 Story No. 1 of Hurlbut's Story of the Bible, Part 4. Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut, Part 4. The Breaking Up of a Great Kingdom, 1 Kings 7, 1-24, 2 Chronicles 10, 1-19. When the strong rule of King Solomon was ended by his death, and his weak son, Rehoboam, followed him as king, all the people of Israel rose as one man against the heavy burdens which Solomon had laid upon the land. They would not allow Rehoboam to be crowned king in Jerusalem, but made him come to Shechem in the tribland of Ephraim, and in the center of the country. The people sent for Rehoboam, who was in Egypt, and he became their leader. They said to Rehoboam, your father Solomon, laid upon us heavy burdens of taxes and of work. If you will promise to take away our load, and make the taxes and the work lighter, then we will receive you as king, and will serve you. Give me three days, said Rehoboam, and then I will tell you what I will do. So Jeroboam and the people waited for three days, while Rehoboam talked with the rulers and with his friends. Rehoboam first called together the old men who had stood before the throne of Solomon, and had helped him in his rule. He said to these men, what answer shall I give to this people, who asked to have their burdens made light? And these old men said to King Rehoboam, if you will be wise to-day and yield to the people, and speak good words to them, then they will submit to you, and will serve you always. Tell them that you will take off the heavy burdens, and that you will rule the land in kindness. But Rehoboam would not heed the advice of these wise old men. He talked with the young princes, who had grown up with him in the palace, and who cared nothing for the people or their troubles. And he said to these young men, the people are asking to have their heavy burdens taken away, what shall I say to them? And the young nobles said to Rehoboam, say to the people this, my father's major burdens heavy, but I will make them heavier still. My father beat you with whips, but I will sting you with scorpions. My little finger shall be thicker than my father's waist. On the third day Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam for his answer, and the foolish young king did not follow the good advice of the old men, who knew the people and their needs. He did, as the haughty young princes told him to do, and spoke harshly to the people and said, my father, major yoke heavy, but I will add to it, and make it heavier. You will find my little finger thicker than my father's waist. My father struck you with whips, but I will sting you with scorpions. Then the people of Israel were very angry against the king. They said, why should we submit any longer to the house of David? Let us leave the family of David and choose a king of our own. To your tent, so Israel! Now Rehoboam, son of David, care for your own house. Thus in one day ten of the twelve tribes of Israel broke away forever from the rule of King Rehoboam and the house of David. They made Jeroboam of the tribe of Ephraim their king. In his kingdom was all the land northward from Bethel to Dan, and also all the tribes on the east of the River Jordan. His kingdom, being the larger, was called Israel, but it was also called the kingdom of the ten tribes, and because Ephraim was its leading tribe it was often spoken as the land of Ephraim. When Rehoboam saw that he had lost his kingdom he made haste to save his life by fleeing away from Shechem. He rode in his chariot quickly to Jerusalem, where the people were his friends, and there he ruled as king, but only over the tribe of Judah and as much of Benjamin as was south of Bethel. The tribe of Simeon had once lived on the south of Judah, but some of its people were lost among the people of Judah, and others among the Arabs of the desert, so that it was no longer a separate tribe. Rehoboam ruled over the mountain country on the west of the Dead Sea, but he had no control over the Philistine cities on the plain beside the Great Sea, so the kingdom of Judah, as it was called, was less than one-third the size of the kingdom of Israel or the ten tribes. David had conquered, and Solomon had ruled not only the land of Israel but Syria on the north of Israel, reaching up to the Great River Euphrates, and Ammon by the desert on the east, and Moab on the east of the Dead Sea, and Edom on the south. When the kingdom was divided all the empire of Solomon was broken up. The Syrians formed a kingdom of their own, having Damascus as its chief city. The Ammonites, the Moabites, and the Edomites all had their own kings, though the king of Moab was for a time partly under the king of Israel, and the king of Edom partly under the king of Judah, so the great and strong empire founded by David and held by Solomon, fell apart, and became six small struggling states. Yet this was all by the will of the Lord, who did not wish Israel to become a great nation but a good people. The Israelites were growing rich and were living for the world, while God desired them to be his people, and to worship him only. So when Rehoboam undertook to gather an army to fight the ten tribes, and to bring them under his rule, God sent a prophet to Rehoboam who said to him, Thus says the Lord, ye shall not go up and fight against your brothers, the children of Israel, return every man to his house, for it is God's will that there should be two kingdoms. And the men of Judah obeyed the word of the Lord, and left the ten tribes to have their own kingdom and their own king. End of story number 1 Chapter 12 Verse 25 to Chapter 14 Verse 20 Chapter 15 Verse 25 to 32 He saw that his people, though separated from the rule of King Rehoboam, still went up to Jerusalem to worship in the temple, because there was the only altar in all the land. Jeroboam said to himself, If my people go up to worship at Jerusalem, then after a time they will become the friends of Rehoboam and his people, and then they will leave me, or perhaps kill me, and let Rehoboam rule again over all the land. I will build places for worship and altars in my own kingdom, and then my people will not need to go abroad to worship. Jeroboam forgot that the Lord, who had given him the kingdom, could care for him and keep him, if he should be faithful to the Lord. But because he would not trust the Lord, he did that which was very evil. He chose two places, Bethel in the south, on the road to Jerusalem, and Dan, far in the north, and made these places of worship for his people. And for each place he made a calf of God, and set it up, and he said to the people of Israel, It is too far for you to go up to Jerusalem to worship. Here are gods for you, at Bethel and at Dan. These are the gods which brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Come and worship these gods. And as the priests of the tribe of Levi would not serve in Jeroboam's idol temples, he took men out of all the tribes, some of them common and low men, and made them his priests. At all through the land, upon the hills and high places, Jeroboam caused images to be set up to lead the people in worshiping idols. In the fall of the year there was held a feast to the Lord in Jerusalem, to which the people went from all the land. Jeroboam made a great feast at Bethel, a few weeks later than the feast at Jerusalem, in order to draw people to his idol temple at Bethel and to keep them away from the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem. At this feast King Jeroboam went up to the idol altar at Bethel and burned incense, which was a sweet-smelling smoke, made by churning certain gums. Thus Jeroboam led his people away from the Lord to idols, and ever after this, when his name is mentioned in the Bible, he is spoken of as Jeroboam who made Israel to sin. On a day when Jeroboam was offering incense at the altar, a man of God, a prophet, came from Judah, and he cried out against the altar, saying, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord, behold, in the time to come there shall rise up a man of the house of David, Josiah by name, and Josiah shall burn upon this altar the bones of the priests that have offered sacrifices to idols in this place, and this altar and this temple shall be destroyed. The prophet from Judah also said to Jeroboam, I will prove to you that I am speaking in the power of the Lord, and this shall be the sign. This altar shall fall apart, and the ashes upon it shall be poured out. When King Jeroboam heard this he was very angry. He stretched out his arm toward the prophet and called to his guard, saying, Take hold of that man! And instantly the hand which Jeroboam held out toward the prophet dried up and became helpless, and as if by an earthquake the altar before which the king stood was torn apart, and the ashes fell out upon the ground. Then the king saw that this was the work of the Lord. He said to the prophet, Pray to the Lord your God for me that he may make my hand well again. Then the prophet prayed to the Lord, and the Lord heard his prayer and made the king's hand well once more. Then King Jeroboam said to the prophet, Come home with me and dine and rest, and I will give you a reward. And the man of God said to the king, If you would give me half of your house, I will not go to your home, nor eat bread, nor drink water in this place. For the word of the Lord came to me saying, Eat no bread and drink no water in this place, and go to your home in the land of Judah by another way. So the man of God left Bethel by a road different from that by which he came, and went toward his own home in the land of Judah. There was living in Bethel at that time another prophet, and old man. His sons told him of the coming of the man of God from Judah, what he said and what the Lord had robbed. The old man learned from his sons which road the prophet had taken, and followed after him, and found him resting under an oak tree. He said to him, Are you the man of God that came from Judah? And he said, I am. Then said the old prophet of Bethel to him, Come home with me and have supper with me. But the man of God said to him, The Lord has commanded me not to eat bread or to drink water in this place, and I must therefore go back to my own home in the land of Judah. Then the old man said, I am a prophet of the Lord as you are, and an angel spoke to me from the Lord, saying, Bring the prophet from Judah back to your house, and let him eat and drink with you. Now this was not true, it was a wicked lie. Then the prophet from Judah went home with him, and took a meal at his house. This also was not right, for he should have obeyed what the Lord had said to him, even though another man claimed to have heard a different message from the Lord. And even while they were sitting at the table, a word came from the Lord to the old prophet, who had told the lie, and he cried out to the prophet from Judah, saying, Thus sayeth the Lord, because you have disobeyed my command, have come back to this place and have eaten bread and drunk water here, therefore you shall die and your body shall not be buried in the tomb with your fathers. After dinner the prophet started again to write upon his ass back to his own home, and on the way a lion came out and killed him. But the lion did not eat the man's body. He stood beside it, and the ass stood by it also. And this was told to the old prophet, whose lies had led him to disobey the Lord. Then the old prophet came, and took up his body, and laid it in his own tomb, and mourned over him, and he said to his sons, When I am dead, bury me beside the body of the prophet from the land of Judah, for I know that what he spoke as the message of God against the altar at Bethel shall surely come to pass. At one time the child of King Jeroboam was taken very ill, and his mother, the queen, went to the prophet Ahijah, the one who had promised the kingdom to Jeroboam, who was now an old man and blind. If the child would be well again, the Ahijah said to her, Tell King Jeroboam that thus sayeth the Lord to him, You have done evil worse than any before you, and have made graven images, and have cast the Lord behind your back. Therefore the Lord will bring evil upon you and upon your house. Your sick child shall die, and every