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diff --git a/old/42027.txt b/old/42027.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 0041269..0000000 --- a/old/42027.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,16905 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Expositor's Bible, by F. W. Farrar - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Expositor's Bible - The Second Book of Kings - -Author: F. W. Farrar - -Editor: W. Robertson Nicoll - -Release Date: February 5, 2013 [EBook #42027] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE *** - - - - -Produced by Douglas L. Alley, III, Colin Bell and the -Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net -(This file was produced from images generously made -available by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - The - - Expositor's Bible - - - Edited by - W. Robertson Nicoll, D.D., LL.D. - - - - - - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - - THE EXPOSITORS' BIBLE - - _Edited by_ W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, D.D., LL.D. - - _New and Cheaper Edition. Printed from original plates - Complete in every detail. Uniform with this volume_ - - Price 50 cents per volume. (If by mail add 10 cents postage) - - - OLD TESTAMENT VOLUMES - - GENESIS. By Rev. Prof. Marcus Dods, D.D. - - EXODUS. By Very Rev. G. A. Chadwick, D.D., Dean of Armagh. - - LEVITICUS. By Rev. S. H. Kellogg, D.D. - - NUMBERS. By Rev. R. A. Watson, D.D. - - DEUTERONOMY. By Rev. Prof. Andrew Harper, B.D. - - JOSHUA. By Rev. Prof. W. G. Blaikie, D.D., LL.D. - - JUDGES AND RUTH. By Rev. R. A. Watson, D.D. - - FIRST SAMUEL. By Rev. Prof. W. G. Blaikie, D.D., LL.D. - - SECOND SAMUEL. By same author. - - FIRST KINGS. By F. W. Farrar, D.D., Dean of Canterbury. - - SECOND KINGS. By same author. - - FIRST AND SECOND CHRONICLES. By Rev. Prof. W. H. Bennett. - - EZRA, NEHEMIAH, AND ESTHER. By Rev. Prof. W. F. Adeney. - - JOB. By Rev. R. A. Watson, D.D. - - PSALMS. In 3 vols. Vol. I., Chapters I.-XXXVIII.; Vol. II., Chapters - XXXIX.-LXXXIX.; Vol. III., Chapters XC.-CL. By Rev. - Alexander Maclaren, D.D. - - PROVERBS. By Rev. R. F. Horton, D.D. - - ECCLESIASTES. By Rev. Samuel Cox, D.D. - - SONG OF SOLOMON and LAMENTATIONS. By Rev. Prof. W. F. Adeney. - - ISAIAH. In 2 vols. Vol. I., Chapters I.-XXXIX.; Vol. II., Chapters - XL.-LXVI. By Prof. George Adam Smith, D.D., LL.D. - - JEREMIAH. Chapters I.-XX. With a Sketch of his Life and Times. By - Rev. C. J. Ball. - - JEREMIAH. Chapters XXI.-LII. By Rev. Prof. W. H. Bennett. - - EZEKIEL. By Rev. Prof. John Skinner. - - DANIEL. By F. W. FARRAR, D.D., Dean of Canterbury. - - THE TWELVE (Minor) PROPHETS. In 2 vols. By Rev. George Adam Smith, - D.D., LL.D. - - - NEW TESTAMENT VOLUMES - - ST. MATTHEW. By Rev. J. Monro Gibson, D.D. - - ST. MARK. By Very Rev. G. A. Chadwick, D.D., Dean of Armagh. - - ST. LUKE. By Rev. Henry Burton. - - GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN. In 2 vols. Vol. I., Chapters I.-XI.; Vol. II., - Chapters XII.-XXI. By Rev. Prof. Marcus Dods, D.D. - - THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. In 2 vols. By Rev. Prof. G. T. Stokes, D.D. - - ROMANS. By Rev. Handley C. G. Moule, D.D. - - FIRST CORINTHIANS. By Rev. Prof. Marcus Dods, D.D. - - SECOND CORINTHIANS. By Rev. James Denney, D.D. - - GALATIANS. By Rev. Prof. G. G. Findlay, D.D. - - EPHESIANS. By same author. - - PHILIPPIANS. By Rev. Principal Robert Rainy, D.D. - - COLOSSIANS and PHILEMON. By Rev. Alexander Maclaren, D.D. - - THESSALONIANS. By Rev. James Denney, D.D. - - PASTORAL EPISTLES. By Rev. A. Plummer, D.D. - - HEBREWS. By Rev. Principal T. C. Edwards, D.D. - - ST. JAMES and ST. JUDE. By Rev. A. Plummer, D.D. - - ST. PETER. By Rev. Prof. J. Rawson Lumby, D.D. - - EPISTLES OF ST. JOHN. By Rt. Rev. W. Alexander, Lord Bishop of Derry. - - REVELATION. By Prof. W. Milligan, D.D. - - INDEX VOLUME TO ENTIRE SERIES. - - _New York_: HODDER & STOUGHTON, _Publishers_ - - - - - THE - SECOND BOOK OF KINGS - - - - - - BY - F. W. Farrar, D.D., F.R.S. - - LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; ARCHDEACON OF - WESTMINSTER - - - - - - - - HODDER & STOUGHTON - NEW YORK - GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY - - - - - CONTENTS - - - - CHAPTER I - - PAGE - - AHAZIAH BEN-AHAB OF ISRAEL (B.C. 855-854) 3 - - A weak, shadowy, and faithless king--1. Relations between Judah and - Israel--2. Alliance with Jehoshaphat--3. Revolt of Moab--Mesha and - the Moabite Stone--4. The fall from the lattice--Baal-Zebub--Elijah - calling down fire from heaven--How are we to judge respecting the - Elijah-spirit?--Variations of moral standard. - - CHAPTER II - - THE ASCENSION OF ELIJAH 19 - - Uncertain date--The journey to Gilgal; to Bethel; to Jericho; to - the Jordan--The double portion--Chariot and horses of fire--Elisha - recrosses the Jordan--The young prophets and their - search--Grandeur of Elijah. - - CHAPTER III - - ELISHA 25 - - Cycle of supernatural stories--Elisha and Elijah--The cure of the - unwholesome fountain--"Go up, thou bald-head"--The children and - the bears. - - CHAPTER IV - - THE INVASION OF MOAB 29 - - Death of Ahaziah--Jehoram Ben-Ahab of Israel--Good - beginnings--Attempts to recover Moab--Alliance with Judah and - Edom--The invasion--An army perishing of - thirst--Elisha--Music--Trenches in the wady--Error of the - Moabites--Their disastrous rout--Devastation of the - country--Mesha propitiates Chemosh--"Great wrath against - Israel"--The invading army retreats. - - CHAPTER V - - ELISHA'S MIRACLES 40 - - Their chronological vagueness--Difference between Elisha and - Elijah--Contrasts and resemblances--Social life in Israel--1. The - widow and the oil--2. The lady of Shunem--Her hospitality--Her - reward--3. The boy's death--Her distress--The resuscitation--4. - Death in the pot--5. The multiplied first-fruits. - - CHAPTER VI - - THE STORY OF NAAMAN 50 - - The little maid--The leper--Letter of Benhadad to Jehoram--His - indignation--Elisha's message--Naaman's disappointment and - anger--His servants--His healing--His gratitude--Bowing in the house - of Rimmon--Mean cupidity of Gehazi--Stricken with leprosy--The - axe-head. - - CHAPTER VII - - ELISHA AND THE SYRIANS 66 - - Syrian marauders--They are baffled--Anger of Benhadad--The vision - at Dothan--Meaning of the promises--How fulfilled to God's saints - on earth--Some are delivered, some are not--Elisha misleads the - Syrians--His generosity to them--Its effects--A fresh Syrian - invasion. - - CHAPTER VIII - - THE FAMINE AND THE SIEGE 76 - - Horrible straits of the besieged Samaritans--Stress of famine--The - King of Israel--The miserable women--Sackcloth under the - purple--The king's fury and despair--He threatens Elisha--The - messenger--The king upbraids him--Prophecy of sudden plenty--The - disbelieving lord--The extramural lepers--The Syrian camp--The - king's misgivings--The lord killed in the rush of the people. - - CHAPTER IX - - THE SHUNAMMITE AND HAZAEL 87 - - The lady of Shunem leaves her estate--Her return--Gehazi talks with - the king--Entrance of the Shunammite--Her estates restored--Elisha - visits Damascus--A royal present--Benhadad's illness--Hazael--The - dark prophecy--Unexplained death of Benhadad--Hazael's - usurpation--Real meaning of Elisha's words to Hazael. - - CHAPTER X - - TWO SONS OF JEHOSHAPHAT 99 - - Jehoram (B.C. 851-843)--Ahaziah (B.C. 843-842)--Jehoram - ben-Jehoshaphat of Judah--Perplexing uncertainty of minute - chronological details--The blight of the Jezebel-alliance--The - husband of Athaliah--His apostasies--Revolt of Edom--Narrow escape - of Jehoram--Revolt of Libnah--Jehoram's murder by his - brethren--Philistine invasion--Incurable disease--Ahaziah - ben-Jehoram--Joins his uncle (Jehoram ben-Ahab) in the campaign - against Ramoth-Gilead--Visits him at Jezreel--Shot down by Jehu. - - CHAPTER XI - - THE REVOLT OF JEHU (B.C. 842) 106 - - Misery of Jehoram's reign--Thwarted invasion of Moab--Aggression - of Benhadad--At Ramoth-Gilead--The young prophet--The two kings - absent from the camp--The dangerous commission--The assembled - captains--Jehu secretly anointed--His accession enthusiastically - welcomed by the army--His sudden enthronement--His swift - resolution--The watchman at Jezreel--The two horsemen--The two - kings--Their murder--Ferocity of Jehu--Elijah's - prophecy--Jezebel--She is hurled down--Jehu drives over her - body--The curse fulfilled. - - CHAPTER XII - - JEHU ESTABLISHED ON THE THRONE (B.C. 842-814) 125 - - His politic subtlety--The murder of the seventy princes--The - ghastly heaps--Hypocritic ferocity. - - CHAPTER XIII - - FRESH MURDERS--THE EXTIRPATION OF BAAL-WORSHIP (B.C. 842) 131 - - Wading through blood to a throne--The ride to Samaria--The brethren - of Ahaziah of Judah--The corpse-choked tank of the shepherds--The - Bedawy ascetic--The scene of slaughter in the temple of Baal--Did - Elisha approve of these atrocities?--Prophetic judgment on - Jehu--Ravages of Hazael--Jehu's anguish--He pays tribute to Assyria. - - CHAPTER XIV - - ATHALIAH (B.C. 842-836)--JOASH OF JUDAH (B.C. 836-796) 146 - - The murderess-daughter of Jezebel--Fierce ambition--Jehosheba--The - rescued child--Reared in the Temple--The high priest's plot--The - coronation of the boy-king--Athaliah enters the Temple--Her - murder--The fate of Baal's high priest--Proposed restoration of - the Temple--Joash calls to task the defaulting priests--Death of - Jehoiada--Defection of Joash--Murder of Zechariah--Bad record of - the line of Jewish priests--Hazael attacks Judah--Defeat of Joash - and plunder of Jerusalem--Murder of Joash--Names of the murderers. - - CHAPTER XV - - AMAZIAH OF JUDAH (B.C. 796-783[?]) 167 - - The House of David--Amaziah brings to justice the murderers of his - father, but spares their children--Grounds for this--Different - views taken of him by the historian and the chronicler--Splendid - victory of Amaziah in the Valley of Salt--Expansion of the story - in the Chronicles--His defiance of Joash--His defeat and murder. - - CHAPTER XVI - - THE DYNASTY OF JEHU--JEHOAHAZ (B.C. 814-797)--JOASH - (B.C. 797-781) 175 - - Israel at its nadir--Calf-worship--Oppression of - Hazael--Disappearance of Elisha--Repentance of Jehoahaz--Joash of - Israel visits the death-bed of Elisha--"The arrow of the Lord's - deliverance"--Three victories over the Syrians--Death of Elisha, - and posthumous marvels--Joash and Amaziah--Contemptuous answer to - the King of Judah--Crushing defeat of Judah. - - CHAPTER XVII - - THE DYNASTY OF JEHU (CONTINUED)--JEROBOAM II. (B.C. 781-740) 187 - - Jeroboam II. the greatest of the kings of Israel--His conquests - and wide dominion--A dying gleam of prosperity--Cause of his - success--Relations with Assyria--Dawn of written prophecy--Jonah. - - CHAPTER XVIII - - AMOS AND HOSEA--ZACHARIAH BEN-JEROBOAM (B.C. 740) 193 - - Amos describes the condition of Israel--Growth of usury and - vice--Humble origin of Amos--His burdens--Degenerations of the - "calf-worship"--Uncompromising denunciation--Collision of Amos - with Amaziah the high priest at Bethel--His expulsion from - Bethel--The curse denounced--His justification of his - mission--Hosea the saddest of the prophets--His pictures of - Ephraim--Jeroboam II.--His death--His son Zachariah--His - desertion and shameful end. - - CHAPTER XIX - - UZZIAH OF JUDAH (B.C. 783[?]-737)--JOTHAM (B.C. 737-735) 209 - - Wane of Assyria--Uzziah a wise and good king--His other name - Azariah--Expansion of the story of his conquests in the - Chronicles--Training of his army--Defeated by the Assyrians - (?)--Stricken with leprosy--The story--Jotham acts as his public - representative--Diminished power of Judah under Jotham--Beginning - of Isaiah's prophecies--Death of Jotham. - - CHAPTER XX - - THE AGONY OF THE NORTHERN KINGDOM--SHALLUM, MENAHEM, PEKAHIAH, - PEKAH (B.C. 740-734) 217 - - Shallum, an usurping murderer--Rapid disappearance of - kings--Distracted epoch--The prophet Zechariah and the three - shepherds--Zechariah's prophecies--The cruel shepherd, - Menahem--His savage deeds--Portentous appearance of the Assyrians - in Israel--Menahem pays tribute--Tiglath-Pileser--Fulfilment of - Hosea's prophecy--Pekahiah--His murder--Pekah--His alliance with - Rezin against Judah--Ahaz appeals to Assyria--Defeat and death of - Rezin--Fulfilment of prophecy of Amos--Beginning of the captivity - of the Ten Tribes--Tiglath-Pileser's successors--Murder of Pekah - by Hoshea--Horrible state of Israel as described by Isaiah. - - CHAPTER XXI - - KING HOSHEA AND THE FALL OF THE NORTHERN KINGDOM (B.C. - 734-725) 235 - - The name Hoshea--The king and the prophet--Occasional gleams of hope - and promise--A humiliating reign--Death of Tiglath-Pileser--Hoshea - revolts to Sabaco of Egypt--Seized by Shalmaneser--Samaria - besieged--Terrible state of the city--Sabaco renders no - help--Usurpation of Sargon--Capture of the city--Greatness of - Sargon--Fall of the Northern Kingdom--Blighted destiny--God's - mercy--"God, and not man"--Despoliation of the tribes--Moral of the - story--Assyria and Egypt--The strength and weakness of a - nation--Machiavelli--Mixture of alien emigrants--Their worship--The - lions--Strange syncretism--The Jews and the Samaritans. - - CHAPTER XXII - - THE REIGN OF AHAZ (B.C. 735-715) 260 - - The chronology--A distracted kingdom--Dark pictures from - Isaiah--No sign of repentance--Grapes and wild grapes. - - CHAPTER XXIII - - ISAIAH AND AHAZ 265 - - Isaiah--Rezin and Pekah--Ahaz meets Isaiah--He receives a promise - of deliverance--He refuses a sign--The sign given - him--Immanuel--Birth of Messianic - prophecy--Maher-shalal-hash-baz--The promised Deliverer. - - CHAPTER XXIV - - THE APOSTASIES OF AHAZ 273 - - Moloch-worship--Sacrifice of children--Ahaz appeals to Assyria for - help--Ruin of Damascus and death of Rezin--Ahaz does homage to - Tiglath-Pileser at Damascus--Records of Tiglath-Pileser--The new - altar--Complaisance of the priest Urijah--Unpopularity of - Ahaz--Further misgivings--His death. - - CHAPTER XXV - - HEZEKIAH (B.C. 715-686) 287 - - Dates--Importance of the reign--Hezekiah's age--His character--His - reformation--Partial suppression of the _bamoth_--Removal of the - _matstseboth_ and _Asherim_--Destruction of the brazen - serpent--Trust in Jehovah--Psalm xlvi.--Chastisement of the - Philistines--Three parties in Jerusalem--1. The Assyrian party--2. - The Egyptian party--3. The national party--Its attitude to the - others--Micah--Mockery of Egypt--Anger and insults of the priests - against Isaiah--Confidence of Isaiah--Waverings of Hezekiah. - - CHAPTER XXVI - - HEZEKIAH'S SICKNESS--THE BABYLONIAN EMBASSY 305 - - The story of Hezekiah's illness misplaced--At the point of - death--Isaiah's message--The king's agony of mind--The prayer--The - reprieve--The sun-dial of Ahaz--The king's gratitude and - thanksgiving--Merodach-Baladan--Rising power of Babylon--Object of - the embassy--The king's action--The prophet's reproof--The king's - humble submission. - - CHAPTER XXVII - - HEZEKIAH AND ASSYRIA (B.C. 701) 319 - - Greatness of Sargon--His campaigns--Defeat of Egypt at the battle - of Raphia--Ashdod--Defeat of Merodach-Baladan--Grandeur of - Sennacherib--His invasion of Judaea--Earlier collisions--His - campaigns--1. Against Babylon--2. Against Elam--3. Against the - Hittites and Philistines--Defeat of the Ethiopian Tirhakah at - Altaqu--Heavy mulct imposed on Hezekiah--Siege of - Lachish--Sennacherib breaks his compact--Distress of Jerusalem. - - CHAPTER XXVIII - - THE GREAT DELIVERANCE (B.C. 701) 331 - - Embassy of the Turtan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh--Misery and - licence in the city--The conference--Oration of the Rabshakeh--Its - effect on the king's ministers and on the people--Taunting insults - of the Rabshakeh--Faithfulness and self-control of the - people--Heroic faith of Isaiah--Failure of the - embassy--Sennacherib's threatening letter--Hezekiah's - prayer--Isaiah promises deliverance in the name of Jehovah--The - sign--The angel of death--Scene of the catastrophe--The Egyptian - tradition of Sethos and the mice--Death and burial of - Hezekiah--The campaign as recorded on the Assyrian monuments--The - triumph of indomitable faith--Grandeur of Isaiah--Wane of - Assyria--Beautiful tolerance of Isaiah. - - CHAPTER XXIX - - MANASSEH (B.C. 686-641) 351 - - The name Manasseh--His tender age--Influence of evil - counsellors--Heathenising party--Their dislike of Hezekiah's - reformation and of the exclusive worship of Jehovah--Tendency to - trust in sacrifices and asceticism--Sanctification of - licence--Arguments of the heathenisers--Disparagement of the work - of Isaiah--Doubts and disbelief--Influence of the - _bamoth_-priests--Reliance on Assyria--The immoral and idolatrous - reaction--1. Restoration of the _bamoth_, and arguments in their - favour--2. Adoption of Phoenician nature-worship--3. Assyrian - Sabaism and star-worship--Connivance of the priests--4. Canaanite - Moloch-worship--5. Mesopotamian Shamanism--6. The - _Asherah_--Denunciation of the prophets--Persecution and the - shedding of innocent blood--Asserted captivity, repentance, and - reforming energy of Manasseh--Difficulties of the story--Reign of - Amon (B.C. 641-639)--Wretchedness of his reign--Zephaniah and - Jeremiah--Murder of Amon. - - CHAPTER XXX - - JOSIAH (B.C. 639-608) 374 - - Three vast movements--Jeremiah's earlier prophecies--The state of - society--The Scythians--Prophecies of Ezekiel--Herodotus--The fate - of Nineveh--Rise of the Chaldaeans--Habakkuk. - - CHAPTER XXXI - - JOSIAH'S REFORMATION 385 - - Growth of Josiah's character--Repairs of the Temple--Hilkiah finds - the Book of the Law--Intense effect produced on mind of the - king--His message to the prophetess Huldah--Great - assembly--Renewal of a solemn league and covenant with - Jehovah--The _bamoth_-priests degraded--Defiling of Tophet--He - carries the reformation into Samaria--Its stringency and - severity--The Passover--Suppression of heathen - corruptions--Jeremiah's share in the reformation--Its dangers and - disappointing results--Jeremiah's warnings against all trust in - externals--The prophecy of a new covenant--NOTE TO CHAPTER XXXI.: - The Book found in the Temple. - - CHAPTER XXXII - - THE DEATH OF JOSIAH (B.C. 608) 402 - - Prosperity and happiness of Josiah--Accession of the great Pharaoh - Necho II.--His excursion against Carchemish--Josiah determines to - bar his path--Warnings of Pharaoh Necho--Disaster at Megiddo and - death of Josiah--Mistaken hopes--God's dealings with men and - nations--Distress among Josiah's subjects--The king's - burial--Misgivings respecting the future--Sorrow of - Jeremiah--Ultimate fulfilments. - - CHAPTER XXXIII - - JEHOAHAZ (B.C. 608) 411 - - Four sons of Josiah--Shallum chosen by the people of the land--Elegy - of Ezekiel--Change of name from Shallum to Jehoahaz--Conquests of - Pharaoh Necho II.--Jehoahaz summoned to Riblah--Carried captive by - Pharaoh to Egypt--Tribute imposed on Judaea. - - CHAPTER XXXIV - - JEHOIAKIM (B.C. 608-597) 416 - - Eliakim--His change of name--Ignored by Ezekiel--Evil - influences--AEsthetic selfishness and oppressive - greed--Denunciation by Habakkuk--Denunciation by Jeremiah--Murder - of Urijah--Threatened murder of Jeremiah averted by Ahikam--Fall - of Nineveh--Utterances of the prophets--Rise of the - Chaldaeans--Nabopolassar--Defeat of Pharaoh Necho by - Nebuchadrezzar--His return to Babylon--His invasion of - Judaea--Beginning of the Babylonian captivity--Jehoiakim revolts to - Egypt in spite of Jeremiah's warnings--Imprisonment of - Jeremiah--Baruch--The menacing roll--Alarm of the princes--Rage of - the king--He cuts the scroll to pieces and burns it--Wretchedness - of the times--A great drought--Captives of Jerusalem--Miserable - death of Jehoiakim--"That which was found in him." - - CHAPTER XXXV - - JEHOIACHIN (B.C. 597) 431 - - Bad influence over him--His brief reign--Allusions to him by - Jeremiah at Jerusalem--Second captivity--Regret felt for - Jehoiachin--Did he die childless? - - CHAPTER XXXVI - - ZEDEKIAH, THE LAST KING OF JUDAH (B.C. 597-586) 437 - - His oath to the King of Assyria--Ezekiel's prophecies--The exiles - and the remnant--Weakness of Zedekiah--Continuance of idolatry as - described by Ezekiel--The king breaks his oath with - Assyria--Indignation and warnings of Jeremiah--The false prophet - Hananiah--The wooden and iron yokes--Death of Hananiah--False - prophets--The broken covenant--Advance of - Nebuchadrezzar--Belomancy and Babylonian divinations--Siege of - Jerusalem--Gloom of Jeremiah's prophecies. - - CHAPTER XXXVII - - JEREMIAH AND HIS PROPHECIES 449 - - Pathos of Jeremiah's lot--The sad epoch in which he - lived--Religious changes--Arrest of Jeremiah--Progress of the - siege--Zedekiah sends for the prophet--His hardships - alleviated--Horrors of famine--Wicked defiance--A sudden - death--Anger of the priests and nobles against Jeremiah--He is - thrust into a miry pit--Compassion of Ebed-Melech--Purchase of a - field at Anathoth--Secret interview with Zedekiah--It becomes - known--Distress of Zedekiah. - - CHAPTER XXXVIII - - THE FALL OF JERUSALEM (B.C. 586) 457 - - Nebuzaradan and the Babylonians--The final captivity--Dreadful - fate of Zedekiah--Prophecies of Ezekiel and Jeremiah--Sack of the - city--Massacre of the chief inhabitants--Burning of the city and - Temple--Desolation--Respect shown by the Babylonian general to - Jeremiah--He decides to remain with the remnant in Judaea. - - CHAPTER XXXIX - - GEDALIAH (B.C. 586) 465 - - Sad parting from the exiles--The wail at Ramah--Gedaliah's - appointment as satrap perhaps due to Jeremiah--Desolation of - Jerusalem--The seat of government removed to Mizpah--A respite and - a gleam of hope--Guerilla bands--Johanan warns Gedaliah against - Ishmael--Unsuspecting generosity of the governor--He receives - Ishmael and his confederates with hospitality--He is brutally - murdered--Massacre of the pilgrims from Shiloh--The horrible - well--Johanan pursues Ishmael--His escape--Proposal to migrate to - Egypt--Jeremiah consulted--His advice refused--Prophecy of - Jeremiah at the khan of Chimham--Kindness shown by Evil-Merodach - to Jehoiachin. - - EPILOGUE 477 - - The interest of the preceding history and the great moral lessons - which it involves--The central conceptions of Hebrew prophecy--The - end of the whole matter. - - APPENDIX I - - THE KINGS OF ASSYRIA, AND SOME OF THEIR INSCRIPTIONS 487 - - APPENDIX II - - INSCRIPTION IN THE TUNNEL OF THE POOL OF SILOAM 493 - - APPENDIX III - - WAS THERE A GOLDEN CALF AT DAN? 494 - - APPENDIX IV - - DATES OF THE KINGS OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH, AS GIVEN BY KITTEL AND - OTHER MODERN CRITICS 495 - - - - - THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS - - - - -"Theories of inspiration which impaginate the Everlasting Spirit, and -make each verse a cluster of objectless and mechanical miracles, are -not seriously believed by any one: the Bible itself abides in its -endless power and unexhausted truth. All that is not of asbestos is -being burned away by the restless fires of thought and criticism. That -which remains is enough, and it is indestructible."--BISHOP OF DERRY. - - - - - CHAPTER I - - _AHAZIAH BEN-AHAB OF ISRAEL_ - - B.C. 855-854 - - 2 KINGS i. 1-18 - - "Ye know not of what spirit are ye."--LUKE ix. 55. - - "He is the mediator of a better covenant, which hath been enacted - upon better promises."--HEB. viii. 6. - - -Ahaziah, the eldest son and successor of Ahab, has been called "the most -shadowy of the Israelitish kings."[1] He seems to have been in all -respects one of the most weak, faithless, and deplorably miserable. He -did but reign two years--perhaps in reality little more than one; but -this brief space was crowded with intolerable disasters. Everything that -he touched seemed to be marked out for ruin or failure, and in character -he showed himself a true son of Jezebel and Ahab. - -What results followed the defeat of Ahab and Jehoshaphat at -Ramoth-Gilead we are not told. The war must have ended in terms of -peace of some kind--perhaps in the cession of Ramoth-Gilead; for -Ahaziah does not seem to have been disturbed during his brief reign by -any Syrian invasion. Nor were there any troubles on the side of Judah. -Ahaziah's sister was the wife of Jehoshaphat's heir, and the good -understanding between the two kingdoms was so closely cemented, that -in both royal houses there was an identity of names--two Ahaziahs and -two Jehorams. - -But even the Judaean alliance was marked with misfortune. Jehoshaphat's -prosperity and ambition, together with his firm dominance over -Edom--in which country he had appointed a vassal, who was sometimes -allowed the courtesy title of king[2]--led him to emulate Solomon by -an attempt to revive the old maritime enterprise which had astonished -Jerusalem with ivory, and apes, and peacocks imported from India. He -therefore built "ships of Tarshish" at Ezion-Geber to sail to Ophir. -They were called "Tarshish-ships," because they were of the same build -as those which sailed to Tartessus, in Spain, from Joppa. Ahaziah was -to some extent associated with him in the enterprise. But it turned -out even more disastrously than it had done in former times. So -unskilled was the seamanship of those days among all nations except -the Phoenicians, that the whole fleet was wrecked and shattered to -pieces in the very harbour of Ezion-Geber before it had set sail. - -Ahaziah, whose affinity with the King of Tyre and possession of some -of the western ports had given his subjects more knowledge of ships -and voyages, then proposed to Jehoshaphat that the vessels should be -manned with sailors from Israel as well as Judah. But Jehoshaphat was -tired of a futile and expensive effort. He refused a partnership which -might easily lead to complications, and on which the prophets of -Jehovah frowned. It was the last attempt made by the Israelites to -become merchants by sea as well as by land. - -Ahaziah's brief reign was marked by one immense humiliation. David, who -extended the dominion of the Hebrews in all directions, had smitten the -Moabites, and inflicted on them one of the horrible atrocities against -which the ill-instructed conscience of men in those days of ignorance -did not revolt.[3] He had made the male warriors lie on the ground, and -then, measuring them by lines, he put every two lines to death and kept -one alive. After this the Moabites had continued to be tributaries. They -had fallen to the share of the Northern Kingdom, and yearly acknowledged -the suzerainty of Israel by paying a heavy tribute of the fleeces of a -hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand rams. But now that the -warrior Ahab was dead, and Israel had been crushed by the catastrophe at -Ramoth-Gilead, Mesha, the energetic viceroy of Moab, seized his -opportunity to revolt and to break from the neck of his people the -odious yoke. The revolt was entirely successful. The sacred historian -gives us no details, but one of the most priceless of modern -archaeological discoveries has confirmed the Scriptural reference by -securing and translating a fragment of Mesha's own account of the -annals of his reign. We have, in what is called "The Moabite Stone," the -memorial written in glorification of himself and of his god Chemosh, -"the abomination of the children of Ammon," by a contemporary of Ahab -and Jehoshaphat.[4] It is the oldest specimen which we possess of Hebrew -writing; perhaps the only specimen, except the Siloam inscription, which -has come down to us from before the date of the Exile. It was discovered -in 1878 by the German missionary Klein, amid the ruins of the royal city -of Daibon (Dibon, Num. xxi. 30), and was purchased for the Berlin Museum -in 1879. Owing to all kinds of errors and intrigues, it did not remain -in the hands of its purchaser, but was broken into fragments by the -nomad tribe of Beni Hamide, from whom it was in some way obtained by M. -Clermont-Ganneau. There is no ground for questioning its perfect -genuineness, though the discovery of its value led to the forgery of a -number of spurious and often indecent inscriptions. There can be no -reasonable doubt that when we look at it we see before us the identical -memorial of triumph which the Moabite emir erected in the days of -Ahaziah on the _bamah_ of Chemosh at Dibon, one of his chief towns. - -This document is supremely interesting, not only for its historical -allusions, but also as an illustration of customs and modes of thought -which have left their traces in the records of the people of Jehovah, -as well as in those of the people of Chemosh.[5] Mesha tells us that -his father reigned in Dibon for thirty years, and that he succeeded. -He reared this stone to Chemosh in the town of Karcha, as a memorial -of gratitude for the assistance which had resulted in the overthrow of -all his enemies. Omri, King of Israel, had oppressed Moab many days, -because Chemosh was wroth with his people. Ahaziah wished to oppress -Moab as his father had done. But Chemosh enabled Mesha to recover -Medeba, and afterwards Baal-Meon, Kirjatan, Ataroth, Nebo, and Jahaz, -which he reoccupied and rebuilt. Perhaps they had been practically -abandoned by all effective Israelite garrisons. In some of these towns -he put the inhabitants under a ban, and sacrificed them to Moloch in a -great slaughter. In Nebo alone he slew seven thousand men. Having -turned many towns into fortresses, he was enabled to defy Israel -altogether, to refuse the old burdensome tribute, and to re-establish -a strong Moabite kingdom east of the Dead Sea; for Israel was wholly -unable to meet his forces in the open field. Month after month of the -reign of the miserable son of Ahab must have been marked by tidings of -shame, defeat, and massacre. - -Added to these public calamities, there came to Ahaziah a terrible -personal misfortune. As he was coming down from the roof of his -palace, he seems to have stopped to lean against the lattice of some -window or balcony in his upper chamber in Samaria.[6] It gave way -under his weight, and he was hurled down into the courtyard or street -below. He was so seriously hurt that he spent the rest of his reign on -a sick-bed in pain and weakness, and ultimately died of the injuries -he had received. - -A succession of woes so grievous might well have awakened the wretched -king to serious thought. But he had been trained under the idolatrous -influences of his mother. As though it were not enough for him to walk -in the steps of Ahab, of Jezebel, and of Jeroboam, he had the fatuity to -go out of his way to patronise another and yet more odious superstition. -Ekron was the nearest town to him of the Philistine Pentapolis, and at -Ekron was established the local cult of a particular Baal known as -Baal-Zebub ("the lord of flies").[7] Flies, which in temperate countries -are sometimes an intense annoyance, become in tropical climates an -intolerable plague. Even the Greeks had their Zeus Apomuios ("Zeus the -averter of flies"), and some Greek tribes worshipped Zeus Ipuktonos -("Zeus the slayer of vermin"), and Zeus Muiagros and Apomuios, and -Apollo Smintheus ("the destroyer of mice").[8] The Romans, too, among -the numberless quaint heroes of their Pantheon, had a certain Myiagrus -and Myiodes, whose function it was to keep flies at a distance.[9] This -fly-god, Baal-Zebub of Ekron, had an oracle, to whose lying responses -the young and superstitious prince attached implicit credence. That a -king of Israel professing any sort of allegiance to Jehovah, and having -hundreds of prophets in his own kingdom, should send an embassy to the -shrine of an abominable local divinity in a town of the -Philistines--whose chief object of worship was - - "That twice-battered god of Palestine, - Who mourned in earnest when the captive ark - Maimed his brute image on the grunsel edge - Where he fell flat, and shamed his worshippers"-- - -was, it must be admitted, an act of apostasy more outrageously -insulting than had ever yet been perpetrated by any Hebrew king. -Nothing can more clearly illustrate the callous indifference shown by -the race of Jezebel to the lessons which God had so decisively taught -them by Elijah and by Micaiah. - -But - - _Quem vult Deus perire, dementat prius_; - -and in this "dementation preceding doom" Ahaziah sent to ask the -fly-god's oracle whether he should recover of his injury. His -infatuated perversity became known to Elijah, who was bidden by "the -angel," or messenger, "of the Lord"--which may only be the recognised -phrase in the prophetic schools, putting in a concrete and vivid form -the voice of inward inspiration--to go up, apparently on the road -towards Samaria, and meet the messengers of Ahaziah on their way to -Ekron. Where Elijah was at the time we do not know. Ten years had -elapsed since the calling of Elisha, and four since Elijah had -confronted Ahab at the door of Naboth's vineyard. In the interval he -has not once been mentioned, nor can we conjecture with the least -certainty whether he had been living in congenial solitude or had -been helping to train the Sons of the Prophets in the high duties of -their calling. Why he had not appeared to support Micaiah we cannot -tell. Now, at any rate, the son of Ahab was drawing upon himself an -ancient curse by going a-whoring after wizards and familiar spirits, -and it was high time for Elijah to interfere.[10] - -The messengers had not proceeded far on their way when the prophet met -them, and sternly bade them go back to their king, with the -denunciation, "Is it because there is no God in Israel that ye go to -inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Now, therefore, thus saith -Jehovah, 'Thou shalt not descend from that bed on which thou art gone -up, but dying thou shalt die.'" - -He spoke, and after his manner vanished with no less suddenness. - -The messengers, overawed by that startling apparition, did not dream -of daring to disobey. They at once went back to the king, who, -astonished at their reappearance before they could possibly have -reached the oracle, asked them why they had returned. - -They told him of the apparition by which they had been confronted. -That it was a prophet who had spoken to them they knew; but the -appearances of Elijah had been so few, and at such long intervals, -that they knew not who he was. - -"What sort of man was he that spoke to you?" asked the king. - -"He was," they answered, "a lord of hair,[11] and girded about his -loins with a girdle of skin."[12] - -Too well did Ahaziah recognise from this description the enemy of his -guilty race! If he had not been present on Carmel, or at Jezreel, on -the occasions when that swart and shaggy figure of the awful Wanderer -had confronted his father, he must have often heard descriptions of -this strange Bedawy ascetic who "feared man so little because he -feared God so much." - -"It is Elijah the Tishbite!" he exclaimed, with a bitterness which was -succeeded by fierce wrath; and with something of his mother's -indomitable rage he sent a captain with fifty soldiers to arrest him. - -The captain found Elijah sitting at the top of "the hill," perhaps of -Carmel; and what followed is thus described:-- - -"Thou man of God," he cried, "the king hath said, Come down." - -There was something strangely incongruous in this rude address. The -title "man of God" seems first to have been currently given to Elijah, -and it recognises his inspired mission as well as the supernatural -power which he was believed to wield. How preposterous, then, was it -to bid a man of God to obey a king's order and to give himself up to -imprisonment or death! - -"If I be a man of God," said Elijah, "then let fire come down from -heaven, to consume thee and thy fifty."[13] - -The fire fell and reduced them all to ashes.[14] - -Undeterred by so tremendous a consummation, the king sent another -captain with his fifty, who repeated the order in terms yet more -imperative.[15] - -Again Elijah called down the fire from heaven, and the second captain -with his fifty soldiers was reduced to ashes. - -For the third time the obstinate king, whose infatuation must indeed -have been transcendent, despatched a captain with his fifty. But he, -warned by the fate of his predecessors, went up to Elijah and fell on -his knees, and implored him to spare the life of himself and his fifty -innocent soldiers. - -Then "the angel of the Lord" bade Elijah go down to the king with him -and not be afraid. - -What are we to think of this narrative? - -Of course, if we are to judge it on such moral grounds as we learn from -the spirit of the Gospel, Christ Himself has taught us to condemn it. -There have been men who so hideously misunderstood the true lessons of -revelation as to applaud such deeds, and hold them up for modern -imitation. The dark persecutors of the Spanish Inquisition, nay, even -men like Calvin and Beza, argued from this scene that "fire is the -proper instrument for the punishment of heretics." To all who have been -thus misled by a false and superstitious theory of inspiration, Christ -Himself says, with unmistakable plainness, as He said to the Sons of -Thunder at Engannim, "Ye know not what spirit ye are of. I am not come -to destroy men's lives, but to save."[16] In the abstract, and judged by -Christian standards, the calling down of lightning to consume more than -a hundred soldiers, who were but obeying the orders of a king--the -protection of personal safety by the miraculous destruction of a king's -messengers--could only be regarded as a deed of horror. "There are few -tracks of Elijah that are ordinary and fit for common feet," says Bishop -Hall; and he adds, "Not in his own defence would the prophet have been -the death of so many, if God had not, by a peculiar instinct, made him -an instrument of His just vengeance."[17] - -For myself, I more than doubt whether we have any right to appeal to -these "peculiar instincts" and unrecorded inspirations; and it is so -important that we should not form utterly false views of what -Scripture does and does not teach, that we must once more deal with -this narrative quite plainly, and not beat about the bush with the -untenable devices and effeminate euphemisms of commentators, who give -us the "to-and-fro-conflicting" apologies of _a priori_ theory instead -of the clear judgments of inflexible morality. - -"It is impossible not to feel," says Professor Milligan,[18] "that the -events thus presented to us are of a very startling kind, and that it -is not easy to reconcile them either with the conception that we form -of an honoured servant of God, or with our ideas of eternal justice. -Elijah rather appears to us at first sight as a proud, arrogant, and -merciless wielder of the power committed to him: we wonder that an -answer should have been given to his prayer; we are shocked at the -destruction of so many men, who listened only to the command of their -captain and their king; and we cannot help contrasting Elijah's -conduct, as a whole, with the beneficent and loving tenderness of the -New Testament dispensation." - -Professor Milligan proceeds rightly to set aside the attempts which -have been made to represent the first two captains and their fifties -as especially guilty--which is a most flimsy hypothesis, and would not -in any case touch the heart of the matter. He says that the event -stands on exactly the same footing as the slaughter of the 450 -prophets of Baal at Kishon, and of the 3000 idolaters by order of -Moses at Sinai; the swallowing up of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; the -ban of total extirpation on Jericho and on Canaan; the sweeping -massacre of the Amalekites by Saul; and many similar instances of -recorded savagery. But the reference to analogous acts furnishes no -justification for those acts. What, then, is their justification, if -any can be found? - -Some would defend them on the grounds that the potter may do what he -likes with the clay. That analogy, though perfectly admissible when -used for the purpose to which it is applied by St. Paul, is grossly -inapplicable to such cases as this. St. Paul uses it simply to prove -that we cannot judge or understand the purposes of God, in which, as -he shows, mercy often lies behind apparent severity. But, when urged -to maintain the rectitude of sweeping judgments in which a man arms -his own feebleness with the omnipotence of Heaven, they amount to no -more than the tyrant's plea that "might makes right." "Man is a reed," -said Pascal, "but he is a _thinking_ reed." He may not therefore be -indiscriminately crushed. He was made by God in His image, after His -likeness, and therefore his rights have a Divine and indefeasible -sanction. - -All that can be said is that these deeds of wholesale severity were -not in disaccord with the conscience even of many of the best Old -Testament saints. They did not feel the least compunction in -inflicting judgments on whole populations in a way which would argue -in us an infamous callousness. Nay, their consciences approved of -those deeds; they were but acting up to the standard of their times, -and they regarded themselves as righteous instruments of divinely -directed vengeance.[19] Take, for instance, the frightful Eastern law -which among the Jews no less than among Babylonians and Persians -thought nothing of overwhelming the innocent with the guilty in the -same catastrophe; which required the stoning, not only of Achan, but -of all Achan's innocent family, as an expiation for his theft; and the -stoning, not only of Naboth, but also of Naboth's sons, in requital -for his asserted blasphemy. Two reasons may be assigned for the chasm -between their moral sense and ours on such subjects--one was their -amazing indifference to the sacredness of human life, and the other -their invariable habit of regarding men in their corporate relations -rather than in their individual capacity. Our conscience teaches us -that to slay the innocent with the guilty is an action of monstrous -injustice;[20] but they, regarding each person as indissolubly mixed -up with all his family and tribe, magnified the conception of -_corporate responsibility_, and merged the individual in the mass. - -It is clear that, if we take the narrative literally, Elijah would not -have felt the least remorse in calling fire from heaven to consume these -scores of soldiers, because the prophetic narrator who recorded the -story, perhaps two centuries later, must have understood the spirit of -those days, and certainly felt no shame for the prophet's act of -vengeance. On the contrary, he relates it with entire approval for the -glorification of his hero. We cannot blame him for not rising above the -moral standard of his age. He held that the natural manifestation of an -angry Jehovah was, literally or metaphorically, in consuming fire. -Considering the slow education of mankind in the most elementary -principles of mercy and righteousness, we must not judge the views of -prophets who lived so many ages before Christ by those of religious -teachers who enjoy the inherited experience of two millenniums of -Christianity. Thus much is plainly taught us by Christ Himself, and -there perhaps we might be content to leave the question. But we are -compelled to ask, Do we not too much form all our judgments of the -Scripture narratives on _a priori_ traditions and unreasoned prejudices? -Can we with adequate knowledge and honest conviction declare our -certainty that this scene of destruction ever occurred as a literal -fact? If we turn to any of the great students and critics of Germany, to -whom we are indebted for the floods of light which their researches have -thrown on the sacred page, they with almost consentient voice regard -these details of this story as legendary. There is indeed every reason -to believe the account of Ahaziah's accident, of his sending to consult -the oracle of Baal-Zebub, of the turning back of his messengers by -Elijah, and of the menace which he heard from the prophet's lips. But -the calling down of lightning to consume his captains and soldiers to -ashes belongs to the cycle of Elijah-traditions preserved in the schools -of the prophets; and in the case of miracles so startling and to our -moral sense so repellent--miracles which assume the most insensate folly -on the part of the king, and the most callous ruthlessness on the part -of the prophet--the question may be fairly asked, Is there any proof, is -there anything beyond dogmatic assertion to convince us, that we were -intended to accept them _au pied de la lettre_? May they not be the -formal vehicle chosen for the illustration of the undoubted powers and -righteous mission of Elijah as the upholder of the worship of Jehovah? -In a literature which abounds, as all Eastern literature abounds, in -vivid and concrete methods of indicating abstract truths, have we any -cogent proof that the supernatural details, of which some may have been -introduced into these narratives by the scribes in the schools of the -prophets, were not, in some instances, _meant_ to be regarded as -imaginative apologues? The most orthodox divines, both Jewish and -Christian, have not hesitated to treat the Book of Jonah as an instance -of the use of fiction for purposes of moral and spiritual edification. -Were any critic to maintain that the story of the destruction of -Ahaziah's emissaries belongs to the same class of narratives, I do not -know how he could be refuted, however much he might be denounced by -stereotyped prejudice and ignorance. I do not, however, myself regard -the story as a mere parable composed to show how awful was the power of -the prophets, and how fearfully it might be exercised. I look upon it -rather as possibly the narrative of some event which has been -imaginatively embellished, and intermingled with details which we call -supernatural.[21] Circumstances which we consider natural would be -regarded as directly miraculous by an Eastern enthusiast, who saw in -every event the immediate act of Jehovah to the exclusion of all -secondary causes, and who attributed every occurrence of life to the -intervention of those "millions of spiritual creatures," who - - "walk the earth - Unseen both when we wake and when we sleep." - -If such a supposition be correct and admissible--and assuredly it is -based on all that we increasingly learn of the methods of Eastern -literature, and of the forms in which religious ideas were inculcated -in early ages--then all difficulties are removed. We are not dealing -with the mercilessness of a prophet, or the wielding of Divine powers -in a manner which higher revelation condemns, but only with the -well-known fact that the Elijah-spirit was not the Christ-spirit, and -that the scribes of Ramah or Gilgal, and "the men of the tradition" -and the "men of letters" who lived at Jabez, when they used the -methods of Targum and Haggadah in handing down the stories of the -prophets, had not received that full measure of enlightenment which -came only when the Light of the World had shone.[22] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] Rawlinson, _Kings of Israel and Judah_, p. 86. "The name of -Ahaziah ('the Lord taketh hold'), like that of all Ahab's sons, -testifies to the fact that the husband of Jezebel still worshipped -Jehovah. Among the names of the judges and kings before Ahab in -Israel, and Asa in Judah, scarcely a single instance occurs of names -compounded with Jehovah; thenceforward they became the rule" -(Wellhausen, _Israel and Judah_, Es. 1, p. 66). - -[2] 1 Kings xxii. 47; 2 Kings iii. 9: comp. viii. 20. - -[3] 2 Sam. viii. 2. On the ethics of these wars of extermination, such -as are commanded in the Pentateuch, and were practised by Joshua, -Samuel, Saul, David, and others, see Josh. vi. 17; 1 Sam. xv. 3, 33; 2 -Sam. viii. 2, etc., and Mozley's _Lectures on the Old Testament_, pp. -83-103. - -[4] See Stade, i. 86. He gives a photograph and translation of it at -p. 534. - -[5] See _Records of the Past_, xi. 166, 167. - -[6] 2 Kings i. 2; Heb., _be'ad hass'bakah_; LXX., [Greek: dia tou -diktuotou]; Vulg., _per cancellos_ (comp. 1 Kings vii. 18; 2 Chron. -iv. 12). - -[7] LXX., [Greek: Baal muian theon Akkaron]. So, too, Jos., _Antt._, -IX. ii. 1. It is possible that the god was represented holding a fly -as the type of pestilence, just as the statue of Pthah held in its -hands a mouse (Herod., ii. 141). Flies convey all kinds of contagion -(Plin., _H. N._, x. 28). - -[8] Pausan., v. 14, Sec. 2. - -[9] The name, or a derisive modification of it, was given by the Jews -in the days of Christ to the prince of the devils. In Matt. xii. 24 -the true reading is [Greek: Beelzeboul], which perhaps means (in -contempt) "the lord of dung"; but might mean "the lord of the -[celestial] habitation" ([Greek: oikodespoten]). Comp. Matt. x. 25; -Eph. ii. 2; "Baal Shamaim," the Belsamen of Augustine (Gesen., _Monum. -Phoenic._, 387; Movers, _Phoenizier_, i. 176). For "opprobrious puns" -applied to idols, see Lightfoot, _Exercitationes ad Matt._, xii. 24. -The common word for idols, _gilloolim_, is perhaps connected with -_galal_, "dung." Hitzig thinks that the god was represented under the -symbol of the _Scarabaeus pillularius_, or dung-beetle. - -[10] Lev. xx. 6. - -[11] [Hebrew: ba'alsetzar] (LXX., [Greek: dasus]), whether in reference -to his long shaggy locks, or his sheepskin _addereth_, [Greek: melote] -(Zech. xiii. 4; Heb. xii. 37). - -[12] [Greek: zone dermatine] (Matt iii. 4). - -[13] There is perhaps an intentional play of words between "man -([Hebrew: yosh]) of God" and "fire ([Hebrew: 'osh]) of God" -(Klostermann). - -[14] Hebrew. - -[15] "Come down _quickly_" (2 Kings i. 9). - -[16] Luke ix. 51-56. This is a more than sufficient answer to the -censure of Theodoret, that "they who condemn the prophet are wagging -their tongues against God." The remark is based on utter -misapprehension; and if we are to form no judgment on the morality of -Scripture examples, they would be of no help for us. Compare the -striking remark of the minister to Balfour of Burleigh in Scott's _Old -Mortality_. - -[17] Quoted by Rev. Professor Lumby, _ad loc._ - -[18] _Elijah_, p. 146. - -[19] This is practically the sum-total of the answer given again and -again by Canon Mozley in his _Lectures on the Old Testament_, 2nd -edition, 1878. For instance, he says that "the Jewish idea of justice -gives us the reason why the Divine commands (of exterminating wars, -etc.) were then adapted to man as the agent for executing them, and -are not adapted now" (p. 102). - -[20] Comp. Ezek. xviii. 2-30. - -[21] For the _idea_ involved see Num. xi. 1; Deut. iv. 24; Psalm xxi. -9; Isa. xxvi. 11; Heb. x. 27, etc. - -[22] 1 Chron. ii. 55, where "Shimeathites" means "men of the -tradition," and "scribes," "men of letters." - - - - - CHAPTER II - - _THE ASCENSION OF ELIJAH_ - - 2 KINGS ii. 1-18 - - [Greek: Elias ex anthropon ephanisthe, kai oudeis egno mechris tes - semeron autou ten teleuten.]--JOS., _Antt._, IX. ii. 2. - - [Greek: Gegonasin aphaneis, thanaton de auton oudeis oiden.]--ST. - EPHRAEM SYRUS. - - -The date of the assumption of Elijah is wholly uncertain, and it -becomes still more so because of the confusion of chronological order -which results from the composite character of the records here -collected. It appears from various scattered notices that Elijah lived -on till the reign of Jehoram of Judah, whereas the narrative in this -chapter is placed before the death of Jehoshaphat. - -When the time came that "Jehovah would take up Elijah by a whirlwind -into heaven," the prophet had a prevision of his approaching end, and -determined for the last time to visit the hills of his native Gilead. -The story of his end, though not written in rhythm, is told in a style -of the loftiest poetry, resembling other ancient poems in its simple -and solemn repetitions. On his way to Gilead, Elijah desires to visit -ancient sanctuaries where schools of the prophets were now -established, and accompanied by Elisha, whose faithful ministrations -he had enjoyed for ten almost silent years, he went to Gilgal. This -was not the Gilgal in the Jordan valley so famous in the days of -Joshua,[23] but _Jiljilia_ in the hills of Ephraim,[24] where many -young prophets were in course of training.[25] - -Knowing that he was on his way to death, Elijah felt the imperious -instinct which leads the soul to seek solitude at the supreme crises -of life. He would have preferred that even Elisha should leave him, -and he bade him stop at Gilgal, because the Lord had sent him as far -as Bethel. But Elisha was determined to see the end, and exclaimed -with strong asseveration, "As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, -I will not leave thee." - -So they went on to Bethel, where there was another school of prophets, -under the immediate shadow of Jeroboam's golden calf, though we are -not told whether they continued the protest of the old nameless seer -from Judah, or not.[26] Here the youths of the college came -respectfully to Elisha--for they were prevented by a sense of awe from -addressing Elijah--and asked him "whether he knew that that day God -would take away his master." "Yes, I know it," he answers; but--for -this is no subject for idle talk--"hold ye your peace." - -Once more Elijah tries to shake off the attendance of his friend and -disciple. He bids him stay at Bethel, since Jehovah has sent him on to -Jericho. Once more Elisha repeats his oath that he will not leave -him, and once more the sons of the prophets at Jericho, who warn him -of what is coming, are told to say no more. - -But little of the journey now remains. In vain Elijah urges Elisha to -stay at Jericho; they proceed to Jordan. Conscious that some great -event is impending, and that Elijah is leaving these scenes for ever, -fifty of the sons of the prophets watch the two as they descend the -valley to the river. Here they saw Elijah take off his mantle of hair, -roll it up, and smite the waters with it. The waters part asunder, and -the prophets pass over dry-shod.[27] As they crossed over Elijah asks -Elisha what he should do for him, and Elisha entreats that a double -portion of Elijah's spirit may rest upon him. By this he does not mean -to ask for twice Elijah's power and inspiration, but only for an elder -son's portion, which was twice what was inherited by the younger -sons.[28] "Thou hast asked a hard thing," said Elijah; "but if thou -seest me when I am taken hence, it shall be so." - -The sequel can be only told in the words of the text: "And it came to -pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared -a chariot of fire, and horses of fire,[29] and parted them both -asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw -it, and he cried, 'My father, my father, the chariots of Israel, and -the horsemen thereof!'[30] And he saw him no more." - -Respecting the manner in which Elijah ended his earthly career, we -know nothing beyond what is conveyed by this splendid narrative. His -death, like that of Moses, was surrounded by mystery and miracles, and -we can say nothing further about it. The question must still remain -unanswered for many minds whether it was intended by the prophetic -annalists for literal history, for spiritual allegory, or for actual -events bathed in the colourings of an imagination to which the -providential assumed the aspect of the supernatural.[31] We are twice -told that "Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven,"[32] and in that -storm--which would have seemed a fit scene for the close of a career -of storm--God, in the high poetry of the Psalmist, may have made the -winds His angels, and the flames of fire His ministers. For us it must -suffice to say of Elijah, as the Book of Genesis says of Enoch, that -"he was not, for God took him." - -Elisha signalised the removal of his master by a burst of natural -grief. He seized his garments and rent them in twain. Elijah had -dropped his mantle of skin, and his grieving disciple took it with him -as a priceless relic.[33] The legendary St. Antony bequeathed to St. -Athanasius the only thing which he had, his sheepskin mantle; and in -the mantle of Elijah his successor inherited his most characteristic -and almost his sole possession. He returned to Jordan, and with this -mantle he smote the waters as Elijah had done. At first they did not -divide;[34] but when he exclaimed, "Where is the Lord, the God of -Elijah, even He?" they parted hither and thither. Seeing the portent, -the sons of the prophets came with humble prostrations, and -acknowledged him as their new leader. - -They were not, however, satisfied with what they had seen, or had -heard from Elisha, of the departure of the great prophet, and begged -leave to send fifty strong men to search whether the wind of the Lord -had not swept him away to some mountain or valley. Elisha at first -refused, but afterwards yielded to their persistent importunity. They -searched for three days among the hills of Gilead, but found him not, -either living or dead, as Elisha had warned them would be the case. - -From that time forward Elijah has taken his place in all Jewish and -Mohammedan legends as the mysterious and deathless wanderer. Malachi -spoke of him as destined to appear again to herald the coming of the -Messiah,[35] and Christ taught His disciples that John the Baptist had -come in the spirit and power of Elijah. In Jewish legend he often -appears and disappears. A chair is set for him at the circumcision of -every Jewish child. At the Paschal feast the door is set open for him -to enter. All doubtful questions are left for decision until he comes -again. To the Mohammedans he is known as the wonder-working and awful -El Khudr.[36] - -Elisha is mentioned but once in all the later books of Scripture; but -Elijah is mentioned many times, and the son of Sirach sums up his -greatness when he says: "Then stood up Elias as fire, and his word -burned like a torch. O Elias, how wast thou honoured in thy wondrous -deeds! and who may glory like unto thee--who anointed kings to take -revenge, and prophets to succeed after him--who wast ordained for -reproof in their times, to pacify the wrath of the Lord's judgment -before it broke forth into fury, and to turn the heart of the father -unto the son, and to restore the tribes of Jacob! Blessed are they -that saw thee and slept in love; for we shall surely live!" - -FOOTNOTES: - -[23] Josh. iv. 19; v. 9, 10. - -[24] Deut. xi. 30. It is on a hill south-west of Shiloh (_Seilun_), -near the road to Jericho (Hos. iv. 15; Amos iv. 4). The name means "a -circle," and there may have been an ancient circle of sacred stones -there. - -[25] 2 Kings iv. 38. - -[26] 1 Kings xiii. - -[27] As there are fords at Jericho, the object of this miracle, as of -the one subsequently ascribed to Elisha, is not self-evident. Nothing -is more certain than that there is a Divine economy in the exercise of -supernatural powers. The pomp and prodigality of superfluous portents -belong, not to Scripture, but to the _Acta sanctorum_, and the -saint-stories of Arabia and India. - -[28] Deut. xxi. 17. The Hebrew is [Hebrew: pi-shenayim], "a mouthful, -or ration of two." Comp. Gen. xliii. 34. Even Ewald's "_Nur -Zweidrittel und auch diese kaum_" is too strong (_Gesch._, iii. 517). -In no sense was Elisha greater than Elijah: he wrought more wonders, -but he left little of his teaching, and produced on the mind of his -nation a far less strong impression. - -[29] In 2 Kings vi. 17 the stormblast (_sa'arah_) and chariots and -horses of fire are part of a vision of the Divine protection. Comp. -Isa. lxvi. 15; Job xxxviii, 1; Nah. i. 3; Psalms xviii. 6-15, civ. 3. - -[30] That is, the protection and defence of Israel by thy prayers. - -[31] Even the Church-father St. Ephraem Syrus evidently felt some -misgivings. He says: "Suddenly there came from the height a storm of -fire, and in the midst of the flame the form of a chariot and horses, -and parted them both asunder; the one of them it left on the earth, the -other it carried to the height; but whether the wind carried him, or in -what place it left him, the Scripture has not informed us, but it says -that after some years, a terrifying letter from him full of menaces, was -delivered to King Jehoram of Judah" (quoted by Keil _ad loc._). See 2 -Chron. xxi. 12. The letter is called "a writing" (_miktab_). - -[32] 2 Kings ii. 11; Ecclus. xlviii. 12. The LXX. curiously says [Greek: -en susseismo hos eis ton ouranon]. So too the Rabbis, _Sucah_, f. 5. - -[33] The circumstance has left its trace in the proverbs of nations, -and in the German word _Mantelkind_ for a spiritual successor. - -[34] 2 Kings ii. 14. LXX., [Greek: kai ou dierethe]; Vulg., _Percussit -aquas, et non sunt divisae_. - -[35] Mal. iv. 4-6. - -[36] _Bava-Metzia_, f. 37, 2, etc. His name is used for incantations in -the Kabbala. _Kitsur Sh'lh_, f. 71, 1 (Hershon, _Talmudic Miscellany_, -p. 340). The chair set for him is called "the throne of Elijah." For -many Rabbinic legends see Hershon, _Treasures of the Talmud_, pp. -172-178. The Persians regard him as the teacher of Zoroaster. - - - - - CHAPTER III - - _ELISHA_ - - 2 KINGS ii. 1-25 - - "He did wonders in his life, and at death even his works were - marvellous. For all this the people repented not."--ECCLUS. - xlviii. 14, 15. - - -At this point we enter into the cycle of supernatural stories, which -gathered round the name of Elisha in the prophetic communities. Some of -them are full of charm and tenderness; but in some cases it is difficult -to point out their intrinsic superiority over the ecclesiastical -miracles with which monkish historians have embellished the lives of the -saints. We can but narrate them as they stand, for we possess none of -the means for critical or historical analysis which might enable us to -discriminate between essential facts and accidental elements. - -We see at once that the figure of Elisha[37] is far less impressive -than that of Elijah. He inspires less of awe and terror. He lives far -more in cities and amid the ordinary surroundings of civilised life. -The honour with which he was treated was the honour of respect and -admiration for his kindliness. He plays his part in no stupendous -scenes like those at Carmel and at Horeb, and nearly all his miracles -were miracles of mercy. Other remarkable differences are observable -in the records of Elijah and Elisha. In the case of the former his -main work was the opposition to Baal-worship; but although -Baal-worship still prevailed (2 Kings x. 18-27) we read of no protests -raised by Elisha against it. "With him"--perhaps it should be more -accurately said, in the narrative which tells us of him--"the miracles -are everything, the prophetic work nothing." The conception of a -prophet's mission in these stories of him differs widely from that -which dominates the splendid _midrash_ of Elijah. - -His separate career began with an act of beneficence. He had stopped for -a time at Jericho. The curse of the rebuilding of the town upon a site -which Joshua had devoted to the ban had expended itself on Hiel, its -builder. It was now a flourishing city, and the home of a large school -of prophets. But though the situation was pleasant as "a garden of the -Lord,"[38] the water was bad, and the land "miscarried." In other words, -the deleterious spring caused diseases among the inhabitants, and caused -the trees to cast their fruit. So the men of the city came to Elisha, -and humbly addressing him as "my lord," implored his help. He told them -to bring him a new cruse full of salt, and going with it to the fountain -cast it into the springs, proclaiming in Jehovah's name that they were -healed, and that there should be no more death or miscarrying land. The -gushing waters of the Ain-es-Sultan, fed by the spring of Quarantania, -are to this day pointed out as the Fountains of Elisha, as they have -been since the days of Josephus.[39] - -The anecdote of this beautiful interposition to help a troubled city is -followed by one of the stories which naturally repel us more than any -other in the Old Testament. Elisha, on leaving Jericho, returned to -Bethel, and as he climbed through the forest up the ascent leading to -the town through what is now called the Wady Suweinit, a number of young -lads--with the rudeness which in boys is often a venial characteristic -of their gay spirits or want of proper training, and which to this day -is common among boys in the East--laughed at him, and mocked him with -the cry "Go up, round-head! go up, round-head!"[40] What struck these -ill-bred and irreverent youngsters was the contrast between the rough -hair-skin garb and unkempt shaggy locks of Elijah, "the lord of hair," -and the smooth civilised aspect and shorter hair of his disciple. If the -word _quereach_ means "bald"[41] we see an additional reason for their -ill-mannered jeers, since baldness was a cause of reproach and suspicion -in the East, where it is comparatively rare. No doubt, too, the conduct -of these young scoffers was the more offensive, and even the more -wicked, because of the deeper reverence for age which prevails in -Eastern countries, and above all because Elisha was known as a prophet. -Perhaps, too, if some other reading lies behind the [Greek: elithazon] -of one MS. of the Septuagint, they pelted him with stones.[42] That -Elisha should have rebuked them, and that seriously--that he should even -have inflicted some punishment upon them to reform their manners--would -have been natural; but we cannot repress the shudder with which we read -the verse, "And he turned back and looked on them, and cursed them in -the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she-bears out of the -wood, and tare forty-and-two children of them." Surely the punishment -was disproportionate to the offence! Who could doom so much as a single -rude boy, not to speak of forty-two, to a horrible and agonising death -for shouting after any one? It is the chief exception to the general -course of Elisha's compassionate interpositions. Here, too, we must -leave the narrative where it is; but we hold it quite admissible to -conjecture that the incident, in some form or other, really -occurred--that the boys were insolent, and that some of them may have -been killed by the wild beasts which at that time abounded in -Palestine--and yet that the _nuances_ of the story which cause deepest -offence to us may have suffered from some corruption of the tradition in -the original records, and may admit of being represented in a slightly -different form. - -After this Elisha went for a time to the ancient haunts of his master -on Mount Carmel, and thence returned to Samaria, the capital of his -country, which he seems to have chosen for his most permanent -dwelling-place. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[37] The name Elisha means "My God is salvation." - -[38] Gen. xiii. 10. "The city of palms" (Deut. xxxiv. 3). - -[39] Jos., _B. J._, IV. viii. 3; Robinson, _Bibl. Researches_, i. 554. - -[40] Abarbanel's notion that they meant "Ascend to heaven as Elijah -did" is absurd. - -[41] [Hebrew: kereha] This means bald at the back of the head, as -[Hebrew: nibbeha] (_gibbeach_), means "forehead-bald" (Ewald, iii. -512). Elisha could not have been bald from old age, since he lived on -for nearly sixty years, and must have been a young man. Baldness -involved a suspicion of leprosy, and was disliked by Easterns (Lev. -xxi. 5, xiii. 43; Isa. iii. 17, 24, xv. 2), as much as by the Romans -(Suet., _Jul. Caes._, 45; _Domit._, 18). Elisha's prophetic activity -lasted through the reigns of Joram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, and Joash (_i.e._, -12 + 28 + 17 + 2 years). - -[42] The [Greek: katepaizon] of the Vat. LXX. implies persistent and -vehement insult. The Post-Mishnic Rabbis, however, say that Elisha was -punished with sickness for this deed (_Bava-Metzia_, f. 87, 1). - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - _THE INVASION OF MOAB_ - - 2 KINGS iii. 4-27 - - "What reinforcement we may gain from hope, - If not, what resolution from despair." - MILTON, _Paradise Lost_, i. 190. - - -Ahaziah, as Elijah had warned him, never recovered from the injuries -received in his fall through the lattice, and after his brief and -luckless reign died without a child. He was succeeded by his brother -Jehoram ("Jehovah is exalted"), who reigned for twelve years.[43] - -Jehoram began well. Though it is said that he did "that which was evil -in the sight of the Lord," we are told that he was not so guilty as his -father or his mother. He did not, of course, abolish the worship of -Jehovah under the cherubic symbol of the calves; no king of Israel -thought of doing that, and so far as we know neither Elijah, nor Elisha, -nor Jonah, nor Micaiah, nor any genuine prophet of Israel before Hosea, -ever protested against that worship, which was chiefly disparaged by -prophets of Judah like Amos and the nameless seer.[44] But Jehoram at -least removed the _Matstsebah_ or stone obelisk which had been reared in -Baal's honour in front of his temple by Ahab, or by Jezebel in his -name.[45] In this direction, however, his reformation must have been -exceedingly partial, for until the sweeping measures taken by Jehu the -temple and images of Baal still continued to exist in Samaria under his -very eyes, and must have been connived at if not approved. - -The first great measure which occupied the thoughts of Jehoram was to -subdue the kingdom of Moab, which had been restored to independence by -the bravery of the great pastoral-king Mesha;[46] or at any rate to -avenge the series of humiliating defeats which Mesha had inflicted on -his brother Ahaziah. A war of forty years' duration[47] had ended in the -complete success of Moab. The loss of a tribute of the fleeces of one -hundred thousand lambs and one hundred thousand rams was too serious to -be lightly faced.[48] Jehoram laid his plans well. First he ordered a -muster of all the men of war throughout his kingdom, and then appealed -for the co-operation of Jehoshaphat and his vassal-king of Edom. Both -kings consented to join him. Jehoshaphat had already been the victim of -a powerful and wanton aggression on the part of King Mesha,[49] from -which he had been delivered by the panic of his foes in the Valley of -Salt. Though the king of Edom had, on that occasion, been an ally of -Mesha, the forces of Edom had fallen the first victims of that -internecine panic. Both Judah and Edom, therefore, had grave wrongs to -avenge, and eagerly seized the opportunity to humble the growing pride -of the people of Chemosh. The attack was wisely arranged. It was -determined to advance against Moab from the south, through the territory -of Edom, by a rough and mountainous track, and, as far as possible, to -take the nation by surprise. The combined host took a seven days' -circuit round the south of the Dead Sea, hoping to find an abundant -supply of water in the stream which flows through the Wady-el-Ahsa, -which separates Edom from Moab.[50] But owing to recent droughts the -Wady was waterless, and the armies, with their horses, suffered all the -agonies of thirst. Jehoram gave way to despair, bewailing that Jehovah -should have brought together these three kings to deliver them a -helpless prey into the hands of Moab. But the pious Jehoshaphat at once -thinks of "inquiring of the Lord" by some true prophet, and one of -Jehoram's courtiers informs him that no less a person than Elisha, the -son of Shaphat, who had been the attendant of Elijah, is with the -host.[51] We are surprised to find that his presence in the camp had -excited so little attention as to be unknown to the king;[52] but -Jehoshaphat, on hearing his name, instantly acknowledged his prophetic -inspiration. So urgent was the need, and so deep the sense of Elisha's -greatness, that the three kings in person went on an embassy "to the -servant of him who ran before the chariot of Ahab." Their humble appeal -to him produced so little elation in his mind that, addressing Jehoram, -who was the most powerful, he exclaimed, with rough indignation: "What -have I to do with thee? Get thee to the prophets of thy -father,"--nominal prophets of Jehovah, who will say to thee smooth -things and prophesy deceits, as four hundred of them did to Ahab--"and -to the Baal-prophets of thy mother." Instead of resenting this scant -respect Jehoram, in utmost distress, deprecated the prophet's anger, and -appealed to his pity for the peril of the three armies. But Elisha is -not mollified. He tells Jehoram that but for the presence of Jehoshaphat -he would not so much as look at him: so completely was the destiny of -the people mixed up with the character of their kings! Out of respect -for Jehoshaphat Elisha will do what he can. But all his soul is in a -tumult of emotion. For the moment he can do nothing. He needs to be -calmed from his agitation by the spell of music, and bids them send a -minstrel to him. The harper came, and as Elisha listened his soul was -composed, and "the hand of the Lord came upon him" to illuminate and -inspire his thoughts.[53] The result was that he bade them dig trenches -in the dry wady, and promised that, though they should see neither wind -nor rain, the valley should be filled with water to quench the thirst of -the fainting armies, their horses and their cattle. After this God would -also deliver the Moabites into their hand; and they were bidden to smite -the cities, fell the trees, stop the wells, and mar the smiling -pasture-lands, which constituted the wealth of Moab, with stones. That -the hosts of Judah and Israel and jealous Edom should be prone to -afflict this awfully devastating vengeance on a power by which they had -been so severely defeated on past occasions, and on which they had so -many wrongs and blood-feuds to avenge, was natural; but it is surprising -to find a prophet of the Lord giving the commission to ruin the gifts of -God and spoil the innocent labours of man, and thus to inflict misery on -generations yet unborn. The behest is directly contrary to rules of -international war which have prevailed even between non-Christian -nations, among whom the stopping or poisoning of wells and the cutting -down of fruit trees has been expressly forbidden. It is also against the -rules of war laid down in Deuteronomy.[54] Such, however, was the -command attributed to Elisha; and, as we shall see, it was fulfilled, -and seems to have led to disastrous consequences. - -Cheered by the promise of Divine aid which the prophet had given them, -the host retired to rest. The next morning at day-dawn, when the -_minchah_ of fine flour, oil, and frankincense was offered,[55] water, -which, according to the tradition of Josephus, had fallen at three -days' distance on the hills of Edom, came flowing from the south and -filled the wady with its refreshing streams. - -The incident itself is highly instructive. It throws light both upon -the general accuracy of the ancient narrative, and on the fact that -events to which a directly supernatural colouring is given are, in -many instances, not so much supernatural as providential. The -deliverance of Israel was due, not to a portent wrought by Elisha, but -to the pure wisdom which he derived from the inspiration of God. When -the counsels of princes were of none effect, and for lack of the -spirit of counsel the people were perishing, his mind alone, -illuminated by a wisdom from on high, saw what was the right step to -take. He bade the soldiers dig trenches in the dry torrent bed,--which -was the very step most likely to ensure their deliverance from the -torment of thirst, and which would be done under similar circumstances -to this day. They saw neither wind nor rain; but there had been a -storm among the farther hills, and the swollen watercourses discharged -their overflow into the trenches of the wady which were ready prepared -for them, and offered the path of least resistance. - -Moab, meanwhile, had heard of the advance of the three kings through the -territories of Edom. The whole military population had mustered in arms, -and stood on the frontier, on the other side of the dry wady, to oppose -the invasion. For they knew this would be a struggle of life and death, -and that if defeated they would have no mercy to expect. When the sun -rose, and its first rays burned on the wady, which had been dry on the -previous evening, the water which, unknown to the Moabites, had filled -the trenches in the night, looked red as blood. Doubtless it may have -been stained, as Ewald says, by the red soil which gave its name to the -red land of the "red king, Edom"; but as it gleamed under the dawn the -Moabites thought that those seemingly crimson pools had been filled with -the blood of their enemies, who had fallen by each other's swords. Their -own recent experience when Jehoshaphat met them in the Valley of Salt -showed them how easy it was for temporary allies to be seized by panic, -and to fight among themselves.[56] - -The army of their invaders was composed of heterogeneous and mutually -conflicting elements. Between Israel and Judah there had been nearly a -century of war,[57] and only a brief reunion; and Edom, recently the -willing and natural ally of Moab, was not likely to fight very -zealously for Judah, which had reduced her to vassalage. So the -Moabites said to one another, as they pointed to the unexpected -apparition of those red pools: "This is blood. The kings are surely -destroyed, and they have smitten each man his fellow. Moab to the -spoil!" They rushed down tumultuously on the camp of Israel, and found -the soldiers of Jehoram ready to receive them. Taken by surprise, for -they had expected no resistance, they were hurled back in utter -confusion and with immense slaughter. The three kings pushed their -advantage to the utmost. They went forward into the land, driving and -smiting the Moabites before them, and ruthlessly carrying out the -command attributed to Elisha. They beat down the cities--most of which -in a land of flocks and herds were little more than pastoral villages; -they rendered the green fields useless with stones; they filled up all -the wells with earth; they felled every fruit-bearing tree of any -value. At last only one stronghold, Kir-haraseth, the chief fenced -town of Moab, held out against them.[58] Even this fortress was sore -bested. The slingers, for which Israel, and specially the tribe of -Benjamin, was so famous, advanced to drive its defenders from the -battlements. King Mesha fought with undaunted heroism. He decided to -take the seven hundred warriors who were left to him, and cut his way -through the besieging host to the king of Edom. He thought that even -now he might persuade the Edomites to abandon this new and unnatural -alliance, and turn the battle against their common enemies. But the -numbers against him were too strong, and he found the plan impossible. -Then he formed a dreadful resolution, dictated to him by the extremity -of his despair. His inscription at Karcha shows that he was a profound -and even fanatical believer in Chemosh, his god. Chemosh could still -deliver him. If Chemosh was, as Mesha says in his inscription, "angry -with his land"--if, even for a time, he allowed his faithful people -and his devoted king to be afflicted--it could not be for any lack of -power on his part, but only because they had in some way offended him, -so that he was wroth, or because he had gone on a journey, or was -asleep, or deaf.[59] How could he be appeased? Only by the offering of -the most precious of all the king's possessions; only by the -self-devotion of the crown-prince, on whom were centred all the -nation's hopes. Mesha would force Chemosh to help him for very shame. -He would offer to Chemosh a human sacrifice, the sacrifice of his -eldest son that should have reigned in his stead. Doubtless the young -prince gave himself up as a willing offering, for that was essential -to the holocaust being valid and acceptable.[60] - -So upon the wall of Kir-haraseth, in the sight of all the Moabites, -and of the three invading armies, the brave and desperate hero of a -hundred fights, who had inflicted so many reverses upon these enemies, -and received so many at their hands, but who, having liberated his -country, now saw all the efforts of his life ruined at one blow--took -his eldest son, kindled the sacrificial fire, and then and there -solemnly offered that horrible burnt-offering.[61] - -And it proved effectual, though far otherwise than Mesha had expected. -He was delivered; and, doubtless, if ever he reared, at Kirharaseth or -elsewhere, another memorial stone, he would have attributed his -deliverance to his national god. But here, in the annals of Elisha, -the result is hurried over, and a veil is, so to speak, dropped upon -the dreadful scene with the one ambiguous expression, "And there was -great wrath against Israel: and they departed from him, and returned -to their own land." - -The phrase awakens but does not satisfy our curiosity. We are not -certain of the translation, or of the meaning. It may be, as in the -margin of the Revised Version, "there came great wrath upon -Israel."[62] But wrath from whom? and on what account? The word -"wrath" all but invariably denotes divine wrath; but we cannot imagine -(as some critics do) that any Israelite of the schools of the prophets -would sanction the notion that the chosen people were allowed to -suffer from the kindled wrath of Chemosh. Can we then suppose that the -desperate act of King Mesha was a proof that Israel, who was no doubt -the most interested and the most remorseless of the invaders, had -pressed the Moabites too hard, and carried his vengeance much too far? -That is by no means impossible. The prophet Amos denounces upon Moab -in after years the doom that fire should devour the palaces of -Kirioth, and that Moab should perish with shoutings, and all his royal -line be cut off, for the far less offence of having burned into lime -the bones of the king of Edom.[63] The command of Elisha did not -exempt the Israelites from their share of moral responsibility. Jehu -was commissioned to be an executioner of vengeance upon the house of -Ahab. Yet Jehu is expressly condemned by the prophet Hosea for the -tiger-like ferocity and horrible thoroughness with which he had -carried out his destined work.[64] Only one other explanation is -possible. If "wrath" here has the unusual sense of human indignation, -the clause can only imply that the armies of Judah and Edom were -roused to anger by the unpitying spirit which Israel had displayed. -The horrible tragedy enacted upon the wall of Kirharaseth awoke their -consciences to the sense of human compassion. These, after all, were -fellow-men--fellow-men of kindred blood to their own--whom they had -driven to straits so frightful as to cause a king to burn his own heir -alive as a mute appeal to his god in the hour of overwhelming ruin. -They had done enough: - - "Sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt." - -They hastily broke up the league, dissolved the alliance, returned -horror-stricken to their own land. They left Moab indeed in possession -of his last fortress, but they had reduced his territory to a -wilderness before they retired and called it peace. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[43] There are great difficulties in the statement (2 Kings iii. 1) -that he began to reign in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat. I have -not entered, nor shall I enter, into the minute and precarious -conjectures necessitated by the uncertainties and contradictions of -this synchronism introduced into the narrative by some editor. Suffice -it that with the aid of the Assyrian records we have certain _points -de repere_; from which we can, with the assistance of the historian, -conjecturally restore the main data. In the dates given at the head of -the chapters I follow Kittel, as a careful inquirer. Some of the -approximately fixed dates are (see Appendix I.):-- - - 854. Battle of Karkar (Ahab and Benhadad against Shalmaneser II.) - 738. Tribute of Menahem to Tiglath-Pileser II. - 732. Fall of Damascus. - 722. Capture of Samaria by Sargon. - 720. Defeat of Sabaco by Sargon in battle of Raphia. - 705. Accession of Sennacherib. - 701. Campaign against Hezekiah. - 608. Death of Josiah. - - -[44] But neither the man of God from Judah nor Amos directly denounce -the calf-worship, so much as its concomitant sins and irregularities. - -[45] Perhaps the true reading is "pillars" (LXX., Vulg., Arab.). - -[46] He is called "a sheep-master," _noked_; LXX., [Greek: noked]. -Elsewhere the word occurs only in Amos i. 1. The Alex. LXX. has -[Greek: en pheron phoron]. - -[47] According to the Moabite Stone. - -[48] It is not clear whether the lambs and rams were sent with the -fleeces. The A.V. says "lambs and rams with their wool," in accordance -with Josephus--[Greek: myriadas eikosi probaton syn tois pokois]. The -LXX. has the vague [Greek: epi pokon], and implies that this was a -special fine after a defeat in the revolt ([Greek: en te -epanastasei]): but comp. Isa. xvi. 1. - -[49] 2 Chron. xx. 1-30. - -[50] Robinson (_Bibl. Res._, ii. 157) identifies it with the brook -_Zered_. Deut. ii. 13; Num. xxi. 12. The name means "valley of -water-pits." W. R. Smith quotes Doughty, _Travels_, i. 26. - -[51] Comp. 1 Kings xxii. 7. The phrase "who poured water on the hands -of Elijah" is a touch of Oriental custom which the traveller in remote -parts of Palestine may still often see. Once, when driven by a storm -into the house of the Sheykh of a tribe which had a rather bad -reputation for brigandage, I was most hospitably entertained; and the -old white-haired Sheykh, his son, and ourselves were waited on by the -grandson, a magnificent youth, who immediately after the meal brought -out an old richly chased ewer and basin, and poured water over our -hands, soiled by eating out of the common dish, of course without -spoons or forks. - -[52] This seems to have struck Josephus (_Antt._, IX. iii. 1), who -says that "he _chanced_ to be in a tent ([Greek: etuche kateskenokos]) -outside the host." - -[53] Comp. 1 Sam. x. 5; 1 Chron. xxv. 1; Ezek. i. 3, xxxiii. 22. -_Menaggen_ is one who plays on a stringed instrument, _n'ginah_. The -Pythagoreans used music in the same way (Cic., _Tusc. Disp._, iv. 2). - -[54] Deut. xx. 19, 20. - -[55] Lev. ii. 1. Comp. 1 Kings xviii. 36. - -[56] This dreadful result crippled the revolt of Vindex against Nero. - -[57] Jeroboam I., B.C. 937; Joram, 854. - -[58] Isa. xv. 1, Kir of Moab; Jer. xlviii. 31, Kir-heres. It is built -on a steep calcareous rock, surrounded by a deep, narrow glen, which -thence descends westward to the Dead Sea, under the name of the Wady -Kerak. We know that the armies of Nineveh habitually practised these -brutal modes of devastation in the districts which they conquered. See -Layard, _passim_; Rawlinson, _Ancient Monarchies_ ii. 84. - -[59] 1 Kings xviii. 27. Comp. Psalm xxxv. 23, xliv. 23, lxxxiii. 1, etc. - -[60] Comp. Micah vi. 7. This is an entirely different incident from -that alluded to in Amos ii. 1. - -[61] Eusebius (_Praep. Evang._, iv. 16) quotes from Philo's Phoenician -history a reference to human sacrifices ([Greek: tois timorois -daimosin]) at moments of desperation. - -[62] The rendering is doubtful. LXX., [Greek: kai egeneto metamelos -megas epi Israel]; Vulg., indignatio _in_ Israel; Luther, _Da ward -Israel sehr zornig_. - -[63] Amos ii. 1-3. - -[64] Hos. i. 4: "I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of -Jehu." - - - - - CHAPTER V - - _ELISHA'S MIRACLES_ - - 2 KINGS iv. 1-44 - - -We are now in the full tide of Elisha's miracles, and as regards many -of them we can do little more than illustrate the text as it stands. -The record of them clearly comes from some account prevalent in the -schools of the prophets, which is however only fragmentary, and has -been unchronologically pieced into the annals of the kings of Israel. - -The story of Elisha abounds far more in the supernatural than that of -Elijah, and is believed by most critics to be of earlier date. Yet the -scenes and portents of his life are almost wholly lacking in the -element of grandeur which belong to those of the elder seer. His -personality, if on the whole softer and more beneficent, inspires less -of awe, and the whole tone of the biography which recorded these -isolated incidents is lacking in the poetic and impassioned elevation -which marks the episodes of Elijah's history. We see in the records of -Elisha, as in the biographies--so rich in prodigies--of fourth-century -hermits and mediaeval saints, how little impressive in itself is the -exercise of abnormal powers; how it derives its sole grandeur from the -accompaniment of great moral lessons and spiritual revelations. John -the Baptist "did no miracle," yet our Lord placed him not only far -above Elisha, but even above Moses and Samuel and Elijah, when He said -of him, "Verily I say unto you, of them that have been born of women -there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist." - -It is impossible not to be struck with the singular parallelism -between the powers exercised by Elisha and those which are attributed -to his predecessor. "How true an heir is Elisha of his master," says -Bishop Hall, "not in his graces only, but in his actions! Both of them -divided the waters of Jordan, the one as his last act, the other as -his first. Elijah's curse was the death of the captains and their -troops; Elisha's curse was the death of the children. Elijah rebuked -Ahab to his face; Elisha, Jehoram. Elijah supplied the drought of -Israel by rain from heaven; Elisha supplied the drought of the three -kings by waters gushing out of the earth; Elijah increased the oil of -the Sareptan, Elisha increased the oil of the prophet's widow; Elijah -raised from death the Sareptan's son, Elisha the Shunammite's; both of -them had one mantle, one spirit; both of them climbed up one Carmel, -one heaven." The resemblance, however, is not at all in character, but -only in external and miraculous circumstances. In all other respects -Elisha furnishes a contrast to Elijah which startles us quite as much -as any superficial resemblances. Elijah was a free, wild Bedawy -prophet, hating and shunning as his ordinary residence the abodes of -men, making his home in the rocky wady or in the mountain glades, -appearing and disappearing suddenly as the wind. He asserted his power -most often in ministries of retribution. Clad in the sheepskin of a -Gadite shepherd or mountaineer, he was not one of those who wear soft -clothing or are found in kings' houses. He usually met monarchs as -their enemy and their reprover, but for the most part avoided them. He -never intervened for years together even in national events of the -utmost importance, whether military or religious, unless he received -the direct call of God, or there appeared to him to be a "_dignus -Vindice nodus_." Elisha, on the other hand, makes his home in cities, -and chiefly in Samaria. He is familiar with kings and moves about with -armies, and has no long retirements into unknown solitudes; and though -he could speak roughly to Jehoram, he is often on the friendliest -terms with him and with other sovereigns. - -The stories of Elisha give us many interesting glimpses into the -social life of Israel in his day. As to their literal historic -accuracy, those must make positive affirmation who feel that they can -do so in accordance alike with adequate authority and with the -sacredness of truth. Many will be unable to escape the opinion that -they bear some resemblance to other Jewish haggadoth, written for -edification, with every innocent intention, in the schools of the -Prophets, but no more intended for perfectly literal acceptance in all -their details than the Life of St. Paul the Hermit, by St. Jerome; or -that of St. Antony, attributed erroneously to St. Athanasius; or that -of St. Francis in the Fioretti; or the lives of humble saints of the -people called _Kisar-el-anbiah_, which are so popular among poor -Mohammedans. Into that question there is no need to enter further. -_Abundet quisque in sensu suo._ - -I. On one occasion a widow of one of the Sons of the Prophets--for -these communities, though coenobitic, were not celibate--came to him -in deep distress. Her husband--the Jews, with their usual guesswork, -most improbably identify him with Obadiah, the chamberlain of -Ahab[65]--had died insolvent. As she had nothing to pay, her creditor -under the grim provision of the law was about to exercise his right of -selling her two sons into slavery to recoup himself for the debt.[66] -Would Elisha help her? - -Prophets were never men of wealth, so that he could not pay her debt. He -asked her what she possessed to satisfy the demand. "Nothing," she said, -"but a pot of the common oil, used for anointing the body after a bath." - -Elisha bade her go and borrow from her neighbours all the empty -vessels she could, then to return home, shut the door, and pour the -oil into the vessels. - -She did so. They were all filled, and she asked her son to bring yet -another. But there was not another to be had, so she went out and told -the Man of God. He bade her sell the miraculously multiplied oil to -pay the debt, and live with her sons on the proceeds of what was over. - -II. We next find Elisha at Shunem, famous as the abode of the fair -maiden--probably Abishag, the nurse of David's decrepitude--who is the -heroine of the Song of Songs. It is a village, now called Solam, on the -slopes of Little Hermon (Jebel-el-Duhy), three miles north of Jezreel. -At this place there lived a lady of wealth and influence, whose husband -owned the surrounding land. There were but few khans in Palestine, and -even where they now exist the traveller has in most cases to supply his -own food. Elisha, in his journeys to and fro among the schools of the -Prophets, had often enjoyed the welcome hospitality eagerly pressed -upon him by the lady of Shunem. Struck with his sacred character, she -persuaded her husband to take a step unusual even to the boundless -hospitality of the East. She begged him to do honour to this holy Man of -God by building for him a little chamber (_aliyah_) on the flat roof of -the house, to which he might have easy and private access by the outside -staircase.[67] The chamber was built, and furnished, like any other -simple Eastern room, with a bed, a divan to sit on, a table, and a lamp; -and there the weary prophet on his journeys often found a peaceful, -simple, and delightful resting-place. - -Grateful for the reverence with which she treated him, and the kind -care with which she had supplied his needs, Elisha was anxious to -recompense her in whatever way might be possible. The thought of money -payment was of course out of the question: merely to hint at it would -have been a breach of manners. But perhaps he might be of use to her -in some other way. At this time, and for years afterwards during his -long ministry of perhaps fifty-six years, he was attended by a servant -named Gehazi, who stood to him in the same sort of relation which he -had held to Elijah. He told Gehazi to summon the Shunammite lady. In -the deep humility of Eastern womanhood she came and stood in his -presence. Even then he did not address her. So downtrodden was the -position of women in the East that any dignified person, much more a -great prophet, could not converse with a woman without compromising -his dignity. The more scrupulous Pharisees in the days of Christ -always carefully gathered up their garments in the streets, lest they -should so much as touch a woman with their skirts in passing by, as -the modern Chakams in Jerusalem do to this day.[68] The disciples -themselves, sophisticated by familiarity with such teachers, were -astonished that Jesus at the well of Shechem should talk with a -woman.[69] So, though the lady stood there, Elisha, instead of -speaking to her directly, told Gehazi to thank her for all the devout -respect and care, all 'the modesty of fearful duty,'[70] which she had -displayed towards them, and to ask her if he should say a good word -for her to the King or the Captain of the Host. This is just the sort -of favour which an Eastern would be likely to value most.[71] The -Shunammite, however, was well provided for; she had nothing to -complain of, and nothing to request. She thanked Elisha for his kindly -proposal, but declined it, and went away. - -"Is there, then, nothing which we can do for her?" asked Elisha of -Gehazi.[72] - -There was. Gehazi had learnt that the sorrow of her life--a sorrow and -a source of reproach to any Eastern household, but most of all to that -of a wealthy householder--was her childlessness. - -"Call her," he said. - -She came back, and stood reverently in the doorway. "When the time -comes round," he said to her, "you shall embrace a son." - -The promise raised in her heart a thrill of joy. It was too precious -to be believed. "Nay," she said "my lord, thou Man of God, do not lie -unto thine handmaid." - -But the promise was fulfilled, and the lady of Shunem became the happy -mother of a son. - -III. The charming episode then passes over some years. The child had -grown into a little boy, old enough now to go out alone to see his -father in the harvest fields and to run about among the reapers. But as -he played about in the heat he had a sunstroke, and cried to his father, -"O my head, my head!" Not knowing how serious the matter was, his father -simply ordered one of his lads to carry the child home to his mother. -The fond mother nursed him tenderly upon her knees, but at noon he died. - -Then the lady of Shunem showed all the faith and strength and wisdom of -her character. "The good Shunammite," says Bishop Hall, "had lost her -son; her faith she lost not." Overwhelming as was this calamity--the -loss of an only child--she suppressed all her emotions, and, instead of -bursting into the wild helpless wail of Eastern mourners, or rushing to -her husband with the agonising news, she took the little boy's body in -her arms, carried it up to the chamber which had been built for Elisha, -and laid it upon his bed. Then, shutting the door, she called to her -husband to send to her one of his reapers and one of the asses, for she -was going quickly to the Man of God and would return in the cool of the -evening. "Why should you go to-day particularly?" he asked. "It is -neither new moon, nor sabbath." "It is all right," she said;[73] and -with perfect confidence in the rectitude of all her purposes, he sent -her the she-ass, and a servant to drive it and to run beside it for her -protection on the journey of sixteen miles. - -"Drive on the ass," she said. "Slacken me not the riding unless I tell -you." So with all possible speed she made her way--a journey of -several hours--from Shunem to Mount Carmel. - -Elisha, from his retreat on the hill, marked her coming from a -distance, and it rendered him anxious. "Here comes the Shunammite," he -said to Gehazi. "Run to meet her, and ask Is it well with thee? is it -well with thy husband? is it well with the child?" - -"All well," she answered, for her message was not to Gehazi, and she -could not trust her voice to speak; but pressing on up-hillwards, she -flung herself before Elisha and grasped his feet. Displeased at the -familiarity which dared thus to clasp the feet of his master, Gehazi ran -up to thrust her away by force, but Elisha interfered. "Let her alone," -he cried; "she is in deep affliction, and Jehovah has not revealed to me -the cause." Then her long pent-up emotion burst forth. "Did I desire a -son of my lord?" she cried. "Did I not say do not deceive me?" - -It was enough--though she seemed unable to bring out the dreadful -words that her boy was dead. Catching her meaning, Elisha said to -Gehazi, "Gird up thy loins, take my staff, and without so much as -stopping to salute any one, or to return a salutation,[74] lay my -staff on the dead child's face." But the broken-hearted mother -refused to leave Elisha. She imagined that the servant, the staff, -might be severed from Elisha; but she knew that wherever the prophet -was, there was power. So Elisha arose and followed her, and on the way -Gehazi met them with the news that the child lay still and dead, with -the fruitless staff upon his face. - -Then Elisha in deep anguish went up to the chamber and shut the door, -and saw the boy's body lying pale upon his bed. After earnest prayer -he outstretched himself over the little corpse, as Elijah had done at -Zarephath. Soon it began to grow warm with returning life, and Elisha, -after pacing up and down the room, once more stretched himself over -him. Then the child opened his eyes and sneezed seven times, and -Elisha called to Gehazi to summon the mother. - -"Take up thy son," he said. She prostrated herself at his feet in -speechless gratitude, and took up her recovered child, and went. - -IV. We next find Elisha at Gilgal, in the time of the famine of which -we read his prediction in a later chapter.[75] The sons of the -prophets were seated round him, listening to his instructions; the -hour came for their simple meal, and he ordered the great pot to be -put on the fire for the vegetable soup, on which, with bread, they -chiefly lived. One of them went out for herbs, and carelessly brought -his outer garment (the _abeyah_)[76] full of wild poisonous -coloquinths,[77] which, by ignorance or inadvertence, were shred into -the pottage. But when it was cooked and poured out they perceived the -poisonous taste, and cried out, "O Man of God, death in the pot!" - -"Bring meal," he said, for he seems always to have been a man of the -fewest words. - -They cast in some meal, and were all able to eat of the now harmless -pottage. It has been noticed that in this, as in other incidents of -the story, there is no invocation of the name of Jehovah. - -V. Not far from Gilgal was the little village of Baalshalisha,[78] at -which lived a farmer who wished to bring an offering of firstfruits -and _karmel_ (bruised grain) in his wallet to Elisha as a Man of -God.[79] It was a poor gift enough--only twenty of the coarse barley -loaves which were eaten by the common people, and a sack[80] full of -fresh ears of corn.[81] Elisha told his servitor[82]--perhaps -Gehazi--to set them before the people present. "What?" he asked, "this -trifle of food before a hundred men!" But Elisha told him in the -Lord's name that it should more than suffice; and so it did. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[65] Jos., _Antt._, IX. iv. 2. This perhaps is only suggested by the -reminiscences of 1 Kings xviii. 2, 3, 12. - -[66] Lev. xxv. 39-41; Matt. xviii. 25. - -[67] 2 Kings iv. 10. Not "a little chamber on the wall" (A.V.), but -"an _aliyah_ with walls" (margin, R.V.). - -[68] Frankl., _Jews in the East_. - -[69] John iv. 27: "Then came His disciples, and marvelled that He was -_talking_ ([Greek: meta gunaikos]) _with a woman_." - -[70] 2 Kings iv. 13: "Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all -this care" (LXX., [Greek: pasan ten ekstasin tauten]). - -[71] The Sheykh with whom I stayed at Bint es Jebeil could think of no -return which I could offer for his hospitality so acceptable as if I -would say a good word for him to the authorities at Beyrout. - -[72] Gehazi is usually called the _na'ar_ or "lad" of Elisha--a term -implying lower service than Elisha's "ministry" to Elijah. - -[73] 2 Kings iv. 23. Hebrew "Peace"; A.V., "It shall be well." - -[74] Salutations occupy some time in the formally courteous East. -Comp. Luke x. 4. - -[75] 2 Kings viii. 1. - -[76] Not "lap," as in A. V. (Heb., _beged_); LXX. [Greek: synelixe -pleres to himation autou]; Vulg., _implevit vestem suam_ (both -correctly). - -[77] Heb., _paquoth_; LXX., [Greek: tolypen agrian]; Vulg; -_colocynthidas agri_. Hence the name _cucumis prophetarum_. - -[78] Lord of the Chain and "Three lands." Three wadies meet at this -spot, a little west of Bethel. - -[79] 2 Kings iv. 42. Karmel, Lev. ii. 14. Perhaps a sort of frumenty. - -[80] The word for "wallet" (_tsiqlon_; Vulg., _pera_) occurs here -only. Peshito, "garment." The Vatican LXX. omits it. The Greek version -has [Greek: en koryko autou]. - -[81] See Lev. ii. 14, xxiii. 14. - -[82] 2 Kings iv. 43. The word for "his servitor" (_m'chartho_) is used -also of Joshua. It does not mean a mere ordinary attendant. LXX., -[Greek: leitourgos]; Vulg., _minister_. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - - _THE STORY OF NAAMAN_ - - 2 KINGS v. 1-27 - - MATT. viii. 3: [Greek: Thelo, katharistheti] - - -After these shorter anecdotes we have the longer episode of Naaman.