follow the line of the modern carriage-road down to the Jordan, but
went farther north, over the Mount of Olives, avoiding the barren
wilderness of Judea, which lay immediately to the east. According to
the Targums, Bahurim, the home of the Benjamite Shimei, is to be
identified with Almon, the present Almit, one mile beyond Anathoth. By
continuing a little farther north it was possible to reach the direct
highway from Michmash to the Jordan by way of Jericho. David probably
crossed the Jordan at the upper of the two southern fords. From this
point many roads led northeastward into Gilead (_cf._ p. 81). At
Ishbaal's capital, Mahanaim, somewhere north of the Jabbok, he made
his head-quarters. The forest of Ephraim was doubtless either
immediately north or south of the Jabbok, not far from the Jordan,
among the wild hills and deep ravines still clad with great groves of
oaks,^{(97)} whose spreading branches often reach down to only a few
feet from the ground. The traveller through that region to-day has
little difficulty in picking out in imagination the great oak whose
extended branches he can picture catching and holding the head of the
fleeing Absalom.
=Rebellion of the Northern Tribes.= The wild and sudden rebellion
which sprang up among the northern tribes because David in his hour of
triumph had shown favor to the tribes of the south spread far up the
Jordan valley. Its leader was a certain Sheba, of the hill country of
Ephraim. The rebellion was quickly put down in central Israel, but the
rebels took their final stand far in the north, in the city of
Abel-beth-maacah, at the northwestern end of the Jordan valley. It is
to-day an imposing mound, standing out in the midst of the valley,
overlooking miles of verdant meadow land, with a lofty and easily
defended acropolis. Ruins on the southeast are indicative of its
strength and importance. Through the intercession of a brave woman,
the people of the city turned over the rebel to Joab, and thus the
rebellion was put down. The contrast, however, between the level,
unbroken fields about Abel-beth-maacah and the gray limestone hills
that encircled Hebron is significant of the wide breach between the
north and the south, which the tact of a David could only temporarily
heal.
=Scene of Adonijah's Conspiracy and Solomon's Accession.= The closing
scene in the tragedy of David's family life was in Jerusalem.
Overwhelmed by the crimes of his sons and the burden of his own great
sin, the king in his later days retired more and more from public
life. The question of who should succeed him was still open. The
conspiracy of his oldest son, Adonijah, by which this ambitious prince
sought to make his succession sure, culminated in a great feast "by
the Serpent's Stone, which is beside En-rogel or the Fuller's Spring."
By many the Fuller's Spring is identified with the Virgin's Fount in
the Kidron valley^{(54)} southeast of Jerusalem. But this
identification is impossible, for it was at Gihon, which is clearly
the ancient name of the Virgin's Fount, that Solomon a little later
was proclaimed king at the command of David. Thus in II Chronicles
32:30 it is stated that "Hezekiah stopped the upper spring of the
waters of Gihon and brought them straight down on the west side of the
city of David," that is, to the present Pool of Siloam on the western
side of Ophel (_cf._ also II Chron. 33:14). This accords perfectly
with the statement in I Kings, that when Solomon was proclaimed king
at Gihon, he and his followers went up again to the city which lay on
the heights. The scene of Adonijah's feast,^{(98)} therefore, must
have been below the royal gardens to the south of the city where the
Valley of Hinnom joins the Kidron. It was also probably a little north
of the Well of Job, which is apparently here called the Fuller's
Spring (_cf._ Josh. 15:7). Either it received water from the Virgin's
Fount, or else from a more direct source, so that it was called a
spring. In the days of Isaiah the open space about was known as the
Fuller's Field, which according to Isaiah 7:3, was near the end of the
conduit of the upper pool, by the highway which probably ran past the
southeastern end of the city. From this point it was not difficult to
hear the sound of the trumpets at the Gihon Spring, higher up but
obscured by a ridge of Ophel.
=Capture of Gezer.= The policy of David's successor, Solomon, was one
of organization rather than of expansion. Through alliances, sealed in
the usual oriental fashion by marriages, he sought to insure the peace
of his empire. His alliance with Egypt brought for a brief moment an
Egyptian army to the border of Palestine. The aim of this expedition
was to aid Solomon in capturing Gezer, the last stronghold left in
the hands of the Canaanites. This important strategic point Solomon
further fortified, making it one of the seven great fortresses upon
which he depended for the defence of his land.
