Category: Scripture

So Jehoshaphat ruled over the land of Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reined in Jerusalem for twenty-five years. His mother was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi.

Jehoshaphat was a good king, following the ways of his father, Asa. He did was was pleasing to the Lord’s sight. During his reign, however, he failed to remove all the pagan shrines, and the people never fully committed themselves to follwo the God of their ancestors.

The rest of the events of Jehoshaphat’s reign, from begging to end, are recorded in The Record of Jehu son of Hannai which is included in The Book of the Kings o Israel.

Some time later King Jehoshaphat of Judah made an alliance with King Ahaziah of Israel, who was very wicked. Together they built a fleet of trading ships at the port of Ezion-geber. Then Eliezer son of Dodavahu from Mareshah prophesied agains Jehoshaphat. He said, “Because you have allied yourself with King Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy your work” So the ships met with disaster and never put out to sea. (vv. 31-37, NLT)_

After this, the armies of the Moabites, Ammonites, and some of the Meunites declared war on Jehoshapat. (v. 1) NLT

“O Our God, wont’ you stop them? We are powerless against this might army that is about to attack us. We do not know what to do, but we are looking to You for help.”

As all the men of Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, wives, and children, the Spirit of the Lord cam upon one of the men standing there. His name was Jahaziel, son of Zechariah, the son of Beniah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite who was a descendant of Asaph.

He said, “Listen, all you people of of Judah and Jerusalem! Listen, King Jehoshapat! This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this might army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.” (vv 13-15, NLT)

After consulting the people, the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the Lord and praising Him for his holy splendor. This is what they sang:

“Give thanks to the Lord, His faithfulness endures forever!”

At that very moment they began to sing and give praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon, Moab and Mount Sier to start fighting among themselves. The armies of Moab and Ammon turned against their allies from Mount Seir, and killed every one of them. After they had destroyed the army of Seir , they began attacking each other. So when the army of Judah arrived at the lookout point in the wilderness, all they saw were dead bodies lying on the ground as far as they could see. Not a single one of the enemy had escaped. (vv. 21-4, NLT)

Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, but he went out among the people traveling from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim, encouraging the people to return to the Lord, the God of their ancestors. He appointed judges throughout the nation in all the fortified towns and he said to them, “Always think carefully before pronouncing judgment. Remember that you do not judge to please people but to please the Lord. He will be with you when you render a verdict in each case. Fear the Lord and judge with integrity, for the Lord our God does not tolerated perverted justice, partiality, or the taking of bribes.”

In Jerusalem, Jehoshaphat appointed some of the Levites and priests and clan members in Israel to serve as judges for cases involving the Lord’s regulations and for civil disputes. These were his instructions to them: “You must always act in fear of the Lord with faithfulness and an undivided heart. Whenever a case comes to you from fellow citizens in an outlying town, whether it is a murder case or some other violation of God’s laws, commands, decrees, you must warn them not to sin agains the Lord, so that He will not be angry with you and them. Do this and you will not be guilty.”

“Amariah the high priest will have final say in all cases involving the Lord. Zebadiah son of Ismael, a leader from the tribe of Judah, will have final say in all civil cases. The levites will assist you in making sure that justice is served. Take courage as you fulfill your duties, and may the Lord be with those who do what is right.”(vv. 1-12, NLT)

One day a group of prophets came to Elisha and told him, “As you can see, this place where we met with you is too small. Let’s do down to the Jordan River, where there are plenty of logs. There we can build a new place for us to meet.”

“All right,” he told them, “go ahead.”

“Please come with us,” someone suggested.

“I will,” he said. So he went with them.

When they arrived at the Jordan, they began cutting down trees. But as one of them was cutting a tree, his ax head fell into the river. “Oh, sir!” he cried. “It was a borrowed ax!”

“Where did it fall?” the man of God said. When he showed them the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it into the water at that spot. Then the ax head floated to the surface. “Grab it,” Elisha said. And the man reached out an grabbed it. (vv. 1-7, NLT)

So Naaman with with his horses and chariots and waited at the door of Elisha’s house. But Elisha sent a messenger to go out to him with this message: “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored, and you will be healed of your leprosy.”

But Naaman became angry and stalked away. “I thought he would certainly come out to meet me!” he said, “I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me! Aren’t the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than any of the rivers in Israel? Why shouldn’t I wash in them an be healed?” So Naaman turned and went away in a rage.

But this officers tried t reason with him and said, “Sir, if the prophet had told you something very difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey when he says simply, ‘Go wash and be cured!'” So Naaman went dow to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. And his skin became the sking of a youn child, and he was healed!

Than Naaman and his entire party went back to find the man of God. They stood before him, and Naaman said, “Now If know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from you servant.”

But Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept any gifts.” And though Naaman urged him to take the gift, Elisha refused. (vv. 9-16, NLT)

The king of Aram had a great admiration for Naaman, the commander of his army, because through him, the Lord had given Aram great victories. But though Naaman was a mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy.

