11 After the death of Ahab, Moab made itself free from the authority of Israel. 2 Now Ahaziah had a fall from the window of his room in Samaria, and was ill. And he sent men, and said to them, Put a question to Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, about the outcome of my disease, to see if I will get well or not. 3 But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Go now, and, meeting the men sent by the king of Samaria, say to them, Is it because there is no God in Israel, that you are going to get directions from Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? 4 Give ear then to the words of the Lord: You will never again get down from the bed on to which you have gone up, but death will certainly come to you. Then Elijah went away. 5 And the men he had sent came back to the king; and he said to them, Why have you come back? 6 And they said to him, On our way we had a meeting with a man who said, Go back to the king who sent you and say to him, The Lord says, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you send to put a question to Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? For this reason, you will not come down from the bed on to which you have gone up, but death will certainly come to you. 7 And he said to them, What sort of a man was it who came and said these words to you? 8 And they said in answer, He was a man clothed in a coat of hair, with a leather band about his body. Then he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite.
9 Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty men; and he went up to him where he was seated on the top of a hill, and said to him, O man of God, the king has said, Come down. 10 And Elijah in answer said to the captain of fifty, If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven on you and on your fifty men, and put an end to you. Then fire came down from heaven and put an end to him and his fifty men. 11 Then the king sent another captain of fifty with his fifty men; and he said to Elijah, O man of God, the king says, Come down quickly. 12 And Elijah in answer said, If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven on you and on your fifty men, and put an end to you. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and put an end to him and his fifty men. 13 Then he sent a third captain of fifty with his fifty men; and the third captain of fifty went up, and falling on his knees before Elijah, requesting mercy of him, said, O man of God, let my life and the life of these your fifty servants be of value to you. 14 For fire came down from heaven and put an end to the first two captains of fifty and their fifties; but now let my life be of value in your eyes. 15 Then the angel of the Lord said to Elijah, Go down with him; have no fear of him. So he got up and went down with him to the king. 16 And he said to him, This is the word of the Lord: Because you sent men to put a question to Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, for this reason you will never again get down from the bed on to which you have gone up, but death will certainly come to you. 17 So death came to him, as the Lord had said by the mouth of Elijah. And Jehoram became king in his place in the second year of the rule of Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah; because he had no son. 18 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?
21 Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a great wind, Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. 2 And Elijah said to Elisha, Come no farther for the Lord has sent me to Beth-el. But Elisha said, As the Lord is living and as your soul is living, I will not be parted from you. So they went down to Beth-el. 3 And at Beth-el the sons of the prophets came out to Elisha and said, Has it been made clear to you that the Lord is going to take away your master from over you today? And he said, Yes, I have knowledge of it: say no more. 4 Then Elijah said to him, Come no farther, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho. But he said, As the Lord is living and as your soul is living, I will not be parted from you. So they went on to Jericho. 5 And at Jericho the sons of the prophets came up to Elisha and said to him, Has it been made clear to you that the Lord is going to take away your master from over you today? And he said in answer, Yes, I have knowledge of it: say no more. 6 Then Elijah said to him, Come no farther, for the Lord has sent me to Jordan. But he said, As the Lord is living and as your soul is living, I will not be parted from you. So they went on together. 7 And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went out and took their places facing them a long way off, while the two of them were by the edge of Jordan. 8 Then Elijah took off his robe, and, rolling it up, gave the water a blow with it, and the waters were parted, flowing back this way and that, so that they went over on dry land.
9 And when they had come to the other side, Elijah said to Elisha, Say what you would have me do for you before I am taken from you. And Elisha said, Be pleased to let a special measure of your spirit be on me. 10 And he said, You have made a hard request: still, if you see me when I am taken from you, you will get your desire; but if not, it will not be so. 11 And while they went on their way, going on talking together, suddenly there were carriages and horses of fire separating them from one another and Elijah went up to heaven in a great wind. 12 And when Elisha saw it he gave a cry, My father, my father, the carriages of Israel and its horsemen! And he saw him no longer; and he was full of grief.
