THE HOUSE OF DAVID AND THE JEHUIDES.
Athaliah's rule--Early years of Joash--Proclamation of Joash by
Jehoiada--Athaliah slain--Religious Revival--Elisha--Repairing
of the Temple--Death of Jehoiada and of his Son--Invasion
of Israel by Hazael--Jehoahaz--Murder of Joash, King
of Judah--Jehoash, King of Israel--Defeat of the
Aramæans--Amaziah--Conquest of Edom--Death of Elisha--Amaziah
defeated by Jehoash--Jeroboam II.--Death of Amaziah.
887-805 B. C. E.
It is a striking fact that Israelitish women, the appointed priestesses
of chastity and morality, displayed a special inclination for the
immoral worship of Baal and Astarte. Maachah, the queen-mother in
Judah, established an altar in Jerusalem for the worship of idols;
Jezebel had erected one in Samaria, and now Athaliah followed the
same course in Jerusalem. Yet, this was not Athaliah's sole nor her
greatest sin. The daughter of Jezebel greatly surpassed her mother in
cruelty. The victims of Jezebel had been prophets, staunch adherents
of the ancestral law,--at all events, persons whom she considered as
her enemies. Athaliah, however, shed the blood of her own relations,
and did not hesitate to destroy the family of her husband and her son.
No sooner had she received tidings of the death of her son Ahaziah,
than she ordered the soldiers devoted to her cause to execute all
the surviving members of the house of David in Jerusalem. Only the
youngest of the princes, Joash, who was not quite one year old, was
saved from sharing the fate of his brothers by the special intervention
of Jehoshebah. What did Jezebel's bloodthirsty daughter expect to
accomplish by this massacre? Was her wickedness the outcome of an
ambitious scheme to gain possession of the throne, to the exclusion of
all rivals? Or did Athaliah, herself a firm believer in the worship
of Baal, desire to establish and diffuse this worship throughout
Jerusalem and Judah, and was it in pursuance of that design that she
destroyed the remnant of the house of David, in order to have her hands
unfettered? Did she hope to succeed where her mother had failed, and by
establishing idolatrous practices in Jerusalem, to give new fervour to
the Phœnician worship?
Whatever motive actuated the worthy daughter of Ahab and Jezebel,
Athaliah reduced the Judæans to so complete a subservience to her will
that no one dared oppose her evil courses. The nation and the priests
bowed before her. Even the high priest, Jehoiada, who was connected
with the royal house, kept silence. At the very time when Jehu was
destroying those emblems of idolatry in Samaria, there was erected
in Jerusalem an image of Baal, with altars and pointed pillars, and
a high priest, named Mattan, with a number of subordinate priests,
was appointed and installed. Did Athaliah leave the temple on Mount
Moriah untouched and undesecrated? It appears that she, less consistent
in her daring and more timid than later sovereigns, did not venture
to introduce an image of Baal into the sanctuary which Solomon had
erected, but merely inhibited its use for divine services. The Carians,
mercenary troops employed by Athaliah, and the old royal body-guard
were placed at the entrance of the Temple, to keep off the people.
For this purpose, they were divided into three bodies, which by turns
guarded the Temple from Sabbath to Sabbath. For six years (887-881)
Athaliah governed the political and religious affairs of the nation,
the more aristocratic of the Jewish families probably being of her
party. Only the nearest relative of the royal family, the high priest
Jehoiada, remained true to the ancient teachings and to the house of
David. His wife, Jehoshebah, was a daughter of King Jehoram of Judah,
and the sister of the king Ahaziah who had been slain by Jehu.