[83] - -A part of the misery inflicted by the Syrians on Israel was caused by -the forays in which their light-armed bands, very much like the -borderers on the marches of Wales or Scotland, descended upon the -country and carried off plunder and captives before they could be -pursued. - -In one of these raids they had seized a little Israelitish girl and -sold her to be a slave. She had been purchased for the household of -Naaman, the captain of the Syrian host, who had helped his king and -nation to win important victories either against Israel or against -Assyria. Ancient Jewish tradition identified him with the man who had -"drawn his bow at a venture" and slain King Ahab. But all Naaman's -valour and rank and fame, and the honour felt for him by his king, -were valueless to him, for he was suffering from the horrible -affliction of leprosy. Lepers do not seem to have been segregated in -other countries so strictly as they were in Israel, or at any rate -Naaman's leprosy was not of so severe a form as to incapacitate him -from his public functions. - -But it was evident that he was a man who had won the affection of all -who knew him; and the little slave girl who waited on his wife -breathed to her a passionate wish that Naaman could visit the Man of -God in Samaria, for he would recover him from his leprosy. The saying -was repeated, and one of Naaman's friends mentioned it to the king of -Syria. Benhadad was so much struck by it that he instantly determined -to send a letter, with a truly royal gift to the king of Israel, who -could, he supposed, as a matter of course, command the services of the -prophet. The letter came to Jehoram with a stupendous present of -ingots of silver to the value of ten talents, and six thousand pieces -of gold, and ten changes of raiment.[84] After the ordinary -salutations, and a mention of the gifts, the letter continued "And -now, when this letter is come to thee, behold I have sent Naaman my -servant, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy." - -Jehoram lived in perpetual terror of his powerful and encroaching -neighbour. Nothing was said in the letter about the Man of God; and -the king rent his clothes, exclaiming that he was not God to kill and -to make alive, and that this must be a base pretext for a quarrel. It -never so much as occurred to him, as it certainly would have done to -Jehoshaphat, that the prophet, who was so widely known and honoured, -and whose mission had been so clearly attested in the invasion of -Moab, might at least help him to face this problem. Otherwise the -difficulty might indeed seem insuperable, for leprosy was universally -regarded as an incurable disease. - -But Elisha was not afraid: he boldly told Jehoram to send the Syrian -captain to him. Naaman, with his horses and his chariots, in all the -splendour of a royal ambassador, drove up to the humble house of the -prophet. Being so great a man, he expected a deferential reception, -and looked for the performance of his cure in some striking and -dramatic manner. "The prophet," so he said to himself, "will come out, -and solemnly invoke the name of his God Jehovah, and wave his hand -over the leprous limbs, and so work the miracle."[85] - -But the servant of the King of kings was not exultantly impressed, as -false prophets so often are, by earthly greatness. Elisha did not even -pay him the compliment of coming out of the house to meet him. He -wished to efface himself completely, and to fix the leper's thoughts -on the one truth that if healing was granted to him, it was due to the -gift of God, not to the thaumaturgy or arts of man. He simply sent out -his servant to the Syrian commander-in-chief with the brief message, -"Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and be thou clean." - -Naaman, accustomed to the extreme deference of many dependants, was not -only offended, but enraged, by what he regarded as the scant courtesy -and procrastinated boon of the prophet. Why was he not received as a man -of the highest distinction? What necessity could there be for sending -him all the way to the Jordan? And why was he bidden to wash in that -wretched, useless, tortuous stream, rather than in the pure and flowing -waters of his own native Abanah and Pharpar?[86] How was he to tell that -this "Man of God" did not design to mock him by sending him on a fool's -errand, so that he would come back as a laughing-stock both to the -Israelites and to his own people? Perhaps he had not felt any great -faith in the prophet, to begin with; but whatever he once felt had now -vanished. He turned and went away in a rage. - -But in this crisis the affection of his friends and servants stood him -in good stead. Addressing him, in their love and pity, by the unusual -term of honour "my father," they urged upon him that, as he certainly -would not have refused some _great_ test, there was no reason why he -should refuse this simple and humble one. - -He was won over by their reasonings, and descending the hot steep valley -of the Jordan, bathed himself in the river seven times. God healed him, -and, as Elisha had promised, "his flesh," corroded by leprosy, "came -again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean." - -This healing of Naaman is alluded to by our Lord to illustrate the truth -that the love of God extended farther than the limits of the chosen -race; that His Fatherhood is co-extensive with the whole family of man. - -It is difficult to conceive the transport of a man cured of this most -loathsome and humiliating of all earthly afflictions. Naaman, who seems -to have possessed "a mind naturally Christian," was filled with -gratitude. Unlike the thankless Jewish lepers whom Christ cured as He -left Engannim, this alien returned to give glory to God. Once more the -whole imposing cavalcade rode through the streets of Samaria, and -stopped at Elisha's door. This time Naaman was admitted into his -presence. He saw, and no doubt Elisha had strongly impressed on him the -truth, that his healing was the work not of man but of God; and as he -had found no help in the deities of Syria, he confessed that the God of -Israel was the only true God among those of the nations. In token of his -thankfulness he presses Elisha, as God's instrument in the unspeakable -mercy which has been granted to him, to accept "a blessing" (_i.e._, a -present) from him--"from thy servant," as he humbly styled himself. - -Elisha was no greedy Balaam. It was essential that Naaman and the -Syrians should not look on him as on some vulgar sorcerer who wrought -wonders for "the rewards of divination." His wants were so simple that -he stood above temptation. His desires and treasures were not on -earth. To put an end to all importunity, he appealed to Jehovah with -his usual solemn formula--"As the Lord liveth before whom I stand, I -will receive no present."[87] - -Still more deeply impressed by the prophet's incorruptible superiority -to so much as a suspicion of low motives, Naaman asked that he might -receive two mules' burden of earth wherewith to build an altar to the -God of Israel of His own sacred soil.[88] The very soil ruled by such -a God must, he thought, be holier than other soil; and he wished to -take it back to Syria, just as the people of Pisa rejoiced to fill -their Campo Santo with mould from the Holy Land, and just as mothers -like to baptize their children in water brought home from the Jordan. -Henceforth, said Naaman, I will offer burnt-offering and sacrifice to -no God but unto Jehovah. Yet there was one difficulty in the way. When -the King of Syria went to worship in the temple of his god Rimmon it -was the duty of Naaman to accompany him.[89] The king leaned on his -hand, and when he bowed before the idol it was Naaman's duty to bow -also. He begged that for this concession God would pardon him. - -Elisha's answer was perhaps different from what Elijah might have given. -He practically allowed Naaman to give this sign of outward compliance -with idolatry, by saying to him, "Go in peace." It is from this -circumstance that the phrase "to bow in the house of Rimmon" has become -proverbial to indicate a dangerous and dishonest compromise. But -Elisha's permission must not be misunderstood. He did but hand over this -semi-heathen convert to the grace of God. It must be remembered that he -lived in days long preceding the conviction that proselytism is a part -of true religion; in days when the thought of missions to heathen lands -was utterly unknown. The position of Naaman was wholly different from -that of any Israelite. He was only the convert, or the half-convert of -a day, and though he acknowledged the supremacy of Jehovah as alone -worthy of his worship, he probably shared in the belief--common even in -Israel--that there were other gods, local gods, gods of the nations, to -whom Jehovah might have divided the limits of their power.[90] To demand -of one who, like Naaman, had been an idolater all his days, the sudden -abandonment of every custom and tradition of his life, would have been -to demand from him an unreasonable, and, in his circumstances, useless -and all but impossible self-sacrifice. The best way was to let him feel -and see for himself the futility of Rimmon-worship. If he were not -frightened back from his sudden faith in Jehovah, the scruple of -conscience which he already felt in making his request might naturally -grow within him and lead him to all that was best and highest. The -temporary condonation of an imperfection might be a wise step towards -the ultimate realisation of a truth. We cannot at all blame Elisha, if, -with such knowledge as he then possessed, he took a mercifully tolerant -view of the exigencies of Naaman's position. The bowing in the house of -Rimmon under such conditions probably seemed to him no more than an act -of outward respect to the king and to the national religion in a case -where no evil results could follow from Naaman's example.[91] - -But the general principle that _we_ must _not_ bow in the house of -Rimmon remains unchanged. The light and knowledge vouchsafed to us far -transcend those which existed in times when men had not seen the days of -the Son of Man. The only rule which sincere Christians can follow is to -have no truce with Canaan, no halting between two opinions, no -tampering, no compliance, no connivance, no complicity with evil,--even -no tolerance of evil as far as their own conduct is concerned. No good -man, in the light of the Gospel dispensation, could condone himself in -seeming to sanction--still less in doing--anything which in his opinion -ought not to be done, or in saying anything which implied his own -acquiescence in things which he knows to be evil. "Sir," said a -parishioner to one of the non-juring clergy: "there is many a man who -has made a great gash in his conscience; cannot you make a little nick -in yours?" No! a _little_ nick is, in one sense, as fatal as a great -gash. It is an abandonment of _the principle_; it is a violation of the -Law. The wrong of it consists in this--that all evil begins, not in the -commission of great crimes, but in the slight divergence from right -rules. The angle made by two lines may be infinitesimally small, but -produce the lines and it may require infinitude to span the separation -between the lines which inclose so tiny an angle. The wise man gave the -only true rule about wrong-doing, when he said, "Enter not into the path -of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by -it, turn from it and pass away."[92] And the reason for his rule is -that the beginning of sin--like the beginning of strife--"is as when one -letteth out water."[93] - -The proper answer to all abuses of any supposed concession to the -lawfulness of bowing in the house of Rimmon--if that be interpreted to -mean the doing of anything which our consciences cannot wholly -approve--is _Obsta principiis_--avoid the beginnings of evil. - - "We are not worst at once; the course of evil - Begins so slowly, and from such slight source, - An infant's hand might stem the breach with clay; - But let the stream grow wider, and philosophy, - Age, and religion too, may strive in vain - To stem the headstrong current." - -The mean cupidity of Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, gives a deplorable -sequel to the story of the prophet's magnanimity. This man's wretched -greed did its utmost to nullify the good influence of his master's -example. There may be more wicked acts recorded in Scripture than that -of Gehazi, but there is scarcely one which shows so paltry a -disposition. - -He had heard the conversation between his master and the Syrian -marshal, and his cunning heart despised as a futile sentimentality the -magnanimity which had refused an eagerly proffered reward. Naaman was -rich: he had received a priceless boon; it would be rather a pleasure -to him than otherwise to return for it some acknowledgment which he -would not miss. Had he not even seemed a little hurt by Elisha's -refusal to receive it? What possible harm could there be in taking -what he was anxious to give? And how useful those magnificent presents -would be, and to what excellent uses could they be put! He could not -approve of the fantastic and unpractical scrupulosity which had led -Elisha to refuse the "blessing" which he had so richly earned. Such -attitudes of unworldliness seemed entirely foolish to Gehazi. - -So pleaded the Judas-spirit within the man. By such specious delusions -he inflamed his own covetousness, and fostered the evil temptation -which had taken sudden and powerful hold upon his heart, until it took -shape in a wicked resolve. - -The mischief of Elisha's quixotic refusal was done, but it could be -speedily undone, and no one would be the worse. The evil spirit was -whispering to Gehazi:-- - - "Be mine and Sin's for one short hour; and then - Be all thy life the happiest man of men." - -"Behold," he said, with some contempt both for Elisha and for Naaman, -"my master hath let off this Naaman the Syrian; but as the Lord liveth -I will run after him, and take somewhat of him." - -"As the Lord liveth!" It had been a favourite appeal of Elijah and -Elisha, and the use of it by Gehazi shows how utterly meaningless and -how very dangerous such solemn words become when they are degraded -into formulae.[94] It is thus that the habit of swearing begins. The -light use of holy words very soon leads to their utter degradation. -How keen is the satire in Cowper's little story:-- - - "A Persian, humble servant of the sun, - Who, though devout, yet bigotry had none, - Hearing a lawyer, grave in his address, - With adjurations every word impress,-- - Supposed the man a bishop, or, at least, - God's Name so often on his lips--a priest. - Bowed at the close with all his gracious airs, - And begged an interest in his frequent prayers!" - - -Had Gehazi felt their true meaning--had he realised that on Elisha's -lips they meant something infinitely more real than on his own, he -would not have forgotten that in Elisha's answer to Naaman they had -all the validity of an oath, and that he was inflicting on his master -a shameful wrong, when he led Naaman to believe that, after so sacred -an adjuration, the prophet had frivolously changed his mind. - -Gehazi had not very far to run,[95] for in a country full of hills, -and of which the roads are rough, horses and chariots advance but -slowly. Naaman, chancing to glance backwards, saw the prophet's -attendant running after him. Anticipating that he must be the bearer -of some message from Elisha, he not only halted the cavalcade, but -sprang down from his chariot,[96] and went to meet him with the -anxious question, "Is all well?" - -"Well," answered Gehazi; and then had ready his cunning lie. "Two -youths," he said, "of the prophetic schools had just unexpectedly come -to his master from the hill country of Ephraim; and though he would -accept nothing for himself, Elisha would be glad if Naaman would spare -him two changes of garments, and one talent of silver for these poor -members of a sacred calling."[97] - -Naaman must have been a little more or a little less than human if he -did not feel a touch of disappointment on hearing this message. The gift -was nothing to him. It was a delight to him to give it, if only to -lighten a little the burden of gratitude which he felt towards his -benefactor. But if he had felt elevated by the magnanimous example of -Elisha's disinterestedness, he must have thought that this hasty request -pointed to a little regret on the prophet's part for his noble -self-denial. After all, then, even prophets were but men, and gold after -all was gold! The change of mind about the gift brought Elisha a little -nearer the ordinary level of humanity, and, so far, it acted as a sort -of disenchantment from the high ideal exhibited by his former refusal. -And so Naaman said, with alacrity, "Be content: take two talents." - -The fact that Gehazi's conduct thus inevitably compromised his master, -and undid the effects of his example, is part of the measure of the -man's apostacy. It showed how false and hypocritical was his position, -how unworthy he was to be the ministering servant of a prophet. Elisha -was evidently deceived in the man altogether. The heinousness of his -guilt lies in the words _Corruptio optimi pessima_. When religion is -used for a cloak of covetousness, of usurping ambition, of secret -immorality, it becomes deadlier than infidelity. Men raze the -sanctuary, and build their idol temples on the hallowed ground. They -cover their base encroachments and impure designs with the "cloke of -profession, doubly lined with the fox-fur of hypocrisy," and hide the -leprosy which is breaking out upon their foreheads with the golden -_petalon_ on which is inscribed the title of "holiness to the Lord." - -At first Gehazi did not like to take so large a sum as two talents; -but the crime was already committed, and there was not much more harm -done in taking two talents than in taking one. Naaman urged him, and -it is very improbable that, unless the chances of detection weighed -with him, he needed much urging. So the Syrian weighed out silver -ingots to the amount of two talents, and putting them in two satchels -laid them on two of his servants and told them to carry the money -before Gehazi to Elisha's house. But Gehazi had to keep a look-out -lest his nefarious dealings should be observed, and when they came to -Ophel--the word means the foot of the hill of Samaria, or some part of -the fortifications[98]--he took the bags from the two Syrians, -dismissed them, and carried the money to some place where he could -conceal it in the house. Then, as though nothing had happened, with -his usual smooth face of sanctimonious integrity, the pious Jesuit -went and stood before his master. - -He had not been unnoticed! His heart must have sunk within him when -there smote upon his ear Elisha's question,-- - -"Whence comest thou, Gehazi?" - -But one lie is as easy as another, and Gehazi was doubtless an adept -at lying. - -"Thy servant went no whither," he replied, with an air of innocent -surprise. - -"_Went not_ my beloved one?"[99] said Elisha--and he must have said it -with a groan, as he thought how utterly unworthy the youth, whom he -thus called "my loving heart" or "my dear friend,"--"when the man -turned from his chariot to meet thee?" It may be that from the hill -of Samaria Elisha had seen it all, or that he had been told by one who -had seen it. If not, he had been rightly led to read the secret of his -servant's guilt. "Is it a time," he asked, "to act thus?" Did not my -example show thee that there was a high object in refusing this -Syrian's gifts, and in leading him to feel that the servants of -Jehovah do His bidding with no afterthought of sordid considerations? -Are there not enough troubles about us actual and impending, to show -that this is no time for the accumulation of earthly treasures? Is it -a time to receive money--and all that money will procure? to receive -garments, and olive-yards and vineyards, and oxen, and men-servants -and maid-servants? Has a prophet no higher aim than the accumulation -of earthly goods, and are his needs such as earthly goods can supply? -And hast thou, the daily friend and attendant of a prophet, learnt so -little from his precepts and his example? - -Then followed the tremendous penalty for so grievous a -transgression--a transgression made up of meanness, irreverence, -greed, cheating, treachery, and lies. - -"The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy -seed for ever!" "Oh heavy talents of Gehazi!" exclaims Bishop Hall: -"Oh the horror of the one unchangeable suit! How much better had been -a light purse and a homely coat, with a sound body and a clean soul!" - -"And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow."[100] - -It is the characteristic of the leprous taint in the system to be thus -suddenly developed, and apparently in crises of sudden and -overpowering emotion it might affect the whole blood. And one of the -many morals which lie in Gehazi's story is again that moral to which -the world's whole experience sets its seal--that though the guilty -soul may sell itself for a desired price, the sum-total of that price -is nought. It is Achan's ingots buried under the sod on which stood -his tent. It is Naboth's vineyard made abhorrent to Ahab on the day he -entered it. It is the thirty pieces of silver which Judas dashed with -a shriek upon the Temple floor. It is Gehazi's leprosy for which no -silver talents or changes of raiment could atone. - -The story of Gehazi--of the son of the prophets who would naturally -have succeeded Elisha as Elisha had succeeded Elijah--must have had a -tremendous significance to warn the members of the prophetic schools -from the peril of covetousness. That peril, as all history proves to -us, is one from which popes and priests, monks, and even nominally -ascetic and nominally pauper communities, have never been exempt;--to -which, it may even be said, that they have been peculiarly liable. -Mercenariness and falsity, displayed under the pretence of religion, -were never more overwhelmingly rebuked. Yet, as the Rabbis said, it -would have been better if Elisha, in repelling with the left hand, had -also drawn with the right.[101] - - * * * * * - -The fine story of Elisha and Naaman, and the fall and punishment of -Gehazi, is followed by one of the anecdotes of the prophet's life -which appears to our unsophisticated, perhaps to our imperfectly -enlightened judgment, to rise but little above the ecclesiastical -portents related in mediaeval hagiologies. - -At some unnamed place--perhaps Jericho--the house of the Sons of the -Prophets had become too small for their numbers and requirements, and -they asked Elisha's leave to go down to the Jordan and cut beams to make -a new residence. Elisha gave them leave, and at their request consented -to go with them. While they were hewing, the axe-head of one of them -fell into the water, and he cried out, "Alas! master, it was borrowed!" -Elisha ascertained where it had fallen. He then cut down a stick,[102] -and cast it on the spot, and the iron swam and the man recovered it. - -The story is perhaps an imaginative reproduction of some unwonted -incident. At any rate, we have no sufficient evidence to prove that it -may not be so. It is wholly unlike the economy invariably shown in the -Scripture narratives which tell us of the exercise of supernatural -power. All the eternal laws of nature are here superseded at a word, as -though it were an every-day matter, without even any recorded invocation -of Jehovah, to restore an axe-head, which could obviously have been -recovered or resupplied in some much less stupendous way than by making -iron swim on the surface of a swift-flowing river. It is easy to invent -conventional and _a priori_ apologies to show that religion demands the -unquestioning acceptance of this prodigy, and that a man must be -shockingly wicked who does not feel certain that it happened exactly in -the literal sense; but whether the doubt or the defence be morally -worthier, is a thing which God alone can judge.[103] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[83] It is curiously omitted by Josephus, though he mentions him -([Greek: Amanos]) as the slayer of Ahab (_Antt._, VIII. xv. 5). The -name is an old Hebrew name (Num. xxvi. 40). - -[84] The word _l'boosh_ means a gala dress. Comp. v. 5; Gen. xlv. 22. -[Greek: chitones epemoiboi] (Hom., _Od._, xiv. 514). Comp. viii. 249. - -[85] Elisha would not be likely to _touch_ the place. - -[86] Now the _Burada_ ("cold") and the Nahr-el-Awaj. - -[87] Compare the answer of Abraham to the King of Sodom (Gen. xiv. 23). - -[88] The feeling which influenced Naaman is the same which led the Jews -to build Nahardea in Persia of stones from Jerusalem. Altars were to be -of earth (Exod. xx. 24), but no altar is mentioned in 2 Kings v. 17, and -the LXX. does not even specify _earth_ ([Greek: gomos zeugos hemionon]). - -[89] This is the only place in Scripture where Rimmon is mentioned, -though we have the name Tab-Rimmon ("Rimmon is good"), 1 Kings xv. 18, -and Hadad-Rimmon (Zech. xii. 11). He was the god of the thunder. The -word means "pomegranate," and some have fancied that this was one of -his symbols. But the resemblance may be accidental, and the name was -properly _Ramman_. - -[90] See Deut. xxxii. 8, where the LXX. has [Greek: kata arithmon -angelon]. - -[91] The moral difficulty must have been early felt, for the -Alexandrian LXX. reads [Greek: kai proskyneso ama auto ego Kurio to -Theo mou]. But he would still be bowing in the House of Rimmon, though -he might in his heart worship God. "Elisha, like Elijah" (says Dean -Stanley), "made no effort to set right what had gone so wrong. Their -mission was to make the best of what they found; not to bring back a -rule of religion which had passed away, but to dwell on the Moral Law -which could be fulfilled everywhere, not on the Ceremonial Law which -circumstances seemed to have put out of their reach: 'not sending the -Shunammite to Jerusalem' (says Cardinal Newman), 'not eager for a -proselyte in Naaman, yet making the heathen fear the Name of God, and -proving to them that there was a prophet in Israel'" (Stanley, -_Lectures_, ii. 377; Newman, _Sermons_, viii. 415). - -[92] Prov. iv. 14, 15. - -[93] Prov. xvii. 14. - -[94] On Gehazi's lips it meant no more than the incessant _Wallah_, -"by God," of Mohammedans. - -[95] 2 Kings v. 19. Heb., _kib'rath aretz_, "a little way"--literally, -"a space of country." (The Vatican LXX. follows another reading, -[Greek: eis Debratha tes ges]; Vulg., _electo terrae tempore_[?].) - -[96] LXX., [Greek: katepedesen]. - -[97] A talent of silver was worth about L400--an enormous sum for two -half-naked youths. - -[98] 2 Kings v. 24. The LXX. ([Greek: eis to skoteinon]) seems to have -read [Hebrew: 'ofel] (_ophel_); "darkness," a treasury or secret -place, for [Hebrew: tzofel], and so the Vulgate _jam vesperi_. - -[99] 2 Kings v. 26. The verse is so interpreted by some critics, -especially Ewald, followed by Stanley. Margin, R.V.: "Mine heart went -not from me, when" etc. - -[100] Exod. iv. 6; Num. xii. 10. - -[101] The later Rabbis thought that Elisha was too severe with Gehazi, -and was punished with sickness because "he repelled him with both his -hands" (_Bava-Metsia_, f. 87, 1, and _Yalkut Jeremiah_). - -[102] The Hebrew word for "cut off" (_qatsab_) is very rare. LXX., -[Greek: apeknise xylon]; Vulg., _praecidit lignum_. - -[103] It must be further borne in mind that "the iron did swim" (A.V.) -is less accurate than "made the iron to swim" (R.V.). The LXX. has -[Greek: epepolase], "brought to the surface." Von Gerlach says, "He -thrust the stick into the water, and raised the iron to the surface." - - - - - CHAPTER VII - - _ELISHA AND THE SYRIANS_ - - 2 KINGS vi. 1-23 - - "Now there was found in the city a poor wise man, and he by his - wisdom delivered the city."--ECCLES. ix. 15. - - -Elisha, unlike his master Elijah, was, during a great part of his long -career, intimately mixed up with the political and military fortunes -of his country. The king of Israel who occurs in the following -narratives is left nameless--always the sign of later and more vague -tradition; but he has usually been identified with Jehoram ben-Ahab, -and, though not without some misgivings, we shall assume that the -identification is correct. His dealings with Elisha never seem to have -been very cordial, though on one occasion he calls him "my father." -The relations between them at times became strained and even stormy. - -His reign was rendered miserable by the incessant infestation of Syrian -marauders. In these difficulties he was greatly helped by Elisha. The -prophet repeatedly frustrated the designs of the Syrian king by -revealing to Jehoram the places of Benhadad's ambuscades, so that -Jehoram could change the destination of his hunting parties or other -movements, and escape the plots laid to seize his person. Benhadad, -finding himself thus frustrated, and suspecting that it was due to -treachery, called his servants together in grief and indignation, and -asked who was the traitor among them. His officers assured him that they -were all faithful, but that the secrets whispered in his bed-chamber -were revealed to Jehoram by Elisha the prophet in Israel, whose fame had -spread into Syria, perhaps because of the cure of Naaman. The king, -unable to take any step while his counsels were thus published to his -enemies, thought--not very consistently--that he could surprise and -seize Elisha himself, and sent to find out where he was. At that time he -was living in Dothan, about twelve miles north-east of Samaria,[104] and -Benhadad sent a contingent with horses and chariots by night to surround -the city, and prevent any escape from its gates. That he could thus -besiege a town so near the capital shows the helplessness to which -Israel had been now reduced. - -When Elisha's servitor rose in the morning he was terrified to see the -Syrians encamped round the city, and cried to Elisha, "Alas! my -master, what shall we do?" - -"Fear not," said the prophet: "they that be with us are more than they -that be with them." He prayed God to grant the youth the same open eyes, -the same spiritual vision which he himself enjoyed; and the youth saw -the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. - -This incident has been full of comfort to millions, as a beautiful -illustration of the truth that-- - - "The hosts of God encamp around - The dwellings of the just; - Deliverance He affords to all - Who on His promise trust. - - "Oh, make but trial of His love, - Experience will decide, - How blest are they, and only they, - Who in His truth confide." - -The youth's affectionate alarm had not been shared by his master. He -knew that to every true servant of God the promise will be fulfilled, -"He shall defend thee under His wings; thou shalt be safe under His -feathers; His righteousness and truth shall be thy shield and -buckler."[105] - -Were our eyes similarly opened, we too should see the reality of the -Divine protection and providence, whether under the visible form of -angelic ministrants or not. Scripture in general, and the Psalms in -particular, are full of the serenity inspired by this conviction. The -story of Elisha is a picture-commentary on the Psalmist's words: "The -angel of the Lord encampeth round them that fear Him, and delivereth -them."[106] "He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee -in all thy ways."[107] "And I will encamp about Mine house because of -the army, because of him that passeth by, and because of him that -returneth: and no oppressor shall pass through them any more: for now -have I seen with Mine eyes."[108] "The angel of His presence saved -them: in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bare them, -and carried them all the days of old."[109] - -But what is the exact meaning of all these lovely promises? They do not -mean that God's children and saints will always be shielded from anguish -or defeat, from the triumph of their enemies, or even from apparently -hopeless and final failure, or miserable death. The lesson is not that -their persons shall be inviolable, or that the enemies who advance -against them to eat up their flesh shall always stumble and fall. The -experiences of tens of thousands of troubled lives and martyred ends -instantly prove the futility of any such reading of these assurances. -The saints of God, the prophets of God, have died in exile and in -prison, have been tortured on the rack and broken on the wheel, and -burnt to ashes at innumerable stakes; they have been destitute, -afflicted, tormented, in their lives--stoned, beheaded, sawn asunder, in -every form of hideous death; they have rotted in miry dungeons, have -starved on desolate shores, have sighed out their souls into the -agonising flame. The Cross of Christ stands as the emblem and the -explanation of their lives, which fools count to be madness, and their -end without honour. On earth they have, far more often than not, been -crushed by the hatred and been delivered over to the will of their -enemies. Where, then, have been those horses and chariots of fire? - -They have been there no less than around Elisha at Dothan. The eyes -spiritually opened have seen them, even when the sword flashed, or the -flames wrapped them in indescribable torment. The sense of God's -protection has least deserted His saints when to the world's eyes they -seemed to have been most utterly abandoned. There has been a joy in -prisons and at stakes, it has been said, far exceeding the joy of -harvest. "Pray for me," said a poor boy of fifteen, who was being -burned at Smithfield in the fierce days of Mary Tudor. "I would as -soon pray for a dog as for a heretic like thee," answered one of the -spectators. "Then, Son of God, shine Thou upon me!" cried the -boy-martyr; and instantly, upon a dull and cloudy day, the sun shone -out, and bathed his young face in glory; whereat, says the -martyrologist, men greatly marvelled. But is there one death-bed of a -saint on which that glory has not shone? - -The presence of those horses and chariots of fire, unseen by the -carnal eye--the promises which, if they be taken literally, all -experience seems to frustrate--mean two things, which they who are the -heirs of such promises, and who would without them be of all men most -miserable, have clearly understood. - -They mean, first, that as long as a child of God is on the path of -duty, and until that duty has been fulfilled, he is inviolable and -invulnerable. He shall tread upon the lion and the adder; the young -lion and the dragon shall he trample under his feet. He shall take up -the serpent in his hands; and if he drink any deadly thing, it shall -not hurt him. He shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of -the arrow that flieth by day; of the pestilence that walketh in -darkness, nor of the demon that destroyeth in the noonday. A thousand -shall fall at his right hand, and ten thousand beside him; but it -shall not come nigh him. The histories and the legends of numberless -marvellous deliverances all confirm the truth that, when a man fears -the Lord, He will keep him in all his ways, and give His angels charge -over him, lest at any time he dash his foot against a stone. God will -not permit any mortal force, or any combination of forces, to hinder -the accomplishment of the task entrusted to His servant. It is the -sense of this truth which, under circumstances however menacing, -should enable us to - - "bate no jot - Of heart or hope, but still bear up, and steer - Uphillward" - -It is this conviction which has nerved men to face insuperable -difficulties, and achieve impossible and unhoped-for ends. It works in -the spirit of the cry, "Who art thou, O great mountain? Before -Zerubbabel be thou changed into a plain!" It inspires the faith as a -grain of mustard seed which is able to say to this mountain, "Be thou -removed, and be thou cast into the sea,"--and it shall obey. It stands -unmoved upon the pinnacle of the Temple whereon it has been placed, -while the enemy and the tempter, smitten by amazement, falls. In the -hour of difficulty it can cry,-- - - "Rescue me, O Lord, in this mine evil hour, - As of old so many by Thy mighty power,-- - Enoch and Elias from the common doom; - Noe from the waters in a saving home; - Abraham from the abounding guilt of heathenesse; - Job from all his multiform and fell distress; - Isaac when his faither's knife was raised to slay; - Lot from burning Sodom on the judgment day; - Moses from the land of bondage and despair; - Daniel from the hungry lions in their lair; - And the children three amid the furnace flame; - Chaste Susanna from the slander and the shame; - David from Golia, and the wrath of Saul; - And the two Apostles from their prison-thrall." - -The strangeness, the unexpectedness, the apparently inadequate source -of the deliverance, have deepened the trust that it has not been due -to accident. Once, when Felix of Nola was flying from his enemies, he -took refuge in a cave, and he had scarcely entered it before a spider -began to spin its web over the fissure. The pursuer, passing by, saw -the spider's web, and did not look into the cave; and the saint, as he -came out into safety, remarked: "_Ubi Deus est, ibi aranea murus, ubi -non est ibi murus aranea_" ("Where God is, a spider's web is as a -wall; where He is not, a wall is but as a spider's web"). - -This is one lesson conveyed in the words of Christ when the Pharisees -told Him that Herod desired to kill Him. He knew that Herod could not -kill Him till He had done His Father's will and finished His work. "Go -ye," He said, "and tell this fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do -cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. -Nevertheless, I must walk to-day, and to-morrow, and the day following." - -But had all this been otherwise--had Felix been seized by his pursuers -and perished, as has been the common lot of God's prophets and -heroes--he would not therefore have felt himself mocked by these -exceeding great and precious promises. The chariots and horses of fire -are still there, and are there to work a deliverance yet greater and -more eternal. Their office is not to deliver the perishing body, but -to carry into God's glory the immortal soul. This is indicated in the -death-scene of Elijah. This was the vision of the dying Stephen. This -was what Christian legend meant when it embellished with beautiful -incidents such scenes as the death of Polycarp. This was what led -Bunyan to write, when he describes the death of Christian, that "all -the trumpets sounded for him on the other side." When poor Captain -Allan Gardiner lay starving to death in that Antarctic isle with his -wretched companions, he yet painted on the entrance of the cave which -had sheltered them, and near to which his remains were found, a hand -pointing downward at the words, "Though He slay me, yet will I put my -trust in Him." - -There was a touch of almost joyful humour in the way in which Elisha -proceeded to use, in the present emergency, the power of Divine -deliverance. He seems to have gone out of the town and down the hill -to the Syrian captains,[110] and prayed God to send them illusion -([Greek: ablepsia]), so that they might be misled.[111] Then he boldly -said to them, "You are being deceived: you have come the wrong way, -and to the wrong city. I will take you to the man whom ye seek." The -incident reminds us of the story of Athanasius, who, when he was being -pursued on the Nile, took the opportunity of a bend of the river -boldly to turn back his boat towards Alexandria. "Do you know where -Athanasius is?" shouted the pursuers. "He is not far off!" answered -the disguised Archbishop; and the emissaries of Constantius went on in -the opposite direction from that in which he made his escape. - -Elisha led the Syrians in their delusion straight into the city of -Samaria, where they suddenly found themselves at the mercy of the king -and his troops. Delighted at so great a chance of vengeance, Jehoram -eagerly exclaimed, "My father, shall I smite, shall I smite?" - -Certainly the request cannot be regarded as unnatural, when we remember -that in the Book of Deuteronomy, which did not come to light till after -this period, we read the rule that, when the Israelites had taken a -besieged city, "thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the -sword";[112] and that when Israel defeated the Midianites[113] they slew -all the males, and Moses was wroth with the officers of the host -because they had not also slain all the women. He then (as we are told) -ordered them to slay all except the virgins, and also--horrible to -relate--"_every male among the little ones_." The spirit of Elisha on -this occasion was larger and more merciful. It almost rose to the spirit -of Him who said, "It was said to them of old time, Thou shalt love thy -neighbour and hate thine enemy; but I say unto you, Love your enemies; -forgive them that hate you; do good unto them that despitefully use you -and persecute you." He asked Jehoram reproachfully whether he would even -have smitten those whom he had taken captive with sword and bow.[114] He -not only bade the king to spare them, but to set food before them, and -send them home. Jehoram did so at great expense, and the narrative ends -by telling us that the example of such merciful generosity produced so -favourable an impression that "the bands of Syria came no more into the -land of Israel." - -It is difficult, however, to see where this statement can be -chronologically fitted in. The very next chapter--so loosely is the -compilation put together, so completely is the sequence of events here -neglected--begins with telling us that Benhadad with all his host went -up and besieged Samaria. Any peace or respite gained by Elisha's -compassionate magnanimity must, in any case, have been exceedingly -short-lived. Josephus tries to get over the difficulty by drawing a -sufficiently futile distinction between marauding bands and a direct -invasion,[115] and he says that King Benhadad gave up his frays through -_fear_ of Elisha. But, in the first place, the encompassing of Dothan -had been carried out by "_a great host_ with horses and chariots," which -is hardly consistent with the notion of a foray, though it creates new -difficulties as to the numbers whom Elisha led to Samaria; secondly, the -substitution of a direct invasion for predatory incursions would have -been no gain to Israel, but a more deadly peril; and, thirdly, if it was -fear of Elisha which stopped the king's raids, it is strange that it had -no effect in preventing his invasions. We have, however, no data for any -final solution of these problems, and it is useless to meet them with a -network of idle conjectures. Such difficulties naturally occur in -narratives so vague and unchronological as those presented to us in the -documents from the story of Elisha which the compiler wove into his -history of Israel and Judah.[116] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[104] Gen. xxxvii. 17, _Dothain_, "two wells" (?). - -[105] Psalm xci. 4. - -[106] Psalm xxxiv. 7. - -[107] Psalm xci. 11. - -[108] Zech. ix. 8. - -[109] Isa. lxiii. 9. - -[110] Adopting the reading of the Syriac version: "And when they -[Elisha and his servant] came down to them [the Syrians]." The -ordinary reading is "to _him_," which makes the narrative less clear. - -[111] 2 Kings vi. 19. [Hebrew: manverim], [Greek: aorasia], only found -in Gen. xix. 11. - -[112] Deut. xx. 13. - -[113] Num. xxxi. 7. - -[114] Vulg., _Non percuties; neque enim cepisti eos ... ut percutias._ - -[115] Jos., _Antt._, IX. iv. 4, [Greek: Krypha men ouketi ... phaneros -de]. - -[116] Kittel, following Kuenen, surmises that this story has got -misplaced; that it does not belong to the days of Jehoram ben-Ahab and -Benhadad II., but to the days of Jehoahaz ben-Jehu and Benhadad III., -the son of Hazael (_Gesch. der Hebr._, 249). In a very uncertain -question I have followed the conclusion arrived at by the majority of -scholars, ancient and modern. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - - _THE FAMINE AND THE SIEGE_ - - 2 KINGS vi. 24-vii. 20 - - "'Tis truly no good plan when princes play - The vulture among carrion; but when - They play the carrion among vultures--that - Is ten times worse." - LESSING, _Nathan the Wise_, Act I., Sc. 3. - - -If the Benhadad, King of Syria, who reduced Samaria to the horrible -straits recorded in this chapter, (2 Kings vi.) was the same Benhadad -whom Ahab had treated with such impolitic confidence, his hatred -against Israel must indeed have burned hotly. Besides the affair at -Dothan, he had already been twice routed with enormous slaughter, and -against those disasters he could only set the death of Ahab at -Ramoth-Gilead. It is obvious from the preceding narrative that he -could advance at any time at his will and pleasure into the heart of -his enemy's country, and shut him up in his capital almost without -resistance. The siege-trains of ancient days were very inefficient, -and any strong fortress could hold out for years, if only it was well -provisioned. Such was not the case with Samaria, and it was reduced to -a condition of sore famine. Food so loathsome as an ass's head, which -at other times the poorest would have spurned, was now sold for eighty -shekels' weight of silver (about L8); and the fourth part of a -_xestes_ or _kab_--which was itself the smallest dry-measure, the -sixth part of a _seah_--of the coarse, common pulse, or roasted -chick-peas, vulgarly known as "dove's dung," fetched five shekels -(about 12_s._ 6_d._).[117] - -While things were at this awful pass, "the King of Israel," as he is -vaguely called throughout this story, went his rounds upon the wall to -visit the sentries and encourage the soldiers in their defence. As he -passed, a woman cried, "Help, my lord, O king!" In Eastern monarchies -the king is a judge of the humblest; a suppliant, however mean, may -cry to him. Jehoram thought that this was but one of the appeals which -sprang from the clamorous mendicity of famine with which he had grown -so painfully familiar. "The Lord curse you!" he exclaimed -impatiently.[118] "How can I help you? Every barn-floor is bare, every -wine-press drained." And he passed on. - -But the woman continued her wild clamour, and turning round at her -importunity, he asked, "What aileth thee?" - -He heard in reply a narrative as appalling as ever smote the ear of a -king in a besieged city. Among the curses denounced upon apostate Israel -in the Pentateuch, we read, "Ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and -the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat";[119] or, as it is expressed -more fully in the Book of Deuteronomy, "He shall besiege thee in all -thy gates throughout all thy land.... And thou shalt eat the fruit of -thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and thy daughters, which the Lord -thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness wherewith -thine enemies shall distress thee: so that the man that is tender among -you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil towards his brother, and -towards the wife of his bosom, and towards the remnant of his children -which he shall leave; so that he shall not give to any of them of the -flesh of his children whom he shall eat, because he hath nothing left -him in the siege.... The tender and delicate woman, which would not -adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness -and tenderness, her eye shall be evil towards the husband of her bosom, -and towards her son, and towards her daughter, and towards her children: -for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and -the straitness, if thou wilt not observe to do all the words of the law, -... that thou mayest fear the glorious and fearful name, _The Lord thy -God_."[120] We find almost the same words in the prophet Jeremiah;[121] -and in Lamentations we read: "The hands of the pitiful women have sodden -their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the -daughter of My people."[122] - -Isaiah asks, "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not -have compassion on the son of her womb?" Alas! it has always been so in -those awful scenes of famine, whether after shipwreck or in beleaguered -cities, when man becomes degraded to an animal, with all an animal's -primitive instincts, and when the wild beast appears under the thin -veneer of civilisation. So it was at the siege of Jerusalem, and at the -siege of Magdeburg, and at the wreck of the _Medusa_, and on many -another occasion when the pangs of hunger have corroded away every -vestige of the tender affections and of the moral sense. - -And this had occurred at Samaria: her women had become cannibals and -devoured their own little ones. - -"This woman," screamed the suppliant, pointing her lean finger at a -wretch like herself--"this woman said unto me, 'Give thy son, that we -may eat him to-day, and we will afterwards eat my son.' I yielded to -her suggestion. We killed my little son, and ate his flesh when we had -sodden it. Next day I said to her, 'Now give thy son, that we may eat -him'; and she hath hid her son!" - -How could the king answer such a horrible appeal? Injustice had been -done; but was he to order and to sanction by way of redress fresh -cannibalism, and the murder by its mother of another babe? In that -foul obliteration of every natural instinct, what could he do, what -could any man do? Can there be equity among raging wild beasts, when -they roar for their prey and are unfed? - -All that the miserable king could do was to rend his clothes in horror -and to pass on, and as his starving subjects passed by him on the wall -they saw that he wore sackcloth beneath his purple, in sign, if not of -repentance, yet of anguish, if not of prayer, yet of uttermost -humiliation.[123] - -But if indeed he had, in his misery, donned that sackcloth in order -that at least the semblance of self-mortification might move Jehovah -to pity, as it had done in the case of his father Ahab, the external -sign of his humility had done nothing to change his heart. The -gruesome appeal to which he had just been forced to listen only -kindled him to a burst of fury[124].The man who had warned, who had -prophesied, who so far during this siege had not raised his finger to -help--the man who was believed to be able to wield the powers of -heaven, and had wrought no deliverance for his people, but suffered -them to sink unaided into these depths of abjectness--should he be -permitted to live? If Jehovah would not help, of what use was Elisha? -"God do so to me, and more also," exclaimed Jehoram--using his -mother's oath to Elijah[125]--"if the head of Elisha, the son of -Shaphat, shall stand on him this day." - -Was this the king who had come to Elisha with such humble entreaty, -when three armies were perishing of thirst before the eyes of Moab? -Was this the king who had called Elisha "my father," when the prophet -had led the deluded host of Syrians into Samaria, and bidden Jehoram -to set large provision before them? It was the same king, but now -transported with fury and reduced to despair. His threat against God's -prophet was in reality a defiance of God, as when our unhappy -Plantagenet, Henry II., maddened by the loss of Le Mans, exclaimed -that, since God had robbed him of the town he loved, he would pay God -out by robbing Him of that which He most loved in him--his soul. - -Jehoram's threat was meant in grim earnest, and he sent an executioner -to carry it out. Elisha was sitting in his house with the elders of -the city, who had come to him for counsel at this hour of supreme -need. He knew what was intended for him, and it had also been revealed -to him that the king would follow his messenger to cancel his -sanguinary threat. "See ye," he said to the elders, "how this son of a -murderer"--for again he indicates his contempt and indignation for the -son of Ahab and Jezebel--"hath sent to behead me! When he comes, shut -the door, and hold it fast against him. His master is following hard -at his heels." - -The messenger came, and was refused admittance. The king followed -him,[126] and entering the room where the prophet and elders sat, he -gave up his wicked design of slaying Elisha with the sword, but he -overwhelmed him with reproaches, and in despair renounced all further -trust in Jehovah. Elisha, as the king's words imply, must have refused -all permission to capitulate: he must have held out from the first a -promise that God would send deliverance. But no deliverance had come. -The people were starving. Women were devouring their babes. Nothing -worse could happen if they flung open their gates to the Syrian host. -"Behold," the king said, "this evil is Jehovah's doing. You have -deceived us. Jehovah does not intend to deliver us. Why should I wait -for Him any longer?" Perhaps the king meant to imply that his mother's -Baal was better worth serving, and would never have left his votaries -to sink into these straits. - -And now man's extremity had come, and it was God's opportunity. Elisha -at last was permitted to announce that the worst was over, that the -next day plenty should smile on the besieged city. "Thus saith the -Lord," he exclaimed to the exhausted and despondent king, "To-morrow -about this time, instead of an ass's head being sold for eighty -shekels, and a thimbleful of pulse for five shekels, a peck of fine -flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two pecks of barley for a -shekel, in the gate of Samaria." - -The king was leaning on the hand of his chief officer, and to this -soldier the promise seemed not only incredible, but silly: for at the -best he could only suppose that the Syrian host would raise the siege; -and though to hope for that looked an absurdity, yet even that would -not in the least fulfil the immense prediction. He answered, -therefore, in utter scorn: "Yes! Jehovah is making windows in heaven! -But even thus could this be?" It is much as if he should have answered -some solemn pledge with a derisive proverb such as, "Yes! if the sky -should fall, we should catch larks!" - -Such contemptuous repudiation of a Divine promise was a blasphemy; and -answering scorn with scorn, and riddle with riddling, Elisha answers -the mocker, "Yes! and _you_ shall see this, but shall not enjoy it." - -The word of the Lord was the word of a true prophet, and the miracle -was wrought. Not only was the siege raised, but the wholly unforeseen -spoil of the entire Syrian camp, with all its accumulated rapine, -brought about the predicted plenty. - -There were four lepers[127] outside the gate of Samaria, like the -leprous mendicants who gather there to this day. They were cut off -from all human society, except their own. Leprosy was treated as -contagious, and if "houses of the unfortunate" (_Biut-el-Masakin_) -were provided for them, as seems to have been the case at Jerusalem, -they were built outside the city walls.[128] They could only live by -beggary, and this was an aggravation of their miserable condition. And -how could any one fling food to these beggars over the walls, when -food of any kind was barely to be had within them? - -So taking counsel of their despair, they decided that they would -desert to the Syrians: among them they would at least find food, if -their lives were spared; and if not, death would be a happy release -from their present misery. - -So in the evening twilight, when they could not be seen or shot at -from the city wall as deserters, they stole down to the Syrian camp. - -When they reached its outermost circle, to their amazement all was -silence. They crept into one of the tents in fear and astonishment. -There was food and drink there, and they satisfied the cravings of -their hunger. It was also stored with booty from the plundered cities -and villages of Israel. To this they helped themselves, and took it -away and hid it. Having spoiled this tent, they entered a second. It -was likewise deserted, and they carried a fresh store of treasures to -their hiding-place. And then they began to feel uneasy at not -divulging to their starving fellow-citizens the strange and golden -tidings of a deserted camp. The night was wearing on; day would reveal -the secret. If they carried the good news, they would doubtless earn a -rich guerdon. If they waited till morning, they might be put to death -for their selfish reticence and theft. It was safest to return to the -city, and rouse the warder, and send a message to the palace. So the -lepers hurried back through the night, and shouted to the sentinel at -the gate, "We went to the Syrian camp, and it was deserted! Not a man -was there, not a sound was to be heard. The horses were tethered -there, and the asses, and the tents were left just as they were." - -The sentinel called the other watchmen to hear the wonderful news, and -instantly ran with it to the palace. The slumbering house was roused; -and though it was still night, the king himself arose. But he could not -shake off his despondency, and made no reference to Elisha's prediction. -News sometimes sounds too good to be true. "It is only a decoy," he -said. "They can only have left their camp to lure us into an ambuscade, -that they may return, and slaughter us, and capture our city." - -"Send to see," answered one of his courtiers. "Send five horsemen to -test the truth, and to look out. If they perish, their fate is but the -fate of us all." - -So two chariots with horses were despatched, with instructions not -only to visit the camp, but track the movements of the host. - -They went, and found that it was as the lepers had said. The camp was -deserted, and lay there as an immense booty; and for some reason the -Syrians had fled towards the Jordan to make good their escape to -Damascus by the eastern bank. The whole road was strewn with the traces -of their headlong flight; it was full of scattered garments and vessels. - -Probably, too, the messengers came across some disabled fugitive, and -learnt the secret of this amazing stampede. It was the result of one of -those sudden unaccountable panics to which the huge, unwieldy, -heterogeneous Eastern armies, which have no organised system of -sentries, and no trained discipline, are constantly liable. We have -already met with several instances in the history of Israel. Such was -the panic which seized the Midianites when Gideon's three hundred blew -their trumpets; and the panic of the Syrians before Ahab's pages of the -provinces; and of the combined armies in the Valley of Salt; and of the -Moabites at Wady-el-Ahsy; and afterwards of the Assyrians before the -walls of Jerusalem. Fear is physically contagious, and, when once it has -set in, it swells with such unaccountable violence, that the Greeks -called these terrors "panic," because they believed them to be directly -inspired by the god Pan. Well-disciplined as was the army of the Ten -Thousand Greeks in their famous retreat, they nearly fell victims to a -sudden panic, had not Clearchus, with prompt resource, published by the -herald the proclamation of a reward for the arrest of the man who had -let the ass loose. Such an unaccountable terror--caused by a noise as of -chariots and of horses which reverberated among the hills--had seized -the Syrian host. They thought that Jehoram had secretly hired an army of -the princes of the Khetas[129] and of the Egyptians to march suddenly -upon them. In wild confusion, not stopping to reason or to inquire, they -took to flight, increasing their panic by the noise and rush of their -own precipitance. - -No sooner had the messengers delivered their glad tidings, than the -people of Samaria began to pour tumultuously out of the gates, to -fling themselves on the food and on the spoil. It was like the rush of -the dirty, starving, emaciated wretches which horrified the keepers -of the reserved stores at Smolensk in Napoleon's retreat from Moscow, -and forced them to shut the gates, and fling food and grain to the -struggling soldiers out of the windows of the granaries. To secure -order and prevent disaster, the king appointed his attendant lord to -keep the gate. But the torrent of people flung him down, and they -trampled on his body in their eagerness for relief. He died after -having seen that the promise of Elisha was fulfilled, and that the -cheapness and abundance had been granted, the prophecy of which he -thought only fit for his sceptical derision. - -"The sudden panic which delivered the city," says Dean Stanley, "is -the one marked intervention on behalf of the northern capital. No -other incident could be found in the sacred annals so appropriately to -express, in the Church of Gouda, the pious gratitude of the citizens -of Leyden, for their deliverance from the Spanish army, as the -miraculous raising of the siege of Samaria."[130] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[117] So _asafoetida_ is called "devil's dung" in Germany; and the -_Herba alcali_, "sparrow's dung" by Arabs. The _Q'ri_, however, supports -the _literal_ meaning; and compare 2 Kings xviii. 27; Jos., _B. J._, V. -xiii. 7. Analogies for these prices are quoted from classic authors. -Plutarch (_Artax._, xxiv.) mentions a siege in which an ass's head could -hardly be got for sixty drachmas (L2 10_s._), though usually the whole -animal only cost L1. Pliny (_H. N._, viii. 57) says that during -Hannibal's siege of Casilinum a mouse sold for L6 5_s._ - -[118] So Clericus. Comp. Jos. [Greek: eperasato aute]. - -[119] Lev. xxvi. 29. - -[120] Deut. xxviii. 52-58. - -[121] Jer. xix. 9. - -[122] Lam. iv. 10: comp. ii. 20; Ezek. v. 10; Jos., _B. J._, VI. iii. 4. - -[123] 1 Kings xxi. 27; Isa. xx. 2, 3. - -[124] Compare the wrath of Pashur the priest in consequence of the -denunciation of Jeremiah (Jer. xx. 2). - -[125] 1 Kings xix. 2. - -[126] In 2 Kings vi. 33 we should read _melek_ (king) for _maleak_ -(messenger). Jehoram repented of his hasty order. - -[127] The Jews say Gehazi, and his three sons (Jarchi). - -[128] Lev. xiii. 46; Num. v. 2, 3. - -[129] The capitals of the ancient Hittites--a nation whose fame had -been almost entirely obliterated till a few years ago--were -Karchemish, Kadesh, Hamath, and Helbon (Aleppo). - -[130] _Lectures_, ii. 345. - - - - - CHAPTER IX - - _THE SHUNAMMITE AND HAZAEL_ - - 2 KINGS viii. 1-6, 7-15. (Circ. B.C. 886.) - - "Our acts still follow with us from afar, - And what we have been makes us what we are." - GEORGE ELIOT. - - -The next anecdote of Elisha brings us once more into contact with the -Lady of Shunem. Famines, or dearths, were unhappily of very frequent -occurrence in a country which is so wholly dependent, as Palestine is, -upon the early and latter rain. On some former occasion Elisha had -foreseen that "Jehovah had called for a famine"; for the sword, the -famine, and the pestilence are represented as ministers who wait His -bidding.[131] He had also foreseen that it would be of long duration, -and in kindness to the Shunammite had warned her that she had better -remove for a time into a land in which there was greater plenty. It -was under similar circumstances that Elimelech and Naomi, ancestors of -David's line, had taken their sons Mahlon and Chilion, and gone to -live in the land of Moab; and, indeed, the famine which decided the -migration of Jacob and his children into Egypt had been a -turning-point in the history of the Chosen People. - -The Lady of Shunem had learnt by experience the weight of Elisha's -words. Her husband is not mentioned, and was probably dead; so she -arose with her household, and went for seven years to live in the -plain of Philistia. At the end of that time the dearth had ceased, and -she returned to Shunem, but only to find that during her absence her -house and land were in possession of other owners, and had probably -escheated to the Crown. The king was the ultimate, and to a great -extent the only, source of justice in his little kingdom, and she went -to lay her claim before him and demand the restitution of her -property. By a providential circumstance she came exactly at the most -favourable moment. The king--it must have been Jehoram--was at the -very time talking to Gehazi about the great works of Elisha. As it is -unlikely that he would converse long with a leper, and as Gehazi is -still called "the servant of the man of God," the incident may here be -narrated out of order. It is pleasant to find Jehoram taking so deep -an interest in the prophet's story. Already on many occasions during -his wars with Moab and Syria, as well as on the occasion of Naaman's -visit, if that had already occurred, he had received the completest -proof of the reality of Elisha's mission, but he might be naturally -unaware of the many private incidents in which he had exhibited a -supernatural power. Among other stories Gehazi was telling him that of -the Shunammite, and how Elisha had given life to her dead son. At that -juncture she came before the king, and Gehazi said, "My lord, O king, -this is the very woman, and this is her son whom Elisha recalled to -life." In answer to Jehoram's questions she confirmed the story, and -he was so much impressed by the narrative that he not only ordered -the immediate restitution of her land, but also of the value of its -products during the seven years of her exile. - -We now come to the fulfilment of the second of the commands which -Elijah had received so long before at Horeb. To complete the -retribution which was yet to fall on Israel, he had been bidden to -anoint Hazael to be king of Syria in the room of Benhadad. Hitherto -the mandate had remained unfulfilled, because no opportunity had -occurred; but the appointed time had now arrived. Elisha, for some -purpose, and during an interval of peace, visited Damascus, where the -visit of Naaman and the events of the Syrian wars had made his name -very famous. Benhadad II., grandson or great-grandson of Rezin, after -a stormy reign of some thirty years, marked by some successes, but -also by the terrible reverses already recorded, lay dangerously ill. -Hearing the news that the wonder-working prophet of Israel was in his -capital, he sent to ask of him the question, "Shall I recover?" It had -been the custom from the earliest days to propitiate the favour of -prophets by presents, without which even the humblest suppliant hardly -ventured to approach them.[132] The gift sent by Benhadad was truly -royal, for he thought perhaps that he could purchase the intercession -or the miraculous intervention of this mighty thaumaturge. He sent -Hazael with a selection "of every good thing of Damascus," and, like -an Eastern, he endeavoured to make his offering seem more -magnificent[133] by distributing it on the backs of forty camels. - -At the head of this imposing procession of camels walked Hazael, the -commander of the forces, and stood in Elisha's presence with the -humble appeal, "Thy son Benhadad, King of Syria, hath sent me to thee, -saying, Shall I recover of this disease?" - -About the king's munificence we are told no more, but we cannot doubt -that it was refused. If Naaman's still costlier blessing had been -rejected, though he was about to receive through Elisha's ministration -an inestimable boon, it is unlikely that Elisha would accept a gift -for which he could offer no return, and which, in fact, directly or -indirectly, involved the death of the sender. But the historian does -not think it necessary to pause and tell us that Elisha sent back the -forty camels unladen of their treasures. It was not worth while to -narrate what was a matter of course. If it had been no time, a few -years earlier, to receive money and garments, and olive-yards and -vineyards, and men-servants and maid-servants, still less was it a -time to do so now. The days were darker now than they had been, and -Elisha himself stood near the Great White Throne. The protection of -these fearless prophets lay in their utter simplicity of soul. They -rose above human fears because they stood above human desires. What -Elisha possessed was more than sufficient for the needs of the plain -and humble life of one whose communing was with God. It was not -wonderful that prophets should rise to an elevation whence they could -look down with indifference upon the superfluities of the lust of the -eyes and the pride of life, when even sages of the heathen have -attained to a similar independence of earthly luxuries. One who can -climb such mountain-heights can look with silent contempt on gold. - -But there is a serious difficulty about Elisha's answer to the -embassage. "Go, say unto him"--so it is rendered in our Authorised -Version--"Thou mayest certainly recover: howbeit the Lord hath showed -me that he shall surely die." - -It is evident that the translators of 1611 meant the emphasis to be -laid on the "_mayest_," and understood the answer of Elisha to mean, -"Thy recovery is quite possible; and yet"--he adds to Hazael, and not -as part of his answer to the king--"Jehovah has shown me that dying he -shall die,"--not indeed of this disease, but by other means before he -has recovered from it. - -Unfortunately, however, the Hebrew will not bear this meaning. Elisha -bids Hazael to go back with the distinct message, "Thou shalt surely -recover," as it is rightly rendered in the Revised Version. - -This, however, is the rendering, not of the _written_ text as it stands, -but of the margin. Every one knows that in the Masoretic original the -text itself is called the K'thib, or "what is written," whereas the -margin is called _Q'ri_, "read." Now, our translators, both those of -1611 and those of the Revision Committee, all but invariably follow the -Kethib as the most authentic reading. In this instance, however, they -abandon the rule and translate the marginal reading. - -What, then, is the written text? - -It is the reverse of the marginal reading, for it has: "Go, say, Thou -shalt _not_ recover." - -The reader may naturally ask the cause of this startling discrepancy. - -It seems to be twofold. - -(I.) Both the Hebrew word _lo_, "not" ([Hebrew: lo]), and the word -_lo_, "to him" ([Hebrew: lo]), have precisely the same pronunciation. -Hence this text might mean either "Go, say _to him_, Thou shalt -certainly recover," or "Go, say, Thou shalt _not_ recover." The same -identity of the negative and the dative of the preposition has made -nonsense of another passage of the Authorised Version, where "Thou -hast multiplied the nation, and _not_ increased the joy: they joy -before Thee according to the joy of harvest," should be "Thou hast -multiplied the nation, and increased _its_ joy." So, too, the verse -"It is He that hath made us, and _not_ we ourselves," may mean "It is -He that hath made us, and _to Him_ we belong." In the present case the -adoption of the negative (which would have conveyed to Benhadad the -exact truth) is not possible; for it makes the next clause and its -introduction by the word "Howbeit" entirely meaningless. - -But (II.) this confusion in the text might not have arisen in the -present instance but for the difficulty of Elisha's appearing to send -a deliberately false message to Benhadad, and a message which he tells -Hazael at the time is false. - -Can this be deemed impossible? - -With the views prevalent in "those times of ignorance," I think not. -Abraham and Isaac, saints and patriarchs as they were, both told -practical falsehoods about their wives. They, indeed, were reproved -for this, though not severely; but, on the other hand, Jael is not -reproved for her treachery to Sisera; and Samuel, under the semblance -of a Divine permission, used a diplomatic ruse when he visited the -household of Jesse; and in the apologue of Micaiah a lying spirit is -represented as sent forth to do service to Jehovah; and Elisha himself -tells a deliberate falsehood to the Syrians at Dothan. The -sensitiveness to the duty of always speaking the exact truth is not -felt in the East with anything like the intensity that it is in -Christian lands; and reluctant as we should be to find in the message -of Elisha another instance of that _falsitas dispensativa_ which has -been so fatally patronised by some of the Fathers and by many Romish -theologians, the love of truth itself would compel us to accept this -view of the case, if there were no other possible interpretation. - -I think, however, that another view is possible. I think that Elisha -may have said to Hazael, "Go, say unto him, Thou shalt surely -recover," with the same accent of irony in which Micaiah said at first -to the two kings, "Go up to Ramoth-Gilead, and prosper; for the Lord -shall deliver it into the hand of the king." I think that his whole -manner and the tone of his voice may have shown to Hazael, and may -have been meant to show him, that this was not Elisha's real message -to Benhadad. Or, to adopt the same line of explanation with an -unimportant difference, Elisha may have meant to imply, "Go, follow -the bent which I know you _will_ follow; go, carry back to your master -the lying message that I said he would recover. But that is not _my_ -message. My message, whether it suits your courtier instincts or not, -is that Jehovah has warned me that he shall surely die." - -That some such meaning as this attaches to the verse seems to be shown -by the context. For not only was some reproof involved in Elisha's -words, but he showed his grief still more by his manner. It was as -though he had said, "Take back what message you choose, but Benhadad -will certainly die"; and then he fastened his steady gaze on the -soldier's countenance, till Hazael blushed and became uneasy. Only -when he noted that Hazael's conscience was troubled by the glittering -eyes which seemed to read the inmost secrets of his heart did Elisha -drop his glance, and burst into tears. "Why weepeth, my lord?" asked -Hazael, in still deeper uneasiness. Whereupon Elisha revealed to him -the future. "I weep," he said, "because I see in thee the curse and -the avenger of the sins of my native land. Thou wilt become to them a -sword of God; thou wilt set their fortresses on fire; thou wilt -slaughter their youths; thou wilt dash their little ones to pieces -against the stones; thou wilt rip up their women with child." That he -actually inflicted these savageries of warfare on the miserable -Israelites we are not told, but we are told that he smote them in all -their coasts; that Jehovah delivered them into his hands; that he -oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.[134] That being so, there -can be no question that he carried out the same laws of atrocious -warfare which belonged to those times and continued long afterwards. -Such atrocities were not only inflicted on the Israelites again and -again by the Assyrians and others,[135] but they themselves had often -inflicted them, and inflicted them with what they believed to be -Divine approval, on their own enemies.[136] Centuries after, one of -their own poets accounted it a beatitude to him who should dash the -children of the Babylonians against the stones.[137] - -As the answer of Hazael is usually read and interpreted, we are taught -to regard it as an indignant declaration that he could never be guilty -of such vile deeds. It is regarded as though it were "an abhorrent -repudiation of his future self." The lesson often drawn from it in -sermons is that a man may live to do, and to delight in, crimes which -he once hated and deemed it impossible that he should ever commit. - -The lesson is a most true one, and is capable of a thousand -illustrations. It conveys the deeply needed warning that those who, -even in thought, dabble with wrong courses, which they only regard as -venial peccadilloes, may live to commit, without any sense of horror, -the most enormous offences. It is the explanation of the terrible fact -that youths who once seemed innocent and holy-minded may grow up, step -by step, into colossal criminals. "Men," says Scherer, "advance -unconsciously from errors to faults, and from faults to crimes, till -sensibility is destroyed by the habitual spectacle of guilt, and the -most savage atrocities come to be dignified by the name of State -policy." - - "Lui-meme a son portrait force de rendre hommage, - Il fremira d'horreur devant sa propre image." - -But true and needful as these lessons are, they are entirely beside the -mark as deduced from the story of Hazael. What he said was not, as in -our Authorised Version, "But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should -do this great thing?" nor by "great thing" does he mean "so deadly a -crime." His words, more accurately rendered in our Revision, are, "But -what is thy servant, which is but a dog, that he should do this great -thing?" or, "But what is the dog, thy servant?" It was a hypocritic -deprecation of the future importance and eminence which Elisha had -prophesied for him. There is not the least sense of horror either in his -words or in his thoughts. He merely means "A mere dog, such as I am, can -never accomplish such great designs." A dog in the East is utterly -despised;[138] and Hazael, with Oriental irony, calls himself a dog, -though he was the Syrian Commander-in-chief--just as a Chinaman, in -speaking of himself, adopts the periphrasis "this little thief." - -Elisha did not notice his sham humility, but told him, "The Lord hath -showed me that thou shalt be King over Syria." The date of the event -was B.C. 886. - -The scene has sometimes been misrepresented to Elisha's discredit, as -though he suggested to the general the crimes of murder and rebellion. -The accusation is entirely untenable. Elisha was, indeed, in one -sense, commissioned to anoint Hazael King of Syria, because the cruel -soldier had been predestined by God to that position; but, in another -sense, he had no power whatever to give to Hazael the mighty kingdom -of Aram, nor to wrest it from the dynasty which had now held it for -many generations. All this was brought about by the Divine purpose, in -a course of events entirely out of the sphere of the humble man of -God. In the transferring of this crown he was in no sense the agent or -the suggester. The thought of usurpation must, without doubt, have -been already in Hazael's mind. Benhadad, as far as we know, was -childless. At any rate he had no natural heirs, and seems to have been -a drunken king, whose reckless undertakings and immense failures had -so completely alienated the affections of his subjects from himself -and his dynasty, that he died undesired and unlamented, and no hand -was uplifted to strike a blow in his defence. It hardly needed a -prophet to foresee that the sceptre would be snatched by so strong a -hand as that of Hazael from a grasp so feeble as that of Benhadad II. -The utmost that Elisha had done was, under Divine guidance, to read -his character and his designs, and to tell him that the accomplishment -of these designs was near at hand. - -So Hazael went back to Benhadad, and in answer to the eager inquiry, -"What said Elisha to thee?" he gave the answer which Elisha had -foreseen that he meant to give, and which was in any case a falsehood, -for it suppressed half of what Elisha had really said. "He told me," -said Hazael, "that thou shouldest surely recover." - -Was the sequel of the interview the murder of Benhadad by Hazael? - -The story has usually been so read, but Elisha had neither prophesied -this nor suggested it. The sequel is thus described. "And it came to -pass on the morrow, that _he_ took the coverlet,[139] and dipped it in -water, and spread it on his face, so that he died: and Hazael reigned -in his stead." The repetition of the name Hazael in the last clause is -superfluous if he was the subject of the previous clause, and it has -been consequently conjectured that "he took" is merely the impersonal -idiom "one took." Some suppose that, as Benhadad was in the bath, his -servant took the bath-cloth, wetted it, and laid its thick folds over -the mouth of the helpless king; others, that he soaked the thick -quilt, which the king was too weak to lift away.[140] In either case -it is hardly likely that a great officer like Hazael would have been -in the bath-room or the bed-room of the dying king. Yet we must -remember that the Praetorian Praefect Macro is said to have suffocated -Tiberius with his bed-clothes. Josephus says that Hazael strangled his -master with a net; and, indeed, he has generally been held guilty of -the perpetration of the murder. But it is fair to give him the benefit -of the doubt. Be that as it may, he seems to have reigned for some -forty-six years (B.C. 886-840), and to have bequeathed the sceptre to -a son on whom he had bestowed the old dynastic name of Benhadad. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[131] Jer. xxv. 29; Ezek. xxxviii. 21. - -[132] See the cases of Samuel (1 Sam. ix. 7), of Ahijah (1 Kings xiv. -3), and of Elisha himself (2 Kings iv. 42). - -[133] As Jacob did in sending forward his present to Esau. Comp. -Chardin, _Voyages_, iii. 217. - -[134] 2 Kings x. 32, xiii. 3, 22. - -[135] Isa. xiii. 15, 16; Hos. x. 14, xiii. 16; Nah. iii. 10. - -[136] See Josh. vi. 17, 21; 1 Sam. xv. 3; Lev. xxvii. 28, 29. - -[137] Psalm cxxxvii. 9. - -[138] 1 Sam. xxiv. 14; 2 Sam. ix. 8. - -[139] [Hebrew: machber] Jos., _Antt._, IX. iv. 6, [Greek: diktuon -diabrochon]. Aquila, Symmachus, [Greek: to stroma]. Michaelis supposed -it to be the mosquito-net ([Greek: konopeion]). Comp. 1 Sam. xix. 13. -Ewald suggested "bath-mattress" (iii. 523). Sir G. Grove (_s.v._ -"Elisha," _Bibl. Dict._, ii. 923) mentions that Abbas Pasha is said to -have been murdered in the same manner. Some, however, think that the -measure was taken by way of cure (Bruce, _Travels_, iii. 33. -Klostermann, _ad loc._, alters the text at his pleasure). - -[140] 2 Kings viii. 15; LXX., [Greek: to machbar]; Vulg., _stragulum_; -lit., "woven cloth." - - - - - CHAPTER X - - (1) _JEHORAM BEN-JEHOSHAPHAT OF JUDAH_ - - B.C. 851-843 - - (2) _AHAZIAH BEN-JEHORAM OF JUDAH_ - - B.C. 843-842 - - 2 KINGS viii. 16-24, 25-29 - - "Bear like the Turk, no brother near the throne."--POPE. - - -The narrative now reverts to the kingdom of Judah, of which the -historian, mainly occupied with the great deeds of the prophet in -Israel, takes at this period but little notice. - -He tells us that in the fifth year of Jehoram of Israel, son of Ahab, -his namesake and brother-in-law, Jehoram of Judah, began to reign in -Judah, though his father, Jehoshaphat, was then king.[141] - -The statement is full of difficulties, especially as we have been -already told (i. 17) that Jehoram ben-Ahab of Israel began to reign in -the _second_ year of Jehoram ben-Jehoshaphat of Judah, and (iii. 1) -in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat. It is hardly worth while to -pause here to disentangle these complexities in a writer who, like -most Eastern historians, is content with loose chronological -references. By the current mode of reckoning, the twenty-five years of -Jehoshaphat's reign may merely mean twenty-three and a month or two of -two other years; and some suppose that, when Jehoram of Judah was -about sixteen, his father went on the expedition against Moab, and -associated his son with him in the throne. This is only conjecture. -Jehoshaphat, of all kings, least needed a coadjutor, particularly so -weak and worthless a one as his son; and though the association of -colleagues with themselves has been common in some realms, there is -not a single instance of it in the history of Israel and Judah--the -case of Uzziah, who was a leper, not being to the point.[142] - -The kings both of Israel and of Judah at this period, with the single -exception of the brave and good Jehoshaphat, were unworthy and -miserable. The blight of the Jezebel-marriage and the curse of -Baal-worship lay upon both kingdoms. It is scarcely possible to find -such wretched monarchs as the two sons of Jezebel--Ahaziah and Jehoram -in Israel, and the son-in-law and grandson of Jezebel, Jehoram and -Ahaziah, in Judah. Their respective reigns are annals of shameful -apostasy, and almost unbroken disaster. - -Jehoram ben-Jehoshaphat of Judah was thirty-two years old when he -began his independent reign, and reigned for eight deplorable years. -The fact that his mother's name is (exceptionally) omitted seems to -imply that his father Jehoshaphat set the good example of -monogamy.[143] Jehoram was wholly under the influence of Athaliah, his -wife, and of Jezebel, his mother-in-law, and he introduced into Judah -their alien abominations. He "walked in their way, and did evil in the -sight of the Lord." The Chronicler fills up the general remark by -saying that he did his utmost to foster idolatry by erecting _bamoth_ -in the mountains of Judah, and compelled his people to worship there, -in order to decentralise the religious services of the kingdom, and so -to diminish the glory of the Temple. He introduced Baal-worship into -Judah, and either he or his son was the guilty builder of a temple to -Baalim, not only on the "opprobrious mount" on which stood the -idolatrous chapels of Solomon, but on the Hill of the House itself. -This temple had its own high priest, and was actually adorned with -treasures torn from the Temple of Jehovah.[144] So bad was Jehoram's -conduct that the historian can only attribute his non-destruction to -the "covenant of salt" which God had made with David, "to give him a -lamp for his children always." - -But if actual destruction did not come upon him and his race, he came -very near such a fate, and he certainly experienced that "the path of -transgressors is hard." There is nothing to record about him but crime -and catastrophe. First Edom revolted. Jehoshaphat had subdued the -Edomites, and only allowed them to be governed by a vassal; now they -threw off the yoke. The Jewish King advanced against them to "Zair"--by -which must be meant apparently either Zoar (through which the road to -Edom lay), or their capital, Mount Seir.[145] There he was surrounded by -the Edomite hosts; and though by a desperate act of valour he cut his -way through them at night in spite of their reserve of chariots, yet his -army left him in the lurch.[146] Edom succeeded in establishing its -final independence, to which we see an allusion in the one hope held out -to Esau by Isaac in that "blessing" which was practically a curse. - -The loss of so powerful a subject-territory, which now constituted a -source of danger on the eastern frontier of Judah, was succeeded by -another disaster on the south-west, in the Shephelah or lowland plain. -Here Libnah revolted,[147] and by gaining its autonomy contracted yet -farther the narrow limits of the southern kingdom. - -The Book of Kings tells us no more about the Jewish Jehoram, only -adding that he died and was buried with his fathers, and was succeeded -by his son Ahaziah. But the Book of Chronicles, which adds far darker -touches to his character, also heightens to an extraordinary degree -the intensity of his punishment. It tells us that he began his reign -by the atrocious murder of his six younger brothers, for whom, -following the old precedent of Rehoboam, Jehoshaphat had provided by -establishing them as governors of various cities. As his throne was -secure, we cannot imagine any motive for this brutal massacre except -the greed of gain, and we can only suppose that, as Jehoram -ben-Jehoshaphat became little more than a friendly vassal of his -kinsmen in Israel, so he fell under the deadly influence of his wife -Athaliah, as completely as his father-in-law had done under the spell -of her mother Jezebel. With his brothers he also swept away a number -of the chief nobles, who perhaps embraced the cause of his murdered -kinsmen. Such conduct breathes the known spirit of Jezebel and of -Athaliah. To rebuke him for this wickedness, he received the menace of -a tremendous judgment upon his home and people in a writing from -_Elijah_, whom we should certainly have assumed to be dead long before -that time. The judgment itself followed. The Philistines and Arabians -invaded Judah, captured Jerusalem, and murdered all Jehoram's own -children, except Ahaziah, who was the youngest. Then Jehoram, at the -age of thirty-eight, was smitten with an incurable disease of the -bowels, of which he died two years later, and not only died -unlamented, but was refused burial in the sepulchres of the kings. In -any case his reign and that of his son and successor were the most -miserable in the annals of Judah, as the reigns of their namesakes and -kinsmen, Ahaziah ben-Ahab and Jehoram ben-Ahab, were also the most -miserable in the annals of Israel. - -Jehoram was succeeded on the throne of Judah by his son Ahaziah. If -the chronology and the facts be correct, Ahaziah ben-Jehoram of Judah -must have been born when his father was only eighteen, though he was -the youngest of the king's sons, and so escaped from being massacred -in the Philistine invasion. He succeeded at the age of twenty-two, -and only reigned a single year. During this year his mother, the -Gebirah Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, and granddaughter -of the Tyrian Ethbaal, was all-supreme. She bent the weak nature of -her son to still further apostasies. She was "his counsellor to do -wickedly," and her Baal-priest Mattan was more important than the -Aaronic high priest of the despised and desecrated Temple. Never did -Judah sink to so low a level, and it was well that the days of Ahaziah -of Judah were cut short. - -The only event in his reign was the share he took with his uncle -Jehoram of Israel in his campaign to protect Ramoth-Gilead from -Hazael. The expedition seems to have been successful in its main -purpose. Ramoth-Gilead, the key to the districts of Argob and Bashan, -was of immense importance for commanding the country beyond Jordan. It -seems to be the same as Ramath-Mizpeh (Josh. xiii. 26); and if so, it -was the spot where Jacob made his covenant with Laban. Ahab, or his -successors, in spite of the disastrous end of the expedition to Ahab -personally, had evidently recovered the frontier fortress from the -Syrian king.[148] Its position upon a hill made its possession vital -to the interests of Gilead; for the master of Ramah was the master of -that Trans-Jordanic district. But Hazael had succeeded his murdered -master, and was already beginning to fulfil the ruthless mission which -Elisha had foreseen with tears. Jehoram ben-Ahab seems to have held -his own against Hazael for a time; but in the course of the campaign -at Ramoth he was so severely wounded that he was compelled to leave -his army under the command of Jehu, and to return to Jezreel, to be -healed of his wounds. Thither his nephew Ahaziah of Judah went to -visit him; and there, as we shall hear, he too met his doom. That -fate, the Chronicler tells us, was the penalty of his iniquities. "The -destruction of Ahaziah was of God by coming to Joram." - -We have no ground for accusing either king of any want of courage; yet -it was obviously impolitic of Jehoram to linger unnecessarily in his -luxurious capital, while the army of Israel was engaged in service on -a dangerous frontier. The wounds inflicted by the Syrian archers may -have been originally severe. Their arrows at this time played as -momentous a part in history as the cloth-yard shafts of our English -bowmen which "sewed the French ranks together" at Poictiers, Crecy, -and Azincour. But Jehoram had at any rate so far recovered that he -could ride in his chariot; and if he had been wise and bravely -vigorous, he would not have left his army under a subordinate at so -perilous an epoch, and menaced by so resolute a foe. Or if he were -indeed compelled to consult the better physicians at Jezreel, he -should have persuaded his nephew Ahaziah of Judah--who seems to have -been more or less of a vassal as well as a kinsman--to keep an eye on -the beleaguered fort. Both kings, however, deserted their -post,--Jehoram to recover perfect health; and Ahaziah, who had been -his comrade--as their father and grandfather had gone together to the -same war--to pay a state visit of condolence to the royal invalid. The -army was left under a popular, resolute, and wholly unscrupulous -commander, and the results powerfully affected the immediate and the -ultimate destiny of both kingdoms. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[141] The following genealogy may help to elucidate the troublesome -identity of names:-- - - OMRI - ____|____ - | | JEHOSHAPHAT - Ahab = Jezebel | - _______|__________________ | - | | | | - Ahaziah Jehoram Athaliah = Jehoram - (of Israel). (of Israel). | (of Judah). - | - Ahaziah - (of Judah). - - -[142] Jotham ben-Uzziah was not the colleague of his father, but his -public representative. - -[143] The only other king of Judah whose mother's name is not -mentioned (perhaps because his father Jotham had but one wife) is -Ahaz. - -[144] 2 Kings xi. 18; 2 Chron. xxi. 11, xxiv. 7. - -[145] Vulg., _Seira_; Arab., _Sa'ir_ (but the historian never uses the -name Mount Seir); LXX., [Greek: Sior]. There is perhaps some -corruption in the text, and the reading of the Chronicler "with his -princes" shows that it may have once been [Hebrew: tzam-sarav]. - -[146] 2 Kings viii. 21. "The people" (_i.e._, the army of Judah) "fled -to their tents." Apparently this means that they slunk away home. The -word "tents" is a reminiscence of their nomad days, like the -treasonable cry, "To your tents, O Israel." - -[147] Josh. x. 29-39. - -[148] Jos., _Antt._, IX. vi. 1. - - - - - CHAPTER XI - - _THE REVOLT OF JEHU_ - - B.C. 842 - - 2 KINGS ix. 1-37 - - "Te semper anteit saeva Necessitas - Clavos trabales et cuneos manu, - Gestans ahena." - HORAT., _Od._, I. xxxv. 17. - - -A long period had elapsed since Elijah had received the triple -commission which was to mark the close of his career. Two of those -Divine behests had now been accomplished. He had anointed Elisha, son -of Shaphat, of Abel-Meholah, to be prophet in his room;[149] and -Elisha had anointed Hazael to be king over Syria;[150] the third and -more dangerous commission, involving nothing less than the overthrow -of the mighty dynasty of Omri, remained still unaccomplished. - -If the name of Jehu ("Jehovah is He")[151] had been actually mentioned -to Elijah, the dreadful secret must have remained buried in the breast -of the prophet and in that of his successor for many years. Further, -Jehu was yet a very young man, and to have marked him out as the -founder of a dynasty would have been to doom him to certain -destruction. An Eastern king, whose family has once securely seated -itself on the throne, is hedged round with an awful divinity, and -demands an unquestioning obedience. Elijah had been removed from earth -before this task had been fulfilled, and Elisha had to wait for his -opportunity. But the doom was passed, though the judgment was belated. -The sons of Ahab were left a space to repent, or to fill to the brim -the cup of their father's iniquities. - - "The sword of Heaven is not in haste to smite, - Nor yet doth linger." - -Ahaziah, Ahab's eldest son, after a reign of one year, marked only by -crimes and misfortunes, had ended in overwhelming disaster his -deplorable career. His brother Jehoram had succeeded him, and had now -been on the throne for at least twelve years, which had been chiefly -signalised by that unsuccessful attempt to recover the territory of -revolted Moab, to which we owe the celebrated Stone of Mesha. We have -already narrated the result of the campaign which had so many -vicissitudes. The combined armies of Israel, Judah, and Edom had been -delivered by the interposition of Elisha from perishing of thirst -beside the scorched-up bed of the Wady-el-Ahsy; and availing -themselves of the rash assault of the Moabites, had swept everything -before them. But Moab stood at bay at Kir-Haraseth (Kerak), his -strongest fortress, six miles from Ar or Rabbah, and ten miles east of -the southern end of the Dead Sea. It stood three thousand feet above -the level of the sea, and is defended by a network of steep valleys. -Nevertheless, Israel would have subdued it, but for the act of -horrible despair to which the King of Moab resorted in his extremity, -by offering up his eldest son as a burnt-offering to Chemosh upon the -wall of the city. Horror-stricken by the catastrophe, and terrified -with the dread that the vengeance of Chemosh could not but be aroused -by so tremendous a sacrifice, the besieging host had retired. From -that moment Moab had not only been free, but assumed the _role_ of an -aggressor, and sent her marauding bands to harry and carry the farms -and homesteads of her former conqueror.[152] - -Then followed the aggressions of Benhadad which had been frustrated by -the insight of Elisha, and which owed their temporary cessation to his -generosity.[153] The reappearance of the Syrians in the field had -reduced Samaria to the lowest depths of ghastly famine. But the day of -the guilty city had not yet come, and a sudden panic, caused among the -invaders by a rumoured assault of Hittites and Egyptians, had saved -her from destruction.[154] Taking advantage of the respite caused by -the change of the Syrian dynasty, and pressing on his advantage, -Jehoram, with the aid of his Judaean nephew, had once more got -possession of Ramoth-Gilead before Hazael was secure on the throne -which he had usurped. - -This then was the situation:--The allied and kindred kings of Israel -and Judah were idling in the pomp of hospitality at Jezreel; their -armies were encamped about Ramoth-Gilead; and at the head of the host -of Israel was the crafty and vehement grandson of Nimshi. - -Elisha saw and seized his opportunity. The day of vengeance from the -Lord had dawned. Things had not materially altered since the days of -Ahab. If Jehovah was nominally worshipped, if the very names of the -kings of Israel bore witness to His supremacy,[155] Baal was -worshipped too. The curse which Elijah had pronounced against Ahab and -his house remained unfulfilled. The credit of prophecy was at stake. -The blood of Naboth and his slaughtered sons cried to the Lord from -the ground; and hitherto it seemed to have cried in vain. If the -_Nebiim_ (the prophetic class) were to have their due weight in -Israel, the hour had come, and the man was ready. - -The light which falls on Elisha is dim and intermittent. His name is -surrounded by a halo of nebulous wonders, of which many are of a -private and personal character. But he was a known enemy of Ahab and -his house. He had, indeed, more than once interposed to snatch them -from ruin, as in the expedition against Moab, and in the awful straits -of the siege of Samaria by the Syrians. But his person had none the -less been hateful to the sons of Jezebel, and his life had been -endangered by their bursts of sudden fury. He could hardly again have -a chance so favourable as that which now offered itself, when the -armed host was at one place and the king at another. Perhaps, too, he -may have been made aware that the soldiers were not well pleased to -find at their head a king who was so far a _faineant_ as to leave them -exposed to a powerful enemy, and show no eagerness to return. His -"urgent private affairs" were not so urgent as to entitle him to take -his ease at luxurious Jezreel. - -Where Elisha was at the time we do not know--perhaps at Dothan, -perhaps at Samaria. Suddenly he called to him a youth--one of the Sons -of the Prophets, on whose speed and courage he could rely--placed in -his hands a vial of the consecrated anointing oil,[156] told him to -gird up his loins,[157] and to speed across the Jordan to -Ramoth-Gilead. When he arrived, he was to bid Jehu rise up from the -company of his fellow-captains to hurry him into "a chamber within a -chamber,"[158] to shut the door for secrecy, to pour the consecrating -oil upon his head, to anoint him King of Israel in the name of -Jehovah, and then to fly without a moment's delay.[159] - -The messenger--the Rabbis guess that he was Jonah, the son of -Amittai[160]--knew well that his was a service of immense peril, in -which his life might easily pay the forfeit of his temerity. How was -he to guess that at once, without striking a blow, the host of Israel -would fling to the winds its sworn allegiance to the son of the -warrior Ahab, the fourth monarch of the powerful dynasty of Omri? -Might not any one of a thousand possible accidents thwart a conspiracy -of which the success depended on the unflinching courage and -promptitude of his single hand? - -He was but a youth, but he was the trained pupil of a master who had, -again and again, stood before kings, and not been afraid. He sprang -from a community which inherited the splendid traditions of the -Prophet of Flame. - -He did not hesitate a moment. He tightened the camel's hide round his -naked limbs, flung back the long dark locks of the Nazarite, and sped -upon his way. A true son of the schools of Jehovah's prophets has, and -can have, no fear of man. The armies of Israel and Judah saw the wild, -flying figure of a young man, with his hairy garment and streaming -locks, rush through the camp. Whatever might be their surmisings, he -brooked no questions. Availing himself of the awe with which the -shadow of Elijah had covered the sacrosanct person of a prophetic -messenger, he made his way straight to the war-council of the -captains; and brushing aside every attempt to impede his progress with -the plea that he was the bearer of Jehovah's message, he burst into -the council of the astonished warriors, who were assembled in the -private courtyard of a house in the fortress-town.[161] - -He knew the fame of Jehu, but did not know his person, and dared not -waste time. "I have an errand to thee, O captain," he said to the -assembly generally. The message had been addressed to no one in -particular, and Jehu naturally asked, "Unto which of all of us?" With -the same swift intuition which has often enabled men in similar -circumstances to recognise a leader--as Josephus recognised Vespasian, -and St. Severinus recognised Odoacer, and Joan of Arc recognised -Charles VI. of France--he at once replied, "To thee, O captain." Jehu -did not hesitate a moment. Prophets had shown, many a time, that their -messages might not be neglected or despised. He rose, and followed the -youth, who led him into the most secret recess of the house, and -there, emptying on his head the fragrant oil of consecration, said, -"Thus saith Jehovah, God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over -the people of Jehovah, even over Israel."[162] He was to smite the -house of his master Ahab in vengeance for the blood of Jehovah's -prophets and servants whom Jezebel had murdered. Ahab's house, every -male of it, young and old, bond and free,[163] is doomed to perish, as -the houses of Jeroboam and of Baasha had perished before them, by a -bloody end. Further, the dogs should eat Jezebel by the rampart of -Jezreel,[164] and there should be none to bury her. - -One moment sufficed for his daring deed, for his burning message; the -next he had flung open the door and fled. The soldiers of the camp must -have whispered still more anxiously together as they saw the same -agitated youth rushing through their lines with the same impetuosity -which had marked his entrance. In those dark days the sudden appearance -of a prophet was usually the herald of some terrific storm.[165] - -Jehu was utterly taken by surprise; but according to the reading -preserved by Ephraem Syrus in 2 Kings ix. 26, he had on the previous -night seen in a dream the blood of Naboth and his sons. If the thought -of revolt had ever passed for a moment through his mind, it had never -assumed a definite shape. True, he had been a warrior from his youth. -True, he had been one of Ahab's bodyguard, and had ridden before him -in a chariot at least twenty years earlier, and had now risen by -valour and capacity to the high station of captain of the host. True, -also, that he had heard the great curse which Elijah had pronounced on -Ahab at the door of Naboth's vineyard; but he heard it while he was -yet an obscure youth, and he had little dreamed that his was the hand -which should carry it into execution. Who was he? And had not the -house of Omri been, in some sense, sanctioned by Heaven? And were not -the words of the prophet "wild and wandering cries," of which the -issues might be averted by such a repentance as that of Ahab? - -And he felt another misgiving. Might not this scene be the plot of -some secret enemy? Might it not at any rate be a reckless jest palmed -upon him by his comrades? If any jealous member of the confederacy of -captains betrayed the fact that Jehu had tampered with their -allegiance, would his head be safe for a single hour? He would act -warily. He came back to his fellow-captains and said nothing. - -But they were burning with curiosity. Something must be impending. -Prophets did not rush in thus tumultuously for no purpose. Must not -the youth's mantle of hair be some standard of war? - -"Is all right?" they shouted. "Why did this frantic fellow come to -thee?"