Phœnician city of Zarephath, which lay on a promontory about eight
miles south of Sidon, and again at Horeb far in the south, Elijah
performed his life work almost entirely in the narrow strip of land
which lay between Gilead and Carmel. It was somewhere on the eastern
end of Mount Carmel,^{(102)} where it jutted out far into the Plain of
Esdraelon, that he summoned king and people to the great conference
which revealed to them the vital issue between the religion of Jehovah
and that of Baal. Modern tradition identifies it with a site called
El-Mahrakah, Place of the Burning. A spring a little below favors the
conclusion that this was an ancient sanctuary. This retired spot, far
away from the distractions of the city life below, was eminently
fitted for the delivery of the prophet's brief but searching message.
It looked along the western side of the plain to the old stronghold of
Megiddo, the centre of the ancient Canaanite kingdoms. Due east lay
the battle-field beside the Kishon where Jehovah fought for his people
and demonstrated in a language that a child nation could understand,
his superiority to the local baals. To the south were the fertile,
undulating hills and valleys of Samaria, to the north those of lower
and upper Galilee, while eastward across the plain were the hills
where lay the prophet's home, and far away in the northeast rose the
snowy height of Mount Hermon. It was a scene that spoke clearly and
impressively of Jehovah's might and of his tender love and care for
his people. When at last, after the great convocation was over, the
lightning flashed and the thunder rolled across the plain, none could
doubt that Jehovah was still in the midst of his people demanding
their undivided loyalty.
=Ancient Jezreel.= Jezreel, Ahab's northern capital, is ordinarily
identified with the present town of Zerin,^{(11)} although the absence
of ancient ruins at this point renders the identification exceedingly
doubtful. The village lies on a broad elevation rising three hundred
feet above the plain and is encircled by fertile fields which extend
for miles in almost every direction. The statement in I Samuel 29:1
that "the Israelites encamped by the fountain in Jezreel" implies that
the ancient site was either further east near the copious spring now
known as 'Ain el-Meiyiteh, or else to the southeast under the
northwestern end of Mount Gilboa beside 'Ain Jalûd which is probably
the famous Spring of Harod of Judges 7:1. Jezreel was on the central
highway from Northern to Southern Israel and guarded the entrance to
the Valley of Jezreel. Under royal patronage this fertile land would
quickly be transformed into a paradise of gardens and vineyards.
Ancient Jezreel, however, was a paradise in which a man listened to
the tempting voice of his wife to his undoing. In reaching out and
taking with his ruthless hand the vineyard of Naboth, Ahab condemned
his family to exile and death. The voice of the dauntless prophet of
Gilead pronounced his doom. Near this same vineyard the dogs licked
the blood of Ahab, as his body was borne back across the Plain of
Jezreel from the scene of his last battle with the Arameans.
=Situation of Ramoth-Gilead.= Like many of the east-Jordan sites, the
identification of the famous city of Ramoth-Gilead, which was the
scene of so many battles between the Hebrews and their northern foes,
is uncertain. By some it has been identified with Reimun, a few miles
west of Jerash, on one of the northern branches of the Jabbok, but
this is on no important highway and has neither water nor the ruins of
an ancient city. Eusebius apparently identifies Ramoth in Gilead with
Es-Salt, fifteen miles west of Rabbath-Ammon, but this is too far
south to satisfy fully the biblical references and has no large plain
near by where chariots could manœuvre. Possibly the modern Jerash,
which lies on a northern confluent of the Jabbok, was the site of the
famous stronghold.^{(44)} The name Ramoth implies that it was on a
broad height and its prominence as a frontier town in the Aramean wars
indicates that it was in northern Gilead. It may have been situated on
the site of the modern Remtheh in northeastern Gilead. The modern town
is to-day occupied by a Turkish garrison and stands near the point
where the main road from Bethshean and the upper Jordan valley joined
the great pilgrim highway on the edge of the desert. This
identification would be in accord with the statement in I Kings 4:13,
that Solomon's prefect, who resided in Ramoth-Gilead, collected taxes
not only from the Manassite towns of Jair in Gilead, but also in the
