11

Now there dwelt an old prophet in Beth-el.

And his son

came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Beth-el; and the words which he had spoken to the 12 king they told to their father. And their father said to them: What way went he? And his sons saw the way which 13 the man of God went, who came from Judah. And he said. to his sons: Saddle for me the ass. And they saddled for 14 him the ass, and he rode thereon. And he went after the man of God, and found him sitting under the oak. And he said to him: Art thou the man of God who came from 15 Judah? And he said, I am. And he said to him: Go to 16 the house with me, and eat bread. And he said: I cannot

18

go back with thee; and I cannot go in with thee; nor will I 17 eat bread, or drink water with thee, in this place. For it was said to me by the word of Jehovah: Thou shalt not eat bread, and thou shalt not drink water there; thou shalt not go back by the way thou camest. He said to him: I also am a prophet, as thou art. And an angel spoke to me by the word of Jehovah, saying: Bring him back with thee to thy house, that he may eat bread and drink water. He lied to 19 him. So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.

20 And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of Jehovah came to the prophet that brought him back. 21 And he cried to the man of God that came from Judah, saying: Thus says Jehovah: Because thou hast disobeyed the voice of Jehovah, and hast not kept the commandment 22 which Jehovah thy God commanded thee; and didst come back, and eat bread and drink water in the place, where he said to thee thou shalt not eat bread, and shalt not drink water; thy corpse shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.

23

And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunken, that he saddled for him the ass, for the 24 prophet whom he brought back. And he went away. And a lion met him by the way, and slew him. And his corpse

V. 14. The oak. A well-known feature of that place, and serving as a landmark.

corpse.

was cast in the way; and the ass stood by it, and the lion 25 stood by the corpse. And, behold, men passed by, and saw the corpse cast in the way, and the lion standing by the And they came and told it in the city, where the 26 old prophet dwelt. And the prophet that brought him back from the way heard it; and he said: It is the man of God, who disobeyed the voice of Jehovah. And Jehovah haз delivered him to the lion, and he has torn him, and slain him, according to the word of Jehovah, which he spoke to him. 27 And he spoke to his sons, saying: Saddle for me the ass. 28 And they saddled him. And he went and found his corpse cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing beside the corpse. The lion had not eaten the corpse, and had not torn 29 the ass. And the prophet took up the corpse of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back; and the old prophet came into the city, to mourn and to bury him. 30 And he laid his corpse in his own grave; and they mourned 31 over him, saying: Alas, my brother! And it came to pass,

after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying: When I die, bury me in the grave wherein the man of God 32 is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. For the saying which he cried, by the word of Jehovah, against the altar in Beth-el, and against all the houses on high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.

33

After this thing Jeroboam turned not from his evil way; and he again made of all the people priests of the high places; whosoever would, him he consecrated, and he was 34 of the priests of the high places. And in this thing he became the cause of sin to the house of Jeroboam, to cut off and to destroy it, from the face of the earth.

V. 31. The story of these two men is instructive in many points of view. The man of God continued faithful to his commission, resisting the strongest temptations of personal advantage. He was deluded from the right, by what in his weakness he believed to be a message from God. What God had commanded him, he knew; and against this he weighed his belief of a pretended message. His tragic fate was the divine lesson.-To punish the seducer, he was made to communicate to the victim of his deception its fatal consequences; and the bitterness of remorse found its last expression in the plea, that he might share his victim's grave, and his bones be laid beside his. -V. 33. Consecrated. Literally, filled his hand. See the note on Judges 17: 5.

12 Ar that time Abijah, the son of Jeroboam, was sick. And Jeroboam said to his wife: Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that it may not be known that thou art the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who told me that I should be king over this people. 3 And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him; he will tell thee how it will fare with the child. And the wife of Jeroboam did so; and she arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set because of his

And

age.

And Jehovah said to Ahijah: Behold, the wife of Jeroboam comes to ask a thing of thee concerning her son; for he is sick. Thus and thus shalt thou say to her; for it will be, when she comes in, that she will feign herself to be an6 other. And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said: Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why dost thou feign thyself to be another? 7 For I am sent to thee with heavy tidings. Go, tell Jeroboam, thus says Jehovah, God of Israel: Because I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my 8 people Israel; and rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to thee; and thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do only that which was right 9 in mine eyes; and hast done evil above all that were before thee, and hast gone and made for thee other gods, and molten. images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy 10 back; therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every male, bond and free in Israel; and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man takes away dung, till it is all gone. Him that dies of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dies in the field shall the fowls of the air 12 eat; for Jehovah has spoken it. And thou, rise up, go to:

11

thy house. When thy feet enter into the city, the child shall 13 die. And for him will all Israel mourn, and will bury him;

for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found something good toward Jehovah, God of 14 Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. And Jehovah will raise up for himself a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house 15 of Jeroboam in that day; and what is even now? And Jehovah will smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and he will root out Israel from this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the river; because they have made their Asheras, provoking Jehovah 16 to anger. And he will give up Israel because of the sins of Jeroboam, who sinned, and who caused Israel to sin.

17

And the wife of Jeroboam arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah. As she came to the threshold of the house, the

18 child died.

And

And they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of Jehovah, which he spoke 19 by the hand of his servant, Ahijah the prophet. And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the Chroni20 cles of the kings of Israel. And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years. And he lay down with his fathers; and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.

21

And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which Jehovah chose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother's name was Naamah the 22 Ammonitess. And Judah did evil in the sight of Jehovah, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they 23 committed, above all that their fathers had done. And they too built for themselves high places, and images, and Asheras, 24 on every high hill, and under every green tree. And there were also sodomites in the land; they did according to all the abominations of the nations which Jehovah drove out before the children of Israel.

V. 14. And what is even now? What is now taking place, in the extinction of that line, by the death of the most promising heir to the throne?. -V. 15. Their Asheras. Ashera was the name of a female idol. See the note on Judges 3: 7.-The river; the Euphrates.- Wal scaller them. For the fulfillment, see 2 Kings 15: 29; 17: 6 and 23; 18: 11; 1 Chr. 5: 26.

25

And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that 26 Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. And he took away the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king's house; and he took away all; and he 27 took away all the shields of gold which Solomon made. And king Rehoboam made in their stead brazen shields, and committed them to the hand of the chiefs of the guard, who kept 28 the door of the king's house. And it was so, when the king went into the house of Jehovah, that the guard bore them, and brought them back into the guard-chamber.

29

Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the 30 kings of Judah? And there was war between Rehoboam 31 and Jeroboam all the time. And Rehoboam lay down with his fathers; and he was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess. And Abijam his son reigned in his stead.

1 AND in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam, the son of 2 Nebat, Abijam reigned over Judah. Three years he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Maachah, the 3 daughter of Abishalom. And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him; and his heart was not wholly with Jehovah his God, as was the heart of David his father. But for David's sake Jehovah his God gave him a light in Jerusalem, in that he set up his son after him, and 5 established Jerusalem; because David did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, and turned not aside from anything that he commanded him, all the days of his life, save 6 only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. 7 Now the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jero8 boam. And Abijam lay down with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his stead.