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Context No. 1119 of 4322 · 2 Chronicles

Context · Reflection

2 Chronicles 20:24-30: in context

24When Judah came to the place overlooking the wilderness, they looked at the multitude; and behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and there were none who escaped. 25When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their plunder, they found among them in abundance both riches and dead bodies with precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away. They took plunder for three days, it was so much. 26On the fourth day, they assembled themselves in Beracah Valley, for there they blessed the LORD. Therefore the name of that place was called “Beracah Valley” to this day. 27Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat in front of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for the LORD had made them to rejoice over their enemies. 28They came to Jerusalem with stringed instruments, harps, and trumpets to the LORD’s house. 29The fear of God was on all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that the LORD fought against the enemies of Israel. 30So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest all around.

Jehoshaphat and Judah, having gone out to face a vast invading army with worship instead of weapons, arrive to find the enemy already destroyed, dead bodies covering the ground, killed by ambushes God set among them. The plunder is so vast it takes three days to gather. On the fourth day they assemble in a valley to bless the LORD, and name it the Valley of Beracah, the Valley of Blessing. Then they return to Jerusalem with joy, with harps and trumpets, because the LORD had made them rejoice over their enemies, and the fear of God falls on the surrounding kingdoms, and Jehoshaphat's realm is at rest.

The detail worth pausing on is the Valley of Blessing. After a deliverance so complete that they only had to gather the spoils God had won for them, the people did not simply grab the plunder and rush home; they stopped, in a valley, to bless the LORD, and the pause was so significant they named the place after it. Before the celebration, before the return, there was a deliberate stopping to give God the credit. It would have been easy to be so busy with the three days of plunder that thanksgiving got swallowed by logistics, but they carved out a fourth day just to bless God for what he had done. There is wisdom in building a deliberate pause for thanksgiving into every deliverance, a Valley of Blessing between the victory and the going-home, so that gratitude is not crowded out by the busyness of enjoying the spoils. God had fought the battle; the fitting response was not only to gather the reward but to stop and bless the one who gave it. They named a whole valley after that pause.

When God gives me a deliverance, do I rush straight to gathering and enjoying the results, or do I build in a deliberate Valley of Blessing, stopping to bless the one who won the victory?

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