other child of yours shall be slain, and your family shall be swept away. The dogs shall eat the bodies of your children in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat those that die in the field. And in times to come God shall smite Israel, and shall carry them into a land far away, because of the idols which they have worshipped. And after this Jeroboam died, and his son Nadab began to reign in his place. But after two years Basha, one of his servants, rose up against Nadab and killed him, and made himself king over Israel. And Basha killed every child of Jeroboam, and left not one son or daughter of Jeroboam alive, as Ahijah the prophet had said. So although Jeroboam was made king, as God had promised him, it came to pass that the kingdom was taken away from his family, because he did not obey the word of the Lord, that led his people into sin. Herobot's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Herobot Part 4 The Prophet Whose Prayer Raised a Boy to Life First Kings 1533-1724 After Jeroboam and Nadab, his son Basha reigned as king of Israel. But he did, as Jeroboam had done before him, disobeying the word of the Lord and worshiping idols. Therefore the Lord sent a prophet to Basha, saying, Thus saith the Lord to Basha, king of Israel. I lifted you up from the dust, and made you the prince over my people Israel. But you have walked in the way of Jeroboam, and have made Israel sin. Therefore your family shall be destroyed, like the family of Jeroboam. When Basha died, his son Ella became king. But while he was drinking wine and making himself drunk, his servant, Zemri, came in and killed him, and killed also all his family, and all the house of Basha, so that none was left. Zemri tried to make himself king, but his reign was short, only seven days. Amri, the general of the Israelite army, made war upon him, and shut him up in his palace. When Zemri found that he could not escape, he set his palace on fire and was burned up with it. After this there was war in Israel between Amri and another man, named Tybni, each trying to win the kingdom. But at last Tybni was slain, and Amri became king. Amri was not a good man, for he worshipped idols like the kings before him. But he was a strong king, and made his kingdom great. He made peace with the kingdom of Judah, for there had been war between Judah and Israel ever since Jeroboam had founded the kingdom. Amri bought a hill in the middle of the land, from a man named Shemer, and on the hill he built a city which he named Samaria, after the name of the man from whom he had bought the hill. The city of Samaria became in Israel what Jerusalem was in Judah, the chief city and capital. Before the time of Amri the kings of Israel had lived in different cities, sometimes in Shechem, and sometimes in Teerza. But after Amri all the kings lived in Samaria, so that the kingdom itself was often called the kingdom of Samaria. After Amri came his son Ahab, as king of Israel, reigning in Samaria. He was worse than any of the kings before him. Ahab took for his wife Jezebel, the daughter of the king of Zidane, on the coast to the great sea, and Jezebel brought into Israel the worship of Baal, and of the Esherah, C. Story forty-three, which was far more wicked than even the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan. And Jezebel was so bitter against the worship of the Lord God of Israel, that she sought out the prophets of the Lord everywhere and slew them, so that to save their lives the prophets hid in caves among the mountains. You remember that when Joshua destroyed and burned the city of Jericho he spoke a curse in the name of the Lord upon any man who should ever build again the walls of Jericho. C. Story thirty-seven. In the days of Ahab, king of Israel, five hundred years after Joshua, the walls of Jericho were built by a man named Hael, who came from Bethel, the place of the idle temple. When he laid the foundation of the wall, his oldest son, Abiram, died, and when he set up the gates of the city, his youngest son, Segeb, died. Thus came to pass the word of the Lord spoken by Joshua. In the reign of king Ahab a great prophet suddenly rose up, named Elijah. He came from the land of Gillad, beyond the river Jordan, and he lived alone out in the wilderness. His clothing was a mantle of skin, and his hair and beard were long and rough. Without any warning Elijah came into the presence of king Ahab and said, As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not fall upon the ground any dew or rain until I call for it. And then he went away as suddenly as he had come. At the Lord's command he hid himself in a wild place by the brook Sharith, which flows down from the mountains into the river Jordan. There he drank of the water in that brook, and every day the wild birds, the ravens, brought him food. It came to pass, as Elijah had said, that no rain fell upon the land, and there was not even any dew upon the grass. Every day the brook from which Elijah drank grew smaller, until at last it was dry, and there was no water. Then the Lord spoke to Elijah again and said, Rise up, and go to Zarephath, which is near to Zidun, by the great sea, on the north of the land of Israel. I have commanded a widow woman there to care for you. So Elijah left the brook Sharith and walked northward through the land until he came near to the city of Zarephath. There beside the gate of the city he saw a woman dressed as a widow picking up sticks. Elijah said to her, Will you bring to me some water that I may drink? She went to bring him the water, and Elijah said again, Bring me also, I pray you, a little piece of bread to eat. Then the woman said to Elijah, As sure as the Lord your God lives, I have not in the house even a loaf of bread, but only one hand full of meal in the barrel, and a little oil in a bottle, and now I am gathering sticks to make a fire that I may bake it for me and my son, and when we have eaten it there is nothing left for us but to die. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah, and he said to the woman, Fear not, go and do as you have said, but first make me a little cake, and bring it to me, and afterward make for yourself and your son. For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, the barrel of meal shall not waste, nor the bottle of oil fail, until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth. And the widow woman believed Elijah's words. She took from her barrel the meal and from her bottle the oil, and made a little cake for the prophet, and then found enough left for herself and for her son. And the barrel always had meal in it, and the bottle held oil every day, and the prophet and the woman and her son had food as long as they needed it. After this one day the son of the widow was taken very ill, and his illness was so great that there was no breath left in him. The boy's mother said to Elijah, O man of God, have you come here to cause my son to die? And Elijah said to her, Give me your son. And Elijah carried the boy up to his own room and laid him on the bed. Then he cried to the Lord and said, O Lord God, hast thou brought trouble upon this woman by taking away the life of her son? Then he stretched himself upon the child's body three times and cried to the Lord again, O Lord God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again. And the Lord heard Elijah's prayer, and the child became living once more. Then Elijah carried the living boy back to his mother, and she said, Now I am sure that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord which you speak is the truth. End of story three. Story four from Hurlbut's story of the Bible. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut, part four. The prayer that was answered in fire. Three years passed after Elijah gave the message of the Lord to King Ahab, and in all that time no rain fell upon the land of Israel. Everywhere the bricks ceased to flow, the springs became dry, the ground was parched, and the fields gave no harvest. There was no grass for the cattle and the flocks, and there was scarcely any food for the people. King Ahab was in great trouble. He knew that Elijah had the power to call down rain, but Elijah was nowhere to be found. He sent men to search for him everywhere in the land, and he asked the kings of the nations around to look for him in their countries, for he hoped to persuade the prophet to set the land free from the long drought by calling for rain. When the land was at its worst in the third year, Ahab called the chief of his servants, the man who stood next to the king. His name was Obadiah, and unlike Ahab, he was a good man, worshiping the Lord and trying to do right. Once when Queen Jezebel sought to kill all the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah hid a hundred of them in two caves, fifty in each cave, and gave them food, and kept them in safety. Ahab said to Obadiah, Let us go through all the land, you in one part and I in another, and look for running streams and fountains of water. Perhaps we can find some water, enough to save a part of the horses and mules, so that we may not lose them all. And as Obadiah was going through his part of the country, looking for water, suddenly Elijah met him. Obadiah knew Elijah at once. He fell on his face before him and said, Is this my Lord Elijah? And Elijah answered him, Yes it is I, Elijah, go, and tell your master that Elijah is here. And Obadiah said, O my Lord, what wrong have I done that you would cause King Ahab to kill me, for there is not a land where Ahab has not sent for you, and now when I go to tell him that you are here, the spirit of the Lord will send you away to some other place, and then if Ahab cannot find you, he will be angry at me and kill me. Do you not know that I fear the Lord and serve him? And Elijah said, As the Lord God lives, I will surely show myself to King Ahab today. So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him of Elijah's coming, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. When Ahab saw Elijah he said to him, Are you here, you that have brought all this trouble upon Israel? And Elijah answered the King, I am not the one that has brought trouble upon Israel, it is you and your house, for you have turned away from the commands of the Lord and have worshiped the images of Baal, now send and bring all the people to Mount Carmel, and with them the four hundred prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of the Asherah, who ate at Jezebel's table. So Ahab did as Elijah commanded, and brought all the people to Mount Carmel, which stands by the Great Sea, and Elijah stood before all the multitude, and he said to them, How long will you go halting and limping back and forth between two sides, not choosing either? If the Lord is God, follow him, but if Baal is God, then follow him. And the people had not a word to say. Then Elijah spoke again and said, I am alone, the only prophet of the Lord here today, but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Now let the people give us two young oxen, one for Baal's prophets, and one for me. Let the prophets of Baal take one ox and cut it up, and lay it on the altar on the wood, but let no fire be placed under it, and I will do the same. Then you call on your God, and I will call on the Lord. And the God who sends down fire upon his altar, he shall be the God of Israel. And the people said, What you have spoken is right. We will do as you say, and we'll see who is the true God. Then the two oxen were brought, and one was cut in pieces and laid on the altar of Baal. The prophets of Baal stood around the altar and cried aloud, O Baal, hear us! But there was no answer, nor any voice. After a time the worshipers of Baal became furious. They leaped and danced around the altar, and they cut themselves with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. And Elijah laughed at them and mocked them, calling out, Call out louder, for surely he is a God. Perhaps he is sitting still and thinking. Or he has gone on a journey. Or perhaps he is asleep and must be awaked. But it was all in vain. The middles of the afternoon came, and there was no answer. The altar stood with its offering, but no fire came