We are wrapping up
our Pesukei Bitachon and the final pesukim come from a chapter in Divreh HaYamim 2
(perek כ (dealing with King Yehoshafat. Rabbi Zundel of
Salant, who put together this list of Pesukim,
says that reading this entire chapter is one of the things you can do to strengthen
your Bitachon.
First we need to understand the overall story, and then we'll focus on
some of the main pesukim.
Yehoshafat was one of the kings of the Davidian line.
Amon and Moav went to
war against Yehoshafat, and messengers came to tell him, “There's a great amount of people
coming from the other side of the sea, from Aram, and they're getting closer.”
Yehoshafat was afraid, and he prayed to Hashem and made a fast.
He gathered everyone together, and Yehoshafat stood in the courtyard of the Bet Hamikdash and
announced his speech, his prayer to Hashem, “the God
of the heaven and the earth, who rules over all the kings of all nations.
You are the One that has all the power in the might.” This is a famous pasuk,
“You are the one that's in charge. You sent out all the
nations when we came into Eretz Yisrael originally, we built a Bet Hamikdash for You…
And here the
people of Amon and Moav, ( and he throws in the people of Mount Seir which
is Esav) came to join against us. And
these are the people that, if anything,
we were nice to. You commanded us not to start up with them
when we came- Amon and Moav come from Lot, and we don't start up with Esav either.
They don't have any Hakarat Hatov. That's how they’re repaying us? Hashem, please bring justice against them- we have no strength. And he says the
following words, which are also in our prayers,
וַאֲנַ֗חְנוּ לֹ֤א נֵדַע֙ מַֽה־נַּעֲשֶׂ֔ה כִּ֥י עָלֶ֖יךָ עֵינֵֽינוּ
We don't know what to do. Our eyes are on you.
And the pasuk continues,
Everybody was there, little children, men and wives. And after Yehoshafat gives this powerful, inspirational
speech, a man by the name of Yachziel, who is a Levi from the children of Asaf, has a
prophecy.
And he says, “Everyone, please pay attention.This is Hashem’s
message: ‘Don't be afraid. Don't be intimidated, because of the great amount of
people here. The battle is not yours, but Hashem’s. You don't
have to do anything. Tomorrow, they’re going to come and you’ll go down
to the valley. Don't worry. Just stand
there, and Hashem will take care of the fight.’” Yehoshafat,
after hearing this wonderful news, bowed
on the floor, and the Leviim started to sing songs. The next morning they get up, they go to where they're supposed to be, and
Yehoshafat, again, tells them, “Don't
worry, just have Emunah and Bitachon and all will be good.”
All they did was get people
ready to sing songs. And he said, “Before anything happens, he
announces, “Hodu L’Hashem Ki Tov, Ki L’Olam Hasdo,” and as soon as they began to sing, the pasuk says, “Natan Hashem M’Arvim
Al Benei Amon V’Har Seir,” which
means Hashem set ambushers against them. What exactly happened? It's not
clear, but it says that there was some kind of internal strife amongst these
three different nations, Amon, Moav and Seir, and they actually
fought with each other.
Some kind of argument
broke out, and eventually, their inner
fight caused them to be wiped out.
When the Jewish people looked over the wilderness, they
saw corpses all over the ground, with no
survivors.
Then they went to
plunder the spoils and found all kinds
of Kli Hamudot/luxurious items. It took them three days to gather all of the
booty. On the fourth day, they came to the valley and they renamed it Emek
Beracha/Valley of Blessing.
Then they all went back to Yerushalayim, singing songs with harps
and trumpets, to the Bet Hamikdash. And
all the nations heard the story, and Yehoshafat
had a tranquil reign for 25 years.
That's our story.
B’Ezrat Hashem, over the
next few classes, we will delve more specifically into the pesukim, for more
specific lessons, but the basic lesson from
this story from the Navi is that they just rely on Hashem, sing songs of praise,
and see miracles.
