Golden Text.—“The Lord is merciful and gracious.” Ps. 103:8.
Lesson I.—The Kingdom Divided.1 Kings 12:12-20. Golden Text: “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Prov. 16:18. Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, by his rashness and disregard of wise counsel, hastened the division of his kingdom which the Lord had foreseen and foretold in Solomon’s day. Jeroboam, also a man of opportunity, failed to make the most of it through departing from the way of the Lord. Instead of leading his people in the right way, he led them into sin.
Lesson II.—Jeroboam’s Idolatry.1 Kings 12:25-33. Golden Text: “Keep yourselves from idols.” 1 John 5:21. Jeroboam was jealous of his own power. He was afraid to let the people worship God in God’s appointed way, lest they be led away from his own influence. He failed to grasp the thought that what God had given him God was able to take away, and that the only way to surely retain it was through loyalty to God’s Word, whatever the appearances might be.
Lesson III.—Asa’s Good Reign.2 Chron. 14:1-12. Golden Text: “Help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on Thee.” Verse 11. Asa was the grandson of Rehoboam; he was therefore the third king of Judah, but Jeroboam, the first king of the northern kingdom, was still reigning when Asa came to the throne. Asa trusted God, and destroyed the idols which his father and grandfather had encouraged for many years; but at last he fell, through prosperity and unfortunate alliances.
Lesson IV.—Jehoshaphat’s Reform.2 Chron. 19:1-11. Golden Text: “Deal courageously, and the Lord shall be with the good.” Verse 11. Jehoshaphat had a prosperous reign, although he made some mistakes, chief of which was an alliance with Ahab, king of Israel, and allowing his son Jehoram to marry Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. This eventually brought much trouble to the kingdom of Judah.
Lesson V.—Omri and Ahab.1 Kings 16:23-33. Golden Text: “Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people.” Prov. 14:34. The gradual downfall of Israel is shown in the reigns of Omri and his son Ahab. They both walked in the way of Jeroboam, but in a greater degree, and each did worse than any of his predecessors.
Lesson VI.—God Taking Care of Elijah.1 Kings 17:1-16. Golden Text: “He careth for you.” 1 Peter 5:7. God’s care for Elijah during the three and a half years of famine is illustrative of His inimitable ways and means of caring for His own. Not only is He prepared for any emergency, but His promise to those who trust and obey is, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”
Lesson VII.—Obadiah and Elijah.1 Kings 18:1-16. Golden Text: “I thy servant fear the Lord from my youth.” Verse 12. Obadiah was steward of King Ahab’s household, having charge of all the king’s vast commissariat. While he had to supply food for four hundred of the priests of Asherah, at Queen Jezebel’s command, he also took advantage of his position to feed one hundred of the Lord’s prophets, whom he had hidden in two caves when Jezebel was trying to have all the prophets of the Lord destroyed. This was another instance of God’s care for His own.
Lesson VIII.—Elijah on Mount Carmel.1 Kings 18:30-46. Golden Text: “If the Lord be God, follow Him.” Verse 21. The test of answer by fire was a fair one for the prophets of Baal; for Baal was looked upon as a sun-god, lord of the forces of nature. Therefore he was the very god that ought to have been able to answer by fire. On the other hand, if he should fail at such a time, before such a large and varied assembly, it would be disastrous to the claims of his prophets.
Lesson IX.—Elijah Discouraged.1 Kings 19:1-8. Golden Text: “In my distress I cried unto the Lord, and He heard me.” Ps. 120:1. There is no time when men are so weak morally as just after a great victory. There is usually such an elation on the relaxation of the strain of the contest with the enemy as to put one off his guard, and Satan is sure to take advantage of such a time. Elijah had evidently thought the victory complete when the battle on Carmel was won. But the enemy’s wrath was aroused to a pitch of desperation which Elijah had not anticipated. But God sent His angel to nourish and encourage His weary and discouraged servant. See Heb. 1:14.
Lesson X.—Elijah Encouraged.1 Kings 19:9-18. Golden Text: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee.” Isa. 41:10. Elijah is shown that great demonstration is not always the work of the Lord. His wonderful power may be manifested very quietly, through a “still, small voice.” It is a game of the adversary to produce a great display, in order to allure the unwary and superficial. God was not in the great wind-storm, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire. That was the work of “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2)—a desperate attempt to bewilder and deceive Elijah.
Lesson XI.—Elijah Taken Up into Heaven.2 Kings 2:1-11. Golden Text: “He was not; for God took him.” Gen. 5:24. In Elijah’s translation we have a type of those who will be “changed” when the Lord comes to take all His people to Himself. He will come in glory, with all the angels (Matt. 25:31); then He will raise the righteous dead, and change the righteous living. 1 Cor. 15:51-54; 1 Thess. 4:15-18. Unbelievers will be slain by His coming (2 Thess. 2:7-12), and the wicked dead will not be raised for a thousand years after the first resurrection (Revelation 20).
Lesson XII.—Israel Reproved.Amos 5:4-15. Golden Text: “Seek the Lord, and ye shall live.” Verse 6. At this time Israel was prosperous temporally, and strong physically, but the government and the people had become so corrupt that when the Lord would reprove them, He had to get a prophet from Judah. So he sent Amos, a herdsman from Tekoa. Great outward prosperity is not a sign of harmony with God’s purpose in the earth. Through disobedience, Israel went down from great prosperity to division and final dispersion.
