1 KINGS CHAPTER 11 -16

1 KINGS 11

1 Now Solomon the king loved many
Foreign women besides bright penny
Of Pharaoh’s daughter, women of
The Moabites, Ammonites’ love,
Edomites, Zidonians’ glove
As well as the Hittites for shove.
2 Of the nations of which YHWH said
To Israel’s folk, “You shall not bed
Them, neither shall they come to you,
For surely they will turn away
Your heart after their gods in sway.”
Solomon held to these in love.
3 And he had seven hundred wives,
Princesses, and for their contrives
Three hundred concubines, and his
Wives turned away his heart from quiz.

Why do You sport the acts of Solomon
As though he did the things he did for fun?
It was not lust alone that made him take
So many wives to bed and feed and break.
Are You, Beloved, so ignorant of how
Political systems worked in that row?
A treaty was signed not on paper then
But by exchange of wives among the men.
Solomon’s choice was marry like a fool
Or be the brunt of every warrior’s tool.
Peace required wives, somewhat like Islam now
That people scramble to make difference fast
So’s not to be mistaken in the cast
Of world religions all considered cool.

4 For it happened when Solomon
Was old, his wives under the sun
Turned his heart after other gods,
And his heart was not firm by rods
Of YHWH his Ælohim as was
The heart of David his dad’s cause.
5 For Solomon went out to play
With Ashtoreth goddess in way
Of the Zidonians, and more
After Milcom the shame in store
Of Ammonites. 6 And Solomon
Did evil before YHWH to run
Not fully after YHWH as did
His father David for his bid.
7 Then Solomon built a high place
For Chemosh of Moab’s disgrace,
On hill east of Jerusalem,
And for Molech in diadem
Abomination of Ammon.
8 And so he did for all his wives
Of foreign provenance and jives
To burn incense and sacrifice
To their gods, which was not too nice.

David did not have opportunity
To make alliance with heathen degree.
So why judge him so virtuous to be?
If Solomon followed Zidonian
Gods, he was just in Hiram’s wake and span,
As was David before. And if he went
To bed with Ammonitess princess sent,
It was to make an heir to Judah’s throne.
He couldn’t leave the woman there alone
To go to her own church. He made a deal
That he would go with her, and on the wheel
She would attend the temple with the king.
So You can see, Beloved, this is a thing
Still known in every Christian sort of ring.

9 So YHWH was mad at Solomon
Because his heart had once begun
To turn from YHWH the Ælohim
Of Israel, who had in dream
Appeared to him twice with a gleam

The anger that You pour on Solomon
Of course is justified for what he did,
Though You forget humans under the sun,
Untried by angel choirs and katydid
Remain a sleepy crew after the dream.
No vision of Your glory can quite keep
For my awareness drowsing at the beam,
Robbed by Your splendour of my needed sleep.
Oft I have seen the star and heard the voice
Mayhap of heaven’s own choosing to my ear,
Yet in a second lost my hope and help,
Having but flesh and bone to sling as dice
When faced by breath not to speak of my fear.
Humans remain eyes closed like canine whelp.

10 And He commanded him about
This thing, not to gad round and shout
To other gods, but he did not
Obey what YHWH’s command had sought.
11 That’s why YHWH said to Solomon,
“Since you have done this in the sun
And not kept My covenant and
My statutes that I gave in hand,
I’ll surely take the reign from you,
And give it to your servant due.
12 Nevertheless I’ll do it not
In your days for the sake and lot
Of David the father you’ve got.

Through all the generations of the kings
How have You shown Your love of this one man!
Each one has done his best in all the things
So unexpected that came under scan,
Always choosing what each one thought was best,
Knowing that virtue alone cannot reach
Each height that providence gives to invest
Our world with challenges that seem to teach.
From idol worship many did not flee,
Doing what seemed needed before the threat
Around the little island of Your grace.
Vice was not really theirs in any case.
I wonder why David was always met
Dumbfounded in his own humility.

But I’ll take it away from hand
Of your son, indeed half the land.
13 Howbeit I’ll not rend away
All the kingdom, but hold in sway
One tribe to your son for the sake
Of David my servant and cake,
For Jerusalem I have chosen.
14 And YHWH stirred up a foe arosen
To Solomon, Hadad of Edom,
He was of the king’s seed in Edom.
15 For it happened David for freedom
Was in Edom, and Joab chief
Of the army was on relief
To bury the dead, after he
Had killed all males in Edom’s lea.
16 For six months Joab stayed around
With all Israel until he found
And killed every man in Edom.
17 But Hadad fled, he and a sum
Of Edomites, servants that served
His father, to go in unswerved
To Egypt. 18 And they got up from
Midian, came to Paran’s hum
And took men with them from Paran
And came to Egypt to the man
Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who gave
Him a house, food and land to save.

David, Beloved, seems to be the aggressor
Here as he struck down Edom’s priest confessor
And kept his general for six months running
In genocide of all the males and cunning.
Today the media would show the man
In the same light as, well, name as name can
Among abundant tyrants of the race.
David would now have firm honour and place
With Nazi, Communist, and Democrat
In every Republican place they’re at.
The Pharaoh would come smelling unlike rat
For having set asylum, board and room
To refugee: et plus çà change for gloom
The more I recognize the day of doom.

19 And Hadad before Pharaoh found
Great favour, so that he was bound
To give him as wife sister of
His own wife, sister and the love
Of Tahpenes the queen above.
20 Tahpenes’ sister bore to him
His son Genubath, whom in trim
Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s room.
21 And when Hadad heard of the doom
Of David in Egypt, that he
Slept with his fathers and that wee
Joab the chief of his army
Was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh,
“Let me depart, that I may go
To my own country and my show.”
22 Then Pharaoh said to him, “But what
Have you lacked with me here in gut
That you seek to go to your land?”
And he answered, “Nothing at hand,
But anyway let me go out
And see what my country’s about.”

When traitor and tyrant have gone the way
Of all flesh, those who baited death’s decay
Come out of hiding to take arms again.
And they are not suspected to be men
Of cruelty and wrath, since they are those
Who suffered in the early time the throes
Of tyrants’ plagues upon their shins and toes.
It’s blue-eyed pity combined with false hope
That plays the rerun of captain and pope.
Failure to believe that the rising star
Is just as bloody as the one with scar
Is what prevents the ending of the hate
That sets the world up for the rich and great.
We’re satisfied to own a brand new car.

23 And Ælohim raised up a foe,
Rezon son of Eliadah,
Who fled from his lord on the go,
Hadadezer king of Zobah.
24 And he gathered men unto him,
And became chief of a band grim,
When David killed them there they went
To Damascus, and stayed in tent
And reigned in Damascus’ ascent.
25 And he was foe to Israel
All Solomon’s days besides spell
Of mischief that Hadad did well
And he hated both Israel
And reigned over Syria a spell.