When Athaliah was ruthlessly killing the last remnants of the house
of David, Jehoshebah rescued the youngest child of her brother from
the massacre, and brought him and his nurse into the chamber in the
Temple where the Levites slept. Here she secreted the royal infant for
a considerable time, and reared him for his country. Athaliah troubled
herself but little as to what was happening in the deserted Temple, and
the Aaronites and Levites, who remained faithful to Jehoiada, betrayed
nothing. His very youth aroused their interest in the last descendant
of the house of David. During the six years while Athaliah was ruling
with absolute power in Jerusalem, Jehoiada did not remain idle, but
entered into friendly relations with the chiefs of the Carians and the
guards, gradually revealing the fact that a youthful prince was still
in existence, to whom the throne of Judah by right belonged. He found
them well disposed towards the royal house, and opposed to the usurper
Athaliah. When he had convinced himself of their sympathy with his
views, he led them to the Temple, and showed them Joash, who was then
seven years of age. The soldiers having recognised in him the rightful
heir to the throne, probably by his resemblance to the family of David,
Jehoiada demanded that the chiefs take the oath of fealty to the child.
With their assistance he could hope to effect a revolution, and to
restore the royal line. The chiefs could reckon on the blind obedience
of their followers, and, accordingly, the plan of action was decided
on, as well as the date for its execution. One Sabbath a division
of the Carians then on guard went to their posts, whilst two-thirds
occupied the entrance of the Temple. They had all received strict
orders to kill any one who should cross the boundaries of the Temple
courts with hostile intentions. As the prince was now secure from all
attacks, Jehoiada also permitted the populace to enter the Temple
courts. At a thrilling moment, when the Carians and guards stood with
drawn swords, and whilst the chiefs held the weapons used by David,
the high priest led the child Joash from the room in which he had been
concealed, put the crown on his head, anointed him as king, and made
him mount the pillar-like throne which had been brought into the courts
of the Temple for the king's use. Amid trumpet blasts and clashing of
arms, the people clapped their hands, and cried "Long live King Joash."
Not until the noise from the Temple reached Athaliah's palace was
she roused from the indifference and security which a belief in the
fidelity of her paid troops had encouraged in her. She hurriedly
repaired to the Temple, accompanied by a few attendants. There,
to her terror, she beheld a young child with a crown on his head,
surrounded by her troops, who were protecting him, and by a crowd of
people shouting with delight. She found herself betrayed, rent her
clothes, and cried, "Conspiracy, conspiracy!" Some of her captains
immediately seized her, led her by a circuitous path out of the Temple
courts to the eastern gates of the palace, and there killed her. Thus
the last grandchild of the house of Omri perished as disgracefully
as her mother had done. The close connection of Israel with Tyre had
brought no happiness to either kingdom. The mother and the daughter,
Jezebel and Athaliah, resembled their goddess Astarte--"the authoress
of destruction, death, and ruin." Ahab's daughter does not appear to
have had many adherents in Jerusalem--in the hour of death she found
no partisans. Her priests of Baal were powerless to help her, for they
themselves perished, the victims of the nation's wrath. Jehoiada,
having planned and effected the great revolution, now endeavoured
to take precautions against a repetition of similar misfortunes in
Jerusalem. He utilised the joyous and enthusiastic sentiments of the
youthful king and the nation to remove all traces of the worship of
Baal, and to arouse in all minds a faithful dependence on the God
of their ancestors. He demanded of the king and the whole assembly
a solemn promise to remain henceforth a people of God, to serve Him
faithfully, and to worship no idol. The promise, which was uttered
aloud by the king and the nation, was sealed by a covenant. The
inhabitants of Jerusalem poured into the temple of Baal, which had been
erected by Athaliah, destroyed the altars, trampled on the images and
all objects connected with idol-worship. The nation itself undertook
to protect its own religion. It was not till after the covenant had
been ratified both by the young king and the nation, that Joash,
triumphantly escorted by the guards, the soldiers, and the multitude,
was led from the Temple Mount into the palace, where he was placed
on the throne of his fathers. Jerusalem was in a state of joyful
excitement. The adherents of the late queen kept quiet, and did not
dare damp the general enthusiasm.
It is remarkable that in the political and religious revolutions which
followed each other in quick succession in Samaria and Jerusalem,
Elisha's helping hand was not felt. He had commissioned one of his
disciples to anoint Jehu as the avenger of the crimes of Omri's
house, but he himself remained in the background, not even presenting
himself at the overthrow of Baal. He does not appear to have had
any intercourse with King Jehu, and still less did Elijah's chief
disciple take any part in the fall of Athaliah and the overthrow of
idolatry in Jerusalem. He seems to have occupied himself chiefly
with the instruction of prophetic disciples, in order to keep alive
the religious ardour which Elijah had kindled. Elisha, however,
was not, like his teacher, universally recognised as leader. He was
reproached for not wearing long flowing hair, and thus creating the
impression that he laid less stress on the Nazarite mode of life.
