JUDAH AND ISRAEL.
The monarchy in Israel was established by the people to check the
destruction and ruin with which the land and population were threatened
by the incursions of the neighbours on the east, by the dangerous arms
of the Philistines. The first attempt to set up a monarchy in connection
with the cities of the land was soon wrecked and swept away, without
leaving a trace behind. In spite of his support in the wishes of the
great majority of the Israelites, the monarchy of Saul had not succeeded
in establishing itself securely by its simple and popular conduct. It
was not till the monarchy had fortified the royal city and palace,
established a body-guard and standing troops, magistrates and
tax-gatherers, and had entered into close relation with the priests,
that it obtained security and permanence. It had indeed fulfilled its
mission and saved Israel; it had won power, glory, and respect for the
nation, and imparted to it lofty impulses of the most important kind. It
had at the same time gone far beyond the intention of its foundation. It
was now a Sultanate, which, by filling the land with Syrian trade and
customs, and allowing the growth of Syrian modes of worship, threatened
in one direction the nationality with the same dangers which it had
removed in another.
The transformation which the manner of life in Israel underwent during
the reigns of David and Solomon was so thorough that even under David a
reaction set in. If in the time before David and Solomon the Israelites
had led an unrestrained life, they were now ruled by a severe monarchy.
In the place of the patriarchal authority of the elders and heads of
tribes, whose decisions they had formerly sought, came the rule of royal
officers, who could exercise their power capriciously enough. If
hitherto they had lived unmolested, every man on his own plot, beneath
his vine and fig tree, they were now compelled to pay taxes and do
task-work. After the burdens Solomon had laid upon the people, this
reaction must have been stronger than at the time when Absalom's
rebellion shattered the throne of his father. Moreover, Solomon's reign,
though it lasted full 40 years, did not give the same impression of
vigorous power as David's strong arm had done before him, and the
monarchy was not so old, nor so firmly established as an institution,
that the Israelites could not remember the times which preceded it.
No doubt the tribe of Judah could bear the new burdens, because it
enjoyed the advantages of the new polity. The king belonged to this
tribe; the temple and metropolis were in its territory. But the
interests of the other tribes were the more deeply injured. Above all,
the tribe of Ephraim must have felt itself degraded. In this tribe the
memory of Joshua still lived, the remembrance of the conquest of the
land; once it had held the foremost place, and on its soil the ark of
Jehovah had stood. Now the pre-eminence was with Judah, the tribe which
had long been subject to the Philistines; the sacred ark stood at
Jerusalem, and the ancient places of sacrifice were neglected. Of the
feeling of the tribe of Ephraim we have indubitable evidence in an
attempt at rebellion at the beginning of the last decade of the reign of
Solomon; an attempt, it is true, which was quickly suppressed.[427]
When Solomon died, in the year 953 B.C., it was not the contests between
his sons or the intrigues of the harem which now threatened the
succession. Rehoboam, Solomon's eldest son, who was born to him by
Naamah the Ammonite, was now in his forty-second year, and thus in the
vigour of age. This vigour he needed. At the news of Solomon's death the
people gathered to their old place of assembly at Shechem. This
self-collected assembly showed that the majority of Israel were mindful
of their right to elect the king. The greatest circumspection and tact
were needed to avert the approaching storm. Rehoboam saw that he must
not look idly on. He must either attempt to disperse the assembled
multitude by force and maintain the crown by arms, or he must treat with
it. Hence he set forth to Shechem, accompanied by the counsellors of his
father. A deputation of the people met him, and said, "Thy father made
our yoke grievous; now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy
father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will
serve thee." Rehoboam promised to make an answer on the third day. He
assembled his counsellors. The old men among them--so all the older
text of the Books of Kings tells us--advised compliance, and recommended
him to speak kindly to the people; the younger, who had grown up with
the new king, and were accustomed to flatter him, and desired
unrestricted power over the people, urged him to reject strongly such
claims and such rebellion. Rehoboam was foolish enough to follow advice
which could not but be ruinous. Although he can hardly have said to the
people the words which the Books of Kings put in his mouth--"My father
chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions,"--he
rejected the demand of the Israelites. Then a cry arose in the assembly
of the people, "We have no part in David, nor any inheritance in the son
of Jesse; to your tents, O Israel!" When it was too late Rehoboam
attempted to soothe the enraged multitude. He sent his task-master,
Adoniram, to them, but the people slew the ill-chosen messenger by
stoning him to death. Nothing remained for Rehoboam but to mount his
chariot in haste and fly to Jerusalem.
The grievous distress which 100 years before had caused the nation at
Gilgal to proclaim Saul king with one consent, and which after the death
of Ishbosheth had united the tribes round David at Hebron, had long
passed away. The danger which division had once brought upon Israel had
faded into the distance, and was forgotten in the security which had
prevailed in the last generations against the neighbours on every side.
Nothing was thought of but the immediate evil and the coming oppression,
if the monarchy went further on the lines on which it was treading. At
the time of Solomon an Ephraimite named Jeroboam, the son of Nabath
(Nebat) of Zereda, who is spoken of as "a brave man," was a second
overseer among the task-labourers. As he was skilful in the discharge
of his duties, Solomon raised him to be the overseer of the task-work of
his tribe. This office, which made him known to all his tribe, Jeroboam
must have discharged in such a way as to gain the favour rather than the
aversion of the tribesmen. We are told in a few words that "Jeroboam
raised his hand against Solomon," and that "Solomon sought to slay him."
Jeroboam escaped to Egypt, and found refuge with the Pharaoh Shishak
(about 960 B.C.). Immediately after Solomon's death Jeroboam received a
message from his tribesmen to return. Rehoboam's refusal to carry on a
milder form of government decided the choice of Jeroboam as king. That
choice declared sufficiently the degree of aversion which the multitude
bore to the house of David and the monarchy at Jerusalem.
The chief city, the tribe of Judah, the tribe of Simeon, so long united
in close connection with Judah, and a part of the tribe of Benjamin,
whose land lay immediately at the gates of Jerusalem, remained true to
the son of Solomon. From the tribe of Judah the rise and dominion of
David had its commencement; to them that dominion was now returned, and
was again confined within its early limits. The question was whether
Rehoboam could achieve what his grandfather David had succeeded in
doing--could regain the dominion over the whole land from Judah.
Rehoboam thought, no doubt, that he could reduce by the power of his
arms the tribes which had withdrawn themselves from his dominion. He
armed and assembled the warriors of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. If
he soon abandoned this intention, the reason hardly lies in the warning
of the prophet Semaiah, as the prophetic revision maintains in a passage
interpolated into the annals,--we are told at the same time that there
had been "a contention between Rehoboam and Jeroboam from the
first,"[428]--but in the fact that a mightier enemy came upon Rehoboam.
From the time when the Hebrews won their abode in Canaan, they had not
been molested in any way from Egypt, where the rulers since the reign of
Ramses III. rested quietly by the Nile. Solomon, as we saw (p. 180),
entered into friendly relations with Egypt, and even into affinity. But
in the later years of his reign a new dynasty ascended the throne of
Egypt in the person of Shishak, which took up a different attitude. With
him Jeroboam had found refuge from the pursuit of Solomon. It was to
Jeroboam's interest, no less than Shishak's, that this connection should
continue after Jeroboam became king of Israel. It is not improbable that
Shishak made war upon Rehoboam in order to secure Jeroboam in his new
dominion. Whether Jeroboam sought the help of Egypt or not, why should
not Egypt have availed herself of the breach in the Israelitish kingdom
which had reached such a height in Syria under David and Solomon, and
forced her way even to the borders of Egypt? Why should she not
establish the division and the weakness of Israel? At the same time, in
all probability, a cheap reputation for military valour might be
obtained, and the treasures of Solomon seized. In the year 949 B.C., the
fifth year of Rehoboam's reign, the Pharaoh invaded Judah. He is said to
"have come with 1200 chariots, and 60,000 horsemen; and the people who
accompanied him from Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia were beyond number."