upon it. Then Elijah said to all the people, Come near to me. And they came near. He found an old altar to the Lord that had been thrown down, and he took twelve stones, one for each of the twelve tribes, and piled them up to form the altar anew. On the altar he dug a trench to carry away water. Then he cut wood and laid it on the altar, and on the wood he placed the young ox, cut into pieces for a sacrifice. Then he said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the offering. The great sea was near at hand, inside of all the people, and from it they brought four barrels of water and poured it on the altar. He called upon them to do it again, and a third time, until the offering, and the wood, and the altar were soaked through and through, and the trench was filled with water. Then in the sight of all the people, Elijah the prophet drew near, and stood all alone before the altar, and prayed in these words, O Lord, the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou, O Lord, art God, and that thou hast turned their hearts back again to thyself. Then the fire fell from the Lord, and burned up the offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench, and when the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and they cried, The Lord he is God, the Lord he is God! And Elijah said to the people, Seize the prophets of Baal, let not one of them escape. They took them all, four hundred and fifty men, and by Elijah's command, they brought them down to the dry bed of the brook kitchen at the foot of the mountain, and there Elijah caused them to be put to death, because they had led Israel into sin. Ahab the king was present upon Mount Carmel, and saw all that had been done. Elijah now said to Ahab, Rise up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of a great rain. While Ahab was eating and drinking, Elijah was praying upon Mount Carmel. He bowed down with his face between his knees, and prayed to the Lord to send rain. After a time he sent his servant up to the top of the mountain, saying, Go up and look toward the sea. The servant went up and came back, saying, I can see nothing. Elijah sent him up seven times, and at the seventh time his servant said, I see a cloud rising out of the sea, as small as a man's head. And Elijah sent to Ahab, saying, Hason, make ready your chariot before the rain stops you. In a little while the sky was covered with black clouds, and there came a great rain, and Ahab rode in his chariot to his palace at Jezreel, on the eastern side of the great plain, and the power of the Lord was on Elijah, and he ran before Ahab's chariot to the gate of the city. Thus in one day a great victory was wrought for the Lord God, and the power of Baal was thrown down. The voice that spoke to Elijah in the Mount 1 Kings 19 verse 1 to 21. When King Ahab told his wife, Queen Jezrebel, of all that Elijah had done, how the fire had fallen from heaven upon his altar, and how he had slain all the prophets of Baal with the sword, Queen Jezrebel was very angry. She sent a messenger to Elijah with these words, May the gods do to me as you have done to the prophets of Baal, if I do not by tomorrow kill you as you have killed them. Elijah saw that his life was in danger, and he found that not one man in all the kingdom dared to stand by him against the hate of Queen Jezrebel. He rose up and ran away to save his life. He went southward to the land of Judah, but did not feel safe even there. He hastened across Judah southward to Beersheba, which is on the edge of the desert, 80 miles away from Samaria. But not even here did Elijah dare to stay, for he still feared the wrath of Queen Jezrebel. He left his servant at Beersheba and went out alone into the desert over which the children of Israel had wandered 500 years before. After he had walked all day under the sun and over the burning sand he sat down to rest under a juniper tree. He was tired and hungry and discouraged. He felt that his work had all been in vain, that in heart the people were still worshipers of Baal, and he felt too that he had shown weakness in running away from his place of duty in fear of Queen Jezrebel. Elijah cried out to the Lord and said, O Lord, I have lived long enough. Take away my life, O Lord, for I am no better than my people. When tired out he lay down to sleep under the tree. But the Lord was very kind to Elijah. While he was sleeping an angel touched him and said, Arise and eat. He opened his eyes and saw beside him a little fire with a loaf of bread baking upon it and near it a bottle of water. He ate and drank and then lay down to sleep again. A second time he felt the angel touch him and he heard a voice say, Arise and eat, because the journey is too long for you. He arose and ate once more. Then he went on his way and in the strength given him by that food he walked forty days through the desert. He came at last to Mount Horib, the mountain where Moses saw the burning bush and where God spoke forth the words of the ten commandments. See story 25. Elijah found a cave in the side of the mountain and went into it to rest. While he was in the cave he heard God's voice speaking to him and saying, What are you doing here Elijah? And Elijah said to the Lord, O Lord God I have been very earnest for thee, for the people of Israel have turned away from their promise to serve thee, they have thrown down thine altars and have slain thy prophets with the sword and now I, even I only am left and they are seeking my life to take it away. Then the Lord said to Elijah, Go out and stand upon the mountain before the Lord. Then while Elijah was standing upon the mountain a great and strong wind swept by and tore the mountains apart and broke the rocks and pieces, but the Lord was not in the wind. Then came an earthquake shaking the mountains, but the Lord was not in the earthquake and after the earthquake a fire passed by, but the Lord was not in the fire and after the fire there was silence and stillness and Elijah heard a low quiet voice which he knew was the voice of the Lord. Then Elijah wrapped his face in his mantle for he feared to look upon the form of God and he stood at the opening of the cave. The voice said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah? And Elijah said, as he had said before, O Lord I have been very earnest for thee, for the people of Israel have turned away from their promise to serve thee, they have thrown down thine altars and have slain thy prophets with the sword and now I, even I only am left and they are seeking my life to take it away. Then the Lord said to Elijah, Go back to the land from which you have come and then go to the wilderness of Damascus and anoint Hazael to be king over Syria and Jehu, the son of Nimshi, you shall anoint to be king over Israel and Alisha, the son of Shafat, of the village of Abel Mehola in the land of Manasseh, west of Jordan, you shall anoint to take your place as prophet and it shall come to pass that those who escape from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall slay and those that escaped from the sword of Jehu shall alisha slay, but there will be found some, even seven thousand men in Israel who have not bowed the knee to Baal or kissed his image with their lips. Here were tasks that would take all the rest of Elijah's life. Four, as we shall see, some of them were not completed until after Elijah had passed away, though Elijah prepared the way for them. But they gave to Elijah what he needed most, work to do, a friend to stand beside him, so that he would no longer be alone. One also who could carry on his work after him and the knowledge that he had not lived in vain, since there were still in the land seven thousand men faithful to the Lord God of Israel. One of these commands Elijah obeyed at once. He left Mount Horeb, journeyed northward through the wilderness, across the kingdom of Judah, and into the land of Israel. He found Abel Mehola in the tribe land of Manasseh on the west of Jordan, and there he saw alisha, the son of Shaphat. Alisha was plowing in the field with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, for alisha was a rich man's son and cared for a large farm. Elijah came to the field where alisha was at work and without a word took off his own mantle of skin and threw it upon alisha's shoulders and walked away. Alisha knew well who this strange, rough hair-covered man was, and he knew too what it meant when Elijah cast his mantle upon him. There was a call for him to leave his home, to go out into the wilderness with Elijah, to take up the life of a prophet, to face the danger of the queen's hate and perhaps to be slain as many prophets had been slain before. But alisha was a man of God and he did not hesitate to obey God's call. He left his oxen standing in the field, he ran after Elijah and said to him, Let me kiss my mother and my father, and then I will go with you. Elijah said to him, Go back if you wish. For what have I done to you? Then alisha went back to the field, killed the oxen, made a fire with the yokes and the wooden plow, roasted the flesh of the oxen on the fire, and gave them to be eaten by the people on the farm. This he did to show that he had left his farm forever. Then he kissed his father and mother and left them and went forth to live with Elijah and to be Elijah's helper. End of story number five, recording by Sean McGahee, ducktapeguy.net. Story number six of Hurlbut's story of the Bible. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut, part four. The wounded prophet and his story. First Kings twenty, one through forty-three. The country nearest to Israel on the north was Syria, of which the chief city and capital was Damascus, and its king was named Ben-Hadad. His kingdom was far greater and stronger than Israel, and when he went to make war upon King Ahab, such was the fear of the Israelites for the Syrians that Ahab could bring only seven thousand men against the Syrian army. The host of the Syrians filled all the valleys and plains around Samaria, but Ben-Hadad and his chief rulers were drinking wine when they should have been making ready for the battle, and the little army of Israel won a great victory over the Syrians and drove them back to their own land. Again, the Syrians came against Israel, with an army as large as before, but again God gave to Ahab and the Israelites a victory, and the Syrian army was destroyed. King Ben-Hadad fled away to his palace, and King Ahab might easily have taken him prisoner and conquered all Syria. If he had done this, all danger from that land might have been forever removed. But Ben-Hadad dressed himself in sackcloth, and put a rope around his waist, and came as a beggar to Ahab, and pleaded for him for his life and his kingdom. Ahab felt very proud to have so great a king as Ben-Hadad had come kneeling before him. He spared his life and gave him back his kingdom. This was not wise, and God soon showed to Ahab what a mistake he had made. By this time, through the teachings of Elijah and Elisha, there were many prophets of the Lord in Israel. The word of the Lord came to one of these prophets, and he said to a fellow prophet, Strike me, and give me a wound. But the man would not strike him, and the prophet said, Because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord as soon as you go away from me, a lion shall kill you. And as the man was going away, a lion rushed out upon him and killed him. Then the prophet said to another man, Strike me, I pray you. The man struck him and wounded him, so that the blood flowed. Then the prophet, all bloody, with his face covered, stood by the road as King Ahab passed by, and he cried out to the king. The king saw him and stopped, and asked what had happened to him. Then the prophet said, O King, I was in the battle, and a soldier brought to me a prisoner, and he said to me, Keep this man. If you lose him, then your life shall go for his life, or you shall pay me a talent of silver for him. And while I was busy here and there, the prisoner escaped. Now, O King, do not let my life be taken or the man's life. But the king said, You have given sentence against yourself, and it shall be as you have said. Your life shall go for your prisoner's life. Then the prophet threw off the covering from his face, and the king saw that he was one of the prophets. And the prophet said to the king, Thus sayeth the Lord, Because you have let go the king, whom I willed to have destroyed, therefore your life shall go for his life and your people for his people. When Ahab heard this he was greatly troubled and displeased. He went to his palace in Samaria, full of alarm, for he saw that he had not done wisely for his kingdom in sparing his kingdom's greatest enemy. Story number seven of Hurlbut's story of the Bible. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Hurlbut's story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbutt, part four. What Ahab paid for his vineyard. King Ahab's home was at Samaria, the capital of the kingdom. But he had also a palace at Jezreel, which overlooked the great plain of Estralon, and beside Ahab's palace at Jezreel was a vineyard belonging to a man named Neboth. Ahab wished to own this vineyard, and he said to Neboth, Let me have your vineyard, which is near my house. I would like to make of it a garden for vegetables. I will give you a better vineyard in place of it, or I will pay you the worth of it in money. But Neboth answered the king, This vineyard has belonged to my father's family for many generations, and I am not willing to give it up or to leave it. Ahab was very angry when he heard this. He came into his house and refused to eat, but lay down on his bed and turned his face to the wall. His wife Jezrebel came to him and said, Why are you so sad? What is troubling you? And Ahab answered her, I have asked Neboth to sell me his vineyard, or to let me give him another vineyard for it, and he would not. Then Jezrebel said to him, Do you indeed rule over the kingdom of Israel? Rise up and eat your dinner and enjoy yourself. I will give you the vineyard of Neboth. Then Queen Jezrebel sat down and wrote a letter in Ahab's name and sealed it with the king's seal. And in the letter she wrote, Let the word be given out that a meeting of the men of Jezreel is to be held and set Neboth up before all the people. Have ready two men, no matter how worthless and wicked they may be, who will swear that they heard Neboth speak words of cursing against God and against the king. Then take Neboth out and stone him with stones until he is dead. Such was the fear of Queen Jezrebel among all the people that they did as she gave command. They held a meeting and set Neboth up in presence of the people. Then they brought in two men who told lies declaring that they had heard Neboth speak words of cursing against God and against the king. And then they dragged Neboth out of the city and stoned him and killed him. Afterward they sent word to Queen Jezrebel that Neboth was dead and Jezrebel said to Ahab, Now you can go and take as your own the vineyard of Neboth in Jezreel, for Neboth is no longer living, he is dead. Then Ahab rose in his chariot from Samaria to Jezreel and with him were two of his captains, one named Jehu and another named Bigcar. Just as they were riding in the vineyard that had been Neboth's, suddenly Elijah the prophet with his mantle of skin stood before them. Ahab was startled as he saw Elijah and he called out, Have you found me, O my enemy? I have found you, answered Elijah, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord, in the place where dogs licked up the blood of Neboth shall dogs lick up your own blood. I will bring evil upon you and will sweep you away and I will cut off every man child from Ahab and I will make your family like the family of Jeroboam who made Israel to sin. And because your wife Jezrebel has stirred you up to sin, she shall die and the wild dogs of the city shall eat the body of Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. When Ahab heard these words of Elijah, he saw how wickedly he had acted and he felt sorrow for his sin. He put on sackcloth and fasted and sought for mercy and the word of the Lord came to Elijah saying, do you see how Ahab has humbled himself before me and shows sorrow for his sin? Because of this, I will not bring the evil in his lifetime, but after he is dead, I will bring it upon his children. End of Story 7, Recording by Sean McGahey, ductapeguy.net. Eight of Hurlbut's Story of the Bible. This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut, Part 4. The Arrow That Killed a King. First Kings 22, 1 to 40. After the two victories which King Ahab gained over the Syrians, See Story 79, there was peace between Syria and Israel for three years. But in the third year, the Syrians became strong once more, and they seized a city of Israel on the east of Jordan called Ramoth Gilead. At that time, there was peace and friendship between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and Ahab, the king of Israel, sent to Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, saying, do you know that Ramoth Gilead is ours and yet we have done nothing to take it out of the hands of the king of Syria? Will you go up with me to battle at Ramoth Gilead? And King Jehoshaphat sent word to the king of Israel, I am with you and my people are with your people and my horses with your horses. So the king of Israel and the king of Judah gathered their armies for war against the Syrians, and King Jehoshaphat came to Samaria to meet King Ahab. Jehoshaphat was a good man and a worshiper of the Lord. He said to Ahab, let us ask the prophets to give us the word of the Lord before we go to battle. Then the king of Israel called together his prophets, 400 men, not prophets of the Lord, but false prophets of the idols, and he asked them, shall I go up to battle at Ramoth Gilead or should I remain at home? And the prophets of the idols said with one voice, go up, for the Lord will give Ramoth Gilead to you. But Jehoshaphat was not satisfied with the words of these men. He asked, is there not here a prophet of the Lord, of whom we can ask the Lord's will? There is one prophet, answered Ahab, his name is Micaiah, the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he never prophesies any good about me, but always evil. Let not the king say that, said Jehoshaphat, let us hear what Micaiah will speak. Then King Ahab sent one of his officers to bring the prophet, Micaiah, and the officer said to Micaiah, all the prophets have spoken good to the king, now I pray you, let your words be like theirs, and do you speak good also? And Micaiah said, as the Lord lives, what the Lord say to me, that I will speak and nothing else. The king of Israel and the king of Judah were seated together in their royal robes at an open place in front of the gate of Samaria. And King Ahab said to Micaiah, Micaiah speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord. Then Micaiah said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains as sheep that have no shepherd, and the Lord said, these have no master, let every man go back to his own house. Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, did I not tell you that Micaiah would prophesy about me no good but only evil? For Ahab knew that the words of Micaiah meant that he would be slain in the battle. And Micaiah went on and said, here thou the word of the Lord, I saw the Lord sitting on the throne and all the host of heaven standing around him, and on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, who will go and deceive Ahab so that he will go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead? And when spirit came forth and said, I will go and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all Ahab's prophets. And the Lord said to the spirit, go and deceive him. Now therefore the Lord has let all these false prophets deceive you, and the Lord has spoken evil against you. Then the king of Israel said to his guards, take Micaiah and lead him to the governor of the city and say, put this fellow in prison and let him have nothing to eat but dry bread and water until I come again in peace. And Micaiah said, if you return at all in peace, then the Lord has not spoken by me, hear my words all you people. So the kings of Israel and Judah led their armies across the river Jordan and up the mountains on the east to battle at Ramoth Gilead. Ahab felt afraid after the prophecy of Micaiah and he said to Jehoshaphat, I will dress as a common soldier before going into the battle, but do you wear your royal robes? Now the king of Syria had given word to all his captains to look out, especially for the king of Israel, and to fight him and to kill him, even if they should kill no other man. When they saw Jehoshaphat in his kingly garments, standing in his chariot, they thought that he was king Ahab and they turned all battle toward him. But Jehoshaphat cried out and then they found that he was not the king of Israel and they left him. In the battle one soldier of the Syrians drew his bow and shot an arrow, not knowing that he was aiming at the king of Israel. The arrow struck king Ahab just between his breastplate and his lower armor. He was badly wounded, but they held him up in his chariot so that the men might not see him fall and his blood was running out of the wound upon the floor of the chariot until the sunset when Ahab died. And the cry went through all the host of Israel, every man to a city and every man to his country. And then all knew that the king of Israel was dead. They brought his body to Samaria and buried him there. And at the pool of Samaria they washed the king's chariot and his armor. And there the wild dogs of the city licked up Ahab's blood, according to the word of the Lord, spoken by Elijah. Thus died king Ahab, the son of Omri. He was not a bad man at heart, but he was weak in the hands of his wife Jezebel, who led him and his kingdom into wickedness in the sight of the Lord. End of Story 8 Elijah's chariot of fire Kings 1.1 to 2.15 After the death of Ahab, his son Ahaziah reigned for only two years as king of Israel. He fell out of a window in his palace and was injured so that he died. And as he had no son, his brother Jehoram became king in his place. The work of Elijah, the prophet, was now ended. And the Lord was about to take him up to heaven. Elijah and Elisha went together to a place called Gilgal, not the place beside the river Jordan, where the army of Israel was encamped under Joshua, see part 2, stories 2 and 3, but another place of the same name among the mountains, not far from Bethel. And Elijah said to Elisha, Stay here, I pray you, for the Lord has sent me to Bethel. Elisha knew that Elijah would be taken from him very soon. And he said, As surely as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. So Elijah and Elisha walked together to Bethel. At Bethel were living many worshipers of the Lord, who were called sons of the prophets because they followed the teaching of the prophets. And some of them became prophets themselves. These men came to Elisha and said to him, Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from you very soon? And Elisha answered them, Yes I know it, but hold your peace, do not speak of it. And at Bethel Elijah said to Elisha again, Elisha stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho. But Elisha answered him, As surely as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. So Elijah and Elisha walked together down the steep road from Bethel to Jericho. And at Jericho the followers of the prophets came to Elisha and said to him, Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today? And he answered them, Yes I know it, but hold your peace and say nothing. And Elijah said to him again, Stay here at Jericho I pray you, for the Lord has sent me to the river Jordan. But Elisha said to Elijah once more, As surely as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. So Elijah and Elisha walked from Jericho to the river Jordan about five miles. About 50 men of the sons of the prophets who lived at Jericho followed them at a distance. When they came to the bank of Jordan, Elijah took his mantle and wrapped it together and struck the waters. Then the waters were divided on each side and the path was made across the river and the two prophets walked across on dry ground. And as they walked Elijah said, As what I shall do for you before I am taken away from you. Elisha answered him, All that I ask is that your spirit shall come upon me in greater power than comes upon any other man. And Elijah said to him, You have asked a great blessing and if you see me when I am taken away, it shall come to you. But if you do not see me, it shall not come. And as they still went on and talked, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire came between them and parted them. And Elijah went up in a whirlwind on the fiery chariot to heaven. And Elisha saw him going up toward heaven and he cried out, Oh, my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof. He meant that in losing Elijah, the kingdom had lost more than an army of chariots and horsemen. After this he saw Elijah no more, but he caught up the mantle of Elijah which had fallen from him. With the mantle he struck the waters of Jordan, saying, Where now is the Lord God of Elijah? And as he struck the water with Elijah's mantle, it parted on either side and Elisha walked across the Jordan. The sons of the prophets who were standing near the river had not seen Elijah go up, but now they saw Elisha walking through the river alone and they felt that God had taken Elijah away. They said, The spirit of Elijah now rests upon Elisha and they came to meet him and bowed down before him as their chief. So Elijah was taken away, but Elisha stood in his place as the Lord's prophet. End of story nine. Recording by Sean McGahey, ducktapeguy.net. Story number 10 of Hurlbot's story of the Bible. