2 Chronicles 20:22

And when they began to sing and to praise,.... They sung more or less all the way they went, from the time they set out, but when they came nearer the enemy, they sung louder and louder: the Lord set

And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.

When they began to sing and to praise; so acceptable are the fervent prayers of God’ s people to God, and so terrible to their enemies. Ambushments, or, liers in wait; either, 1. The holy angels, who appeared in the shape of men, and possibly put on the appearances and visages of Moabites or Ammonites, and in that shape slew the rest, who supposing this slaughter to be done by a part of their own army, fell upon them, and so broke forth into mutual slaughters. Or, 2. God raised jealousies and animosities amongst themselves, which by degrees broke forth first into secret ambushments, which one party laid for another, and then into open hostilities and outrages to their utter destruction. So vain are all men’ s attempts against God, who needs none to destroy his enemies but themselves, and their own mistakes and passions, which he can when he pleaseth arm against them.

2 Chronicles 20:22 And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.Ver. 22. And when they began to sing and to praise.] So at the siege of Mountabon, the people of God using daily humiliation as their service would permit, did sing a psalm after and immediately before their sallying forth. With which practice the enemy coming acquainted, ever upon the singing of the psalm, after which they expected a sally, they would so quake and tremble, crying, "They come, they come," as though the wrath of God and the rage of all the creatures had been breaking out upon them. The Lord set ambushments.] Furor hostibus a Deo immissus ut in se invicem efferati saevire non desisterent, donec mutuis caedibus sese prostravissent. The wrath of God wrought their ruin, as by an ambush, unexpectedly and irresistibly. Some understand this ambush of the holy angels, sent suddenly in upon them to slay them; whereupon they mistaking the matter, and supposing it had been their own companions, flew upon them, and so sheathed their swords in one another’ s bowels.

(22) And when they began.—Literally, And at the. time when they began with shouting and praise. (Comp. Deuteronomy 16:9, to begin with.) They had now reached the neighbourhood of the enemy; and their joyful pæan was the signal for a Divine interposition. (Comp. Joshua 6:16; Joshua 6:20, and Psalms 46:6.) The Lord set ambushments.—Jehovah placed liers in wait (Judges 9:25). (nâthan here is equivalent in meaning to sâm there.) Come against.—Come into, i.e., invade (2 Chronicles 20:10). They were smitten.—Right, according to the ordinary usage. (See 1 Chronicles 19:16; 1 Chronicles 19:19, “put to the worse.”) This statement anticipates what follows. The ancient translators felt a difficulty here, as is evident from their versions. Thus the LXX. has, “The Lord made the sons of Ammon to war upon Moab and Mount Seir, who came out against Judah; and they were routed.” The Vulg., “The Lord turned their ambushment against themselves, viz., that of the sons of Amnion and Moab and Mount Seir, who had gone forth to fight against Judah, and they were smitten.” The Syriac (and Arabic) travesty 2 Chronicles 20:21 and the first clause of 2 Chronicles 20:22 thus: “And he stood in the middle of the people, and said, Come, let us give thanks unto the Lord, and let us laud the splendour of his holiness, when he goeth out before our hosts, and maketh war for us with our foes: and be saying, Give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, and his goodness endureth for ever. The hills began praising, and the mountains began rejoicing.”They then continue as in 2 Chronicles 20:24, omitting “The Lord set ambushments . . . they were smitten.” The self-destruction of the allied hordes was undoubtedly providential, but it need not have been miraculous. How was it brought about? The answer depends on the meaning of the term “liers in wait.” Were angels meant, as some have thought (Ewald’s böser Geister), a more appropriate and less ambiguous term would have been employed to express their agency. Nor is it likely that a Judean ambuscade is thus obscurely mentioned without any further reference or explanation: indeed it is evident from 2 Chronicles 20:15; 2 Chronicles 20:17; 2 Chronicles 20:24, that the part of the Judeans was that of mere spectators of an accomplished fact. Nor, finally, must we suppose that “the waylaying was done by a section of the confederates themselves, probably certain of the Maonites.” The truth appears to be that some portion of the unwieldy and straggling host was suddenly attacked by a lurking band of Bedawi freebooters. In the providence of God the partial confusion which thus originated speedily became a universal panic. The Ammonites and Moabites instantly suspected their less civilised allies, the Maonites, of treachery, and fell upon them in a frenzy of revenge; after which, maddened by slaughter and mutual suspicion, and the memory of ancient feuds, they turned their reeking swords against each other, and the strife only ended with the self-annihilation of the allies.

Verse 22. The Lord set ambushments] "The WORD of the Lord placed snares among the children of Ammon and Moab; and the inhabitants of the mountain of Gibla, who came to fight with Judah; and they were broken to pieces:" so the Targum. Houbigant translates the place thus: "The Lord set against the children of Ammon and Moab ambushments of those who came from Mount Seir against Judah; and the children of Ammon and Moab were smitten: but they afterwards rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, and utterly destroyed them; who being destroyed, they rose up one against another, and mutually destroyed each other." This is probably the meaning of these verses. Calmet's version is not very different.

22. the Lord set ambushments] R.V. the LORD set liers in wait. All that is meant by this is that the Lord suggested to Jehoshaphat the plan of setting an ambush; cp. Joshua 8:2 (where it is said that the Lord suggested the same plan to Joshua). Jehoshaphat himself marched with the bulk of his forces, but the flower of the Judæan army was probably disposed in ambush. G. A. Smith (Hist. Geography, p. 272) points out that the country between En-gedi and Tekoa is well suited for attack by surprise.

The Lord set ambushments - These liers in wait have been regarded as angels employed by God to confuse the host and cause its destruction, so that the Moabites and Ammonites first united to destroy

22. The Lord set ambushments against… Ammon, Moab… mount Seir — The word rendered ambushments is ξΰψαιν, liers in wait. Compare Judges 9:29. A measure of uncertainty must ever rest upon the question, Who were these liers in wait?