Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 216
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IMMERSE
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KINGDOMS
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| 13:27–14:11
disobeyed the Lord’s command. The Lord has fulfilled his word by causing the lion to attack and kill him.”
Then the prophet said to his sons, “Saddle a donkey for me.” So they
saddled a donkey, and he went out and found the body lying in the road.
The donkey and lion were still standing there beside it, for the lion had
not eaten the body nor attacked the donkey. So the prophet laid the body
of the man of God on the donkey and took it back to the town to mourn
over him and bury him. He laid the body in his own grave, crying out in
grief, “Oh, my brother!”
Afterward the prophet said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the
grave where the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones. For
the message the Lord told him to proclaim against the altar in Bethel and
against the pagan shrines in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true.”
But even after this, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil ways. He continued to choose priests from the common people. He appointed anyone
who wanted to become a priest for the pagan shrines. This became a great
sin and resulted in the utter destruction of Jeroboam’s dynasty from the
face of the earth.
At that time Jeroboam’s son Abijah became very sick. So Jeroboam told
his wife, “Disguise yourself so that no one will recognize you as my wife.
Then go to the prophet Ahijah at Shiloh—the man who told me I would
become king. Take him a gift of ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar
of honey, and ask him what will happen to the boy.”
So Jeroboam’s wife went to Ahijah’s home at Shiloh. He was an old man
now and could no longer see. But the Lord had told Ahijah, “Jeroboam’s
wife will come here, pretending to be someone else. She will ask you about
her son, for he is very sick. Give her the answer I give you.”
So when Ahijah heard her footsteps at the door, he called out, “Come
in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you pretending to be someone else?” Then
he told her, “I have bad news for you. Give your husband, Jeroboam, this
message from the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘I promoted you from the ranks
of the common people and made you ruler over my people Israel. I ripped
the kingdom away from the family of David and gave it to you. But you
have not been like my servant David, who obeyed my commands and followed me with all his heart and always did whatever I wanted. You have
done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made other gods
for yourself and have made me furious with your gold calves. And since
you have turned your back on me, I will bring disaster on your dynasty
and will destroy every one of your male descendants, slave and free alike,
anywhere in Israel. I will burn up your royal dynasty as one burns up trash
until it is all gone. The members of Jeroboam’s family who die in the city