Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Jehoshaphat overcomes and despoils the Moabites, Ammonites and Syrians not so much by arms as by prayer and fasting. Finally, in verse 35, the prophet Eliezer rebukes Jehoshaphat for his alliance with the impious King Ahaziah of Israel, and declares that on that account the ships of both kings bound for Tarshish were wrecked.
Vulgate Text: 2 Paralipomenon 20:1-37
1. After this the sons of Moab and the sons of Ammon, and with them some of the Ammonites, gathered against Jehoshaphat to fight against him. 2. And messengers came and told Jehoshaphat, saying: A great multitude is coming against you from those places which are beyond the sea, and from Syria; and behold, they are encamped at Hazazon-tamar, which is En-gedi. 3. And Jehoshaphat, struck with fear, gave himself entirely to seeking the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4. And Judah gathered together to implore the Lord; and from all their cities they came to beseech Him. 5. And when Jehoshaphat stood in the midst of the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord before the new court, 6. he said: O Lord God of our fathers, You are God in heaven, and You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations; in Your hand is strength and power, and no one can resist You. 7. Did You not, our God, destroy all the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and give it to the seed of Abraham Your friend forever? 8. And they dwelt in it, and built in it a sanctuary to Your name, saying: 9. If evils come upon us—the sword of judgment, pestilence, and famine—we will stand before this house in Your sight, in which Your name has been invoked, and we will cry to You in our tribulations; and You will hear and save us. 10. Now therefore, behold the sons of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, through whose lands You did not allow Israel to pass when they came out of Egypt, but they turned aside from them and did not destroy them: 11. they do the opposite, and strive to cast us out of the possession which You gave to us. 12. O our God, will You not then judge them? In us indeed there is not such great strength that we can resist this multitude that rushes upon us. But since we do not know what to do, this alone remains to us: to direct our eyes to You. 13. And all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. 14. Now Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, upon whom the Spirit of the Lord came in the midst of the crowd, 15. said: Attend, all Judah, and you who dwell in Jerusalem, and you King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you: Do not fear, nor be dismayed before this multitude; for the battle is not yours but God's. 16. Tomorrow you shall go down against them, for they will come up by the ascent named Ziz, and you shall find them at the end of the valley, which is opposite the wilderness of Jeruel. 17. You will not need to fight; only stand firm with confidence, and you shall see the help of the Lord upon you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you. 18. Then Jehoshaphat and Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell prostrate on the ground before the Lord and worshiped Him. 19. And the Levites of the sons of Kohath and of the sons of Korah praised the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high. 20. And when they rose early in the morning, they went out through the wilderness of Tekoa; and as they set out, Jehoshaphat, standing in their midst, said: Hear me, men of Judah and all inhabitants of Jerusalem: believe in the Lord your God and you shall be safe; believe His prophets and all things shall prosper. 21. And he took counsel with the people and appointed singers of the Lord to praise Him in their companies, and to go before the army, and with one voice to say: Give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy endures forever. 22. And when they began to sing praises, the Lord turned the ambushes of the enemy upon themselves—the sons of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir—who had come out to fight against Judah, and they were struck down. 23. For the sons of Ammon and Moab rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, to destroy and annihilate them; and when they had accomplished this, they turned also against one another and fell by mutual wounds. 24. And when Judah came to the watchtower that overlooks the wilderness, they saw far and wide the whole region full of corpses, and no one survived who could have escaped death. 25. So Jehoshaphat and all the people with him came to strip the spoils of the dead; and among the corpses they found various goods, clothing too, and most precious vessels, and they plundered so much that they could not carry it all, nor could they remove the spoils in three days because of the greatness of the plunder. 26. On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Blessing; for since they had blessed the Lord there, they called that place the Valley of Blessing to this day. 27. And every man of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem returned, with Jehoshaphat at their head, to Jerusalem with great joy, because the Lord had given them joy over their enemies. 28. And they entered Jerusalem with psalteries, harps, and trumpets into the house of the Lord. 29. And the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. 30. And the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at rest, and God gave him peace on every side. 31. So Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah; he was thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. 32. And he walked in the way of his father Asa, and did not turn aside from it, doing what was pleasing in the sight of the Lord. 33. Nevertheless, he did not remove the high places, and the people had not yet directed their heart to the Lord God of their fathers. 34. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, are written in the chronicles of Jehu the son of Hanani, which are inserted in the Book of the Kings of Israel. 35. After this, Jehoshaphat king of Judah made an alliance with Ahaziah king of Israel, whose deeds were most impious. 36. And he joined with him to make ships to go to Tarshish; and they built a fleet at Ezion-geber. 37. But Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying: Because you have made an alliance with Ahaziah, the Lord has destroyed your works; and the ships were broken and could not go to Tarshish.
