How God Saved Judah and Jerusalem When the King Proclaimed Fasting and Prayer

by Mihran Kulhanjian

I want you to see the power of God when we pray, praise, exalt and rely on Him.  King Jehoshaphat and the Israelite's,  through prayer and fasting by placing their faith in God were saved from destruction. Let us learn from Jehoshaphat. Let us, in faith, build fellowship with God with praise and exaltation.

 

Our story begins in 2 Chronicles 20:1-30.  Among the kings of Israel, king Jehoshaphat was considered a good king, a king who feared God and relied on God's protection and prosperity for his people. The name Jehoshaphat means "The LORD will rule" [judge]. However, it wasn't always good. Jehoshaphat aligned himself with Ahab, who wasn't much good. And instead of fearing Him, his enemies, the Ammonites, Moabites and the people of Mount Seir entered into the land of Judah to make war.  Without fighting, Jehoshaphat wins a war and gains fear and respect from all his pagan enemies because they realized God is with him. This comes about when Jehoshaphat humbles himself to God, prays and sets a fast for all of Israel.   

 

An army from Moab and the people of Ammon and Mount Seir invaded from the eastern kingdom.  Jehoshaphat did not have a military sufficient to fight so he relied on God with prayer and fasting. We see this event in 2 Chronicles 20:1-30:

 

 It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat. ² Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria; and they are in Hazazon Tamar” (which is En Gedi). ³ And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. ⁴ So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

 

⁵ Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, ⁶ and said: “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? ⁷ Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever? ⁸ And they dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying, ⁹ ‘If disaster comes upon us—sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.’ ¹⁰ And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir—whom You would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and did not destroy them— ¹¹ here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit. ¹² 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.”

 

¹³ Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the Lord.

 

¹⁴ Then the Spirit of the Lord came 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, in the midst of the assembly. ¹⁵ And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. ¹⁶ Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. ¹⁷ You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.”

 

¹⁸ And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. ¹⁹ Then the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with voices loud and high.

 

²⁰ So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” ²¹ And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying:

 

“Praise the Lord,
For His mercy endures forever.”

 

²² Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. ²³ For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they  had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.

 

²⁴ So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped.

 

²⁵ When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables on the dead bodies, and precious jewelry, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away; and they were three days gathering the spoil because there was so much. ²⁶ And on the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of  Berachah, for there they blessed the Lord; therefore the name of that place was called The Valley of Berachah until this day. ²⁷ Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat in front of them, to go back to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies. ²⁸ So they came to Jerusalem, with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets, to the house of the Lord. ²⁹ And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. ³⁰ Then the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest all around.

 

Jehoshaphat called for a collective fast for the entire nation, men, woman and children. We see this in verse 3 and 4:

 

And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. ⁴ So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

 

Jehoshaphat called out to God for help and in front of the temple the people gathered.  He prayed: 

 

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.”

 

A great multitude of the enemy Judah was likely against was an army of over one hundred thousand. And everyone of the them would perish by the hand of the Lord by their own wickedness, fighting among themselves and eventually killing themselves.   Jehoshaphat prayed and all the people, including all the woman and wives, children and babies took part in the fast and prayed. The prophet Jahaziel said to Jehoshaphat that the Israelite's would not need to fight. that the LORD would intervene.  Verse 17 explains this:

You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.”

 

In verse 20, Jehoshaphat rallied his soldiers of Judah and Jerusalem to believe, to have faith in the Lord and believe the prophets.

 

Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.”

 

When Judah and Jerusalem came together in prayer and fasting as a nation, God was present.  The people thanked and praised the Lord. They worshiped Him and praised Him for His mercy and goodness. The people humbled themselves, submitting all to the Lord and God delivered them from danger. 

 

There are a few things we can learn from this example of fasting. One, the entire nation yielded to the Lord in prayer and fasting.  Collectively, they all came together to honor and worship the Lord by giving Him thanks and praise.  Second, we see that God is supreme and He sees his children and protects them supernaturally when they subject themselves to Him. If we want God to move in our lives we must fear Him, and appreciate Him for His mercy, through prayer and worship, thanking Him and praising Him. Third, we must  pay close attention to those who have certain spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is alive and active in the humble Christian, who does not quench the Spirit but exalts Him. The prophetic is alive today as it was in Jehoshaphat's day.  God wants to manifest Himself to us and He will when we submit to Him in all things, leaving nothing out. Nothing is too great or too small for God's attention.

 

Have faith in God!  Jehoshaphat gives us an excellent example of collective fasting for a nation and the supernatural result it produced.