him; and considering with himself how many mischiefs this army that was
left in Ramah might do to the country over which he reigned, he sent
ambassadors to the king of the Damascenes, with gold and silver,
desiring his assistance, and putting him in mind that we have had a
friendship together from the times of our forefathers. So he gladly
received that sum of money, and made a league with him, and broke the
friendship he had with Baasha, and sent the commanders of his own forces
unto the cities that were under Baasha's dominion, and ordered them to
do them mischief. So they went and burnt some of them, and spoiled
others; Ijon, and Dan, and Abelmain 32 and many others. Now when the
king of Israel heard this, he left off building and fortifying Ramah,
and returned presently to assist his own people under the distresses
they were in; but Asa made use of the materials that were prepared for
building that city, for building in the same place two strong cities,
the one of which was called Geba, and the other Mizpah; so that after
this Baasha had no leisure to make expeditions against Asa, for he was
prevented by death, and was buried in the city Tirzah; and Elah his son
took the kingdom, who, when he had reigned two years, died, being
treacherously slain by Zimri, the captain of half his army; for when he
was at Arza, his steward's house, he persuaded some of the horsemen that
were under him to assault Elah, and by that means he slew him when he
was without his armed men and his captains, for they were all busied in
the siege of Gibbethon, a city of the Philistines.
5. When Zimri, the captain of the army, had killed Elah, he took the
kingdom himself, and, according to Jehu's prophecy, slew all the house
of Baasha; for it came to pass that Baasha's house utterly perished, on
account of his impiety, in the same manner as we have already described
the destruction of the house of Jeroboam. But the army that was
besieging Gibbethon, when they heard what had befallen the king, and
that when Zimri had killed him, he had gained the kingdom, they made
Omri their general king, who drew off his army from Gibbethon, and came
to Tirzah, where the royal palace was, and assaulted the city, and took
it by force. But when Zimri saw that the city had none to defend it, he
fled into the inmost part of the palace, and set it on fire, and burnt
himself with it, when he had reigned only seven days. Upon which the
people of Israel were presently divided, and part of them would have
Tibni to be king, and part Omri; but when those that were for Omri's
ruling had beaten Tibni, Omri reigned over all the multitude. Now it was
in the thirtieth year of the reign of Asa that Omri reigned for twelve
years; six of these years he reigned in the city Tirzah, and the rest in
the city called Semareon, but named by the Greeks Samaria; but he
himself called it Semareon, from Semer, who sold him the mountain
whereon he built it. Now Omri was no way different from those kings that
reigned before him, but that he grew worse than they, for they all
sought how they might turn the people away from God by their daily
wicked practices; and on that account it was that God made one of them
to be slain by another, and that no one person of their families should
remain. This Omri also died in Samaria and Ahab his son succeeded him.
6. Now by these events we may learn what concern God hath for the
affairs of mankind, and how he loves good men, and hates the wicked, and
destroys them root and branch; for many of these kings of Israel, they
and their families, were miserably destroyed, and taken away one by
another, in a short time, for their transgression and wickedness; but
Asa, who was king of Jerusalem, and of the two tribes, attained, by
God's blessing, a long and a blessed old age, for his piety and
righteousness, and died happily, when he had reigned forty and one
years; and when he was dead, his son Jehoshaphat succeeded him in the
government. He was born of Asa's wife Azubah. And all men allowed that
he followed the works of David his forefather, and this both in courage
and piety; but we are not obliged now to speak any more of the affairs
of this king.
CHAPTER 13. How Ahab When He Had Taken Jezebel To Wife Became More
Wicked Than All The Kings That Had Been Before Him; Of The Actions Of
The Prophet Elijah, And What Befell Naboth.
1. Now Ahab the king of Israel dwelt in Samaria, and held the government
for twenty-two years; and made no alteration in the conduct of the kings
that were his predecessors, but only in such things as were of his own
invention for the worse, and in his most gross wickedness. He imitated
them in their wicked courses, and in their injurious behavior towards
God, and more especially he imitated the transgression of Jeroboam; for
he worshipped the heifers that he had made; and he contrived other
absurd objects of worship besides those heifers: he also took to wife
the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Tyrians and Sidonians, whose name
was Jezebel, of whom he learned to worship her own gods. This woman was
active and bold, and fell into so great a degree of impurity and
madness, that she built a temple to the god of the Tyrians, Which they
call Belus, and planted a grove of all sorts of trees; she also
appointed priests and false prophets to this god. The king also himself
had many such about him, and so exceeded in madness and wickedness all
[the kings] that went before him.
2. There was now a prophet of God Almighty, of Thesbon, a country in
Gilead, that came to Ahab, and said to him, that God foretold he would
not send rain nor dew in those years upon the country but when he should
appear. And when he had confirmed this by an oath, he departed into the
southern parts, and made his abode by a brook, out of which he had water
to drink; for as for his food, ravens brought it to him every day: but
when that river was dried up for want of rain, he came to Zarephath, a
city not far from Sidon and Tyre, for it lay between them, and this at
the command of God, for [God told him] that he should there find a woman
who was a widow that should give him sustenance. So when he was not far
off the city, he saw a woman that labored with her own hands, gathering
of sticks: so God informed him that this was the woman who was to give
him sustenance. So he came and saluted her, and desired her to bring him
some water to drink; but as she was going so to do, he called to her,
and would have her to bring him a loaf of bread also; whereupon she
affirmed upon oath that she had at home nothing more than one handful of
meal, and a little oil, and that she was going to gather some sticks,
that she might knead it, and make bread for herself and her son; after
which, she said, they must perish, and be consumed by the famine, for
they had nothing for themselves any longer. Hereupon he said, "Go on
with good courage, and hope for better things; and first of all make me
a little cake, and bring it to me, for I foretell to thee that this
vessel of meal and this cruse of oil shall not fail until God send
rain." When the prophet had said this, she came to him, and made him the
before-named cake; of which she had part for herself, and gave the rest
to her son, and to the prophet also; nor did any thing of this fall
until the drought ceased. Now Menander mentions this drought in his
account of the acts of Ethbaal, king of the Tyrians; where he says thus:
"Under him there was a want of rain from the month Hyperberetmus till
the month Hyperberetmus of the year following; but when he made
supplications, there came great thunders. This Ethbaal built the city
Botrys in Phoenicia, and the city Auza in Libya." By these words he
designed the want of rain that was in the days of Ahab, for at that time
it was that Ethbaal also reigned over the Tyrians, as Menander informs
us.
3. Now this woman, of whom we spake before, that sustained the prophet,
when her son was fallen into a distemper till he gave up the ghost, and
appeared to be dead, came to the prophet weeping, and beating her
breasts with her hands, and sending out such expressions as her passions
dictated to her, and complained to him that he had come to her to
reproach her for her sins, and that on this account it was that her son
was dead. But he bid her be of good cheer, and deliver her son to him,
for that he would deliver him again to her alive. So when she had
delivered her son up to him, he carried him into an upper room, where he
himself lodged, and laid him down upon the bed, and cried unto God, and
said, that God had not done well, in rewarding the woman who had
entertained him and sustained him, by taking away her son; and he prayed
that he would send again the soul of the child into him, and bring him
to life again. Accordingly God took pity on the mother, and was willing
to gratify the prophet, that he might not seem to have come to her to do
her a mischief, and the child, beyond all expectation, came to life
again. So the mother returned the prophet thanks, and said she was then
clearly satisfied that God did converse with him.
4. After a little while Elijah came to king Ahab, according to God's
will, to inform him that rain was coming. Now the famine had seized upon
the whole country, and there was a great want of what was necessary for
sustenance, insomuch that it was after the recovery of the widow's son
of Sarepta, God sent not only men that wanted it, but the earth itself
also, which did not produce enough for the horse and the other beasts of
what was useful for them to feed on, by reason of the drought. So the
king called for Obadiah, who was steward over his cattle, and said to
him, that he would have him go to the fountains of water, and to the
brooks, that if any herbs could be found for them, they might mow it
down, and reserve it for the beasts. And when he had sent persons all
over the habitable earth 33 to discover the prophet Elijah, and they
could not find him, he bade Obadiah accompany him. So it was resolved
they should make a progress, and divide the ways between them; and
Obadiah took one road, and the king another. Now it happened that the
same time when queen Jezebel slew the prophets, that this Obadiah had
hidden a hundred prophets, and had fed them with nothing but bread and
water. But when Obadiah was alone, and absent from the king, the prophet
Elijah met him; and Obadiah asked him who he was; and when he had
learned it from him, he worshipped him. Elijah then bid him go to the
king, and tell him that I am here ready to wait on him. But Obadiah
replied, "What evil have I done to thee, that thou sendest me to one who
seeketh to kill thee, and hath sought over all the earth for thee? Or
was he so ignorant as not to know that the king had left no place
untouched unto which he had not sent persons to bring him back, in
order, if they could take him, to have him put to death?" For he told
him he was afraid lest God should appear to him again, and he should go
away into another place; and that when the king should send him for
Elijah, and he should miss of him, and not be able to find him any where
upon earth, he should be put to death. He desired him therefore to take
care of his preservation; and told him how diligently he had provided
for those of his own profession, and had saved a hundred prophets, when
Jezebel slew the rest of them, and had kept them concealed, and that
they had been sustained by him. But Elijah bade him fear nothing, but go
to the king; and he assured him upon oath that he would certainly show
himself to Ahab that very day.
5. So when Obadiah had informed the king that Elijah was there, Ahab met
him, and asked him, in anger, if he were the man that afflicted the
people of the Hebrews, and was the occasion of the drought they lay
under? But Elijah, without any flattery, said that he was himself the
man, he and his house, which brought such sad afflictions upon them, and
that by introducing strange gods into their country, and worshipping
them, and by leaving their own, who was the only true God, and having no
manner of regard to him. However, he bade him go his way, and gather
together all the people to him to Mount Carmel, with his own prophets,
and those of his wife, telling him how many there were of them, as also
the prophets of the groves, about four hundred in number. And as all the
men whom Ahab sent for ran away to the forenamed mountain, the prophet
Elijah stood in the midst of them, and said, "How long will you live
thus in uncertainty of mind and opinion?" He also exhorted them, that in
case they esteemed their own country God to be the true and the only
God, they would follow him and his commandments; but in case they
esteemed him to be nothing, but had an opinion of the strange gods, and
that they ought to worship them, his counsel was, that they should
follow them. And when the multitude made no answer to what he said,
Elijah desired that, for a trial of the power of the strange gods, and
of their own God, he, who was his only prophet, while they had four
hundred, might take a heifer and kill it as a sacrifice, and lay it upon
pieces of wood, and not kindle any fire, and that they should do the
same things, and call upon their own gods to set the wood on fire; for
if that were done, they would thence learn the nature of the true God.
This proposal pleased the people. So Elijah bade the prophets to choose
out a heifer first, and kill it, and to call on their gods. But when
there appeared no effect of the prayer or invocation of the prophets
upon their sacrifice, Elijah derided them, and bade them call upon their
gods with a loud voice, for they might either be on a journey, or
asleep; and when these prophets had done so from morning till noon, and
cut themselves with swords and lances, 34 according to the customs of
their country, and he was about to offer his sacrifice, he bade [the
prophets] go away, but bade [the people] come near and observe what he
did, lest he should privately hide fire among the pieces of wood. So,
upon the approach of the multitude, he took twelve stones, one for each
tribe of the people of the Hebrews, and built an altar with them, and
dug a very deep trench; and when he had laid the pieces of wood upon the
altar, and upon them had laid the pieces of the sacrifices, he ordered
them to fill four barrels with the water of the fountain, and to pour it
upon the altar, till it ran over it, and till the trench was filled with
the water poured into it. When he had done this, he began to pray to
God, and to invocate him to make manifest his power to a people that had
already been in an error a long time; upon which words a fire came on a
sudden from heaven in the sight of the multitude, and fell upon the
altar, and consumed the sacrifice, till the very water was set on fire,
and the place was become dry.
