None that makes much military sense, if using traditional tactics is the key to victory. The genius of God’s ways is that they are not our ways. Tactics that should fail do in fact succeed as God’s way of showing His power in our weakness. At Jericho, the victory was preceded by priests blowing horns and circling the city seven times. Against the Philistines, David’s single slingshot led to an amazing victory.
Continue reading WHAT SORT OF BATTLE PLAN HAS A CHOIR LEADING AN ARMY?
This amazing event began when the people of Judah were threatened by armies from three countries. After God told King Jehoshaphat that he would protect Judah, the king planned for battle. He decided that a choir should go in from of the army, singing a hymn. When the enemy soldiers heard the choir, they began fighting among themselves and destroyed each other!
Continue reading DID YOU KNOW THAT A CHOIR ONCE WON A BATTLE?
Sometimes good motives moves us to do bad things.
Jehoshaphat was a good king of Judah who strengthened his cities and his army to the point that the surrounding kings feared to attack. He then sent his officers throughout the country with Levites and priests to teach his people the law of the Lord. Continue reading MEN OF THE BIBLE (JEHOSHAPHAT: BAD COMPANY)
Asa set a good example for his son and successor, Jehoshaphat. As the fourth king of Judah, Jehoshaphat continued to suppress pagan worship and to encourage worship of the one true God as his father had done. He implemented a nationwide program of teaching his officials and the people of the land to practice justice and follow the Lord’s commands (2 Chronicles 17:7-9).
The king himself practiced what he preached. When confronted by a huge army composed of Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites, he prayed to the Lord for divine assistance. “We do not know what to do,” he admitted, “but we are looking to you for help” (2 Chronicles 20:12 NLT).
His army marched off to battle with the words of a psalm on their lips. When Judah’s army arrived at the battle site, there was no battle to fight. The allied enemy army had been mysteriously ambushed by an unknown foe. This created confusion among the soldiers of the allied enemy army, and they began to slaughter one another. The only thing Jehoshaphat’s troops had to do was pick up the spoils the confused army had abandoned (2 Chronicles 20:22-25).
During Jehoshaphat’s reign the bitter feelings between Judah and Israel grew more cordial. He and Ahab, king of the Northern Kingdom, formed an alliance against their common enemy-the nation of Aram, or Syria. They attempted to recapture the city of Ramoth Gilead from the Syrians, but their campaign was not successful. As it turned out, the wicked king Ahab was killed in this battle (1 Kings 22:29-36).
Jehoshaphat died after reigning over Judah for twenty-five years. He was commended for his leadership because “he walked in the way of his father Asa” and did “what was right in the sight of the LORD” (2 Chronicles 20:32 NKJV).