101 And Ahab hath seventy sons in Samaria, and Jehu writeth letters, and sendeth to Samaria, unto the heads of Jezreel, the elders, and unto the supporters of Ahab, saying, 2 'And now, at the coming in of this letter unto you, and with you 'are' sons of your lord, and with you 'are' the chariots and the horses, and a fenced city, and the armour, 3 and ye have seen the best and the uprightest of the sons of your lord, and have set 'him' on the throne of his father, and fight ye for the house of your lord.' 4 And they fear very greatly, and say, 'Lo, the two kings have not stood before him, and how do we stand—we?' 5 And he who 'is' over the house, and he who 'is' over the city, and the elders, and the supporters, send unto Jehu, saying, 'Thy servants we 'are', and all that thou sayest unto us we do; we do not make any one king—that which 'is' good in thine eyes do.' 6 And he writeth unto them a letter a second time, saying, 'If ye 'are' for me, and to my voice are hearkening, take the heads of the men—the sons of your lord, and come unto me about this time to-morrow, to Jezreel;' and the sons of the king 'are' seventy men, with the great ones of the city those bringing them up. 7 And it cometh to pass, at the coming in of the letter unto them, that they take the sons of the king, and slaughter seventy men, and put their heads in baskets, and send unto him to Jezreel, 8 and the messenger cometh in, and declareth to him, saying, 'They have brought in the heads of the sons of the king,' and he saith, 'Make them two heaps at the opening of the gate till the morning.' 9 And it cometh to pass in the morning, that he goeth out, and standeth, and saith unto all the people, 'Righteous are ye; lo, I have conspired against my lord, and slay him—and who smote all these? 10 Know ye now, that nothing doth fall of the word of Jehovah to the earth that Jehovah spake against the house of Ahab, and Jehovah hath done that which He spake by the hand of His servant Elijah.' 11 And Jehu smiteth all those left to the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his acquaintances, and his priests, till he hath not left to him a remnant. 12 And he riseth, and cometh in and goeth to Samaria; he 'is' at the shepherds' shearing-house in the way, 13 and Jehu hath found the brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah, and saith, 'Who 'are' ye?' and they say, 'Brethren of Ahaziah we 'are', and we go down to salute the sons of the king, and the sons of the mistress.' 14 And he saith, 'Catch them alive;' and they catch them alive, and slaughter them at the pit of the shearing-house, forty and two men, and he hath not left a man of them.
15 And he goeth thence, and findeth Jehonadab son of Rechab—to meet him, and blesseth him, and saith unto him, 'Is thy heart right, as my heart 'is' with thy heart?' and Jehonadab saith, 'It is;'—'Then it is; give thy hand;' and he giveth his hand, and he causeth him to come up into him into the chariot, 16 and saith, 'Come with me, and look on my zeal for Jehovah;' and they cause him to ride in his chariot. 17 And he cometh in to Samaria, and smiteth all those left to Ahab in Samaria, till his destroying him, according to the word of Jehovah that He spake unto Elisha.
18 And Jehu gathereth the whole of the people, and saith unto them, 'Ahab served Baal a little—Jehu doth serve him much: 19 and now, all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests, call ye unto me; let not a man be lacking, for a great sacrifice I have for Baal; every one who is lacking—he doth not live;' and Jehu hath done 'it' in subtilty, in order to destroy the servants of Baal. 20 And Jehu saith, 'Sanctify a restraint for Baal;' and they proclaim 'it'. 21 And Jehu sendeth into all Israel, and all the servants of Baal come in, and there hath not been left a man who hath not come in; and they come in to the house of Baal, and the house of Baal is full—mouth to mouth. 22 And he saith to him who 'is' over the wardrobe, 'Bring out clothing to all servants of Baal;' and he bringeth out to them the clothing. 23 And Jehu goeth in, and Jehonadab son of Rechab, to the house of Baal, and saith to the servants of Baal, 'Search and see, lest there be here with you of the servants of Jehovah—but, the servants of Baal by themselves.' 24 And they come in to make sacrifices and burnt-offerings, and Jehu hath set for himself in an out-place eighty men, and saith, 'The man who letteth escape 'any' of the men whom I am bringing in unto your hand—his soul for his soul.' 25 And it cometh to pass at his finishing to make the burnt-offering, that Jehu saith to the runners, and to the captains, 'Go in, smite them, let none come out;' and they smite them by the mouth of the sword, and the runners and the captains cast 'them' out; and they go unto the city, to the house of Baal, 26 and bring out the standing-pillars of the house of Baal, and burn them, 27 and break down the standing-pillar of Baal, and break down the house of Baal, and appoint it for a draught-house unto this day. 28 And Jehu destroyeth Baal out of Israel,