The government in exile is a thing
Created long ago by ancient king.
Besides the ones ambitious with a pile
Of land to rule upon mile upon mile
There are those who reign over memories,
And sometimes even golden jubilees
With shekels stashed away in case the breeze
Turns once again and gives them room to rout
And engage in the game instead of pout.
Beloved, let me be king of my own hand
To keep it from disgrace of contraband
In sinful action, nay, even in word,
And keep my very thoughts in purer herd.
My government in exile’s Your demand.

1 KINGS 12

1 And Rehoboam went up to
Shechem, for all Israel in crew
Had come to Shechem to make him
King. 2 And it happened on a whim
Nebat’s son Jeroboam, who
Was still in Egypt heard what’s new,
3 And they sent and called him up too.
And Jeroboam and the church
Of Israel came to the perch
And spoke to Rehoboam, saying
4 “Your father made our yoke in paying
A hard one, now then make the hard
Service of your dad lighter card
Than what he laid on us, and we
Will serve you also thankfully.”

Here’s the first lobby known to history.
Approach the ruler with a smile and see
If he’ll leave off his gloating treachery.
Ask any king, Beloved, to set aside
A bit of the oppression and abide
In justice and see what is his response.
Just that You’ve interrupted royal jaunts
Suffices to make irritation bounce.
See, he’ll even grimace before the pounce.
Beloved, there is no way to test Your throne,
Because Your yoke’s so light I can’t atone.
Obedience to You brings only rest
And crowns with hope even the hopeless nest.
I bow, Beloved, to You and You alone.

5 And he said to them, “Take your way
For three days, then come on a day
To me.” And so the people left.
6 Rehoboam took counsel deft
With the elders that stood before
Solomon his father to score
While he still lived, and said “How do
You advise I should give this crew
An answer?” 7 And they spoke to him
Saying “If you’ll cut down and trim
Yourself to serve this folk today
And answer them in good words sway,
They’ll serve you always and a day.”
8 But he ignored the counsel given
By the old men which they gave shriven,
And asked the young men what to do,
Who had grown up with him in view.
9 And he said to them, “What advice
Do you give to me to say nice
To this folk who have approached me
Saying ‘Make the yoke which in fee
Your father laid on us to be
A lighter one than what we see?’”
10 And the young men grown up with him
Spoke to him saying a word dim,
“So shall you speak to this folk that
Spoke to you saying where you’re at,
Saying your father made our yoke
Heavy, but make it at a stroke
Lighter for us, so shall you say
To them ‘My little finger’s sway
Shall be thicker than my dad’s hip.
11”’And as my dad did load your ship
With heavy loads, I’ll add to it,
My dad punished you with a whip,
But I with scorpions as fit.’”

It’s not the age and wisdom makes the deal,
Although the youth had never felt the heel
Of warfare and of danger in the weal.
Perhaps the aged men were wise because
They remembered David’s fleeing the claws
Of son and usurper upon the plain.
But counsel of experience is vain.
A young man too may be wise if he’s caught
Up in Your law to find celestial plot.
It’s not age nor the wisdom that is taught,
But willingness to bow to Your throne’s grace
And find the joy of serving in Your place.
Beloved, give me good counsel nor let me
Be counsellor of any wickedly.

12 So Jeroboam and the folk
All came to Rehoboam bloke
Once more on the third day for stroke.
13 And the king answered harshly to
The people and forsook the due
Counsel of the elders in view.
14 And spoke to them by the advice
Of the young men saying not nice,
“My father made heavy your yoke,
And I will add to it a stroke,
My father punished you with whips,
But I’ll lay on scorpions’ lips.”
15 So the king did not listen to
The people, because it was YHWH
That was behind it that He might
Carry out His saying for spite
Which YHWH spoke by Ahijah’s word,
The Shilonite and which was heard
By Jeroboam Nebat’s son
To end the reign of Solomon.

I’ll bet the young men that thought up that word
Of scorpions thought their humour unblurred,
And considered the show of arrogance
Would scare the people out of eager prance
To gain an independence in their pants.
I’ll bet the young men jiggered in their wit
And chuckled in their beer to have a fit
That they came up with such a fine repast
Of rhetoric to make the kingdom last
In the oppression they wanted as fast.
Taxation by the king turns out to be
More for the sycophant courtiers in fee.
Beloved, Your court is grand enough for me
With no tax on the oak or the pine tree.

16 And when all Israel saw the king
Would not then listen to their thing,
The folk answered the king and said
“What share have we in David’s spread?
We’ve no inheritance at all
In son of Jesse’s tents and stall,
So off to your tents, Israel,
And look to your own house as well,
David.” So Israel departed
To their tents not at all downhearted.

When this rebellion happened to grandson
Of David, it must be remembered one
Was not so blinded by his fame and fire.
David was just a ruler and a squire
Of the old school, a man that dad remembered
Not always with the good-will he engendered.
Now David is so famous he is taught
In many faiths to be a prophet sought
As well as king and divine guide, who wrought
In iron and in faith and music fine.
He’d be a welcome guest today to dine.
But when these people asked the fatal question,
His fame was hardly more than a suggestion,
His Psalms hardly remembered for their shine.

17 But folk of Israel who dwelt
In Judah’s cities felt the belt
Of Rehoboam’s rule and welt.
18 King Rehoboam sent Adoram
Over the tribute there to floor them,
And all Israel stoned him with stones,
So that he died and left his bones.
King Rehoboam in his haste
Got in his chariot, outpaced
Back to Jerusalem disgraced.
19 So Israel rebelled and went
Against the house of David rent
Up to this very day unspent.

No doubt the lord Jesus in parable
Got his own story from the fate in full
Of Adoram who as ambassador
Was slaughtered for his taxing of the poor.
My principles are set in heart and stone
And include saving alive flesh and bone,
But perhaps these folk had forgotten law
And what happened on Sinai to their awe.
Beloved, I grieve the sin of killing off
Even the civil servants with a scoff
Who are not always civil, yet I smile
To think of Rehoboam’s record mile.
Kings and their tax collectors make a pair
Of scallywags just about everywhere.

20 It happened when all Israel heard
That Jeroboam had been spurred
To come again, that they sent and
Called him to the assembled band,
And made him king of Israel,
And there was none that followed well
The house of David but the tribe
Of Judah only without bribe.

I’ve noticed, my Beloved, the nouveau riche
Are generally noisy in their niche.
The heir of factory is blander than
The foreman who was once a handy-man.
If Rehoboam shows an ugly tooth
Then Jeroboam will, to tell the truth,
Be worse a tyrant than the spoiled brat who
Was brought up to the throne in golden shoe.
But let the people make the same mistake,
Perennial philosophy’s a fake,
And all who bite the bit will come to know
The power of tyranny before the show
Of justice that they hoped would heal the breach
Between the almond and the pining peach.