Rehoboam could not withstand the power of Shishak; one city after
another, including Jerusalem, opened her gates to the Pharaoh. The glory
of Solomon was past and gone. Shishak took away the treasures of the
temple and the royal palace, and the gold shields which Solomon had
caused to be made for the body-guard. There was no thought of a lasting
conquest and the subjugation of Syria; the object was merely to weaken,
plunder, and reduce Judah. When this object was obtained the Pharaoh
turned back to Egypt. On the outer walls of the temple of Karnak we may
see the gigantic form of Shishak, who brandishes the weapon of victory
over a crowd of conquered enemies; 133 bearded figures are to be seen,
with their hands tied behind them, whom Ammon and Mut are leading before
Shishak. The lower part of these figures is covered by the name-shields.
They represent the places in the kingdom of Judah, which in equal number
were taken or were taxed by the Pharaoh. Of these 133 name-shields about
100 are still legible, but few names are found among these which
correspond to known places in Judaea. We may perhaps recognise Jehud,
Ajalon, Beth-Horon, Gibeon, Beeroth, Rimmon in the north of Judah or in
Benjamin; Engedi and Adullam in the east; Lachish, Adoraim, Mareshah,
Kegilah (Keilah), and some other places in the centre of Judah. As there
is scarcely one among these names which can with certainty be
apportioned to the kingdom of Israel, the conclusion may naturally be
drawn that the campaign was made with a favourable regard to Jeroboam,
and was confined to Judah.[429]
It was a heavy blow which had befallen the little kingdom, and, what was
still worse, Jeroboam could avail himself of it, and the Pharaoh could
repeat his raid. Rehoboam saw that the only way to increase the power of
resistance in his kingdom and prevent its overthrow was to strengthen
the fortifications of the metropolis, and change all the larger towns in
the land into fortresses. He carried this plan out, we are told, so far
as he could, and provided them with garrisons, arms, supplies, and
governors. Fifteen of these are mentioned in the Chronicles. The
dominion over the Edomites, whom Saul fought with and David overcame,
and who attempted in vain to break loose under Solomon, was maintained
by Rehoboam.
After the brief reign of Abiam, the son of Rehoboam (932-929 B.C.), Asa,
the brother of Abiam, ascended the throne of Judah. In his time,
according to the Chronicles, Serah, the Cushite, invaded Judah with a
great army, and forced his way as far as Maresa; but in the fifteenth
year of his reign Asa defeated the Cushites, and sacrificed 700 oxen and
7000 sheep out of the booty to Jehovah at Jerusalem. The Books of the
Kings know nothing but the fact that Asa was engaged in constant warfare
with Baasha, the second successor of Jeroboam, king of Israel (925-901
B.C.).[430] Baasha forced his way as far as Ramah, _i.e._ within two
leagues of Jerusalem. This place he took and fortified, and was now
enabled to press heavily on the metropolis of Judah, by checking their
trade and cutting off their supplies. Asa's military power does not seem
to have been sufficient to relieve him from this intolerable position.
He "took all the silver and gold that remained in the treasures of the
house of Jehovah, and in the treasures of the king's house," and sent it
to Benhadad, who was now king of Damascus in the room of Rezon the
opponent of Solomon, and urged him to break his covenant with Baasha,
and make war upon him that he might leave Judah at peace. Benhadad
agreed to his request. He invaded Israel. As Jeroboam had summoned Egypt
against Judah, Judah was now joined by Damascus against Israel. Baasha
abandoned his war against Israel, and Asa caused the wood and the stones
of the fortifications to be hastily carried away from Ramah, and with
this material he entrenched Gebah and Mizpeh against Israel.[431]
An addition in the first Book of Kings remarks that Asa removed the
harlots and the idols out of the land, that he threw down the image of
Astarte, which his mother had set up, and burnt it in the valley of the
Kidron.[432] This was a healthy reaction against the foreign rites which
had crept in in the last years of Solomon's reign. Asa's son Jehoshaphat
(873-848 B.C.) went further in this direction. The remainder of the
harlots were removed from the land; he entered into peaceful relations
with Israel. The supremacy over the Edomites was maintained, and they
were governed by viceroys of the king of Judah.[433] We find that the
Edomites sent contingents to him; and his sway extended as far as the
north-east point of the Red Sea. Here, at Elath, as in Solomon's time,
great ships were built for the voyage to Ophir.[434]
The ten tribes who had set Jeroboam at their head were the mass of the
people both in numbers and extent of territory. They might hope to carry
on the kingdom, they preserved the name of Israel; while in the south
there was little more than one powerful tribe separated from the rest.
Shechem, the ancient metropolis of the tribe of Ephraim, the place at
which the crown was transferred to Jeroboam, was the residence of the
new king. When Jerusalem was no longer the chief metropolis of the
kingdom, the temple there could not any longer be the place of worship
for all the tribes. It would be nothing less then recognising the
supremacy of Rehoboam if the tribes continued to go up to Jerusalem to
the great sacrifices and festivals. The places of worship for the new
kingdom must be within its own borders. Jeroboam consecrated afresh the
old place of sacrifice, Bethel, on the southern border of the territory
of Ephraim, the place where Abraham had offered sacrifice, and Jacob had
rested (I. 390, 408); and on the northern boundaries of his kingdom he
consecrated the place of sacrifice at Dan, which the Danites had once
founded on taking Laish from the Sidonians (p. 94). At both places he
set up a golden calf to Jehovah, and instituted priests; and, as we are
told, the Israelites came like one man to the feasts of Dan, and
sacrificed at Bethel, where the sanctuary also contained a treasury. Of
other actions of Jeroboam, we only know that he built, _i.e._ fortified,
Peniel in the land beyond Jordan; no doubt in order to be able to
maintain his supremacy over the Ammonites. The severe blow which had
fallen on the kingdom of Judah by the incursion of Shishak secured him
from any serious attack on the part of Rehoboam. The petty warfare on
the borders of Judah and Israel naturally did not cease during his reign
(p. 231).
Nadab, the son of Jeroboam (927-925 B.C.), marched against the
Philistines in order to recover from them Gibbethon in the land of the
southern Danites. Here in the camp at Gibbethon he was slain by Baasha,
one of the captains of his army, and the whole race of Jeroboam was
destroyed. Baasha ascended the throne, which Nadab had held for two
years only. He took up his abode at Tirzah, a pleasantly-situated place
north of Shechem.[435] The division of the kingdom of Israel and its
consequent debility could not but appear a desirable event to the
kingdom of Damascus, which, though overthrown by David, was restored by
Rezon in Solomon's time (p. 179.) Attacks of Judah on Israel could not
be supported by Damascus, because they might lead to a reunion, and for
the same reason Israel could not be allowed to subjugate Judah. This
seems to have been the reason which induced Benhadad of Damascus to
accede to the request of Asa, king of Judah, when Baasha had entrenched
Ramah against Jerusalem. Benhadad's invasion of the north of Israel, the
desolation of the district on the Upper Jordan and the lake of
Genesareth,[436] gave relief to the oppressed kingdom of Judah (p. 235).