=Solomon's Fortresses.= Solomon also fortified Lower Beth-horon, which
was situated on the flat, fertile hill which commanded a wide view
over the western plains. This stronghold guarded the important highway
that led up from the coast, past Gibeon to Jerusalem, with an eastern
branch running directly to the Jordan. In the same way the old
Canaanite city of Megiddo, on the southwestern side of the Plain of
Esdraelon, was fortified, thus enabling Solomon to control the great
trade route from Damascus and Phœnicia to Philistia and Egypt. In the
north the city of Hazor, a little east of Lake Huleh, on the road
which ran north from the Sea of Galilee, was made the chief
stronghold. It was a city often mentioned in the Tell el-Amarna
letters, as well as in the story of an Egyptian traveller of the
fourteenth century B.C. In the south, Jerusalem was the great military
centre. Tamar, which is probably to be identified with the Thamara of
Eusebius and Jerome, southwest of the Dead Sea, a day's journey from
Hebron, guarded the road which ran to Ezion-geber and Elath on the
eastern arm of the Red Sea. Baalath, the seventh stronghold, has not
yet been identified. From its position in the list, it would seem to
be one of the southern fortresses, though it may be identical with
Kirjath-jearaim, which guarded the western approaches to Jerusalem
through the Valley of Sorek.
=Solomon's Strategic and Commercial Policy.= It is significant that
Solomon apparently did not deem it necessary to guard his eastern
frontiers. The conquests of David had delivered Israel from all danger
of attack from this quarter. Solomon's chief defences were massed on
the west and north, indicating that the foes whom he feared were the
Philistines and the more distant invaders that might come from Egypt
or northern Syria. The southern fortress of Tamar was evidently
intended to guard the trade route to the port of Ezion-geber, from
which the united fleets of Solomon and Hiram of Tyre made their long
journeys past the coast of Arabia and out into the Indian Ocean. The
situation of the land of Ophir is not certain, but the character and
names of the products brought back by the Phœnician and Hebrew traders
point strongly to India. The so-called "Land of Ophir" was probably
either Abhira at the mouth of the Indus, or else a seaport of eastern
Arabia, through which the products of India reached the Western world.
=Site of Solomon's Temple.= The culminating act of Solomon's reign was
the building of his palace and temple. His public buildings were
reared on the northern continuation of the hill of Ophel, as it rises
gradually above the site of the ancient Jebusite city.^{(99)} The
jagged limestone rock, rising still higher and farther to the north
was without much doubt the ancient threshing-floor of Arunah, the
Jebusite, on which was reared the famous temple of Solomon. The
irregular mass of native rock, with its peculiar cuttings,^{(100)}
which now stands in the centre of the Mosque of Omar, probably
represents the great altar for burnt offerings, which stood east and
therefore immediately in front of the Hebrew temple. This shrine of
Solomon took the place of the older royal high place at Gibeon, where
still a rock-cut altar may be seen.^{(93)}
=Significance of the Reigns of David and Solomon.= The reigns of David
and Solomon gave Palestine what it had never had before and what it
rarely had again in its troubled history--a period of comparative
peace and prosperity, in which the rich resources of the land could be
fully developed. The progress of the Hebrews during this glorious
half-century was most marvellous. From a struggling, oppressed,
disintegrated group of nomads they suddenly developed into a strong,
opulent, and united kingdom, becoming masters not only of their own
territory, but of that of their hereditary foes. The earlier Canaanite
population of Palestine was also completely absorbed and its
agricultural civilization assimilated by the conquerors.
[Illustration: PLAN OF SOLOMON'S PALACE
(ACCORDING TO STADE)]
=Influence of the United Kingdom Upon Israel's Faith.= The great and
supremely vital contest that was waged during this period of
prosperity was that between the worship of Jehovah, which the Hebrews
brought with them from the desert, and the different Canaanite cults
which they found strongly intrenched in the land. If the Hebrews had
been defeated beside the Kishon, or if David had not overcome the
Philistines in the Valley of Rephaim, it is doubtful whether or not
the religion of Jehovah would have emerged victorious in this great
contest. The topography of the land of Palestine strongly favored the
development of many different sanctuaries, each devoted to the worship
of some local god. It was only a strong race, under a powerful central
government, that could overcome the influence of physical environment
and hold to its faith in one God. The establishment of the united
Hebrew kingdom early in their history was therefore a mighty factor in
the development of Israel's faith in one supreme Divine King.
