Encounter Series 4 Day 44

1 Kings 13

¹ And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. ² And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee. ³ And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the LORD hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out. ⁴ And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, 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 Bethel. ¹¹ Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel; 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, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he 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 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 LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass. 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.

1 Kings 14

¹ At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick. ² And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get thee to Shiloh: behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, which 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 shall tell thee what shall become of the child. ⁴ And Jeroboam’s wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age. ⁵ And the LORD said unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son; for he is sick: thus and thus shalt thou say unto her: for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself to be another woman. ⁶ 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 feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings. ⁷ Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel, ⁸ And rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes; ⁹ But hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back: ¹⁰ Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone. ¹¹ Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat: for the LORD hath spoken it. ¹² Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die. ¹³ And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam. ¹⁴ Moreover the LORD shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: but what? even now. ¹⁵ For the LORD shall smite 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 their groves, provoking the LORD to anger. ¹⁶ And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin. ¹⁷ And Jeroboam’s wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: and when she came to the threshold of the door, the child died; ¹⁸ And they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by the hand of his servant Ahijah the prophet. ¹⁹ And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. ²⁰ And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years: and he slept 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 the LORD did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah an Ammonitess. ²² And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done. ²³ For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree. ²⁴ And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel. ²⁵ And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem: ²⁶ And he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. ²⁷ And king Rehoboam made in their stead brasen shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which kept the door of the king’s house. ²⁸ And it was so, when the king went into the house of the LORD, that the guard bare 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 kings of Judah? ³⁰ And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. ³¹ And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And his mother’s name was Naamah an Ammonitess. And Abijam his son reigned in his stead.

Psalms 104

¹ Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty. ² Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain: ³ Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind: ⁴ Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire: ⁵ Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever. ⁶ Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains. ⁷ At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. ⁸ They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them. ⁹ Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth. ¹⁰ He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills. ¹¹ They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst. ¹² By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches. ¹³ He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works. ¹⁴ He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; ¹⁵ And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart. ¹⁶ The trees of the LORD are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted; ¹⁷ Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house. ¹⁸ The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies. ¹⁹ He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down. ²⁰ Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. ²¹ The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God. ²² The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens. ²³ Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening. ²⁴ O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. ²⁵ So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. ²⁶ There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein. ²⁷ These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. ²⁸ That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. ²⁹ Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. ³⁰ Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth. ³¹ The glory of the LORD shall endure for ever: the LORD shall rejoice in his works. ³² He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke. ³³ I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. ³⁴ My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD. ³⁵ Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the LORD, O my soul. Praise ye the LORD. Psalm 105

2 Chronicles 13

¹ Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah. 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; ⁵ Ought ye not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? ⁶ Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, is risen up, and hath rebelled 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 hand of the sons of David; and ye be a great multitude, and there are with you golden calves, which Jeroboam made you for gods. ⁹ Have ye not cast out the priests of the LORD, the 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 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: ¹¹ And they burn unto the LORD every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense: the shewbread 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 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, Bethel with the towns thereof, and Jeshanah with the towns thereof, and Ephrain 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 daughters. ²² And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his sayings, are written in the story of the prophet Iddo.