6. Now when the Israelites saw this, they fell down upon the ground, and
worshipped one God, and called him The great and the only true God; but
they called the others mere names, framed by the evil and vile opinions
of men. So they caught their prophets, and, at the command of Elijah,
slew them. Elijah also said to the king, that he should go to dinner
without any further concern, for that in a little time he would see God
send them rain. Accordingly Ahab went his way. But Elijah went up to the
highest top of Mount Carmel, and sat down upon the ground, and leaned
his head upon his knees, and bade his servant go up to a certain
elevated place, and look towards the sea, and when he should see a cloud
rising any where, he should give him notice of it, for till that time
the air had been clear. When the Servant had gone up, and had said many
times that he saw nothing, at the seventh time of his going up, he said
that he saw a small black thing in the sky, not larger than a man's
foot. When Elijah heard that, he sent to Ahab, and desired him to go
away to the city before the rain came down. So he came to the city
Jezreel; and in a little time the air was all obscured, and covered with
clouds, and a vehement storm of wind came upon the earth, and with it a
great deal of rain; and the prophet was under a Divine fury, and ran
along with the king's chariot unto Jezreel a city of Izar 35
[Issaachar].
7. When Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, understood what signs Elijah had
wrought, and how he had slain her prophets, she was angry, and sent
messengers to him, and by them threatened to kill him, as he had
destroyed her prophets. At this Elijah was affrighted, and fled to the
city called Beersheba, which is situate at the utmost limits of the
country belonging to the tribe of Judah, towards the land of Edom; and
there he left his servant, and went away into the desert. He prayed also
that he might die, for that he was not better than his fathers, nor need
he be very desirous to live, when they were dead; and he lay and slept
under a certain tree; and when somebody awakened him, and he was risen
up, he found food set by him and water: so when he had eaten, and
recovered his strength by that his food, he came to that mountain which
is called Sinai, where it is related that Moses received his laws from
God; and finding there a certain hollow cave, he entered into it, and
continued to make his abode in it. But when a certain voice came to him,
but from whence he knew not, and asked him, why he was come thither, and
had left the city? he said, that because he had slain the prophets of
the foreign gods, and had persuaded the people that he alone whom they
had worshipped from the beginning was God, he was sought for by the
king's wife to be punished for so doing. And when he had heard another
voice, telling him that he should come out the next day into the open
air, and should thereby know what he was to do, he came out of the cave
the next day accordingly, When he both heard an earthquake, and saw the
bright splendor of a fire; and after a silence made, a Divine voice
exhorted him not to be disturbed with the circumstances he was in, for
that none of his enemies should have power over him. The voice also
commanded him to return home, and to ordain Jehu, the son of Nimshi, to
be king over their own multitude; and Hazael, of Damascus, to be over
the Syrians; and Elisha, of the city Abel, to be a prophet in his stead;
and that of the impious multitude, some should be slain by Hazael, and
others by Jehu. So Elijah, upon hearing this charge, returned into the
land of the Hebrews. And when he found Elisha, the son of Shaphat,
ploughing, and certain others with him, driving twelve yoke of oxen, he
came to him, and cast his own garment upon him; upon which Elisha began
to prophesy presently, and leaving his oxen, he followed Elijah. And
when he desired leave to salute his parents, Elijah gave him leave so to
do; and when he had taken his leave of them, he followed him, and became
the disciple and the servant of Elijah all the days of his life. And
thus have I despatched the affairs in which this prophet was concerned.
8. Now there was one Naboth, of the city Izar, [Jezreel,] who had a
field adjoining to that of the king: the king would have persuaded him
to sell him that his field, which lay so near to his own lands, at what
price he pleased, that he might join them together, and make them one
farm; and if he would not accept of money for it, he gave him leave to
choose any of his other fields in its stead. But Naboth said he would
not do so, but would keep the possession of that land of his own, which
he had by inheritance from his father. Upon this the king was grieved,
as if he had received an injury, when he could not get another man's
possession, and he would neither wash himself, nor take any food: and
when Jezebel asked him what it was that troubled him, and why he would
neither wash himself, nor eat either dinner or supper, he related to her
the perverseness of Naboth, and how, when he had made use of gentle
words to him, and such as were beneath the royal authority, he had been
affronted, and had not obtained what he desired. However, she persuaded
him not to be cast down at this accident, but to leave off his grief,
and return to the usual care of his body, for that she would take care
to have Naboth punished; and she immediately sent letters to the rulers
of the Israelites [Jezreelites] in Ahab's name, and commanded them to
fast and to assemble a congregation, and to set Naboth at the head of
them, because he was of an illustrious family, and to have three bold
men ready to bear witness that he had blasphemed God and the king, and
then to stone him, and slay him in that manner. Accordingly, when Naboth
had been thus testified against, as the queen had written to them, that
he had blasphemed against God and Ahab the king, she desired him to take
possession of Naboth's vineyard on free cost. So Ahab was glad at what
had been done, and rose up immediately from the bed whereon he lay to go
to see Naboth's vineyard; but God had great indignation at it, and sent
Elijah the prophet to the field of Naboth, to speak to Ahab, and to say
to him, that he had slain the true owner of that field unjustly. And as
soon as he came to him, and the king had said that he might do with him
what he pleased, [for he thought it a reproach to him to be thus caught
in his sin,] Elijah said, that in that very place in which the dead body
of Naboth was eaten by dogs both his own blood and that of his wife's
should be shed, and that all his family should perish, because he had
been so insolently wicked, and had slain a citizen unjustly, and
contrary to the laws of his country. Hereupon Ahab began to be sorry for
the things he had done, and to repent of them; and he put on sackcloth,
and went barefoot 36 and would not touch any food; he also confessed his
sins, and endeavored thus to appease God. But God said to the prophet,
that while Ahab was living he would put off the punishment of his
family, because he repented of those insolent crimes he had been guilty
of, but that still he would fulfill his threatening under Ahab's son;
which message the prophet delivered to the king.
CHAPTER 14. How Hadad King Of Damascus And Of Syria, Made Two
Expeditions Against Ahab And Was Beaten.
1. When the affairs of Ahab were thus, at that very time the son of
Hadad, [Benhadad,] who was king of the Syrians and of Damascus, got
together an army out of all his country, and procured thirty-two kings
beyond Euphrates to be his auxiliaries: so he made an expedition against
Ahab; but because Ahab's army was not like that of Benhadad, he did not
set it in array to fight him, but having shut up every thing that was in
the country in the strongest cities he had, he abode in Samaria himself,
for the walls about it were very strong, and it appeared to be not
easily to be taken in other respects also. So the king of Syria took his
army with him, and came to Samaria, and placed his army round about the
city, and besieged it. He also sent a herald to Ahab, and desired he
would admit the ambassadors he would send him, by whom he would let him
know his pleasure. So, upon the king of Israel's permission for him to
send, those ambassador's came, and by their king's command spake thus:
That Ahab's riches, and his children, and his wives were Benhadad's, and
if he would make an agreement, and give him leave to take as much of
what he had as he pleased, he would withdraw his army, and leave off the
siege. Upon this Ahab bade the ambassadors to go back, and tell their
king, that both he himself and all that he hath are his possessions. And
when these ambassadors had told this to Benhadad, he sent them to him
again, and desired, since he confessed that all he had was his, that he
would admit those servants of his which he should send the next day; and
he commanded him to deliver to those whom he should send whatsoever,
upon their searching his palace, and the houses of his friends and
kindred, they should find to be excellent in its kind, but that what did
not please them they should leave to him. At this second embassage of
the king of Syria, Ahab was surprised, and gathered together the
multitude to a congregation, and told them that, for himself, he was
ready, for their safety and peace, to give up his own wives and children
to the enemy, and to yield to him all his own possessions, for that was
what the Syrian king required at his first embassage; but that now he
desires to send his servants to search all their houses, and in them to
leave nothing that is excellent in its kind, seeking an occasion of
fighting against him, "as knowing that I would not spare what is mine
own for your sakes, but taking a handle from the disagreeable terms he
offers concerning you to bring a war upon us; however, I will do what
you shall resolve is fit to be done." But the multitude advised him to
hearken to none of his proposals, but to despise him, and be in
readiness to fight him. Accordingly, when he had given the ambassadors
this answer to be reported, that he still continued in the mind to
comply with what terms he at first desired, for the safety of the
citizens; but as for his second desires, he cannot submit to them,—he
dismissed them.
2. Now when Benhadad heard this, he had indignation, and sent
ambassadors to Ahab the third time, and threatened that his army would
raise a bank higher than those walls, in confidence of whose strength he
despised him, and that by only each man of his army taking a handful of
earth; hereby making a show of the great number of his army, and aiming
to affright him. Ahab answered, that he ought not to vaunt himself when
he had only put on his armor, but when he should have conquered his
enemies in the battle. So the ambassadors came back, and found the king
at supper with his thirty-two kings, and informed him of Ahab's answer;
who then immediately gave order for proceeding thus: To make lines round
the city, and raise a bulwark, and to prosecute the siege all manner of
ways. Now, as this was doing, Ahab was in a great agony, and all his
people with him; but he took courage, and was freed from his fears, upon
a certain prophet coming to him, and saying to him, that God had
promised to subdue so many ten thousands of his enemies under him. And
when he inquired by whose means the victory was to be obtained, he said,
"By the sons of the princes; but under thy conduct as their leader, by
reason of their unskilfulness [in war]." Upon which he called for the
sons of the princes, and found them to be two hundred and thirty-two
persons. So when he was informed that the king of Syria had betaken
himself to feasting and repose, he opened the gates, and sent out the
princes' sons. Now when the sentinels told Benhadad of it, he sent some
to meet them, and commanded them, that if these men were come out for
fighting, they should bind them, and bring them to him; and that if they
came out peaceably, they should do the same. Now Ahab had another army
ready within the walls, but the sons of the princes fell upon the out-
guard, and slew many of them, and pursued the rest of them to the camp;
and when the king of Israel saw that these had the upper hand, he sent
out all the rest of his army, which, falling suddenly upon the Syrians,
beat them, for they did not think they would have come out; on which
account it was that they assaulted them when they were naked 37 and
drunk, insomuch that they left all their armor behind them when they
fled out of the camp, and the king himself escaped with difficulty, by
fleeing away on horseback. But Ahab went a great way in pursuit of the
Syrians; and when he had spoiled their camp, which contained a great
deal of wealth, and moreover a large quantity of gold and silver, he
took Benhadad's chariots and horses, and returned to the city; but as
the prophet told him he ought to have his army ready, because the Syrian
king would make another expedition against him the next year, Ahab was
busy in making provision for it accordingly.
3. Now Benhadad, when he had saved himself, and as much of his army as
he could, out of the battle, he consulted with his friends how he might
make another expedition against the Israelites. Now those friends
advised him not to fight with them on the hills, because their God was
potent in such places, and thence it had come to pass that they had very
lately been beaten; but they said, that if they joined battle with them
in the plain, they should beat them. They also gave him this further
advice, to send home those kings whom he had brought as his auxiliaries,
but to retain their army, and to set captains over it instead of the
kings, and to raise an army out of their country, and let them be in the
place of the former who perished in the battle, together with horses and
chariots. So he judged their counsel to be good, and acted according to
it in the management of the army.
