I had never ever reprimanded him, but he looked nothing like the prince that I had seen just a few short minutes before standing nobly near his father during the sacrifice. Then he had appeared regal. His whole face had displayed to the world the pride that he felt for his nation and his father’s reign. Everyone knew that he was in line for the throne, and everyone looked forward to the day he would reign, because of his beauty.

Now he appeared like an entirely different person. His face had softened and his head was slightly bowed. Instead of strutting like a rooster, he was walking as a servant boy would to answer the call of his master.

“Crazy?” Abijah asked, smiling. “I will tell you what is crazy. It’s absolutely insane how this sin of idolatry has weaved it’s web around the hearts of our people — including that of our king. Yes, that is what it is — idolatry. The last few minutes of my life have made that fact obviously clear to me. Didn’t you see what happened, Jessie?”

“Yes, I saw the altar split,” I nodded. “But that is no reason to go against your father’s wishes. He is older and wiser than you.”

“He may be older, but he is not wiser!” The prince’s eyes flashed with anger, revealing the prideful prince that had been hiding inside and making him appear like his defiant, old self. “I want to learn more about the true God. I thought perhaps you could help me.”

I rolled my eyes, “Like I am going to do that! The king would have my head!”

“I promise I will not tell anyone that you helped me.” Prince Abijah put a hand over his heart to show his earnestness.

My face showed my weakening resolve, and soon I was telling the prince where he could find an old prophet that might help him learn about the God he wished to serve.

“Will you go with me?” Abijah asked, after learning that the prophet’s house was on the other side of Bethel.

“Now?”

“Yes, now. The next sacrifice is about to begin so if we go now, no one will pay any attention to us.”

I threw up my hands and followed Abijah out of the palace and to the stables. We quickly saddled two well-bred donkeys and set off on our journey.

In spite of the fact that I was the one who knew the roads, Abijah rode out in front seeming to sense the way. Seeing him sitting majestically on his donkey, made me think that perhaps nothing had changed at all. I believed that he was the same boastful, mischievous prince he had always been and we were simply going to the prophet as an act of rebellion against his father.

“If this is your way of telling your father you want to make your own decisions, I would suggest we turn around.” I said warningly, hoping that we could go back.

Prince Abijah’s eyebrow shot up to his hairline and he thought for a moment. He and I both knew that he was tired of his father scheduling his life and ordering him around. He had been hoping for an opportunity to test his father’s supremacy and I assumed this was it.

“It is not just for that,” he replied slowly as if trying to convince himself of what he was saying. “It is because I truly believe that the calf is not a god and I must find the true God.”

I snorted inwardly. “Sure you do.”

We rode in silence for the rest of the journey. I was quiet because I did not know what to say to my friend whom I thought had either gone crazy or was having a severe temper tantrum. The prince was lost in thought. I hoped that his thoughts would eventually calm him down and turn him around before we got to the old prophet’s humble dwelling.

I had no such luck, however, and we arrived at the prophet’s house just when the sun was setting. We knocked on the door of the house, but no one replied.

“They must be out,” I sighed with relief, and began untying my donkey from the post I had tied it to moments before. “We’ll just have to go home.”

‘No!” Abijah pointed towards the road. “See there are some men. Perhaps they can tell us where the prophet is.”

“Are you crazy?” I asked for the seventeenth time, squinting towards the men through the dimming light to determine just what sort of men were making our way towards us. “We don’t know those men! Besides, if the prophet is not at home, he is probably busy.”

But it was too late, we had been spotted.

It turned out to be the prophet and his sons. They invited us into the house and offered us bread, which although coarse and dry, seemed like a meal fit for a king — I was always hungry.

The prophet appeared to be very old and wizened with age His white beard reached nearly down to his waist, the wind coming through the window was playing with the untamed wisps and the last of the golden sun was dancing in his hair, making him appear more like an angel than a man.

“Why have you come so far, Prince Abijah?” The prophet asked. “Is it because of what the prophet prophesied at the sacrifice today?”

Prince Abijah looked up in surprise at the old prophet, “Yes, how did you know?”

“The prophet who prophesied those things ate here tonight.”

“What?” Prince Abijah stood up quickly and leaned forward. “Is he here?”

“No. He is dead.”

“How did he die?” Prince Abijah asked, sitting down slowly in shocked disappointment.

“He was told by the Word of the Lord not to eat in Israel, but he ate at my table. As he was on the way home, he was killed by a lion.” The prophet looked down sadly and toyed with some bread crumbs on the table.

I smiled to myself at this though. Surely the divine calf had caused the lion to kill the prophet who had dared to speak against the holy calf!

Prince Abijah apparently did not have the same thoughts, as he related to the old prophet what had happened at the sacrifice. He told him all about how he had seen his father’s withered hand and how the now dead prophet had healed the arm.

Prince Abijah’s voice rose in anger as he reached the conclusion of his story. “I told my father that I would not worship that wretched piece of gold! I don’t understand how he could be so foolish as to” . . .

Suddenly the old prophet reached out and slapped Prince Abijah on the cheek. I sat there stunned. No one ever hits a prince on penalty of death. The prince’s eyes softened with tears and his cheek was a flame. I rose up to defend my prince, fearing for his life, but the voice of the old prophet stopped me.

“Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” The prophet’s eyes seemed to bore holes right to the back of the prince’s head. I could not understand why the prince did not get up and leave. But the prophet continued, “Do you not even know the simplest of commands that God has given us?”

The prince bowed his head and began to weep. I had never seen him cry before. I was disturbed to see him returning to the state that had made me so anxious — humble and bowed. I stood there awkwardly wondering if I should force the prince to leave with me or if I should wait out his tears.

“Do you not understand that the very prophet that prophesied against your father’s house is now lying dead in my sepulcher because of his rebellion against God? How do you then suppose that rebelling against one of God’s commands will bring you mercy?”

The prince looked up at the old prophet with tears still ni his eyes. “Forgive me. I don’t know anything about the God of Israel. I have barely even heard his name since I was a baby.”

The prophet’s eyes softened and he put a hand on the prince’s shoulder. “I too, do not know as much as I should, in fact, I am partly responsible for the prophet’s untimely death. I lied to him and told him that an angel had told me to give him food and drink. May God have mercy on me!” He hung his head ashamed to even look up for several moments. Finally he looked up with a glimmer of resolution in his eyes, “I will tell you what I know.”

By the hopeful look in the prince’s eye, I knew that we weren’t going anywhere anytime soon. The old prophet began to rehearse the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then he went on to talk about Joseph and Moses. He shared the little that he knew about God’s law and His temple at Jerusalem.

I drummed my fingers and counted the bread crumbs left on the table.

Abijah leaned forward to catch every word and interrupted every other sentence to ask a question.

“I wish I could go to Jerusalem,” Prince Abijah said, after a time. “I want to know more.”

“The first thing to do is to go back to your father,” the prophet replied.

I breathed a sigh of relief, as I was getting tired of sitting on the wooden bench.

“But not tonight,” the prophet continued. “It is now pitch black, you will have to stay the night.”

Throughout the night I could hear the prophet and Prince Abijah continuing to talk. What the prince heard must have been important, as I never saw pride in his face again. He seemed to have been replaced by a whole new prince — one that humbled himself before the God of Israel.

The next morning, the old prophet woke us before the rooster crowed twice and sent us on our way.

© 2012 by Sharon Rose Books.

All rights reserved. No part of this website may be reproduced in any form or by any means —except

for brief quotations in printed reviews, without

prior written permission of the publisher.

Image via On Behalf of All

So on the advice of his counselors, the king (Jeroboam) made two gold calves. He said to the people, “It is too much trouble for you to worship in Jerusalem. Look, Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of Egypt!” He placed these calf idols in Bethel and in Dan—at either end of his kingdom. 1 Kings 12:28 & 29

Wait… what!?!

That didn’t end well the first time the people of Israel tried it, did it? No. It didn’t. I think my Sunday school teachers must’ve missed this story when I was growing up because I don’t remember hearing this at all. 

I could easily point fingers at this silly king and his silly people of Israel, but I’m the same way. There are so many times where I try to take control. And yes, I probably put my faith in something that’s just as….tangible (that’s a bad word-choice, but I can’t think of another word)…as these idols Jeroboam posted and the people worshiped. So what does that mean for me? Remain faithful to the One True God, even when there are images all around me that want to distract me from Truth.

I never noticed the prophecy about Josiah in 1 Kings 13:1-3 And that’s a pretty strange story that happened to the man of God after he shared the message to Jeroboam. But the point is still the same, I think: Stay focused. Don’t let anyone else detract or distract you from pursuing the mission that God has invited you (and me) to join.

“Trei asar”

The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel (v. 1).

So, I’ve been reading Moby Dick for my Early American Literature course here, in Kent. Chapter Seventy-One is entitled, “The Jeroboam’s Story,” and sounded thoroughly biblical, it prompted my curiosity. In the chapter, the Pequod happens upon another whaling ship, the Jeroboam, on which a mysterious and haunting epidemic has broken out. One of the crew, the legendary Gabriel, claims to be the archangel himself, and has successfully bent the crew to his will, even so far as to convince the previous captain to walk the plank, leaving the ship in the primary care of the first mate, now Captain Mayhew. Mayhew attempts to communicate with Captain Ahab from the confines of his infected ship, shouting over the sea, and constantly interrupted by the pesky self-proclaimed prophet. Gabriel had warned against the pursuit of the whale, as a year before, the only man who had thrown a lance against Moby Dick had been the solitary man to drown in the pursuit. From the prominent masthead, Gabriel had watched his prophecy fulfilled, and now the crew is mesmerized, dumbfounded, by his every word. Save Captain Mayhew, who just wishes to be rid of the impractical threat and return to land, or kill himself a damn whale.

(For a mash up of Orson Welles reading Moby Dick drawn in the pages of Moby Dick with Led Zep and John Bonham playing Moby Dick… with some Champagne thrown in for good measure: 

)

Now, what does this have to do with Hosea? Well, to be honest, this chapter merely sparked my imagination, and sent me to the scriptures. Upon King Solomon’s death, the ten northern tribes of Israel revolted against Rehoboam, and invited Jeroboam to become their king, who took a nation ready to perish into the very dust, and turned it into an empire worth noticing. He insisted that instead of trekking to Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem, they could just as simply place their practices of worship to God upon two golden calves he erected himself. For this reason he would come to be known as the king who “made Israel sin.”

King Ahab, of the century before, was the first king to initiate worship of Baal, breaking the first and second of the ten commandments, and constantly ignoring the warnings and calls to repentance from God’s prophets. Interesting.

I don’t entirely know what I was searching for, but I think what I came up with was this: Hosea, as the pronounced “Prophet of Doom,” tells the story of a people who fill religious practice with anything but genuine, scriptural devotion and faith in the Lord, and this type of story finds its home under the reign of such a king as Jeroboam.

“Jeroboam Offering Sacrifice for the Idol” by Jean-Honore Fragonard

When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord.” So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son (v. 2-3).

God asks this of Hosea, a man God chose to represent the condition of Israel and take upon God’s warnings and prophecies not only in his words, but on his very shoulders, to be reflected in the very life he was to lead. Hosea’s own life was to become a prophecy. His only life! I mean, you do only live once. (No, I can’t believe I just wrote that, but it’s too late to turn back, now.) This is the ultimate picture of a man giving his life entirely to the will of God, and will be investigated and meditated on, surely, when I’m not sitting in a Starbucks browsing biblical history…

His kids were as follows:

1. Jezreel – his first son, named on a vengeance to repay the “blood of Jezreel,” a city which bore many atrocities during the reign of the dynasty of Ahab himself.

2. Lo-Ruhamah - his daughter, “for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away” (v. 6).

3. Lo-Ammi – his second son and third child, named as such “for you are not my people and I am not your God” (v. 9).

Through the eyes of our minor prophet, Hosea, we are to read these as prophecies of doom.

Verse 10 and half of verse 11, thus concluding chapter 1, however, read like this:
Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be counted. In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of God.’ The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be reunited… for great will be the day of Jezreel.

And so, we have hope. What a phenomenal writer, this Hosea was. Or his scribe, rather. I’m not entirely sure where the division of labor settled in, but I do know that it’s tough to keep your reader enticed with the promise of prosperity – unless, of course, that prosperity gets to become of your own beloved people of God.

I must conclude my delves into the metaphoric realm connecting Melville’s masterpiece with canonical scripture, to make some kind of progress on my Middlemarch exam essay, due in a week. But as Hosea has enticed my intellectual and spiritual eye – I will be back!

(To be continued…)

Panting, I looked back and saw that the altar had split and all the ashes were pouring out onto the floor of the courtyard. People were running out of the temple’s courtyard as fast as they could go, leaving their instruments and drinking cups behind.

As the last tambourine hit the ground, I glanced over at the king, who was still holding out his hand. He was standing still and gazing intently at something.

“Look!” I yelled as I pointed the prince’s attention to his father.

“My hand!” the king screamed. “I cannot move my hand!”

In a daze, Prince Abijah and I walked woodenly towards his father. The prince’s eyes got round with fright as he saw what I had seen — the king’s hand was dried up like a raisin. He shakingly reached out one finger to touch his father’s skin.

Pushing his son away with his good hand, the king scolded, “Don’t touch it! It might be contagious!”

The prince looked around anxiously for someone to help his father. I did not know what to say, and being fearful that something might be required of me that I could not do, I shrunk away.

Abijah’s eyes lit as he saw the prophet was still there. “Can you please help my father?” he asked. I knew he must be thinking that if God was powerful enough to split an altar and dry up a hand in seconds, He must be powerful enough to heal.

“Yes,” King Jeroboam looked anxiously towards the prophet. “Entreat God for me that my hand may be restored.”

The prophet looked solemnly at the king for a long time and then slowly bowed his head.

I started in astonishment as the prince slowly bowed his head as well. I supposed that he was simply trying to show God that he was sincere, but I saw it as a sign of disrespect for the divine calf. How could the prince bow his head in prayer to a strange god right in the middle of the golden calf’s temple courtyard?

What I heard after that, was the first prayer to the one true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that I had ever heard in my whole life. It seemed to flow naturally from the man’s lips as if he had prayed to God his whole life.

I was astonished when I saw the king’s hand suddenly change back into the strong arm it had always been. It hung naturally by his side, pink as a baby’s skin.

“Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward!” The king exclaimed, slowly kneeling at the prophet’s feet, and reaching out for his hand.

Disgusted, the prophet tore himself a way. “If you would give me half of your house, I would not go with you, neither would I eat bread nor drink water in this place: for the Lord has told me ‘Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest’.”

With that, the prophet turned and walked quickly away, leaving the king still kneeling in the dust.

“Well, that is over.” The king stood up and brushed the dust from his royal robes. “Soldier!”

I turned to see a soldier who was peeking in the courtyard snap to attention at the king’s command. “Yes, sir?”

“Sound the trumpet. We will offer another lamb as soon as the altar has been repaired by the priests.”

The soldier looked around anxiously, as if he expected the earth to tremble again at any moment. “But your majesty . . . .”

“But nothing!” The king screamed. “There is nothing to be frightened of. It was simply an earthquake that conveniently happened at the right time for that so-called prophet of God.”

The soldier turned to do what King Jeroboam said, but Prince Abijah had other ideas.

“Father,” The prince put a hand on the king’s arm. “Don’t you think we had better sacrifice a lamb to the true God instead?”

“No!” The king’s jaw hardened and his eyes steeled as they met his son’s. “If you ever expect to rule this kingdom, you must not allow the people to return their hearts to God. If they worship God they will go to Jerusalem, if they go to Jerusalem they will go back to serving David’s house!”

King Jeroboam had not inherited the throne of Israel from his father. The House of David had ruled Israel for two generations, but then the divine calf had come to Jeroboam. The calf prophesied that because of King Solomon’s disobedience, ten tribes would be torn from David’s house and given to him to rule. When King David’s grandson Rehoboam came to the throne, ten tribes pledged their allegiance to Jeroboam and made him their king. The other two tribes continued to serve Rehoboam.

Ever since I could remember, the king had an intense fear that our people would rebel and serve David’s house once again. The king had made the calves for the people to worship so that the people would not go up to Jerusalem to worship God.

After what had just happened, however, the prince obviously didn’t see how the king could continue serving what he knew to be a false god.

“Why Father?” Prince Abijah asked, in astonishment. “If we let our people worship God, perhaps God will not allow our family to be destroyed!”

“Our family will not be destroyed unless you go against my commands.”

“How can you believe that?” The prince asked, pointing at the altar. “Did you not just see what happened? God spoke through His prophet and that altar just split in half!”

“What I saw was a crazy man and an earthquake,” King Jeroboam said turning towards the temple. “Come, lets go back into the temple and clean up a bit before the sacrifice.”

“No!” The prince walked towards the gate to show his determination. “I will not stand here while you sacrifice to that wretched piece of gold! Where was the god that we worship when it’s altar was torn in half and the ashes that were meant to please him were strewn on the ground? What is he but a piece of gold shaped into a calf? I am going to find out about the true God and serve Him. He will be my God forever.”

My eyes nearly popped out of my skull as I heard my prince’s foolish words. I never would have dared to be so disrespectful!

“You do not know what you are saying!” The king yelled, turning back towards the prince. “You know nothing of this God.”

“I know a few things, Father.” The prince replied slowly, meeting the king’s angry eyes with his own accusing ones. “God can destroy, God can heal, and God does what He promises.”

He then turned and walked out of the courtyard, little caring how his father felt about it.

© 2012 by Sharon Rose Books.

All rights reserved. No part of this website may be reproduced in any form or by any means —except

for brief quotations in printed reviews, without

prior written permission of the publisher.

Standing in the uppermost floor of the temple behind Prince Abijah, I looked down at the hustle and bustle in the streets of Bethel. The people were slowly gathering in the temple’s courtyard for the sacrifice that King Jeroboam himself was to perform.

The majestic temple walls were elegantly decorated with paintings of golden calves and an assortment of floral designs. In the foreground of the building, stood an altar of cut stones on which sticks had already been laid in preparation for the sacrifice. Stone steps in the front of the temple led up to two large gates that stood open and revealed the divine calf, to which our people’s hearts were endeared.

As the people entered the courtyard, they bowed to the calf that stood on a high platform at the center of the top of the staircase. The sparkling sun reflected off the calf’s regal golden horns and the overhanging above cast dark shadows on the hinder part of the calf, leaving it appearing quite a mysterious and dark creature indeed.

Excitement filled the air as maidens in colorful robes sang beautiful songs and shook timbrels and danced in time to their own music. Children romped and played, chasing each other through the crowd. Muscular men laughed and drank as they watched the pleasant scene and waited for the sacred ceremony to begin.

If there was any day that I was glad to be a servant for Prince Abijah, today was that day. My position — however lowly — gave me a great view of the festivities.

Life had been miserably unjust to me when I was forced to take a position in King Jeroboam’s house. My father had been a farmer not far from Bethel, but six years ago he had suddenly died while plowing in the fields. My mother had little money and so she hired me out to the king as a servant. I had been assigned to be a companion of sorts to Prince Abijah and had been with him ever since.

Prince Abijah was a proud thirteen-year-old spoiled brat. One minute he would treat me like a friend and the next minute, I would be sent to empty his chamber pot! I never knew whether to pat him on the shoulder or grovel on the ground near his feet.

I knew it wasn’t fair, but I couldn’t help but blame the king for making me leave my family. After all, it had been a king’s servant who had suggested I work for the king. Because of this, I never considered myself a part of Jeroboam’s house — just as a stranger passing through.

In spite of this, I managed to develop a friendship with Prince Abijah — strange as it was. I needed someone to call my friend and as I was with him all the time, I decided I might as well be amiable. Though that decision never stopped me from seething inwardly when he was in one of his raging temper tantrums.

At fifteen, I thought of myself as a man and longed for the day when I could return to my father’s land and begin to farm it myself. Farming was in my blood as it was in my grandfather’s and his father before him. I loved the smell of the earth after a rain, the good feeling I got after doing a hard day’s work, and the fresh food when the day’s toils were over.

More than that, I longed for the feeling of being free. Of being my own master and determining for myself when I would work and when I would rest. “A man,” I told myself, “Just wasn’t made for this.”

Yes, I had only been nine when I left the farm, but I still remembered it. And I missed it.

Suddenly the trumpets blew a strong, authoritative note and the crowds gradually quieted. Two priests emerged from the temple wearing white robes pompously decorated with golden and purple threads. One of the priests led a young lamb to the altar.

I flinched as he raised the knife and then plunged it deep into the lamb’s throat.

“Abijah!”

The king’s loud, gruff voice distracted me from the final bleat of the lamb. I turned to see the king walking briskly towards Prince Abijah.

“I have been looking everywhere for you!” The king grabbed Prince Abijah’s arm roughly and pushed him out the door of the room. “Do you not know we have to appear before the people now, so that I can offer the sacrifice?”

“Yes, Father,” he nodded, rolling his eyes. “I just wanted to see the great calf from the window.”

“Your thirteen years old!” His father scolded, hitting him forcefully on his back, as they hurried down flights of stairs.

I hurried after them, staying a respectful distance behind. The king continued to scold his son as we went. “You are old enough to pay attention to what is happening and know where your supposed to be!”

Prince Abijah smirked.

The trumpets blew once more and we stepped from the temple.

The king looked very regal in his purple robes and a crown of pure gold. When the people saw him, they immediately shouted, “Long live King Jeroboam!”

I stood behind and to one side of the prince and looked at the people he would one day rule. I imagined that they thought he was a noble prince in his handsome robe of the deepest crimson.

The prince must have been thinking these same thoughts, as he lifted his head higher, as he watched his father take the censor from a nearby priest and hold it above the altar.

Together we bowed before our god, master, and protector of all.  Just as the king was bringing the censor down to the lamb, a plainly dressed man stepped from the edge of the crowd.

The middle-aged man’s face burned with anger as he pointed to the altar on which was laid the sacrifice. “Altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you’!”

I stood stunned at the man’s foolish boldness.

“Who is this god?” I thought to myself. “Surely he is not stronger than our god.”

Of course, I had heard tales about the so-called one true God, but they had always seemed like fairy tales. The legends of thousands crossing the Red Sea on dry land or manna in the wilderness seemed more ridiculous to me than the myths I had heard from other nations about their gods.

The prince and I had often laughed together about the ridiculous stories and made-fun of the addle-headed person that must have made them up.

“I’m going across this stream, Jessie. Open it up for me so I can go across on dry land, would you?” Prince Abijah had commanded while we were out hunting one day.

“Certainly, great Prince!” I grabbed a stick that was laying on the ground nearby. Running towards the stream I waved the stick around my head before slapping it on the surface of the water. “Now you may cross, prince.” I said mockingly, acting like I was in great shock as I watched the waters part.

I broke from my momentary reverie as the king lowered the censor to the lamb and set it a flame. “We have chosen our own gods to serve. Is this the best that Judah can come up with? A man who is obviously deluded and misguided to torment us with supposed threats from God?

The people laughed uproariously at King Jeroboam’s sense of humor.

“You would dare question the mighty acts of God?” The man shouted. “Is there not a man among you who remembers your father’s experiences in the desert after worshiping just such a calf?”

“Then show us a sign, O mighty man of God,” the king mocked, as he folded his arms in front of his chest.

I looked at the prince, he was glaring at the fool — fully confident that the king would come out the winner in this state of affair as he did with every other.

The man, however, was not deterred — not by the king’s wit, nor the prince’s icy stare, nor the peoples’ loud protests. He raised his voice to be heard above the crowd and said, “This is the sign the LORD has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out.”

A dark passionate anger rose from the king’s heart and clouded his face. Raising his right hand and thrusting it towards the prophet, ye yelled, “Seize him!”

© 2012 by Sharon Rose Books.

All rights reserved. No part of this website may be reproduced in any form or by any means —except

for brief quotations in printed reviews, without

prior written permission of the publisher.

Before our travels, I had no idea that wine came in so many different sized bottles.  Most of our visitors didn’t either.  While you can find different sizes in other areas of the globe, these are the most common in France.

• Demi (0.375 liters) – meaning “half” in French, this is also known as a “halfbottle”.

• Standard (.750 liters) – I think most of us know what this one looks like.  Many of us may have even had the opportunity to drink from one at some point.  It holds about 6 glasses of wine, less if you have larger glasses.
• Magnum (1.5 liters)– I’ll admit it, this one first came to my attention through rap songs.  Essentially, this is two bottles.

• Double Magnum (4.5 liters) –After exceeding the size of a Magnum, the sizes often have the names of biblical kings and other biblical figures.  A double magnum is also known as  “Jeroboam.”  Being twice a magnum, this holds 4 bottles.
• Rehoboam (4.5 liters) – This one holds 6 bottles.
• Methuselah (6 liters) – this is known as “Imperial” in Burgundy, this bad boy holds 8 bottles.

• Salmanazar (9 liters) – a slightly different shape of the same size is known as Mordechai.  Why buy a case (12 bottles for you teetotalers) when you could buy a Mordechai?

• Balthazar (12 liters) – Okay, if you want to get technical this guy was a wise man and not a king.  It holds 16 bottles, now that’s a party.
• Nebuchadnezzar (15 liters)  – Also a wise man, not to be confused with a “wise guy.”  It holds 20 bottles.  When we saw it for the first time, we joked about buying one for aging when a child was born and saving it for their wedding.   It seems that large.
• Melchior (20 liters) – I didn’t even know this existed.

We saw some unusual shaped bottles here and there.

• Châteauneuf-du-Pape makes a wavy bottle after one of the ancient ones found in its cellars.
• Before the standardization of sizes, we saw many tucked away in cellars or on display in non-standard sizes.  They used bottle bolds like the one below.

For extra credit, the dimple in the bottom of a wine bottle is known as a “punt,” easy to remember for fans of American football.

Bon weekend everyone!

In I Kings 12, a new king rises. His name is Jeroboam. He was bad news. Instead of following the Torah of God and walking as Kind David did, he chose the way of the flesh. He made idols, made high places, and appointed priests not of the tribe of Levi. Verses 32 and 33 caught my attention. He decided to make his own holiday like unto the feasts of Leviticus 23 (the Seven Forever Feasts). He began to make sacrifices to false idols and worshipped and feasted out of the devises of his own heart. In this he led the kingdom of Israel astray.

Others followed in his footstep. In the following chapters you see the preceding kings being compared to either “the way of Jeroboam” or they are compared to Torah-loving, Torah-keeping David. What the evil kings of Israel all had in common was their vanity and idolatry. What the good kings of Israel had all had in common was their removal of sodomy and disdain of idolatry.

Exodus 20:3 says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” It is a plain and simple command. Our hearts are to be completely undivided in worship to the God of Israel. Idolatry is a direct slap in the face to God. Jeroboam and his juggernauts were idolaters, choosing gods made with hands. But there was also something else in common, they chose to listen to their own ideas about what worship should be like.

A common issue with many kings of Israel was their allowance or even their building of what the Bible calls “high places”. High places were areas usually on hills were gods were worshipped in nature. They were in contradiction to the God-mandated style of tabernacle and temple worship. The people who worshipped in high places were taking worship into their own hands and out of the temple of God.

What also affected me as I read is the mention of “green trees”. Green trees are associated with pagan worship in the books of Deuteronomy, I Kings, II Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. I need to mention that grove worship was also hugely tied into paganism. Grove worship is mentioned 24 times in the Bible. It’s always either mentioned with idolatry or as a stumbling block to Israel. God demanded that these green trees and groves be cut down and destroyed.

I don’t know if any of my BBC mommas are reading this post but lately we’ve been having a LOT of discussions about the Christmas tree and whether or not it “can” be used as a godly element to Christmas. It’s been on my brain a lot lately. And after studying the Bible with fresh eyes…ironically at the prompting of a Muslim friend… I have decided that the Christmas tree has no place in my family.

WHAT? NO CHRISTMAS TREE?

Part of the “Way of Jeroboam” is tied into the green trees. It also affect the kingdom of Judah. I Kings 14:22-23 says, “And Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, above all that their fathers had done. For they also build them high places, and images, and groves on every high hill and under every green tree.”

I want you to consider two more verses pertaining to the issue of the “green tree(s)”. The first passage is the reason I decided that we will not be using a Christmas tree in our celebration of Yeshua’ birth and life purpose. Jeremiah 10:2-4 says, “Thus saith the Lord, ‘Learn not the way of the heathen and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven. For the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain. For one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workmen, with the ax. They deck it with silver and gold. They fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.”

