Bitachon 259 - Singing Before Salvation

You're listening to the 259th edition of the B'tachon podcast. And this week we're going to do something we haven't done um I would say ever. We're going to learn a perek in Tanakh which is a perek that Rav Simcha Zissel of Salant included in his list of p'sukim. And so this entire perek represents the idea of B'tachon the idea of trusting Hashem and now it's a tremendous lesson for all of us about what real B'tachon looks like and what a a true king of the Jewish people, how he behaves and how he interacts with Hashem in the face of his enemies. And uh I'm going to just read the introduction here. It says kind of like it says that the prophet Yeshua ben Hanani went to Aram. Before the story that we're about to read so King Yehoshafat, who is the the subject of our coming p'sukim he had gone out to help Ahab in war. And in that war, Ahab who was an evil king was killed. Yeshua Yehoshafat returned in peace. Yehoshafat returned in peace. And then Yehu ben Hanani, who was the seer, he was a navi, so he told Yehoshafat that he made a mistake in going to help Ahab who was evil. And he told him that Hashem was angry at him. But he also told him that because of the fact that he was a great tzaddik, he was a righteous individual Yehoshafat would not be would not be forsaken by God. Afterwards the navi tells us that Hashem I'm sorry that that Yehoshafat causes the Jewish people to do chuva, to repent. And he establishes judges and policemen according to the obligation that the Torah sets down. Must hear him share doing the co-cohen. And he warns them that they should judge people properly. Sorry that there's a lot of bugs in my where I'm sitting over here. Okay, now we're going to read the come together. We're going to study this chapter until in Divrei Hayamim days perek chof. The children of of of the people of Moab and Ammon they came. And not only that, but also as the first one explained here, the people from Amalek also came to battle with Yehoshaphat. They came and they told Yehoshaphat that more people of Ammon have A tremendous amount of of people has come, a great multitude of warriors. They've come from the other side of the salty sea. He ain't getting there in En Gedi, which we know where that is today. So, Yehoshaphat was afraid. Okay, and then let's see what he does. He turns his face to ask Hashem for help. What is it that Hashem expects of him? What's the ratzon Hashem? And he also calls for a fast for all of Judah, for all of the southern kingdom of the Jewish people. So, not only did the people of Jerusalem fast, but the people gathered from all over Judah. And they came to Davin to Hashem. >> [snorts] >> Or as the explanation here says, they came with his mind and mouth to Hashem to contemplate what is Hashem's will. So now, at this time, Yehoshaphat, let's see, you know, think about it. Where do we go to Davin? So naturally today, we go to the Koisel. Right? Why do we go to the Koisel? Because it's the remaining wall. Not of the Beis Hamikdash, not of the temple, but of the Har Habayis, of the Temple Mount from the times of Herod, from the times of Hordus. Right? So that's the closest we can get to the Beis Hamikdash, and that's the place of prayer. That's where we want to go. We want to really go to the Beis Hamikdash, obviously. If we could get up on the Har Habayis, that would be ideal. At that time, of course, they were able to go cuz they had a Beis Hamikdash, they had the temple, and they had a way to be metayer themselves. So Yehoshaphat and the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, they all came to the Beis Hamikdash, came to Har Habayis, to Davin to Hashem in the new courtyard. Okay? At that time, there had been a reestablishment, a rebuilding of Har Habayis that it seems that Yehoshaphat had enacted. And the purpose of Har Habayis, the purpose of the temple was not just a place to bring in sacrifices of atonement, but it was a place, of course, also of Torah learning. The Lishkas Hagazis was there, the Sanhedrin was there. And it was a place of prayer. >> [snorts] >> Right? As we know, Ki Beisi Beis Tefillah Yikarei L'chol Ha'amim. It's going to be a house of prayer for all of the nations. Vayomer Hashem Elokei Avoseinu, Halo Yatoo Elokei Hashamayim, Ata Moshel B'chol Mamlechos Hagoyim. >> So they said, this is how they pray, this is what they said. They said Hashem, God of our forefathers, behold, you are God in the heavens, and you have power all over all of the mamlacha is over all of the kingships, the kingdoms of the nations, and you have the strength. You have power over them. You give them strength then for you have power over them. You are our God. You gave us this land, the land of Israel. You took out the nations who were here before and you gave it to us. And you gave it to the seed of Abraham, the one who you loved forever. Or the one who you loved, you gave it to us forever. And the Jewish people settled there and