4. At the beginning of the spring, Benhadad took his army with him, and
led it against the Hebrews; and when he was come to a certain city which
was called Aphek, he pitched his camp in the great plain. Ahab also went
to meet him with his army, and pitched his camp over against him,
although his army was a very small one, if it were compared with the
enemy's; but the prophet came again to him, and told him, that God would
give him the victory, that he might demonstrate his own power to be, not
only on the mountains, but on the plains also; which it seems was
contrary to the opinion of the Syrians. So they lay quiet in their camp
seven days; but on the last of those days, when the enemies came out of
their camp, and put themselves in array in order to fight, Ahab also
brought out his own army; and when the battle was joined, and they
fought valiantly, he put the enemy to flight, and pursued them, and
pressed upon them, and slew them; nay, they were destroyed by their own
chariots, and by one another; nor could any more than a few of them
escape to their own city Aphek, who were also killed by the walls
falling upon them, being in number twenty-seven thousand. 38 Now there
were slain in this battle a hundred thousand more; but Benhadad, the
king of the Syrians, fled away, with certain others of his most faithful
servants, and hid himself in a cellar under ground; and when these told
him that the kings of Israel were humane and merciful men, and that they
might make use of the usual manner of supplication, and obtain
deliverance from Ahab, in case he would give them leave to go to him, he
gave them leave accordingly. So they came to Ahab, clothed in sackcloth,
with ropes about their heads, (for this was the ancient manner of
supplication among the Syrians,) 39 and said, that Benhadad desired he
would save him, and that he would ever be a servant to him for that
favor. Ahab replied he was glad that he was alive, and not hurt in the
battle; and he further promised him the same honor and kindness that a
man would show to his brother. So they received assurances upon oath
from him, that when he came to him he should receive no harm from him,
and then went and brought him out of the cellar wherein he was hid, and
brought him to Ahab as he sat in his chariot. So Benhadad worshipped
him; and Ahab gave him his hand, and made him come up to him into his
chariot, and kissed him, and bid him be of good cheer, and not to expect
that any mischief should be done to him. So Benhadad returned him
thanks, and professed that he also would remember his kindness to him
all the days of his life; and promised he would restore those cities of
the Israelites which the former kings had taken from them, and grant
that he should have leave to come to Damascus, as his forefathers had to
come to Samaria. So they confirmed their covenant by oaths, and Ahab
made him many presents, and sent him back to his own kingdom. And this
was the conclusion of the war that Benhadad made against Ahab and the
Israelites.
5. But a certain prophet, whose name was Micaiah, 40 came to one of the
Israelites, and bid him smite him on the head, for by so doing he would
please God; but when he would not do so, he foretold to him, that since
he disobeyed the commands of God, he should meet with a lion, and be
destroyed by him. When that sad accident had befallen the man, the
prophet came again to another, and gave him the same injunction; so he
smote him, and wounded his skull; upon which he bound up his head, and
came to the king, and told him that he had been a soldier of his, and
had the custody of one of the prisoners committed to him by an officer,
and that the prisoner being run away, he was in danger of losing his own
life by the means of that officer, who had threatened him, that if the
prisoner escaped he would kill him. And when Ahab had said that he would
justly die, he took off the binding about his head, and was known by the
king to be Micaiah the prophet, who made use of this artifice as a
prelude to his following words; for he said that God would punish him
who had suffered Benhadad, a blasphemer against him, to escape
punishment; and that he would so bring it about, that he should die by
the other's means 41 and his people by the other's army. Upon which Ahab
was very angry at the prophet, and gave commandment that he should be
put in prison, and there kept; but for himself, he was in confusion at
the words of Micaiah, and returned to his own house.
CHAPTER 15. Concerning Jehoshaphat The King Of Jerusalem And How Ahab
Made An Expedition Against The Syrians And Was Assisted Therein By
Jehoshaphat, But Was Himself Overcome In Battle And Perished Therein.
1. And these were the circumstances in which Ahab was. But I now return
to Jehoshaphat, the king of Jerusalem, who, when he had augmented his
kingdom, had set garrisons in the cities of the countries belonging to
his subjects, and had put such garrisons no less into those cities which
were taken out of the tribe of Ephraim by his grandfather Abijah, when
Jeroboam reigned over the ten tribes [than he did into the other]. But
then he had God favorable and assisting to him, as being both righteous
and religious, and seeking to do somewhat every day that should be
agreeable and acceptable to God. The kings also that were round about
him honored him with the presents they made him, till the riches that he
had acquired were immensely great, and the glory he had gained was of a
most exalted nature.
2. Now, in the third year of this reign, he called together the rulers
of the country, and the priests, and commanded them to go round the
land, and teach all the people that were under him, city by city, the
laws of Moses, and to keep them, and to be diligent in the worship of
God. With this the whole multitude was so pleased, that they were not so
eagerly set upon or affected with any thing so much as the observation
of the laws. The neighboring nations also continued to love Jehoshaphat,
and to be at peace with him. The Philistines paid their appointed
tribute, and the Arabians supplied him every year with three hundred and
sixty lambs, and as many kids of the goats. He also fortified the great
cities, which were many in number, and of great consequence. He prepared
also a mighty army of soldiers and weapons against their enemies. Now
the army of men that wore their armor, was three hundred thousand of the
tribe of Judah, of whom Adnah was the chief; but John was chief of two
hundred thousand. The same man was chief of the tribe of Benjamin, and
had two hundred thousand archers under him. There was another chief,
whose name was Jehozabad, who had a hundred and fourscore thousand armed
men. This multitude was distributed to be ready for the king's service,
besides those whom he sent to the best fortified cities.
3. Jehoshaphat took for his son Jehoram to wife the daughter of Ahab,
the king of the ten tribes, whose name was Athaliah. And when, after
some time, he went to Samaria, Ahab received him courteously, and
treated the army that followed him in a splendid manner, with great
plenty of corn and wine, and of slain beasts; and desired that he would
join with him in his war against the king of Syria, that he might
recover from him the city Ramoth, in Gilead; for though it had belonged
to his father, yet had the king of Syria's father taken it away from
him; and upon Jehoshaphat's promise to afford him his assistance, [for
indeed his army was not inferior to the other,] and his sending for his
army from Jerusalem to Samaria, the two kings went out of the city, and
each of them sat on his own throne, and each gave their orders to their
several armies. Now Jehoshaphat bid them call some of the prophets, if
there were any there, and inquire of them concerning this expedition
against the king of Syria, whether they would give them counsel to make
that expedition at this time, for there was peace at that time between
Ahab and the king of Syria, which had lasted three years, from the time
he had taken him captive till that day.
4. So Ahab called his own prophets, being in number about four hundred,
and bid them inquire of God whether he would grant him the victory, if
he made an expedition against Benhadad, and enable him to overthrow that
city, for whose sake it was that he was going to war. Now these prophets
gave their counsel for making this expedition, and said that he would
beat the king of Syria, and, as formerly, would reduce him under his
power. But Jehoshaphat, understanding by their words that they were
false prophets, asked Ahab whether there were not some other prophet,
and he belonging to the true God, that we may have surer information
concerning futurities. Hereupon Ahab said there was indeed such a one,
but that he hated him, as having prophesied evil to him, and having
foretold that he should be overcome and slain by the king of Syria, and
that for this cause he had him now in prison, and that his name was
Micaiah, the son of Imlah. But upon Jehoshaphat's desire that he might
be produced, Ahab sent a eunuch, who brought Micaiah to him. Now the
eunuch had informed him by the way, that all the other prophets had
foretold that the king should gain the victory; but he said, that it was
not lawful for him to lie against God, but that he must speak what he
should say to him about the king, whatsoever it were. When he came to
Ahab, and he had adjured him upon oath to speak the truth to him, he
said that God had shown to him the Israelites running away, and pursued
by the Syrians, and dispersed upon the mountains by them, as flocks of
sheep are dispersed when their shepherd is slain. He said further, that
God signified to him, that those Israelites should return in peace to
their own home, and that he only should fall in the battle. When Micaiah
had thus spoken, Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, "I told thee a little while
ago the disposition of the man with regard to me, and that he uses to
prophesy evil to me." Upon which Micaiah replied, that he ought to hear
all, whatsoever it be, that God foretells; and that in particular, they
were false prophets that encouraged him to make this war in hope of
victory, whereas he must fight and be killed. Whereupon the king was in
suspense with himself: but Zedekiah, one of those false prophets, came
near, and exhorted him not to hearken to Micaiah, for he did not at all
speak truth; as a demonstration of which he instanced in what Elijah had
said, who was a better prophet in foretelling futurities than Micaiah 42
for he foretold that the dogs should lick his blood in the city of
Jezreel, in the field of Naboth, as they licked the blood of Naboth, who
by his means was there stoned to death by the multitude; that therefore
it was plain that this Micaiah was a liar, as contradicting a greater
prophet than himself, and saying that he should be slain at three days'
journey distance: "and [said he] you shall soon know whether he be a
true prophet, and hath the power of the Divine Spirit; for I will smite
him, and let him then hurt my hand, as Jadon caused the hand of Jeroboam
the king to wither when he would have caught him; for I suppose thou
hast certainly heard of that accident." So when, upon his smiting
Micaiah, no harm happened to him, Ahab took courage, and readily led his
army against the king of Syria; for, as I suppose, fate was too hard for
him, and made him believe that the false prophets spake truer than the
true one, that it might take an occasion of bringing him to his end.
However, Zedekiah made horns of iron, and said to Ahab, that God made
those horns signals, that by them he should overthrow all Syria. But
Micaiah replied, that Zedekiah, in a few days, should go from one secret
chamber to another to hide himself, that he might escape the punishment
of his lying. Then did the king give orders that they should take
Micaiah away, and guard him to Amon, the governor of the city, and to
give him nothing but bread and water.
5. Then did Ahab, and Jehoshaphat the king of Jerusalem, take their
forces, and marched to Ramoth a city of Gilead; and when the king of
Syria heard of this expedition, he brought out his army to oppose them,
and pitched his camp not far from Ramoth. Now Ahab and Jehoshaphat had
agreed that Ahab should lay aside his royal robes, but that the king of
Jerusalem should put on his [Ahab's] proper habit, and stand before the
army, in order to disprove, by this artifice, what Micaiah had foretold.
43 But Ahab's fate found him out without his robes; for Benhadad, the
king of Assyria, had charged his army, by the means of their commanders,
to kill nobody else but only the king of Israel. So when the Syrians,
upon their joining battle with the Israelites, saw Jehoshaphat stand
before the army, and conjectured that he was Ahab, they fell violently
upon him, and encompassed him round; but when they were near, and knew
that it was not he, they all returned back; and while the fight lasted
from the morning till late in the evening, and the Syrians were
conquerors, they killed nobody, as their king had commanded them. And
when they sought to kill Ahab alone, but could not find him, there was a
young nobleman belonging to king Benhadad, whose name was Naaman; he
drew his bow against the enemy, and wounded the king through his
breastplate, in his lungs. Upon this Ahab resolved not to make his
mischance known to his army, lest they should run away; but he bid the
driver of his chariot to turn it back, and carry him out of the battle,
because he was sorely and mortally wounded. However, he sat in his
chariot and endured the pain till sunset, and then he fainted away and
died.
6. And now the Syrian army, upon the coming on of the night, retired to
their camp; and when the herald belonging to the camp gave notice that
Ahab was dead, they returned home; and they took the dead body of Ahab
to Samaria, and buried it there; but when they had washed his chariot in
the fountain of Jezreel, which was bloody with the dead body of the
king, they acknowledged that the prophecy of Elijah was true, for the
dogs licked his blood, and the harlots continued afterwards to wash
themselves in that fountain; but still he died at Ramoth, as Micaiah had
foretold. And as what things were foretold should happen to Ahab by the
two prophets came to pass, we ought thence to have high notions of God,
and every where to honor and worship him, and never to suppose that what
is pleasant and agreeable is worthy of belief before what is true, and
to esteem nothing more advantageous than the gift of prophecy 44 and
that foreknowledge of future events which is derived from it, since God
shows men thereby what we ought to avoid. We may also guess, from what
happened to this king, and have reason to consider the power of fate;
that there is no way of avoiding it, even when we know it. It creeps
upon human souls, and flatters them with pleasing hopes, till it leads
them about to the place where it will be too hard for them. Accordingly
Ahab appears to have been deceived thereby, till he disbelieved those
that foretold his defeat; but, by giving credit to such as foretold what
was grateful to him, was slain; and his son Ahaziah succeeded him.
FOOTNOTES:
1 (return) [ This execution upon Joab, as a murderer, by slaying him,
even when he had taken sanctuary at God's altar, is perfectly agreeable
to the law of Moses, which enjoins, that "if a man come presumptuously
upon his neighbor to slay him with guile, thou shalt take him from mine
altar that he die," Exodus 21:14.]
