2 Chronicles 20:5

_AND JEHOSHAPHAT STOOD IN THE CONGREGATION OF JUDAH AND JERUSALEM, IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD, BEFORE THE NEW COURT,_ Jehoshaphat stood in the ... house of the Lord, before the new court - i:e., the great or outer court (2 Chronicles 4:9), called the new court, probably from having been at that time enlarged or beautified....

1-13 In all dangers, public or personal, our first business should be to seek help from God. Hence the advantage of days for national fasting and prayer. From the first to the last of our seeking the Lord, we must approach him with humiliation for our sins, trusting only in his mercy and power. Jehoshaphat acknowledges the sovereign dominion of the Divine Providence. Lord, exert it on our behalf. Whom should we seek to, whom should we trust to for relief, but the God we have chosen and served. Those that use what they have for God, may comfortably hope he will secure it to them. Every true believer is a son of Abraham, a friend of God; with such the everlasting covenant is established, to such every promise belongs. We are assured of God's love, by his dwelling in human nature in the person of the Saviour. Jehoshaphat mentions the temple, as a token of God's favourable presence. He plea...

THE NEW COURT - In Solomon’s Temple there were two courts. One of these had probably been renovated by Jehoshaphat or by his father, Asa 2 Chronicles 15:8, and was known as “the new court.”...

EXPOSITION Of this chapter, with its thirty-seven verses, only the six verses (31-36) find any duplicate or parallel in Kings (1 Kings 22:41-11). The chapter is occupied with a statement of the invasion of Judah by Moabites and Ammonites and certain problematical others (2 Chronicles 20:1, 2 Chronicles 20:2); with an account of the way in which the king and people prepared to meet the crisis (2 Chronicles 20:3); with the prophecy of Jahaziel the Levite as to how, under certain conditions, things would go ...

AND JEHOSHAPHAT STOOD IN THE CONGREGATION OF JUDAH AND JERUSALEM, IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD,.... In the temple, in the court of the people, where the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem were assembled, in the midst of which he stood very probably on the brasen scaffold erected by Solomon, 2 Chronicles 6:13, BEFORE THE NEW COURT: which must be the court of the priests, for he stood in the great court, or court of the people, and before this, which might be so called, because renewed or repaired when the altar was by Asa, 2 Chronicles 15:8. Dr. Lightfoot t thinks it was the court of the women; but it is a question whether there was any such court in the first temple; or that the great court was then divided into two, one for the men, the other for the women. t

2 Chronicles 20:1. _It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazontamar, which is Engedi. And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah._ An angry God is to be sought. Even though he smite us, we must turn to him. It is from the hand that wields the rod that we are to expect deliverance, if it ever come at all. 2 Chronicles 20:4. And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Jud

CHAPTER 20 JUDAH INVADED, JEHOSHAPHAT'S PRAYER AND DELIVERANCE _ 1. The invasion (2 Chronicles 20:1)_ 2. Jehoshaphat's great prayer (2 Chronicles 20:3) 3. Jehovah's answer through Jahaziel (2 Chronicles 20:14) 4. Prostrated before the LORD (2 Chronicles 20:18) 5. The great deliverance (2 Chronicles 20:20) 6. In the valley of Berachah (2 Chronicles

Jehoshaphat's victory over the Ammonites and Moabites. This story of a miraculous battle is perhaps a _midrash_ on the war described in 1 Kings 3:4 ff., and has, in so far, some historical basis; but the details are purely imaginary. 2 Chronicles 20:5. before the new court: perhaps the same as the great court in 2 Chronicles 4:9; the Chronicler has in his mind's eye the Temple as he knew it. 2 Chronicles 20:7. Abraham thy friend: _cf._ Isaiah 41:8;...

STOOD. On the platform provided for such purposes as this (2 Kings 11:14; 2 Kings 23:3). CONGREGATION. assembly. Hebrew. _kahal._ See note on "multitude" (Genesis 28:3). AND. Some codices, with one early printed edition, Septuagint, and Syriac, read "in". THE NEW COURT. The court of the priests, built by Solomon (2 Chronicles 4:9; 2 Chronicles 15:8)....

_stood_ Rather, ROSE UP. _before the new court_ The Temple of Solomon seems to have differed in respect of its courts from the Second Temple; and it is difficult to tell of what court the Chronicler is thinking in this passage. The Heb. word for "court" here is _ḥâçer_, but in 2 Chronicles 4:9 (see note there) the "court (_ḥâççr_) of the priests" is distinguished from a court called the "great court" (Heb. "great _Azârâh_"). Perhaps the Chronicler means here "the _ḥâççr_of the priests" for Jehoshaphat stands not _in_but _before_it. Solomon's great prayer was offered according to the Chronicler (2 Chronicles 6:13) in "the court" (Heb. _Azârâh_)....