The One Year Bible TLB (125 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
If the Lord had not been on our side (let all Israel admit it), if the Lord had not been on our side,
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we would have been swallowed alive by our enemies, destroyed by their anger.
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We would have drowned beneath the flood of these men’s fury and pride.
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Blessed be Jehovah who has not let them devour us.
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We have escaped with our lives as a bird from a hunter’s snare. The snare is broken and we are free!
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Our help is from the Lord who made heaven and earth.
Kind words are like honey—enjoyable and healthful.
June 7As the time of King David’s death approached, he gave this charge to his son Solomon:
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“I am going where every man on earth must some day go. I am counting on you to be a strong and worthy successor.
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Obey the laws of God and follow all his ways; keep each of his commands written in the law of Moses so that you will prosper in everything you do, wherever you turn.
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If you do this, then the Lord will fulfill the promise he gave me, that if my children and their descendants watch their step and are faithful to God, one of them shall always be the king of Israel—my dynasty will never end.
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“Now listen to my instructions. You know that Joab murdered my two generals, Abner and Amasa. He pretended that it was an act of war, but it was done in a time of peace.
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You are a wise man and will know what to do—don’t let him die in peace.
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But be kind to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite. Make them permanent guests of the king, for they took care of me when I fled from your brother Absalom.
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And do you remember Shimei, the son of Gera the Benjaminite from Bahurim? He cursed me with a terrible curse as I was going to Mahanaim; but when he came down to meet me at the Jordan River, I promised I wouldn’t kill him.
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But that promise doesn’t bind you! You are a wise man, and you will know how to arrange a bloody death for him.”
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Then David died and was buried in Jerusalem.
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He had reigned over Israel for forty years, seven of them in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem.
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And Solomon became the new king, replacing his father David; and his kingdom prospered.
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One day Adonijah, the son of Haggith, came to see Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba.
“Have you come to make trouble?” she asked him.
“No,” he replied, “I come in peace.
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As a matter of fact, I have a favor to ask of you.”
“What is it?” she asked.
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“Everything was going well for me,” he said, “and the kingdom was mine: everyone expected me to be the next king. But the tables are turned, and everything went to my brother instead; for that is the way the Lord wanted it.
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But now I have just a small favor to ask of you; please don’t turn me down.”
“What is it?” she asked.
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He replied, “Speak to King Solomon on my behalf (for I know he will do anything you request) and ask him to give me Abishag, the Shunammite, as my wife.”
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“All right,” Bathsheba replied, “I’ll ask him.”
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So she went to ask the favor of King Solomon. The king stood up from his throne as she entered and bowed low to her. He ordered that a throne for his mother be placed beside his; so she sat at his right hand.
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“I have one small request to make of you,” she said. “I hope you won’t turn me down.”
“What is it, my mother?” he asked. “You know I won’t refuse you.”
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“Then let your brother Adonijah marry Abishag,” she replied.
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“Are you crazy?” he demanded. “If I were to give him Abishag, I would be giving him the kingdom too! For he is my older brother! He and Abiathar the priest and General Joab would take over!”
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Then King Solomon swore with a great oath, “May God strike me dead if Adonijah does not die this very day for this plot against me! I swear it by the living God who has given me the throne of my father David and this kingdom he promised me.”
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So King Solomon sent Benaiah to execute him, and he killed him with a sword.
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Then the king said to Abiathar the priest, “Go back to your home in Anathoth. You should be killed, too, but I won’t do it now. For you carried the Ark of the Lord during my father’s reign, and you suffered right along with him in all of his troubles.”
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So Solomon forced Abiathar to give up his position as the priest of the Lord, thereby fulfilling the decree of Jehovah at Shiloh concerning the descendants of Eli.
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When Joab heard about Adonijah’s death (Joab had joined Adonijah’s revolt, though not Absalom’s) he ran to the Tabernacle for sanctuary and caught hold of the horns of the altar.
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When news of this reached King Solomon, he sent Benaiah to execute him.
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Benaiah went into the Tabernacle and said to Joab, “The king says to come out!”
“No,” he said, “I’ll die here.”
So Benaiah returned to the king for further instructions.
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“Do as he says,” the king replied. “Kill him there beside the altar and bury him. This will remove the guilt of his senseless murders from me and from my father’s family.
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Then Jehovah will hold him personally responsible for the murders of two men who were better than he. For my father was no party to the deaths of General Abner, commander-in-chief of the army of Israel, and General Amasa, commander-in-chief of the army of Judah.
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May Joab and his descendants be forever guilty of these murders, and may the Lord declare David and his descendants guiltless concerning their deaths.”
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So Benaiah returned to the Tabernacle and killed Joab; and he was buried beside his house in the desert.
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Then the king appointed Benaiah as commander-in-chief, and Zadok as priest instead of Abiathar.
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The king now sent for Shimei and told him, “Build a house here in Jerusalem, and don’t step outside the city on pain of death. The moment you go beyond Kidron Brook, you die; and it will be your own fault.”