21 When Rehoboam had come back
To Jerusalem, he’s not slack
To gather all of Judah’s house,
With tribe of Benjamin to grouse,
A hundred and eighty thousand
Choice men and warriors in their band
To fight against Israel’s house and
To bring the kingdom to the hand
Again of Rehoboam, son
Of good and wise king Solomon.
22 But Ælohim’s word came upon
Shemaiah, man of God at dawn,
Saying 23 “Speak to Rehoboam
The son of Solomon in scam
The king of Judah, and to all
The house of Judah and the wall
Of Benjamin, and to the rest
Of the people saying for best,
24 ‘So says YHWH, “You shall not go up
Nor fight against your brothers’ cup,
The folk of Israel, return
Every man to his house and learn
This thing is from Me.”’” So they heard
YHWH’s word and turned back in a herd
According as YHWH said the word.

For once, Beloved, You had the wit to stay
The mouth of sword before the break of day.
In most accounts the kings are out to kill
And You are there to help them get their fill.
Praise to Your name, Beloved, and may You be
Ever ready to solve thing peaceably,
Since there is hardly general to wage
Peace rather than war on the worldly stage.
Beloved, see how You sent prophetic word
One time, and glory be, that word was heard,
And so ten thousand widows in the loss
Were spared their husbands at a wing and toss.
If only all wars met the same dark fate
And prophet listened then not to be late.

25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem
In mount Ephraim and set the stem
Of his dwelling there, and went out
From there to build Penuel stout.
26 Then Jeroboam told himself,
“Now the kingdom that’s on my shelf
Will go again to David’s crew
27 “If this folk travel there to do
Sacrifice in the house of YHWH
At Jerusalem, then the heart
Of this folk will return in part
To their lord, to Rehoboam
King of Judah, and as I am
They’ll kill me, and go back again
To Rehoboam king of men
In Judah’s every town and den.”

Admit, Beloved, that Jeroboam’s thought
Is cunning, shrewd and wittily true wrought.
The simple truth is going up to pray
In Judah’s capital was like to pay
With Jeroboam taking second place
Before the house of David to his face.
The man is not a dumbbell now admit
That what he says is true and truly fit.
Beloved, You called the man to be the king
In situation, impossible thing,
So if he finds a worldly way to keep
The kingdom You gave him, why should he reap
Your anger if that way’s worldly and wise
To set idolatry before Your eyes?

28 And so the king asked for advice,
And made two calves of gold and nice,
And told them, “It’s too much for you
To go up to Jerusalem.
See your gods, O Israel, in view
That brought you from Egyptian hem.”

See here, Beloved, the golden calf is just
The vehicle of deity and dust
Of gold to represent the one true God.
It’s something once invented on the sod
Of Egypt, the great Egypt and not by
Jeroboam in secret on the sly.
Everyone then knew that one god alone
Always came as sun disc upon the throne
Of golden calf, and only the few knew
To question what was always held as true.
Beloved, the heathen word’s tradition’s pen
And always right according to most men.
If men forget You, You created them
With mythopoeic minds for stratagem.

29 He set one in Bethel, the other
He put in Dan to be its brother.
30 And this thing became for a sin
For the folk went to worship in
Dan the one. 31 And he made a house
Of high places for men and grouse,
And made priests of the lowest folk
Who were not Levites of the smoke.

I’m not sure that the worse was turning gold
Into an idol for both weak and bold.
The thing that turned the kingdom upside down
Was all the new-come priests about the town.
It’s priest craft more than false concepts of God
And idols flaming on the blessèd sod
That makes corruption of both church and state.
It’s always priests not superstition’s weight.
The role of idols is to fool the mass
Of men to support priest craft and their crass.
If Jeroboam made a bad mistake
In taking the Egyptian calf and rake,
He made a second when he ordained men
To be the preachers in his devil’s den.

32 Jeroboam ordained a feast
In the eighth month and so increased
It on the month’s fifteenth day, like
The feast that’s in Judah for hike,
And made offerings upon the altar.
So he did in Bethel with Psalter,
Made offering to the calves he’d made,
And set in Bethel the priests staid
From the high places he’d waylaid.
33 So he offered upon the place
Of sacrifice he’d made to grace
Bethel on the month’s fifteenth day,
In the month he had found in sway
Of his own heart, and made a feast
For all the folk of Israel fleeced,
He sacrificed on altar there
And burnt incense upon the air.

A new faith is always born of the way
Men seek to change the calendar and day.
Jeroboam made havoc and great grief
By placing the Passover on new leaf,
A month later than in Judah, and well
Because the northern slopes set back a spell
Perhaps the harvest of the barley bell.
Pope Jeroboam and lord Constantine
Thought to change times and laws and to demean
The Sabbath in the wake of Sunday’s sheen,
And so like Jeroboam cast a pall
Over the people and to make a wall
Of rebellion against Your law and will.
You have Your Jeroboams living still.

1 KINGS 13

1 And see, a man of God went out
Of Judah by YHWH’s word about
To Bethel, where Jeroboam
Stood by the altar with a gram
Of incense to burn it devout.
2 And he cried against the altar
By the word of YHWH and by gar
Said “O altar, altar, so said
YHWH, ‘See, a child once more is bred
To be born to David’s house and
His name’s Josiah, and on you
Shall he offer the priestly crew
Of high place that burn scent on you,
And men’s bones shall be burnt on you.”
3 And he gave the same day a sign
Saying “This is the self-same sign
Of which YHWH’s spoken, see the place
Of this altar shall break, disgrace,
The ashes poured out from its face.”

Ali is prophesied by Moses’ mouth,
And David rose from Hebron in the south
To tell of Ahmed’s coming in the Psalms.
But few are mentioned by name under palms
Of prophecy long years before their birth.
Josiah’s an exception of some worth.
I note that Jesus is not in this crowd
Of the elite: one divine guide allowed,
One prophet, and one king of Judah’s land.
Few if any others by name on hand.
Let this be the blessed Bible Trinity,
And may they inspire both the bond and free
To revere You alone, Beloved, until
A fourth may come to foot the golden bill.

4 It happened when King Jeroboam
Heard what God’s man said and to stow him,
Which had cried against altar there
In Bethel, he stretched out his bare
Hand from the altar, saying “Stay
Him!” And his threatening hand that way
Stretched out, dried up so he could not
Pull it back however he sought.
5 The altar also did break down,
And ashes poured out on the town
From the altar, by the sign that
The man of God gave caveat
By the word of YHWH where He sat.
6 The king responded, saying to
The man of God, “Entreat now do
The face of your Ælohim YHWH,
And pray for me, my hand may be
Cured for me again.” And then he,
The man of God prayed earnestly
To YHWH and the king’s hand was free
To him again like formerly.