13 Then he took up Elijah's robe, which had been dropped from him, and went back till he came to the edge of Jordan. 14 And he took Elijah's robe, which had been dropped from him, and giving the water a blow with it, said, Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? and at his blow the waters were parted this way and that; and Elisha went over. 15 And when the sons of the prophets who were facing him at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha. And they came out to him, and went down on the earth before him. 16 And they said, Your servants have with us here fifty strong men; be pleased to let them go in search of Elijah; for it may be that the spirit of the Lord has taken him up and put him down on some mountain or in some valley. But he said, Do not send them. 17 But when they kept on requesting him, he was shamed and said, Send, then. So they sent fifty men; but after searching for three days, they came back without having seen him. 18 And they came back to him, while he was still at Jericho; and he said to them, Did I not say to you, Go not?
19 Now the men of the town said to Elisha, You see that the position of this town is good; but the water is bad, causing the young of the cattle to come to birth dead. 20 So he said, Get me a new vessel, and put salt in it; and they took it to him. 21 Then he went out to the spring from which the water came, and put salt in it, and said, The Lord says, Now I have made this water sweet; no longer will it be death-giving or unfertile. 22 And the water was made sweet again to this day, as Elisha said. 23 Then from there he went up to Beth-el; and on his way, some little boys came out from the town and made sport of him, crying, Go up, old no-hair! go up, old no-hair! 24 And turning back, he saw them, and put a curse on them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the wood and put forty-two of the children to death. 25 From there he went to Mount Carmel, and came back from there to Samaria.
31 And Jehoram, the son of Ahab, became king over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of the rule of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah; and he was king for twelve years. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord; but not like his father and his mother, for he put away the stone pillar of Baal which his father had made. 3 But still he did the same sins which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, did and made Israel do; he went on in them.
4 Now Mesha, king of Moab, was a sheep-farmer; and he gave regularly to the king of Israel the wool from a hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand sheep. 5 But when Ahab was dead, the king of Moab got free from the authority of the king of Israel.
6 At that time, King Jehoram went out from Samaria and got all Israel together in fighting order. 7 And he sent to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab has got free from my authority: will you go with me to make war on Moab? And he said, I will go with you: I am as you are, my people as your people, and my horses as your horses. 8 And he said, Which way are we to go? And he said in answer, By the waste land of Edom. 9 So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom by a roundabout way for seven days: and there was no water for the army or for the beasts they had with them. 10 And the king of Israel said, Here is trouble: for the Lord has got these three kings together to give them into the hands of Moab. 11 But Jehoshaphat said, Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may get directions from the Lord? And one of the king of Israel's men said in answer, Elisha, the son of Shaphat, is here, who was servant to Elijah. 12 And Jehoshaphat said, The word of the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. 13 But Elisha said to the king of Israel, What have I to do with you? go to the prophets of your father and your mother. And the king of Israel said, No; for the Lord has got these three kings together to give them up into the hands of Moab. 14 Then Elisha said, By the life of the Lord of armies whose servant I am, if it was not for the respect I have for Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, I would not give a look at you, or see you. 15 But now, get me a player of music, and it will come about that while the man is playing, the hand of the Lord will come on me and I will give you the word of the Lord: and they got a player of music, and while the man was playing, the hand of the Lord was on him. 16 And he said, The Lord says, I will make this valley full of water-holes. 17 For the Lord says, Though you see no wind or rain, the valley will be full of water, and you and your armies and your beasts will have drink. 18 And this will be only a small thing to the Lord: in addition he will give the Moabites into your hands. 19 And you are to put every walled town to destruction, cutting down every good tree, and stopping up every water-spring, and making all the good land rough with stones.
