April 15, 2010 1Kings 14-17

Jeroboam's son became ill. So he told his wife to disguise herself and go to the prophet with gifts and find out what will happen. The prophet was blind, but God told him who was coming and then he heard her. He told her that the Lord had said He was angry about all the wickedness and evil Jeroboam did. He told her that every male in the family would die. He told her that she was to return home and when she set her foot there, her son would die, and that the Lord would raise up a king, and Jeroboam's family would be wiped out. She went home and the boy died. Jeroboam reigned for 22 years.

Meanwhile in Judah, Rehoboam, son of Solomon was king for 17 years. They too did evil by worshiping other Gods. During the 5th year of his reign, the king of Egypt raided Jerusalem and carried off the treasures of the temple and the palace.

There was continual warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.

During the 18th year of Jeroboam's reign, Rehoboam died. His son, Abijah inherited the throne of Judah, and he reigned for 3 years. He did evil things too. Jeroboam fought with Abijah the entire time. Then Abijah died.

Asa the son of Abijah became the next king in Judah in the 20th year of Jeroboam's reign. He obeyed God and cleaned up Judah. Asa reigned 41 years. He restored the lost articles to the temple. Asa would watch a parade of kings come and die in Israel during his long reign. The bible jumps ahead a bit to tell about the war between Baasha, king of Israel and Asa. Baasha fortified the town of Ramah to keep anyone from going in or out. Asa paid the leader of the Syrian army to fight against Israel to make them leave, and it worked.

Back to Israel - Jeroboam died and his son Nadab became king in the 2nd year of Asa's reign. He too did evil things. He reigned for 2 years. Then a guy named Baasha plotted against him and killed him and became king. So, in the 3rd year of Asa's reign Baasha became king of Israel, and he reigned for 24 years. He killed everyone from Jeroboam's whole family. A prophet foretold doom to the house of Baasha. In the 26th year of Asa's reign in Judah, Baasha died and Elah, his son, became King of Israel. He reigned for 2 years. Zimri, one of his officials, killed Elah and became king in the 27th year of Asa's reign. Zimri killed everyone in Baasha's family. After 7 days with Zimri in charge, the people voted Omri to be their king. Then, some of the people wanted Tibni to be king, but Omri defeated him. This happened in the 31st year of Asa's reign. Omri was king for 12 years. Omri did evil things and provoked God to anger. Omri's son Ahab became the next king in the 38th year of Asa's reign. Omri was king of Israel for 22 years and did evil things too.

Ahab had a prophet named Elijah tell him that a drought was on it's way. God told Elijah to hide in a ravine where he could get water and food from ravens which God had instructed to feed him. So he went. The ravens brought him meat and bread every morning and evening and he drank from the brook. When the brook dried up, God told Elijah to go to a town to the house of a widow who would supply him with food. He went to the town and saw a widow gathering sticks and asked her for a drink. When she was going to get the water Elijah asked her for some bread too. She swore to him that he didn't have any bread, only a handful of flour and a little oil. She was going to prepare her final meal for her and her son and then die. So Elijah told her not to be afraid, and to go home and do what she planned, but first bring him a small cake of bread and then feed her son and herself. Then he promised her that if she were to do this, her flour and oil would not run out until it rained. It was just as Elijah had said and he lived in a room of her house. One day her son became ill and finally stopped breathing. She went to Elijah and told him about her son and supposed the reason was to punish her further. Elijah had her bring her son to him and he took his body up to the room where he stayed and brought him back to life. He took the boy back to her and she told him that he was a man of God and he spoke the truth.

Tomorrow read 1Kings 18-20:25