The rebel ruler of the earth today
Is just like Jeroboam in the fray.
As soon as his heart weaken on the set
He comes to pray You for cure not to fret.
The hand that persecutes the poor and good
When stricken cries out for Your healing hood.
Who bombs the cities of the innocent
On Sundays stands to pray that You’ll relent.
Beloved, save me from that hypocrisy
That waylays generals eternally,
And show me where to make petition just
From my position on the lowly dust.
Beloved, I stretch out both hands of my own
Will as I stand before Your sovereign throne.

7 And the king told the man of God,
“Come home with me and rest your pod,
And I’ll give you reward for prod.
8 And the man of God told the king,
“If you gave half of everything
In your house, I’d not go with you,
Nor eat bread or drink water new
In this place, 9 “For it so was charged
Me by the word of YHWH enlarged,
Saying ‘Eat no bread, no, nor drink
Water, nor turn upon the brink
Of the same way you came to link.’”

Beloved, I too reject the evil word
When it is openly displayed, offered,
But what about the hidden benefit
Spoken by those who claim to be Your fit
Vicars on earth? They all proclaim what You
Once said on Sinai was for servant crew
And not for me. But tell me in my due
What thing I need not take into my view.
May I have other gods or idols make
To share Your name? Or may I Sabbath break
To lay on donkey load? Dishonour Dad?
Or treat my neighbour dealing bad and sad?
It may not be easy to reject poke
From king, but prophet is another joke.

10 So he went back another way,
And did not go by the same way
He came into Bethel that day.
11 Now there was living in Bethel
An old prophet, and his sons fell
To tell him all the works that man
Of God had done that day to scan
In Bethel, the words that he spoke
To the king, they told to the bloke
Their father resting under oak.
12 And their father said to them, “Which
Way did he go to follow ditch?”
For his sons had seen what way he,
The man of God went out to see,
The one who came from Judah’s lea.
13 He told his sons, “Now saddle me
The donkey.” So they all made free
To saddle him the donkey and
He rode on it out on the land.
14 He went after the man of God,
And found him sitting on the sod
Under an oak, and said to him
“Are you the man of God not dim
Who came from Judah?” And he said
“I am the one who was so led.”
15 Then he said to him, “Come with me
To my house and eat bread freely.”
16 And he said “I may not return
With you, nor go where you intern,
Neither will I eat bread nor drink
Water with you drawn from the sink.
17 “For it was said to me by word
Of YHWH, ‘You shall not be once stirred
To eat bread or drink water there,
Nor turn again to go back where
You came from to the same way there.’”
18 He told him, “I’m a prophet too,
As you, and an angel spoke to
Me also by the word of YHWH,
Saying ‘Bring him back with you due
To your house, that he may eat bread
And drink water.’” But what he said
Was a lie and cunningly spread.

How can I know, Beloved, if prophet come
In Your name is a liar and a bum?
Or if the priest that shares the bread and wine
Is not a devil invited to dine?
The rule is here: the prophet knew what You
Had told him in Jerusalem to do.
The prophet who came to contradict that
Was liar and a fraud there where he spat.
I find, Beloved, in every church I know
A liar in the pulpit on the go,
And in the synagogue a man for show
Who says the Sabbath’s only for his toe.
Beloved, there’s only You who holds the Truth
And so I turn to You in age and youth.

19 So he went back with him and ate
Bread in his house, drank water late.
20 It happened, as they sat at table,
The word of YHWH came to the able
Prophet that brought him back to stable.
21 And he cried to the man of God
That came from Judah, said in prod,
“So says YHWH, ‘Since you disobeyed
The mouth of YHWH, and have not stayed
To keep the commandment that YHWH
Your Ælohim commanded you,
22 “’But came back here and ate your bread
And drank your water from the spread,
Your carcass shall not come back to
The sepulchre your fathers knew.’”
23 It happened after he ate bread
And after he had drunk as led,
He saddled for him the ass which
Was for the prophet in the ditch
That he had brought back at a pitch.
24 And when he left a lion met
Him by the way and killed him yet,
And his body was thrown aside
In the path, and the donkey ride
Stood by it, and the lion too
Stood by the body that it slew.

The prophet of the Lord went up to scold
King Jeroboam’s sin, and he was bold
And cried before the king, and gave the sign
The king’s hand should be withered by design.
By miracle he struck the altar down,
By saying just a word against the crown.
The altar split, it’s ashes spilling out,
The living God worked there without a doubt.
The prophet then obeyed the Lord’s command
And without food and drink he left the land.
There was another prophet living near,
Who was a true and faithful one, in fear
He served the Lord alone and prayed to Him.
He went out with the best of thoughts, though dim,

To give God’s man some hospitality.
The prophet said “I cannot go truly
To eat or drink against the Lord’s command.”
The other answered “Surely as I stand,
I too am one who speaks the Word of God,
I too work miracles, I too have trod
The straight path. God commands I deal bread to
The hungry and give drink, and so to you
God thus commands to serve you in my place.
It was no lie, for God observes the face
Of those who give in mercy and make haste
In service and in charity no waste.
So he turned back to hear a prophet speak,
And gladly joined in doing for the weak.

He followed love and charity instead
Of doing what the Lord Himself had said.
A lion stood and waited on the road.
It killed him, thus he reaped what he had sowed.
Who turn to prophets true or false to find
Excuse that God’s commandments do not bind,
Will meet the lion on the path who seeks
One to devour, so with the passing weeks,
Let us ignore the siren call and sweet
Though in the tongue of good men that we meet,
Or in the tongue of angel, prophet, Christ.
The words of none of these ever sufficed
To end the clear command that God has spoken.
And so let no man leave his Sabbaths broken.

25 And see, men passed by and they saw
The body thrown beside the maw,
And the lion standing there by
The body, and they came to fly
To the city where there lived nigh
The old prophet who told the lie.
26 When the prophet who’d turned him back
From the way heard it from the sack,
He said “It is the man of God
Who disobeyed YHWH’s word and prod,
That’s why YHWH’s given him as meat
To the lion, who broke the treat,
And killed him, just as YHWH had said
And spoke to him here by my spread.”
27 And he spoke to his sons and said
“Saddle the donkey for me fed.”
And they saddled just as he said.
28 And he went out and found his body
Thrown in the ditch and on the soddy,
And the donkey and lion there
Standing beside the carcass bare.

The blessed trinity stands by the road,
Unhungry lion who has slain by goad,
The dead man lying in the ditch a load,
Then patiently the donkey that he rode.
The lion is the father of all men
And of all gods that walk that path again.
The dead man is the son in sacrifice
After eating and drinking to be nice.
The spirit of all flesh is in the ass
Calmly beside the pathway eating grass.
Beloved, I praise You that such gods in three
Do not reign over Your eternity,
But humbly I may take for God alone
You only who sit Sovereign on Your throne.