=Solomon's Fatal Mistakes.= Solomon's selfish ambition to imitate the
splendor of the oriental courts about him blinded him completely to
the best interests of his family and nation. The one important force
that held together his people after the danger of foreign invasion had
been averted was their loyalty to their Divine King. In tolerating and
patronizing the gods of his allies under the very shadow of Jehovah's
temple, though it was demanded by Semitic usage, he committed a fatal
error, for he thereby weakened the unity of the Hebrew nation as well
as his own hold on the people's loyalty. He also failed to appreciate
the spirit and traditions which his subjects had inherited from their
free life in the desert and from the days of tribal independence when
they had been struggling for their homes in Palestine. The Hebrews,
still in close contact with the life of the desert, were suspicious of
all centralized authority. They were restive under a rule which
imperiously commanded them to toil under royal task-masters and to
bring to the king the best fruits of the soil. From their nomadic
ancestors they had inherited a thoroughly democratic ideal of the
kingship, in which the first duty of the king was to act as the
leader of his subjects rather than to treat them as his slaves.
Solomon's policy, therefore, threatened to take away the two most
treasured possessions of the Hebrews--their democratic ideals and
their loyalty to one God, ruling supreme over his people.
=Forces That Made for Disunion.= The men prominent in the history of
the united kingdom had come from the southern tribes of Judah and
Benjamin. Many of the northern tribes had for the first time been
brought into real touch with the rest of their race in the days of
David and Solomon. The large population and by far the greater
resources were found in the north. Solomon devoted most of his
building energy to developing the south; but it was inevitable that
before long the superior strength of the north would assert itself.
While the secluded and barren hills of Benjamin and Judah restricted
their inhabitants to a relatively slow development, the broad valleys
and the fruitful fields of Northern Israel, cut by great highways of
commerce, offered to its people every opportunity to acquire wealth
and culture. During the period of stress and struggle David was able
with rare tact and organizing ability to bind together these diverse
elements in the kingdom and to overcome the fundamental differences of
physical environment; but even during his reign the wide breach
between the north and the south was revealed. It is doubtful whether
or not, in the new stage of Israel's development, even David could
have overcome these wide differences. Unfortunately, Solomon's foolish
policy only tended to emphasize them, and his son, Rehoboam, by his
tyrannical reply to the reasonable demands of the northern tribes,
made harmonious union forever impossible.
=Situation of Shechem.= The scene of the final breach between the
north and south was the old Canaanite city of Shechem,^{(103)} in the
heart of the territory of Ephraim, the most powerful northern tribe.
The town was one of the most beautifully situated cities in Palestine
and at the same time the least easily defended. It lay in a valley
between one-half to a mile in width, between the two highest mountains
in Samaria--Ebal Ebal and Gerizim. The mountain slopes on either side
were clothed with vineyards and olive groves. From Gerizim on the
south twenty-two springs burst from the rock, irrigating the gardens
of the ancient town, which, like the present city of Nablus, clung
close to the southern mountain. Because of its peculiar position, the
city was long and narrow, extending from east to west. The open valley
at each end offered no natural defence and the overhanging heights
rendered it especially open to hostile attack. Its importance was due
to the rich territory which encircled it and to the important highways
which connected it with Jerusalem and Hebron in the south, with
central Israel, Damascus, and Phœnicia in the north, with the coast
plains on the west, and with the Jordan valley on the east. At Shechem
all these great roads focused, making the city throughout all its
history an influential commercial metropolis.
=Significance of the Division.= The result of the fateful conference
at Shechem was a division of the territory of Israel along the natural
line marked out during the period of settlement and during the early
Philistine wars. The boundary line followed the Wady Kelt up from the
Jordan to the vicinity of Michmash and thence turned a little south of
the Benjamite Ramah, running through Gibeon and westward to Gezer. To
Northern Israel fell fully two-thirds of Palestine and at least
three-fourths of its arable land. The division left Judah a complete
geographical and political unit, and, thus dissevered from the more
heterogeneous elements of the nation, free to develop its own life and
faith. The division and the civil wars which followed inevitably
weakened the strength of both kingdoms and prepared the way for that
fate which overtook each in turn. In losing their strength and unity,
they preserved, however, their two most distinctive and precious
possessions--their democratic traditions and their undivided loyalty
to Jehovah.