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Hurlbot's story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbot. Part four. A spring sweetened by salt and water that looked like blood. Second Kings two, 19 to 327. After Elijah had been taken up to heaven, Elisha stayed for a time at Jericho. For unlike Elijah, Elisha did not live in the wilderness away from the people. He lived in the cities and helped many by the power which the Lord gave to him. The people of Jericho said to Elisha, this city stands in a pleasant place, but the water of its spring is very bitter and causes disease and death, and the land around it is barren, giving no fruit. Elisha said to them, bring me a small new bottle and fill it with salt. They brought it to him and he poured the salt into the fountain that gave water to the city and said, thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters, from them there shall be no more death or unfruitfulness to the land. And the waters became pure and sweet from that time onward. Many believed that the fountain which still flows at the foot of the mountain near the ruins where once did Jericho is the one which was healed by the prophet, and it is called the fountain of Elisha. At this time, Jehoram, the son of Ahab, was king of Israel. He reigned 12 years, not so wickedly as his father Ahab had ruled, but still doing evil in the sight of the Lord. From the days of King David, the land of Moab on the east of the Dead Sea had been under the control of Israel. The land was governed by its own king, but he paid every year a large sum to Israel. The king of Moab in the times of Ahab and Jehoram was named Mesha. He had great flocks of sheep and he paid to the king of Israel every year the wool of a hundred thousand sheep and of as many rams. When King Ahab was dead, the king of Moab rose against Israel and tried to set his land free. Then King Jehoram sent for King Jehoshaphat of Judah and these two kings gathered their armies and made war on Mesha, the king of Moab. They led their armies southward through Judah and then through Edom on the south of the Dead Sea and from Edom into the land of Moab and with them was the king of Edom who was under the king of Judah. While they were on their march, they found no water, either for the army or for the horses. And the king of Israel said, Alas, the Lord has brought together these three kings only to let them fall into the hands of the king of Moab. But the good king Jehoshaphat said, is there not here a prophet of the Lord so that we may ask of him to show us the Lord's will? And one man said, Elijah, the son of Shaphat, is here, the man who poured water on the hands of Elijah and was his servant. And Jehoshaphat said, the word of the Lord is with him, let us see him. And the three kings went to find Elijah, but Elijah said to the king of Israel, why do you come to me? Go to the idle prophets of your father Ahab and your mother Jezebel and ask them. And the king of Israel said to Elijah, you must help us, for the Lord has brought these three kings together to let them fall into the hands of the king of Moab. Then said Elijah, as surely as the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, if Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah were not here, I would not look on you nor speak to you, but now bring me one who can play on the harp, a minstrel. And while the minstrel made music on his harp, the power of the Lord came upon Elijah and he said, thus saith the Lord, make this valley full of ditches, for the Lord tells me that you shall not see any rain, nor hear any wind, yet the valley shall be filled with water and you shall drink, and your cattle and your horses also shall drink. And the Lord shall give the Moabites into your hand and you shall take their cities and cut down their trees and stop their wells and shall conquer their land. And it came to pass as Elijah had said. They dug ditches in the valley and the next morning they found them full of water, enough for all the host. And when the men of Moab saw the water in the light of the sun, it was red like blood. They said one to another, that is blood, the three kings have quarreled and their armies have killed each other. Now men of Moab hastened to take the camp of the three kings and all the treasure that is in it. So the men of Moab came rushing unguarded and without their arms, but the army of Israel and of Judah and of Edom met them and slew them and won over them a great victory. From that place they went on laying waste to the land of Moab until the cities were taken and the whole land was made desolate. And Meshah, the king of Moab, was in such distress that hoping to please the God of his land, who was called Chemosh, he took his oldest son who was to have reigned in his place and killed him and offered him up as a burnt offering. But all was in vain for the Moabites were still held under the power of the Israelites. The story of this war between Israel and Moab is written not only in the second book of kings in the Bible, but also on a stone pillar which was set up by the king of Moab afterward. This pillar was found in the land of Moab not many years ago and the writing upon it was read showing that the history of this war as given in the Bible is true. End of Story 10. Story 11 of Hurlbert's Story of the Bible. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Hurlbert's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbert, Part 4, The Pot of Oil and the Pot of Poison. Second Kings, Chapter 4, Verses 1 to 7 and Chapter 38 to 44, Chapter 6, Verses 1 to 7. In many places in the land of Israel, there were living families of people who listened to the teaching of the prophets and worshiped the Lord. They were among the 7,000 in Israel who never bowed their knees to the images of Baal as we read in Story 78. Elisha went through the land meeting these people and teaching them and leading them in their worship. They were called the sons of the prophets and among them were some to whom God spoke, men who themselves became prophets of the Lord. The wife of one of these men, the sons of the prophets, came one day to Elisha and said, Oh, man of God, my husband is dead and you know that he served the Lord while he lived. He was owing some money when he died and now the man to whom he audit has come and he says that he will take my two sons to be his slaves unless I pay the debt. For in those lands, when a man owed a debt, he could be sold or his children that the debt might be paid. Elisha said to the woman, What shall I do to help you? What have you in the house? I have nothing in the house. Answered the woman, except a pot of oil. Then Elisha said to her, Go to your neighbors and borrow of them empty jars and vessels and bowls. Borrow a great many. Then go into the room and shut the door upon yourself and your sons and pour out the oil into the vessels and as each vessel is filled, set it aside. The woman went out and borrowed of all her neighbors vessels that would hold oil until she had a great many. Then she went into the house and shut the door and told her sons to bring the vessels to her one by one and she poured out oil, filling vessel after vessel, until all were full. At last they said to her, There is not another vessel that can hold oil. And then the oil stopped running. If she had borrowed more vessels, there would have been more oil. She came and told Elisha, the man of God and he said, Go and sell the oil. Pay the debt and keep the rest of the money for yourself and your sons to live upon. At another time, Elisha came to Gilgal among the mountains near Bethel and with him were some of these men, the sons of the prophets. It was a time when food was scarce and they sought in the field for vegetables and grain things to be eaten. One man by mistake brought a number of wild gourds which were poisonous and threw them into the pot to be cooked with the rest of the food. While they were eating, they felt suddenly that they had been poisoned and they cried out, Oh man of God, there is death in the pot, the food is poisoned. Then Elisha took some meal and threw it into the pot with the poisoned food and he said, Now take the food out of the pot and let the people eat of it. They did so and there was no longer any poison in the food. At one time, a man came bringing to the prophet a present of loaves of barley bread and some ears of new corn in the husks. There were with Elisha the day a hundred men of the sons of the prophets and Elisha said to his servant, Give this to the people for their dinner. The servant said, What? Should I give this for a meal to a hundred men? And Elisha said, Yes, set it before them and let them eat. For thus says the Lord, They shall eat and shall have enough and shall leave some of it. So he gave them the food and every man took as much as he wished and some was left over, according to the word of the Lord. Once a company of these sons of the prophets went down from the mountains to a place near the river Jordan and began to build a house and Elisha was with them. As one of the men was cutting down a tree, the head fell off from his axe and dropped into the water. In those times iron and steel were very scarce and costly. The man said, Oh, my master, what shall I do? For this was a borrowed axe. Then Elisha asked to be shown just where the axe-head had fallen into the water. He cut off a stick of wood and threw it into the water at the place. At once the iron axe-head rose to the surface of the water and floated as if it were wood. The prophet said, Reach out and take it. And the man took the iron, fitted it to the handle and went down with his work. By these works of power, all the people came to know that Elisha was a true prophet of the Lord and spoke as with the voice of the Lord to Israel. End of Story 11, recording by Ezwa in Belgium in January, 2008. Story 12 of Herbert's story of the Bible. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Herbert's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Herbert, part four, The Little Boy at Shunam. Second Kings chapter four, verses eight to 37. The prophet Elisha went through the land of Israel, meeting in many places the people who worshiped the Lord and teaching them. On one of his journeys, he visited the little city of Shunam, which was on a hill, looking over the great plain of Israel and from the east. A rich woman who was living in that place asked him to come to her house and to take his meals there whenever he journeyed by. So as often as Elisha came to Shunam on his journeys, he stopped for a meal or a night at this woman's home. After a time, the lady said to her husband, I see that this is a holy man of God who comes to our house so often. Let us build a little room for him on the side of the house and let us place in the room for him a bed and a table and a stool and a candlestick so that when he comes, it will be a home for him and he can sleep there. So they built the room and as often as Elisha passed by, he stayed there with his servant, the man who waited on him, as Elisha himself in other days had waited upon Elisha. The servant's name was Gihaize. At one time, Elisha said to the woman, you have been very kind to me and to my helper and have done much for us. Now, what can I do for you? Shall I ask the king to show you some favor or would you like anything that the chief of the army can do for you? The woman said, I live among my own people and there is nothing else that I wish. Then Gihaize said to Elisha, this woman has no son. And Elisha said to her, a year from this time, God will give to you a little boy. The promise made the woman very happy but she could scarcely believe it to be true until the little child came. He grew up and became old enough to go with his father out into the field among the men who were reaping grain. Suddenly in the field, the child cried out to his father, oh my head, my head. His father saw that he was very ill and he told one of his men to take him to his mother. He lay in his mother's arms until noon and then he died. The mother did not tell her husband that the boy was dead but she rode as quickly as she could go to the prophet who was on the other side of the plain near Mount Carmel. While she was yet far off, Elisha saw her coming and he said to Gihaize, his servant, run to meet this lady of Shunem and ask her, is it well with you, is it well with your husband, is it well with the child? She answered, it is well. But she did not stop until she met the prophet and then she fell down before him and took hold of his feet. Gihaize, the prophet's servant, did not think it was proper for her to seize him in this manner and was about to take her away. But Elisha said to him, let her alone, for she is in deep trouble and the Lord has hid it from me and has not told me. And the woman said, did I ask for a son? Did I not say, do not deceive me? Then Elisha knew what had taken place. He said to Gihaize, take my staff and go at once to this woman's house. If you meet any man, do not stop to speak to him and if anyone speaks to you, do not stop to answer him. But go and lay my staff on the face of the child. But the mother was not content to have the servant only go to her house. She wanted Elisha himself to go and she said, as surely as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. Then Elisha followed her back to Shunem across the plain. On the way, they met Gihaize coming back. He had laid the staff as he had been told to lay it on the face of the child and he said, the child is not awaked. When Elisha came, he found the child dead and laid upon the bed in the prophet's room, the staff upon his face. He shut the door and prayed beside the bed to the Lord. And after his prayer, he lay with his face upon the child's face and his hands on the child's hands. And as he lay, the child's body began to grow warm. Then he rose up and walked up and down in the house and again he lay upon the child and put his arms around him. Suddenly the child began to sneeze and then he opened his eyes alive once more. Elisha told his servant to call the mother and when she came, he said to her, take up your son. The mother saw that her son was alive from the dead. She fell at Elisha's feet to show how great was her thankfulness to him and then she took her son up in her arms and went out. End of Story 12, recording by Ezwa in Belgium in January 2008. Story 13 of Herlbert's Story of the Bible. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Herlbert's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Herlbert, How a Little Girl Helped to Cure a Leopard. 2 Kings 5, verses 1 to 27. At one time, while Elisha was living in Israel, the general of Syrian army was named Naaman. He was a great man in his rank and power and a brave man in battle, for he had won victories for Syria. But one said terrible trouble came to Naaman. He was a leper. A leper was one with a disease called leprosy, which is still found in those lands. The leper skin turns a deathly white and is covered with scales. One by one, his fingers and toes, his hands and feet, his arms and limbs decay. Until at last the man dies. And for the disease, there is no cure. Yet, strange to say, through it all, the leper feels no pain and often will not for a long time believe that he has leprosy. There was in Naaman's house at Damascus in Syria a little girl who waited on Naaman's wife. She was a slave girl stolen from her mother's home in Israel and carried away as a captive to Syria. Even when there was no open war between Syria and Israel, parties of men were going out on both sides and destroying villages on the border, robbing the people and carrying them away to be killed or sold as slaves. But this little girl, even though she had suffered wrong, had a kind heart full of sorrow for her master Naaman, and one day she said to her mistress, I wish that my lord Naaman might meet the prophet who lives in Samaria for he could cure his leprosy. Someone told Naaman what the little girl had said and Naaman spoke of it to the king of Syria. Now, the king of Syria loved Naaman greatly and when he went to worship in the temple of his god, out of all his nobles, he chose Naaman as the one person upon whose arm he leaned. He greatly desired to have Naaman's leprosy cured and he said, I will send a letter to the king of Israel and I will ask him to let his prophet cure you. So Naaman, with a great train of followers, rode in his chariot from Damascus to Samaria about a hundred miles. He took with him as a present a large sum in gold and silver and many beautiful robes and garments. He came to the king of Israel and gave him the letter from the king of Syria and this was written in the letter. With this letter, I have sent to you Naaman, my servant, and I wish you to cure him of his leprosy. The king of Syria supposed that as this prophet who could cure leprosy was in Samaria, he was under the orders of the king of Israel and must do whatever his king told him to do and as he did not know the prophet but knew the king, he wrote to him. But the king was greatly alarmed when he read the letter. Am I God, he said, to kill man and to make man live? Why should the king of Syria send to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Do you not see that he is trying to find an excuse for making war in asking me to do what no man can do? And the king of Israel tore his garments as man did when they were in deep trouble. Elisha, the prophet, heard of the letter and of the king's alarm and he sent a message to the king. Why are you so frightened? Let this man come to me and he shall know that there is a prophet of the Lord in Israel. So Naaman came with his chariots, his horses and his followers and stood before the door of Elisha's house. Elisha did not come out to meet him but sent his servant out to him saying, Go and wash in the river Jordan seven times and your flesh and your skin shall become pure and you shall be free from leprosy. But Naaman was very angry because Elisha had not treated with more respect so great a man as he was. He forgot, or he did not know, that by the laws of Israel no man might touch or even come near a leper. And he said, Why I suppose that of course he would come out and meet me and would wave his hand over the leper spot and would call on the name of the Lord his God and in that manner would cure my leprosy Are not Abayna and Farfar the two rivers of Damascus better than all the waters in Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean? And Naaman turned and went away in a rage of anger but his servants were wiser than he. They came to him and one of them said, My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing would you not have done it? And why not do it when he says wash and be clean? After a little Naaman's anger cooled and he rode down the mountains to the river Jordan. He washed in its water seven times as the prophet had bitten him and the scales of leprosy left his skin and his flesh became like the flesh of a little child pure and clean. Then Naaman, a leper no more, came back to Elisha's house with all his company and he said, Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. Let me make you a present in return for what you have done for me. But the true prophets of God never gave their message or did their works for pay and Elisha said to Naaman as surely as the Lord lives before whom I stand I will receive nothing. And Naaman urged him to take the present but he refused. Then Naaman asked as a favor that he might be allowed to take away from the land of Israel as much soil as could be carried on two mules with which to build an altar for he thought that an altar to the God of Israel could be made only of earth from the land of Israel and he said, From this time I will offer no burnt offering or sacrifice to any other God except to the God of Israel. When I go with my master, the king of Syria to worship in the temple of Rimen, his God and my master leans on my arm and I bow down to Rimen with him then may the Lord forgive me for this which will look as if I were worshiping another God. And Elisha said to him, Go in peace. Then Naaman went on his way back to his own land but Gehize, the servant of Elisha said to himself, My master has let the Syrian go without taking anything from him but I will run after him and ask him for a present. So Gehize ran after Naaman and Naaman saw him following and stopped his chariot and stepped down to meet him and Gehize said to him, My master has sent me to you to say that just now two young sons of the prophets have come to his house. Will you give them a talent of silver and two suits of clothing? And Naaman said, Let me give you two talents of silver. So he put two talents of silver in two bags a talent in each bag and gave them to Gehize and with them two suits of fine clothing and he sent them back by two of his servants but before they came to Elisha's house Gehize took the gifts and hid them then Gehize went into the house and stood before Elisha and Elisha said to him, Gehize where have you been? and Gehize answered, I have not been at any place and Elisha said to him, Did not my heart go with you and did I not see you when the man stepped down from his chariot to meet you? Is this a time to receive gifts of money and garments or gifts of vineyards and oliveyards and of sheep and oxen? Because you have done this wickedness the leprosy of Naaman shall be upon you and shall cling to you and to your children after you forever and Gehize walked out from Elisha's presence a leper with his skin as white as snow End of Story 13 Recording by Iswa in Belgium in February 2008 Story 14 of Hurlbut's Story of the Bible This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut Part 4 The Chariots of Fire Around Elisha 2 Kings 6, 8-23 There was constant war between Israel and Syria through all the years of Elisha the prophet and the king of Israel found Elisha a greater help than his horses and chariots for whenever the king of Syria told his officers to make an attack upon any place in the land of Israel Elisha would send word to the king of Israel saying watch carefully that place and send men to guard it for the Syrians are coming to attack it and then when the Syrian army came to the place they were sure to find it strongly guarded so that their soldiers could do nothing This happened so many times that the king of Syria at last said to his nobles Someone among you is secretly helping the king of Israel and is sending him word of all our plans Will no one tell me who the traitor is? And then they said No one of us my lord oh king has made known your plans but Elisha the prophet that is in Israel tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your own room Then the king of Syria said Go and find where that man is so that I may send an army to take him After a time the king of Syria heard that Elisha was staying