GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
2 CHRONICLES 20:24-30
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24 When Judah came to the overlook of the wilderness, they turned toward the multitude. What they saw were dead bodies lying on the ground– none had escaped. 25 When Jehoshaphat and his men went to take their plunder, they found among them great numbers of animals and corpses, but also precious things, which they took for themselves until they could carry no more. They spent three days in taking the spoil, there was so much. 26 On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Beracah (for there they blessed the LORD). Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Beracah to this day.
We can imagine the silence one expects before a battle, the tension in the air; the stillness that is often accentuated by the silence even among the birds. But there was something different on this day. The three enemies had destroyed one another. The men of Mount Seir were butchered by the Moabites and Ammonites. But then the Ammonites and Moabites had turned on one another, driven into fighting madness and error by the power of God. And our prophet is clear: “None had escaped.”
The usual way of disposing of bodies after a huge battle like this is to dig or find a pit of some kind and lay the bodies in it, stripping them of valuables and then, in the end, covering them with stones and earth. The process took three whole days, even for the army Jehoshaphat had brought with him.
Verse 25 has some unexpected terms that translations have wrestled with for more than two thousand years. The first two items in the list of “great numbers of things” are, in the Hebrew text, “animals and corpses.” The word for “animals” means the sort of portable wealth or material that can move on its own while an army is on the move: cattle or herds of sheep or goats. Bringing living animals means not having to take care of preserving meat. Instead of salt or ice, they just brought the living creatures with them. These were found, either living or dead, in great numbers. “Corpses” is sometimes translated “clothing,” but the usual meaning is a dead body (Nahum 3:3), but it can also mean the lifeless form of an idol (Leviticus 26:30). Isn’t this exactly what we would expect to find on this battlefield? Or rather, battle-valley?
It would seem from verse 26 that the place got a new name at this point. No longer the “Ascent of Ziz,” it was now the Valley of Beracah; “Valley of Blessing.” This word, “blessing” or “praise,” is the word God used when he blessed Abraham (Genesis 12:2) and when Moses blessed the Levites (Exodus 32:28). And we also have these words from God: “Test me and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing (beracah) that you will not have enough room for it” (Malachi 3:10).
27 Then the men of Judah and Jerusalem returned, with Jehoshaphat leading them. They returned to Jerusalem with joy, because the LORD had made them rejoice over their enemies. 28 They came to Jerusalem and to the house of the LORD with harps and lyres and trumpets. 29 And the dread of God came on all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that the LORD had fought against the enemies of Israel. 30 Then the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest on every side.
The battle had begun with worship and music from the men of Judah. Now they returned to the city (just an hour’s walk, but after more than three days’ work burying and plundering the dead enemy) singing and rejoicing as they marched. They headed right through the city gates and into the temple, strumming on harps and lyres and blasting away on metal trumpets (see Numbers 10:1-2).
When word got out about this, fear settled over the nations all around, but it was not the fear of God that is part of faith. It was dread, terror, over what had happened to Moab, Ammon and Edom. Now Jehoshaphat was given peace by God, peace “on every side.” This is also what was said about Israel in the days of Joshua (Joshua 21:44), and which Solomon acknowledged in the prayer he said when he took his father’s throne (1 Kings 5:1). Also, Jehoshaphat’s father Asa had said: “We have sought the LORD our God, and he has given us rest on every side” (2 Chronicles 14:7). This is the last time these words appear in the Bible chronologically, for after this there will be only such words as are used by Jeremiah: “There is terror on every side” (Jeremiah 6:25; 46:5; Lamentations 2:22). God gave Judah peace because they trusted in him.
The battle had ended. The enemies were defeated by the Lord God himself. After three days, the king returned, having plundered the enemy. The people rejoiced when they saw him, and they worshiped God. And news spread throughout the land. Here we see, do we not, a little scene that foreshadows the crucifixion and death of Christ, his burial, his descent into hell proclaiming the victory over Satan, and his appearance after three days to people in Jerusalem? We don’t even need to press the details very hard to see these things, for in the Old Testament we see concealed what the in the New Testament is so clearly revealed.
Consider the value of quiet; of peace on every side. To be at peace with your family, to be at peace with your neighbors, to be at peace with the vicious dog that lives next door, to be at peace in general in your life with your debts, your finances, your insurance, your kitchen cupboards– all of those things are excellent things, to be sought and to thank God for. But to be at peace with God himself! To be forgiven for the things you have done and have failed to do, to have your guilt lifted away on account of Jesus’ love and the grace of God. This is the true peace that we will carry along with us into heaven forever.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 2 Chronicles 20:24-30 True peace