region of Argob, which is in Bashan. The latter region probably lay to
the north and east of the upper waters of the Yarmuk. The implication
in Josephus's Antiquities VIII, 15:4, that Ramoth in Gilead was a
three-days' march from the city of Samaria, also favors the conclusion
that it was the extreme outpost of the east-Jordan land. The other
possible and, on the whole, most probable site is that suggested by
Principal Smith, of Aberdeen University. He identifies it with the
present city of Gadara. This town lies one thousand one hundred and
ninety-four feet above the sea-level, on a bold plateau which runs out
from the hills of Gilead. This height, two miles wide and at least
four miles in length from east to west, is bounded on the north by
the deep valley of the Yarmuk, on the west by the Jordan, four and
one-half miles away and over one thousand eight hundred feet below,
and on the south by the Wady el-Arab, which cuts a deep gorge into the
Gileadite hills. It is due south of Aphek, where was fought the great
battle between the Hebrews and the Arameans under Ahab, and is on one
of the chief highways which leads up from the Jordan through Arbela to
join the pilgrim highway, to Damascus and Arabia. It is, therefore,
the chief gateway and at the same time the natural fortress which
guards northern Gilead. On the wide level plateaus about there is
ample room for the manœuvring of chariots and an important road leads
directly from it across the Jordan to Ahab's northern capital.
=Elisha's Home.= According to Jerome, Abel Meholah, the home of
Elisha, was about nine miles south of Bethshean. The name, Meadow of
the Dance, or of the Circle, implies that it was a low-lying valley.
All these indications point to 'Ain Hel-weh, a ruined mound beside a
gushing spring on the western side of the Jordan valley. It was
surrounded by fertile fields. Throughout all his work Elisha, in
contrast to Elijah, revealed his familiarity and close touch with the
agricultural civilization of Northern Israel. The scenes of a greater
part of his activity were the Jordan valley and the plains of Jezreel
and Esdraelon, which lead into it from the west.
=Jehu's Revolution.= The culminating act of Elisha's work was to call
Jehu to the kingship. The call came to him as he was directing the
siege of Ramoth-Gilead. It is easy in imagination to follow his
furious ride down the heights from Ramoth-Gilead across the Jordan and
along its western side, past Bethshean and up the Valley of Jezreel to
the northern capital of Ahab. On the open plain near the city of
Jezreel he slew his master and thence rode into the city to complete
the slaughter of the house of Ahab. By the sword he not only mounted
the throne, but rooted out the Baalism against which Elijah and Elisha
had both contended.
=Rule of the House of Jehu.= The history of Northern Israel for the
next two generations is a record of humiliation and disaster. Jehu
secured his position on the throne by paying a heavy tribute to the
king of Assyria, whose armies were hovering on his northern borders.
The active and ruthless Aramean king, Hazael, overran Northern Israel,
destroying most of its warriors and extracting heavy tribute. In this
hour of Israel's weakness the Philistines made forays into the south,
carrying off Hebrews as slaves to foreign markets. It was not until
Jehoash, the grandson of Jehu, came to the throne of Israel that the
tide turned. Damascus, attacked in the rear by a northern Aramean
people, was unable to cope with the Israelite armies. The east-Jordan
territory was reconquered by Jehoash's son, Jeroboam II, and the
Moabites again laid under tribute. For the first time in Israel's
history a prophet arose in the land of Galilee. In the small town of
Gath-Hepher, situated on a hill a little west of the highway which
runs north from Nazareth, lived Jonah, the son of Amittai. He
predicted that Jereboam's kingdom would extend, as it did later, from
the southern end of the Dead Sea to the gateway between the Lebanons
in the north, that marked the southern boundary of the strong northern
Aramean kingdom of which the capital was Hamath. Again Northern Israel
touched its widest bounds. Pride and self-confidence took possession
of the nation. The military nobles who rallied about the king,
enriched by the spoils of war, enslaved their fellow-countrymen whose
fortunes had been depleted by the disastrous Aramean wars. Outwardly
Northern Israel seemed strong and prosperous, but within were social
wrongs which were eating the very vitals of the nation.