29 The lion had not stopped to eat
The carcass nor broken the meat
Of the donkey beside the street.

The heathen story of the resurrection
Of vicarious sacrifice’ selection
Is easy to extract from what takes place
Upon the world of time and seasons’ race.
The spring of things is found in God’s own heart
To raise the slaughtered bull to take a part
In entering the palace for new start.
The thunder leaves the carcass with the dart
And lets the donkey graze on pastured cart.
Beloved, I flounder with the winter’s tale
And see the visions of the shadows flail,
And yet I ponder why the donkey finds
So many to worship him in the blinds.
Your word alone on Sinai is what binds.

30 The prophet picked up the dead weight
Of the man of God, set in state
Upon the donkey, and brought back
The man, the old prophet not slack
Came to the city and to mourn
And bury him in his own bourn.
30 He laid his body in the grave
Of his own place and mourning gave
Over him, “O my brother, brave!”
31 It happened after he had done
Burying him, he spoke to son
And all and said “When I am dead
Then bury me beside the spread
In the tomb where the man of God
Is buried, lay my bones and sod
Beside his bones, 32 “Because he cried
By YHWH’s word against the great pride
Of Bethel’s altar, against all
The houses of the high place call
Which are in Samarian stall,
That word will come to pass withal.”
33 After this Jeroboam turned
Not from his evil way but spurned
Not to make lowest of the folk
Priests of the high places to stoke,
Whoever would he consecrated,
And he became a priest elated.
34 And this thing became as a sin
To Jeroboam’s house to win
Its cutting of, destruction from
Off the face of the earth to come.

When the church tells me Sunday is the rule
Just because Constantine had gone to school
And Mithra bore a great witness of hate
To Roman soldiers storming at the gate,
I know that when the harm is done the man
Who lied will make a show by royal plan,
And decorate the tombs of those he killed
By the word of the prophet unfulfilled.
Beloved, I share the news that lying guy
Repeated of Josiah’s coming by,
And I share his desire to take the blessing
From every tomb of saint about confessing,
But see hypocrisy is rampant yet
In every visitation I have met.

1 KINGS 14

1 At that time Abijah the son
Of Jeroboam was undone.
2 And Jeroboam told his wife,
“Get up, please, and disguise your life,
So no one will know that you are
The wife of Jeroboam, star,
And go to Shiloh, see there lives
Ahijah the prophet who gives
The first witness that I should be
King of this people wickedly.
3 “And take along ten loaves of bread,
And cakes and jar of honey spread,
And go to him and he’ll tell you
What fate of our child is in view.”

If Jeroboam’s wife had lived this day
She could have made anonymous call’s way
Or got a handle on the internet
And called herself anything she could get.
Instead of loaves of bread a credit card
Is good or better than the cash that’s hard.
The wicked hide identity when they
Go to the confessional or to pray.
Beloved, let my posting to find You where
You sit behind a star and often wear
The cloak invisible that warlock’s share
Be often and so often that You know
My voice before I even make a show.
Let me come before I need any care.

4 And Jeroboam’s wife did so,
She got up and went to Shiloh,
And came to the house of Ahijah.
But Ahijah was blind as Niger,
For his eyes were old from the glow.
5 And YHWH said to Ahijah, “See,
Jeroboam’s wife’s come quickly
To ask you all about her son,
Because he is sick and undone,
But you shall tell her thus and so,
For it will happen in the show
When she comes in she will pretend
To be another kind of friend.”

Blindness in this world is no fault to own,
For even dogs they say can smell the bone
Better than they can see it with their sight
So different than humans in their plight.
The sense of prophecy is equal to
The sense of smell in every canine crew,
So Ahijah knew well who came to seek
His help or Your help even without peek.
Beloved, if I were on my given way
To find Your prophet I would stop to pay
A representative to hear the word
Of scolding before the man undeterred.
But let me not pretend to be what I
Am not before prophet and Lord of sky.

6 And it happened when Ahijah
Heard the sound of her foot and claw,
As she came in the door, he said
“Come in, Jereboam’s wife led,
Why do you pretend now to be
Another, I speak heavily.
7 “Go tell Jeroboam, ‘So said
YHWH Ælohim of Israel’s stead,
“As much as I exalted you
From among the ranks to make you
Ruler of My folk in your due,
8 “And tore the kingdom away from
The house of David, and by gum
Gave it to you, still you have not
Been like my servant David got,
Who kept my commands and who went
After Me with all his heart spent,
To do only right as I sent,
9 But you have done evil above
All that were before you in love,
For you have gone and made yourself
Other gods, molten idols’ elf,
To provoke me to wrath and then
Cast me behind your back again,
10 “That’s why, see, I’ll bring evil on
The house of Jeroboam’s spawn,
And cut off from Jeroboam
Who pisses against the wall jamb,
And him who’s shut up and who’s left
In Israel shall be bereft,
And I will take away what’s left
Of Jeroboam’s house as one
Shovels manure until it’s done.

The commandment says, as does Torah too,
That sons should not suffer what fathers do.
And yet You cut off the poor child that’s born
To Jeroboam as though the child’s scorn
Was for the father’s sins. Beloved, I rant
Against such justice for the bill and cant.
Let me see like Moses before the eye
Of Enoch the purpose and reasons why
It’s better that the innocent should die
Than that they should come to the throne as kings.
I answered my own question by the by:
That death would save him from king’s wicked things.
Beloved, let me too die before my hate
Gets me in trouble with a foreign state.

11 “The one that dies there in the city
Of Jeroboam without pity
The dogs shall eat, and the one who
Dies in the field shall birdly crew
Eat, for the one who speaks is YHWH.
12 “Get up now then, go to your house,
And when your feet come in like mouse
To the city the child shall die.
13 “And all Israel shall mourn for him,
And bury him, for he in trim
Only of Jeroboam will
Come to the grave, for in him still
Is found some good towards YHWH the God
Of Israel lying in pod
Of Jeroboam’s house for prod.
14 “And yet YHWH shall raise up a king
Over Israel to cut the ring
Of Jeroboam in that day,
But what? It’s even now, I say.
15 For YHWH shall strike Israel like reed
Is shaken in the water’s speed,
And He shall root up Israel
Out of the good land, which a spell
He gave to their father and so
Shall scatter them beyond the flow
Of the river, because they’ve made
Their groves, and so they have waylaid
YHWH and His anger is not stayed.
16 “And He shall give up Israel
Because of Jeroboam’s spell
Of sins, who sinned, made Israel
To sin in field and citadel.”’”

The world about me grows up like a weed
To worship bowing in the wind like reed
Before the gods of wealth and stardom’s creed,
While I, Beloved, in my obscurity
Desire the wealth of Your infinity.
Beloved, I walk the groves still planted here,
Although many are cut down in the fear
That poverty will overtake the purse
Unless the trees are sold for rags or worse.
Beloved, I walk the groves and see afar
The images engraved to every star,
And find the rites of selling to remain
As long as there are things to buy in vain.
I turn to find Your empty stall and reign.

