“And they were helped against them, and the Hagarites were delivered into their hand, and all that were with them: for they cried to God in the battle, and he was intreated of them; because they put their trust in him.”
My Notes
What Does 1 Chronicles 5:20 Mean?
This verse describes a military victory by the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh — the Transjordanian tribes who settled east of the Jordan River — against the Hagarites, an Ishmaelite people group in the region. The Chronicler's account emphasizes not the military strategy but the spiritual dynamic behind the victory.
The key phrase is "they cried to God in the battle." The Hebrew za'aq (cried) is the same word used for Israel's desperate cry in Egyptian bondage (Exodus 2:23) and throughout the book of Judges when oppressed Israel calls out to God. It conveys urgent, desperate dependence — not a calm prayer but a battlefield scream for divine help.
"He was intreated of them" — the Hebrew 'atar means to be moved by entreaty, to respond to pleading. The Niphal form (passive) used here emphasizes that God allowed Himself to be moved. He chose to respond. The reason given is simple and profound: "because they put their trust in him." The Hebrew batach (trust) implies confident reliance, leaning your full weight on something.
The Chronicler includes this account as part of a theological pattern: when God's people trust Him genuinely, He fights for them. This isn't a formula for military success — the Old Testament contains plenty of battles where Israel loses despite praying — but a testimony to a specific moment where desperate trust met divine response. The verse functions as an encouragement to the Chronicler's post-exilic audience, who had returned to a ruined land and needed to know that the God who answered battlefield cries still heard them.
Reflection Questions
- 1.When was the last time you prayed 'in the battle' — not before or after, but in the desperate middle of something? What did that prayer sound like?
- 2.The verse says God responded 'because they put their trust in him.' What does trusting God in the middle of crisis actually look like for you — practically, not theoretically?
- 3.Have you ever experienced a moment where crying out to God in desperation was met with an unmistakable response? What happened?
- 4.How do you reconcile verses like this — where trust leads to victory — with times when you've trusted God and the outcome wasn't what you hoped for?
Devotional
They didn't pray before the battle. They didn't pray after. They prayed during — in the middle of it, when the outcome was uncertain and the danger was immediate.
There's a kind of prayer that only happens when you've run out of alternatives. Not the composed kind. Not the kind with careful wording and proper posture. The kind that comes out as a cry — raw, unedited, barely articulate. The kind where you're not presenting your case to God so much as throwing yourself at Him.
This verse says God was "intreated" — He let Himself be moved by that cry. Not because the prayer was eloquent. Not because the people praying had a perfect track record. But because they put their trust in Him. In the middle of chaos, they leaned their full weight on God instead of on their own strength, and He caught them.
If you're in the middle of something right now — not before it, not safely past it, but in it — this verse is permission to pray ugly. To cry out without composing yourself first. God doesn't need your prayer to be polished. He needs it to be honest. And He responds not to the quality of your words but to the reality of your trust.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
For there fell down many slain,.... Many were killed in the battle, besides the great number of prisoners made, so that…
They put their trust in him - Or, as the Targum says, "Because they trusted במימריה bemeymriah, in his Word."
The heads of the half-tribe of Manasseh, that were seated on the other side Jordan, are named here, Ch1 5:23, Ch1 5:24.…
they were helped with divine assistance; cp. 1Ch 15:26.
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture