131 In the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam—Abijah reigneth over Judah; 2 three years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, (and the name of his mother 'is' Michaiah daughter of Uriel, from Gibeah,) and war hath been between Abijah and Jeroboam. 3 And Abijah directeth the war with a force of mighty men of war, four hundred thousand chosen men, and Jeroboam hath set in array with him battle, with eight hundred thousand chosen men, mighty of valour. 4 And Abijah riseth up on the hill of Zemaraim that 'is' in the hill-country of Ephraim, and saith, 'Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel! 5 Is it not for you to know that Jehovah, God of Israel, hath given the kingdom to David over Israel to the age, to him and to his sons—a covenant of salt? 6 and rise up doth Jeroboam, son of Nebat, servant of Solomon son of David, and rebelleth against his lord! 7 'And there are gathered unto him vain men, sons of worthlessness, and they strengthen themselves against Rehoboam son of Solomon, and Rehoboam was a youth, and tender of heart, and hath not strengthened himself against them. 8 'And now, ye are saying to strengthen yourselves before the kingdom of Jehovah in the hand of the sons of David, and ye 'are' a numerous multitude, and with you calves of gold that Jeroboam hath made to you for gods. 9 'Have ye not cast out the priests of Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and make to you priests like the peoples of the lands? every one who hath come to fill his hand with a bullock, a son of the herd, and seven rams, even he hath been a priest to No-gods! 10 'As for us, Jehovah 'is' our God, and we have not forsaken Him, and priests are ministering to Jehovah, sons of Aaron and the Levites, in the work, 11 and are making perfume to Jehovah, burnt-offerings morning by morning, and evening by evening, and perfume of spices, and the arrangement of bread 'is' on the pure table, and the candlestick of gold, and its lamps, to burn evening by evening, for we are keeping the charge of Jehovah our God, and ye—ye have forsaken Him. 12 'And lo, with us—at 'our' head—'is' God, and His priests and trumpets of shouting to shout against you; O sons of Israel, do not fight with Jehovah, God of your fathers, for ye do not prosper.'
13 And Jeroboam hath brought round the ambush to come in from behind them, and they are before Judah, and the ambush 'is' behind them. 14 And Judah turneth, and lo, against them 'is' the battle, before and behind, and they cry to Jehovah, and the priests are blowing with trumpets, 15 and the men of Judah shout—and it cometh to pass, at the shouting of the men of Judah, that God hath smitten Jeroboam, and all Israel, before Abijah and Judah. 16 And the sons of Israel flee from the face of Judah, and God giveth them into their hand, 17 and Abijah and his people smite among them a great smiting, and there fall wounded of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men. 18 And the sons of Israel are humbled at that time, and the sons of Judah are strong, for they have leant on Jehovah, God of their fathers. 19 And Abijah pursueth after Jeroboam, and captureth from him cities, Beth-El and its small towns, and Jeshanah and its small towns, and Ephraim and its small towns. 20 And Jeroboam hath not retained power any more in the days of Abijah, and Jehovah smiteth him, and he dieth. 21 And Abijah strengtheneth himself, and taketh to him fourteen wives, and begetteth twenty and two sons, and sixteen daughters, 22 and the rest of the matters of Abijah, and his ways, and his words, are written in the 'Inquiry' of the prophet Iddo.
141 And Abijah lieth with his fathers, and they bury him in the city of David, and reign doth Asa his son in his stead: in his days was the land quiet ten years. 2 And Asa doth that which is good, and that which is right, in the eyes of Jehovah his God, 3 and turneth aside the altars of the stranger, and the high places, and breaketh the standing-pillars, and cutteth down the shrines, 4 and saith to Judah to seek Jehovah, God of their fathers, and to do the law and the command; 5 and he turneth aside out of all cities of Judah the high places and the images, and the kingdom is quiet before him. 6 And he buildeth cities of bulwarks in Judah, for the land hath quiet, and there is no war with him in these years, because Jehovah hath given rest to him. 7 And he saith to Judah, 'Let us build these cities, and compass 'them' with wall, and towers, two-leaved doors, and bars, while the land 'is' before us, because we have sought Jehovah our God, we have sought, and He giveth rest to us round about;' and they build and prosper. 8 And there is to Asa a force bearing target and spear, out of Judah three hundred thousand, and out of Benjamin, bearing shield and treading bow, two hundred and eighty thousand: all these 'are' mighty of valour.