in Dothan Then he sent to that place a great army with horses and chariots They came by night and stood in a great ring all around the city ready to seize the prophet In the morning the prophet's helper rose up early and when he found the city surrounded on every side by a host of men with swords and spears he called Elisha in great alarm and said to him Oh my master what shall we do? Fear not answered Elisha There are more men on our side than on theirs And then Elisha prayed to the lord saying Oh lord open the eyes of this young man and let him see who are with us Then the lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw what other men could not see that the mountain on which the city stood was covered with horses and chariots of fire sent by the lord to keep his prophet safe But this the Syrians could not see and they came up to the gates of the city to take Elisha Then Elisha prayed to the lord saying Lord make these men blind for a little while Then a mist came over the eyes of the Syrians and they could not see clearly And Elisha went out to them and said This is not the right city but I will show you the way, follow me And Elisha led them from Dothan to Samaria and into the walls of the city where the army of Israel were standing all around them Then Elisha prayed Oh lord open the eyes of these men that they may see And the lord opened their eyes and they saw the walls of Samaria and the host of Israel all around them The king of Israel was glad to have his enemies in his power and he said to Elisha My father shall I kill them? Shall I kill them? But Elisha said to him You shall not kill them Would you kill helpless men whom you have taken as prisoners Give them bread to eat and water to drink and send them home to their master So instead of killing the Syrian soldiers or holding them as prisoners the king of Israel set plenty of food before them and gave them all that they needed Then he sent them home to their master the king of Syria And after that it was a long time before the Syrian armies came into the land of Israel End of Story 14 LibriVox.org After a time there was another great war between Syria and Israel and Ben Hadad the king of Syria led a mighty army into the land of Israel and laid siege against the city of Samaria So hard and long was the siege that the people in Samaria could find nothing to eat and many died from the want of food and some killed their own children and ate them But all through the siege Elisha encouraged the king of Israel not to give up the city When it seemed that there could be no hope Elisha said to the king Hear the word of the Lord Tomorrow at this hour in the gate of Samaria a peck of flour shall be sold for sixty cents and two pecks of barley for sixty cents One of the nobles on whose arm the king was leaning did not believe Elisha's word and said scornfully If the Lord would make windows in heaven and rain down wheat and barley then this might be You shall see it with your own eyes answered Elisha but you shall not eat any of the food On the next morning about daybreak four men that were lepers were standing together outside the gate of Samaria Being lepers they were not allowed by the laws of Israel inside the walls of the city We have read of leprosy and lepers in the story of Naaman Story 86 These four men said to each other What shall we do? If we go into the city we must die there from the want of food If we stay here we must die Let us go to the camp of the Syrians Perhaps they will let us live and at the worst they can do no more than kill us So the four men went toward the Syrian camp But as they came near they were surprised to find no one standing on guard They went into a tent and found it empty as though it had been left very suddenly for there were food and drink and garments and gold and silver As no one was there they ate and drank all they needed and then they took away valuable things and hid them They looked into another tent and another and found them like the first but not a man was in sight They walked through the camp but not a soldier was there and the tents were left just as they had been when men were living in them In the night the Lord had caused the Syrians to hear a great noise like the rolling of chariots and the trampling of horses and the marching of men They said to each other in great fear the king of Israel has sent for the Hittites on the north and the Egyptians on the south to come against us And so great and so sudden was their terror that in the night they rose up and fled away leaving everything in their camp leaving their horses tied and their asses and all their treasure and all their food in their tents After a time the leper said to each other We do wrong not to tell this good news in the city If they find it out they will blame us for not letting them know and we may lose our lives on account of it So they went up to the gate and called to the men on guard and told them how they had found the camp of the Syrians with tents standing and horses tied but not a man left The men on guard told it at the king's palace but the king when he heard it thought that it was a trick of the Syrians to hide themselves and to draw the men out of the city so that they might take the city The king sent out two men with horses and chariots and they found that not only had the camp been left but that the road down the mountains to the river Jordan was covered with garments and arms and treasures that the Syrians had thrown away in their wild flight The news soon spread through the city of Samaria for two hours all the city was at the gate and when the food was brought in from the camp there was abundance for all the people and it came to pass as Elisha had said a peck of grain and two pecks of barley were sold for sixty cents in the gate of Samaria by noon of that day The king chose the noble upon whose arm he had leaned the day before to have charge of the gate So he saw with his own eyes that which the prophet had foretold but he did not eat of it so great that the people pressed upon him and he was trodden under their feet and killed in the throng Thus the king and all the city of Samaria knew that Elisha had indeed spoken the word of the Lord We have seen how different from the ways of Elisha were the ways of Elisha Elisha lived alone in the wilderness and never came before kings except to tell them of their evil deeds and to warn them of their punishment But Elisha lived in the city at times even in the city of Samaria often sent helpful messages to the king and seemed to be his friend Both these men were needed Elijah and Elisha one to destroy the evil in the land and the other to build up the good End of Story 15 Horlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Horlbut Part 4 You remember that when the Lord came to the prophet Elijah at Mount Horeb in the wilderness the Lord gave to Elijah a command to anoint or call Haseel to be king of Syria and Jehu to be king of Israel But to prepare the way for these changes of rule a long time was needed and Elijah was taken home to heaven before these men were called to be kings The time to call these men had now come and Elisha undertook the work that had been left to him by Elijah He went to Damascus the chief city of Syria and Ben-Hadad the king of Syria heard that the great prophet of Israel had come for the fame of Elisha's deeds had made his name known through all those lands At that time King Ben-Hadad was ill and he sent one of his chief princes whose name was Haseel to ask Elisha whether he would be well again Haseel came to meet Elisha with a rich present which loaded forty camels and he spoke to Elisha with great respect saying, your son Ben-Hadad king of Syria has sent me to you to ask shall I become well again from this sickness and Elisha said to Haseel you may tell Ben-Hadad that he will get well nevertheless the Lord has shown me that he will surely die then Elisha looked steadily upon Haseel's face until Haseel felt ashamed and Elisha wept as he looked upon him Haseel said to him why does my Lord weep I weep said Elisha because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel you will take their castles and set them on fire you will kill their young men and you will destroy their children Haseel was surprised at this I am nothing but a dog how can I do such great things and Elisha answered him the Lord has shown me that you shall be king over Syria then Haseel went to King Ben-Hadad and said to him the man of God told me that you will surely be well from your sickness and on the next day Haseel took the cover from the bed and dipped it in water and pressed it tightly over Ben-Hadad's face so that he died and Haseel reigned in his place as king of Syria as soon as Haseel became king he made war upon the Israelites and a battle was fought at Ramoth Khalid the same place where King Ahab had been slain more than ten years before in this battle Jehoram the king of Israel was wounded and he was taken to Jezreel beside the great plain of Estra-Elin there to recover from his wounds Ahaziah who was at that time king of Judah and who was nephew of Jehoram went to Jezreel to visit him while he was ill from his wounds by this time Elisha the prophet had returned from his visit to Syria he knew that the time had now come to finish the work in Israel left to him by Elisha and he called one of the sons of the prophets to him and said rise up and go to the camp at Ramoth Khalid and take with you this little bottle of oil and when you reach Ramoth Khalid find one of the captains of the army Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi and lead him into a room alone before the ol' owned his head and say thus saith the Lord I have anointed you as king over Israel when you have done this come back to me at once without waiting then the young man who was a prophet like Elisha took the bottle of oil on his hand and went to Ramoth Khalid in the camp of Israel he found the captains of the army sitting together he came suddenly among them and said oh captain I have an errand to you and Jehu one of the captains to which one of us is your errand he said to Jehu my errand is to you alone oh captain then Jehu went with the young prophet into the house and he poured the oil on his head and said thus saith the Lord the God of Israel I have anointed you as king over my people Israel and you shall destroy the family of Ahab because they destroyed the prophets of the Lord and I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam who made Israel to sin and the wild dog shall eat Jezebel in the city of Jezreel and there shall be no one to bury her and after he had said this the prophet opened the door and went away as suddenly as he had come Jehu came back to the other captains and sat down again one of the captains said to him is all well why did this wild fellow call you out Jehu said to them you know the man and you know what he said to me no no they all said we do not know tell us what he said then Jehu told them what the prophet had said and that he had anointed him as king this pleased all the captains at once they took off their outer garments and spread them as a carpet on the stairs of the house at the head of the stairs they placed Jehu and then blew the trumpets and called out to the army Jehu is the king Jehu said to the captains do not let anyone go out of the camp and bear word to Jehoram I will go myself then Jehu made ready his chariot and rode swiftly towards Jezreel his company riding after him the watchman on the tower at Jezreel saw him coming and he called out to King Jehoram I see a company coming toward the city Jehoram thought that they were bearing news of the war with the Syrians he sent out a man on horseback to meet the company the man came and said is all well Jehu answered him what difference is it to you come after me Jehu's company and so did another man whom Jehoram sent when the first man did not return all the watchman called out to Jehoram again two men have gone out to meet the company that is drawing near but they have not come back and the man at the head drives like Jehu the son of Nimshi for he drives furiously then Jehoram became anxious he sent for his chariot and went out to meet Jehu and with him