131 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah. 2 He 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. 3 And 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. 4 And 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: 5 Is 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? 6 But Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon, the son of David, took up arms against his lord. 7 And 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. 8 And 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. 9 And 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. 10 But 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; 11 By 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. 12 And 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.
13 But 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. 14 And 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. 15 And the men of Judah gave a loud cry; and at their cry, God put fear into Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. 16 And the children of Israel went in flight before Judah, and God gave them up into their hands. 17 And Abijah and his people put them to death with great destruction: five hundred thousand of the best of Israel were put to the sword. 18 So 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. 19 And 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. 20 And Jeroboam did not get back his power again in the life-time of Abijah; and the Lord sent death on him. 21 But Abijah became great, and had fourteen wives, and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. 22 And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his sayings, are recorded in the account of the prophet Iddo.
141 So Abijah went to rest with his fathers, and they put him into the earth in the town of David, and Asa his son became king in his place; in his time the land was quiet for ten years. 2 And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God; 3 For he took away the altars of strange gods and the high places, and had the upright stones broken and the wood pillars cut down; 4 And he made Judah go after the Lord, the God of their fathers, and keep his laws and his orders. 5 And he took away the high places and the sun-images from all the towns of Judah; and the kingdom was quiet under his rule. 6 He made walled towns in Judah, for the land was quiet and there were no wars in those years, because the Lord had given him rest. 7 He said to Judah, Let us make these towns, building walls round them with towers and doors and locks. The land is still ours, because we have been true to the Lord our God; we have been true to him and he has given us rest on every side. So they went on building and all went well for them. 8 And Asa had an army of three hundred thousand men of Judah armed with body-covers and spears, and two hundred and eighty thousand of Benjamin armed with body-covers and bows; all these were men of war.
9 And Zerah the Ethiopian, with an army of a million, and three hundred war-carriages, came out against them to Mareshah. 10 And Asa went out against him, and they put their forces in position in the valley north of Mareshah. 11 And Asa made prayer to the Lord his God and said, Lord, you only are able to give help against the strong to him who has no strength; come to our help, O Lord our God, for our hope is in you, and in your name we have come out against this great army. O Lord, you are our God; let not man's power be greater than yours. 12 So the Lord sent fear on the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah; and the Ethiopians went in flight. 13 And Asa and the people who were with him went after them as far as Gerar; and so great was the destruction among the Ethiopians that they were not able to get their army together again, for they were broken before the Lord and before his army; and they took away a great amount of their goods. 14 And they overcame all the towns round Gerar, because the Lord sent fear on them; and they took away their goods from the towns, for there were stores of wealth in them. 15 And they made an attack on the tents of the owners of the cattle, and took away great numbers of sheep and camels and went back to Jerusalem.
121 Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had made to come back from the dead. 2 So they made him a meal there, and he was waited on by Martha, and Lazarus was among those who were seated with him at table. 3 Then Mary, taking a pound of perfumed oil of great value, put it on the feet of Jesus and made them dry with her hair: and the house became full of the smell of the perfume. 4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot (who was to give him up), said, 5 Why was not this perfume traded for three hundred pence, and the money given to the poor? 6 (He said this, not because he had any love for the poor; but because he was a thief, and, having the money-bag, took for himself what was put into it.) 7 Then Jesus said, Let her be. Let her keep what she has for the day of my death. 8 The poor you have ever with you, but me you have not for ever.
9 Then a great number of the Jews had news that he was there: and they came, not only because of Jesus, but so that they might see Lazarus who had been dead and to whom he had given life. 10 Now there was talk among the chief priests of putting Lazarus to death; 11 For because of him a great number of the Jews went away and had belief in Jesus.
12 The day after, a great number of people who were there for the feast, when they had the news that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 Took branches of palm-trees and went out to him, crying, A blessing on him who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel! 14 And Jesus saw a young ass and took his seat on it; as the Writings say, 15 Have no fear, daughter of Zion: see your King is coming, seated on a young ass. 16 (These things were not clear to his disciples at first: but when Jesus had been lifted up into his glory, then it came to their minds that these things in the Writings were about him and that they had been done to him.) 17 Now the people who were with him when his voice came to Lazarus in the place of the dead, and gave him life again, had been talking about it. 18 And that was the reason the people went out to him, because it had come to their ears that he had done this sign. 19 Then the Pharisees said one to another, You see, you are unable to do anything: the world has gone after him.
20 Now there were some Greeks among the people who had come up to give worship at the feast: 21 They came to Philip, who was of Beth-saida in Galilee, and made a request, saying, Sir, we have a desire to see Jesus. 22 Philip went and gave word of it to Andrew; and Andrew went with Philip to Jesus. 23 And Jesus said to them in answer, The hour of the glory of the Son of man has come. 24 Truly I say to you, If a seed of grain does not go into the earth and come to an end, it is still a seed and no more; but through its death it gives much fruit. 25 He who is in love with life will have it taken from him; and he who has no care for his life in this world will keep it for ever and ever. 26 If any man is my servant, let him come after me; and where I am, there will my servant be. If any man becomes my servant, my Father will give him honour.
(Read John 12:1-11)
Christ had formerly blamed Martha for being troubled with much serving. But she did not leave off serving, as some, who when found fault with for going too far in one way, peevishly run too far another way; she still served, but within hearing of Christ's gracious words. Mary gave a token of love to Christ, who had given real tokens of his love to her and her family. God's Anointed should be our Anointed. Has God poured on him the oil of gladness above his fellows, let us pour on him the ointment of our best affections. In Judas a foul sin is gilded over with a plausible pretence. We must not think that those do no acceptable service, who do it not in our way. The reigning love of money is heart-theft. The grace of Christ puts kind comments on pious words and actions, makes the best of what is amiss, and the most of what is good. Opportunities are to be improved; and those first and most vigorously, which are likely to be the shortest. To consult to hinder the further effect of the miracle, by putting Lazarus to death, is such wickedness, malice, and folly, as cannot be explained, except by the desperate enmity of the human heart against God. They resolved that the man should die whom the Lord had raised to life. The success of the gospel often makes wicked men so angry, that they speak and act as if they hoped to obtain a victory over the Almighty himself.
(Read John 12:12-19)
Christ's riding in triumph to Jerusalem is recorded by all the evangelists. Many excellent things, both in the word and providence of God, disciples do not understand at their first acquaintance with the things of God. The right understanding of spiritual nature of Christ's kingdom, prevents our misapplying the Scriptures which speak of it.
(Read John 12:20-26)
In attendance upon holy ordinances, particularly the gospel passover, the great desire of our souls should be to see Jesus; to see him as ours, to keep up communion with him, and derive grace from him. The calling of the Gentiles magnified the Redeemer. A corn of wheat yields no increase unless it is cast into the ground. Thus Christ might have possessed his heavenly glory alone, without becoming man. Or, after he had taken man's nature, he might have entered heaven alone, by his own perfect righteousness, without suffering or death; but then no sinner of the human race could have been saved. The salvation of souls hitherto, and henceforward to the end of time, is owing to the dying of this Corn of wheat. Let us search whether Christ be in us the hope of glory; let us beg him to make us indifferent to the trifling concerns of this life, that we may serve the Lord Jesus with a willing mind, and follow his holy example.