Sons of prophetic disciples at Bethel jeered at him, and called him
"Bald-head." Elisha also differed from his master in associating with
his fellow-men, instead of passing his life in solitude as Elijah
had done. It is true, that as long as the Omrides were in power, he
remained on Mount Carmel, whence he came, accompanied by his disciple
Gehazi, to visit the prophetic schools in the Jordanic territories. But
later on, he made Samaria his dwelling-place, and was known under the
title of the "Prophet of Samaria." Through his friendly intercourse
with men, he exercised a lasting influence on them, and imbued them
with his beliefs. Men of note sought him to obtain his advice, and the
people generally visited him on Sabbaths and New Moons. It was only in
the kingdom of Judah and in Jerusalem that Elisha did not appear. Why
did he avoid this territory? Or, why have no records of his relations
with it been preserved? Was he not of the same disposition as the high
priest Jehoiada, and had they not both the same end in view? It seems
that the violent prophetic measures of Elijah and Elisha were not much
appreciated in Jerusalem. Elijah had built an altar on Carmel, and had
there offered up sacrifices; but though he did so in the name of the
same God whose temple was in Jerusalem, his conduct was doubtless not
countenanced by the priesthood; it was contrary to the law. And Elisha
would hardly have been a welcome guest in Jerusalem.
There, attention was concentrated on the sanctuary and the law from
the moment when Jehoiada had shown himself their strict guardian. The
Temple had suffered injury under Athaliah. Not only had the golden
covering of the cedar wood been in part destroyed, but entire blocks
had been violently pulled out of the walls. It was therefore an
important matter for the young king Joash, at the beginning of his
reign, to repair these damages, and Jehoiada impressed on him the
necessity of this undertaking. The means, however, were wanting.
Whatever treasure might have been in the Temple--the accumulated
offerings of former kings or of pious donors--had, without doubt,
been transferred by Athaliah to the house of Baal. The king therefore
commanded the priests to collect money for effecting the necessary
repairs, and bade them engage in this work with as much energy
as though it were their own affair. Every Aaronite was to obtain
contributions from his acquaintances, and out of the sums thus
collected the expenses of repairing the Temple were to be defrayed.
Whether it was that the moneys received were insufficient, or that the
priests used them for their own purposes, the repairs were for a long
time not attempted. At length the king ordered the high priest Jehoiada
(864) to enlist the interest of the nation in the work on hand. A
chest with a slit in it was placed in the courtyard of the Temple, and
into that chest all whom piety or generosity influenced might place a
free-will offering, each according to his means, or he might give his
contribution to the priests, who would deposit it in the chest. The
gifts were liberal, and proved sufficient to procure materials, and
to pay the masons and carpenters. Jehoiada raised the position of the
high priest, which until then, even under the best kings, had been a
subordinate one, to an equality with that of royalty. Had not the high
priest, through his wisdom and energy, saved the kingdom? Would not the
last descendant of the house of David have been destroyed, if Jehoiada
had not rescued him from the bloodthirsty Athaliah? He could justly
claim that the high priest should henceforth have an important voice in
all matters of state. Jehoiada used his influence to secure due respect
for the law, and to avoid a recurrence of the deplorable period of
apostasy. But strife between the royal power and that of the priests
was inevitable, for the former, from its very nature, was dependent on
personal disposition, whilst the latter was based on established laws.
During the lifetime of Jehoiada, to whom Joash owed everything, the
contest did not break out. Joash may have been prompted by gratitude
and respect to submit to the orders of the high priest, and when
Jehoiada died, he paid him the honour of burial in the royal mausoleum
in the city of David.
After Jehoiada's death, however, a contest arose between his son and
successor Zachariah and the king, which cost the former his life. The
details have not reached us; it has only been stated that at Joash's
command some princes of Judah stoned the son of Jehoiada in the
Temple courts, and that the young high priest, in his dying moments,
exclaimed, "May God take account of this and avenge it!"