29 only—the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, that he caused Israel to sin, Jehu hath not turned aside from after them—the calves of gold that 'are' at Beth-El, and in Dan. 30 And Jehovah saith unto Jehu, 'Because that thou hast done well, to do that which 'is' right in Mine eyes—according to all that 'is' in My heart thou hast done to the house of Ahab—the sons of the fourth 'generation' do sit for thee on the throne of Israel.' 31 And Jehu hath not taken heed to walk in the law of Jehovah, God of Israel, with all his heart, he hath not turned aside from the sins of Jeroboam, that he caused Israel to sin. 32 In those days hath Jehovah begun to cut off 'some' in Israel, and Hazael smiteth them in all the border of Israel, 33 from the Jordan, at the sun-rising, the whole land of Gilead, of the Gadite, and the Reubenite, and the Manassahite (from Aroer, that 'is' by the brook Arnon), even Gilead and Bashan. 34 And the rest of the matters of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel? 35 And Jehu lieth with his fathers, and they bury him in Samaria, and reign doth Jehoahaz his son in his stead. 36 And the days that Jehu hath reigned over Israel 'are' twenty and eight years, in Samaria.
111 And Athaliah 'is' mother of Ahaziah, and she hath seen that her son 'is' dead, and she riseth, and destroyeth all the seed of the kingdom; 2 and Jehosheba daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, taketh Joash son of Ahaziah, and stealeth him out of the midst of the sons of the king who are put to death, him and his nurse, in the inner part of the bed-chambers, and they hide him from the presence of Athaliah, and he hath not been put to death, 3 and he is with her, in the house of Jehovah, hiding himself, six years, and Athaliah is reigning over the land.
4 And in the seventh year hath Jehoiada sent and taketh the heads of the hundreds, of the executioners and of the runners, and bringeth them in unto him, to the house of Jehovah, and maketh with them a covenant, and causeth them to swear in the house of Jehovah, and sheweth them the son of the king, 5 and commandeth them, saying, 'This 'is' the thing that ye do; The third of you 'are' going in on the sabbath, and keepers of the charge of the house of the king, 6 and the third 'is' at the gate of Sur, and the third at the gate behind the runners, and ye have kept the charge of the house pulled down; 7 and two parts of you, all going out on the sabbath—they have kept the charge of the house of Jehovah about the king, 8 and ye have compassed the king round about, each with his weapons in his hand, and he who is coming unto the ranges is put to death; and be ye with the king in his going out and in his coming in.' 9 And the heads of the hundreds do according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded, and take each his men going in on the sabbath, with those going out on the sabbath, and come in unto Jehoiada the priest, 10 and the priest giveth to the heads of the hundreds the spears and the shields that king David had, that 'are' in the house of Jehovah. 11 And the runners stand, each with his weapons in his hand, from the right shoulder of the house unto the left shoulder of the house, by the altar and by the house, by the king round about; 12 and he bringeth out the son of the king, and putteth on him the crown, and the testimony, and they make him king, and anoint him, and smite the hand, and say, 'Let the king live.'
13 And Athaliah heareth the voice of the runners 'and' of the people, and she cometh in unto the people, to the house of Jehovah, 14 and looketh, and lo, the king is standing by the pillar, according to the ordinance, and the heads, and the trumpets, 'are' by the king, and all the people of the land are rejoicing, and blowing with trumpets, and Athaliah rendeth her garments, and calleth, 'Conspiracy! conspiracy!' 15 And Jehoiada the priest commandeth the heads of the hundreds, inspectors of the force, and saith unto them, 'Bring her out unto the outside of the ranges, and him who is going after her, put to death by the sword:' for the priest had said, 'Let her not be put to death in the house of Jehovah.' 16 And they make for her sides, and she entereth the way of the entering in of the horses to the house of the king, and is put to death there.
17 And Jehoiada maketh the covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people, to be for a people to Jehovah, and between the king and the people. 18 And all the people of the land go in to the house of Baal, and break it down, its altars and its images they have thoroughly broken, and Mattan priest of Baal they have slain before the altars; and the priest setteth inspectors over the house of Jehovah, 19 and taketh the heads of the hundreds, and the executioners, and the runners, and all the people of the land, and they bring down the king from the house of Jehovah, and come by the way of the gate of the runners, to the house of the king, and he sitteth on the throne of the kings. 20 And all the people of the land rejoice, and the city 'is' quiet, and Athaliah they have put to death by the sword in the house of the king; 21 a son of seven years is Jehoash in his reigning.
