SECOND CHRONICLES XV-ASA'S REFORMS

781

while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.

3 Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.

4 But when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.

5 And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries.

6 And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity.

7 Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.

8 And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD.

9 And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.

10 So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. ·

11 And they offered unto the LORD the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.

12 And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul;

13 That whosoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. 14 And they sware unto the LORD with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.

15 And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the LORD gave them rest round about.

16 And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.

17 But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.

18¶ And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels.

782

SECOND CHRONICLES XVI-ASA'S SIN

19 And there was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.

Chapter 16

1 Asa, by the aid of the Syrians, diverteth Baasha from building of Ramah. 7 Being reproved thereof by Hanani he putteth him in prison. 11 Among his other acts, in his disease he seeketh not to God, but to the physicians

13 His death and burial.

Judah.

N the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa Baasha1 king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of

2 Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of the LORD and of the king's house, and sent to Ben-hadad king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying,

3 There is a league between me and thee, as there was between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent thee silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.

4 And Ben-hadad hearkened unto king Asa and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abelmaim, and all the store cities of Naphtali.

5 And it came to pass, when Baasha heard it, that he left off building of Ramah, and let his work cease.

6 Then Asa the king took all Judah; and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha was building; and he built therewith Geba and Mizpah.

7 ¶ And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.

8 Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the LORD, he delivered them into thine hand.

9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.

10 Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prisonhouse; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time.

11 ¶ And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

12 And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians.

'There is some confusion of dates here. Baasha's reign ended in the twenty-seventh year of Asa's. See I. Kings, 15, 33.

The Cedars of Lebanon

BY GUSTAVE DORÉ, THE CELEBRATED FRENCH ILLUS

TRATOR, DIED 1883.

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“And we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need: and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea.”II. Chron., 2, 16.

NR

TO SOONER was Solomon fully established in his kingship then he began seriously upon the great work of his reign, the building of the magnificent House of God. King David had planned this temple and gathered vast store of materials for it; but Solomon felt that all was not enough. He renewed therefore his father's alliance with Hiram, the king of the great commercial metropolis of Tyre, the chief trading city of the world. in those days, when Rome and Carthage were yet unfounded, and the Greeks only just emerging from the savage state.

Back of Tyre lay the huge mountain of Lebanon, covered with cedar trees of enormous size and strength. They were considered the most valuable building trees in the world, so Solomon desired them for his temple. As the region of Lebanon was in possession of King Hiram, he and Solomon struck a bargain and sent each of them some twenty thousand workmen to tend to the felling of the cedars, the dragging of them down through the mountains to the coast, and sending them to Jerusalem, a task of almost immeasurable difficulty.