In every other respect, the overthrow of the house of Omri, which had
caused so many differences and quarrels in Samaria and Jerusalem, had
resulted in the internal peace of both kingdoms. The present condition
was tolerable, except that private altars still existed in the kingdom
of Judah, and that the God of Israel was still worshipped under the
form of a bull in the kingdom of the Ten Tribes. The worship of Baal
was, however, banished from both kingdoms.
From without, both lands were harassed by enemies. Jehu, the bold
chief of horsemen, who had destroyed the house of Omri in Jezreel and
Samaria, did not display the same energy against powerful foreign
enemies. Hazael, the Aramæan regicide, who was daring in warlike
undertakings and eager for conquest, attacked the land of Israel with
his troops, took the citadels by storm, burnt the houses, and spared
neither children nor women. He also conquered the towns on the other
side of the Jordan. The entire district of Manasseh, Gad, and Reuben,
from the mountains of Bashan to the Arnon, was snatched from the
kingdom of the Ten Tribes. Many of the inhabitants were crushed to
death under iron ploughshares; the survivors were reduced to a state
of semi-bondage. Jehu was not in a position to hold his ground against
Hazael, perhaps because he also met with opposition from the king of
Tyre, whose relatives and allies he had slain.
Matters fared still worse under his son Jehoahaz (859-845). The land
had been so hard pressed by Hazael and his son Ben-hadad, and the
Israelites had been so reduced in strength, that their available
forces consisted of but 10,000 infantry, fifty horse-soldiers, and ten
war-chariots. From time to time the Aramæans made inroads, carried
off booty and captured prisoners, whom they treated and sold as
slaves. Jehoahaz appears to have concluded a disgraceful peace with
the conqueror, to whose troops he granted free passage through his
lands. Thereupon Hazael overran the land of the Philistines with his
warriors, and besieged and conquered the town of Gath. He then intended
to advance against Jerusalem, but Joash submitted without a stroke and
bought peace. Either popular discontent was aroused by his cowardice,
or he had in other ways caused disaffection; at all events, several
nobles of Judah conspired against him, and two of them, Jozachar and
Jehozabad, killed him in a house where he chanced to be staying.
Joash, king of Israel (845-830), at last succeeded in gradually
reducing the preponderance of the Aramæan kingdom. Probably this was
owing to the fact that the neighbouring kings of the Hittites (who
dwelt on the Euphrates), as well as the king of Egypt, envious of the
power of Damascus, took hostile positions towards Ben-hadad III. The
latter, in order to weaken or destroy the kingdom of the Ten Tribes,
laid close siege to the capital, Samaria, until all food was consumed,
and the distress was so great that the head of an ass was sold for
eighty shekels, and a load of dung, for fuel, for five shekels. Few
of the war-horses survived, and these were so emaciated that they
were incapacitated for service. The famine drove two women to such
extremities that they determined to kill and eat their children. The
Aramæans, however, unexpectedly raised the siege and hurried away,
leaving their tents, horses, asses, valuables and provisions behind
them. The king, to whom this discovery was communicated by some
half-starved lepers, was once more encouraged. He gave battle to
Ben-hadad on three occasions, and defeated him in each combat. The
king of Damascus saw himself compelled to make peace with the king of
Israel, and to restore the towns which his father Hazael had taken from
the territory of the Ten Tribes on the east side of the Jordan.
The weakening of Syria of Damascus had a favourable effect on the
fortunes of Judah under king Amaziah (843-816). Damascus had accorded
its protection to the petty commonwealths of Moab, Ammon, and Edom,
which stood in hostile relations to Israel and Judah. Ben-hadad's
humiliation set free Amaziah's hands, and enabled him to reconquer
the former possessions of the house of David. The small territory of
Edom had freed itself from vassalage about half a century before. One
of the Edomite kings had built a new capital on an eminence of Mount
Seir. On chalk and porphyry rocks, it rose at a height of 4000 feet
above the sea-level. A pathway led up to it from the valley below. In
this mountain city (Petra), fifteen miles south of the Dead Sea, the
Idumæans hoped to remain secure from all attacks. Edom said proudly,
"Who shall bring me down to the ground?" Amaziah had the courage to
attack the Idumæans in their mountain fastnesses. A battle was fought
in the salt valley, not far from the Dead Sea, where Amaziah caused
great destruction among the enemy, the survivors taking to flight, and
leaving their fortress at his mercy. Having captured it, he, for some
unknown reason, changed its name to that of a Judæan city, "Jokthel."
