The One Year Bible TLB (161 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
If you won’t plow in the cold, you won’t eat at the harvest.
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Though good advice lies deep within a counselor’s heart, the wise man will draw it out.
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Most people will tell you what loyal friends they are, but are they telling the truth?
July 28When Jehoshaphat died, he was buried in the cemetery of the kings in Jerusalem, and his son Jehoram became the new ruler of Judah.
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His brothers—other sons of Jehoshaphat—were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah.
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Their father had given each of them valuable gifts of money and jewels, also the ownership of some of the fortified cities of Judah. However, he gave the kingship to Jehoram because he was the oldest. But when Jehoram had become solidly established as king, he killed all of his brothers and many other leaders of Israel.
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He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
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But he was as wicked as the kings who were over in Israel. Yes, as wicked as Ahab, for Jehoram had married one of the daughters of Ahab, and his whole life was one constant binge of doing evil.
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However, the Lord was unwilling to end the dynasty of David, for he had made a covenant with David always to have one of his descendants upon the throne.
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At that time the king of Edom revolted, declaring his independence of Judah.
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Jehoram attacked him with his full army and with all of his chariots, marching by night, and almost
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managed to subdue him.
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But to this day Edom has been successful in throwing off the yoke of Judah. Libnah revolted too because Jehoram had turned away from the Lord God of his fathers.
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What’s more, Jehoram constructed idol shrines in the mountains of Judah and led the people of Jerusalem in worshiping idols; in fact, he compelled his people to worship them.
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Then Elijah the prophet wrote him this letter: “The Lord God of your ancestor David says that because you have not followed in the good ways of your father Jehoshaphat, nor the good ways of King Asa,
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but you have been as evil as the kings over in Israel and have made the people of Jerusalem and Judah worship idols just as in the times of King Ahab, and because you have killed your brothers who were better than you,
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now the Lord will destroy your nation with a great plague. You, your children, your wives, and all that you have will be struck down.
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You will be stricken with an intestinal disease and your bowels will rot away.”
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Then the Lord stirred up the Philistines and the Arabs living next to the Ethiopians to attack Jehoram.
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They marched against Judah, broke across the border, and carried away everything of value in the king’s palace, including his sons and his wives; only his youngest son, Jehoahaz, escaped.
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It was after this that Jehovah struck him down with the incurable bowel disease.
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In the process of time, at the end of two years, his intestines came out, and he died in terrible suffering. (The customary pomp and ceremony was omitted at his funeral.)
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He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years and died unmourned. He was buried in Jerusalem, but not in the royal cemetery.
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Then the people of Jerusalem chose Ahaziah,
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his youngest son, as their new king (for the marauding bands of Arabs had killed his older sons).
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Ahaziah was twenty-two years old
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when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah, granddaughter of Omri.
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He, too, walked in the evil ways of Ahab, for his mother encouraged him in doing wrong.
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Yes, he was as evil as Ahab, for Ahab’s family became his advisors after his father’s death, and they led him on to ruin.
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Following their evil advice, Ahaziah made an alliance with King Joram of Israel (the son of Ahab), who was at war with King Hazael of Syria at Ramoth-gilead. Ahaziah led his army there to join the battle. King Joram of Israel was wounded
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and returned to Jezreel to recover. Ahaziah went to visit him,
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but this turned out to be a fatal mistake; for God had decided to punish Ahaziah for his alliance with Joram. It was during this visit that Ahaziah went out with Joram to challenge Jehu (son of Nimshi), whom the Lord had appointed to end the dynasty of Ahab.
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While Jehu was hunting down and killing the family and friends of Ahab, he met King Ahaziah’s nephews, the princes of Judah, and killed them.
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As he and his men were searching for Ahaziah, they found him hiding in the city of Samaria and brought him to Jehu, who killed him. Even so, Ahaziah was given a royal burial because he was the grandson of King Jehoshaphat—a man who enthusiastically served the Lord. None of his sons, however, except for Joash, lived to succeed him as king,
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for their grandmother Athaliah killed them when she heard the news of her son Ahaziah’s death.
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Joash was rescued by his Aunt Jehoshabeath, who was King Ahaziah’s sister,
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and was hidden away in a storage room in the Temple. She was a daughter of King Jehoram and the wife of Jehoiada the priest.
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Joash remained hidden in the Temple for six years while Athaliah reigned as queen. He was cared for by his nurse and by his aunt and uncle.
23:
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In the seventh year of the reign of Queen Athaliah, Jehoiada the priest got up his courage and took some of the army officers into his confidence: Azariah (son of Jeroham), Ishmael (son of Jehohanan), Azariah (son of Obed), Maaseiah (son of Adaiah), and Elishaphat (son of Zichri).
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These men traveled out across the nation secretly to tell the Levites and clan leaders about his plans and to summon them to Jerusalem. On arrival they swore allegiance to the young king, who was still in hiding at the Temple.
“At last the time has come for the king’s son to reign!” Jehoiada exclaimed. “The Lord’s promise—that a descendant of King David shall be our king—will be true again.
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This is how we’ll proceed: A third of you priests and Levites who come off duty on the Sabbath will stay at the entrance as guards.
