And he consulted with the people, and appointed singers to Jehovah, and those that should praise in holy splendour, as they went forth before the armed men, and say, Give thanks to Jehovah; for his loving-kindness [endureth] for ever!
Judah faced an invading army it could not beat. The king's answer was to change the order of the march: singers went out in front, ahead of the soldiers. Two questions follow. Why sing before the fighting? And what does it mean to praise God "in holy attire"?
The march order is the first surprise. An army's front rank normally holds its best fighters.
What a strange advance guard for an army — a company of singers! This is faith's way of ordering the battle.
Older translations read "the beauty of holiness." The phrase is about clothing, not mood.
Then he appointed singers dressed in their official garments to go before the army and sing as if it were a triumphal procession: "Give thanks to the LORD, for his steadfast love endures forever." (The expression "beauty of holiness" is literally "holy array.") We read nothing of swords or spears. They needed no weapons, for the Lord had said, "You will not need to fight in this battle."
Another writer asks what holiness is, and why not everyone sees beauty in it:
Holiness involves the love of what is good and the hatred of evil. It is beautiful only to those who recognise its character.
The verse says Jehoshaphat took counsel with the people first. One writer sees a lesson for leaders in that detail.
Some leaders are in danger of steamrollering the believers. Here was one who called them in. He consulted with the people, and they appointed singers to go before the army. The praise was too much for the enemy. "God dwells in the praises of His people." The enemy often attacks our praise. If praise is missing, the enemy gains an advantage. This is God's approved method of dealing with the opposition: His people praise the Lord, and the enemy begins to kill one another.
The song came before the battle. Only one thing could produce it.
Nothing but faith could raise a song of praise before the battle had even begun. Faith counts the promise sure. Faith enabled Abraham to believe that God would give his descendants the land of Canaan. In the same way, it enabled Jehoshaphat to believe that God would keep them there. So he did not need to wait for victory before he praised. He already stood in the full results of victory.
Another writer draws a rule out of it:
They were early, but they were right. It is a very good recipe to praise beforehand. If God has promised, may we not give thanks?
The words they sang were not new. This same song runs through the Old Testament.
In the face of fully equipped enemy troops, praise sounds out a second time: "Give thanks to the LORD; for his steadfast love endures forever!" No other song appears more often in the Old Testament. Here it is the song of triumph before the victory is won, because to faith this victory is sure.
The same habit runs on past this battle. One writer follows it into the New Testament.
Rejoicing in the Lord is a powerful antidote to spiritual ills. In Philippians 3 trouble threatens from outside. The word there is, "Rejoice in the Lord." In chapter 4 trouble threatens from within. The same word comes twice: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice." So we are to rejoice in the Lord and sing, whatever the circumstances may be… In the New Testament Paul and Silas sing in the prison. It is moving to remember Jesus and His disciples too. It was "when they had sung a hymn" that they "went out to the Mount of Olives."
- Order — Faith arranges the battle line: singers went out in front of the soldiers, carrying no swords or spears.
- Array — "Holy attire" is literally "holy array": the singers wore their official garments, dressed for a victory parade rather than a fight.
- Timing — The praise came before the battle, not after it. If God has promised, thanksgiving need not wait for the result.
- Words — They sang the song heard most often in the Old Testament: His steadfast love endures forever — a settled fact, sung in an unsettled hour.
- Practice — The same habit still holds. Rejoice in the Lord under pressure from outside and from within.
And when they began the song of triumph and praise, Jehovah set liers-in-wait against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, who had come against Judah, and they were smitten.
Three invading armies came against Judah, and Judah marched out to meet them with a choir at the head of the column. Why did the praise come before the fighting, and what does it mean that God Himself set the ambush?
The singers used a refrain that returns again and again in the Old Testament. They sang it while the enemy still stood in front of them, fully armed.
The enemy troops stood fully armed, and praise rang out a second time: "Give thanks to the LORD, for His steadfast love endures forever." No other song comes up more often in the Old Testament. Usually only the proclamation of grace can bring in the reign of glory. But here the song of triumph comes before the victory is won, because to faith this victory is sure.
The song was not the first thing they did.
Now you get the song breaking out. You have had the fasting, the prayer, and the worship, and then the song comes out... Confidence in God secured full deliverance. Faith sang its songs of victory before anyone struck a blow... They really held a thanksgiving meeting over the victory before the battle began.
Armies put their strongest fighters at the front. Jehoshaphat put the choir there.
What a strange advance guard for an army! a company of singers! This is faith's way of ordering the battle.
Older translations say the singers praised "the beauty of holiness." One writer explains that phrase, and notes what this army is never said to carry.
He appointed singers to go before the army in their official garments. They were to sing as if it were a triumphal procession... (The phrase "the beauty of holiness" is literally "holy array.") We read nothing of swords or spears. They needed no weapons. They probably left them at home. The Lord had said, "You will not need to fight in this battle." So when they began to sing and praise, trusting the promise, the Lord began His work of overthrowing and destroying their enemies.
The verse says the Lord Himself set the ambushes.
Only think of the Lord setting ambushes! Think of Him taking up the business of military tactics! How wonderful! God will do anything His people need. The one condition is that they trust Him, and leave themselves and their affairs completely in His hand.
At other times God called His people to fight. Here He did not, and one writer sees a purpose in that.
This triumph comes from a source that is entirely divine: "The LORD set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir." Man has no part in it. On other occasions God calls him to act and to fight. Just as at the start of their history, God today wants His people to see their own powerlessness, and to see the power that fights for them.
The next verse tells how it happened: the invaders destroyed each other.
Never was a foreign invasion so easily repelled. The Lord set an ambush in some mysterious way, and panic spread among the allies. They turned on one another and destroyed each other. The deliverance came in a way Jehoshaphat never expected. But faith never asks how God can fulfil His promise, or how He will. It is enough to know that He has promised; the method must be left to Him.
One writer applies the scene to the battles believers face.
When the enemy gathers in strength, we may see no way out and no idea how they can be defeated. If our eye rests in simple confidence in His love, we have every right to go into what looks like a battle with songs of joy. And not only as Israel sang after crossing the Red Sea, when their enemies were already gone. Even as we are about to begin the battle, we may sing as if the victory were won. This battle is one of the few where they did not strike a blow.
Another writer treats praise itself as ground the enemy tries to take, and finds here a pattern Scripture repeats.
The praise was too much for the enemy... The enemy often attacks our praise, and if that is missing the enemy gains an advantage. It was not so with Jehoshaphat: they appointed singers in the front line and went out against the enemy... This is God's approved method of dealing with the opposition: the people give praise to the Lord, and the enemy begins to kill one another.
- Promise first. God had already said the battle was His, so the song rested on His word, not on any sign of success.
- Praise next. Fasting, prayer and worship came first. The song was faith's answer to a promise already given.
- Position matters. Singers led the column with no mention of weapons — praise took the place normally held by force.
- Power is His. The Lord set the ambushes, and the invaders destroyed each other. Judah's own weakness was the point, not the problem.
- Pattern for us. When there is no way out in sight, that same confidence turns a coming battle into a reason to sing.