Doubtless rich booty followed the successful campaign, for Edom was a
country rich not only in flocks, but also in metals. Amaziah was not a
little proud of his victory. But his pride led to his own ruin, and to
the misfortune of his people.
A peaceable understanding existed between Jehu and his successors, and
the kingdom of Judah. Although no such formal alliance as between the
Omrides and Jehoshaphat had been concluded between them, yet they had a
common interest in keeping down the adherents of the Baal-worship.
Both kings, Jehoash (Joash) of Israel and Amaziah of Judah, were
devoted to the ancient law. When executing judgment against the
murderers of his father, Amaziah, contrary to the barbarous customs
of his time, spared their sons--an act of leniency which must not
be underestimated. Most probably the high priest, or some other
representative of the Law, had impressed on him that the religion of
Israel forbids the infliction of suffering upon children for the sins
of their fathers, or upon fathers for the sins of their children.
In Israel, Jehoash evinced deep respect for the prophet Elisha, and
followed his counsel in all important matters. When, after more than
fifty years of activity (900-840), Elisha lay on his death-bed, the
king visited the prophet, lamented his approaching end, and called
him the father and guardian of Israel. After Elisha's death, the
king ordered Gehazi (Elisha's constant follower) to recount all the
important deeds which the prophet had performed; and when the Shunamite
woman, whom Gehazi mentioned in connection with the prophet's work,
appeared before the king, accusing a man who, during her absence, had
taken unlawful possession of her house and field: the mere fact that
Elisha had once been interested in her, sufficed to induce the king
to order her immediate reinstatement. Great, indeed, must have been
the prophet's personal sway over his contemporaries, since the king
submitted to his guidance. Elisha also gained a great triumph for the
Law of God, though without any effort on his part. A prominent Gentile,
the Syrian general Naaman, who was the inferior only of the king in the
Aramæan country, voluntarily renounced the impious worship of Baal and
Astarte, and acknowledged the God of Israel, because Elisha's ministry
produced in him the conviction that only in Israel the true God was
worshipped. He even carried with him earth from the land of Israel to
Damascus, in order to erect his private altar, as it were, on holy
ground.
Meanwhile, although the desire existed in both kingdoms to free
themselves from foreign influences, and to remain true to themselves,
internal differences had already taken such deep root that it was
impossible for them to pursue the same road. After the return of
Amaziah from his conquest of the Edomites, he conceived the bold idea
of proceeding with his army against the kingdom of the Ten Tribes,
in order to re-conquer it. As a pretext, he appears to have demanded
the daughter of the king of Israel as a bride for his son, intending
to regard a refusal as a justification for war. Jehoash satirically
replied, "The thorn-bush once said to the cedar of Lebanon, 'Give thy
daughter as a wife to my son'; thereupon the wild beasts of the Lebanon
came forth, and trod down the thorn-bush. Because thou hast conquered
Edom, thy heart grows proud. Guard thine honour, and remain at home.
Why wilt thou plunge thyself into misfortune, that Judah may fall with
thee?" But Amaziah refused to yield, and sent his army to the borders
of the kingdom of Israel. Jehoash, encouraged by the victory he had
just obtained over the Aramæans, went forth to meet him. A battle
was fought on the frontier at Beth-Shemesh, where the men of Judah
sustained a considerable defeat, and fled. Amaziah himself was taken
prisoner by the king of Israel.
One must consider it an unusual act of leniency that Jehoash did not
abuse his brilliant victory, and that he did not even actively follow
it up. Could he not dethrone the captive Amaziah, declare the house of
David to be extinct, and merge the kingdom of Judah into his own realm?