20 Now in the morning, about the time when the offering was made, they saw water flowing from the direction of Edom till the country was full of water. 21 Now all Moab, hearing that the kings had come to make war against them, got together all who were able to take up arms and went forward to the edge of the country. 22 And early in the morning they got up, when the sun was shining on the water, and they saw the water facing them as red as blood. 23 Then they said, This is blood: it is clear that destruction has come on the kings; they have been fighting one another: now come, Moab, let us take their goods. 24 But when they came to the tents of Israel, the Israelites came out and made a violent attack on the Moabites, so that they went in flight before them; and they went forward still attacking them; 25 Pulling down the towns, covering every good field with stones, stopping up all the water-springs, and cutting down all the good trees; they went on driving Moab before them till only in Kir-hareseth were there any Moabites; and the fighting-men went round the town raining stones on it. 26 And when the king of Moab saw that the fight was going against him, he took with him seven hundred men armed with swords, with the idea of forcing a way through to the king of Aram, but they were not able to do so. 27 Then he took his oldest son, who would have been king after him, offering him as a burned offering on the wall. So there was great wrath against Israel; and they went away from him, back to their country.
241 But on the first day of the week, at dawn, they came to the place where his body had been put, taking the spices which they had got ready. 2 And they saw that the stone had been rolled away. 3 And they went in, but the body of the Lord Jesus was not there. 4 And while they were in doubt about it, they saw two men in shining clothing by them: 5 And while their faces were bent down to the earth in fear, these said to them, Why are you looking for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, he has come back to life: have in mind what he said to you when he was still in Galilee, saying, 7 The Son of man will be given up into the hands of evil-doers, and be put to death on the cross, and on the third day he will come back to life. 8 And his words came back into their minds, 9 And they went away from that place and gave an account of all these things to the eleven disciples and all the others. 10 Now they were Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary, the mother of James: and the other women with them said these things to the Apostles. 11 But these words seemed foolish to them, and they had no belief in them. 12 But Peter got up and went to the place where the body had been put, and looking in he saw nothing but the linen cloths, and he went to his house full of wonder at what had taken place.
13 And then, two of them, on that very day, were going to a little town named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 And they were talking together about all those things which had taken place. 15 And while they were talking and questioning together, Jesus himself came near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were not open that they might have knowledge of him. 17 And he said to them, What are you talking about together while you go? 18 Then stopping, and looking sadly at him, one of them, named Cleopas, said to him, Are you the only man living in Jerusalem who has not had news of the things which have taken place there at this time? 19 And he said to them, What things? And they said, The things to do with Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, great in his acts and his words, before God and all the people: 20 And how the chief priests and our rulers gave him up to be put to death on the cross. 21 But we were hoping that he would be the Saviour of Israel. In addition to all this he has now let three days go by from the time when these things took place; 22 And certain women among us gave us cause for wonder, for they went early to the place where his body had been put, 23 And it was not there; then they came saying that they had seen a vision of angels who said that he was living. 24 And some of those who were with us went to the place, and saw that it was as the women had said, but him they did not see. 25 And he said, O foolish men! how slow you are to give belief to what the prophets have said. 26 Was it not necessary for the Christ to go through these things, and to come into his glory? 27 And he made clear to them all the things in the Writings, from Moses and from all the prophets, which had to do with himself. 28 And they came near the town to which they were going, and he seemed as if he was going on; 29 But they kept him back, saying, Do not go, for evening is near, the day is almost gone. And he went in with them. 30 And when he was seated with them at table, he took the bread, and said words of blessing and, making division of it, he gave it to them. 31 And then their eyes were open, and they had knowledge of him, but he went from their view. 32 And they said to one another, Were not our hearts burning in us while he was talking to us on the way, making clear to us the holy Writings? 33 And that very hour they got up and went back to Jerusalem, where the eleven and the others had come together. 34 And they said to them, The Lord has truly come back to life again, and Simon has seen him. 35 And they gave an account of the things which had taken place on the way, and how, when he gave them bread, they had knowledge of him.