Baasha's son Elah was slain at a banquet at Tirzah, after a short reign
(901-899 B.C.), by Zimri, one of the captains of his army, who seized
the crown. But the army of Israel, which was again encamped at
Gibbethon, on hearing of what had taken place at Tirzah, elected Omri,
their leader, king. Omri broke up the siege of Gibbethon, marched to
Tirzah, and took the city. Zimri despaired of maintaining himself in the
royal castle, and burnt himself in it. Yet Omri was not master of
Israel. Half of the people joined Tibni, the son of Ginath. Omri
gradually gained the upper hand, till Tibni's death decided the matter
in his favour.
With the elevation of Omri (899-875 B.C.) a third dynasty ascended the
throne of Israel, while in Judah the crown continued peacefully in the
family of David. Like Baasha, Omri founded a new residence; he removed
his seat from Tirzah to Mount Shomron, and here built the new city of
that name (Samaria). Nothing is said of the wars of Omri against Judah.
To Benhadad of Damascus he seems to have lost some towns in the land of
Gilead.[437] That he ruled with address, vigour, and a strong hand is
clear from the inscription on a monument which Mesha, king of Moab,
caused to be erected in his city of Dibon (east of the Dead Sea). This
tells us that Omri and his son after him held Moab in subjection for 40
years; that not only was the city of Nebo garrisoned by the Israelites,
but Omri even took Medabah, _i.e._ the region south of Nebo towards
Dibon, and occupied it, and "oppressed Moab for a long time," because
"Camos, the god of the Moabites, was angry at his land."[438] As Mesha
regained his independence after the death of Ahab, the son of Omri, the
more severe subjection of the Moabites by Omri must have begun in the
year 893 B.C. Omri seems to have entered into friendly relations with
Ethbaal, king of Tyre (917-885 B.C.), or his successor Balezor (885-877
B.C.).[439] Omri's authority and reputation must have been considerable,
since even after the overthrow of his house, in the second half of the
ninth century B.C., the kings of Assyria speak of the king of Israel as
"the son of Omri," and the kingdom of Israel as the "house of Omri."
Ahab, Omri's son (875-853 B.C.), maintained the power which his father
had won. The Books of Kings tell us that Mesha, king of Moab, sent him
yearly the wool of 100,000 sheep and lambs,[440] and Mesha himself tells
us that Omri was followed by his son, who also said, "I will oppress
Moab;" and Israel "dwelt at Medabah for 40 years in the days of Omri and
Ahab." That the Ammonites also were subject to Ahab seems a just
conclusion from the inscriptions of Shalmanesar, king of Assyria.[441]
With Tyre Ahab was in close connection. His wife Jezebel was the
daughter of Ethbaal, king of Tyre, the aunt of Mutton, the contemporary
king of Tyre (p. 268). He was on friendly terms with Judah, which began
to rise again (as we saw) under the rule of Jehoshaphat. Jehoram, the
son of Jehoshaphat, was married to Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and
Jezebel.[442] On the vine-clad hills of Jezreel Ahab built himself a
palace adorned with ivory, after the pattern of the Phenician
princes.[443]
The rites of the neighbouring tribes, the worship of Astarte, Camos, and
Milcom, which found their way into the Hebrew tribes, and even to
Jerusalem in the last years of Solomon's reign, were again removed in
Judah, as we have seen (p. 235), under the reigns of Asa and
Jehoshaphat. For Israel the dedication of the places of worship at
Bethel and Dan to Jehovah, which Jeroboam instituted, in spite of the
erection of the image of Jehovah, marked a reaction against the rites of
the Canaanites. But the connection into which Ahab entered with Tyre
brought it about that the gods of the Phenicians were again looked on
with reverence in Israel. Induced by Jezebel, his Tyrian wife, so we are
told, Ahab caused a temple to be erected in Samaria, which his father
had built, to Baal of Tyre, at which 450 priests maintained the worship;
and a temple was also dedicated to Astarte, which gave occupation to 400
priests.[444]
It was an ancient custom among the Hebrews, as we have already found
more than once, to inquire of Jehovah what should be done. In Israel the
custom of thus making inquiry was more widely spread than in other
nations. Before any undertaking inquiry was made of his will. Jehovah's
voice decided the sentence in the judgment court. It was usual in all
cases and times to appeal to the decision of Jehovah. Question and
answer were made, as has been remarked, by the priests casting lots
before the sacred ark, the altars, and the images of Jehovah. If a
criminal had to be discovered, the tribes and races came forward, and he
was marked out by the lot cast before Jehovah. We saw that Saul inquired
of Jehovah on his campaign (p. 124). David undertook nothing without
inquiring of the image of Jehovah which he carried about with him (p.
139). If any one wished to mark out the wisdom of any advice, it was
said, "It is as if Jehovah had answered." But beside the priests who
cast the lots, there were men who saw into what was hidden, and knew the
future. To these soothsayers men went as well as to the lot before
Jehovah; they desired to know whether there would be rain or drought,
where a lost beast was to be found; they inquired for remedies for
disease. The soothsayers even pronounced sentences at law, and their
sentence was then as the sentence of Jehovah. It was Jehovah who
illuminated such men, and imparted to them a keener vision, a higher
knowledge. They believed, as the people believed of them--and the belief
was stronger as the religious feeling was more intense--that they stood
in a nearer and closer relation to Jehovah. If they also foretold events
for reward, yet they lived in the belief that they knew the will and the
counsels of Jehovah, and in this conviction they gave advice and
judgment; they were not only soothsayers, but seers. In such a
conviction mere prediction passed into prophecy, _i.e._ into the
revelation of the will of Jehovah by the mental certainty of the seer.
In this position we found Samuel, who, from being a priest, had attained
to a knowledge of the will of Jehovah; he was at once priest, soothsayer
for hire, and prophet; _i.e._ he not only announced external matters
still in the future, but also announced the just decision, the resolve
pleasing to God. He gathered disciples round him, who praised Jehovah
with harp and lute, and waited to see his face, and became changed into
other men (p. 117). Gad and Nathan, with whom David and Solomon took
counsel, were men of this style and tone. With the loftier impulses
which the religious life received both on the ritual and legal side, as
well as on the side of religious feeling under David and Solomon, with
the survey of the fortunes which Jehovah had prepared for his people,
with the expression of intense devotion in that poetry to which David
opened the way, the elevation of mind in the prophets must have been
increased and extended; their views must have become deeper. In the
kingdom of Israel, so far as our knowledge goes, the seers and prophets
had made no protest against the worship of Jehovah under an image. But
they came forward with decisive opposition to the worship of Baal and
Astarte, the strange gods which Ahab and Jezebel had introduced into
Samaria and Israel. Ahab decreed persecution against them, which
strengthened instead of breaking the intensity of their faith, their
adhesion and devotion to the God of the ancestors. They were driven to
live in solitudes, deserts, ravines, and caves. On their privations,
fasts, and lonely contemplations in the silence of the desert followed
dreams and ecstatic visions. By these the close and favoured relation of
the persecuted to the God of Israel became an established certainty. The
power of prediction passed into the background as compared with this
awakening by Jehovah, and the duty to strive, contend, and suffer for
the worship of the God of the nation against strange gods. If a prophet
who had lifted up his voice against the sacrifice to Baal was compelled
to fly before the king into the desert, he was followed thither by eager
associates, who had at heart the worship and service of Jehovah. These
listened to his words and promptings; these were his disciples. The
numbers of the awakened and illuminated increased; amid danger and in
privation their religious life became more earnest; their zeal for
Jehovah and their hatred of the strange gods and their worshippers
became deeper as the persecution fell heavier upon them. They became men
of word and action.
