Matthew Henry on 2 Chronicles 20:1-13
We left Jehoshaphat, in the foregoing chapter, well employed in reforming his kingdom and providing for the due administration of justice and support of religion in it, and expected nothing but to hear of the peace and prosperity of his reign; but here we have him in distress, which distress, however, was followed by such a glorious deliverance as was an abundant recompence for his piety. If we meet with trouble in the way of duty, we may believe it is that God may have an opportunity of showing us so much the more of his marvellous loving-kindness. We have here,
I. A formidable invasion of Jehoshaphat's kingdom by the Moabites, and Ammonites, and their auxiliaries, Ch2 20:1. Jehoshaphat was…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Chronicles 20:5
Jehoshaphat stood . . . in the house of the Lord, before the new court--that is, the great or outer court (Ch2 4:9) called the new court, probably from having been at that time enlarged or beautified.
Adam Clarke on 2 Chronicles 20:3
Jehoshaphat feared - He found that he could not possibly stand against such a numerous army, and therefore could not expect to be delivered except by the strong arm of God. To get this assistance, it was necessary to seek it; and to get such extraordinary help, they should seek it in an extraordinary way; hence he proclaimed a universal fast, and all the people came up to Jerusalem to seek the Lord.
John Gill on 2 Chronicles 20:5
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 w…