2 (return) [ This building of the walls of Jerusalem, soon after David's
death, illustrates the conclusion of the 51st Psalm, where David prays,
"Build thou the walls of Jerusalem;" they being, it seems, unfinished or
imperfect at that time. See ch. 6. sect. 1; and ch. 1. sect. 7; also 1
Kings 9:15.]
3 (return) [ It may not be amiss to compare the daily furniture of king
Solomon's table, here set down, and 1 Kings 4;22, 23, with the like
daily furniture of Nehemiah the governor's table, after the Jews were
come back from Babylon; and to remember withal, that Nehemiah was now
building the walls of Jerusalem, and maintained, more than usual, above
a hundred and fifty considerable men every day, and that, because the
nation was then very poor, at his own charges also, without laying any
burden upon the people at all. "Now that which was prepared for me daily
was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and
once in ten days store of all sorts of wine; and yet for all this
required not the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy
upon this people," Nehemiah 5:18: see the whole context, ver. 14-19. Nor
did the governor's usual allowance of forty shekels of silver a-day,
ver. 15, amount to 45 a day, nor to 1800 a-year. Nor does it indeed
appear that, under the judges, or under Samuel the prophet, there was
any such public allowance to those governors at all. Those great charges
upon the public for maintaining courts came in with kings, as God
foretold they would, 1 Samuel 8:11-18.
4 (return) [ Some pretended fragments of these books of conjuration of
Solomon are still extant in Fabricius's Cod. Pseudepigr. Vet. Test. page
1054, though I entirely differ from Josephus in this his supposal, that
such books and arts of Solomon were parts of that wisdom which was
imparted to him by God in his younger days; they must rather have
belonged to such profane but curious arts as we find mentioned Acts
19:13-20, and had been derived from the idolatry and superstition of his
heathen wives and concubines in his old age, when he had forsaken God,
and God had forsaken him, and given him up to demoniacal delusions. Nor
does Josephus's strange account of the root Baara [Of the War, B. VIII.
ch. 6. sect. 3: seem to be other than that of its magical use in such
conjurations. As for the following history, it confirms what Christ
says, Matthew 12;27 "If I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your
Sons cast them out?"]
5 (return) [ These epistles of Solomon and Hiram are those in 1 Kings
5:3-9, and, as enlarged, in 2 Chronicles 2:3-16, but here given us by
Josephus in his own words.]
6 (return) [ What Josephus here puts into his copy of Hiram's epistle to
Solomon, and repeats afterwards, ch. 5. sect. 3, that Tyre was now an
island, is not in any of the three other copies, viz. that of the Kings,
Chronicles, or Eusebius; nor is it any other, I suppose, than his own
conjectural paraphrase; for when I, many years ago, inquired into this
matter, I found the state of this famous city, and of the island
whereupon it stood, to have been very different at different times. The
result of my inquiries in this matter, with the addition of some later
improvements, stands thus: That the best testimonies hereto relating,
imply, that Paketyrus, or Oldest Tyre, was no other than that most
ancient smaller fort or city Tyre, situated on the continent, and
mentioned in Joshua 19:29, out of which the Canaanite or Phoenician
inhabitants were driven into a large island, that lay not far off in the
sea, by Joshua: that this island was then joined to the continent at the
present remains of Paketyrus, by a neck of land over against Solomon's
cisterns, still so called; and the city's fresh water, probably, was
carried along in pipes by that neck of land; and that this island was
therefore, in strictness, no other than a peninsula, having villages in
its fields, Ezekiel 26:6, and a wall about it, Amos 1:10, and the city
was not of so great reputation as Sitlon for some ages: that it was
attacked both by sea and land by Salmanasser, as Josephus informs us,
Antiq. B. IX. ch. 14. sect. 2, and afterwards came to be the metropolis
of Phoenicia; and was afterwards taken and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar,
according to the numerous Scripture prophecies thereto relating, Isaiah
23.; Jeremiah 25:22; 27:3; 47:4; Ezekiel 26., 27., 28.: that seventy
years after that destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, this city was in some
measure revived and rebuilt, Isaiah 23:17, 18, but that, as the prophet
Ezekiel had foretold, chap. 26:3-5, 14; 27: 34, the sea arose higher
than before, till at last it over flowed, not only the neck of land, but
the main island or peninsula itself, and destroyed that old and famous
city for ever: that, however, there still remained an adjoining smaller
island, once connected to Old Tyre itself by Hiram, which was afterwards
inhabited; to which Alexander the Great, with incredible pains, raised a
new bank or causeway: and that it plainly appears from Ifaundreh, a most
authentic eye-witness, that the old large and famous city, on the
original large island, is now laid so generally under water, that scarce
more than forty acres of it, or rather of that adjoining small island
remain at this day; so that, perhaps, not above a hundredth part of the
first island and city is now above water. This was foretold in the same
prophecies of Ezekiel; and according to them, as Mr. Maundrell
distinctly observes, these poor remains of Old Tyre are now "become like
the top of a rock, a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the
sea."]
7 (return) [ Of the temple of Solomon here described by Josephus, in
this and the following sections of this chapter, see my description of
the temples belonging to this work, ch. 13, These small rooms, or side
chambers, seem to have been, by Josephus's description, no less than
twenty cubits high a piece, otherwise there must have been a large
interval between one and the other that was over it; and this with
double floors, the one of six cubits distance from the floor beneath it,
as 1 Kings 6:5]
8 (return) [ Josephus says here that the cherubims were of solid gold,
and only five cubits high, while our Hebrew copies [1 Kings 6;23, 28:
say they were of the olive tree, and the LXXX. of the cypress tree, and
only overlaid with gold; and both agree they were ten cubits high. I
suppose the number here is falsely transcribed, and that Josephus wrote
ten cubits also.]
9 (return) [ As for these two famous pillars, Jachin and Booz, their
height could be no more than eighteen cubits, as here, and 1 Kings 7:15;
2 Kings 25:17; Jeremiah 3:21; those thirty-five cubits in 2 Chronicles
3:15, being contrary to all the rules of architecture in the world.]
10 (return) [ The round or cylindrical lavers of four cubits in
diameter, and four in height, both in our copies, 1 Kings 7:38, 39, and
here in Josephus, must have contained a great deal more than these forty
baths, which are always assigned them. Where the error lies is hard to
say: perhaps Josephus honestly followed his copies here, though they had
been corrupted, and he was not able to restore the true reading. In the
mean time, the forty baths are probably the true quantity contained in
each laver, since they went upon wheels, and were to be drawn by the
Levites about the courts of the priests for the washings they were
designed for; and had they held much more, they would have been too
heavy to have been so drawn.]
11 (return) [ Here Josephus gives us a key to his own language, of right
and left hand in the tabernacle and temple; that by the right hand he
means what is against our left, when we suppose ourselves going up from
the east gate of the courts towards the tabernacle or temple themselves,
and so vice versa; whence it follows, that the pillar Jachin, on the
right hand of the temple was on the south, against our left hand; and
Booz on the north, against our right hand. Of the golden plate on the
high priest's forehead that was in being in the days of Josephus, and a
century or two at least later, seethe note on Antiq. B. III. ch. 7.
sect. 6.]
12 (return) [ When Josephus here says that the floor of the outmost
temple or court of the Gentiles was with vast labor raised to be even,
or of equal height, with the floor of the inner, or court of the
priests, he must mean this in a gross estimation only; for he and all
others agree, that the inner temple, or court of the priests, was a few
cubits more elevated than the middle court, the court of Israel, and
that much more was the court of the priests elevated several cubits
above that outmost court, since the court of Israel was lower than the
one and higher than the other. The Septuagint say that "they prepared
timber and stones to build the temple for three years," 1 Kings 5:18;
and although neither our present Hebrew copy, nor Josephus, directly
name that number of years, yet do they both say the building itself did
not begin till Solomon's fourth year; and both speak of the preparation
of materials beforehand, 1 Kings v. 18; Antiq. B. VIII. ch. 5. sect. 1.
There is no reason, therefore, to alter the Septuagint's number; but we
are to suppose three years to have been the just time of the
preparation, as I have done in my computation of the expense in building
that temple.]
13 (return) [ This solemn removal of the ark from Mount Sion to Mount
Moriah, at the distance of almost three quarters of a mile, confutes
that notion of the modern Jews, and followed by many Christians also, as
if those two were after a sort one and the same mountain, for which
there is, I think, very little foundation.]
14 (return) [ This mention of the Corinthian ornaments of architecture
in Solomon's palace by Josephus seems to be here set down by way of
prophecy although it appears to me that the Grecian and Roman most
ancient orders of architecture were taken from Solomon's temple, as from
their original patterns, yet it is not so clear that the last and most
ornamental order of the Corinthian was so ancient, although what the
same Josephus says, [Of the War, B. V. ch. 5. sect. 3,] that one of the
gates of Herod's temple was built according to the rules of this
Corinthian order, is no way improbable, that order being, without
dispute, much older than the reign of Herod. However, upon some trial, I
confess I have not hitherto been able fully to understand the structure
of this palace of Solomon, either as described in our Bibles, or even
with the additional help of this description here by Josephus; only the
reader may easily observe with me, that the measures of this first
building in Josephus, a hundred cubits long, and fifty cubits broad, are
the very same with the area of the cart of the tabernacle of Moses, and
just hall' an Egyptian orout, or acre.]
15 (return) [ This signification of the name Pharaoh appears to be true.
But what Josephus adds presently, that no king of Egypt was called
Pharaoh after Solomon's father-in-law, does hardly agree to our copies,
which have long afterwards the names of Pharaoh Neehob, and Pharaoh
Hophrah, 2 Kings 23:29; Jeremiah 44:30, besides the frequent mention of
that name Pharaoh in the prophets. However, Josephus himself, in his own
speech to the Jews, Of the War, B. V. ch. 9. sect. 4, speaks of Neehao,
who was also called Pharaoh, as the name of that king of Egypt with whom
Abraham was concerned; of which name Neehao yet we have elsewhere no
mention till the days of Josiah, but only of Pharaoh. And, indeed, it
must be conceded, that here, and sect. 5, we have more mistakes made by
Josephus, and those relating to the kings of Egypt, and to that queen of
Egypt and Ethiopia, whom he supposes to have come to see Solomon, than
almost any where else in all his Antiquities.]
16 (return) [ That this queen of Sheba was a queen of Sabea in South
Arabia, and not of Egypt and Ethiopia, as Josephus here asserts, is, I
suppose, now generally agreed. And since Sabea is well known to be a
country near the sea in the south of Arabia Felix, which lay south from
Judea also; and since our Savior calls this queen, "the queen of the
south," and says, "she came from the utmost parts of the earth," Matthew
12:42; Luke 11:31, which descriptions agree better to this Arabia than
to Egypt and Ethiopia; there is little occasion for doubting in this
matter.]
17 (return) [ Some blame Josephus for supposing that the balsam tree
might be first brought out of Arabia, or Egypt, or Ethiopia, into Judea,
by this queen of Sheba, since several have said that of old no country
bore this precious balsam but Judea; yet it is not only false that this
balsam was peculiar to Judea but both Egypt and Arabia, and particularly
Sabea; had it; which last was that very country whence Josephus, if
understood not of Ethiopia, but of Arabia, intimates this queen might
bring it first into Judea. Nor are we to suppose that the queen of
Sabaea could well omit such a present as this balsam tree would be
esteemed by Solomon, in case it were then almost peculiar to her own
country. Nor is the mention of balm or balsam, as carried by merchants,
and sent as a present out of Judea by Jacob, to the governor of Egypt,
Genesis 37:25; 43:11, to be alleged to the contrary, since what we there
render balm or balsam, denotes rather that turpentine which we now call
turpentine of Chio, or Cyprus, the juice of the turpentine tree, than
this precious balm. This last is also the same word that we elsewhere
render by the same mistake balm of Gilead; it should be rendered, the
turpentine of Gilead, Jeremiah 8:22.]