Strengthened in this conflict for zealous struggles in behalf of the
ancient Lord, oppressed and persecuted for their faithfulness to the God
of Israel, their relation to him took the shape of an inward conviction
of great force and intensity. Filled with their belief and the
revelations which Jehovah had imparted to them, they came forward in the
boldest manner to oppose the apostate kings; their zeal for Jehovah rose
to the wildest fanaticism, which shrunk from no means of destroying the
servants of the strange gods. To bring into light the force of their
opposition to the wicked kings, and the power which Jehovah gives to his
faithful servants, tradition has adorned with many miracles the lives of
Elijah and Elisha, the men who in Ahab's time transformed the
prognostications of the seers into a prophetic censure. Elijah is said
to have ascended to heaven in a chariot of fire, and even the corpse of
Elisha worked miracles.
At the urgent request of Jezebel, so we are told, Ahab gave orders that
the prophets of Jehovah, who roused the people against him, should be
driven out of the land or put to death.[445] Elijah retired from Thisbe
in Gilead, first to the region of Jordan, and then to Zarephath
(Sarepta) in the land of the Sidonians;[446] and finally he found a
place of refuge in the ravines of Carmel, on the sea-shore. A girdle of
skins surrounded his loins, and a mantle of hair covered his shoulders;
ravens were said to have brought bread and flesh to the hungry prophet
in the desert.[447] It came to pass that there was a long drought in
Israel. In this time of distress Elijah came forth from his hiding-place
to point out the anger of Jehovah on the king and the people for their
worship of Baal, and to proclaim relief if they returned to the God of
Israel. He requested Ahab to gather the people and all the priests of
Baal and Astarte to Carmel, and there Jehovah would send rain. To this
request Ahab agreed. "How long will ye halt on both knees, and go after
Jehovah as well as Baal," cried Elijah to the assembled multitude. "I
alone am left of the prophets of Jehovah, and the prophets of Baal are
450 men. Give us then two bulls: one to me, and one to the priests of
Baal. We will cut them in pieces and lay them on the wood, and the God
who answers with fire shall be our God." The priests of Baal slew their
bull, laid him on the wood, and called on Baal from morning to mid-day,
and said, O Baal, hear us! But in vain. Meanwhile Elijah, so the
narrative continues, built an altar of 12 stones, for the 12 tribes, and
made a trench round it; cut the bull in pieces, and laid him on the wood
of the altar, and thrice poured water over all. When he called on
Jehovah--to make it known on that day that he was God in Israel, and
Elijah was his servant--fire fell from heaven and consumed the burnt
offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the altar. All the people
fell on their faces, and Elijah said, Seize the prophets of Baal; let
none of them escape. The people fell upon them; they were brought down
from the mountain, and Elijah slew them at the brook Kishon. Then a
little cloud was seen from Carmel rising out of the sea, of the size of
a man's hand, and Elijah said to the king, "Harness thy chariot and
haste away, that the rain overtake thee not." The sky was quickly
covered with black clouds, and heavy rain followed upon storms of wind.
But Elijah ran before Ahab to his palace in Jezreel.[448] Of this
narrative, which belongs to the prophetic revision of the annals, we may
perhaps retain with certainty the facts that Elijah declared a severe
famine and drought in the land to be the punishment of Jehovah for the
worship of Baal; that the excited people slew the priests of Baal; that
Ahab accorded to the prophets of Jehovah permission to return to their
homes and liberty; and that the worship of Jehovah in Israel, which had
been seriously threatened by those rites, regained the upper hand and
decided victory, though it could not entirely drive out the worship of
Baal.
The increase in the strength of Israel under Omri and Ahab, the
connection into which Ahab entered with Jehoshaphat of Judah, the
alliance between the two houses, must have appeared to Benhadad II., the
king of Damascus, a serious matter for his own position. For this or for
other reasons he broke with Ahab, and renewed the struggle which had
gone on in Omri's time between Israel and Damascus. He invaded Israel
with all his power: 32 kings were with him--such is the no doubt greatly
exaggerated account. Ahab fell upon the Aramaeans while Benhadad was at
a banquet, and though his army was only 7000 strong, he obtained a great
victory. Then, as we are told in the prophetic revision of the Books of
Kings, Benhadad's servants advised him to contend with the Israelites on
the plain; their gods were gods of the hills, and therefore they had
gained the victory. Benhadad came in the next year with an army of
Aramaeans, which filled the land. Nevertheless Ahab again defeated them
at Aphek (eastward of Lake Merom), and so utterly overthrew them that
Benhadad sent his servants with sackcloth about their loins, and halters
round their heads, to Ahab to pray for mercy. This Ahab granted, and
Benhadad in turn undertook to restore the cities which his father had
taken from the father of Ahab, _i.e._ from Omri.
The princes of Syria had every reason to forget their hatred and make up
their quarrels. Assurbanipal and Shalmanesar II., kings of Assyria, had
attacked and subjugated the districts on the Euphrates, and established
fortresses there. The former forced his way as far as the Orontes and
the Amanus; the latter had already subjugated Cilicia. In the year 854
B.C. Shalmanesar II. left Nineveh in the spring, crossed the Euphrates,
demanded tribute there, and then turned towards Damascus. He came upon
Benhadad (Bin-hidri) of Damascus, to whom Ahab (Achabbu), king of
Israel, as well as the king of Hamath, and the king of Aradus, together
with some other Syrian kings, had brought up their forces. To the army
of the Syrians Shalmanesar allowed more than 60,000 men--he enumerates
12 princes who combined to oppose him. Damascus furnished the strongest
contingent, viz., 20,000 men and 1200 chariots; then came Israel, with
10,000 men and 200 chariots; and Hamath, with 10,000 men and 700
chariots. The armies met at Karkar. The king of Assyria claims the
victory; he professes to have captured the chariots and horsemen of the
Syrians, and to have cut down their leaders. According to one
inscription 14,000 Syrians, according to two others 20,500, were left on
the field. But Shalmanesar says nothing of the subjection of the
princes who fought against him, or of the payment of tribute by those
who are said to be vanquished, or of conquered cities. Hence the truth
is that the combined forces of the Syrians succeeded in repulsing the
attack of the Assyrians. This was their victory, though they may not
have obtained the victory on the field.[449]
When the danger threatened by the attack of Assyria passed away, the
contention between Damascus and Israel broke out again. The Hebrew
Scriptures tell us that Benhadad did not keep his promise, and did not
restore the city of Ramoth in Gilead to Ahab. Ahab may have thought that
he had the greater ground for complaint against Damascus, as he took
upon himself the severe battle against Assyria, though it was Damascus,
and not Israel, which stood in the direct line of danger. He united with
Judah against Damascus, and sent a request to Jehoshaphat, king of
Judah, to march out with him. Jehoshaphat answered, "I will go forth as
thou goest; my people as thy people; my horses as thy horses;" and he
came with his warriors to Samaria. Both kings sat on their seats at the
gate, in order to review the army as it passed out; and the prophets of
Jehovah, 400 in number, prophesied good things to them, and said, "Go
forth against Ramoth in Gilead; Jehovah will give it into your hands."
