(1) It came to pass after this also.--Rather, And it came to pass afterwards, i.e., after the battle of Ramoth-Gilead, and Jehoshaphat's reformation of law and religion.

And the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites.--This is an attempt to get a reasonable sense out of a corrupted text. What the Heb. says is: And the sons of Ammon, and with them some of the Ammonites. So the Vulg., "et filii Ammon et cum eis de Ammonitis." Transpose a single Hebrew letter, and there results the intelligible reading: And the sons of Ammon, and with them the Maonites (Heb., Me'-nim. See on 1Chronicles 4:41-42.) The Maonites are mentioned again (2Chronicles 26:7) in company with Arabs. They appear to have been a tribe, whose chief seat was Maon, on the eastern slopes of the chain of Mount Seir, after which they are called "sons," or "inhabitants of Mount Seir" in 2Chronicles 20:10; 2Chronicles 20:22-23. Accordingly Josephus (Ant. ix. 1, ? 2) calls them a multitude of Arabs. [The LXX. reads: "And with them some of the Minaioi," a name which possibly represents the me'inim of the Heb. text of 1Chronicles 4:41. Syriac, "and with them men of war;" Arabic, "brave men." Perhaps the expression rendered and with them--we'immahem--is a relic of an original reading, and the Maonites; and the some of the Ammonites (m?h?'ammonim) which follows, is merely a gloss on an obscure name by some transcriber].

Verse 1. - The children of Moab. In 2 Kings 3:5-27 we read of a rebellion on the part of Moab, and of the victory of Israel's king Joram, together with Jehoshaphat and the King of Edom, over Moab, now probably in quest of revenge. Beside the Ammonites. The reading of our Authorized Version here cannot stand. The Septuagint gives us some guidance in the name "the Minoei." By the mere transposing of one Hebrew character in the name Ammonites, we obtain the name Maonites (read מֲעונִים for עַמּונִים), i.e. the people of Maon, a town near Petra, no doubt Edomitish (see vers. 10, 22, 23), and possibly the same with the Septuagint Minoei (see also 2 Chronicles 26:7).

20:1-13 In all dangers, public or personal, our first business should be to seek help from God. Hence the advantage of days for national fasting and prayer. From the first to the last of our seeking the Lord, we must approach him with humiliation for our sins, trusting only in his mercy and power. Jehoshaphat acknowledges the sovereign dominion of the Divine Providence. Lord, exert it on our behalf. Whom should we seek to, whom should we trust to for relief, but the God we have chosen and served. Those that use what they have for God, may comfortably hope he will secure it to them. Every true believer is a son of Abraham, a friend of God; with such the everlasting covenant is established, to such every promise belongs. We are assured of God's love, by his dwelling in human nature in the person of the Saviour. Jehoshaphat mentions the temple, as a token of God's favourable presence. He pleads the injustice of his enemies. We may well appeal to God against those that render us evil for good. Though he had a great army, he said, We have no might without thee; we rely upon thee.It came to pass after this also,.... After Jehoshaphat's return from Ramothgilead, and putting the civil and religious affairs of his people on a better footing, when he might have expected much peace and prosperity:

that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon; both the descendants of Lot, see Psalm 83:8,

and with them other besides the Ammonites; a great company of Arabians, according to Josephus (r); or "with the Meamonites", which the Targum understands of the Idumaeans or Edomites; and so do other interpreters, and which they conclude from 2 Chronicles 20:10. Jarchi thinks the Amalekites are meant, who were of the race of Edom; but the notion of Kimchi seems best, that these are the people that are so called from the name of a place, Meon, and, by an inversion of letters, the same with the Meunim or Maonites, mentioned along with the Zidonians and Amalekites, Judges 10:12 and whom the Septuagint version here calls Minaeans; some (s) take them to be such who counterfeited the Ammonites in their apparel and gestures:

these came against Jehoshaphat in battle; being instigated perhaps by the Syrians, who owed him ill will for assisting Ahab against them at Ramothgilead; for from that quarter they came, as the following verse shows.

(r) Antiqu. l. 9. c. 1. sect. 2.((s) Weemse of the Moral Law, l. 2. c. 6. p. 161.