Jahaziel (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: יַחֲזִיאֵל ''Yaḥăzīʾēl'') is the name of five characters mentioned in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

. Jahaziel means "God sees" or "Yah looks".''Holman Bible Dictionary'' (1991), "Jahaziel"
/ref> Four of the characters by this name are not credited with any independent action, but simply mentioned in passing as one of several priests ( 1 Chronicles 16:6, , ; ) or a member in a list of warriors (). However, one Jahaziel, a

Levite Levites (or Levi) (, he, ''Lǝvīyyīm'') are Jewish males who claim patrilineal descent from the Tribe of Levi. The Tribe of Levi descended from Levi, the third son of Jacob and Leah. The surname ''Halevi'', which consists of the Hebrew defi ...

, is mentioned as delivering a divine message.

Jahaziel the Levite

2 Chronicles 20 2 Chronicles 20 is the twentieth chapter of the Second Book of Chronicles the Old Testament in the Christian Bible or of the second part of the Books of Chronicles in the Hebrew Bible. The book is compiled from older sources by an unknown perso ...

recounts a joint attack on Judah by the nations of

Moab Moab ''Mōáb''; Assyrian: 𒈬𒀪𒁀𒀀𒀀 ''Mu'abâ'', 𒈠𒀪𒁀𒀀𒀀 ''Ma'bâ'', 𒈠𒀪𒀊 ''Ma'ab''; Egyptian: 𓈗𓇋𓃀𓅱𓈉 ''Mū'ībū'', name=, group= () is the name of an ancient Levantine kingdom whose territo ...

Ammon Ammon (Ammonite: 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''ʻAmān''; he, עַמּוֹן ''ʻAmmōn''; ar, عمّون, ʻAmmūn) was an ancient Semitic-speaking nation occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Arnon and Jabbok, in p ...

, and

Edom Edom (; Edomite: ; he, אֱדוֹם , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom in Transjordan, located between Moab to the northeast, the Arabah to the west, and the Arabian Desert to the south and east.N ...

in the time of King

Jehoshaphat Jehoshaphat (; alternatively spelled Jehosaphat, Josaphat, or Yehoshafat; ; el, Ἰωσαφάτ, Iosafát; la, Josaphat), according to 1 Kings 22:41, was the son of Asa, and the fourth king of the Kingdom of Judah, in succession to his father ...

. The king declared a fast to the LORD and prayed for his help before the assembled nation. "Then in the midst of the congregation the spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah son of Benaiah son of Joel son of Mattaniah the Levite, of the sons of Asaph, and he said, 'Give heed, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat; thus said the Lord to you, "Do not fear or be dismayed by this great multitude, for the battle is God's, not yours . . ."'" (, ''New Jewish Publication Society Bible''). The next morning, Jehoshaphat led his people out, calling them to have

faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people often ...

in the Lord, and leading them in

praise Praise as a form of social interaction expresses recognition, reassurance or admiration. Praise is expressed verbally as well as by body language (facial expression and gestures). Verbal praise consists of a positive evaluations of another's a ...

. They saw their enemies turn on each other, and returned to

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

in joy. After that the kingdom of Judah was at peace thanks to divine intervention against its enemies.

References

9th-century BC people {{Judaism-stub