BRAGADAYJAH 1026

BRAGADAYJAH 1026

The man of God met a lying Prophet

At that time there was an old prophet in Bethel; and his sons came to him and told him all the things that the man of God and done that day in Bethel, including the words he had spoken to the king. And their father asked them what way the man of God went; for it happened that the sons had seen the way the man of God had gone and they told their father.  And the old prophet told his sons to saddle his ass which they did; and the old prophet left upon his ass. And following after the man of God, the old prophet found him sitting under an oak tree. And he asked him if he was the man of God that came from Judah.  And the man of God answered him and said he was. And the old prophet invited the man of God to go home with him and eat bread. And the man of God told him that he could not go with him to his house, not eat bread, nor drink water with him; for the Lord had told him not to eat bread or drink water in that place. But the old prophet told the man of God that he too was a prophet and that an angel had spoken to him by the word of the Lord and told him to bring him back with him to his house and that they should eat bread together there. So the man of God went with the old prophet to his house and they ate and drank together; but the old man had lied when he told the man of God that he was told to take him to his house and eat and drink with him there. 

www.chaberbooks.com

BRAGADAYJAH 1025

BRAGADAYJAH 1025

Jeroboam’s arm withered and restored by the man of God.

And when King Jeroboam heard the words of the man of God who had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar and told his men to lay hold on the man of God; and immediately, the hand he held out dried up. So that he could not pull it in to him again. The altar also was rent and the ashes poured out from it. Just as the sign of the man of God said it would. And the king answered and said to the man of God, “Entreat now the face of the Lord your God, and pray for me that my hand may be restored me again.” And the man of God besought the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him again as it was before. And the king invited the man of God to go home with him, and have food and a change of clothes and a reward; but the man of God refused and told him he would not go home with him for half his house, neither would he eat or drink water in his house. For the Lord had charged him not to eat or drink in the king’s house. So the man of God departed and went away using a different way from the one he used to go to Bethel.

www.chaberbooks.com 

BRAGADAYJAH 1024

BRAGADAYJAH 1024

The Prophesy of the man of God from Judah

Then Jeroboam made a house of high paces, and made priests of the lowest of the people which were not of the sons of Levi. And he ordained a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feasts that were being celebrated in Judah; and he offered upon the altar. And he offered sacrifices on the altar in Bethel unto the golden calves that he had made, and he placed in Bethel the priests which he had made of the high places which he had made. And there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord, and came to Bethel where he found Jeroboam offering sacrifices of burnt offerings. And the man of God cried against the altar before which Jeroboam was worshipping and said, “O altar, altar thus saith the Lord, Behold a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name, and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee.” And he gave a sign the same day and said, “This is the sign which the Lord has spoken; behold the altar shall be rent and the ashes which are upon it shall be poured out.”

www.chaberbooks.com 

BRAGADAYJAH 1023

BRAGADAYJAH 1023

Rehoboam forbidden to war against Israel.

After that it came to pass that when Israel heard that Jeroboam had come up again, they sent and called him unto the congregation and made him king over all Israel, so that there was none that followed the house of David other than the tribe of Judah.  And when Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem he assembled all the house of Judah with the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand men who were warriors, to fight against Israel to return the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.  But the word of God came to Shemaiah, the man of God, telling him to tell Rehoboam and the house of Judah and Benjamin not to go to battle against their brethren the people of Israel, but to return every man to his house; and Rehoboam and the houses of Judah and Benjamin listened to the voice of the prophet of the Lord.

After that Jeroboam went and built Shechem in mount Ephraim and lived there for a while; and from there went out again and built Penuel. Then said Jeroboam in his heart, “Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David, if the people go up to Jerusalem to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord. For then their heart will turn again unto their lord Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to the king of Judah.” So king Jeroboam took counsel and decided to make two calves of gold, and he told the people that it was too much to have to go to Jerusalem to worship.  Therefore, he persuaded them that the gods he made were the gods that brought them up out of the land of Egypt. And he set one in Bethel and the other in Dan.  And this thing became a sin; for the people went and worshipped before the golden images.

www.chaberbooks.com 

BRAGADAYJAH1022

BRAGADAYJAH 1022

Israel Rebelled against Rehoboam.

So on the third day Jeroboam and all the people of Israel went to Rehoboam to hear from him his answer to the people’s request that he eased the burdens imposed on them by his father Solomon. And Rehoboam answered the people roughly contrary to the advice of the old men, and following the advice of his young men, and said to them in the words of the young men. “My father made your burdens heavy and I will add to yoke; my father also chastised you with whips; but I will chastise you with scorpions.” Thus not listening to the complaints of the people; for the cause was of the Lord that He might perform His saying which He spoke by His prophet Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the son the son of Nebat.  So when all Israel saw that the King hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king and said, “What portion have we in David? Neither do we have any inheritance in the son of Jesse?  To your tents, O Israel! Now see to thine own house!”  And so Israel departed unto their tents.  But as regards the children of Israel who dwelt in in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram who was in charge of the tribute and all Israel stoned him with stones and killed him   Therefore Rehoboam fled in his chariot to Jerusalem. So Israel rebelled against the house of David and there would never again be a union between the two, Israel and Judah.

www.chaberbooks.com 

BRAGADAYJAH 1021

BRAGADAYJAH 1021

Rehoboam’s conflicting Advice

Based on his request for time to think, Rehoboam consulted the old men who had served his father David, and asked them how they thought he should answer the people.  And they replied to him and said; “If thou be a servant of the people this day, and serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever. “  But Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the old men which they gave him, and instead turned to the young men who grew up with him, and who stood before him, and asked them what advice they would give him to give to the people who had spoken to him and asked him to make their burdens lighter.” And the young men who were his companions told him to speak unto the people and tell them, “My father made your yoke heavy; but you are asking me to make it lighter unto you; but I say to you that my little finger shall be thicker than my father’s loins.  And now whereas my father did lay a heavy yoke upon you, I will add to your yoke; my father had chastised you with whips; but I shall chastise you with scorpions.”  

www.chaberbooks.com

BRAGADAYJAH 1020

BRAGADAYJAH 1020

King Solomon dies and is buried.

So the Lord was wroth with Solomon and declared that he would remove the kingdom from him only allowing to him one of the twelve tribes and even then, not for his own, but because of his servant David his father. Not only then did the Lord raise up opposition against Solomon but he promised to afflict the seed of David though not forever. As a result, Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam as a result of which Jeroboam fled to Egypt and remained there until the death of Solomon. Let us not forget, however, that it was God who told his prophet Ahijah, that he was going to wrest the kingdom out of the hands os Solomon and give ten of the twelve tribes to Jeroboam.  So Solomon reigned over all Israel for forty years, and after that he slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father. After the death of Solomon, Rehoboam his son began to reign in his stead.  And Rehoboam went to Shechem where all Israel was gathered together to make him King. And it happened that when Jeroboam the son of Nebat, heard that Israel was gathered together at Shechem to make Rehoboam king, they sent and called him and Jeroboam and all the host of Israel spoke to Rehoboam and said, “Your father made our yoke grievous and our burdens heavy; therefore if you will make our yoke lighter, we will serve you.” And Rehoboam bade them to go away and give him three days to think about.

www.chaberbooks.com