disobedience in returning back contrary to the word of God, he should not be buried with his fathers. And when the younger prophet had left Bethel a lion met him and slew him by the way. This was told to the old prophet who dwelt in Bethel, and he said to his sons: "Saddle me an ass." And going forth to see, he

found the dead body cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcass: the lion had not

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And the

eaten of the dead body, nor hurt the ass. prophet took up the body of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and going back brought it into the city of the old prophet to mourn for him; and he laid his dead body in his own sepulchre, and they mourned over him saying, "Alas! alas! "Alas! alas! my brother." And when they had mourned over him, he said to his sons: "When I am dead, bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones, for assuredly the word shall come to pass which he hath foretold in the word of the Lord, against the altar that is in Bethel, and against all the temples of the high places, that are in the cities of Samaria." Jeroboam however continued in the same evil course, without changing. He sold the office of the priesthood for money, and made the lowest of the people priests if they offered him a sufficient bribe.

§ 17. The Battle between Abia and Jeroboam.

Jeroboam

Roboam died after a reign of seventeen years, and Abia his son succeeded him on the throne. now thought that his turn was come to make an attack upon Juda. As the two armies stood facing each other Abia came forward and said :

SPEECH OF ABIA KING OF JUDA, TO ISRAEL.

Hear me, O Jeroboam, and all Israel:

Do you not know that the Lord God of Israel gave to David the kingdom over Israel for ever, to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?

And Jeroboam the son of Nabat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up; and rebelled against his lord.

And there were gathered to him vain men, and children of Belial: and they prevailed

against Roboam the son of Solomon: for Koboam was inexperienced, and of a fearful heart, and could not resist them.

And now you say that you are able to withstand the kingdom of the Lord, which He possesseth by the sons of David, and you have a great multitude of people, and golden calves which Jeroboam has made you for gods.

And you have cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and you have made you priests like all the nations of the earth; whosoever cometh and consecrateth his hand with a bullock of the herd and with seven rams, is made a priest of those who are no gods.

But the Lord is our God whom we forsake

not, and the priests who minister to the Lord are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites are in their order.

And they offer holocausts to the Lord every day morning and evening, and incense made according to the ordinance of the law, and the loaves are set forth on a most clean table, and there is with us the golden candlestick and the lamps thereof to be lighted always in the evening, for we keep the precepts of the Lord our God whom you have forsaken.

Therefore the Lord our God is the leader in our army, and his priests who sound with trumpets and resound against you: O children of Israel, fight not against the Lord God of your fathers, for it is not good for you.

Israel however would not hearken, and the battle began by Jeroboam sending an ambuscade to attack Juda in the rear. When the army of Juda perceived the critical position in which they were, they cried to the Lord, and the priests began to sound with the trumpets, and all the men of Juda shouted; and behold, when they shouted, God terrified Jeroboam, and all Israel that stood against Abia and Juda: and the children of Israel fled before Juda, and the Lord delivered them into their hand. And Abia and his people slew them with a great slaughter, and there fell wounded of Israel five hundred thousand valiant men. And the children of Israel were brought down at that time, and the children of Juda were exceedingly strengthened, because they had trusted in the Lord the God of their fathers.

18. Jeroboam's reckoning day comes.

Whatever hardened offenders may think to the contrary, the reckoning day of the sinner with God in heaven, must come. Jeroboam was now to hear the judgment of the God of Israel whom he had defied,

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upon himself and his policy. His son Abias being dangerously ill, he sent his wife in disguise to consult Ahias the prophet, who had foretold to him his elevation to the throne of Israel, and who was then living in Silo, blind from extreme age.

As Jeroboam's wife entered the threshold of the house, Ahias said: “Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam : why dost thou feign thyself to be another? I am sent to thee with heavy tidings. Go and tell Jeroboam, thus saith the Lord God of Israel :

THE MESSAGE OF THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL TO JEROBOAM.

Forasmuch as I exalted thee among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel;

And rent away the kingdom from the house of David and gave it to thee, and thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me with all his heart, doing that which was well pleasing in my sight.

But thou hast done evil above all that were before thee, and hast made thee strange gods and molten gods to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back;

Therefore I will bring evils upon the house of Jeroboam, I will cut off from Jeroboam every male, and I will sweep away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as dung is swept away till all be clean.

Them that die of Jeroboam in the city, the dogs shall eat and them that shall die in the field, the birds of the air shall devour: for the Lord hath spoken it.

Arise thou therefore, and go to thy house: and when thy feet shall be entering into the city, the child shall die,

And all Israel shall mourn for him, and shall bury him for he only of Jeroboam shall be laid in the sepulchre, because in his regard there is found a good word from the Lord the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.

And the Lord hath appointed himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam in this day and at this time.

And the Lord God shall strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made to themselves groves to provoke the Lord.

And the Lord shall give up Israel for the sins of Jeroboam who hath sinned and made Israel to sin.

When Jeroboam's wife returned home, as she crossed the threshold the child died. And as the prophet Ahias had said, he was buried, and all Israel mourned for him.

Jeroboam died after a reign of twenty-two years, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead. In the second year of his reign, Baasa a man of Issachar conspired against him and slew him, and became king in his stead.

:

And when he was king, he cut off all the house of Jeroboam, he left not so much as one soul of his seed, till he had utterly destroyed him, according to the word of the Lord, which he had spoken in the hand of Ahias the Silonite: because of the sin of Jeroboam, which he had sinned, and wherewith he had made Israel to sin, and for the offence wherewith he provoked the Lord the God of Israel.

§ 19. The Kingdom of Juda up to the time of Isaias the Prophet, from about B.C. 950 to 750.

During the ensuing period of two hundred years, kings of the family of David succeeded each other on the throne of Juda, according to the promise made by God to David; but they were not all like David, men who sought the Lord their God, and whose delight it was to establish the glory of His sanctuary. Abia, the grandson of Solomon, seems to have inherited his grandfather's wisdom and vigour. He defeated Jeroboam, and throughout his reign, the service of the Temple flourished and the kingdom prospered. Asa, his son, succeeded him, and he did what was pleasing in the sight of the Lord. In his reign the kingdom was attacked by an army of Ethiopians under Zara. Asa gathered his army and went out to meet him, and before the battle he prayed to the Lord God of Israel and said: "Lord, there is no difference with Thee whether Thou help with few or with many. Help us, O Lord our God, for with confidence in Thee and in Thy name we are come against this multitude. O Lord, Thou art our God, let not man prevail against Thee." And the Lord terrified