Verse 1: The Sons of Ammon
1. THE SONS OF AMMON AND WITH THEM SOME OF THE AMMONITES — that is, of the Edomites; for these, lest they seem to be fighting against the Jews their brothers, called themselves Ammonites. So the Author of the Traditions in St. Jerome's name here: "By Ammonites, he says, Edomites are to be understood, who out of reverence for their paternal name (Esau, who was the brother of Jacob, father of the Edomites) did not want to bear arms against Israel in their own appearance, but disguised themselves in the attire of the Ammonites."
Verse 2: From Beyond the Sea
2. FROM THOSE PLACES WHICH ARE BEYOND THE SEA (namely the Dead Sea, or Lake Asphaltites, and having crossed it they encamped at) EN-GEDI — that is, on the borders of the kingdom of Judah; for Syria was separated from Judah by the Dead Sea, says Vatablus.
Verse 5: The New Court
5. THE NEW COURT — namely renewed, or newly added to the temple: for Solomon had made very spacious courts for the temple, to hold the whole people of the twelve tribes; but afterward, when the ten tribes had made a schism from Rehoboam and the temple, many parts of the court, being vacant, were closed off or assigned to other uses. But under Jehoshaphat, with the multitude of the faithful growing, and of the people both of Judah and of those who from the ten tribes had defected to Judah, it was necessary for some of them to be opened again and renewed, to hold so great a people; and this is 'the new court,' that is, renewed and newly adapted to the uses of the temple and the people.
Verse 12: We Do Not Know What to Do
12. BUT SINCE WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO, THIS ALONE REMAINS TO US: TO DIRECT OUR EYES TO YOU. — Note this most pious and useful counsel of Jehoshaphat: "When therefore you are deprived of all human help, divine help is near," as Philo said in his Embassy to Gaius, if you invoke it; for it is proper to God to come to aid in difficulties and to restore desperate situations: for there above all He shows His clemency and power. This work, therefore, as it is fitting for divinity, so also it is proper to God.
Verse 13: All Judah Stood Before the Lord
13. ALL JUDAH STOOD BEFORE THE LORD WITH THEIR LITTLE ONES, THEIR WIVES, AND THEIR CHILDREN. — Behold, here is evident the antiquity of the Litany, or public and common prayer, by which in a public calamity all of every sex and age publicly assemble, so that with one voice and, as it were, with the united lamentation of all, they may implore God's mercy and aid, and as it were do violence to God: "For this violence is pleasing to God," says Tertullian in the Apologeticum. The Ninevites did the same, Jonah 3:5, and the Maccabees, 2 Maccabees 3:18 and following, and the Jews in the time of Judith, chapter 4, verse 9. And this is what Joel, chapter 2, urges should be done: "Gather the elders, assemble the little ones and those who suck the breast." St. Gregory did the same during the plague that was devastating Rome and Italy. For he ordered public Litanies of all orders, and distributed them into various classes, and as all cried out for God's help, God stopped the plague, as his Life records.
Verse 33: He Did Not Remove the High Places
33. NEVERTHELESS HE DID NOT REMOVE THE HIGH PLACES. — Understand "the high places" dedicated to the true God; for the high places of idols he did remove, as was said. He adds the reason: And the people had not yet directed their heart to the Lord — namely perfectly and totally; for they still sacrificed to God on the high places, although God had commanded that sacrifice be offered to Him only in the temple of Jerusalem.
Verse 34: The Chronicles of Jehu
34. THEY ARE WRITTEN IN THE CHRONICLES OF JEHU THE SON OF HANANI, WHICH HE COMPILED INTO THE BOOKS OF THE KINGS OF ISRAEL — that is, into the books of Chronicles or Diaries in which he recorded the deeds of the kings of Israel. From this it is clear that Jehu was the author, at least in part, of the book so often cited, namely the chronicles of the kings of Israel, and that it is distinct from this Book of Paralipomenon (Chronicles), since it is cited here in it.
Verse 36: Ships to Go to Tarshish
36. SHIPS TO GO TO TARSHISH. — See what was said on chapter 9, verse 21. Note from this passage that God often frustrates the endeavors of pious princes because they make use of the help of impious kings or soldiers. For He destroyed the ships of the pious Jehoshaphat because they were joined with the ships of the impious Ahaziah king of Israel. Similarly God through the prophet commanded Amaziah to send home the impious Israelites, though already hired for a hundred talents of silver, from the army, chapter 25, verse 6.