[166] - -"You know all about it," answered Jehu, with wary coolness. "You know -more about it than I do. You know the man, and what his talk was." - -"Lies!" bluntly answered the rough soldiers.[167] "Tell us now." - -Then Jehu's eye took measure of them and their feelings. A judge of -men and of men's countenances, he saw conspiracy flashing in their -faces. He saw that they suspected the true state of things, and were -on fire to carry it out. Perhaps they had caught sight of the vial of -oil under the youth's scant dress. Could any quickened observation at -least fail to notice that the soldier's dark locks were shining and -fragrant, as they had not been a moment ago, with consecrated oil? - -Then Jehu frankly told them the perilous secret. Thus and thus had the -young prophet spoken, and had said, "Thus saith Jehovah, I have -anointed thee king over Israel." - -The message was met with a shout of answering approbation. That shout -was the death-knell of the house of Omri. It showed that the reigning -dynasty had utterly forfeited its popularity. No luck had followed the -sons of Naboth's murderer. Israel was weary of their mother Jezebel. -Why was this king Jehoram, this king of evil auspices, who had been -repudiated by Moab and harried by Syria--why, in the first gleam of -possible prosperity, was he being detained at Jezreel by wounds which -rumour said were already sufficiently healed to allow him to return to -his post? Down with the seed of the murderer and the sorceress! Let -brave Jehu be king, as Jehovah has said! - -So the captains sprang to their feet, and then and there seized Jehu, -and carried him in triumph to the top of the stairs which ran round -the inside of the courtyard, and stripped off their mantles to -extemporise for him the semblance of a cushioned throne.[168] Then in -the presence of such soldiers as they could trust they blew a sudden -blast of the ram's horn, and shouted, "Jehu is king!" - -Jehu was not the man to let the grass grow under his feet. Nothing -tries a man's vigour and nerve so surely as a sudden crisis. It is -this swift resolution which has raised many a man to the throne, as it -raised Otho, and Napoleon I. and Napoleon III. The history of Israel -is specially full of _coups d'etat_, but no one of them is half so -decisive or overwhelming as this. Jehu instantly accepted the office -of Jehovah's avenger on the house of Ahab.[169] Everything, as Jehu -saw, depended on the suddenness and fury with which the blow was -delivered. "If you want me to be your king,"[170] he said, "keep the -lines secure, and guard the fortress walls. I will be my own messenger -to Jehoram. Let no deserter go forth to give him warning."[171] - -It was agreed; and Jehu, only taking with him Bidkar, his -fellow-officer, and a small band of followers, set forth at full speed -from Ramoth-Gilead. - -The fortress of Ramoth, now the important town of Es-Salt, a place -which must always have been the key of Gilead, was built on the -summit of a rocky headland, fortified by nature as well as by art. It -is south of the river Jabbok, and lies at the head of the only easy -road which runs down westward to the Jordan and eastward to the rich -plateau of the interior.[172] Crossing the fords of the Jordan, Jehu -would soon be able to join the main road, which, passing Tirzah, -Zaretan, and Beth-shean, and sweeping eastward of Mount Gilboa, gives -ready access to Jezreel. - -The watchman on the lofty watchtower of the summer palace caught sight -of a storm of dust careering along from the eastward up the valley -towards the city.[173] The times were wild and troublous. What could -it be? He shouted his alarm, "I see a troop!" The tidings were -startling, and the king was instantly informed that chariots and -horsemen were approaching the royal city. "Send a horseman to meet -them," he said, "with the message, 'Is all well?'" - -Forth flew the rider, and cried to the rushing escort, "The king asks, -'Is all well? Is it peace?'" For probably the anxious city hoped that -there might have been some victory of the army against Hazael, which -would fill them with joy. - -"What hast thou to do with peace? Turn thee behind me," answered Jehu; -and perforce the horseman, whatever may have been his conjectures, had -to follow in the rear. - -"He reached them," cried the sentry on the watchtower, "but he does -not return." - -The news was enigmatical and alarming; and the troubled king sent -another horseman. Again the same colloquy occurred, and again the -watchman gave the ominous message, adding to it the yet more -perplexing news that, in the mad and headlong driving[174] of the -charioteer, he recognises the driving of Jehu, the son of Nimshi.[175] - -What had happened to his army? Why should the captain of the host be -driving thus furiously to Jezreel? - -Matters were evidently very critical, whatever the swift approach of -chariots and horsemen might portend. "Yoke my chariot," said Jehoram; -and his nephew Ahaziah, who had shared his campaign, and was no less -consumed with anxiety to learn tidings which could not but be -pressing, rode by him in another chariot to meet Jehu. They took with -them no escort worth mentioning. The rebellion was not only sudden, -but wholly unexpected. - -The two kings met Jehu in a spot of the darkest omen. It was the plot -of ground which had once been the vineyard of Naboth, at the door of -which Ahab had heard from Elijah the awful message of his doom. As the -New Forest was ominous to our early Norman kings as the witness of -their cruelties and encroachments, so was this spot to the house of -Omri, though it was adjacent to their ivory palace, and had been -transformed from a vineyard into a garden or pleasance. - -"Is it peace, Jehu?" shouted the agitated king; by which probably he -only meant to ask, "Is all going well in the army at Ramoth?" - -The fierce answer which burst from the lips of his general fatally -undeceived him. "What peace," brutally answered the rebel, "so long as -the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?" -She, after all, was the _fons et origo mali_ to the house of Jehoram. -Hers was the dark spirit of murder and idolatry which had walked in that -house. She was the instigator and the executer of the crime against -Naboth. She had been the foundress of Baal- and Asherah-worship; she was -the murderess of the prophets; she had been specially marked out for -vengeance in the doom pronounced both by Elijah and Elisha. - -The answer was unmistakable. This was a revolt, a revolution. -"Treachery, Ahaziah!" shouted the terrified king, and instantly wheeled -round his chariot to flee.[176] But not so swiftly as to escape the -Nemesis which had been stealing upon him with leaden feet, but now smote -him irretrievably with iron hand. Without an instant's hesitation, Jehu -snatched his bow from his attendant charioteer, "filled his hands with -it," and from its full stretch and resonant string sped the arrow, which -smote Jehoram in the back with fatal force, and passed through his -heart.[177] Without a word the unhappy king sank down upon his -knees[178] in his chariot, and fell face forward, dead. - -"Take him up," cried Jehu to Bidkar,[179] "and fling him down where he -is,--here in this portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. Here, -years ago, you and I, as we rode behind Ahab,[180] heard Elijah utter -his oracle on this man's father, that vengeance should meet him here. -Where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth and his sons, let dogs lick -the blood of the son of Ahab."[181] - -But Jehu was not the man to let the king's murder stay his -chariot-wheels when more work had yet to be done. Ahaziah of Judah, -too, belonged to Ahab's house, for he was Ahab's grandson, and -Jehoram's nephew and ally. Without stopping to mourn or avenge the -tragedy of his uncle's murder, Ahaziah fled towards Bethgan or -Engannim,[182] the fountain of gardens, south of Jezreel, on the road -to Samaria and Jerusalem. Jehu gave the laconic order, "Smite him -also";[183] but fright added wings to the speed of the hapless King of -Judah. His chariot-steeds were royal steeds, and were fresh; those of -Jehu were spent with the long, fierce drive from Ramoth. He got as far -as the ascent of Gur before he was overtaken.[184] There, not far from -Ibleam, the rocky hill impeded his flight, and he was wounded by the -pursuers. But he managed to struggle onwards to Megiddo, on the south -of the plain of Jezreel, and there he hid himself.[185] He was -discovered, dragged out, and slain. Even Jehu's fierce emissaries did -not make war on dead bodies, any more than Hannibal did, or Charles V. -They left such meanness to Jehu himself, and to our Charles II. They -did not interfere with the dead king's remains. His servants carried -them to Jerusalem, and there he was buried with his fathers in the -sepulchre of the kings, in the city of David. As there was nothing -more to tell about him, the historian omits the usual formula about -the rest of the acts of Ahaziah, and all that he did. His death -illustrates the proverb _Mitgegangen mitgefangen_: he was the comrade -of evil men, and he perished with them. - -Jehu speedily reached Jezreel, but the interposition of Jehoram and -the orders for the pursuit of Ahaziah had caused a brief delay, and -Jezebel had already been made aware that her doom was imminent. - -Not even the sudden and dreadful death of her son, and the nearness of -her own fate, daunted the steely heart of the Tyrian sorceress. If she -was to die, she would meet death like a queen. As though for some -Court banquet, she painted her eyelashes and eyebrows with antimony, -to make her eyes look large and lustrous,[186] and put on her jewelled -head-dress.[187] Then she mounted the palace tower, and, looking down -through the lattice above the city gate, watched the thundering -advance of Jehu's chariot, and hailed the triumphant usurper with the -bitterest insult she could devise. She knew that Omri, her husband's -father, had taken swift vengeance on the guilt of the usurper Zimri, -who had been forced to burn himself in the harem at Tirzah after one -month's troubled reign. Her shrill voice was heard above the roar of -the chariot-wheels in the ominous taunt,-- - -"Is it peace, thou Zimri, thou murderer of thy master?"[188] - -No!--She meant, "There is no peace for thee nor thine, any more than for -me or mine! Thou mayest murder us; but thee too, thy doom awaiteth!" - -Stung by the ill-omened words, Jehu looked up at her and shouted,-- - -"Who is on my side? Who?" - -The palace was apparently rife with traitors. Ahab had been the first -polygamist among the kings of Israel, and therefore the first also to -introduce the odious atrocity of eunuchs. Those hapless wretches, the -portents of Eastern seraglios, the disgrace of humanity, are almost -always the retributive enemies of the societies of which they are the -helpless victims. Fidelity or gratitude are rarely to be looked for -from natures warped into malignity by the ruthless misdoing of men. -Nor was the nature of Jezebel one to inspire affection. One or two -eunuchs[189] immediately thrust out of the windows their bloated and -beardless faces. "Fling her down!" Jehu shouted. Down they flung the -wretched queen (has any queen ever died a death so shamelessly -ignominious?), and her blood spirted upon the wall, and on the horses. -Jehu, who had only stopped for an instant in his headlong rush, drove -his horses over her corpse,[190] and entered the gate of her capital -with his wheels crimson with her blood. History records scarcely -another instance of such a scene, except when Tullia, a century later, -drove her chariot over the dead body of her father Servius Tullius in -the _Vicus Sceleratus_ of ancient Rome.[191] - -But what cared Jehu? Many a conqueror ere now has sat down to the -dinner prepared for his enemy; and the obsequious household of the -dead tyrants, ready to do the bidding of their new lord, ushered the -hungry man to the banquet provided for the kings whom he had slain. No -man dreamt of uttering a wail; no man thought of raising a finger for -dead Jehoram or for dead Jezebel, though they had all been under _her_ -sway for at least five-and-thirty years. "The wicked perish, and no -man regardeth." "When the wicked perish, there is shouting."[192] - -We may be startled at a revolution so sudden and so complete; yet it -is true to history. A tyrant or a cabal may oppress a nation for long -years. Their word may be thought absolute, their power irresistible. -Tyranny seems to paralyse the courage of resistance, like the fabled -head of Medusa. Remove its fascination of corruption, and men become -men, and not machines, once more. Jehu's daring woke Israel from the -lethargy which had made her tolerate the murders and enchantments of -this Baal-worshipping alien. In the same way in one week Robespierre -seemed to be an invincible autocrat; the next week his power had -crumbled into dust and ashes at a touch. - -It was not until Jehu had sated his thirst and hunger after that wild -drive, which had ended in the murder of two kings and a queen and in -his sudden elevation to a throne, that it even occurred to this new -tiger-king to ask what had become of Jezebel. But when he had eaten -and drunk, he said, "Go, see now to this cursed woman, and bury her: -for she is a king's daughter." That she had been first Princess, then -Queen, then Gebirah in Israel for nearly a full lifetime was nothing: -it was nothing to Jehu that she was a wife, and mother, and -grandmother of kings and queens both of Israel and Judah;--but she was -also the daughter of Ethbaal, the priest-king of Tyre and Sidon, and -therefore any shameful treatment of her remains might kindle trouble -from the region of Phoenicia.[193] - -But no one had taken the trouble so much as to look after the corpse -of Jezebel. The populace of Jezreel were occupied with their new king. -Where Jezebel fell, there she had been suffered to lie; and no one, -apparently, cared even to despoil her of the royal robes, now -saturated with bloodshed. Flung from the palace-tower, her body had -fallen in the open space just outside the walls--what is called "the -mounds" of an Eastern city. In the strange carelessness of sanitation -which describes as "fate" even the visitation of an avoidable -pestilence, all sorts of offal are shot into this vacant space to -fester in the tropic heat. I myself have seen the pariah dogs and the -vultures feeding on a ghastly dead horse in a ruined space within the -street of Beit-Dejun; and the dogs and the vultures--"those national -undertakers"--had done their work unbidden on the corpse of the Tyrian -queen. When men went to bury her, they only found a few dog-mumbled -bones--the skull, and the feet, and the palms of the hands.[194] They -brought the news to Jehu as he rested after his feast. It did not by -any means discompose him. He at once recognised that another -levin-bolt had fallen from the thunder-crash of Elijah's prophecy, and -he troubled himself about the matter no further. Her carcase, as the -man of God had prophesied, had become as dung upon the face of the -field, so that none could say, "This is Jezebel."[195] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[149] 1 Kings xix. 15, 16. - -[150] 2 Kings viii. 12, 13. - -[151] The name was not uncommon, 1 Chron. ii. 38, iv. 35, xii. 3. - -[152] 2 Kings xiii. 20, xxiv. 2; Jer. xlviii. - -[153] 2 Kings vi. 8-23. - -[154] 2 Kings vii. 6. - -[155] Jehoram = Jehovah is exalted. Ahaziah = Jehovah holds. - -[156] Vial (_pak_) only here and in 1 Sam. x. 1. "_The_ oil" (LXX., -[Greek: ton phakon tou elaiou]). - -[157] "His habit fit for speed _succinct_" (Milton). - -[158] Inner chamber, 1 Kings xx. 30. - -[159] Perhaps, if Elisha had gone in person, suspicion might have been -aroused. He was not more than fifty at this time, and lived -forty-three years more. - -[160] _Seder Olam_, c. 18. - -[161] It seems as though they were _inside_ the town to defend it, not -a beleaguring host outside. - -[162] The expression is remarkable, as showing how completely the -prerogative of the Chosen People was supposed to rest with the Ten -Tribes, as the most important representatives of the seed of Abraham. - -[163] "Him that is shut up, and him that is left at large in Israel" -(2 Kings ix. 8; 1 Kings xiv. 10, xvi. 3, 4). - -[164] The A.V. has, less accurately, "in the _portion_ of Jezreel." -See 1 Kings xxi. 23. Heb., [Hebrew: chelek]. The [Hebrew: cheil] of an -Eastern town is the ditch and empty space--a sort of external -_pomoerium_ around it. It is the place of offal, and the haunt of -vultures and pariah dogs. - -[165] 1 Sam. xvi. 4: "Comest thou peaceably?" - -[166] 2 Kings ix. 11, [Hebrew: hammoshunnatz] LXX., [Greek: ho -hepileptos]. Comp. ver. 20, "he driveth _furiously_" ([Hebrew: -veshinnatzvn]). - -[167] Ver. 12, a lie! ([Hebrew: sheker]). - -[168] What is meant by the _gerem_ of the staircase is uncertain. The -word means "a bone" (Aquila, [Greek: ostodes]), and is, in this -connection, an [Greek: hapax legomenon]. The Targum explains it as the -top vane of a stair-dial. The margin of the R.V. renders it "on the bare -steps." The Vulgate renders it _in similitudinem tribunalis_, as though -_gerem_ meant _tselem_. The LXX. conceal their perplexity by simply -translating the word [Greek: epi to garem]. Grotius and Clericus, _in -fastigio graduum_. Symmachus, [Greek: epi mian ton anabathmidon]. - -[169] 2 Kings ix. 14: "So Jehu _conspired_ against Joram." The same -word is used in 2 Chron. xxiv. 25, 26. - -[170] 2 Kings ix. 15, R.V.: "If this be your mind." - -[171] So far as we know, he never returned to Ramoth-Gilead, of which -indeed we hear no more. - -[172] Tristram, _Land of Moab_. - -[173] Heb., _Shiph'hath_, "a dust-storm" (LXX., [Greek: koniorton, ai. -ochlon]; Vulg., _globum_), not as in A.V. and R.V., "a company." Comp. -Isa. lx. 6; Ezek. xxvi. 10. - -[174] Clearly the rendering "he driveth furiously" is right. The word -"furiously" is _beshigga'on_ (Vulg., _praeceps_), and is connected with -"mad," ver. 11. LXX., [Greek: en parallage]. Arab. Chald., "quietly." -Josephus, "leisurely, and in good order." Such an approach would not, -however, have been at all in accordance with the perilous urgency of -his intent. - -[175] Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, is named from his grandfather -Nimshi, who seems to have been the founder of the greatness of his -house. - -[176] 2 Kings ix. 23: "Turned his hands." Comp. 1 Kings xxii. 34. - -[177] Ver. 24. Vulg., _inter scapulas_. - -[178] LXX., reading [Hebrew: brkav tzal]. - -[179] Bidkar, perhaps Bar-dekar, "Son of stabbing." Comp. 1 Kings iv. 9. - -[180] Heb., _ts'madim_, "in pairs"; LXX., [Greek: epibebekotes epi -zeuge]. It is uncertain whether Jehu and Bidkar were in the same -chariot as Ahab, as Josephus says ([Greek: kathezomenous opisthen tou -harmatos]), or in a separate chariot. - -[181] 2 Kings ix. 26: "Saith the Lord." Ephraem Syrus omits these -words. He says that the night before Jehu had seen the blood of Naboth -and his sons in a dream. Comp. Hom., _Od._, iii. 258: [Greek: To ke -hoi oude thanonti chyten epi gaian echeuan 'All' ara tonge kynes te -kai oionoi katedapsan Keimenon en pedio]. - -[182] A.V., "By the way of the garden-house." LXX., [Greek: Baithgan]. - -[183] The text is a little uncertain. - -[184] Thenius supposes "Gur" to mean "a caravanserai." Comp. 2 Chron. -xxvi. 7, _Gur-Baal_; Vulg., _Hospitium Baalis_. - -[185] The account of the Chronicler (2 Chron. xxii. 9) differs from -that of the earlier historian. It may, however, be (uncertainly) -reconciled with it as in the text, if we suppose the words "he was hid -in Samaria" to mean in Megiddo, in the territory of Samaria. -Obviously, however, the traditions varied. There are difficulties -about the story, for Ibleam is on the west towards Megiddo, and not -between Jezreel and Samaria. - -[186] [Hebrew: puch], "Lead-glance." A mixture of pulverised antimony -(_stibium_) and zinc is still used by women in the East for this -purpose. _In calliblepharis dilatat oculos_ (Plin., _H. N._, xxxiii.). -Keren-Happuk, the name given by Job to one of his daughters, means -"horn of stibium." The object could hardly have been to _attract_ Jehu -(as Ephraem Syrus thinks), for Jezebel had already a _grandson_ -twenty-three years old (viii. 26). - -[187] A.V., "_Tired_ her head." Comp. _tiara_. Lit., "made good"; -LXX., [Greek: egathune]. - -[188] Josephus gives the sense very well: [Greek: Kalos doulos ho -apokteinas ton despoten] (_Antt._, IX. vi. 4). The same question might -have been addressed to Baasha, Shallum, Menahem, Pekah, and Hoshea; -but at least Jehu might plead a prophet's call. - -[189] "Two or three." Lit., "two three," like the old English "two -three" for "several." - -[190] Ver. 33. Heb., "He trod her underfoot." LXX., [Greek: -Synepatesan auten]; Vulg., _Conculcaverunt eam_. - -[191] Liv., i. 46-48. - -[192] Prov. xi. 10. Compare the remark of Voltaire, who saw "le peuple -ivre de vin et de joie de la mort de Louis XIV." - -[193] 1 Kings xvi. 31. At this time Ethbaal was dead. He reigned -probably from B.C. 940-908, and died at the age of sixty-eight (Jos., -_Antt._, VIII. xiii. 1, IX. vi. 6; _c. Ap._, i. 18). - -[194] 1 Kings xxi. 23. - -[195] Comp. Psalm lxxxiii. 10. Her name remained a by-word till the -latest days (Rev. ii. 20), and the Spanish Jews called their -persecutress Isabella the Catholic "Jezebel." - - - - - CHAPTER XII - - _JEHU ESTABLISHED ON THE THRONE_ - - B.C. 842-814 - - 2 KINGS x. 1-17 - - "The devil can quote Scripture for his purpose." - SHAKESPEARE. - - -But the work of Jehu was not yet over. He was established at Jezreel; -he was lord of the palace and seraglio of his master; the army of -Israel was with him. But who could be sure that no civil war would -arise, as between the partisans of Zimri and Omri, as between Omri and -Tibni? Ahab, first of the kings of Israel, had left many sons. There -were no less than seventy of these princes at Samaria. Might there not -be among them some youth of greater courage and capacity than the -murdered Jehoram? And could it be anticipated that the late dynasty -was so utterly unfortunate and execrated as to have none left to do -them reverence, or to strike one blow on their behalf, after more than -half a century of undisputed sway?[196] Jehu's _coup de main_ had been -brilliantly successful. In one day he had leapt into the throne. But -Samaria was strong upon its watch-tower hill. It was full of Ahab's -sons, and had not yet declared on Jehu's side. It might be expected -to feel some gratitude to the dynasty which Jehu had supplanted, -seeing that it owed to the grandfather of the king whom he had just -slain its very existence as the capital of Israel. - -He would put a bold face on his usurpation, and strike while the iron -was hot. He would not rouse opposition by seeming to assume that -Samaria would accept his rebellion. He therefore wrote a letter to the -rulers of Samaria[197]--which was but a journey of nine hours' -distance from Jezreel--and to the guardians of the young princes, -reminding them that they were masters in a strong city, protected with -its own contingent of chariots and horses, and well supplied with -armour. He suggested that they should select the most promising of -Ahab's sons, make him king, and begin a civil war on his behalf. - -The event showed how prudent was this line of conduct. As yet Jehu had -not transferred the army from Ramoth-Gilead. He had doubtless taken -good care to prevent intelligence of his plans from reaching the -adherents of Jehoram in Samaria. To them the unknown was the terrible. -All they knew was that "Behold, two kings stood not before him!" The -army must have sanctioned his revolt: what chance had they? As for -loyalty and affection, if ever they had existed towards this hapless -dynasty, they had vanished like a dream. The people of Samaria and -Jezreel had once been obedient as sheep to the iron dominance of -Jezebel. They had tolerated her idol-abominations, and the insolence -of her army of dark-browed priests. They had not risen to defend the -prophets of Jehovah, and had suffered even Elijah, twice over, to be -forced to flee for his life. They had borne, hitherto without a -murmur, the tragedies, the sieges, the famines, the humiliations, with -which during these reigns they had been familiar. And was not Jehovah -against the waning fortunes of the Beni-Omri? Elijah had undoubtedly -cursed them, and now the curse was falling. Jehu must doubtless have -let it be known that he was only carrying out the behest of their own -citizen the great Elisha, who had sent to him the anointing oil. They -could find abundant excuses to justify their defection from the old -house, and they sent to the terrible man a message of almost abject -submission:--Let him do as he would; they would make no king: they -were his servants, and would do his bidding. - -Jehu was not likely to be content with verbal or even written -promises. He determined, with cynical subtlety, to make them put a -very bloody sign-manual to their treaty, by implicating them -irrevocably in his rebellion. He wrote them a second mandate. - -"If," he said, "ye accept my rule, prove it by your obedience. Cut off -the heads of your master's sons, and see that they are brought to me -here to-morrow by yourselves before the evening." - -The ruthless order was fulfilled to the letter by the terrified -traitors. The king's sons were with their tutors, the lords of the city. -On the very morning that Jehu's second missive arrived, every one of -these poor guiltless youths was unceremoniously beheaded. The hideous, -bleeding trophies were packed in fig-baskets and sent to Jezreel.[198] - -When Jehu was informed of this revolting present it was evening, and he -was sitting at a meal with his friends.[199] He did not trouble himself -to rise from his feast or to look at "death made proud by pure and -princely beauty." He knew that those seventy heads could only be the -heads of the royal youths. He issued a cool and brutal order that they -should be piled in two heaps[200] until the morning on either side the -entrance of the city gates. Were they watched? or were the dogs and -vultures and hyaenas again left to do their work upon them? We do not -know. In any case it was a scene of brutal barbarism such as might have -been witnessed in living memory in Khiva or Bokhara;[201] nor must we -forget that even in the last century the heads of the brave and the -noble rotted on Westminster Hall and Temple Bar, and over the Gate of -York, and over the Tolbooth at Edinburgh, and on Wexford Bridge. - -The day dawned, and all the people were gathered at the gate, which -was the scene of justice. With the calmest air imaginable the warrior -came out to them, and stood between the mangled heads of those who but -yesterday had been the pampered minions of fortune and luxury. His -speech was short and politic in its brutality. "Be yourselves the -judges," he said. "Ye are righteous. Jezebel called me a Zimri. Yes! I -conspired against my master and slew him: but"--and here he casually -pointed to the horrible, bleeding heaps--"who smote all these?" The -people of Jezreel and the lords of Samaria were not only passive -witnesses of his rebellion; they were active sharers in it. They had -dabbled their hands in the same blood. Now they could not choose but -accept his dynasty: for who was there besides himself? And then, -changing his tone, he does not offer "the tyrant's devilish plea, -necessity," to cloak his atrocities, but--like a Romish inquisitor of -Seville or Granada--claims Divine sanction for his sanguinary -violence. This was not _his_ doing. He was but an instrument in the -hands of fate. Jehovah is alone responsible. He is doing what He spake -by His servant Elijah. Yes! and there was yet more to do; for no word -of Jehovah's shall fall to the ground. - -With the same cynical ruthlessness, and cold indifference to smearing -his robes in the blood of the slain, he carried out to the bitter end -his task of policy which he gilded with the name of Divine justice. -Not content with slaying Ahab's sons, he set himself to extirpate his -race, and slew all who remained to him in Jezreel, not only his kith -and kin, but every lord and every Baal-priest who favoured his house, -until he left him none remaining. - -But what a frightful picture do these scenes furnish us of the state -of religion and even of civilisation in Jezreel! There was this -man-eating tiger of a king wallowing in the blood of princes, and -enacting scenes which remind us of Dahomey and Ashantee, or of some -Tartary khanate where human hands are told out in the market-place -after some avenging raid. And amid all this savagery, squalor, and -Turkish atrocity, the man pleads the sanction of Jehovah, and claims, -unrebuked, that he is only carrying out the behests of Jehovah's -prophets! It is not until long afterwards that the voice of a prophet -is heard repudiating his plea and denouncing his bloodthirstiness. - - "An evil soul producing holy witness - Is like a villain with a smiling cheek-- - A goodly apple rotten at the core." - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[196] Omri, 12 years; Ahab, 22; Ahaziah, 18; Jehoram, 12. - -[197] The reading of 2 Kings x. 1, "Unto the rulers of _Jezreel_," is -clearly wrong. The LXX. reads, "Unto the rulers of Samaria." Unless -"Jezreel" be a clerical error for Israel, we must read, "He sent -letters from Jezreel unto the rulers of Samaria." - -[198] Fig-baskets, Jer. xxiv. 2. The word _dudim_ is rendered "pots" -in 1 Sam. ii. 14. LXX., [Greek: en kartallois]; Vulg., _in cophinis_. -In Psalm lxxxi. 6 the LXX. has [Greek: en to kophino]. - -[199] Jos., _Antt._, IX. vi. 5. - -[200] Heb., _Tsibourim_; LXX., [Greek: bounous]. - -[201] Comp. 1 Sam. xvii. 54; 2 Macc. xv. 30. - -[202] Hos. i. 4. - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - - _FRESH MURDERS--THE EXTIRPATION OF BAAL-WORSHIP_ - (B.C. 842) - - 2 KINGS x. 12-28 - - "Jehu, sur les hauts lieux, enfin osant offrir - Un temeraire encens que Dieu ne peut souffrir, - N'a pour servir sa cause et venger ses injures - Ni le coeur assez droit, ni les mains assez pures." - RACINE. - - -After such abject subservience had been shown him by the lords of -Samaria and Jezreel, Jehu evidently had no further shadow of -apprehension. He seems to have loved blood for its own sake--to have -been seized by a vertigo of blood-poisoning. Having waded through -slaughter to a throne, he loved to wash his footsteps in the blood of -the slain, and to stretch to the very uttermost--to stretch until it -cracked all its ravelled threads--the Divine sanction claimed by his -fanaticism or his hypocrisy. - -When he had finished his massacres at Jezreel, he went to Samaria. It -was only a journey of a few hours. On the high road he met a company -of travellers, whose escort and rich apparel showed that they were -persons of importance. They were about to halt, perhaps for -refreshment, at the shearing-house of the shepherds--the place in -which the sheep were gathered before they were shorn.[203] - -"Who are ye?" he asked. - -They answered that they were princes of the house of Judah, the brethren -of Ahaziah,[204] on their way to see the two kings at Jezreel, and to -salute their cousins, the children of Jehoram, and their kinsfolk the -children of Jezebel the Gebirah.[205] The answer sealed their fate. Jehu -ordered his followers to take them alive. At first he had not decided -what he would do with them. But half measures had now become impossible. -This cavalcade of princes little knew that they were on their way to -greet the dead children of a dead king and a dead queen. Jehu felt that -the possibilities of an endless _vendetta_ must be quenched in blood. He -gave orders to slay them, and there in one hour forty-two more scions of -the royal houses of Judah and Israel were done to death.[206] With the -usual reckless insouciance of the East, where any tank or well is made -the natural receptacle for corpses regardless of ultimate consequences, -their bodies were flung into the cistern of the shearing-house, in which -the sheep were washed before shearing, just as the bodies of Gedaliah's -followers were flung by Ishmael into the well at Mizpah, and the bodies -of our own murdered countrymen were flung into the well of Cawnpore. He -did not leave one of them alive. - -Thus Jehu "murdered two kings, and one hundred and twelve princes, and -gave Queen Jezebel to dogs to eat; and if priests had but noticed how -even Hosea condemns and denounces his savagery, they would have -abstained from some of their glorifications of assassins and butchers, -nor would they have appealed to this man's hideous example, as they -have done, to excuse some of their own revolting atrocities."[207] But - - "Crime was ne'er so black - As ghostly cheer and pious thanks to lack. - Satan is modest. At heaven's door he lays - His evil offspring, and in Scriptural phrase - And saintly posture gives to God the praise - And honour of his monstrous progeny."[208] - -One cruel deed more or less was nothing to Jehu. Leaving this tank -choked with death and incarnadined with royal blood, he went on his way -as if nothing particular had happened. He had not proceeded far when he -saw a man well known to him, and of a spirit kindred to his own. It was -the Arab ascetic and Nazarite Jehonadab, the son of Rechab (or "The -Rider"), the chief of the tribe of Kenites who had flung in their lot -with the children of Israel since the days of Moses.[209] It was the -tribe which had produced a Jael; and Jehonadab had something of the -fierce, fanatical spirit of the ancient chieftainess, who, in her own -tent, had dashed out with the tent-peg the brains of Sisera. His very -name, "The Lord is noble," indicated that he was a worshipper of -Jehovah, and his fierce zeal showed him to be a genuine Kenite. -Disgusted with the wickedness of cities, disgusted above all with the -loathly vice of drunkenness, which, as we see from the contemporary -prophets, had begun in this age to acquire fresh prominence in luxurious -and wealthy communities, he exacted of his sons a solemn oath that -neither they nor their successors would drink wine nor strong drink, and -that, shunning the squalor and corruption of cities, they would live in -tents, as their nomad ancestors had done in the days when Jethro and -Hobab were princes of pastoral Midian. We learn from Jeremiah, nearly -two and a half centuries later, how faithfully that oath had been -observed; and how, in spite of all temptation, the vow of abstinence was -maintained, even when the strain of foreign invasion had driven the -Rechabites into Jerusalem from their desolated pastures.[210] - -Jehu knew that the stern fanaticism of the Kenite Emir would rejoice -in his exterminating zeal, and he recognised that the friendship and -countenance of this "good man and just," as Josephus calls him, would -add strength to his cause, and enable him to carry out his dark -design. He therefore blessed him.[211] - -"Is thine heart right with my heart, as my heart is with thy heart?" -he asked, after he had returned the greeting of Jehonadab. - -"It is, it is!" answered the vehement Rechabite.[212] - -"Then give me thy hand," he said; and grasping the Arab by the -hand,[213] he pulled him up into his chariot--the highest distinction -he could bestow upon him--and bade him come and witness his zeal for -Jehovah. - -His first task on arriving at Samaria was to tear up the last fibres of -Ahab's kith and destroy all his partisans. This was indeed to push to a -self-interested extreme the denunciation which had been pronounced upon -Ahab; but the crime helped to secure his fiercely founded throne. - -One deep-seated plot was yet unaccomplished. It was the total -extermination of Baal-worship. To drive out for ever this orgiastic, -corrupt, and alien idolatry was right; but there is nothing to show -that Jehu would have been unable to effect this purpose by one stern -decree, together with the destruction of Baal's images and temple. A -method so simply righteous did not suit this Nero-Torquemada, who -seemed to be never happy unless he united Jesuitical cunning with the -pouring out of rivers of massacre. - -He summoned the people together; and as though he now threw off all -pretence of zeal for orthodoxy, he proclaimed that Ahab had served -Baal a little, but Jehu would serve him much. The Samaritans must have -been endowed with infinite gullibility if they could suppose that the -king who had ridden into the city side by side with such a man as -Jehonadab--"the warrior in his coat of mail, the ascetic in his shirt -of hair"--who had already exhibited an unfathomable cunning, and had -swept away the Baal-priests of Jezreel, was indeed sincere in this new -conversion.[214] Perhaps they felt it dangerous to question the -sincerity of kings. The Baal-worshippers of former days were known, -and Jehu proclaimed that if any one of them was missing at the great -sacrifice which he intended to offer to Baal he should be put to -death. A solemn assembly to Baal was proclaimed, and every apostate -from God to nature-worship from all Israel was present, till the -idol's temple was thronged from end to end.[215] To add splendour to -the solemnity, Jehu bade the wardrobe-keeper to bring out all the rich -vestments of Tyrian dye and Sidonian broidery, and clothe the -worshippers.[216] Solemnly advancing to the altar with the Rechabite -by his side, he warned the assembly to see that their gathering was -not polluted by the presence of a single known worshipper of Jehovah. -Then, apparently, he still further disarmed suspicion by taking a -personal part in offering the burnt-offering. Meanwhile, he had -surrounded the temple and blocked every exit with eighty armed -warriors, and had threatened that any one of them should be put to -death if he let a single Baal-worshipper escape. When he had finished -the offering,[217] he went forth, and bade his soldiers enter, and -slay, and slay, and slay till none were left. Then flinging the -corpses in a heap, they made their way to the fortress of the Temple, -where some of the priests may have taken refuge. They dragged out and -burnt the _matstseboth_ of Baal,[218] broke down the great central -idol, and utterly dismantled the whole building. To complete the -pollution of the dishallowed shrine, he made it a common midden for -Samaria, which it continued to be for centuries afterwards.[219] It -was his last voluntary massacre. The House of Ahab was no more. -Baal-worship in Israel never survived that exterminating blow. - -Happily for the human race, such atrocities committed in the name of -religion have not been common. In Pagan history we have but few -instances, except the slaughter of the Magians at the beginning of the -reign of Darius, son of Hystaspes. Alas that other parallels should be -furnished by the abominable tyranny of a false Christianity, blessed -and incited by popes and priests! The persecutions and massacres of -the Albigenses, preached by Arnold of Citeaux, and instigated by Pope -Innocent III.; the expulsion of the Jews from Spain; the deadly work -of Torquemada; the murderous furies of Alva among the hapless -Netherlanders, urged and approved by Pope Pius V.; the massacre of -St. Bartholomew, for which Pope Gregory and his cardinals sang their -horrible Te Deum in their desecrated shrines,--these are the parallels -to the deeds of Jehu. He has found his chief imitators among the -votaries of a blood-stained and usurping sacerdotalism, which has -committed so many crimes and inflicted so many horrors on mankind. - -And did God approve all this detestable mixture of zealous enthusiasm -with lying deceit and the insatiate thirst of blood? - -If right be right, and wrong be wrong, the answer must not be an -elaborate subterfuge, but an uncompromising "No!" We need be under no -doubt on that subject. Christ Himself reproved His Apostles for savage -zealotry, and taught them that the Elijah-spirit was not the -Christ-spirit. Nor is the Elisha-spirit the Christian spirit any the -more if these deeds of hypocrisy and blood were in any sense approved -by him who is sometimes regarded as the mild and gentle Elisha. Where -was he? Why was he silent? Could he possibly approve of this -murderer's fury? We do not, indeed, know how far Elisha lent his -sanction to anything more than the general end. Ahab's house had been -doomed to vengeance by the voice which gave utterance to the verdict -of the national conscience. The doom was just; Jehu was ordained to be -the executioner. In no other way could the judgment be carried out. -The times were not sentimental. The murder of Jehoram was not regarded -as an act of tyrannicide, but of divinely commissioned justice. Elisha -_may_ have shrunk from the unreined furies of the man whom he had sent -his emissary to anoint. On the other hand, we have not the least proof -that he did so. He partook, probably, of the wild spirit of the -times, when such deeds were regarded with feelings very different from -the abhorrence with which we, better taught by the spirit of love, and -more enlightened by the widening dawn of history, now justly regard -them. No remonstrance of _contemporary_ prophecy, however faint, is -recorded as having been uttered against the doings of Jehu. The fact -that, several centuries later, they could be recorded by the historian -without a syllable of reprobation shows that the education of nations -in the lessons of righteousness is slow, and that we are still amid -the annals of the deep night of moral imperfection. But the nation was -on the eve of purer teaching, and in the prophets Amos and Hosea we -read the clear condemnation of deeds of cruelty in general, and -specially of the king who felt no pity. Amos condemns even the -idolatrous King of Edom, "because he did pursue his brother with the -sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, -and he kept his wrath for ever."[220] He condemns no less severely the -Chemosh-worshipping King of Moab even for an insult done to the dead: -"Because he burned the bones of the King of Edom into lime."[221] Jehu -had warred pitilessly upon the living, and had shamelessly insulted -the dead. He had flung the heads of seventy princes in two bleeding -heaps on the common road for all eyes to stare upon, and he had -polluted the cistern of Beth-equed-haroim with the dead bodies of -forty-two youths of the royal house of Judah. He might plead that he -was but carrying out to the full the commission of Jehovah, imposed -upon him by Elisha; but Hosea, a century later, gives God's message -against his house: "Yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood -of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom -of the house of Israel."[222] - -Nay, more! If, as is possible, the ghastly story of the siege of -Samaria, narrated in the memoirs of Elisha, is displaced, and if it -really belongs to the reign of Jehoahaz ben-Jehu, then Elisha himself -brands the cruelty of the rushing thunderbolt of vengeance which his -own hand had launched. For he calls the unnamed "King of Israel" "the -son of a murderer." - -Men who are swords of God, and human executioners of Divine justice, -may easily deceive themselves. God works the ends of His own -providence, and He uses their ministry. "The fierceness of man shall -turn to Thy praise, and the fierceness of them shalt Thou -refrain."[223] But they can never make their plea of prophetic -sanction a cloak of maliciousness. Cromwell had stern work to do. -Rightly or wrongly, he deemed it inevitable, and did not shrink from -it. But he hated it. Over and over again, he tells us, he had prayed -to God that He would not put him to this work. To the best of his -power he avoided, he minimised, every act of vengeance, even when the -sternness of his Puritan sense of righteousness made him look on it as -duty. Far different was the case of Jehu. He loved murder and cunning -for their own sakes, and, like Joab, he dyed the garments of peace -with the blood of war. - -How little was his gain! It had been happier for him if he had never -mounted higher than the captaincy of the host, or even so high. He -reigned for twenty-eight years (842-814)--longer than any king except -his great-grandson Jeroboam II.; and in recognition of any element of -righteousness which had actuated his revolt, his children, even to the -fourth generation, were suffered to sit upon the throne. His dynasty -lasted for one hundred and thirteen years.[224] But his own reign was -only memorable for defeat, trouble, and irreparable disaster. - -For Hazael, who had seized the throne of his murdered lord Benhadad, -was a fierce and able warrior. He held his own against the overweening -might of his northern neighbour Assyria; and whenever he obtained a -respite from this desperate warfare, he indemnified himself for all -losses by enlarging his dominion out of the territories of the Ten -Tribes. "In those days the Lord began to cut Israel short, and Hazael -smote them in all the borders of Israel." Jehu had the mortification -of seeing the fairest and most fruitful regions of his dominion, those -which had belonged to Israel from the most ancient times, wrenched out -of his grasp. From this time forwards Israel lost half the fair -Promised Land which God had given to their fathers. It was the -beginning of the end. Henceforth the tribal inheritance of Reuben, -Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh was an oppressed dependency of -Aram. Hazael overran and annexed the land of Bashan from the spurs of -Mount Hermon to the Lake of Gennezareth; Gaulan, and volcanic Argob, -and Hauran the entire ancient kingdom of Og, King of Bashan, with all -the herds and pasture-lands. Southward of this he seized the whole -forest-clad plateau of Gilead, with its lovely ravines, north of the -Jabbok, the territory of Gad; and pushing still southward, -established his sway over the district, of the Ammonites and the tribe -of Reuben, as far as the city of Aroer, on the other side of the great -chasm of Arnon (Wady Mojib). All the fatness of Bashan and Rabbah with -her watery plain of the Beni-Ammon, and the grass-covered uplands -which fed the enormous flocks of Mesha, the great Emir and -sheep-master of Moab, passed from Israel to Syria, never to be -recovered. What made the humiliation more terrible was that the -invasion and conquest were accompanied with acts of unwonted cruelty. -Elisha had wept to think what evil Hazael would do the children of -Israel[225]--how he would set their strongholds on fire, and slay -their young men with the sword, and dash in pieces their little ones, -and rip up their women with child. These atrocities were in those -horrible days the ordinary incidents of warfare;[226] but Hazael seems -to have been pre-eminent in brutal fierceness. It was this which -called down on him and his people the "burdens" of Amos. "Thus saith -the Lord; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will -not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed -Gilead with threshing instruments of iron: but I will send a fire into -the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad."[227] - -We can imagine rather than describe the anguish of Jehu when he was -compelled to look impotently on, while his powerful Syrian neighbour -laid waste his dominion with fire and sword, and the cry of his -despoiled and slaughtered subjects was uplifted to him in vain. Nor -was this all. Emboldened by these reverses, a host of other enemies, -once subjugated and despised, began to wreak their revenge and -insolence on humbled Israel. The Philistines eagerly undertook the -sale of the wretched captives who were brought to them in gangs from -the burnt Trans-Jordanic towns.[228] The old "brotherly covenant" with -the Tyrian, which had once been formed by Solomon, and had been -cemented by the marriage of Jezebel with Ahab, was cancelled by Jehu's -insults, and the Tyrians emulously outbad the Philistines in the -purchase of Israelitish slaves. The Edomites and the Ammonites also -helped Hazael in his marauding raids, and enlarged their own domains -at the expense of Samaria. Such insults and humiliations might well go -far to break the heart of an impetuous and warrior-king. - -Of Jehu the Books of Kings and Chronicles have no more to tell us, but -we gain fresh insight into his degradation from the Black Obelisk of -Shalmaneser II. (860-824), now in the British Museum. From the -inscription we find that, in 842, Jehu--"the son of Omri," as he is -erroneously called--was one of the vassal kings who subjected -themselves to the Assyrian conqueror,[229] and sent him tribute, which -may have euphemistically passed under the name of presents. The -despot of Nineveh twice speaks of it as a tribute. On this obelisk we -see a picture of Jehu's ambassadors--perhaps of Jehu himself. On the -left stands the Assyrian King with the winged circle over his head. He -holds a beaker of wine in his hand, and two eunuchs stand behind him, -one of whom covers him with a sunshade. Before him kneels and grovels -in adoration the Jewish King, with his beard sweeping the ground. In -long array behind him come his servants--first two eunuchs, then a -number of bearded figures, who carry the tribute. They are dressed in -long richly fringed robes, exactly resembling those of the Assyrians -themselves, and they wear shoes which turn up at the toes. They are -carrying figures of gold and silver, goblets, golden vessels, ingots -of precious metals, spear-shafts, a kingly sceptre, baskets, bags, and -trays of treasure, the contribution of which must have fallen with -crushing weight on the impoverished kingdom.[230] - -This tribute must have been sent in 842, the eighteenth year of -Shalmaneser II.'s reign. Doubtless Jehu thought he might be delivered -from his furious neighbour Hazael by propitiating the Northern tyrant, -who at the same time received the submission of the Tyrians and -Sidonians. But if so, Jehu's hopes were dashed to the ground. -Shalmaneser was the enemy of Hazael (Ha-sa-ilu), who had gone out to -meet him at Antilibanus, and there had fought a desperate battle. The -Syrian King was routed, and driven back, and Shalmaneser had besieged -Damascus. But he had failed to take it, and indeed had not troubled -Syria again till 832, when he made an excursion of minor importance. -His troubles on the north and east of Assyria had diverted his -attention from Damascus; and this, together with the inferiority of -his son Samsiniras (_d._ 811), had given Hazael a free hand to avenge -himself on Israel as the ally of Assyria. Of Jehu we hear no more. -After his long reign of twenty-eight years he slept with his fathers, -and was buried in Samaria, and Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead. -Savage as had been his measures, his victory over alien idolatries was -by no means complete. What Micah calls "the statutes of Omri, and the -works of the House of Ahab,"[231] were still kept; and men, both in -Israel and Judah, walked in their old sins. Even in the reign of -Jehu's own son Jehoahaz there still remained in Samaria the Asherah, -or tree consecrated to the nature-goddess, which Jehu seems to have -put away, but not to have destroyed.[232] As he grovelled in the dust -before Shalmaneser, did no memory of his own ferocities darken his -humiliated soul? Must not he, like our Henry II., have been inclined -to utter the wailing cry, "Shame, shame on a conquered king!" - -FOOTNOTES: - -[203] 2 Kings x. 12. The shepherds House of Meeting -(_Beth-equed-haroim_). LXX., [Greek: en Baithakath]; Vulg., _ad -cameram pastorum_; Aquila, [Greek: oikos kampseos]. It has been -conjectured by Klostermann that it belonged to the Rechabites, that -they had been persecuted by Jezebel, and that they were glad to help -in taking vengeance on her descendants. - -[204] The Chronicler (2 Chron. xxii. 8) says "_sons_ of the brethren -of Ahaziah." - -[205] LXX., [Greek: he dynasteuousa]. - -[206] 2 Kings x. 14, A.V., "at the pit." Lit., "in" or "into the -cistern." - -[207] See Martin, _Hist. de France_, ix. 114. - -[208] Whittier. - -[209] Jer. xxxv. 1-19. Josephus (_Antt._, IX. vi. 6) calls him "a good -man and a just, who had long been a friend of Jehu." "He was," says -Ewald (_Gesch._, iii. 543), "of a society of those who despaired of -being able to observe true religion undisturbedly in the midst of the -nation with the stringency with which they understood it, and -therefore withdrew into the desert." - -[210] Jer. xxxv. (written about B.C. 604). Communities of Nazarites -seem to have sprung up at this epoch, perhaps as a protest against the -prevailing luxury (Amos ii. 11). - -[211] In Josephus it is Jehonadab who blesses the king. - -[212] Heb., [Hebrew: yesh vayesh]. - -[213] Striking hands was a sign of good faith (Job xvii. 3; Prov. -xxii. 26). - -[214] He did it "in subtilty" ([Hebrew: vetzakevah]). This substantive -occurs nowhere else, but is connected with the name Jacob. LXX., -[Greek: en pternismo], "in taking by the heel," with reference to the -name Jacob, "supplanter." - -[215] Lit., "mouth to mouth." LXX., [Greek: stoma eis stoma]. - -[216] Ver. 22, [Hebrew: melhahah], _Vestiarum_, occurs here only. The -LXX. omits it or puts it in Greek letters. Targum, [Greek: kamptrai], -"chests" Sil. Italicus (iii. 23) describes the robes of the priests of -the Gaditanian Hercules,-- - - "_Nec discolor ulli, - Ante aras cultus; velantur corpora lino - Et Pelusiaco praefulget stamine vertex._" - KEIL, _ad loc._ - -It was a mixture of "the rich dye of Tyre and the rich web of Nile." - -[217] The phrase may be impersonal, "when one [_i.e._, they] had -finished the sacrifice"; but the narrative seems to imply that Jehu -offered it himself (LXX., [Greek: hos synetelesan poiountes ten -holokautosin] Vulg., _cum completum esset holocaustum_). - -[218] A.V., images; R.V., pillars. - -[219] Comp. Ezra vi. 11; Dan. ii. 5. - -[220] Amos i. 11. - -[221] Amos ii. 1. - -[222] Hos. i. 4. - -[223] Psalm lxxvi. 10. - -[224] - - Jehu 842-814. - Jehoahaz 814-797. - Joash 797-781. - Jeroboam II. 781-740. - Zechariah 740. - -[225] 2 Kings viii. 12. - -[226] Isa. xiii. 11-16; Hos. x. 14, xiii. 16; Nah. iii. 10. - -[227] Amos i. 3, 4. - -[228] Amos i. 6-15. - -[229] See Appendix I., Schrader, _Keilinschriften u. das Alte Test._, -208 ff.; Sayce, _Records of the Past_, v. 41; Layard, _Nineveh_, p. -613; Rawlinson, _Herodotus_, i. 469. He is twice mentioned in -inscriptions of Shalmaneser II. (861-825). He is called Ja-hu-a, son -of Omri. The name of Omri was familiar in Nineveh; for Ahab had fought -as a vassal of Assyria at the battle of Karkar, and Samaria was called -Beth-Khumri. Shalmaneser would not trouble himself with the fact that -Jehu had extirpated the old dynasty. His black stele was found by -Layard, and is figured in _Monuments of Nineveh_, i., pl. 53. The name -of Jehu was first deciphered by Dr. Hincks in 1851. - -[230] Schrader (E. T.), ii. 199. - -[231] Mic. vi. 16. - -[232] 2 Kings xiii. 6. - - - - - CHAPTER XIV - - _ATHALIAH_ (B.C. 842-836)--_JOASH BEN-AHAZIAH OF - JUDAH_ (B.C. 836-796) - - 2 KINGS xi. 1-xii. 21 - - "Par cette fin terrible, et due a ses forfaits, - Apprenez, Roi des Juifs, et n'oubliez jamais, - Que les rois dans le ciel ont un juge severe, - L'innocence un vengeur, et les orphelins un pere!" - RACINE, _Athalie_. - - "Regardless of the sweeping whirlwind's sway, - That, hushed in grim repose, expects its evening prey." - GRAY. - - -Before we follow the destinies of the House of Jehu we must revert to -Judah, and watch the final consequences of ruin which came in the -train of Ahab's Tyrian marriage, and brought murder and idolatry into -Judah, as well as into Israel. - -Athaliah, who, as queen-mother, was more powerful than the queen-consort -(_malekkah_), was the true daughter of Jezebel. She exhibits the same -undaunted fierceness, the same idolatrous fanaticism, the same swift -resolution, the same cruel and unscrupulous wickedness. - -It might have been supposed that the miserable disease of her husband -Jehoram, followed so speedily by the murder, after one year's reign, -of her son Ahaziah, might have exercised over her character the -softening influence of misfortune. On the contrary, she only saw in -these events a short path to the consummation of her ambition. - -Under Jehoram she had been queen: under Ahaziah she had exercised -still more powerful influence as Gebirah, and had asserted her sway -alike over her husband and over her son, whose counsellor she was to -do wickedly. It was far from her intention tamely to sink from her -commanding position into the abject nullity of an aged and despised -dowager in a dull provincial seraglio. She even thought that - - "To reign is worth ambition, though in hell; - Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven." - -The royal family of the House of David, numerous and flourishing as it -once was, had recently been decimated by cruel catastrophes. Jehoram, -instigated probably by his heathen wife, had killed his six younger -brothers.[233] Later on, the Arabs and Philistines, in their insulting -invasion, had not only plundered his palace, but had carried away his -sons; so that, according to the Chronicler, "there was never a son -left him, save Jehoahaz [_i.e._, Ahaziah], the youngest of his -sons."[234] He may have had other sons after that invasion; and -Ahaziah had left children, who must all, however, have been very -young, since he was only twenty-two or twenty-three when Jehu's -servants murdered him. Athaliah might naturally have hoped for the -regency; but this did not content her. When she saw that her son -Ahaziah was dead, "she arose and destroyed all the seed royal." In -those days the life of a child was but little thought of; and it -weighed less than nothing with Athaliah that these innocents were her -grandchildren. She killed all of whose existence she was aware, and -boldly seized the crown. No queen had ever reigned alone either in -Israel or in Judah. Judah must have sunk very low, and the talents of -Athaliah must have been commanding, or she could never have -established a precedent hitherto undreamed of, by imposing on the -people of David for six years the yoke of a woman, and that woman a -half-Phoenician idolatress. Yet so it was! Athaliah, like her cousin -Dido, felt herself strong enough to rule. - -But a woman's ruthlessness was outwitted by a woman's cunning. Ahaziah -had a half-sister on the father's side,[235] the princess Jehosheba, -or Jehoshabeath, who was then or afterwards (we are told) married to -Jehoiada, the high priest.[236] The secrets of harems are hidden deep, -and Athaliah may have been purposely kept in ignorance of the birth to -Ahaziah of a little babe whose mother was Zibiah of Beersheba, and who -had received the name of Joash. If she knew of his existence, some -ruse must have been palmed off upon her, and she must have been led to -believe that he too had been killed. But he had not been killed. -Jehosheba "stole him from among the king's sons that were slain," and, -with the connivance of his nurse, hid him from the murderers sent by -Athaliah in the palace store-room in which beds and couches were -kept.[237] Thence, at the first favourable moment, she transferred the -child and nurse to one of the chambers in the three storeys of -chambers which ran round the Temple, and were variously used as -wardrobes or as dwelling-rooms. - -The hiding-place was safe; for under Athaliah the Temple of Jehovah -fell into neglect and disrepute, and its resident ministers would not -be numerous. It would not have been difficult, in the seclusion of -Eastern life, for Jehosheba to pass off the babe as her own child to -all but the handful who knew the secret. - -Six years passed away, and the iron hand of Athaliah still kept the -people in subjection. She had boldly set up in Judah her mother's -Baal-worship. Baal had his temple not far from that of Jehovah; and -though Athaliah did not imitate Jezebel in persecuting the worshippers -of Jehovah, she made her own high priest, Mattan, a much more -important person than Jehoiada for all who desired to propitiate the -favours of the Court. - -Joash had now reached his seventh year, and a Jewish prince in his -seventh year is regarded as something more than a mere child. Jehoiada -thought that it was time to strike a blow in his favour, and to -deliver him from the dreadful confinement which made it impossible for -him to leave the Temple precincts. - -He began secretly to tamper with the guards both of the Temple and of -the palace. Upon the Levitic guards, indignant at the intrusion of -Baal-worship, he might securely count, and the Carites and queen's -runners were not likely to be very much devoted to the rule of the -manlike and idolatrous alien-queen. Taking an oath of them in secrecy, -he bound them to allegiance to the little boy whom he produced from the -Temple chamber as their lawful lord, and the son of their late king. - -The plot was well laid. There were five captains of the five hundred -royal body-guards, and the priest secretly enlisted them all in the -service.[238] The Chronicler says that he also sent round to all the -chief Levites, and collected them in Jerusalem for the emergency. The -arrangements of the Sabbath gave special facility to his plans; for on -that day only one of the five divisions of guards mounted watch at the -palace, and the others were set free for the service of the Temple.[239] -It had evidently been announced that some great ceremony would be held -in the shrine of Jehovah; for all the people, we are told, were -assembled in the courts of the house of the Lord. Jehoiada ordered one -of the companies to guard the palace; another to be at the "gate Sur," -or the gate "of the Foundation";[240] another at the gate behind the -barracks(?) of the palace-runners, to be a barrier[241] against any -incursion from the palace. Two more were to ensure the safety of the -little king by watching the precincts of the Temple. The Levitic -officers were to protect the king's person with serried ranks. Jehoiada -armed them with spears and shields, which David had placed as trophies -in the porch; and if any one tried to force his way within their lines -he was to be slain. The only danger to be apprehended was from any -Carite mercenaries, or palace-servants of the queen: among all others -Jehoiada found a widespread defection. The people, the Levites, even the -soldiers, all hated the Baal-worshipping usurper.[242] - -At the fateful moment the guards were arranged in two dense lines, -beginning from either side of the porch, till their ranks met beyond the -altar, so as to form a hedge round the royal boy. Into this triangular -space the young prince was led by the high priest, and placed beside the -_Matstsebah_--some prominent pillar in the Temple court, either one of -Solomon's pillars Jachin and Boaz, or some special erection of later -days.[243] Round him stood the princes of Judah, and there, in the midst -of them, Jehoiada placed the crown upon his head, and in significant -symbol also laid lightly upon it for a moment "The Testimony"--perhaps -the Ten Commandments and the Book of the Covenant--the most ancient -fragment of the Pentateuch[244]--which was treasured up with the pot of -manna inside or in front of the Ark. Then he poured on the child's head -the consecrated oil, and said, "Let the king live!" - -The completion of the ceremony was marked by the blare of the rams' -horns, the softer blast of the silver trumpets, and the answering shouts -of the soldiers and the people. The tumult, or the news of it, reached -the ears of Athaliah in the neighbouring palace, and, with all the -undaunted courage of her mother, she instantly summoned her escort, and -went into the Temple to see for herself what was taking place.[245] She -probably mounted the ascent which Solomon had made from the palace to -the Temple court, though it had long been robbed of its precious metals -and scented woods. She led the way, and thought to overawe by her -personal ascendency any irregularity which might be going on; for in the -deathful hush to which she had reduced her subjects she does not seem to -have dreamt of rebellion. No sooner had she entered than the guards -closed behind her, excluding and menacing her escort.[246] - -A glance was sufficient to reveal to her the significance of the whole -scene. There, in royal robes, and crowned with the royal crown, stood -her little unknown grandson beside the _Matstsebah_,[247] while round -him were the leaders of the people and the trumpeters, and the -multitudes were still rolling their tumult of acclamation from the court -below. In that sight she read her doom. Rending her clothes, she turned -to fly, shrieking, "Treason! treason!" Then the commands of the priest -rang out: "Keep her between the ranks,[248] till you have got her -outside the area of the Temple; and if any of her guards follow or try -to rescue her, kill him with the sword. But let not the sacred courts be -polluted with her blood." So they made way for her,[249] and as she -could not escape she passed between the rows of Levites and soldiers -till she had reached the private chariot-road by which the kings drove -to the precincts.[250] There the sword of vengeance fell. Athaliah -disappears from history, and with her the dark race of Jezebel. But her -story lives in the music of Handel and the verse of Racine. - -This is the only recorded revolution in the history of Judah. In two -later cases a king of Judah was murdered, but in both instances "the -people of the land" restored the Davidic heir. Life in Judah was less -dramatic and exciting than in Israel, but far more stable;[251] and -this, together with comparative immunity from foreign invasions, -constituted an immense advantage. - -Jehoiada, of course, became regent for the young king, and continued -to be his guide for many years, so that even the king's two wives were -selected by his advice. As the nation had been distracted with -idolatries, he made the covenant between the king and the people that -they should be loyal to each other, and between Jehoiada and the king -and the people that they should be Jehovah's people. Such covenants -were not infrequent in Jewish history. Such a covenant had been made -by Asa[252] after Abijam's apostasy, as it was afterwards made by -Hezekiah[253] and by Josiah.[254] The new covenant, and the sense of -awakenment from the dream of guilty apostasy, evoked an outburst of -spontaneous enthusiasm in the hearts of the populace. Of their own -impulse they rushed to the temple of Baal which Athaliah had reared, -dismantled it, and smashed to pieces his altars and images. The riot -was only stained by a single murder. They slew Mattan, Athaliah's -Baal-priest, before the altars of his god.[255] - -With Jehoiada begins the title of "high priest." Hitherto no higher -name than "the priest" had been given even to Aaron, or Eli, or Zadok; -but thenceforth the title of "chief priest" is given to his -successors, among whom he inaugurated a new epoch.[256] - -It was now Jehoiada's object to restore such splendour and solemnity -as he could to the neglected worship of the Temple, which had suffered -in every way from Baal's encroachments. He did this before the king's -second solemn inauguration. Even the porters had been done away with, -so that the Temple could at any time be polluted by the presence of -the unclean, and the whole service of priests and Levites had fallen -into desuetude. - -Then he took the captains, and the Carians, and the princes, and -conducted the boy-king, amid throngs of his shouting and rejoicing -people, from the Temple to his own palace. There he seated him on the -lion-throne of Solomon his father, in the great hall of justice, and -the city was quiet and the land had rest. According to the historian, -"Joash did right _all his days_, because Jehoiada the priest -instructed him."[257] The stock addition that "howbeit the _bamoth_ -were not removed, and the people still sacrificed and offered incense -there," is no derogation from the merits of Joash, and perhaps not -even of Jehoiada, since if the law against the _bamoth_ then existed, -it had become absolutely unknown, and these local sanctuaries were -held to be conducive to true religion.[258] - -It was natural that the child of the Temple should have at heart the -interests of the Temple in which he had spent his early days, and to -the shelter of which he owed his life and throne. The sacred house had -been insulted and plundered by persons whom the Chronicler calls "the -sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman,"[259] meaning, probably, her -adherents. Not only had its treasures been robbed to enrich the house -of Baal, but it had been suffered to fall into complete disrepair. -Breaches gaped in the outer walls, and the very foundations were -insecure. The necessity for restoring it occurred, not, as we should -have expected, to the priests who lived at its altar, but to the -boy-king. He issued an order to the priests that they should take -charge of all the money presented to the Temple for the hallowed -things, all the money paid in current coin, and all the assessments -for various fines and vows,[260] together with every freewill -contribution. They were to have this revenue entirely at their -disposal, and to make themselves responsible for the necessary -repairs. According to the Chronicler, they were further to raise a -subscription throughout the country from all their personal friends. - -The king's command had been urgent. Money had at first come in, but -nothing was done. Joash had reached the twenty-third year of his -reign, and was thirty years old; but the Temple remained in its old -sordid condition. The matter is passed over by the king as lightly, -courteously, and considerately as he could; but if he does not charge -the priests with downright embezzlement, he does reproach them for -most reprehensible neglect. They were the appointed guardians of the -house: why did they suffer its dilapidations to remain untouched year -after year, while they continued to receive the golden stream which -poured--but now, owing to the disgust of the people, in diminished -volume--into their coffers? "Take no more money, therefore," he said, -"from your acquaintances, but deliver it for the breaches of the -house." For what they had already received he does not call them to -account, but henceforth takes the whole matter into his own hands. The -neglectful priests were to receive no more contributions, and not to -be responsible for the repairs. Joash, however, ordered Jehoiada to -take a chest and put it beside the altar on the right.[261] All -contributions were to be dropped into this chest. When it was full, it -was carried by the Levites unopened into the palace,[262] and there -the king's chancellor and the high priest had the ingots weighed and -the money counted; its value was added up, and it was handed over -immediately to the architects, who paid it to the carpenters and -masons. The priests were left in possession of the money for the -guilt-offerings[263] and for the sin-offerings, but with the rest of -the funds they had nothing to do. In this way was restored the -confidence which the management of the hierarchy had evidently -forfeited, and with renewed confidence in the administration fresh -gifts poured in. Even in the cautious narrative of the Chronicler it -is clear that the priests hardly came out of these transactions with -flying colours. If their honesty is not formally impugned, at least -their torpor is obvious, as is the fact that they had wholly failed to -inspire the zeal of the people till the young king took the affair -into his own hands.[264] - -The long reign of Joash ended in eclipse and murder. If the later -tradition be correct, it was also darkened with atrocious ingratitude -and crime. - -For, according to the Chronicler, Jehoiada died at the advanced age of -one hundred and thirty, and was buried, as an unwonted honour, in the -sepulchres of the kings.[265] When he was dead, the princes of Judah -came to Joash, who had now been king for many years, and with a -strange suddenness tempted the zealous repairer of the Temple of -Jehovah into idolatrous apostasy. With soft speech they seduced him -into the worship of Asherim. It was marvellous indeed if the child of -the Temple became its foe, and he who had made a covenant with Jehovah -fell away to Baalim. But worse followed. Prophets reproved him, and he -paid them no heed, in spite of "the greatness of the burdens"--_i.e._, -the multitude of the menaces--laid upon him.[266] The stern, -denunciative harangues were despised. At last Zechariah, the son of -his benefactor Jehoiada, rebuked king and people. He cried aloud from -some eminence in the court of the Temple, that "since they had -transgressed the commandments of Jehovah they could not prosper: they -had forsaken Him, and He would forsake them." Infuriated by this -prophecy of woe, the guilty people, at the command of their guiltier -king, stoned him to death.[267] As he lay dying, he exclaimed, "The -Lord look upon it, and require it!"[268] - -The entire silence of the elder and better authority might lead us to -hope that there may be room for doubt as to the accuracy of the much -later tradition. Yet there certainly was a persistent belief that -Zechariah had been thus martyred. A wild legend, related in the -Talmud,[269] tells us that when Nebuzaradan conquered Jerusalem and -entered the Temple he saw blood bubbling up from the floor of the -court, and slaughtered ninety-four myriads, so that the blood flowed -till it touched the blood of Zechariah, that it might be fulfilled -which is said (Hos. iv. 2), "Blood toucheth blood." When he saw the -blood of Zechariah, and noticed that it was boiling and agitated, he -asked, "What is this?" and was told that it was the spilled blood of -the sacrifices. Finding this to be false, he threatened to comb the -flesh of the priests with iron curry-combs if they did not tell the -truth. Then they confessed that it was the blood of the murdered -Zechariah. "Well," he said, "I will pacify him." First he slaughtered -the greater and lesser Sanhedrin: but the blood did not rest. Then he -sacrificed young men and maidens: but the blood still bubbled. At -last he cried, "Zechariah, Zechariah, must I then slay them all?" Then -the blood was still, and Nebuzaradan, thinking how much blood he had -shed, fled, repented, and became a Jewish proselyte! - -Perhaps the worst feature of the story against Joash might have been -susceptible of a less shocking colouring. He had naturally all his life -been under the influence of priestly domination. The ascendency which -Jehoiada had acquired as priest-regent had been maintained till long -after the young king had arrived at full manhood. At last, however, he -had come into collision with the priestly body. He was in the right; -they were transparently in the wrong. The Chronicler, and even the older -historian, soften the story against the priests as much as they can; but -in both their narratives it is plain that Jehoiada and the whole -hierarchy had been more careful of their own interests than of those of -the Temple, of which they were the appointed guardians. Even if they can -be acquitted of potential malfeasance, they had been guilty of -reprehensible carelessness. It is clear that in this matter they did not -command the confidence of the people; for so long as they had the -management of affairs the sources of munificence were either dried up or -only flowed in scanty streams, whereas they were poured forth with glad -abundance when the administration of the funds was placed mainly in the -hands of laymen under the king's chancellor. It is probable that when -Jehoiada was dead Joash thought it right to assert his royal authority -in greater independence of the priestly party; and that party was headed -by Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada. The Chronicler says that he -prophesied: that, however, would not necessarily constitute him a -prophet, any more than it constituted Caiaphas. If he was a prophet, and -was yet at the head of the priests, he furnishes an all-but solitary -instance of such a position. The position of a prophet, occupied in the -great work of moral reformation, was so essentially antithetic to that -of priests, absorbed in ritual ceremonies, that there is no body of men -in Scripture of whom, as a whole, we have a more pitiful record than of -the Jewish priests. From Aaron, who made the golden calf, to Urijah, who -sanctioned the idolatrous altar of Ahaz, and so down to Annas and -Caiaphas, who crucified the Lord of glory, they rendered few signal -services to true religion. They opposed Uzziah when he invaded their -functions, but they acquiesced in all the idolatries and abominations of -Rehoboam, Abijah, Ahaziah, Ahaz, and many other kings, without a -syllable of recorded protest. When a prophet did spring from their -ranks, they set their faces with one consent, and were confederate -against him. They mocked and ridiculed Isaiah. When Jeremiah rose among -them, the priest Pashur smote him on the cheek, and the whole body -persecuted him to death, leaving him to be protected only by the pity of -eunuchs and courtiers. Ezekiel was the priestliest of the prophets, and -yet he was forced to denounce the apostasies which they permitted in the -very Temple. The pages of the prophets ring with denunciations of their -priestly contemporaries.[270] - -We do not know enough of Zechariah to say much about his character; -but priests in every age have shown themselves the most unscrupulous -and the most implacable of enemies. Joash probably stood to him in -the same relation that Henry II. stood to Thomas a Becket. The -priest's murder may have been due to an outburst of passion on the -part of the king's friends, or of the king himself--gentle as his -character seems to have been--without being the act of black -ingratitude which late traditions represented it to be. The legend -about Zechariah's blood represents the priest's spirit as so -ruthlessly unforgiving as to awaken the astonishment and even the -rebukes of the Babylonian idolater. Such a legend could hardly have -arisen in the case of a man who was other than a most formidable -opponent. The murder of Joash may have been, in its turn, a final -outcome of the revenge of the priestly party. The details of the story -must be left to inference and conjecture, especially as they are not -even mentioned in the earlier and more impartial annalists. - -It is at least singular that while Joash, the king, is blamed for -continuing the worship at the _bamoth_, Jehoiada, the high priest, is -_not_ blamed, though they continued throughout his long and powerful -regency. Further, we have an instance of the priest-regent's autocracy -which can hardly be regarded as redounding to his credit. It is -preserved in an accidental allusion on the page of Jeremiah. In Jer. -xxix. 26 we read his reproof and doom of the lying prophecy of the -priest Shemaiah the Nehelamite, because as a priest he had sent a -letter to the chief priest Zephaniah and all the priests, urging them -as the successors of Jehoiada to follow the ruling of Jehoiada, which -was to put Jeremiah in a collar. For Jehoiada, he said, "had ordered -the priests, as officers [_pakidim_] in the house of Jehovah, to put -in the stocks every one that is mad and maketh himself a -prophet."[271] If, then, the Jehoiada referred to is the -priest-regent, as seems undoubtedly to be the case, we see that he -hated all interference of Jehovah's prophets with his rule. That the -prophets were usually regarded by the world and by priests as "mad," -we see from the fact that the title is given by Jehu's captains to -Elisha's emissary;[272] and that this continued to be the case we see -from the fact that the priests and Pharisees of Jerusalem said of John -the Baptist that he had a devil, and of Christ that He was a -Samaritan, and that He, too, had a devil. If Joash was in opposition -to the priestly party, he was in the same position as all God's -greatest saints and reformers have ever been from the days of Moses to -the days of John Wesley. The dominance of priestcraft is the -invariable and inevitable death of true, as apart from functional, -religion. Priests are always apt to concentrate their attention upon -their temples, altars, religious practices and rites--in a word, upon -the externals of religion. If they gain a complete ascendency over -their fellow-believers, the faithful become their absolute slaves, -religion degenerates into formalism, "and the life of the soul is -choked by the observance of the ceremonial law." It was a misfortune -for the Chosen People that, except among the prophets and the wise -men, the external worship was thought much more of than the moral law. -"To the ordinary man," says Wellhausen, "it was not moral but -liturgical acts which seemed to be religious." This accounts for the -monotonous iteration of judgments on the character of kings, based -primarily, not upon their essential character, but on their relation -to the _bamoth_ and the calves. - -Although the historian of the Kings gives no hint of this dark story of -Zechariah's murder, or of the apostasy of Joash, and indeed narrates no -other event of the long reign of forty years, he tells us of the -deplorable close. Hazael's ambition had been fatal to Israel; and now, -in the cessation of Assyrian inroads upon Aram, he extended his arms -towards Judah. He went up against Gath and took it, and cherished -designs against Jerusalem. Apparently he did not head the expedition in -person, and the historian implies that Joash bought off the attack of -his "general." But the Chronicler makes things far worse. He says that -the Syrian host marched to Jerusalem, destroyed all the princes of the -people, plundered the city, and sent the spoil to Hazael, who was at -Damascus. Judah, he says, had assembled a vast army to resist the small -force of the Syrian raid; but Joash was ignominiously defeated, and was -driven to pay blackmail to the invader. As to this defeat in battle the -historian is silent; but he mentions what the Chronicler omits--namely, -that the only way in which Joash could raise the requisite bribe was by -once more stripping the Temple and the palace, and sending to Damascus -all the treasures which his three predecessors had consecrated,--though -we are surprised to learn that after so many strippings and plunderings -any of them could still be left. - -The anguish and mortification of mind caused by these disasters, and -perhaps the wounds he had received in the defeat of his army, threw -Joash into "great diseases." But he was not suffered to die of -these.[273] His servants--perhaps, if that story be authentic, to -avenge the slain son of Jehoiada, but doubtless also in disgust at -the national humiliation--rose in conspiracy against him, and smote -him at Beth-Millo,[274] where he was lying sick. The Septuagint, in 2 -Chron. xxiv. 27, adds the dark fact that _all his sons_ joined in the -conspiracy.[275] This cannot be true of Amaziah, who put the murderer -to death. Such, however, was the deplorable end of the king who had -stood by the Temple pillar in his fair childhood, amid the shouts and -trumpet-blasts of a rejoicing people. At that time all things seemed -full of promise and of hope. Who could have anticipated that the boy -whose head had been touched with the sacred oil and over-shadowed with -the Testimony--the young king who had made a covenant with Jehovah, -and had initiated the task of restoring the ruined Temple to its -pristine beauty--would end his reign in earthquake and eclipse? If -indeed he had been guilty of the black ingratitude and murderous -apostasy which tradition laid to his charge, we see in his end the -Nemesis of his ill-doing; yet we cannot but pity one who, after so -long a reign, perished amid the spoliation of his people, and was not -even allowed to end his days by the sore sickness into which he had -fallen, but was hurried into the next world by the assassin's knife. - -It is impossible not to hope that his deeds were less black than the -Chronicler painted. He had made the priests feel his power and -resentment, and their Levitic recorder was not likely to take a -lenient view of his offences. He says that though Joash was buried in -the City of David, he was not buried in the sepulchres of his fathers. -The historian of the Kings, however, expressly says that "they buried -him with his fathers in the City of David," and he was peaceably -succeeded by Amaziah his son. - -There is a curious, though it may be an accidental, circumstance about -the name of the two conspirators who slew him. They are called -"Jozacar, the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad, the son of Shomer, his -servants." The names mean "Jehovah remembers," the son of "Hearer," -and "Jehovah awards," the son of "Watcher"; and this strangely recalls -the last words attributed in the Book of Chronicles to the martyred -Zechariah. "Jehovah look upon it, and require it!" The Chronicler -turns the names into "Zabad, the son of Shimeath, an Ammonitess, and -Jehozabad, the son of Shimrith, a Moabitess." Does he record this to -account for their murderous deed by the blood of hated nations which -ran in their veins? - -FOOTNOTES: - -[233] 2 Chron. xxi. 2-4. - -[234] 2 Chron. xxi. 17. - -[235] [Greek: homopatrios adelphe] (Jos.). - -[236] 2 Chron. xxii. 11. There are undoubted difficulties about the -statement (see _infra_). There is no other instance of the marriage of -a princess with a priest. - -[237] Jos., _Antt._, IX. vii. 1: [Greek: to tamieion ton klinon]. The -chamber of beds was a sort of unoccupied wardrobe-room. - -[238] 2 Kings xi. 4: "The centurions of the Carians and of the runners." - -[239] This is the second time that the word "Sabbath" occurs, or that -the institution is alluded to, in the history of either monarchy. - -[240] Nothing is known of [Hebrew: sur], Sur, or [Hebrew: yesod] -_y'sod_, the Foundation (2 Chron. xxiii. 5). They are not mentioned -elsewhere. LXX., [Greek: en te pule ton hodon], and (in Chronicles) -[Greek: en te pyle te mese]. - -[241] Not as in A.V., "that it be not broken down." - -[242] In reading side by side the narratives in the Books of Kings and -Chronicles (2 Chron. xxiii.), it is difficult to avoid the conclusion -that the main anxiety of the Chronicler is to leave the impression -that the work in the Temple was chiefly done by the Levites, and that -the sacred precincts were not polluted by the presence of alien -troops. He evidently stumbled at the notion, conveyed by the older -narrative, that Carians and suchlike semi-heathen mercenaries should -have stood by the altar at a high priest's command; so he substitutes -Levites for guardsmen, and the profane laymen are relegated outside. -In details the two accounts are only reconcilable by a special -pleading which would reconcile _any_ discrepancy. - -[243] 1 Kings vii. 21. Comp., however, 2 Kings xxiii. 3. - -[244] See Exod. xxv. 16, 21, xvi. 34. [Hebrew: hatzedut] (see 2 Chron. -xxiii. 11). Kimchi takes it to mean "a royal robe," and other Rabbis a -phylactery on the coronet (Deut. vi. 8). In the Targum to Chronicles -it is explained to mean the costly jewel (2 Sam. xii. 30), of which -none but a descendant of David could bear the weight. For _ha'edoth_ -Klostermann therefore suggests _hats'adoth_, "the royal bracelets." - -[245] So says Josephus ([Greek: meta tes idias stratias]), and it is -certain that she would hardly go unattended. - -[246] Jos., _Antt._, IX. vii. 3: [Greek: Tous de hepomenous hoplitas -eirxan eiselthein]. - -[247] The meaning of _al-ha'amod_ is uncertain (A.V., "by a pillar"; -Vulg., "on the tribunal"). Comp. 2 Kings xxiii. 3; 2 Chron. xxiii. 13; -1 Kings viii. 22; 2 Chron. vi. 13. - -[248] 2 Kings xi. 15. Not as in A.V., "without the ranges." Heb., -_lash'deroth_; LXX., [Greek: esothen ton saderoth]. - -[249] A.V., "And they laid hands on her"; LXX., [Greek: epebalon aute -cheiras]; Vulg., _imposuerunt ci manus_. But R.V. as in the text, -following the Targum, and the Jewish commentators, "They made for her -two sides." - -[250] This is usually understood to be the "horse gate" of the city -(Neh. iii. 28), and so Josephus seems to have taken it, for he says -that Athaliah was killed in "the Kedron Valley." Canon Rawlinson says -that it was more probably in the Tyropoeon Valley. But there could -have been no object in dragging the wretched queen all this way. -Jehoiada was only anxious that she should not stain the Temple with -her blood, and "the way by which the horses came into the king's -house" seems to be some private palace-gate. We are expressly told -(ver. 16) that Athaliah was slain "at the king's house," probably in -"the king's garden" (2 Kings xxv. 4). - -[251] Wellhausen, _Isr. and Jud._, p. 96. - -[252] 2 Chron. xv. 9-15. - -[253] 2 Chron. xxix. 10. - -[254] 2 Chron. xxxiv. 31. - -[255] The name is perhaps an abbreviation from Mattan-Baal, "gift of -Baal." Comp. "Methumballes" (Plaut.). The names of Tyrian kings, -Mitinna, Mattun, occur in inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser II. See -Herod., vii. 98 (Bahr, _ad loc._). "Methumbaal of Arvad" is mentioned -on a monument of Tiglath-Pileser II. (Schrader, ii. 249). - -[256] 2 Kings xii. 10; Jer. xxix. 26; 2 Chron. xxiv. 6. Stanley, -_Lectures_, ii. 399. - -[257] 2 Kings xii. 2. After "all his days," the R.V. and A.V. add -"_wherein_ Jehoiada instructed him." This, however, is not accurate. -There is a stop at days, and "wherein" should be "_because_." There -seems, however, from the LXX., to be some variation in the text, and -according to the Chronicler Joash became an apostate. LXX., [Greek: -Pasas tas hemeras has ephotizen auton ho hiereus]; Vulg., _Cunctis -diebus quibus docuit eum Jojadas sacerdos_. - -[258] The Chronicler (2 Chron. xxiv. 1, 2) _more suo_ copies 2 Kings -xii. 1, 2, but omits 3, because he dislikes the fact that not even his -hero Jehoiada had anything to say against the _bamoth_. But it appears -from 2 Kings xxiii. 9 that the _bamoth_ had regular priests of their -own, who "eat the priestly portions" (according to an old MS.) among -their brethren. - -[259] 2 Chron. xxiv. 7. - -[260] 2 Kings xii. 4: "The money that every man is set at." Lit., -"Each the money of the souls of his valuation." Comp. Numb. xviii. 16; -Lev. xxvii. 2. - -[261] The Chronicler says "at the gate." - -[262] 2 Chron. xxiv. 11. - -[263] Lev. v. 1-6, xiv. 13. "Trespass-money" is here first mentioned. - -[264] 2 Chron. xxiv. 8-10. There is a difference between the historian -and the Chronicler respecting the vessels of the house. - -[265] 2 Chron. xxiv. 15, 16. The statement of the Chronicler is (as so -often) surrounded by difficulties and improbabilities. If Jehoiada was -one hundred and thirty years old when he died, he must have been -ninety when Ahaziah was murdered, at the age of twenty-three. But as -Ahaziah was (apparently) born when his father Jehoram was eighteen, -Jehosheba must have been under eighteen, and must have been married to -a man seventy years older than herself! See Lord Arthur Hervey, _On -the Genealogies_, p. 113. - -[266] 2 Chron. xxiv. 27. - -[267] Stanley charitably thinks that Joash may have only burst into -hasty words like those of Henry II. against Becket. - -[268] The Chronicler says that "the _sons_ of Jehoiada" had helped to -crown him, and that he put "the _sons_ of Jehoiada" to death (2 Chron. -xxiii. 11, xxiv. 25). - -[269] Gittin, f. 57, 2; Sanhedrin, f. 96, 2; Hershon, _Treasures of -the Talmud_, p. 276; Lightfoot on Matt. xxiii. 35. There can be little -doubt that the reading "Berechiah" is a later correction of some one -who remembered the murder narrated in Jos., _B. J._, IV. v. 4, and -that the true reading is "son of Jehoiada." This is the last murder of -a prophet mentioned in the Old Testament, and we learn from the Gospel -the fact that he was slain "between the Temple and the altar." - -[270] Isa. xxiv. 2; Jer. v. 31, xxiii. 11; Ezek. vii. 26, xxii. 26; -Hos. iv. 9; Mic. iii. 11, etc. - -[271] Jer. xxix. 24-32. - -[272] 2 Kings ix. 11. - -[273] But from the Book of Kings we should not infer that there had been -any fighting at all. The Syrian commander had been bribed to retire. - -[274] We cannot understand the addition "on the way that goeth down to -Silla." Silla is nowhere else referred to. - -[275] LXX., 2 Chron. xxiv. 27, [Greek: kai hoi hyioi autou pantes]. - - - - - CHAPTER XV - - _AMAZIAH OF JUDAH_ - - B.C. 796-783 (?) - - 2 KINGS xiv. 1-22 - - "All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword."--MATT. - xxvi. 52. - - -The fate of Amaziah ("Jehovah is strong"), son of Joash of Judah, -resembles in some respects that of his father. Both began to reign -prosperously: the happiness of both ended in disaster. Amaziah at his -accession was twenty-five years old. He was the son of a lady of -Jerusalem named Jehoaddin. He reigned twenty-nine years, of which the -later ones were passed in misery, peril, and degradation, and, like -the unhappy Joash, and at about the same age, he fell the victim of -domestic conspiracy. - -The hereditary principle was too strongly established to enable the -murderers of Joash to set it aside, but Amaziah was not at first -strong enough to make any head against them. In time he became -established in his kingdom, and then his earliest act was to bring the -head conspirators, Jozacar and Jehozabad, to justice. It was noted as -a most remarkable circumstance that he did not put to death their -children, and extirpate their houses. In acting thus, if he were -influenced by a spirit of mercy, he showed himself before his time; -but such mercy was completely contrary to the universal custom, and -was also regarded as most impolitic. Even the comparatively merciful -Greeks had the proverb, "Fool, who has murdered the sire, and left his -sons to avenge him!"[276] - -In epochs of the wild justice of revenge, when blood-feuds are an -established and approved institution, the policy of letting vengeance -only fall on the actual offender was regarded as fatal. Perhaps Amaziah -felt it beyond his power to do more than bring the actual murderers to -justice, and it is possible that their children may have been among the -conspirators who, in his hour of shame, intimately destroyed him. - -The historian, it is true, attributes his conduct to magnanimity, or -rather to his obedience to the law, "The fathers shall not be put to -death for the children, nor the children for the fathers; but every -man shall die for his own sin." This is a reference to Deut. xxiv. 16, -and is probably the independent comment of the writer who recorded the -event two centuries later. In the gradual growth of a milder -civilisation, and the more common dominance of legal justice, such a -law may have come into force, as expressive of that voice of -conscience which is to sincere nations the voice of God. That the book -of Deuteronomy, as a book, was not in existence in its present form -till four reigns later we shall hereafter see strong reasons to -believe. But even if any part of that book was in existence, it is not -easy to understand how Amaziah would have been able to decide that the -law which forbade the punishment of the children with the offending -parents was the law which he was bound to follow, when Moses and -Joshua and other heroes of his race had acted on the olden principle. -The innocent families of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were represented as -having been swallowed up with the ambitious heads of their houses. -Joshua and all Israel had not only stoned Achan, but with him all his -unoffending house. What, too, was the meaning of the law which -established the five Cities of Refuge as the best way to protect the -accidental homicide from the recognised and unrebuked actions of the -Goel--the avenger of blood? The vengeance of a Goel was regarded, as -it is in the East and South to this day, not as an implacable -fierceness, but as a sacred duty, the neglect of which would cover him -with infamy. Judging of our documents by the impartial light of honest -criticism, it seems impossible to deny that the law of Deuteronomy was -the law of an advancing civilisation, which became more mild as -justice became firmer and more available. If Deuteronomy represents -the legislation of Moses, we can only say that in this respect Amaziah -was the first person who paid the slightest attention to it. Such -exceptional obedience may well excite the notice of the historian, in -whose pages we see that prophets like Ahijah, Elijah, and Elisha had, -again and again, in accordance with the spirit of their times, -contemplated the total excision, not only of erring kings, but even of -their little children and their most distant kinsfolk. - -Further:--We are told that Amaziah "did that which was right in the -sight of Jehovah: he did according to all things _as Joash his father -did_." The Chronicler also bestows his eulogy on Amaziah; but having -told such dark stories of the apostasy of Joash to Asherah-worship -and his murder of the prophets, he could hardly add "as Joash his -father did"; so he omits those words. The reservation that Amaziah did -right, "yet not like David his father" (2 Kings xiv. 3), "but not with -a perfect heart" (2 Chron. xxv. 2), is followed by the stock abatement -about the _bamoth_, and the sacrifices and incense burnt in them. This -was a crime in the eyes of writers in B.C. 540, but certainly not in -the eyes of any king before the discovery of the "Book of the Law" in -the reign of Josiah, B.C. 621. We are compelled, therefore, by simple -truth, to ask, How came it that Amaziah should be so scrupulous as to -observe the Deuteronomic law by not slaying the sons of his father's -murderers, while he does not seem to be aware, any more than the best -of his predecessors, that while he obeyed one precept he was violating -the essence and spirit of the entire code in which the precept occurs? -The one main object, the constantly repeated law of Deuteronomy, is -the centralisation of all worship, and the rigid prohibition of every -local place of sacrifice. Strange that Amaziah should have selected -for attention a single precept, while he is profoundly unconscious of, -or indifferent to, the fact that he is setting aside the regulation -with which the law, as Deuteronomy represents it, begins and ends, and -on which it incessantly insists! - -Joash had been something of a weakling, as though the gloom of his -early concealment in the Temple and the shadow of priestly dominance -had paralysed his independence. Amaziah, on the other hand, born in -the purple, was vigorous and restless. When he was secure upon the -throne, and had done his duty to his father's memory, he bent his -efforts to recover Edom. The Edomites had revolted in the days of his -great-grandfather Jehoram,[277] and since then "did tear -perpetually,"[278] harassing with incessant raids the miserable -fellahin of Southern Judah. They reaped the crops of the settled -inhabitants, cut down their fruit-trees, burnt their farmsteads, and -carried their children into cruel and hopeless slavery. One verse -tells us all that the historian knew, or cared to relate, of Amaziah's -campaign. He only says that it was eminently successful. Amaziah -confronted the Edomites in the Valley of Salt,[279] on the border of -Edom, to the south of the Dead Sea, and inflicted upon them a signal -defeat. He not only slaughtered ten thousand of them, but, advancing -southwards, he stormed and captured Selah or Petra, their rocky -capital, two days' journey north of Ezion-Geber, on the gulf of -Akabah.[280] Considering the natural strength of Petra, amid its -mountain-fastnesses, this was a victory of which he might well be -proud, and he marked his prowess by changing the name of the city to -Joktheel, "subdued by God." The historian, copying the ancient record -before him, says that Selah continued to be so called "to this -day."[281] This is a curious instance of close transcription, for it -is certain that Selah can only have retained the name of Joktheel for -a very short period, and had lost it long before the days of the -Exile. Even in the reign of Ahaz (B.C. 735-715) the Edomites had so -completely recovered lost ground that they were able to make -predatory excursions into Judah, and to threaten Hebron, which would -have been obviously impossible if they were not masters of their own -chief capital.[282] The district which Amaziah seems to have conquered -was mainly west of the Arabah. He wished to restore Elath, and perhaps -to carry out the old commerce with the Red Sea which Solomon began, -and which had fired the ambition of Jehoshaphat. The conquest of Selah -secured the road for his commercial caravans. - -So far the older and better authorities. The Chronicler expands the -story in his usual fashion, in which historical and critical verity is -so often compelled, if not to suspect the disease of exaggeration and -the bias of Levitism, at least to feel uncertainty as to the details. -He says that Amaziah collected an army of three hundred thousand men -of Judah, trained them to a high state of discipline, and armed them -with spear and shield. He hired in addition one hundred thousand -Israelitish mercenaries, mighty men of valour, at the heavy cost of -one hundred talents of silver. He was rebuked by a prophet for -employing Israelites, "because the Lord was not with them," so that if -he used their aid he would certainly be defeated. Amaziah asked what -he was to do for the hundred talents, and the prophet told him that -Jehovah could give him much more than this.[283] So he dismissed his -Ephraimites who, returning home in great fury, "fell upon the cities -of Judah," from Samaria even unto Beth-horon, killed three thousand of -their inhabitants, and took much spoil. Amaziah, however, defeated the -Edomites without their aid, and not only slew ten thousand, but took -captive ten thousand more, all of whom he dashed to pieces by hurling -them from the top of the rock of Petra.[284] - -Then, by an apostasy much more astounding than even that of his father -Joash, he took home with him the idols of Mount Seir, worshipped them, -and burnt incense before them. Jehovah sends a prophet to rebuke him -for his senseless infatuation in worshipping the gods of the Edomites -whom he had just so utterly defeated; but Amaziah returns him the -insolent answer, "Who made thee of the king's council? Be silent, or I -will put thee to death." The prophet met his ironical sneer with words -of deeper meaning: "If I am not on _your_ council, I am on God's. -Because thou hast not hearkened to my counsel, I know that God has -counselled to destroy thee." - -The later writer thus accounts for the folly and overthrow of this -valorous and hitherto eminently pious king. Certain it is, as we shall -narrate in the next chapter, that, in spite of warning, he had the -temerity to challenge to battle the warlike Joash ben-Jehoahaz of -Israel, grandson of Jehu. The kings met at Beth-Shemesh, and Amaziah -was utterly routed, with consequences so shameful to himself and to -Jerusalem that he was never able to hold up his head again. He could -but eat away his own heart in despair, a ruined man. After this he -"lived" rather than reigned fifteen years longer.[285] The wall of -Jerusalem, broken down near the Damascus Gate, on the side towards -Israel, for a space of four hundred cubits, was a standing witness of -the king's infatuated folly. His people were ashamed of him, and weary -of him; and at last, seeing that nothing more could be expected of one -whose spirit had evidently been broken from impetuosity into -abjectness, they formed a conspiracy against him. To save his life he -fled to the strong fort of Lachish, a royal Canaanite city, in the -hills to the south-west of Judah.[286] But they pursued him thither, -and even Lachish would not protect him. He was murdered. They threw -the corpse upon a chariot, conveyed it to Jerusalem, and buried it in -the sepulchres of his fathers. The people quietly elevated to the -throne his son Azariah, then sixteen years old, who had been born the -year before his father's crowning disgrace. What became of the -conspirators we do not know. They were probably too strong to be -brought to justice, and we are not told that Azariah even attempted to -visit their crime upon their heads. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[276] [Greek: Nepios hos patera kteinas hyious kataleipei]. Comp. Q. -Curtius, vi. 11: "Lege cautum erat ut propinqui eorum qui regi -insidiati cum ipsis necarentur." Cic., _Ad Brut._, 15. - -[277] 2 Kings viii. 20-22. - -[278] Amos i. 11. - -[279] The Valley (_Ge_) of Salt is "the plain of the Sabkah," about -two miles broad, between the southern end of the Dead Sea and the -hills which separate the Ghor from the Arabah (Seetzen, _Reisen_, ii. -356; Robinson, _Researches_, ii. 450, 488). David had won a great -victory there (2 Sam. viii. 13; Psalm lx., _title_). - -[280] Selah, "a rock" ([Greek: Petra]). Eusebius calls it Rekem. - -[281] It is the name also of a city of Judah (Josh. xv. 38). - -[282] 2 Chron. xxviii. 17; Jos., _Antt._, XII. viii. 6. - -[283] 2 Chron. xxv. 5-10, 13. - -[284] [Greek: Katakremnismos]. This mode of execution prevailed till -quite recent times in the little republic of Andorra. - -[285] 2 Kings xiv. 17. The phrase that "he _lived_ fifteen years" is -unusual, and seems to imply that the historian saw,-- - - "In more of life true life no more." - - -[286] Josh. x. 6, 31, xv. 39; 2 Kings xviii. 17; 2 Chron. xi. 9. - - - - - CHAPTER XVI - - _THE DYNASTY OF JEHU_ - - B.C. - Jehoahaz 814-797 2 Kings xiii. 1-9 - Joash 797-781 " xiii. 10-21, xiv. 8-16 - Jeroboam II. 781-740 " xiv. 23-29 - Zechariah 740 " xv. 8-12 - - "Them that honour Me I will honour, and they that despise Me shall - be lightly esteemed."--1 SAM. ii. 30. - - -Israel had scarcely ever sunk to so low a nadir of degradation as she -did in the reign of the son of Jehu. We have already mentioned that -some assign to his reign the ghastly story which we have narrated in -our sketch of the work of Elisha. It is told in the sixth chapter of -the Second Book of Kings, and seems to belong to the reign of Jehoram -ben-Ahab; but it may have got displaced from this epoch of yet deeper -wretchedness. The accounts of Jehoahaz in 2 Kings xiii. are evidently -fragmentary and abrupt. - -Jehoahaz reigned seventeen years.[287] Naturally, he did not disturb -the calf-worship, which, like all his predecessors and successors, he -regarded as a perfectly innocent symbolic adoration of Jehovah, whose -name he bore and whose service he professed. Why should he do so? It -had been established now for more than two centuries. His father, in -spite of his passionate and ruthless zeal for Jehovah, had never -attempted to disturb it. No prophet--not even Elijah nor Elisha, the -practical establishers of his dynasty--had said one word to condemn -it. It in no way rested on his conscience as an offence; and the -formal condemnation of it by the historian only reflects the more -enlightened judgment of the Southern Kingdom and of a later age. But -according to the parenthesis which breaks the thread of this king's -story (2 Kings xiii. 5, 6), he was guilty of a far more culpable -defection from orthodox worship; for in his reign, the Asherah--the -tree or pillar of the Tyrian nature-goddess--still remained in -Samaria, and therefore must have had its worshippers. How it came -there we cannot tell. Jezebel had set it up (1 Kings xvi. 33), with -the connivance of Ahab. Jehu apparently had "put it away" with the -great stele of Baal (2 Kings iii. 2), but, for some reason or other, -he had not destroyed it. It now apparently occupied some public place, -a symbol of decadence, and provocative of the wrath of Heaven. - -Jehoahaz sank very low. Hazael's savage sword, not content with the -devastation of Bashan and Gilead, wasted the west of Israel also in -all its borders. The king became a mere vassal of his brutal neighbour -at Damascus. So little of the barest semblance of power was left him, -that whereas, in the reign of David, Israel could muster an army of -eight hundred thousand, and in the reign of Joash, the son and -successor of Jehoahaz, Amaziah could hire from Israel one hundred -thousand mighty men of valour as mercenaries, Jehoahaz was only -allowed to maintain an army of ten chariots, fifty horsemen, and ten -thousand infantry! In the picturesque phrase of the historian, "the -King of Syria had threshed down Israel to the dust," in spite of all -that Jehoahaz did, or tried to do, and "all his might." How completely -helpless the Israelites were is shown by the fact that their armies -could offer no opposition to the free passage of the Syrian troops -through their land. Hazael did not regard them as threatening his -rear; for, in the reign of Jehoahaz, he marched southwards, took the -Philistine city of Gath, and threatened Jerusalem. Joash of Judah -could only buy them off with the bribe of all his treasures, and -according to the Chronicler they "destroyed all the princes of the -people," and took great spoil to Damascus.[288] - -Where was Elisha? After the anointing of Jehu he vanishes from the -scene. Unless the narrative of the siege of Samaria has been displaced, -we do not so much as once hear of him for nearly half a century. - -The fearful depth of humiliation to which the king was reduced drove -him to repentance. Wearied to death of the Syrian oppression of which -he was the daily witness, and of the utter misery caused by prowling -bands of Ammonites and Moabites--jackals who waited on the Syrian -lion--Jehoahaz "besought the Lord,[289] and the Lord hearkened unto -him, and gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the -hand of the Syrians: and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents, -as beforetime." If this indeed refers to events which come out of -place in the memoirs of Elisha; and if Jehoahaz ben-Jehu, not Jehoram -ben-Ahab, was the king in whose reign the siege of Samaria was so -marvellously raised, then Elisha may possibly be the temporary -deliverer who is here alluded to.[290] On this supposition we may see -a sign of the repentance of Jehoahaz in the shirt of sackcloth which -he wore under his robes, as it became visible to his starving people -when he rent his clothes on hearing the cannibal instincts which had -driven mothers to devour their own children. But the respite must have -been brief, since Hazael (ver. 22) oppressed Israel all the days of -Jehoahaz. If this rearrangement of events be untenable, we must -suppose that the repentance of Jehoahaz was only so far accepted, and -his prayer so far heard, that the deliverance, which did not come in -his own days, came in those of his son and of his grandson. - -Of him and of his wretched reign we hear no more; but a very different -epoch dawned with the accession of his son Joash, named after the -contemporary King of Judah, Joash ben-Ahaziah. - -In the Books of Kings and Chronicles Joash of Israel is condemned with -the usual refrains about the sins of Jeroboam. No other sin is laid to -his charge; and breaking the monotony of reprobation which tells us of -every king of Israel without exception that "he did that which was -evil in the sight of the Lord," Josephus boldly ventures to call him -"a good man, and the antithesis to his father." - -He reigned sixteen years. At the beginning of his reign he found his -country the despised prey, not only of Syria, but of the paltry -neighbouring bandit-sheykhs who infested the east of the Jordan; he -left it comparatively strong, prosperous, and independent. - -In his reign we hear again of Elisha, now a very old man of past eighty -years. Nearly half a century had elapsed since the grandfather of Joash -had destroyed the house of Ahab at the prophet's command. News came to -the king that Elisha was sick of a mortal sickness, and he naturally -went to visit the death-bed of one who had called his dynasty to the -throne, and had in earlier years played so memorable a part in the -history of his country. He found the old man dying, and he wept over -him, crying, "My father, my father! the chariot of Israel, and the -horsemen thereof."[291] The address strikes us with some surprise. -Elisha had indeed delivered Samaria more than once when the city had -been reduced to direst extremity; but in spite of his prayers and of his -presence, the sins of Israel and her kings had rendered this chariot of -Israel of very small avail. The names of Ahab, Jehu, Jehoahaz, call up -memories of a series of miseries and humiliations which had reduced -Israel to the very verge of extinction. For sixty-three years Elisha had -been the prophet of Israel; and though his public interpositions had -been signal on several occasions, they had not been availing to prevent -Ahab from becoming the vassal of Assyria, nor Israel from becoming the -appanage of the dominion of that Hazael whom Elisha himself had anointed -King of Syria, and who had become of all the enemies of his country the -most persistent and the most implacable. - -The narrative which follows is very singular. We must give it as it -occurs, with but little apprehension of its exact significance. - -Elisha, though Joash "did that which was evil in the sight of the -Lord," seems to have regarded him with affection. He bade the youth -take his bow,[292] and laid his feeble, trembling hands on the strong -hands of the king. Then he ordered an attendant to fling open the -lattice, and told the king to shoot eastward towards Gilead, the -region whence the bands of Syria made their way over the Jordan. The -king shot, and the fire came back into the old prophet's eye as he -heard the arrow whistle eastward. He cried, "The arrow of Jehovah's -deliverance, even the arrow of victory over Syria: for thou shalt -smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them."[293] Then -he bade the young king to take the sheaf of arrows, and smite towards -the ground, as if he was striking down an enemy. Not understanding the -significance of the act, the king made the sign of thrice striking the -arrows downwards, and then naturally stopped.[294] But Elisha was -angry--or at any rate grieved.[295] "You should have smitten five or -six times," he said, "and then you would have smitten Syria to -destruction. Now you shall only smite Syria thrice." The king's fault -seems to have been lack of energy and faith. - -There are in this story some peculiar elements which it is impossible -to explain, but it has one beautiful and striking feature. It tells -us of the death-bed of a prophet. Most of God's greatest prophets have -perished amid the hatred of priests and worldlings. The progress of -the truth they taught has been "from scaffold to scaffold, and from -stake to stake." - - "Careless seems the Great Avenger. History's pages but record - One death-grapple in the darkness 'twixt old systems and the - Word-- - Truth for ever on the scaffold, wrong for ever on the throne; - Yet that scaffold sways the Future, and behind the dim - unknown - Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own!" - -Now and then, however, as an exception, a great prophetic teacher or -reformer escapes the hatred of the priests and of the world, and dies in -peace. Savonarola is burnt, Huss is burnt, but Wiclif dies in his bed at -Lutterworth, and Luther died in peace at Eisleben. Elijah passed away in -storm, and was seen no more. A king comes to weep by the death-bed of -the aged Elisha. "For us," it has been said, "the scene at his bedside -contains a lesson of comfort and even encouragement. Let us try to -realise it. A man with no material power is dying in the capital of -Israel. He is not rich: he holds no office which gives him any immediate -control over the actions of men; he has but one weapon--the power of his -word. Yet Israel's king stands weeping at his bedside--weeping because -this inspired messenger of Jehovah is to be taken from him. In him both -king and people will lose a mighty support, for this man is a greater -strength to Israel than chariots and horsemen are. Joash does well to -mourn for him, for he has had courage to wake the nation's conscience; -the might of his personality has sufficed to turn them in the true -direction, and rouse their moral and religious life. Such men as Elisha -everywhere and always give a strength to their people above the strength -of armies, for the true blessings of a nation are reared on the -foundations of its moral force." - -The annals are here interrupted to introduce a posthumous -miracle--unlike any other in the whole Bible--wrought by the bones of -Elisha. He died, and they buried him, "giving him," as Josephus says, -"a magnificent burial." As usual, the spring brought with it the -marauding bands of Moabites. Some Israelites who were burying a man -caught sight of them, and, anxious to escape, thrust the man into the -sepulchre of Elisha, which happened to be nearest at hand. But when he -was placed in the rocky tomb, and touched the bones of Elisha, he -revived, and stood up on his feet. Doubtless the story rests on some -real circumstance. There is, however, something singular in the turn -of the original, which says (literally) that the man _went and -touched_ the bones of Elisha;[296] and there is proof that the story -was told in varying forms, for Josephus says that it was the Moabite -plunderers who had killed the man, and that he was thrown by them into -Elisha's tomb.[297] It is easy to invent moral and spiritual lessons -out of this incident, but not so easy to see what lesson is intended -by it. Certainly there is not throughout Scripture any other passage -which even _seems_ to sanction any suspicions of magic potency in the -relics of the dead.[298] - -But Elisha's symbolic prophecy of deliverance from Syria was amply -fulfilled. About this time Hazael had died, and had left his power in -the feebler hands of his son Benhadad III. Jehoahaz had not been able -to make any way against him (2 Kings xiii. 3), but Joash his son -thrice met and thrice defeated him at Aphek. As a consequence of these -victories, he won back all the cities which Hazael had taken from his -father on the west of Jordan. The east of Jordan was never recovered. -It fell under the shadow of Assyria, and was practically lost for ever -to the tribes of Israel. - -Whether Assyria lent her help to Joash under certain conditions we do -not know. Certain it is that from this time the terror of Syria -vanishes. The Assyrian king Rammanirari III. about this time -subjugated all Syria and its king, whom the tablets call Mari, perhaps -the same as Benhadad III. In the next reign Damascus itself fell into -the power of Jeroboam II., the son of Joash. - -One more event, to which we have already alluded, is narrated in the -reign of this prosperous and valiant king. - -Amity had reigned for a century between Judah and Israel, the result -of the politic-impolitic alliance which Jehoshaphat had sanctioned -between his son Jehoram and the daughter of Jezebel. It was obviously -most desirable that the two small kingdoms should be united as closely -as possible by an offensive and defensive alliance. But the bond -between them was broken by the overweening vanity of Amaziah ben-Joash -of Judah. His victory over the Edomites, and his conquest of Petra, -had puffed him up with the mistaken notion that he was a very great -man and an invincible warrior. He had the wicked infatuation to kindle -an unprovoked war against the Northern Tribes. It was the most wanton -of the many instances in which, if Ephraim did not envy Judah, at -least Judah vexed Ephraim, Amaziah challenged Joash to come out to -battle, that they might look one another in the face. He had not -recognised the difference between fighting with and without the -sanction of the God of battles. - -Joash had on his hands enough of necessary and internecine war to make -him more than indifferent to that bloody game. Moreover, as the superior -of Amaziah in every way, he saw through his inflated emptiness. He knew -that it was the worst possible policy for Judah and Israel to weaken -each other in fratricidal war, while Syria threatened their northern and -eastern frontiers, and while the tread of the mighty march of Assyria -was echoing ominously in the ears of the nations from afar. Better and -kinder feelings may have mingled with these wise convictions. He had no -wish to destroy the poor fool who so vaingloriously provoked his -superior might. His answer was one of the most crushingly contemptuous -pieces of irony which history records, and yet it was eminently kindly -and good-humoured. It was meant to save the King of Judah from advancing -any further on the path of certain ruin. - -"The thistle that was in Lebanon" (such was the apologue which he -addressed to his would-be rival) "sent to the cedar that was in -Lebanon, saying: Give thy daughter to my son to wife.[299] The cedar -took no sort of notice of the thistle's ludicrous presumption, but a -wild beast that was in Lebanon passed by, and trod down the thistle." - -It was the answer of a giant to a dwarf;[300] and to make it quite -clear to the humblest comprehension, Joash good-naturedly added: "You -are puffed up with your victory over Edom: glory in this, and stay at -home. Why by your vain meddling should you ruin yourself and Judah with -you? Keep quiet: I have something else to do than to attend to you." - -Happy had it been for Amaziah if he had taken warning! But vanity is a -bad counsellor, and folly and self-deception--ill-matched pair--were -whirling him to his doom. Seeing that he was bent on his own -perdition, Joash took the initiative and marched to Beth-Shemesh, in -the territory of Judah.[301] There the kings met, and there Amaziah -was hopelessly defeated. His troops fled to their scattered homes, and -he fell into the hands of his conqueror. Joash did not care to take -any sanguinary revenge; but much as he despised his enemy, he thought -it necessary to teach him and Judah the permanent lesson of not again -meddling to their own hurt. He took the captive king with him to -Jerusalem, which opened its gates without a blow.[302] We do not know -whether, like a Roman conqueror, he entered it through the breach of -four hundred cubits which he ordered them to make in the walls,[303] -but otherwise he contented himself with spoil which would swell his -treasure, and amply compensate for the expenses of the expedition -which had been forced upon him. He ransacked Jerusalem for silver and -gold; he made Obed-Edom, the treasurer, give up to him all the sacred -vessels of the Temple, and all that was worth taking from the palace. -He also took hostages--probably from among the number of the king's -sons--to secure immunity from further intrusions. It is the first time -in Scripture that hostages are mentioned. It is to his credit that he -shed no blood, and was even content to leave his defeated challenger -with the disgraced phantom of his kingly power, till, fifteen years -later, he followed his father to the grave through the red path of -murder at the hand of his own subjects.[304] - -After this we hear no further records of this vigorous and able king, -in whom the characteristics of his grandfather Jehu are reflected in -softer outline. He left his son Jeroboam II. to continue his career of -prosperity, and to advance Israel to a pitch of greatness which she -had never yet attained, in which she rivalled the grandeur of the -united kingdom in the earlier days of Solomon's dominion. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[287] I have not thought it worth while to unravel by a series of -uncertain conjectures the careless, and often self-contradictory, -synchronism of the reigns of the kings in the two kingdoms. The compiler -of these books evidently attached little or no importance to accurate -chronology. For instance, the data of 2 Kings xiii. 1, 10, do not -coincide; and instead of entering into tedious, doubtful, and confusing -guesses, I have contented myself throughout with giving for the reigns -of the kings such dates, or approximate dates, as seem to result from -the several notices compared with the contemporary annals of Assyria. - -[288] 2 Chron. xxiv. 23. - -[289] 2 Kings xiii. 4; "besought," literally "_stroked the face of_" -(1 Sam. xiii. 12; 1 Kings xiii. 6). - -[290] The reference is usually explained of Jeroboam II. - -[291] Comp. 2 Kings ii. 12. - -[292] Lit., "Make thine hand to ride upon thy bow." There is not the -slightest taint of belomancy in the story (comp. Ezek. xxi. 21), nor -does it allude to shooting an arrow into an enemy's country as a -declaration of war (Virg., _AEn._, ix. 57). - -[293] Aphek, a name of good omen (1 Kings xx. 26-30). - -[294] Thrice. Comp. Num. xxii. 28; Exod. xxiii. 17, etc. - -[295] LXX., [Greek: elypethe]. - -[296] See R.V., margin. - -[297] _Antt._, IX. viii. 6. - -[298] See Ecclus. xlviii. 13: "When he was dead, he prophesied in the -tomb." (But the clause may be spurious.) - -[299] Possibly some matrimonial proposal may have lain behind the -interchange of messages. - -[300] Stade. For similar parables see Judg. ix. 8; Herod., i. 141; -Rawlinson, _Anc. Mon._, iii. 226. - -[301] Beth-Shemesh, "the house of the sun." It is mentioned in 1 Sam. -vi. 9, 12, and was a priestly city, and one of Solomon's store-cities -(1 Kings iv. 9). It ultimately fell into the hands of the Philistines -(2 Chron. xxviii. 18). It is not the Beth-Shemesh of Josh. xix. 22. - -[302] Josephus says that this was the fault of Amaziah, whom Joash of -Israel threatened with death if Jerusalem resisted. - -[303] This implies that at least half the northern wall was -dismantled--the wall towards Ephraim. - -[304] Some have conjectured that Amaziah of Judah became more or less -the vassal of Joash of Israel, and that the vassalage continued till -after the death of Jeroboam II. (1) For Jeroboam II. held Elath till -his death, when Uzziah recovered it (2 Kings xiv. 22), and he -certainly could not have held this southern Judaean port if Judah was -entirely independent; and (2) we read that Uzziah did not become king -at all till the _twenty-seventh_ year of Jeroboam II. But if Amaziah -only survived Joash of Israel fifteen years (2 Kings xiv. 17), Uzziah -must have succeeded in the _fifteenth_ year of Jeroboam. Is the -explanation to be found in the fact that up to that time--for twelve -years--Jeroboam did not allow the Judaeans to elect a king? or are -these among the hopeless confusion of synchronism which cannot be -reconciled at all with our present data? - - - - - CHAPTER XVII - - _THE DYNASTY OF JEHU (continued)--JEROBOAM II_ - - B.C. 781-740 - - 2 KINGS xiv. 23-29 - - -If we had only the history of the kings to depend upon, we should -scarcely form an adequate conception either of the greatness of -Jeroboam II. or of the condition of society which prevailed in Israel -during his long and most prosperous reign of forty-one years (B.C. -781-740). In the Books of Chronicles he is merely mentioned -accidentally in a genealogy. The Second Book of Kings only devotes one -verse to him (xiv. 25) beyond the stock formulae of connection so often -repeated. That verse, however, gives us at least a glimpse of his -great importance, for it tells us that "he restored the coast of -Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain." Those -two lines sufficiently prove to us that he was by far the greatest and -most powerful of all the kings of Israel, as he was also the -longest-lived and had the longest reign. His victories flung a broad -gleam of sunset over the afflicted kingdom, and, for a time, they -might have beguiled the Israelites into lofty hopes for the future; -but with the death of Jeroboam the light instantly faded away, and -there was no after-glow. - -And this sudden brightness, if it deceived others, did not deceive the -prophets of the Lord. It happened in accordance with the promise of -Jehovah given by Jonah, the son of Amittai, of Gath-Hepher;[305] but -Amos and Hosea saw that the glory of the reign was hollow and -delusive, and that the outward prosperity did but "skin and film the -ulcerous place" below. - -In truth, the possibility of this sudden outburst of success was due to -the very enemy who, within a few years, was to grind Israel to powder. -God pitied the deplorable overthrow of His chosen people: He saw that -there was neither slave nor freeman--"neither any shut up, nor any left -at large, nor any helper for Israel"; and in Jeroboam He gave them the -saviour who had been granted to the penitence of Jehoahaz.[306] It was, -so to speak, a last pledge to them of the love and mercy of Jehovah, -which gave them a respite, and would fain have saved them altogether, if -they had turned with their whole heart to Him. And, personally, Jeroboam -II. seems to have been one of the better kings. Not a single crime is -laid to his charge; for under the circumstances of its deep-rooted -continuance through the reigns of all his predecessors, it cannot be -deemed a heinous crime that he did not put down the symbolic cult of -Jehovah by the cherubic emblems at Dan and Bethel. The fact that he had -been named after the founder of the kingdom of Israel shows that the -kingdom was proud of the valiant and Heaven-commissioned rebel who had -thrown off the yoke of the house of Solomon. The house of Jehu admired -his policy and his institutions. The son of Nebat did not by any means -appear in the eyes of his people as only worthy of the monotonous -epitaph, "who made Israel to sin." It is true that now the voice of -prophecy in Israel itself began to denounce the concomitants of the -"calf-worship"; but the voices of the Jewish herdsman of Tekoa and of -the Israelite Hosea probably raised but faint murmurs in the ears of the -warrior-king, with whom they do not seem to have come into personal -contact. In no case would he rank them as equal in importance with the -fiery Elijah or the king-making Elisha, who had been for four -generations the counsellor of his race. Neither of those great prophets -had insisted on the Deuteronomic law of a centralised worship, nor had -they denounced the revered local sanctuaries with which Israel had been -so long familiar. Jonah, indeed--who, if legend be correct, had been the -boy of Zarephath, and the personal attendant of Elijah--had predicted -the king's unbroken success, and had neither made it conditional on a -religious revolution, nor, so far as we know, had in any way censured -the existing institutions. - -What rendered Jeroboam's glory possible was the immediate paralysis -and imminent ruin of the power of Syria. The Israelitish king was -probably on good terms with Assyria, and, during this epoch, three -Assyrian monarchs had struck blow after blow against the house of -Hazael. Damascus and its dependencies had received shattering defeats -at the hands of Rammanirari III., Shalmaneser III. (782-772), and -Assurdan III. (772-754). Rammanirari had made expeditions against -Damascus (773) and Hazael (772), and Assurdan had invaded the Syrian -domains in 767, 755, and 754. Syria had more than enough to do to hold -her own in a struggle for life and death against her atrocious -neighbour. With Uzziah in Judah, Jeroboam II. seems to have been on -the friendliest terms; and probably Uzziah acted as a half-independent -vassal, united with him by common interests. The day for Assyria to -threaten Israel had not yet come. Syria lay in the path; and Assurdan -III. had been succeeded by Assurnirari, who gave the world the unusual -spectacle of a peaceful Assyrian king. - -Jeroboam II., therefore, was free to enlarge his domains; and unless -there be a little patriotic exaggeration in the extent and reality of -his prowess, he exercised at least a nominal suzerainty over a realm -nearly as extensive as that of David. He first advanced against -Damascus, and so far "recovered" it as to make it acknowledge his -rule.[307] His father Joash had won back all the Israelite cities -which Benhadad III. had taken from Jehoahaz; and Jeroboam, if he did -not absolutely reconquer the district east of Jordan, yet kept it in -check and repressed the predatory incursions of the Emirs of Moab and -Ammon.[308] He thus extended the border of Israel to the sea of the -Arabah and "the brook of willows" which divides Edom from Moab.[309] -But this was not all. He pushed his conquests two hundred miles -northwards of Samaria, and became lord of Hamath the Great. Ascending -the gorge of the Litany between the chains of Libanus and Antilibanus, -which formed the northern limit of Israel, and following the river to -its source near Baalbek, he then descended the Valley of the Orontes, -which constitutes the "pass" or "entering in" of Hamath. Hamath was a -town of the Hittites, the most powerful race of ancient Canaan. They -were not of Semitic origin, but spoke a separate language. They were -the last great branch of the once famous and dominant Khetas, whose -former importance has only recently been revealed by their deciphered -inscriptions. A century and a half earlier the Hamathites had thrown -off the yoke of Solomon, and they governed nearly a hundred dependent -cities. In alliance with the Phoenicians and Syrians, they had been -valuable members of a league, which, though defeated, had long formed -a barrier against the southward movement of the Assyrians. How -striking was the conquest of this city by Jeroboam is shown by the -title of "Hamath the Great," bestowed upon it by the contemporary -prophets,[310] with whom literary prophecy begins. - -The result of these conquests was unwonted peace. Agriculture once -more became possible, when the farmers of Israel were secure that -their crops would not be reaped by plundering Bedouin. Intercourse -with neighbouring nations was revived, as in the golden days of -Solomon, though it was regarded with suspicion.[311] Civilisation -softened something of the old brutality. Prophecy assumed a different -type, and literature began to dawn. - -But to this state of things there was, as we learn from the -contemporary prophets Amos and Hosea, a darker side. Of Jonah we know -nothing more; for it is impossible to see in the Book of Jonah much -more than a beautiful and edifying story, which may or may not rest on -some surviving legends. It differs from every other prophetic book by -beginning with the word "And," and its late origin and legendary -character cannot any longer be reasonably disputed.[312] We may hope, -therefore, that the Northern prophet, whose home was not far from -Nazareth, was not quite the morose and ruthless grumbler so strikingly -portrayed in the book which bears his name. Of any historical -intervention of his in the affairs of Jeroboam we know nothing further -than the recorded promise of the king's prosperity. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[305] 2 Kings xiv. 25-27. There are other allusions to the historic -events in 2 Kings x. 32, 33, xiii. 3-7, 22-25. Hitzig conjectures that -Isa. xv., xvi., are "a burden of Moab" quoted from Jonah. - -[306] 2 Kings xiii. 5, "The Lord gave Israel a saviour"; xiv. 27, "And -He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam, the son of Joash." Some suppose -the saviour to be the Assyrian King. - -[307] It had owned the feudal supremacy of David (2 Sam. viii. 6), and -Ahab had extorted the privilege of having bazaars there (1 Kings xx. -34). Considering how immense had been the resources of Damascus (2 -Kings vi. 14), which had once been able to send to battle twelve -thousand war-chariots (_Eponym Canon_, p. 108) under Benhadad, we see -how fearfully the Syrian capital must have been weakened. - -[308] If Isa. xv. 1, 2, refers to this invasion of Jeroboam II., as -Hitzig first conjectured, we infer that he had taken both Ar of Moab -(Rabbath) and Kir of Moab, a strong fortress on a hill, by night -assaults; and that he had also captured Dibon, Nebo, and Medeba, and -inflicted on them summary chastisement. It appears that the Moabites -had advanced northwards from the Arnon, while Hazael occupied -Ramoth-Gilead, and had seized part of the tribe of Reuben. Jeroboam -II. first expelled them, and then invaded their own proper country. -Hitzig conjectures that Isa. xv., xvi., are really an old -prophecy--perhaps by Jonah, son of Amittai--which Isaiah quotes, and -to which he adds two verses (Isa. xvi. 12, 13). In such overthrow Moab -must have learnt to be ashamed of Chemosh (Jer. xlviii. 13). - -[309] Isa. xv. 7; Amos vi. 14. - -[310] Amos vi. 2. - -[311] Merchandise had hitherto been considered discreditable for a -pure Jew, so that a trader is called a Canaanite (Hos. xii. 7, 8). - -[312] See the writer's _Minor Prophets_ ("Men of the Bible" Series), -pp. 231-243. - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII - - _AMOS, HOSEA, AND THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL_ - - 2 KINGS xiv. 23-29; xv. 8-12 - - "In them is plainest taught and easiest learnt - What makes a nation happy and keeps it so, - What ruins kingdoms and lays cities flat." - MILTON, _Paradise Regained_. - - "We see dimly in the Present what is small and what is great, - Slow of faith how weak an arm may turn the iron helm of Fate: - But the soul is still oracular: amid the market's din - List the ominous stern whisper from the Delphic cave within, - 'They enslave their children's children who make compromise with - sin.'" - LOWELL. - - -Amos and Hosea are the two earliest prophets whose "burdens" have come -down to us. From them we gain a near insight into the internal -condition of Israel in this day of her prosperity. - -We see, first, that the prosperity was not unbroken. Though peace -reigned, the people were not left to lapse unwarned into sloth and -godlessness. The land had suffered from the horrible scourge of locusts, -until every _carmel_--every garden of God on hill and plain--withered -before them.[313] There had been widespread conflagrations;[314] there -had been a visitation of pestilence; and, finally, there had been an -earthquake so violent that it constituted an epoch from which dates -were reckoned.[315] There were also two eclipses of the sun, which -darkened with fear the minds of the superstitious.[316] - -Nor was this the worst. Civilisation and commerce had brought luxury in -their train, and all the bonds of morality had been relaxed. The country -began to be comparatively depleted, and the innocent regularity of -agricultural pursuits palled upon the young, who were seduced by the -glittering excitement of the growing towns. All zeal for religion was -looked on as archaic, and the splendour of formal services was regarded -as a sufficient recognition of such gods as there were. As a natural -consequence, the nobles and the wealthy classes were more and more -infected with a gross materialism, which displayed itself in -ostentatious furniture, and sumptuous palaces of precious marbles inlaid -with ivory. The desire for such vanities increased the thirst for gold, -and avarice replenished its exhausted coffers by grinding the faces of -the poor, by defrauding the hireling of his wages, by selling the -righteous for silver, the needy for handfuls of barley, and the poor for -a pair of shoes. The degrading vice of intoxication acquired fresh -vogue, and the gorgeous gluttonies of the rich were further disgraced by -the shameful spectacle of drunkards, who lolled for hours over the -revelries which were inflamed by voluptuous music. Worst of all, the -purity of family life was invaded and broken down. Throwing aside the -old veiled seclusion of women in Oriental life, the ladies of Israel -showed themselves in the streets in all "the bravery of their tinkling -ornaments of gold," and sank into the adulterous courses stimulated by -their pampered effrontery. - -Such is the picture which we draw from the burning denunciations of the -peasant-prophet of Tekoa. He was no prophet nor prophet's son, but a -humble gatherer of sycomore-fruit, a toil which only fell to the -humblest of the people.[317] Who is not afraid, he asks, when a lion -roars? and how can a prophet be silent when the Lord God has spoken? -Indignation had transformed and dilated him from a labourer into a seer, -and had summoned him from the pastoral shades of his native -village--whether in Judah or in Israel is uncertain--to denounce the -more flagrant iniquities of the Northern capital.[318] First he -proclaims the vengeance of Jehovah upon the transgressions of the -Philistines, of Tyre, of Edom, of Ammon, of Moab, and even of Judah; and -then he turns with a crash upon apostatising Israel.[319] He speaks with -unsparing plainness of their pitiless greed, their shameless debauchery, -their exacting usury, their attempts to pervert even the abstinent -Nazarites into intemperance, and to silence the prophets by opposition -and obloquy. Jehovah was crushed under their violence.[320] And did they -think to go unscathed after such black ingratitude? Nay! their mightiest -should flee away naked in the day of defeat. Robbery was in their houses -of ivory, and the few of them who should escape the spoiler should only -be as when a shepherd tears out of the mouth of a lion two legs and a -piece of an ear?[321] As for Bethel, their shrine--which he calls -Bethaven, "House of Vanity," not Bethel, "House of God"--the horns of -its altars should be cut off. Should oppression and licentiousness -flourish? Jehovah would take them with hooks, and their children with -fish-hooks, and their sacrifices at Bethel and Gilgal should be utterly -unavailing. Drought, and blasting, and mildew, and wasting plague, and -earth-convulsions like those which had swallowed Sodom and Gomorrha, -from which they should only be plucked as a "firebrand out of the -burning," should warn them that they must prepare to meet their -God.[322] It was lamentable; but lamentation was vain, unless they would -return to Jehovah, Lord of hosts,[323] and abandon the false worship of -Bethel, Beersheba, and Gilgal, and listen to the voice of the righteous, -whom they now abhorred for his rebukes. They talked hypocritically about -"the day of the Lord," but to them it should be blackness. They relied -on feast days, and services, and sacrifices; but since they would not -give the sacrifice of judgment and righteousness, for which alone God -cared, they should be carried into captivity beyond Damascus: yes! even -to that terrible Assyria with whose king they now were on friendly -terms. They lay at ease on their carved couches at their delicate -feasts, draining the wine-bowls, and glistering with fragrant oils, -heedless of the impending doom which would smite the great house with -breaches and the little house with clefts, and which should bring upon -them an avenger who should afflict them from their conquered Hamath -southwards even to the wady of the wilderness.[324] The threatened -judgments of locusts and fire had been mitigated at the prophet's -prayer, but nothing could avert the plumb-line of destruction which -Jehovah held over them, and He would rise against the House of Jeroboam -with His sword.[325] We infer from all that Amos and Hosea say that the -calf-worship at Bethel (for Dan is not mentioned in this connexion[326]) -had degenerated into an idolatry far more abject than it originally -was. The familiarity of such multitudes of the people with Baal-worship -and Asherah-worship had tended to obliterate the sense that the "calves" -were cherubic emblems of Jehovah; and were it not for some confusions of -this kind, it is inconceivable that Jehoram ben-Jehu should have -restored the Asherah which his father had removed. Be that as it may, -Bethel and Gilgal seem to have become centres of corruption. Dan is -scarcely once alluded to as a scene of the calf-worship. - -Others, then, might be deceived by the surface-glitter of extended -empire in the days of Jeroboam II. Not so the true prophets. It has -often happened--as to Persia, when, in B.C. 388, she dictated the -Peace of Antalcidas, and to Papal Rome in the days of the Jubilee of -1300, and to Philip II. of Spain in the year of the Armada, and to -Louis XIV. in 1667--that a nation has seemed to be at its zenith of -pomp and power on the very eve of some tremendous catastrophe. Amos -and Hosea saw that such a catastrophe was at hand for Israel, because -they knew that Divine punishment inevitably dogs the heels of -insolence and crime. The loftiness of Israel's privilege involved the -utterness of her ruin. "You only have I known of all the families of -the earth: therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities."[327] - -Such prophecies, so eloquent, so uncompromising, so varied, and so -constantly disseminated among the people, first by public harangues, -then in writing, could no longer be neglected. Amos, with his natural -culture, his rhythmic utterances, and his inextinguishable fire, was far -different from the wild fanatics, with their hairy garments, and sudden -movements, and long locks, and cries, and self-inflicted wounds, with -whom Israel had been familiar since the days of Elijah whom they all -imitated. So long as this inspired peasant confined himself to moral -denunciations the aristocracy and priesthood of Samaria could afford -comfortably to despise him. What were moral denunciations to them? What -harm was there in ivory palaces and refined feasts? This man was a mere -red socialist who tried to undermine the customs of society. The hold of -the upper classes on the people, whom their exactions had burdened with -hopeless debt, and whom they could with impunity crush into slavery, was -too strong to be shaken by the "hysteric gush" of a philanthropic -faddist and temperance fanatic like this. But when he had the enormous -presumption to mention publicly the name of their victorious king, and -to say that Jehovah would rise against him with the sword, it was time -for the clergy to interfere, and to send the intruder back to his native -obscurity. - -So Amaziah, the priest of Bethel,[328] invoked the king's authority. -"Amos," he said to the king, "hath conspired against thee in the midst -of the house of Israel." The charge was grossly false, but it did well -enough to serve the priest's purpose. "The land is not able to bear -all his words." - -That was true; for when nations have chosen to abide by their own -vicious courses, and refuse to listen to the voice of warning, they -are impatient of rebuke. They refuse to hear when God calls to them. - - "For when we in our viciousness grow hard, - Oh misery on it! the wise gods seal our eyes; - In our own filth drop our clear judgments; make us - Adore our errors; laugh at us while we strut - To our confusion." - -The priest tried further to inflame the king's anger by telling him -two more of Amos's supposed predictions. He had prophesied (which was -a false inference) that Israel should be led away captive out of their -own land,[329] and had also prophesied (which was a perversion of the -fact) "that Jeroboam _should die_ by the sword." - -At the first prophecy Jeroboam probably smiled. It might indeed come -true in the long-run. If he was a man of prescience as well as of -prowess, he probably foresaw that the elements of ruin lurked in his -transient success, and that though, for the present, Assyria was -occupied in other directions, it was unlikely that the weaker Israel -would escape the fate of the far more powerful Syria. As for the -personal prophecy, he was strong, and was honoured, and had his army -and his guards. He would take his chance. Nor does it seem to have -troubled any one that Amos looked for the ultimate union of Israel -with Judah. Since the time of Joash the inheritance of David had been -but as "a ruined booth" (ix. 11); but Amos prophesied its restoration. -This touch may have been added later, when he wrote and published his -"burdens"; but he did not hesitate to speak as if the two kingdoms -were really and properly one.[330] - -We are not told that Jeroboam II. interfered with the prophet in any -way.[331] Had he done so, he would have been rebuked and denounced for -it. He probably went no further than to allow the priest and the -prophet to settle the matter between themselves. Perhaps he gave a -contemptuous permission that, if Amaziah thought it worth while to -send the prophet back into Judah, he might do so. - -Armed with this nonchalant mandate, Amaziah, with more mildness and -good-humour than might have been expected from one of his class, said -to Amos, "O Seer,[332] go home, and eat thy bread, and prophesy to thy -heart's content at home; but do not prophesy any more at Bethel, for -it is the king's sanctuary and the king's court." - -Amos obeyed perforce, but stopped to say that he had not prophesied -out of his own mouth, but by Jehovah's bidding. He then hurled at the -priest a message of doom as frightful as that which Jeremiah -pronounced upon Pashur, when that priest smote him on the face. His -wife should be a harlot in the city; his sons and daughters should be -slain; his inheritance should be divided; he should die in a polluted -land; and Israel should go into captivity. And as for his mission, he -justified it by the fact that he was not one of an hereditary or a -professional community; he was no prophet or prophet's son. Such men -might--like Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, and his four hundred -abettors--be led into mere function and professionalism, into -manufactured enthusiasm and simulated inspiration. From such -communities freshness, unconventionality, courage, were hardly to be -expected. They would philippise at times; they would get to love their -order and their privileges better than their message, and themselves -best of all. It is the tendency of organised bodies to be tempted into -conventionality, and to sink into banded unions chiefly concerned in -the protection of their own prestige. Not such was Amos. He was a -peasant herdsman in whose heart had burned the inspiration of Jehovah -and the wrath against moral misdoing till they had burst into flame. -It was indignation against iniquity which had called Amos from the -flocks and the sycomores to launch against an apostatising people the -menace of doom. In that grief and indignation he heard the voice and -received the mandate of the Lord of hosts. He heads the long line of -literary prophets whose priceless utterances are preserved in the Old -Testament. The inestimable value of their teaching lies most of all in -the fact that they were--like Moses--preachers of the moral law; and -that, like the Book of the Covenant, which is the most ancient and the -most valuable part of the Laws of the Pentateuch, they count external -service as no better than the small dust of the balance in comparison -with righteousness and true holiness. - -The rest of the predictions of Amos were added at a later date. They -dwelt on the certainty and the awful details of the coming overthrow; -the doom of the idolaters of Gilgal and Beersheba; the inevitable -swiftness of the catastrophe in which Samaria should be sifted like -corn in a sieve in spite of her incorrigible security.[333] Yet the -ruin should not be absolute. "Thus saith Jehovah: As the shepherd -teareth out of the mouth of the lion two legs and the piece of an ear, -so shall the children of Israel be rescued, that sit in Samaria on the -corner of a couch, and on the damask of a bed." - -The Hebrew Prophets almost invariably weave together the triple strands -of warning, exhortation, and hope. Hitherto Amos has not had a word of -hope to utter. At last, however, he lets a glimpse of the rainbow -irradiate the gloom. The overthrow of Israel should be accompanied by -the restoration of the fallen booth of David, and, under the rule of a -scion of that house, Israel should return from captivity to enjoy days -of peaceful happiness, and to be rooted up no more.[334] - - * * * * * - -Hosea, the son of Beeri, was of a somewhat later date than Amos. He, -too, "became electric," to flash into meaner and corrupted minds the -conviction that formalism is nothing, and that moral sincerity is all -in all. That which God requires is not ritual service, but truth in -the inward parts. He is one of the saddest of the prophets; but -though he mingles prophecies of mercy with his menaces of wrath, the -general tenor of his oracles is the same. He pictures the crimes of -Ephraim by the image of domestic unfaithfulness, and bids Judah to -take warning from the curse involved in her apostasy.[335] Many of his -allusions touch upon the days of that deluge of anarchy which followed -the death of Jeroboam II. (iv.-vi. 3). That he was a Northerner -appears from the fact that he speaks of the King of Israel as "our -king" (vii. 5). Yet he seems to blame the revolt of Jeroboam I. (i. -11, viii. 4), although a prophet had originated it, and he openly -aspires after the reunion of the Twelve Tribes under a king of the -House of David (iii. 5). He points more distinctly to Assyria, which -he frequently names as the scourge of the Divine vengeance, and -indicates how vain is the hope of the party which relied on the -alliance of Egypt.[336] He speaks with far more distinct contempt of -the cherub at Bethel and the shrine at Gilgal, and says scornfully, -"Thy calf, O Samaria, has cast thee off."[337] Shalmaneser had taken -Beth-Arbel, and dashed to pieces mother and children. Such would be -the fate of the cities of Israel.[338] Yet Hosea, like Amos, cannot -conclude with words of wrath and woe, and he ends with a lovely song -of the days when Ephraim should be restored, after her true -repentance, by the loving tenderness of God. - -Jeroboam II. must have been aware of some at least of these prophecies. -Those of Hosea must have impressed him all the more because Hosea was a -prophet of his own kingdom, and all of his allusions were to such -ancient and famous shrines of Ephraim as Mizpeh, Tabor, Bethel, Gilgal, -Shechem,[339] Jezreel, and Lebanon. He was the Jeremiah of the North, -and a passionate patriotism breathes through his melancholy strains. Yet -in the powerful rule of Jeroboam II. he can only see a godless -militarism founded upon massacre (i. 4), and he felt himself to be the -prophet of decadence. Page after page rings with wailing, and with -denunciations of drunkenness, robbery, and whoredom--"swearing, lying, -killing, stealing, and adultery" (iv. 2). - -If Jeroboam was as wise and great as he seemed to have been, he must -have seen with his own eyes the ominous clouds on the far horizon, and -the deep-seated corruption which was eating like a cancer into the -heart of his people. Probably, like many another great sovereign--like -Marcus Aurelius when he noted the worthlessness of his son Commodus, -like Charlemagne when he burst into tears at the sight of the ships of -the Vikings--his thoughts were like those of the ancient and modern -proverbs--"When I am dead, let earth be mixed with fire." We have no -trace that Jeroboam treated Hosea as did those guilty priests to whom -he was a rebuke, and who called him "a fool" and "mad" (ix. 7, 8, iv. -6-8, v. 2). Yet the aged king--he must have reached the unusual age -of seventy-three at least, before he ended the longest and most -successful reign in the annals of Israel--could hardly have -anticipated that within half a year of his death his secure throne -would be shaken to its foundation, his dynasty be hurled into -oblivion, and that Israel, to whom, as long as he lived, mighty -kingdoms had curtsied, should, - - "Like a forlorn and desperate castaway, - Do shameful execution on herself." - -Yet so it was. Jeroboam II. was succeeded by no less than six other -kings, but he was the last who died a natural death. Every one of his -successors fell a victim to the assassin or the conqueror. His son -Zachariah ("Remembered by Jehovah") succeeded him (B.C. 740), the -fourth in descent from Jehu. Considering the long reign of his father, -he must have ascended the throne at a mature age. But he was the child -of evil times. That he should not interrupt the "calf"-worship was a -matter of course; but if he be the king of whom we catch a glimpse in -Hos. vii. 2-7, we see that he partook deeply of the depravity of his -day. We are there presented with a deplorable picture. There was -thievishness at home, and bands of marauding bandits began to appear -from abroad. The king was surrounded by a desperate knot of wicked -counsellors, who fooled him to the top of his bent, and corrupted him -to the utmost of his capacity. They were all scorners and adulterers, -whose furious passions the prophet compares to the glowing heat of an -oven heated by the baker. They made the king glad with their -wickedness, and the princes with lying flatteries. On the royal -birthday, apparently at some public feast, this band of infamous -revellers, who were the boon companions of Zachariah, first made him -sick with bottles of wine, and then having set an ambush in waiting, -murdered the effeminate and self-indulgent debauchee before all the -people.[340] The scene reads like the assassination of a Commodus or -an Elagabalus. No one was likely to raise a hand in his favour. Like -our Edward II., he was a weakling who followed a great and warlike -father. It was evident that troublous times were near at hand, and -nothing but the worst disasters could ensue if there was no one better -than such a drunkard as Zachariah to stand at the helm of state. - -So did the dynasty of the mighty Jehu expire like a torch blown out in -stench and smoke. - -Its close is memorable most of all because it evoked the magnificent -moral and spiritual teaching of Hebrew prophecy. The ideal prophet and -the ordinary priest are as necessarily opposed to each other as the -saint and the formalist. The glory of prophecy lies in its recognition -that right is always right, and wrong always wrong, apart from all -expediency and all casuistry, apart from "all prejudices, private -interests, and partial affections." "What Jehovah demands," they -taught, "is righteousness--neither more nor less; what He hates is -injustice. Sin or offence to the Deity is a thing of purely moral -character. Morality is that for the sake of which all other things -exist; it is the most essential element of all sincere religion. It is -no postulate, no idea, but a necessity and a fact; the most intensely -living of human powers--Jehovah, the God of hosts. In wrath, in ruin, -this holy reality makes its existence known; it annihilates all that -is hollow and false."[341] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[313] Amos vii. 1. Famine (iv. 6); drought (iv. 7, 8); yellow blight and -locusts (iv. 9); pestilence (iv. 10); earthquake and burning (iv. 11). - -[314] Amos vii. 4. - -[315] Amos i. 1, iii. 14, iv. 11, viii 8; Zech. xiv. 5: "Ye shall flee -like as ye fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah." Josephus -says that in an earthquake a little before the birth of Christ ten -thousand were buried under the ruined houses (_Antt._, XV. v. 2), and -he has many Rabbinic haggadoth to tell us about the earthquake, which, -he says, happened at the moment when Uzziah burnt incense in the -Temple (_Antt._, IX. x. 4). - -[316] According to Hind, they took place on June 15th, B.C. 763, and -February 9th, B.C. 784. Amos alludes to the capture of Gath by Uzziah, -of Calneh (_Ktesiphon_), and of Hamath (vi. 2; 2 Chron. xxvi. 6). Gath -henceforth disappears from the Philistian Pentapolis (Amos i. 7, 8; -Zeph. ii. 4; Zech. ix. 5). - -[317] Or "dresser of sycomore-trees" (R.V.). LXX., [Greek: knizon -sykamina]; Vulg., _vellicans sycomoros_. The sycomore-fruit (fruit of -the _Ficus sycomorus_, or wild fig) is ripened by puncturing it -(Theoph., _H. Plant._, iv. 2; Pliny, _H. N._, xiii. 14). - -[318] The well-known town of Tekoa had been Solomon's horse-fair, and -had been fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi. 6). It lay in a wild -country six miles south of Bethlehem (2 Chron. xx. 20; 1 Macc. ix. 33; -Robinson, _Bibl. Res._, i. 486). For a fuller account of these -prophets, I must refer to my book on _The Minor Prophets_ in the "Men -of the Bible" Series. It has always been assumed that Amos belonged to -the well-known Tekoa, and was therefore a subject of the Southern -Kingdom. In recent days this has become uncertain. No sycomores grow -or can grow on the bleak uplands of Tekoa (Tristram, _Nat. Hist. of -the Bible_, p. 397); so that Jerome, in his preface to Amos, thinks -that "brambles" are intended. Even Kimchi conjectured that Tekoa was -an unknown town in the tribe of Asher. Amos's allusions to scenery are -all applicable to the Northern landscape. - -[319] Amos i. 1-ii. 5. - -[320] Amos ii. 6-13. - -[321] Amos iii. 9-15. - -[322] Amos iv. 1-13. - -[323] This title, "Jehovah-Tsebaoth," now begins to occur. It is not -found in the Hexateuch. It probably means "Lord of the _starry hosts_." -Contact with Assyria first made the Israelites acquainted with -star-worship. Amos alludes to the Pleiades and Orion (v. 8: comp. Job -ix. 9, xxxviii. 31). Star-worship is forbidden in Deuteronomy. In Amos -v. 26 the true meaning is that the Israelites _would take with them, on -their road to exile_, Sakkuth (Moloch?) and Kewan (the god-star Saturn). - -[324] Amos vi. 1-14. - -[325] Amos vii. 1-9. - -[326] Strange as it may seem, the early authority for the existence of -any calf at Dan is very slight, and the extreme uncertainty of the -reading and interpretation in one main passage (1 Kings xii. 32) makes -it at least possible that there were _two calves at Bethel_, and that -at Dan there was no calf, but only the old idolatrous ephod of Micah, -still served by the servant of Moses. See additional note at the end -of the volume. - -[327] Amos iii. 2. - -[328] That the chief priest of Bethel bore the name "Jehovah is -strong" shows once more that "calf-worship" was in no sense a -_substitute_ for the worship of Jehovah. - -[329] This was not quite accurate; he had rather prophesied the -devastation of the high places (vii. 9). In fact, his words had often -been very vague. "_Thus_ will I do unto thee" (iv. 12). - -[330] Amos ix. 11-15. Comp. Hos. iii. 5. - -[331] The exaggerated haggadoth of later days say that Amaziah had -Amos beaten with leaded thongs, and that he was carried home in a -dying state (Epiphan., _Opp._, ii. 145), to which there is a supposed -allusion in Heb. xi. 35: [Greek: alloi de etumpanisthesan]. - -[332] We cannot be sure that the term "Seer" was meant to be -contemptuous, although from 1 Sam. ix. 9 we should infer that the -title had become somewhat obsolete. Further, we must bear in mind that -it may not have been always easy for worldlings to distinguish between -true prophets and the unprincipled pretenders who, about this time, -succeeded in making the name and aspect of a prophet so complete a -disgrace that men had carefully to disclaim it (Zech. xiii. 2-6). It -is true that the heading of Amos (i. 1), which may not, however, be by -the prophet himself, tells us of "the words which he _saw_" (_i.e._, -spoke as a seer), and he also disclaims the name of prophet (vii. 14). - -[333] Amos viii. 1-ix. 9, 10. - -[334] Amos ix. 11-15. - -[335] Hos. iv. 15-19. - -[336] Hos. v. 13, vii. 11, viii. 9, ix. 3-6, xi. 5, xii. 1, xiv. 3. It -must be borne in mind that the cuneiform inscriptions prove that -Assyria had burst into sight like a lurid comet on the horizon far -earlier than we had supposed. Jehu had paid tribute to Shalmaneser as -far back as B.C. 842, more than a century before Menahem's tribute in -738. The destruction which Hosea prophesied took place within -thirty-one years of his prophecies--probably in B.C. 722, when Sargon -finished the siege of Samaria begun by Shalmaneser. The king Hoshea -was perhaps taken captive before the siege. - -[337] Hos. viii. 5, ix. 15. - -[338] Hos. x. 13, 14. - -[339] Hos. vi. 9: for "by consent" read "towards Shechem." - -[340] Hos. vii. 3-7. The allusions are vague, but we see a drunken -king among his drunken princes, surrounded by wicked plotters who have -flattered his vices. He is ignorant of his peril. The subjects aid the -rulers in these abominations. All are blazing, like an oven, with -passion and infamy, and only rest (as the baker does) to acquire new -strength for inflaming their burning desires. At the dawn their -treachery blazes into the crime of murder, and in the wine-sick -fever-heat of the banquet the king is murdered by his corrupt -intimates (see my _Minor Prophets_, p. 78). - -[341] Wellhausen, _Isr. and Jud._, 85. - - - - - CHAPTER XIX - - _AZARIAH-UZZIAH_ (B.C. 783(?)-737) - - _JOTHAM_ (B.C. 737-735) - - 2 KINGS xv. 1-7, 32-38 - - "This is vanity, and it is a sore sickness."--ECCLES. vi. 2. - - -Before we watch the last "glimmerings and decays" of the Northern -Kingdom, we must once more revert to the fortunes of the House of David. -Judah partook of the better fortunes of Israel. She, too, enjoyed the -respite caused by the crippling of the power of Syria, and the cessation -from aggression of the Assyrian kings, who, for a century, were either -unambitious monarchs like Assurdan, or were engaged in fighting on their -own northern and eastern frontiers. Judah, too, like Israel, was happy -in the long and wise governance of a faithful king. - -This king was Azariah ("My strength is Jehovah"), the son of Amaziah. He -is called Uzziah by the Chronicler, and in some verses of the brief -references to his long reign in the Book of Kings. It is not certain -that he was the eldest son of Amaziah;[342] but he was so distinctly the -ablest, that, at the age of sixteen, he was chosen king by "all the -people." His official title to the world must have been Azariah, for in -that form his name occurs in the Assyrian records. Uzziah seems to have -been the more familiar title which he bore among his people.[343] There -seems to be an allusion to both names--Jehovah-his-helper, and -Jehovah-his-strength--in the Chronicles: "God _helped him_, and made him -to prosper; and his name spread far abroad, and he was marvellously -helped, _till he was strong_." - -The Book of Kings only devotes a few verses to him; but from the -Chronicler we learn much more about his prosperous activity. His first -achievement was to recover and fortify the port of Elath, on the Red -Sea,[344] and to reduce the Edomites to the position they had held in -the earlier days of his father's reign. This gave security to his -commerce, and at once "his name spread far abroad, even to the -entering in of Egypt." - -He next subdued the Philistines; took Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod; -dismantled their fortifications, filled them with Hebrew colonists, -and "smote all Palestine with a rod."[345] - -He then chastised the roving Arabs of the Negeb or south country in -Gur-Baal and Maon, and suppressed their plundering incursions. - -His next achievement was to reduce the Ammonite Emirs to the position -of tributaries, and to enforce from them rights of pasturage for his -large flocks, not only in the low country (_shephelah_), but in the -southern wilderness (_midbar_), and in the _carmels_ or fertile -grounds among the Trans-Jordanic hills. - -Having thus subdued his enemies on all sides, he turned his attention -to home affairs--built towers, strengthened the walls of Jerusalem at -its most assailable points, provided catapults and other instruments -of war, and rendered a permanent benefit to Jerusalem by irrigation -and the storing of rain-water in tanks. - -All these improvements so greatly increased his wealth and importance -that he was able to renew David's old force of heroes (Gibborim), and to -increase their number from six hundred to two thousand six hundred, whom -he carefully enrolled, equipped with armour, and trained in the use of -engines of war. And he not only extended his boundaries southwards and -eastwards, but appears to have been strong enough, after the death of -Jeroboam II., to make an expedition northwards, and to have headed a -Syrian coalition against Tiglath-Pileser III., in B.C. 738. He is -mentioned in two notable fragments of the annals of the eighth year of -this Assyrian king. He is there called Azrijahu, and both his forces and -those of Hamath seem to have suffered a defeat.[346] - -It is distressing to find that a king so good and so great ended his -days in overwhelming and irretrievable misfortune. The glorious reign -had a ghastly conclusion. All that the historian tells us is that "the -Lord smote the king, so that he was a leper, and dwelt in a several -[_i.e._, a separate] house." The word rendered "a several house" may -perhaps mean (as in the margin of the A.V.) "a lazar house," like the -_Beit el Massakin_ or "house of the unfortunate," the hospital or -abode of lepers, outside the walls of Jerusalem.[347] The rendering is -uncertain, but it is by no means impossible that the prevalence of the -affliction had, even in those early days, created a retreat for those -thus smitten, especially as they formed a numerous class. Obviously -the king could no more fulfil his royal duties. A leper becomes a -horrible object, and no one would have been more anxious than the -unhappy Azariah himself to conceal his aspect from the eyes of his -people.[348] His son Jotham was set over the household; and though he -is not called a regent or joint-king--for this institution does not -seem to have existed among the ancient Hebrews--he acted as judge over -the people of the land. - -We are told that Isaiah wrote the annals of this king's reign, but we -do not know whether it was from Isaiah's biography that the Chronicler -took the story of the manner in which Uzziah was smitten with leprosy. -The Chronicler says that his heart was puffed up with his successes -and his prosperity, and that he was consequently led to thrust himself -into the priest's office by burning incense in the Temple.[349] -Solomon appears to have done the same without the least question of -opposition; but now the times were changed, and Azariah, the high -priest,[350] and eighty of his colleagues went in a body to prevent -Uzziah, to rebuke him, and to order him out of the Holy Place.[351] -The opposition kindled him into the fiercest anger, and at this moment -of hot altercation the red spot of leprosy suddenly rose and burned -upon his forehead. The priests looked with horror on the fatal sign; -and the stricken king, himself horrified at this awful visitation of -God, ceased to resist the priests, and rushed forth to relieve the -Temple of his unclean presence, and to linger out the sad remnant of -his days in the living death of that most dishonouring disease. Surely -no man was ever smitten down from the summits of splendour to a lower -abyss of unspeakable calamity! We can but trust that the misery only -laid waste the few last years of his reign; for Jotham was twenty-five -when he began to reign, and he must have been more than a mere boy -when he was set to perform his father's duties. - -So the glory of Uzziah faded into dust and darkness. At the age of -sixty-eight death came as the welcome release from his miseries, and -"they buried him with his fathers in the City of David." The -Levitically scrupulous Chronicler adds that he was not laid in the -actual sepulchre of his fathers, but in a field of burial which -belonged to them--"for they said, He is a leper." The general outline -of his reign resembled that of his father's. It began well; it fell by -pride; it closed in misery. - -The annals of his son Jotham were not eventful, and he died at the age -of forty-one or earlier. He is said to have reigned sixteen years, but -there are insuperable difficulties about the chronology of his reign, -which can only be solved by hazardous conjectures.[352] He was a good -king, "howbeit the high places were not removed." The Chronicler -speaks of him chiefly as a builder. He built or restored the northern -gate of the Temple, and defended Judah with fortresses and towns. But -the glory and strength of his father's reign faded away under his -rule. He did indeed suppress a revolt of the Ammonites, and exacted -from them a heavy indemnity; but shortly afterwards the inaction of -Assyria led to an alliance between Pekah, King of Israel, and Rezin, -King of Damascus; and these kings harassed Jotham--perhaps because he -refused to become a member of their coalition. The good king must also -have been pained by the signs of moral degeneracy all around him in -the customs of his own people. It was "in the year that King Uzziah -died" that Isaiah saw his first vision, and he gives us a deplorable -picture of contemporary laxity. Whatever the king may have been, the -princes were no better than "rulers of Sodom," and the people were -"people of Gomorrha." There was abundance of lip-worship, but little -sincerity; plentiful religionism, but no godliness. Superstition went -hand in hand with formalism, and the scrupulosity of outward service -was made a substitute for righteousness and true holiness. This was -the deadliest characteristic of this epoch, as we find it portrayed in -the first chapter of Isaiah. The faithful city had become a -harlot--but not in outward semblance. She "reflected heaven on her -surface, and hid Gomorrha in her heart." Righteousness had dwelt in -her--but now murderers; but the murderers wore phylacteries, and for a -pretence made long prayers. It was this deep-seated hypocrisy, this -pretence of religion without the reality, which called forth the -loudest crashes of Isaiah's thunder. There is more hope for a country -avowedly guilty and irreligious than for one which makes its -scrupulous ceremonialism a cloak of maliciousness. And thus there lay -at the heart of Isaiah's message that protest for bare morality, as -constituting the end and the essence of religion, which we find in all -the earliest and greatest prophets:-- - - "Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; - Give ear unto the Law of our God, ye people of Gomorrha! - To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith - the Lord. - I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; - And I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of - he-goats. - When ye come to see My face, who hath required this at your hands, to - trample My courts? - Bring no more vain oblations! - Incense is an abomination unto Me: - New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies-- - I cannot away with iniquity and the solemn meeting... - Wash you! make you clean!"[353] - -Of Jotham we hear nothing more. He died a natural death at an early -age. If the years of his reign are counted from the time when his -father's affliction devolved on him the responsibilities of office, it -is probable that he did not long survive the illustrious leper, but -was buried soon after him in the City of David his father. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[342] Hence, perhaps, the expression that the people "took him." If -Amaziah died at fifty-nine, he probably had other sons. - -[343] Compare the interchange of the names Azariel and Uzziel (Exod. -vi. 18) in 1 Chron. vi. 2, 18. Azariah means "Jehovah hath helped," -and Uzziah "Strength of Jehovah." It is just possible that his name -was changed at his accession, as the chief priest also was named -Azariah, and confusion might otherwise have arisen. - -[344] 2 Chron. xxvi. 2-15. - -[345] Isa. xiv. 29. A mixed language arose in this district in -consequence (Neh. xiii. 24; Zech. ix. 6). The word Palestine only -applies strictly to the district of Philistia. Milton uses it, with -his usual accuracy, in the description of Dagon as - - "That twice-battered god of Palestine." - -[346] Uzziah's opposition to Assyria--of which there seems to be no -doubt, for he must be the Azrijahu of the _Eponym Canon_--took place -about 738, and was a coalition movement. But it gives rise to great -chronological and other difficulties. As the solution of these is at -present only conjectural, I refer to Schrader (E. Tr.), ii. 211-219. -He is called Azrijahu Jahudai. - -[347] 2 Kings xv. 5 (2 Chron. xxvi. 21, "a house of sickness"). LXX., -[Greek: en oiko aphphousoth]; Vulg., _in domo libera seorsim_. Comp -Lev. xiii. 46. Theodoret understands it that he was shut up privately -in his own palace: [Greek: endon en thalamo hyp' oudenos horomenos]. -Symmachus, [Greek: egkekleismenos]. - -[348] His misfortune must have made a deep impression, and is possibly -alluded to in Hos. iv. 4: "For thy people are as they that strive with -the priest." - -[349] The Chronicler attributes the good part of his reign to the -influence of an unknown Zechariah, "who had understanding in the visions -of God"; and says that when Zechariah died Uzziah altered for the worse. - -[350] This high priest, Azariah, is only mentioned elsewhere in 2 -Chron. xxvi. 17, 20. - -[351] Josephus says that he had put on a priestly robe, and that a -great feast was going on, and that the earthquake (Amos i. 1; Zech. -xiv. 5) happened at the moment, which broke the Temple roof, so that a -sunbeam smote his head and produced the leprosy. We here see the -growth of the Haggadah. - -[352] For instance, two verses earlier (2 Kings xv. 30) we read of the -twentieth year of Jotham. - -[353] Isa. i. 10-17. - - - - - CHAPTER XX. - - _THE AGONY OF THE NORTHERN KINGDOM._ - - B.C. - Shallum 740 - Menahem 740-737 - Pekahiah 737-735 - Pekah 735-734 - - 2 KINGS xv. 8-31 - - "Blood toucheth blood."--HOS. iv. 2. - - "The revolters are profuse in murders."--HOS. v. 2. - - "They have set up kings, but not by Me: they have made princes, - and I knew it not."--HOS. viii. 4. - - "Non tam reges fuere quam fures, latrones, et tyranni."--WITSIUS, - _Decaph._, 326. - - -With the death of Zachariah begins the acute agony of Israel's -dissolution. Four kings were murdered in forty years. Indeed, within -two centuries, at least nine kings--Nadab, Elah, Zimri, Tibni, -Jehoram, Zachariah, Shallum, Pekahiah, Pekah--had made the steps of -the throne slippery with blood. Except in the house of Omri, all the -kings of Israel either left no sons or left them to be slain. Amos, by -his vision of the basket of summer fruit, had intimated that the sins -of Israel were ripe for punishment, and the lesson had been emphasised -by the paronomasia of _quits_, "summer," and _queets_, "end."[354] The -prophet had singled four out of many crimes as the cause of her ruin. -They were (1) greedy oppression of the poor; (2) land-grabbing; (3) -licentious and idolatrous revelries; (4) cruelty to poor debtors, and -rioting on the proceeds of unjust gains. In their drunkenness they -even tempted God's Nazarites to break their vows. "Behold," saith -Jehovah, "I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of -sheaves." Even women shared in the common intoxication, and showed -themselves utterly shameless, so that Amos contemptuously calls them -"fat cows of Bashan upon the mountain of Samaria," whom in punishment -the brutal conqueror should drag by the hair out of their ivory -palaces, as a fisherman drags his prey out of the water by hooks.[355] - -Shallum, son of Jabesh, the unknown murderer of Zachariah and the -usurper of his throne, suffered the fate of Zimri, and only reigned for -one month. If his conspiracy was marked by the odious circumstances of -treachery and corruption, which we infer from the allusions of Hosea, -Shallum richly deserved the swift retribution which fell upon him. He -seems to have destroyed Zachariah by means of his best affections--under -the guise of friendship, in the midst of boon companionship. But the -slayer of his master had no peace, and from the moment of his fruitless -crime the unhappy country seems to have been plunged in the horrors of -civil war. Some dim glimpses of the evils of the day are gained from the -earlier Zechariah,[356] just as some dim glimpses of the horrors of Rome -in the days of the later Caesars may be seen in the Apocalypse. The -prophet speaks of three shepherds cut off in one month, who abhorred -God, and His soul was impatient at them.[357] - -Just as Galba, Otho, and Vitellius flit across the stage of the Empire -amid war and assassinations, so Zachariah and Shallum are swept away by -"dagger-thrusts through the purple." Was there a third? Ewald and others -think that they detect a shadowy outline of him and of his name in 2 -Kings xv. 10. If so, his name was Kobolam, but we know no more of him -beyond the fact that "he was, and is not." For the sacred annals are but -little concerned with this bloody phantasmagoria of feeble kings, who -ruled amid usurpation, anarchy, hostile attacks from without, and civil -war within. "Israel," said Hosea, "hath cast off the thing that is good: -the enemy shall pursue him. They have set up kings, but not by Me: they -have made princes, and I knew it not." "They are all as hot as an oven, -and have devoured their judges; all their kings have fallen; there is -none among them that calleth upon Me."[358] - -It was perhaps during this distracted epoch that for one moment there -was an attempt to place the ruling authority of the nation in the -hands of the prophet himself. So it would appear from Zech. xi. 7-14. -Of course these chapters may be allegorical throughout, as, in any -case, they are in great part. But if so, it becomes more difficult to -understand the meaning. What the prophet says is as follows:-- - -First, as though he saw the terrible conflagration of the Assyrian -tyranny rolling southwards, and felt it to be irresistible, he bids -Lebanon open her doors, that the fire may devour her cedars. There is -perhaps an allusion to the death of Jeroboam II. in the words, "Howl -fir tree, for the cedar is fallen." He sees in vision the forces of -devastation raging among the oaks of Bashan, the forest and the -vintage, while the shepherds cry, and the ousted lions roar in vain. -Then Jehovah bids him feed "the flock of the slaughter"--the flock -sold remorselessly by its rich possessors, and slain, and left -unpitied, as the people were despoiled by its nobles and its kings. -The prophet undertakes the charge of the miserable flock, and takes -two staves, one of which he calls "Prosperity," and the other "Union." -While he was thus engaged three shepherds were cut off in one -month,[359] whom he loathed, and who abhorred him. But he finds his -task hopeless, and flings it up; and in sign that his covenant with -the people is broken, he breaks his staff "Prosperity." The nation -refused to pay him anything for his services, except a paltry sum of -thirty pieces of silver, and these he disdainfully flung into the -sacred treasury.[360] Then seeing that all hope of union between -Israel and Judah was at an end, he broke his staff "Union." Lastly, -Jehovah says He will raise up a foolish, neglectful, cruel shepherd -who would care for nothing but to eat the flesh of the fat and break -the hoofs of the flock. And as for this worthless shepherd, the sword -should be upon his arm and in his right eye; his arm shall be dried -up, and his right eye utterly darkened. - -By this cruel and self-seeking shepherd is probably meant Menahem. He -had been, according to Josephus, the captain of the guard, and was -living at Tirzah, the old beautiful capital of the land. From Tirzah, -where he occupied the position of the captain of the chariots, he -marched on the ill-supported Shallum. Samaria apparently offered no -protection to the usurper. Menahem defeated him and put him to death. -Then he proceeded to enforce the allegiance of the rest of the -country. An otherwise unknown town of the name of Tiphsach[361] -ventured to resist him. Menahem conquered it, and perhaps thinking, as -Machiavelli thought, that princes had better exhibit their utmost -cruelty at first, to deter any further opposition, he let loose his -ferocity on the town in a way which created a shuddering remembrance. -As though he had been one of the ferocious heathen, who had never been -restrained by the knowledge of God, he exhibited the extreme of -callous brutality by ripping up all the women that were with -child.[362] In this he followed the remorseless example of Hazael. -Hosea had prophesied that this should be the fate of Samaria;[363] -Amos had denounced the Ammonites for acting thus in the cities of -Gilead;[364] Shalmaneser III. had, in B.C. 732, thus avenged himself -on the resistance of Beth-Arbel,[365] and Assyria was ultimately to -meet an analogous retribution,[366] as also was Babylon.[367] But that -a king of Ephraim, of God's chosen people, should act thus to his own -brethren was a horrible portent, ominous of swift destruction. - -And the vengeance came. Menahem reigned, at least in name, for ten -years; for the sword which had slain mothers with their unborn infants -reduced the stricken people to terrified silence. But at this epoch -Assyria woke once more from her lethargy, and became the scourge of God -to the guilty people and their guiltier kings. For a whole century the -Assyrians had either been governed by kings who had abjured the lust of -blood and conquest, or had been too seriously occupied on their own -eastern and northern frontiers to intermeddle with the southern -kingdoms, or break down the barriers erected by the confederacy of -Hamath and Damascus between Nineveh and the weaker principalities of -Palestine. But now (B.C. 745) there came to the throne a king who, in -Chaldaea, was known by the name of Pul, and in Assyria by the name of -Tiglath-Pileser;[368] and being too formidable for any power to stay his -path, he marched against Menahem. Already he was lord of the world from -the Caspian to the Gulf of Persia; already he had subdued Babylonia, -Elam, Media, Armenia, eastward--Mesopotamia and Syria westward. Who was -Menahem, the petty usurper of a tenth-rate kingdom, that he should -withstand his power or even retard his advance? - -The cruel usurper was in no condition to resist him. The brand of Cain -was on him and his kingdom. How could the weak, impoverished, harassed -troops of Israel stand up in battle against those numberless serried -ranks, or withstand their tremendous discipline? If the very name of -Persia once struck terror into the brave Greeks before the spell of -Persian ascendency was broken at Marathon, Thermopylae, and Salamis, -much more did the name of Assyria make the hearts of the wretched -Israelites melt like water. They now for the first time saw those -bearded warriors with their broad swords, their tremendous bows, their -fierce, sensual faces, their thickset figures. In the language of the -prophets we still hear the echo of the fears which they excited by -their swift, unfaltering marches, their sleepless vigilance, their -girded loins, stout sandals, and barbed arrows.[369] - -"Their horses' hoofs," says Isaiah, "shall be like flint, and their -wheels like a whirlwind: their roaring shall be like a lion, they -shall roar like young lions; yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the -prey, and carry it away safe, and there shall be none to deliver. And -they shall roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea; -and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and distress, and the -light is darkened in the clouds thereof." - -Ancient Assyria lay beneath the Snowy Mountains of Kurdistan; and its -capital, Nineveh--near Mosul, Kouyunjik, and Neby-Junus--lay six -hundred miles from the Gulf of Persia. The people spoke, as their -descendants still speak, a dialect of Syriac, akin both grammatically -and structurally to Hebrew. Assyria was constantly at war with -Babylonia; but for the most part the kings of Assyria held Babylon in -subjection, and Tiglath-Pileser was a king of the Chaldaeans under the -name Pul, as well as a king of Nineveh. - -Menahem was warrior enough to know how hopeless it was to struggle -against these trained forces. He was not even secure on his own -throne. He thought it best to offer himself without resistance as a -feudatory, if the Assyrian King would confirm his sovereignty. -Tiglath-Pileser did not think Menahem worth more trouble, and was -graciously pleased to accept by way of bribe a tribute of a thousand -talents of silver, or about L125,000. This, however, as we learn from -the _Eponym Canon_, was not all. Menahem had to pay a further tribute -year by year. Later on, in 738, Shalmaneser mentions Minik-himmi -(Menahem), as well as Rasunnu (Rezin), among his tributaries. - -The Assyrian withdrew, and Menahem had to exact this vast sum of money -from his miserable subjects. To tax the poor was hopeless. He found that -there were some sixty thousand persons who might be reckoned among the -wealthier farmers and proprietors,[370] and from them he at once exacted -fifty shekels of silver (more than L3) apiece. Probably they thought -that to pay the sum demanded was not too heavy a price for the -retirement of these frightful Assyrians, whose forces Tiglath-Pileser -did not withdraw until he had the money in hand. The event took place in -738, and Tiglath-Pileser continued to reign till 727. How bitterly the -burden of foreign tribute was felt appears from Hos. viii. 9, 10, which -should perhaps be rendered, "They are gone up to Assyria like a wild ass -alone by himself. Ephraim hath hired lovers. And they begin to be -minished by reason of the burden of the king of princes." "The king of -princes" was the haughty title usurped by Tiglath-Pileser, who said, -"Are not my princes all of them kings?" (Isa. x. 8). - -All this was a fulfilment of what Hosea had foreseen:-- - -"Ephraim is oppressed, he is crushed in judgment, because he was content -to walk after vanity. Therefore am I unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the -house of Judah as rottenness. When Ephraim saw his sickness, and the -house of Judah his wound, then went Ephraim to Assyria, and sent unto an -avenging king:[371] yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your -wound. For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the -House of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and -none shall rescue him." The Assyrian was irresistible, because he was -the destined instrument of the wrath of God. The "mixing with the -heathens" was a sin, and Israel in cooing to Assyria was like a foolish -dove; but the day sometimes comes to doomed nations when no course can -save them from the fate which they have provoked.[372] - -Not long afterwards Menahem died, and he had sufficiently established -his rule to be succeeded as a matter of course by his son Pekahiah. But - - "Revenge and wrong bring forth their kind; - The foul cubs like their parents are." - -Samaria had fearful object-lessons in the apparently immediate success -of murder and rebellion. The prize looked near and splendid: the -vengeance might be belated or might not come. Of Pekahiah we are told -absolutely nothing but that he reigned two years, with this -stereotyped addition, that "he did that which was evil in the sight of -Jehovah" by continuing the calf-worship.[373] After this brief and -uneventful reign, his captain Pekah got together fifty fierce -Gileadites, and with the aid of two otherwise unknown friends, Argob -and Arieh, murdered Pekahiah in his own harem.[374] Argob was probably -so named from the district in Bashan, and Arieh was a fit name for a -lion-faced Gadite (1 Chron. xii. 8). - -The sacred historian troubles himself but little about these kings. -His annals of them are brief to extreme meagreness. Like the prophet, -he viewed them as God-abandoned phantoms of guilty royalty. - - "They that cry unto me, My God, we, Israel, know thee. - Israel hath cast off that which is good: - The enemy shall pursue him. - They have set up kings, but not by Me; - They have removed them, and I knew it not: - Of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, - That they may be cut off. - He hath cast on thy calf, O Samaria." - -Probably Pekahiah was, as so often happens, the weak son of a -vigorous father. The times could not tolerate incapable sovereigns; -and the fact that Pekah not only maintained himself on the throne for -twenty years,[375] but was able to take active steps of aggression -against Jerusalem, seems to show that he was a man of some -administrative capacity. If he had not achieved political and military -importance, it would hardly have been worth while for a fierce and -powerful king like Rezin, the last king of Syria, to form so close an -alliance with him. Probably Rezin saw that his throne and his very -existence were in danger, and Pekah wished with Rezin's aid to resist -to the uttermost the encroachments of Assyria, and escape the -burdensome tribute which Menahem had paid. Indeed, it may well be that -Pekahiah's passive continuance of this tribute may have been -distasteful to the people of the land, and that they condoned or even -tacitly aided Pekah's rebellion in order to get rid of it, and to find -protection in an abler monarch. It was the last, perhaps the only, -chance for the kings of Syria and of Israel. As we hear no more of -Hamath as a member of the alliance, we must suppose that it had now -been reduced to impotence and vassalage by the all-powerful Assyrian. -If, however, there was to be any overbalance to the colossal menace -of Nineveh, it could only be by a large confederacy; and it may have -been the refusal of Jotham to join that confederacy, on the death of -his father Uzziah, which caused the joint invasion of Rezin and Pekah -to force him to accept their alliance or to suppress him altogether. -In that case they might have formed a close alliance with Egypt, and -the forces of the united South might, they fancied, prove to be a -match for the forces of the North.[376] - -Whatever designs they may have formed against Jotham, or to whatever -extent they may have annoyed him, it was not till the reign of his son -Ahaz that they became formidable and ruinous. Of this we shall say -more in recounting the reign of Ahaz. All that we need now remark is -that their bold aggression on Judah became the cause of utter -destruction to them both. They advanced against Ahaz, and overran his -helpless country. It was their object to depose the descendant of -David, and to crown in his place a certain unnamed "son of _Tabeal_," -whom Ewald supposed to have been a Syrian, but whose name may possibly -furnish a specimen of the later Jewish device of Gematria.[377] - -It is not impossible that behind these events we may find the efforts -and yearnings of a party which cared more for Israel's unity than for -David's throne. Such a party may easily have sprung up during the -splendid, prosperous reign of Jeroboam II. It has been conjectured by -some that the election of Uzziah by the people--delayed, according to -one reckoning, for twelve years--was in reality the triumph of the party -which felt an unquenchable allegiance to David's house. In Deut. -xxxiii. Reuben is put before Judah; Jeshurun (_i.e._, Israel) is -magnified far more than Judah; and some Northern shrine in Zebulon, as -well as the Temple, is celebrated as a sanctuary.[378] That there were -men in Jerusalem who preferred Rezin and Pekahiah to their own king is -clearly stated in Isaiah. He compares them to those who prefer a turbid -torrent to a soft, sweet stream. "Because," he says, "this people -despise the waters of Shiloah that flow softly, and take delight in -Rezin and Remaliah's son; now, therefore, the Lord bringeth upon them -the waters of the river, strong and many, even the King of Assyria, and -all his glory."[379] Isaiah seems to have had a contempt for the whole -attack. He told Ahaz not to fear for the stumps of those two smoking -firebrands Rezin, King of Syria, and the Israelitish usurper, whom he -only condescends to call "Remaliah's son." He promises the trembling -Ahaz that, since he had faithlessly _refused_ a sign, God would give him -a sign. The sign was that the young woman who accompanied -Isaiah--perhaps his youthful wife--should bear a son, whose name should -be called Immanuel; and that before the child Immanuel--whose -designation, "God with us," was an omen of the loftiest hope--should be -of an age to distinguish evil from good, the Northern land, which Ahaz -abhorred, should be forsaken of both her kings. - -The prophecy came true in every particular. Rezin and Pekah swept all -before them, and besieged Jerusalem; but they wasted their time in -vain before the fortifications which Jotham had strengthened and -repaired. Obliged to raise the siege, Rezin carried his army -southward, and indemnified himself by seizing Elath, by driving out -the Judaean garrison, and replacing them with Syrians.[380] It was the -last gleam of Syrian success, before the final overthrow of Damascus -which prophecy had often and emphatically foretold. - -Pekah also withdrew his forces--no doubt compelled to do so by the -step which Ahaz took in his desperation. For now the King of Judah -invoked the protection and invited the active interference of -Tiglath-Pileser against his enemies--"to save him out of the hand of -the King of Syria, and out of the hand of the King of Israel, who were -risen up against him." - -Rezin and Damascus first felt the might of the Assyrian's conquering -arm. The account of his decisive conquest is preserved in the _Eponym -Canon_, and the passages which refer to the defeat of the Syrians will -be found in the First Appendix at the end of the volume. It appears -from the monuments that Rezin (Rasannu) lost not only his kingdom, but -his life. - -It is the death-knell of Aramaean greatness, as Amos had foretold. - - "Thus saith Jehovah: - For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, - I will not turn away the punishment thereof; - Because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron: - But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, - Which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad. - And I will break the bar of Damascus,[381] - And cut off him that sitteth [on the throne] in the Valley of - Aven,[382] - And him that holdeth the sceptre from Beth-Eden:[383] - And the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir,[384] - Saith Jehovah." - -Rezin was slain--how we know not; very probably by one of the horrible -methods of torture--by being flayed alive, or decapitated, or having -his lips and nose cut off--which were practised by these demon-kings -of Nineveh. - -Nor did Pekah escape. Tiglath-Pileser advanced against the northern part -of his dominions, and afflicted the land of Zebulon and Naphtali. Ijon; -Abel-beth-Maachah, the city of Elisha; Zanoah, the ancient sanctuary of -Kedesh-Naphtali, the home of the hero Barak; Hazor, the former capital -of the Canaanitish king Jabin; Gilead; Galilee,--all submitted to him, -apparently without striking a serious blow. He dealt with the miserable -inhabitants in the way familiar to kings of Assyria. He deported them -_en masse_ into a strange country of which they did not understand the -language, and in which they were reduced to hopeless subjection, while -he supplied their places by aliens from various parts of his own -dominions. There could be no securer method of reducing to paralysis all -their national aspirations. Strangers in a strange land, they forgot -their nationality, forgot their religion, forgot their language, forgot -their traditions. Their sole resource was to plunge into material -pursuits, and to melt away into indistinguishable obliteration among -the neighbouring heathen. It was the beginning of the Northern -Captivity--of the loss of the Ten Tribes. - -As Tiglath-Pileser thus permanently subdued and depopulated the land -of the Northern Tribes, it is a Jewish tradition that at this time he -carried away the golden "calf" from Dan among his spoils.[385] -Scripture does not record the fact, though in Hosea (viii. 5) there -may be an allusion to the fate of that at Bethel, whether the right -version be "He hath cast off thy calf, O Samaria," or "Thy calf, O -Samaria, hath cast thee off."[386] "The workman made it," he -continues; "therefore it is not God: for the calf of Samaria shall be -broken in pieces." And again (x. 5): "The people of Samaria shall fear -because of the heifer of the House of Vanity: for the people thereof -shall mourn over it, and the _chemarim_ [_i.e._, the black-robed false -priests thereof] shall tremble for it, for the glory thereof, because -it is departed. It [the idol] shall also be carried to Assyria for a -present to King Combat." - -For a time Pekah escaped; but unsuccess is fatal to a murderous usurper, -weakened by the loss and plunder of dominions which he is unable to -defend. Instead of wasting time in the siege of a strong city like -Samaria, Tiglath-Pileser in all probability stirred up Hoshea, the son -of Elah, to rise in conspiracy against his master and slay him. For -Pekah and Israel seem to have made light of the Northern raid. They said -in their pride and stoutness of heart, "The bricks are fallen down, but -we will build with new stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will -change them into cedars." Such pretence of security was ill-timed and -senseless, and Isaiah denounced it. "Therefore," he said, "Jehovah hath -set up against Israel the adversaries of Rezin [_i.e._, the Assyrians], -and hath stirred up his enemies; the Syrians on the east, and the -Philistines on the west; and they have devoured Israel with open mouth. -For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out -still. Yet the people have not turned unto Him that smote them, neither -have they sought the Lord of hosts. Therefore Jehovah hath cut off from -Israel palm-branch and rush in one day. The elder and the honourable -man, he is the head; and the prophet that speaketh lies, he is the tail. -For they that lead this people cause them to err, and they that are led -of them are swallowed up."[387] - -The following verses furnish one of the numerous pictures of the anarchy -and abounding misery of these evil days. "For wickedness burneth as the -fire: it devoureth the briers and thorns; yea, it kindleth in the -thickets of the forest, and they roll upwards in thick clouds of smoke. -Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land burnt up; the people -also are the fuel of fire: _no man spareth his brother_. And one shall -snatch on the right, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, -and they shall not be satisfied: they shall _eat every man the flesh of -his own arm_: Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they -together shall be against Judah. For all this His anger is not turned -away, but His hand is stretched out still." - -We are told in the Book of Kings that Pekah reigned for twenty years; -but some of these later reigns must be shortened to suit the -exigencies of known chronological data. It seems probable that he -occupied the throne for a much shorter time.[388] - -Such was the weakened, harassed, vassal kingdom--the gaunt spectre of -itself--to the throne of which, after a period of anarchy and chaos, -Hoshea, by conspiracy and murder, succeeded as the miserable feudatory -of Assyria. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[354] Amos viii. 2. - -[355] Amos iv. 1-3. - -[356] It is probable that our present Book of Zechariah is composed of -the works of three prophets of different dates, each of whom may have -borne that name. See my _Minor Prophets_ ("Men of the Bible" Series). - -[357] Zech. xi. 8. In 2 Kings xv. 10 the LXX. read [Greek: kai -epataxen auton en keblaam]; and Ewald thinks that "before the people" -([Hebrew: kavol-tzam]) is really a proper name of the third king in -one month--"and _Kobolam_ slew him." There is insufficient ground for -this; though a similar name is found in Assyrian records. - -[358] Hos. viii. 3, vii. 7. - -[359] Zachariah, Shallum, Kobolam (?). - -[360] Zech. xi. 1-17 (Heb. 13). - -[361] That this was Thapsacus on the Euphrates (1 Kings iv. 24), and -that Menahem was in a position to march northward three hundred miles, -and offer so deadly and wanton an insult to the might of Assyria, is -out of the question. The name means "a ford," and might apply to any -town on a river. Thenius thinks the name is a clerical error for -_Tappuach_, between Ephraim and Manasseh (Josh. xvii. 7, 8). - -[362] Josephus says, [Greek: omotetos hyperbolen ou katalipon oude -agriotetos]. It is said that the same crime was committed in 1861 by a -Mexican bandit. Machiavelli says, "He who violently and without just -right usurps a crown must use cruelty, if cruelty becomes necessary, -once for all" (_De princ._, 8). - -[363] 2 Kings viii. 12; Hos. xiii. 16. - -[364] Amos i. 13. - -[365] Hos. x. 14. This allusion is, however, uncertain. Shalmaneser III. -is not elsewhere found abbreviated into Shalman. Some suppose him to be -a Moabitish king, Salamannu, who was a vassal of Tiglath-Pileser. The -LXX., Vulg., etc., identify him with the Zalmunna of Judg. viii. 18. -Psalm lxxxiii. 11 renders the word _ex domo ejus qui judicavit Baal_ -(_i.e._, Gideon). Beth-Arbel is either Arbela in Galilee, or Irbid, -north-east of Pella. - -[366] Nah. iii. 10. - -[367] Isa. xiii. 16. - -[368] The two predecessors of Tiglath-Pileser (_Tuklat-abal-isarra_) -were Assurdayan and Assurnirari. - -[369] Isa. v. 26-29. - -[370] Comp. Job xx. 15; Ruth ii. 1. - -[371] Hos. v. 11-13. Comp. x. 6: "It [Samaria] shall be carried to -Assyria for a present unto King Jareb." Sayce (_Bab. and Orient. -Records_, December 1887) thinks that Jareb may have been the original -name of Sargon, and so too Neubauer, _Zeitschr. fuer Assyr._, 1886. The -Vulg. renders King Jareb _ad regem ultorem_, and so too Symmachus. -Aquila and Theodotion have [Greek: dikazomenon]. It may be the name of -an unknown king of Assyria, or of Pul, or of Sargon--R.V., margin, "a -king that should contend." - -[372] Hos. vii. 8-12. - -[373] Josephus says, [Greek: te tou patros akolouthesas omoteti]. - -[374] 2 Kings xv. 25, A.V., "in the palace of the king's house" -(_armon_), rather "fortress." For the character of the Gileadites see -1 Chron. xii. 8, xxvi. 31. - -[375] The length of Pekah's reign is most doubtful. If the periods -assigned to the reigns in the Northern and Southern Kingdoms be added -together up to the Fall of Samaria in the sixth year of Hezekiah (2 -Kings xviii. 9, 10), it will be found that the Southern chronology is -twenty years longer than the Northern. G. Smith would alter the text, -and make Jeroboam II. reign fifty-one years and Pekah thirty years; -others invent an interregnum of eleven years between Jeroboam II. and -Zachariah, and an anarchy of nine years before Hoshea's accession; -others shorten Pekah's reign to _one_ year. - -[376] 2 Kings xv. 37. - -[377] Vide _infra_. - -[378] Deut. xxxiii. 19: "They [Zebulon] shall call the peoples unto -the mountain: there shall they offer the sacrifices of righteousness." - -[379] Isa. viii. 6, 7. - -[380] Perhaps we should read Edomites (2 Kings xvi. 6). - -[381] The bar of its city gate. - -[382] Bikath-Aven--"The cleft of Aven"--Coele Syria, or Hollow Syria, -still called by the Arabs El-Bukaa. Comp. Josh. xi. 17, xii. 7. Aven--or -"Vanity"--is perhaps Heliopolis or Baalbek. Comp. Ezek. xxx. 17. - -[383] Perhaps Beit el Jame, "House of Paradise"--about eight hours -from Damascus (Porter, _Five Years in Syria_, i. 313). - -[384] Kir, in Armenia--the land of their origin (Amos ix. 7). - -[385] But, after all, was there a golden calf at Dan? It is scarcely -ever alluded to, and the notion that there was one may have arisen (1) -from a corruption or mistaken rendering of the text in 1 Kings xii. -29, and (2) from the existence there of the idolatrous ephod. See -Klostermann, _ad loc._; Isa. ix. 8-17. - -[386] LXX., [Greek: Apotripsai ton moschon sou, Samareia]; Vulg., -_Projectus est vitulus tuus, Samaria_. Orelli renders it, "Abscheulich -ist dein Kalb, O Samaria." In Jer. xlvi. 15 we read (of Egypt), "Why is -thy strong one swept away?" where the true reading may be, "Hath Khaph -[_i.e._, Apis], thy chosen one, fled?" LXX., [Greek: Apis ho moschos -sou, ho eklektos]. So Amos had prophesied that the "god of Dan" and the -"way of Beersheba" should fall for evermore (Amos viii. 14). - -[387] Isa. ix. 11-16. With this passage comp. 2 Kings xxiii. 5; Zeph. -i. 4; Hos. vii. 9, 10. - -[388] Tiglath-Pileser says: "Pakaha, their king, I killed: Ausi -[Hoshea] I placed over them. The distant land of Bit-Khumri [the -"house of Omri"]--_the whole of its inhabitants_, with their goods--I -carried away to Asshur" (B.C. 734). In this year he mentions Ahaz -among his tributaries. - - - - - CHAPTER XXI - - _HOSHEA, AND THE FALL OF THE NORTHERN KINGDOM_ - - B.C. 734-725 - - 2 KINGS xvii. 1-41 - - "As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the - water."