The Tupelo journal., 1904-07-29
Lesson in the International Series
for July 81, 10O4-"omri
and Ahab."
prepared by the Highway and By
way" P~reacher.)


provoke the Lord God Of Israel to anger
with their v~anities.
q. Now the rest of the acts Of Omri
which he did, and his might that he Showed.
are they not written in the book of the
chronicles of the kings of Israel?
%. So Omri slept with his fathers. and
was buried in Samaria; and Ahab his son
retsned in his stead.
29. And in the thirty and eighth year Of
Asa king of judah began Ahab the son of
Omri to reign over Israel; and Ahab the
son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria
twenty and two years.
80. 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 If 1t had been
a 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.
80. 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.
H LESSON includes / Kings Is :25-16 "a,
giving a portion of the history of the upper
kingdom which is not given in Chronicles.
GOLDEN observation-disclosures exalt-
tn a nation; but sin is a reproach to any
eople."-Prov. 14:34.
T1ME.-Thirty-five years. from the ac-
cession of Nadab to that of Ahab, and the
beginning of Ahab's reign. Ahab came to
the throne 9S 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
lily. Zimri reigned seven days. and then
burned himself to death in the palace OF
Tirzah 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. land built
on the~hill'-the palace at the capital of
Tirzah was in ruins (see verse 49,, and
Omri selected this desirable site, COM
bining as it did strength, beauty and fer
tility, for the royal buildings.
A WICKED FATHER.
"Omri. ...d did worse thar all that were
before him."-Note the steady decline
in the moral and religious conditions in
Israel. The seeds OF idolatry which
Jereboam had sow are bringing forth
a terrible harvest. Gal. CTS. Sins
road always runs downward.
ACTS of Omri... written 1T a SOL
emn thought to realize that God records
the acts of men. Rom. 14:12. Even the
words spoken. Matt. 1876. Rev.
20: 1915. The record left for mans
reading Was but a small part of this
wicked kings most Ubiquitous reign.
GOD has the complete record, however,
and it will be brought forth ONE day.
"Omri slept with his fathers. Death
must come to all. The wicked may es-
cape God in this life, but d.ath's hand
drags into the presence of Cod Cor.
$40.
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. 1t is said that a wife makes or mars
a man. Ruin came to Israel again and
again through matrimonial alliances.
CO. Toch 0o.10 10. Mob Co.10. 90 90
Even Solomon made ~shipwreck in this
way. / Kings 11:1-5, and ~Jehoshaphat
fell into this snare later. See 2 Chron.
ZIG. =
.Jezebel, the daughter of the Zidonian
king, was utterly given to the devil.
She it was who brought all the licen-
tiousness connected with the worship
of Baal and Ashcroft. The connection
,betweenfthe indulgence of impurity and
the decIension of the spiritual life is
very close. In Romans / Paul tells us
that men that refuse to retain God in
their knowledge are given up to the
workings of passion. They lose the
sweet, clear impression of the truth and
nearness of the Christ. Be pure!
Reared up an altar for Baal."-The
sun was w%orshiped under various i'm
ages. Reference is made to the one set
up by Ahab in 2 Kings 80. The priests
oficiated barefoot and dancing and kiss
ing the image were among the chief
rites. From passive share in the wor-
ship of Baal, he quickly passed to the
active participation and lent his ener-
giles and kingly wealth and influence to
establish and spread this abominable
heather worship.
Seed Thoughts.
Sin. like noxious weeds, is a rapid
grower and prolific seed producer.
God sees evil when man is blind to it.
Omni and Ahab may have been winning
the approval and applause of their peo-
ple. while they were mourning the con-
demnation of God.
A fair face may mask a wicked heart.
Many a man has been ~captivated by the
first, only to find disaster and ruin
through the influence of the second. A
bad woman is always worse than q bad
man because I'M is cast in a finer
mold and more readily runs to ex.
IRENE goodness or extreme badness.