XVIII
THE NORTHERN KINGDOM
=The Varied Elements in the North.= The northern kingdom was rich in
resources but lacked unity. Within its limited territory were found
almost every kind of climate, flora, and fauna. Its population was as
varied as its physical contour. In the east-Jordan land the shepherd
and the Bedouin still held sway. Its valleys in the west-Jordan were
the home of the agriculturist. The cities on its western borders and
beside the great highways were already beginning to engage in
commerce. Around the Sea of Galilee were thriving fishing villages.
Every type of civilization, therefore, the nomadic, the agricultural,
and the commercial, was to be found within its bounds. In view of its
mixed population, its varied interests, and its exposed situation, the
only force that could hold together Northern Israel was a strongly
centralized military régime. When a dynasty became weak, a stronger
man mounted the throne. Hence Northern Israel's history is a series of
bloody rebellions in which assassins, rising from the ranks of the
army, seized the throne and founded short-lived dynasties.
[Illustration: ISRAEL AND JUDAH AFTER THE DIVISION OF THE HEBREW
EMPIRE.]
=Capitals of Northern Israel.= Jeroboam, who was called to the throne
of Northern Israel after the division, came from the ranks of the
common people. His home was in the small, as yet unidentified town of
Zeredah in Mount Ephraim. At first he established his capital at
Shechem, but this city was incapable of defence and so the centre of
authority was transferred across the Jordan to Penuel near Succoth.
The occasion of this transfer was probably the invasion of Palestine
by Shishak, king of Egypt, who overran and plundered the
west-Jordan territory. Later the capital was transferred again to the
city of Tirzah, somewhere west of the Jordan. The identification of
this city is uncertain. It may have been at the modern town of
Telluza, situated on a hill one thousand nine hundred and forty feet
above the level of the sea, immediately north of Mount Ebal. The town
has many ancient cisterns but no spring. This identification would
correspond to the statement of an early traveller (Borocardus) that
Tirzah was on a height three leagues east of Samaria. The other more
probable site is at Teiasir, about twelve miles northeast from
Shechem, on the main highway that leads from this ancient capital
through the Ophrah of Gideon to Bethshean and the upper Jordan valley
(_cf._ p. 80). Teiasir is a central and commanding site, with
extensive ruins to the north which indicate that it was once an
important city. In II Kings 15:14 it is stated that "Menahem went up
from Tirzah to Samaria," which applies excellently to Teiasir down
near the Jordan but not to Telluza, which is one thousand feet higher
and five hundred feet above Samaria. There is little doubt, therefore,
that Teiasir represents the ancient northern capital.
=The Aramean Kingdom.= Northern Israel suffered from its exposed
position. At first there was war between Judah and its northern rival,
which resulted disastrously for the southern kingdom. To aid them in
the conflict, the southern Israelites made the fatal mistake of
calling in the Arameans to attack their foes on the north. By this
time the Arameans had taken possession of northern Syria and
established themselves at the ancient city of Damascus, which lay on a
fertile oasis out in the desert, on the border line between Syria and
northern Arabia.^{(42)} By virtue of its central position it commanded
the land trade of Egypt, Palestine, and Phœnicia on the west, and of
Arabia, Mesopotamia, and Babylon on the east. It was "the harbor of
the desert." The Aramean kingdom, with its capital at this favorable
point, rapidly developed great wealth and military resources, and soon
became a menace to the independence of both Hebrew kingdoms, for the
natural line of expansion of this Aramean kingdom was toward the
south. The exposed position of Damascus alone saved the Hebrews from
complete subjugation.