--HOS. x. 7. - - -As a matter of convenience, we follow our English Bible in calling the -prophet by the name Ho_sea_, and the nineteenth, last, and best king of -Israel Ho_shea_. The names, however, are identical ([Hebrew: -hovoshetza]), and mean "Salvation"--the name borne by Joshua also in his -earlier days. In the irony of history the name of the last king of -Ephraim was thus identical with that of her earliest and greatest hero, -just as the last of Roman emperors bore the double name of the Founder -of Rome and the Founder of the Empire--Romulus Augustulus. By a yet -deeper irony of events the king in whose reign came the final -precipitation of ruin wore the name which signified deliverance from it. - -And more and more, as time went on, the prophet Hosea felt that he had -no word of present hope or comfort for the king his namesake. It was -the more brilliant lot of Isaiah, in the Southern Kingdom, to kindle -the ardour of a generous courage. Like Tyrtaeus, who roused the -Spartans to feel their own greatness--like Demosthenes, who hurled -the might of Athens against Philip of Macedon--like Chatham, "bidding -England be of good cheer, and hurl defiance at her foes"--like Pitt, -pouring forth, in the days of the Napoleonic terror, "the indomitable -language of courage and of hope,"--Isaiah was missioned to encourage -Judah to despise first the mighty Syrian, and then the mightier -Assyrian. Far different was the lot of Hosea, who could only be the -denouncer of an inevitable doom. His sad function was like that of -Phocion after Chaeroneia, of Hannibal after Zama, of Thiers after -Sedan: he had to utter the Cassandra-voices of prophecy, which his -besotted and demented contemporaries--among whom the priests were the -worst of all[389]--despised and flouted until the time for repentance -had gone by for ever. - -True it is that Hosea could not be content--what true heart could?--to -breathe nothing but the language of reprobation and despair. Israel -had been "yoked to his two transgressions,"[390] but Jehovah could not -give up His love for His chosen people:-- - - "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? - How shall I surrender thee, Israel? - How shall I make thee as Admah? - How shall I treat thee as Zeboim? - Mine heart is turned within Me; - I am wholly filled with compassion! - I will not execute the fierceness of Mine anger; - I will not again destroy Ephraim: - For I am God, and not man. - The Holy One in the midst of thee! - I will not come to exterminate! - They shall come after Jehovah as after a lion that roars! - For he shall roar, and his sons shall come hurrying from the - west, - They shall come hurrying as a bird out of Egypt, - And as a dove out of the land of Assyria; - And I will cause them to dwell in their houses, Saith - Jehovah."[391] - -Alas! the gleam of alleviation was imaginary rather than actual. The -prophet's wish was father to his thought. He had prophesied that -Israel should be scattered in all lands (ix. 3, 12, 17, xiii. 3-16). -This was true; and it did not prove true, except in some higher ideal -sense, that "Israel shall again dwell in his own land" (xiv. 4-7) in -prosperity and joy. - -The date of Hoshea's accession is uncertain, and we cannot tell in -what sense we are to understand his reign as having lasted "nine -years."[392] We have no grounds for accepting the statement of -Josephus (_Antt._, IX. xiii. 1), that Hoshea had been a friend of -Pekah and plotted against him. Tiglath-Pileser expressly says that he -himself slew Pekah and appointed Hoshea.[393] His must have been, at -the best, a pitiful and humiliating reign. He owed his purely vassal -sovereignty to Assyrian patronage. He probably did as well for Israel -as was in his power. Singular to relate, he is the only one of all the -kings of Israel of whom the historian has a word of commendation; for -while we are told that "he did that which was evil in the sight of -the Lord," it is added that it was "not as the kings of Israel that -were before him." But we do not know wherein either his evil-doing or -his superiority consisted. The Rabbis guess that he did not replace -the golden calf at Dan which Tiglath-Pileser had taken away (Hos. x. -6); or that he did not prevent his subjects from going to Hezekiah's -passover.[394] "It seems like a harsh jest," says Ewald, "that this -Hoshea, who was better than all his predecessors, was to be the last -king." But so it has often been in history. The vengeance of the -French Revolution smote the innocent and harmless Louis XVI. and Marie -Antoinette--not Louis XIV., or Louis XV. and Madame du Pompadour. - -His patron Tiglath-Pileser ended his magnificent reign of conquest in -727, soon after he had seated Hoshea on the throne. The removal of his -strong grasp on the helm caused immediate revolt. Phoenicia especially -asserted her independence against Shalmaneser IV. He seems to have -spent five years in an unavailing attempt to capture Island-Tyre. -Meanwhile, the internal troubles which had harassed and weakened Egypt -ceased, and a strong Ethiopian king named Sabaco established his rule -over the whole country.[395] It was perhaps the hope that Phoenicia -might hold out against the Assyrian, and that the Egyptian might -protect Samaria, which kindled in the mind of Hoshea the delusive plan -of freeing himself and his impoverished land from the grinding tribute -imposed by Nineveh. While Shalmaneser[396] was trying to quell Tyre, -Hoshea, having received promises of assistance from Sabaco, withheld -the "presents"--the _minchah_, as the tribute is euphemistically -called--which he had hitherto paid. Seeing the danger of a powerful -coalition, Shalmaneser swept down on Samaria in 724. Possibly he -defeated the army of Israel in the plain of Jezreel (Hos. i. 5), and -got hold of the person of Hoshea. Josephus says that he "besieged -him"; but the sacred historian only tells us that "he shut him up, and -bound him in prison." Whether Hoshea was taken in battle, or betrayed -by the Assyrian party in Samaria, or whether he went in person to see -if he could pacify the ruthless conqueror, he henceforth disappears -from history "like foam"--or like a chip or a bubble--"upon the -water." We do not know whether he was put to death, but we infer from -an allusion in Micah that he was subjected to the cruel indignities in -which the Assyrians delighted; for the prophet says, "They shall smite -the Judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek."[397] Perhaps in the -title "Judge" (Shophet, _suffes_) we may see a sign that Hoshea's -royalty was little more than the shadow of a name. - -Having thus got rid of the king, Shalmaneser proceeded to invest the -capital. But Samaria was strongly fortified upon its hill, and the -Jewish race has again and again shown--as it showed so conspicuously -in the final crisis of its destiny, when Jerusalem defied the terrible -armies of Rome--that with walls to protect them they could pluck up a -terrible courage and endurance from despair. Strong as Assyria was, -the capital of Ephraim for three years resisted her beleaguering host -and her crashing battering-rams. About all the anguish which prevailed -within the city, and the wild vicissitudes of orgy and starvation, -history is silent. But prophecy tells us that the sorrows of a -travailing woman came upon the now kingless city. They drank to the -dregs the cup of fury.[398] The saddest Northern prophet, "the -Jeremiah of Israel," sings the dirge of Israel's saddest king.[399] - - "I am become to them as a lion; - As a leopard will I watch by the way; - I will meet them as a bear bereaved of her whelps, - And rend the caul of their heart, - And there will I devour them like a lioness: - The beast of the field shall tear them.... - Where now is thy king, that he may save thee in all thy cities - And thy judges, of whom thou saidst, 'Give me a king and - prince'? - I give thee a king in Mine anger, - And take him away in My wrath." - -For three years Samaria held out. During the siege Shalmaneser died, -and was succeeded by Sargon, who--though he vaguely talks of "the -kings his ancestors," and says that he had been preceded by three -hundred and thirty Assyrian dynasts--never names his father, and seems -to have been a usurping general.[400] - -Sabaco remained inactive, and basely deserted the miserable people -which had relied on his protection. In this conduct Egypt was true to -its historic character of untrustworthiness and inertness. Both in -Israel and in Judah there were two political parties. One relied on -the strength of Egypt; the other counselled submission to Assyria, -or--in the hour when it became necessary to defy Assyria--confidence -in God. Egypt was as frail a support as one of her own paper-reeds, -which bent under the weight, and broke and ran into the hand of every -one who leaned on it. - -Sargon did not raze the city, and we see from the _Eponym Canon_ that -its inhabitants were still strong enough some years later to take part -in a futile revolt. But we have one dreadful glimpse of the horrors -which he inflicted upon it. They were the inevitable punishment of -every conquered city which had dared to resist the Assyrian arm. - - "Samaria shall bear her guilt, - For she hath rebelled against her God. - They shall fall by the sword: - Their infants shall be dashed in pieces, - And their women in child shall be ripped up."[401] - -Sargon's own record of the matter on the tablets at Khorsabad is: "I -besieged, took, and occupied the city of Samaria, and carried into -captivity twenty-seven thousand two hundred and eighty of its -inhabitants. I changed the former government of this country, and -placed over it lieutenants of my own. And Sebeh, Sultan of Egypt, came -to Raphia to fight against me. They met me, and I routed them. Sebeh -fled."[402] The Assyrians were occupied in the unsuccessful siege of -Tyre between 720-715, during which years Sargon put down Yahubid of -Hamath, whose revolt had been aided by Damascus and Samaria. In 710 he -marched against Ashdod (Isa. xx. 1). In 709 he defeated -Merodach-Baladan at Dur-Yakin, and reconquered Chaldaea, deporting some -of the population into Samaria. In 704, in the fifteenth year of his -reign, he was assassinated, after a career of victory. He inscribes on -his palace at Khorsabad a prayer to his god Assur, that, after his -toils and conquests, "I may be preserved for the long years of a long -life, for the happiness of my body, for the satisfaction of my heart. -May I accumulate in this palace immense treasures, the booties of all -countries, the products of mountains and valleys." Assur and the gods -of Chaldaea were invoked in vain; the prayer was scattered to the -winds, and the murderer's dagger was the comment on Sargon's happy -anticipations of peace and splendour. - -Israel fell unpitied by her southern neighbour, for Judah was still -smarting under memories of the old contempt and injury of Joash -ben-Jehoahaz, and the more recent wrongs inflicted by Pekah and Rezin. -Isaiah exults over the fate of Samaria, while he points the moral of her -fall to the drunken priests and prophets of Jerusalem. "Woe," he says, -"to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading -flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley of -them that are smitten down with wine! Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and -strong one [_i.e._, the Assyrian]; as a tempest of hail, a destroying -storm, as a tempest of mighty water overflowing, shall he cast down to -the earth with violence. The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, -shall be trodden underfoot: and the fading flower of his glorious -beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be as the first -ripe fig before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, -while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up."[403] Israel had begun in -hostility to Judah, and perished by it at last. - -Such, then, was the end of the once brilliant kingdom of Israel--the -kingdom which, even so late as the reign of Jeroboam II., seemed to -have a great future before it. No one could have foreseen beforehand -that, when, with the prophetic encouragement of Ahijah, Jeroboam I. -established his sovereignty over the greater, richer, and more -flourishing part of the land assigned to the sons of Jacob, the new -kingdom should fall into utter ruin and destruction after only two and -a half centuries of existence, and its tribes melt away amid the -surrounding nations, and sink into a mixed and semi-heathen race -without any further nationality or distinctive history. It seemed far -less probable that the mere fragment of the Southern Kingdom, after -retaining its separate existence for more than one hundred and sixty -years longer than its more powerful brother, should continue to endure -as a nation till the end of time. Such was the design of God's -providence, and we know no more. The Northern Kingdom had, up to this -time, produced the greatest and most numerous prophets--Ahijah, -Elijah, Elisha, Micaiah, Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Nahum, and many -more.[404] It had also produced the loveliest and most enduring poetry -in the Song of Songs, the Song of Deborah, and other contributions to -the Books of Jashar, and of the Wars of Jehovah. It had also brought -into vigour the earliest and best historic literature, the narratives -of the Elohist and the Jehovist. These immortal legacies of the -religious spirit of the Northern Kingdom were incomparably superior in -moral and enduring value to the Levitic jejuneness of the Priestly -Code, with its hierarchic interests and ineffectual rules, which, in -the exaggerated supremacy attached to rites, proved to be the final -blight of an unspiritual Judaism. Israel had also been superior in -prowess and in deeds of war, and in the days of Joash ben-Jehoahaz -ben-Jehu had barely conceded to Judah a right to separate existence. -More than all this, the apostasies of Judah, from the days of Solomon -downwards, were quite as heinous as Jezebel's Baal-worship, and far -more deadly than the irregular but not at first idolatrous cultus of -Bethel. The prophets are careful to teach Judah that if she was -spared it was not because of any good deservings.[405] Yet now the -cedar was scathed and smitten down, and its boughs were rent and -scattered; and the thistle had escaped the wild beast's tread! - -In the former volume we glanced at some of the causes of this, and the -blessings which resulted from it. The central and chiefest blessing -was, first, the preservation of a purer form of monotheism, and a -loftier ideal of religion--though only realised by a few in -Judah--than had ever prevailed in the Northern Tribes; secondly, and -above all, the development of that inspiring Messianic prophecy which -was to be fulfilled seven centuries later, when He who was David's Son -and David's Lord came to our lost race from the bosom of the Father, -and brought life and immortality to light. - -And it was the work purely of "God's unseen providence, by men nicknamed -'Chance,'" which, dealing with nations as the potter with his clay, -chooses some to honour and some to dishonour. For, as all the prophets -are anxious to remind the Judaean Kingdom, their success, the -procrastination of their downfall, their restoration from captivity, -were not due to any merits of their own. The Jews were and ever had been -a stiff-necked nation; and though some of their kings had been faithful -servants of Jehovah, yet many of them--like Rehoboam, and Ahaz, and -Manasseh--exceeded in wickedness and inexcusable apostasy the least -faithful of the worshippers at Gilgal and Bethel. They were plainly -reminded of their nothingness: "And thou shalt speak and say before the -Lord thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down -into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a -nation."[406] "Fear not, thou worm Jacob: I will help thee."[407] - -But this was the end of the Ten Tribes. Nor must we say that Hosea's -prediction of mercy was laughed to scorn by the irony of events, when -he had given it as God's promise that-- - - "I will not execute the fierceness of Mine anger, - I will not again destroy Israel; - For I am God, and not man."[408] - -The words mean that mercy is God's chiefest and most essential -attribute; and, after all, a nation is composed of families and -individuals, and in political extinction there may have been many -families and individuals in Israel, like that of Tobias, and like that -of Anna, the prophetess of the tribe of Asher, who found, either in -their far exile, or among the scattered Jews who still peopled the old -territories, a peace which was impossible during the distracted -anarchy and deepening corruption of the whole period which had elapsed -since the founding of the house of Omri. In any case God knows and -loves His own. The words, - - "I will not execute the fierceness of Mine anger; - For I am God, and not man," - -might stand for an epitome of much that is most precious in Holy Writ. -God's orthodoxy is the truth; and the truth remaineth, though man's -orthodoxy exercises all its fury and all its baseness to overwhelm it. -What hope has any man, even a St. Paul--what hope had even the Lord -Himself--before the harsh, self-interested tribunals of human -judgment, or of that purely external religionism which has always -shown itself more brutal and more blundering than secular cruelty? -What chance has there been, humanly speaking, for God's best saints, -prophets, and reformers, when priests, popes, or inquisitors have been -their judges? If God resembled those generations of unresisted -ecclesiastics, whose chief resort has been the syllogism of violence, -and whose main arguments have been the torture-chamber and the stake, -what hope could there possibly be for the vast majority of mankind but -those endless torments by the terrors of which corrupt Churches have -forced their tyranny upon the crushed liberties and the paralysed -conscience of mankind? The Indian sage was right who said that "God -can only be truly described by the words No! No!"--that is, by -repudiating multitudes of the ignoble and cruel basenesses which -religious teachers have imagined or invented respecting Him. Because -God is God, and not man--God, not a tyrant or an inquisitor--God, with -the great compassionate heart of unfathomable tenderness,--therefore, -in all who truly love Him, perfect love casteth out fear, because fear -hath torment. Sin means ruin; yet God is love.[409] - - * * * * * - -The historian of the Kings here digresses, in a manner unusual to the -Old Testament, to give us a most interesting glimpse of the fate of -the conquered people, and the origin of the race which was known to -after-ages by the name "Samaritan." - -Sargon, when he had sacked the capital, carried out the policy of -deportation which had now been established by the Assyrian kings. He -achieved the double purpose of populating the capital and province of -Nineveh, while he reduced subject nations to inanition, by sweeping -away all the chief of the inhabitants from conquered states, and -settling them in his own more immediate dominions. There they would be -reduced to impotence, and mingle with the races among whom their lot -would henceforth be cast. He therefore "carried Israel away" into -Assyria, and placed them in Halah, north of Thapsacus, on the -Euphrates, and in Habor, the river of Gozan[410]--_i.e._, on the river -in Northern Assyria which still bears the name of Khabour, and flows -into the Euphrates--and in the cities of the Medes.[411] He replaced -the old population by Dinaites, Tarplites, Apharsathchites, -Susanchites, Elamites, Dehavites, and Babylonians, after carrying away -the great bulk of the better-class population.[412] - -After this the historian pauses to sum up and emphasise once more the -main lesson of his narrative. It is that "righteousness exalteth a -nation, and sin is the reproach of any people." God had called His son -Israel out of Egypt, delivered His chosen from Pharaoh, given them a -pleasant land; but "Israel had sinned against Jehovah their God, and -had feared other gods, and walked in the statutes of the heathen." -They had failed therefore in fulfilling the very purpose for which -they had been set apart. They had been intended "to uplift among the -nations the banner of righteousness" and the banner of the One True -God. Instead of this, they were seduced by the heathen ritual of - - "Gay religions full of pomp and gold." - -They decked out alien institutions,[413] and alike in frequented and -populous places--"from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced -city"--set up _matstseboth_ (A.V., "pillars") and _Asherim_ on every -high hill. The green trees became _obumbratrices scelerum_, the secret -bowers of their iniquities. They burnt incense on the _bamoth_, and -served idols, and wrought wickedness. Useless had been the voices of -all the prophets and the seers. They went after vain things, and -became vain. Beginning with the two "calves," they proceeded to lewd -and orgiastic idolatries. Ahab and Jezebel seduced them into Tyrian -Baal-worship. From the Assyrians they learnt and practised the -adoration of the host of heaven.[414] From Moab and Ammon they -borrowed the abominable rites of Moloch, and used divination and -enchantments by means of belomancy (Ezek. xxi. 21, 22) and necromancy, -and sold themselves to do wickedness. - -Nor was this all. These idolatries, with their guilty ritualism, were -not confined to Israel, but also - - "Infected Zion's daughters with like heat, - Whose wanton passions in the sacred porch - Ezekiel saw, when, by the vision led, - His eye surveyed the dark idolatries - Of alienated Judah." - -And thus, when Jehovah afflicted the seed of Israel and cast them out -of His sight, Judah also had to feel the stroke of retribution.[415] - -And it is idle to object that even if Israel had been faithful she must -have inevitably perished before the superior might of Damascus, or -Nineveh, or Babylon. How can we tell? It is not possible for us thus to -write unwritten history, and there is absolutely nothing to show that -the surmise is correct. In the days of David, of Uzziah, of Jeroboam -II., Judah and Israel had shown what they could achieve. Had they been -strong in faithfulness to Jehovah, and in the righteousness which that -faith required, they would have shown an invincible strength amid the -moral enervation of the surrounding people. They might have held their -own by welding into one strong kingdom the whole of Palestine, including -Philistia, Phoenicia, the Negeb, and the Trans-Jordanic region. They -might have consolidated the sway which they at various times attained -southwards, as far as the Red Sea port of Elath; northwards over Aram -and Damascus, as far as the Hamath on the Orontes; eastwards to -Thapsacus on the Euphrates; westward to the Isles of the Gentiles. -There is nothing improbable, still less impossible, in the view that, if -the Israelites had truly served Jehovah and obeyed His laws, they might -then have permanently established the monarchy which was ideally -regarded as their inheritance, and which for brief and fitful periods -they partially maintained. And such a monarchy, held together by warrior -statesmen, strong and righteous, and above all secure in the blessing of -God, would have been a thoroughly adequate counterpoise, not only to -dilatory and distracted Egypt, which had long ceased to be aggressive, -but even to brutal Assyria, which prevailed in no small measure because -of the isolation and mutual dissension of these southern principalities. - -But, as it was, "Assyria and Egypt--the two world-powers in the dawn -of history, the two chief sources of ancient civilisation, the twin -giant-empires which bounded the Israelite people on the right hand and -on the left--were cruel neighbours, between whom the ill-fated nation -was tossed to and fro in wanton sport like a shuttlecock. They were -cruel friends before whom it must cringe in turns, praying sometimes -for help, suing sometimes for very life--alternate scourges in the -hand of the Divine wrath. Now it is the fly of Egypt, and now it is -the bee of Assyria, whose ruthless swarms issue forth at the word of -Jehovah, settling in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and -upon all bushes, with deadly sting, fatal to man and beast, -devastating the land far and wide. Holding the poor Israelite in their -relentless embrace, they threatened ever and again to crush him by -their grip. Like the fabled rocks which frowned over the narrow -straits of the Bosporus, they would crash together and annihilate the -helpless craft which the storms of destiny had placed at their mercy. -Israel reeled under their successive blows. As was the beginning, so -was the end. As the captivity of Egypt had been the cradle of the -nation, so was the captivity of Assyria to be its tomb."[416] - -In any case the principle of the historian remains unshaken. Sin is -weakness; idolatry is folly and rebellion; uncleanness is decrepitude. -St. Paul was not thinking of this ancient Philosophy of History when -he wrote his Epistle to the Romans; yet the intense and masterly -sketch which he gives of that moral corruption which brought about the -long, slow, agonising dissolution of the beauty that was Greece, and -the grandeur that was Rome, is one of its strongest justifications. -His view only differs from the summary before us in the power of its -eloquence and the profoundness of its psychologic insight. He says the -same thing as the historian of the Kings, only in words of greater -power and wider reach, when he writes: "For the wrath of God is -revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of -men, who hold down the truth in unrighteousness. Knowing God, they -glorified Him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in -their reasonings" ([Greek: emataiothesan], the very word used in the -LXX. in 2 Kings xvii. 15), "and their senseless heart was darkened. -Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools" (words which -might describe the expediency-policy of Jeroboam I., and its fatal -consequences), "and changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the -likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed -beasts, and creeping things. For this cause God gave them up to -passions of dishonour, and unto a reprobate mind, to do those things -which are not fitting, being filled with all unrighteousness, -wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, -deceit, malignity,"--and so on, through a long catalogue of iniquities -which are identical with those which we find so burningly denounced on -the pages of the prophets of Israel and Judah. - -Even a Machiavelli, cool and cynical and audacious as was his -scepticism, could see and admit that faithfulness to religion is the -secret of the happiness and prosperity of states.[417] An irreligious -society tends inevitably and always to be a dissolute society; and a -"dissolute society is the most tragic spectacle which history has ever -to present--a nest of disease, of jealousy, of dissensions, of ruin, -and despair, whose last hope is to be washed off the world and -disappear. Such societies must die sooner or later of their own -gangrene, of their own corruption, because the infection of evil, -spreading into unbounded selfishness, ever intensifying and -reproducing passions which defeat their own aim, can never end in -anything but moral dissolution." We need not look further than the -collapse of France after the battle of Sedan, and the cause to which -that collapse was attributed, not only by Christians, but by her own -most worldly and sceptical writers, to see that the same causes ever -issue and will issue in the same ruinous effects. - - * * * * * - -In order to complete the history of the Northern Kingdom, the -historian here anticipates the order of time by telling us what -happened to the mongrel population whom Sargon transplanted into -central Ephraim in place of the old inhabitants. - -The king, we are told, brought them from Babylon--which was at this -time under the rule of Assyria; from Cuthah--by which seems to be -meant some part of Mesopotamia near Babylon;[418] from Avva, or -Ivah--probably the same as Ahavah or Hit, on the Euphrates, north-west -of Babylon; from Sepharvaim, or Sippara, also on the Euphrates;[419] -and from Hamath, on the Orontes, which had not long remained under -Jeroboam II.[420] It must not be supposed that the whole population of -Ephraim was deported; that was a physical impossibility. Although we -are told in Assyrian annals that Sargon carried away with him so vast -a number of captives, it is, of course, clear that the lowest and -poorest part of the population was left.[421] We can imagine the wild -confusion which arose when they found themselves compelled to share -the dismantled palaces and abandoned estates of the wealthy with the -horde of new colonists, whose language, in all probability, they but -imperfectly understood. There must have been many a tumult, many a -scene of horror, such as took place in the long antagonism of Normans -and Saxons in England, before the immigrants and the relics of the -former populace settled down to amalgamation and mutual tolerance. - -Sargon is said to have carried away with him the golden calf or calves -of Bethel, as Tiglath-Pileser is said by the Rabbis to have carried away -that of Dan.[422] He also took away with him all the educated classes, -and all the teachers of religion.[423] No one was left to instruct the -ignorant inhabitants; and, as Hosea had prophesied, there was neither a -sacrifice, nor a pillar, nor an ephod, and not even teraphim to which -they could resort.[424] Naturally enough, the disunited dregs of an old -and of a new population had no clear knowledge of religion. They "feared -not Jehovah." The sparseness of inhabitants, with its consequent neglect -of agriculture, caused the increase of wild beasts among them. There had -always been lions and bears in "the swellings of Jordan,"[425] and in -all the lonelier parts of the land; and to this day there are leopards -in the woods of Carmel, and hyaenas and jackals in many regions. -Conscious of their miserable and godless condition, and afflicted by the -lions, which they regarded as a sign of Jehovah's anger, the Ephraimites -sent a message to the King of Assyria. They only claimed Jehovah as -their local god, and complained that the new colonists had provoked the -wrath of "the God of the land" by not knowing His "manner"--that is, -the way in which He should be worshipped. The consequence was that they -were in danger of being exterminated by lions. The kings of Assyria were -devoted worshippers of Assur and Merodach, but they held the common -belief of ancient polytheists that each country had its own potent -divinities. Sargon, therefore, gave orders that one of the priests of -his captivity should be sent back to Samaria, "to teach them the manner -of the god of the land." The priest selected for the purpose returned, -took up his residence at the old shrine of Bethel, and "taught them how -they should fear Jehovah." His success was, however, extremely limited, -except among the former followers of Jeroboam's dishonoured cult. The -old religious shrines still continued, and the immigrants used them for -the glorification of their former deities. Samaria, therefore, witnessed -the establishment of a singularly hybrid form of religionism. The -Babylonians worshipped Succoth-Benoth,[426] perhaps Zirbanit, wife of -Merodach or Bel; the Cuthites worshipped Nergal, the Assyrian war-god, -the lion-god;[427] the Hittites, from Hamath, worshipped Ashima or -Esmun, the god of air and thunder, under the form of a goat;[428] the -Avites preferred Nibhaz and Tartak, perhaps Saturn--unless these names -be Jewish jeers, implying that one of these deities had the head of a -dog, and the other of an ass.[429] More dreadful, if less ridiculous, -was the worship of the Sepharvites, who adored Adrammelech and -Anammelech, the sun-god under male and female forms, to whom, as to -Moloch, they burnt their children in the fire. As for ministers, "they -made unto them priests from among themselves,[430] who offered -sacrifices for them in the shrines of the bamoth." Thus the whole -mongrel population "feared the Lord, and served their own gods," as they -continued to do in the days of the annalist whose record the historian -quotes. He ends his interesting sketch with the words, that, in spite of -the Divine teaching, "these nations"--so he calls them, and so -completely does he refuse to them the dignity of being Israel's -children--feared the Lord, and served their graven images, their -children likewise, and their children's children,--"as did their -fathers, so do they unto this day."[431] - -The "unto this day" refers, no doubt, to the document from which the -historian of the Kings was quoting--perhaps about B.C. 560, in the -third generation after the fall of Samaria. A very brief glance will -suffice to indicate the future history of the Samaritans. We hear but -little of them between the present reference and the days of Ezra and -Nehemiah. By that time they had purged themselves of these grosser -idolatries, and held themselves fit in all respects to co-operate -with the returned exiles in the work of building the Temple. Such was -not the opinion of the Jews. Ezra regarded them as "the adversaries of -Judah and Israel."[432] The exiles rejected their overtures. In B.C. -409 Manasseh, a grandson of the high priest expelled by Nehemiah for -an unlawful marriage with a daughter of Sanballat, of the Samaritan -city of Beth-horon, built the schismatic temple on Mount Gerizim.[433] -The relations of the Samaritans to the Jews became thenceforth deadly. -In B.C. 175 they seconded the profane attempt of Antiochus Epiphanes -to paganise the Jews, and in B.C. 130 John Hyrcanus, the Maccabee, -destroyed their temple. They were accused of waylaying Jews on their -way to the Feasts, and of polluting the Temple with dead bones.[434] -They claimed Jewish descent (John iv. 12), but our Lord called them -"aliens" ([Greek: allogenes], Luke xvii. 18), and Josephus describes -them as "residents from other nations" ([Greek: metoikoi, -alloethneis]). They are now a rapidly dwindling community of fewer -than a hundred souls--"the oldest and smallest sect in the -world"--equally despised by Jews and Mohammedans. The Jews, as in the -days of Christ, have no dealings with them. When Dr. Frankl, on his -philanthropic visit to the Jews of the East, went to see their -celebrated Pentateuch, and mentioned the fact to a Jewish -lady--"What!" she exclaimed: "have you been among the worshippers of -the pigeon? Take a purifying bath!" Regarding Gerizim as the place -which God had chosen (John iv. 20), they alone can keep up the old -tradition of the _sacrificial_ passover. For long centuries, since the -Fall of Jerusalem, it is only on Gerizim that the Paschal lambs and -kids have been actually slain and eaten, as they are to this day, and -will be, till, not long hence, the whole tribe disappears. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[389] Hos. iv. 4; v. 1, "Hear ye this, O priests ... ye have been a -snare on Mizpah," etc.; vi. 9, "The company of the priests murder by -the way to Shechem." - -[390] Hos. x. 10 (so R.V., and in the main the versions after the Hebrew -margin). LXX., [Greek: en to paideuesthai autous en tais dysin adikiais -auton]; Vulg., "_cum corripientur propter duas iniquitates suas_"; A.V., -"When they shall bind themselves in their two furrows." I believe that -the "_two_ iniquities" may mean _two_ cherubs at Bethel. See x. 15: "So -shall Bethel do unto you because of the evil of your evil." - -[391] Hos. xi. 8-11. - -[392] 2 Kings xvii. 1 is inconsistent with xv. 30, 33, and it is -wholly useless for our purpose to enter into complicated chronological -hypotheses, every one of which may be erroneous. - -[393] Schrader, _K. A. T._, p. 255. - -[394] _Seder Olam_, xxii. 2; 2 Chron. xxx. 6-11. - -[395] See Herod., ii. 137; called So (Heb., So or Seve) in 2 Kings -xvii. 4. Perhaps Shebek, the founder of the twenty-fifth dynasty. -LXX., [Greek: Segor]; Vulg., _Sua_; Manetho, _Sabachon_. In the -_Eponym Canon_ he is called an Egyptian general, _Sibakhi_, who helped -Gaza against Assyria, and was defeated. The _ka_ appended at the end -of his name (Egyptian Shaba-ka) is thought by some to be the Cushite -article. The race of the priest Hirhor died out with Piankhi, and the -Ethiopians elected a noble named Kashta. Shabak was his son. He -conquered Sais, and burnt his rival Bek-en-raut alive (B.C. 724). His -dynasty ruled for fifty years; he was succeeded by Sevechus -(Shabatok), and he by Tehrak (Tirhakah). - -[396] His name means "Salman, pardon." We have no monuments or -inscriptions of this king; only an imperial weight. - -[397] Mic. v. 1. - -[398] Hos. xiii. 13. - -[399] Hos. xiii. 7-11. The prophecy is rhythmic, though not written in -actual poetry. - -[400] Till the discovery of the Assyrian records, Sargon (Sharru-kenu, -'the faithful king') was but a name. The Jews knew but little of him. He -is but once mentioned in Scripture (Isa. xx. 1), and was probably -confused by some Jews with other kings. Yet he reigned sixteen years -(722-705), and his records give the annals of fifteen campaigns. In 720 -he crushed a confederacy headed by Yahubid of Hamath, and reduced that -city to a "heap of ruins." He then advanced against Hanno, King of Gaza, -who was in alliance with Sabaco, and defeated the combined forces of the -Philistines and Egyptians at Raphia, half-way between Gaza and the -Wady-el-Arish, "the torrent [_nachal_] of Egypt." Sargon was at the time -too much occupied with other enemies to pursue his advantage over Egypt; -for Armenia, Media, and other countries needed his attention. This -encouraged Ashdod to rebel, and its king, Azuri, refused his tribute -(see Isa. xx. 1). Sargon deposed him, and put his brother Ahimit in his -place. Relying on Egyptian promises, Philistia joined Judah, Edom, and -Moab in defying Assyria. They deposed Ahimit as an Assyrian nominee, and -put Yaman in his place. Egypt, as usual, failed to help, and in 711 the -Assyrian Turtan, or Commander-in-chief, took Ashdod after three years' -resistance, and carried its people into captivity. The punishment of -Egypt was reserved for the subsequent reigns of Esarhaddon (681-668) and -Assurbanipal. See Driver's _Isaiah xlv._ (Isa. xx.). Isa. xiv. 29-32 is -an ode of triumph for the Fall of Philistia. - -[401] Hos. xiii. 16. - -[402] See De Hincks in _Journ. of Sacr. Lit._, October 1858; Layard, -_Nin. and Bab._, i. 148. - -[403] Isa. xxviii. 1-4. - -[404] 2 Kings xvii. 13, "by all the prophets, and all the _seers_," -(_choseh_). Havernick thinks that the _nebi'im_ were such _officially_. - -[405] See Amos ii. 4, 5; Isa. xxviii. 15; Jer. xvi. 19, 20; Ezek. xx. -13-30, etc. - -[406] Deut. xxvi. 5. - -[407] Isa. xli. 14. - -[408] Hos. xi. 9. - -[409] See my _Minor Prophets_, 6-97. - -[410] Not as in A.V., "Habor, _by_ the river of Gozan." - -[411] 2 Kings xvii. 6. The LXX. has "rivers" and "mountains": [Greek: -en Alae kai en Abor potamois Gozan kai hore Medon]. The river is not -Ezekiel's Chebar. These deportations _en masse_ of a whole population, -with their women and children, their waggons and flocks, are depicted -on Sargon's series of tablets in his splendid palace at Khorsabad. - -[412] Ezra iv. 10. "The great and noble Asnapper" of the passage is -either some Assyrian general, or a confusion of the name Assurbanipal. - -[413] 2 Kings xvii. 9. Heb., "covered"; A.V. and R.V., "did secretly," -rather "perfidiously"; LXX., [Greek: emphiesanto logous adikous kata -kyrion]; Vulg., _Et offenderunt verbis non rectis dominum suum_. - -[414] Star-worship is not mentioned in the Book of the Covenant (Exod. -xx.-xxiii.) or the oldest sections of the Mosaic Law. It is first -forbidden in Deut. iv. 19, xvii. 3, when contact with Syrians and -Assyrians made it known (comp. Job xxxi. 26-28; Jer. viii. 2, xix. 13; -Zeph. i. 5). The language of 2 Kings vii.-xxiii. frequently reflects -the prohibitions of Deuteronomy (see Deut. xii. 2, 30, 31, iv. 19, v. -7, 8, xvi. 21, xviii. 10, xxxi. 16, etc.) - -[415] In 2 Kings xvii. 11, for "they did wicked things," the LXX. has -[Greek: koinonous] (_i.e._, _qedeshim_) [Greek: echaraxan kai -hetairidas] (_qedeshoth_); _i.e._, they had depraved _hieroduli_ of -both sexes. Comp. Hos. iv. 14; Gen. xxxviii. 21 (where the allusion is -to one of the votaries of Asherah). - -[416] Bishop Lightfoot, _Sermons_, p. 267. - -[417] "La quale Religione se ne Principi della Republica Christiana si -fusse mantenuta, secondo che dal dottore d'essa ne fu ordinato, -sarebbero gli State e le Republiche Christiane piu unite e piu felici -assai ch' elle non sono" (_Discorsi_, i. 12). - -[418] 2 Kings xvii. 24. Comp. xviii. 34. Hence the later Jews -comprehensively called the Samaritans Cuthites. Comp. 2 Kings xix. 13; -Isa. xxxvii. 13. - -[419] Heliopolis, Ptolemy, v. 18, Sec. 7; Isa. xxxvi. 19. Here, according -to the Chaldaean legends, Xisuthrus buried his tablets about the -Creation, etc. - -[420] From Ezra iv. 2 some infer that the main immigrants were -introduced by Esarhaddon, who did not succeed till B.C. 681. He claims -to have colonised Syria. - -[421] So we see from 2 Kings xix. 13, which applies to the reign of -Hezekiah. - -[422] See Appendix, "The Golden Calves." - -[423] He uses the agency of "the great and noble Asnapper" (Ezra iv. -10) for the deportation (see Botta, 145; Layard, _Nin. and Bab._, i. -148; Dr. Hincks, _Jour. of Sacr. Lit._, October 1858), unless Asnapper -be a confusion for Assurbanipal (Sardanapalus). - -[424] Hos. iii. 4. - -[425] See Jer. xlix. 19, l. 44; Prov. xxii. 13, etc. - -[426] Lit., "Daughter-huts" (Selden, _De Dis Syr._, ii. 7), but probably -a transliteration. Zarpanit--"She who gives seed"--was Aphrodite -Pandemos (Mylitta--Herod., i. 199). The Rabbis--who only guess--say she -represented "the Clucking Hen"--_i.e._, the Pleiades. There does not -seem to be any connection between Succoth and "Sakkuth," the various -reading in Amos v. 26, which seems to be the Assyrian Moloch. - -[427] Said to be worshipped under the form of a cock. - -[428] LXX., [Greek: Eblazer]. Jarchi says these deities were -worshipped under base animal forms--but it is more than doubtful. - -[429] The Rabbis, from Exod. xxiii. 13; Josh. xxiii. 7, thought they -were bound to give scornful nicknames to heathen deities. Hence such -changes as Kir-Heres for Kir-Cheres, Beelzebub for Beelzebul, Bethaven -for Bethel, Bosheth for Baal, etc. - -[430] Not as in A.V., "of the lowest of them," but "of all classes." -Comp. 1 Kings xii. 31. - -[431] In 2 Kings xvii. 31-38 we again find repeated references to -Deuteronomy (iv. 23, v. 32, x. 20, etc.). - -[432] Ezra iv. 1. The actual word "Samaritans" occurs only once in the -Old Testament, in 2 Kings xvii. 29. - -[433] See Neh. xiii. 4-9, 28, 29; Jos., _Antt._, XI. vii. 2. Josephus -makes Manasseh a brother of the high priest Jaddua (B.C. 333). - -[434] Jos., _Antt._, IX. xiv. 3, XII. v. 5, XIII. ix. 1, XX. vi., -XVIII. ii. 2. The bitterly hostile relations between Jews and -Samaritans in the time of Christ are illustrated by Luke ix. 52-54. - - - - - CHAPTER XXII - - _THE REIGN OF AHAZ_ - - B.C. 735-715 - - 2 KINGS xvi. 1-20 - - "Rimmon, whose delightful seat - Was fair Damascus, on the fertile banks - Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid streams. - He also against the House of God was bold: - A leper once he lost, and gained a king-- - Ahaz, his sottish conqueror, whom he drew - God's altar to disparage and displace - For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn - His odious offerings, and adore the gods - Whom he had vanquished." - _Paradise Lost_, i. 467-476. - - -According to our authorities, Ahaz ("Possessor")[435] began his reign -of sixteen years at the age of twenty. Of the exactitude of these -references we cannot be certain, because they also state (2 Kings -xviii. 2) that Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he began to -reign, and this reduces us to the absurdity of supposing that Hezekiah -was born when his father was only eleven years old.[436] We might -infer from Isa. iii. 4 that Ahaz was not so old as twenty when he -succeeded Jotham; for there--in a terrible prophecy which can only -refer to the beginning of this reign--we read, "And I will give -children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them"; or, as -it should be perhaps rendered, "And with childishness, or wilfulness, -shall they rule over them." - -Whatever may have been the king's age, surely never king succeeded to -a more distracted kingdom, or reigned over a more terrified people! If -he could have had any choice in the matter, he might well have -declined the fearful burden. Describing the state of things, the great -prophet Isaiah, who now began his career, exclaims,-- - -"For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem -and from Judah stay and staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole -stay of water; the mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the -prophet, and the diviner, and the elder; the captain of fifty, and the -honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning charmer, and the -skilful enchanter. And the people shall be oppressed every one by -another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself -proudly against the elder, and the base against the honourable. Then a -man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, -'Thou hast clothing, be _thou our judge, and let this ruin be under thy -hand_': in that day shall he lift his voice, saying, 'I will not be a -builder-up; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: ye shall not -make me a ruler of the people.' For Jerusalem is ruined and Judah is -fallen. The show of their countenance is against them; and they declare -their sin as Sodom, and hide it not. As for My people, children are -their oppressors, and women rule over them."[437] - -This is a frightful picture of famine--the dearth of intellect, the -dearth of statesmen, of all genius, of all insight. It describes the -prevalence of oppression and of ghastly destitution, accompanied by -such utter despair that no one cared to exert himself for the arrest -of the ruin which seemed imminent over that which was already no -better than itself a ruin. - -The Book of Isaiah is arranged in a most confused and unchronological -manner, and it is probable that the first five chapters should be -placed after the sixth, which describes the prophet's call in the year -that King Uzziah died. They paint a picture of moral collapse. His -first chapter is called by Ewald "the great arraignment," and by its -references describes the awful period of alarm during the war of Syria -and Ephraim against Judah. It might seem as if the combined host was -even then in the country, or had only just retired from it; for we -read,-- - -"Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, -strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown -by strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a -wilderness, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city." - -But even in the midst of this afflictive dispensation there were no -signs of repentance. The children of Israel were rebels who despised -the Holy One of Israel,--"Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with -iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that deal corruptly!" (i. -7-9). They had all the externals of religion: they offered vain -sacrifices, and kept a multitude of idle feasts, and offered many -formal prayers; but all this was but a cumbrance to Him who desired -clean hands and a pure heart as conditions of forgiveness (10-20). -What hope could there be for a city of murderers, who loved bribes -and perverted judgment (21-24)? The land was full of pride, full of -idols, full of the luxury of the rich amid the starvation of the poor -(ii. 1-22).[438] Women partook of the general corruption. They walked -mincingly with stretched-forth necks and wanton eyes,[439] thinking of -nothing but their anklets, and crescents, and bracelets, and mufflers, -ear-drops, head-tires, perfumes, mirrors, armlets, and nose-jewels: -therefore they should have sackcloth for stomachers, ropes for -girdles, and burning instead of beauty, and only a remnant should -escape (iii. 16-iv. 1). Judah was like a vineyard,--rich in -advantages, blessed with fondest care; but when God looked for grapes, -it only brought forth wild grapes--a semblance, but only a poisoned -semblance, of the true vintage: therefore it should be left neglected -and rainless. Woe to the greedy land-grabbing, and drunkenness, and -revelry of the rich! Woe to their mockery of God and their devotion to -vanity! Woe to their insane pride and wanton injustice! Could they -escape vengeance? No! Jehovah had looked for judgment (_mishpat_), but -behold oppression (_mishpach_); for righteousness (_tse'dakah_), but -behold a cry (_tse'akah_) (v. 1-24).[440] They might escape--they -would escape--the Syrian and the Ephraimite; but behind these lay a -more terrible and a more portentous foe, even the Assyrian, the -scourge of God's wrath (25-30). - -"It was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with -Ephraim." Is it strange that in such a condition of things the heart -of Ahaz and of his people "was moved as the trees of the wood are -moved with the wind"? - -Such was the terrible crisis at which Isaiah began his ministry. He -was the son of Amoz,[441] who has been (much too precariously) -identified with a brother of Amaziah. It is probable that he was a man -of distinguished, if not princely, birth, and he exercised a more -powerful influence over the politics of his country than any other -prophet--not even excepting Jeremiah. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[435] Probably a shortened form for Jehoahaz ("The Lord taketh hold"). -He is called Jahuhazi in Tiglath-Pileser's inscription (Schrader, -_Keilinschr._, p. 163). - -[436] For twenty-five it is not improbable that we should read fifteen. - -[437] Isa. iii. 1-12. - -[438] In Isa. ii. 2-4 we find, as so often in the prophetic books in -their present too-often-haphazard arrangement, a glowing promise of -universal peace placed before unsparing denunciations. The verses are -also found in Micah (iv. 1, 2), and it has been conjectured that in -both prophets they are a quotation from some older source--perhaps -from Jonah, son of Amittai. - -[439] Heb., "deceiving with their eyes." - -[440] Isa. v. 7. The paronomasia of the original is striking. Van Oort -renders it, "He looked for _reason_, but behold _treason_; and for -_right_, but behold _affright_." - -[441] His name means "Jehovah saves," and is perhaps alluded to in Isa. -viii. 18. Amos ("One who bears a burden"), needless to say, is a totally -different name from that of Amoz ("Vigorous"), the father of Isaiah. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIII - - _ISAIAH AND AHAZ_ - - 2 KINGS xvi - - "Expediency is man's wisdom; doing right is God's." - GEORGE MEREDITH. - - -Isaiah was one of those men whom God provides for the need of -kingdoms. He was not only a prophet, but a statesman, a reformer, a -poet, a man of invincible faith and unequalled insight. If Ahaz had -accepted his counsels and followed his moral guidance, the whole -history of Judah might have been different. - -But the position of things was indeed disastrous. Judah was attacked -from every side. On the south-east the Edomites renewed their -devastating raids, and swept off multitudes of captives, who were sold -as slaves in the Western slave-markets. On the south-west the -Philistines once more rose in revolt, and acquired permanent -repossession of many parts of the Shephelah, mastering Beth-Shemesh, -Ajalon, Gederoth, Shocho, Timnath, Gimzo, and all the adjacent -districts. But this was nothing compared with the humiliation and -destruction inflicted by Rezin and Pekah. They shut up Ahaz in -Jerusalem; and though they could not storm its almost impregnable -defences, which had recently been fortified by Uzziah and Jotham, they -were undisputed masters of the rest of the land, so that Judah was -"brought low and made naked."[442] Rezin, indeed, weary of a tedious -siege, swept southwards to Elath, on the gulf of Akabah, seized it, and -peopled it with an Edomite garrison, thereby destroying the commerce in -which Solomon and Jehoshaphat had taken pride, and which Uzziah had -recently re-established. Having thus left an effectual annoyance to -Judah in his rear, he gave up the design of dethroning Ahaz and -substituting in his place "_the son of Tabeal_," who would have been a -tool in the hands of the confederate kings. He seized, however, a -multitude of captives, and with them and with much booty he returned to -Damascus. "The son of Tabeal"--a name which occurs nowhere else--has -been found very puzzling.[443] I believe it to be simply an instance of -the Rabbinic process of transposition, called _Themourah_. Some identify -it with Itibi'alu of an inscription of Tiglath-Pileser. Others suppose -that he was a Syrian, and that Tabeal stands for Tabrimnon. But by the -application of Themourah (called the _Albam_) Tabeal simply gives us -"Remaliah," and is either a scornful variation of the name of Pekah's -father, or has arisen from the watchword of a secret conspiracy. Since -in the text of Jeremiah (li. 41, xxv. 26) (by _Atbash_, another form of -the secret transposition of letters of which the generic name was -_Gematria_) we read _Sheshach_ for Babel, the name Tabeal may have been -dealt with in a similar method.[444] Pekah, according to the Chronicler, -inflicted far deadlier injuries than Rezin. In one day he slew one -hundred and twenty thousand "sons of valour," because they had forsaken -Jehovah, God of their fathers. His general Zichri, a mighty Ephraimite, -slew Maaseiah, the king's son;[445] and Azrikam, the chancellor; and -Elkanah, "the second to the king." The army carried away two hundred -thousand captives and much spoil to Samaria. But on their arrival, a -prophet named Oded[446] reproved the Israelites for having massacred the -Judaeans "in a rage that reacheth to heaven." Aided by various princes, -he succeeded in inducing the people to refuse to harbour the captives, -and clothed, fed, and sent them back unharmed to Jericho, mounting the -feeble on horses and asses. The story bears on the face of it the signs -of enormous exaggeration. - -In the crisis of their miseries, but just before the siege, Ahaz had -gone outside the city walls "at the end of the conduit of the upper -pool, in the causeway of the fuller's field," probably to look after -the water-supply, which had always been a difficulty for Jerusalem, -and on which depended her capacity to withstand a siege. Here he was -met by the prophet Isaiah, who was leading by the hand the little son -to whom he had given the name of "Shear-jashub" ("A remnant shall -return"),[447] as a witness to the truth of the prophecy which he had -heard on the occasion of his call,-- - -"And if there should yet be a tenth in it, this shall be again consumed; -yet as the terebinth and the oak, though cut down, have their stock -remaining, even so a sacred seed shall be the stock thereof."[448] - -The object of the prophet was to cheer up the fainting heart of the -king, and to say to him first,-- - -"Take heed, and be quiet." - -This mandate probably refers to rumours--which Isaiah must have -heard--of the king's intention to follow the counsels of the party which -urged him to seek foreign assistance. One of these parties advised him -to throw himself into the arms of Egypt, and rely on her protection; the -other gave the more perilous counsel of invoking the aid of Assyria. -Isaiah's mandate to the king and to the nation was to take neither step, -but to trust in the Lord, and to repent of individual and national -misdoing. He summed up his message in the rule,-- - -"In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and confidence -shall be your strength." - -The advice was emphasised by a promise of the most decisive and -encouraging kind. When all looked so helpless, the prophet was bidden -to say,-- - -"Fear not, neither be faint-hearted, for these two stumps of smoking -torches, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of Remaliah's -son. They have taken evil counsel against thee. But thus saith the -Lord God, 'It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. For the -head of Syria is only Rezin, and the head of Samaria is a mere -Remaliah's son.'"[449] - -And then, to confirm the lesson of confidence in God, the brief -assurance,-- - - "If ye will not confide, - Surely ye shall not abide." - -Convinced of the certainty of this immediate deliverance, Isaiah bade -the king to ask for a sign from Jehovah, either in the height above, -or in the depth beneath. - -But the timid and hypocritical king was not so to be influenced. He -had on his side "the scornful men, who ruled Judah"; the mocking -priests, who sneered and jeered at Isaiah's teaching as repetitive and -commonplace, and only fit for children; and the princes and nobles, -who formed the Court party, headed by Shebna the scribe. He probably -looked on Isaiah as a mere unpractical faddist, an excited -fanatic--all very well as a prophet, but not a man who ought to thrust -himself into the plans of politicians. Ahaz had his own plans, and he -had not the smallest intention of altering them in consequence of -anything which Isaiah might say. He was far too timid and unfaithful -to rely on anything so vague as Divine assurance. He was convinced -that his only chance lay in the horses of Egypt or the fierce infantry -of Assyria. So he said with sham piety, merely intended to put the -prophet off, "I will not ask, neither will I tempt Jehovah." - -That moment marks what may be called the birth-throe of Messianic -prophecy in its most specific character. For then the prophet, after -reproving the king for wearying Jehovah as well as His servants, adds, -in words of far wider and deeper significance than their immediate -bearing, that Jehovah Himself should give a sign; for the maiden -should conceive and bear a Son, and call His name Immanuel ("God with -us"). The child should grow up in a time of scarcity; for owing to the -devastation of the land, he would only be able to be nurtured on -curdled milk and honey. But before he had reached years of -discretion--before he had arrived at the power of moral choice--the -land whose two kings Ahaz abhorred should be a desert. Yet let not -Ahaz exult too much in the immediate deliverance! Days of unexampled -misery were at hand. Jehovah should hiss for the fly from the farthest -canals of Egypt, and for the bee of Assyria, and they should settle in -swarms in the valleys and pastures. Ahaz--he had not alluded to the -design, but Isaiah knew it well--was about to hire a razor from beyond -the Euphrates, but that razor should sweep away the hair and beard of -Judah. Agriculture should languish, and the people should only be able -to live in privation on whey and honey; and the vineyards should be -full of briers and thorns, and should be mere places for hunting.[450] - -This event, therefore, as Caspari says, stands at the turning-point of -Old Testament History. It marks the beginning of that second period of -the History of the Chosen People in which their hopes were granted as -a counterpoise to their anguish and their humiliation. "It stood, -therefore, at the point where a prospect offered itself to the eye of -the prophet which reached out over the whole development of the people -of God." - -To all such prophecies Ahaz was utterly deaf: they did not for a -moment induce him to swerve from his purpose. But to call still -further attention to his promise as the Syrian Ephraimitish host -pressed forward, Isaiah took a great piece of vellum, and inscribed on -it, in the ordinary characters,-- - - "SPEED-PLUNDER-HASTE-SPOIL." - -He put it up in some conspicuous place, before his own house or in the -Temple, and took the priest Urijah and Zechariah, the son of -Jeberechiah, into his confidence as faithful witnesses. He told them the -explanation of his sign, and they would satisfy the curiosity of the -people on the subject. It meant that in nine months' time his wife -should bear a son, and that he and his wife, the prophetess, would call -the boy's name "Speed-plunder-haste-spoil," as a sign that before the -child was able to say "Father" or "Mother" Rezin and Pekah should be -extinguished. For the Assyrian should speed to the plunder and haste to -the spoil, and the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria should be -carried away by the King of Assyria. Since Judah despised "the soft -flowing waters of Shiloah,"[451] and preferred Rezin and Pekah,[452] -they should be deluged by the Euphrates of Assyria, and Assyria's -outspread wings should overshadow thy land, O Immanuel (viii. 1-8). How -vain, then, of the people to try and meet the confederacy of Syria and -Ephraim by new confederacy of Judah with Assyria! This, after all, is -Immanuel's land. God is with us. We have but to fear God, we have but to -be faithful to duty, and Jehovah shall be our sanctuary, though He be a -stumbling-block to many in Israel, and a snare to many in -Jerusalem.[453] This is God's teaching and God's testimony, and Isaiah -and his children are signs of it. For does not Isaiah mean "Salvation of -Jehovah"; and Shear-jashub, "A remnant shall return"; and -Maher-shalal-hash-baz, "Swift-spoil-speedy-prey"; and Immanuel, "God is -with us"? What need, then, to seek wizards and necromancers? Seek God; -confide, abide![454] Trouble and darkness there should be; but all was -not utterly hopeless. Northern Israel had been bedimmed and afflicted; -but soon they should be exalted, and see light, and their yoke be broken -as in the day of Midian, and the trampling boot and blood-stained mantle -of the warrior shall be burned in the fire: for a Child is born, a Son -is given unto us of David's line, who shall be a Mighty Deliverer, a -Prince of Peace,--and Israel shall perish. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[442] 2 Chron. xxviii. 19. - -[443] It may mean "God is good" (Tabeel). - -[444] For further explanations I must refer to my paper on Rabbinic -Exegesis (_Expositor_, First Series, v. 373). - -[445] 2 Chron. xxviii. 7. - -[446] Of Oded nothing else is known. - -[447] Some, however, interpret the name "A remnant repents" (LXX., -[Greek: ho kataleiphtheis Iasoub]; Vulg., _Qui derelictus est Jaseb_). - -[448] Isa. vi. 13. - -[449] The words "And within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be -broken, that it be not a people" (Isa. vii. 8), are almost certainly -an interpolation: for (1) the overthrow came within far less than -sixty years; (2) the clause awkwardly breaks the context; (3) the -"sixty years" is inconsistent with the promise (vii. 16) that it -should be within very few years. - -[450] Isa. vii. 1-25. - -[451] Not improbably the water which afterwards flowed through -Hezekiah's new tunnel between the Virgin's Tomb and the Pool of -Siloam. It is referred to in 2 Chron. xxxii. 3, 30 (Isa. xxii. 9-11). -See Appendix II. - -[452] This, if it be correct, can only mean that the son of Tabeal had -a party in Jerusalem; but Hitzig renders it "_dreadeth_," not -"rejoiceth in." - -[453] The meaning is by no means clear. - -[454] See Driver, _Isaiah_, p. 34. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIV - - _THE APOSTASIES OF AHAZ_ - - 2 KINGS xvi. 1-18 - - "For when we in our wickedness grow hard, - Oh misery on't! the wise gods seal our eyes; - In our own filth drop our clear judgments; make us - Adore our errors; laugh at us while we strut - To our confusion." - - -Ahaz was indifferent to these prophecies because his heart was -otherwhere. It is clear from our authorities that this king had excited -an unusually deep antipathy in the hearts of those later writers who -judged religion not only from the earlier standpoint, but from the stern -and inexorable requirements of the Deuteronomic and the Priestly Codes. -The historian, adopting an unusual phrase, says that "he did not that -which was right in the sight of the Lord, but he walked in the ways of -the kings of Israel." He not only continued the high places, as the best -of his predecessors had done, but he increased their popularity and -importance by personally offering sacrifices and burning incense "on the -hills and under every green tree." It is probable, too, that he -introduced into Judah horses and chariots dedicated to the sun.[455] "He -made molten images for the Baalim," says the Chronicler, "and burnt -incense in the valley of the son of Himmon." - -This last was his crowning atrocity: he actually sanctioned the -revolting worship of the abomination of the children of Ammon, which -Solomon had tolerated on the mount of offence. "He made his son to -pass through the fire." The Chronicler expresses it still more -dreadfully by saying that "he _burnt his children_ in the fire."[456] - -In the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, or of the Beni-Hinnom, of which the name -is perpetuated in Gehenna, the place of torture for lost souls, there -stood a frightful image of the king--Moloch, Melek, Malcham. It -represented the sun-god, worshipped, not only as Baal under the -emblems of prolific nature, but, like the Egyptian Typhon, as the -emblem of the sun's scorching and blighting force. It was perhaps a -human figure with the head of an ox. The arms of the brazen image -sloped downwards over a cistern, which was filled with fuel; and when -a human sacrifice was to be offered to him, the child was probably -first killed, and then placed on these brazen arms as a gift to the -idol. It rolled down into the flaming tank, and was consumed amid the -strains of music. Recourse was only had to the most frightful form of -human sacrifice--the burning of grown-up victims--in extremities of -disaster, as when Mesha of Moab offered up his eldest son to Chemosh -on the wall of Kir-Hareseth in the sight of his people and of the -three invading armies. But the sacrifice of children was public, and -perhaps annual. Hence Milton, following the learned researches of -Selden in his Syntagma _De Dis Syriis_, writes:-- - - "First, Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood - Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears; - Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud, - Their children's cries unheard that pass'd through fire - To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite - Worshipp'd in Rabba and her watery plain, - In Argob and in Basan, to the stream - Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such - Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart - Of Solomon he led by fraud to build - His temple right against the Temple of God - On that opprobrious hill, and made his grove - The pleasant Valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence - And black Gehenna call'd, the type of hell."[457] - -But it may be doubted whether Ahaz, in spite of his frightful -position, or, in later days, the less excusable Manasseh, really -destroyed the lives of their young sons.[458] The ancients had a -notion that they could easily cheat their devil-deities. If a white ox -of Clitumnus became unfitted for a victim to Jupiter of the Capitol by -having on its body a few black spots, it was quite sufficient to make -it pass with the _Di faciles_ by chalking the black spots over -it.[459] If human victims had to be thrown into the Tiber to Hercules, -Numa taught the people that little wickerwork images (_scirpea_) would -suit the purpose just as well.[460] Figures of dough were sometimes -offered instead of human beings on the altar of Artemis of Tauris. -Thus it became the custom, it is believed, merely to throw or to pass -children through or over the flames, and conventionally to _regard -them_ as having been sacrificed, though they might escape the ordeal -with little or no hurt. This was called _februatio_, or "lustration by -fire."[461] We may hope that this device was adopted by the two Judaean -kings, and, if so, they did not add to their horrible apostasy the -crime of infanticide. If, however, Ahaz was even to the smallest -extent implicated in such foul idolatries, it is not surprising that -he was in no mood to listen to Isaiah. What is profoundly surprising, -and is indeed a circumstance for which we cannot account, is that no -word of fierce indignation was addressed to him on this account by -Urijah, the high priest, whom Isaiah seems to describe as faithful, or -by Zechariah, the son of Jeberechiah, or by Micah, or by Isaiah, who -feared man so little and God so much. - -The Assyrian party at the Court of Ahaz prevailed over the Egyptian. -Until the accession of the Ethiopian Sabaco[462] in 725, Egypt was -indeed in so weak, harassed, and divided a condition under feeble -native Pharaohs, that her help was obviously unavailable. The King of -Judah, seeing no extrication from his calamities except in the way of -worldly expediency, appealed to Tiglath-Pileser. In this he followed -the precedent of his ancestor Asa, who had diverted the attack of -Baasha by invoking the assistance of Syria. Ahaz sent to the Assyrian -potentate the humble message, "I am thy servant and thy son: come up -and save me from the Kings of Syria and Israel." If he had not faith -to accept Isaiah's promises, what else could he do, when Syria, -Israel, the Philistines, Edom, and Moab were all arrayed against him? -The ambassadors probably made their way, not without peril, along the -east of Jordan, or else by sea from Joppa, and so inland. Whether they -took with them the enormous bribe without which the appeal of the -helpless king might have been in vain, or whether this was sent -subsequently under Assyrian escort, we do not know. It was -euphemistically described as "a present" or "a blessing," but must be -regarded either as a tribute or a bribe. - -Tiglath-Pileser II. saw his opportunity, and at once invaded Damascus. -In B.C. 733 he failed, but the next year he entirely subjugated the -kingdom, and put an end to the dynasty. Rezin was probably put to death -with the horrible barbarities which were normal among the brutal -Ninevites; and as the Assyrians had no conception of colonisation or the -wise government of dependencies, the Syrian population was deported _en -masse_ to Elam and an unknown Kir.[463] For a time Damascus was made "a -ruinous heap," and the cities of Aroer were the desolated lairs of -pasturing flocks. Israel, as we have seen, was next overwhelmed by the -same irremediable catastrophe, none of her people being left except such -as might be compared to the mere gleanings of a vintage, and the few -berries on the topmost boughs of the olive tree.[464] - -Tiglath-Pileser meant to make Ahaz feel his yoke. He summoned him to -do homage at Damascus, and there Ahaz once more displayed his -cosmopolitan aestheticism at the expense of every pure tradition of the -religion of his fathers. - -His visit to Damascus was no doubt compulsory. His worldly policy, -which looked so expedient, and which--apart from the defiance which it -involved to the voice of God by His prophets--seemed to be so -pardonable, had for the time succeeded. Isaiah's promises had been -fulfilled to the letter. There was nothing more to fear either from -Rezin or from Remaliah's son. Their kingdoms were a desolation. In his -own annals Tiglath-Pileser[465] does not exaggerate his -achievements.[466] He wrote as follows:-- - - "Rezin's warriors I captured, and with the sword I destroyed. - Of his charioteers and [his horsemen] the arms I broke: - Their bow-bearing warriors, [their footmen] armed with spear and - shield, - With my hand I captured them, and those that fought in their - battle-line. - He to save his life fled away alone; - Like a deer [he ran], and entered into the great gate of his city. - His generals, whom I had taken alive, on crosses I hung; - His country I subdued; - Damascus, his city, I subdued, and like a caged bird I shut him in. - I cut down the unnumbered trees of his forest; I left not one. - Hadara, the palace of the father of Rezin of Syria, [I burnt]. - The city of Samaria I besieged, I captured; eight hundred of its - people and children I took; - Their oxen and their sheep I carried away. - I took five hundred and ninety-one cities; - Over sixteen districts of Syria like a flood I swept." - -But the more complete destruction of Israel was due to Shalmaneser -IV., who says,-- - - "The city of Samaria I besieged, I took, - I carried away twenty-seven thousand two hundred of its inhabitants; - I seized fifty of their chariots. - I gave up to plunder the rest of their possessions. - I appointed officers over them; - I laid on them the tribute of the former king. - In their place I settled the men of conquered countries." - -The immediate service to Judah looked immense. The Assyrian might safely -claim, and Ahaz might truthfully confess, that the intervention of -Tiglath-Pileser had rescued him from the apparent imminence of -destruction. But the Assyrian kings served no one for nothing. The price -which had to be paid for Tiglath-Pileser's intervention was vassalage -and tribute. Ahaz, or, as the Assyrians call him, Jehoahaz,[467] had -styled himself Tiglath-Pileser's "servant and his son," and the Assyrian -chose to have substantial proof of this parental suzerainty. The great -king therefore summoned the poor subject-potentate to Damascus, where he -was holding his victorious court. - -So far Ahaz had no reason to complain of his "dreadful patron"; and if -he had returned when he paid his homage, no immediate harm would have -happened. But during his visit he saw "the altar" (_Heb._) at the -conquered city. Was it the altar of the defeated Syrian god Rimmon? or -did the Assyrian persuade his willing vassal to sacrifice at the -portable altar of his god Assur? We may, perhaps, infer the former -from 2 Chron. xxviii. 23, where Ahaz says: "Because the gods of the -kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that -they may help me." There is room to suspect some error here, because -Rezin had fallen, and Damascus was in ruins, and Rimmon had -conspicuously failed to help or to avenge his votaries.[468] Ahaz -admired the altar, to whatever god it had been erected; and unmindful, -or perhaps unconscious, that the altar of the Temple of Jerusalem was -declared in the Pentateuch to have been divinely ordained--a fact to -which the historian does not himself refer--he sent to the head priest -Urijah a pattern of the altar which had struck his fancy at Damascus. -The subservient priest, without a murmur or a remonstrance, undertook -to have a similar altar ready for Ahaz in the Temple by the time of -his return--a crime, if crime it were, which the Chronicler conceals. -"Never any prince was so foully idolatrous," says Bishop Hall, "as -that he wanted a priest to second him. A Urijah is fit to humour an -Ahaz.[469] Greatness could never command anything which some servile -wits were not ready both to applaud and justify." Certainly we should -have hoped for more fidelity to ancient tradition from a man who -earned the approving word of Isaiah; but it is only fair and just to -admit that Urijah, in the universal ignorance which prevailed about -the codes which were afterwards collected and published as the total -legislation of the wilderness, may have viewed his obedience to the -king's commands with very different eyes from those by which it was -regarded in the sixth and fifth centuries before Christ. He may have -been frankly unaware that he was guilty of an act which would -afterwards be denounced as an apostatising enormity.[470] - -When Ahaz returned, he was so much pleased with his new plaything that -he at once acted as priest at his own new altar. Without the least -opposition from the priests--who had so sternly resisted Uzziah--he -offered burnt-offerings and meat-offerings and drink-offerings, and -sprinkled the blood of peace-offerings on his altar.[471] Not content -with this, he did not hesitate to order the removal of the huge brazen -altar from the position, in front of the Temple porch, which it had -held since the days of Solomon. He did this in order that his own -favourite altar might be in the line of vision from the court, and not -be overshadowed by the old one, which he shifted from the place of -honour to the north side. He proceeded to call his own altar "the -great altar," and ordered that the morning burnt-offering, and the -evening _minchah_, and all the principal sacrifices should henceforth -be offered upon it.[472] He did not wholly supersede the old brazen -altar, which, he said, "shall be for me to inquire by," or, as the -Hebrew may perhaps mean, "it should await"--_i.e._, "I will hereafter -consider what to do with it." - -Ahaz is charged with the additional crime of removing the ornamental -festoons of bronze pomegranates from the lavers, and the brazen oxen -from under the molten sea, which henceforth lay dishonoured, without its -proper and splendid supports, on the pavement of the court.[473] He -also took away the balustrade of the royal "ascent" from the palace to -the Temple, and made a new entrance of a less gorgeous character than -that which, in the days of Solomon, the Queen of Sheba had admired.[474] - -No doubt these proceedings helped to heighten the unpopularity of -Ahaz. But what could he do? He could, indeed, if he had had sufficient -faith, have "trusted in Jehovah," as Isaiah bade him do. But he was -under the terrific pressure of hostile circumstances, and, being a -weak and timid man, felt himself unable to resist the influence of the -haughty politicians and worldly priests by whom he was surrounded--men -who openly made Isaiah their scoff. When he invited the interposition -of Tiglath-Pileser,[475] all the other consequences of humiliation -would naturally follow. He probably disliked as much as any one to see -the great molten laver taken off the backs of the oxen which showed -the skill of the ancient Hiram, and did not admire the despoiled -aspect of the shrine of his capital. But if the King of Assyria or his -emissaries had (as the historian implies) cast greedy eyes on these -splendid objects of antiquity, the poor vassal could not refuse them. -Better, he may have thought, that these material ornaments should go -to Nineveh than that he should be forced to exact yet heavier burdens -from an impoverished people. His expedient is mentioned among his -crimes, yet no one blamed the pious Hezekiah when, under similar -circumstances, he acted in precisely the same manner.[476] - -The Chronicler gives a darker aspect to his misdoings by saying that -he cut to pieces the vessels of the house of God, and made him altars -in every corner of Jerusalem, and _bamoth_ to burn incense unto other -gods in every several city of Judah. He says, further, that he closed -the great gates of the Temple; put an end to the kindling of the -lamps, the burning of incense, and the daily offerings; and left the -whole Temple to fall into ruin and neglect.[477] We know no more of -him. He lived through an epoch marked by the final crisis in the -existence of the kingdom of Israel. Dark omens of every kind were -around him, and he seems to have been too frivolous to see them. If he -plumed himself on the removal of the two relentless invaders Rezin and -Pekah, he must have lived to feel that the terror of Assyria had come -appreciably nearer. Tiglath-Pileser had only helped Judah in -furtherance of his own designs, and his exactions came like a chronic -distress after the acuter crisis. Nor was there any improvement when -he died in 727. He was succeeded by Shalmaneser IV., and Shalmaneser -IV. by Sargon in 722, the year of the fall of Samaria. We know no more -of Ahaz. The historian says that he was buried with his fathers, and -the Chronicler adds, as in the case of Uzziah and other kings, that -he was not permitted to rest in the sepulchres of the kings.[478] He -had sown the wind; his son Hezekiah had to reap the whirlwind.[479] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[455] See 2 Kings xxiii. 11, which shows that this was not an innovation -of Manasseh's. They were common in Persia. See Q. Curtius, iii. 3. - -[456] 2 Kings xvii. 31; Ezek. xvi. 21, xxiii. 37, xxxiii. 6; Deut. -xii. 31; Jer. xix. 5. See 2 Chron. xxviii. 3; for "his son," [Hebrew: -beno], it uses [Hebrew: banav] "his sons," but perhaps generically. -Moloch-worship may have been stimulated by accounts of the Assyrian -fire-god Adrammelech (Movers, _Phoeniz._, ii. 101). On this sacrifice -of children to Moloch, which the Phoenicians referred back to the god -El or Il, once King of Byblos, who in a crisis of danger sacrificed -his eldest son Icond, see Plut., _De Superst._, Sec. 13; Diod. Sic., xx. -12-14; 2 Kings iii. 27, xvi. 3, xxi. 6; Mic. vi. 7; Doellinger, -_Judenthum u. Heidenthum_ (E. T.), i. 427-429. - -[457] This worship was to be punished by stoning (Lev. xviii. 21, xx. -2-5; Deut. xviii. 10). On the whole subject see Movers, _Phoeniz._, 64; -Jarchi _on Jer. vii._ 31; Euseb., _Praep. Ev._, iv. 16. - -[458] Josephus says that Ahaz made "a whole burnt-offering" of his -son; but his authority is very small ([Greek: kai idion holokautosen -paida]). Comp. Psalm cvi. 37. - -[459] Ignorant Romanists have often cherished the same notions about -the saints. For centuries in Spain the people bought the old gowns and -cowls of the monks, and buried their dead in them, to deceive St. -Peter into the notion that they were Dominicans or Franciscans! - -[460] See Ovid, _Fasti_, v. 659: "Scripea pro domino Tiberi jactatur -imago." They were also called _Argei_, _id._ 621; Varro, _L. L._, vi. 3. - -[461] Varro, _L. L._, v. 3. - -[462] Herod., ii. 137. Egypt., _Sebek_; Heb., _So_ (2 Kings xvii. 4), -or perhaps _Seve_; Arab., _Shab'i_. Rawlinson, _Hist. of Anct. Egypt_, -ii. 433-450. - -[463] Kir (see Amos ix. 7) is omitted in the LXX. Elam is added in Isa. -xxii. 6. Tiglath-Pileser calls the king Rasunnu Sarimirisu--_i.e._, of -Aram. See Smith, _Assyr. Discoveries_, p. 274; _Eponym Canon_, 68; -Schrader, _K. A. T._, 152 ff. - -[464] Isa. xvii. 1-11. - -[465] The name seems to be Tuklat-abal-isarra,--according to Oppert -worshipper of the son of the Zodiac--_i.e._, of Nin or Hercules. -According to Polyhistor, he was a usurper who had been a vine-dresser -in the royal gardens. He never mentions his ancestry. But see -Schrader, _K. A. T._, 217 ff., 240 ff., and in Riehm. - -[466] _Eponym Canon_, p. 121, lines 1-15. On this fall of Damascus and -Samaria, see Isa. xvii. - -[467] Jahuhazi (Schrader, _Keilinschr._, p. 263). He probably bore -both names; but, as in the case of Jeconiah, who is called Coniah, the -omission of the element "Jehovah" from his name may have been intended -as a mark of reprobation. - -[468] The remark may refer to some earlier period in the reign of -Ahaz, before the capture of Damascus. It is more probable that the -altar was used for some Assyrian deity, and the adoption of it may -have flattered Tiglath-Pileser. - -[469] 2 Kings xvi. 11, which records the zealous subservience of Urijah, -is wanting in some MSS. of the LXX. But that the altar was made, and -without his opposition, is clear from the narrative. Asa (2 Chron. xv. -8) had repaired Solomon's great altar; Hezekiah subsequently cleansed it -(_id._ xxix. 18); Manasseh rebuilt it (_Q'ri_). The brass of it -ultimately went to Babylon (Jer. lii. 17-20). - -[470] Baehr says: "It seems that Urijah, like his companion, was only -anxious for his revenues. At any rate, his conduct is a sign of the -character and standing of the priests of that time. They were 'dumb -dogs who could not bark.' They all followed their own ways, every one -for his own gain" (Isa. lvi. 10, 11). "We have in this high priest," -says the _Wuertemberg Summary_, "a specimen of those hypocrites and -belly-servants who say, 'Whose bread I eat, his song I sing'; who veer -about with the wind, and seek to be pleasant to all men; who wish to -hurt no one's feelings, but teach just what any one wants to hear." - -[471] 1 Kings viii. 64; 2 Chron. iv. 1. In this and similar instances -commentators, biassed by _a priori_ considerations, have imagined that -Ahaz did not in person offer sacrifices. But this is what the text says, -and it was the custom of kings to regard themselves as invested with -Divine attributes. Ahaz may have had this lesson impressed on his mind -by his visit to Tiglath-Pileser. See Graetz, _Gesch. der Juden._, ii. -150. Layard, _Nin. and Bab._, 472 ff., gives us pictures of Assyrian -kings ministering at their altars, which are of various shapes. - -[472] 2 Kings xvi. 15. Vulg., _paratum erit ad voluntatem meam_. The -LXX. followed another reading: [Greek: estai moi eis to proi]. Graetz -(ii. 150), for [Hebrew: lchkr], "to inquire," reads [Hebrew: lkrv] "to -draw near to." - -[473] 1 Kings vii. 23-39. - -[474] 2 Kings xvi. 18. The allusions are obscure. R.V., "the covered -way"; A.V., "the covert for the Sabbath." See 2 Chron. ix. 4. Here the -Hebr. _Q'ri_ has _Musak_, and the Vulg. _Musach Sabbati_. The LXX. -evidently did not understand it ([Greek: kai ton themelion tes -kathedras okodomesen]). For "covert for the Sabbath," Geiger suggests -"molten images for the Shame" (Bosheth-Baal, by transposition of -_Shabbath_). Comp. 2 Chron. xxviii. 2. - -[475] 2 Chron. xxviii. 20: "Tiglath-Pileser came unto him, and -distressed him, but helped him not." - -[476] 2 Kings xviii. 15, 16. - -[477] In justice to Ahaz, we should observe that (1) in every instance -the later account multiplies and magnifies and gives a darker -colouring to his offences; (2) that neither Isaiah, Micah, nor any -other prophet has a word of reproach for such enormities in Ahaz. - -[478] It is a Jewish tradition that Hezekiah would not bury his father -Ahaz in a sarcophagus, but on a bier (_Pesachin_, f. 56, 1; -_Sanhedrin_, f. 47, 1; Graetz, _Gesch. d. Juden._, ii, 224). - -[479] His name, _Chizquiyyah_, is shortened from _Yechizquiyyahoo_ -(Isa. i. 1; 2 Kings xx. 10; Hos. i. 1). It means "Jehovah's strength" -(_Gesen._), or "Yah is might" (_Furst_). - - - - - PROBABLE DATES. - - - B.C. - - 745. Accession of Tiglath-Pileser. - - 746. Death of Uzziah. Accession of Jotham. First vision of Isaiah - (Isa. vi.). - - 735. Accession of Ahaz. Syro-Ephraimitish war. - - 734-732. Siege and capture of Damascus, and ravage of Northern - Israel by Tiglath-Pileser. Visit of Ahaz to Damascus. - - 727. Accession of Shalmaneser IV. - - 722. Accession of Sargon. Capture of Samaria, and captivity of the - Ten Tribes. - - 720. Defeat of Sabaco by Sargon at Raphia. - - 715(?). Accession of Hezekiah. - - 711. Sargon captures Ashdod. - - 707. Sargon defeats Merodach-Baladan, and captures Babylon. - - 705. Murder of Sargon. Accession of Sennacherib. - - 701. Sennacherib besieges Ekron. Defeats Egypt at Altaqu. Invades - Judah, and spares Hezekiah. Invades Egypt, and sends the Rabshakeh - to Jerusalem. Disaster of Assyrians at Pelusium, and disappearance - from before Jerusalem. - - 697. Death of Hezekiah. Accession of Manasseh. - - 681. Death of Sennacherib. - - 608. Battle of Megiddo. Death of Josiah. - - 607. Fall of Nineveh and Assyria. Triumph of Babylon. - - 605. Battle of Carchemish. Defeat of Pharaoh Necho by - Nebuchadrezzar. - - 599. First deportation of Jews to Babylon by Nebuchadrezzar. - - 588. Destruction of Jerusalem. Second deportation. - - 538. Cyrus captures Babylon. - - 536. Decree of Cyrus. Return of Zerubbabel and the first Jewish - exiles. - - 458. Return of Ezra. - - - - - CHAPTER XXV - - _HEZEKIAH_ - - B.C. 715-686[480] - - 2 KINGS xviii - - "For Ezekias had done the thing that pleased the Lord, and was - strong in the ways of David his father, as Esay the prophet, who - was great and faithful in his vision, had commanded him,"--ECCLUS. - xlviii. 22. - - -The reign of Hezekiah was epoch-making in many respects, but especially -for its religious reformation, and the relations of Judah with Assyria -and with Babylon. It is also most closely interwoven with the annals of -Hebrew prophecy, and acquires unwonted lustre from the magnificent -activity and impassioned eloquence of the great prophet Isaiah, who -merits in many ways the title of "the Evangelical Prophet," and who was -the greatest of the prophets of the Old Dispensation. - -According to the notice in 2 Kings xviii. 2, Hezekiah was twenty-five -years old when he began to reign in the third year of Hoshea of -Israel. This, however, is practically impossible consistently with the -dates that Ahaz reigned sixteen years and became king at the age of -twenty, for it would then follow that Hezekiah was born when his -father was a mere boy--and this, although Hezekiah does not seem to -have been the eldest son; for Ahaz had burnt "his son," and, according -to the Chronicler, more than one son, to propitiate Moloch. Probably -Hezekiah was a boy of fifteen when he began to reign. The chronology -of his reign of twenty-nine years is, unhappily, much confused. - -The historian of the Kings agrees with the Chronicler, and the son of -Sirach, in pronouncing upon him a high eulogy, and making him equal -even to David in faithfulness. There is, however, much difference in -the method of their descriptions of his doings. The historian devotes -but one verse to his reformation--which probably began early in his -reign, though it occupied many years. The Chronicler, on the other -hand, in his three chapters manages to overlook, if not to suppress, -the one incident of the reformation which is of the deepest interest. -It is exactly one of those suppressions which help to create the deep -misgiving as to the historic exactness of this biassed and late -historian. It must be regarded as doubtful whether many of the Levitic -details in which he revels are or are not intended to be literally -historic. Imaginative additions to literal history became common among -the Jews after the Exile, and leaders of that day instinctively drew -the line between moral homiletics and literal history. It may be -perfectly historical that, as the Chronicler says, Hezekiah opened and -repaired the Temple; gathered the priests and the Levites together, -and made them cleanse themselves; offered a solemn sacrifice; -reappointed the musical services; and--though this can hardly have -been till after the Fall of Samaria in 722--invited all the Israelites -to a solemn, but in some respects irregular, passover of fourteen -days. It may be true also that he broke up the idolatrous altars in -Jerusalem, and tossed their _debris_ into the Kidron; and (again after -the deportation of Israel) destroyed some of the _bamoth_ in Israel as -well as in Judah. If he reinstituted the courses of the priests, the -collection of tithes, and all else that he is said to have done,[481] -he accomplished quite as much as was effected in the reign of his -great-grandson Josiah. But while the Chronicler dwells on all this at -such length, what induces him to omit the most significant fact of -all--the destruction of the brazen serpent? - -The historian tells us that Hezekiah "removed the _bamoth_"--the -chapels on the high places, with their ephods and teraphim--whether -dedicated to the worship of Jehovah or profaned by alien idolatry. -That he did, or attempted, something of this kind seems certain; for -the Rabshakeh, if we regard his speech as historical in its details, -actually taunted him with impiety, and threatened him with the wrath -of Jehovah on this very account. Yet here we are at once met with the -many difficulties with which the history of Israel abounds, and which -remind us at every turn that we know much less about the inner life -and religious conditions of the Hebrews than we might infer from a -superficial study of the historians who wrote so many centuries after -the events which they describe. Over and over again their incidental -notices reveal a condition of society and worship which violently -collides with what seems to be their general estimate. Who, for -instance, would not infer from this notice that in Judah, at any rate, -the king's suppression of the "high places," and above all of those -which were idolatrous, had been tolerably thorough? How much, then, -are we amazed to find that Hezekiah had not effectually desecrated -even the old shrines which Solomon had erected to Ashtoreth, Chemosh, -and Milcom[482] "at the right hand of the mount of corruption"--in -other words, on one of the peaks of the Mount of Olives, in full view -of the walls of Jerusalem and of the Temple Hill! - -"And he brake the images," or, as the R.V. more correctly renders it, -"the pillars," the _matstseboth_. Originally--that is, before the -appearance of the Deuteronomic and the Priestly Codes--no objection -seems to have been felt to the erection of a _matstsebah_. Jacob erected -one of these _baitulia_ or anointed stones at Bethel, with every sign of -Divine approval.[483] Moses erected twelve round his altar at -Sinai.[484] Joshua erected them in Shechem and on Mount Ebal. Hosea, in -one passage (iii. 4), seems to mention pillars, ephods, and teraphim as -legitimate objects of desire. Whether they have any relation to -obelisks, and what is their exact significance, is uncertain; but they -had become objects of just suspicion in the universal tendency to -idolatry, and in the deepening conviction that the second commandment -required a far more rigid adherence than it had hitherto received. - -"And cut down the groves"--or rather the Asherim, the wooden, and -probably in some instances phallic, emblems of the nature-goddess -Asherah, the goddess of fertility.[485] She is sometimes identified with -Astarte, the goddess of the moon and of love; but there is no -sufficient ground for the identification. Some, indeed, doubt whether -Asherah is the name of a goddess at all. They suppose that the word only -means a consecrated pole or pillar, emblematic of the sacred tree.[486] - -Then comes the startling addition, "And brake in pieces the brazen -serpent that Moses had made: _for unto those days the children of -Israel did burn incense to it_." This addition is all the more -singular because the Hebrew tense implies habitual worship. The story -of the brazen serpent of the wilderness is told in Num. xxi. 9; but -not an allusion to it occurs anywhere, till now--some eight centuries -later--we are told that up to this time the children of Israel had -been in the habit of burning incense to it! Comparing Num. xxi. 4, -with xxxiii. 42, we find that the scene of the serpent-plague of the -Exodus was either Zalmonah ("the place of the image") or Punon, which -Bochart connects with Phainoi, a place mentioned as famous for -copper-mines.[487] Moses, for unknown reasons, chose it as an innocent -and potent symbol; but obviously in later days it subserved, or was -mingled with, the tendency to ophiolatry, which has been fatally -common in all ages in many heathen lands. It is indeed most difficult -to understand a state of things in which the children of Israel -habitually _burned incense_ to this venerable relic, nor can we -imagine that this was done without the cognisance and connivance of -the priests. Ewald makes the conjecture that the brazen _Saraph_ had -been left at Zalmonah, and was an occasional object of Israelite -adoration in pilgrimage for the purpose. There is, however, nothing -more extraordinary in the prevalence of serpent-worship among the Jews -than in the fact that, "in the cities of Judah and the streets of -Jerusalem, we" (the Jews), "and our fathers, our kings, and our -princes, burnt incense unto the Queen of Heaven."[488] If this were -the case, the serpent may have been brought to Jerusalem in the -idolatrous reign of Ahaz. It shows an intensity of reforming zeal, and -an inspired insight into the reality of things, that Hezekiah should -not have hesitated to smash to pieces so interesting a relic of the -oldest history of his people, rather than see it abused to idolatrous -purposes.[489] Certainly, in conduct so heroic, and hatred of idolatry -so strong, the Puritans might well find sufficient authority for -removing from Westminster Abbey the images of the Virgin, which, in -their opinion, had been worshipped, and before which lamps had been -perpetually burned. If we can imagine an English king breaking to -pieces the shrine of the Confessor in the Abbey, or a French king -destroying the sacred ampulla of Rheims or the _goupillon_ of St. -Eligius, on the ground that many regarded them with superstitious -reverence, we may measure the effect produced by this startling act of -Puritan zeal on the part of Hezekiah. - -"And he called it _Nehushtan_." If this rendering--in which our A.V. and -R.V. follow the LXX. and the Vulgate--be correct, Hezekiah justified the -iconoclasm by a brilliant play of words.[490] The Hebrew words for "a -serpent" (_nachash_) and for brass (_nechosheth_) are closely akin to -each other; and the king showed his just estimate of the relic which had -been so shamefully abused by contemptuously designating it--as it was in -itself and apart from its sacred historic associations--"nehushtan," a -thing of brass. The rendering, however, is uncertain, for the phrase may -be impersonal--"one" or "they" called it Nehushtan[491]--in which case -the assonance had lost any ironic connotation.[492] - -For this act of purity of worship, and for other reasons, the -historian calls Hezekiah the best of all the kings of Judah, superior -alike to all his predecessors and all his successors. He regarded him -as coming up to the Deuteronomic ideal, and says that therefore "the -Lord was with him, and he prospered whithersoever he went forth." - -The date of this great reformation is rendered uncertain by the -impossibility of ascertaining the exact order of Isaiah's prophecies. -The most probable view is that it was gradual, and some of the king's -most effective measures may not have been carried out till after the -deliverance from Assyria. It is clear, however, that the wisdom of -Hezekiah and his counsellors began from the first to uplift Judah from -the degradation and decrepitude to which it had sunk under the reign of -Ahaz. The boy-king found a wretched state of affairs at his accession. -His father had bequeathed to him "an empty treasury, a ruined peasantry, -an unprotected frontier, and a shattered army";[493] but although he was -still the vassal of Assyria, he reverted to the ideas of his -great-grandfather Uzziah. He strengthened the city, and enabled it to -stand a siege by improving the water-supply. Of these labours we have, -in all probability, a most interesting confirmation in the inscription -by Hezekiah's engineers, discovered in 1880, on the rocky walls of the -subterranean tunnel (_siloh_) between the spring of Gihon and the Pool -of Siloam.[494] He encouraged agriculture, the storage of produce, and -the proper tendance of flocks and herds, so that he acquired wealth -which dimly reminded men of the days of Solomon. - -There is little doubt that he early meditated revolt from Assyria; for -renewed faithfulness to Jehovah had elevated the moral tone, and -therefore the courage and hopefulness, of the whole people. The -Forty-Sixth Psalm, whatever may be its date, expresses the invincible -spirit of a nation which in its penitence and self-purification began -to feel itself irresistible, and could sing:-- - - "God is our hope and strength, - A very present help in trouble. - Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be moved, - Though the hills be carried into the midst of the sea. - There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of - God, - The Holy City where dwells the Most High. - God is in the midst of her; therefore shall she not be - shaken: - God shall help her, and that right early. - Heathens raged and kingdoms trembled: - He lifted His voice--the earth melted away. - Jehovah of Hosts is with us; - Elohim of Jacob is our refuge."[495] - -It was no doubt the spirit of renewed confidence which led Hezekiah to -undertake his one military enterprise--the chastisement of the -long-troublesome Philistines. He was entirely successful. He not only -won back the cities which his father had lost,[496] but he also -dispossessed them of their own cities, even unto Gaza, which was their -southernmost possession--"from the tower of the watchman to the fenced -city."[497] There can be no doubt that this act involved an almost open -defiance of the Assyrian King; but if Hezekiah dreamed of independence, -it was essential for him to be free from the raids and the menace of a -neighbour so dangerous as Philistia, and so inveterately hostile. It is -not improbable that he may have devoted to this war the money which -would otherwise have gone to pay the tribute to Shalmaneser or Sargon, -which had been continued since the date of the appeal of Ahaz to -Tiglath-Pileser II. When Sargon applied for the tribute Hezekiah refused -it, and even omitted to send the customary present. - -It is clear that in this line of conduct the king was following the -exhortations of Isaiah. It showed no small firmness of character that -he was able to choose a decided course amid the chaos of contending -counsels. Nothing but a most heroic courage could have enabled him, at -any period of his reign, to defy that dark cloud of Assyrian war which -ever loomed on the horizon, and from which but little sufficed to -elicit the destructive lightning-flash. - -There were three permanent parties in the Court of Hezekiah, each -incessantly trying to sway the king to its own counsels, and each -representing those counsels as indispensable to the happiness, and -even to the existence, of the State. - -I. There was the Assyrian party, urging with natural vehemence that -the fierce northern king was as irresistible in power as he was -terrible in vengeance. The fearful cruelties which had been committed -at Beth-Arbel, the devastation and misery of the Trans-Jordanic -tribes, the obliteration and deportation of the heavily afflicted -districts of Zebulon, Naphtali, and the way of the sea in Galilee of -the nations, the already inevitable and imminent destruction of -Samaria and her king and the whole Northern Kingdom, together with -that certain deportation of its inhabitants of which the fatal policy -had been established by Tiglath-Pileser, would constitute weighty -arguments against resistance. Such considerations would appeal -powerfully to the panic of the despondent section of the community, -which was only actuated, as most men are, by considerations of -ordinary political expediency. The foul apparition of the Ninevites, -which for five centuries afflicted the nations, is now only visible to -us in the bas-reliefs and inscriptions unearthed from their burnt -palaces. There they live before us in their own sculptures, with their -"thickset, sensual figures," and the expression of calm and settled -ferocity on their faces, exhibiting a frightful nonchalance as they -look on at the infliction of diabolical atrocities upon their -vanquished enemies. But in the eighth century before Christ they were -visible to all the eastern world in the exuberance of the most brutal -parts of the nature of man. Men had heard how, a century earlier, -Assurnazipal boasted that he had "dyed the mountains of the Nairi with -blood like wool"; how he had flayed captive kings alive, and dressed -pillars with their skins; how he had walled up others alive, or -impaled them on stakes; how he had burnt boys and girls alive, put out -eyes, cut off hands, feet, ears, and noses, pulled out the tongues of -his enemies, and "at the command of Assur his god" had flung their -limbs to vultures and eagles, to dogs and bears. The Jews, too, must -have realised with a vividness which is to us impossible the cruel -nature of the usurper Sargon. He is represented on his monuments as -putting out with his own hands the eyes of his miserable captives; -while, to prevent them from flinching when the spear which he holds in -his hand is plunged into their eye-sockets, a hook is inserted -through their nose and lips and held fast with a bridle. Can we not -imagine the pathos with which this party would depict such horrors to -the tremblers of Judah? Would they not bewail the fanaticism which led -the prophets to seduce their king into the suicidal policy of defying -such a power? To these men the sole path of national safety lay in -continuing to be quiet vassals and faithful tributaries of these -destroyers of cities and treaders-down of foes. - -II. Then there was the Egyptian party, headed probably by the powerful -Shebna, the chancellor.[498] His foreign name, the fact that his -father is not mentioned, and the question of Isaiah--"What hast thou -here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a -sepulchre here?"--seem to indicate that he was by birth a foreigner, -perhaps a Syrian.[499] The prophet, indignant at his powerful -interference with domestic politics, threatens him, in words of -tremendous energy, with exile and degradation.[500] He lost his place -of chancellor, and we next find him in the inferior, though still -honourable, office of secretary (_sopher_, 2 Kings xviii. 