Ezekiel 6:13- “Then shall ye know that I am the Lord, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer their sweet savor to all their idols.”

To my knowledge a way to appease gods was to lay out tasty treats and presents before the green trees. According to Ezekiel it sounds like people were laying gifts underneath the trees for false gods. Whether they be the gods of Tammuz or Baal or the god of the wind/sun/clouds/moon, or lust or greed, etc., they were appeasing their gods with gifts under green trees. Is it just me or does this sound familiar?

I’m learning that when you Biblically confront someone about their holiday traditions, they get a little feisty. They accuse you of accusing them of idolatry. They call you a Scrooge. They defend the “beauty and magic” of Christmas. “But it’s so beautiful!”, they say. “But it CAN point to Jesus!” Let me end with two personal illustrations of why I believe that is a dangerous thought process.

Defending the “beauty and magic” of Christmas to keep up the Christmas tree:

At Junior Camp my Aunt Dale told a story I would never forget. She took out a bottle of bubbles and blew some. She talked about how pretty and shiny and colorful the bubbles were. And then she ATE ONE and gagged. She said, “Just because something is beautiful does not mean it tastes good or is good for you. Sin is a lot like this pretty bubble. It’s so nice to look at but when you let it into your heart, it goes down bad.” If you are keeping the Christmas tree for looks and beauty as your holiday decor, beware. Some of the most innocent sins begin as beautiful attractive things that lead to bigger things…like choosing idolatry and man-made traditions over God’s ways.

Gift-wrapped pooh:

I’m horrible at wrapping presents. So let’s say I go to a professional wrapping paper person to wrap a box. The paper is expensive and gorgeous. This particular wrapping paper is even “Christian” themed! There are cute curly ribbons and a sweet card attached with a picture of the Nativity scene. I give you your beautifully wrapped box. You are so excited! Because it’s so beautifully packaged, you assume that the inside is beautiful as well. The sweet Nativity card moves you to tears. You admired the lovely wrapping paper and gently tear away the expensive paper. But inside the box is pooh. No matter how beautiful sin is packaged, it is still pooh. Sin is still sin.

Can a wee thing such as a green tree in your living room with presents underneath be a sin? Ask God. If the origins of cutting down a tree, decking it, putting gifts underneath it was warned against in the Bible, does putting a “Christian spin” on it make it OK? In my household, the answer is no. To us, it is like a box of pooh disguised and packaged as a good thing. If the origins are pagan, then it has no place in our house hold. For us, it echoes back to the Way of Jeroboam.

I am not judging or condemning any people who read the above Scriptures, pray about their decorations, and walk away with a spirit of “peace”. It is not my place to judge. However, it is my place to share the Scriptures and explain myself accordingly. My biggest hope is that for once, we can all examine the contents of our lives and see what is of God and what is of man and could possibly lead us astray.

The Way of Jeroboam is a slippery slope. Sometimes the most innocent neglect or oversight of the Torah can lead to sin. When I look at *most* Americans and how they celebrate Christmas, I see how a few innocent, well-meaning things that have turned into greed, competition, misuse of money, lying, materialism, and idolatry.

We’ve turned Saint Nickolas into an “innocent” little lie for the sake of “magic” for the kids. We’ve allowed our desire to give our children good gifts to turn into debt and materialism. And now we have “Christians” who are being educated about the pagan origins of the Christmas still trying to VEHEMENTLY defend a piece of shrubbery in their living room, trying desperately to put a “Christian” spin on it to keep alive the tradition. That, to me, is idolatry. When you can’t accept that your tradition is of a pagan origin and you try to make it “Christian”, that is the Way of Jeroboam. Seek for yourself the above passages and do accordingly….

It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy Law. (Psalm 119:126)

(Edited from original post on November 29, 2011)

English: Jeroboam was the first king of the northern Israelite Kingdom of Israel after the revolt of the ten northern Israelite tribes against Rehoboam that put an end to the United Monarchy. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today’s daily Bible reading included the story of Jeroboam 1 and the his two golden calves (1 Kings 12). For many the story is so familiar as to be commonplace. When Solomon died his son Rehoboam acted foolishly and drove the northern tribes into rebellion (actually, this was all foreseen by God, and worked according to his plan). Jeroboam, God’s selected leader of the northern tribes, however, acted just as foolishly. Fearing that the northern tribes would fall back into submission to the southern king if they went and worshipped at Jerusalem, Jeroboam set up two golden calves, one at Dan, the other at Bethel. This kept his people from crossing over into the land of Judah, under the authority of the southern king, and under the power of the true God in Jerusalem.

I have a couple of thoughts on this passage. One is that whatever the error in Jeroboam’s thinking, he obviously knew the subversive power of authentic faith. He knew that worship of the true God in Jerusalem would eventually lead to political insurrection, and he would be the loser if that happened. His solution was not to create a better political solution in the north that would keep the people safely allied with him, his solution was to create a false form of worship. True, he identified the calves as “your Gods who brought you up out of the land of Egypt,” but it was obvious that the molded images were not images of God, and they had nothing to do with the Exodus. Authentic faith is always more powerful than politics. However, politics can and will trump corrupted faith. This is what dictators and despots have known for years. Had Jeroboam simply trusted in God, God had promised that he would keep his kingdom secure. Jeroboam’s sin involved many things, but chief among them was a total lack of faith. Here we can see that true knowledge does not always lead to faith. Indeed, sometimes knowledge of the truth turns men’s heads and hearts away from the truth.

The other thing that occurred to me was that I am so glad America does not have two golden calves to bow down to.

Except, the problem is, we do have two golden calves where we worship.

The one is the calf of militarism. A significant portion of our annual budget is spent on the men, women and material of the U.S. armed forces. We feed, house, arm, and deploy thousands of soldiers, sailors air force crews, and marines. We are constantly creating new technologies to kill other people, and updating old tried but true systems. The politician who speaks openly and honestly about the need to downsize our military is without a hope of winning any kind of national election. America has beat its’ pruning shears into swords, and we love nothing more than to go to the air show and watch our multi-million dollar killing machines whiz through the air.

The other calf is our form of capitalism. We are primarily capitalists before we are Republicans or Democrats. That is why you see the slogan, “It’s the Economy, Stupid” plastered all over every election. We vote with our pocketbooks, although in radically different ways. Some think that it is our economic duty to keep as much money in the pocket of those who earn their wages; another group feels like it is an economic necessity to make sure that the poorest are taken care of and that the rich are not allowed to exploit the poor simply because of their wealth. Both “platforms” are wholly economic, although you will hear them described in various ways.

Militarism and capitalism. The two golden calves of Americanism. If you doubt my analysis, simply try to remove one or both of these idols from any political campaign. See how far you get. Propose getting rid of just 25% of the military budget. Propose ending the current tax structure so that everyone regardless of income will have to pay income taxes. Or propose that the current form of welfare be ended. How many friends have you made on both sides of the proverbial “aisle”. My guess is you will be laughed out of the room, first by one side of the political spectrum, and then by the other.

You see, when we talk about going back to Jerusalem, the political powers get very nervous and they start giving us something that makes us think we are worshipping God, when in reality all we are doing is bowing the knee to a pathetic idol.

North Israel never recovered from Jeroboam’s sin. Every northern king following him is described as sharing in his sin of rejecting God. America, as it bows its collective knee to militarism and capitalism, will fare no better. We have made the decision to build our two golden calves. We are adorning them and worshipping them with great passion.

The question for the faithful is, are we going to have the courage to go back to Jerusalem and worship where God set his face? In contemporary language, are we going to be willing to slay the false gods of militarism and capitalism and allow God and God’s will to rule in our lives?

“Our Father, who art in heaven; hallowed by thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

The golden calves, or Jerusalem? It is your move, disciple.

And yet, there were two aliyot that nobody wanted; two aliyot that if offered to you, you would become insulted and sometimes enraged; two aliyot that you couldn’t give away for all the money in the world! One of them is in today’s Torah portion and the other in the concluding Torah portion in the Book of Leviticus; both of them being the tochacha. Tochacha is the word for “rebukes.” In today’s Torah portion and in the Torah portion of the Book of Leviticus, we have a series of verses describing the rebukes God says will come to the Jewish people if they don’t follow in His ways. Nobody wanted the aliyot that covered these verses, because nobody wanted to be associated with these verses. In fact, they are traditionally recited very quickly in an undertone and because no one wants the aliyah, it is usually given to the Torah reader himself. READ MORE

Abijah takes over for Rehoboam. And shows what happens when you trust God.

He gives a great speech, too.

In a nutshell:

Israel isn’t fighting Judah. They are fighting God. They are rebelling against what God set up. They are turning to idols. They are trusting in no-gods. They should repent. Quit fighting the rest of the Tribe. They are gonna get clobbered. God is on Judah’s side. They should not fight.

Oh. And by the way. I love the shot at Rehoboam. Not only does Abijah reverse Rehoboam’s course of disobedience, but he calls him out for being a wimp!

And what was Jeroboam doing while Abijah was trying to reason with him? What were the warriors of Judah doing?

They weren’t listening, that is for sure. They didn’t have open hearts. Open ears. Open minds.

Nope. They were too busy being brilliant military strategists.

Hey, while Abijah is yapping, lets sneak around behind them. Then, when he finally shuts up, we’ll jump up and massacre Judah. We already have them outnumbered, two to one.

They should have been listening to Abijah.

They should have been listening for God.

Israel springs the surprise attack. Judah is outnumbered and out flanked.

Their only option is to pray. To trust God. To let Him do the fighting.

And God doesn’t let them down.

God does everything Abijah said He’d do.

Like He always does.

1Now when Rehoboam’s position as king had been made certain, and he was strong, he gave up the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.

2Now in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem, because of their sin against the Lord,

3With twelve hundred war-carriages and sixty thousand horsemen: and the people who came with him out of Egypt were more than might be numbered: Lubim and Sukkiim and Ethiopians.

4And he took the walled towns of Judah, and came as far as Jerusalem.

5Now Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the chiefs of Judah, who had come together in Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, The Lord has said, Because you have given me up, I have given you up into the hands of Shishak.

6Then the chiefs of Israel and the king made themselves low and said, The Lord is upright.

7And the Lord, seeing that they had made themselves low, said to Shemaiah, They have made themselves low: I will not send destruction on them, but in a short time I will give them salvation, and will not let loose my wrath on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.

8But still they will become his servants, so that they may see how different my yoke is from the yoke of the kingdoms of the lands.

9So Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem and took away all the stored wealth of the house of the Lord and the king’s house: he took everything away, and with the rest the gold body-covers which Solomon had made.

10And in their place King Rehoboam had other body-covers made of brass and gave them into the care of the captains of the armed men who were stationed at the door of the king’s house.

11And whenever the king went into the house of the Lord, the armed men went with him taking the body-covers, and then took them back to their room.

12And when he made himself low, the wrath of the Lord was turned back from him, and complete destruction did not come on him, for there was still some good in Judah.

13So King Rehoboam made himself strong in Jerusalem and was ruling there. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he was ruling for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the town which the Lord had made his out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there; and his mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonite woman.

14And he did evil because his heart was not true to the Lord.

15Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not recorded in the words of Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the seer? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.

16And Rehoboam went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in the town of David; and Abijah his son became king in his place.

2 Chronicles 13

1In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah.

2He was king in Jerusalem for three years; his mother’s name was Maacah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

3And Abijah went out to the fight with an army of men of war, four hundred thousand of his best men; and Jeroboam put his forces in line against him, eight hundred thousand of his best men of war.

4And Abijah took up his position on Mount Zemaraim, in the hill-country of Ephraim, and said, Give ear to me, O Jeroboam and all Israel:

5Is it not clear to you that the Lord, the God of Israel, gave the rule over Israel to David and to his sons for ever, by an agreement made with salt?

6But Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon, the son of David, took up arms against his lord.

7And certain foolish and good-for-nothing men were joined with him, and made themselves strong against Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, when he was young and untested and not able to keep them back.

8And now it is your purpose to put yourselves against the authority which the Lord has put into the hands of the sons of David, and you are a very great number, and you have with you the gold oxen which Jeroboam made to be your gods.

9And after driving out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron and the Levites, have you not made priests for yourselves as the people of other lands do? so that anyone who comes to make himself priest by offering an ox or seven sheep, may be a priest of those who are no gods.

10But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not been turned away from him; we have priests who do the work of the Lord, even the sons of Aaron and the Levites in their places;

11By whom burned offerings and perfumes are sent up in smoke before the Lord every morning and every evening; and they put out the holy bread on its table and the gold support for the lights with its lights burning every evening; for we keep the orders given to us by the Lord our God, but you have gone away from him.

12And now God is with us at our head, and his priests with their loud horns sounding against you. O children of Israel, do not make war on the Lord, the God of your fathers, for it will not go well for you.

13But Jeroboam had put some of his men to make a surprise attack on them from the back, so some were facing Judah and others were stationed secretly at their back.

14And Judah, turning their faces, saw that they were being attacked in front and at the back; and they gave a cry for help to the Lord, while the priests were sounding their horns.

15And the men of Judah gave a loud cry; and at their cry, God put fear into Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

16And the children of Israel went in flight before Judah, and God gave them up into their hands.

17And Abijah and his people put them to death with great destruction: five hundred thousand of the best of Israel were put to the sword.

18So at that time the children of Israel were overcome, and the children of Judah got the better of them, because they put their faith in the Lord, the God of their fathers.

19And Abijah went after Jeroboam and took some of his towns, Beth-el with its small towns and Jeshanah with its small towns and Ephron with its small towns.

20And Jeroboam did not get back his power again in the life-time of Abijah; and the Lord sent death on him.

21But Abijah became great, and had fourteen wives, and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

22And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his sayings, are recorded in the account of the prophet Iddo.

Psalms 76

To the chief music-maker; put to Neginoth. A Psalm. Of Asaph. A Song.
1 In Judah is the knowledge of God; his name is great in Israel,

2In Salem is his tent, his resting-place in Zion.

3There were the arrows of the bow broken, there he put an end to body-cover, sword, and fight. (Selah.)

4You are shining and full of glory, more than the eternal mountains.