(Read Luke 24:1-12)
See the affection and respect the women showed to Christ, after he was dead and buried. Observe their surprise when they found the stone rolled away, and the grave empty. Christians often perplex themselves about that with which they should comfort and encourage themselves. They look rather to find their Master in his grave-clothes, than angels in their shining garments. The angels assure them that he is risen from the dead; is risen by his own power. These angels from heaven bring not any new gospel, but remind the women of Christ's words, and teach them how to apply them. We may wonder that these disciples, who believed Jesus to be the Son of God and the true Messiah, who had been so often told that he must die, and rise again, and then enter into his glory, who had seen him more than once raise the dead, yet should be so backward to believe his raising himself. But all our mistakes in religion spring from ignorance or forgetfulness of the words Christ has spoken. Peter now ran to the sepulchre, who so lately ran from his Master. He was amazed. There are many things puzzling and perplexing to us, which would be plain and profitable, if we rightly understood the words of Christ.
(Read Luke 24:13-27)
This appearance of Jesus to the two disciples going to Emmaus, happened the same day that he rose from the dead. It well becomes the disciples of Christ to talk together of his death and resurrection; thus they may improve one another's knowledge, refresh one another's memory, and stir up each other's devout affections. And where but two together are well employed in work of that kind, he will come to them, and make a third. Those who seek Christ, shall find him: he will manifest himself to those that inquire after him; and give knowledge to those who use the helps for knowledge which they have. No matter how it was, but so it was, they did not know him; he so ordering it, that they might the more freely discourse with him. Christ's disciples are often sad and sorrowful, even when they have reason to rejoice; but through the weakness of their faith, they cannot take the comfort offered to them. Though Christ is entered into his state of exaltation, yet he notices the sorrows of his disciples, and is afflicted in their afflictions. Those are strangers in Jerusalem, that know not of the death and sufferings of Jesus. Those who have the knowledge of Christ crucified, should seek to spread that knowledge. Our Lord Jesus reproved them for the weakness of their faith in the Scriptures of the Old Testament. Did we know more of the Divine counsels as far as they are made known in the Scriptures, we should not be subject to the perplexities we often entangle ourselves in. He shows them that the sufferings of Christ were really the appointed way to his glory; but the cross of Christ was that to which they could not reconcile themselves. Beginning at Moses, the first inspired writer of the Old Testament, Jesus expounded to them the things concerning himself. There are many passages throughout all the Scriptures concerning Christ, which it is of great advantage to put together. We cannot go far in any part, but we meet with something that has reference to Christ, some prophecy, some promise, some prayer, some type or other. A golden thread of gospel grace runs through the whole web of the Old Testament. Christ is the best expositor of Scripture; and even after his resurrection, he led people to know the mystery concerning himself, not by advancing new notions, but by showing how the Scripture was fulfilled, and turning them to the earnest study of it.
(Read Luke 24:28-35)
If we would have Christ dwell with us, we must be earnest with him. Those that have experienced the pleasure and profit of communion with him, cannot but desire more of his company. He took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. This he did with his usual authority and affection, with the same manner, perhaps with the same words. He here teaches us to crave a blessing on every meal. See how Christ by his Spirit and grace makes himself known to the souls of his people. He opens the Scriptures to them. He meets them at his table, in the ordinance of the Lord's supper; is known to them in breaking of bread. But the work is completed by the opening of the eyes of their mind; yet it is but short views we have of Christ in this world, but when we enter heaven, we shall see him for ever. They had found the preaching powerful, even when they knew not the preacher. Those Scriptures which speak of Christ, will warm the hearts of his true disciples. That is likely to do most good, which affects us with the love of Jesus in dying for us. It is the duty of those to whom he has shown himself, to let others know what he has done for their souls. It is of great use for the disciples of Christ to compare their experiences, and tell them to each other.