One only of these prophets, Michaiah, the son of Imlah, prophesied evil;
Ahab, we are told, caused him to be thrown into prison till he should
return in prosperity.[450] A battle took place in the neighbourhood of
Ramoth in Gilead; Ahab was severely wounded by an arrow which passed
between the joints of his mail; he caused the wound to be bound up, and
returned to the fight, in order not to discourage his warriors, and
continued to stand upright in his chariot, though his blood flowed to
the bottom of it, till the evening, when he died. When the soldiers
heard of the death of the king the army dispersed in every direction.
Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, escaped (853 B.C.).
The death of such a brave warrior as Ahab was a heavy blow to the
kingdom of Israel. We are not told by what sacrifices Ahaziah, the son
of Ahab and Jezebel, had to purchase peace; we only know that the
Moabites revolted from Israel on the news of the death of Ahab, and that
Mesha no longer paid the tribute which he and his father had paid to
Omri and Ahab. In any case it was a great relief for Israel when
Shalmanesar, king of Assyria, in the years 851 and 850 B.C., turned his
arms against Hamath and Damascus.[451] In this way Ahaziah's younger
brother, Joram, who succeeded him after a short reign (851-843 B.C.),
was able to attempt to subjugate the Moabites anew. He called on
Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, to go out with him, and Jehoshaphat said, "I
am as thou art; my horses as thy horses," and raised not only the
warriors of Judah, but those of Edom also. The attack was made from the
land of the kingdom of Judah and Edom on the southern border of the
Moabites. The Moabites were defeated, their cities destroyed, their
fields laid waste, their wells filled up. Mesha threw himself into the
fortress of Kir Harosheth, which is probably the later Kerak, to the
south of the Arnon, not far from the east shore of the Dead Sea. The
slingers of both kings surrounded the fortress, and cast stones against
the walls. "And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too
strong for him," and he had attempted in vain to break out, "he took his
firstborn son, who would be king in his place, and sacrificed him as a
burnt offering on the wall. And there was a great anger against Israel,
and they returned from him, and went back into their own land" (849
B.C.).
Notwithstanding this fortunate beginning, the campaign against Moab, as
is allowed even by the Books of Kings, was finally wrecked. This
termination agrees with the statements of Mesha on the monument of
Dibon. "Forty years," it says, "Israel dwelt in Medabah; Camos gave it
back in my days. And the king of Israel built Ataroth, and I fought
against the stronghold and took it, and took all the men captive, and
brought them as a pleasing spectacle to Camos and Moab. And Camos said
to me, Go and take Nebo from Israel; and I went in the night and fought
against it from daybreak to mid-day; and I took it. It was devoted to
destruction to Ashtor-Camos (I. 373); and I took from thence the
furniture of Jehovah, and dragged them before Camos. And the king of
Israel built Jahaz, and placed himself therein, in his contest against
me, and Camos drove him out before me. I took from Moab 200 men, all the
chiefs, and led them out to Jahaz, and took it, in order to unite it to
Dibon. I built Karho,[452] the gates, the towers, and the royal palace.
I built Aroer, and made the road over the Arnon. I built Beth Bamoth,
which was destroyed. I built Bazor, and Beth Diblathaim, and Beth
Baal-Meon. And Camos said to me, Go down to fight against Horonaim."
Here our fragments of the inscription break off. We see that Ahab's
successors, Ahaziah and Joram, attempted to force Moab to submission by
planting fortresses in the land; that they attempted to subjugate the
Moabites from Ataroth, Nebo, and Jahaz. When this mode of warfare did
not succeed, and the fortresses were destroyed, the great campaign was
undertaken which in the end came to disaster, unless we were to place
this campaign before the time when Joram built those fortresses.
It was impossible for Joram to entertain any further hopes of the
subjugation of Moab when Benhadad, after escaping from the attack of
Shalmanesar, turned upon him. The Israelites were unable to keep the
field, and Joram was shut up in Samaria. The supplies failed, and the
famine is said to have been so grievous in the city that an ass's head
sold for 80 shekels, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for
five shekels, and mothers even laid their hands upon their own children.
But Elisha, the favourite disciple of Elijah, is said to have urged them
to hold out, and promised present help from Jehovah. Suddenly, in a
single night, the army of the Aramaeans disappeared. They feared, so the
prophetic revision of the annals relates, that the kings of the Hethites
and the kings of Egypt had set out to the aid of Joram. As Shalmanesar
of Assyria tells us that he marched in the year 846 B.C. with 120,000
men against Benhadad of Damascus and Irchulina of Hamath, we may assume
that it was the approach of the Assyrians which induced Benhadad to
raise the siege of Samaria, in order to meet the Assyrians with all his
own forces and those of Hamath. Here again Shalmanesar announces a
victory obtained over Benhadad and Irchulina of Hamath, and twelve
princes, and again the victory is without results.
It was not to the power of Shalmanesar, but to Elisha, the prophet of
Israel, that Benhadad of Damascus succumbed. For what reason we know
not, Elisha left Israel and went to Damascus. Benhadad lay sick. He sent
his chosen servant Hazael with costly presents to Elisha to inquire if
he would recover. Elisha answered, Say to him, thou shalt recover; but
Jehovah has shown me that he will die. Hazael announced the message, and
on the next day smothered the king, and placed himself on the throne of
Damascus (844 B.C.). The new king at once resumed the war with Israel,
and, as it would appear, not without the instigation of Elisha.[453]
Jehoshaphat of Judah had died a few years previously (848 B.C.). The
crown passed to his son Jehoram, the brother-in-law of Joram. The
Edomites, who had continued to follow Jehoshaphat into the field against
Moab, revolted from him, and slew the Judaeans who had settled in
Edom,--these settlers may have been most numerous in the harbour city of
Elath,--and placed themselves under a king.[454] Jehoram attempted to
reduce them in vain; the fortune of war was against him; he was
surrounded by the Edomites, and was compelled to force his way with his
chariots of war by night through the army of the Edomites. The
Philistines also pressed upon Jehoram, and carried away, even from
Jerusalem, captives and precious things.[455] Jehoram's reign continued
for four years. Yet the misfortunes of Judah do not seem to have been
very heavy. Jehoram's son Ahaziah, the nephew of Joram of Israel, who
came to the throne in the year 844 B.C., was soon after his accession in
a position to aid his uncle against the men of Damascus. Both kings
encamped at Ramoth Gilead, in order to maintain the city against
Hazael.[456] In the conflict Joram was wounded; he returned to Jezreel
to be healed, and soon after Ahaziah left the camp at Ramoth in order to
visit his uncle in his sickness.
To Elisha this seemed the most favourable moment for overthrowing the
king of Israel, and he urged Jehu, the foremost captain in the Israelite
army, to revolt against the wounded king. He sent one of his disciples
to Ramoth with instructions to pour oil upon Jehu, with the words,
"Jehovah says, I anoint thee to be king over Israel." The chiefs were
sitting together at Ramoth when the messenger of Elisha entered. "I have
a message for Jehu," he said; and poured the oil upon him with the
words, "Jehovah, the God of Israel, anoints thee to be king over his
people, and says, thou shalt destroy the house of thy master. I will
avenge the blood of my prophets on Jezebel. The house of Ahab shall be
destroyed, and I will cut off from Ahab what pisseth against the wall,
and dogs shall eat Jezebel in Jezreel, and none shall bury her." The
youth had scarcely uttered these words when he returned in haste. The
chiefs and the servants asked in wonder, "Wherefore came this madman?"
