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And God sent Elijah the prophet to reprove him, and punished him with a three years' famine.

As Ahab was fighting against the Syrians, he was wounded in his chariot, and died.

8. A-HA-ZI-AH, the son of Ahab, now became king. "He did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin."

He fell through a lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria and was sick. So he sent messengers to Baal

zebub to ask him if he would recover of his illness.

But God sent Elijah to him with this message: "Thus saith the Lord, thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die." So he died; and

9. JE-HO-RAM, the son of Ahab, reigned in his stead. He wrought evil in the sight of the Lord, "but not like his father, and like his mother; for he put away the image of Baal that his father had made."

10. JEHU the son of Je-hosh-a-phat, the son of Nimshi, was anointed king over Israel by the command of the Lord to Elijah. He broke down the image of Baal, and destroyed the house, and killed the worshippers of Baal. But he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

11. JE-HO-A-HAZ, the son of Jehu, reigned in the stead of his father. He also did evil in the sight of the Lord, and followed the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

12. JE-HO-ASH (or JOASH), the son of Je-ho-a-haz, next reigned. Like his father, "he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin."

CHAPTER LXII.

KINGS OF ISRAEL (continued).

13. JE-RO-BO-AM, the son of Joash, next sat upon the throne. He also did evil in the sight of the Lord. "He departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin."

14. ZA-CHA-RI-AH, the son of Jeroboam, next reigned over Israel. He sinned as his fathers had done; and when he had reigned six months, Shallum conspired against him and slew him.

15. SHALLUM now reigned. He was slain by Menahem, the son of Gadi.

16. ME-NA-HEM next sat upon the throne of Israel. He did evil in the sight of the Lord: and walked in the ways of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. His son

17. PE-KA-HI-AH succeeded him. But Pekah, one of his captains, conspired against him and slew him.

18. PEKAH, having slain Pe-ka-hi-ah, reigned in his stead. He also did evil in the sight of the Lord. And Hoshea, the son of Elah, conspired against Pekah and slew him.

19. HOSHEA now became king of Israel. "And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him."

In the ninth year of Hoshea, the King of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria.

"So the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets: so Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria."

NOTES.-Lattice, a window opening like a door. Baal-zebub, the "god of flies," a heathen god worshipped by the Philistines.

QUESTIONS.

Give a list of the kings of Israel. What do you know about Ahab? What sort of a king was Ahaziah? Who was Baal-zebub?

Who anointed Jehu? What did God set him to do? What was his sin? What is meant by "walking in the way of his father?" Who was the last King of Israel? What happened in his reign?

SABBATH.

Oн, what their joy and their glory must be,
Those endless Sabbaths the blessed ones see!
Crown for the valiant; to weary ones rest;
God shall be all, and in all, ever blest.

What are the Monarch, his Court, and his Throne?
What are the peace and the joy that they own?
Tell us, ye blest ones, that in it have share,
If what ye feel ye can fully declare.

Truly "Jerusalem" name we that shore,
"Vision of Peace" that brings joy evermore!
Wish and fulfilment can severed be ne'er;
Nor the thing prayed for come short of the prayer.

We, where no trouble distraction can bring,
Safely the anthems of Zion shall sing;

While for Thy grace, Lord, their voices of praise
Thy blessed people shall evermore raise.

There dawns no Sabbath-no Sabbath is o'er;
Those Sabbath-keepers have one, and no more:
One and unending is that triumph-song
Which to the angels and us shall belong.

Now in the meanwhile, with hearts raised on high,
We for that country must yearn and must sigh;
Seeking Jerusalem, dear native land,

Through our long exile on Babylon's strand.

Dr. J. M. Neale.

CHAPTER LXIII.

ELIJAH.

LUKE iv. 25, 26.-But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; but unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.

ELIJAH was one of the greatest of God's prophets. He dwelt in the land of Gilead, on the eastern side of the River Jordan.

He was sent by God to oppose idolatry in Israel during the reign of the wicked Ahab. He came to Ahab and foretold a three years' drought.

[graphic][merged small]

He hid himself by the brook Cherith, where he lived upon "bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening" (which ravens brought him), and the water of the brook.

The brook having dried up, he went to a poor widow of Zar-e-phath, who supported him for three years with her "handful of meal in a barrel" and her "little oil in a cruse." For "the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which He spake by Elijah."

While he was staying here, the poor widow's son fell sick and died. The woman looked upon this as a punishment for her sins, and said to Elijah, "Oh, thou man of God, art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?"

Then Elijah asked her to bring her dead son to him. And when she had brought him he took him the upper chamber where he dwelt.

up

into

Then he stretched

[graphic]

ELIJAH RAISING THE WIDOW'S SON.

himself upon the child three times, and said, "O Lord my God, I pray Thee let this child's life come into him again." The Lord heard Elijah's prayer, and He

restored the son to life.

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