131 In the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah. 2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. 3 And Abijah began the war with an army of men of war, four hundred thousand chosen men; and Jeroboam set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, mighty men of valour. 4 And Abijah stood up on the top of mount Zemaraim, which is in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, Jeroboam, and all Israel! 5 Ought ye not to know that Jehovah the God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, to him and to his sons [by] a covenant of salt? 6 But Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord. 7 And vain men, sons of Belial, gathered to him and strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, and Rehoboam was young and faint-hearted, and did not shew himself strong against them. 8 And now ye think to shew yourselves strong against the kingdom of Jehovah in the hand of the sons of David; and ye are a great multitude, and ye have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made you for gods. 9 Have ye not cast out the priests of Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made you priests as the peoples of the lands? whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, he becomes a priest of what is not God. 10 But as for us, Jehovah is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests that serve Jehovah are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites are at their work: 11 and they burn to Jehovah every morning and every evening burnt-offerings and sweet incense; the loaves also are set in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with its lamps to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of Jehovah our God; but ye have forsaken him. 12 And behold, we have God with us at our head, and his priests, and the loud-sounding trumpets to sound an alarm against you. Children of Israel, do not fight with Jehovah the God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.
13 But Jeroboam caused an ambush to come about behind them; and they were before Judah, and the ambush behind them. 14 And Judah looked back, and behold, they had the battle in front and behind; and they cried to Jehovah, and the priests sounded with the trumpets. 15 And the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. 16 And the children of Israel fled before Judah; and God delivered them into their hand. 17 And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter; and there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men. 18 And the children of Israel were humbled at that time, and the children of Judah were strengthened, because they relied upon Jehovah the God of their fathers. 19 And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him: Bethel with its dependent villages, and Jeshanah with its dependent villages, and Ephron with its dependent villages. 20 And Jeroboam did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah; and Jehovah smote him, and he died. 21 But Abijah strengthened himself, and took fourteen wives, and begot twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. 22 And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his sayings, are written in the treatise of the prophet Iddo.
141 And Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land was quiet ten years. 2 And Asa did what was good and right in the sight of Jehovah his God; 3 and he took away the altars of the strange [gods] and the high places, and broke the columns, and cut down the Asherahs; 4 and commanded Judah to seek Jehovah the God of their fathers, and to practise the law and the commandment. 5 And he removed out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun-images; and the kingdom was quiet before him. 6 And he built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years; because Jehovah had given him rest. 7 And he said to Judah, Let us build these cities, and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars, while the land is yet before us; for we have sought Jehovah our God; we have sought him, and he has given us rest on every side. And they built and prospered. 8 And Asa had an army that bore targets and spears: out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bore shields and drew the bow, two hundred and eighty thousand: all these, mighty men of valour.
9 And Zerah the Ethiopian came out against him with a host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah. 10 And Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah near Mareshah. 11 And Asa cried unto Jehovah his God, and said, Jehovah, it maketh no difference to thee to help, whether there be much or no power: help us, O Jehovah our God, for we rely on thee, and in thy name have we come against this multitude. Jehovah, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee. 12 And Jehovah smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. 13 And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them to Gerar; and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that none of them was left alive; for they were crushed before Jehovah and before his army. And they carried away very much spoil. 14 And they smote all the cities round about Gerar, for the terror of Jehovah came upon them; and they spoiled all the cities, for there was very much spoil in them. 15 They smote also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep and camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem.
121 Jesus therefore, six days before the passover, came to Bethany, where was the dead [man] Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from among [the] dead. 2 There therefore they made him a supper, and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those at table with him. 3 Mary therefore, having taken a pound of ointment of pure nard of great price, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. 4 One of his disciples therefore, Judas [son] of Simon, Iscariote, who was about to deliver him up, says, 5 Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor? 6 But he said this, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag, and carried what was put into [it]. 7 Jesus therefore said, Suffer her to have kept this for the day of my preparation for burial; 8 for ye have the poor always with you, but me ye have not always.
9 A great crowd therefore of the Jews knew that he was there; and they came, not because of Jesus only, but also that they might see Lazarus whom he raised from among [the] dead. 10 But the chief priests took counsel that they might kill Lazarus also, 11 because many of the Jews went away on his account and believed on Jesus.
12 On the morrow a great crowd who came to the feast, having heard that Jesus is coming into Jerusalem, 13 took branches of palms and went out to meet him, and cried, Hosanna, blessed [is] he that comes in the name of [the] Lord, the King of Israel. 14 And Jesus, having found a young ass, sat upon it; as it is written, 15 Fear not, daughter of Zion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt. 16 [Now] his disciples knew not these things at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things to him. 17 The crowd therefore that was with him bore witness because he had called Lazarus out of the tomb, and raised him from among [the] dead. 18 Therefore also the crowd met him because they had heard that he had done this sign. 19 The Pharisees therefore said to one another, Ye see that ye profit nothing: behold, the world is gone after him.
20 And there were certain Greeks among those who came up that they might worship in the feast; 21 these therefore came to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and they asked him saying, Sir, we desire to see Jesus. 22 Philip comes and tells Andrew, [and again] Andrew comes and Philip, and they tell Jesus. 23 But Jesus answered them saying, The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified. 24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, it abides alone; but if it die, it bears much fruit. 25 He that loves his life shall lose it, and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal. 26 If any one serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there also shall be my servant. [And] if any one serve me, him shall the Father 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.
