191 And Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, went back to his house in Jerusalem in peace. 2 And Jehu, the son of Hanani the seer, went to King Jehoshaphat and said to him, Is it right for you to go to the help of evil-doers, loving the haters of the Lord? because of this, the wrath of the Lord has come on you. 3 But still there is some good in you, for you have put away the wood pillars out of the land, and have given your heart to the worship of God.
4 And Jehoshaphat was living in Jerusalem; and he went out again among the people, from Beer-sheba to the hill-country of Ephraim, guiding them back to the Lord, the God of their fathers.
5 And he put judges through all the land, in every walled town of Judah, 6 And said to the judges, Take care what you do, for you are judging not for man but for the Lord, and he is with you in the decisions you give. 7 So now let the fear of the Lord be in you; do your work with care; for in the Lord our God there is no evil, or respect for high position, or taking of payment to do wrong. 8 Then in Jerusalem he gave authority to certain of the Levites and the priests and the heads of families of Israel to give decisions for the Lord, and in the causes of those living in Jerusalem. 9 And he gave them their orders, saying, You are to do your work in the fear of the Lord, in good faith and with a true heart. 10 And if any cause comes before you from your brothers living in their towns, where the death punishment is in question, or where there are questions of law or order, or rules or decisions, make them take care that they are not in the wrong before the Lord, so that wrath may not come on you and on your brothers; do this and you yourselves will not be in the wrong. 11 And now, Amariah, the chief priest, is over you in all questions to do with the Lord; and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the head of the family of Judah, in everything to do with the king's business; and the Levites will be overseers for you. Be strong to do the work; and may the Lord be with the upright.
201 Now after this, the children of Moab and the children of Ammon, and with them some of the Meunim, made war against Jehoshaphat. 2 And they came to Jehoshaphat with the news, saying, A great army is moving against you from Edom across the sea; and now they are in Hazazon-tamar (which is En-gedi). 3 Then Jehoshaphat, in his fear, went to the Lord for directions, and gave orders all through Judah for the people to go without food. 4 And Judah came together to make prayer for help from the Lord; from every town of Judah they came to give worship to the Lord. 5 And Jehoshaphat took his place in the meeting of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord in front of the new open space, 6 And said, O Lord, the God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? are you not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? and in your hands are power and strength so that no one is able to keep his place against you. 7 Did you not, O Lord our God, after driving out the people of this land before your people Israel, give it to the seed of Abraham, your friend, for ever? 8 And they made it their living-place, building there a holy house for your name, and saying, 9 If evil comes on us, the sword, or punishment, or disease, or need of food, we will come to this house and to you, (for your name is in this house,) crying to you in our trouble, and you will give us salvation in answer to our cry. 10 And now, see, the children of Ammon and Moab and the people of Mount Seir, whom you kept Israel from attacking when they came out of Egypt, so that turning to one side they did not send destruction on them: 11 See now, how as our reward they have come to send us out of your land which you have given us as our heritage. 12 O our God, will you not be their judge? for our strength is not equal to this great army which is coming against us; and we are at a loss what to do: but our eyes are on you. 13 And all Judah were waiting before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.
14 Then, before all the meeting, the spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel, the son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite and one of the family of Asaph; 15 And he said, Give ear, O Judah, and you people of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat: the Lord says to you, Have no fear and do not be troubled on account of this great army; for the fight is not yours but God's. 16 Go down against them tomorrow: see, they are coming up by the slope of Ziz; at the end of the valley, before the waste land of Jeruel, you will come face to face with them. 17 There will be no need for you to take up arms in this fight; put yourselves in position, and keep where you are, and you will see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: have no fear and do not be troubled: go out against them tomorrow, for the Lord is with you. 18 Then Jehoshaphat went down with his face to the earth, and all Judah and the people of Jerusalem gave worship to the Lord, falling down before him. 19 And the Levites, the children of the Kohathites and the Korahites, got to their feet and gave praise to the Lord, the God of Israel, with a loud voice.
20 And early in the morning they got up and went out to the waste land of Tekoa: and when they were going out, Jehoshaphat took his station and said to them, Give ear to me, O Judah and you people of Jerusalem: have faith in the Lord your God and you will be safe; have faith in his prophets and all will go well for you. 21 And after discussion with the people, he put in their places those who were to make melody to the Lord, praising him in holy robes, while they went at the head of the army, and saying, May the Lord be praised, for his mercy is unchanging for ever. 22 And at the first notes of song and praise the Lord sent a surprise attack against the children of Ammon and Moab and the people of Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were overcome. 23 And the children of Ammon and Moab made an attack on the people of Mount Seir with a view to their complete destruction; and when they had put an end to the people of Seir, everyman's hand was turned against his neighbour for his destruction. 24 And Judah came to the watchtower of the waste land, and looking in the direction of the army, they saw only dead bodies stretched on the earth; no living man was to be seen. 25 And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their goods from them, they saw beasts in great numbers, and wealth and clothing and things of value, more than they were able to take away; all this they took for themselves, and they were three days getting it away, there was so much. 26 On the fourth day they all came together in the Valley of Blessing, and there they gave blessing to the Lord; for which cause that place has been named the Valley of Blessing to this day. 27 Then all the men of Judah and Jerusalem went back, with Jehoshaphat at their head, coming back to Jerusalem with joy; for the Lord had made them glad over their haters. 28 So they came to Jerusalem with corded instruments and wind-instruments into the house of the Lord. 29 And the fear of God came on all the kingdoms of the lands, when they had news of how the Lord made war on those who came against Israel. 30 So the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for the Lord gave him rest on every side.