=The Advance of Assyria.= It was at this time that Assyria became the
dominating factor in Northern Israel's history. This enterprising and
ambitious nation was apparently an offshoot of the old Babylonian
empire. It occupied the fertile plains east of the upper Tigris. As
early as the eighteenth century B.C. it began to break away from the
authority of Babylon. About 1100 B.C. Tiglath-pileser I laid the
foundations of the Assyrian empire by campaigns in Babylonia, Elam,
Mesopotamia, and Syria; but it was not until 854 B.C. that Assyria
touched Israel. Then, according to the annals of the Assyrian king,
Shalmanezer II defeated Ahab, together with the other princes of
Syria, at the battle of Karkar. By 842 he had conquered practically
all of Syria and received tribute from Jehu of Israel. During the
reigns of the next two Assyrian kings the advance of this great world
power was stayed. But when Tiglath-pileser IV founded a new dynasty he
injected fresh energy into the empire, recovered its lost territory,
and advanced to the conquest of Palestine.
=Amos's Home at Tekoa.= It was probably about the time when
Tiglath-pileser IV began to institute his aggressive policy that Amos
delivered his epoch-making sermon at the royal sanctuary in
Bethel.^{(77)} His home was at Tekoa, twelve miles south of Jerusalem,
and but twenty-two from Bethel. Tekoa was the eastern outpost of
Judah. Broad, rich fields lay on the north and west, but to the east
it looked down upon the barren rounded hills that descended to the
Dead Sea and toward the bold uplands of Moab in the distance. The town
was situated on an elevated plateau which commanded a view of nearly
all the places mentioned in the prophet's sermons: Kirioth in Moab,
the region about Bethel and Gilgal, and the roads that led to
Philistia, Egypt, and Edom. The dominant feature in the landscape was
the Dead Sea, with its blue waters, its rising mists, and its gray,
purple, and yellow cliffs. It was a grim, rugged, awe-inspiring
outlook and clearly made a deep impression upon the thought and life
of the prophet. Among the dry, rock-covered pasture lands, that run up
to the eastern side of the town of Tekoa, the prophet received his
training.^{(103)} To-day, as in the past, it is the land of sheep and
goats. The wildness of the region and the proximity to the desert
demanded strong, stalwart shepherds, inured to hardship, keen to
detect the presence of a foe, quick to repulse the attack of wild
beast or lurking Arab robbers, and tender in their care of the young
and the injured. Among these silent, treeless hills or beside the
occasional spring, the traveller to-day meets this type of shepherd,
silent and resourceful, armed with his short, heavy, wooden staff.
=Influence of His Environment Upon the Prophet.= Here Amos learned to
champion the cause of the oppressed, to scent danger from afar, and
faithfully to sound the alarm. His occupation doubtless took him to
the annual festivals and market days at Jerusalem and Bethel, where
his shepherd training asserted itself. He could not shut his eyes to
the cruel oppression of the poor and dependent classes by the rich,
greedy nobles. From afar he also noted the approach of the Assyrian
lion. Being a faithful shepherd he could not remain silent. As he
meditated on the situation in the quiet of his shepherd life among the
hills about Tekoa, the conviction deepened into certainty that Jehovah
in these varied ways was speaking to him, calling him to sound the
note of alarm that the rulers of Israel might see the peril, right the
wrongs, and thus save their nation. The influence of his shepherd's
life and point of view is present in all his utterances. His message
is a clear blast of desert air, sweeping through the corrupt
atmosphere of the city, tainted as it was by that degenerate Canaanite
civilization which still polluted the centres of Northern Israel's
life.
=Evidence Regarding Hosea's Home.= A few years after Amos appeared at
Bethel a prophet arose in Northern Israel itself, who reiterated the
message of the shepherd from Tekoa in equally impressive terms. The
superscription of Hosea's prophecy is unfortunately silent regarding
his home. Local oriental tradition, however, has supplied this lack.
