2 Chronicles 20 · a question people ask
Who were the "ambushers" the LORD set against the armies?
The chapter doesn't say. It says, "When they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushers against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were struck" (20:22). In Hebrew, ambushers is a form of the verb of Joshua 8, "Set an ambush for the city behind it" (Joshua 8:2). The next verse tells what happened: "For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. When they had finished the inhabitants of Seir, everyone helped to destroy each other" (20:23). The chapter names no one else in the fighting, and it says who acted: "the LORD fought against the enemies of Israel" (20:29). The chapter doesn't say who the ambushers were, and these notes don't either.
The verses
“When they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushers against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were struck. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. When they had finished the inhabitants of Seir, everyone helped to destroy each other.”
“The fear of God was on all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that the LORD fought against the enemies of Israel.”
“You shall do to Ai and her king as you did to Jericho and her king, except you shall take its goods and its livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it.””