121 In the seventh year of Jehu reigned hath Jehoash, and forty years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother 'is' Zibiah of Beer-Sheba, 2 and Jehoash doth that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah all his days in which Jehoiada the priest directed him, 3 only, the high places have not turned aside, still are the people sacrificing and making perfume in high places.
4 And Jehoash saith unto the priests, 'All the money of the sanctified things that is brought in to the house of Jehovah, the money of him who is passing over, each the money of his valuation, all the money that it goeth up on the heart of a man to bring in to the house of Jehovah, 5 do the priests take to them, each from his acquaintance, and they strengthen the breach of the house, in all 'places' where there is found a breach.' 6 And it cometh to pass, in the twenty and third year of king Jehoash, the priests have not strengthened the breach of the house, 7 and king Jehoash calleth to Jehoiada the priest, and to the priests, and saith unto them, 'Wherefore are ye not strengthening the breach of the house? and now, receive no money from your acquaintances, but for the breach of the house give it.' 8 And the priests consent not to receive money from the people, nor to strengthen the breach of the house, 9 and Jehoiada the priest taketh a chest, and pierceth a hole in its lid, and putteth it near the altar, on the right side, as one cometh in to the house of Jehovah, and the priests keeping the threshold have put there all the money that is brought in to the house of Jehovah. 10 And it cometh to pass, at their seeing that the money 'is' abundant in the chest, that there goeth up a scribe of the king, and of the high priest, and they bind 'it' up, and count the money that is found 'in' the house of Jehovah, 11 and have given the weighed money into the hands of those doing the work, those inspecting the house of Jehovah, and they bring it out to those working in the wood, and to builders who are working in the house of Jehovah, 12 and to those 'repairing' the wall, and to hewers of stone, and to buy wood and hewn stones to strengthen the breach of the house of Jehovah, and for all that goeth out on the house, to strengthen it. 13 Only, there is not made for the house of Jehovah basins of silver, snuffers, bowls, trumpets, any vessel of gold, and vessel of silver, out of the money that is brought into the house of Jehovah; 14 for to those doing the work they give it, and they have strengthened with it the house of Jehovah, 15 and they do not reckon with the men into whose hand they give the money to give to those doing the work, for in faithfulness they are dealing. 16 The money of a trespass-offering, and the money of sin-offerings is not brought in to the house of Jehovah—for the priests it is.
17 Then go up doth Hazael king of Aram, and fighteth against Gath, and captureth it, and Hazael setteth his face to go up against Jerusalem; 18 and Jehoash king of Judah taketh all the sanctified things that Jehoshaphat, and Jehoram, and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had sanctified, and his own sanctified things, and all the gold that is found in the treasures of the house of Jehovah and of the house of the king, and sendeth to Hazael king of Aram, and he goeth up from off Jerusalem. 19 And the rest of the matters of Joash, and all that he did, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? 20 And his servants rise, and make a conspiracy, and smite Joash in the house of Millo, that is going down to Silla: 21 yea, Jozachar son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad son of Shemer, his servants, have smitten him, and he dieth, and they bury him with his fathers in the city of David, and reign doth Amaziah his son, in his stead.
29 on the morrow John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, 'Lo, the Lamb of God, who is taking away the sin of the world; 30 this is he concerning whom I said, After me doth come a man, who hath come before me, because he was before me: 31 and I knew him not, but, that he might be manifested to Israel, because of this I came with the water baptizing. 32 And John testified, saying—'I have seen the Spirit coming down, as a dove, out of heaven, and it remained on him; 33 and I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water, He said to me, On whomsoever thou mayst see the Spirit coming down, and remaining on him, this is he who is baptizing with the Holy Spirit; 34 and I have seen, and have testified, that this is the Son of God.'
35 On the morrow, again, John was standing, and two of his disciples, 36 and having looked on Jesus walking, he saith, 'Lo, the Lamb of God;'
37 and the two disciples heard him speaking, and they followed Jesus. 38 And Jesus having turned, and having beheld them following, saith to them, 'What seek ye?' and they said to them, 'Rabbi, (which is, being interpreted, Teacher,) where remainest thou?' 39 He saith to them, 'Come and see;' they came, and saw where he doth remain, and with him they remained that day and the hour was about the tenth. 40 Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard from John, and followed him; 41 this one doth first find his own brother Simon, and saith to him, 'We have found the Messiah,' (which is, being interpreted, The Anointed,) 42 and he brought him unto Jesus: and having looked upon him, Jesus saith, 'Thou art Simon, the son of Jonas, thou shalt be called Cephas,' (which is interpreted, A rock.)