=The Philistine Stronghold of Gibbethon.= From the southwest the
Philistines, availing themselves of the weakness of the two Hebrew
kingdoms, fortified Gibbethon. This border fortress was the scene of
repeated sieges. It is probably to be identified with Kibbiah, which
lies in the foot-hills, seven miles northeast of Lydda. Kibbiah is
eight hundred and forty feet above the ocean level and in the heart of
the debatable territory between hill and plain. The possession of
Gibbethon by the Philistines was a constant menace to the cities of
southern Ephraim, but its strength seems to have baffled the Israelite
armies for several decades.
=Omri's Strong Rule.= It was while besieging this Philistine
stronghold that Omri, after the death of the adventurer, Zimri, was
elected king by his soldiers. He proved to be in many ways the
strongest king who ever sat on the throne of Northern Israel. The
transference of his capital from Tirzah to the strong central city of
Samaria^{(59)} demonstrated his military skill and organizing ability.
He also reconquered the territory of the Moabites as far as the Arnon,
and, as is recorded on the Moabite stone, established strong garrisons
throughout this territory.^{(46)} He was not able, however, to repel
the Aramean armies that at this time came marching down through the
open highways from the north.
=Ahab's Aramean Wars.= Omri's son, Ahab, proved an even more able
general than his father. In a series of engagements, in which he
fought against great odds and against armies equipped far better than
his own, he repelled the Arameans, who overran his territory. In the
first engagement, which was fought near Samaria, the Hebrews,
profiting by the blind overconfidence of the enemy, won through a
sudden attack. The decisive battle was fought a year later near Aphek.
This city is not the Aphek on the southeastern side of the Plain of
Sharon, but is probably to be identified with the modern town of Fîk,
beside the important highway which runs from the southern end of the
Sea of Galilee northeastward toward Damascus. Ahab's courage was shown
in thus going out to meet his foe on the northeastern border of his
territory. The town lay on the top of the plateau at the end of a
valley that looked down upon the Sea of Galilee on the west. The
battle was probably fought on the level plain of the Jaulan, which ran
east of the town, and resulted in the complete defeat of the Aramean
army and the capture of its king.
=Strength and Fatal Weakness of Ahab's Policy.= Ahab was contented to
make a favorable treaty with his fallen foe. The captured Israelite
cities were restored and a trading quarter was set aside in Damascus
for the Hebrew merchants. Ahab evidently sought in every way to
develop the commercial resources of his kingdom. His marriage with
Jezebel, the daughter of the Tyrian king, was intended to cement more
closely the relations with this great commercial people on the west.
Viewed from the point of view of world politics, Ahab's policy in
maintaining the natural boundaries and in developing the commercial
resources of his nation was sound. By his contemporaries he was
doubtless regarded as a most successful king. His fatal mistake,
however, was that of Solomon: in his pursuit of material splendor he
disregarded the inherited beliefs and rights of his subjects. The
official recognition of the Canaanite worship of his Phœnician queen
was even more of a menace to the pure worship of Jehovah in Northern
Israel in the days of Ahab than in Jerusalem in the days of Solomon.
Northern Israel was pre-eminently Baal's land. Here the Canaanites had
been most strongly intrenched and their religious traditions still
pervaded the land. Communication with the Canaanites on the
Mediterranean coast was exceedingly close and there was much in these
ancient Baal cults to attract the prosperous, pleasure-loving,
cosmopolitan people of Northern Israel. Ahab's policy did not
contemplate a substitution of the worship of the Tyrian god, Baal
Melkart, for that of Jehovah, but it did mean obscuring the
fundamental characteristics and demands of Israel's God.
=Elijah's Home.= It was natural that the prophet who was able to
analyze the situation and to point out its dangers, should come from
the borderland of the desert where Moses had first impressed upon his
people the unique character of Jehovah. Tishbe, the town from which
Elijah came, will probably never be identified with absolute
certainty, but it was somewhere in the land of Gilead. Modern
tradition fixes it at Mar Elyas, a village a little north of the
modern town of Ajlun in northern Gilead. Amidst this land of deep,
rushing river-beds and steep, tree-clad hills, which gradually merge
into the desert, was reared this stern champion of Jehovah and foe of
the degenerate cults of agricultural Canaan. In one of these wadies,
which cut down through the Gileadite hills toward the Jordan, Elijah
found a refuge when the drought parched the fields west of the Jordan.
His other home was Mount Carmel, whose fertile top and noble vistas
resembled his native land across the Jordan.