#70. The Lord of Sabaoth: His Promise
And he said, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Make this valley full of ditches.’ For thus says the LORD: ‘You shall not see wind, nor shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, so that you, your cattle, and your animals may drink.’ And this is a simple matter in the sight of the LORD; He will also deliver the Moabites into your hand. Also you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall cut down every good tree, and stop up every spring of water, and ruin every good piece of land with stones.”
II Kings 3:16-19
Twice in the English Bible we read the name of the Lord as the “Lord of Sabaoth.” The first instance is in Romans 9:29 where we read, “And as Isaiah said before: Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah.” If you then search Isaiah for this quotation, you wont have to go far: in Isaiah 1:9 we find this quotations which begins, “Unless the Lord of hosts…” The Greek word translated Sabaoth in English is derived from the Hebrew word translated more than 200 times in the OT as “Hosts”.
The title refers to the Lord being the “self-existing One,” the “One who is,” “I Am,” Jehovah; and leader of the armies and angels of Heaven, the hosts. It is the Lord of Sabaoth who is with us in Psalm 46:7. It is a title specifically applied to Jesus, the Redeemer, throughout Isaiah* and to the one who divided the seas. It is a title and description of the LORD that demonstrates great power, both over the armies of heaven and also over every living creature. Even the winds and the waves obey the voice of the Lord of Sabaoth.
Elisha had reminded the kings of the greatness of the Lord by using the title, the Lord of Hosts, for the name of God whom Elisha served (vs.14). While the music was playing in the wilderness of Edom, the Lord of Sabaoth made his promise known. Two great events would take place: 1) water would be provided in abundance for all living creatures in the army to drink (vs. 17); and Moab would be utterly decimated (vs. 19).
First, the Lord would show forth His provision. The immediate need was nourishment for the body, and God was going to provide water in a miraculous way. The armies would dig trenches and ditches which would fill with water without wind or rain. Enough water would come to quench the thirst of every man and beast. The water would also be clean and not polluted or dirty as would be the case if the water simply made its way in a flash flood from heavy rains many miles away in Edom. This would be good water from the Lord, the giver of Living Water.
The promised provision was a remarkable display of the Lord’s power over creation. He ordained water to come from Edom without anybody feeling wind or seeing rain. And what is great and miraculous to man is a very simple matter in the sight of the Lord (vs. 18). We must ask our God for hard things, for what is difficult for man is simple for God. Cannot God do hard things today?
Secondly, the Lord would give the alliance more than they could ask or think. He would not simply provide for their physical nourishment in the wilderness; He would enable them to utterly destroy Moab. The Moabites would be delivered into their hand (vs 18). The destruction promised was calamity and disaster upon Moab. Water stopped, cities pulled apart stone by stone, crops destroyed, and land ruined. The destruction Jehoram feared was coming upon the allies would be poured out upon Moab tenfold because the Lord of Hosts would fight for this army.
All of our daily bread and protection comes from the Lord of Sabaoth. May we be still and know that the Lord is God. For “the Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge” (Psalm 46:7;11).
*See Isaiah 44:6, Isaiah 47:4, Isaiah 54:5.
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