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Another third will go over to the palace, and a third will be at the Lower Gate. Everyone else must stay in the outer courts of the Temple, as required by God’s laws. For only the priests and Levites on duty may enter the Temple itself, for they are sanctified.
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You Levites, form a bodyguard for the king, weapons in hand, and kill any unauthorized person entering the Temple. Stay right beside the king.”
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So all the arrangements were made. Each of the three leaders led a third of the priests arriving for duty that Sabbath, and a third of those whose week’s work was done and were going off duty—for Jehoiada the chief priest didn’t release them to go home.
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Then Jehoiada issued spears and shields to all the army officers. These had once belonged to King David and were stored in the Temple.
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These officers, fully armed, formed a line from one side to the other in front of the Temple and around the altar in the outer court.
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Then they brought out the little prince and placed the crown upon his head, and handed him a copy of the law of God, and proclaimed him king.
A great shout went up, “Long live the king!” as Jehoiada and his sons anointed him.
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When Queen Athaliah heard all the noise and commotion and the shouts of praise to the king, she rushed over to the Temple to see what was going on—and there stood the king by his pillar at the entrance, with the army officers and the trumpeters surrounding him, and people from all over the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and the singers singing, accompanied by an orchestra leading the people in a great psalm of praise.
Athaliah ripped her clothes and screamed, “Treason! Treason!”
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“Take her out and kill her,” Jehoiada the priest shouted to the army officers. “Don’t do it here at the Temple. And kill anyone who tries to help her.”
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So the crowd opened up for them to take her out, and they killed her at the palace stables.
Then Jehoiada made a solemn contract that he and the king and the people would be the Lord’s. And all the people rushed over to the temple of Baal and knocked it down, and broke up the altars, and knocked down the idols, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before his altar.
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Jehoiada now appointed the Levite priests as guards, and to sacrifice the burnt offering to the Lord as prescribed in the law of Moses. He made the identical assignments of the Levite clans that King David had. They sang with joy as they worked.
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The guards at the Temple gates kept out everything that was not consecrated and all unauthorized personnel.
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Then the army officers, nobles, governors, and all the people escorted the king from the Temple, wending their way from the Upper Gate to the palace, and seated the king upon his throne.
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So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet and peaceful because Queen Athaliah was dead.
As you know, God has appointed me as a special messenger to you Gentiles. I lay great stress on this and remind the Jews about it as often as I can,
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so that if possible I can make them want what you Gentiles have and in that way save some of them.
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And how wonderful it will be when they become Christians! When God turned away from them it meant that he turned to the rest of the world to offer his salvation; and now it is even more wonderful when the Jews come to Christ. It will be like dead people coming back to life.
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And since Abraham and the prophets are God’s people, their children will be too. For if the roots of the tree are holy, the branches will be too.
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But some of these branches from Abraham’s tree, some of the Jews, have been broken off. And you Gentiles who were branches from, we might say, a wild olive tree, were grafted in. So now you, too, receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in God’s rich nourishment of his own special olive tree.
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But you must be careful not to brag about being put in to replace the branches that were broken off. Remember that you are important only because you are now a part of God’s tree; you are just a branch, not a root.
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“Well,” you may be saying, “those branches were broken off to make room for me, so I must be pretty good.”
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Watch out! Remember that those branches, the Jews, were broken off because they didn’t believe God, and you are there only because you do. Do not be proud; be humble and grateful—and careful.
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For if God did not spare the branches he put there in the first place, he won’t spare you either.
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Notice how God is both kind and severe. He is very hard on those who disobey, but very good to you if you continue to love and trust him. But if you don’t, you too will be cut off.
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On the other hand, if the Jews leave their unbelief behind them and come back to God, God will graft them back into the tree again. He has the power to do it.
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For if God was willing to take you who were so far away from him—being part of a wild olive tree—and graft you into his own good tree—a very unusual thing to do—don’t you see that he will be far more ready to put the Jews back again, who were there in the first place?
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I want you to know about this truth from God, dear brothers, so that you will not feel proud and start bragging. Yes, it is true that some of the Jews have set themselves against the Gospel now, but this will last only until all of you Gentiles have come to Christ—those of you who will.
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And then all Israel will be saved.
Do you remember what the prophets said about this? “There shall come out of Zion a Deliverer, and he shall turn the Jews from all ungodliness.
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At that time I will take away their sins, just as I promised.”
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Now many of the Jews are enemies of the Gospel. They hate it. But this has been a benefit to you, for it has resulted in God’s giving his gifts to you Gentiles. Yet the Jews are still beloved of God because of his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
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For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn; he will never go back on his promises.
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Once you were rebels against God, but when the Jews refused his gifts God was merciful to you instead.
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And now the Jews are the rebels, but some day they, too, will share in God’s mercy upon you.
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For God has given them all up to sin
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so that he could have mercy upon all alike.
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Oh, what a wonderful God we have! How great are his wisdom and knowledge and riches! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his methods!
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For who among us can know the mind of the Lord? Who knows enough to be his counselor and guide?
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And who could ever offer to the Lord enough to induce him to act?
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For everything comes from God alone. Everything lives by his power, and everything is for his glory. To him be glory evermore.