At this time Aramean raiders had invaded the land of Israel, and among their captives was a young girl who had been given to Naaman’s wife as a maid. One day the girl said to her mistress, “I wish my master would go to see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal him of his leprosy.

So Naaman told the king what the young girl from Israel had said. “Go and visit the prophet, the king of Aram told him. I will sent a letter of introduction for you to take to the king of Israel. (vv. 1-5a,NLT)

But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes in dismay, he sent this message to him: “Why are you so upset” Send Naaham to me, and he will learn that there is a true prophet here in Israel.” (v.8, NLT)

Elisha now returned to Gilgal, and there was a famine in the land. One day as the group of prophets was seated before him, he to his servant, “Put a large pot on the fire, and make some stew for the rest of the group.”

One of the young men went out into the field to gather herbs and came back with a pocketful of wild gourds. He shredded them and put them in to the pot without realizing they were poisonous. Some of the stew was served to the men. But after they had eaten a bite of two, they cried out,” Man of God, there’s poison in this stew!” So they could not eat it.

Elisha said, “Bring me some flour.” Then he threw it into the pot and said, “Now it’s all right; go ahead and eat. And then it did not harm them.

Ond day a man from Baal-shalishah brought the man do God a sack of fresh grain and twenty loaves of barley bread made from the first grain of his harvest. Elisha said, “Give it to the people so they can eat.”

“What?” his servant exclaimed.” Feed a hundred people with only this?”

But Elisha repeated, “Give it to the people so they can eat, for this is what the Lord says: Everyone will eat, and there will even be some more left over!” And when they gave it to the people, there was plenty for all and some left over, just as the Lord had promised. (vv. 38-44, NLT)

One day when the child was older, he went out to help his father, who was working with the harvesters. Suddenly he cried out, “My head hurts! My head hurts!”

His father said to one of his servants, “Carry him home to his mother.”

So the servant took him home, and his mother held him in her lap. But around noontime, he died. She carried him up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and left him there. She sent a message to her husband: “Send of of the servants and a donkey so that I can hurry to the man of God and come right back.”

“Why go today?” he asked. “It is neither a new moon festival nor a Sabbath.”

But she said, “It will be all right.”

So she saddled the donkey and said to the servant, “Hurry! Don’t slow down unless I tel you to.”

As she approached the man of God at Mount Carmel, Elisha saw her at a distance. He said to Gehazi, “Look, the woman fronm Shunem is coming. Run out to meet her and ask her, ‘Is everything all right with you, your husband, and your child.”

“Yes,” the woman told Gehazi, “everything is fine.”

But when she came to the man of God at the mountain, she fell to the ground before him and caught hold of his feet. Gehazi began to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone. She is deeply troubled, but the Lord has not told me what is is.”

Then she said, “Did I ask your for a son, my lord? And didn’t I say, ‘Don’t deceive me and get my hopes up?'”

Then Elisha said to Gehazi, “Get ready to travel; take my staff and go! Don’t talk to anyone along the way. Go quickly and lay the staff on the child[s face.”

But the boy’s mother said, “As surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I won’t go home unless you go with me.” So Elisha went with her. (vv. 18-30, NLT)

One day Elisha went t the town of Shumem. A wealthy woman lived there, and she urged him to come to her home for a meal. After that whenever he passed by that way, he would stop there for something to ear.

She said to her husband, “I am sure this man who stops in from time to time is a holy man of God. Let’s build a small room for him on the roof and furnish it with a bed, table, a chair, and a lamp. Then he will have a place to stay whenever he comes by.”

One day Elisha returned to Shunem, and he went up to this upper room to rest. He said to his servant Gehazi, “Tell the woman from Shumen I want to speak to her.” When she appeared, Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tell her, ‘We appreciate the kind concern you have shone us. What can we do for you? Can we put in a good word for you to the king or to the commander of the army?”

“No, she replied, “my family takes good care of me.”

Later Elisha asked Gehazi, “What can we do for her?”

Gehazi replied, “She doesn’t have a son, and her husband is an old man.”

“Call her back again,”Elisha told him. When the woman returned, Elisha said to her, as she stood in the doorway, “Next year as this time you will be holding a son in your arms!”

“No, my lord,” she cried, “O man of God don’t deceive me and get my hops up like that.”

But sure enough, the woman soon became pregnant. And at that time the following year she had a son, just as Elishas had said. (vv. 8-17, NLT)

One day a the widow of a member of the group of prophets cam to Elisha and cried out, “My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the Lord. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.”

“What can I do to help you?” Elisha asked. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?”

“Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil,” she replied.

And Elisha said, “Borrow as many empty jars as your can from your friends and neighbors. Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when filled.”

So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bring jars to her, and she filled one after another. Soon every jar was filled to the brim!

“Bring me another jar,” she said to one of her sons.

“There aren’t any more!” he told her. And then the olive oil stoped flowing.

When she told the man of God what had happened, he said to her,”Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts, and you an your sons can live on what is left over.”
(vv. 1-7, NLT)