5Gone is the wealth of the strong, their last sleep has overcome them; the men of war have become feeble.

6At the voice of your wrath, O God of Jacob, deep sleep has overcome carriage and horse.

7You, you are to be feared; who may keep his place before you in the time of your wrath?

8From heaven you gave your decision; the earth, in its fear, gave no sound,

9When God took his place as judge, for the salvation of the poor on the earth. (Selah.)

10The … will give you praise; the rest of …

11Give to the Lord your God what is his by right; let all who are round him give offerings to him who is to be feared.

12He puts an end to the wrath of rulers; he is feared by the kings of the earth.

John 11:28-57

28And having said this, she went away and said secretly to her sister Mary, The Master is here and has sent for you.

29And Mary, hearing this, got up quickly and went to him.

30Now Jesus had not at this time come into the town, but was still in the place where Martha had seen him.

31Then the Jews who were with her in the house, comforting her, when they saw Mary get up quickly and go out, went after her in the belief that she was going to the place of the dead and would be weeping there.

32When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she went down at his feet, saying, Lord, if you had been here my brother would not be dead.

33And when Jesus saw her weeping, and saw the Jews weeping who came with her, his spirit was moved and he was troubled,

34And said, Where have you put him? They said, Come and see, Lord.

35And Jesus himself was weeping.

36So the Jews said, See how dear he was to him!

37But some of them said, This man, who made open the eyes of the blind man, was he not able to keep his friend from death?

38So Jesus, deeply troubled in heart, came to the place of the dead. It was a hole in the rock, and a stone was over the opening.

39Jesus said, Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said, Lord, by this time the body will be smelling, for he has been dead four days.

40Jesus said to her, Did I not say to you that if you had faith you would see the glory of God?

41So they took away the stone. And Jesus, looking up to heaven, said, Father, I give praise to you for hearing me.

42I was certain that your ears are at all times open to me, but I said it because of these who are here, so that they may see that you sent me.

43Then he said in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out!

44And he who was dead came out, with linen bands folded tightly about his hands and feet, and a cloth about his face. Jesus said to them, Make him free and let him go.

45Then a number of the Jews who had come to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did had belief in him.

46But some of them went to the Pharisees with the news of what Jesus had done.

47Then the high priests and the Pharisees had a meeting and said, What are we doing? This man is doing a number of signs.

48If we let him go on in this way, everybody will have belief in him and the Romans will come and take away our place and our nation.

49But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, You have no knowledge of anything;

50You do not see that it is in your interest for one man to be put to death for the people, so that all the nation may not come to destruction.

51He did not say this of himself, but being the high priest that year he said, as a prophet, that Jesus would be put to death for the nation;

52And not for that nation only, but for the purpose of uniting in one body the children of God all over the world.

53And from that day they took thought together how to put him to death.

54So Jesus no longer went about publicly among the Jews, but went from there into the country near to the waste land, to a town named Ephraim, where he was for some time with the disciples.

55Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and numbers of people went up from the country to Jerusalem to make themselves clean before the Passover.

56They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another while they were in the Temple, What is your opinion? Will he not come to the feast?

57Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone had knowledge where he was, he was to give them word, so that they might take him.

1And Rehoboam went to Shechem, where all Israel had come together to make him king.

2And when Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, had news of it, (for he was in Egypt where he had gone in flight from King Solomon,) he came back from Egypt.

3And they sent for him; and Jeroboam and all Israel came to Rehoboam and said,

4Your father put a hard yoke on us: if you will make the conditions under which your father kept us down less cruel, and the weight of the yoke he put on us less hard, then we will be your servants.

5And he said to them, Come to me again after three days. So the people went away.

6Then King Rehoboam took the opinion of the old men who had been with Solomon his father when he was living, and said, In your opinion, what answer am I to give to this people?

7And they said to him, If you are kind to this people, pleasing them and saying good words to them, then they will be your servants for ever.

8But he gave no attention to the opinion of the old men, but went to the young men of his generation who were waiting before him.

9And he said to them, What is your opinion? What answer are we to give to this people who have said to me, Make less the weight of the yoke which your father put on us?

10And the young men of his generation said to him, This is the answer to give to the people who came to you saying, Your father put a hard yoke on us, but will you make it less; say to them, My little finger is thicker than my father’s body;

11If my father put a hard yoke on you, I will make it harder: my father gave you punishment with whips, but I will give you blows with snakes.

12So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had given orders, saying, Come to me again on the third day.

13And the king gave them a rough answer. So King Rehoboam gave no attention to the suggestion of the old men,

14But gave them the answer put forward by the young men, saying, My father made your yoke hard, but I will make it harder; my father gave you punishment with whips, but I will give it with snakes.

15So the king did not give ear to the people; for this came about by the purpose of God, so that the Lord might give effect to his word which he had said by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.

16And when all Israel saw that the king would give no attention to them, the people in answer said to the king, What part have we in David? what is our heritage in the son of Jesse? every man to your tents, O Israel; now see to your house, David. So all Israel went to their tents.

17But Rehoboam was still king over those of the children of Israel who were living in the towns of Judah.

18Then Rehoboam sent Adoniram, the overseer of the forced work; and he was stoned to death by all Israel. And King Rehoboam went quickly and got into his carriage to go in flight to Jerusalem.

19So Israel was turned away from the family of David to this day.

2 Chronicles 11

1And Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, and got together the men of Judah and Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand of his best fighting-men, to make war against Israel and get the kingdom back for Rehoboam.

2But the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, the man of God, saying,

3Say to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin,

4The Lord has said, You are not to go to war against your brothers: let every man go back to his house, for this thing is my purpose. So they gave ear to the words of the Lord and were turned back from fighting against Jeroboam.

5Now Rehoboam kept in Jerusalem, building walled towns in Judah.

6He was the builder of Beth-lehem and Etam and Tekoa

7And Beth-zur and Soco and Adullam

8And Gath and Mareshah and Ziph

9And Adoraim and Lachish and Azekah

10And Zorah and Aijalon and Hebron, walled towns in Judah and Benjamin.

11And he made the walled towns strong, and he put captains in them and stores of food, oil, and wine.

12And in every town he put stores of body-covers and spears, and made them very strong. And Judah and Benjamin were his.

13And the priests and Levites who were in all Israel came together to him from every part of their country.

14For the Levites gave up their living-places and their property, and came to Judah and Jerusalem; for Jeroboam and his sons had sent them away, not letting them be priests to the Lord;

15And he himself made priests for the high places, and for the images of he-goats and oxen which he had made.

16And after them, from all the tribes of Israel, all those whose hearts were fixed and true to the Lord, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to make offerings to the Lord, the God of their fathers.

17So they went on increasing the power of the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, strong for three years; and for three years they went in the ways of David and Solomon.

18And Rehoboam took as his wife Mahalath, the daughter of Jerimoth, the son of David and of Abihail, the daughter of Eliab, the son of Jesse;

19And she had sons by him, Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham.

20And after her he took Maacah, the daughter of Absalom; and she had Abijah and Attai and Ziza and Shelomith by him.

21Maacah, the daughter of Absalom, was dearer to Rehoboam than all his wives and his servant-wives: (for he had eighteen wives and sixty servant-wives, and was the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.)

22Rehoboam made Abijah, the son of Maacah, chief and ruler among his brothers, for it was his purpose to make him king.

23And in his wisdom he had his sons stationed in every walled town through all the lands of Judah and Benjamin; and he gave them a great store of food, and took wives for them.

Psalms 75

To the chief music-maker; put to Al-tashheth. A Psalm. Of Asaph. A Song.
1 To you, O God, we give praise, to you we give praise: and those who give honour to your name make clear your works of power.

2When the right time has come, I will be the judge in righteousness.

3When the earth and all its people become feeble, I am the support of its pillars. (Selah.)

4I say to the men of pride, Let your pride be gone: and to the sinners, Let not your horn be lifted up.

5Let not your horn be lifted up: let no more words of pride come from your outstretched necks.

6For honour does not come from the east, or from the west, or uplifting from the south;

7But God is the judge, putting down one, and lifting up another.

8For in the hand of the Lord is a cup, and the wine is red; it is well mixed, overflowing from his hand: he will make all the sinners of the earth take of it, even to the last drop.

9But I will ever be full of joy, making songs of praise to the God of Jacob.

10By him will all the horns of the sinners be cut off; but the horns of the upright will be lifted up.

John 11:1-27

1Now a certain man named Lazarus was ill; he was of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.

2(The Mary whose brother Lazarus was ill, was the Mary who put perfumed oil on the Lord and made his feet dry with her hair.)

3So the sisters sent to him, saying, Lord, your dear friend is ill.

4When this came to his ears, Jesus said, The end of this disease is not death, but the glory of God, so that the Son of God may have glory because of it.

5Now Jesus had love in his heart for Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

6So when the news came to him that Lazarus was ill, he did not go from the place where he was for two days.

7Then after that time he said to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.

8The disciples said to him, Master, the Jews were attempting only the other day to have you stoned, and are you going back there again?

9Then Jesus said in answer, Are there not twelve hours in the day? A man may go about in the day without falling, because he sees the light of this world.

10But if a man goes about in the night, he may have a fall because the light is not in him.

11These things said he: and after that he said to them, Lazarus our friend is at rest; but I go so that I may make him come out of his sleep.

12Then his disciples said to him, Lord, if he is resting he will get well.

13Jesus, however, was talking of his death: but they had the idea that he was talking about taking rest in sleep.

14Then Jesus said to them clearly, Lazarus is dead.

15And because of you I am glad I was not there, so that you may have faith; but let us go to him.

16Then Thomas, who was named Didymus, said to the other disciples, Let us go so that we may be with him in death.

17Now when Jesus came, he made the discovery that Lazarus had been put into the earth four days before.

18Now Bethany was near to Jerusalem, about two miles away;

19And a number of Jews had come to Martha and Mary to give them comfort about their brother.

20When Martha had the news that Jesus was on the way, she went out to him, but Mary did not go from the house.

21Then Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here my brother would not be dead.

22But I am certain that, even now, whatever request you make to God, God will give it to you.

23Jesus said to her, Your brother will come to life again.

24Martha said to him, I am certain that he will come to life again when all come back from the dead at the last day.

25Jesus said to her, I am myself that day and that life; he who has faith in me will have life even if he is dead;

26And no one who is living and has faith in me will ever see death. Is this your faith?

27She said to him, Yes, Lord: my faith is that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.

1Now the queen of Sheba, hearing great things of Solomon, came to Jerusalem to put his wisdom to the test with hard questions; and with her came a very great train, and camels weighted down with spices, and great stores of gold and jewels: and when she came to Solomon she had talk with him of everything in her mind.

2And Solomon gave her answers to all her questions; there was no secret which he did not make clear to her.

3And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house which he had made,

4And the food at his table, and all his servants seated there, and those who were waiting on him in their places, and their robes, and his wine-servants and their robes, and the burned offerings which he made in the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her.

5And she said to the king, The account which was given to me in my country of your acts and your wisdom was true.

6But I had no faith in what was said about you, till I came and saw for myself; and truly, word was not given me of half your great wisdom; you are much greater than they said.

7Happy are your wives and happy these your servants whose place is ever before you, hearing your words of wisdom.

8Praise be to the Lord your God whose pleasure it was to put you on the seat of his kingdom to be king for the Lord your God: because, in his love for Israel, it was the purpose of your God to make them strong for ever, he made you king over them, to be their judge in righteousness.

9And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and a great store of spices and jewels: never had such spices been seen as the queen of Sheba gave to Solomon.

10And the servants of Huram and the servants of Solomon, in addition to gold from Ophir, came back with sandal-wood and jewels.

11And with the sandal-wood the king made steps for the house of the Lord and for the king’s house, and instruments of music for the makers of melody; never before had such been seen in the land of Judah.

12And King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she made request for, in addition to what she had taken to the king. So she went back to her country with her servants.

13Now the weight of gold which came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents;

14And in addition to what he got from traders of different sorts, all the kings of Arabia and the rulers of the country gave gold and silver to Solomon.

15And King Solomon made two hundred body-covers of hammered gold, every one having six hundred shekels of gold in it.

16And he made three hundred smaller body-covers of hammered gold, using three hundred shekels of gold for every cover, and the king put them in the house of the Woods of Lebanon.

17Then the king made a great ivory seat, plated with the best gold.

18There were six steps up to it, and a foot-rest of gold fixed to it, and arms on the two sides of the seat, with two lions at the side of the arms.

19And twelve lions were placed on one side and on the other side on the six steps: there was nothing like it in any kingdom.

20All King Solomon’s drinking-vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the Woods of Lebanon were of the best gold: no one gave a thought to silver in the days of Solomon.

21For the king had Tarshish-ships sailing with the servants of Huram: once every three years the Tarshish-ships came back with gold and silver, ivory and monkeys and peacocks.

22And King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in wealth and in wisdom.

23And all the kings of the earth came to see Solomon and to give ear to his wisdom, which God had put into his heart.

24And everyone took with him an offering, vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and robes, and coats of metal, and spices, and horses and beasts for transport, regularly year by year.

25Solomon had four thousand buildings for his horses and his war-carriages, and twelve thousand horsemen whom he kept, some in the carriage-towns and some with the king in Jerusalem.

26And he was ruler over all the kings from the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the limit of Egypt.

27The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem and cedars like the sycamore-trees of the lowlands in number.

28They got horses for Solomon from Egypt and from every land.

29Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not recorded in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the words of Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh, and in the visions of Iddo the seer about Jeroboam, the son of Nebat?

30Solomon was king over Israel in Jerusalem for forty years.

31And Solomon went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in the town of David his father; and Rehoboam his son became king in his place.

Psalms 74

Maschil. Of Asaph.
1 Of God, why have you put us away from you for ever? why is the fire of your wrath smoking against the sheep who are your care?

2Keep in mind your band of worshippers, for whom you gave payment in the days which are past, whom you took for yourself as the people of your heritage; even this mountain of Zion, which has been your resting-place.

3Go up and see the unending destruction; all the evil which your haters have done in the holy place;

4Sending out their voices like lions among your worshippers; they have put up their signs to be seen.

5They are cutting down, like a man whose blade is lifted up against the thick trees.

6Your doors are broken down with hammers and iron blades.

7They have put on fire your holy place; they have made the place of your name unclean, pulling it down to the earth.