17 And Jeroboam’s wife got up
And went her way and then came up
To Tirzah: when she came up to
The threshold of the door in view
The child died. 18 And they buried him,
And all of Israel mourned for him,
According to the word of YHWH
Which He spoke by his servant due
Ahijah the prophet in pew.
19 The rest of Jeroboam’s acts,
How he warred and by all the facts
How he reigned, see, they written down
In the book of all the enacts
Of Israel’s kings when they’re in town.
20 The days of Jeroboam’s reign
Were twenty-two years all in vain
And he slept with his fathers and
Nadab his son ruled in the land.

So Nadab was a boy the You allowed
To sit upon the throne before the crowd
And hear his praises sung on every lip
While glory was a thing he had in grip.
His brother You let die in childhood while
The younger faced the fickle world with smile.
The former was a grace, because he met
Creator with heart innocent and set.
The latter was a judgement, one that let
Nadab live to commit sins to his fate.
I find myself living here also late,
Though without crown or sceptre, I relate
My sins to see if they will keep me from
Your holy day and from Your kingdom come.

21 And Rehoboam who was son
Of Solomon reigned under sun
Of Judah. Rehoboam was
Forty-one years old when he does
Begin to reign, and he reigned just
Seventeen years upon the dust
Of Jerusalem, city which
YHWH had chosen out of the stitch
Of all the tribes of Israel,
To put His name down there as swell.
And his mother’s name was Naamah,
An Ammonitess with a claw.
22 And Judah did most wickedly
Before YHWH, and provoked, you see,
Him with their sins to jealousy,
Sins they committed above all
Their fathers had done to recall.
23 For they too built them high place and
Images and groves where hills stand
And under each green tree on land.
24 And there were also sodomites
In the land, and they did the rites
Of wickedness that all the folk
That YHWH cast out and at a stroke
Before the people of Israel
Who finally fell by their spell.

Naamah’s a common name of Ammonitess,
One still found in Jordan’s cities to bite us
When tourists look for lodgings and for food
At the price of the locals of the brood.
A thousand Naamahs are still living there,
The name of each of them means they are fair.
If Rehoboam’s name is one to share,
Increase of the people it seems to mean,
Although when he became king on the scene
The people decreased all about his land.
Some names are opposite to understand.
Beloved, name me in any way You choose,
But with the name do not make me to lose
My love for You alone where all abuse.

25 It came to pass in the fifth year
Of king Rehoboam’s career,
That Shishak king of Egypt came
Up against Jerusalem’s claim.
26 And he took away treasures from
The house of YHWH and treasures from
The king’s house, he took all away,
And took all the gold shields in pay
That Solomon had made to stay.
27 King Rehoboam made instead
Shields of brass and contributed
Them to the chief of the guard who
Kept the door of the king’s house true.
28 So it was when the king went to
Worship within the house of YHWH
That the guard bore them and brought back
Into the guard house without slack.
29 The rest of Rehoboam’s acts
And all that he did in his pacts,
Are they not written in the book
Of Judah’s kings’ chronicles’ nook?
30 And there was war between the two,
Rehoboam ablaze anew
Against Jeroboam as long
As they both lived to reign for wrong.
31 Rehoboam slept with his fathers,
And was buried there with his fathers
In David’s city. And his mother’s
Name was Naamah, an Ammonitess,
And Abijam his son to spite us
Reigned in his place and not his brothers.

I do not care, Beloved, for shields of gold,
I do not care for brass among the bold,
I only care that in the hidden tent
Of my heart’s temple that You are present.
Let Egypt have the costly store that bound
My father to the shore and rocky ground.
Let Pharaoh take the golden store and go
Back to the Nile to fit out a ship slow
To find the burden of the sun and night.
I need no wealth but Your name in my sight.
Beloved, I see the king go up to pray
And pity him at morn and close of day
That the public opinion spoiled his faith
And taught him to worship You and a wraith.

1 KINGS 15

1 Now in the eighteenth year of king
Jeroboam, Nebat’s son’s fling,
Abijam reigned on Judah’s ring.
2 Jerusalem is where he reigned
Three years. And his mother unfeigned
Was Maachah, Abishalom’s daughter.
3 And he did all the sins of slaughter
Of his dad done before him, and
His heart was not perfect in hand
With YHWH his Ælohim, as was
David’s his father’s heart and paws.

Three years, or sixteen, does it matter now
That all are dead and gone, gone anyhow,
Though some say Arthur was also the son
Of David and such men are never done?
Anyway, three years or sixteen suffice
To live a righteous life or else to slice
Oneself a bit of devil’s food cake and
Join in the celebration of the band.
Abijam, father of the sea, was named
By mother Maachah, whose name it is claimed
Means of oppression, though she was the daughter
Of father of peace, and he should have taught her.
Beloved, names we give do not always show
Reality in sun and the star glow.

4 But for David’s sake then did YHWH
His Ælohim give him in view
A lamp in Jerusalem, to
Set up his son after him, and
Set fast Jerusalem in land.
5 Because David did what was right
In the eyes of YHWH and turned his sight
Not aside from what He commanded
Him all his life’s days, but remanded
Just in the matter of Uriah
The Hittite, which thing was pariah.
6 And there was war between the two,
Rehoboam who sat in view
Of Jeroboam all the days
Of his life for abuse and praise.
7 Now the rest of Abijam’s acts,
And all he did and all his pacts,
Are they not written in the book
Of Judah’s kings’ chronicles’ hook?
And there was war between Abijam
And Jeroboam to oblige them.
Abijam slept in his dads’ room,
And they buried him in the tomb
City of David, and Asa
His son reigned in his place and law.

The lamp in its niche with the dark around
Casts light upon barren and fertile ground.
The house of David, hidden and consumed
Still brings life to the tortured and consumed,
If only in the temple of the Psalms
That brighten chanter under pine and palms.
The lamp of truth, the fire of faith, the light
That glitters on my pathway through the night
And makes my night-work sweet with cooling dews,
Is burning and eternal while I choose
To cantillate Your name, Beloved, until
The sun comes up beyond the western hill.
A lamp remains beside the temple tent
In every divine guide since then You sent.

9 In Jeroboam’s twentieth year
As king of Israel to appear,
Asa ruled in Judah for fear.
10 And he reigned forty-one years in
Jerusalem, with grand-dam’s grin
Whose name was Maachah, daughter of
Abishalom as told above.
11 And Asa did what thing was right
Before YHWH as David his wight.
12 He took away each sodomite
Out of the land, and removed site
Of idols his fathers had made,
13 And also his mom Maachah laid
Off from being queen because she
Had made an idol in the lea,
And Asa tore down her idol
And burnt it by brook Kidron’s fall.

