A.C. 974.

* Heb. the face of the LORD.

+ Heb. a word

was.

4 And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Beth-el, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.

5 The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.

6 And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Intreat now the face of the LORD thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the LORD, and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as it was before.

*

7 And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward.

8 And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place:

9 For so was it charged me by the word of the LORD, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.

10 So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Beth-el.

11 ¶ Now there dwelt an old prophet in Beth-el; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father.

12 And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah..

13 And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon,

14 And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am.

15 Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread.

16 And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place :

17 For it was said to me by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest.

18 He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, say

ing, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he A.C. 974. may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.

19 So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his

house, and drank water.

20 ¶ And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came unto the prophet that brought him back :

21 And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee,

22 But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the LORD did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.

23 And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back.

24 And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase.

25 And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase: and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.

26 And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the LORD: therefore the LORD hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath * torn Hcb. broken. him, and slain him, according to the word of the LORD,

which he spake unto him.

27 And he spake to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled him.

28 And he went and found his carcase cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcase: the lion had not eaten the carcase, nor † torn the ass.

29 And the prophet took up the carcase of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back and the old prophet came to the city, to mourn and to bury him. 30 And he laid his carcase in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother!

31 And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones:

32 For the saying which he cried by the word of the

+Heb broken.

A. C. 974. LORD against the altar in Beth-el, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.

* Heb. returned and made.

+ Heb. filled

his hand.

958.

a 1 Kings xv. 1, &c.

957.

↑ Heb. bound together.

33¶After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.

34 And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.

CHAPTER II.

Reign of Abijah, three Years-From 958 to 955.

2 CHRONICLES XIII. VER. 1-22.

1 Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah.

2

2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

3 And Abijah set the battle in array with an army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men: Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, being mighty men of valour.

4 ¶ And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which is in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel;

2 Abijah is called Abijam, 1 Kings xv. 1: his mother also is spoken of both as Maachah and Micah; and his grandfather, by his mother's side, is called both Absalom and Uriel. Such changes of names are not unfrequent in Scripture, and are either so used by the inspired writers, purposely to hint something to us concerning the person; or else they were occasioned by the people, who frequently appropriated names to individuals in reference to their characters, or to some qualification or action, by which they had been distinguished, and often from their family, or some person of their family from whom they descended. Thus Maachah might have had her name changed when she was made queen, when she assumed the name of the first mother of a renowned family in that tribe from whence she descended. (1 Chron. viii. 29.) She was of Gibeah, the city of Saul; and, it is very probable, of the kindred of Saul: and therefore her father, who was properly called Absalom, is called Uriel : which name is very similar, in its signification, to Ner and Eshbaal, men of the stock and family of Saul. There is therefore no inconsistency, when the same persons are called in Scripture by different names.-Lightfoot's Works, vol. i. p. 78, 79.

5 Ought ye not to know that the LORD God of Israel A.C. 957. gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?

b

6 Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, is risen up, and hath rebelled b1 Kings xi. against his lord.

7 And there are gathered unto him vain men, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them.

8 And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hands of the sons of David; and ye be a great multitude, and there are with you golden calves, which Jeroboam made you for gods.

26.

c 1 Kings xii. 28.

9 Have ye not cast out the priests of the LORD, the ach. xi. 14. sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the nations of other lands? so that whosoever cometh✶ to consecrate himself with a young bullock Heb. to fill and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods.

10 But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests, which minister unto the LORD, are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business:

his hand.

11 And they burn unto the LORD every morning and e ch. ii. 4. every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense: the 'shew- f Lev. xxiv. 6. bread also set they in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of the LORD our God; but ye have forsaken him.

12 And, behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against the LORD God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.

13 But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind them: so they were before Judah, and the ambushment was behind them.

14 And when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind: and they cried unto the LORD, and the priests sounded with the trumpets.

15 Then the men of Judah gave a shout: and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass, that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

16 And the children of Israel fled before Judah: and God delivered them into their hand.

17 And Abijah and his people slew them with a great

A. C. 957. slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.

18 Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon the LORD God of their fathers.

19 And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him, Beth-el with the towns thereof, and Jeshanah with the towns thereof, and Ephraim with the towns thereof.

20 Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of Abijah: and the LORD struck him, and he died. 21 ¶ But Abijah waxed mighty, and married fourteen wives, and begat twenty and two sons, and sixteen daugh

ters:

1 KINGS XV. VER. 3-9.

3 And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father.

*

:

4 Nevertheless for David's sake did the LORD his God * Or, candle. give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem :

5 Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he g 2 Sam. xi. 4. commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

& xii. 9.

h 2Chron. xiii. 2, 3, 22.

i 2 Chron. xiv.

1.

+ Or, commentary.

k ch. xii. 15.

12 Chron. xiii. 1, 2.

6 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.

7 h 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 Jeroboam.

8 And Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his

stead.

2 CHRONICLES XIII. VER. 22.

22 And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his sayings, are written in the + story of the prophet * Iddo3.

1 KINGS XV. VER. 1, 2.

1 Now 1 in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam the son of Nebat reigned Abijam over Judah.

2 Three years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom.

3 This chapter has no second part; because the only event, in the reign of Jeroboam, contemporary with the reign of Abijah, which is related in Scripture, was the battle which took place between the armies of their respective kingdoms: and this event is necessarily related in the history of the king of Judah.