18 (return) [ Whether these fine gardens and rivulets of Etham, about
six miles from Jerusalem, whither Solomon rode so often in state, be not
those alluded to, Ecclesiastes 2:5, 6, where he says, "He made him
gardens and orchards, and planted trees in them of all kinds of fruits:
he made him pools of water, to water the wood that bringeth forth
trees;" and to the finest part whereof he seems to allude, when, in the
Canticles, he compares his spouse to a garden "enclosed," to a "spring
shut up," to a "fountain sealed," ch. 4. 12 [part of which from rains
are still extant, as Mr. Matmdrell informs us, page 87, 88]; cannot now
be certainly determined, but may very probably be conjectured. But
whether this Etham has any relation to those rivers of Etham, which
Providence once dried up in a miraculous manner, Psalm 74:15, in the
Septuagint, I cannot say.]
19 (return) [ These seven hundred wives, or the daughters of great men,
and the three hundred concubines, the daughters of the ignoble, make one
thousand in all; and are, I suppose, those very one thousand women
intimated elsewhere by Solomon himself, when he speaks of his not having
found one [good] woman among that very number, Ecclesiastes 7:28.]
20 (return) [ Josephus is here certainly too severe upon Solomon, who,
in making the cherubims, and these twelve brazen oxen, seems to have
done no more than imitate the patterns left him by David, which were all
given David by Divine inspiration. See my description of the temples,
ch. 10. And although God gave no direction for the lions that adorned
his throne, yet does not Solomon seem therein to have broken any law of
Moses; for although the Pharisees and latter Rabbins have extended the
second commandment, to forbid the very making of any image, though
without any intention to have it worshipped, yet do not I suppose that
Solomon so understood it, nor that it ought to be so understood. The
making any other altar for worship but that at the tabernacle was
equally forbidden by Moses, Antiq. B. IV. ch. 8. sect. 5; yet did not
the two tribes and a half offend when they made an altar for a memorial
only, Joshua 22; Antiq. B. V. ch. 1. sect. 26, 27.]
21 (return) [ Since the beginning of Solomon's evil life and adversity
was the time when Hadad or Ader, who was born at least twenty or thirty
years before Solomon came to the crown, in the days of David, began to
give him disturbance, this implies that Solomon's evil life began early,
and continued very long, which the multitude of his wives and concubines
does imply also; I suppose when he was not fifty years of age.]
22 (return) [ This youth of Jeroboam, when Solomon built the walls of
righteous and keep the laws, because he hath proposed to thee the
greatest of all rewards for thy piety, and the honor thou shalt pay to
God, namely, to be as greatly exalted as thou knowest David to have
been." Jerusalem, not very long after he had finished his twenty years
building of the temple and his own palace, or not very long after the
twenty-fourth of his reign, 1 Kings 9:24; 2 Chronicles 8:11, and his
youth here still mentioned, when Solomon's wickedness was become
intolerable, fully confirm my former observation, that such his
wickedness began early, and continued very long. See Ecclus. 47:14.]
23 (return) [ That by scorpions is not here meant that small animal so
called, which was never used in corrections, but either a shrub, furze
bush, or else some terrible sort of whip of the like nature see Hudson's
and Spanheim's notes here.]
24 (return) [ Whether these "fountains of the Lesser Jordan" were near a
place called Dan, and the fountains of the Greater near a place called
Jor, before their conjunction; or whether there was only one fountain,
arising at the lake Phiala, at first sinking under ground, and then
arising near the mountain Paneum, and thence running through the lake
Scmochonitis to the Sea of Galilee, and so far called the Lesser Jordan;
is hardly certain, even in Josephus himself, though the latter account
be the most probable. However, the northern idolatrous calf, set up by
Jeroboam, was where Little Jordan fell into Great Jordan, near a place
called Daphnae, as Josephus elsewhere informs us, Of the War, B. IV. ch.
1. sect. 1: see the note there.]
25 (return) [ How much a larger and better copy Josephus had in this
remarkable history of the true prophet of Judea, and his concern with
Jeroboam, and with the false prophet of Bethel, than our other copies
have, is evident at first sight. The prophet's very name, Jadon, or, as
the Constitutions call him, Adonias, is wanting in our other copies; and
it is there, with no little absurdity, said that God revealed Jadon the
true prophet's death, not to himself as here, but to the false prophet.
Whether the particular account of the arguments made use of, after all,
by the false prophet against his own belief and his own conscience, in
order to persuade Jeroboam to persevere in his idolatry and wickedness,
than which more plausible could not be invented, was intimated in
Josephus's copy, or in some other ancient book, cannot now be
determined; our other copies say not one word of it.]
26 (return) [ That this Shishak was not the same person with the famous
Sesostris, as some have very lately, in contradiction to all antiquity,
supposed, and that our Josephus did not take him to be the same, as they
pretend, but that Sesostris was many centuries earlier than Shishak, see
Authent. Records, part II. page 1024.]
27 (return) [ Herodotus, as here quoted by Josephus, and as this passage
still stands in his present copies, B. II. ch. 14., affirms, that "the
Phoenicians and Syrians in Palestine [which last are generally supposed
to denote the Jews] owned their receiving circumcision from the
Egyptians;" whereas it is abundantly evident that the Jews received
their circumcision from the patriarch Abraham, Genesis 17:9-14; John
7:22, 23, as I conclude the Egyptian priests themselves did also. It is
not therefore very unlikely that Herodotus, because the Jews had lived
long in Egypt, and came out of it circumcised, did thereupon think they
had learned that circumcision in Egypt, and had it not broke. Manetho,
the famous Egyptian chronologer and historian, who knew the history of
his own country much better than Herodotus, complains frequently of his
mistakes about their affairs, as does Josephus more than once in this
chapter. Nor indeed does Herodotus seem at all acquainted with the
affairs of the Jews; for as he never names them, so little or nothing of
what he says about them, their country, or maritime cities, two of which
he alone mentions, Cadytus and Jenysus, proves true; nor indeed do there
appear to have ever been any such cities on their coast.]
28 (return) [ This is a strange expression in Josephus, that God is his
own workmanship, or that he made himself, contrary to common sense and
to catholic Christianity; perhaps he only means that he was not made by
one, but was unoriginated.]
29 (return) [ By this terrible and perfectly unparalleled slaughter of
five hundred thousand men of the newly idolatrous and rebellious ten
tribes, God's high displeasure and indignation against that idolatry and
rebellion fully appeared; the remainder were thereby seriously cautioned
not to persist in them, and a kind of balance or equilibrium was made
between the ten and the two tribes for the time to come; while otherwise
the perpetually idolatrous and rebellious ten tribes would naturally
have been too powerful for the two tribes, which were pretty frequently
free both from such idolatry and rebellion; nor is there any reason to
doubt of the truth of the prodigious number upmost: signal an occasion.]
30 (return) [ The reader is to remember that Cush is not Ethiopia, but
Arabia. See Bochart, B. IV. ch. 2.]
31 (return) [ Here is a very great error in our Hebrew copy in this
place, 2 Chronicles 15:3-6, as applying what follows to times past, and
not to times future; whence that text is quite misapplied by Sir Isaac
Newton.]
32 (return) [ This Abelmain, or, in Josephus's copy, Abellane, that
belonged to the land of Israel, and bordered on the country of Damascus,
is supposed, both by Hudson and Spanheim, to be the same with Abel, or
Ahila, whence came Abilene. This may be that city so denominated from
Abel the righteous, there buried, concerning the shedding of whose blood
within the compass of the land of Israel, I understand our Savior's
words about the fatal war and overthrow of Judea by Titus and his Roman
army; "That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the
land, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias son of
Barnchins, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily, I say
unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation," Matthew
23;35, 36; Luke 11:51.]
33 (return) [ Josephus, in his present copies, says, that a little while
rain upon the earth; whereas, in our other copies, it is after many
days, 1 Kings 18:1. Several years are also intimated there, and in
Josephus, sect. 2, as belonging to this drought and famine; nay, we have
the express mention of the third year, which I suppose was reckoned from
the recovery of the widow's son, and the ceasing of this drought in
Phmuiela [Footnote which, as Menander informs us here, lasted one whole
year]; and both our Savior and St. James affirm, that this drought
lasted in all three years and six months, as their copies of the Old
Testament then informed them, Luke 4:25; James 5:17. Josephus here seems
to mean, that this drought affected all the habitable earth, and
presently all the earth, as our Savior says it was upon all the earth,
Luke 4:25. They who restrain these expressions to the land of Judea
alone, go without sufficient authority or examples.]
34 (return) [ Mr. Spanheim takes notice here, that in the worship of
Mithra [the god of the Persians] the priests cut themselves in the same
manner as did these priests in their invocation of Baal [the god of the
Phoenicians].]
35 (return) [ For Izar we may here read [with Hudson and Cocceius]
Isachar, i.e of the tribe of Isachar, for to that tribe did Jezreel
belong; and presently at the beginning of sect. 8, as also ch. 15. sect.
4, we may read for Iar, with one MS. nearly, and the Scripture, Jezreel,
for that was the city meant in the history of Naboth.]
36 (return) [ "The Jews weep to this day," [says Jerome, here cited by
Reland,] "and roll themselves upon sackcloth, in ashes, barefoot, upon
such occasions." To which Spanheim adds, "that after the same manner
Bernice, when his life was in danger, stood at the tribunal of Florus
barefoot." Of the War, B. II. ch. 15. sect. 1. See the like of David, 2
Samuel 15:30; Antiq. B. VII. ch. 9. sect. 2.]
37 (return) [ Mr. Reland notes here very truly, that the word naked does
not always signify entirely naked, but sometimes without men's usual
armor, without heir usual robes or upper garments; as when Virgil bids
the husbandman plough naked, and sow naked; when Josephus says [Antiq.
B. IV. ch. 3. sect. 2: that God had given the Jews the security of armor
when they were naked; and when he here says that Ahab fell on the
Syrians when they were naked and drunk; when [Antiq. B. XI. ch. 5. sect.
8: he says that Nehemiah commanded those Jews that were building the
walls of Jerusalem to take care to have their armor on upon occasion,
that the enemy might not fall upon them naked. I may add, that the case
seems to be the same in the Scripture, when it says that Saul lay down
naked among the prophets, 1 Samuel 19:24; when it says that Isaiah
walked naked and barefoot, Isaiah 20:2, 3; and when it says that Peter,
before he girt his fisher's coat to him, was naked, John 21:7. What is
said of David also gives light to this, who was reproached by Michal for
"dancing before the ark, and uncovering himself in the eyes of his
handmaids, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself," 2
Samuel 6:14, 20; yet it is there expressly said [ver. 14: that "David
was girded with a linen ephod," i.e. he had laid aside his robes of
state, and put on the sacerdotal, Levitical, or sacred garments, proper
for such a solemnity.]
38 (return) [ Josephus's number, two myriads and seven thousand, agrees
here with that in our other copies, as those that were slain by the
falling down of the walls of Aphek; but I suspected at first that this
number in Josephus's present copies could not be his original number,
because he calls them "oligoi," a few, which could hardly be said of so
many as twenty-seven thousand, and because of the improbability of the
fall of a particular wall killing so many; yet when I consider
Josephus's next words, how the rest which were slain in the battle were
"ten other myriads," that twenty-seven thousand are but a few in
comparison of a hundred thousand, and that it was not "a wall," as in
our English version, but "the walls" or "the entire walls" of the city
that fell down, as in all the originals, I lay aside that suspicion, and
firmly believe that Josephus himself hath, with the rest, given us the
just number, twenty-seven thousand.]
39 (return) [ This manner of supplication for men's lives among the
Syrians, with ropes or halters about their heads or necks, is, I
suppose, no strange thing in later ages, even in our own country.]