Good king Asa removed the sodomite
From the land. Now I wonder what the wight
In fact did to the temple prostitutes
That ate the people leaf, stem, fruit and roots.
It does not say he killed the wayward crew
Of civil servants doing by the true
Line of public opinion what was due
To make the crops grow and the rain come down
Upon the fields and villages and town.
But he closed down the churches with their priests
Who practiced sodomy with boys in feasts
Of the dying and rising god-man’s church,
And left gullible faithful in the lurch,
With only faith in You, God of renown.

14 While the high places were not taken
Away, Asa’s heart was unshaken
With YHWH all his days to awaken.
15 He brought in the things which his dad
Had dedicated and the glad
Things which he dedicated too,
Into the temple-house of YHWH,
Silver, and gold, and vessels too.
16 And there was war between Asa
And Baasha king of Israel’s claw
All their days. 17 And Baasha the king
Of Israel went against the wing
Of Judah, and built Ramah that
He might keep people where they sat,
Not to go out or come in at
Asa the king of Judah’s flat.
18 Asa took all the silver and
The gold that were left in his hand
In the treasures of house of YHWH
And the treasures of the king’s due,
And put them in his servants’ hands,
And king Asa sent them in bands
To Benhadad, who was the son
Of Tabrimon, of Hezion
The son, who was Syrian king,
Who lived in Damascus, saying
19 “The treaty between me and you,
Between my father and the crew
Of your father, see, I have sent
To you a present that is meant
To be of silver and of gold,
Come break your pact with Baasha bold
The king of Israel, that he
May get a way from troubling me.
20 So Benhada obeyed the king
Asa, and sent the captains’ sting
Of the army which he had to
The cities of Israel with crew
Attacking Ijon and Dan too,
And Abelbethmaachah, and all
Cinneroth, Naphtali in stall.

Beloved, I take the wealth I have in hand
And use my surplus to buy in the land
Friends of mammon to press my innocence
In safety though I dwell among the tents
Of heathen and idolater. I make
Friends of each human face that I can take
Into the circle of my hope and trust.
I live in an untidy world and must.
Beloved, though I tread city street and lane
I lift my heart to You and not in vain
To keep me from the sinful thought and stain
That would cloud my vision of You in train,
Who makes from breath to breath the solitude
Of briar and brake, of meadow and of wood.

21 It happened when Baasha heard that,
He stopped building his Ramah flat,
And stayed in Tirzah where he sat.
22 Then king Asa proclaimed throughout
All Judah, none was left in doubt,
And they took Ramah’s stones all out,
And its timber with which Baasha
Had built, and then built king Asa
With them Geba of Benjamin,
And Mizpah also in the bin.

The stones and timbers that my foes have set
Against me, both the enemy that’s met
In the halls of the great and in the place
Of buying and of selling without grace,
And those foes that I meet in my own heart,
I take their beams and cornerstones apart
And from the brash attack upon my soul
I make a fortress beyond every toll
To rise above the tamped besiegers’ grit
Thrown up against my walls, though they be fit,
To make of my walls’ castle a mere plain
Where every foot may enter and may gain
The vision of You enthroned in my room
Upper and inner, out of reach of doom.

23 The rest of all of Asa’s acts,
And all his might with all the facts
Of what he did, what towns he built,
Are they not written in the gilt
Book of the chronicles of kings
Of Judah? But in old agings
He was diseased in his feet’s springs.
24 Asa slept with his fathers, and
Was buried where his fathers stand
In the town of David his father,
Jehoshaphat his son then rather
Reigned in his place and on his sand.

I too have aching feet, Beloved, and I
Awaken with their pain sometimes and cry,
And wonder what sport or herbal concoction
I might find to soothe them in shop or auction.
They hurt when I fail to run up the hill,
They hurt when I am outside to fulfil
The exercises of my work and will:
Like Asa, I know pain in cramping feet.
Let me be like king Asa for a treat,
Beloved, and tear down idol and the stand
Of graven image in my heart and land.
Let me come with Psalm to Your Sabbath show
And cantillate Your name where I may go.
It can be done no matter what feet know.

25 Nadab the son of Jeroboam
Began to reign over and blow them
In Israel the second year
Of Asa Judah’s king’s career,
And reigned over Israel two year.
26 And he did evil in the sight
Of YHWH, and walked in the way light
Of his father and in his sin
Wherewith he made Israel to sin.
27 And Baasha the son of Ahijah,
Of Issachar’s house to abide you,
Conspired against him, and Baasha
Attacked him at Gibbethon raw,
Which belonged to the Philistines,
For Nadab and all Israel’s lines
Laid siege to Gibbethon’s confines.
28 And Baasha killed him in the third
Year Judah’s king Asa was stirred,
And ruled in his place. 29 It occurred.
When he reigned he attacked all of
The house of Jeroboam’s love,
He left not to Jeroboam
Any that breathed or suckled dam,
Until he had destroyed them all,
According as the words befall
From YHWH, which He spoke by the call
Of His servant Ahijah who
Was Shilonite as was his due.
30 Because of Jeroboam’s sins
Which he sinned, and which he for wins
Made Israel sin, by his start
By which he provoked to the heart
YHWH Ælohim of Israel
To wrath and anger for a spell.
31 The rest of Nadab’s acts and all
He did are they not on the wall
Written in the book of the kings
Of Israel chronicled things?

Nadab had only two years in which he
Showed all his colours and brought forth fully
The wickedness of his heart’s gratitude.
He was a man in a continual feud
Both with Asa the king of Judah and
With every Philistine upon the land.
Traditionalist he was nonetheless
Who followed public opinion’s caress
As well as father’s ways and to confess
The scientific view that the sun made
The rain by sprinkling on the clouds arrayed.
Why do You, my Beloved, insist that You
Be worshipped and alone of all the crew
Of nature? Sovereignty’s a harsh word played.

32 And there was war between Asa
And Baasha king of Israel’s law
All the day that they lived by claw.
33 In the third year of Asa king
Of Judah began Baasha’s thing,
The son of Ahijah to reign
Over all Israel in vain
In Tirzah, twenty-four years’ reign.
34 And he did evil in the sight
Of YHWH and walked in the way light
Of Jeroboam, and in that
Sin of his where he made the fat
Of Israel sin where they were at.

I recapitulate the sin that brought
The downfall of Jeroboam’s complot.
He made another temple to be sought
Besides the one in David’s city wrought.
He made a feast like Passover untaught
A month later than what He should have done.
He made a calf to stand under the sun
And let the sun disc represent Your fun.
This Trinity of sins is no rare thing
Today among priest, pope, ruler and king:
Idolatry, a new calendar and
A holy city usurping to stand.
Beloved keep me from every false faith way:
The Roman, Meccan, Genevan for pay.