This, however, he did not do, but contented himself with destroying
the walls of Jerusalem, and ransacking the town, the palace, and the
Temple. Jerusalem, which since then has been the scene of repeated
devastations, was, for the first time since its foundation, captured
and partly destroyed by a king of Israel. Jehoash magnanimously
set the captured monarch at liberty, but demanded hostages. The
moderation displayed by Jehoash was no doubt due to the influence of
the prophet Elisha or his disciples. After the death of Jehoash (830),
Amaziah reigned for fifteen years, but was not very successful in his
undertakings. The power and extent of the Ephraimite kingdom, on the
other hand, increased so rapidly that it seemed as though the times of
David were about to return. Jeroboam II. possessed greater military
abilities than any of those who had preceded him since the division of
the kingdom, and fortune befriended him. He enjoyed a very long reign
(830-769), during which he was enabled to fight many battles, and
achieve various conquests. He appears first of all to have turned his
arms against the Aramæans. They were the worst enemies of the kingdom
of the Ten Tribes, and had kept up continuous attacks against it since
the time of Ahab. The boundary of the kingdom of Israel extended from
the road which led to Hamath, as far as the south-east river, which
empties itself into the Red Sea. A prophet of this time, Jonah, the son
of Amittai, from the town of Gath-Hepher, had encouraged Jeroboam to
make war against the Aramæans. The king also seems to have conquered
the district of Moab, and to have annexed it to the kingdom of the Ten
Tribes.
Amaziah's efforts, meanwhile, were impeded by the humiliation he had
had to undergo. Jerusalem having been deprived of its fortifications,
Amaziah could not undertake any war, and was well content to be left
unmolested. He had promised not to repair the walls, and he had been
obliged to leave hostages in the Israelitish capital as pledges of his
good faith. The nobles and the nation in general had ample reason for
discontent. Amaziah had injured the country by his presumption. It was
through his rashness that Jerusalem was left defenceless against every
hostile attack. The hostages, these vouchers for the continuance of
his humiliation, doubtless belonged to the most respected families,
and their forced exile helped to nourish the discontent of the nobles,
which finally culminated in a conspiracy. A violent conflict arose in
Jerusalem, the people either siding with the conspirators, or taking no
part in the contest. Amaziah was helpless, and sought safety in flight.
The conspirators, however, followed him to Lachish (about fifteen
hours' journey south-west of Jerusalem, where he had taken refuge),
and there killed him. He was the third king of the house of David who
had fallen by the sword, and the second who had fallen at the hands of
conspirators.
After the death of Amaziah, Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah
experienced still greater misfortunes. The princes of Judah, who had
dethroned and killed the king, do not appear to have resigned the reins
of government which they had seized. Amaziah's only surviving son,
Azariah (called also Uzziah), was a child of four or five years of age,
and the land was surrounded by enemies. Advantage was taken of this
helpless condition of the country by the Idumæans, who had been beaten
and disgraced by Amaziah. They commenced an attack on the kingdom of
Judah, and Egypt again espoused their cause, as it had done in the
times of Rehoboam. Sanguinary battles ensued, and the Idumæans took
many prisoners. They pressed on to Jerusalem, where the breaches in the
walls had not yet been repaired, and carried off numbers of captives.
There are no further particulars known of the attack of the Idumæans.
Some domains seem to have been separated from Judah, and annexed to
Edom and Egypt respectively. The rude warriors exchanged Judæan boys
and girls for wine and prostitutes, and their new masters, chiefly
Philistines, in turn sold them to the Ionians, who at that time vied
with the Phœnicians in the pursuit of slave-trading. The Tyrians,
forgetful of their long-standing alliance with the house of David,
behaved in no friendlier manner. This was the first dispersion of
Judæans to distant lands, whither the Ionians had sold them as slaves.
It was probably these Jewish slaves who brought the first germs of
higher morals and culture to the Western nations. Amongst the prisoners
were many noble youths and beautiful maidens of Jerusalem, who, owing
to their home influences, and their knowledge of the eventful history
of their nation, carried with them a store of ideas, which they came to
appreciate more now than they ever had done at home.