But when Jehu declared to them what had taken place, they hastily took
off their mantles, and spread them before Jehu's feet; they blew
trumpets and cried, "Jehu is king."
Jehu at once set out with a host to Jezreel, that no tidings might
precede him. The watchmen of the tower told the king that a troop was
coming in great haste, and apparently led by Jehu. Thinking that Jehu
was bringing news of the army, the wounded Joram went to meet him with
his guest, Ahaziah, king of Judah. "Is it peace?" cried Joram to Jehu.
"What peace," he replied, "while the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and
her witchcrafts are so many?" In terror Joram cried out, "There is
treachery, O Ahaziah," and turned his horses to escape by flight. But
Jehu smote him with an arrow in the back through the shoulders, so that
the point reached the heart. Joram fell dead from the chariot. Ahaziah
escaped. From the window of her palace at Jezreel Jezebel saw the death
of the king, her second son. By this her own fate was decided. But her
courage failed not. As Jehu approached she called to him from the
window, "Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?" Jehu made no answer, but
called out, "Who is on my side?" Two or three eunuchs answered, "We
are." Then Jehu commanded, "Throw the queen down." They threw the widow
of Ahab out of the window, so that her blood was sprinkled on the wall
and on Jehu's horses, and the ruthless murderer drove over the corpse.
She had survived Ahab ten years. Jehu went into the palace, ate and
drank, and sent a message to the elders of the tribes and the captains
of the fortresses: "If ye are on my side and obey my voice, slay the
sons of Ahab who are with you, and send their heads to Jezreel." The
elders feared the murderer to whom Joram and Jezebel had succumbed, and
did as he bade them. Seventy sons and grandsons of Ahab were
slaughtered; their heads were thrown in two heaps before the palace at
Jezreel by Jehu's orders. Then he spoke in scorn to the people, "I have
slain one; but who slew all these?" Still unsatisfied with blood, he
caused all the kindred of the royal house, all the councillors, friends,
and priests of Joram to be slain (843 B.C.).
Jehu had caused the king of Judah to be closely pursued on that day. At
Jibleam the arrows of the pursuers reached Ahaziah; wounded to the
death, he came to Megiddo, and there he died. Thus the prospect was
opened to Jehu of becoming master of the kingdom of Judah also. With
this object in view, he caused the brothers and relatives of the
murdered Ahaziah to be massacred, so far as he could take them; in all
they were 42 men.[457] But meanwhile the mother of the murdered Ahaziah,
Athaliah, heard in Judah of the death of her son in Israel, and seized
the reins of government there. She determined to retain them against
every one; and on her side also destroyed all who stood in her way. She
did not spare even her own grandsons, the sons of Ahaziah; it was with
difficulty that the king's sister succeeded in saving Joash, the infant
son of her brother.[458]
The prophets of Israel took no offence at the cruelties of Jehu, to
which they had given the first impulse; according to the revision of the
annals, they even proclaimed to him the word of Jehovah. "Because thou
hast done what is right and good in my eyes, and hast executed upon the
house of Ahab all that was in my heart, thy descendants shall sit upon
the throne of Israel."[459] Jehu on his part was no less anxious to show
his gratitude to the men to whom he owed his exaltation. He summoned the
priests of Baal, and announced to them in craft, "Ahab served Baal a
little, but Jehu shall serve him much;" and caused a great sacrifice to
be made to Baal; all who remained absent should not live. Thus he
collected all the servants and priests of Baal in the temple of the god
at Samaria. The sacrifice began; Jehu came in person to take part in
the solemnity; when on a sudden 80 soldiers entered the temple and
massacred them all. The two pillars before the temple were burnt, the
image of Baal was thrown down, the temple was destroyed, and the place
purified.[460]
A hundred and ten years had elapsed since the revolt of the ten tribes
from the house of David and the division of Israel. During this time the
two kingdoms had been at war, and had summoned strangers into the land
against each other; even the connection into which they had entered in
the last thirty years, and the close relations existing between Ahab and
Joram of Israel and Jehoshaphat, Jehoram and Ahaziah of Judah had not
been able to give more than a transitory firmness and solidity to the
two kingdoms. In the kingdom of Judah the crown continued in the house
of David; in Israel neither Jeroboam's nor Baasha's race had taken root.
And now the house of Omri also was overthrown and destroyed by a
ruthless murderer. With Jehu a third warrior had gained the crown of
Israel by a violent hand, and a fourth dynasty sat upon the throne of
Jeroboam.
It was a favourable circumstance for the new king of Israel that
Shalmanesar II. of Assyria again made war upon Damascus. On the
mountains opposite to the range of Lebanon, so Shalmanesar tells us, he
defeated Hazael of the land of Aram, _i.e._ of Damascus, in the year 842
B.C.; he slew 16,000 of his warriors, and took 1121 war-chariots. After
this he besieged him in Damascus, and destroyed his fortifications. Jehu
could hardly think, as Ahab had done before him, of joining Damascus in
resisting Assyria; his object was rather to establish the throne he had
usurped by submission to and support from Assyria. In this year, as
Shalmanesar tells us, he sent tribute like Sidon and Tyre. On an obelisk
in his palace at Chalah, on which Shalmanesar caused the annals of his
victories to be written and a picture to be made of the offering of the
tribute from five nations, we see him standing with two eunuchs behind
him, one of whom holds an umbrella, while two others lead before him the
deputies of Jehu. The first Israelite prostrates himself and kisses the
ground before the feet of Shalmanesar; seven other Israelites bring jars
with handles, cups, sacks, goblets, and staves. They are bearded, with
long hair, with shoes on their feet, and round caps on their heads, the
points of which fall slightly backwards. The under garment reaches
almost to the ancles; the upper garment falls in two parts evenly before
and behind from the shoulders to the hem of the under garment. The
inscription underneath runs: "The tribute of Jehu (Jahua), the son of
Omri (Chumri): bars of gold, bars of silver, cups of gold, ladles and
goblets of gold, golden pitchers, lead, and spears: this I
received."[461]
Though Jehu submitted to the Assyrians, the power and spirit of Hazael
was not broken by his defeat or by the siege of Damascus. Shalmanesar
speaks of a new campaign against the cities of Hazael in the year 839
B.C. He does not tell us that he has reduced Damascus, he merely remarks
that Sidon, Tyre, and Byblus have paid tribute; and again, under the
year 835 B.C. he merely notes in general terms that he has received the
tribute of all the princes of the land of Chatti (Syria). Hazael
remained powerful enough to take from Jehu, who, though a bloody and
resolute murderer, was a bad ruler, all the territory on the east of the
Jordan which Ahab and Joram had defended with such vigour.[462] Under
Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu (815-798 B.C.), the power of Israel sank lower
and lower. Hazael, and after him his son, Benhadad III., pressed heavily
upon him. Jehoahaz was compelled to purchase peace by further
concessions;[463] his whole fighting force was reduced to 10 chariots of
war, 50 horsemen, and 10,000 foot-soldiers, while Ahab had led 200
chariots into the field.