18), while -Eliakim had been promoted to his vacant place (Isa. xxii. 21). Perhaps -he may have afterwards repented, and the doom have been -lightened.[501] Circumstances at any rate reduced him from the -scornful spirit which seems to have marked his earlier opposition to -the prophetic counsels, and perhaps the powerful warning and menace of -Isaiah may have exercised an influence on his mind. - -III. The third party, if it could even be called a party, was that of -Isaiah and a few of the faithful, aided no doubt by the influence of -the prophecies of Micah. Their attitude to both the other parties was -antagonistic. - -i. As regards the Assyrian, they did not attempt to minimise the -danger. They represented the peril from the kingdom of Nineveh as -God's appointed scourge for the transgressions of Judah, as it had -been for the transgressions of Israel. - -Thus Micah sees in imagination the terrible march of the invader by -Gath, Akko, Beth-le-Aphrah, Maroth, Lachish, and Adullam. He plays with -bitter anguish on the name of each town as an omen of humiliation and -ruin, and calls on Zion to make herself bald for the children of her -delight, and to enlarge her baldness as the vultures, because they are -gone into captivity.[502] He turns fiercely on the greedy grandees, the -false prophets, the blood-stained princes, the hireling priests, the -bribe-taking soothsayers, who were responsible for the guilt which -should draw down the vengeance. He ends with the fearful prophecy--which -struck a chill into men's hearts a century later, and had an important -influence on Jewish history--"Therefore, because of you shall Zion be -ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem become ruins, and the hill of the -Temple as heights in the wood";--though there should be an ultimate -deliverance from Migdal-Eder, and a remnant should be saved.[503] - -Similar to Micah's, and possibly not uninfluenced by it, is Isaiah's -imaginary picture of the march of Assyria, which must have been full -of terror to the poor inhabitants of Jerusalem.[504] - - "He is come to Aiath! - He is passed through Migron! - At Michmash he layeth up his baggage: - They are gone over the pass: - 'Geba,' they cry, 'is our lodging.' - Ramah trembleth: - Gibeah of Saul is fled! - Raise thy shrill cries, O daughter of Gallim! - Hearken, O Laishah! Answer her, O Anathoth! - Madmenah is in wild flight (?). - The inhabitants of Gebim gather their stuff to flee. - This very day shall he halt at Nob. - He shaketh his hand at the mount of the daughter of Zion, - The hill of Jerusalem." - -Yet Isaiah, and the little band of prophets, in spite of their perils, -did _not_ share the views of the Assyrian party or counsel submission. -On the contrary, even as they contemplate in imagination this terrific -march of Sargon, they threaten Assyria. The Assyrian might smite Judah, -but God should smite the Assyrians. He boasts that he will rifle the -riches of the people as one robs the eggs of a trembling bird, which -does not dare to cheep or move the wing.[505] But Isaiah tells him that -he is but the axe boasting against the hewer, and the wooden staff -lifting itself up against its wielder. Burning should be scattered over -his glory. The Lord of hosts should lop his boughs with terror, and a -mighty one should hew down the crashing forest of his haughty Lebanon. - -ii. Still more indignant were the true prophets against those who -trusted in an alliance with Egypt. From first to last Isaiah warned -Ahaz, and warned Hezekiah, that no reliance was to be placed on -Egyptian promises--that Egypt was but like the reed of his own Nile. -He mocked the hopes placed on Egyptian intervention as being no less -sure of disannulment than a covenant with death and an agreement with -Sheol. This rebellious reliance on the shadow of Egypt was but the -weaving of an unrighteous web, and the adding of sin to sin. It should -lead to nothing but shame and confusion, and the Jewish ambassadors to -Zoan and Egypt should only have to blush for a people that could -neither help nor profit. And then branding Egypt with the old -insulting name of Rahab, or "Blusterer," he says,-- - - "Egypt helpeth in vain, and to no purpose. - Therefore have I called her 'Rahab, that sitteth still.'" - -Indolent braggart--that was the only designation which she deserved! -Intrigue and braggadocio--smoke and lukewarm water,--this was all -which could be expected from _her_![506] - -Such teaching was eminently distasteful to the worldly politicians, -who regarded faith in Jehovah's intervention as no better than -ridiculous fanaticism, and forgot God's wisdom in the inflated -self-satisfaction of their own. The priests--luxurious, drunken, -scornful--were naturally with them. Men were fine and stylish, and in -their religious criticisms could not express too lofty a contempt for -any one who, like Isaiah, was too sincere to care for the mere -polishing of phrases, and too much in earnest to shrink from -reiteration. In their self-indulgent banquets these sleek, smug -euphemists made themselves very merry over Isaiah's simplicity, -reiteration, and directness of expression. With hiccoughing insolence -they asked whether they were to be treated like weaned babes; and then -wagging their heads, as their successors did at Christ upon the cross, -they indulged themselves in a mimicry, which they regarded as witty, -of Isaiah's style and manner. With him they said it is all,-- - - "Tsav-la-tsav, tsav-la-tsav, - Quav-la-quav, quav-la-quav, - Z'eir sham, Z'eir sham!"-- - -which may be imitated thus:--With him it is always "Bit and bit, bid -and bid, for-bid and for-bid, for_bid_ and for_bid_, a lit-tle bit -here, a lit-tle bit there."[507] Monosyllable is heaped on -monosyllable; and no doubt the speakers tipsily adopted the tones of -fond mothers addressing their babes and weanlings. Using the Hebrew -words, one of these shameless roysterers would say, "_Tsav-la-tsav, -tsav-la-tsav, quav-la-quav, quav-la-quav, Z'eir sham, Z'eir -sham_,--that is how that simpleton Isaiah speaks." And then doubtless -a drunken laugh would go round the table, and half a dozen of them -would be saying thus, "_Tsav-la-tsav, tsav-la-tsav_," at once. They -derided Isaiah just as the philosophers of Athens derided St. Paul--as -a mere _spermologos_, "a seed-pecker!"[508] or "picker-up of -learning's crumbs." Is all this petty monosyllabism fit teaching for -persons like us? Are we to be taught by copybooks? Do we need the -censorship of this Old Morality? - -On whom, full of the fire of God, Isaiah turned, and told these -scornful tipsters, who lorded it over God's heritage in Jerusalem, -that, since they disdained his stammerings, God would teach them by -men of strange lips and alien tongue. They might mimic the style of -the Assyrians also if they liked; but they should fall backward, and -be broken, and snared, and taken.[509] - -It must not be forgotten that the struggle of the prophets against these -parties was far more severe than we might suppose. The politicians of -expediency had supporters among the leading princes. The priests--whom -the prophets so constantly and sternly denounce--adhered to them; and, -as usual, the women were all of the priestly party (comp. Isa. xxxii. -9-20). The king, indeed, was inclined to side with his prophet, but the -king was terribly overshadowed by a powerful and worldly aristocracy, of -which the influence was almost always on the side of luxury, idolatry, -and oppression. - -iii. But what had Isaiah to offer in the place of the policy of these -worldly and sacerdotal advisers of the king? It was the simple command -"Trust in the Lord." It was the threefold message "God is high; God -is near; God is Love."[510] Had he not told Ahaz not to fear the -"stumps of two smouldering torches," when Rezin and Pekah seemed -awfully dangerous to Judah? So he tells them now that, though their -sins had necessitated the rushing stroke of Assyrian judgment, Zion -should not be utterly destroyed. In Isaiah "the calmness requisite for -sagacity rose from faith." Mr. Bagehot might have appealed to Isaiah's -whole policy in illustration of what he has so well described as the -military and political benefits of religion. Monotheism is of -advantage to men not only "by reason of the high concentration of -steady feeling which it produces, but also for the mental calmness and -sagacity which surely springs from a pure and vivid conviction that -the Lord reigneth."[511] Isaiah's whole conviction might have been -summed up in the name of the king himself: "Jehovah maketh strong." - -King Hezekiah, apparently not a man of much personal force, though of -sincere piety, was naturally distracted by the counsels of these three -parties: and who can judge him severely if, beset with such terrific -dangers, he occasionally wavered, now to one side, now to the other? -On the whole, it is clear that he was wise and faithful, and deserves -the high eulogy that his faith failed not. Naturally he had not within -his soul that burning light of inspiration which made Isaiah so sure -that, even though clouds and darkness might lower on every side, God -was an eternal Sun, which flamed for ever in the zenith, even when not -visible to any eye save that of Faith. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[480] The first of these dates is highly uncertain, as is the entire -chronology of this reign. I follow Kittel. - -[481] 2 Chron. xxxi. 2-21. - -[482] Josiah did this many years later (2 Kings xxiii. 13). - -[483] Gen. xxxv. 14. See Spencer, _De legg. Hebr._, i. 444; Bochart, -_Canaan_, ii. 2. - -[484] Exod. xxiv. 4. Comp. Deut. vii. 5, xii. 3, xvi. 22; Lev. xxvi. -1; 2 Chron. xiv. 3, xxxi. 1; Jer. xliii. 13; Hos. x. 2; Mic. v. 13 -(where the A.V. often has "statue" or "image"). Comp. Clem. Alex., -_Strom._, i. 24; Arnob., _c. Gent._, i. 39. - -[485] The rendering "grove" in the A.V. is borrowed from the [Greek: -alsos] of the LXX., and the _lucus_ of the Vulgate. On the connection -of the Asherah with the sacred tree of the Assyrian, see my article on -"Grove" in Smith's _Dict. of the Bible_; and Fergusson, _Nineveh and -Persepolis Restored_, 299-304. On the worship of Asherah, see 1 Kings -xv. 13; 2 Kings xxi. 3-7, xxiii. 4; 2 Chron. xv. 16; Judg. iii. 5-7, -vi. 25, xviii. 18. Baudissin in _Herzog Realencykl._, _s.v._ We may -well be startled by the prevalence of idolatry in Jerusalem revealed -in Isa. x. 11, xxvii. 9, xxix. 11, xxx. 9, 22, etc. - -[486] See Wellhausen, _Hist._, 235; Stade, _Gesch. d. V. I._, 460; W. -R. Smith, _Religion of the Semites_, 171; Cheyne, _Isaiah_, ii. 303; -Renan, _Hist. du Peuple d'Israel_, i. 230 (Prof. Driver, _Bibl. -Dict._, i. 258, 2nd edition). - -[487] _Hierozoicon_, ii. 3, Sec. 13. - -[488] Jer. xliv. 17. In the collection of antiquities of Baron -Ustinoff at Jaffa are five or six dragon-headed serpents, with ears of -copper and hollow inside. They are ancient, and were perhaps used as -talismanic copies of Nehushtan. - -[489] If this was a genuine relic, it must have been nearly eight -hundred years old. It is never mentioned elsewhere. - -[490] [Hebrew: nechushtan], "a brazen thing." The king certainly showed -a horror of sacerdotal imposture and religious materialism. Yet Renan -argues, from Isa. x. 11, xxvii. 9, xxx. 9, 22, that he must have had a -certain amount of tolerance. See _Hist. du Peuple d'Israel_, iii. 30. - -[491] 2 Kings xviii. 4. _Vayyikra_ is like the English indefinite -plural. The impersonal rendering (as in other passages) is adopted in -the Targum of Jonathan, the Peshito, etc., and by Luther, Bunsen, -Ewald, and most moderns. - -[492] This relic is still shown in the Church of St. Ambrose at Milan. -It used to be the popular notion that it would hiss at the end of the -world. The history of the Milan "relic" is that a Milanese envoy to -the court of the Emperor John Zimisces at Constantinople chose it from -the imperial treasures, being assured that it was made of the same -metal that Hezekiah had broken up (Sigonius, _Hist. Regn. Ital._, -vii.). It is probably a symbol used by some ophite sect. See Dean -Plumptre, _Dict. of Bibl._, _s.v._ "Serpent." - -[493] 2 Kings xvi. 8; Driver, _Isaiah_, 68. - -[494] The diverting of the water-courses enabled him to bring the water -into the city by a subterranean tunnel. The Saracens took a similar -precaution (Gul. Tyr., viii. 7). See Appendix II., where the inscription -is given; and compare 2 Chron. xxxii. 30. Apparently it carried the -water of Gihon to the south-east gate, where were the king's gardens. -Ecclus. xlviii. 17: "Ezekias fortified his city, and brought in water -into the midst thereof: he digged the hard rock with iron, and made -wells for water." For "water" the MSS. read "Gog," a corruption probably -for [Greek: agogon], "a conduit" (Geiger) or "Gihon" (Fritzsche). - -[495] Psalm xlvi. 1-11. - -[496] 2 Chron. xxviii. 18. - -[497] 2 Kings xviii. 8: comp. xvii. 9. Josephus says that he failed to -take Gath (_Antt._, IX. xiii. 3). - -[498] A.V., "treasurer" (_soken_; lit., "deputy" or "associate": Isa. -xxii. 15). He was "over the household." The Egyptian alliance had for -Judah, as Renan points out, some of the fascination that a Russian -alliance has often had for troubled spirits in France (_Hist. du -Peuple d'Israel_, iii. 12). - -[499] Renan says that he may have been a Sebennyite, and his name -Sebent. - -[500] Isa. xxii. 17, 18: "Behold, the Lord shall sling and sling, and -pack and pack, and toss and toss thee away like a ball into a distant -land; and there thou shalt die" (Stanley). The versions vary -considerably. - -[501] Isa. xxxvii. 2. There can be little doubt that there were not -_two_ Shebnas. - -[502] Mic. i. 10-16. See the writer's _Minor Prophets_ ("Men of the -Bible" Series), pp. 130-133, for an explanation of this enigmatic -prophecy. - -[503] Jer. xxvi. 8-24. He tells us that the prophecy was delivered in -the reign of Hezekiah. See my _Minor Prophets_, pp. 123-140. - -[504] Isa. x. 28-32. It would involve a cross-country route over -several deep ravines--_e.g._, the Wady Suweinit, near Michmash. In 1 -Sam. xiv. 2, Thenius, for "Migron," reads "the Precipice." Some take -Aiath for Ai, three miles south of Bethel. Renan says (_Hist. du -Peuple d'Israel_, iii.): "Nom d'Anathoth, arrange symboliquement." - -[505] Isa. x. 14. The metaphor of a bird's nest occurs more than once -in the boastful Assyrian records. - -[506] Isa. xxx. 1-7. Rahab means "fierceness," "insolence." For the -various uses of the word, see Job xxvi. 12; Isa. li. 9, 10, 15; Psalm -lxxxix. 9, 10, lxxxvii. 4, 5. - -[507] See Dr. S. Cox (_Expositor_, i. 98-104) on Isa. xxviii. 7-13. - -[508] Acts xvii. 18. - -[509] Isa. xxviii. 7-22. - -[510] Professor Smith, _Isaiah_, i. 12. - -[511] Bagehot, _Physics and Politics_, p. 73; Smith, _Isaiah_, 109. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVI - - _HEZEKIAH'S SICKNESS, AND THE EMBASSY FROM - BABYLON_ - - 2 KINGS xx. 1-19 - - "Thou hast loved me out of the pit of nothingness."--ISA. xxxviii. - 17 (A.V., margin). - - "See the shadow of the dial - In the lot of every one - Marks the passing of the trial, - Proves the presence of the Sun." - E. B. BROWNING. - - -In the chaos of uncertainties which surrounds the chronology of King -Hezekiah's reign, it is impossible to fix a precise date to the -sickness which almost brought him to the grave. It has, however, been -conjectured by some Assyriologists that the story of this episode has -been displaced, because it seemed to break the continuity of the -narrative of the Assyrian invasion; and that, though it is placed in -the Book of Kings after the deliverance from Sennacherib, it really -followed the earlier incursion of Sargon. This is rendered more -probable by Isaiah's promise (2 Kings xx. 6), "I will deliver thee and -this city out of the hand of the King of Assyria," and by the fact -that Hezekiah still possessed such numerous and splendid treasures to -display to the ambassadors of Merodach-Baladan. This could hardly have -been the case after he had been forced to pay a fine to the King of -Assyria of all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and -in the treasures of the king's house, to cut off the gold from the -doors and pillars of the Temple, and even to send as captives to -Nineveh some of his wives, and of the eunuchs of his palace.[512] The -date "in those days" (2 Kings xx. 1) is vague and elastic, and may -apply to any time before or after the great invasion. - -He was sick unto death. The only indication which we have of the -nature of his illness is that it took the form of a carbuncle or -imposthume,[513] which could be locally treated, but which, in days of -very imperfect therapeutic knowledge, might easily end in death, -especially if it were on the back of the neck. The conjecture of -Witsius and others that it was a form of the plague which they suppose -to have caused the disaster to the Assyrian army has nothing whatever -to recommend it. - -Seeing the fatal character of his illness, Isaiah came to the king -with the dark message, "Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, -and not live." - -The message is interesting as furnishing yet another proof that even -the most positive announcements of the prophets were, and were always -meant to be, to some extent hypothetical and dependent on unexpressed -conditions. This was the case with the famous prophecy of Micah that -Zion should be ploughed down into a heap of ruins. It was never -fulfilled; yet the prophet lost none of his authority, for it was well -understood that the doom which would otherwise have been carried out -had been averted by timely penitence. - -But the message of Isaiah fell with terrible anguish on the heart of -the suffering king. He had hoped for a better fate. He had begun a -great religious reformation. He had uplifted his people, at least in -part, out of the moral slough into which they had fallen in the days -of his predecessor. He had inspired into his threatened capital -something of his own faith and courage. Surely he, if any man, might -claim the old promises which Jehovah in His loving-kindness and truth -had sworn to his father David and his father Abraham, that he being -delivered out of the hand of his enemies should serve God without -fear, walking in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of -his life. He was but a young man still--perhaps not yet thirty years -old; further, not only would he leave behind him an unfinished work, -but he was childless,[514] and therefore it seemed as if with him -would end the direct line of the house of David, heir to so many -precious promises. He has left us--it is preserved in the Book of -Isaiah--the poem which he wrote on his recovery, but which enshrines -the emotion of his agonising anticipations[515]:-- - - "I said, In the noontide of my days I shall go into the gates of - Sheol. - I am deprived of the residue of my years. - I said, I shall not see Yah, Yah, in the land of the living, - I shall behold no man more, when I am among them that cease to be. - Mine habitation is removed, and is carried away from me like a - shepherd's tent. - Like a weaver I have rolled up my life; he will cut me from the - thrum. - - * * * * * - - Like a swallow or a crane, so did I chatter; - I did mourn as a dove; mine eyes fail with looking upward. - O Lord, I am oppressed; be Thou my surety." - -We must remember, as we contemplate his utter prostration of soul, -that he was not blessed, as we are, with the sure and certain hope of -the resurrection to eternal life. All was dim and dark, to him in the -shadowy world of _eidola_ beyond the grave, and many a century was to -elapse before Christ brought life and immortality to light. To enter -Sheol meant to Hezekiah to pass beyond the cheerful sunshine of earth -and the felt presence of God. No more worship, no more gladness there! - - "For Sheol cannot praise Thee, Death cannot celebrate Thee; - They that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy truth." - -On every ground, therefore, the feelings of Hezekiah, had he not been a -worshipper of God, might have been like those of Mycerinus, and, like -that legendary Egyptian king, he might have cursed God before he died. - - "My father loved injustice, and lived long; - I loved the good he scorned and hated wrong-- - The gods declare my recompense to-day. - I looked for life more lasting, rule more high; - And when six years are measured, lo, I die! - Yet surely, O my people, did I ween - Man's justice from the all-just gods was given, - A light that from some upper point did beam, - Some better archetype whose seat was heaven: - A light that, shining from the blest abodes, - Did shadow somewhat of the life of gods." - -The indignation of Mycerinus often finds an echo on Pagan tombstones, -as in the famous epitaph on the grave of the girl Procope:-- - - "I, Procope, lift up my hands against the gods, - Who took me hence undeserving, - Aged nineteen years." - -It was far otherwise with Hezekiah. There was anguish in his heart, -but no rebellion or defiance. He wept sore; he turned his face to the -wall and wept;[516] but as he wept he also prayed, and said,-- - -"O Lord, remember now how I have walked before Thee in truth, and with -a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in Thy sight." - -Isaiah, after delivering his dark message, and doubtless adding to it -such words of human consolation as were possible--if under such -circumstances any were possible--had left the king's chamber. On every -ground his feelings must have been almost as overwhelmed with sorrow as -those of the king. Hezekiah was personally his friend, and the hope of -his nation. Doubtless the prophet's prayers rose as fervently and as -effectually as those of Luther, which snatched his friend Melanchthon -back from the very gates of death. By the time that he had reached the -middle of the court,[517] he felt borne in upon him, by that Divine -intuition which constituted his prophetic call, the certainty that God -would withdraw the immediate doom which he had been commissioned to -announce. It has been conjectured by some that the conviction was -deepened in his mind by observing on the steps of Ahaz one of those -remarkable but rare effects of refraction--or, as some have conjectured, -of a solar eclipse, involving an obscuration of the upper limb of the -sun--which had seemed to take the advancing shadow ten steps backwards; -and that this was to him a sign from heaven of the promise of God and -the prolongation of the king's life. Awestruck and glad, he hastened -back into the presence of the dying king with the life-giving message -that God had heard his prayer, and seen his tears, and would add fifteen -years to his life, and would defend him, and deliver him and Jerusalem -out of the hand of the King of Assyria. And this should be the sign to -him from Jehovah--Jehovah would bring again the shadow ten steps up the -stairs of Ahaz. To this sign--if it was visible from the -chamber-window--he called the attention of the astonished king.[518] - -We here naturally follow the narrative of Isaiah himself, as more -authoritative than that of the historian of the Kings as to details in -which they differ.[519] Not only is it quite in accordance with all -that we know of history that slight variations should occur in the -traditions of long-past times, but the text of the Book of Kings -suggests some difficulty. There we read that Hezekiah asked Isaiah -what should be the sign of the promise--not mentioned in Isaiah--that -he should go up to the House of the Lord the third day. Isaiah then -asked him whether the sign should be that the shadow should advance -ten steps, or recede ten steps. But there is no interrogation in the -Hebrew, which rather means, "The shadow hath advanced ten steps ... if -it shall recede ten steps?" or if we insert the interrogation in the -first clause, "Hath the shadow advanced ten steps?"[520] The king's -natural answer to so strange an alternative would be that for the -shadow to advance ten steps was nothing; whereas its retrogression -would be a sign indeed. Then Isaiah cried unto Jehovah, and the shadow -went backward. In the obvious divergence of details we naturally -follow Isaiah himself; and if it be a true and understood rule of all -theology, "_Miracula non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem_," the -miracle in this case--in the opportuneness of its occurrence, and the -issues which it inspired--was none the less a miracle because it was -carried out in direct accordance with God's unseen, perpetual, -miraculous Providence, which none but unbelievers will nickname -Chance. That we are here dealing with an historic incident is certain; -and they who see and acknowledge God in all history find no difficulty -at all in seeing His dealings with men in striking interpositions. But -these, by the analogy of His whole Divine economy, would naturally be -out in accordance with natural laws. - -The words rendered "the sun-dial of Ahaz" mean no more than "the steps -[_ma'aloth_] of Ahaz." Ahaz evidently was a king of aesthetic tastes, -who was fond of introducing foreign novelties and curiosities into -Jerusalem.[521] Steps, with a staff on the top of them as a gnomon, to -serve as sun-dials had been invented at Babylon, and Ahaz may probably -have become acquainted with their form and use when he paid his visit to -Tiglath-Pileser at Damascus. No one could blame him--it was indeed a -meritorious act--to introduce to his people so useful an invention. The -word "hour" first occurs in Dan. iii. 6, and it was doubtless from -Babylon that the Hebrews borrowed the division of days into hours. This -is the earliest instance in the Bible of the mention of any instrument -to measure time. That the recession of the shadow could be caused by -refraction is certain, for it has been observed in modern days. Thus, as -is mentioned by Rosenmueller, on March 27th, 1703, Pere Romauld, prior of -the monastery at Metz, noticed that the shadow on his dial deviated an -hour and a half, owing to refraction in the higher regions of the -atmosphere.[522] Or again, according to Mr. Bosanquet, the same effect -might have been produced by the darkening shadow of an eclipse. But -while he appealed to Divine indications the great prophet did not -neglect natural remedies. He ordered that a cake of figs should be laid -on the imposthume. It was a recognised and an efficient remedy, still -recommended, centuries later, by Dioscorides, by Pliny, and by St. -Jerome. By God's blessing on man's therapeutic care, the king was -speedily rescued from the gates of death. Constantly in Scripture what -we call the miraculous and what we call the providential are mingled -together. To those who regard the providential as a constant miracle, -the question of the miraculous becomes subordinate.[523] - -With intense joy and gratitude the king hailed the respite which God -had granted him. In fifteen years much might be done, much might be -hoped for. All this he acknowledged with deep feeling in the song -which he wrote on his recovery. - - "I shall go as in solemn procession[524] all my years because of the - bitterness of my soul. - O Lord, by these things men live, - And wholly therein is the life of my spirit. - Behold, it was for my peace that I had great bitterness; - But Thou hast loved my soul from the pit of nothingness: - For Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back. - - * * * * * - - The Lord is ready to save me; - Therefore will we sing my songs to the stringed instruments - All the days of our life in the house of the Lord."[525] - -"The wonder done in the land" was, according to the Chronicler, one of -the grounds for the embassy which, after his recovery, Hezekiah -received from Merodach-Baladan, the patriot prince of Babylon. The -other ostensible object of the embassy was to send letters and a -present in congratulation for the king's restoration to health. But -the real object lay deeper, out of sight. It was to secure a southern -alliance for Babylon against the incessant tyranny of Nineveh. - -Merodach-Baladan is mentioned in the inscriptions of Sargon.[526] He -is described as "Merodach-Baladan, son of Baladan, King of Sumir and -Accad, king of the four countries, and conqueror of all his enemies." -There had been long struggles, lasting indeed for centuries, between -the city on the Euphrates and the city on the Tigris. Sometimes one, -sometimes the other, had been victorious. Babylon--on the monuments -Kur-Dunyash--had its original Accadian name of Ca-dinirra, which, like -its Semitic equivalent Bal-el, means "Gate of God." Kalah (Larissa and -Birs Nimroud) had been built by Shalmaneser I. before B.C. 1300. His -son conquered Babylon, but not permanently; for in some later raid the -Babylonians got possession of his signet-ring, with its proud -inscription, "Conqueror of Kur-Dunyash," and it was not recovered by -the Assyrians till six centuries later, when it fell into the hands of -Sennacherib. About 1150 Nebuchadrezzar I. of Babylon thrice invaded -Assyria, but there was again peace and alliance in 1100. -Merodach-Baladan I. reigned before 900. The king who now sought the -friendship of Hezekiah was the second of the name. He seized or -recovered the throne of Babylon in 721, after the death of -Shalmaneser, perhaps because Sargon was a usurper of dubious descent. -He helped the Elamites against Assyria. Sargon was compelled to -retreat to Assyria, but returned in 712, and drove Merodach-Baladan to -flight. He was captured and taken to Assyria. But on the murder of -Sargon in 705, he again managed to seize the throne of Babylon, killed -the viceroy who had been set up, and became king for six months. After -this, Sennacherib invaded his country, defeated him, and drove him -once more to flight. He was perhaps killed by his successor. - -Whether his overtures to Hezekiah took place before his defeat by -Sargon, or after his escape, is uncertain. In either case he doubtless -sent a splendid embassy, for Babylon was far-famed for its golden -magnificence as "the glory of kingdoms" and "the beauty of the -Chaldees' excellency."[527] At that time the Jews knew but little of -the far-off city which was destined to be so closely interwoven with -their future fortunes, as it was mingled with their oldest and dimmest -traditions.[528] Apart from the magnificence of the presents brought -to him, it was not unnatural that Hezekiah should regard this embassy -with intense satisfaction. It was flattering to the power of his -little kingdom that its alliance should be sought by the far-off and -powerful capital on the great river;[529] it was still more -encouraging to know that the frightful Nineveh had a strong enemy not -far from her own frontier. Merodach-Baladan's ambassadors would be -sure to inform Hezekiah that their lord had flung off the authority of -Sargon, had kept him at bay for many years, and was still the -undisputed king of the dominions snatched from the common enemy. It -might have seemed reasonable that Hezekiah, for his part, should -desire to leave the most favourable impression of his wealth and power -on the mind of his distant and magnificent ally. He "hearkened unto" -the ambassadors, or, more properly, "he was glad of them" (R.V.),[530] -and "showed them all the house of his spicery and other treasures, his -precious unguents, his armoury, his bullion, plate, and the whole -resources of his kingdom." The Chronicler regards this as ingratitude -to God. He says that "Hezekiah rendered not again according unto the -benefits done unto him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there -was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem." It is a severe -judgment of later times, and the historian of the Kings pronounces no -such censure. Nevertheless, he records the stern sentence pronounced -by Isaiah. The prophet had seen through the secret diplomacy of the -Babylonian ambassadors, and knew that the real object of their mission -was to induce his king to revolt against Assyria in reliance on an arm -of flesh. He came to ask Hezekiah whose these men were, whence they -came, and what they had said. The king told him who they were, and how -he had received them; but he did not think it wise to reveal their -secret proposals. If Isaiah had so vehemently reproved all -negotiations with Egypt, there was little probability that he would -sanction the overtures of Babylon. He saw in Hezekiah's conduct a vein -of ostentatious elation, a swerving from theocratic faith; and with -remarkable prophetic insight convinced the king of the error and -impolicy of his proceedings, by announcing that the final and, in -fact, irrevocable captivity of Judah would ultimately come, not from -Nineveh, the fierce enemy, whose cloud of war was lurid on the -horizon, but from Babylon, the apparently weaker friend, who was now -making overtures of amity. With what heartrending grief must the king -have heard the doom that the display of his treasures would prove to -be in the future an incentive to the cupidity of the kings of Babylon, -and that they would sweep away all those precious things to the banks -of the Euphrates with such final overthrow that even the descendants -of David should be sunk to the infinite degradation of being eunuchs -in the palace of the King of Babylon.[531] The doom seems to have been -fulfilled in part in the reign of Hezekiah's son, and more fearfully -in the days of his great-grandchildren.[532] - -The king's pride was humbled to the dust. In the spirit of Job--"The -Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the -Lord"[533]--he resigned himself without a murmur to the will of -Heaven, and exclaimed that all which God did must be well done. At -least God granted him a respite. Peace and truth would be in his own -days; for that let him be thankful. They were words of humble -resignation, uttered by one who had learnt to believe that whatever -God decreed was just and right. - -It would be unjust to measure the feelings of those far centuries by -those of our own day, and there was none of the gross selfishness in -the words of Hezekiah which led Nero to quote the line-- - - "When I am dead, let earth be mixed with fire"; - -or which led Louis XIV. to say-- - - "Apres moi le deluge." - -We may perhaps trace in his exclamation something of the fatalism -which gives a touch of apathy to the submissiveness of the Oriental. -Some, too, have imagined that his distress was tinged by a gleam of -happiness at the implicit promise that he should have a son. His -wife's name was Hephzibah ("My delight is in her"), and within two -years she brought forth the firstborn son, whose career, indeed, was -dark and evil, but who became in due time an ancestor of the promised -Messiah. The name "Manasseh" given him by his parents recalled the -child born to Joseph in the land of his exile who had caused him to -forget his sorrows.[534] Hezekiah had the spirit which says,-- - - "That which Thou blessest is most good, - And unblest good is ill; - And all is right which seems most wrong, - So it be Thy sweet will." - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[512] One of the first to point out the _necessary_ rearrangement of -the events of Hezekiah's reign was Dr. Hincks, in his paper on "A -Rectification of Chronology which the newly discovered Apis-steles -render necessary" (_Journ. of Sacred Lit._, October 1858). See my -article on Hezekiah, Smith, _Dict. of the Bible_, 2nd ed., ii. 1251. - -[513] Heb., _sh'chin_; LXX., [Greek: helkos]; Vulg., _ulcus_. - -[514] The Rabbis even make his sickness the punishment for his having -neglected to secure an heir. He pleads that he foresaw the wickedness -of his son. Isaiah tells him not to try to forestall God (_Berachoth_, -f. 10, 1). - -[515] Isa. xxxviii. 10-20. - -[516] Comp. 1 Kings xxi. 4 (Ahab). - -[517] 2 Kings xx. 4. The _Q'ri_ or "read" text is, as here rendered, -_chatsee_ (comp. 1 Kings vii. 8), and is followed by the LXX. ([Greek: -en te aule te mese]), by the Vulgate (_mediam partem atrii_), and by the -A.V. The R.V., which adopts the Kethib or written text, _ha'ir_, renders -it "the middle part of the city." If this be the true reading, it would -mean that Isaiah had gone some distance from the palace, and was now -perhaps in the Valley between the Upper and the Lower City. But it seems -not improbable that (1) "the steps of Ahaz" would be in the royal court, -and (2) the answer of God, like the mercy of Christ to the suffering, -may have come promptly as an echo to the appealing cry. - -[518] The LXX. calls "the stairs" [Greek: anabathmous tou oikou tou -patros sou], and so, too, Josephus (_Antt._, X. ii. 1). The Targum -calls them "an hour-stone." Symmachus has, [Greek: strepso ten skian -ton grammon he katebe en horologio Achaz]. - -[519] It should, however, be observed that on the question of priority -critics are divided. Grotius, Vitringa, Paulus, Drechsler, etc., -thought that the account in the Book of Isaiah is the original; De -Wette, Maurer, Koster, Winer, Driver, etc., regard that account as a -later abbreviation, perhaps from a common source. - -[520] See Professor Lumby, _ad loc._ - -[521] There is an exactly similar sun-dial not far from Delhi. - -[522] _Journ. of Asiatic Soc._, xv. 286-293. - -[523] Figs have a recognised use for imposthumes. See Dioscorides and -Pliny quoted in Celsius, _Hierobot._, ii. 373. In the passage of -_Berachoth_ quoted above, Hezekiah in his sickness asks Isaiah to give -him his daughter in marriage, that he may have an heir. Isaiah replies -that the decree of his death is irrevocable. The king bids Isaiah -depart, and says (quoting Job xiii. 15) that a man must not despair, -even if a sword is laid on his neck. - -[524] Comp. Psalm xlii. 4. - -[525] Isa. xxxviii. 10-20. - -[526] The Babylonian form of his name is Marduk-habal-iddi-na--_i.e._, -"Merodach gave a son." He is the Mardokempados of the _Ptolemaic -Canon_, and the second fragment of his reign (six months) is mentioned -by Polyhistor (_ap._ Euseb.). Josephus calls him Baladan (_Antt._, X. -ii. 2). He was originally the prince of the Chaldaean _Bit Yakim_. -Sargon calls him "Merodach-Baladan, the foe, the perverse, who, -contrary to the will of the great gods, ruled as king at Babylon." He -displaced him for a time by "Belibus, the son of a wise man, whom one -had reared like a little dog" (as we might say "like a tame cat") "in -my palace" (Schrader, ii. 32). In the Assyrian records he is often -called (by mistake?) "the son of Yakim." For the adventures of the -Babylonian hero, see Schrader, _K. A. T._, 213 ff., 224 ff., 227, and -in Riehm, _Handwoerterbuch_, ii. 982. - -[527] Isa. xiv. 4, xiii. 19. - -[528] Gen. x. 10, 11, xi. 1-9. - -[529] Jos., _Antt._, X. ii. 2: [Greek: Symmachon te auton einai -parekalei kai philon.] - -[530] 2 Kings xx. 13. LXX., [Greek: echare]. - -[531] See Dan. i. 6. - -[532] 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11. - -[533] Job i. 21. - -[534] Manasseh seems to mean "one who forgets." See Gen. xli. 51. It -was the name of the husband of Judith (Judith viii. 2), and is found -in Ezra x. 30, 33. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVII - - _HEZEKIAH AND ASSYRIA_ - - B.C. 701 - - 2 KINGS xviii. 13--xix. 37. - - [Greek: All' ho sophotatos basileus ouch hopla tais ekeinon - blasphemiais, alla proseuchen kai dakrya kai sakkon - antetaxen.]--THEODORET. - - "When, sudden--how think ye the end? - Did I say 'without friend'? - Say rather from marge to blue marge - The whole sky grew his targe, - With the sun's self for visible boss, - While an Arm ran across - Which the earth heaved beneath like a breast, - Where the wretch was safe pressed." - BROWNING. - - -Although during a few memorable scenes the relations of Judah with -Assyria in the reign of Hezekiah leap into fierce light, many previous -details are unfortunately left in the deepest obscurity--an obscurity -all the more impenetrable from the lack of certain dates. It will -perhaps help to simplify our conceptions if we first sketch what is -known of Assyria from the cuneiform inscriptions, and then fill up the -sketch of those scenes which are more minutely delineated in the Book -of Kings and in the prophecies of Isaiah. - -Sargon--perhaps a successful general of royal blood, though he never -calls himself the son of any one[535]--seems to have usurped the -throne on the death of Shalmaneser IV., during the siege of Samaria in -B.C. 722. He took Samaria, deported its inhabitants, and repeopled it -from the Assyrian dominions. "In their place," he says, in his tablets -in the halls of his palace at Khorsabad, "I settled the men of -countries conquered [by my hand]."[536] In 720 he suppressed a futile -attempt at revolt, headed by a pretender named Yahubid, in Hamath, -which he reduced to "a heap of ruins." For some years after this he -was occupied mainly on his northern frontiers, but he tells us that -until 711 tribute continued to come in from Judah and Philistia. -Meanwhile, these terrified and oppressed feudatories, writhing under -the remorseless dominion of Nineveh, naturally began to listen to the -intrigues of Egypt, whose interest it was to create a bulwark between -herself and the invasion of the armies which were the abhorrence of -the world. Under the influence of Sabaco, which gave new strength and -unity to Egypt, she succeeded in seducing Ashdod from its allegiance -to Sargon. Sargon at once deposed Azuri, King of Ashdod, and put his -brother Ahimit in his place. The Ashdodites soon after deposed Ahimit, -and elected in his place Jaman, who was in alliance with Sabaco.[537] -This revolt was evidently favoured by Judah, Edom, and Moab; for -Sargon says that they, as well as the people of Philistia, "were -speaking treason." The rebellion was crushed by Sargon's -promptitude.[538] He tells his own tale thus:-- - -"In the wrath of my heart I did not divide my army, and I did not -diminish the ranks, but I marched against Ashdod with my warriors, -who did not separate themselves from the traces of my sandals. I -besieged, I took Ashdod and Gunt-Asdodim. I then re-established these -towns. I placed [in them] the people whom my arms had conquered, I put -over them my lieutenant as governor. I regarded them as Assyrians, and -they practised obedience."[539] - -Sargon does not, however, seem to have conducted this campaign in -person; for we read in Isa. xx. 1 that he sent his Turtan--_i.e._, his -commander-in-chief,[540] whose name seems to have been Zir-bani--to -Ashdod, who fought against it and took it. The wretched Philistines -had put their trust in Sabaco. "The people," says Sargon, "and their -evil chiefs sent their presents to Pharaoh, King of Egypt, a prince -who could not save them, and besought his alliance." Isaiah had for -three years been indicating how vain this policy was by one of those -acted parables which so powerfully affect the Eastern mind. He had, by -the word of the Lord, stripped the shoes from on his feet and the -upper robe of sackcloth from his loins, and walked, "naked and -barefoot, for a sign and portent against Egypt and Ethiopia," to -indicate that even thus should the people of Egypt and Ethiopia be -carried away as captives, naked and barefoot, by the kings of Assyria. -Egypt was the boast of one party at Jerusalem, and Ethiopia, which had -now become master of Egypt under Sabaco, was their expectation; but -Isaiah's public self-humiliation showed how utterly their hopes -should come to nought.[541] Before the outbreak at Ashdod, Sargon had -suppressed a revolt of Hanun, or Hanno, King of Gaza, and Egypt and -Assyria first met face to face at Raphia (about B.C. 720), where -Sabaco fought in person with an Egyptian contingent, at a spot -half-way between Gaza and the "river of Egypt."[542] Sabaco, whom -Sargon calls "the Sultan of Egypt" (Siltannu Muzri), had been -defeated, and fled precipitately, but Sargon was not then sufficiently -free from other complications to advance to the Nile. The hoarded -vengeance of Assyria was inflicted upon Egypt nearly a century later -by Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal. - -In the two suppressions of revolt at Ashdod, Sargon or his Turtan must -have come perilously near Jerusalem, and perhaps he may have inflicted -sufficient damage to admit of the boast that he had "conquered" Judaea. -If so, his military vanity made him guilty of an exaggeration. - -Far more serious to Sargon was the revolt of Merodach-Baladan, King of -Chaldaea. Babylon had always been a rival of Nineveh in the competition -for world-wide dominion, and for twelve years, as Sargon says, -Merodach-Baladan had been "sending ambassadors"[543]--to Hezekiah among -others--in the patient effort to consolidate a formidable league. Elam -and Media were with him; and at a solemn banquet, for which they had -"spread the carpets,"[544] and eaten and drank, the cry had risen, -"Arise, ye princes! anoint the shield." Standing in ideal vision on his -watch-tower, Isaiah saw the sweeping rush of the Assyrian troops on -their horses and camels on their way to Babylon. What should come of it? -The answer is in the words, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon, and all the -images of her gods he [Sargon] hath broken to the ground." Alas! there -is no hope from Babylon or its embassy! Would that Isaiah could have -held out a hope! But no, "O my threshed one, son of my threshing-floor, -that which I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, that -have I declared unto you."[545] And so it came to pass. The brave -Babylonian was defeated. In 709 Sargon occupied his palace, took -Dur-yakin, to which he had fled for refuge, and made himself Lord -Paramount as far as the Persian Gulf. It was his last great enterprise. -He built and adorned his palaces, and looked forward to long years of -peace and splendour; but in 705 the dagger-thrust of an assassin--a -malcontent of the town of Kullum--found its way to his heart; and -Sennacherib reigned in his stead. - -Sennacherib--Sin-ahi-irba ("Sin, the moon-god, has multiplied -brothers")[546]--was one of the haughtiest, most splendid, and most -powerful of all the kings of Assyria, though the petty state of Judah, -relying on her God, defied and flouted him. The son of a mighty -conqueror, at the head of a magnificent army, he regarded himself as -the undisputed lord of the world.[547] Born in the purple, and bred up -as crown prince, his primary characteristic was an overweening pride -and arrogance, which shows itself in all his inscriptions. He calls -himself "the Great King, the Powerful King, the King of the Assyrians, -of the nations of the four regions, the diligent ruler, the favourite -of the Great Gods, the observer of sworn faith, the guardian of law, -the establisher of monuments, the noble hero, the strong warrior, the -first of kings, the punisher of unbelievers, the destroyer of wicked -men."[548] He was mighty both in war and peace. His warlike glories -are attested by Herodotus, by Polyhistor, by Abydenus, by Demetrius, -and by his own annals. His peaceful triumphs are attested by the great -palace which he erected at Nineveh, and the magnificent series of -sculptured slabs with which he adorned it; by his canals and -aqueducts, his gateways and embankments, his Bavian sculpture, and his -_stele_ at the Nahr-el-Kelb. He was a worthy successor of his father -Sargon, and of the second Tiglath-Pileser--active in his military -enterprises, indefatigable, persevering, full of resource.[549] - -On one of his bas-reliefs we see this magnificent potentate seated on -his throne, holding two arrows in his right hand, while his left -grasps the bow. A rich bracelet clasps each of his brawny arms. On his -head is the jewelled pyramidal crown of Assyria, with its embroidered -lappets. His dark locks stream down over his shoulders, and the long, -curled beard flows over his breast. His strongly marked, sensual -features wear an aspect of unearthly haughtiness. He is clad in -superbly broidered robes, and his throne is covered with rich -tapestries, and bas-reliefs of Assyrians or captives, who, like the -Greek caryatides, uphold its divisions with their heads and arms. - -Yet all this glory faded into darkness, and all this colossal pride -crumbled into dust. Sennacherib not only died, like his father, by -murder, but by the murderous hands of his own sons, and after the -shattering of all his immense pretensions--a defeated and dishonoured -man. - -One of his invasions of Judaea occupies a large part of the Scripture -narrative.[550] It was the fourth time of that terrible contact -between the great world-power which symbolised all that was tyrannic -and idolatrous, and the insignificant tribe which God had chosen for -His own inheritance. - -In the reign of Ahaz, about B.C. 732, Judah had come into collision -with Tiglath-Pileser II. - -Under Shalmaneser IV. and Sargon, the Northern Kingdom had ceased to -exist in 722. - -Under Sargon, Judah had been harassed and humbled, and had witnessed -the suppression of the Philistian revolt, and of the defeat of the -powerful Sabaco at Raphia about 720. - -Now came the fourth and most overwhelming calamity. If the patriots of -Jerusalem had placed any hopes in the disappearance of the ferocious -Sargon, they must speedily have recognised that he had left behind him -a no less terrible successor. - -Sennacherib reigned apparently twenty-four years (B.C. 705-681). On -his accession he placed a brother, whose name is unknown, on the -vice-regal throne of Babylon, and contented himself with the title of -King of the Assyrians. This brother was speedily dethroned by a -usurper named Hagisa, who only reigned thirty days, and was then slain -by the indefatigable Merodach-Baladan, who held the throne for six -months. He was driven out by Belibus, who had been trained "like a -little dog" in the palace of Nineveh,[551] but was now made King of -Sumir and Accad--_i.e._, of Babylonia. Sennacherib entered the palace -of Babylon and carried off the wife of Merodach and endless spoil in -triumph, while Merodach fled into the land of Guzumman, and (like the -Duke of Monmouth) hid himself "among the marshes and reeds," where the -Assyrians searched for him for five days, but found no trace of him. -After three years (702-699) Belibus proved faithless, and Sennacherib -made his son Assur-nadin-sum viceroy of Babylon. - -His second campaign was against the Medes in Northern Elam. - -His third (701) was against the Khatti (the Hittites)--_i.e._, against -Phoenicia and Palestine.[552] He drove King Luli from Sidon "by the mere -terror of the splendour of my sovereignty," and placed Tubalu (_i.e._, -Ithbaal) in his place, and subdued into tributary districts Arpad, -Byblos, Ashdod, Ammon, Moab, and Edom, suppressing at the same time a -very abortive rising in Samaria. "All these brought rich presents and -kissed my feet." He also subdued Zidka, King of Askelon, from whom he -took Beth-Dagon, Joppa, and other towns. Padi, the King of Ekron, was a -faithful vassal of Assyria; he was therefore deposed by the revolting -Ekronites, and sent in chains into the safe custody of Hezekiah, who -"imprisoned him in darkness." The rebel states all relied on the -Egyptians and Ethiopians. Sennacherib fought against Egyptians and -Ethiopians, "in reliance upon Assur my God," at Altaqu (B.C. 701), and -claims to have defeated them, and carried off the sons and charioteers -of the King of Egypt, and the charioteers of the kings of Ethiopia.[553] -He then tells us that he punished Altaqu and Timnath.[554] He impaled -the rebels of Ekron on stakes all round the city. He restored Padi, and -made him a vassal. "Hezekiah [Chazaqiahu] of Judah, who had not -submitted to my yoke, the terror of the splendour of my sovereignty -overwhelmed. Himself as a bird in a cage, in the midst of Jerusalem, his -royal city, I shut up. The Arabians and his dependants, whom he had -introduced for the defence of Jerusalem, his royal city, together with -thirty talents of gold, eight hundred of silver, bullion, precious -stones, ivory couches and thrones, an abundant treasure, with his -daughters, his harem, and his attendants, I caused to be brought after -me to Nineveh. He sent his envoy to pay tribute and render homage." At -the same time, he overran Judaea, took forty-six fenced cities and many -smaller towns, "with laying down of walls, hewing about, and trampling -down," and carried off more than two hundred thousand captives with -their spoil. Part of Hezekiah's domains was divided among three -Philistine vassals who had remained faithful to Assyria. - -It was in the midst of this terrible crisis that Hezekiah had sent to -Sennacherib at Lachish his offer of submission, saying, "I have -offended; return from me; that which thou puttest upon me I will -bear."[555] The spoiling of the palace and Temple was rendered necessary -to raise the vast mulct which the Assyrian King required.[556] - -It is at Lachish--now Um-Lakis, a fortified hill in the Shephelah, -south of Jerusalem, between Gaza and Eleutheropolis--that we catch -another personal glimpse of the mighty oppressor. We see him depicted, -on his triumphal tablets, in the palace-chambers of Kouyunjik, -engaged in the siege; for the town offered a determined -resistance,[557] and required all the energies and all the trained -heroism of his forces. We see him next, carefully painted, seated on -his royal throne in magnificent apparel, with his tiara and bracelets, -receiving the spoils and captives of the city. The inscription says: -"Sennacherib, the mighty king, the king of the country of Assyria, -sitting on the throne of judgment at the entrance of the city of -Lakisha. I give permission for its slaughter." He certainly implied -that he took the city, but a doubt is thrown on this by 2 Chron. -xxxii. 1, which only says that "he _thought_ to win these cities"; and -the historian says (2 Kings xix. 8) that he "departed from Lachish." -Lachish was evidently a very strong city, and it is so depicted in the -palace-tablets at Kouyunjik. It had been fortified by Rehoboam, and -had furnished a refuge to the wretched Amaziah.[558] - -If Judah and Jerusalem had listened to the messages of Isaiah,[559] -they might have been saved the humiliating affliction which seemed to -have plunged the brief sun of their prosperity into seas of blood. He -had warned them incessantly and in vain. He had foretold their -present desolation, in which Zion should be like a woman seated on the -ground, wailing in her despair. He had taught them that formalism was -no religion, and that external rites did not win Jehovah's approval. -He had told them how foolish it was to put trust in the shadow of -Egypt, and had not shrunk from revealing the fearful consequences -which should follow the setting up of their own false wisdom against -the wisdom of Jehovah. Yet, intermingled with pictures of suffering, -and threats of a harvestless year, designed to punish the vanity and -display of their women, and the intimation--never actually -fulfilled--that even the palace and Temple should become "the joy of -wild asses, a pasture of flocks," he constantly implies that the -disaster would be followed by a mysterious, divine, complete -deliverance, and ultimately by a Messianic reign of joy and peace. -Night is at hand, he said, and darkness; but after the darkness will -come a brighter dawn. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[535] One legend of his birth resembles the finding of Moses in the -bulrushes. - -[536] Schrader, _K. A. T._, pp. 272-274; _Records of the Past_, vii. 28. - -[537] Smith, _Eponym Canon_, p. 130. - -[538] See Prof. Smith, _Isaiah_, p. 198. - -[539] _Records of the Past_, vii. 40. Sargon's words are, "The people -of Philistia, Judah, Edom, and Moab were speaking treason. The people -and their evil chiefs, to fight against me, unto _Pharaoh, the King of -Egypt, a monarch who could not save them_, their presents carried, and -besought his alliance" (G. Smith, _Assyrian Discoveries_, 290). - -[540] On the monuments called _Turtanu_, "Holder of power." See -Schrader in Riehm, _s.v._ - -[541] Raphia, or Ropeh, is on the borders of the desert. Asia beat -Africa in every encounter--at Raphia, at Altaqu, at Carchemish. The -impression of the seal of Shabak, attached to his capitulations with -Sargon, was found at Nineveh by Sir A. H. Layard, and is now in the -British Museum. Shabak died in 712. His son Shabatoh succeeded him in -Egypt, and his nephew(?) Tirhakah in Ethiopia. Sabaco's name assumes -many forms (LXX., [Greek: Segor]; Herod., ii. 137; [Greek: Sabakos]; -Vulg., _Sua_). The Egyptians called him Shaba(ka). - -[542] Isa. xx. 1-6. - -[543] Lenormant, _Les Premieres Civilisations_, ii. 203; _Records of -the Past_, vii. 41-46. - -[544] Isa. xxi. 6, A.V., "Watch in the watch-tower." Hitzig, Cheyne, -"They spread the carpets." Much in this short oracle (xxi. 1-10) is -obscure. Isaiah seems, in denouncing the fate of Babylon, to mourn for -the ruin of the smaller states of which it was the prelude (G. Smith, -_Soc. of Bibl. Arch._, ii. 320 Kleinert, _Stud. u. Krit._, 1877 W. R. -Smith in _Enc. Brit._, _s.v._ "Isaiah"). - -[545] Isa. xxi. 10--_i.e._, "My people threshed and trodden"; LXX., -[Greek: ho kataleleimmenos kai hoi odynomenoi] _Records of the Past_, -vii. 47. - -[546] Herod., [Greek: Sanacharibos]; Jos., [Greek: Senacheribos]. See -Appendix I. Sin was the moon-god; Merodach, the planet Jupiter; Adar, -Saturn; Ishtai, Venus; Nebo, Mercury; Nergal, Mars (Schrader, ii. 117). - -[547] Sargon seems to have been murdered in the palace of unparalleled -splendour which he built at Dur-Sharrukin ("The City of Sargon"). It -took him five years to build it with armies of workmen. Its halls, -opened by Botta, were the first Assyrian halls ever entered by a -modern's foot. It is strange that this greatest of Assyrian kings is -only mentioned once in the Bible (Isa. xx. 1). We owe to Assyriology -his restoration to his proper place in the annals of mankind. See -Ragozin, _Assyria_, 247-254. - -[548] Rawlinson, _Ancient Monarchies_, ii. 178. - -[549] Canon Rawlinson, _Kings of Israel and Judah_, 187. - -[550] On his own monuments this campaign, except its final catastrophe, -is narrated in four sections: (1) The subjugation of Phoenicia, and of -Philistine towns; (2) the conquest of King Zidka of Askelon; (3) the -defeat of Ekron, the restoration of their vassal king Padi to his -throne, and the defeat of Egypt at Altaqu; (4) the expedition against -Jerusalem (Schrader, E. Tr., i. 298). See Appendix I. - -[551] This allusion is said to be the only instance of humour--"_grim_ -humour, or it would not be Assyrian"--which occurs in the Assyrian -annals. - -[552] Schrader, pp. 234-279. The account of the memorable campaign is -narrated in duplicate on the Taylor Cylinder in the British Museum, -and on the Bull Inscription at Kouyunjik. - -[553] Sennacherib calls Tirhakah's army "a host that no man could -number"; but it was defeated by the better discipline, the heavier -armour, and the superior physical strength of the Assyrians. - -[554] See Josh. xix. 43. - -[555] This very phrase "I imposed on them" is found on Sennacherib's -monument (Schrader, ii. 1). The references, when not otherwise -specified, are to Whitehouse's English translation. - -[556] In 2 Kings xviii. 16 the word "pillars" or "doorposts" is -uncertain. LXX., [Greek: esterigmena]; Vulg., _laminas auri_. - -[557] 2 Chron. xxxii. 9. He had to besiege it "with all his power." He -seems to have thought it even more important than Jerusalem, for he -superintended the siege in person (Layard, _Nineveh and Babylon_, 150; -_Monuments of Nineveh_, 2nd series, pl. 21). The ruined Tel of -Umm-el-Lakis lies between the Wady Simsim and the Wady-el-Ahsy (Riehm). - -[558] See 2 Chron. xi. 9, xxv. 27; Jer. xxxiv. 7. The allusion to this -city in Micah (i. 13) is obscure: "O thou inhabitant of Lachish [swift -steed], bind the chariot to the swift steed: she is the beginning of -sin to the daughter of Zion: for the transgressions of Israel were -found in thee." This seems to imply that some form of idolatry had -come from Israel to Lachish, and from Lachish to Jerusalem. In -Sennacherib's picture of the city, foreign worship is represented as -going on in it (Layard, _Monuments of Nineveh_, Pls. 21 and 24; -Rawlinson, _Herodotus_, i. 477). - -[559] Isa. xxix., xxx., xxxi. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVIII - - _THE GREAT DELIVERANCE_ - - B.C. 701 - - 2 _Kings_ xix. 1-37 - - "There brake He the lightnings of the bow, the shield, the sword, - and the battle."--PSALM lxxvi. 3. - - "[Greek: ode pros ton Assurion.]"--LXX. - - "And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword, - Hath melted like snow at the glance of the Lord." - BYRON. - - "Vuolsi cosi cola dove si puote - Cio che si vuole: e piu non dimandare." - DANTE. - - "Through love, through hope, through faith's transcendent dower, - We feel that we are greater than we know." - WORDSWORTH. - - "God shall help her, and that when the morning dawns."--PSALM - xlvi. 5. - - -In spite of the humble submission of Hezekiah, it is a surprise to learn -from Isaiah that Sennacherib--after he had accepted the huge fine and -fixed the tribute, and departed to subdue Lachish--broke his -covenant.[560] He sent his three chief officers--the Turtan, or -commander-in-chief, whose name seems to have been Belemurani;[561] the -Rabsaris, or chief eunuch;[562] and the Rabshakeh, or chief -captain[563]--from Lachish to Hezekiah, with a command of absolute, -unconditional surrender, to be followed by deportation. By this conduct -Sennacherib violated his own boast that he was "a keeper of treaties." -Yet it is not difficult to conjecture the reason for his change of plan. -He had found it no easy matter to subdue even the very minor fortress of -Lachish; how unwise, then, would it be for him to leave in his rear an -uncaptured city so well fortified as Jerusalem! He was advancing towards -Egypt. It was obviously a strategic error to spare on his route a -hostile and almost impregnable stronghold as a nucleus for the plans of -his enemies. Moreover, he had heard rumours that Tirhakah, the third and -last Ethiopian king of Egypt, was advancing against him, and it was most -important to prevent any junction between his forces and those of -Hezekiah.[564] He could not come in person to Jerusalem, for the siege -of Lachish was on his hands; but he detached from his army a large -contingent under his Turtan, to win the Jews by seductive promises, or -to subdue Jerusalem by force. Once more, therefore, the Holy City saw -beneath her often-captured walls the vast beleaguering host, and -"governors and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon -horses, all of them desirable young men." Isaiah describes to us how the -people crowded to the house-tops, half dead with fear, weeping and -despairing, and crying to the hills to cover them, and bereft of their -rulers, who had been bound by the archers of the enemy in their attempt -to escape. They gazed on the quiver-bearing warriors of Elam in their -chariots, and the serried ranks of the shields of Kir, and the cavalry -round the gates. And he tells us how, as so often occurs at moments of -mad hopelessness, many who ought to have been crying to God in sackcloth -and ashes, gave themselves up, on the contrary, to riot and revelry, -eating flesh, and drinking wine, and saying: "Let us eat and drink; for -to-morrow we die."[565] The king alone had shown patience, calmness, and -active foresight; and he alone, by his energy and faith, had restored -some confidence to the spirits of his fainting people. - -Although the city had been refortified by the king, and supplied with -water, the hearts of the inhabitants must have sunk within them when -they saw the Assyrian army investing the walls, and when the three -commissioners--taking their station "by the conduit of the upper pool -which is in the highway of the fuller's field"--summoned the king to -hear the ultimatum of Sennacherib. - -The king did not in person obey the summons; but he, too, sent out his -three chief officers. They were Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who, as -the chamberlain (_al-hab-baith_), was a great prince (_nagid_); -Shebna, who had been degraded, perhaps at the instance of Isaiah, from -the higher post, and was now secretary (_sopher_); and Joah, son of -Asaph, the chronicler (_mazkir_), to whom we probably owe the minute -report of the memorable scene. No doubt they went forth in the pomp of -office--Eliakim with his robe, and girdle, and key.[566] The -Rabshakeh proved himself, indeed, "an affluent orator," and evinced -such familiarity with the religious politics of Judah and Jerusalem, -that this, in conjunction with his perfect mastery of Hebrew, gives -colour to the belief that he was an apostate Jew. He began by -challenging the idle confidence of Hezekiah, and his vain words[567] -that he had counsel and strength for the war. Upon what did he rely? -On the broken and dangerous bulrush of Egypt?[568] It would but pierce -his hand! On Jehovah? But Hezekiah had forfeited his protection by -sweeping away His _bamoth_ and His altars! Why, let Hezekiah make a -wager;[569] and if Sennacherib furnished him with two thousand horses, -he would be unable to find riders for them! How, then, could he drive -back even the lowest of the Assyrian captains? And was not Jehovah on -their side? It was He who had bidden them destroy Jerusalem! - -That last bold assertion, appealing as it did to all that was -erroneous and abject in the minds of the superstitious, and backed, as -it was, by the undeniable force of the envoy's argument, smote so -bitterly on the ear of Hezekiah's courtiers, that they feared it would -render negotiation impossible. They humbly entreated the orator to -speak to "his servants" in the Aramaic language of Assyria, which they -understood,[570] and not in Hebrew, which was the language of all the -Jews who stood in crowds on the walls. Surely this was a diplomatic -embassy to their king, not an incitement to popular sedition? - -The answer of the Rabshakeh was truly Assyrian in its utterly brutal -and ruthless coarseness. Taking up his position directly in front of -the wall,[571] and ostentatiously addressing the multitude, he ignored -the representatives of Hezekiah. Who were they? asked he. His master -had not sent him to speak to them, or to their poor little puppet of a -king, but to the people on the wall, the foul garbage of whose -sufferings of thirst and famine they should share.[572] And to all the -multitude the great king's[573] message was:--Do not be deceived. -Hezekiah cannot save you. Jehovah will not save you. Come to terms -with me, and give me hostages and pledges and a present, and then live -in happy peace and plenty until I come and deport you to a land as -fair and fruitful as this. How should Jehovah deliver them? Had any of -the gods of the nations delivered them out of the hands of the King of -Assyria? "Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? Where are the -gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have the gods of Samaria -delivered Samaria out of my hand, that Jehovah should deliver -Jerusalem out of my hand?"[574] - -It was a very powerful oration, but the orator must have been a little -disconcerted to find that it was listened to in absolute silence. He -had disgracefully violated the comity of international intercourse by -appealing to subjects against their lawful king; yet from the starving -people there came not a murmur of reply. Faithful to the behest of -their king in the midst of their misery and terror, they answered not -a word. Agamemnon is silent before the coarse jeers of Thersites. "The -sulphurous flash dies in its own smoke, only leaving a hateful stench -behind it!" And in this attitude of the people there was something -very sublime and very instructive. Dumb, stricken, starving, the -wretched Jews did not answer the envoy's taunts or menaces, because -they would not. They were not even in those extremities to be seduced -from their allegiance to the king whom they honoured, though the -speaker had contemptuously ignored his existence. And though the -Rabshakeh had cut them to the heart with his specious appeals and -braggart vaunts, yet "this clever, self-confident, persuasive -personage, with two languages on his tongue, and an army at his back," -could not shake the confidence in God, which, however unreasonable it -might seem, had been elevated into a conviction by their king and -their prophet. The Rabsak had tried to seduce the people into -rebellion, but he had failed.[575] They were ready to die for Hezekiah -with the fidelity of despair. The mirage of sensual comfort in exiled -servitude should not tempt them from the scorched wilderness from -which they could still cry out for the living God. - -Yet the Assyrian's words had struck home into the hearts of his -greatest hearers, and therefore how much more into those of the -ignorant multitudes! Eliakim and Shebna and Joah came to Hezekiah -with their clothes rent, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh. And -when the king heard it, when he found that even his submission had -been utterly in vain, he too rent his clothes, and put on -sackcloth,[576] and went into the only place where he could hope to -find comfort, even into the house of the Lord, which he had cleansed -and restored to beauty, although afterwards he had been driven to -despoil it. Needing an earthly counsellor, he sent Eliakim and Shebna -and the elders of the priests to Isaiah. They were to tell him the -outcome of this day of trouble, rebuke, and contumely; and since the -Rabshakeh had insulted and despised Jehovah, they were to urge the -prophet to make his appeal to Him, and to pray for the remnant which -the Assyrians had left.[577] - -The answer of Isaiah was a dauntless defiance. If others were in -despair, he was not in the least dismayed. "Be not afraid"--such was -his message--"of the mere words with which the boastful boys of the -King of Assyria have blasphemed Me.[578] Behold, I will put a spirit -in him, and he shall hear a rumour,[579] and shall return to his own -land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land." - -Much crestfallen at the total and unexpected failure of the embassy, and -of his own heart-shaking appeals, the Rabshakeh returned. But meanwhile -Sennacherib had taken Lachish, and marched to Libnah (Tel-es-Safia), -which he was now besieging.[580] There it was that he heard the "rumour" -of which Isaiah had spoken--the report, namely, that Tirhakah, the third -king of the Ethiopian dynasty of Pharaohs,[581] was advancing in person -to meet him. This was B.C. 701, and it is perhaps only by anticipation -that Tirhakah is called "King" of Ethiopia. He was only the general and -representative of his father Shabatok, if (as some think) he did not -succeed to the throne till 698. - -It was impossible for Sennacherib under these circumstances to return -northwards to Jerusalem, of which the siege would inevitably occupy -some time. But he sent a menacing letter,[582] reminding Hezekiah that -neither king nor god had ever yet saved any city from the hands of the -Assyrian destroyers. Where were the kings, he asked again, of Hamath, -Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, Ivvah? What had the gods of Gozan, Haran, -Rezeph, and the children of Eden in Telassar done to save their -countries from Sennacherib's ancestors, when they had laid them under -the ban?[583] - -Again the pious king found comfort in God's Temple. Taking with him the -scornful and blasphemous letter, he spread it out before Jehovah in the -Temple with childlike simplicity, that Jehovah might read its insults -and be moved by this dumb appeal.[584] Then both he and Isaiah cried -mightily to God, "who sitteth above the cherubim," admitting the truth -of what Sennacherib had said, and that the kings of Assyria had -destroyed the nations, and burnt their vain gods in the fire. But of -what significance was that? Those were but gods of wood and stone, the -works of men's hands.[585] But Jehovah was the One, the True, the Living -God. Would He not manifest among the nations His eternal supremacy? - -And as the king prayed the word of Jehovah came to Isaiah, and he sent -to Hezekiah this glorious message about Sennacherib:-- - -"The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee -to scorn. The daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee."[586] - -The blasphemies, the vaunts, the menacing self-confidence of -Sennacherib, were his surest condemnation. Did he count God a cypher? -It was to God alone that he owed the fearful power which had made the -nations like grass upon the housetops, like blasted corn, before him. -And because God knew his rage and tumult, God would treat him as -Sargon his father had treated conquered kings:-- - -"I will put My hook in thy nose, and My bridle in thy lips.[587] And I -will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest." He had thought -to conquer Egypt:[588] instead of that he should be driven back in -confusion to Assyria. - -It was but a plainer enunciation of the truths which Isaiah had again -and again intimated in enigma and parable. It was the fearless -security of Judah's lion; the safety of the rock amid the deluge; the -safety of the poor brood under the wings of the Divine protection from -"the great Birds'-nester of the world"; the crashing downfall of the -lopped Lebanonian cedar, while the green shoot and tender branch out -of the withered stump of Jesse should take root downward and bear -fruit upward.[589] - -And the sign was given to Hezekiah that this should be so.[590] This -year there should be no harvest, except such as was spontaneous; for -in the stress of Assyrian invasion sowing and reaping had been -impossible. The next year the harvest should only be from this -accidental produce. But in the third year, secure at last, they should -sow and reap, and plant vineyards and eat the fruit thereof.[591] And -though but a remnant of the people was left out of the recent -captivity, they should grow and flourish, and Jerusalem should see the -besieging host of Assyria no more for ever; for Jehovah would defend -the city for His own sake, and for His servant David's sake. - -Thereafter occurred the great deliverance.[592] In some way--we know -not and never shall know how--by a blast of the simoom, or sudden -outburst of plague, or furious panic, or sudden assault, or by some -other calamity,[593] the host of Assyria was smitten in the camp, and -one hundred and eighty-five thousand, including their chief leaders, -perished. The historian, in a manner habitual to pious Semitic -writers, attributes the devastation to the direct action of the "angel -of the Lord";[594] but as Dr. Johnson said long ago, "We are certainly -not to suppose that the angel went about with a sword in his hand, -striking them one by one, but that some powerful natural agent was -employed."[595] - -The Forty-Sixth Psalm is generally regarded as the _Te Deum_ sung in -the Temple over this deliverance, and its opening words, "God is our -refuge and strength," are inscribed over the cathedral of St. Sophia -at Constantinople. - -It is usually supposed that this overwhelming disaster happened to the -host of Assyria _before Jerusalem_. This, however, is not stated; and -as the capture of Lachish was an urgent necessity, it is probable that -the Turtan led back the forces which had accompanied him, and took -them afterwards to Libnah.[596] Yet, since Libnah was but ten miles -from Jerusalem, the Jews could not feel safe for a day until the -mighty news came that the - - "Angel of God spread his wings on the blast, - And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed, - And the eyes of the sleepers waxed heavy and chill, - And their breasts but once heaved, and for ever grew still." - -When the catastrophe which had happened to the main army and the flight -of Sennacherib became known, the scattered forces would melt away. - -All the Assyrians who escaped were now hurrying back[597] to Nineveh -with their foiled king. Sennacherib seems to have occupied himself in -the north, except so far as he was forced to fight fiercely against -his own rebel subjects. He never recovered this complete humiliation. -He never again came southwards. He survived the catastrophe for -seventeen or twenty years,[598] and fought five or six campaigns; but -at the end of that period, while he was worshipping in the house of -Nisroch or Assarac (Assur), his god,[599] he was murdered by his two -sons Adrammelech (Adar-malik--"Adar is king") and Sharezer -(Nergal-sarussar--"Nergal protect the king"),[600] who envied him his -throne. They escaped into the land of Ararat, but were defeated and -killed by their younger brother Esarhaddon (Assur-akh-iddin--"Assur -bestowed a 'brother'") at the battle of Hani-Rabbat, on the Upper -Euphrates. He succeeded Sennacherib, and ultimately avenged on Egypt -his father's overwhelming disaster. He is perhaps the "cruel lord" of -Isa. xix. 4, and it is not unnatural that he should have prevailed -against his parricidal brothers, for we are told that in a previous -battle at Melitene he had shown such prowess that the troops then and -there proclaimed him King of Assyria with shouts of "This is our -king."[601] He reigned from B.C. 681-668, and in his reign Assyria -culminated before her last decline.[602] He was the builder of the -temple at Nimrud, and erected thirty other temples. Babylon and -Nineveh were both his capitals,[603] and he had previously been -viceroy of the former. - -The glorious deliverance in which the faith and courage of the King of -Judah had had their share naturally increased the prosperity and -prestige of Hezekiah, and lifted the authority of Isaiah to an -unprecedented height. Hezekiah probably did not long survive the -uplifting of this dark cloud, but during the remainder of his life "he -was magnified in the sight of all nations."[604] When he died, all -Judah and Jerusalem did him honour, and gave him a splendid burial. -Apparently the old tombs of the kings--the catacomb constructed by -David and Solomon--had in the course of two and a half centuries -become full, so that he had to be buried "in the ascent of the -sepulchres," perhaps some niche higher than the other graves of the -catacomb, which was henceforth disused for the burial of the kings of -Judah. We have had occasion to observe the many particulars in which -his reign was memorable, and to his other services must be added the -literary activity to which we owe the collection and editing, by his -scribes, of the Proverbs of Solomon. His reign had practically -witnessed the institution of the faithful Jewish Church under the -influence of his great prophetic guide.[605] - -The question whether the portent of the destruction of the Assyrian -was identical with that related by Herodotus has never been finally -answered. Herodotus places the scene of the disaster at Pelusium,[606] -and tells this story:--Sennacherib, King of the Arabs and Assyrians, -invaded Egypt. Its king, Sethos, of the Tanite dynasty, in despair -entered the temple of his god Pthah (or Vulcan), and wept.[607] The -god appeared to him with promises of deliverance, and Sethos marched -to meet Sennacherib with an army of poor artisans, since he was a -priest, and the caste of warriors was ill-affected to him. In the -night the god Pthah sent hosts of field-mice, which gnawed the -quivers, bow-strings, and shield-straps of the Assyrians, who -consequently fled, and were massacred. An image of the priest-king -with a mouse in his hand stood in the temple of Pthah, and on its -pedestal the inscription, which might also point the moral of the -Biblical narrative, [Greek: Es eme tis horeon eusebes esto] ("Let him -who looks on me be pious"). Josephus seems so far to accept this -version that he refers to Herodotus, and says that Sennacherib's -failure was the result of a frustration in Egypt.[608] The _mouse_ in -the hand of the statue probably originated the details of the legend; -but according to Horapollion it was the hieroglyphic sign of -destruction by plague.[609] Baehr says that it was also the symbol of -Mars. Readers of Homer will remember the title Apollo _Smintheus_ -("the destroyer of mice"), and the story that mice were worshipped in -the Troas because they gnawed the bow-strings of the enemy. - -But whatever may have been the mode of the retribution, or the scene in -which it took place, it is certainly historical. The outlines of the -narrative in the sacred historian are identical with those in the -Assyrian records. The annals of Sennacherib tell us the four initial -stages of the great campaign in the conquest of Phoenicia, of Askelon, -and of Ekron, the defeat of the Egyptians at Altaqu, and the earlier -hostilities against Hezekiah. The Book of Kings concentrates our -attention on the details of the close of the invasion. On this point, -whether from accident, or because Sennacherib did not choose to register -his own calamity, and the frustration of the gods of whose protection he -boasted, the Assyrian records are silent. Baffled conquerors rarely -dwell on their own disasters. It is not in the despatches of Napoleon -that we shall find the true story of his abandonment of Syria, of the -defeats of his forces in Spain, or of his retreat from Moscow.[610] - -The great lesson of the whole story is the reward and the triumph of -indomitable faith. Faith may still burn with a steady flame when the -difficulties around it seem insuperable, when all refutation of the -attacks of its enemies seems to be impossible, when Hope itself has -sunk into white ashes in which scarcely a gleam of heat remains. -Isaiah had nothing to rely upon; he had no argument wherewith to -furnish Hezekiah beyond the bare and apparently unmeaning promise, -"Jehovah is our Judge; Jehovah is our Lawgiver; Jehovah is our King. -He will save us." It was a magnificent vindication of his inspired -conviction, when all turned out--not indeed in minute details, but in -every essential fact--exactly as he had prophesied from the first. -Even in B.C. 740 he had declared that the sins of Judah deserved and -would receive condign punishment, though a remnant should be -saved.[611] That the retribution would come from some foreign -enemy--Assyria or Egypt, or both--he felt sure. Jehovah would hiss for -the fly in the uttermost canals of Egypt, and for the bee that is in -the land of Assyria, and both should swarm in the crevices of the -rocks, and over the pastures.[612] Later on in 732, in the reign of -Ahaz, he pointed to Assyria,[613] as the destined scourge, and he -realised this still more clearly in 725 and 721, when Shalmaneser and -Sargon were tearing Samaria to pieces.[614] Contrary, indeed, to his -expectation, the Assyrians did not then destroy Jerusalem, or even -formally besiege it. The revolt from Assyria, the reliance on Egypt, -did not for a moment blind his judgment or alter his conviction; and -in 701 it came true when Sennacherib was on the march for -Palestine.[615] Yet he never wavered in the apparently impossible -conclusion, that, in spite of all, in spite even of his own darker -prophecies (xxxii. 14), Jerusalem shall in some Divine manner be -saved.[616] The deliverance would be, as he declared from first to -last, the work of Jehovah, not the work of man,[617] and because of it -Sennacherib would return to his own land and perish there.[618] The -details might be dim and wavering; the result was certain. Isaiah was -no thaumaturge, no peeping wizard, no muttering necromancer, no -monthly prognosticator.[619] He was a prophet--that is, an inspired -moral and spiritual teacher who was able to foresee and to foretell, -not in their details, but in their broad outlines, the events yet -future, because he was enabled to read them by the eye of faith ere -they had yet occurred. His faith convinced him that predictions -founded on eternal principles have all the certainty of a law, and -that God's dealings with men and nations in the future can be seen in -the light of experience derived from the history of the past. Courage, -zeal, unquenchable hope, indomitable resolution, spring from that -perfect confidence in God which is the natural reward of innocence and -faithfulness. Isaiah trusted in God, and he knew that they who put -their trust in Him can never be confounded. - -No event produced a deeper impression on the minds of the Jews, though -that impression was soon afterwards, for a time, obliterated. -Naturally, it elevated the authority of Isaiah into unquestioned -pre-eminence during the reign of Hezekiah. It has left its echo, not -only in his own triumphant paeans, but also in the Forty-Sixth Psalm, -which the Septuagint calls "An ode to the Assyrian," and perhaps also -in the Seventy-Fifth and Seventy-Sixth Psalms. In the minds of all -faithful Israelites it established for ever the conviction that God -had chosen Judah for Himself, and Israel for His own possession; that -God was in the midst of Zion, and she should not be confounded: "God -shall help her, and that right early." And it contains a noble and -inspiring lesson for all time. "It is not without reason," says Dean -Stanley, "that in the Churches of Moscow the exultation over the fall -of Sennacherib is still read on the anniversary of the retreat of the -French from Russia, or that Arnold, in his lectures on Modern History, -in the impressive passage in which he dwells on that great -catastrophe, declared that for the memorable night of the frost in -which twenty thousand horses perished, and the strength of the French -army was utterly broken, he knew of no language so well fitted to -describe it as the words in which Isaiah described the advance and -destruction of the hosts of Sennacherib."[620] - -They had been brought face to face, the two kings--Sennacherib and -Hezekiah. One was the impious boaster who relied on his own strength, -and on the mighty host which dried up rivers with their trampling -march--the worldling who thought to lord it over the affrighted globe; -the other was the poor kinglet of the Chosen People, with his one city -and his enfeebled people, and his dominion not so large as one of the -smallest English counties. But "one with God is irresistible," "one -with God is always in a majority." The poor, weak prince triumphs over -the terrific conqueror, because he trusts in Him to whom -world-desolating tyrants are but as the small dust of the balance, -and who "taketh up the isles as a very little thing."[621] - -As Assyria now vanishes almost entirely from the history of the Chosen -People, we may here recall with delight one large and loving prophecy, -to show that the Hebrews were sometimes uplifted by the power of -inspiration above the narrowness of a bigoted and exclusive spirit. -Desperately as Israel had suffered, both from Egypt and Assyria, Isaiah -could still utter the glowing Messianic Prophecy which included the -Gentiles in the privileges of the Golden Age to come. He foretold that-- - -"In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and Assyria, as a -blessing in the midst of the land: whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, -saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, -and Israel Mine inheritance."[622] - - "That strain I heard was of a higher mood!" - - * * * * * - -King Hezekiah can have no finer panegyric than that of the son of -Sirach: "Even the kings of Judah failed, for they forsook the law of -the Most High: all except David, and Ezekias, and Josias failed."[623] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[560] Isa. xxxiii. 8. - -[561] Isa. xx. 1. - -[562] Jer. xxxix. 3. The meaning of the name is not certain. _Saris_, -in Hebrew, is "eunuch"; but the word is not known in Assyrian records, -and we should expect _Rabsarisim_, as in Dan. i. 3. - -[563] Rabsak perhaps means _chief officer_ or vizier, and is Hebraised -into Rabshakeh. Prof. G. A. Smith (_Isaiah_, p. 345) calls him -"Sennacherib's Bismarck." Rabshakeh, usually rendered "chief cupbearer," -is an Aramaised form of Rabsak (great chief); but we know of no chief -cupbearer at the Assyrian court (Schrader, _K. A. T._, 199 f.). - -[564] From an Apis-stele he seems to have reigned twenty-six years -(B.C. 694-668?). - -[565] Isa. xxii. 1-13. - -[566] Eliakim. See Isa. xxii. 21, 22. - -[567] "Vain words"; lit., "a word of the lips." LXX., [Greek: logoi -cheileon]. - -[568] Comp. Isa. xxx. 1-7; Ezek. xxix. 6. It seems to be an -over-refinement to suppose that Sennacherib refers to the divisions -between Egypt and Ethiopia. - -[569] 2 Kings xviii. 23, A.V.: "Let Hezekiah give pledges." - -[570] Heb., _Aramith_. - -[571] 2 Kings xviii. 28, where _stood_ should be rendered _came -forward_. - -[572] The coarse expression is softened down by the Chronicler (2 -Chron. xxxii. 18). - -[573] The kings of Assyria usually called themselves "great king, -mighty king, king of the multitude, king of the land Assur." - -[574] Every one must notice the glaring inconsistency between this -_defiance_ of Jehovah and the previous claim to the possession of His -sanction. On Hamath, Arpad, etc., see Schrader, ii. 7-10. - -[575] Isa. xxxiii. 8: "He hath broken the covenant, he hath despised -the cities, he regardeth no man." - -[576] 1 Kings xx. 32; 2 Kings vi. 30. - -[577] Sennacherib had already carried off vast numbers. See Isa. xxiv. -1-12; Demetrius _ap._ Clem. Alex., _Strom._, i. 403. - -[578] Isaiah's phrase, _na'ari melek_, "lads of the king," is -contemptuous. LXX., [Greek: paidaria]. - -[579] Heb., _ruach_; LXX., [Greek: didomi en auto pneuma]. Theodoret -calls this "spirit" _cowardice_ ([Greek: ten deilian oimai deloun]). - -[580] Libnah means "whiteness." Dean Stanley (_S. and P._, 207, 258) -identifies it with a white-faced hill, the Blanchegarde of the -Crusaders. - -[581] The dates usually given are Sabaco, B.C. 725-712; Shabatok, -712-698; Tirhakah, 698-672. Manetho, [Greek: Tarachos]; Strabo, -[Greek: Terakon, ho Aithiops]. He was third king of the twenty-fifth -dynasty, and the greatest of the Egyptian sovereigns who came from -Ethiopia. He reigned gloriously for many years. We see his figure at -Medinet Abou, smiting ten captive princes with an iron mace; but he -was finally defeated by Esarhaddon, and in 668 by Assurbanipal at -Karbanit (Canopus). He is called by his conqueror "Tar-ku-u, King of -Egypt and Cush" (Schrader, _K. A. T._, 336 ff.). - -[582] Heb., _Sepharim_; Vulg., _litterae_; 2 Chron. xxxii. 17. The more -ordinary term for a letter is _iggereth_. - -[583] 2 Kings xix. 12 (Heb.); Ezek. xxvii. 23. On these places see -Schrader, ii. 11, 12. It had been indeed Sennacherib's work "to reduce -fenced cities to ruinous heaps." He boasts on the Bellino Cylinder, -"Their smaller towns without number I overthrew, and reduced them to -heaps of rubbish" (_Records of the Past_, i. 27). - -[584] "It is a prayer without words, a prayer in action, which then -passes into a spoken prayer" (Delitzsch). - -[585] The Assyrians are sometimes represented in their monuments as -hewing idols to pieces in honour of their god Assur (Botta, _Monum._, -pl. 140). - -[586] LXX., [Greek: kinein ten kephalen], "a gesture of scorn" (Psalm -xxii. 7, cix. 25; Lam. ii. 15). With the vaunts of Sennacherib compare -Claudian, _De bell. Geth._, 526-532. - - "Cum cesserit omnis - Obsequiis natura meis? Subsidere nostris - Sub pedibus montes, _arescere vidimus amnes_ ... - Fregi Alpes, _galeis Padum victricibus hausi_." - KEIL, _ad loc._ - - -[587] Comp. 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11 (Heb.); Psalm xxxix. 1; Isa. xxx. 28; -Ezek. xxxviii. 4, xxix. 4. The Assyrians drove a ring through the -lower lip, the Babylonians through the nose. See Rawlinson, _Ancient -Monarchies_, ii. 314, iii. 436. - -[588] 2 Kings xix. 33. "The river of Egypt" (_Nachal-ha-Mizraim_) is -the Wady-el-Arish. - -[589] Isa. x. 33, 34, xi. 1, xiv. 8; Stanley, _Lectures_, ii. 410. - -[590] [Hebrew: 'ot]. A sign "is a thing, an event, or an action -intended as a pledge of the Divine certainty of another. Sometimes it -is a miracle (Gen. iv. 15, Heb.), or a permanent symbol (Isa. viii. -18, xx. 3, xxxvii. 30; Jer. xliv. 29)" (Delitzsch). - -[591] The first year they should eat _saphiach_ (LXX., [Greek: -automata]; Vulg., _quae repereris_); the second year, _sachish_ (LXX., -[Greek: ta anatellonta]; Vulg., _quae sponte nascuntur_). - -[592] 2 Kings xix. 35: "It came to pass that night." Isaiah only has -"then"; Josephus, [Greek: kata ten proten tes poliorkias nykta]. -Menochius understands it "_in celebri illa nocte_." The LXX. omits -"that," and simply says "in the night" ([Greek: nyktos]). Comp. Psalm -xlvi. 5 (Heb.); Isa. xvii. 14. - -[593] Josephus, followed by many moderns, and even by Keil, suggests a -plague. The malaria of the Pelusiotic marshes easily breeds pestilence. -The "_maleak Jehovah_" is "the destroyer" (_mashchith_) (Exod. xii. 23; -2 Sam. xxiv. 16.) Comp. Justin., xix. 11; Diod. Sic., xix. 434. - -[594] Comp. 2 Sam. xxiv. 15, 16. - -[595] The Babyl. Talmud and some Targums, followed by Vitringa, etc., -attribute to it storms of lightning; Prideaux, Heine, and Faber, to -the simoom; R. Jose, Ussher, etc., to a nocturnal attack of Tirhakah. - -[596] It is, however, perfectly possible that a contingent was left on -guard. "Where is the [past] terror? Where is he that rated the -tribute? Where is he that received it?" (Isa. xxxiii. 18). "At the -noise of the tumult the people flee" (Isa. xxxiii. 3); "At Thy rebuke, -O God of Jacob, both chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep" -(Psalm lxxvi. 6). Comp. Psalm xlviii. 4-6. - -[597] This is the meaning of "he departed, and went, and returned." - -[598] Not, only fifty-five days, as we read in Tobit i. 21. - -[599] Jos., _Antt._, X. i. 5: "In his own temple to Araske"; LXX., -[Greek: Asarach]; Isa. xxxvii. 38. One guess connects the word with -Nesher, "the eagle-god," often seen on the Assyrian bas-reliefs. -Lenormant calls him "the god of human destiny." - -[600] Alex. Polyhistor _ap._ Euseb., i. 27; Kimchi _ad_ 2 Kings xix. -37. Buxtorf (_Bibl. Rabbinic._) says that Sennacherib entered the -temple to ask his counsellors why Jehovah favoured Israel. Being told -that it was because of Abraham's willingness to offer Isaac, he said, -"Then I will offer my two sons." Rashi adds that they slew him to save -their own lives. (See Schenkel and Riehm, _s.v._ "Sanherib"--both -articles by Schrader). - -[601] See Schrader in Riehm's _Handwoerterbuch_, _s.vv._ "Sanherib," -"Asarhaddon." Esarhaddon, judging from what is called "Sennacherib's -will," in which the king leaves him splendid presents, seems to have -been a favourite of his father (_Records of the Past_, i. 136). He -says that on hearing of his father's murder, "I was wrathful as a -lion, and my soul raged within me, and I lifted my hands to the great -gods to assume the sovereignty of my father's house." See Appendix I. - -[602] The Book of Tobit (i. 21) calls him Sarchedonas. - -[603] 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11. - -[604] 2 Chron. xxxii. 23. - -[605] Wellhausen, p. 116. - -[606] Herod., ii. 14. "Sin" (Tanis?), Ezek. xxx. 15. It lay in the -midst of morasses, and some attribute the catastrophe to the malaria. - -[607] The deliverance is really connected with Tirhakah, whose deeds -are recorded in a temple at Medinet Habou, but the jealousy of the -Memphites attributed it to the piety of Sethos. See G. W. Wilkinson, -_Ancient Egyptians_, i. 141; Rawlinson, _Herodotus_, i. 394. - -[608] _Antt._, X. i. 1-5. - -[609] Comp. 1 Sam. v., vi., where, after a plague, the Philistines -sent an expiation of five golden mice. - -[610] We may add that even the Chronicler drops a veil over -Sennacherib's actual capture of fortresses in Judah ("he _thought_ to -win them for himself," 2 Chron. xxxii. 1: comp. 2 Kings xviii. 13; -Isa. xxxvi. 1). - -[611] Isa. vi. 11-13. - -[612] Isa. v. 26-30. - -[613] Isa. vii. 18. - -[614] Isa. viii., xxviii. 1-15, x. 28-34. - -[615] Isa. xiv. 29-32, xxix., xxx. - -[616] Isa. i. 19, 20. - -[617] Isa. x. 33, xxix. 5-8, xxx. 20-26, 30-33. - -[618] Isa. xxxviii. 6. See for this paragraph an admirable chapter in -Prof. Smith's _Isaiah_, pp. 368-374. - -[619] Isa. xlvii. 13. - -[620] Stanley, _Lectures_, ii. 531. - -[621] Isa. xl. 15. - -[622] Isa. xix. 24, 25. - -[623] Ecclus. xlix. 4. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIX - - _MANASSEH_ - - B.C. 686-641 - - 2 KINGS xxi. 1-16 - - "Shall the throne of wickedness have fellowship with Thee, - That frameth mischief by statute? - They gather themselves in troops against the soul of the righteous, - And condemn the innocent blood."--PSALM xciv. 20, 21. - - "Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind - exceeding small; - Though with patience long He waiteth, with exactness grinds - He all." - - -Manasseh was born after Hezekiah's recovery from his terrible illness. -He was but twelve years old when he began to reign. Of his mother -Hephzibah we know nothing, nor of the Zechariah who was her father; -but perhaps Isaiah in one passage (lxii. 4) may refer to her name, "My -delight is in her."[624] The son of Hezekiah and Hephzibah was the -worst of all the kings of Judah, and had the longest reign. - -The tender age of Manasseh when he came to the throne may perhaps -account for the fact that the "forgetfulness" which his name -implied[625] was not a forgetting of other sorrows, but of all that -was noble and righteous in the attempted reformation which had been -the main religious work of his father's life. In Judah, as in England, -a king was not supposed to be of age until he was eighteen.[626] For -six years Manasseh must have been to a great extent under the -influence of his regents and counsellors. - -There always existed in Jerusalem, even in the best times, a -heathenising party, and it was, unfortunately, composed of princes and -aristocrats who could bring strong influence to bear upon the -king.[627] They did not deny Jehovah, but they did not recognise Him -as the sole or the supreme God of heaven and earth. To them He was the -local deity of Israel and Judah. But there were other gods, the gods -of the nations, and their aim always was to recognise the existence of -these deities and to pay homage to their power. If their favour could -not be purchased except by their immediate votaries, at least their -anger might be averted. These politicians advocated a fatal and -incongruous syncretism, or at least an unlimited tolerance for heathen -idols, for which they could, unhappily, quote the precepts and example -of the Wise King, Solomon. If any one questioned their views as a -dangerous idolatry, and an insult to - - "Jehovah thundering out of Zion, throned - Between the cherubim," - -they had but to point from the walls of Jerusalem to the confronting -summit of Olivet, where still remained the shrines which the son of -David had erected three centuries earlier to Chemosh, and Milcom, and -Ashtoreth, who, since his day, had always found, even in Jerusalem, -some worshippers, open or secret, to acknowledge their divinity. - -And these worldlings, in their tolerance for the intolerable, could -always appeal to two powerful instincts of man's fallen -nature--sensuality and fear--"lust hard by hate." There was something -in the worship of Baal-Peor and of Moloch which appealed to the -undying ape and tiger in the unregenerate human heart. - -The true worship of Jehovah is exactly that form of religion which man -finds it least easy to render to Him--the religion of pure morality. -Services, rites, functions, look like religious diligence, and readily -secure a reverent outward devotion. Even self-maceration, fasts, and -flagellation are a cheap way of escaping the "endless torments" which -always loom so hugely in terrifying superstition. - -Such superstitions are children of the fear and faithlessness which hath -torment. They are the corruptions with which every form of false -religion, and with which also a corrupt and perverted Christianity, are -always tainted. And they demand the easy expiation of physical ritual. -But all the best and most spiritual teachers of Scripture--alike the -Hebrew Prophets and the Christian Apostles--are at one with the Lord -Christ in perpetual insistence on the truth that "mercy is better than -sacrifice," and that true religion consists in that good mind and good -life which are the sole proof of genuine sincerity. - -If Jehovah would but be contented with gifts, men would gladly offer -Him thousands of rams and tens of thousands of rivers of oil. But the -prophets taught that He was above all mean bribes, and that such -offerings never could be anything to One whose were all the beasts of -the forests and the cattle upon a thousand hills. It was not easy, -then, to bribe such a God, or to make Him a respecter of persons. - -How easy, again, would it be, if He would even accept human -sacrifices! A child was but a child. How easy to kill a child, and -place it in the brazen arms which sloped over the fiery cistern! -Moloch and Chemosh were supremely to be won by such holocausts; and -surely Moloch and Chemosh must be lords of power! But here again the -prophets of Jehovah stepped in, and said that it was of no avail with -the High, the Holy, the Merciful, to give even our firstborn for our -transgressions, or the fruit of the body for the sin of the soul. - -Asceticism, then--occasional fasting, severe self-deprivations--surely -the gods would accept these? And they were as nothing compared to the -burden of sin and the agony of conscience! Baal and Asherah could -command agonised devotees, and could approve of them. By Jehovah and -His prophets such bodily service is discouraged and forbidden. - -Pleasure, then?--the consecration of the natural impulses, the -devotion in religious cultus of the passions and appetites of the -flesh--why should that be so abhorrent to Jehovah? Other deities -exulted in licentiousness. Was not the temple of Astarte full of her -women-worshippers and of her eunuchs? Was there no fascination in the -voluptuous allurements, the orgiastic dances, the stolen waters, the -bread eaten in secret, when not only was the conscience lulled by the -removal therefrom of all sense of guilt and degradation, but such -orgies were even crowned with merit, as part of an acceptable worship? -After all, there was "a fascination of corruption" in these idols of -gold and jewels, of lust and blood! - -How stern, how cold, how bare, by comparison, was the moral law which -only said, "Thou shalt not," and emphasised its prohibition with the -unalterable sanctions, "This do, and thou shalt live"; "Do it not, and -thou shalt die"! What could they make of a religion which was so -eloquently silent as to the meritoriousness of ritual? - -And how chill and simple and dreary was that which--according to -Micah--Jehovah had shown to be good, and which He required of every -man,--which was nothing more than to do justly, and to love mercy, and -to walk humbly with God! - -And what right had the prophets--so asked these apostates--to lord it -over God's heritage in this way? Solomon was the greatest king of -Israel and Judah; and Solomon had never been so exclusive in his -religionism, though he had built the Temple of the Lord; nor Rehoboam; -nor the great Phoenician Queen Athaliah; nor the cultivated and -aesthetic Ahaz; nor, in the kingdom of Israel, the lordly warrior Ahab; -nor the splendid and long-lived victor Jeroboam II. Had not Manasseh -plenty of examples of religious syncretism, to which he might appeal -in the joy of his youthful age? - -Not impossibly there lay in the background another reason why the -young king might be inclined to listen to these evil counsellors. -Micah may still have been living; but of Isaiah we hear no more. -Probably he was dead. It is not recorded that he delivered any -prophecy during the reign of Manasseh, nor is it certain that he -outlived the former king. Tradition, indeed, in later days, asserted -that he had confronted Manasseh, and been doomed to death; that he had -taken refuge in a cedar tree, and in that cedar had been sawn asunder; -but the tradition is wholly without a vestige of authority. One of -Micah's sternest oracles was perhaps uttered in the days of -Manasseh.