43 On the morrow, he willed to go forth to Galilee, and he findeth Philip, and saith to him, 'Be following me.' 44 And Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter; 45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith to him, 'Him of whom Moses wrote in the Law, and the prophets, we have found, Jesus the son of Joseph, who 'is' from Nazareth;' 46 and Nathanael said to him, 'Out of Nazareth is any good thing able to be?' Philip said to him, 'Come and see.' 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming unto him, and he saith concerning him, 'Lo, truly an Israelite, in whom guile is not;' 48 Nathanael saith to him, 'Whence me dost thou know?' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Before Philip's calling thee—thou being under the fig-tree—I saw thee.' 49 Nathanael answered and saith to him, 'Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the king of Israel.' 50 Jesus answered and said to him, 'Because I said to thee, I saw thee under the fig-tree, thou dost believe; greater things than these thou shalt see;' 51 and he saith to him, 'Verily, verily, I say to you, henceforth ye shall see the heaven opened, and the messengers of God going up and coming down upon the Son of Man.'
(Read John 1:29-36)
John saw Jesus coming to him, and pointed him out as the Lamb of God. The paschal lamb, in the shedding and sprinkling of its blood, the roasting and eating of its flesh, and all the other circumstances of the ordinance, represented the salvation of sinners by faith in Christ. And the lambs sacrificed every morning and evening, can only refer to Christ slain as a sacrifice to redeem us to God by his blood. John came as a preacher of repentance, yet he told his followers that they were to look for the pardon of their sins to Jesus only, and to his death. It agrees with God's glory to pardon all who depend on the atoning sacrifice of Christ. He takes away the sin of the world; purchases pardon for all that repent and believe the gospel. This encourages our faith; if Christ takes away the sin of the world, then why not my sin? He bore sin for us, and so bears it from us. God could have taken away sin, by taking away the sinner, as he took away the sin of the old world; but here is a way of doing away sin, yet sparing the sinner, by making his Son sin, that is, a sin-offering, for us. See Jesus taking away sin, and let that cause hatred of sin, and resolutions against it. Let us not hold that fast, which the Lamb of God came to take away. To confirm his testimony concerning Christ, John declares the appearance at his baptism, in which God himself bore witness to him. He saw and bare record that he is the Son of God. This is the end and object of John's testimony, that Jesus was the promised Messiah. John took every opportunity that offered to lead people to Christ.
(Read John 1:37-42)
The strongest and most prevailing argument with an awakened soul to follow Christ, is, that it is he only who takes away sin. Whatever communion there is between our souls and Christ, it is he who begins the discourse. He asked, What seek ye? The question Jesus put to them, we should all put to ourselves when we begin to follow Him, What do we design and desire? In following Christ, do we seek the favour of God and eternal life? He invites them to come without delay. Now is the accepted time, 2 Corinthians 6:2. It is good for us to be where Christ is, wherever it be. We ought to labour for the spiritual welfare of those related to us, and seek to bring them to Him. Those who come to Christ, must come with a fixed resolution to be firm and constant to him, like a stone, solid and stedfast; and it is by his grace that they are so.
(Read John 1:43-51)
See the nature of true Christianity, it is following Jesus; devoting ourselves to him, and treading in his steps. Observe the objection Nathanael made. All who desire to profit by the word of God, must beware of prejudices against places, or denominations of men. They should examine for themselves, and they will sometimes find good where they looked for none. Many people are kept from the ways of religion by the unreasonable prejudices they conceive. The best way to remove false notions of religion, is to make trial of it. In Nathanael there was no guile. His profession was not hypocritical. He was not a dissembler, nor dishonest; he was a sound character, a really upright, godly man. Christ knows what men are indeed. Does He know us? Let us desire to know him. Let us seek and pray to be Israelites indeed, in whom is no guile; truly Christians, approved of Christ himself. Some things weak, imperfect, and sinful, are found in all, but hypocrisy belongs not to a believer's character. Jesus witnessed what passed when Nathanael was under the fig-tree. Probably he was then in fervent prayer, seeking direction as to the Hope and Consolation of Israel, where no human eye observed him. This showed him that our Lord knew the secrets of his heart. Through Christ we commune with, and benefit by the holy angels; and things in heaven and things on earth are reconciled and united together.