they built for you a Beit Hamikdash, a temple for your name. Okay, so Yehoshaphat had clarity. What is the premise of the Beit Hamikdash? It's not a political location. It's a it's a spiritual location. And it's a place where we rededicate ourselves to Hashem. It's a place where we recognize that the center of our lives is our relationship with Hashem. Okay, and I and I would say and I would point out that what does it mean that we be talking? What does it mean that we have bitachon? What right do I have to trust in Hashem that things are going to be good in my life? He's going to take away my problems. And the answer I believe is, and we see this from Yehoshaphat, and his prayer, >> [cough] >> that um when he he he emphasizes he emphasizes that the center of my life, the place where I go to pray, what right do I have to pray, what right do I have to have a token because you are Sham are the center of my life. And the person says in my heart and my soul and my body and my soul and my heart and my soul and my body and my soul. He says that he the base of English was established so that if any bad thing will come a sword meaning a battle. A plague. A famine, so we're going to come and we're going to dive in right here. We're going to stand in front of this temple. For your name is inside this house. This is the place where we remind ourselves that you are the center of our lives. The tire which is inside of the RNA brace inside of the arc reminds us that that's the center of our lives is our relationship with you a Sham. And this is like a mix of sadness and joy this year. And we will call out to you a Sham and you will hear and you will save us. Okay, so the base of English understand what we're missing when we don't have a base of English. We're missing the center that reminds us and brings home and is a place where we can see that a Sham is in our midst and that the relationship that we have with a Sham is central to our lives. Okay, and whenever things are going wrong, that's the problem. That's a hidden in the Ammon and Moab and Assyria shall not be Israel and provide my answer to my question and my answer to my Right, he points out that our enemies are coming against us, the people of Ammon and Moab and and Amalek. Amalek was from Edom. These are places that you did not allow us to conquer. We came out of Egypt. We weren't allowed to do anything to them. And nevertheless we weren't we didn't cause them any destruction, but here they are coming to try to cause us destruction. You know God will lay down the law for you and go shine on you. Their response to us not causing them destruction is they're trying to they're trying to throw us into the sea. May you wish us a shower of stones on you. To kick us out of the land that you've given us as our inheritance. Look at you. So you shall say our God will bomb came out of the oven. He says Hashem judge them cuz we don't have power against this great this great amount of people coming to rob us of our land. That's coming against us. I don't know what I need that I need you. It's a classic classic we say every day. The entire clan I don't know what I need that I need you. We don't know what we don't know what to do. Our eyes are to you. We don't know what actions to take. We don't know how to face off with our enemies. The entire kingdom of Judah was standing there in front of Hashem. Their children as well, their wives as well, and their and their sons. Their babies and their children. Yechaziel ben Zachariah ben Benaiah ben Yael. There was a particular individual whose name was Yechaziel, the son of Zachariah son of Benaiah ben the son of Yael Yechiel, son of ben Mattaniah Ha Levi. The Levite ben Asaph. He's from the children of Asaph. I saw you say call. So he was he had a divine inspiration. Hashem's uh spirit was upon him. Which is interesting because he was part of the people there praying. He was part of those who had come and he received a special Nevuah. And he said like this, "Hakshivu kol Yehudah v'Yerushalayim. Listen up all the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem and Malkei Yehoshafat and King Yehoshafat. Kah amar Hashem l'chem, this is what Hashem says to you, "Al tir'u v'al tichatu mipnei hahamon harav hazeh. Don't be afraid. Don't be worried because of this great multitude. Ki lo lachem hamilchamah ki l'Elohim. The The battle is not yours. You don't have to fight this battle. This is Hashem's battle. Machar redu aleihem hinam al ma'aleh hatzitz. This is what you should do tomorrow, you should go down to where they are. They're going to be coming up from a place called Ma'aleh hatzitz. Utzatem el mitzad hanachal im Yeru'el. You'll find them at the end of the river across from the wilderness which is called Yeru'el. Lo lachem l'hilachem bo ki lo don't need to fight them. You don't You're not going to need to actually go into battle with them. Imdu v'ru et yeshu'at Hashem imachem. Stand. Just stand still and you will see that