1 KINGS 16

1 The word of YHWH came to Jehu
The son of Hanani in view
Against Baasha, saying to do,
2 “Since I exalted you up from
The dust and made you prince to come
Over my folk Israel, in sum
You have acted just like that bum
Jeroboam, and make my folk
Israel to sin, and to provoke
Me to anger with their sin’s stroke,
3 “See here, I’ll take away the seed
Of Baasha as well as the greed
Of his house, and will make your tent
Like the house Jeroboam rent,
The son of Nebat eminent.
4 “Who dies of Baasha in the town
The dogs will eat, and with a frown
Who dies of his in the fields birds
Or the air will eat without words.”
5 Now the rest of Baasha’s acts and
What he did and his power in hand,
Are they not written in the book
Of Israel’s kings’ chronicles’ hook?
6 And so Baasha slept with his fathers,
Was buried in Tirzah with bothers,
And Elah his son reigned instead,
Let’s see how well he was been bred.
7 And also by the hand of prophet
Jehu son of Hanani’s soffit,
Came the word of YHWH against Baasha,
And against his house, roof and fassure,
For all the evil that he’d done
In the sight of YHWH under sun
To provoke him to wrath by what
His hands had done, just like the mutt
House of Jeroboam, also
Because he killed him in the show.
8 In Asa king of Judah’s year
Twenty-six Elah came to rear
Over Israel, the son of Baasha
In Tirzah for two years of fear.
9 And his servant Zimri, the chief
Of half his chariots in relief
Conspired against him when he was
In Tirzah, drinking as one does,
Drunk in the house of Arza who
Was steward of his house and crew
In Tirzah. 10 And Zimri went in
And struck him down and did him in,
The twenty-seventh year that king
Asa of Judah reigned, so he
Ruled in his place most wickedly.
11 It happened when he started to
Reign, as soon as he sat in view
On his throne, it happened he slew
All the house of Haasha and crew.
He left him not a single one
That pisses on the wall when done,
Not of his kin nor of friends won.
12 So Zimri destroyed all the house
Of Baasha, according to nous
Of YHWH, that He spoke against him,
Baasha by Hehu, prophet grim.
13 For all the sins of Baasha and
The sins of Elah, son at hand,
By which they sinned and by which they
Made Israel to go astray,
In provoking YHWH Ælohim
Of Israel to wrath in scheme
Of all the vanities in dream.
Now the rest of Elah’s acts and
All that he did, do they not stand
Written in the book of the kings
Of Israel, chronicled things?
15 And in the twenty-seventh year
Of Asa king of Judah’s gear
Did Zimri reign seven days in
Tirzah. And the folk set to win
Against Gibbethon Philistine.
16 The people encamped there heard say
Zimri’s conspired and gone to slay
The king, therefore all Israel made
Omri, captain of the host paid,
King over Israel that day
In the camp so he’d have his say.
17 Omri went up from Gibbethon,
And all Israel with him at dawn,
And they besieged Tirzah anon.
18 It happened when Zimri saw that
The city was taken down flat,
That he went in the palace, sat
And burned the king’s house over him
With fire and so he died there grim.
19 For his sins which he sinned to do
Evil and in the sight of YHWH
In doing Jeroboam’s way,
And in the sin he did to make
Israel to sin, err and mistake.
20 The rest of Zimri’s acts and his
Treason that he wrought there, that is,
Are they not written in the book
Of chronicles of Israel’s rook?
21 Then Israel’s folk were split in two:
Half of the people followed true
Tibni the son of Ginath to
Make him king, and half wanted to
Make Omri king and ruler due.
22 But the folk that followed Omri
Won against those who were party
To Tibni son of Ginath, so
Tibni died, to Omri bravo.
23 In the thirty-first year of king
Asa of Judah did the ring
Of Omri begin over folk
Of Israel, twelve years to a stroke,
Six years he reigned by Tirzah’s oak.
24 Then he bought the hill of Shemer
Called Samaria to confer
For two talents of silver and
Built on the hill and called the stand
Samaria, city he built,
After the name and honour gilt
Of Shemer, owner to the hilt.
25 But Omi did the evil thing
In the eyes of YHWH and failing
He was worse than all in the ring.
26 For he walked in all of the way
Of Jeroboam the son’s play
Of Nebat and in all his sin
By which he made Israel to sin,
To provoke YHWH Ælohim of
Israel to wrath with their vain love.
27 The rest of Omri’s acts which he
Did and his power worked wonderfully,
Are they not written in the book
Of Israel’s kings’ chronicles? Look!
28 So Omri slept among his own
Ancestors, was buried alone
In Samaria, and Ahab
His son reigned in his place to stab.
And in Omri’s eleventh year
Jehoshaphat the son and dear
Of Asa began his reign at
Thirty-five years of age and sat
As king kin Jerusalem for
Twenty-five years, and on that score
His mother’s name was Gazuba
Daughter of Seli and his draw
Was to walk in the way of his
Dad Asa and not turn to quiz
From it and doing what is right
In the eyes of YHWH, only they
Did not remove the high place gay,
they sacrificed and burnt incense
On the high places in their tents.
Now the engagements that were made
But Jehoshaphat with the staid
King of Israel and all his deeds
Of greatness that he did with speeds,
And the foes he attacked, see, are
They not writ in the book where star
The chronicles of Juhah’s kings?
And what was left of the whoredoms
They practiced in the days tumtums
Of Asa his father he put
Out of the land. There was no foot
Of king in Syria, but viceroy.
And King Jehoshaphat for toy
Made a ship at Tarsus to go
To Ophir for gold, but in tow
It did not go, for the ship floundered
At Gasion Gaber unboundered.
The king of Israel said to him,
Jehoshaphat, “I shall send trim
Your servants and mine in the ship,
But Jehoshaphat would not grip.
Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers
And is buried there with his fathers
In the city of David spread,
And Joram his son reigned instead.
29 And in Asa’s thirty-eighth year
As king of Judah, Ahab’s gear
As son of Omri came to reign
Over Israel, and Ahab’s train
As son of Omri ruled over
Folk of Israel in Samaria
The twenty-two years of his reign.
30 And Ahab son of Omri did
Evil in sight of YHWH to bid
Above all that before him did.
31 It happened, as if it had been
A light thing for him in the sin
Of Jeroboam Nebat’s son
To walk, so he took a wife won
Named Jezebel, daughter of king
Ethbaal of the Zinonian ring,
And went and served Baal and fell down
To worship him like foolish clown.
32 And he reared up an altar for
Baal in the house of Baal and store,
That he build at Samaria’s door.
33 And Ahab made a grove, Ahab
Did more to provoke in confab
YHWH Ælohim of Israel’s wrath
Than all the kings in Israel’s path
That were before him on the scab.
34 In his days Hiel the Bethelite
Built Jericho, he laid height
Of the foundation on his son
Abiram his firstborn when done
And set up the gates of it on
His youngest Segub, but the wan
Word of YHWH which he spoke by one
Jushua who was son of Nun.

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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