The devastation caused by Damascus in Israel was terrible. The Books of
Kings represent Elisha as saying to Hazael, "The fortresses of Israel
thou shalt set on fire, their young men thou shalt slay with the sword,
their children thou shalt cut in pieces, and rip up their women with
child;"[464] and in the prophet Amos we are told that the Damascenes had
thrashed Israel with sledges of iron. In the prophecies of Amos, Jehovah
says: "Therefore I will send fire into the house of Hazael, to consume
the palaces of Benhadad, and break the bars of Damascus, and destroy the
inhabitants of the valley of idols."[465]
The Assyrians brought relief to the kingdom of Israel. In the Books of
the Kings we are told, "Jehovah gave Israel a saviour, so that they went
out from under the hand of the Aramaeans (Syrians), and they dwelt in
their tents as yesterday and the day before."[466] It was Bin-nirar
III., king of Asshur, who threatened Damascus and Syria. In the year 803
B.C. the canon of the Assyrians notices a campaign of this king against
Syria, and in his inscriptions he mentions that he had conquered Mariah,
king of Damascus (who must have been the successor of Benhadad III.),
and laid heavy tribute upon him.[467] Though Israel (the house of Omri),
as well as Sidon, the Philistines, and Edomites, had now to pay tribute
to the conqueror of Damascus, yet in the last years of the reign of
Jehoahaz the land was able to breathe again, and Joash, the grandson of
Jehu (798-790 B.C.[468]), was able to retake from the enfeebled Damascus
the cities which his father had lost,[469] and make the weight of his
arms felt by the kingdom of Judah.
In Judah, as has been mentioned, Jehoram's widow, Athaliah, the mother
of the murdered Ahaziah, had seized the throne (843 B.C.). She is the
only female sovereign in the history of Israel. Athaliah was the
daughter of Ahab of Israel and Jezebel of Tyre; like her mother, she is
said to have favoured the worship of Baal. As the prophets of Israel had
prepared the ruin of the house of Omri in Israel, the high priest of the
temple at Jerusalem, Jehoiadah, now undertook to overthrow the daughter
of this house in Judah. Ahaziah's sister had saved a son of Ahaziah,
Joash, while still an infant, from his grandmother (p. 255). He grew up
in concealment in the temple at Jerusalem, and was now seven years old.
This boy the priest determined to place upon the throne. He won the
captains of the body-guard, showed them the young Joash in the temple,
and imparted his plan for a revolt. On a Sabbath the body-guard and the
Levites formed a circle in the court of the temple. Jehoiadah brought
the boy out of the temple and placed the crown upon his head; he was
anointed, and the soldiers proclaimed him king to the sound of trumpets.
The people agreed. Athaliah hastened with the cry of treason into the
temple. But at Jehoiadah's command she was seized by the body-guard,
taken from the temple precincts, and slain in the royal palace. Then
the boy was brought thither by the Levites and solemnly placed upon the
throne. "And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was at
rest," say the Books of Kings (837 B.C.).
The victory of the priesthood had the same result for Judah as the
resistance of Elijah and the prophets against Ahab, and the overthrow of
his house, had introduced in Israel, _i.e._ the suppression of the
worship of Baal. The temple of Baal at Jerusalem was destroyed; the high
priest of it, Mathan by name, was slain. Yet the number of the
worshippers in Jerusalem must have been so considerable, and their
courage so little broken, that it was thought necessary to protect the
temple of Jehovah by setting a guard to prevent their attacks.[470]
Jehoiadah continued to act as regent for the young king, and the
prophecies of Joel, which have come down to us from this period,[471]
prove that under this regency the worship of Jehovah became dominant,
that the festivals and sacrifices were held regularly in the temple at
Jerusalem, and that the ordinances of the priests were in full force.
When Joash became ruler he carried on the restoration of the temple,
which had fallen into decay, even more eagerly than the priesthood. His
labours were interrupted. It was the time when Israel could not defend
themselves against Damascus. Marching through Israel, Hazael invaded
Judah, and besieged Jerusalem. Joash was compelled to ransom himself
with all that his fathers, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, had
consecrated to Jehovah, and what he himself had dedicated in the
temple, and with the treasures of the royal palace.[472]
Like his father and his grandmother, Joash died by a violent death. Two
of his servants murdered him (797 B.C.); but his son Amaziah kept the
throne, and caused the murderers of his father to be executed. He
commenced a war, for what reason we know not, with Israel, who was now
fighting with success against Damascus. Joash of Israel defeated him at
Bethshemesh; Amaziah was taken prisoner and his army dispersed. The king
of Israel occupied Jerusalem, plundered the temple and the palace, and
did not set the king of Judah free till the walls of Jerusalem were
thrown down for a space of 400 cubits from the gate of Ephraim, _i.e._
the western gate of the outer city to the corner gate, at the north-west
corner of Jerusalem, and the Judaeans had given hostages to keep the
peace for the future. Against the Edomites Amaziah contended with more
success. He defeated them in the Valley of Salt; 10,000 Edomites are
said to have been left on the field on that day. The result of the
victory was the renewal of the dependence of Edom on Judah, though not
as yet throughout the whole extent of the land. Amaziah also fell before
a conspiracy. It was in vain that he escaped from the conspirators from
Jerusalem to Lachish; they followed him and slew him there. But the
people placed his son Uzziah (Azariah), though only 16 years old, on the
throne of Judah (792 B.C.).[473]
FOOTNOTES:
[427] 1 Kings xi. 26 ff place the rebellion of Jeroboam in the time when
Solomon built Millo (p. 186), and give him asylum with Shishak, king of
Egypt. Solomon built Millo, the walls of Jerusalem, and the
fortifications (p. 186) when the building of the palace was finished (1
Kings ix. 10, 15, 24). The building of the palace was completed in 970
B.C. (p. 186); hence the building of Millo must have begun about this
time. It can hardly have lasted more than 10 years. Jeroboam's
rebellion, therefore, and Shishak's accession are not to be placed
after, but a little before, 960 B.C. Lepsius puts Shishak's accession at
961 B.C.
[428] 1 Kings xii. 22; xiv. 30.
[429] O. Blau in "Zeitschr. D. M. G." 10, 233 ff, and below. The shield
which Champollion read Judaha Malek is read Jehud by Blau, who refers it
to Jehud, a place of the Southern Danites. Even the occurrence of names
of towns belonging to the kingdom of Ephraim would not exclude the
possibility that Shishak's campaign was undertaken in favour of
Jeroboam. Jeroboam acknowledged the supremacy of Egypt in the meaning of
the Pharaoh when he called on Egypt for help, and therefore, after the
manner of Egyptian monuments of victory and inscriptions, his cities
could be denoted as subject to Egypt. Hence Makethu, as Brugsch reads
(Gesch. AEgyptens, s. 661), may be Megiddo or Makedu in the north of
Judah; in the first case the explanation given holds good. Jerusalem is
not found among the names which can be read and interpreted.
[430] _Supra_, p. 112, _note_. I have remarked that assumptions there
noticed are necessary to bring the Hebrew chronology into harmony with
the Assyrian monuments and the stone of Mesha. That Ahaziah of Judah and
Joram of Israel must have been slain, at the latest, in the year 843
B.C. is a necessary consequence of the fact that Jehu paid tribute to
the Assyrians as early as the year 842 B.C. In the same way the Assyrian
monuments prove that Ahab of Israel cannot have died before the year 853
B.C. As the Hebrew Scriptures, in the chronology of Israel, put Ahaziah
with two years, and Joram with twelve years, between Ahab's death and
Jehu's accession, four years must be struck out and deducted from the
reign of Joram. To maintain the parallelism, the same operation must be
performed with the contemporary kings of Judah, and the reign of Jehoram
of Judah (for which, even if we retain the data of the Books of Kings,
six years remain at the most) must be reduced from eight years to four.