Hashem is going to save you. Yehudah v'Yerushalayim, oh people of Judah and Jerusalem, do not be afraid. Machar tze'u lifneihem v'Hashem imachem. Tomorrow go out in front of them and you will see that Hashem is with you. Okay, so they davened. Immediately there was a a message of victory which they received. Vayigah Yehoshafat al panav artzah v'chol Yehudah v'Yerushalayim naflu lifnei Hashem l'hishtachavot laHashem. When they heard this, so Yehoshafat and the people of Judah and Jerusalem, they they bowed down in front of Hashem. And the Levites the children of God, the children of of Korach they stood up and they started to praise Hashem, they started to sing praises of Hashem. They got up in the morning. They went out to the wilderness of Tekoa. I would say some When they were going out, Yehoshaphat stood up and said, "Shimon Yehuda Yerushalayim, listen up people of Jerusalem people of Judah >> [snorts] >> Believe in Hashem. Trust in Hashem and you will see that his faith his faithfulness will will be shown. Believe in his prophets and you will be successful." Interestingly, Yehoshaphat did something amazing. Unusual. He sent these people to go along with them and to sing songs of thanks Hashem before they even won the war. They were already singing songs of thanks to Hashem. And as soon as they started singing songs of victory singing songs of thanks Hashem so Hashem sent and it seems from and we'll see this with Hashem in the weeks to come but it seems that some other people came uh basically they ended up fighting with each other. They set some kind of ambush. It's not clear exactly who. But, someone came to set an ambush on the people of Ammon and the people of Moab and the people of Amalek. And as a result of that, they were they were they were weakened. And what happened was that because of those who ambushed them, so the Bene Ammon and Moab and Amalekite people, they turned on each other. And they started to kill each other. So, our enemies basically, we didn't get near them. But, they started to kill each other. And the people of Judah, they came overlooking the area where the enemies were. And they saw that they were all dead. There was nobody left of them. And so, Jehoshaphat and his nation came and they took the spoils. They took the bounty, the booty. Tons of gold and silver and clothes. They took it all. There was too much even for them to carry. Took them 3 days to collect all of the booty of the enemies of the people of Israel who had died, the people of Ammon and Moab and Amalek. On the fourth day, they gathered together in a valley which they ended up calling the valley of blessing. K'sham Beracha Hashem. That was the place where they blessed Hashem. Okay, and K'nai Sham Y'varech Hashem and that was the reason why that valley was called valley of blessings until until today. The people of Judah and Jerusalem and Yehoshaphat was at their head. Returned to Jerusalem b'simcha, with joy. It caused them to rejoice over their enemies. They came to Jerusalem with with harps and with trumpets. A kesser good band. A great band, lots of singing to the house of Hashem. And there was a fear of of God that came down upon the other nations around Eretz Yisrael, around the people of Judah. When they heard that Hashem had battled on the side of the Jewish people against the enemies of Israel. And so Yehoshaphat he ended up with quiet. God allowed him to be free from the fear of his enemies. And indeed the Jewish people were saved at that time. So let's let's just give a summation and b'ezrat Hashem in the coming weeks we're going to look at a few of these p'sukim individually and and look at them in a fortunate way on the p'sukim. But the bottom line of this whole story is that Yehoshaphat was a righteous king, right? We started off saying that he set up a return of the Jewish people, a teshuvah, to Torah, and he set up those who would make sure that the Jews kept their relationship with Hashem alive and proper. That was number one. Number two was that they when they were faced with their enemies, they went to the Har Habayis, they went to the Beis Hamikdash to daven. They focused again on their relationship with Hashem. And the result was that their battles were won not because they actually battled. Their battles were won because Hashem battled on their behalf. And throughout it all, throughout it all, very important, they're singing. They are singing and singing and singing. They sing before they win. The singing itself is that which brings about the enemies killing each other. And they sing after they win on their way back to the Beis Hamikdash. At every moment, at every point of this story, they don't forget where their success comes from. Before their success comes, they recognize that it's Hashem. When their success comes, after their success comes, they recognize that it's from Hashem. Constantly coming back to Hashem. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you again next time.