The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1904-07-29
THE SUNDAY BIBLE SCHOOL.
Lesson in the International Series
for July 81, 1so4-"omri
and Ahab."
prepared by the Highway and By
uauv Praa acharN

~ AAA eNll IN tEe eyec OF
the Lord. and did worse than all that were
before him
70. For he walked In all the way of
Jeroboam the son OF Nebat and in his /
sin wherewith he made Israel to sin. to
provoke the Lord God Of Israel TO anger
with their vanities
"a Now the rest OF the acts of Omr /
which he did. and his might that he showed.
are they not written In the book of the /
chronicles of the kings OF Israel?
Is So omri slept with his fathers. and |
was buried in Samaria: and Ahab his son /
reigned In his stead.
-. And in the thirty and eighth year OF |
Asa king of judah began Ahab the son of /
Omrf to reign over Israel; and Ahab the /
son of omri relgned over Israel in Samaria |
twenty and two years.
90 And Ahab the son OF omri did evil |
IN the sight OF the Lord above all that were /
before him.
81 And 1t came TO pass. as II it had been |
light thing for him to walk in the sins of |
Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took |
TO wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal |
king OF the Zidonians and went and served |
Baal. and worshiped him.
81. And he reared up an altar for Baal in |
the house OF Baal. which he had built in |
Samaria
80. And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab
did more to provoke the Lord God Of Israel
TO anger than all the kings of Israel that |
were before him.
THE LESSON includes Kings l5 "a, |
giving a portion ofthe history Of the upper
kingdom which Is not given in Chronicles.
GOLDEN TEXT.-"Righteousne exalt-
eth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any
people."-Prov Is:34
TIME.-Thirty-f years from the ac-
cession OF Nadab to that of Ahab, and the
beginning OF Ahab's reign. Ahab came to
the throne e1s B. c. We go back over
twenty years in time from the lesson OF
last sunday. to take up the story OF Ahab
and Elijah.
Events in Israel Included in This
Lesson.
Israel was plunged into a bloody period
OF internal strife following the reign of
Baasha Baasha died in the twenty-sixth
year Of the reign OF Asa. king OF Judah. and
his son. Elah. became king and reigned two
years. when Zimri, captain of half his
army. murdered him, seized the throne
and then slaughtered all OF the royal fam
ily. Zimri reigned seven days, and then
burned himself to death in the palace OF
T1rzah to escape capture by Omri. cap
tain OF the host OF Israel Half Israel then
followed Omri and half Tibni Warfare be-
tween the two divisions OF unhappy Israel
finally ended in the death OF Tibni, when
Omri became sole king. Upon his death
Ahab, his son. became king In the thirty
eighth year Of the reign of Asa king Of
Judah.
Comparing Scripture with Scripture.
Bought the hill Samaria. . and built
on the hill'-the palace at the capital OF
Tirzah was in ruins (see verse 1S), and
omri selected this desirable site. COM
bining as it did strength, beauty and fer
tility. for the royal buildings
A WICKED FATHER.
"Omri. did worse than all that were
before him."-Note the steady decline
| in the moral and religious conditions in
Israel The seeds OF idolatry which
| Jereboam had sown are bringing forth
terrible harvest. Gal. CTS. Sins
| road always runs downward.
| Acts Of Omri. written. ."-Itisa SOL
emn thought to realize that God records
the acts of men. Rom. 14:12 Even the
words spoken. Matt. 1876. Rev.
20:12-15. The record left for mans
reading was but small part of this
wicked kings most iniquitous reign
God has the complete record, however
and it will be brought forth some day.
"Omri slept with his fathers. s."-Deatb
must come to all. The wicked may es.
cape God in this life. but deaths hand
drags into the presence Of God.-2 Cor.
5:10..
A MORE WICKED SON.
"Ahab. did evil in the sight Of the
Lord above all that were before him.
There were two reasons for this. his
wicked father, and his most wicked
wife It is said that wife makes or mars
man. Ruin came to Israel again and
again through matrimonial alliances
See Josh. 23:12. 13: Neh. 23:13; %. %
Even Solomon made shipwreck in this
way. I Kings ILLS. and Jehoshaphai
fell into this snare later. See 2 Chron
21:6.
Jezebel. the daughter Of the Zidoniar
king, was utterly given to the devil
She II was who brought all the licen-
tiousness connected with the worship
| Of Baal and Ashcroft. The connection
between the indulgence Of impurity and
} the declension Of the spiritual life 4,
very close. In Romans l Paul tells III
that men that refuse to retain God In
their knowledge are given up to the
workings OF passion. They lose tn,
sweet, clear impression of the truth and
nearness of the Christ. Be purel
Reared up an altar for aal."-Ths
sun was worshiped under various i'm.
ages. Reference is made to the one SCI
UP by Ahab in Kings 80. The priest.
oficiated barefoot and dancing and kiss
ing the image were among the chic
rites. From passive share in the wor
ship of Baal. he quickly passed to tn,
active participation and lent his ener
gies and kingly wealth and influence tc
establish and spread this abominabl,
heather worship.
Seed Thoughts.
Sin, like noxious weeds. is a -apit
grower and prolific seed producer
} God sees evil when man is blind to II
Omni and Ahab may have been winning
the approval and applause Of their peo
pie, while they were incurring the con
demnation Of God.
A fair face may mask a wicked heart
Many a man has been captivated by th'
5 first, only to find disaster and ruiz
| through the influence of the second.
r bad woman is always worse than baC
man because woman is cast in a finel
mold and more readily runs to ex
treme goodness or extreme badness
Not Up-to-Date.
3 He has a promising future. He's
very eloquent young preacher"
, "Oi he's too Old-fashioned He will