CHAPTER XX _The Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites, invade Judah_, 1, 2. _Jehoshaphat proclaims a fast, and gathers the people together_ _to seek the Lord_, 3, 4. _His prayer to God_, 5-12. _Great and small, male and female, seek the Lord_, 13. _Jahaziel predicts the downfall of their enemies_,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 20:2. _ON THIS SIDE SYRIA_] Instead of מארם _mearam, from Syria_, I would read with one of Kennicott's MSS. (89) מאדם _meedom, from_ _Edom_, which alteration brings it to truth and does not require the change of _half a letter_, as it consists in the almost imperceptible differenc... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 20:3. _JEHOSHAPHAT FEARED_] He found that he could not possibly stand against such a numerous army, and therefore could not expect to be delivered except by the strong arm of God. To get this assistance, it was necessary to _seek_ it; and to get such _extraordinary_ help, they sho... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 20:6. _JEHOSHAPHAT STOOD_] What an instructive sight was this! The king who proclaimed the fast was foremost to observe it, and was on this occasion the priest of the people; offering in the congregation, without _form_ or any _premeditation_, one of the most sensible, pious, corr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 20:7. _ART NOT THOU OUR GOD_] "Hast not thou, by thy WORD, driven out." - _Targum_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 20:8. _THEREIN FOR THY NAME_] "For the name of thy WORD." - _Targum_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 20:9. _FOR THY NAME_ IS _IN THIS HOUSE_] "Thy _Majesty_ is in this house." Several of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., with the _Vulgate, Syriac_, and _Arabic_, add נקרא _nikra_, "is invoked;" _Thy name is invoked in this house _- here thou dwellest, and here thou art worshipped.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 20:11. _THEY REWARD US_] Six of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. add רעה _evil_: "Behold, they reward us EVIL." This is also the reading of the _Targum_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 20:12. _WILT THOU NOT JUDGE THEM_] That is, Thou wilt inflict deserved punishment upon them.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 20:15. _FOR THE BATTLE_ IS _NOT YOURS, BUT GOD'S._] God will not employ you in the discomfiture of this great host; he himself will take the matter in hand, deliver you, and destroy them.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 20:17. _FOR THE LORD_ WILL BE _WITH YOU._] "The WORD of the Lord shall be your Helper." - _Targum_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 20:20. _BELIEVE IN THE LORD YOUR GOD_] "Believe in the WORD of the Lord your God, and believe in his law, and believe in his prophets; and ye shall prosper." Here the WORD and the revelation are most pointedly distinguished; the _Word_ being used _personally_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 20:22. _THE LORD SET AMBUSHMENTS_] "The WORD of the Lord placed snares among the children of Ammon and Moab; and the inhabitants of the mountain of Gibla, who came to fight with Judah; and they were broken to pieces:" so the _Targum_. _Houbigant_ translates the place thus: "The L... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 20:25. _BOTH RICHES WITH THE DEAD BODIES_] For פגרים _peparim,_ _dead bodies_, בגדים begadim, garments, is the reading of _eight_ MSS. in the collections of _Kennicott_ and _De Rossi_, and in several ancient editions. None of the versions have _dead bodies_ except the _Chaldee_. T... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 20:26. _ASSEMBLED THEMSELVES IN THE VALLEY OF BERACHAH_] "The valley of Benediction;" and so in the latter clause. - _Targum_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 20:27. _JEHOSHAPHAT IN THE FOREFRONT OF THEM_] He was their leader in all these spiritual, holy, fatiguing, and self-denying exercises. What a noble and persuasive pattern!... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 20:29. _THE LORD FOUGHT_] "The WORD of the Lord made war against the enemies of Israel." - _Targum_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 20:33. _THE HIGH PLACES WERE NOT TAKEN AWAY_] The idolatry, as we have seen, was universally suppressed; but some of the places where that worship had been performed were not destroyed. Some of them still remained; and these, to such a fickle people, became the means of idolatry i... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 20:34. _IN THE BOOK OF JEHU_] This is totally lost, though it is evident that it was in being when the books of Chronicles were written.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 20:36. _TO GO TO TARSHISH_] "In the great sea." - _Targum_. By which expression they always meant the _Mediterranean Sea_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Chronicles 20:37. _THE LORD HATH BROKEN, C._] "The WORD of the Lord hath broken." - _Targum_. Concerning _Tarshish, Ezion-geber_, and _Ophir_, and the voyage thither, 1 Kings 10:22, and at the end of that chapter, 1 Kings 10:29, and on 2 Chronicles 9:26-14. The Tarshish here is called by the... [ Continue Reading ]