went Ahaziah it came to pass that they met Jehu at the very place which had been the vineyard of Naboth the same place where Ahab met Elijah when that same Jehu was standing behind Ahab in his chariot as Jehoram drew near to Jehu he called to him is all well Jehu can anything be well as long as your mother Jezebel lives with all her wickedness when Jehoram heard this he saw that Jehu was his enemy he cried out to King Ahaziah and turned his chariot and fled but he was too late for Jehu drew his bow with all his strength and sent an arrow to his heart Jehoram fell down dead in his chariot then Jehu said to Bidkar whom he had made his chief captain take away the body of Jehoram and throw it in the field where the body of Naboth was thrown do you remember how when you and I were riding in the chariot behind Ahab his father the Lord said I have seen the blood of Naboth on this spot and the punishment of Ahab and his sons shall be in this place when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw Jehoram fall he too turned and fled but Jehu pursued him and ordered his followers to kill him so Ahaziah the son of Jehoshaphat the grandson of Ahab for his mother Athelish was a daughter of Jezebel he also died at the hand of Jehu and his servants took the body of Ahaziah to Jerusalem and buried it there when Jehu rode into the city of Jezreel Queen Jezebel knew that her end had come but she met it boldly like a queen she put on her royal robes and a crown upon her head and sat by the window waiting for Jehu to come as he drew near she called out to him good day to you Jehu you who are like Zimri the murderer of your master you have read of Zimri who slew King Elah and was himself burned in this place seven days after Jehu looked up to the window and called out who is on my side who and some men looked out to him and he said throw her out of the window they threw her down and her blood was spattered on the wall and on the horses King Jehu came into the palace and sat down his master and ate and drank out the body of that wicked woman Jezebel and bury her for though wicked she was the daughter of a king but when they looked on the pavement there was nothing left of her except her skull and the bones of her feet and her hands for the wild dogs of the city had eaten her and thus the wicked life of Jezebel came to an end and the word of the Lord by the prophet Elijah came to pass and Jehu slew all of the sons of Ahab and their children with them so that not one of Ahab's family was left alive when Jehu saw that he was safe and strong on the throne he sent out a message to all worshippers of Baal the idol which Jezebel in the house of Ahab had brought into Israel this message was Ahab served Baal a little but Jehu will serve him much now let all the priests of Baal meet in the temple of Baal in Samaria they came by hundreds hoping that Jehu would be their friend as Ahab and his family had been but when they were all in the temple they took the soldiers and placed them on guard around it and when no one could escape he gave the order go into the temple and kill all the priests of Baal let not one get away alive and this was done in a cruel manner he killed all the prophets and priests of Baal and tore down the temple of Baal in Samaria but though Jehu broke up the worship of Baal he did not worship the Lord God of Israel as he should he continued to serve the golden calves which Jeroboam had set up long before at Bethel and at Dan and the Lord sent a prophet to Jehu who said to him because you have done my will in destroying the house of Ahab and in destroying those that worshiped Baal your children to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel on account of the many sins of the people of Israel the Lord began in the days of Jehu to take away the land of the ten tribes Haseel the new king of Syria made war on Jehu and conquered all of the land on the east of the Jordan on to the land of Bashan in the north so all that was left of Israel was the country on the west of Jordan from Bethel northward to Dan End of 16 Recording by Laura Denson of SoapTurtle.net Story 17 of Horowitz's story of the Bible This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer LibriVox.org Recording by Laura Denson Horowitz's story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Horowitz Part 4 Elisha and the Bow Jonah and Nineveh 2 Kings 13 1 to 25 Jonah 1 1 to 411 After Jehu his son Johoahaz reigned in Israel He was not only a wicked but also a weak king and under him Israel became helpless in the hands of its enemies Hazael the first king of Syria and his son Ben Hadad II But when Jehoahaz died his son Joash became king and under its rule Israel began to rise again Elisha the prophet was now an old man and very feeble and near to death The young king Joash came to see him and wept over him and said to him as Elisha had said to Elisha My father, my father you are to Israel more than its chariots and its horsemen but Elisha the weakened body was yet strong in soul He told King Joash to bring him a bow and arrows and to open the window to the east looking toward the land of Syria Then Elisha caused the king to draw the bow and he placed his hands on the king's hands The king shot an arrow Elisha said This is the Lord's arrow of victory a victory over Syria for you shall smite the Syrians in Afik and shall destroy them Then Elisha told the king to take the arrows and to strike with them on the ground The king struck them on the ground three times and then stopped striking The old prophet was displeased at this and said why did you stop You should have struck the ground five or six times then you would have won as many victories over Syria but now you shall beat the Syrians three times and no more Soon after this Elisha died and they buried him in a cave In the spring of the next year the bands of Moabites came upon the place just as they were burying another man and in their haste to escape from the enemies they placed the body in a cave where Elisha was buried When the body of this man touched the body of the dead prophet life came to it and the man stood up and just even after Elisha was dead he still had power After the death of Elisha Joash the king of Israel made war upon Ben Hedad II king of Syria Joash beat him three times in battle and took from him all of the cities that Haseel his father had taken away from Israel and after Joash his son Jeroboam the second reigned who became the greatest of all the kings of the ten tribes Under him the kingdom grew rich and strong he conquered nearly all Syria and made Samaria the greatest city in all those lands But though Syria went down another nation was now rising to power Assyria on the eastern side of the river Tigris its capital was Nineveh a great city so vast that it would take three days for a man to walk around its walls The Assyrians were beginning to conquer all the lands near them and Israel was in danger of falling under their power At this time another prophet named Jonah was giving the word of the Lord to the Israelites To Jonah the Lord spoke saying Go to Nineveh that great city and preach to it for its wickedness rises up before me But Jonah did not wish to preach to the people of Nineveh for they were enemies of his land the land of Israel He wished Nineveh to die in its sins and not to turn to God and live So Jonah tried to go away from the city where God had sent him He went down to Jopah upon the shore of the great sea There he found a ship about to sail to Tarshish far away in the west He paid the fare and went on board and tamed him to go as far as possible from Nineveh But the Lord saw Jonah on the ship and the Lord sent a great storm upon the sea so that the ship seemed as though it would go into pieces He drew overboard everything on the ship and when they could do no more every man prayed to his God to save the ship and themselves Jonah was now lying fast asleep under the deck of the ship and the ship's captain came to him and said What do you mean by sleeping in such a time as this? Awake! Rise up and call upon your God Perhaps your God will hear you and will save our lives But the storm continued to rage around the ship and they said I am the one on this ship who has brought upon us this trouble Let us cast lots and find who it is Then they cast lots and the Lord fell on Jonah They said to him all at once Tell us who are you from what country do you come what is your business to what people do you belong why have you brought all this trouble upon us Then Jonah told them the whole story how he came from the land of Israel and that he had fled away from the presence of the Lord and they said to him what shall we do to you that the storm may cease Then Jonah said take me up and throw me into the sea then the storm will cease and the waters will be calm for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you But the men were not willing to throw Jonah into the sea They rode hard to bring the ship to land but they could not Then they cried into the Lord We pray thee, O Lord we pray thee Let us not die for this man's life for thou, O Lord has done as it pleased thee At last, when they could do nothing else to save themselves they threw Jonah into the sea At once the storm ceased and the waves became still Then the men on the ship feared the Lord greatly They offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made promises to serve him and caused a great fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah was alive within the fish for three days and three nights Long afterward when Jesus was on the earth he said that as Jonah was three days inside the fish so he would be three days inside the earth so Jonah in the fish was like a prophecy of Christ In the fish Jonah cried to the Lord and the Lord heard his prayer and caused the great fish to throw up Jonah upon the dry land By this time Jonah had learned that some men who worshiped idols were kind in their hearts and were dear to the Lord This was the lesson God meant Jonah to learn and now the call of the Lord came to Jonah a second time Arise Go to Nineveh, that great city and preach to it what I command you So Jonah went to the city of Nineveh and as he entered into it he called out to the people Within forty days shall Nineveh be destroyed And he walked through the city all day crying out only this Within forty days shall Nineveh be destroyed And the people of Nineveh believed the word of the Lord as spoken by Jonah They turned away from their sins and fasted and sought the Lord from the greatest of them even to the least The king of Nineveh arose from his throne and laid aside his royal robes and covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes as a sign of his sorrow And the king sent out a command to his people that they should fast and seek the Lord and turn from sin And God saw that the people of Nineveh were sorry for their wickedness and he forgave them and did not destroy their city But this made Jonah very angry He did not wish to have Nineveh spared because it was the enemy of his own land and also he feared that men would call him a false prophet when his word did not come to pass Jonah said to the Lord O Lord I was sure that it would be thus that thou wouldest spare the city and for that reason I tried to flee away for I knew that thou was a gracious God full of pity, slow to anger and rich in mercy Now, O Lord, take away my life for it is better for me to die than to live And Jonah went out of the city and built a little hut on the east side of it and sat under its roof to see whether God would keep the word that he had spoken Then the Lord caused a plant with thick leaves called a gourd to grow up and to shade Jonah from the sun and Jonah was glad and sat under its shadow But a worm destroyed the plant and the next day a hot wind blew and Jonah suffered from the heat and again Jonah wished that he might die and the Lord said to Jonah You were sorry to see the plant die though you did not make it grow and though it came up in a night and died in a night and should not I have pity on Enneva that great city where are more than a hundred thousand little children and also many cattle all helpless and knowing nothing and Jonah learned that men