These four years in each kingdom will be best added to the first reigns
after the division, to Jeroboam (22 + 4 = 26) and Rehoboam (17 + 4 =
21). Twelve years must be added to the reign of Omri (p. 114, _n._). The
same augmentation must be made in the corresponding reign of Asa of
Judah, or, rather, as the chronology of Judah from Rehoboam to Athaliah
gives three years less than that from Jeroboam to Jehu, 15 years must be
added to Asa instead of 12, so that his reign reaches 41 + 15 = 56, and
Omri's reign 12 + 12 = 24 years. Hence Rehoboam was succeeded by Abiam
not in the eighteenth, but in the twenty-second year of Jeroboam; Ahab
ascended the throne not in the thirty-sixth, but in the fifty-fourth
year of Asa. From these assumptions are deduced the numbers given in the
text. I consider it hopeless to attempt to reconcile the divergencies in
the comparisons of the two series of kings in the Books of Kings; _e.
g._ that Omri should ascend the throne in the thirty-first year of Asa,
and reign 12 years, while Ahab nevertheless ascends the throne in the
thirty-eighth year of Asa.
[431] 1 Kings xv. 16-24; 2 Chron. xvi. 1-10.
[432] 1 Kings xv. 11-14; 2 Chron. xiv. 2-5.
[433] 1 Kings xxii. 48; 2, viii. 20.
[434] 1 Kings xxii. 49.
[435] Song of Solomon vi. 4.
[436] 1 Kings xv. 20.
[437] 1 Kings xx. 34.
[438] Noeldeke, "Inschrift des Mesa."
[439] _Infra_, chap. xi.
[440] 2 Kings iii. 4.
[441] The inscription of Kurkh enumerates in the army of the Syrians at
Karkar men from Ammon under Bahsa, the son of Ruchub (Rehob); Schrader,
"Keilinschriften und A. T." s. 95.
[442] 2 Kings viii. 18.
[443] 1 Kings xxi. 1; xxii. 39; 2, ix. 15 ff.
[444] 1 Kings xvi. 31-33; xviii. 19; 2, iii. 2.
[445] 1 Kings xviii. 4-13, 17; xix. 10-14.
[446] 1 Kings xvii. 9, 10.
[447] 2 Kings i. 8; 1, xvii. 4-6.
[448] 1 Kings xviii. 17-46.
[449] The objections which have been made against the assumption that
the king of Damascus and Achabbu, against whom and their confederates
Shalmanesar fought at Karkar, according to the monument of Kurkh (col.
2), were Benhadad II. of Damascus of the Books of Kings and Ahab of
Israel are untenable. Shalmanesar II. marches four times against a king
of Damascus; subsequently, four years after his last war with this king,
he marches against a second king of Damascus, whose name in the
inscriptions is indubitably Chazailu. In the Books of Kings Benhadad,
Ahab's contemporary and opponent, is overthrown by Hazael, who becomes
king of Damascus in Benhadad's place. Thus we obtain a certain basis for
identifying the Benhadad overthrown by Hazael with the prince of
Damascus against whom Shalmanesar fought four times. Hence on the
reading of the name of this opponent of Shalmanesar in the inscriptions
I cannot place special weight, especially as the Assyrian symbol for the
deity in the name in question is well known to have more than one
signification. If a further objection is made, that Ahab cannot have
combined with Damascus against Assyria, but rather with Assyria against
Damascus, in order to get rid of that opponent, the answer is that Ahab
had reduced Damascus before Shalmanesar's first march against the city.
Ahab had released Benhadad under a treaty (1 Kings xx. 34), and they
"were at peace three years" (1 Kings xxii. 3). Hence at this moment Ahab
was not in need of the assistance of Assyria. That free leagues are
altogether inconceivable among the Syrian princes of that time is an
assumption contradicted by numerous statements in the Egyptian monuments
of Tuthmosis III., of Ramses II. and III., and yet more numerous
statements in the Assyrian inscriptions. Not much weight can be allowed
to the late and very general statements of Nicolaus in Josephus. If
Nicolaus (Joseph. "Antiq." 7, 5, 2) calls the opponent of David Hadad,
the Books of Kings do not mention the name of the king of Damascus
against whom David contends. If he maintains that the grandson of
Benhadad I., the third of the name, desolated Samaria, it is rather
Benhadad I. of the Books of Kings, who was not the son and grandson of a
Benhadad, but the son of Tabrimmon, and grandson of Hesjon, who first
laid Samaria waste (1 Kings xv. 18-20). A second Benhadad contends with
Ahab, who certainly may have been a grandson of the first, but certainly
cannot have been the grandson of the opponent of David. If Nicolaus
further tells us, that after Benhadad I. his descendants ruled for 10
generations, and each of them along with the throne received the name of
Benhadad, this is contradicted by the Books of Kings, not merely in the
genealogy of the first Benhadad of those books, but also in the fact
that in them Benhadad II., the contemporary of Ahab and Jehoram, is
overthrown by Hazael, who then in a long reign over Damascus inflicts
severe injury on Israel and Judah. Hazael is followed in the Books of
Kings by Benhadad III. That "Achabbu from the land of Sir'lai" is
correctly read in the inscription of Kurkh is an ascertained fact.
[450] The prophetic revision explains the overthrow of Ahab by the fact
that he had spared Benhadad in the previous war, when Jehovah had
delivered him into his hand.
[451] Ninth and tenth year of Shalmanesar II.
[452] According to Noeldeke, "Inschrift des Mesa," the upper city of
Dibon.
[453] 1 Kings xix. 15; 2, viii. 7-15.
[454] Joel iv. 19; Amos i. 11, 12.
[455] 2 Chron. xxi. 16-18; Amos i. 6; cf. _infra_, p. 260. n. 2.
[456] 2 Kings ix. 14.
[457] 2 Kings x. 12-14.
[458] 2 Kings xi. 1-3.
[459] 2 Kings x. 30. "To the fourth generation" may have been added by
the revision _post eventum_.
[460] 2 Kings x. 18-27.
[461] E. Schrader, "Keilinschriften und A. T." s. 105.
[462] 2 Kings x. 32.
[463] 2 Kings xiii. 25.
[464] 2 Kings viii. 12.
[465] Amos i. 3.
[466] 2 Kings xiii. 5.
[467] See below, p. 326.
[468] Of this date and the time of Amaziah I shall treat in the first
chapter of Book IV.
[469] 2 Kings xiii. 25.
[470] 2 Kings xi. 3-20.
[471] They fall about 830 B.C. The minority of the king is clear, and
the verses iv. 4 ff. points to the incursion of the Philistines into
Judah, mentioned p. 252.
[472] 2 Kings xii. 17, 18. The occurrence is recorded after the
twenty-third year of Joash, and the twenty-third year was 815 B.C.
[473] The subjugation of Edom can only have taken place after the year
803 B.C., _i.e._ after the march of Bin-nirar II. to the sea-coast.
Bin-nirar enumerates Edom among the tribute-paying tribes of Syria. On
this and on the date of Uzziah's accession, cf. Book IV. chap. 2.