The One Year Bible TLB (129 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
A wise slave will rule his master’s wicked sons and share their estate.
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Silver and gold are purified by fire, but God purifies hearts.
June 13King Solomon married many other girls besides the Egyptian princess. Many of them came from nations where idols were worshiped
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—Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from the Hittites—
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even though the Lord had clearly instructed his people not to marry into those nations, because the women they married would get them started worshiping their gods. Yet Solomon did it anyway.
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He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines; and sure enough, they turned his heart away from the Lord,
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especially in his old age. They encouraged him to worship their gods instead of trusting completely in the Lord as his father David had done.
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Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the horrible god of the Ammonites.
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Thus Solomon did what was clearly wrong and refused to follow the Lord as his father David did.
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He even built a temple on the Mount of Olives, across the valley from Jerusalem, for Chemosh, the depraved god of Moab, and another for Molech, the unutterably vile god of the Ammonites.
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Solomon built temples for these foreign wives to use for burning incense and sacrificing to their gods.
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Jehovah was very angry with Solomon about this, for now Solomon was no longer interested in the Lord God of Israel who had appeared to him twice to warn him specifically against worshiping other gods. But he hadn’t listened,
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so now the Lord said to him, “Since you have not kept our agreement and have not obeyed my laws, I will tear the kingdom away from you and your family and give it to someone else.
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However, for the sake of your father David, I won’t do this while you are still alive. I will take the kingdom away from your son. And even so I will let him be king of one tribe, for David’s sake and for the sake of Jerusalem, my chosen city.”
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So the Lord caused Hadad the Edomite to grow in power. And Solomon became apprehensive, for Hadad was a member of the royal family of Edom.
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Years before, when David had been in Edom with Joab to arrange for the burial of some Israeli soldiers who had died in battle, the Israeli army had killed nearly every male in the entire country.
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It took six months to accomplish this, but they finally killed all except Hadad and a few royal officials who took him to Egypt (he was a very small child at the time). They slipped out of Midian and went to Paran, where others joined them and accompanied them to Egypt, and Pharaoh had given them homes and food.
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Hadad became one of Pharaoh’s closest friends, and he gave him a wife—the sister of Queen Tahpenes.
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She presented him with a son, Genubath, who was brought up in Pharaoh’s palace among Pharaoh’s own sons.
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When Hadad, there in Egypt, heard that David and Joab were both dead, he asked Pharaoh for permission to return to Edom.
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“Why?” Pharaoh asked him. “What do you lack here? How have we disappointed you?”
“Everything is wonderful,” he replied, “but even so, I’d like to go back home.”
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Another of Solomon’s enemies whom God raised to power was Rezon, one of the officials of King Hadadezer of Zobah who had deserted his post and fled the country.
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He had become the leader of a gang of bandits—men who fled with him to Damascus (where he later became king) when David destroyed Zobah.
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During Solomon’s entire lifetime, Rezon and Hadad were his enemies, for they hated Israel intensely.
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Another rebel leader was Jeroboam (the son of Nebat), who came from the city of Zeredah in Ephraim; his mother was Zeruah, a widow.
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Here is the story of his rebellion: Solomon was rebuilding Fort Millo, repairing the walls of this city his father had built. Jeroboam was very able, and when Solomon saw how industrious he was, he put him in charge of his labor battalions from the tribe of Joseph.
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One day as Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh (who had put on a new robe for the occasion) met him and called him aside to talk to him. And as the two of them were alone in the field,
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Ahijah tore his new robe into twelve parts
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and said to Jeroboam, “Take ten of these pieces, for the Lord God of Israel says, ‘I will tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and give ten of the tribes to you!
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But I will leave him one tribe
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for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen above all the other cities of Israel.
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For Solomon has forsaken me and worships Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians; and Chemosh, the god of Moab; and Milcom, the god of the Ammonites. He has not followed my paths and has not done what I consider right; he has not kept my laws and instructions as his father David did.
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I will not take the kingdom from him now, however; for the sake of my servant David, my chosen one who obeyed my commandments, I will let Solomon reign for the rest of his life.
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“‘But I will take away the kingdom from his son and give ten of the tribes to you.
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His son shall have the other one so that the descendants of David will continue to reign in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen to be the place for my name to be enshrined.
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And I will place you on the throne of Israel and give you absolute power.
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If you listen to what I tell you and walk in my path and do whatever I consider right, obeying my commandments as my servant David did, then I will bless you; and your descendants shall rule Israel forever. (I once made this same promise to David.
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But because of Solomon’s sin, I will punish the descendants of David—though not forever.)’”
