2 Chronicles 20:1-4·~1 min
War against Jehoshaphat
Foreign armies gather and advance toward Judah, and the report alarms Jehoshaphat. His response gathers the whole land into fasting and prayer before the LORD.
A1fter this, the Moabites and Ammonites, together with some of the Meunites, came to make war against Jehoshaphat. 2Then some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the Sea; they are already in Hazazon-tamar” (that is, En-gedi). 3Jehoshaphat was alarmed and set his face to seek the LORD. And he proclaimed a fast throughout Judah. 4So the people of Judah gathered to seek the LORD, and indeed, they came from all the cities of Judah to seek Him.
Section summaryA coalition rises against Jehoshaphat, and the news arrives with urgency. Instead of answering the threat first with military action, Jehoshaphat turns Judah toward fasting and a united search for the LORD.
Role in the chapterThis opening sets the chapter’s crisis in place and defines its posture at once. The danger is real, but the first movement of the story is collective dependence rather than strategy.