God as Holy Warrior The Arabic term jihad, which has become well known in the English language, speaks of a “holy war” in which men fight for God. However, the biblical description of a “holy war” is quite different. A holy war is a conflict where God fights for his people while they trust in him. In these wars, victory does not depend on weapons but on obedience to God. In a time of war, King Jehoshaphat of Judah proclaimed a fast (2 Chr 20:3) and petitioned God in the typical style of a prayer lament (20:5-12), which included an invocation, a complaint, a confession of trust, and a request. Jehoshaphat and the people reflected their hearts’ attitude by bowing low with their faces to the ground (20:18). The image of an army marching into battle headed by a choir giving praise to God (20:21) is startling, because the battlefield is not usually the place for worship and praise. However, worship provides a way to know the will of God, and it invites God to act to save his people. God rewards acts of trust in him, and in Jehoshaphat’s case, God brought about the defeat of a large coalition of enemy forces without Israel having to even draw their swords (20:22-24). The New Tes...

God’s Plan to Restore One of the best known verses in Chronicles lays out God’s plan for Israel: “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land” (2 Chr 7:14). This verse expresses the Chronicler’s understanding of how God works with his people. The concept has been described as a “theology of immediate retribution”: Each person experiences the consequences for obedience or failure within his or her own lifetime. The vocabulary of this verse (humble, pray, turn, seek, heal) appears repeatedly in the Chronicler’s writing as he shows this principle operating in the lives of the kings of Judah. The celebration of Passover during Hezekiah’s reign provides one of the most prominent examples. In the very first month of his reign, Hezekiah began to restore the Temple (29:3). He extended an invitation to all Israel (including the people of the northern kingdom) to attend the Passover festival at Jerusalem (30:1). When Hezekiah’s messengers urged the people to turn to the Lord (30:6), many from the north humbled themselves and came t...