40 (return) [ It is here remarkable, that in Josephus's copy this
prophet, whose severe denunciation of a disobedient person's slaughter
by a lion had lately come to pass, was no other than Micaiah, the son of
Imlah, who, as he now denounced God's judgment on disobedient Ahab,
seems directly to have been that very prophet whom the same Ahab, in 1
Kings 22:8, 18, complains of, "as one whom he hated, because he did not
prophesy good concerning him, but evil," and who in that chapter openly
repeats his denunciations against him; all which came to pass
accordingly; nor is there any reason to doubt but this and the former
were the very same prophet.]
41 (return) [ What is most remarkable in this history, and in many
histories on other occasions in the Old Testament, is this, that during
the Jewish theocracy God acted entirely as the supreme King of Israel,
and the supreme General of their armies, and always expected that the
Israelites should be in such absolute subjection to him, their supreme
and heavenly King, and General of their armies, as subjects and soldiers
are to their earthly kings and generals, and that usually without
knowing the particular reasons of their injunctions.]
42 (return) [ These reasonings of Zedekiah the false prophet, in order
to persuade Ahab not to believe Micaiah the true prophet, are plausible;
but being omitted in our other copies, we cannot now tell whence
Josephus had them, whether from his own temple copy, from some other
original author, or from certain ancient notes. That some such plausible
objection was now raised against Micaiah is very likely, otherwise
Jehoshaphat, who used to disbelieve all such false prophets, could never
have been induced to accompany Ahab in these desperate circumstances.]
43 (return) [ This reading of Josephus, that Jehoshaphat put on not his
own, but Ahab's robes, in order to appear to be Ahab, while Ahab was
without any robes at all, and hoped thereby to escape his own evil fate,
and disprove Micaiah's prophecy against him, is exceeding probable. It
gives great light also to this whole history; and shows, that although
Ahab hoped Jehoshaphat would be mistaken for him, and run the only risk
of being slain in the battle, yet he was entirely disappointed, while
still the escape of the good man Jehoshaphat, and the slaughter of the
bad man Ahab, demonstrated the great distinction that Divine providence
made betwixt them.]
44 (return) [ We have here a very wise reflection of Josephus about
Divine Providence, and what is derived from it, prophecy, and the
inevitable certainty of its accomplishment; and that when wicked men
think they take proper methods to elude what is denounced against them,
and to escape the Divine judgments thereby threatened them, without
repentance, they are ever by Providence infatuated to bring about their
own destruction, and thereby withal to demonstrate the perfect veracity
of that God whose predictions they in vain endeavored to elude.]
BOOK IX. Containing The Interval Of One Hundred And Fifty-Seven
Years.—From The Death Of Ahab To The Captivity Of The Ten Tribes.
CHAPTER 1. Concerning Jehoshaphat Again; How He Constituted Judges And,
By God's Assistance Overcame His Enemies.
1. When Jehoshaphat the king was come to Jerusalem, from the assistance
he had afforded Ahab, the king of Israel, when he fought with Benhadad,
king of Syria, the prophet Jehu met him, and accused him for assisting
Ahab, a man both impious and wicked; and said to him, that God was
displeased with him for so doing, but that he delivered him from the
enemy, notwithstanding he had sinned, because of his own proper
disposition, which was good. Whereupon the king betook himself to
thanksgivings and sacrifices to God; after which he presently went over
all that country which he ruled round about, and taught the people, as
well the laws which God gave them by Moses, as that religious worship
that was due to him. He also constituted judges in every one of the
cities of his kingdom; and charged them to have regard to nothing so
much in judging the multitude as to do justice, and not to be moved by
bribes, nor by the dignity of men eminent for either their riches or
their high birth, but to distribute justice equally to all, as knowing
that God is conscious of every secret action of theirs. When he had
himself instructed them thus, and gone over every city of the two
tribes, he returned to Jerusalem. He there also constituted judges out
of the priests and the Levites, and principal persons of the multitude,
and admonished them to pass all their sentences with care and justice 1
And that if any of the people of his country had differences of great
consequence, they should send them out of the other cities to these
judges, who would be obliged to give righteous sentences concerning such
causes; and this with the greater care, because it is proper that the
sentences which are given in that city wherein the temple of God is, and
wherein the king dwells, be given with great care and the utmost
justice. Now he set over them Amariah the priest, and Zebadiah, [both]
of the tribe of Judah; and after this manner it was that the king
ordered these affairs.
2. About the same time the Moabites and Ammonites made an expedition
against Jehoshaphat, and took with them a great body of Arabians, and
pitched their camp at Engedi, a city that is situate at the lake
Asphaltiris, and distant three hundred furlongs from Jerusalem. In that
place grows the best kind of palm trees, and the opobalsamum. 2 Now
Jehoshaphat heard that the enemies had passed over the lake, and had
made an irruption into that country which belonged to his kingdom; at
which news he was affrighted, and called the people of Jerusalem to a
congregation in the temple, and standing over against the temple itself,
he called upon God to afford him power and strength, so as to inflict
punishment on those that made this expedition against them [for that
those who built this his temple had prayed, that he would protect that
city, and take vengeance on those that were so bold as to come against
it]; for they are come to take from us that land which thou hast given
us for a possession. When he had prayed thus, he fell into tears; and
the whole multitude, together with their wives and children, made their
supplications also: upon which a certain prophet, Jahaziel by name, came
into the midst of the assembly, and cried out, and spake both to the
multitude and to the king, that God heard their prayers, and promised to
fight against their enemies. He also gave order that the king should
draw his forces out the next day, for that he should find them between
Jerusalem and the ascent of Engedi, at a place called The Eminence, and
that he should not fight against them, but only stand still, and see how
God would fight against them. When the prophet had said this, both the
king and the multitude fell upon their faces, and gave thanks to God,
and worshipped him; and the Levites continued singing hymns to God with
their instruments of music.
3. As soon as it was day, and the king was come into that wilderness
which is under the city of Tekoa, he said to the multitude, "that they
ought to give credit to what the prophet had said, and not to set
themselves in array for fighting; but to set the priests with their
trumpets, and the Levites with the singers of hymns, to give thanks to
God, as having already delivered our country from our enemies." This
opinion of the king pleased [the people], and they did what he advised
them to do. So God caused a terror and a commotion to arise among the
Ammonites, who thought one another to be enemies, and slew one another,
insomuch that not one man out of so great an army escaped; and when
Jehoshaphat looked upon that valley wherein their enemies had been
encamped, and saw it full of dead men, he rejoiced at so surprising an
event, as was this assistance of God, while he himself by his own power,
and without their labor, had given them the victory. He also gave his
army leave to take the prey of the enemy's camp, and to spoil their dead
bodies; and indeed so they did for three days together, till they were
weary, so great was the number of the slain; and on the fourth day, all
the people were gathered together unto a certain hollow place or valley,
and blessed God for his power and assistance, from which the place had
this name given it, the Valley of [Berachah, or] Blessing.
4. And when the king had brought his army back to Jerusalem, he betook
himself to celebrate festivals, and offer sacrifices, and this for many
days. And indeed, after this destruction of their enemies, and when it
came to the ears of the foreign nations, they were all greatly
affrighted, as supposing that God would openly fight for him hereafter.
So Jehoshaphat from that time lived in great glory and splendor, on
account of his righteousness and his piety towards God. He was also in
friendship with Ahab's son, who was king of Israel; and he joined with
him in the building of ships that were to sail to Pontus, and the
traffic cities of Thrace 3 but he failed of his gains, for the ships
were destroyed by being so great [and unwieldy]; on which account he was
no longer concerned about shipping. And this is the history of
Jehoshaphat, the king of Jerusalem.
CHAPTER 2. Concerning Ahaziah; The King Of Israel; And Again Concerning
The Prophet Elijah.
1. And now Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, reigned over Israel, and made his
abode in Samaria. He was a wicked man, and in all respects like to both
his parents and to Jeroboam, who first of all transgressed, and began to
deceive the people. In the second year of his reign, the king of Moab
fell off from his obedience, and left off paying those tributes which he
before paid to his father Ahab. Now it happened that Ahaziah, as he was
coming down from the top of his house, fell down from it, and in his
sickness sent to the Fly, which was the god of Ekron, for that was this
god's name, to inquire about his recovery 4 but the God of the Hebrews
appeared to Elijah the prophet, and commanded him to go and meet the
messengers that were sent, and to ask them, whether the people of Israel
had not a God of their own, that the king sent to a foreign god to
inquire about his recovery? and to bid them return and tell the king
that he would not escape this disease. And when Elijah had performed
what God had commanded him, and the messengers had heard what he said,
they returned to the king immediately; and when the king wondered how
they could return so soon, and asked them the reason of it, they said
that a certain man met them, and forbade them to go on any farther; but
to return and tell thee, from the command of the God of Israel, that
this disease will have a bad end. And when the king bid them describe
the man that said this to them, they replied that he was a hairy man,
and was girt about with a girdle of leather. So the king understood by
this that the man who was described by the messengers was Elijah;
whereupon he sent a captain to him, with fifty soldiers, and commanded
them to bring Elijah to him; and when the captain that was sent found
Elijah sitting upon the top of a hill, he commanded him to come down,
and to come to the king, for so had he enjoined; but that in case he
refused, they would carry him by force. Elijah said to him, "That you
may have a trial whether I be a true prophet, I will pray that fire may
fall from heaven, and destroy both the soldiers and yourself." 5 So he
prayed, and a whirlwind of fire fell [from heaven], and destroyed the
captain, and those that were with him. And when the king was informed of
the destruction of these men, he was very angry, and sent another
captain with the like number of armed men that were sent before. And
when this captain also threatened the prophet, that unless he came down
of his own accord, he would take him and carry him away, upon his prayer
against him, the fire [from heaven] slew this captain as well the other.
And when, upon inquiry, the king was informed of what happened to him,
he sent out a third captain. But when this captain, who was a wise man,
and of a mild disposition, came to the place where Elijah happened to
be, and spake civilly to him; and said that he knew that it was without
his own consent, and only in submission to the king's command that he
came to him; and that those that came before did not come willingly, but
on the same account;—he therefore desired him to have pity on those
armed men that were with him, and that he would come down and follow him
to the king. So Elijah accepted of his discreet words and courteous
behavior, and came down and followed him. And when he came to the king,
he prophesied to him and told him that God said, "Since thou hast
despised him as not being God, and so unable to foretell the truth about
thy distemper, but hast sent to the god of Ekron to inquire of him what
will be the end of this thy distemper, know this, that thou shalt die."
2. Accordingly the king in a very little time died, as Elijah had
foretold; but Jehoram his brother succeeded him in the kingdom, for he
died without children: but for this Jehoram, he was like his father Ahab
in wickedness, and reigned twelve years, indulging himself in all sorts
of wickedness and impiety towards God, for, leaving off his worship, he
worshipped foreign gods; but in other respects he was an active man. Now
at this time it was that Elijah disappeared from among men, and no one
knows of his death to this very day; but he left behind him his disciple
Elisha, as we have formerly declared. And indeed, as to Elijah, and as
to Enoch, who was before the deluge, it is written in the sacred books
that they disappeared, but so that nobody knew that they died.
CHAPTER 3. How Joram And Jehoshaphat Made An Expedition Against The
Moabites; As Also Concerning The Wonders Of Elisha; And The Death Of
Jehoshaphat.
