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There were two kings in the land
of Canaan now, Rehoboam and Jeroboam, and they were always fighting
against one another. Were they good kings? No, both were very
wicked. Rehoboam was not like his father, but foolish and
self-willed; and his people were wicked too, and, therefore, God's
blessing was not upon them. An enemy came to fight against them,
Shishak king of Egypt, and he took many of their cities, and came to
Jerusalem. Rehoboam and his people felt very much frightened when
they saw Shishak coming with all his soldiers, and chariots, and
horses. They had cause to fear; for God sent a very sad message to
them by a prophet, to tell them how angry He was:—"Thus saith the
Lord, ye have forsaken me, and now I have given you up to the power of
your enemies." Rehoboam and his people were all very sorry to
hear this. What could they do? They did what was best—they
humbled themselves before God. When we sin and make God angry, we
ought to ask humbly for pardon. God is always willing to hear
prayer. He heard the prayer of Rehoboam and his people, and said,
"I will not destroy Rehoboam, because he is humble and sorry for his
sin." So Jerusalem was spared, and Shishak went away; but he
took with him many beautiful things which Solomon had put in the temple of
the Lord. Was Rehoboam good
now? No, Rehoboam's goodness quickly passed away. He was
humble and sorry for a little time; but soon he forgot God again, and
thought only about his sins and his pleasures. His heart was not
new; he did not truly wish to serve God. This was displeasing to
God. He does not like us partly to love Him, and partly to love the
world. He does not want us sometimes to serve Him, and sometimes to
serve Satan. God wishes all our hearts to be given to Him every day
we live. Jeroboam was very
wicked too. He taught the people to worship images, golden calves,
which he put in Bethel and Dan. He would not let his people go to
Jerusalem, to worship God in the right way there; but he chose to worship
in his own way, and to make priests of the people who were not
Levites. This was disobedience to the command of God; for he had
said that the Levites should be priests, and they alone. One
day, Jeroboam was standing by his altar at Bethel, burning incense.
A prophet of God came from Judah to Bethel, and went to the altar, and
cried, "O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord: there shall be
born a king in Judah, named Josiah, and upon thee shall he offer the
priests that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon
thee." Then the altar was rent, and the ashes poured out, as a
sign to show Jeroboam that the prophecy came from God. Jeroboam was
angry with the prophet, for he did not like to hear that his altar should
be destroyed; and he put out his hand, to lay hold of the man of
God. But the wicked king had no power to hurt God's prophet.
The hand of Jeroboam dried up directly, so that he had no strength to move
it. God smote Jeroboam, to punish him for his wickedness in trying
to hurt His servant. The
king was frightened when he looked at his withered hand, and found he had
no power to use it. He said humbly to the prophet, "Ask God to
forgive me, and to make my hand well again." Was the prophet
willing to be kind to his enemy? Yes, he did not wish to be
revengeful; he knew he ought to love and pray for his enemies. So
the prophet prayed, and God mercifully heard his prayer, and made
Jeroboam's hand strong and well again.
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