8They have said in their hearts, Let us put an end to them all together; they have given over to the fire all God’s places of worship in the land.

9We do not see our signs: there is no longer any prophet, or anyone among us to say how long.

10O God, how long will those who are against us say cruel things? will the hater go on looking down on your name for ever?

11Why are you keeping back your hand, and covering your right hand in your robe?

12For from the past God is my King, working salvation in the earth.

13The sea was parted in two by your strength; the heads of the great sea-beasts were broken.

14The heads of the great snake were crushed by you; you gave them as food to the fishes of the sea.

15You made valleys for fountains and springs; you made the ever-flowing rivers dry.

16The day is yours and the night is yours: you made the light and the sun.

17By you all the limits of the earth were fixed; you have made summer and winter.

18Keep this in mind, O Lord, that your haters have said cruel things, and that your name has been looked down on by a people of evil behaviour.

19O give not the soul of your dove to the hawk; let not the life of the poor go out of your memory for ever.

20Keep in mind your undertaking; for the dark places of the earth are full of pride and cruel acts.

21O let not the crushed be turned back in shame; let the low man and the poor give praise to your name.

22Up! O God, be the judge of your cause; keep in mind the bitter things which the man of evil behaviour says against you every day.

23Keep in mind the voice of your haters; the outcry of those who come against you goes up every day.

John 10:22-42

22Then came the feast of the opening of the Temple in Jerusalem: it was winter;

23And Jesus was walking in the Temple, in Solomon’s covered way.

24Then the Jews came round him, saying, how long are you going to keep us in doubt? If you are the Christ, say so clearly.

25Jesus said in answer, I have said it and you have no belief: the works which I do in my Father’s name, these give witness about me.

26But you have no belief because you are not of my sheep.

27My sheep give ear to my voice, and I have knowledge of them, and they come after me:

28And I give them eternal life; they will never come to destruction, and no one will ever take them out of my hand.

29That which my Father has given to me has more value than all; and no one is able to take anything out of the Father’s hand.

30I and my Father are one.

31Then the Jews took up stones again to send at him.

32Jesus said to them in answer, I have let you see a number of good works from the Father; for which of those works are you stoning me?

33This was their answer: We are not stoning you for a good work but for evil words; because being a man you make yourself God.

34In answer, Jesus said, Is there not a saying in your law, I said, You are gods?

35If he said they were gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Writings may not be broken),

36Do you say of him whom the Father made holy and sent into the world, Your words are evil; because I said, I am God’s Son?

37If I am not doing the works of my Father, do not have belief in me;

38But if I am doing them, then have belief in the works even if you have no belief in me; so that you may see clearly and be certain that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.

39Then again they made an attempt to take him; but he got away from them.

40And he went again to the other side of the Jordan, to the place where John first gave baptism; and he was there for a time.

41And a great number of people came to him, saying, John did no sign: but everything John said of this man was true.

42And a number came to have faith in him there.

Example #2: 1 Kings 13

The story in 1 Kings 13 is one of the lesser known narratives in the Bible. In this chapter a man of God comes to Jeroboam, the king of Israel, who has built two golden calves and set them up in Bethel and Dan to prevent the Israelites from going to Jerusalem to worship at the Tempel. In 1 Kings 13 Jeroboam is standing on the altar in Bethel to burn incense when a man of God comes and prophecies against the altar. Jeroboam is naturally upset about this. He stretches out his hand and commands that the man of God should be arrested. But before anyone can seize the man, Jeroboam’s hand withers and the altar splits apart. Jeroboam pleads with the man of God to pray for him, which the man does and Jeroboam’s hand is restored. Jeroboam wants to invite the man home to give him a present but the man refuses, telling the king that the Lord commanded him not to eat bread or drink water und to not return the same way he came. Especially the second part of this command seems strange. Why should the man not return the same way he came? A careful look at the story shows that the terms “way” and “return” (“bring back”) are repeated several times, suggesting that they are keywords that have some significance for the meaning of the story. Note the repetitions:

⁷ Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.”  ⁸ But the man of God said to the king, “If you were to give me half your house I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place.  ⁹ “For so it was commanded me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘You shall eat no bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way which you came.’”  ¹⁰ So he went another way, and did not return by the way which he came to Bethel.  ¹¹ Now an old prophet was living in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the deeds which the man of God had done that day in Bethel; the words which he had spoken to the king, these also they related to their father.  ¹² And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” Now his sons had seen the way which the man of God who came from Judah had gone.  ¹³ Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him and he rode away on it.  ¹⁴ So he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak; and he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.”  ¹⁵ Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.”  ¹⁶ And he said, “I cannot return with you, nor go with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place.  ¹⁷ “For a command came to me by the word of the LORD, ‘You shall eat no bread, nor drink water there; do not return by going the way which you came.’”  ¹⁸ And he said to him, “I also am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he lied to him.  ¹⁹ So he returned with him, and ate bread in his house and drank water.  ²⁰ Now it came about, as they were sitting down at the table, that the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back;  ²¹ and he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Because you have disobeyed the command of the LORD, and have not observed the commandment which the LORD your God commanded you,  ²² but have returned and eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which He said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water”; your body shall not come to the grave of your fathers.’”  ²³ And it came about after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, for the prophet whom he had brought back.  ²⁴ Now when he had gone, a lion met him on the way and killed him, and his body was thrown on the way, with the donkey standing beside it; the lion also was standing beside the body.  ²⁵ And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown on the way, and the lion standing beside the body; so they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived.  ²⁶ Now when the prophet who brought him back from the way heard it, he said, “It is the man of God, who disobeyed the command of the LORD; therefore the LORD has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke to him.”  ²⁷ Then he spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled it.  ²⁸ And he went and found his body thrown on the way with the donkey and the lion standing beside the body; the lion had not eaten the body nor torn the donkey.  ²⁹ So the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey, and brought it back and he came to the city of the old prophet to mourn and to bury him.

Clearly the motif of the way and returning/not returning a certain way is very prominent in this story. The question remains: what is the significance of this motif? Why should the man not return the same way he came? The author keeps us guessing until the very end of the story, but then he provides the decisive clue by repeating the two key words one more time:

³³ After this event Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but again he made priests of the high places from among all the people; any who would, he ordained, to be priests of the high places.

Now the story starts to make sense. The command to the man of God and his actions are really messages to Jeroboam (as is the episode with the withered hand where the word “return” also occurs – translated as “pull in” and “restore” in most English translations). Both the man of God and Jeroboam are on a way, the man of God literally, Jeroboam figuratively. The way of Jeroboam is an evil way which God wants him to leave. He wants him to return but not on the same way he has been going. That’s why the instructions to the man of God are so strict. He is in essence a living parable for Jeroboam and through his actions is to provide an example for Jeroboam to follow. When the man of God disobeys the divine command and returns from the way he is supposed to go, he remains a living parable but in a negative sense since he now enacts what Jeroboam has done, namely left the way he was supposed to go. Thus it is not surprising that the end of the man of God foreshadows the end of Jeroboam. Even in his death the man of God is still “speaking” to Jeroboam: if you continue on the way you are not supposed to go you will die just like me. This is exactly what happens. Just as the man of God does not come to the tomb of his fathers (13:22) so Jeroboam does not come to the tomb of his fathers (14:13).

This story again illustrates how helpful it is to note repetitions in a text in order to better understand its meaning. Without this the story in 1 Kings 13 remains enigmatic. At the same time it must be said that there is a lot more going on in this story than I have shared above. More work is necessary in order to fully understand what the author is trying to say. Nevertheless, the recognition of the keywords “way” and “return” is an important step that helps to answer one of the key questions the narrative raises and also provides insights into the character of God. Not only is he a God who is serious about his Word, he is also a God who is desperately trying to reach a wicked king and get him to leave his evil way.

Homework (for all those who want to practice some more)

Take a look at Genesis 4:1-16. Which keyword is mentioned seven times in these verses and what is the significance of this repetition? Post your answer as a comment, if you like.

I was a little laid back with mine and these are all the jewels I kept to decorate mine.  The blue is a really pretty turquoise (it doesn’t show up so well in this picture).  We attached the baggies with a paper clip.  I labeled mine “Decorate the Queen’s Crown” for the purposes of this post, but unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to label the children’s pages. 

There is one thing I’ve learned in my years of teaching, if you don’t label the children’s pages or have a craft that mirrors the story, they don’t remember and they’ll make up in their own heads what they want it to stand for: so I feel like I dropped the baton, so to speak, with these last two pages.  I remember my mom telling us about when my sister was really little.  Her Sunday School teacher had finished the lesson early so she grabbed a Disney book to read to the class.  When they got home from church my mom asked my sister what she had learned and all she could remember was the Disney story.  It was my mom’s way of teaching both my sister and I to be careful when we’re teaching a Bible class to keep it all about the lesson – and I’ve never forgotten that.  I trust that in some way they correlate the crown with Queen Esther as we spent a full day talking about her. =)

Well, those are all the quiet book pages I made for the Family Camp children’s class crafts.  I hope you enjoyed seeing what I came up with.  I loved making them and I hope they are useful to the children. 

I am so excited about starting a “real” quiet book for Darius (and maybe as some Christmas gifts) with felt pages and pieces sewn on instead of just glued.  It will be an interesting undertaking. =)

Happy Saturday All!  Off we head to Cape Sable Island.  Lots of pictures and new items for Joyful Noise Studio coming next week!  I am hoping to get some more work done on my Etsy shop this weekend with new items and updated listings.  =)   Getting lots of feedback and enjoying it all.

1In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, Hoshea, the son of Elah, became king over Israel in Samaria, ruling for nine years.

2He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, though not like the kings of Israel before him.

3Against him came up Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, and Hoshea became his servant and sent him offerings.

4But Hoshea’s broken faith became clear to the king of Assyria because he had sent representatives to So, king of Egypt, and did not send his offering to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: so the king of Assyria had him shut up in prison and put in chains.

5Then the king of Assyria went through all the land and came up to Samaria, shutting it in with his forces for three years.

6In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria, and took Israel away to Assyria, placing them in Halah and in Habor on the river Gozan, and in the towns of the Medes.

7And the wrath of the Lord came on Israel because they had done evil against the Lord their God, who took them out of the land of Egypt from under the yoke of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and had become worshippers of other gods,

8Living by the rules of the nations whom the Lord had sent out from before the children of Israel.

9And the children of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things which were not right, building high places for themselves in all their towns, from the tower of the watchmen to the walled town.

10They put up pillars of stone and wood on every high hill and under every green tree:

11Burning their offerings in all the high places, as those nations did whom the Lord sent away from before them; they did evil things, moving the Lord to wrath;

12And they made themselves servants of disgusting things, though the Lord had said, You are not to do this.

13And he gave witness to Israel and Judah, by every prophet and seer, saying, Come back from your evil ways, and do my orders and keep my rules, and be guided by the law which I gave to your fathers and sent to you by my servants the prophets.

14And they did not give ear, but became stiff-necked, like their fathers who had no faith in the Lord their God.

15And they went against his rules, and the agreement which he made with their fathers, and his laws which he gave them; they gave themselves up to things without sense or value, and became foolish like the nations round them, of whom the Lord had said, Do not as they do.

16And turning their backs on all the orders which the Lord had given them, they made for themselves images of metal, and the image of Asherah, worshipping all the stars of heaven and becoming servants to Baal.

17And they made their sons and their daughters go through the fire, and they made use of secret arts and unnatural powers, and gave themselves up to doing evil in the eyes of the Lord, till he was moved to wrath.

18So the Lord was very angry with Israel, and his face was turned away from them: only the tribe of Judah kept its place.

19(But even Judah did not keep the orders of the Lord their God, but were guided by the rules which Israel had made.

20So the Lord would have nothing to do with all the offspring of Israel, and sent trouble on them, and gave them up into the hands of their attackers, till he had sent them away from before his face.)

21For Israel was broken off from the family of David, and they made Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, king, who, driving them away from the laws of the Lord, made them do a great sin.

22And the children of Israel went on with all the sins which Jeroboam did; they did not keep themselves from them;

23Till the Lord put Israel away from before his face, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was taken away from their land to Assyria, to this day.

24Then the king of Assyria took men from Babylon and from Cuthah and Avva and Hamath and Sepharvaim, and put them in the towns of Samaria in place of the children of Israel; so they got Samaria for their heritage, living in its towns.

25Now when first they were living there they did not give worship to the Lord. So the Lord sent lions among them, causing the death of some of them.

26So they said to the king of Assyria, The nations whom you have taken as prisoners and put in the towns of Samaria, have no knowledge of the way of the god of the land: so he has sent lions among them, causing their death, because they have no knowledge of his way.

27Then the king of Assyria gave orders, saying, Send there one of the priests whom you took away, and let him be living there and teaching the people the way of the god of the land.

28So one of the priests whom they had taken away as a prisoner from Samaria came back, and, living in Beth-el, became their teacher in the worship of the Lord.

29And every nation made gods for themselves, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the towns where they were living.

30The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,

31The Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites gave their children to be burned in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

32So they went on worshipping the Lord, and made for themselves, from among all the people, priests for the high places, to make offerings for them in the houses of the high places.

33They gave worship to the Lord, but they gave honour to their gods like the nations did from whom they had been taken as prisoners.

34So to this day they go on in their old ways, not worshipping the Lord or keeping his orders or his ways or the law and the rule which the Lord gave to the children of Jacob, to whom he gave the name Israel;

35And the Lord made an agreement with them and gave them orders, saying, You are to have no other gods; you are not to give worship to them or be their servants or make them offerings:

36But the Lord, who took you out of the land of Egypt with his great power and his outstretched arm, he is your God, to whom you are to give worship and make offerings:

37And the rules and the orders and the law which he put in writing for you, you are to keep and do for ever; you are to have no other gods.

38And you are to keep in memory the agreement which I have made with you; and you are to have no other gods.

39And you are to give worship to the Lord your God; for it is he who will give you salvation from the hands of all who are against you.

40But they gave no attention, but went on in their old way.

41So these nations, worshipping the Lord, still were servants to the images they had made; their children and their children’s children did the same; as their fathers did, so do they, to this day.

Micah 6

1Give ear now to the words of the Lord: Up! put forward your cause before the mountains, let your voice be sounding among the hills.