[628] But Micah was only a provincial prophet of -Moresheth-Gath. He never moved in the midst of princes as Isaiah had -done, or possessed a tithe of the authority which had rested for so -many years on the shoulders of his mighty contemporary. - -Moreover--so the heathen party might suggest--had not Isaiah's -prophecies been falsified by the result? Had he not distinctly -promised and pledged his credit to two things? and had not both turned -out to be unworthy of reliance? - -i. Surely he had prophesied the utter downfall of the Assyrians. And it -was true that after his disaster on the confines of Egypt, Sennacherib -had fled in haste to Nineveh, and his occupations with rebels on his own -frontiers had left Judah unmolested, and he had been murdered by his -sons. But, on the other hand, in no sense of the word had Assyria -fallen. On the contrary, she had never been more powerful. Not one of -his predecessors had seemed more irresistible than Esarhaddon. He was -undisputed king of Babylon and of Nineveh. There would be no more -embassies from Merodach-Baladan, or any revolted viceroy! And rumour -would early begin to narrate that Esarhaddon had not forgotten the -catastrophe at Pelusium, but intended to avenge it, and to teach Egypt -the forgotten lessons of Raphia (B.C. 720) and Altaqu (B.C. 701). - -ii. And as for Judah, where was the golden Messianic age which Isaiah -had promised? Where did they see the Divine Prince whom he had -foretold, or the lion lying down with the lamb, and the child laying -his hand on the cockatrice's den? - -All this, they would argue, had greatly shaken Isaiah's prophetic -authority. Judah was a mere vassal--safe only in so far as she -remained a vassal, and did not join Tyre or any other rebellious -power, but abode safe under the shadow of Assyria's mighty wings. - -Was it not, then, as well to look facts in the face? to accept things -as they were? And--so they would argue, with false plausibility--since -the triumph, after all, had remained with the gods of the nations, -might it not be as well to dethrone Jehovah from His exclusive -dominion, and at least to propitiate the potent and less-exacting -deities, the charming _Di faciles_ who smiled at lewd aberrations, and -even flung over them the glamour of devotion? - -With these bolder renegades would be the whole body of the priests of -the _bamoth_. Those old sanctuaries had been repressed by Hezekiah -without any compensation; for in those days life-interests were -little, or not at all, regarded. Multitudes of priests and Levites -must have been flung out of employment and reduced to poverty by the -recent religious revolution. It is not likely that they bore without a -murmur the obliteration of forms of worship sanctioned by immemorial -custom, or that they made no efforts to procure the re-establishment -of what the people loved. - -Thus a vast weight of evil influence was brought to bear upon the -boy-king; and it was also the more powerful because repeated -indications exist that, while the king was nominally a despot, and was -surrounded with external observance, the real control of affairs was, -to a large extent, in the hands of an aristocracy of priests and -princes, except when the king was a man of great personal force. - -Manasseh went over to these retrogressionists heart and soul, and he -contentedly remained a tributary of Assyria. Even when Esarhaddon's -forces marched to the chastisement of Egypt, he felt secure in his -allegiance to the dominant tyrant of Babylon and Nineveh, whose -interest it would be not to disturb a faithful subject. - -There followed a reaction, an absolute rebound from the old -monotheistic strictness and righteousness. The nation emancipated -itself from the moral law as with a shout of relief, and plunged into -superstition and licentiousness. The reign of Manasseh resembled at -once the recrudescence of Popery in the reign of Mary Tudor, with its -rekindling of the fires of Smithfield, and the foul orgies of -debauchery at the Restoration of 1660, when human nature, loving -degraded licence better than strenuous liberty, flung away the noble -freedom of Puritanism for the loathly mysteries of Cotytto. The age of -Manasseh resembled that of Charles II., in the famous description of -Lord Macaulay. "Then came days never to be recalled without a blush, -the days of servitude without loyalty, and sensuality without love, of -dwarfish talents and gigantic vices, the paradise of cold hearts and -narrow minds, the golden age of the coward, the bigot, and the slave. -In every high place worship was paid to Belial and Moloch, and England -propitiated these obscene and cruel idols with the blood of her best -and bravest children." Sensuous intoxication is in all cases closely -connected with fiendish cruelty, and the introducer of voluptuous -idolatries naturally became the first persecutor of the true religion. - -1. The first step of the king, and probably the one which the people -welcomed most, was the restoration of the chapelries under the trees -and on the hills, which, more strenuously than any of his -predecessors, Hezekiah had at least attempted to put down. For this -step Manasseh might have pleaded the sanction of ages to which the -Book of Deuteronomy had either been wholly unknown, or during which -its laws had become as utterly forgotten as though they had never -existed. To many worshippers these old shrines had become extremely -precious. They felt it to be either an actual impossibility, or at the -best intolerably burdensome, to make their way by long, dreary, and -difficult journeys to Jerusalem, when they desired to pay the most -ordinary rites of worship. They knew no reason, and had never known of -any reason, why Jehovah should be worshipped in one Temple only. All -their religious instincts led them the other way. They could point to -the example of all the highly honoured saints who had worshipped God -at Gilgal, Shechem, Bethel, Hebron, Beersheba, Kedesh, Gibeah, and -many another shrine; and of all the saintly kings who had not dreamt -of interfering with such free worship. Why should Jerusalem monopolise -all sanctity? It might be a politic view for kings to maintain, and -highly profitable for priests to establish; but none of their great -prophets, not even the princely Isaiah, had said one syllable against -the innocent high places of Jehovah. In those days there were no -synagogues. The extinction of the high places doubtless seemed to many -of the people an extinction of religion in daily life, and they were -more than half disposed to agree with the Rabshakeh that Jehovah was -offended by what they regarded as a burdensome, unwise, and sweeping -innovation.--If it be necessary to answer arguments which might have -seemed natural, against a custom which might have seemed innocent, it -must suffice to say that it was the chief mission of Israel to keep -alive among the nations of the world the knowledge of the One True -God, and that, amid the constant temptations to accept the gods of the -heathen as they were adored in groves and on high places, the faith of -Israel could no longer be kept pure except by the Deuteronomic -institution of one central and exclusive shrine. - -2. But Manasseh did far worse than rehabilitate the worship at the high -places which his father had discouraged. "He reared up altars for -Baal,[629] and made an Asherah, as did Ahab, King of Israel." This was -the first bad element of the new cosmopolitan eclecticism. It involved -the acceptance of the Phoenician nature-worship with its manifold -abominations. The people had grown familiar with it under Athaliah (2 -Kings xi. 18), and under Ahaz (2 Chron. xxviii. 2); but Manasseh, as we -infer from the account given of Josiah's reformation, had gone further -than either. He had actually ventured to introduce the image of Baal -into the Temple, and to set up the Asherah-pillar in front of it (2 -Kings xxiii. 4). Worse even than this, he had erected in the very -Temple (_id._ 7) houses devoted to the execrable _Qedeshim_ (Vulg., -_effeminati_), in which also the women wove broidered hangings to adorn -the shrines of the idol image, as in the worship of the Assyrian -Mylitta.[630] He, at the same time, displaced the altar and removed the -Ark. To the latter circumstances is perhaps due the Rabbinic legend that -Hezekiah hid the Ark till the coming of the Messiah. - -3. To this Phoenician worship he added Sabaism, the worship of the -stars, "all the host of heaven, whom he served." This was an entirely -new phase of idolatry, unknown to the Hebrews till they came in -contact with Assyria.[631] It came rapidly into vogue, and exercised -over their imaginations the spell of a seductive novelty, as we see -from the strong testimony of the prophet Jeremiah.[632] This is why it -is so emphatically forbidden in the Book of Deuteronomy.[633] The king -built altars to the stars of the Zodiac (_Mazzaroth_), both in the -outer court of the Temple, and in the court of the priests, and on -these altars incense or victims were continually burned. He also -introduced or encouraged the introduction into the Temple precincts of -the horses and chariots dedicated to the sun.[634] - -When we read of the actual invasion of the Temple-precincts in this as -in preceding and subsequent reigns, we cannot but ask, Were these -atrocities committed with the sanction or with the connivance of the -priests? We are not told. Yet how can it have been otherwise? If the -high priest Azariah could muster eighty priests to oppose King Uzziah, -when he merely wished to burn incense in the Temple, as Solomon had -done before him, and as Ahaz did after him--if Jehoiada could, -according to the Chronicler, muster a perfect army of priests and -Levites to dethrone Athaliah, and could so stir up the people that -they rose _en masse_ to tear down the temple of Baal, and slay Mattan, -his high priest,--how was it possible for Manasseh to perpetrate these -flagrant acts of idolatrous apostasy, if the priests were all ranged -in opposition to his power? Was their authority suddenly paralysed? -Did their influence with the people shrivel into nothing when Hezekiah -had been carried to his tomb? Or did these priests follow the easy and -profitable course which they seem to have followed throughout the -whole history of the kings without an exception?--did they simply -answer the kings according to their idols? - -4. Another, and the most hideous, element of the new mixture of cults -was the reintroduction of the ancient Canaanite worship of Moloch with -its human sacrifices. Manasseh, like Ahaz, made his son or, according -to the Chronicler and the Septuagint, "his sons"--pass through the -fire to this grim Ammonite idol in Tophet of the Valley of Hinnom, so -as to leave no chance untried. And herein he was far more inexcusable -than his grandfather; for Ahaz had at least been driven by desperate -extremity to this last expedient, but Manasseh was living, if not in -prosperity, at least in unbroken peace. Moreover, he not only did this -himself, but did his utmost to make a popular institution of -children-sacrifice, so that many practised it in the dreadful valley -and amid the rocks outside Jerusalem.[635] - -5. Even this did not suffice him. To these Assyrian, Phoenician, and -Canaanite elements of idolatry he added Babylonian novelties. He -practised augury, and used enchantments, and he dealt with familiar -spirits and wizards, as though without Egyptian necromancy and -Mesopotamian shamanism his eclectic worship would be incomplete.[636] - -6. Thus "he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord to -provoke Him to anger." He placed a graven image of his Asherah inside -the Temple, and utterly profaned the sacred house, and seduced his -people "to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed -before the children of Israel." - -Whatever was the conduct of the priests, the prophets were not silent. -They denounced Manasseh for having done worse than even the ancient -Amorites, and declared that, in consequence of his crimes, God would -bring upon Jerusalem such evil as would cause both the ears of him -that heard it to tingle;[637] that he would stretch over Jerusalem for -ruin the line and the level of Ahab;[638] that He would cast off even -the remnant, and deliver them to their enemies; that He would wipe out -Jerusalem "as a man wipeth a dish, wiping and turning it upside -down."[639] - -The finest oracles of Micah (vi. 1-vii. 7) were probably uttered in the -reign of Manasseh, and give the simplest and purest expression to the -supremacy of morality as the one true end and test of religion. Micah is -as indifferent as the Decalogue to all claims of rites, ceremonies, and -outward worship. "Jehovah demands nothing for Himself; all that He asks -is for man: this is the fundamental law of the theocracy." - -The apostasies of the king and the denunciation of the prophets thus -came into fierce collision, and led naturally to persecution and -bloodshed. Perhaps in Mic. vii. 1-7 we catch the echoes of the Reign -of Terror. The king resorted to violence, using, no doubt, the -tyrant's devilish plea of necessity. He made blood run like water in -the streets of Jerusalem from end to end,[640] and in the exaggerated -phrase of Josephus, was _daily_ slaying the prophets.[641] It was -during this persecution, according to Rabbinic tradition, that Isaiah -received the martyr's crown.[642] - -And no miracles were wrought to save the martyrs. Elijah and Elisha -had been surrounded with a blaze of miracles, but in Judah no prophet -arose who could so wield the power of Heaven. - -At this point the narrative of the historian about Manasseh ends. If -he shared the current opinion of his day, which connected individual -and national prosperity with well-doing, and regarded length of days -as a sign of the favour of Heaven, while, on the other hand, -misfortune and misery invariably resulted from the wrath of Jehovah, -he could not have been otherwise than surprised, and perhaps even -pained, to have to relate that Manasseh reigned fifty-five years. Not -only was his reign longer than that of any other king of Israel or -Judah; not only did he attain a greater age than any of them; but, -further, no calamity seems to have marked his rule. A contented and -protected vassal of Esarhaddon, secure from his attacks, and also -unmolested by the weakened and subjugated nations around him, he would -seem, in the story of the Kings, to have enjoyed an enviable external -lot, and to have presided over a people who were happy, in that, -during his rule, they had no history. But whatever the writer may have -felt, he tells us no more, and lets us see Manasseh sink peacefully -into his grave "in the garden of his own house, in the garden of -Uzza," and leave to his son Amon a peaceful realm and an undisputed -crown. Such a career would undoubtedly perplex and confound all the -preconceived opinions of Jewish orthodoxy. The prosperity of Manasseh -would have presented as great a problem to them as the miseries of -Job. They looked to temporal prosperity as the reward of -righteousness, and to acute misery as the retribution of apostasy and -sin. They had little or no conception of a future which should redress -the balance of apparent earthly inequalities. Alike the sight of -Manasseh's long reign and Josiah's undeserved death in battle would -give a powerful shock to their fixed convictions. - -Far different is the end of the story in the Book of Chronicles. The -records of Esarhaddon tell us that in 680 he made an expedition into -Palestine to restore the shaken influence of his father,[643] and -about 647 he mentions among his submissive tributaries the kings of -Tyre, Edom, Moab, Gaza, Ekron, Askelon, Gebal, Ammon, Ashdod, and -Manasseh, King of Judah ("Minasi-sar-Yahudi"), as well as ten princes -of Cyprus. Whether the King of Judah rebelled later on, and intrigued -with Tirhakah, we do not know; but in 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11 we read that -Esarhaddon sent his generals to Jerusalem, took Manasseh by stratagem, -drove rings through his lips, bound him in chains, and brought him to -Babylon, where Esarhaddon was holding his court.[644] We find from the -_Eponym Canon_ that Tyre revolted from Assyria in the tenth year of -Esarhaddon, and Manasseh may have been drawn away to join in the -revolt; or he may have joined Shamash-shum-ukin, the Viceroy of -Babylon, in his revolt against his brother Assurbanipal. As a rule, -the lot of a conquered vassal at the Assyrian Court was horrible, and -in his utter misery Manasseh repented, humbled himself, and -prayed.[645] His prayer was heard. The despots of Nineveh were -capricious alike in their insults and in their favours, and -Esarhaddon not only pardoned Manasseh, but sent him back to -Jerusalem,[646] thinking that he would be more useful to him there -than in a Babylonian dungeon. After this reprieve he lived like a -penitent and a patriot. Esarhaddon was preparing for his expedition -against Tirhakah, and would not attack a king who was now bound to him -by gratitude as well as fear. But the times were very troublous. -Manasseh prepared for eventualities by building an outer wall on the -west of the city of David, unto Gihon in the Valley, by surrounding -Ophel with a high wall, and by garrisoning the fenced cities.[647] All -this was necessary and patriotic work, considering that Judah might be -attacked by other enemies as well as the Assyrians. She was like a -grain of corn amid the grinding mills of the nations. Media and Lydia -were rising into strong kingdoms. Babylon was becoming daily more -formidable. Dim rumours reached the East of movements among vast hosts -of Cimmerian and Scythian barbarians. Jerusalem had no human strength -for war. She could only rely upon her battlements, on the natural -strength of her position, and on the protection of her God. Almost in -the last year of Manasseh, the powerful Psammetichus I., king of a now -united Egypt, made an assault on Ashdod; but he did not venture on the -difficult task of besieging Jerusalem. - -The religious reformation of Manasseh attested the sincerity of his -amendment. He flung out the Asherah from the Temple, put away the -strange gods, destroyed the altars, burnt sacrifices to God, and used -all his power to restore the worship of Jehovah. He did not, however, -destroy the high places. For this story the Chronicler refers to "the -words of Chozai,"[648] according to the present text, which some -suppose to have meant "the story of the Seers." He also refers to a -prayer of Manasseh, which cannot of course be the Greek forgery of the -second or third century which goes by that name in the Apocrypha.[649] -His repentance doubtless secured his own salvation. "Whoso saith -'Manasseh hath no part in the world to come,'" said Rabbi Johanan, -"discourageth the penitent";--but the partial reformation was too late -to save his land. - -Is this a literal history, or an edifying Haggadah? The non-historical -character of the story is maintained by De Wette, Graf, Noeldeke, and -many others. Both views have been taken. This we can, at any rate, -assert--that there seems to be nothing in the story which is -inconsistent with probability. The Chronicler may have derived it from -genuine documents or traditions, though it is difficult to account for -the silence of the elder and more trustworthy historian. Nor is it -only his silence for which we have to account; it is the continuance -of his positive statements. It would be, in any case, a strange -conception of history which, after narrating a man's crimes, omitted -alike the retribution which befell him on account of them, the -heartfelt penitence for the sake of which they were forgiven, and the -seriously earnest endeavour to undo at least something of the evil -which he had done. Not only does the historian make these omissions, -but in no subsequent allusion to Manasseh does he so much as indicate -that he is aware of his amendment.[650] He says that Amon "did evil in -the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh did."[651] He speaks of -the altars to the hosts of heaven which Manasseh had made in the two -courts of the Temple as still standing in the reign of Josiah, though -the Chronicler tells us that Manasseh had cast them all out of the -city.[652] He says that, notwithstanding all that Josiah did, "the -Lord turned not from the fierceness of His great wrath, because of all -the provocations that Manasseh had provoked Him withal,"[653] and that -on this account God cast off Jerusalem. Never, even by the most -distant allusions, does he refer to Manasseh's captivity, his prayer, -his penitence, or his counter-efforts. Had he been aware of these, his -silence would have been neither generous nor just. Nay, he even leaves -apparent facts at conflict with the Chronicler's story, for he makes -Josiah do all that the Chronicler tells us that Manasseh himself had -done in the removal of his worst abominations. - -Even now we have not exhausted the historic difficulties which -surround the repentance of Manasseh. During his reign Jeremiah -received his call, and while still a young boy began his work. Neither -he, nor Zephaniah, nor Habakkuk drop the slightest hint that the -wicked, idolatrous king had ever turned over a new leaf. Jeremiah's -silence is specially difficult to account for. He, too, records -Jehovah's final and irrevocable decree, that He would give up Judah to -death, to exile, and to famine, to the sword to slay, to the dogs to -tear, to the fowls of the heaven and the beasts of the earth to devour -and to destroy.[654] And the cause of the pitiless doom pronounced by -a Judge weary of repenting is "because of Manasseh, the son of -Hezekiah, King of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem."[655] - -The judgment was not long delayed. - -It was the vast movement of the Scythians in Media and Western Asia, -and the rumours of it, which gave to Manasseh and Amon such respite as -they had; and even this respite was full of misery and fear.[656] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[624] One legend says that Hephzibah was a daughter of Isaiah. Not so -Josephus (_Antt._, X. iii. 1). - -[625] See Gen. xli. 51. His name may have referred to the new union -between the Northern and Southern Kingdoms. Comp. 2 Chron. xxx. 6, -xxxi. 1. - -[626] Chron. xxxiv. 1-3. - -[627] See Zeph. i. 8. Comp. 2 Chron. xxiv. 17; Isa. xxviii. 14; Jer. -v. 5, etc. - -[628] Mic. vii. 1-20. - -[629] LXX., [Greek: te Baal]. The feminine, however, does not imply -that Baal was here worshipped as a female deity, but is probably due -to the fact that later Jews always avoided using the _names_ of idols -(from a misapprehension or too literal view of Exod. xxiii. 13), and -therefore called Baal _Bosheth_ ("shame"), which is feminine. Hence -the names Mephibosheth, Jerubbesheth, Ishbosheth. In Suidas (_s.v._ -[Greek: Manasses]) he is charged with having set up in the Temple "a -four-faced image of Zeus." - -[630] For [Hebrew: battim], in 2 Kings xxiii. 7, the LXX. read [Greek: -chettim] (?). Graetz, (_Gesch. d. Juden._, ii. 277) suggests [Hebrew: -benadim], "broidered robes." Ezek. xvi. 16. See Herod., i. 199; -Strabo, xvi. 1058; Luc., _De Dea. Syr._, Sec. 6; Libanius, _Opp._, xi. -456, 557; _Ep. of Jeremy_, 43; Doellinger, _Judenthum u. Heidenthum_, -i. 431; Rawlinson, _Phoenicia_, 431. - -[631] Chron. xxxiii. 3; 2 Kings xxiii. 5. Movers, _Rel. d. Phoeniz._, i. -65 "In all the books of the Old Testament written before the Assyrian -period no trace of star-worship is to be to found." 2 Kings xvii. 16. - -[632] Jer. vii. 18, viii. 2, xix. 13; Zeph. i, 5. - -[633] See Deut. iv. 19, xvii. 3. - -[634] 2 Kings xxiii. 11, 12. - -[635] See Jer. vii, 31, 32, xix. 2-6, xxxii. 35; Psalm cvi. 37, 38. - -[636] Ewald infers from Isa. lvii. 5-9; Jer. ii. 5-13, that he actually -_sought_ for all foreign kinds of worship, in order to introduce them. - -[637] 1 Sam. iii. 11; Jer. xix. 3. - -[638] Comp. Isa. xxxiv. 11; Lam. ii. 8. - -[639] 2 Kings xxi. 13. LXX., [Greek: alabastros], _al._ [Greek: -pyxion]. The Vulgate also takes it to mean the obliteration of writing -on a tablet: "Delebo Jerusalem sicut deleri solent tabulae; et ducam -crebrius stylum super faciem ejus." - -[640] 2 Kings xxi. 16; Heb., "from mouth to mouth"; LXX., [Greek: -stoma eis stoma]; Vulg., _donec impleret Jerusalem usque ad os_. Comp. -2 Kings x. 21. - -[641] _Antt._, X. iii, 1: "He butchered alike all the just among the -Hebrews." To this reign of terror some refer Psalm xii. 1; Isa. lvii. -1-4. - -[642] This (as I have said) cannot be regarded as certain. Isaiah -began to prophesy in the year that King Uzziah died, sixty years -before Manasseh. It is a Jewish Haggadah. See Gesen on Isa. i., p. 9, -and the Apocryphal "Ascension of Isaiah." - -[643] Esarhaddon reigned only eight years, till 668, and then resigned -in favour of his son Assurbanipal. In his reign Psammetichus recovered -Egypt, and put an end to the Dodecarchy. In the reign of his -successor, Assuredililani, Assyria began to decline (647-625). - -[644] Comp. Isa. xxxix. 6; Jos., _Antt._, X. iii. 2. The phrase "among -the thorns" means "_with rings_" (comp. Isa. xxx. 28, xxxvii. 29; -Ezek. xxxviii. 4; Amos iv. 2). Assurbanipal says similarly that he -seized Necho, "bound him with bonds and iron chains, hands and feet," -but afterwards allowed him to return to Egypt (Schrader, ii. 59). - -[645] Late and worthless Haggadoth, echoed by still later writers -(Suidas and Syncellus), say he was kept in a brazen cage, fed on bran -bread dipped in vinegar, etc. See _Apost. Constt._, ii. 22: "And the -Lord hearkened to his voice, and there became about him a flame of -fire, and all the irons about him melted." John Damasc., _Parall._, -ii. 15, quotes from Julius Africanus, that while Manasseh was saying a -psalm his iron bonds burst, and he escaped. See _Speakers Commentary_, -on Apocrypha, ii. 363. - -[646] Such pardon from a king of Assyria was rare, but not -unparalleled. Pharaoh Necho I. was taken in chains to Nineveh, and -afterwards set free (Schrader, _K. A. T._, p. 371). - -[647] See 2 Chron. xxvii. 3. The "fish gate" was, perhaps, a weak -point (Zeph. i. 10). - -[648] 2 Chron. xxxiii. 19. Heb., _dibhri Chozai_; A.V., "the story of -the Seers"; R.V., "in the history of Hozai"; LXX., [Greek: epi ton -logon ton ouranion]; Vulg., _in sermonibus Hozai_. The elements of -doubt suggested by the name "Babylon," and by the liberation of -Manasseh, have been removed by further knowledge. See Budge, _Hist. of -Esarhaddon_, p. 78; Schrader, _K. A. T._, 369 ff. - -[649] Since the Council of Trent this prayer has been relegated to the -end of the Vulgate with 3, 4, Esdras. Verse 8 (the supposed sinlessness -of the Patriarchs) at once shows it to be a mere composition. - -[650] 2 Kings xxiii. 12. - -[651] 2 Kings xxi. 20. - -[652] 2 Chron. xxxiii. 15. - -[653] 2 Kings xxiii. 26. - -[654] Jer. xv. 1-9. - -[655] The later Jews certainly took no account of his repentance. His -name was execrated (see the substitution of Manasseh for Moses in -Judg. xviii. 30), and he was denied all part in the world to come. The -Apocryphal "Prayer of Manasses" has no authority, though it is -interesting (Butler, _Analogy_, pt. ii., ch. v.). - -[656] In estimating the Chronicler's story, we cannot wholly forget the -fact that a number of Haggadic legends clustered thickly round the name -of Manasseh in the literature of the later Jews. He is charged with -incest, with the murder of Isaiah, the distortion of Scripture, etc., -and is represented as having got to heaven, not by real repentance, but -by challenging God on His superiority to idols. The Targum, after 2 -Chron. xxxiii. 11, adds, "And the Chaldees made a copper mule, and -pierced it all over with little holes, and put him therein. And when he -was in straits, he cried in vain to all his idols. Then he prayed to -Jehovah and humbled himself; but the angels shut every window and -lattice of heaven, that his prayer might not enter. But forthwith the -pity of the Lord of the world rolled forth, and He made an aperture in -heaven, and the mule burst asunder, and the Spirit breathed on him, and -he forsook all his idols." "No books," says Dr. Neubauer, "are more -subject to additions and various adaptations than popular histories." -See Mr. Ball's commentary (_Speaker's Commentary_, ii. 309, and -_Sanhedrin_, f. 99, 2; 101, 1; 103, 2). - - - - - _AMON_[657] - - B.C. 641-639 - - 2 KINGS xxi. 19-26 - -The brief reign of Amon is only a sort of unimportant and miserable -annex to that of his father. As he was twenty-two years old when he -began to reign, he must have witnessed the repentance and reforming zeal -of his father, if, in spite of all difficulties, we assume that -narrative to be historical. In that case, however, the young man was -wholly untouched by the latter phase of Manasseh's life, and flung -himself headlong into the career of the king's earlier idolatries. "He -walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols -that his father served, and worshipped them"--which was the more -extraordinary if Manasseh's last acts had been to dethrone and destroy -these strange gods. He even "multiplied trespass," so that in his son's -reign we find every form of abomination as triumphant as though Manasseh -had never attempted to check the tide of evil. We know nothing more of -Amon. Apparently he only reigned two years.[658] He is the only Jewish -king who bears the name of a foreign--an Egyptian--deity. - -For pictures of the state of things in this reign we may look to the -prophets Zephaniah and Jeremiah, and they are forced to use the -darkest colours. - -This is Zephaniah's picture:-- - - "Woe to her that is rebellious and polluted, to the oppressing city! - She obeyed not the voice; she received not instruction; - She trusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to her God. - Her princes in the midst of her are roaring lions; - Her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones on the morrow. - Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: - Her priests have profaned the sanctuary, they have done violence to - the law."[659] - -He tells us that Baal and his black-robed _chemarim_[660] are still -prevalent--that men worshipped on their house-tops the host of heaven, -and swore by "Moloch their king." Therefore would God search Jerusalem -with candles, and would visit the men who had sunk, like thick wine on -the lees, and who said in their infidel hearts, "Jehovah will not do -good, neither will He do evil." He is an Epicurean God, a cypher, a -_faineant_. "Men make all kinds of fine calculations," says Luther, -"but the Lord God says to them, 'For whom, then, do you hold Me? For a -cypher? Do I sit here in vain, and to no purpose? You shall know that -I will turn their accounts about finely, and make them all false -reckonings.'" - -Not less dark is the view of Jeremiah.[661] Like Diogenes in Athens, -Jeremiah in vain searches Jerusalem for a faithful man. Among the poor -he finds brutish obstinacy, among the rich insolent defiance. They -were like fed horses in the morning--lecherous and unruly. They are -slanderers, adulterers, corrupters, murderers. They worship Baal and -strange gods. "They set a trap, they catch men. As a cage is full of -birds, so are their houses full of deceit. They are waxen fat, they -shine; yea, they overpass in deeds of wickedness."[662] "An -astonishment and horror is done in the land; the prophets prophesy -falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and My people love -to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?"[663] - -"From the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is -given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every -one dealeth falsely. They have treated also the hurt of My people -lightly, saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace. Were they -ashamed when they had committed abominations? Nay, they were not at -all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among -them that fall."[664] - -The wretched reign ended wretchedly. Amon met the fate of Amaziah and -of Joash. He was murdered by conspirators--by some of his own -courtiers--in his own palace. He was not the victim of any general -rebellion. The people of the land were apparently content with the -existent idolatry, which left them free for lives of lust and luxury, -of greed and gain. They resented the disorder introduced by an -intrigue of eunuchs or court officials. They rose and slew the whole -band of conspirators. Amon was buried with his father in the new -burial-place of the Kings in the garden of Uzza, and the people placed -his son Josiah--a child of eight years old--upon the throne. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[657] The name Amon is unusual. Some identify it with the name of the -Egyptian sun-god (Nah. iii. 8). If so, we see yet another element of -Manasseh's syncretism, and (as some fancy) an attempt to open -relations with Psammetichus of Egypt. But perhaps the name may be -Hebrew for "Architect" (1 Kings xxii. 26; Neh. vii. 59). - -[658] 2 Kings xxi. 19. The LXX. reads "twelve years," but not so -Josephus (_Antt._, X. iv. 1), or 2 Chron. xxxiii. 21. - -[659] Zeph. iii. 1-11. Comp. i. 4. - -[660] _Chemarim_, 2 Kings xxiii. 5; Hos. x. 5. The root in Syriac -means "to be sad," but Kimchi derives it from a root "to be black." -The Vulgate renders it _aeditui_ and _aruspices_. - -[661] We are told in the titles of their books that both these -prophets prophesied in the days of Josiah; but such pictures can only -apply to the earliest years of his reign. - -[662] See Jer. v., vi., vii., _passim_. - -[663] Jer. vi. 13-15. - -[664] Jer. v. 30, 31. - - - - - CHAPTER XXX - - _JOSIAH_ - - B.C. 639-608[665] - - 2 KINGS xii., xxiii - - [Greek: "Ten de physin autos aristos hyperche kai pros areten heu - gegonos."]--Jos., _Antt._, iv. 1. - - "In outline dim and vast - Their fearful shadows cast - The giant forms of Empires, on their way - To ruin: one by one - They tower, and they are gone." - KEBLE. - - -If we are to understand the reign of Josiah as a whole, we must preface -it by some allusion to the great epoch-marking circumstances of his age, -which explain the references of contemporary prophets, and which, in -great measure, determined the foreign policy of the pious king. - -The three memorable events of this brief epoch were, (I.) the movement -of the Scythians, (II.) the rise of Babylon, and (III.) the -humiliation of Nineveh, followed by her total destruction. - -I. Many of Jeremiah's earlier prophecies belong to this period, and we -see that both he and Zephaniah--who was probably a great-great-grandson -of King Hezekiah himself,[666] and prophesied in this reign[667]--are -greatly occupied with a danger from the North which seems to threaten -universal ruin. - -So overwhelming is the peril that Zephaniah begins with the -tremendously sweeping menace, "_I will utterly consume all things off -the earth_, saith the Lord." - -Then the curse rushes down specifically upon Judah and Jerusalem; and -the state of things which the prophet describes shows that, if Josiah -began himself to seek the Lord at eight years old, he did not -take--and was, perhaps, unable to take--any active steps towards the -extinction of idolatry till he was old enough to hold in his own hand -the reins of power. - -For Zephaniah denounces the wrath of Jehovah on three classes of -idolaters--viz., (1) the remnant of Baal-worshippers with their -_chemarim_, or unlawful priests, and the syncretising priests -(_kohanim_) of Jehovah, who combine His worship with that of the stars, -to whom they burn incense upon the housetops; (2) the waverers, who -swear at once by Jehovah and by Malcham, their king; and (3) the open -despisers and apostates. For all these the day of Jehovah is near; He -has prepared them for sacrifice, and the sacrificers are at hand.[668] -Gaza, Ashdod, Askelon, Ekron, the Cherethites, Canaan, Philistia, are -all threatened by the same impending ruin, as well as Moab and Ammon, -who shall lose their lands. Ethiopia, too, and Assyria shall be smitten, -and Nineveh shall become so complete a desolation that "pelicans and -hedgehogs shall bivouac upon her chapiters, the owl shall hoot in her -windows, and the crow croak upon the threshold, 'Crushed! desolated!' -and all that pass by shall hiss and wag their hands."[669] - -The pictures of the state of society drawn by Jeremiah do not, as we -have seen, differ from those drawn by his contemporary.[670] Jeremiah, -too, writing perhaps before Josiah's reformation, complains that God's -people have forsaken the fountains of living water, to hew out for -themselves broken cisterns. He complains of empty formalism in the place -of true righteousness, and even goes so far as to say that backsliding -Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah (iii. -1-11). He, too, prophesies speedy and terrific chastisement. Let Judah -gather herself into fenced cities, and save her goods by flight, for God -is bringing evil from the North, and a great destruction.[671] - -"The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the -nations is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy -land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an -inhabitant. Behold, he cometh as clouds, and his chariots shall be as -the whirlwind." Besiegers come from a far country, and give out their -voice against the cities of Judah. The heart of the kings shall -perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be -astonished, and the prophets shall wonder. - -"For thus hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet -will I not make a full end"--and, "O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from -wickedness, that thou mayest be saved!"[672] - -"I will bring a nation upon you from far, O House of Israel, saith the -Lord: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose -language"--unlike that of the Assyrians--"thou knowest not, neither -understandest what they say. Their quiver is an open sepulchre, they -are all mighty men. They shall batter thy fenced cities, in which thou -trustest with weapons of war."[673] - -"O ye children of Benjamin, save your goods by flight: for evil is -imminent from the North, and a great destruction. Behold, a people -cometh from the North Country, and a great nation shall be raised from -the farthest part of the earth. They lay hold on bow and spear; they are -cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they -ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter -of Zion. We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax feeble."[674] - -And the judgment is close at hand. The early blossoming bud of the -almond tree is the type of its imminence. The seething caldron, with -its front turned from the North, typifies an invasion which shall soon -boil over and flood the land.[675] - -What was the fierce people thus vaguely indicated as coming from the -North? The foes indicated in these passages are not the long-familiar -Assyrians, but the Scythians and Cimmerians.[676] - -As yet the Hebrews had only heard of them by dim and distant rumour. -When Ezekiel prophesied they were still an object of terror, but he -foresees their defeat and annihilation. They should be gathered into -the confines of Israel, but only for their destruction.[677] The -prophet is bidden to set his face towards Gog, of the land of Magog, -the Prince of Rosh,[678] Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him -that God would turn him about, and put hooks in his jaws, and drive -forth all his army of bucklered and sworded horsemen, the hordes of -the uttermost part of the North. They should come like a storm upon -the mountains of Israel, and spoil the defenceless villages; but they -should come simply for their own destruction by blood and by -pestilence. God should smite their bows out of their left hands, and -their arrows out of the right, and the ravenous birds of Israel should -feed upon the carcases of their warriors. There should be endless -bonfires of all the instruments of war, and the place of their burial -should be called "the valley of the multitude of Gog." - -Much of this is doubtless an ideal picture, and Ezekiel may be -thinking of the fall of the Chaldaeans. But the terms he uses remind us -of the dim Northern nomads, and the names Rosh and Meshech in -juxtaposition involuntarily recall those of Russia and Moscow.[679] - -Our chief historical authority respecting this influx of Northern -barbarians is Herodotus.[680] He tells us that the nomad Scythians, -apparently a Turanian race, who may have been subjected to the pressure -of population, swarmed over the Caucasus, dispossessed the Cimmerians -(Gomer), and settled themselves in Saccasene, a province of Northern -Armenia. From this province the Scythians gained the name of the Saqui. -The name of Gog seems to be taken from Gugu, a Scythian prince, who was -taken captive by Assurbanipal from the land of the Saqui.[681] Magog is -perhaps Mat-gugu, "land of Gog." These rude, coarse warriors, like the -hordes of Attila, or Zenghis Khan, or Tamerlane--who were descended from -them--magnetised the imagination of civilised people, as the Huns did -in the fourth century.[682] They overthrew the kingdom of Urartis -(Armenia), and drove the all-but exterminated remnant of the Moschi and -Tabali to the mountain-fortresses by the Black Sea, turning them, as it -were, into a nation of ghosts in Sheol.[683] Then they burst like a -thunder-cloud on Mesopotamia, desolating the villages with their -arrow-flights, but too unskilled to take fenced towns. They swept down -the Shephelah of Palestine, and plundered the rich temple of Aphrodite -(Astarte Ourania) at Askelon, thereby incurring the curse of the goddess -in the form of a strange disease. But on the borders of Egypt they were -diplomatically met by Psammetichus (_d._ 611) with gifts and prayers. -Judah seems only to have suffered indirectly from this invasion. The -main army of Scyths poured down the maritime plain, and there was no -sufficient booty to tempt any but their straggling bands to the barren -hills of Judah.[684] It was the report of this over-flooding from the -North which probably evoked the alarming prophecies of Zephaniah and -Jeremiah, though they found their clearer fulfilment in the invasion of -the Chaldees. - -II. This rush of wild nomads averted for a time the fate of Nineveh. - -The Medes, an Aryan people, had settled south of the Caspian, B.C. -790; and in the same century one of these tribes--the Persians--had -settled south-east of Elam the northern coast of the Persian Gulf. -Cyaxares founded the Median Empire, and attacked Nineveh. The Scythian -invasion forced him to abandon the siege, and the Scythians burnt the -Assyrian palace and plundered the ruins. But Cyaxares succeeded in -intoxicating and murdering the Scythian leaders at a banquet, and -bribed the army to withdraw. Then Cyaxares, with the aid of the -Babylonians under Nabopolassar their rebel viceroy, besieged and took -Nineveh--probably about B.C. 608--while its last king and his captains -were revelling at a banquet.[685] - -The fall of Nineveh was not astonishing. The empire had long been -"slowly bleeding to death" in consequence of its incessant wars. The -city deemed itself impregnable behind walls a hundred feet high, on -which three chariots could drive abreast, and mantled with twelve -hundred towers; but she perished, and all the nations--whom she had -known how to crush, but had with "her stupid and cruel tyranny" never -known how to govern--shouted for joy. That joy finds its triumphant -expression in more than one of the prophets, but specially in the -vivid paean of Nahum. His date is approximately fixed at about B.C. -660, by his reference to the atrocities inflicted by Assurbanipal on -the Egyptian city of No-Amon. "Art thou [Nineveh] better," he asks, -"than No-Amon, that was situate among the canals, that had the water -round about her, whose rampart was the Nile, and her wall was the -waters? Yet she went into captivity! Her young children were dashed to -pieces at the head of all the streets: they cast lots for her -honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. Thou also -shalt be drunken: thou shalt faint away, thou shalt seek a stronghold -because of the enemy."[686] - -All the details of her fall are dim; but Nineveh was, in the language -of the prophets, swept with the besom of destruction. Her ruins became -stones of emptiness, and the line of confusion was stretched over her. -Nahum ends with the cry,-- - - "There is no assuaging of thy hurt; thy wound is grievous: - All that hear the bruit of this, clap the hands over thee: - For upon whom hath thy wickedness not passed continually?" - -In truth, Assyria, the ferocious foe of Israel, of Judah, and all the -world, vanished suddenly, like a dream when one awaketh;[687] and those -who passed over its ruins, like Xenophon and his Ten Thousand in B.C. -401, knew not what they were.[688] Her very name had become forgotten in -two centuries. "_Etiam periere ruinae!_" The burnt relics and cracked -tablets of her former splendour began to be revealed to the world once -more in 1842, and it is only during the last quarter of a century that -the fragments of her history have been laboriously deciphered. - -III. Such were the events witnessed in their germs or in their -completion by the contemporaries of Josiah and the prophets who -adorned his reign. It was during this period, also, that the power to -whom the ultimate ruin and captivity of Jerusalem was due sprang into -formidable proportions. The ultimate scourge of God to the guilty -people and the guilty city was not to be the Assyrian, nor the -Scythian, nor the Egyptian, nor any of the old Canaanite or Semitic -foes of Israel, nor the Phoenician, nor the Philistine. With all these -she had long contended, and held her own. It was before the Chaldee -that she was doomed to fall, and the Chaldee was a new phenomenon of -which the existence had hardly been recognised as a danger till the -warning prophecy of Isaiah to Hezekiah after the embassy of the rebel -viceroy Merodach-Baladan.[689] - -It is to Habakkuk, in prophecies written very shortly after the death -of Josiah, that we must look for the impression of terror caused by -the Chaldees. - -Nabopolassar,[690] sent by the successor of Assurbanipal to quell a -Chaldaean revolt, seized the viceroyalty of Babylon, and joined Cyaxares -in the overthrow of Nineveh. From that time Babylon became greater and -more terrible than Nineveh, whose power it inherited. Habakkuk (ii. -1-19) paints the rapacity, the selfishness, the inflated ambition, the -cruelty, the drunkenness, the idolatry of the Chaldaeans. He calls them -(i. 5-11) a rough and restless nation, frightful and terrible, whose -horsemen were swifter than leopards, fiercer than evening wolves, flying -to gorge on prey like the vultures, mocking at kings and princes, and -flinging dust over strongholds. Nor has he the least comfort in looking -on their resistless fury, except the deeply significant oracle--an -oracle which contains the secret of their ultimate doom-- - - "Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright in him: - But the righteous man shall live by his fidelity." - -The prophet places absolute reliance on the general principle that -"pride and violence dig their own grave."[691] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[665] Kamphausen (_Die Chronologie der hebraeischer Koenige_) makes -Josiah succeed to the throne in 638. - -[666] Otherwise his genealogy would not be mentioned for four -generations (Hitzig). - -[667] Zeph. i. 1. Jeremiah also was highly connected. He was a priest -and his father Hilkiah may be the high priest who found the book; "for -his uncle Shallum, father of his cousin Hanameel, was the husband of -Huldah the prophetess" (2 Kings xxii. 14; Jer. xxxii. 7). The fact -that Jeremiah's property was at Anathoth, where lived the descendants -of Ithamar (1 Kings ii. 26), whereas Hilkiah was of the family of -Eleazar (1 Chron. vi. 4-13), does not seem fatal to the view that his -father was the high priest. - -[668] Zeph. ii. 4-7. - -[669] Zeph. ii. 12-15. - -[670] Jer. ii. 1-35. Considering the very great part played by -Jeremiah for nearly half a century of the last history of Judah, the -non-mention of his name in the Book of Kings is a circumstance far -from easy to explain. - -[671] Jer. iv. 6, A. V., "retire, stay not." Comp. Isa. x. 24-31. - -[672] Jer. iv. 7-27. - -[673] Jer. v. 15-17. - -[674] Jer. vi. 1, 22, 23, 24. - -[675] The almond tree (_shaqad_) "seems to be awake (_shaqad_), -whatsoever trees are still sleeping in the torpor of winter" (Tristram -_Nat. Hist. of the Bible_, 332; Jer. i. 11-14). - -[676] The name Kimmerii (on the Assyrian inscriptions Gimirrai) is -connected with Gomer. The Persians call them Sakai or Scyths. The -nomad Scyths had driven the Kimmerii from the Dniester while -Psammetichus was King of Egypt. For allusions to this see Jer. vi. 22 -_seq._, viii. 16, ix. 10. The first notice of them is in an -inscription of Esarhaddon, B.C. 677, who says that he defeated -"Tiushpa, _the Gimirrai, a roving warrior_, whose own country was -remote." Zephaniah and Jeremiah were certainly thinking of the -Scythians (Eichhorn, Hitzig, Ewald; and more recently Kuenen, -_Onderzoek_, ii. 123; Wellhausen, _Skizzen_, 150). In B.C. 626 they -could not have consciously had the Chaldaeans in view, though, -twenty-three years later, Jeremiah may have had. - -[677] See Ezek. xxxviii., xxxix. - -[678] Ezek. xxxviii. 2. So Gesenius, Haevernick, etc., and R.V. - -[679] The form in the Vulgate and the Alexandrian MS. of the LXX. is -Mosech; in the Assyrian inscription, Muski. As far back as 1120 -Tiglath-Pileser I. had overrun Tubal (the Tublai, Tabareni) and -Moschi, between the Black Sea and the Taurus. They were neither Aryans -nor Semites. In Gen. x. 2; 1 Chron. i. 5, Gog, Magog, Meshech, and -Gomer are sons of Japheth. They are referred to in Rev. xx. 8. - -[680] Herod., i. 74, 103-106, iv. 1-22, vii. 64; Pliny, _H. N._, v. -16; Jos., _Antt._, I. vi. 1; Syncellus, _Chronogl._, i. 405. - -[681] Sayce, _Ethnology of the Bible; Records of the Past_, ix. 40; -Schrader, _K. A. T._, 159. Some identify Gog with Gyges, King of -Lydia, who was killed in battle _against_ the Scythians, but whose -name stood for a geographical symbol of Asia Minor, sometimes called -Lud. It is said that in 665 Gyges (Gugu) sent two Scythian chiefs as a -present to Nineveh. - -[682] Hence, in 2 Macc. iv. 47, 3 Macc. vii. 5, Scythian is used with -the modern connotation of "Barbarian." - -[683] Ezek. xxxii. 26, 27; Cheyne, _Jeremiah_ ("Men of the Bible") p. -31. - -[684] _Expositor_, 2nd series, iv. 263; Cheyne, _Jeremiah_, 31. Hitzig -and Ewald (erroneously?) refer Psalms lv., lix., to these events, and -it seems also to be an error to suppose that the later name of -Bethshan--Scythopolis--has anything to do with this incursion. Like -the names of Pella, Philadelphia, etc., it is later than the age of -Alexander the Great. See 2 Macc. xii. 30; Jos., _B. J._, II. xviii., -_Vit._ vi. Perhaps Scythopolis is a corruption of Sikytopolis, the -city of Sikkuth; or Scythian may merely stand for "Barbarian," as in 3 -Macc. vii. 5; Col. iii. 11 (Cheyne, _l.c._). - -[685] Nah. i. 10, ii. 5, iii. 12; Diod. Sic., ii. 26. - -[686] Nah. iii. 8-11. - -[687] Strabo, xvi. 1, 3: [Greek: ephanisthe paoachrema]. - -[688] Xen., _Anab._, III. iv. 7. - -[689] Chaldees, Kardim, Kasdim, Kurds. - -[690] Nabu-pal-ussur, "Nebo protect the son" B.C. 625-7. Jos., _Antt._ -X. xi. 1: comp. _Ap._, i. 19. - -[691] Newman, _Hebrew Monarchy_, p. 315. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXI - - _JOSIAH'S REFORMATION_ - - 2 KINGS xxii. 8-20, xxiii. 1-25 - - "And the works of Josias were upright before his Lord with a heart - full of godliness."--1 ESDRAS i. 23. - - "From Zion shall go forth the Law, and the Word of the Lord from - Jerusalem."--ISA. ii. 3. - - -It is from the Prophets--Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Nahum, Habakkuk, -Ezekiel--that we catch almost our sole glimpses of the vast -world-movements of the nations which must have loomed large on the -minds of the King of Judah and of all earnest politicians in that day. -As they did not directly affect the destiny of Judah till the end of -the reign, they do not interest the historian of the Kings or the -later Chronicler. The things which rendered the reign memorable in -their eyes were chiefly two--the finding of "the Book of the Law" in -the House of the Lord, and the consequent religious reformation. - -It is with the first of these two events that we must deal in the -present chapter. - -Josiah began to reign as a child of eight, and it may be that the -emphatic and honourable mention of his mother--Jedidah ("Beloved"), -daughter of Adaiah of Boscath--may be due to the fact that he owed to -her training that early proclivity to faithfulness which earns for him -the unique testimony, that he not only "walked in the way of David -his father," but that "he turned not aside to the right hand or to the -left." - -At first, of course, as a mere child, he could take no very active -steps. The Chronicler says that at sixteen he began to show his -devotion, and at twenty set himself the task of purging Judah and -Jerusalem from the taint of idols. Things were in a bad condition, as we -see from the bitter complaints and denunciations of Zephaniah and -Jeremiah. Idolatry of the worst description was still openly tolerated. -But Josiah was supported by a band of able and faithful advisers. -Shaphan, grandfather of the unhappy Gedaliah--afterwards the Chaldaean -viceroy over conquered Judah--was scribe; Hilkiah, the son of Shallum -and the ancestor of Ezra, was the high priest.[692] By them the king was -assisted, fist in the obliteration of the prevalent emblems of idolatry, -and then in the purification of the Temple. Two centuries and a half had -elapsed since it had been last repaired by Joash, and it must have -needed serious restoration during long years of neglect in the reigns of -Ahaz, of Manasseh, and of Amon. Subscriptions were collected from the -people by "the keepers of the door," and were freely entrusted to the -workmen and their overseers, who employed them faithfully in the objects -for which they were designed.[693] - -The repairs led to an event of momentous influence on all future time. -During the cleansing of the Temple Hilkiah came to Shaphan, and said, "I -have found the Book of the Law in the House of the Lord." Perhaps the -copy of the book had been placed by some priest's hand beside the Ark, -and had been discovered during the removal of the rubbish which neglect -had there accumulated. Shaphan read the book; and when next he had to -see the king to tell him about the progress of the repairs, he said to -him, "Hilkiah the priest hath handed me a book." Josiah bade him read -some of it aloud. It is evident that he read the curses contained in -Deut. xxviii. They horrified the pious monarch; for all that they -contained, and the laws to which they were appended, were wholly new to -him. He might well be amazed that a code so solemn, and purporting to -have emanated from Moses, should, in spite of maledictions so fearful, -have become an absolute dead letter. In deep alarm he sent the priest, -the scribe Shaphan, with his son Ahikam, and Abdon, the son of Micaiah, -and Asahiah, a court official, to inquire of Jehovah, whose great anger -could not but be kindled against king and people by the obliteration and -nullity of His law. They consulted Huldah, the only prophetess mentioned -in the Old Testament, except Miriam and Deborah.[694] She was the wife -of Shallum and keeper of the priests' robes,[695] and she lived in the -suburbs of the city.[696] Her answer was an uncompromising menace. All -the curses which the king had heard against the place and people should -be pitilessly fulfilled,--only, as the king had showed a tender heart, -and had humbled himself before Jehovah, he should go to his own grave in -peace.[697] - -Thereupon the king summoned to the Temple a great assembly of priests, -prophets, and all the people, and, standing by the pillar (or "on the -platform")[698] in the entrance of the inner court, read "all the -words of the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the House of -the Lord" in their ears, and joined with them in "the covenant" to -obey the hitherto unknown or totally forgotten laws which were -inculcated in the newly discovered volume. - -Immediate action followed. The priests were ordered to bring out of the -Temple all the vessels made for Baal, for the Asherah, and for the host -of heaven; they were burnt outside Jerusalem in the Valley of Kedron, -and their ashes taken to Bethel.[699] The _chemarim_ of the high places -were suppressed, as well as all other idolatrous priests who burnt -incense to the signs of the Zodiac, the Hyades, and the heavenly -bodies.[700] The Asherah itself was taken out of the Temple, and it is -truly amazing that we should find it there so late in Josiah's reign. He -burnt it in the Kedron, stamped it to powder, and scattered the powder -"on the graves of the common people." The Chronicler says "on the graves -of them that had sacrificed" to the idols[701];--but this is an -inexplicable statement, since it is (as Professor Lumby says) very -improbable that idolaters had a separate burial-place. It is equally -shocking, and to us incomprehensible, to read that the houses of the -degraded _Qedeshim_ still stood, not "by the Temple" (A.V.), but "_in_ -the Temple,"[702] and that in these houses, or chambers, the women still -"wove embroideries[703] for the Asherah." What was Hilkiah doing? If the -priests of the _high places_ were so guilty from Geba to Beersheba, did -no responsibility attach to the high priest and other priests of the -Temple who permitted the existence of these enormities, not only in the -_bamoth_ at the city gates,[704] but in the very courts of the mountain -of the Lord's House? If the priests of the immemorial shrines were -degraded from their prerogatives, and were not allowed to come up to the -altar of Jehovah in Jerusalem, by what law of justice were they to be -regarded as so immeasurably inferior to the highest members of their own -order, who, for years together, had permitted the worship of a wooden -phallic emblem, and the existence of the worst heathen abominations -within the very Temple of the Lord? Every honest reader must admit that -there are inexplicable difficulties and uncertainties in these ancient -histories, and that our knowledge of the exact circumstances--especially -in all that regards the priests and Levites, who, in the Chronicles, are -their own ecclesiastical historians--must remain extremely imperfect. - -And what can be meant by the clause that the degraded priests of the -old high places, though they were not allowed to serve at the great -altar, yet "did eat of the _unleavened bread_ among their brethren"? -Unleavened bread was only eaten at the Passover; and when there _was_ -a Passover, was eaten by all alike. Perhaps the reading for -"unleavened bread" should be (priestly) "portions"--a reading found by -Geiger in an old manuscript. - -Continuing his work, Josiah defiled Tophet;[705] took away the horses -given by the kings of Judah to the sun, which were stabled beside the -chamber of the eunuch Nathan-Melech in the precincts;[706] and burnt -the sun-chariots in the fire. He removed the altars to the stars on -the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz,[707] and ground them to powder. -He also destroyed those of his grandfather Manasseh in the two Temple -courts--which we supposed to have been removed by Manasseh in his -repentance--and threw the dust into the Kedron. He defiled the -idolatrous shrines reared by Solomon to the deities of Sidon, Ammon, -and Moloch, broke the pillars, cut down the Asherim, and filled their -places with dead men's bones.[708] Travelling northwards, he burnt, -destroyed, and stamped to powder the altars and the Asherim at Bethel, -and burnt upon the altars the remains found in the sepulchres,[709] -only leaving undisturbed the remains of the old prophet from Judah, -and of the prophet of Samaria.[710] He then destroyed the other -Samaritan shrines, exercising an undisputed authority over the -Northern Kingdom. The mixed inhabitants did not interfere with his -proceedings; and in the declining fortunes of Nineveh, the Assyrian -viceroy--if there was one--did not dispute his authority. Lastly, in -accordance with the fierce injunction of Deut. xvii. 2-5, "he slew all -the priests of the high places" on their own altars, burnt men's bones -upon them, and returned to Jerusalem. - -It is very difficult, with the milder notions which we have learnt -from the spirit of the Gospel, to look with approval on the -recrudescence of the Elijah-spirit displayed by the last proceeding. -But many centuries were to elapse, even under the Gospel Dispensation, -before men learnt the sacred principle of the early Christians that -"violence is hateful to God." Josiah must be judged by a more lenient -judgment, and he was obeying a mandate found in the new Book of the -Law. But the question arises whether the fierce commands of -Deuteronomy were ever intended to be taken _au pied de la lettre_. May -not Deut. xiii. 6-18 have been intended to express in a concrete but -ideal form the spirit of execration to be entertained towards -idolatry? Perhaps in thinking so we are only guilty of an anachronism, -and are applying to the seventh century before Christ the feelings of -the nineteenth century after Christ. - -After this Josiah ordered the people to keep a Deuteronomic Passover, -such as we are told--and as all the circumstances prove--had not been -kept from the days of the Judges. The Chronicler revels in the details -of this Passover, and tells us that Josiah gave the people thirty -thousand lambs and kids, and three thousand bullocks; and his priests -gave two thousand six hundred small cattle, and three hundred oxen; -and the chief of the Levites gave the Levites five thousand small -cattle, and five hundred oxen. He goes on to describe the slaying, -sprinkling of blood, flaying, roasting, boiling in pots, pans, and -caldrons, and attention paid to the burnt-offerings and the fat;[711] -but neither the historians nor the chroniclers, either here or -anywhere else, say one word about the Day of Atonement, or seem aware -of its existence. It belongs to the Post-Exilic Priestly Code, and is -not alluded to in the Book of Deuteronomy. - -Continuing his task, he put away them that had familiar spirits -(_oboth_), and the wizards, and the _teraphim_, with a zeal shown by -no king before or after him; but Jehovah "turned not from the -fierceness of His anger, because of all the provocations which -Manasseh had provoked Him withal." Evil, alas! is more diffusive, and -in some senses more permanent, than good, because of the perverted -bias of human nature. Judah and Jerusalem had been radically -corrupted by the apostate son of Hezekiah, and it may be that the -sudden and high-handed reformation enforced by his grandson depended -too exclusively on the external impulse given to it by the king to -produce deep effects in the hearts of the people. Certain it is that -even Jeremiah--though he was closely connected with the finders of the -book, had perhaps been present when the solemn league and covenant was -taken in the Temple, and lived through the reformation in which he -probably took a considerable part--was profoundly dissatisfied with -the results. It is sad and singular that such should have been the -case; for in the first flush of the new enthusiasm he had written, -"Cursed be the man that heareth not the words of this covenant, which -I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of -the land of Egypt, saying, 'Obey My voice.'"[712] Nay, it has been -inferred that he was even an itinerant preacher of the newly found -law; for he writes: "And the Lord said unto me, 'Proclaim all these -words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, -Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them.'"[713] - -The style of Deuteronomy, as is well known, shows remarkable -affinities with the style of Jeremiah. Yet it is clear that after the -death of Josiah the prophet became utterly disillusioned with the -outcome of the whole movement. It proved itself to be at once -evanescent and unreal. The people would not give up their beloved -local shrines.[714] The law, as Habakkuk says (i. 4), became torpid; -judgment went not forth to victory; the wicked compassed about the -righteous, and judgment was perverted. It was easy to obey the -external regulations of Deuteronomy; it was far more difficult to be -true to its noble moral precepts. The reformation of Josiah, so -violent and radical, proved to be only skin-deep; and Jeremiah, with -bitter disappointment, found it to be so. External decency might be -improved, but rites and forms are nothing to Him who searcheth the -heart.[715] There was, in fact, an inherent danger in the place -assumed by the newly discovered book. "Since it was regarded as a -State authority, there early arose a kind of book-science, with its -pedantic pride and erroneous learned endeavours to interpret and apply -the Scriptures. At the same time there arose also a new kind of -hypocrisy and idolatry of the letter, through the new protection which -the State gave to the religion of the book acknowledged by the law. -Thus scholastic wisdom came into conflict with genuine prophecy."[716] - -How entirely the improvement of outward worship failed to improve men's -hearts the prophet testifies.[717] "The sin of Judah," he says, "is -written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is -graven upon the tablets of their hearts, and upon the horns of their -altars, and their Asherim by the green trees[718] upon the high hills. O -My mountain in the field, I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in -the land thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in Mine eyes, -which shall burn for ever." While Josiah lived this apostasy was secret; -but as soon as he died the people "turned again to folly,"[719] and -committed all the old idolatries except the worship of Moloch. There -arose a danger lest even the moderate ritualism of Deuteronomy should be -perverted and exaggerated into mere formality. In the energy of his -indignation against this abuse, Jeremiah has to uplift his voice against -any trust even in the most decided injunctions of this newly discovered -law. He was "a second Amos upon a higher platform." The Deuteronomic Law -did not as yet exhibit the concentrated sacerdotalism and ritualism -which mark the Priestly Code, to which it is far superior in every way. -It is still prophetic in its tone. It places social interests above -rubrics of worship. It expresses the fundamental religious thought "that -Jehovah is in no sense inaccessible; that He can be approached -immediately by all, and without sacerdotal intervention; that He asks -nothing for Himself, but asks it as a religious duty that man should -render unto man what is right; that His Will lies not in any known -height, but in the moral sphere which is known and understood by -all."[720] The book ordained certain sacrifices; yet Jeremiah says with -startling emphasis, "To what purpose cometh there to Me frankincense -from Sheba, and the sweet calamus from a far country? Your -burnt-offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasant unto -Me."[721] Therefore He bids them, "Put your burnt-offerings to your -sacrifices, and eat them as flesh"--_i.e._, "Throw all your offerings -into a mass, and eat them at your pleasure (regardless of sacerdotal -rules): they have neither any inherent sanctity nor any secondary -importance from the characters of the offerers."[722] And in a still -more remarkable passage, "_For I spake not unto your fathers, nor -commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, -concerning burnt-offerings and sacrifices_: but this thing I commanded -them, saying, 'Obey My voice.'"[723] - -Nay, in the most emphatic ordinances of Deuteronomy he found that the -people had created a new peril. They were putting a particularistic -trust in Jehovah, as though He were a respecter of persons, and they His -favourites. They fancied, as in the days of Micah, that it was enough -for them to claim His name, and bribe Him with sacrifices.[724] Above -all, they boasted of and relied upon the possession of His Temple, and -placed their trust on the punctual observance of external ceremonies. -All these sources of vain confidence it was the duty of Jeremiah rudely -to shatter to pieces. Standing at the gates of the Lord's House, he -cried: "Trust ye not in lying words, saying, 'The Temple of the Lord! -the Temple of the Lord! the Temple of the Lord, are these!' Behold, ye -trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Will ye steal, murder, commit -adultery, swear falsely, burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other -gods; and come and stand before Me in this house, whereupon My name is -called, and say, 'We are delivered,' that ye may do all these -abominations? Is this house become a den of robbers in your eyes? But go -ye now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I caused My name to dwell -at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of My people. -I will do unto this house as I have done to Shiloh; and I will cast you -out of My sight, as I have cast out the whole house of -Ephraim."[725]--Yet all hope was not extinguished for ever. The Scythian -might disappear; the Babylonian might come in his place; but one day -there should be a new covenant of pardon and restitution; and as had -been promised in Deuteronomy, "_all_ should know Jehovah, from the least -to the greatest." - -At last he even prophesies the entire future annulment of the solemn -covenant made on the basis of Deuteronomy, and says that Jehovah will -make a new covenant with His people, not according to the covenant -which He made with their fathers.[726] And in his final estimate of -King Josiah after his death, he does not so much as mention his -reformation, his iconoclasm, his sweeping zeal, or his enforcement of -the Deuteronomic Law, but only says to Jehoiakim:-- - -"'Did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice?--then -it was well with him. He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then -it was well. _Was not this to know Me?' saith the Lord_."[727] - -Whether because its methods were too violent, or because it only -affected the surface of men's lives, or because the people were not -really ripe for it, or because no reformation can ever succeed which -is enforced by autocracy, not spread by persuasion and conviction, it -is certain that the first glamour of Josiah's movement ended in -disillusionment. A religion violently imposed from without as a -state-religion naturally tends to hypocrisy and externalism. What -Jehovah required was, not a changed method of worship, but a changed -heart; and this the reformation of Josiah did not produce. It has -often been so in human history. Failure seems to be written on many of -the most laudable human efforts. Nevertheless, truth ultimately -prevails. Isaiah was murdered, and Urijah, and Jeremiah. Savonarola -was burnt, and Huss, and many a martyr more; but the might of -priestcraft was at last crippled, to be revived, we hope, no more, -either by open violence or secret apostasy. - - "Then to side with Truth is noble, when we share her wretched - crust, - Ere her cause bring fame and profit, and 'tis prosperous to - be just; - Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands - aside, - Doubting in his abject spirit till his Lord is crucified, - And the multitude make virtue of the faith they have denied." - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[692] 2 Kings xxiii. 4. We have here the first mention of "the second -priest" (if, with Graetz, we read _Cohen mishneh_, as in 2 Kings xxv. -18; Jer. lii. 24). In later days he was called "the Sagan." At this -time he probably acted as "Captain of the Temple" (Graetz, ii. 319). - -[693] Comp. 2 Kings xii. 15, where we find the same remark. - -[694] Exod. xv. 20; Judg. iv. 4; Isa. viii. 3. "The prophetess" seems -to mean "prophet's wife." Noadiah was a false prophetess. - -[695] Exod. xxviii. 2, etc. - -[696] 2 Kings xxii. 14. Heb., _mishneh_, lit. "second"; A.V., "the -college"; R.V., "the second quarter." Perhaps it means "the lower -city" (Neh. xi. 9; Zeph. i. 10). It puzzled the LXX.: [Greek: en te -masena]. Vulg., _in secunda_. Jerome says, "_Haud dubium quin urbis -partem significet quae interiori muro vallabatur_." Comp. Zeph. i. 10, -"an howling from the _second_" (_i.e._, quarter of the city); Neh. xi. -9, where, for "_second over the city_" (A. and R.V.), read "over the -second part of the city." - -[697] Another reading is "in Jerusalem," which gets over an historic -difficulty. - -[698] Comp. 2 Kings xi. 14; LXX., [Greek: epi tou stulou]; Heb., -_al-ha-ammud_; Vulg., _super gradum_. - -[699] 2 Kings xxiii. 4; for "in the fields of Kedron" one version has -[Greek: en to empurismo tou cheimarrhou], "in the burning-place of the -wady,"--perhaps reading _bemisrephoth_ for _bishedamoth_, and alluding -to lime-kilns in the wady. It is surprising that they should carry the -ashes "to Bethel." Thenius suggests the reading [Hebrew: beit-'al], -"place of execution" (lit., "house of nothingness"). - -[700] Hos. x. 5; Zeph. i. 4 (the only other places where the word -occurs). The _delevit_ of the Vulgate (2 Kings xxiii. 5) only means -that he put them down, and the [Greek: katekause] of the LXX. should -be [Greek: katepause]. - -[701] Comp. Jer. ii. 23, where the LXX. has [Greek: en to polyandrio]. -In 2 Chron. xxxiv. 4, perhaps the true reading is, not _Beni-ha-'am_, -but _Beni-hinnom_--which would mean that he scattered the dust in the -gehenna of Jerusalem. Comp. 1 Kings xv. 13. - -[702] For these Galli, see Seneca, _De Vit. Beat._, 27; Pliny, _H. -N._, xi. 49. - -[703] Heb., _bathim_, lit. "tents" or "houses"; Vulg., _quasi -domunculas_. - -[704] In 2 Kings xxiii. 8, Geiger would read "the high places of the -_satyrs_" ([Hebrew: stzrm]). - -[705] Usually derived (as by Selden and Milton) from _toph_, "drum," -but perhaps from _tuph_ (to _spit_ in sign of abhorrence). - -[706] _Parvar_--perhaps "open portico." Renan connects the word with -the Greek [Greek: peribolos]. On horses dedicated to the sun, see Xen. -_Cyrop._, viii. 3, 5, 12; _Anab._, iv. 5. - -[707] See Zeph. i. 5; Jer. xix. 13, xxxii. 29. - -[708] 2 Kings xxiii. 13: "The Mount of Corruption"; Vulg., _Mons -offensionis_; LXX., [Greek: tou orous tou Mosthath]. Some conjecture -that _Maschith_ may be a derisive change for some word which meant -"anointing" (from being the _Oil_ Mountain, _Har ham-mischchah_). - -[709] In burning the bones of the dead, he violated all Jewish -feeling. Amos (ii. 1) had severely rebuked this form of revenge and -insult even in the case of the heathen King of Moab. Bones defiled the -touch (Num. xix. 16; Herod., iv. 73). Josiah's question at Bethel was, -"What _pillar_ is that?" (_tsiyun_). LXX., [Greek: skopelon]. Comp. -Gen. xxxv. 20. - -[710] 1 Kings xiii. 29-31. - -[711] 2 Chron. xxxv. 1-19. - -[712] Jer. xi. 3, 4. Since, in this part of my subject, I make -frequent reference to the prophecies of Jeremiah which are -indispensable to the right understanding of the history, I may here -say that modern critics (Cheyne and others) arrange them as follows:-- - -In the reign of _Josiah_, Jer. ii. 1-iii. 5, iii. 6-vi. 30, vii. 1-ix. -25, xi. 1-17. - -In the reign of _Jehoiakim_, xxvi. 2-6, xlvi. 2-12, xxv., xxxv., and -possibly xvi. 1, xviii. 19-27, xiv., xv., xviii., xi. 18-xii. 17. - -In the reign of _Jehoiachin_, x. 17-23, xiii. - -In the reign of _Zedekiah_, xxii.-xxiv., xxvii.-xxix. 1-11 (?), lii. - -In the _Exile_, xxxix.-xliv. - -[713] See Cheyne, _Jeremiah_, p. 56, _id._ 6. - -[714] Canon Cheyne shows that even Mohammed could not persuade the -Qurashites wholly to give up their black stone at the Kaaba, and their -dolmens and sacred trees (_id._ 103). He left the _aucab_, or -sacrificial stones (_matstseboth_), though he warns his followers -against them (_Quran_, v. 92). - -[715] Jer. xvii. 9-11. - -[716] Ewald, _The Prophets_, iii. 63, 64. - -[717] Jer. xvii. 1-4. - -[718] The Qurashites and other heathen Arabs accounted holy a large -green tree, and every year had a sacrifice in its honour. "On the way to -Hunain we called to God's Messenger (Mohammed) that he should appoint -for us such trees. But he was terrified, and said, 'Lord God, Lord God! -Ye speak even as the Israelites ... ye are still in ignorance,--thus are -heathen enslaved'" (Vakidi, _Book of the Campaigns of God's Messenger_, -quoted by Cheyne, _Jeremiah_, p. 103, from Wellhausen). - -[719] Psalm lxxxv. 8. - -[720] Deut. xxx. 11-14. See Wellhausen, p. 165. - -[721] Jer. vi. 20. The passages of Jeremiah which seem of a different -spirit may have been added by later hands--_e.g._, xxxiii. 18, which -is not in the LXX. - -[722] Jer. vii. 21; Ewald; and Cheyne, _l.c._ 120. So the Jews seem to -have understood it, for they appoint this passage to be read on the -_Haphtara_ after the _Parashah_ about sacrifices from Leviticus. - -[723] Jer, vii. 22, 23. This alone would show that Jeremiah did not -(as earlier critics thought) _write_ "Deuteronomy," in spite of the -numerous close resemblances in phraseology. Thus, Jeremiah often -denounces the priests (i. 18, ii. 8-26, iv. 9, v. 31, viii. 1, xiii. -13, xxxii. 32). Cheyne, p. 82. - -[724] Mic. iii. 11. - -[725] Jer. vii. 4, 8-15. - -[726] Jer. xxxi. 31, 32. - -[727] Jer. xxii. 15, 16. - - - - - NOTE TO CHAPTER XXXI. - - "Jehovah is our Lawgiver."--ISA. xxxiii. 22. - - -What was the Book of the Law which Hilkiah found in the Temple? - -The great majority of eminent modern critics have now come to the -conclusion that it was the kernel of the Book of Deuteronomy. Nor is -this in any sense a mere modern notion. It occurs as far back as St. -Jerome (_Adv. Jovin._, i. 5) and St. Chrysostom (_Hom. in Matt._, ix., -p. 135, B. See W. Rob. Smith, p. 258). - -It is no part of my immediate duty to argue this question, but I may -state that the arguments for this conclusion are partly historical, -partly literary, and partly depend on internal evidence. - -I. As regards the _literary_ argument, it is maintained that-- - -1. The full, rounded, rhetorical style of Deuteronomy, so widely -different from the extreme dryness of other parts of the Torah, could -not have been as yet developed in the days of Moses, and required the -slow training of centuries for its perfection. It is a new phenomenon, -and differs widely from earlier prophetic writings, such as those of -Amos and Hosea. - -2. The style and language of the Deuteronomist are so marked, that -they can scarcely escape an intelligent reader of the English Version. -Riehm enumerates sixty-four characteristic words or phrases. Their -significance lies in the fact that they express obvious ideas, and are -not names for special objects, which force a writer to use peculiar -words. The style closely resembles in many phrases and particulars the -style of Jeremiah, and of him alone among the prophets. "Even -supposing that no historic text," it has been said, "taught us that -the articles of Smalkald were the work of Luther, we should still have -the right to affirm that these articles closely resemble the ideas of -Luther, and could hardly have been published without his cognisance." - -II. As regards _historical_ evidence, we observe that-- - -1. No author earlier than Josiah shows any acquaintance with -Deuteronomy: after that date, proofs of such knowledge abound. - -2. The Book of Deuteronomy insisted with reiterated emphasis on the -centralisation of worship. All its ordinances are framed with a view -to promote this end. But we have seen that there is not a trace of -any belief that local shrines were prohibited earlier than the reign -of Hezekiah, who certainly would have defended his boldness by appeal -to a written law if he had known of such as existing. - -III. As regards _internal_ evidence, we see that-- - -1. Many passages and injunctions of the Book of Deuteronomy differ -entirely from those found in the old Book of the Covenant which forms -the most ancient nucleus of Exodus (Exod. xx. 22-xxiii. 33). - -2. Even the most conservative English critics--even those who, with any -pretence to competent knowledge, argue against the more advanced -conclusions of the Higher Criticism--cannot help admitting that at least -three codes, which in many, and in some fundamental, respects differ -widely from each other, and which make no reference to each other, are -found in our present Pentateuch--viz., that of the Book of the Covenant, -that of the Deuteronomist (D.), and that of the Priestly writer (P.). -All three may contain elements as old as the days of Moses; but most -critics (with scarcely an exception in Germany) now believe that the -Deuteronomic Code, in its present form, is not earlier than the date of -Josiah's reformation (_circ._ B.C. 621); and the Priestly Codex -(whatever older documents may exist in it) not older, in its present -form, than about the time of Ezra (B.C. 444). Dillmann, Kittel, and in -his later days Delitzsch, have been of necessity compelled to give up -the views that, in their present form, D. and P. are as ancient as the -days of Moses. The last German critic who held that Moses wrote our -present Pentateuch was Keil (_d._ 1888). Canon Cheyne argues for the -late date of this misnamed "Deuteronomy," on the grounds that the -authors (1) used documents manifestly later than Moses; (2) alluded to -events which only occurred long after Moses; and (3) expressed ideas -which, in the age of Moses, are not psychologically possible. - -The Book of Deuteronomy consists mainly of an historical introduction, -probably added later (i. 1-5); Moses' _first_ discourse (i. 6-iv. 40); -Moses' _second_ discourse (iv. 44-xxvi.); a section marked specially by -blessings and curses (xxvii.-xxix.); a _third_ discourse of Moses (xxix. -2-xxx. 20); his farewell (xxxi. 1-13); his song (xxxi. 14-xxxii. 47); -conclusion, narrating his blessing and death (xxxii. 48-xxxiv. 12). - -I have no space here to enter fully into the arguments which seem -decisive as to the date of the main part of Deuteronomy. Those who -desire to see them must study Colenso, _The Pentateuch_, pt. iii.; -Reuss, _Hist. Sainte et la Loi_, i. 154-211; W. Robertson Smith, _Old -Test. in the Jewish Church_, lect. xvi.; Kuenen, _The Hexateuch_, E. -T., 1886; Kittel, _Gesch. d. Hebraeer_, pp. 43-59; Cheyne, _Jeremiah_, -pp. 48-86; S. R. Driver, _s.v._ "Deuteronomy" (Smith's _Dict. of the -Bible_, new ed.); W. Aldis Wright, _The Documents of the Hexateuch_, -pp. lvii.-lxxix. The name "Deuteronomy" (or "second law") arises from -the mistaken rendering of the LXX. and Vulgate in Deut. xvii. 18. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXII - - _THE DEATH OF JOSIAH_ - - B.C. 608 - - 2 KINGS xxiii. 29, 30 - - "Howl, O fir tree; for the cedar is fallen."--ZECH. xi. 2. - - -Josiah survived by thirteen years the reformation and covenant which -are the chief events of his reign. He lived in prosperity and peace. -He did justice and judgment; the poor and needy flourished under his -royal protection; and it was well with him. It seemed as if the -Deuteronomic blessings on faithfulness to its law were about to be -abundantly fulfilled, when "the azure calm of heaven" was suddenly -shattered, and "down came the thunderbolt." The great and victorious -Assurbanipal of Assyria had died, and left his power to weaker -successors. Meanwhile, Egypt was growing in power and splendour under -Pharaoh Necho II. (B.C. 612-596), the sixth king of the twenty-fifth -or Saitic dynasty. He nearly anticipated M. de Lesseps in making the -Suez Canal,[728] and perhaps actually anticipated Vasco de Gama in -rounding the Cabo Tormentoso, or Cape of Good Hope, in a three years' -voyage. He was fired by the ambitious dream of succeeding the -Assyrians as the chief power in the world, or at any rate of seizing -part of the dominions which they had conquered.[729] Accordingly, in -B.C. 608, he went up against the King of Assyria to the river -Euphrates. The Chronicler says that his destination was Carchemish, on -the Euphrates, and some have conjectured that the vague phrase -"against the King of Assyria" is incorrect, and that, as Josephus -states, he was really marching against the Medes and Babylonians after -the fall of Nineveh.[730] - -With this expedition Josiah was not greatly concerned. He may have -begun his reign as the vassal of Assurbanipal; but if so, it is -probable that he had long since ceased to pay tribute to a power which -was tottering to its fall under the attacks of Scythians and -Babylonians. He had availed himself of the disorganisation of the -Assyrian power to re-establish some, at least, of the old authority of -the House of David over the Northern Kingdom, and perhaps he only -undertook the desperate expedient of withstanding the northward march -of the Egyptian host under the notion that either on the march or on -his return the Pharaoh intended to subjugate Palestine to Egypt. - -Pharaoh Necho II., among his other achievements, had created a -powerful fleet,[731] and it is nearly certain that he did not advance -along the coast of Palestine, but made his way by sea to Acco or -Dor.[732] Here he received the news that Josiah meant to block his -path at Megiddo, on the plain of Jezreel. That plain has been the -great and only possible battle-field of Palestine, from the revolt in -which Barak destroyed the host of Jabin,[733] to that in which Tryphon -met Jonathan the Maccabee,[734] and Kleber in 1799 defeated -twenty-five thousand Turks with three thousand French. - -The Chronicler here adds a very remarkable incident.[735] Necho, like -Joash of Israel in former days, did not care to fight with the poor -little King of Judah--or at any rate did not wish to do so at present, -when he was on his way to the greater encounter. He therefore sent an -embassy to Josiah, saying, "What have I to do with thee, King of -Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house -wherewith I have war.[736] For God [Elohim] commanded me [in a dream] -to make haste.[737] Forbear, then, from meddling with God, who is with -me, that He destroy thee not." - -The conjecture "in a dream" is not unlikely, nor is it in disaccord -with other events in the annals of the Pharaohs and the Sargonidae of -Assyria.[738] We may indeed be surprised that an Egyptian Pharaoh -should profess to deliver to a Jewish king the messages of Elohim, -though we have seen something like this in the case of the -Rabshakeh.[739] The variation in 1 Esdras i. 26-28 is curious and -interesting. We are there told that the message was sent to Josiah, -not only by Pharaoh Necho, who had sent to say "The Lord is with me -hastening me forward: depart from me, and be not against the Lord," -but also by "the prophet Jeremy." Josephus frankly ascribes the error -of Josiah to destiny, as though he had been infatuated by the -dementation which the Greeks attributed to Ate.[740] - -This, however, is not likely; for it is clear that Jeremiah, though -not mentioned in the Book of Kings, must have had a strong influence -over the mind of Josiah, whom he loved, whose views he shared, in -whose religious revolution he had taken part. Further, we do not read -of any warning recorded by the prophet himself; and had he uttered -one, it would certainly have been mentioned, when he committed his -prophecies to writing twenty-three years after their commencement. A -warning of which the neglect had led to fatal issues would have been -so decisive a confirmation of Jeremiah's prophetic insight that it -could not have been passed over in silence. - -Indeed, Jeremiah may have shared the conviction which, founded on -imperfect generalisation, perhaps dazzled the unfortunate king to his -ruin. Josiah had accepted the Book of Deuteronomy with the whole -strength of his belief, and the Book of Deuteronomy had proclaimed to -Israel as the reward of faithfulness this promise: "And it shall come -to pass that Jehovah, thy God, shall set thee on high above all the -nations of the earth.... Jehovah shall cause thine enemies which rise -up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out -against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways."[741] In the -strength of that promise, Josiah was perhaps saying to himself, in -the language of the Psalms, that Jehovah could not fail to save His -anointed, and dash His enemies to pieces under His feet;[742] in the -language, perhaps, of later days, that the sound of a shaken leaf -should chase them, and they should flee when none pursued.[743] - -Alas! such passages do not apply invariably to our worldly fortunes! -God's promises are general. The individual must be considered apart -from the universal in the region of spiritual and eternal blessings. -In the affairs of earth the wicked often seem to be in prosperity, -while the righteous are overwhelmed by all God's waves and storms. -Further, Josiah evidently received a warning--a warning which -professed to come, and really came, from God[744]--whether uttered by -Pharaoh or by Jeremiah. And in this instance Josiah had sought war; he -had not been forced into it. It was not for him to go out of his way -to champion the cause either of cruel Assyria or vaunting Babylon. - -The result was entire disenchantment. No more disheartening and -disastrous calamity could have happened to the kingdom, which had just -begun to struggle out of the slough of idolatry and humiliation. - -Heedless of the message he had received, strong in mistaken hopes, -Josiah opposed his poor, weak forces to the powerful host of renovated -Egypt. The result was instantaneous ruin.[745] Judah was defeated and -scattered without a blow,--Necho came, saw, conquered. Josiah, -according to the present record of the Chronicles, like Ahab, -"disguised himself"[746] and went into the battle; and as he drove -from rank to rank an Egyptian archer drew a bow at a venture, and -smote him while he was putting his forces in array. The arrow-point -brought conviction too late. Josiah saw his error; he knew that his -own death involved the rout of his army. He sounded a retreat, and -said to his servants, "Bear me away to my travelling chariot, for I am -sore wounded."[747] He died at Megiddo, where his ancestor Ahaziah had -died before him from the arrow-wounds of Jehu's pursuers. His servants -carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo. The famous plain of -Esdraelon had already witnessed two great victories--that of Barak -over Sisera, and that of Gideon over the Midianites; and one -deplorable defeat--that of Saul by the Philistines. It was now -darkened by a catastrophe even more sad.[748] - -When that chariot, accompanied by its wailing escort, entered the -gates of Jerusalem, with the routed army of Judah behind it, the -feeling of the people must have resembled that of the Athenians when -the news reached them that Lysander had destroyed their whole fleet at -AEgospotami, and the long wail went thrilling up through that sleepless -night from the Peiraeus all along the Makra Teiche to the Parthenon and -the Acropolis. And there followed such a mourning as the land had -never known before. It had begun at Megiddo and Hadadrimmon, leaving -the sad memory of its hopeless intensity. It was renewed at Jerusalem -when they buried the king in his own sepulchre. "The land mourned, -every family apart; the family of the House of David apart, and their -wives apart; the family of the House of Nathan apart, and their wives -apart; the family of the House of Levi apart, and their wives apart; -the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; all the families -that remained, every family apart, and their wives apart."[749] "And -all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for -Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah -in their lamentations unto this day, and they were made an institution -in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the Lamentations."[750] -Not even for heroic David, or royal Solomon, or pious Asa, or -prosperous Jehoshaphat had there been so loud a dirge. - -But, alas! there was cause for far deeper sorrow than the loss of a -prince, however able, however beloved. The dead was dead. Natural sorrow -for the bereavement of the people would soon be healed by time, but -behind the passing affliction lay a great fear and a great reaction. - -A great fear,--for now a southern foe was added to the northern. -Jeremiah and other prophets had warned Israel of the peril from the -North. When the Scythian wave "rolled shoreward, struck and was -dissipated," when the source of Assyrian terror seemed to be drying up, -worldlings may have felt inclined to laugh at Jeremiah. But now it was -evident that, sooner or later, the Chaldaeans would be as formidable as -their predecessors, and out of the serpent's egg was breaking forth a -cockatrice. The uncalled-for attempt of Josiah to bar the path of the -new and mighty Pharaoh had also added Egypt to the list of formidable -enemies. For the present the Pharaoh had passed on to the Euphrates; but -whether he returned victorious or defeated, his troops could not but be -a source of danger to the little kingdom, which would henceforth be -helpless between the overwhelming forces of its foes. - -If such were the fears of the timid and the pessimistic, still deeper -was the disheartenment of the faithful. Josiah had been the most -obedient, the most religious, of all the kings of Judah from childhood -upwards. Where, then, were Jehovah's old loving-kindnesses which He -sware unto David in His truth? Had God forgotten to be gracious? Had -He hidden away His mercy in displeasure? Where were the blessings of -the newly discovered Book of the Law, if the curse fell on its most -earnest votary? Where was Huldah's promise that he should be gathered -to his fathers in peace, if he was carried back dead from the field of -fruitless battle? There can be little doubt that the apparent blight -which had fallen on unavailing righteousness hastened the reaction of -the subsequent reigns. Many might be inclined to cry out with even -Jeremiah in his moments of overwhelming despondency, "Ah, Lord God! -surely Thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, -'Ye shall have peace'; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul."[751] -"O Lord, Thou has deceived me, and I was deceived: Thou art stronger -than I, and hast prevailed: I am a derision daily, every one mocketh -me. Whenever I speak, I must shout, I must cry violence and spoil; for -the word of the Lord is made a reproach unto me, and a derision, -daily."[752] - -But man judges partially and judges amiss. God's ways are not as man's -ways. God sees the whole; He sees the future; He sees things as they -are. Through defeat, through captivity, through multiform affliction, -lay the path to the final deliverance of the nation from the grosser -forms of idolatry. When they wept as they remembered Zion, when they -took down their harps from the willows by the water-courses of Babylon -to sing the Lord's song in a strange land, they turned again--and at -last with their whole heart--to God their Saviour, who had done so -great things for them;--until the grey secret lingering in the East -was brightened by the Morning Star, and there was revealed to the -world a True Israel, and a New Jerusalem, wherein the Lord should be -King for evermore. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[728] He was forced to desist by a fearful mortality among the -labourers. - -[729] _Circ._ B.C. 611-605. Herod., ii. 158, 159, iv. 42. Psamatik, -the father of Necho, was perhaps a Lybian. He established his sway -over all Egypt displacing the Assyrians. - -[730] _Antt._, X. v. 1. - -[731] Herod., ii. 158. His father Psamatik had left him an adequate -army of natives and mercenaries. - -[732] Herodotus says of his ships: [Greek: Hai men epi te boreie -thalasse epoiethesan]. - -[733] Judg. iv. 23; 1 Sam. xxix. 1-11; 1 Kings xx. 26; 2 Kings xxiii. -29; 2 Chron. xxxv. 22; Rev. xvi. 16 (Armageddon). Herodotus confuses -it with Migdol ([Greek: Magdolon]). - -[734] 1 Macc. xii. 49; Jos., _Antt._, XIII. vi. 2. - -[735] 2 Chron. xxxv. 20-22. - -[736] According to 1 Esdras i. 25-32, "for upon Euphrates is my war." - -[737] Klostermann, in 2 Chron. xxxv. 21, reads _bachalom_, "in a -dream," instead of "to make haste." - -[738] Gen. xli. 1; Herod., ii. 188; _Records of the Past_, ix. 52. - -[739] 2 Kings xviii. 25. - -[740] _Antt._, X. v. 1: [Greek: Tes pepromenes oimai eis tout' auton -parormesases]. - -[741] Deut. xxviii. 1-8. - -[742] Psalm xx. 6, xviii. 29-50. - -[743] Lev. xxvi. 36. - -[744] 2 Chron. xxxv. 22: "hearkened not _to the words of Necho from -the mouth of God_." - -[745] "When he had _seen_ him." Comp. 2 Kings xiv. 8. - -[746] 1 Esdras i. 25; and LXX., "firmly resolved," "strengthened -himself," as in 2 Chron. xxv. 11. - -[747] Jos., _Antt._, X. v. 1; and 2 Chron. xxxv. 23; 1 Esdras i. 30. - -[748] The fortunes of the Jews again prevailed in this plain in the -days of Holofernes (Judith vii. 3); but they were defeated there by -Placidus (Jos., _B. J._, IV. i. 8). - -[749] Zech. xii. 11-13 (comp. Jer. xxii. 10, 18). No such place as -Hadadrimmon is known, though there is a Rummane not far from Megiddo. -Jerome (_Comm. in Zach._) identifies it with a place which he calls -Maximianopolis. Wellhausen (_Skizzen_, 192) thinks that the mourning -is compared to some wail over the god Hadadrimmon, like the wailing -for Tammuz. Jonathan and Jarchi say that Hadadrimmon was the son of -Tabrimmon, who opposed Ahab at Ramoth-Gilead. - -[750] 2 Chron. xxxv. 24, 25. Jeremiah's elegy has probably perished. -It would have been most interesting had it been preserved. Lam. iv. is -too vague to have been this lost poem. - -[751] Jer. iv. 10. - -[752] Jer. xx. 7, 8. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIII - - _JEHOAHAZ_ - - B.C. 608 - - 2 KINGS xxiii. 31-33 - - "I went by, and, lo! he was gone: I sought him, but his place - could nowhere be found."--PSALM xxxvii. 36. - -It was under the disastrous circumstances which attended his father's -death at Megiddo that Jehoahaz began to reign. There is some confusion -about the four sons of Josiah, whom the Chronicler calls Johanan, -Jehoiakim, Zedekiah, and Shallum.[753] From Jer. xxii. 11, it appears -that Jehoahaz was the royal name taken on his anointing by Shallum, the -third son.[754] If so, he cannot be identified with Johanan, the -firstborn, as in the margin of our version. Further, it appears from our -historians that Jehoahaz was twenty-three at his succession, and was -therefore younger than Jehoiakim who (three months later) succeeded him -at the age of twenty-five. Jehoahaz was the own brother of Zedekiah, -Jehoiakim being his half-brother by another mother (Zebudah). - -We do not know for what reason he was preferred by "the people of the -land" to his elder brother Eliakim or Jehoiakim. It was probably -because they regarded him as a prince of eminent courage and ability. -The high hopes which the nation conceived of him may be seen in the -pathetic elegy of Ezek. xix.:-- - - "Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, and - say,-- - What was thy mother? A lioness! - Amidst lions she couched, - In the midst of the young lions she nourished her whelps. - She brought up one of her whelps: he became a young lion; - He learned to catch the prey; he devoured men. - The nations heard of him; - In their pit was he taken,[755] - And they brought him with hooks into the land of Egypt."[756] - -We see, too, that he was to an eminent degree the darling of the -nation in the still more plaintive wail of Jeremiah which will be -quoted later. - -The fact that Shallum solemnly changed his name to Jehoahaz ("Jehovah -taketh hold"),[757] and that the people of the land not only "made him -king in his father's stead," but also "anointed him," points to a -disputed succession.[758] High hopes were conceived of him; but he -hardly had a chance of fulfilling them, for he was only permitted to -reign three months. What were the events of those months we do not -know. Jehoahaz must have disappointed any hopes which may have been -formed of him by the religious party; for dear as he was to them, the -historians record of him that "he did that which was evil in the sight -of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done," although -they specify no particular offence. The same sad verdict is passed on -all his four successors; but Josephus says even more emphatically of -Jehoahaz that he was impious and impure.[759] - -He must have shown some activity in other respects, or else Ezekiel -would hardly have said that "the nations heard of him," and that "he -learned to catch the prey; he devoured men." Over all his deeds, -whatever they may have been, "the iniquity of oblivion has blindly -scattered her poppy," and he fell a victim to the great -world-movements of those troublous times. - -For Pharaoh, after his defeat of Josiah at Megiddo, proceeded to make -himself master of Syria and Palestine. He took Cadytis, which -Herodotus calls "a large city of Syria,"[760] and which--since it -cannot here mean Gaza, as in Herod., iii. 5--has been identified by -some with Kadesh. Thence he marched to Carchemish, on the right bank -of the Euphrates,[761] none venturing to check him, till "once more, -after the lapse of nine centuries, Egyptian garrisons looked down on -that historic stream."[762] On his return he stopped at Riblah, on -the Orontes,[763] to consolidate his Syrian conquests; and there he -learnt that, without consulting him, the people of Jerusalem had made -Jehoahaz their king. Perhaps he heard enough of the warlike prowess of -Jehoahaz to make him resent this act of independence. After his three -months' campaign he sent for Jehoahaz to Riblah, and the unhappy -prince had no choice but to obey. Possibly the Egyptian party in -Jerusalem, headed by his disappointed elder brother Eliakim, may have -intrigued against him with Pharaoh Necho. When he reached Riblah, he -was unceremoniously deposed; and though we may hope that the -expression of Ezekiel, that "they brought him with _hooks_ into the -land of Egypt," belongs to the metaphor of the captured lion's whelp, -it is certain that he was taken to the banks of the Nile as a fettered -captive, never to return. How long his miserable life was protracted, -or how he was treated in Egypt, we do not know. The sun of the young -prince went down in darkness while it was yet day. No king of Judah -before him had died in prison and in exile, and the calamity smote -heavily the heart of his people. Egypt was not to escape--shortly -thereafter--the doom of violence and pride; but whether the young -Jewish king had died meanwhile of a broken heart, or whether he -dragged on to hoar hairs his maimed life, or whether he was murdered -in his dungeon, no man knew. One thing only was clear to the sad -prophet--that he would never return. - -"Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep ye sore for -him that is gone away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native -country. For thus saith Jehovah concerning Shallum, the son of Josiah, -King of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went -forth out of this place: 'He shall not return thither any more: but in -the place whither they have led him captive there shall he die, and he -shall see this land no more.'"[764] - -To show his absolute power over Judah and Jerusalem, Pharaoh Necho not -only deposed and fettered their king, but put the whole land under a -yearly tribute of one hundred talents of silver (about L40,000) and a -talent of gold (about L4,000).[765] - -Even this comparatively small sum was a heavy burden for so greatly -afflicted and impoverished a country, and Pharaoh further imposed on -them a vassal to see that it was duly extorted. This was Eliakim, the -eldest living son of Josiah. There was nothing left to plunder in the -Temple or the palace, and therefore the exaction had to be borne by -the taxed and suffering people. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[753] Chron. iii. 15. - -[754] He is named "fourth," but he was older than his brothers -Jehoiakim and Zedekiah (2 Kings xxiii. 31, xxiv. 18). The genealogy is -as follows:-- - - Zebudah = JOSIAH = Hamutal. - | | - ----- |------------------- - | | | - Nehushta = ELIAKIM ZEDEKIAH JEHOAHAZ - | or Jehoiakim. or Mattaniah. or Shallum. - | - JEHOIACHIN. - - -[755] An allusion to the Syrian mode of hunting the lion by driving it -with cries into a concealed pit (Tristram, _Nat. Hist. of the Bible_, -118; Cheyne, 140). - -[756] Ezek. xix. 1-4. - -[757] The name Shallum means "recompense." It may have been regarded -as ill-omened, since the King of Israel who bore this rare name had -only reigned a month. - -[758] The Talmud says that kings were only anointed in special cases -(_Keritoth_, f. 5, 2; Graetz, ii. 328). - -[759] Jos., _Antt._, X. v. 2: [Greek: Asebes kai miaros ton tropon]. - -[760] Herod., ii. 159. - -[761] Mr. G. Smith identifies Carchemish with Jerablus. - -[762] Cheyne, _Jeremiah_, p. 127. - -[763] Comp. 2 Kings xxv. 20, 21. The old Hittite capital of Riblah was -a convenient halting-place on the road between Babylon and Jerusalem. -It was on the northernmost boundary of Palestine towards Damascus -(Amos vi. 14). - -[764] Jer. xxii. 10-12. - -[765] 2 Chron. xxxvi. 