ave ye not driven out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and
the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the peoples
of other lands? But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not
forsaken him; and we have priests ministering unto the Lord, the sons
of Aaron, and the Levites in their work: and they burn unto the Lord
every morning and every evening burnt offerings and sweet incense: the
showbread also set they in order upon the pure table; and the
candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening: for
we keep the charge of the Lord our God; but ye have forsaken him. And,
behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests with the trumpets
of alarm to sound an alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye
not against the Lord, the God of your fathers; for ye shall not
prosper."

But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about {246} behind them: so
they were before Judah, and the ambushment was behind them. And when
Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind them: and
they cried unto the Lord, and the priests sounded with the trumpets.
Then the men of Judah gave a shout: and as the men of Judah shouted,
it came to pass, that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah
and Judah. And the children of Israel fled before Judah: and God
delivered them into their hand. And Abijah and his people slew them
with a great slaughter.

Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the
children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon the Lord, the
God of their fathers. And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took
cities from him, Beth-el with the towns thereof, and Jeshanah with the
towns thereof, and Ephron with the towns thereof.

{247}

ASA.

_A Good King of Judah. He Makes a League with Syria Against the
Northern Kingdom_.

(With the good king Asa came a time of prosperity to Judah. He
fortified the cities and destroyed the idols, and won a great victory
over the host of the Ethiopians. But he made one serious mistake. An
enterprising king named Baasha had come to the throne in the northern
kingdom, and he began to make advances against Judah. He built a fort
at Ramah in a position which commanded the roads to the south. Then
Asa in his fear made a league with the king of Syria. This was the
beginning of those entanglements and leagues with foreign nations
which finally brought disaster to both kingdoms.)

So Abijah slept w