31 And Jehoshaphat was king over Judah: he was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he was ruling for twenty-five years in Jerusalem: his mother's name was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi. 32 He went in the ways of his father Asa, not turning away, but doing right in the eyes of the Lord. 33 The high places, however, were not taken away, and the hearts of the people were still not true to the God of their fathers. 34 Now as for the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, they are recorded in the words of Jehu, the son of Hanani, which were put in the book of the kings of Israel. 35 After this Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, became friends with Ahaziah, king of Israel, who did much evil: 36 Together they made ships to go to Tarshish, building them in Ezion-geber. 37 Then the word of Eliezer the prophet, the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah, came against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because you have let yourself be joined with Ahaziah, the Lord has sent destruction on your works. And the ships were broken and were not able to go to Tarshish.
21 When Jesus had said this he was troubled in spirit, and gave witness, saying, Truly I say to you, that one of you will be false to me. 22 Then the eyes of the disciples were turned on one another, in doubt as to whom he had in mind. 23 There was at table one of his disciples, the one dear to Jesus, resting his head on Jesus' breast. 24 Making a sign to him, Simon Peter said, Who is it he is talking about? 25 He, then, resting his head on Jesus' breast, said to him, Lord, who is it? 26 This was the answer Jesus gave: It is the one to whom I will give this bit of bread after I have put it in the vessel. Then he took the bit of bread, put it into the vessel, and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 And when Judas took the bread Satan went into him. Then Jesus said to him, Do quickly what you have to do. 28 Now it was not clear to anyone at table why he said this to him. 29 Some were of the opinion that because Judas kept the money-bag Jesus said to him, Get the things we have need of for the feast; or, that he was to give something to the poor. 30 So Judas, having taken the bit of bread, straight away went out: and it was night.
31 Then when he had gone out, Jesus said, Now is glory given to the Son of man, and God is given glory in him. 32 If God is given glory in him, God will give him glory in himself, and will give him glory even now. 33 My dear children, I am only to be with you a little longer. Then you will be looking for me: and as I said to the Jews, so now I say to you, Where I am going you may not come. 34 I give you a new law: Have love one for another; even as I have had love for you, so are you to have love one for another. 35 By this it will be clear to all men that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another.
36 Simon Peter said to him, Lord, where are you going? Jesus said in answer, Where I am going you may not come with me now, but you will come later. 37 Peter said to him, Why may I not come with you even now? I will give up my life for you. 38 Jesus said in answer, Will you give up your life for me? Truly I say to you, Before the cry of the cock you will have said three times that you are not my disciple.
(Read John 13:18-30)
Our Lord had often spoken of his own sufferings and death, without such trouble of spirit as he now discovered when he spake of Judas. The sins of Christians are the grief of Christ. We are not to confine our attention to Judas. The prophecy of his treachery may apply to all who partake of God's mercies, and meet them with ingratitude. See the infidel, who only looks at the Scriptures with a desire to do away their authority and destroy their influence; the hypocrite, who professes to believe the Scriptures, but will not govern himself by them; and the apostate, who turns aside from Christ for a thing of naught. Thus mankind, supported by God's providence, after eating bread with Him, lift up the heel against Him! Judas went out as one weary of Jesus and his apostles. Those whose deeds are evil, love darkness rather than light.
(Read John 13:31-35)
Christ had been glorified in many miracles he wrought, yet he speaks of his being glorified now in his sufferings, as if that were more than all his other glories in his humbled state. Satisfaction was thereby made for the wrong done to God by the sin of man. We cannot now follow our Lord to his heavenly happiness, but if we truly believe in him, we shall follow him hereafter; meanwhile we must wait his time, and do his work. Before Christ left the disciples, he would give them a new commandment. They were to love each other for Christ's sake, and according to his example, seeking what might benefit others, and promoting the cause of the gospel, as one body, animated by one soul. But this commandment still appears new to many professors. Men in general notice any of Christ's words rather than these. By this it appears, that if the followers of Christ do not show love one to another, they give cause to suspect their sincerity.
(Read John 13:36-38)
What Christ had said concerning brotherly love, Peter overlooked, but spoke of that about which Christ kept them ignorant. It is common to be more eager to know about secret things, which belong to God only, than about things revealed, which belong to us and our children; to be more desirous to have our curiosity gratified, than our consciences directed; to know what is done in heaven, than what we may do to get thither. How soon discourse as to what is plain and edifying is dropped, while a doubtful dispute runs on into endless strife of words! We are apt to take it amiss to be told we cannot do this and the other, whereas, without Christ we can do nothing. Christ knows us better than we know ourselves, and has many ways of discovering those to themselves, whom he loves, and he will hide pride from them. May we endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, to love one another with a pure heart fervently, and to walk humbly with our God.