9 And come out unto them doth Zerah the Cushite with a force of a thousand thousand, and chariots three hundred, and he cometh in unto Mareshah, 10 and Asa goeth out before him, and they set battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. 11 And Asa calleth unto Jehovah his God, and saith, 'Jehovah! it is nothing with Thee to help, between the mighty and those who have no power; help us, O Jehovah, our God, for on Thee we have leant, and in Thy name we have come against this multitude; O Jehovah, our God thou 'art'; let him not prevail with Thee—mortal man! 12 And Jehovah smiteth the Cushim before Asa, and before Judah, and the Cushim flee, 13 and Asa and the people who 'are' with him pursue them even to Gerar, and there fall of the Cushim, for they have no preserving, because they have been broken before Jehovah, and before His camp; and they bear away very much spoil, 14 and smite all the cities round about Gerar, for a fear of Jehovah hath been upon them, and they spoil all the cities, for abundant spoil hath been in them; 15 and also tents of cattle they have smitten, and they capture sheep in abundance, and camels, and turn back to Jerusalem.
121 Jesus, therefore, six days before the passover, came to Bethany, where was Lazarus, who had died, whom he raised out of the dead; 2 they made, therefore, to him a supper there, and Martha was ministering, and Lazarus was one of those reclining together (at meat) with him; 3 Mary, therefore, having taken a pound of ointment of spikenard, of great price, anointed the feet of Jesus and did wipe with her hair his feet, and the house was filled from the fragrance of the ointment. 4 Therefore saith one of his disciples—Judas Iscariot, of Simon, who is about to deliver him up— 5 'Wherefore was not this ointment sold for three hundred denaries, and given to the poor?' 6 and he said this, not because he was caring for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and what things were put in he was carrying. 7 Jesus, therefore, said, 'Suffer her; for the day of my embalming she hath kept it, 8 for the poor ye have always with yourselves, and me ye have not always.'
9 A great multitude, therefore, of the Jews knew that he is there, and they came, not because of Jesus only, but that Lazarus also they may see, whom he raised out of the dead; 10 and the chief priests took counsel, that also Lazarus they may kill, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away, and were believing in Jesus.
12 On the morrow, a great multitude that came to the feast, having heard that Jesus doth come to Jerusalem, 13 took the branches of the palms, and went forth to meet him, and were crying, 'Hosanna, blessed 'is' he who is coming in the name of the Lord—the king of Israel;' 14 and Jesus having found a young ass did sit upon it, according as it is written, 15 'Fear not, daughter of Sion, lo, thy king doth come, sitting on an ass' colt.' 16 And these things his disciples did not know at the first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were having been written about him, and these things they did to him. 17 The multitude, therefore, who are with him, were testifying that he called Lazarus out of the tomb, and did raise him out of the dead; 18 because of this also did the multitude meet him, because they heard of his having done this sign, 19 the Pharisees, therefore, said among themselves, 'Ye see that ye do not gain anything, lo, the world did go after him.'
20 And there were certain Greeks out of those coming up that they may worship in the feast, 21 these then came near to Philip, who 'is' from Bethsaida of Galilee, and were asking him, saying, 'Sir, we wish to see Jesus;' 22 Philip cometh and telleth Andrew, and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. 23 And Jesus responded to them, saying, 'The hour hath come that the Son of Man may be glorified; 24 verily, verily, I say to you, if the grain of the wheat, having fallen to the earth, may not die, itself remaineth alone; and if it may die, it doth bear much fruit; 25 he who is loving his life shall lose it, and he who is hating his life in this world—to life age-during shall keep it; 26 if any one may minister to me, let him follow me, and where I am, there also my ministrant shall be; and if any one may minister to me—honour him will the Father.
(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.