2Give ear, O you mountains, to the Lord’s cause, and take note, you bases of the earth: for the Lord has a cause against his people, and he will take it up with Israel.

3O my people, what have I done to you? how have I been a weariness to you? give answer against me.

4For I took you up out of the land of Egypt and made you free from the prison-house; I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

5O my people, keep in mind now what was designed by Balak, king of Moab, and the answer which Balaam, son of Beor, gave him; the events, from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you may be certain of the upright acts of the Lord.

6With what am I to come before the Lord and go with bent head before the high God? am I to come before him with burned offerings, with young oxen a year old?

7Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of sheep or with ten thousand rivers of oil? am I to give my first child for my wrongdoing, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

8He has made clear to you, O man, what is good; and what is desired from you by the Lord; only doing what is right, and loving mercy, and walking without pride before your God.

9The voice of the Lord is crying out to the town: Give ear, you tribes and the meeting of the town.

10Am I to let the stores of the evil-doer go out of my memory, and the short measure, which is cursed?

11Is it possible for me to let wrong scales and the bag of false weights go without punishment?

12For its men of wealth are cruel, and its people have said what is not true, and their tongue is false in their mouth.

13So I have made a start with your punishment; I have made you waste because of your sins.

14You will have food, but not enough; your shame will be ever with you: you will get your goods moved, but you will not take them away safely; and what you do take away I will give to the sword.

15You will put in seed, but you will not get in the grain; you will be crushing olives, but your bodies will not be rubbed with the oil; and you will get in the grapes, but you will have no wine.

16For you have kept the laws of Omri and all the works of the family of Ahab, and you have been guided by their designs: so that I might make you a cause of wonder and your people a cause of hisses; and the shame of my people will be on you.

2 Corinthians 4

1For this reason, because we have been made servants of this new order, through the mercy given to us, we are strong:

2And we have given up the secret things of shame, not walking in false ways, and not making use of the word of God with deceit; but by the revelation of what is true, as before God, we have the approval of every man’s sense of right and wrong.

3But if our good news is veiled, it is veiled from those who are on the way to destruction:

4Because the god of this world has made blind the minds of those who have not faith, so that the light of the good news of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, might not be shining on them.

5For our preaching is not about ourselves, but about Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants through Jesus.

6Seeing that it is God who said, Let light be shining out of the dark, who has put in our hearts the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

7But we have this wealth in vessels of earth, so that it may be seen that the power comes not from us but from God;

8Troubles are round us on every side, but we are not shut in; things are hard for us, but we see a way out of them;

9We are cruelly attacked, but not without hope; we are made low, but we are not without help;

10In our bodies there is ever the mark of the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be seen in our bodies.

11For, while living, we are still being given up to death because of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be seen in our flesh, though it is under the power of death.

12So then, death is working in us, but life in you.

13But having the same spirit of faith, as it is said in the Writings, The words of my mouth came from the faith in my heart; in the same way, our words are the outcome of our faith;

14Because we are certain that he who made the Lord Jesus come back from the dead, will do the same for us, and will give us a place in his glory with you.

15For we go through all things on account of you, because the greater the number to whom the grace is given, the greater is the praise to the glory of God.

16For which cause we do not give way to weariness; but though our outer man is getting feebler, our inner man is made new day by day.

17For our present trouble, which is only for a short time, is working out for us a much greater weight of glory;

18While our minds are not on the things which are seen, but on the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are for a time; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 5:1-10

1For we are conscious that if this our tent of flesh is taken down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in heaven.

2For in this we are crying in weariness, greatly desiring to be clothed with our house from heaven:

3So that our spirits may not be unclothed.

4For truly, we who are in this tent do give out cries of weariness, for the weight of care which is on us; not because we are desiring to be free from the body, but so that we may have our new body, and death may be overcome by life.

5Now he who has made us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a witness of what is to come.

6So, then, we are ever without fear, and though conscious that while we are in the body we are away from the Lord,

7(For we are walking by faith, not by seeing,)

8We are without fear, desiring to be free from the body, and to be with the Lord.

9For this reason we make it our purpose, in the body or away from it, to be well-pleasing to him.

10For we all have to come before Christ to be judged; so that every one of us may get his reward for the things done in the body, good or bad.

1In the twenty-seventh year of the rule of Jeroboam, king of Israel, Azariah, son of Amaziah, became king of Judah.

2He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he was ruling in Jerusalem for fifty-two years; his mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.

3And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father Amaziah had done.

4But he did not take away the high places, and the people still went on making offerings and burning them in the high places.

5And the Lord sent disease on the king and he became a leper, and to the day of his death he was living separately in his private house. And Jotham his son was over his house, judging the people of the land.

6Now the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all he did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?

7And Azariah went to rest with his fathers and was put into the earth with his fathers in the town of David; and Jotham his son became king in his place.

8In the thirty-eighth year of Azaliah, king of Judah, Zechariah, son of Jeroboam, was king over Israel for six months.

9And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as his father had done, not turning away from the sin which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, did and made Israel do.

10And Shallum, the son of Jabesh, made a secret design against him, and, attacking him in Ibleam, put him to death and became king in his place.

11Now the rest of the acts of Zechariah are recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel.

12This was what the Lord had said to Jehu, Your sons to the fourth generation will be kings of Israel. And so it came about.

13Shallum, the son of Jabesh, became king in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah, king of Judah; and he was ruling in Samaria for the space of one month.

14Then Menahem, the son of Gadi, went up from Tirzah and came to Samaria, and attacking Shallum, son of Jabesh, in Samaria, put him to death and made himself king in his place.

15Now the rest of the acts of Shallum, and the secret design which he made, are recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel.

16Then Menahem sent destruction on Tappuah and all the people in it, and its limits, from Tirzah, because they would not let him come in; and he had all the women who were with child cut open.

17In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah, king of Judah, Menahem, the son of Gadi, became king over Israel, and was ruling in Samaria for ten years.

18He did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not keep himself from the sin which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, did and made Israel do.

19In his day, Pul, the king of Assyria, came up against the land; and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver so that he might let him keep the kingdom.

20And Menahem got the money from Israel, from all the men of wealth, fifty silver shekels from every man, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria went back without stopping in the land.

21Now the rest of the acts of Menahem, and all he did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?

22And Menahem went to rest with his fathers; and Pekahiah his son became king in his place.

23In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah, the son of Menahem, became king over Israel in Samaria, ruling for two years.

24He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, not turning from the sin which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, did and made Israel do.

25And Pekah, the son of Remaliah, his captain, made a secret design against him, attacking him in the king’s great house in Samaria; and with him were fifty men of Gilead; and he put him to death and became king in his place.

26Now the rest of the acts of Pekahiah, and all he did, are recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel.

27In the fifty-second year of Azariah, king of Judah, Pekah, the son of Remaliah, became king over Israel in Samaria, ruling for twenty years.

28He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, not turning from the sin which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, did and made Israel do.

29In the days of Pekah, king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, came and took Ijon and Abel-beth-maacah and Janoah and Kedesh and Hazor and Gilead and Galilee and all the land of Naphtali; and he took the people away to Assyria.

30And Hoshea, the son of Elah, made a secret design against Pekah, the son of Remaliah, and, attacking him, put him to death and became king in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham, the son of Uzziah.

31Now the rest of the acts of Pekah, and all he did, are recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel.

32In the second year of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham, the son of Uzziah, became king of Judah.

33He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he was ruling for sixteen years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok.

34And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father Uzziah had done.

35But he did not take away the high places, and the people still went on making offerings and burning them in the high places. He was the builder of the higher doorway of the house of the Lord.

36Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all he did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?

37In those days the Lord first sent against Judah, Rezin, the king of Aram, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah.

38And Jotham went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in the town of David his father; and Ahaz his son became king in his place.

2 Kings 16

1In the seventeenth year of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, Ahaz, the son of Jotham, became king of Judah.

2Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king; he was ruling for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as David his father did.

3But he went in the ways of the kings of Israel, and even made his son go through the fire, copying the disgusting ways of the nations whom the Lord had sent out of the land before the children of Israel.

4And he made offerings, burning them in the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

5Then Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to make war; and they made an attack on Ahaz, shutting him in, but were not able to overcome him.

6At that time the king of Edom got Elath back for Edom, and sent the Jews out of Elath; and the Edomites came back to Elath where they are living to this day.

7So Ahaz sent representatives to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, saying, I am your servant and your son; come to my help against the kings of Aram and Israel who have taken up arms against me.

8And Ahaz took the silver and gold which were in the house of the Lord and in the king’s store-house, and sent them as an offering to the king of Assyria.

9And the king of Assyria, in answer to his request, went up against Damascus and took it, and took its people away as prisoners to Kir, and put Rezin to death.

10Then King Ahaz went to Damascus for a meeting with Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria; and there he saw the altar which was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest a copy of the altar, giving the design of it and all the details of its structure.

11And from the copy King Ahaz sent from Damascus, Urijah made an altar and had it ready by the time King Ahaz came back from Damascus.

12And when the king came from Damascus, he saw the altar; and he went up on it and made an offering on it.

13He made his burned offering and his meal offering and his drink offering there, draining out the blood of his peace-offerings on the altar.

14And the brass altar, which was before the Lord, he took from the front of the house, from between his altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of his altar.

15And King Ahaz gave orders to Urijah the priest, saying, Make the morning burned offering and the evening meal offering and the king’s burned offering and meal offering, with the burned offerings of all the people and their meal offerings and drink offerings, on the great altar, and put on it all the blood of the burned offerings and of the beasts which are offered; but the brass altar will be for my use to get directions from the Lord.

16So Urijah the priest did everything as the king said

17And King Ahaz took off the sides of the wheeled bases, and took down the great water-vessel from off the brass oxen which were under it and put it on a floor of stone.

18*** the house of the Lord, because of the king of Assyria.

19Now the rest of the things which Ahaz did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?

20And Ahaz went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth with his fathers in the town of David; and Hezekiah his son became king in his place.

Micah 5:2-15

2And you, Beth-lehem Ephrathah, the least among the families of Judah, out of you one will come to me who is to be ruler in Israel; whose going out has been purposed from time past, from the eternal days.

3For this cause he will give them up till the time when she who is with child has given birth: then the rest of his brothers will come back to the children of Israel.

4And he will take his place and give food to his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the glory of the name of the Lord his God; and their resting-place will be safe: for now he will be great to the ends of the earth.

5And this will be our peace: when the Assyrian comes into our country and his feet are in our land, then we will put up against him seven keepers of the flocks and eight chiefs among men.

6And they will make waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod with the edge of the sword: he will give us salvation from the Assyrian when he comes into our country, when his feet come inside the limit of our land.

7And the rest of Jacob will be among the mass of peoples like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass, which may not be kept back by man, or be waiting for the sons of men.

8And the rest of Jacob will be among the nations, in the middle of the mass of peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the woods, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep: if he goes through, they will be crushed under foot and pulled to bits, and there will be no saviour.

9Your hand is lifted up against those who are against you, and all your haters will be cut off.

10And it will come about in that day, says the Lord, that I will take away your horses from you, and will give your war-carriages to destruction:

11I will have the towns of your land cut off and all your strong places pulled down:

12I will put an end to your use of secret arts, and you will have no more readers of signs:

13And I will have your images and your pillars cut off from you; and you will no longer give worship to the work of your hands.

14I will have your Asherahs pulled up from among you: and I will send destruction on your images.

15And my punishment will be effected on the nations with such burning wrath as they have not had word of.

2 Corinthians 2:5-17

5But if anyone has been a cause of sorrow, he has been so, not to me only, but in some measure to all of you (I say this that I may not be over-hard on you).

6Let it be enough for such a man to have undergone the punishment which the church put on him;

7So that now, on the other hand, it is right for him to have forgiveness and comfort from you, for fear that his sorrow may be over-great.

8For which cause my desire is that you will make your love to him clear by your acts.

9And for the same reason I sent you a letter so that I might be certain of your desire to do my orders in all things.

10But if you give forgiveness to anyone, I do the same: for if I have given forgiveness for anything, I have done it because of you, in the person of Christ;

11So that Satan may not get the better of us: for we are not without knowledge of his designs.

12Now when I came to Troas for the good news of Christ, and there was an open door for me in the Lord,

13I had no rest in my spirit because Titus my brother was not there: so I went away from them, and came into Macedonia.

14But praise be to God who makes us strong to overcome in Christ, and makes clear through us in every place the value of the knowledge of him.

15For we are a sweet perfume of Christ to God in those who are getting salvation and in those who are going to destruction;

16To the one it is a perfume of death to death; to the other a perfume of life to life. And who is enough for such things?

17For we are not like the great number who make use of the word of God for profit: but our words are true, as from God, being said as before God in Christ.

2 Corinthians 3

1Do we seem to be again attempting to put ourselves in the right? or have we need, as some have, of letters of approval to you or from you?

2You yourselves are our letter, whose writing is in our heart, open for every man’s reading and knowledge;

3For you are clearly a letter of Christ, the fruit of our work, recorded not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in stone, but in hearts of flesh.

4And this is the certain faith which we have in God through Christ:

5Not as if we were able by ourselves to do anything for which we might take the credit; but our power comes from God;

6Who has made us able to be servants of a new agreement; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter gives death, but the Spirit gives life.

7For if the operation of the law, giving death, recorded in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the eyes of the children of Israel had to be turned away from the face of Moses because of its glory, a glory which was only for a time:

8Will not the operation of the Spirit have a much greater glory?

9For if the operation of the law, producing punishment, had its glory, how much greater will be the operation of the Spirit causing righteousness?

10For the glory of the first no longer seems to be glory, because of the greater glory of that which comes after.

11For if the order which was for a time had its glory, much more will the eternal order have its glory.

12Having then such a hope, we keep nothing back,

13And are not like Moses, who put a veil on his face, so that the children of Israel might not see clearly to the end of the present order of things:

14But their minds were made hard: for to this very day at the reading of the old agreement the same veil is still unlifted; though it is taken away in Christ.

15But to this day, at the reading of the law of Moses, a veil is over their heart.

16But when it is turned to the Lord, the veil will be taken away.

17Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there the heart is free.

18But we all, with unveiled face giving back as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord who is the Spirit.

1In the second year of Joash, son of Joahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah, the son of Joash, became king of Judah.

