<t /><p class="bodytext">As the war continued between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner was becoming more influential<n id="1" /> in the house of Saul.

<p class="bodytext">Abner advised<n id="1" /> the elders of Israel, &#8220;Previously you were wanting David to be your king.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul&#8217;s attendant, and said to him, &#8220;Everything that belonged to Saul and to his entire house I hereby give to your master&#8217;s grandson.

As the <sc>Lordsc> is with my master the king, so may he be with Solomon, and may he make him an even greater king than my master King David!&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

I<n id="1" /> grant your request,<n id="2" /> and give<n id="3" /> you a wise and discerning mind<n id="4" /> superior to that of anyone who has preceded or will succeed you.<n id="5" />

Furthermore, I am giving<n id="1" /> you what you did not request &#8211; riches and honor so that you will be the greatest king of your generation.<n id="2" />

I got up in the morning to nurse my son, and there he was,<n id="1" /> dead! But when I examined him carefully in the morning, I realized it was not my baby.&#8221;<n id="2" />

Solomon answered all her questions; there was no question too complex for the king.<n id="1" />

the food in his banquet hall,<n id="1" /> his servants and attendants,<n id="2" /> their robes, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings which he presented in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple, she was amazed.<n id="3" />

She said to the king, &#8220;The report I heard in my own country about your wise sayings and insight<n id="1" /> was true!

There were also male cultic prostitutes<n id="1" /> in the land. They committed the same horrible sins as the nations<n id="2" /> that the <sc>Lordsc> had driven out from before the Israelites.p>

He followed all the sinful practices of his father before him. He was not wholeheartedly devoted to the <sc>Lordsc> his God, as his ancestor David had been.<n id="1" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">At that time the people of Israel were divided in their loyalties. Half the people supported Tibni son of Ginath and wanted to make him king; the other half supported Omri.

So Ahab summoned Obadiah, who supervised the palace. (Now Obadiah was a very loyal follower of the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="1" />

Then Elijah took twelve stones, corresponding to the number of tribes that descended from Jacob, to whom the <sc>Lordsc> had said, &#8220;Israel will be your new<n id="1" /> name.&#8221;<n id="2" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">After this the following episode took place.<n id="1" /> Naboth the Jezreelite owned a vineyard in Jezreel adjacent to the palace of King Ahab of Samaria.<n id="2" />

(There had never been anyone like Ahab, who was firmly committed<n id="1" /> to doing evil in the sight of<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc>, urged on by his wife Jezebel.<n id="3" />

While the battle raged throughout the day, the king stood propped up in his chariot opposite the Syrians. He died in the evening; the blood from the wound ran down into the bottom of the chariot.

<p class="bodytext">Now King Mesha of Moab was a sheep breeder.<n id="1" /> He would send as tribute<n id="2" /> to the king of Israel 100,000 male lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams.

So the kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom<n id="1" /> set out together. They wandered around on the road for seven days and finally ran out of water for the men and animals they had with them.