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“All right,” Shimei replied, “whatever you say.” So he lived in Jerusalem for a long time.
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But three years later two of Shimei’s slaves escaped to King Achish of Gath. When Shimei learned where they were,
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he saddled a donkey and went to Gath to visit the king. And when he had found his slaves, he took them back to Jerusalem.
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When Solomon heard that Shimei had left Jerusalem and had gone to Gath and returned,
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he sent for him and demanded, “Didn’t I command you in the name of God to stay in Jerusalem or die? You replied, ‘Very well, I will do as you say.’
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Then why have you not kept your agreement and obeyed my commandment?
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And what about all the wicked things you did to my father, King David? May the Lord take revenge on you,
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but may I receive God’s rich blessings, and may one of David’s descendants always sit upon this throne.”
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Then, at the king’s command, Benaiah took Shimei outside and killed him.
So Solomon’s grip upon the kingdom became secure.
3:
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Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and married one of his daughters. He brought her to Jerusalem to live in the City of David until he could finish building his palace and the Temple and the wall around the city.
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At that time the people of Israel sacrificed their offerings on altars in the hills, for the Temple of the Lord hadn’t yet been built.
But there was a man named Ananias (with his wife Sapphira) who sold some property
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and brought only part of the money, claiming it was the full price. (His wife had agreed to this deception.)
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But Peter said, “Ananias, Satan has filled your heart. When you claimed this was the full price, you were lying to the Holy Spirit.
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The property was yours to sell or not, as you wished. And after selling it, it was yours to decide how much to give. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us, but to God.”
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As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor, dead! Everyone was terrified,
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and the younger men covered him with a sheet and took him out and buried him.
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About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.
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Peter asked her, “Did you people sell your land for such and such a price?”
“Yes,” she replied, “we did.”
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And Peter said, “How could you and your husband even think of doing a thing like this—conspiring together to test the Spirit of God’s ability to know what is going on?
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Just outside that door are the young men who buried your husband, and they will carry you out too.”
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Instantly she fell to the floor, dead, and the young men came in and, seeing that she was dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
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Terror gripped the entire church and all others who heard what had happened.
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Meanwhile, the apostles were meeting regularly at the Temple in the area known as Solomon’s Hall, and they did many remarkable miracles among the people.
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The other believers didn’t dare join them, though, but all had the highest regard for them.
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And more and more believers were added to the Lord, crowds both of men and women.
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Sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow would fall across some of them as he went by!
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And crowds came in from the Jerusalem suburbs, bringing their sick folk and those possessed by demons; and every one of them was healed.
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The High Priest and his relatives and friends among the Sadducees reacted with violent jealousy
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and arrested the apostles, and put them in the public jail.
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But an angel of the Lord came at night, opened the gates of the jail and brought them out. Then he told them,
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“Go over to the Temple and preach about this Life!”
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They arrived at the Temple about daybreak and immediately began preaching! Later that morning
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the High Priest and his courtiers arrived at the Temple, and, convening the Jewish Council and the entire Senate, they sent for the apostles to be brought for trial.
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But when the police arrived at the jail, the men weren’t there, so they returned to the Council and reported,
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“The jail doors were locked, and the guards were standing outside, but when we opened the gates, no one was there!”
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When the police captain
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and the chief priests heard this, they were frantic, wondering what would happen next and where all this would end!
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Then someone arrived with the news that the men they had jailed were out in the Temple, preaching to the people!
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The police captain went with his officers and arrested them (without violence, for they were afraid the people would kill them if they roughed up the disciples) and brought them in before the Council.
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“Didn’t we tell you never again to preach about this Jesus?” the High Priest demanded. “And instead you have filled all Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring the blame for this man’s death on us!”
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But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men.
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The God of our ancestors brought Jesus back to life again after you had killed him by hanging him on a cross.
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Then, with mighty power, God exalted him to be a Prince and Savior, so that the people of Israel would have an opportunity for repentance, and for their sins to be forgiven.
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And we are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit, who is given by God to all who obey him.”
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At this, the Council was furious and decided to kill them.
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But one of their members, a Pharisee named Gamaliel (an expert on religious law and very popular with the people), stood up and requested that the apostles be sent outside the Council chamber while he talked.
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Then he addressed his colleagues as follows:
“Men of Israel, take care what you are planning to do to these men!
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Some time ago there was that fellow Theudas, who pretended to be someone great. About four hundred others joined him, but he was killed, and his followers were harmlessly dispersed.
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“After him, at the time of the taxation, there was Judas of Galilee. He drew away some people as disciples, but he also died, and his followers scattered.
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“And so my advice is, leave these men alone. If what they teach and do is merely on their own, it will soon be overthrown.
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But if it is of God, you will not be able to stop them, lest you find yourselves fighting even against God.”
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The Council accepted his advice, called in the apostles, had them beaten, and then told them never again to speak in the name of Jesus, and finally let them go.
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They left the Council chamber rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer dishonor for his name.
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And every day, in the Temple and in their home Bible classes, they continued to teach and preach that Jesus is the Messiah.