that all of God’s people always face of turning to things other than God. However, if we could just have a glimpse of the all-powerful God that Jehoshaphat saw as that multitude stood against him – what could stop us from bringing our stresses, troubles, trials, and temptations before the God who loves us to seek Him and cry out to Him, and loves to deliver His children from all their enemies.