and shows the dreadful consequences of injustice; ending with reminding them that though they are now as gods, because the Word and Power of God has come on them to enable them to execute justice between man and man, yet they shall die in their turn, and give an account to the God who shall judge all mankind.

God standeth in the congregation of the mighty;
He judgeth among the gods.

How long will ye judge unjustly,

And accept the persons of the wicked?

Defend the poor and fatherless :

Do justice to the afflicted and needy.

Deliver the poor and needy:

Rid them out of the hand of the wicked.

They know not, neither will they understand;

They walk on in darkness:

All the foundations of the earth are out of course.

I have said, Ye are gods;

And all of you are children of the Most High.

But ye shall die like men,

And fall like one of the princes.

Arise, O God, judge the earth:

For thou shalt inherit all nations.

LESSON XXIII.

THE WAR WITH MOAB AND AMMON.

B.C. 896.-2 CHRON. XX. I—19.

It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.

Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea,* and, behold, they be in Hazazon-tamar, which is En-gedi.

And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court,

And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is here not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?

* The Dead Sea. The word in our version is Aram, probably meant for Edom. VOL. III.

F

Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?

And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying,

If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgement, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.

And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not;

Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit.

O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.

And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.

Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the LORD in the midst of the congregation;

And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.

To-morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.

Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem : fear not, nor be dismayed; to-morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.

And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the LORD.

And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on high.

COMMENT.-Till Jehoshaphat had joined Ahab, he had enjoyed perfect peace. Now a war was allowed to take place, but it was so met by Jehoshaphat as to turn to a glory and joy almost unequalled. The Moabites and Ammonites, with other nations, formed a league against him, and, taking him by surprise, advanced in large force on the shores of the Dead Sea, to Engedi, where David had lurked in his outlaw days. Jehoshaphat, feeling that this was a punishment, held a fast throughout Judah, and assembled his people at

the Temple, where he stood forth in the court, here called "New"probably because of some recent repairs or additions—and poured forth his prayer, recalling God's mercies of old and the prayer of Solomon, that in all distress a prayer to Him who had set His Name in that House might bring deliverance. It was a most beautiful confession of entire dependence on and trust in God, pleading how these very nations had been spared in the advance of Israel, though they had now come with intent to destroy Judah. His prayer and that of all Israel was answered by God's Holy Spirit, who came, even while the King and all his people were praying, to one of the musician Levites, Jahaziel, of the sons of Asaph, descendants of Korah. Rising in his place on the Temple steps, in his white robe, he called all the people and the King himself to hear God's assurance that they need not fear, for the battle was not theirs, but God's! They should go out against the enemy-there they were on the mountain road of Ziz, in the desert of Jeruel, only fifteen miles off. Go forth-yes, but there would be no fighting for Judah! God would fight; they would only look on! Then Jehoshaphat, fully believing and trusting, bowed his head to the ground in gratitude, his people with him, and a great song of praise went up from all that multitude, who had come together in fear and trembling— a song led by the Levites. Some of these, among them probably Jahaziel, composed a Psalm of prayer at this time, the eighty-third, inscribed with the name of Asaph, in honour of their forefather, and praying for deliverance from these banded nations.

Keep not thou silence, O God:

Hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.

For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult :

And they that hate thee have lifted up the head.

They have taken crafty counsel against thy people,

And consulted against thy hidden ones.

They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation,

That the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.

For they have consulted together with one consent:

They are confederate against thee:

The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites;

Of Moab, and the Hagarenes;

Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek;

The Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;

Assur also is joined with them :

They have holpen the children of Lot.

Do unto them as unto the Midianites;

As to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison :
Which perished at En-dor:

They became as dung for the earth.

Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb :

Yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna :
Who said, Let us take to ourselves

The houses of God in possession.

O my God, make them like a wheel
As the stubble before the wind.
As the fire burneth a wood,

And as the flame setteth the mountains on fire,

So persecute them with thy tempest,

And make them afraid with thy storm.

Fill their faces with shame ;

That they may seek thy name, O LORD.

Let them be confounded and troubled for ever;

Yea, let them be put to shame, and perish :

That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH,
Art the Most High over all the earth.

The tabernacles mean, of course, the tents. The Psalmist goes through the twelve nations one by one. The Hagarenes mean the children of Hagar, wild Arabs; Gebal means

a rock," and refers to the mountains whence the Edomites came; Assur is Assyria. So the son of Asaph looks back to the great deliverances from robber tribes in the time of the Judges, and prays for as entire a victory and discomfiture of the foe. The "wheel" is a rolling thing, either thistle-down or some of the great dead stalks of an artichoke-like plant, which is driven frantically along before the desert wind. The psalm, when Christians sing it, shows the judgment of God against His enemies and those of His Church, though they band together against Him.

LESSON XXIV.

THE VICTORY OF TEKOA.

B.C. 896.—2 CHRON. xx, 20—30, 35—37; 1 Kings xxii. 49.

And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.

And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever.

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.

For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.

And when Judah came toward the watch-tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.

And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much.

And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there they blessed the LORD: therefore the name of the same place was called, The valley of Berachah, unto this day.

Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the fore-front of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for the LORD had made them to rejoice over their enemies.

And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the house of the LORD.

And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had heard that the LORD fought against the enemies of Israel. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet for his God gave him rest round about.

*

And after this did Jehoshaphat king of Judah join himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who did very wickedly :

And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish and they made the ships in Ezion-gaber.

Then Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the LORD hath broken thy works. And the ships were broken, that they were not able to go to Tarshish.

Then said Ahaziah the son of Ahab unto Jehoshaphat, Let my servants go with thy servants in the ships. But Jehoshaphat would not.

COMMENT.-In the morning, the King was the very first to show that he perfectly believed in the message of Jahaziel. He bade the whole train of priests and Levites go forth with him and his army in the beauty of holiness, probably meaning the full richness and glory of their sacred vestments, singing in full sweetness the exulting chant, "Praise the Lord; for His mercy endureth for ever." What faith there was in going forth thus with an unarmed host against