God’s Word for You

2 Chronicles 14:7-11 A prayer for help

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Thursday, November 28, 2024

7 Asa said to Judah, “We should build up these towns and set walls around them, with towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we sought the LORD our God; we sought him and he has given us peace on every side.” So they built, and they prospered.

Asa built up his defenses everywhere. He is not talking only about the towns his father won from Jeroboam in the Battle of Mount Zemaraim (chapter 13), but all of the fortresses and towns of Judah on every border. His improvements included “building up” the towns, which must mean making improvements to every part of the towns, especially their water supplies and, in general, the living conditions for the people who lived there. Towers were set up, and the city gates were improved. Ancient Israelite gates often had a right turn when entering, so that an attacker would be hampered swinging a sword or club against a defender. Bars were also set in place. These were not like prison bars, but more like a heavy board or log set against the gate as a support, such as the one Samson made off with when he tore apart the city gate of Gaza (Judges 16:3).

Asa told his nation that the land was still theirs. Rehoboam had lost a big part of Israel, but that was twenty years ago. They still had the land of Judah, and part of Benjamin, and they had the Lord to thank for that. Notice that he includes all of the people when he says “The land is still ours.” He was a wise king. He acknowledged the blessing of “peace on every side.”

8 Asa had an army of three hundred thousand men from Judah, equipped with large shields and with spears, and two hundred and eighty thousand from Benjamin, armed with small shields and with bows. All of them were brave, strong men. 9 Zerah the Cushite marched out against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and came as far as Mareshah. 10 Asa went out to meet him, and they took up battle positions in the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah. 11 Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, “LORD, there is no one besides you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. O LORD, you are our God. Do not let man prevail against you.”

The armed men of Benjamin were famous for being skilled with both the sling and the bow. They were armed with bows and with the smaller shields we discussed in chapter 9, the magen or buckler.

An army came against Judah from the southwest. This was an incredible force: A million warriors. The Hebrew is specific: “A thousand thousands.” Even if we allow for eleph to mean a unit commanded by a general, and that some of these units might be understrength, the fact was that there were a thousand of them, and there is no denying that this was a fantastic show of military strength. Zerah the Cushite was probably not a Pharaoh of Egypt. Shishak’s time as Pharaoh ended during Asa’s ten years of peace. Now Osorkon I was Pharaoh (922-887 BC), and while Osorkon’s Egyptian name might possibly be distorted into “Zerah” by a Hebrew scribe, he was not a Cushite. This was an army led by a high-ranking, probably noble, general, and the Bible calls him Zerah. Cush was the large nation south of Egypt, usually depicted as peopled by black Africans who were fierce warriors. Although they are not mentioned here, we will find later that this Cushite force was supplemented by Libyans (Libya is just west of Egypt, 2 Chronicles 16:8). It has been suggested that Osorkon (now growing old) sent out this expedition to renew the victory Shishak had won twenty years before, and to hamstring the power of Judah on Egypt’s northeastern frontier. The military tactic of keeping one’s neighbors intact but weak creates buffer states that can be a source of income, food, slaves, and other desirable things while not being directly responsible for anything like defense or welfare.

The Valley of Zephathah guarded one of the main roads from the south into the hills of Judah and especially to Jerusalem. Mareshah was one of the defensive fortresses built up by Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 11:8).

We will reserve our attempt at the chronology of this invasion until we have carefully examined 2 Chronicles 15:19.

Asa prayed for help. He was outnumbered two-to-one, and more than that, facing hundreds of chariots as well. The Cushite force was better armed, faster, stronger, and probably better trained. But Asa’s ally was the Creator of the Universe. His prayer had six elements:

1, No one besides the Lord could possibly help, therefore Asa was asking for no help except from the Lord (“You alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety,” Psalm 4:8).

2, Help us. It is a bold prayer to ask God for help, but this is what he constantly invites his people to do. The unbeliever cannot do this (Jeremiah 2:27-28); it is the privilege of being God’s dear child (Psalm 60:5).

3, We rely on you. The believer puts all his trust in God and relies on him (1 John 4:16).

4, In your name we have come. God tells us that we are to remember, love, and honor his name (Exodus 3:15). He promises: “Wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you” (Exodus 20:24).

5, O LORD, you are our God. I have quoted Luther’s words many times about this: “A god is that to which we look for all good and in which we find refuge in every time of need” (Large Catechism, I:2). Asa was not suddenly remembering the Lord; he had spent years destroying and demolishing all of the pagan idols, shrines, and paraphernalia everywhere in the land. He always looked to the true God alone, and now he was simply showing that this wasn’t about to change.

6, “Do not let man prevail over you.” This is not possible, of course. “Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like his?” (Job 40:9). And God says again, “Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me” (Job 41:11). The weapons, armor, and shoes of the Cushite army were only on loan from God. Even their muscles, and the very blood in their veins, was God’s own making and possession. Who can stand against him? If he has creatures that are so terrible that he can say, “It is king over all that are proud” (Job 41:34), then how much greater must he be? Worms, wisps of smoke, and men are all the same before the power of God Almighty. Asa simply calls for God to do what God promises to do. If Judah was to endure; if the Savior was to come from the tribe of Judah, then the Lord would need to save his people and not destroy them completely.

Pray like Asa! Be confident in your prayers. Pray for the big things; pray about the terrible things and ask God to come be your protector and defender. He will send the Savior and defender, and he will rescue you (Isaiah 19:20). When our sins come calling, and our guilt is our oppressor, then our call is all the more desperate, but God remembers us then, too. He knows our sorrow, and he has already sent his Son, our Savior.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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