2He was twenty-five years old when he became king; and he was ruling in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years; his mother’s name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem.

3He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, though not like David his father; he did as Joash his father had done.

4But still the high places were not taken away; the people went on making offerings and burning them in the high places.

5Now when he became strong in the kingdom, straight away he put to death those servants who had taken the life of the king his father;

6But he did not put their children to death; for the orders of the Lord recorded in the book of the law of Moses say, The fathers are not to be put to death for the children, or the children for their fathers; but a man is to be put to death for the sin which he himself has done.

7He put to the sword twelve thousand men of Edom in the Valley of Salt, and took Sela in war, naming it Joktheel, as it is to this day.

8Then Amaziah sent representatives to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us have a meeting face to face.

9And Jehoash, king of Israel, sent to Amaziah, king of Judah, saying, The thorn-tree in Lebanon sent to the cedar in Lebanon, saying, Give your daughter to my son for a wife: and a beast from the woodland in Lebanon went by, crushing the thorn under his feet.

10It is true that you have overcome Edom and your heart is uplifted; let that glory be enough for you, and keep in your country; why do you make causes of trouble, putting yourself, and Judah with you, in danger of downfall?

11But Amaziah gave no attention. So Jehoash, king of Israel, went up, and he and Amaziah, king of Judah, came face to face at Beth-shemesh, which is in Judah.

12And Judah was overcome before Israel, so that they went in flight, every man to his tent.

13And Jehoash, king of Israel, made Amaziah, king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, prisoner at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem, and had the wall of Jerusalem pulled down from the doorway of Ephraim to the door in the angle, four hundred cubits.

14And he took all the gold and silver and all the vessels which were in the house of the Lord and in the store-house of the king, together with those whose lives would be the price of broken faith, and went back to Samaria.

15Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash, and his power, and how he went to war with Amaziah, king of Judah, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?

16And Jehoash went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son became king in his place.

17Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah, went on living for fifteen years after the death of Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel.

18And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?

19Now they made a secret design against him in Jerusalem; and he went in flight to Lachish, but they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there.

20And they took his body on horseback and put it into the earth with his fathers in Jerusalem, the town of David.

21Then all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.

22He was the builder of Elath, which he got back for Judah after the death of the king.

23In the fifteenth year of the rule of Amaziah, son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, became king in Samaria, ruling for forty-one years.

24He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, not turning away from the sin which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, did and made Israel do.

25He got back the old limits of Israel from the way into Hamath to the sea of the Arabah, as the Lord had said by his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet of Gath-hepher.

26For the Lord saw how bitter was the trouble of Israel, and that everyone was cut off, he who was shut up and he who went free, and that Israel had no helper.

27And the Lord had not said that the name of Israel was to be taken away from the earth; but he gave them a saviour in Jeroboam, the son of Joash.

28Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all he did, and his power, and how he went to war with Damascus, causing the wrath of the Lord to be turned away from Israel, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?

29And Jeroboam went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth with the kings of Israel; and Zechariah his son became king in his place.

Micah 4

1But in the last days it will come about that the mountain of the Lord’s house will be placed on the top of the mountains, and be lifted up over the hills; and peoples will be flowing to it.

2And a number of nations will go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will give us knowledge of his ways and we will be guided by his word: for from Zion the law will go out, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

3And he will be judge between great peoples, and strong nations far away will be ruled by his decisions; their swords will be hammered into plough-blades and their spears into vine-knives: nations will no longer be lifting up their swords against one another, and knowledge of war will have gone for ever.

4But every man will be seated under his vine and under his fig-tree, and no one will be a cause of fear to them: for the mouth of the Lord of armies has said it.

5For all the peoples will be walking, every one in the name of his god, and we will be walking in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.

6In that day, says the Lord, I will get together her who goes with uncertain steps, I will get together her who has been sent away, and her on whom I have sent evil;

7And I will make her whose steps were uncertain a small band, and her who was feeble a strong nation: and the Lord will be their King in Mount Zion from now and for ever.

8And you, O tower of the flock, Ophel of the daughter of Zion, to you it will come, even the earlier authority, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.

9Now why are you crying so loudly? is there no king in you? has destruction come on your wise helper? so that pains have taken you like the pains of a woman in childbirth:

10Be in pain, make sounds of grief, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in childbirth: for now you will go out of the town, living in the open country, and will come even to Babylon; there you will have salvation; there the Lord will make you free from the hands of your haters.

11And now a number of nations have come together against you, and they say, Let her be made unclean and let our eyes see the fate of Zion.

12But they have no knowledge of the thoughts of the Lord, their minds are not able to see his purpose: for he has got them together like stems of grain to the crushing-floor.

13Up! and let the grain be crushed, O daughter of Zion, for I will make your horn iron and your feet brass, and a number of peoples will be broken by you, and you will give up their increase to the Lord and their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.

Micah 5:1

1Now you will give yourselves deep wounds for grief; they will put up a wall round us: they will give the judge of Israel a blow on the face with a rod.

2 Corinthians 1

1Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the purpose of God, and Timothy the brother, to the church of God which is in Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia:

2Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort;

4Who gives us comfort in all our troubles, so that we may be able to give comfort to others who are in trouble, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

5For as we undergo more of the pain which Christ underwent, so through Christ does our comfort become greater.

6But if we are troubled, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which takes effect through your quiet undergoing of the same troubles which we undergo:

7And our hope for you is certain; in the knowledge that as you take part in the troubles, so you will take part in the comfort.

8For it is our desire that you may not be without knowledge of our trouble which came on us in Asia, that the weight of it was very great, more than our power, so that it seemed that we had no hope even of life:

9Yes, we ourselves have had the answer of death in ourselves, so that our hope might not be in ourselves, but in God who is able to give life to the dead:

10Who gave us salvation from so great a death: on whom we have put our hope that he will still go on to give us salvation;

11You at the same time helping together by your prayer for us; so that for what has been given to us through a number of persons, praise may go up to God for us from all of them.

12For our glory is in this, in the knowledge which we have that our way of life in the world, and most of all in relation to you, has been holy and true in the eyes of God; not in the wisdom of the flesh, but in the grace of God.

13For in our letters we say no other things to you, but those which you are reading, and to which you give agreement, and, it is my hope, will go on doing so to the end:

14Even as you have been ready, in part, to say that we are your glory, in the same way that you are ours, in the day of the Lord Jesus.

15And being certain of this, it was my purpose to come to you before, so that you might have a second grace;

16And by way of Corinth to go into Macedonia, and from there to come back again to you, so that you might send me on my way to Judaea.

17If then I had such a purpose, did I seem to be changing suddenly? or am I guided in my purposes by the flesh, saying, Yes, today, and, No, tomorrow?

18As God is true, our word to you is not Yes and No.

19For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we were preaching among you, even I and Silvanus and Timothy, was not Yes and No, but in him is Yes.

20For he is the Yes to all the undertakings of God: and by him all the words of God are made certain and put into effect, to the glory of God through us.

21Now he who makes our faith strong together with you, in Christ, and has given us of his grace, is God;

22And it is he who has put his stamp on us, even the Spirit, as the sign in our hearts of the coming glory.

23But God is my witness that it was in pity for you that I did not come to Corinth at that time.

24Not that we have authority over your faith, but we are helpers of your joy: for it is faith which is your support.

2 Corinthians 2:1-4

1But it was my decision for myself, not to come again to you with sorrow.

2For if I give you sorrow, who then will make me glad, but he who is made sad by me?

3And I said this very thing in my letter, for fear that when I came I might have sorrow from those from whom it was right for me to have joy; being certain of this, that my joy is the joy of you all.

4For out of much trouble and pain of heart and much weeping I sent my letter to you; not to give you sorrow, but so that you might see how great is the love which I have to you.

1In the seventh year of Jehu’s rule, Jehoash became king; and he was ruling for forty years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba.

2Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all his days, because he was guided by the teaching of Jehoiada the priest.

3But the high places were not taken away; the people went on making offerings and burning them in the high places.

4And Jehoash said to the priests, All the money of the holy things, which comes into the house of the Lord, (the amount fixed for every man’s payment,) and all the money given by any man freely from the impulse of his heart,

5Let the priests take, every man from his friends and neighbours, to make good what is damaged in the house, wherever it is to be seen.

6But in the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, the priests had not made good the damaged parts of the house.

7Then King Jehoash sent for Jehoiada the priest, and the other priests, and said to them, Why have you not made good what is damaged in the house? now take no more money from your neighbours, but give it for the building up of the house.

8So the priests made an agreement to take no more money from the people, and not to make good what was damaged in the house.

9But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and making a hole in the cover of it, put it by the altar, on the right side when one comes into the house of the Lord; and the priests who kept the door put in it regularly all the money which was taken into the house of the Lord.

10And when they saw that there was much money in the chest, the king’s scribe and the high priest came and put it in bags, noting the amount of all the money there was in the house of the Lord.

11And the money which was measured out they gave regularly to those who were responsible for overseeing the work, and these gave it in payment to the woodworkers and the builders who were working on the house of the Lord,

12And to the wall-builders and the stone-cutters, and to get wood and cut stone for building up the broken parts of the house of the Lord, and for everything needed to put the house in good order.

13But the money was not used for making silver cups or scissors or basins or wind-instruments or any vessels of gold or silver for the house of the Lord;

14But it was all given to the workmen who were building up the house.

15And they did not get any statement of accounts from the men to whom the money was given for the workmen, for they made use of it with good faith.

16The money of the offerings for error and the sin-offerings was not taken into the house of the Lord; it was the priests’.

17Then Hazael, king of Aram, went up against Gath and took it; and his purpose was to go up to Jerusalem.

18Then Jehoash, king of Judah, took all the holy things which Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah his fathers, the kings of Judah, had given to the Lord, together with the things he himself had given, and all the gold in the Temple store and in the king’s house, and sent it to Hazael, king of Aram; and he went away from Jerusalem.

19Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all he did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?

20And his servants made a secret design and put Joash to death at the house of Millo on the way down to Silla.

21And Jozacar, the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad, the son of Shomer, his servants, came to him and put him to death; and they put him into the earth with his fathers in the town of David; and Amaziah his son became king in his place.

2 Kings 13

1In the twenty-third year of Joash, the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, became king over Israel in Samaria, ruling for seventeen years.

2He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, copying the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which he did and made Israel do; he did not keep himself from them.

3So the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and he gave them up into the power of Hazael, king of Aram, and into the power of Ben-hadad, the son of Hazael, again and again.

4Then Jehoahaz made prayer to the Lord, and the Lord gave ear to him, for he saw how cruelly Israel was crushed by the king of Aram.

5(And the Lord gave Israel a saviour, so that they became free from the hands of the Aramaeans; and the children of Israel were living in their tents as in the past.

6But still they did not give up the sin of Jeroboam, which he made Israel do, but went on with it; and there was an image of Asherah in Samaria.)

7For out of all his army, Jehoahaz had only fifty horsemen and ten carriages and ten thousand footmen; the king of Aram had given them up to destruction, crushing them like dust.

8Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all he did, and his great power, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?

9And Jehoahaz went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in Samaria; and Joash his son became king in his place.

10In the thirty-seventh year of the rule of Joash, king of Judah, Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, became king over Israel in Samaria, ruling for sixteen years.

11He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, not turning away from the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which he did and made Israel do, but he went on with it.

12Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all he did, and the force with which he went to war against Amaziah, king of Judah, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?

13And Joash went to rest with his fathers and Jeroboam took his place as king; and Joash was put into the earth in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

14Now Elisha became ill with the disease which was the cause of his death: and Joash, king of Israel, came down to him, and weeping over him said, My father, my father, the war-carriages of Israel and its horsemen!

15Then Elisha said to him, Take bow and arrows: and he took bow and arrows.

16And he said to the king of Israel, Put your hand on the bow: and he put his hand on it; and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands.

17Then he said; Let the window be open to the east: and he got it open. Then Elisha said, Let the arrow go; and he let it go. And he said, The Lord’s arrow of salvation, of salvation over Aram; for you will overcome the Aramaeans in Aphek and put an end to them.

18And he said, Take the arrows: and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, Send them down into the earth; and he did so three times and no more.

19Then the man of God was angry with him and said, If you had done it five or six times, then you would have overcome Aram completely; but now you will only overcome them three times.

20And death came to Elisha and they put his body into the earth. Now in the spring of the year, armed bands of Moabites frequently came, overrunning the land.

21And while they were putting a dead man into the earth, they saw a band coming; and they put the man quickly into the place where Elisha’s body was; and the dead man, on touching Elisha’s bones, came to life again, and got up on his feet.

22And Israel was crushed under the power of Hazael, king of Aram, all the days of Jehoahaz.

23But the Lord was kind to them and had pity on them, caring for them, because of his agreement with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; he would not put them to destruction or send them away from before his face till now.

24Then Hazael, king of Aram, came to his end; and Ben-hadad his son became king in his place.

25And Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, took again from Ben-hadad, the son of Hazael, the towns which he had taken from Jehoahaz his father in war. Three times Jehoash overcame him and got back the towns of Israel.

Micah 3

1And I said, Give ear, now, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the people of Israel: is it not for you to have knowledge of what is right?

2You who are haters of good and lovers of evil, pulling off their skin from them and their flesh from their bones;

3Like meat they take the flesh of my people for their food, skinning them and crushing their bones, yes, cutting them up as if for the pot, like flesh inside the cooking-pot.

4Then they will be crying to the Lord for help, but he will not give them an answer: yes, he will keep his face veiled from them at that time, because their acts have been evil.

5This is what the Lord has said about the prophets by whom my people have been turned from the right way; who, biting with their teeth, say, Peace; and if anyone puts nothing in their mouths they make ready for war against him.

6For this cause it will be night for you, without a vision; and it will be dark for you, without knowledge of the future; the sun will go down over the prophets, and the day will be black over them.

7And the seers will be shamed, and the readers of the future will be at a loss, all of them covering their lips; for there is no answer from God.

8But I truly am full of the spirit of the Lord, with power of judging and with strength to make clear to Jacob his wrongdoing and to Israel his sin.

9Then give ear to this, you heads of the children of Jacob, you rulers of the children of Israel, hating what is right, twisting what is straight.

10They are building up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with evil-doing.