1. When Joram had taken upon him the kingdom, he determined to make an
expedition against the king of Moab, whose name was Mesha; for, as we
told you before, he was departed from his obedience to his brother
[Ahaziah], while he paid to his father Ahab two hundred thousand sheep,
with their fleeces of wool. When therefore he had gathered his own army
together, he sent also to Jehoshaphat, and entreated him, that since he
had from the beginning been a friend to his father, he would assist him
in the war that he was entering into against the Moabites, who had
departed from their obedience, who not only himself promised to assist
him, but would also oblige the king of Edom, who was under his
authority, to make the same expedition also. When Joram had received
these assurances of assistance from Jehoshaphat, he took his army with
him, and came to Jerusalem; and when he had been sumptuously entertained
by the king of Jerusalem, it was resolved upon by them to take their
march against their enemies through the wilderness of Edom. And when
they had taken a compass of seven days' journey, they were in distress
for want of water for the cattle, and for the army, from the mistake of
their roads by the guides that conducted them, insomuch that they were
all in an agony, especially Joram; and cried to God, by reason of their
sorrow, and [desired to know] what wickedness had been committed by them
that induced him to deliver three kings together, without fighting, unto
the king of Moab. But Jehoshaphat, who was a righteous man, encouraged
him, and bade him send to the camp, and know whether any prophet of God
was come along with them, that we might by him learn from God what we
should do. And when one of the servants of Joram said that he had seen
there Elisha, the son of Shaphat, the disciple of Elijah, the three
kings went to him, at the entreaty of Jehoshaphat; and when they were
come at the prophet's tent, which tent was pitched out of the camp, they
asked him what would become of the army? and Joram was particularly very
pressing with him about it. And when he replied to him, that he should
not trouble him, but go to his father's and mother's prophets, for they
[to be sure] were true prophets, he still desired him to prophesy, and
to save them. So he swore by God that he would not answer him, unless it
were on account of Jehoshaphat, who was a holy and righteous man; and
when, at his desire, they brought him a man that could play on the
psaltery, the Divine Spirit came upon him as the music played, and he
commanded them to dig many trenches in the valley; for, said he, "though
there appear neither cloud, nor wind, nor storm of rain, ye shall see
this river full of water, till the army and the cattle be saved for you
by drinking of it. Nor will this be all the favor that you shall receive
from God, but you shall also overcome your enemies, and take the best
and strongest cities of the Moabites, and you shall cut down their fruit
trees, 6 and lay waste their country, and stop up their fountains and
rivers."
2. When the prophet had said this, the next day, before the sun-rising,
a great torrent ran strongly; for God had caused it to rain very
plentifully at the distance of three days' journey into Edom, so that
the army and the cattle found water to drink in abundance. But when the
Moabites heard that the three kings were coming upon them, and made
their approach through the wilderness, the king of Moab gathered his
army together presently, and commanded them to pitch their camp upon the
mountains, that when the enemies should attempt to enter their country,
they might not be concealed from them. But when at the rising of the sun
they saw the water in the torrent, for it was not far from the land of
Moab, and that it was of the color of blood, for at such a time the
water especially looks red, by the shining of the sun upon it, they
formed a false notion of the state of their enemies, as if they had
slain one another for thirst; and that the river ran with their blood.
However, supposing that this was the case, they desired their king would
send them out to spoil their enemies; whereupon they all went in haste,
as to an advantage already gained, and came to the enemy's camp, as
supposing them destroyed already. But their hope deceived them; for as
their enemies stood round about them, some of them were cut to pieces,
and others of them were dispersed, and fled to their own country. And
when the kings fell into the land of Moab, they overthrew the cities
that were in it, and spoiled their fields, and marred them, filling them
with stones out of the brooks, and cut down the best of their trees, and
stopped up their fountains of water, and overthrew their walls to their
foundations. But the king of Moab, when he was pursued, endured a siege;
and seeing his city in danger of being overthrown by force, made a
sally, and went out with seven hundred men, in order to break through
the enemy's camp with his horsemen, on that side where the watch seemed
to be kept most negligently; and when, upon trial, he could not get
away, for he lighted upon a place that was carefully watched, he
returned into the city, and did a thing that showed despair and the
utmost distress; for he took his eldest son, who was to reign after him,
and lifting him up upon the wall, that he might be visible to all the
enemies, he offered him as a whole burnt-offering to God, whom, when the
kings saw, they commiserated the distress that was the occasion of it,
and were so affected, in way of humanity and pity, that they raised the
siege, and every one returned to his own house. So Jehoshaphat came to
Jerusalem, and continued in peace there, and outlived this expedition
but a little time, and then died, having lived in all sixty years, and
of them reigned twenty-five. He was buried in a magnificent manner in
Jerusalem, for he had imitated the actions of David.
CHAPTER 4. Jehoram Succeeds Jehoshaphat; How Joram, His Namesake, King
Of Israel, Fought With The Syrians; And What Wonders Were Done By The
Prophet Elisha.
1. Jehoshapat had a good number of children; but he appointed his eldest
son Jehoram to be his successor, who had the same name with his mother's
brother, that was king of Israel, and the son of Ahab. Now when the king
of Israel was come out of the land of Moab to Samaria, he had with him
Elisha the prophet, whose acts I have a mind to go over particularly,
for they were illustrious, and worthy to be related, as we have them set
down in the sacred books.
2. For they say that the widow of Obadiah 7 Ahab's steward, came to him,
and said, that he was not ignorant how her husband had preserved the
prophets that were to be slain by Jezebel, the wife of Ahab; for she
said that he hid a hundred of them, and had borrowed money for their
maintenance, and that, after her husband's death, she and her children
were carried away to be made slaves by the creditors; and she desired of
him to have mercy upon her on account of what her husband did, and
afford her some assistance. And when he asked her what she had in the
house, she said, "Nothing but a very small quantity of oil in a cruse."
So the prophet bid her go away, and borrow a great many empty vessels of
her neighbors, and when she had shut her chamber door, to pour the oil
into them all; for that God would fill them full. And when the woman had
done what she was commanded to do, and bade her children bring every one
of the vessels, and all were filled, and not one left empty, she came to
the prophet, and told him that they were all full; upon which he advised
her to go away, and sell the oil, and pay the creditors what was owing
them, for that there would be some surplus of the price of the oil,
which she might make use of for the maintenance of her children. And
thus did Elisha discharge the woman's debts, and free her from the
vexation of her creditors.
3. Elisha also sent a hasty message to Joram, 8 and exhorted him to take
care of that place, for that therein were some Syrians lying in ambush
to kill him. So the king did as the prophet exhorted him, and avoided
his going a hunting. And when Benhadad missed of the success of his
lying in ambush, he was wroth with his own servants, as if they had
betrayed his ambushment to Joram; and he sent for them, and said they
were the betrayers of his secret counsels; and he threatened that he
would put them to death, since such their practice was evident, because
he had intrusted this secret to none but them, and yet it was made known
to his enemy. And one that was present said that he should not mistake
himself, nor suspect that they had discovered to his enemy his sending
men to kill him, but that he ought to know that it was Elisha the
prophet who discovered all to him, and laid open all his counsels. So he
gave order that they should send some to learn in what city Elisha
dwelt. Accordingly those that were sent brought word that he was in
Dothan; wherefore Benhadad sent to that city a great army, with horses
and chariots, to take Elisha: so they encompassed the city round about
by night, and kept him therein confined; but when the prophet's servant
in the morning perceived this, and that his enemies sought to take
Elisha, he came running, and crying out after a disordered manner to
him, and told him of it; but he encouraged him, and bid him not be
afraid, and to despise the enemy, and trust in the assistance of God,
and was himself without fear; and he besought God to make manifest to
his servant his power and presence, so far as was possible, in order to
the inspiring him with hope and courage. Accordingly God heard the
prayer of the prophet, and made the servant see a multitude of chariots
and horses encompassing Elisha, till he laid aside his fear, and his
courage revived at the sight of what he supposed was come to their
assistance. After this Elisha did further entreat God, that he would dim
the eyes of their enemies, and cast a mist before them, whereby they
might not discern him. When this was done, he went into the midst of his
enemies, and asked them who it was that they came to seek; and when they
replied, "The prophet Elisha," he promised he would deliver him to them,
if they would follow him to the city where he was. So these men were so
darkened by God in their sight and in their mind, that they followed him
very diligently; and when Elisha had brought them to Samaria, he ordered
Joram the king to shut the gates, and to place his own army round about
them; and prayed to God to clear the eyes of these their enemies, and
take the mist from before them. Accordingly, when they were freed from
the obscurity they had been in, they saw themselves in the midst of
their enemies; and as the Syrians were strangely amazed and distressed,
as was but reasonable, at an action so Divine and surprising, and as
king Joram asked the prophet if he would give him leave to shoot at
them, Elisha forbade him so to do; and said, that "it is just to kill
those that are taken in battle, but that these men had done the country
no harm, but, without knowing it, were come thither by the Divine
Power:"—so that his counsel was to treat them in a hospitable manner at
his table, and then send them away without hurting them. 9 Wherefore
Joram obeyed the prophet; and when he had feasted the Syrians in a
splendid and magnificent manner, he let them go to Benhadad their king.
4. Now when these men were come back, and had showed Benhadad how
strange an accident had befallen them, and what an appearance and power
they had experienced of the God of Israel, he wondered at it, as also at
that prophet with whom God was so evidently present; so he determined to
make no more secret attempts upon the king of Israel, out of fear of
Elisha, but resolved to make open war with them, as supposing he could
be too hard for his enemies by the multitude of his army and power. So
he made an expedition with a great army against Joram, who, not thinking
himself a match for him, shut himself up in Samaria, and depended on the
strength of its walls; but Benhadad supposed he should take the city, if
not by his engines of war, yet that he should overcome the Samaritans by
famine, and the want of necessaries, and brought his army upon them, and
besieged the city; and the plenty of necessaries was brought so low with
Joram, that from the extremity of want an ass's head was sold in Samaria
for fourscore pieces of silver, and the Hebrews bought a sextary of
dore's dung, instead of salt, for five pieces of silver. Now Joram was
in fear lest somebody should betray the city to the enemy, by reason of
the famine, and went every day round the walls and the guards to see
whether any such were concealed among them; and by being thus seen, and
taking such care, he deprived them of the opportunity of contriving any
such thing; and if they had a mind to do it, he, by this means,
prevented them: but upon a certain woman's crying out, "Have pity on me,
my lord," while he thought that she was about to ask for somewhat to
eat, he imprecated God's curse upon her, and said he had neither
thrashing-floor nor wine-press, whence he might give her any thing at
her petition. Upon which she said she did not desire his aid in any such
thing, nor trouble him about food, but desired that he would do her
justice as to another woman. And when he bade her say on, and let him
know what she desired, she said she had made an agreement with the other
woman who was her neighbor and her friend, that because the famine and
want was intolerable, they should kill their children, each of them
having a son of their own, "and we will live upon them ourselves for two
days, the one day upon one son, and the other day upon the other; and,"
said she, "I have killed my son the first day, and we lived upon my son
yesterday; but this other woman will not do the same thing, but hath
broken her agreement, and hath hid her son." This story mightily grieved
Joram when he heard it; so he rent his garment, and cried out with a
loud voice, and conceived great wrath against Elisha the prophet, and
set himself eagerly to have him slain, because he did not pray to God to
provide them some exit and way of escape out of the miseries with which
they were surrounded; and sent one away immediately to cut off his head,
who made haste to kill the prophet. But Elisha was not unacquainted with
the wrath of the king against him; for as he sat in his house by
himself, with none but his disciples about him, he told them that Joram,
10 who was the son of a murderer, had sent one to take away his head;
"but," said he, "when he that is commanded to do this comes, take care
that you do not let him come in, but press the door against him, and
hold him fast there, for the king himself will follow him, and come to
me, having altered his mind." Accordingly, they did as they were bidden,
when he that was sent by the king to kill Elisha came. But Joram
repented of his wrath against the prophet; and for fear he that was
commanded to kill him should have done it before he came, he made haste
to hinder his slaughter, and to save the prophet: and when he came to
him, he accused him that he did not pray to God for their deliverance
from the miseries they now lay under, but saw them so sadly destroyed by
them. Hereupon Elisha promised, that the very next day, at the very same
hour in which the king came to him, they should have great plenty of
food, and that two seahs of barley should be sold in the market for a
shekel, and a seah of fine flour should be sold for a shekel. This
prediction made Joram, and those that were present, very joyful, for
they did not scruple believing what the prophet said, on account of the
experience they had of the truth of his former predictions; and the
expectation of plenty made the want they were in that day, with the
uneasiness that accompanied it, appear a light thing to them: but the
captain of the third band, who was a friend of the king, and on whose
hand the king leaned, said, "Thou talkest of incredible things, O
prophet! for as it is impossible for God to pour down torrents of
barley, or fine flour, out of heaven, so is it impossible that what thou
sayest should come to pass." To which the prophet made this reply," Thou
shalt see these things come to pass, but thou shalt not be in the least
a partaker of them."