One of the most commanding heights of southern Gilead bears the name
of Jebel Ôsha, which is the Arabic for "Mountain of Hosea." Here,
according to a tradition at least three hundred years old and perhaps
based upon an older Jewish original, the prophet was buried. Here the
Bedouin still sacrifice sheep in his honor. Possibly local tradition
has preserved a fact unrecorded in the biblical narrative. It is
indeed significant that Hosea alone of all the prophets makes frequent
mention of the land of Gilead and reveals an intimate knowledge of its
history. Thus, for example, he refers in 10:14 to the time when
Shalmen, probably the Assyrian king Shalmanezer III, laid in ruins
Beth-arbel in the day of battle. The city referred to is clearly one
of the two east-Jordan towns bearing this name, and in all probability
the Arbel east of Pella in the heart of northern Gilead. In 12:11 he
declares: "In Gilead is iniquity, yea, they have wrought vanity."
Again in 6:8, probably referring to the unidentified city east of the
Jordan mentioned in Judges 10:17, he declares:
Gilead is a city of evil-doers,
Tracked with bloody footprints,
And as bandits lay in wait for a man,
So a band of priests murder on the way to Shechem,
Verily they commit deliberate crime.
=View From Jebel Ôsha.= The bold heights of Jebel Ôsha commanded a
view of most of the places mentioned in Hosea's prophecies. Across the
valley lay the territory of the great tribe of Ephraim whose name is
constantly used by him as a synonym for Northern Israel. A little to
the northwest were the heights of Ebal and Gerizim, which guarded
Shechem and the highway which led directly to the city of Samaria.
From the same mountain height could be seen to the northwest the
rounded top of Mount Tabor, which is the northernmost point mentioned
by Hosea. Directly across the Jordan was the northern Gilgal, and a
little to the southwest was the table-land of Bethel. Farther south
was the height of Ramah. Hosea's prophecies also contain a surprising
number of references to the lower Jordan valley, which lay stretched
out immediately below the mountain peak which to-day bears his name.
Just opposite were probably to be found the ancient cities of Admah
and Zeboim. The former may be identified with the city of Adam,
mentioned in the second chapter of Joshua (_cf._ p. 125), which
probably stood near the Damieh ford, just below the point where the
Jabbok enters the Jordan. Farther north the Plain of Jezreel comes
down to the Jordan, while to the southwest one may see the Valley of
Achor, the present Wady Kelt, cutting its way through the western
hills toward Ai and Bethel. Hosea also refers to Baal-peor in southern
Gilead and to Shittim in the valley below, near the lower fords of the
Jordan. Thus there are many indications in the ancient prophecy that
Hosea lived among the hills of Gilead, and that, like Amos, he was a
man who moved among the heights with a broad outlook ever before him.
The message which these two prophets proclaimed was as different as
the vistas which opened before them. Amos used the figures of the
shepherd; Hosea those of agricultural life. Amos looked upon the
evidence of Jehovah's might and justice; Hosea upon fertile fields and
tree-clad hills, which spoke of Jehovah's love and his gracious
provision for his people's needs. Thus the messages of these two
contemporary prophets supplemented each other, the one proclaiming
Jehovah's justice, the other Jehovah's love.
=Conquest of Galilee and Gilead.= The rulers of Northern Israel,
however, were as irresponsive to Hosea's pleadings as they were to
Amos's stern warnings. The result was that when in 734 B.C.
Tiglath-pileser IV invaded Northern Israel, an assassin sat on the
throne and the rank and file of the people were crushed by the cruelty
and oppression of those who should have defended them. Northern Israel
was swept by the armies of the conqueror. Ijon, which was a city on
the rich plain in northern Galilee between the Litany and the Nahr
el-Hasbany, that still bears the name Merj Ayun (Ijon); Janoah, a city
in the heights six miles east of Tyre; Abel-beth-maacah, at the upper
end of the Jordan valley; Kadesh, Hazor, east of Lake Huleh and Ijon,
were among the important cities captured in northern Galilee. Lower
Galilee and Gilead were also overrun, their leading citizens
transported to Assyria, and their territory annexed to that of the
Assyrian empire.
=The Exiled Northern Israelites.= Tiglath-pileser IV left to Hoshea,
the last king of Northern Israel, simply the territory west of the
Jordan and south of the Plain of Esdraelon. After ruling for a decade
as the vassal of Assyria, this king rebelled. For nearly three years
his capital, Samaria, held out against the Assyrian armies, but at
last, late in 722 B.C., Samaria fell before the conqueror and
twenty-seven thousand two hundred and ninety of its citizens were
deported to different parts of the Assyrian empire. Some were settled
in the province of Gozan on the upper waters of the Habor River, which
flows southward into the Euphrates. They found a home, therefore, near
the centre of Mesopotamia. References in the Assyrian inscriptions
suggest that Halah was a city in western Mesopotamia. The third colony
of exiles were settled in the Median cities to the east of Assyria.
=The Fate of Northern Israel.= The great majority of the people of
Northern Israel were left behind in their cities and villages. To
destroy their racial unity colonists were imported by the Assyrians
from three cities--Babylon, Kutha, which is probably the Assyrian
Kutu, a city a little northeast of Babylon, and Sippar, north of
Babylon. Other colonists were brought from Hamath, the capital of the
conquered northern Aramean kingdom. These colonists were in time
absorbed by the native population. In later history this mixed race is
known as the Samaritans.^{(104, 105)} For the next century Northern
Israel largely lost its political and religious significance and
became simply a part of the great Assyrian empire. In its brief
history it demonstrated the great truth that prosperity, opportunity,
and culture do not necessarily develop strong national character. At
the same time through its prophets it gave to the world certain truths
regarding Jehovah's justice and love which are the corner-stones of
the faith of humanity.
XIX
THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM
=Effect of Environment Upon Judah's History.= Compared with the
history of the northern kingdom, that of the southern, for the first
two centuries following the division of the empire, was petty and
insignificant. Judah was shut in by its natural barriers from contact
with the larger life that surged up and down the coast plains and
through the broad valleys of Northern Israel. While it survived, the
northern kingdom protected it largely from Aramean and Assyrian
invasions, so that during this period there were few great crises to
call forth statesmen and prophets. Jerusalem, because of its size and
prestige, completely overshadowed the other cities of Judah, so that
most of the important events in the history of the southern kingdom
took place in or near the capital. The natural unity of this little
kingdom also freed it from the diverse and disintegrating influences
that made Northern Israel's history one of civil war and bloodshed.
The result was that until Jerusalem's destruction in 586 B.C. the
family of David, practically without interruption, continued to sit on
the throne of Judah.
=Shishak's Invasion.= In 945 B.C. the throne of Egypt was seized by a
Libyan mercenary by the name of Sheshonk, known to the biblical
writers as Shishak. He set to work at once to restore the ancient
glories of the empire. To this end he invaded Palestine and Syria and,
according to the records which he has inscribed on the great temple at
Thebes,^{(116)} he succeeded in capturing one hundred and fifty-six
cities and districts. The cities lying along the Philistine Plain,
including Socho, Ajalon, and Beth-horon, Gibeon in the north and
Sharuhen and Arad in the south were among those captured. According to
the biblical record Rehoboam stripped the temple of its wealth in
order to pay tribute to this foreign conqueror.
=War Between the Two Kingdoms.= As soon as the Egyptian forces were
withdrawn, Northern Israel, by virtue of its greater resources, first
recovered its strength and fortified the town of Ramah, five miles
north of Jerusalem. Ramah stood on a prominent hill two thousand six
hundred feet high, near the intersection of the main highways running
north, south, east, and west. From this fortress it was possible to
cut off all commercial relations between Judah and the north. The king
of Judah retaliated by hiring the aid of the Arameans. When the
Northern Israelite army was withdrawn the fortress at Ramah was razed
to the ground. With materials taken from this ruin the king of Judah
fortified the old stronghold of Geba, two miles to the northeast, thus
gaining control of the main highway from the Jordan to the Philistine
Plain. In the same way Mizpah, an imposing, massive hill to the
northwest of Jerusalem, was fortified. Mizpah^{(20)} lies about two
miles south of Gibeon,^{(93)} through which ran the old division line
between the north and the south, so it is evident that in this border
warfare the boundary between the two kingdoms remained practically the
same as before. Soon both were forced to unite against their common
foe, the Arameans, so that, with one disastrous exception, neither
attempted again to encroach upon the territory of the other.