11Its heads take rewards for judging, and the priests take payment for teaching, and the prophets get silver for reading the future: but still, supporting themselves on the Lord, they say, Is not the Lord among us? no evil will overtake us.

12For this reason, Zion will be ploughed like a field because of you, and Jerusalem will become a mass of broken walls, and the mountain of the house like a high place in the woods.

1 Corinthians 16

1Now about the giving of money for the saints, as I gave orders to the churches of Galatia, so do you.

2On the first day of the week, let every one of you put by him in store, in measure as he has done well in business, so that it may not be necessary to get money together when I come.

3And when I come, I will send the men of your selection with letters to take the money you have got together to Jerusalem.

4And if it is possible for me to go there, they will go with me.

5But I will come to you after I have gone through Macedonia, for that is my purpose;

6But I may be with you for a time, or even for the winter, so that you may see me on my way, wherever I go.

7For it is not my desire to see you now, on my way; because it is my hope to be with you for some time, if that is the Lord’s pleasure.

8But I will be at Ephesus till Pentecost;

9For a great and important door there is open to me, and there are a number of people against me.

10Now if Timothy comes, see that he is with you without fear; because he is doing the Lord’s work, even as I am:

11See then that he has the honour which is right. But send him on his way in peace, so that he may come to me: for I am looking for him with the brothers.

12But as for Apollos, the brother, I had a great desire for him to come to you with the brothers, but it was not his pleasure to come now; but he will come when he has a chance.

13Be on the watch, unmoved in the faith, and be strong like men.

14Let all you do be done in love.

15Now I make my request to you, my brothers, for you have knowledge that the house of Stephanas is the first-fruits of Achaia, and that they have made themselves the servants of the saints,

16That you put yourselves under such, and under everyone who is helping the Lord’s work.

17And I am glad of the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus: for they have done what was needed to make your work complete.

18For they gave comfort to my spirit and to yours: for which cause give respect to such people.

19The churches of Asia send their love to you. So do Aquila and Prisca, with the church which is in their house.

20All the brothers send their love to you. Give one another a holy kiss.

21I, Paul, send you these words of love in my writing.

22If any man has not love for the Lord, let him be cursed. Maran atha (our Lord comes).

23The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

24My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. So be it.

1Now there were in Samaria seventy of Ahab’s sons. And Jehu sent letters to Samaria, to the rulers of the town, and to the responsible men, and to those who had the care of the sons of Ahab, saying,

2Straight away, when you get this letter, seeing that your master’s sons are with you, and that you have carriages and horses and a walled town and arms;

3Take the best and most upright of your master’s sons, and make him king in his father’s place, and put up a fight for your master’s family.

4But they were full of fear, and said, The two kings have gone down before him: how may we keep our place?

5So the controller of the king’s house, with the ruler of the town, and the responsible men, and those who had the care of Ahab’s sons, sent to Jehu, saying, We are your servants and will do all your orders; we will not make any man king; do whatever seems best to you.

6Then he sent them a second letter, saying, If you are on my side, and if you will do my orders, come to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow, with the heads of your master’s sons. Now the king’s seventy sons were with the great men of the town, who had the care of them.

7And when the letter came to them, they took the king’s sons and put them to death, all the seventy, and put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel.

8And a man came and said to him, They have come with the heads of the king’s sons. And he said, Put them down in two masses at the doorway of the town till the morning.

9And in the morning he went out and, stopping, said to all the people there, You are upright men: it is true that I made designs against my master, and put him to death; but who is responsible for the death of all these?

10You may be certain that nothing which the Lord has said about the family of Ahab will be without effect; for the Lord has done what he said by his servant Elijah.

11So Jehu put to death all the rest of the seed of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his relations and his near friends and his priests, till there were no more of them.

12Then he got up and came to Samaria. And he was at the meeting-place of the keepers of sheep, by the way,

13When he came across the brothers of Ahaziah, king of Judah, and said, Who are you? And they said, We are the brothers of Ahaziah, king of Judah; we are going down to see the children of the king and of the queen.

14And he said, Take them living. So they took them living, and put them to death in the water-hole of Beth-eked; of the forty-two men he put every one to death;

15And when he had gone away from there, he came across Jehonadab, the son of Rechab: and he said good-day to him, and said to him, Is your heart true to mine, as mine is to yours? And Jehonadab in answer said, It is; and Jehu said, If it is, give me your hand. And he gave him his hand, and he made him come up into his carriage.

16And he said, Come with me and see how I am on fire for the Lord’s cause. So he made him go with him in his carriage.

17And when he came to Samaria, he put to death all those of Ahab’s family who were still in Samaria, till there were no more of them, as the Lord had said to Elijah.

18Then Jehu got all the people together and said to them, Ahab was Baal’s servant in a small way, but Jehu will be his servant on a great scale.

19Now send for all the prophets of Baal and all his servants and all his priests, to come to me; let no one keep away: for I have a great offering to make to Baal; anyone who is not present, will be put to death. This Jehu did with deceit, his purpose being the destruction of the servants of Baal.

20And Jehu said, Let there be a special holy meeting for the worship of Baal. So a public statement was made.

21And Jehu sent out through all Israel; and all the servants of Baal came, not one kept away. And they came into the house of Baal, so that it was full from end to end.

22And Jehu said to him who kept the robes, Get out robes for all the servants of Baal. So he got out robes for them.

23And Jehu, with Jehonadab, the son of Rechab, went into the house of Baal; and he said to the servants of Baal, Make a search with care, to see that no servant of the Lord is with you, but only servants of Baal.

24Then they went in to make offerings and burned offerings. Now Jehu had put eighty men outside, and said to them, If any man whom I give into your hands gets away, the life of him who lets him go will be the price of his life.

25Then when the burned offering was ended, straight away Jehu said to the armed men and the captains, Go in and put them to death; let not one come out. So they put them to the sword; and, pulling the images to the earth, they went into the holy place of the house of Baal.

26And they took out the image of Asherah from the house of Baal, and had it burned.

27The altar of Baal was pulled down and the house of Baal was broken up and made an unclean place, as it is to this day.

28So Jehu put an end to the worship of Baal in Israel.

29But Jehu did not keep himself from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and the evil he made Israel do; the gold oxen were still in Beth-el and in Dan.

30And the Lord said to Jehu, Because you have done well in doing what is right in my eyes and effecting all my purpose for the family of Ahab, your sons will be kings of Israel to the fourth generation.

31But Jehu did not take care to keep the law of the Lord with all his heart: he did not keep himself from the sin which Jeroboam did and made Israel do.

32In those days the Lord was angry first with Israel; and Hazael made attacks on all the land of Israel,

33East of Jordan, in all the land of Gilead, the Gadites and the Reubenites and the Manassites, from Aroer by the valley of the Arnon, all Gilead and Bashan.

34Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all he did, and his great power, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?

35And Jehu went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son became king in his place.

36And the time of Jehu’s rule over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.

Micah 1

1The word of the Lord which came to Micah the Morashtite, in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah: his vision about Samaria and Jerusalem.

2Give ear, you peoples, all of you; give attention, O earth and everything in it: let the Lord God be witness against you, the Lord from his holy Temple.

3For see, the Lord is coming out from his place, and will come down, stepping on the high places of the earth.

4And the mountains will be turned to water under him, and the deep valleys will be broken open, like wax before the fire, like waters flowing down a slope.

5All this is because of the wrongdoing of Jacob and the sins of the children of Israel. What is the wrongdoing of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?

6So I will make Samaria into a field and the plantings of a vine-garden: I will send its stones falling down into the valley, uncovering its bases.

7And all her pictured images will be hammered into bits, and all the payments for her loose ways will be burned with fire, and all the images of her gods I will make waste: for with the price of a loose woman she got them together, and as the price of a loose woman will they be given back.

8For this I will be full of sorrow and give cries of grief; I will go uncovered and unclothed: I will give cries of grief like the jackals and will be in sorrow like the ostriches.

9For her wounds may not be made well: for it has come even to Judah, stretching up to the doorway of my people, even to Jerusalem.

10Give no word of it in Gath, let there be no weeping at all: at Beth-le-aphrah be rolling in the dust.

11Be uncovered and go away, you who are living in Shaphir: the one living in Zaanan has not come out of her town; Beth-ezel is taken away from its base, even from its resting-place.

12For the one living in Maroth is waiting for good: for evil has come down from the Lord to the doorways of Jerusalem.

13Let the war-carriage be yoked to the quick-running horse, you who are living in Lachish: she was the first cause of sin to the daughter of Zion; for the wrongdoings of Israel were seen in you.

14For this cause give a parting offering to Moresheth-gath: the daughter of Achzib will be a deceit to the king of Israel.

15Even now will the taker of your heritage come to you, you who are living in Mareshah: the glory of Israel will come to destruction for ever.

16Let your head be uncovered and your hair cut off in sorrow for the children of your delight: let the hair be pulled from your head like an eagle’s; for they have been taken away from you as prisoners.

1 Corinthians 15:1-34

1Now I am going to make clear to you, my brothers, what the good news was which I gave to you, and which you took, and on which your faith is based,

2By which you have salvation; that is to say, the form in which it was given to you, if it is fixed in your minds, and if your faith in it is not without effect.

3For I gave to you first of all what was handed down to me, how Christ underwent death for our sins, as it says in the Writings;

4And he was put in the place of the dead; and on the third day he came back from the dead, as it says in the Writings;

5And he was seen by Cephas; then by the twelve;

6Then by more than five hundred brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, but some are sleeping;

7Then he was seen by James; then by all the Apostles.

8And last of all, as by one whose birth was out of the right time, he was seen by me.

9For I am the least of the Apostles, having no right to be named an Apostle, because of my cruel attacks on the church of God.

10But by the grace of God, I am what I am: and his grace which was given to me has not been for nothing; for I did more work than all of them; though not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

11If then it is I who am the preacher, or they, this is our word, and to this you have given your faith.

12Now if the good news says that Christ came back from the dead, how do some of you say that there is no coming back from the dead?

13But if there is no coming back from the dead, then Christ has not come back from the dead:

14And if Christ did not come again from the dead, then our good news and your faith in it are of no effect.

15Yes, and we are seen to be false witnesses of God; because we gave witness of God that by his power Christ came again from the dead: which is not true if there is no coming back from the dead.

16For if it is not possible for the dead to come to life again, then Christ has not come to life again:

17And if that is so, your faith is of no effect; you are still in your sins.

18And, in addition, the dead in Christ have gone to destruction.

19If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most unhappy.

20But now Christ has truly come back from the dead, the first-fruits of those who are sleeping.

21For as by man came death, so by man there is a coming back from the dead.

22For as in Adam death comes to all, so in Christ will all come back to life.

23But every man in his right order: Christ the first-fruits; then those who are Christ’s at his coming.

24Then comes the end, when he will give up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he will have put an end to all rule and to all authority and power.

25For his rule will go on till he has put all those who are against him under his feet.

26The last power to come to an end is death.

27For, as it says, He has put all things under his feet. But when he says, All things are put under him, it is clear that it is not said about him who put all things under him.

28And when all things have been put under him, then will the Son himself be under him who put all things under him, so that God may be all in all.

29Again, what will they do who are given baptism for the dead? if the dead do not come back at all, why are people given baptism for them?

30And why are we in danger every hour?

31Yes, truly, by your pride in me, my brothers in Christ Jesus our Lord, my life is one long death.

32If, after the way of men, I was fighting with beasts at Ephesus, what profit is it to me? If the dead do not come to life again, let us take our pleasure in feasting, for tomorrow we come to an end.

33Do not be tricked by false words: evil company does damage to good behaviour.

34Be awake to righteousness and keep yourselves from sin; for some have no knowledge of God: I say this to put you to shame.

2 Chronicles 17: 1-19

You are welcome back! You might have been wondering why we have had no new post for a while? The reason is not far-fetched. Most of the history highlighted in 2 Chronicles so far (Solomon, Rehoboam, Jeroboam….) have already been dealt with or spoken about in our study of 1 Kings, So in order to avoid repetitions, they were omitted. You will do well to check the study on 1 Kings.

In today’s study, Jehoshaphat took over from Asa his father as king in Judah. We were told that he walked in they ways of God as David did. He sought God and and obeyed his commandments, so God established his kingdom. He also took away the high places where people burned incense to idols.

God granted Jehoshaphat peace so much that even the Philistines brought gifts to him. Indeed, when a man’s ways pleases the Lord, He would cause even his enemies to be at peace with him. We do ourselves a lot of good and favour when we seek to please God.

Jehoshaphat’s mighty men of war were Adnah, Jehohanan, Amasiah, Eliada and Jehozabad. all these were captain over thousands of men, and they waited on Jehoshaphat.

Will you seek God?

Some verses to remember

3-5: And the LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim; But sought to the LORD God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel. Therefore the LORD stablished the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat presents; and he had riches and honour in abundance.

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The flukes of a sperm whale as it dives into the Gulf of Mexico (courtesy NMFS) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

(Page 390)

The crew of the Pequod heard the Jeroboam‘s story, including prophecies by “Gabriel.”  This Gabriel also had to say something about Ahab.  He said that the Pequod would be chopped in half by a whale’s tail.  Interestingly enough, not long after, Ahab orders that a Right Whale be killed, and it is said that if a ship possesses both a Sperm Whale and Right Whale, it will never capsize.  Stubb says heard this from Fedallah.  It is never stated, but clearly Fedallah has some influence over Ahab, and Ahab is obviously concerned for the Pequod’s future (coughGabriel’sprophecycough).

Stub and Flask killed a Right Whale.  They discussed Captain Ahab selling his soul to the devil (Fedallah).

Also, Ishmael talked about being tied to Queequeg as Queequeg is attaching the hook to the blubber to tear off the “blanket.”  The marriage metaphors continue.  I like what he said about people being interconnected so deeply, whether we like it or not.  It’s true, I think, and I really think that it’s easy for us to forget at times; we tend to think we’re islands off by ourselves, but we’re not as alone as we think.  (Or so I tell myself when I get blue…)

I confess that I peaked ahead, and I know that the next chapters will be rather dry as Ishmael compares the Right Whale head and the Sperm Whale head, but I think a lot has to happen in the next chapters. I mean, I’m over halfway through.  And practically nothing has happened!  Ahab still needs to be clearly crazy, nobody has seen Moby Dick yet…  Come on, Melville!  Where’s the action?