5. Now what Elisha had thus foretold came to pass in the manner
following: There was a law at Samaria 11 that those that had the
leprosy, and whose bodies were not cleansed from it, should abide
without the city: and there were four men that on this account abode
before the gates, while nobody gave them any food, by reason of the
extremity of the famine; and as they were prohibited from entering into
the city by the law, and they considered that if they were permitted to
enter, they should miserably perish by the famine; as also, that if they
staid where they were, they should suffer in the same manner,—they
resolved to deliver themselves up to the enemy, that in case they should
spare them, they should live; but if they should be killed, that would
be an easy death. So when they had confirmed this their resolution, they
came by night to the enemy's camp. Now God had begun to affright and
disturb the Syrians, and to bring the noise of chariots and armor to
their ears, as though an army were coming upon them, and had made them
suspect that it was coming nearer and nearer to them In short, they were
in such a dread of this army, that they left their tents, and ran
together to Benhadad, and said that Joram the king of Israel had hired
for auxiliaries both the king of Egypt and the king of the Islands, and
led them against them for they heard the noise of them as they were
coming. And Benhadad believed what they said [for there came the same
noise to his ears as well as it did to theirs]; so they fell into a
mighty disorder and tumult, and left their horses and beasts in their
camp, with immense riches also, and betook themselves to flight. And
those lepers who had departed from Samaria, and were gone to the camp of
the Syrians, of whom we made mention a little before, when they were in
the camp, saw nothing but great quietness and silence: accordingly they
entered into it, and went hastily into one of their tents; and when they
saw nobody there, they eat and drank, and carried garments, and a great
quantity of gold, and hid it out of the camp; after which they went into
another tent, and carried off what was in it, as they did at the former,
and this did they for several times, without the least interruption from
any body. So they gathered thereby that the enemies were departed;
whereupon they reproached themselves that they did not inform Joram and
the citizens of it. So they came to the walls of Samaria, and called
aloud to the watchmen, and told them in what state the enemies were, as
did these tell the king's guards, by whose means Joram came to know of
it; who then sent for his friends, and the captains of his host, and
said to them, that he suspected that this departure of the king of Syria
was by way of ambush and treachery, and that, "out of despair of ruining
you by famine, when you imagine them to be fled away, you may come out
of the city to spoil their camp, and he may then fall upon you on a
sudden, and may both kill you, and take the city without fighting;
whence it is that I exhort you to guard the city carefully, and by no
means to go out of it, or proudly to despise your enemies, as though
they were really gone away." And when a certain person said that he did
very well and wisely to admit such a suspicion, but that he still
advised him to send a couple of horsemen to search all the country as
far as Jordan, that "if they were seized by an ambush of the enemy, they
might be a security to your army, that they may not go out as if they
suspected nothing, nor undergo the like misfortune; and," said he,
"those horsemen may be numbered among those that have died by the
famine, supposing they be caught and destroyed by the enemy." So the
king was pleased with this opinion, and sent such as might search out
the truth, who performed their journey over a road that was without any
enemies, but found it full of provisions, and of weapons, that they had
therefore thrown away, and left behind them, in order to their being
light and expeditious in their flight. When the king heard this, he sent
out the multitude to take the spoils of the camp; which gains of theirs
were not of things of small value, but they took a great quantity of
gold, and a great quantity of silver, and flocks of all kinds of cattle.
They also possessed themselves of [so many] ten thousand measures of
wheat and barley, as they never in the least dreamed of; and were not
only freed from their former miseries, but had such plenty, that two
seahs of barley were bought for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a
shekel, according to the prophecy of Elisha. Now a seah is equal to an
Italian modius and a half. The captain of the third band was the only
man that received no benefit by this plenty; for as he was appointed by
the king to oversee the gate, that he might prevent the too great crowd
of the multitude, and they might not endanger one another to perish, by
treading on one another in the press, he suffered himself in that very
way, and died in that very manner, as Elisha had foretold such his
death, when he alone of them all disbelieved what he said concerning
that plenty of provisions which they should soon have.
6. Hereupon, when Benhadad, the king of Syria, had escaped to Damascus,
and understood that it was God himself that cast all his army into this
fear and disorder, and that it did not arise from the invasion of
enemies, he was mightily cast down at his having God so greatly for his
enemy, and fell into a distemper. Now it happened that Elisha the
prophet, at that time, was gone out of his own country to Damascus, of
which Benhadad was informed: he sent Hazael, the most faithful of all
his servants, to meet him, and to carry him presents, and bade him
inquire of him about his distemper, and whether he should escape the
danger that it threatened. So Hazael came to Elisha with forty camels,
that carried the best and most precious fruits that the country of
Damascus afforded, as well as those which the king's palace supplied. He
saluted him kindly, and said that he was sent to him by king Benhadad,
and brought presents with him, in order to inquire concerning his
distemper, whether he should recover from it or not. Whereupon the
prophet bid him tell the king no melancholy news; but still he said he
would die. So the king's servant was troubled to hear it; and Elisha
wept also, and his tears ran down plenteously at his foresight of what
miseries his people would undergo after the death of Benhadad. And when
Hazael asked him what was the occasion of this confusion he was in, he
said that he wept out of his commiseration for the multitude of the
Israelites, and what terrible miseries they will suffer by thee; "for
thou wilt slay the strongest of them, and wilt burn their strongest
cities, and wilt destroy their children, and dash them against the
stones, and wilt rip up their women with child." And when Hazael said,
"How can it be that I should have power enough to do such things?" the
prophet replied, that God had informed him that he should be king of
Syria. So when Hazael was come to Benhadad, he told him good news
concerning his distemper 12 but on the next day he spread a wet cloth,
in the nature of a net, over him, and strangled him, and took his
dominion. He was an active man, and had the good-will of the Syrians,
and of the people of Damascus, to a great degree; by whom both Benhadad
himself, and Hazael, who ruled after him, are honored to this day as
gods, by reason of their benefactions, and their building them temples
by which they adorned the city of the Damascenes. They also every day do
with great pomp pay their worship to these kings, 13 and value
themselves upon their antiquity; nor do they know that these kings are
much later than they imagine, and that they are not yet eleven hundred
years old. Now when Joram, the king of Israel, heard that Benhadad was
dead, he recovered out of the terror and dread he had been in on his
account, and was very glad to live in peace.
CHAPTER 5. Concerning The Wickedness Of Jehoram King Of Jerusalem; His
Defeat And Death.
1. Now Jehoram the king of Jerusalem, for we have said before that he
had the same name with the king of Israel, as soon as he had taken the
government upon him, betook himself to the slaughter of his brethren,
and his father's friends, who were governors under him, and thence made
a beginning and a demonstration of his wickedness; nor was he at all
better than those kings of Israel who at first transgressed against the
laws of their country, and of the Hebrews, and against God's worship.
And it was Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, whom he had married, who
taught him to be a bad man in other respects, and also to worship
foreign gods. Now God would not quite root out this family, because of
the promise he had made to David. However, Jehoram did not leave off the
introduction of new sorts of customs to the propagation of impiety, and
to the ruin of the customs of his own country. And when the Edomites
about that time had revolted from him, and slain their former king, who
was in subjection to his father, and had set up one of their own
choosing, Jehoram fell upon the land of Edom, with the horsemen that
were about him, and the chariots, by night, and destroyed those that lay
near to his own kingdom, but did not proceed further. However, this
expedition did him no service, for they all revolted from him, with
those that dwelt in the country of Libnah. He was indeed so mad as to
compel the people to go up to the high places of the mountains, and
worship foreign gods.
2. As he was doing this, and had entirely cast his own country laws out
of his mind, there was brought him an epistle from Elijah the prophet 14
which declared that God would execute great judgments upon him, because
he had not imitated his own fathers, but had followed the wicked courses
of the kings of Israel; and had compelled the tribe of Judah, and the
citizens of Jerusalem, to leave the holy worship of their own God, and
to worship idols, as Ahab had compelled the Israelites to do, and
because he had slain his brethren, and the men that were good and
righteous. And the prophet gave him notice in this epistle what
punishment he should undergo for these crimes, namely, the destruction
of his people, with the corruption of the king's own wives and children;
and that he should himself die of a distemper in his bowels, with long
torments, those his bowels falling out by the violence of the inward
rottenness of the parts, insomuch that, though he see his own misery, he
shall not be able at all to help himself, but shall die in that manner.
This it was which Elijah denounced to him in that epistle.
3. It was not long after this that an army of those Arabians that lived
near to Ethiopia, and of the Philistines, fell upon the kingdom of
Jehoram, and spoiled the country and the king's house. Moreover, they
slew his sons and his wives: one only of his sons was left him, who
escaped the enemy; his name was Ahaziah; after which calamity, he
himself fell into that disease which was foretold by the prophet, and
lasted a great while, [for God inflicted this punishment upon him in his
belly, out of his wrath against him,] and so he died miserably, and saw
his own bowels fall out. The people also abused his dead body; I suppose
it was because they thought that such his death came upon him by the
wrath of God, and that therefore he was not worthy to partake of such a
funeral as became kings. Accordingly, they neither buried him in the
sepulchers of his fathers, nor vouchsafed him any honors, but buried him
like a private man, and this when he had lived forty years, and reigned
eight. And the people of Jerusalem delivered the government to his son
Ahaziah.
CHAPTER 6. How Jehu Was Anointed King, And Slew Both Joram And Ahaziah;
As Also What He Did For The Punishment Of The Wicked.
1. Now Joram, the king of Israel, after the death of Benhadad, hoped
that he might now take Ramoth, a city of Gilead, from the Syrians.
Accordingly he made an expedition against it, with a great army; but as
he was besieging it, an arrow was shot at him by one of the Syrians, but
the wound was not mortal. So he returned to have his wound healed in
Jezreel, but left his whole army in Ramoth, and Jehu, the son of Nimshi,
for their general; for he had already taken the city by force; and he
proposed, after he was healed, to make war with the Syrians; but Elisha
the prophet sent one of his disciples to Ramoth, and gave him holy oil
to anoint Jehu, and to tell him that God had chosen him to be their
king. He also sent him to say other things to him, and bid him to take
his journey as if he fled, that when he came away he might escape the
knowledge of all men. So when he was come to the city, he found Jehu
sitting in the midst of the captains of the army, as Elisha had foretold
he should find him. So he came up to him, and said that he desired to
speak with him about certain matters; and when he was arisen, and had
followed him into an inward chamber, the young man took the oil, and
poured it on his head, and said that God ordained him to be king, in
order to his destroying the house of Ahab, and that he might revenge the
blood of the prophets that were unjustly slain by Jezebel, that so their
house might utterly perish, as those of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and
of Baasha, had perished for their wickedness, and no seed might remain
of Ahab's family. So when he had said this, he went away hastily out of
the chamber, and endeavored not to be seen by any of the army.
2. But Jehu came out, and went to the place where he before sat with the
captains; and when they asked him, and desired him to tell them,
wherefore it was that this young man came to him, and added withal that
he was mad, he replied,—"You guess right, for the words he spake were
the words of a madman;" and when they were eager about the matter, and
desired he would tell them, he answered, that God had said he had chosen
him to be king over the multitude. When he had said this, every one of
them put off his garment, 15 and strewed it under him, and blew with
trumpets, and gave notice that Jehu was king. So when he had gotten the
army together, he was preparing to set out immediately against Joram, at
the city Jezreel, in which city, as we said before, he was healing of
the wound which he had received in the siege of Ramoth. It happened also
that Ahaziah, king of Jerusalem, was now come to Joram, for he was his
sister's son, as we have said already, to see how he did after his
wound, and this upon account of their kindred; but as Jehu was desirous
to fall upon Joram, and those with him, on the sudden, he desired that
none of the soldiers might run away and tell to Joram what had happened,
for that this would be an evident demonstration of their kindness to
him, and would show that their real inclinations were to make him king.