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Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he fled to King Shishak of Egypt and stayed there until the death of Solomon.
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The rest of what Solomon did and said is written in the book
The Acts of Solomon.
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He ruled in Jerusalem for forty years,
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and then died and was buried in the city of his father David; and his son Rehoboam reigned in his place.
12:
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Rehoboam’s inauguration was at Shechem, and all Israel came for the coronation ceremony.
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Jeroboam, who was still in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon, heard about the plans from his friends. They urged him to attend, so he joined the rest of Israel at Shechem and was the ringleader in getting the people to make certain demands upon Rehoboam.
“Your father was a hard master,” they told Rehoboam. “We don’t want you as our king unless you promise to treat us better than he did.”
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“Give me three days to think this over,” Rehoboam replied. “Come back then for my answer.” So the people left.
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Rehoboam talked it over with the old men who had counseled his father Solomon.
“What do you think I should do?” he asked them.
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And they replied, “If you give them a pleasant reply and agree to be good to them and serve them well, you can be their king forever.”
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But Rehoboam refused the old men’s counsel and called in the young men with whom he had grown up.
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“What do you think I should do?” he asked them.
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And the young men replied, “Tell them, ‘If you think my father was hard on you, well, I’ll be harder!
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Yes, my father was harsh, but I’ll be even harsher! My father used whips on you, but I’ll use scorpions!’”
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So when Jeroboam and the people returned three days later,
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the new king answered them roughly. He ignored the old men’s advice and followed that of the young men;
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so the king refused the people’s demands. (But the Lord’s hand was in it—he caused the new king to do this in order to fulfill his promise to Jeroboam, made through Ahijah, the prophet from Shiloh.)
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When the people realized that the king meant what he said and was refusing to listen to them, they began shouting, “Down with David and all his relatives! Let’s go home! Let Rehoboam be king of his own family!”
And they all deserted him except for the tribe of Judah, who remained loyal and accepted Rehoboam as their king.
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When King Rehoboam sent Adoram (who was in charge of the draft) to conscript men from the other tribes, a great mob stoned him to death. But King Rehoboam escaped by chariot and fled to Jerusalem.
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And Israel has been in rebellion against the dynasty of David to this day.
But Paul, threatening with every breath and eager to destroy every Christian, went to the High Priest in Jerusalem.
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He requested a letter addressed to synagogues in Damascus, requiring their cooperation in the persecution of any believers he found there, both men and women, so that he could bring them in chains to Jerusalem.
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As he was nearing Damascus on this mission, suddenly a brilliant light from heaven spotted down upon him!
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He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him,
“Paul! Paul! Why are you persecuting me?”
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“Who is speaking, sir?” Paul asked.
And the voice replied,
“I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting!
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Now get up and go into the city and await my further instructions.”
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The men with Paul stood speechless with surprise, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one!
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As Paul picked himself up off the ground, he found that he was blind. He had to be led into Damascus and was there three days, blind, going without food and water all that time.
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Now there was in Damascus a believer named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling,
“Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord!” he replied.
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And the Lord said,
“Go over to Straight Street and find the house of a man named Judas and ask there for Paul of Tarsus. He is praying to me right now, for
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I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying his hands on him so that he can see again!”
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“But Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I have heard about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem!
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And we hear that he has arrest warrants with him from the chief priests, authorizing him to arrest every believer in Damascus!”
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But the Lord said,
“Go and do what I say. For Paul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the nations and before kings, as well as to the people of Israel.
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And I will show him how much he must suffer for me.”
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So Ananias went over and found Paul and laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Paul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you may be filled with the Holy Spirit and get your sight back.”
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Instantly (it was as though scales fell from his eyes) Paul could see and was immediately baptized.
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Then he ate and was strengthened.
He stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days
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and went at once to the synagogue to tell everyone there the Good News about Jesus—that he is indeed the Son of God!
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All who heard him were amazed. “Isn’t this the same man who persecuted Jesus’ followers so bitterly in Jerusalem?” they asked. “And we understand that he came here to arrest them all and take them in chains to the chief priests.”
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Paul became more and more fervent in his preaching, and the Damascus Jews couldn’t withstand his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Christ.
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After a while the Jewish leaders determined to kill him.
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But Paul was told about their plans, that they were watching the gates of the city day and night prepared to murder him.
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So during the night some of his converts let him down in a basket through an opening in the city wall!
Lord, I am not proud and haughty. I don’t think myself better than others. I don’t pretend to “know it all.”
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I am quiet now before the Lord, just as a child who is weaned from the breast. Yes, my begging has been stilled.
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O Israel, you too should quietly trust in the Lord—now, and always.