3; 1 Esdras i. 36. The smallness of the tribute -proves the impoverishment of the land. Sennacherib demanded from -Hezekiah three hundred talents of silver, and thirty of gold; and -Menahem paid one thousand talents of silver to Tiglath-Pileser. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIV - - _JEHOIAKIM_ - - B.C. 608-597 - - 2 KINGS xxiii. 36-xxiv. 7 - - "But those things that are recorded of him, and of his uncleanness - and impiety, are written in the Chronicles of the Kings."--1 - ESDRAS i. 42. - - "When Jehoiakim succeeded to the throne, he said, 'My predecessors - knew not how to provoke God.'"--_Sanhedrin_, f. 103, 2. - - "There is no strange handwriting on the wall, - Through all the midnight hum no threatening call, - Nor on the marble floor the stealthy fall - Of fatal footsteps. All is safe.--Thou fool, - The avenging deities are shod with wool!" - W. ALLEN BUTLER. - - -Eliakim succeeded to the throne at the age of twenty-five under very -unenviable circumstances--as a nominal king, a helpless nominee and -tributary of the Pharaoh. He seems to have been thoroughly distasteful -to the people; and if we may judge from the fact that Ezekiel frankly -ignores him and passes from Jehoahaz to Jehoachin, he was regarded as -a tax-gathering usurper nominated by an alien tyrant. For after -speaking of Jehoahaz, Ezekiel says,-- - - "Now when she [Judah] saw that she had waited [for the restoration of - Jehoahaz], and her hope was lost, - Then she took another of her whelps;[766] - A young lion she made him. - He went up and down among the lions; - He became a young lion."[767] - -The historian says that Necho turned the name of Eliakim ("God will -establish") to Jehoiakim ("Jehovah will establish"); but by this can -hardly be meant more than that he sanctioned the change of El into -Jehovah on Eliakim's installation upon the throne. - -Jehoiakim is condemned in the same terms as all the other sons of -Josiah. His misdoings are far more definitely recorded in the -Prophets, who furnish us with details which are passed over by the -historians. Some of his sins may have been due to the influence of his -wife Nehushta, who was a daughter of Elnathan of Achbor, one of the -princes of the heathen party. It was this Elnathan whom the king chose -as a fitting ambassador to demand the extradition of the prophet -Urijah from Egypt. One of the crimes with which Jehoiakim is charged -is the building for himself of a sumptuous palace, and thus vainly -trying to emulate the splendours of Assyrian, Babylonian, and Egyptian -kings. In itself the act would not have been more wicked than it was -in Solomon, whose architectural parade is dwelt upon with enthusiasm. -But the circumstances were now wholly different. Solomon was at that -time in all his glory, the possessor of boundless wealth, the ruler of -an immense and united territory, the head of a powerful and prosperous -people, the successor of an unconquered hero who had gone to his grave -in peace; Jehoiakim, on the other hand, had succeeded a father who -had died in defeat on the field of battle, and a brother who was -hopelessly pining in an Egyptian prison. The Tribes had been carried -into captivity by Assyria; the nation was beaten, oppressed, and poor; -the king himself possessed but a shadow of royalty. In such a -condition of things it would have been his glory to maintain a -watchful and strenuous activity, and to devote himself in simplicity -and self-denial to the good of his people. It showed a perverted and -sensuous mind to insult the misery of his subjects at such a time by -feeble attempts to rival heathen potentates in costly aestheticism. But -this was not all; he carried out his ignoble selfishness at the cost -of oppression and wrong.[768] - -It is possible that the prophet Habakkuk alludes to him in the words:-- - -"Woe to him that getteth an evil gain for his house, that he may set -his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil![769] -Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many peoples, -and hast sinned against thy soul. For the stone shall cry out of the -wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it."[770] - -The thought of the Jewish king's selfish expensiveness may have crossed -the mind of Habakkuk, though the taunt is addressed directly to the -Chaldaeans, and especially to Nebuchadrezzar, who was at that time -revelling in the beautifying of Babylon, and especially of his own -royal palace. On the other hand, the rebuke, or rather the denunciation, -uttered by Jeremiah against the king for this line of conduct, and for -the forced labour which it required, is terribly direct. - - "'Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, - And his chambers by wrong; - That useth his neighbour's service without wages, - And giveth him not his hire; - That saith, "I will build me a wide house and spacious chambers," - And cutteth out windows; - And it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion. - Shalt thou reign because thou viest with the cedar?[771] - Did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice? - Then it was well with him! - Was not this to know Me?' saith the Lord. - 'But thine heart is not but for thy dishonest gain, - And for to shed innocent blood, - And for oppression and for violence to do it.'"[772] - -Then follows the stern message of doom which we shall quote hereafter. -The king's bad example stimulated or perhaps emulated similar folly -and want of patriotism on the part of his nobles. They were shepherds -who destroyed and scattered the sheep of Jehovah's pastures. But vain -was their imagined security, and their ostentation. The judgment was -imminent.[773] - -"O inhabitress of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars," -exclaims the prophet in bitter mockery, "how greatly wilt thou groan -when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!"[774] - -But Jehoiakim's offences were deadlier than this. The Chronicler -speaks of "the abominations which he did"; and some have therefore -supposed that the evil state of things described by Jeremiah (xix.) -refers to this reign. If so, he plunged into the idolatry which caused -Judah to be shivered like a potter's vessel. Certainly he sinned -grievously against God in the person of His prophets. - -Jeremiah was not the only prophet who disdained the easy and -traitorous popularity which was to be won by prophesying "peace, -peace," when there was no peace. He had for his contemporary another -messenger of God, no less boldly explicit than himself--Urijah, the -son of Shemaiah of Kirjath-Jearim. Jeremiah had as yet only prophesied -in his humble native village of Anathoth; he had not been called upon -to face "the swellings" or "the pride of Jordan."[775] Urijah had been -in the fuller glare of publicity in the capital, and his bold -declaration that Jerusalem should fall before Nebuchadrezzar and the -Chaldaeans had excited such a fury of indignation that he escaped into -Egypt for his life. Surely this should have appeased the rulers, even -if they chose to pay no attention to the Divine menace. For the -prophets were recognised deliverers of the messages of Jehovah; and -with scarcely an exception, even in the most wicked reigns, their -persons had been regarded as sacrosanct. But Jehoiakim would not let -Urijah escape. He sent an embassy to Necho, headed by his -father-in-law Elnathan, son of Achbor, requesting his extradition. -Urijah had been dragged back from Egypt, and, to the horror of the -people, the king had slain him with the sword, and flung his body into -the graves of the common people.[776] What made this conduct more -monstrous was the precedent of Micah the Morasthite. He, in the days -of Hezekiah, had prophesied,-- - - "Zion shall be ploughed as a field, - And Jerusalem shall become heaps, - And the Mountain of the House as the wooded heights."[777] - -Yet so far from putting him to death, or even stirring a finger -against him, the pious king had only been moved to repentance by the -Divine threatenings. Thus the blood of the first martyr-prophet, if we -except the case of Zechariah, had been shed by the son of Judah's most -pious king. Jeremiah himself only narrowly escaped martyrdom. The -precedent of Micah helped to save him, though it had not saved Urijah. -He was far more powerfully protected by the patronage of the princes -and the people. Standing in the Temple court, he had declared that, -unless the nation repented, that house should be like Shiloh, and the -city a curse to all the nations of the earth. Maddened by such words -of bold rebuke, the priests and the prophets and the people had -threatened him with death. But the princes took his part, and some of -the people came over to them. His most powerful protector was Ahikam, -the son of Shaphan, a member of a family of the utmost distinction. - -Meanwhile, we must follow for a time the outward fortunes of the king -and of the world. - -Necho, after his successful advance, had retired to Egypt, and -Jehoiakim continued to be for three years his obsequious servant. An -event of tremendous importance for the world changed the entire -fortunes of Egypt and of Judah. Nineveh fell with a crash which -terrified the nations. We might apply to her the language which Isaiah -applies to her successor, Babylon:-- - -"Sheol from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it -stirreth up the shades for thee, even the Rephaim of the earth; it -hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All -they shall answer and say unto thee, 'Art thou also become weak as we? -art thou become like unto us?' ... All the kings of the nations, all -of them, sleep in glory, every one in his own house. But thou art cast -forth away from thy sepulchre like an abominable branch, as the -raiment of those that are slain, that are thrust through with the -sword, that go down to the stones of the pit.... They that see thee -shall narrowly look upon thee ... and say, 'Is this the man that made -the earth to tremble? that did shake kingdoms? that made the world as -a wilderness, and overthrew the cities thereof? that let not loose his -prisoners to their home?'"[778] - -Yes, Assyria had fallen like some mighty cedar in Libanus, and the -nations gazed without pity and with exultation on his torn and -scattered branches. - -And coincident with the fate of Nineveh had been the rise of the -Chaldaean power. - -Nabupalussur[779] had been a general of one of the last Assyrian kings, -and had been sent by him with an army to quell a Babylonian revolt. -Instead of this, he seized the city and made himself king. When the -final overthrow and obliteration of Nineveh had secured his power, he -sent his brave and brilliant son Nebuchadrezzar[780] (B.C. 605) to -secure the provinces which he had wrested from Assyria, and especially -to regain possession of Carchemish, which commanded the river. - -Necho marched to protect his conquests, and at Carchemish the hostile -forces encountered each other in a tremendous battle,--immemorial -Egypt under the representative of its age-long Pharaohs; Babylon, with -her independence of yesterday, under a prince hitherto unknown, whose -name was to become one of the most famous in the world. The result is -described by Jeremiah (xlvi. 1-12). Egypt was hopelessly defeated. Her -splendidly arrayed warriors were panic-stricken and routed; her chief -heroes were dashed to pieces by the heavy maces of the Babylonians, or -fled without so much as looking back. The scene was one of -"Magor-missabib"--terror on every side.[781] Pharaoh's host came up -like the Nile in flood with its Ethiopian hoplites and Asiatic -archers; but they were driven back. The daughter of Egypt received a -wound which no balm of Gilead could cure. The nations heard of her -shame, and the prophet pronounced her further chastisement by the -hands of Nebuchadrezzar. - -Then, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the young Babylonian conqueror -swept down upon Syria and Palestine like a bounding leopard, like an -avenging eagle (Hab. i. 7, 8). Jehoiakim had no choice but to change -his vassalhood to Necho for a vassalage to Nebuchadrezzar.[782] He -might have suffered severe consequences, but tidings came to the young -Chaldaean that his father had ended his reign of twenty-one years and -was dead. For fear lest disturbances might arise in his capital, he at -once dashed home across the desert with some light troops by way of -Tadmor, while he told his general to follow him home through Syria by -the longer route. He seems, however, to have carried away with him -some captives, among whom were Daniel, Ananias, Azarias, and -Misael,[783] destined hereafter for such memorable fortunes. Jehoiakim -himself was thrown into fetters to be carried into Babylon; but the -conqueror changed his mind, and probably thought that it would be -safer for the present to accept his pledges and assurances, and leave -him as his viceroy. "He took an oath of him," says Ezekiel (xvii. 13); -"he took also the mighty of the land."[784] - -For three years this frivolous egotist who occupied the throne of -Judah remained faithful to his covenant with the King of Babylon, but -at the end of that time he rebelled. In this rebellion he was again -deluded by the glamour of Egypt, and reliance on the empty promise of -"horses and much people." Ezekiel openly disapproved of this -policy,[785] and reproached the king for his faithlessness to his -oath. Jeremiah went further, and declared in the plainest language -that "Nebuchadrezzar would certainly come up and destroy this land, -and cause to cease from thence both man and beast."[786] - -Nearer and nearer the danger came. At first the King of Babylon was too -busy to do more than send against the Jewish rebel marauding bands of -Chaldaeans, who acted in concert with the hereditary depredators of -Judah--Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites. But the prophet knew that the -danger would not end there, believing that God would yet "remove Judah -out of His sight" for the unforgiven sins of Manasseh and the innocent -blood with which he had filled Jerusalem.[787] At last Nebuchadrezzar -had time to turn closer attention to the affairs of Judah, and this -became necessary because of the revolt of Tyre under its King Ithobalus. -In the stress of the peril Jehoiakim proclaimed a fast and a day of -humiliation in the Temple. Jeremiah was at this time "shut up"--either -in hiding, or in some sort of custody. As he could not go and preach in -person, he dictated his prophecy to Baruch, who wrote it on a scroll, -and went in the prophet's place to read it in the Lord's House to the -people there assembled from Jerusalem and all Judah in the chamber of -Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, in the inner court, by the new gate.[788] -Gemariah was the brother of Ahikam, the protector of the prophet. - -No one was more painfully alarmed by Jeremiah's prophecy than Micaiah, -the son of Gemariah, and he thought it his duty to go and tell his -father and the other princes what he had heard. They were assembled in -the scribe's chamber, and sent a courtier of Ethiopian race--Jehudi, -the son of Cushi--bidding him to bring the scroll with him, and to -come to them.[789] - -Baruch was a person of distinction. He was the brother of Seraiah, who -is called in our A.V. "a quiet prince," and in the margin "prince of -Menucha" or "chief chamberlain," literally "master of the -resting-place"; and he was the grandson of Maaseiah, "the governor" of -the city.[790] The office imposed on him by Jeremiah was so perilous -and painful that it nearly broke his heart. He exclaimed to Jeremiah, -"Woe is me now! the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow. I am weary -with my sighing, and I find no rest." The answer which the prophet was -commissioned to give him was very remarkable. It confirmed the -terrible doom on his native land, but added, "'And seekest thou great -things for thyself? Seek them not. For, behold, I will bring evil upon -all flesh,' saith the Lord: 'but thy life will I give unto thee for a -prey in all places whither thou goest.'"[791] - -Baruch obeyed the summons of the princes, and at their request sat -down with them and read the scroll in their ears. When they had heard -the portentous prophecy, they turned shuddering to one another, and -said, "We must tell the king of all these words." They asked Baruch -how he had written them, and he said he had taken them down at the -prophet's dictation. Then, knowing the storm which would burst over -the bold offenders, they said, "Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah, and -let no man know where ye be." - -Not daring to imperil the awful document, they laid it up in the -chamber of Elishama, the scribe, but went to the king and told him its -contents. He sent Jehudi to fetch it, and to read it in their hearing. -Jehoiakim and the illustrious company were seated in the -winter-chamber; for it was October, and a fire was burning in the -brazier, where Jehoiakim sat warming himself in the chilly weather. - -As he listened, he was filled not only with fury, but with contempt. -Such a message might well have caused him and his worst counsellors to -rend their clothes; but instead of this they adopted a tone of defiance. -By the time that Jehudi had read three or four columns, Jehoiakim -snatched the scribe's knife which hung at his girdle, and began to cut -up the scroll, with the intention of burning it. Seeing his purpose, -Gemariah, Elnathan, and Seraiah entreated him not to destroy it. But he -would not listen. He flung the fragments into the brazier, and they were -consumed. He ordered his son Jerahmeel,[792] with Seraiah and Shelemiah, -to seize both Baruch and Jeremiah, and bring them before him for -punishment. Doubtless they would have suffered the fate of Urijah, but -"the Lord hid them." There were enough persons of power on their side to -render their hiding-place secure. - -But the king's impious indifference, so far from making any difference -in the things that were, only brought down upon his guilt a fearful -doom. Truth cannot be cut to pieces, or burnt, or mechanically -suppressed. - - "Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again; - The eternal years of God are hers: - But error, vanquished, writhes in pain, - And dies amid her worshippers." - -All the former denunciations, and new ones added to them, were -rewritten by Jeremiah and his faithful friend in their hiding-place, -and among them these words[793]:-- - -"Thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim, King of Judah, 'He shall have none -to sit upon the throne of David; and his dead body shall be cast out -in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.'" - -A frightful drought added to the misery of this reign, but failed to -bring the wretched king to his senses. Jeremiah describes it[794]:-- - -"Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they bow down -mourning unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. And the -nobles send their menials to the waters: they come to the pits, and -find no water; they return with their vessels empty; they are ashamed -and confounded, and cover their heads, because of the ground which is -chapped, for that no rain hath been in the land.... Yea, the hind also -in the field calveth, and forsaketh her young, because there is no -grass. And the wild asses stand on the bare heights, they pant for -air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no herbage." - -Even this affliction, so vividly and pathetically described, failed to -waken any repentance. And then the doom fell. Nebuchadrezzar advanced -in person against Jerusalem.[795] Even the hardy nomad Rechabites had -to fly before the Chaldaeans, and to take refuge in the cities which -they hated. The sacred historian tells us nothing as to the manner of -the death of Jehoiakim, only saying that he "slept with his fathers": -his narrative of this period is exceedingly meagre. Josephus says that -Nebuchadrezzar slew him and the flower of the citizens, and sent three -thousand captives to Babylon.[796] Some imagine that he was killed by -the Babylonians in a raid outside the walls of Jerusalem, or "murdered -by his own people, and his body thrown for a time outside the walls." -If so, the Babylonians did not war with the dead. His remains, after -this "burial of an ass,"[797] may have been finally suffered to rest -in a tomb. The Septuagint says (2 Chron. xxxvi. 8) that he was buried -"in Ganosan," by which may be meant the sepulchre of Manasseh in the -garden of Uzza.[798] Not for him was the wailing cry "_Hoi, adon! -Hoi, hodo!_" ("Ah, Lord! Ah, his glory!"). - -"The memory of the wicked shall rot." Certainly this was the case with -Jehoiakim. The Chronicler mysteriously alludes to "his abominations -which he did, _and that which was found in him_."[799] The Rabbis, -interpreting this after their manner, say that "the thing found" was -the name of the demon Codonazor, to whom he had sold himself, which -after his death was discovered legibly written in Hebrew letters on -his skin. "Rabbi Johanan and Rabbi Eleazar debated what was meant by -'that which was found on him.' One said that he tattooed the name of -an idol upon his body ([Hebrew: mtv]), and the other said that he had -tattooed the name of the god Recreon."[800] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[766] Not Jehoiakim, but Jehoiachin, as the sequel shows. - -[767] Ezek. xix. 5-9. The allusions to Jehoiakim by Jeremiah are -numerous, and all unfavourable (xxii. 13-19, xxvi. 20-23, xxxvi. -20-31, etc.) - -[768] Josephus (_Antt._, X. v. 2) is very severe on this king. He says -that "he was unjust in disposition, an evil-doer, neither pious -towards God nor just towards men." - -[769] Perhaps an allusion to a sort of fortified palace on Ophel. - -[770] Hab. ii. 9-11. - -[771] The text is perhaps corrupt. Two MSS. of the LXX. read "because -thou viest _with Ahab_," and the Vatican MSS. has "_with Ahaz_." -Cheyne adopts the former reading. - -[772] Jer. xxii. 13-17. - -[773] Jer. xxiii. 1. - -[774] Jer. xxii. 23. - -[775] Jer. xii. 5. - -[776] Jer. xxvi. 20-23. So far as I am aware, Bunsen stands alone in -identifying Urijah with the "Zechariah" who wrote Zech. xii.-xiv. -Others refer Zech. xii. 10 to the murder of Urijah. - -[777] Jer. xxvi. 18. - -[778] Isa. xiv., _passim_. - -[779] Nabu-pal-ussur, "Nebo protect the son." - -[780] Nabu-kudur-ussur, "Nebo protect the crown" (Schrader, ii. 48), or -"the youth" (Oppert). The portrait of Nebuchadrezzar--this is the proper -spelling, as generally in Jeremiah--is preserved for us on a black cameo -which he presented to the god Merodach. It is now in the Berlin Museum, -and shows strong but not cruel or ignoble characteristics. It is copied -in Riehm's _Handwoerterbuch_, ii. 1067. The Jews, as they were fond of -doing to their enemies, made insulting puns on his name. Thus in the -_Vayyikra Rabba_ (Wuensche, _Bibl. Rabb._) the Three Children are -represented as saying to him, "You are Neboo-cad-netser: bark [_nabach_] -like a dog; swell like a water-jar [_kad_], and chirp like a cricket -[_tsertser_],"--in allusion to his madness. - -[781] Jer. xlvi. 5 (vi. 25). - -[782] Jos., _Antt._, X. xi.; Berosus, p. 11. The Chronicler and -Josephus show some confusion, caused by the similarity of the names -Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin. - -[783] Dan. i. 6. - -[784] We might infer from Ezek. xvii. 12 that Nebuchadrezzar actually -took Jehoiakim with him to Babylon. - -[785] Ezek. xvii. 15. - -[786] Jer. xxxvi. 29, xxv. 9, xxvi. 6. - -[787] 2 Kings xxiv. 2-4. - -[788] Graetz thinks that Jeremiah's roll was substantially Jer. xxv. - -[789] Jos., _Antt._, IX. ix. 1. - -[790] Jer. li. 59. Ewald, Hitzig, and others take the title to mean -"quartermaster" (2 Chron. xxxiv. 8). - -[791] Jer. xlv. 1-5. - -[792] Zeph. i. 8; 1 Kings xxii. 26; Jer. xxxvi. 26, A.V., "The son of -Hammelech." Comp. xxxviii. 6. _Hammelech_ may be a proper name, or a -prince of the blood-royal may be intended. - -[793] "The 'Book,' now as afterwards, was to be the death-blow of the -old regal, aristocratic, sacerdotal exclusiveness. The 'Scribe,' now -first rising into importance in the person of Baruch to supply the -defects of the living Prophet, was, as the printing-press in later -ages, handing on the words of truth, which else might have -irretrievably perished" (Stanley). - -[794] Cheyne, _Jeremiah_, p. 149; Jer. xiv. 1-xv. 9. - -[795] Nebuchadrezzar occupies a larger space in the Bible than any -heathen king, being spoken of in 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, -Nehemiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. - -[796] For further details of Jehoiakim see 1 Esdras i. 38: "He bound -Joakim and the nobles; _but Zaraces_ his brother he apprehended, and -brought him out of Egypt." The allusion is entirely obscure, and -probably arises from some corruption of the text. The literal -rendering is: "And _Joakim_ bound the nobles; but Zaraces his brother -he apprehended, and brought him out of Egypt." Zaraces might be a -corruption for Zedekiah, who was Jehoiakim's half-brother. Some think -that Zaraces is a corruption for Urijah, and "his brother" a clerical -error. - -[797] Jer. xxxvi. 30, xxii. 19. - -[798] LXX., [Greek: kai ekoimethe Ioakeim en Ganozan meta ton pateron -heautou]. - -[799] 2 Chron. xxxvi. 8. - -[800] _Sanhedrin_, f. 104, 2. For another allusion see _id._ 49, 1; -Hershon, _Treasures of the Talmud_, p. 232. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXV - - _JEHOIACHIN_ - - B.C. 597 - - 2 KINGS xxiv. 8-16 - - "There are times when ancient truths become modern falsehoods, - when the signs of God's dispensations are made so clear by the - course of natural events as to supersede the revelations of even - their most sacred past."--STANLEY, _Lectures_, ii. 521. - - -Jehoiachin--"Jehovah maketh steadfast"--who is also called Jeconiah, -and--perhaps with intentional slight--Coniah, succeeded, at the age of -eighteen, to the miserable and distracted heritage of the throne of -Judah. The "eight years old" of the Chronicler must be a clerical -error, for he had a harem. He only reigned for three months; and the -historian pronounces over him, as over all the four kings of the House -of Josiah, the stereotyped condemnation of evil-doing. Was there -anything in the manner in which Josiah had trained his family which -could account for their unsatisfactoriness? In Jehoiachin's case we do -not know what his transgressions were, but perhaps his mother's -influence rendered him as little favourable to the prophetic party as -his brother Jehoiakim had been. For the _Gebirah_ was Nehushta, the -daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. Her name means apparently "Brass," -and nothing can be deduced from it; but her father Elnathan was (as -we have seen) the envoy who, by order of Jehoiakim, had dragged back -from Egypt the martyr-prophet Urijah.[801] - -Brief as was his reign of three months and ten days[802]--a hundred -days, like that of his unhappy uncle Jehoahaz--he is largely alluded -to by the contemporary prophets. - -Indignant at the sins and apostasies of Judah, and convinced that her -retribution was nigh at hand, Jeremiah took with him an earthen pot to -the Valley of Hinnom, and there shivered it to pieces at Tophet in the -presence of certain elders of the people and of the priests, -explaining that his symbolic action indicated the destruction of -Jerusalem. On hearing the tenor of these prophecies, the priest -Pashur, who was officer of the Temple, smote Jeremiah in the face, and -put him in the stocks in a prominent place by the Temple gate.[803] -Jeremiah in return prophesied that Pashur and all his family should be -carried into captivity, so that his name should be changed from Pashur -to Magor-Missabib, "Terror on every side." - -Against the king himself he pronounced the doom: "'As I live,' saith the -Lord, 'though Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, King of Judah, were the -signet on My right hand, yet will I pluck thee thence; and I will give -thee into the hands of them that seek thy life, ... even into the hand -of Nebuchadrezzar.... And I will hurl thee, and thy mother that bare -thee, into another country;[804] ... and there shall ye die.' ... Is -this man Coniah a despised broken piece of work? is he a vessel wherein -is no pleasure? wherefore are they hurled, he and his seed, and cast -into a land which they know not? O land, land, land! hear the word of -the Lord. Thus saith the Lord, 'Write ye this man childless, a man that -shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, -sitting upon the throne of David, or ruling any more in Judah.'" - -Yet there must have been something in Jeconiah which impressed -favourably the minds of men. Brief as was his reign, his memory was -never forgotten. We learn from the _Mishna_ that one of the gates of -Jerusalem--probably that by which he left the city--for ever bore his -name.[805] Josephus says that his captivity was annually commemorated. -Jeremiah writes in the Lamentations:-- - -"Our pursuers are swifter than the eagles of heaven: they have pursued -us upon the mountains, they have laid wait for us in the wilderness. -The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in -their pits, of whom we said, 'Under his shadow we shall live among the -heathen.'" - -Ezekiel compares him to a young lion:-- - -"He went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and -learned to catch the prey. And he knew their palaces, and laid waste -their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by -the noise of his roaring. Then the nations set against him on every -side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken -in their pit. And they put him in ward in hooks, and brought him to -the King of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice -should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel."[806] - -A prince of whom a contemporary prophet could thus write was obviously -no _faineant_. Indeed, the energetic measures which Nebuchadrezzar -adopted against him may have been due to the fact that he had -endeavoured to rouse his discouraged people. But what could he do -against such a power as that of the Chaldaeans? Nebuchadrezzar sent his -generals against Jerusalem; and when it was ripe for capture, advanced -in person to take possession of it. Resistance had become hopeless; -there lay no chance in anything but that complete submission which -might possibly avert the worst effects of the destruction of the city. -Accordingly, Jeconiah, accompanied by his mother, his court, his -princes, and his officers, went out in procession, and threw -themselves on the mercy of the King of Babylon. Nebuchadrezzar was far -less brutal than the Sargons and Assurbanipals of Assyria; but Judah -had twice revolted, and the defection of Tyre showed him that the -affairs of Palestine could no longer be neglected. He thoroughly -despoiled the Temple and the palace, and carried the spoils to -Babylon, as Isaiah had forewarned Hezekiah should be the case.[807] -That he might further weaken and humiliate the city, he stripped it -of its king, its royal house, its court, its nobles, its soldiers, -even its craftsmen and smiths, and carried ten thousand eight hundred -and thirty-two captives to Babylon (Jos., _Antt._, X. vii. 1), among -whom was the prophet Ezekiel. He naturally spared Jeremiah, who -regarded him as "the sword of Jehovah" (Jer. xlvii. 6), and as -"Jehovah's servant, to do His pleasure" (Jer. xxv. 9, xxvii. 6, xliii. -10). On the whole, Nebuchadrezzar is not treated with abhorrence by -the Jews. There was something in his character which inspired respect; -and the Jews deal with him leniently, both in their records and -generally in their traditions. "Nebuchadnezzar," we read in the Talmud -(_Taanith_ f. 18, 2), "was a worthy king, and deserved that a miracle -should be performed through him." - -From the allusion of Ezekiel we might infer that Jehoiachin was -violent and self-willed; but Josephus speaks of his kindness and -gentleness.[808] Was he, as Jeremiah had prophesied, literally -"childless"?[809] It is true that in 1 Chron. iii. 17, 18, eight sons -are ascribed to him, and among them Shealtiel, in whom the royal line -was continued. But it is far from certain that these sons were not the -sons of his brother Neri, of the House of Nathan,[810] and it seems -that they were only adopted by the unhappy captive. The Book of Baruch -describes him weeping by the Euphrates.[811] But if we may trust the -story of Susannah, his outward fortunes were peaceful, and he was -allowed to live in his own house and gardens in peace, and in a -certain degree of splendour.[812] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[801] Jer. xxvi. 22. - -[802] 2 Chron. xxxvi. 9. - -[803] Jer. xx. 2. There seem to have been special "stocks" and "collars" -in the Temple, reserved, by order of the priest Jehoiada, for those whom -the priests regarded as unruly prophets (Jer. xxix. 26). - -[804] Jer. xxii. 24-30. The captivity of the queen-mother struck men's -imaginations (Jer. xxix. 2). - -[805] _Middoth_, ii. 6, quoted by Cheyne, p. 163; Jos., _B. J._, VI. -ii. 1. Comp. Ezek. i. 2. - -[806] Ezek. xix. 6-9. The special allusions are no longer certain. - -[807] 2 Kings xx. 17. The expression "_he cut to pieces_ all the -vessels of gold which Solomon had made" is hardly consistent with Ezra -i. 7-11, unless we understand the word in a loose sense. - -[808] He says that he nobly gave himself up to save the city (_Antt._, -X. vii. 1). His captivity was made an era from which to date Ezek. i. -2, viii. 1, xxiv. 1, xxvi. 1, etc. Comp. Susannah 1-4. - -[809] Jer. xxii. 30, '_ariri_. His "son" Assir (1 Chron. iii. 17) may -have been made an eunuch (Isa. xxxix. 7). - -[810] Luke iii. 27, 31; Matt. i. 12. - -[811] Baruch i. 3, 4. - -[812] The favourable notice of Nebuchadrezzar in _Taanith_ (quoted -above) is not found in _Berachoth_, f. 57, 2, where he is called "the -wicked." There are many wild legends about him. In _Nedarim_ (f. 65, -2), R. Yitzchak says: "May melted gold be poured into the mouth of the -wicked Nebuchadrezzar! Had not an angel struck him on the mouth, he -would have outshone all David's songs and praises." With reference to -Isa. xxii. 1, 2, the Rabbis say that Jeconiah went to the Temple roof, -and flung up the keys into the air, when Nebuchadrezzar required them: -"a hand took them, and they were seen no more" (_Shekalim_, vi. 5). In -_Nedarim_ (f. 65, 2) we are told that Zedekiah's rebellion consisted -in divulging, contrary to his oath, that he had seen Nebuchadrezzar -eating a live hare (Hershon, _Treasures of the Talmud_). - - - - - CHAPTER XXXVI - - _ZEDEKIAH, THE LAST KING OF JUDAH_ - - B.C. 597-586 - - 2 KINGS xxiv. 18-xxv. 7 - - "Quand ce grand Dieu a choisi quelqu'un pour etre l'instrument de - ses desseins rien n'arrete le cours, ou il enchaine, ou il - aveugle, ou il dompte tout ce qui est capable de resistance." - BOSSUET, _Oraison funebre de Henriette Marie_. - - -When Jehoiachin was carried captive to Babylon, never to return, his -uncle Mattaniah ("Jehovah's gift"), the third son of Josiah, was put -by Nebuchadrezzar in his place. In solemn ratification of the new -king's authority, the Babylonian conqueror sanctioned the change of -his name to Zedekiah ("Jehovah's righteousness").[813] He was -twenty-one at his accession, and he reigned eleven years. - -"Behold," writes Ezekiel, "the King of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and -took the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and brought them to -him to Babylon; and he took of the seed royal" (_i.e._, Zedekiah), -"_and made a covenant with him; he also brought him under an oath: and -took away the mighty of the land, that the kingdom might be base, that -it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it -might stand_."[814] - -Perhaps by this covenant Zechariah meant to emphasise the meaning of -his name, and to show that he would reign in righteousness. - -The prophet at the beginning of the chapter describes Nebuchadrezzar -and Jehoiachin in "a riddle." - -"A great eagle," he says, "with great wings and long pinions, full of -feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the -top of the cedar" (Jehoiachin): "he cropped off the topmost of the -young twigs thereof, and carried it into a land of traffic; he set it -in a city of merchants. He took also of the seed of the land" -(Zedekiah), "and planted it in a fruitful soil; he placed it beside -great waters, he set it as a willow tree. And it grew, and became a -spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned towards him, and -the roots thereof were under him: so it became a vine, and brought -forth branches, and shot forth sprigs."[815] - -The words refer to the first three years of Zedekiah's reign, and they -imply, consistently with the views of the prophets, that, if the weak -king had been content with the lowly eminence to which God had called -him, and if he had kept his oath and covenant with Babylon, all might -yet have been well with him and his land. At first it seemed likely to -be so; for Zedekiah wished to be faithful to Jehovah. He made a -covenant with all the people to set free their Hebrew slaves. Alas! it -was very shortlived. Self-sacrifice cost something, and the princes -soon took back the discarded bondservants.[816] What made this conduct -the more shocking was that their covenant to obey the law had been -made in the most solemn manner by "cutting a calf in twain, and -passing between the severed halves."[817] But the weak king was -perfectly powerless in the hands of his tyrannous aristocracy.[818] - -The exiles in Babylon were now the best and most important section of -the nation. Jeremiah compares them to good figs; while the remnant at -Jerusalem were bad and withered. He and Ezekiel raised their voices, -as in strophe and antistrophe, for the teaching alike of the exiles -and of the remnant left at Jerusalem, for whom the exiles were bidden -to entreat God in prayer. Zedekiah himself made at least one journey -northward, either voluntarily or under summons, to renew his oath and -reassure Nebuchadrezzar of his fidelity.[819] He was accompanied by -Seraiah, the brother of Baruch, who was privately entrusted by -Jeremiah with a prophecy of the fall of Babylon, which he was to fling -into the midst of the Euphrates.[820] - -The last King of Judah seems to have been weak rather than wicked. He -was a reed shaken by the wind. He yielded to the influence of the last -person who argued with him; and he seems to have dreaded above all -things the personal ridicule, danger, and opposition which it was his -duty to have defied. Yet we cannot withhold from him our deep -sympathy; for he was born in terrible times--to witness the -death-throes of his country's agony, and to share in them. It was no -longer a question of independence, but only of the choice of -servitudes. Judah was like a silly and trembling sheep between two -huge beasts of prey.[821] - -Only thus can we account for the strange apostasies--"the abominations -of the heathen"--with which he permitted the Temple to be polluted; and -for the ill-treatment which he allowed to be inflicted on Jeremiah and -other prophets, to whom in his heart he felt inclined to listen. - -What these abominations were we read with amazement in the eighth -chapter of Ezekiel. The prophet is carried in vision to Jerusalem, and -there he sees the Asherah--"the image which provoketh to -jealousy"--which had so often been erected and destroyed and re-erected. -Then through a secret door he sees creeping things, and abominable -beasts, and the idol-blocks of the House of Israel portrayed upon the -wall, while several elders of Israel stood before them and adored, with -censers in their hands--among whom he must specially have grieved to see -Jaazaneiah, the son of Shaphan,[822] flattering himself, as did his -followers, that in that dark chamber Jehovah saw them not. Next at the -northern gate he sees Zion's daughters weeping for Tammuz, or Adonis. -Once more, in the inner court of the Temple, between the porch and the -altar, he sees about twenty-five men with their backs to the altar, and -their faces to the east; and they worshipped the sun towards the east; -and, lo! they put the vine branch to their nose.[823] Were not these -crimes sufficient to evoke the wrath of Jehovah, and to alienate His ear -from prayers offered by such polluted worshippers? Egypt, Assyria, -Syria, Chaldaea, all contributed their idolatrous elements to the -detestable syncretism; and the king and the priests ignored, permitted, -or connived at it.[824] This must surely be answered for. How could it -have been otherwise? The king and the priests were the official -guardians of the Temple, and these aberrations could not have gone on -without their cognisance. There was another party of sheer formalists, -headed by men like the priest Pashur, who thought to make talismans of -rites and shibboleths, but had no sincerity of heart-religion.[825] To -these, too, Jeremiah was utterly opposed. In his opinion Josiah's -reformation had failed. Neither Ark, nor Temple, nor sacrifice were -anything in the world to him in comparison with true religion. All the -prophets with scarcely one exception are anti-ritualists; but none more -decidedly so than the prophet-priest. His name is associated in -tradition with the hiding of the Ark, and a belief in its ultimate -restoration; yet to Jeremiah, apart from the moral and spiritual truths -of which it was the material symbol, the Ark was no better than a wooden -chest. His message from Jehovah is, "I will give you pastors according -to My heart, ... and they shall say no more, 'The Ark of the Covenant of -the Lord': neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember -it; neither shall they miss it; neither shall it be made any more."[826] - -Doom followed the guilt and folly of king, priests, and people. If -political wisdom were insufficient to show Zedekiah that the necessities -of the case were an indication of God's will, he had the warnings of the -prophets constantly ringing in his ears, and the assurance that he must -remain faithful to Nebuchadrezzar. But he was in fear of his own princes -and courtiers. A combined embassy reached him from the kings of Edom, -Ammon, Moab, Tyre and Sidon, urging him to join in a league against -Babylon.[827] This embassy was supported by a powerful party in -Jerusalem. Their solicitations were rendered more plausible by the -recent accession (B.C. 590) of the young and vigorous Pharaoh -Hophrah--the Apries of Herodotus[828]--to the throne of Egypt, and by -the recrudescence of that incurable disease of Hebrew politics, a -confidence in the idle promises of Egypt to supply the confederacy with -men and horses.[829] In vain did Jeremiah and Ezekiel uplift their -warning voices. The blind confidence of the king and of the nobles was -sustained by the flattering visions and promises of false prophets, -prominent among whom was a certain Hananiah, the son of Azur, of Gibeon, -"the prophet."[830] To indicate the futility of the contemplated -rebellion, Jeremiah had made "throngs and poles" with yokes, and had -sent them to the kings, whose embassy had reached Jerusalem, with a -message of the most emphatic distinctness, that Nebuchadrezzar was God's -appointed servant, and that they must serve him till God's own appointed -time. If they obeyed this intimation, they would be left undisturbed in -their own lands; if they disobeyed it, they would be scourged into -absolute submission by the sword, the famine, and the pestilence. -Jeremiah delivered the same oracle to his own king.[831] - -The warning was rendered unavailing by the conduct of Hananiah. He -prophesied that within two full years God would break the yoke of the -King of Babylon; and that the captive Jeconiah, and the nobles, and -the vessels of the House of the Lord would be brought back. Jeremiah, -by way of an acted parable, had worn round his neck one of his own -yokes. Hananiah, in the Temple, snatched it off, broke it to pieces, -and said, "So will I break the yoke of Nebuchadrezzar from the neck of -all nations within the space of two full years."[832] - -We can imagine the delight, the applause, the enthusiasm with which -the assembled people listened to these bold predictions. Hananiah -argued with them, to speak, in shorthand, for he appealed to their -desires and to their prejudices. It is always the tendency of nations -to say to their prophets, "Say not unto us hard things: speak smooth -things; prophesy deceits." - -Against Hananiah personally there seems to have been no charge, except -that in listening to the lying spirit of his own desires he could not -hear the true message of God. But he did not stand alone.[833] Among -the children of the captivity, his promises were echoed by two -downright false prophets, Ahab and Zedekiah, the son of Maaseiah, who -prophesied lies in God's name. They were men of evil life, and a -fearful fate overtook them. Their words against Babylon came to the -ears of Nebuchadrezzar, and they were "roasted in the fire," so that -the horror of their end passed into a proverb and a curse.[834] Truly -God fed these false prophets with wormwood, and gave them poisonous -water to drink.[835] - -After the action of Hananiah, Jeremiah went home stricken and ashamed: -apparently he never again uttered a public discourse in the Temple. It -took him by surprise; and he was for the moment, perhaps, daunted by -the plausive echo of the multitude to the lying prophet. But when he -got home the answer of Jehovah came: "Go and tell Hananiah, Thou hast -broken the yokes of wood; but thou hast made for them yokes of iron. I -have put a yoke of iron on the necks of all these nations, that they -may serve Nebuchadrezzar. Hear now, Hananiah, The Lord hath not sent -thee: thou makest this people to trust in a lie. Behold, this year -thou shalt die, because thou hast spoken revolt against the Lord. What -hath the chaff to do with the wheat? saith the Lord."[836] - -Two months after Hananiah lay dead, and men's minds were filled with -fear. They saw that God's word was indeed as a fire to burn, and as a -hammer to dash in pieces.[837] But meanwhile Zedekiah had been -over-persuaded to take the course which the true prophets had -forbidden. Misled by the false prophets and mincing prophetesses whom -Ezekiel denounced,[838] who daubed men's walls with whitened plaster, -he had sent an embassy to Pharaoh Hophrah, asking for an army of -infantry and cavalry to support his rebellion from Assyria.[839] In -the eyes of Jeremiah and Ezekiel the crime did not only consist in -defying the exhortations of those whom Zedekiah knew to be Jehovah's -accredited messengers. In mitigation of this offence he might have -pleaded the extreme difficulty of discriminating the truth amid the -ceaseless babble of false pretenders.[840] But, on the other hand, he -had broken the solemn oath which he had taken to Nebuchadrezzar in the -name of God, and the sacred covenant which he seems to have twice -ratified with him.[841] This it was which raised the indignation of -the faithful, and led Ezekiel to prophesy:-- - - "Shall he prosper? - Shall he escape that doeth such things? - Or shall he break the covenant and be believed? - 'As I live,' saith the Lord God, 'surely in the place where the king - dwelleth that made him king, - Whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke, - Even with him in the midst of Babylon, shall he die.'"[842] - -Sad close for a dynasty which had now lasted for nearly five centuries! - -As for Pharaoh, he too was an eagle, as Nebuchadrezzar was--a great -eagle with great wings and many feathers, but not so great. The -trailing vine of Judah bent her roots towards him, but it should -wither in the furrows when the east wind touched it.[843] - -The result of Zedekiah's alliance with Egypt was the intermission of -his yearly tribute to Assyria; and at last, in the ninth year of -Zedekiah, Nebuchadrezzar was aroused to put down this Palestinian -revolt, supported as it was by the vague magnificence of Egypt. -Jeremiah had said, "Pharaoh, the King of Egypt, is but a noise [or -desolation]: he hath passed the time appointed."[844] - -This was about the year 589. In 598 Nebuchadrezzar had carried -Jehoachin into captivity, and ever since then some of his forces had -been engaged in the vain effort to capture Tyre, which still, after a -ten years' siege, drew its supplies from the sea, and remained -impregnable on her island rock. He did not choose to raise this -long-continued siege by diverting the troops to beleaguer so strong a -fortress as Jerusalem, and therefore he came in person from Babylon. - -In Ezek. xxi. 20-24 we have a singular and vivid glimpse of his march. -On his way he came to a spot where two roads branched off before him. -One led to Rabbath, the capital of Ammon, on the east of Jordan; the -other to Jerusalem, on the west. Which road should he take? Personally, -it was a matter of indifference; so he threw the burden of -responsibility upon his gods by leaving the decision to the result of -belomancy.[845] Taking in his hand a sheaf of brightened arrows, he held -them upright, and decided to take the route indicated by the fall of the -greater number of arrows. He confirmed his uncertainty by consulting -teraphim, and by hepatoscopy--_i.e._, by examining the liver of slain -victims. Rabbath and the Ammonites were not to be spared, but it was -upon the covenant-breaking king and city that the first vengeance was -to fall.[846] And this is what the prophet has to say to Zedekiah:-- - -"And thou, O deadly-wounded wicked one, the prince of Israel, whose -day is come in the time of the iniquity of the end; thus saith the -Lord God, 'Remove the mitre, and take off the crown. This shall be not -thus. Exalt the low, and abase that which is high. An overthrow, -overthrow, overthrow, will I make it: this also shall be no more, -until He come whose right it is: and I will give it Him."[847] - -So (B.C. 587) Jerusalem was delivered over to siege, even as Ezekiel -had sketched upon a tile.[848] It was to be assailed in the old -Assyrian manner--as we see it represented in the British Museum -bas-relief, where Sennacherib is portrayed in the act of besieging -Lachish--with forts, mounds, and battering-rams; and Ezekiel had also -been bidden to put up an iron plate between him and his pictured city, -to represent the mantelet from behind which the archers shot. - -In this dread crisis Zedekiah sent Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah, the -priest, and Jehucal, to Jeremiah, entreating his prayers for the -city,[849] for he had not yet been put in prison. Doubtless he prayed, -and at first it looked as if deliverance would come. Pharaoh Hophrah -put in motion the Egyptian army with its Carian mercenaries and -Soudanese negroes, and Nebuchadrezzar was sufficiently alarmed to -raise the siege and go to meet the Egyptians. The hopes of the people -probably rose high, though multitudes seized the opportunity to fly -to the mountains.[850] The circumstances closely resembled those under -which Sennacherib had raised the siege of Jerusalem to go to meet -Tirhakah the Ethiopian; and perhaps there were some, and the king -among them, who looked that such a wonder might be vouchsafed to him -through the prayers of Jeremiah as had been vouchsafed to Hezekiah -through the prayers of Isaiah. Not for a moment did Jeremiah encourage -these vain hopes. To Zephaniah, as to an earlier deputation from the -king, when he sent Pashur with him to inquire of the prophet, Jeremiah -returned a remorseless answer. It is too late. Pharaoh shall be -defeated; even if the Chaldaean army were smitten, its wounded soldiers -would suffice to besiege and burn Jerusalem, and take into captivity -the miserable inhabitants after they had suffered the worst horrors of -a besieged city.[851] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[813] Comp. Jer. xxiii. 6: Jehovah-Tsidkenu. - -[814] Ezek. xvii. 12-14. - -[815] Ezek. xvii. 1-6. - -[816] Jer. xxxiv. 8-11. - -[817] Jer. xxxiv. 19. Comp. Gen. xv. 17. - -[818] This is strikingly shown by his piteous remark to them in Jer. -xxxviii. 5. - -[819] He first sent two of Jeremiah's friends, Elasah and Gemariah, -the son of Shaphan. - -[820] Some critics have doubted the authenticity of Jer. li., lii. - -[821] 2 Chron. xxxvi. 14-21; Stanley, ii. 528; Milman, i. 394. - -[822] Shaphan's other sons, Gemariah, Ahikam, Elasah, and his grandson -Gedaliah, were friends of Jeremiah. - -[823] Ezek. viii. 17. The allusion seems to be to a custom like that -of the Parsees, who hold a branch of tamarisk or pomegranate twigs -(called _barsom_) before their mouths when they adore the sacred fire. -Strabo, xv. 732; Spiegel, _Zendavesta_, ii., p. lxviii; _Eran. -Alterthumsk._, iii. 571 (Orelli, _ad loc._). Lightfoot explains it, -"add fuel to their wrath." - -[824] Ezek. xvi. 15-34. - -[825] Jer. vii. 4, 21-28, viii. 8, xxiii. 31-33, xxxi. 33, 34. - -[826] Jer. iii. 15, 16. - -[827] Jer. xxvii. 3. - -[828] Herod., ii. 161. - -[829] Psammis, the son of Necho, only reigned six years; Hophrah (B.C. -594) was his son. - -[830] The LXX. calls him "the false prophet." - -[831] Jer. xxvii. 1-8, 12-18. On vv. 16-22 see the LXX. - -[832] Here (Jer. xxviii. 11, and in xxxiv. 1, xxxix. 5) the name is -written "Nebuchadnezzar"; everywhere else in Jeremiah it is -"Nebuchadrezzar." - -[833] Part of his dispute with Jeremiah turned on the recovery or -non-recovery of the Temple vessels. Zedekiah is said to have given a -set of silver vessels to replace the old ones (Baruch i. 8). - -[834] Jer. xxix. 21-23. - -[835] Jer. xxiii. 9-32. - -[836] Jer. xxviii. 13-16, xxiii. 28. - -[837] Jer. xxiii. 29. - -[838] Ezek. xiii. 1-23. - -[839] Ezek. xvii. 25. - -[840] Josephus rightly attributes the unfortunate career of Zedekiah -to the weakness with which he listened to evil counsellors, and to the -insolent multitude. - -[841] 2 Chron. xxxvi. 13; Jer. lii. 3. - -[842] Ezek. xvii. 15, 16, 18, 19. - -[843] Ezek. xvii. 7-10. - -[844] Jer. xlvi. 17. - -[845] Another form of belomancy is still commonly practised among the -Arabs. Three arrows are placed in a vessel: on one of them is written, -"My God permits me"; on another, "My God forbids me"; the third is -blank. They are then shaken, and the decision is guided by the one -which falls out first. Comp. Homer, _Iliad_, iii. 316; _Speaker's -Commentary_, _ad loc._ - -[846] Ezek. xxi. 28-32. - -[847] An allusion to the restoration of Jeconiah or his descendants, -and to the far-off Messiah, meek and lowly. - -[848] Ezek. iv. 1-3. - -[849] Jer. xxxvii. 3. - -[850] Ezek. vii. 16. - -[851] Jer. xxi. 1-10, xxxvii. 1-17. Josephus says that Pharaoh was -defeated (_Antt._, X. vii. 3). Jeremiah merely says that he and his -army returned to their own land. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXVII - - _JEREMIAH AND HIS PROPHECIES_ - - JER. i. 1-v. 31 - - "Count me o'er earth's chosen heroes--they were souls that - stood alone, - While the men they agonised for hurled the contumelious - stone; - Stood serene, and down the future saw the golden beam incline - To the side of perfect justice, mastered by their faith - divine, - By one man's plain truth to manhood and to God's supreme - design." - LOWELL. - - -Truly Jeremiah was a prophet of evil. The king might have addressed -him in the words with which Agamemnon reproaches Kalchas.[852] - - "Augur accursed! denouncing mischief still: - Prophet of plagues, for ever boding ill! - Still must that tongue some wounding message bring, - And still thy priestly pride provoke thy king." - -Never was there a sadder man.[853] Like Phocion, he believed in the -enemies of his country more than he believed in his own people. He saw -"Too late" written upon everything. He saw himself all but universally -execrated as a coward, as a traitor, as one who weakened the nerves -and damped the courage of those who were fighting against fearful -odds for their wives and children, the ashes of their fathers, their -altars, and their hearths. It had become his fixed conviction that any -prophets--and there were a multitude of them--who prophesied peace -were false prophets, and _ipso facto_ proved themselves conspirators -against the true well-being of the land.[854] In point of fact, -Jeremiah lived to witness the death-struggle of the idea of religion -in its predominantly national character (vii. 8-16, vi. 8). "The -continuity of the national faith refused to be bound up with the -continuance of the nation. When the nation is dissolved into -individual elements, the continuity and ultimate victory of the true -faith depends on the relations of Jehovah to individual souls out of -which the nation shall be bound up."[855] - -And now a sad misfortune happened to Jeremiah. His home was not at -Jerusalem, but at Anathoth, though he had long been driven from his -native village by the murderous plots of his own kindred, and of those -who had been infuriated by his incessant prophecies of doom. When the -Chaldaeans retired from Jerusalem to encounter Pharaoh, he left the -distressed city for the land of Benjamin, "to receive his portion from -thence in the midst of the people"--apparently, for the sense is -doubtful, to claim his dues of maintenance as a priest. But at the -city gate he was arrested by Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the captain -of the watch, who charged him with the intention of deserting to the -Chaldaeans. Jeremiah pronounced the charge to be a lie; but Irijah took -him before the princes, who hated him, and consigned him to dreary and -dangerous imprisonment in the house of Jonathan the scribe. In the -vaults of this "house of the pit" he continued many days.[856] The -king sympathised with him: he would gladly have delivered him, if he -could, from the rage of the princes; but he did not dare.[857] - -Meanwhile, the siege went on, and the people never forgot the anguish -of despair with which they waited the reinvestiture of the city. Ever -since that day it has been kept as a fast--the fast of Tebeth. -Zedekiah, yearning for some advice, or comfort--if comfort were to be -had--from the only man whom he really trusted, sent for Jeremiah to -the palace, and asked him in despicable secrecy, "Is there any word -from the Lord?" The answer was the old one: "Yes! Thou shalt be -delivered into the hands of the King of Babylon." Jeremiah gave it -without quailing, but seized the opportunity to ask on what plea he -was imprisoned. Was he not a prophet? Had he not prophesied the return -of the Chaldaean host? Where now were all the prophets who had -prophesied peace? Would not the king at least save him from the -detestable prison in which he was dying by inches? - -The king heard his petition, and he was removed to a better prison in -the court of the watch, where he received his daily piece of bread out -of the bakers' street until all the bread in the city was spent. - -For now utter famine came upon the wretched Jews, to add to the -horrors and accidents of the siege. If we would know what that famine -was in its appalling intensity, we must turn to the Book of -Lamentations. Those elegies, so unutterably plaintive, may not be by -the prophet himself, but only by his school; but they show us what was -the frightful condition of the people of Jerusalem before and during -the last six months of the siege. "The sword of the wilderness"--the -roving and plundering Bedouin--made it impossible to get out of the -city in any direction. Things were as dreadfully hopeless as they had -been in Samaria when it was besieged by Benhadad.[858] Hunger and -thirst reduce human nature to its most animal conditions. They -obliterate the merest elements of morality. They make men like beasts, -and reveal the ferocity which is never quite dead in any but the -purest and loftiest souls. They arouse the least human instincts of -the aboriginal animal. The day came when there was no more bread left -in Jerusalem.[859] The fair and ruddy Nazarites, who had been purer -than snow, whiter than milk, more ruddy than corals, lovely as -sapphires, became like withered boughs,[860] and even their friends -did not recognise them in those ghastly and emaciated figures which -crept about the streets. The daughters of Zion, more cruel in their -hunger than the very jackals, lost the instincts of pity and -motherhood. Mothers and fathers devoured their own little unweaned -children.[861] There was parricide as well as infanticide in the -horrible houses. They seemed to plead that none could blame them, -since the lives of many had become an intolerable anguish, and no man -had bread for his little ones, and their tongues cleaved to the roof -of their mouth. All that happened six centuries later, during the -siege of Jerusalem by Titus, happened now. Then Martha the daughter of -Nicodemus ben-Gorion, once a lady of enormous wealth, was seen picking -the grains of corn from the offal of the streets; now the women who -had fed delicately and been brought up in scarlet were seen sitting -desolate on heaps of dung.[862] And Jehovah did not raise His hand to -save His guilty and dying people. It was too late! - -And as is always the case in such extremities, there were men who stood -defiant and selfish amid the universal misery. Murder, oppression, and -luxury continued to prevail. The godless nobles did not intermit the -building of their luxurious houses, asserting to themselves and others -that, after all, the final catastrophe was not near at hand. The sudden -death of one of them--Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah--while Ezekiel was -prophesying, terrified the prophet so much that he flung himself on his -face and cried with a loud voice, "Ah, Lord God! wilt Thou make a full -end of the remnant of Israel?" But on the others this death by the -visitation of God seems to have produced no effect; and the glory of God -left the city, borne away upon its cherubim-chariot.[863] - -Even under the stress of these dreadful circumstances the Jews held -out with that desperate tenacity which has often been shown by nations -fighting behind strong walls for their very existence, but by no -nation more decidedly than by the Jews. And if the rebel-party, and -the lying prophets who had brought the city to this pass, still -entertained any hopes either of a diversion caused by Pharaoh -Hophrah, or of some miraculous deliverance such as that which had -saved the city from Sennacherib years earlier, it is not unnatural -that they should have regarded Jeremiah with positive fury. For he -still continued to prophesy the captivity. What specially angered them -was his message to the people that all who remained in Jerusalem -should die by the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, but that -those who deserted to the Chaldaeans should live. It was on the ground -of his having said this that they had imprisoned him as a deserter; -and when Pashur and his son Gedaliah heard that he was still saying -this, they and the other princes entreated Zedekiah to put him to -death as a pernicious traitor, who weakened the hands of the patriot -soldiers. Jeremiah was not guilty of the lack of patriotism with which -they charged him. The day of independence had passed for ever, and -Babylon, not Egypt, was the appointed suzerain. The counselling of -submission--as many a victorious chieftain has been forced at last to -counsel it, from the days of Hannibal to those of Thiers--is often the -true and the only possible patriotism in doomed and decadent nations. -Zedekiah timidly abandoned the prophet to the rage of his enemies; but -being afraid to murder him openly as Urijah had been murdered, they -flung him into a well in the dungeon of Malchiah, the king's son. Into -the mire of this pit he sank up to the arms, and there they purposely -left him to starve and rot.[864] But if no Israelite pitied him, his -condition moved the compassion of Ebed-Melech, an Ethiopian, one of -the king's eunuch-chamberlains. He hurried to the king in a storm of -pity and indignation. He found him sitting, as a king should do, at -the post of danger in the gate of Benjamin; for Zedekiah was not a -physical, though he was a moral, coward. Ebed-Melech told the king -that Jeremiah was dying of starvation, and Zedekiah bade him take -three[865] men with him and rescue the dying man. The faithful -Ethiopian hurried to a cellar under the treasury, took with him some -old, worn fragments of robes, and, letting them down by cords, called -to Jeremiah to put them under his arm-pits. He did so, and they drew -him up into the light of day, though he still remained in prison. - -It seems to have been at this time that, in spite of his grim -vaticination of immediate retribution, Jeremiah showed his serene -confidence in the ultimate future by accepting the proposal of his -cousin Hanameel to buy some of the paternal fields at Anathoth, though -at that very moment they were in the hands of the Chaldaeans. Such an -act publicly performed must have caused some consolation to the -besieged, just as did the courage of the Roman senator who gave a good -price for the estate outside the walls of Rome on which Hannibal was -actually encamped. - -Then Zedekiah once more secretly sent for him, and implored him to tell -the unvarnished truth. "If I do," said the prophet, "will you not kill -me? and will you in any case hearken to me?" Zedekiah swore not to -betray him to his enemies; and Jeremiah told him that, even at that -eleventh hour, if he would go out and make submission to the -Babylonians, the city should not be burnt, and he should save the lives -of himself and of his family. Zedekiah believed him, but pleaded that -he was afraid of the mockery of the deserters to whom he might be -delivered. Jeremiah assured him that he should not be so delivered, and -that, if he refused to obey, nothing remained for the city, and for him -and his wives and children, but final ruin. The king was too weak to -follow what he must now have felt to be the last chance which God had -opened out for him. He could only "attain to half-believe." He entrusted -the result to chance, with miserable vacillation of purpose; and the -door of hope was closed upon him. His one desire was to conceal the -interview; and if it came to the ears of the princes--of whom he was -shamefully afraid--he begged Jeremiah to say that he had only entreated -the king not to send him back to die in Jonathan's prison. - -As he had suspected, it became known that Jeremiah had been summoned -to an interview with the king. They questioned the prophet in prison. -He told them the story which the king had suggested to him, and the -truth remained undiscovered. For this deflection from exact truth it -is tolerably certain that, in the state of men's consciences upon the -subject of veracity in those days, the prophet's moral sense did not -for a moment reproach him. He remained in his prison, guarded probably -by the faithful Ebed-Melech, until Jerusalem was taken. - -Let us pity the dreadful plight of Zedekiah, aggravated as it was by -his weak temperament. "He stands at the head of a people determined to -defend itself, but is himself without either hope or courage."[866] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[852] Homer, _Iliad_, i. 106-109. - -[853] But it must not be forgotten that Jer. xxxi. 1-34 is so hopeful -that it has been called "the Gospel before Christ." - -[854] Jer. vi. 14, viii. 11; Ezek. xiii. 10. - -[855] W. R. Smith, "Prophets" (_Enc. Brit._). - -[856] Jer. xxxvii, 11-15. - -[857] Jer xxxviii. 5. The Jewish aristocracy consisted, says Graetz, of -three classes: the _beni hammelech_, or "king's sons"--_i.e._, princes -of the blood-royal; the _roshi aboth_, "heads of the fathers," or -_zekenim_, "elders"; and the _abhodi hammelech_, "king's servants," or -"courtiers" (ii. 446). - -[858] Lam. v. 4. - -[859] Jer. xxxvii. 21, xxxviii. 9, lii. 6. - -[860] Lam. iv. 7, 8. - -[861] Lam. iv. 10, ii. 20; Ezek. v. 10; Baruch ii. 3. - -[862] Lam. iv. 5. See Stanley, _Lectures_, ii. 470. - -[863] Ezek. xi. 22. - -[864] This may possibly be alluded to in Psalm lxix. 2. - -[865] Jer. xxxviii. 10, A.V., "thirty." - -[866] Van Oort, iv. 52. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXVIII - - _THE FALL OF JERUSALEM_ - - B.C. 586 - - 2 KINGS xxv. 1-21 - - "In that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all - nations."--ZECH. xii. 3. - - "An end is come, the end is come; it awaketh against thee: behold - the end is come."--EZEK. vii. 6. - - "Behold yon sterile spot - Where now the wandering Arab's tent - Flaps in the desert blast; - There once old Salem's haughty fane - Reared high to heaven its thousand golden domes, - And in the blushing face of day - Exposed its shameful glory." - SHELLEY. - - -After the siege had lasted for a year and a half, all but one day, at -midnight the besiegers made a breach in the northern city wall.[867] -It was a day of terrible remembrance, and throughout the exile it was -observed as a solemn fast.[868] - -Nebuchadrezzar was no longer in person before the walls. He had other -war-like operations and other sieges on hand--the sieges of Tyre, -Asekah, and Lachish--as well as Jerusalem. He had therefore -established his headquarters at Lachish, and did not superintend the -final operations against the city.[869] But now that all had become -practically hopeless, and the capture of the rest of Jerusalem was -only a matter of a few days more, Zedekiah and his few best surviving -princes and soldiers fled by night through the opposite quarter of the -city. There was a little unwatched postern between two walls near the -king's garden, and through this he and his escort fled, hoping to -reach the Arabah, and make good his escape, perhaps to the -Wady-el-Arish, which he could reach in five hours, through the wilds -beyond the Jordan.[870] The heads of the king and his followers were -muffled, and they carried on their shoulders their choicest -possessions.[871] But he was betrayed by some of the mean -deserters,[872] and pursued by the Chaldaeans. His movements were -doubtless impeded by the presence of his harem and his children. His -little band of warriors could offer no resistance, and fled in all -directions. Zedekiah, his family, and attendants were taken prisoners, -and carried to Riblah to appear before the mighty conqueror.[873] -Nebuchadrezzar showed no pity towards one whom he had elevated to the -throne, and who had violated his most solemn assurances by intriguing -with his enemies. He brought him to trial, and doomed him to witness -with his own eyes the massacre of his two sons and of his attendants. -After he had endured this anguish, worse than death, his eyes were put -out, and, bound in double fetters,[874] he was sent to Babylon, where -he ended his miserable days. To blind a king deprived him of all hope -of recovering the throne, and was therefore in ancient days a common -punishment.[875] The LXX. adds that he was sent by the Babylonians to -grind a mill--[Greek: eis oikion mylonos]. This is probably a -reminiscence of the blinded Samson. But thus were fulfilled with -startling literalness two prophecies which might well have seemed to -be contradictory.[876] For Jeremiah had said (xxxiv. 3),-- - -"Thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the King of Babylon, and he shall -speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon." - -Whereas Ezekiel had said (xii. 13),-- - -"I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldaeans; yet shall he -not see it, though he shall die there." - -Henceforth Zedekiah was forgotten, and his place knew him no more. We -can only hope that in his blindness and solitude he was happier than -he had been on the throne of Judah, and that before death came to end -his miseries he found peace with God. - -The conqueror did not come to spoil the city. He left that task to three -great officers,--Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, or chief -executioner;[877] Nebushasban, the Rabsaris, or chief of the eunuchs; -and Nergalshareser, the Rabmag, or chief of the magicians. They took -their station by the Middle Gate, and first gave up the city to pillage -and massacre. No horror was spared.[878] The sepulchres were rifled for -treasure; the young Levites were slain in the house of their Sanctuary; -women were violated; maidens and hoary-headed men were slain. "Princes -were hanged up by the hand, and the faces of elders were dishonoured; -priest and prophet were slain in the Sanctuary of the Lord,"[879] till -the blood flowed like red wine from the winepress over the desecrated -floor.[880] The guilty city drank at the hand of God the dregs of the -cup of His fury.[881] It was the final vengeance. "The punishment of -thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion. He will no more -carry thee away into captivity."[882] And, meanwhile, the little Bedouin -principalities were full of savage exultation at the fate of their -hereditary foe.[883] This was felt by the Jews as a culmination of their -misery, that they became a derision to their enemies. The callous -insults hurled at them by the neighbouring tribes in their hour of shame -awoke that implacable wrath against Gebal and Ammon and Amalek which -finds its echo in the Prophets and in the Psalms.[884] - -After this the devoted capital was given up to destruction. The Temple -was plundered. All that remained of its often-rifled splendours was -carried away, such as the ancient pillars Jachin and Boaz, the -masterpieces of Hiram's art, the caldron, the brazen sea, and all the -vessels of gold, of silver, and of brass. Then the walls of the city -were dismantled and broken down. The Temple, and the palace, and all the -houses of the princes were committed to the flames. As for the principal -remaining inhabitants, Seraiah the chief priest, perhaps the grandson of -Hilkiah and the grandfather of Ezra, Zephaniah the second priest, the -three Levitic doorkeepers, the secretary of war, five of the greatest -nobles who "saw the king's face,"[885] and sixty of the common people -who had been marked out for special punishment, were taken to Riblah, -and there massacred by order of Nebuchadrezzar.[886] With these -Nebuchadrezzar took away as his prisoners a multitude of the wealthier -inhabitants, leaving behind him but the humblest artisans. As the -craftsmen and smiths had been deported,[887] these poor people busied -themselves in agriculture, as vine-dressers and husbandmen. The existing -estates were divided among them; and being few in number, they found the -amplest sustenance in treasures of wheat and barley, and oil and honey, -and summer fruits, which they kept concealed for safety, as the -fellaheen of Palestine do to this day.[888] - -According to the historic chapters added to the prophecies of -Jeremiah, the whole number of captives carried away from Jerusalem by -Nebuchadrezzar in the seventh, the eighteenth, and the twenty-third -years of his reign were 4,600.[889] The completeness of the desolation -might well have caused the heart-rending outcry of Psalm lxxix.: "O -God, the heathen are come into Thine inheritance; Thy holy Temple have -they defiled; they have made Jerusalem a heap of stones. The dead -bodies of Thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of -heaven, and the flesh of Thy saints unto the beasts of the land. Their -blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was -no man to bury them." - -Among the remnant of the people was Jeremiah. Nebuzaradan had received -from his king the strictest injunctions to treat him honourably; for he -had heard from the deserters that he had always opposed the rebellion, -and had prophesied the issue of the siege. He was indeed sent in -manacles to Ramah;[890] but there Nebuchadrezzar gave him free choice to -do exactly as he liked--either to accompany him to Babylon, where he -should be well treated and cared for, or to return to Jerusalem, and -live where he liked. This was his desire. Nebuchadrezzar therefore -dismissed him with food and a present;[891] and he returned. The LXX. -and Vulgate represent him as sitting weeping over the ruins of -Jerusalem, and tradition says that he sought for his lamentations a cave -still existing near the Damascus Gate. Of this Scripture knows nothing. -But the melancholy prophet was only reserved for further tragedies. He -had lived one of the most afflicted of human lives. A man of tender -heart and shrinking disposition, he had been called to set his face like -a flint against kings, and nobles, and mobs. Worse than this, being -himself a prophet and priest, naturally led to sympathise with both, he -was the doomed antagonist of both--victim of "one of the strongest of -human passions, the hatred of priests against a priest who attacks his -own order, the hatred of prophets against a prophet who ventures to have -a voice and a will of his own." Even his own family had plotted against -his life at humble Anathoth;[892] and when he retreated to Jerusalem, he -found himself at the centre of the storm. Now perhaps he hoped for a -gleam of sunset peace. But his hopes were disappointed. He had to tread -the path of anguish and hatred to the bitter end, as he had trodden it -for nearly fifty years of the troubled life which had followed his call -in early boyhood. - -"But, in the case of Jerusalem," says Dean Stanley, "both its first -and second destruction have the peculiar interest of involving the -dissolution of a religious dispensation, combined with the agony of an -expiring nation, such as no other people has survived, and, by -surviving, carried on the living recollection, first of one, and then -of the other, for centuries after the first shock was over."[893] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[867] Jos., _Antt._, X. viii. 2; 2 Chron. xxxii. 5, xxxiii. 14. First -and last, the siege seems to have lasted one year, five months, and -twenty-seven days. - -[868] Zech. viii. 19. - -[869] The inscriptions of Nebuchadrezzar which have been as yet -deciphered speak of his sumptuous buildings and of his worship of the -gods rather than of his conquests. See _Records of the Past_, vii. -69-78. - -[870] Robinson, _Bibl. Res._, ii. 536. Some suppose that "the king's -garden" was near the mouth of the Tyropoeon Valley. - -[871] Ezek. xii. 12. Perhaps the gate alluded to is the fountain gate -of Neh. iii. 15. Ezekiel seems to speak of "digging through the wall." -Robinson says that a trace of the outermost wall still exists in the -rude pathway which crosses the mouth of the Tyropoeon on a mound hard -by the old mulberry tree which marks the traditional site of Isaiah's -martyrdom. - -[872] Jos., _Antt._, X. viii. 2. - -[873] Traces of his presence are found in inscriptions in the Wady of -the Dog near Beyrout, and in Wady Brissa. See Sayce, _Proceedings of -the Bibl. Arch. Soc._, November 1881. - -[874] 2 Kings xxv. 7. See Layard, _Nineveh_, ii. 376. - -[875] The blinding was sometimes done by passing a red-hot rod of -silver or brass over the open eyes; sometimes by plucking out the eyes -(Jer. lii. 11, Vulg. _oculos eruit_; 2 Kings xxv. 7, _effodit_). See a -hideous illustration of a yet more brutal process in Botta (_Monum. de -Nineve_, Pl. cxviii.), where Sargon with his own hand is thrusting a -lance into the eyes of a captive prince, whose head is kept steady by -a bridle fastened to a hook through his lips. See also Judg. xvi. 21; -Xen., _Anab._, i. 9, Sec. 13; Procopius, _Bel. Pers._, i. 1; Ammianus, -xxvii. 12; Rawlinson, _Ancient Monarchies_, i. 307. - -[876] Jos., _Antt._, X. viii. 2, 3. - -[877] Nebur-zir-iddina, "Nebo bestowed seed." Jer. xxxix. 9, 13, is in -some way corrupt. Ezekiel (ix. 2), however, and Josephus (_Antt._, X. -viii. 2) mention _six_ officers. Nebuzaradan was "chief of the -executioners" (Gen. xxxvii. 36; 1 Kings ii. 25, 35, 46). - -[878] Psalm lxxix. 2, 3. - -[879] 2 Chron. xxxvi. 17; Lam. ii. 21, v. 11, 12. - -[880] To the reminiscences of these scenes are partly due the Talmudic -legend about the blood of Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, bubbling up -to demand vengeance. Nebudchadrezzar slew a holocaust of human victims -to appease the shade of the wrathful prophet, until the king himself -was terrified, and asked if he wished his whole people to be -slaughtered. Then the blood ceased to bubble. - -[881] See Rawlinson, _Kings of Israel and Judah_, p. 236. - -[882] Lam. iv. 22. - -[883] Psalm lxxix, 1. - -[884] Obad. 14-16; Psalm cxxxvii. 7; 1 Esdras iv. 45. - -[885] Comp. Esther i. 14. - -[886] On these personages see 1 Chron. vi. 13, 14; 2 Kings xxii. 4; -Ezra vii. 1; Jer. xxi. 1, xxxvii. 3, etc. - -[887] Nebuchadrezzar had no doubt needed them for his great buildings -at Babylon, and their deportation would render more difficult any -attempt to refortify Jerusalem. - -[888] Jer. xli. 8, xl. 12. - -[889] Jer. lii. 28-30. In his seventh year, 3,023; in his eighteenth, -832 in his thirty-third, 745 = 4,600. - -[890] Ramah was but five miles from Jerusalem, and at first Jeremiah -may not have been identified (Jer. xl. 1-6). - -[891] The present, if accepted, could only be regarded, under the -circumstances, as part of the necessity of life. It does not fall -under the head of the presents often offered to prophets (1 Sam. ix. -7; 2 Kings iv. 42; Mic. iii. 5, 11; Amos vii. 12). - -[892] Jer. xi. 19-21, xii. 6. - -[893] Stanley, _Lectures_, ii. 515. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIX - - _GEDALIAH_ - - B.C. 586 - - 2 KINGS xxv. 22-30 - - "Vedi che son un che piango."--DANTE, _Inferno_. - - "No, rather steel thy melting heart - To act the martyr's sternest part, - To watch with firm, unshrinking eye - Thy darling visions as they die, - Till all bright hopes and hues of day - Have faded into twilight grey." - KEBLE. - - -In deciding that he would not accompany Nebuchadrezzar to Babylon, -Jeremiah made the choice of duty. In Chaldaea he would have lived at -ease, in plenty, in security, amid universal respect. He might have -helped his younger contemporary Ezekiel in his struggle to keep the -exiles in Babylon faithful to their duty and their God. He regarded the -exiles as representing all that was best and noblest in the nation; and -he would have been safe and honoured in the midst of them, under the -immediate protection of the great Babylonian king. On the other hand, to -return to Judaea was to return to a defenceless and a distracted people, -the mere dregs of the true nation, the mere phantom of what they once -had been. Surely his life had earned the blessing of repose? But no! The -hopes of the Chosen People, the seed of Abraham, God's servant, could -not be dissevered from the Holy Land. Rest was not for him on this side -of the grave. His only prayer must be, like that which Senancour had -inscribed over his grave, "Eternite, deviens mon asile!" The decision -cost him a terrible struggle; but duty called him, and he obeyed. It has -been supposed by some critics[894] that the wild cry of Jer. xv. 10-21 -expresses his anguish at the necessity of casting in his lot with the -remnant; the sense that they needed his protecting influence and -prophetic guidance; and the promise of God that his sacrifice should not -be ineffectual for good to the miserable fragment of his nation, even -though they should continue to struggle against him. - -So with breaking heart he saw Nebuzaradan at Ramah marshalling the -throng of captives for their long journey to the waters of Babylon. -Before them, and before the little band which returned with him to the -burnt Temple, the dismantled city, the desolate house, there lay an -unknown future; but in spite of the exiles' doom it looked brighter -for them than for him, as with tears and sobs they parted from each -other. Then it was that-- - -"A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel -weeping for her children refuseth to be comforted, because they are -not. Thus saith the Lord, 'Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine -eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded,' saith the Lord; 'and -they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope -for thy time to come,' saith the Lord, 'that thy children shall come -again to their own border.'"[895] - -Disappointed in the fidelity of the royal house of Judah, -Nebuchadrezzar had not attempted to place another of them on the throne. -He appointed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, his satrap -(_pakid_) over the poor remnant who were left in the land. In this -appointment we probably trace the influence of Jeremiah. There is no one -whom Nebuchadrezzar would have been so likely to consult. Gedaliah was -the son of the prophet's old protector,[896] and his grandfather Shaphan -had been a trusted minister of Josiah. He thoroughly justified the -confidence reposed in him, and under his wise and prosperous rule there -seemed to be every prospect that there would be at least some pale gleam -of returning prosperity. The Jews, who during the period of the siege -had fled into all the neighbouring countries, no sooner heard of his -viceroyalty than they came flocking back from Moab, and Ammon, and Edom. -They found themselves, perhaps for the first time in their lives, in -possession of large estates, from which the exiles of Babylon had been -dispossessed; and favoured by an abundant harvest, "they gathered wine -and summer fruits very much."[897] - -Jerusalem--dismantled, defenceless, burnt--was no longer habitable. It -was all but deserted, so that jackals and hyaenas prowled even over the -mountain of the Lord's House. All attempt to refortify it would have -been regarded as rebellion, and such a mere "lodge in a garden of -cucumbers" would have been useless to repress the marauding incursions -of the envious Moabites and Edomites, who had looked on with shouts at -the destruction of the city, and exulted when her carved work was -broken down with axes and hammers. Gedaliah therefore fixed his -headquarters at Mizpah, about six miles north of Jerusalem, of which -the lofty eminence could be easily secured.[898] It was the watchtower -from which Titus caught his first glimpses of the Holy City, as many a -traveller does to this day, and the point at which Richard I. averted -his eyes with tears, saying that he was unworthy to look upon the city -which he was unable to save. Here, then, Gedaliah lived, urging upon -his subjects the policy which his friend and adviser Jeremiah had -always supported, and promising them quietness and peace if they would -but accept the logic of circumstances--if they would bow to the -inevitable, and frankly acknowledge the suzerainty of Nebuchadrezzar. -It was perhaps as a pledge of more independence in better days to come -that Nebuzaradan had left Gedaliah in charge of the young daughters of -King Zedekiah, who had with them some of their eunuch-attendants. As -that unfortunate monarch was only thirty-two years old when he was -blinded and carried away, the princesses were probably young girls; -and it has been conjectured that it was part of the Chaldaean king's -plan for the future that in time Gedaliah should be permitted to marry -one of them, and re-establish at least a collateral branch of the old -royal house of David. - -How long this respite continued we do not know. The language of -Jeremiah xxxix 2, xli. 1, compared with 2 Kings xxv. 8, might seem to -imply that it only lasted two months. But since Jeremiah does not -mention the year in xli. 1, and as there seems to have been yet -another deportation of Jews by Nebuchadrezzar five years latter (Jer. -lii. 30), which may have been in revenge for the murder of his satrap, -some have supposed that Gedaliah's rule lasted four years. All is -uncertain, and the latter passage is of doubtful authenticity; but it -is at least possible that the vengeful atrocity committed by Ishmael -followed almost immediately after the Chaldaean forces were well out of -sight. Respecting these last days of Jewish independence, "History, -leaning semisomnous on her pyramid, muttereth something, but we know -not what it is." - -However this may be, there seem to have been guerilla bands wandering -through the country, partly to get what they could, and partly to -watch against Bedouin marauders. Johanan, the son of Kareah, who was -one of the chief captains among them,[899] came with others to -Gedaliah, and warned him that Baalis, King of Ammon, was intriguing -against him, and trying to induce a certain Ishmael, the son of -Nethaniah, the son of Elishama--who, in some way unknown to us, -represented, perhaps on the female side, the seed royal[900]--to come -and murder him. Gedaliah was of a fine, unsuspicious temperament, and -with rash generosity he refused to believe in the existence of a plot -so ruinous and so useless. Astonished at his noble incredulity, -Johanan then had a secret interview with him, and offered to murder -Ishmael so secretly that no one should know of it. "Why," he asked, -"should this man be suffered to ruin everything, and cause the final -scattering of even the struggling handful of colonists at Mizpah and -in Judah?" Gedaliah forbad his intervention. "Thou shalt not do this," -he said: "thou speakest falsely of Ishmael." - -But Johanan's story was only too true. Shortly afterwards, Ishmael, -with ten confederates,[901] came to visit Gedaliah at Mizpah, perhaps -on the pretext of seeing his kinswomen, the daughters of Zedekiah. -Gedaliah welcomed this ambitious villain and his murderous accomplices -with open-handed hospitality. He invited them all to a banquet in the -fort of Mizpah; and after eating salt with him, Ishmael and his -bravoes first murdered him, and then put promiscuously to the sword -his soldiers, and the Chaldaeans who had been left to look after -him.[902] The gates of the fort were closed, and the bodies were flung -into a deep well or tank,[903] which had been constructed by Asa in -the middle of the courtyard, when he was fortifying Mizpah against the -attacks of Baasha, King of Israel. - -For two days there was an unbroken silence, and the peasants at Mizpah -remained unaware of the dreadful tragedy. On the third day a sad -procession was seen wending its way up the heights. There were scattered -Jews in Shiloh and Samaria who still remembered Zion; and eighty -pilgrims, weeping as they went, came with shaven beards and rent -garments to bring a _minchah_ and incense to the ruined shrine at -Jerusalem. In the depth of their woe they had even violated a law (Lev. -xix. 28, xxi. 5), of which they were perhaps unaware, by cutting -themselves in sign of their misery. Mizpah would be their last -halting-place on the way to Jerusalem; and the hypocrite Ishmael came -out to them with an invitation to share the hospitality of the murdered -satrap. No sooner had the gate of the charnel-house closed upon -them,[904] than Ishmael and his ten ruffians began to murder this -unoffending company. Crimes more aimless and more brutal than those -committed by this infinitely degenerate scion of the royal house it is -impossible to conceive. The place swam with blood. The story "reads -almost like a page from the annals of the Indian Mutiny." Seventy of the -wretched pilgrims had been butchered and flung into the tank, which must -have been choked with corpses, like the fatal well at Cawnpore,[905] -when the ten survivors pleaded for their lives by telling Ishmael that -they had large treasures of country produce stored in hidden places, -which should be at his disposal if he would spare them.[906] - -As it was useless to make any further attempt to conceal his -atrocities, Ishmael now took the young princesses and the inhabitants -of Mizpah with him, and tried to make good his escape to his patron -the King of Ammon. But the watchful eye of Johanan, the son of Kareah, -had been upon him, and assembling his band he went in swift pursuit. -Ishmael had got no farther than the Pool of Gibeon, when Johanan -overtook him, to the intense joy of the prisoners. A scuffle ensued; -but Ishmael and eight of his blood-stained desperadoes unhappily -managed to make good their escape to the Ammonites. The wretch -vanishes into the darkness, and we hear of him no more. - -Even now the circumstances were desperate. Nebuchadrezzar could not in -honour overlook the frustration of all his plans, and the murder, not -only of his viceroy, but even of his Chaldaean commissioners. He would -not be likely to accept any excuses. No course seemed open but that of -flight. There was no temptation to return to Mizpah with its frightful -memories and its corpse-choked tank. From Gibeon the survivors made -their way to Bethlehem, which lay on the road to Egypt, and where they -could be sheltered in the caravanserai of Chimham. Many Jews had -already taken refuge in Egypt. Colonies of them were living in -Pathros, and at Migdol and Noph, under the kindly protection of -Pharaoh Hophrah. Would it not be well to join them? - -In utter perplexity Johanan and the other captains and all the people -came to Jeremiah. How he had escaped the massacre at Mizpah we do not -know; but now he seemed to be the only man left in whose prophetic -guidance they could confide. They entreated him with pathetic -earnestness to show them the will of Jehovah; and he promised to pray -for insight, while they pledged themselves to obey implicitly his -directions. - -The anguish and vacillation of the prophet's mind is shown by the fact -that for ten whole days no light came to him. It seemed as if Judah -was under an irrevocable curse. Whither could they return? What -temptation was there to return? Did not return mean fresh intolerable -miseries? Would they not be torn to pieces by the robber bands from -across the Jordan? And what could be the end of it but another -deportation to Babylon, with perhaps further massacre and starvation? - -All the arguments seemed against this course; and he could see very -clearly that it would be against all the wishes of the down-trodden -fugitives who longed for Egypt, "where we shall see no war, nor hear -the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread." - -Yet Jeremiah could only give them the message which he believed to -represent the will of God. He bade them return. He assured them that -they need have no fear of the King of Babylon, and that God would -bless them; whereas if they went to Egypt, they would die by the -sword, the famine, and the pestilence. At the same time--doomed always -to thwart the hopes of the multitude--he reproved the hypocrisy which -had sent them to ask God's will when they never intended to do -anything but follow their own. - -Then their anger broke out against him. He was, as always, the prophet -of evil, and they held him more than half responsible for being the -_cause_ of the ruin which he invariably predicted. Johanan and "all -the proud men" (_zedim_) gave him the lie. They told him that the -source of his prophesy was not Jehovah, but the meddling and -pernicious Baruch. Perhaps some of them may have remembered the words -of Isaiah, that a day should come when five cities, of which one -should be called Kir-Cheres ("the City of Destruction")--a play on the -name Kir-Heres, "the City of the Sun," On or Heliopolis should--speak -the language of Canaan and swear by the Lord of hosts, and there -should be an altar in the land of Egypt and a _matstsebah_ at its -border in witness to Jehovah, and that though Egypt should be smitten -she should also be healed.[907] - -So they settled to go to Egypt; and taking with them Jeremiah, and -Baruch, and the king's daughters, and all the remnant, they made their -way to Tahpanhes or Daphne,[908] an advanced post to guard the road to -Syria. Mr. Flinders Petrie in 1886 discovered the site of the city at -Tel Defenneh, and the ruins of the very palace which Pharaoh Hophrah -placed at the disposal of the daughters of his ally Zedekiah. It is -still known by the name of "The Castle of the Jew's Daughters"--_El -Kasr el Bint el Jehudi_.[909] - -In front of this palace was an elevated platform (_mastaba_) of brick, -which still remains. In this brickwork Jeremiah was bidden by the word -of Jehovah to place great stones, and to declare that on that very -platform, over those very stones, Nebuchadrezzar should pitch his -royal tent, when he came to wrap himself in the land of Egypt, as a -shepherd wraps himself in his garment, and to burn the pillars of -Heliopolis with fire.[910] - -Jeremiah still had to face stormy times. At some great festival -assembly at Tahpanhes he bitterly reproached the exiled Jews for their -idolatries. He was extremely indignant with the women who burned -incense to the Queen of Heaven. The multitude, and especially the -women, openly defied him. "We will not hearken to thee," they said. -"We will continue to burn incense, and offer offerings to the Queen of -Heaven, _as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our -princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem_; for -then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. It is -only since we have left off making cakes for her and honouring her -that we have suffered hunger and desolation; and our husbands were -always well aware of our proceedings." - -Never was there a more defiantly ostentatious revolt against God and -against His prophet! Remonstrance seemed hopeless. What could Jeremiah -do but menace them with the wrath of Heaven, and tell them that in -sign of the truth of his words the fate of Pharaoh Hophrah should be -the same as the fate of Zedekiah, King of Judah, and should be -inflicted by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar.[911] - -So on the colony of fugitives the curtain of revelation rushes down in -storm. The prophet went on the troubled path which, if tradition be -true, led him at last to martyrdom. He is said to have been stoned by -his infuriated fellow-exiles. But his name lived in the memory of his -people. It was he (they believed) who had hidden from the Chaldaeans -the Ark and the sacred fire, and some day he should return to reveal -the place of their concealment.[912] When Christ asked His disciples -six hundred years later, "Whom say the people that I am?" one of the -answers was, "Some say Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He became, -so to speak, the guardian saint of the land in which he had suffered -such cruel persecutions. - -But the historian of the Kings does not like to leave the close of his -story in unbroken gloom. He wrote during the Exile. He has narrated -with tears the sad fate of Jehoiachin; and though he does not care to -dwell on the Exile itself, he is glad to narrate one touch of kindness -on the part of the King of Babylon, which he doubtless regarded as a -pledge of mercies yet to come. Twenty-six years had elapsed since the -capture of Jerusalem, and thirty-seven since the captivity of the -exiled king, when Evil-Merodach, the son and successor of -Nebuchadrezzar, took pity on the imprisoned heir of the House of -David.[913] He took Jehoiachin from his dungeon, changed his garments, -spoke words of encouragement to him, gave him a place at his own -table,[914] assigned to him a regular allowance from his own -banquet,[915] and set his throne above the throne of all the other -captive kings who were with him in Babylon. It might seem a trivial -act of mercy, yet the Jews remembered in their records the very day of -the month on which it had taken place, because they regarded it as a -break in the clouds which overshadowed them--as "the first gleam of -heaven's amber in the Eastern grey." - -FOOTNOTES: - -[894] So Graetz and Cheyne. - -[895] Jer. xxxi. 15-17. - -[896] Jer. xxvi. 24. - -[897] Jer. xl. 12. - -[898] Some identify it with _Shaphat_, a mile from Jerusalem. - -[899] They are called _sari_ ("princes"). - -[900] There is no Elishama in the royal genealogy, except a son of -David. Ishmael may have been the son or grandson of some Ammonite -princess. An Elishama was scribe of Jehoiakim (Jer. xxxvi. 12). - -[901] The Hebrew text calls these ten ruffians _rabbi hammelech_, -"chief officers of the king" of Ammon. - -[902] Josephus records or conjectures that the governor was -overpowered by wine, and had sunk into slumber (_Antt._, X. ix. 2). - -[903] In Jer. xli. 9, for "because of Gedaliah," the better reading is -"was a great pit" (LXX., [Greek: phrear mega]). - -[904] Ishmael--a marvel of craft and villainy--put into practice the -same stratagem which on a larger scale was employed by Mohammed Ali in -his massacre of the Mamelukes at Cairo in 1806 (Grove, _s.v._ _Bibl. -Dict._). For "the midst of the city" (Jer. xli. 7), we ought to read -"courtyard," as in Josephus. - -[905] Comp. Jehu's treatment of the family of Ahaziah (2 Kings x. 14). - -[906] The dark deed is still commemorated by a Jewish fast, as in the -days of Zechariah (Zech. vii. 3-5, viii. 19). - -[907] Isa. xix. 18-22. - -[908] Jer. ii. 16, xliv. 1; Ezek. xxx. 18; Jer. xliii. 7, xlvi. 14; -Herod., ii. 30. - -[909] Fl. Petrie, _Memoir on Tanis_ (Egypt. Explor. Fund, 4th memoir), -1888. - -[910] Jer. xliii. 13, Beth-shemesh. Only one pillar of the Temple of -the Sun is now standing. It is said to be four thousand years old. It -is certain that Nebuchadrezzar invaded Egypt and defeated Amasis, the -son of Hophrah, B.C. 565, reducing Egypt to "the basest of kingdoms" -(Ezek. xxix. 14, 15). Three of Nebuchadrezzar's terra-cotta cylinders -have been found at Tahpanhes. - -[911] How far the prophecy was fulfilled we do not know. Assyrian and -Egyptian fragments of record show that in the thirty-seventh year of -his reign Nebuchadrezzar invaded Egypt and advanced to Syene (Ezek. -xxix. 10). - -[912] 2 Macc. ii. 1-8; comp. xv. 13-16. The tradition is singular when -we recall the small store which Jeremiah set by the Ark (Jer. iii. 16). - -[913] Evil-Merodach (Avil-Marduk, "Man of Merodach") only reigned two -years, and was then murdered by his brother-in-law Neriglissar -(Berosus _ap._ Jos.: comp. _Ap._, i. 20). The Rabbis have a -story--perhaps founded on that of Gaius and Agrippa I.--that -Evil-Merodach had been imprisoned by his father for wishing his death, -and in prison formed a friendship for Jehoiachin. - -[914] "Lifted up his head." Comp. Gen. xl. 13, 20. - -[915] To be thus [Greek: homotrapezos], or [Greek: syssitos], of the -king was a high honour (Herod., iii. 13, v. 24. Comp. Judg. i. 7; 2 -Sam. ix. 13, etc.). - - - - - EPILOGUE - - "On Jordan's banks the Arab's camels stray, - On Zion's hills the False One's votaries pray, - The Baal-adorer bows on Sinai's steep; - Yet there--e'en there--O God, Thy thunders sleep." - BYRON. - - "God, Thou art Love: I build my faith on that." - BROWNING. - - -Before concluding I should like to add a few words (1) on what some may -regard as the too favourable attitude towards what is called the "Higher -Criticism" adopted in this book; and (2) on the deep, essential, eternal -lessons which we have found in chapter after chapter of it. - -1. As regards the first, I need only say that the one thing I seek, -the sole thing I care for, is Truth,--truth, not tradition. Even St. -Cyprian, devoted as he was to custom and tradition, warns us that -"Custom without Truth is only antiquated error," and that what we -believe must be established by reason, not prescribed by tradition. - -And it cannot be laid down too clearly that the old view of -Inspiration--which defined it as consisting in verbal dictation, which -made the sacred writers "not only the penmen but the pens of the Holy -Spirit," and which spoke of every sentence, word, syllable, and every -letter of Scripture as Divine and infallible--was a dangerous and -absolute falsity, and that any attempt in these days to enforce it as -binding on the intellect and conscience of mankind could only lead to -the utter shipwreck of all sincere and reasonable religion. "Not -needlessly," says the learned author of _Italy and her -Invaders_--himself an able opponent of many modern conclusions on the -subject--"should I wish to shake even that faith which practically -believes that the whole Bible, exactly in its present shape, yes, almost -the English Bible just as we have it, came straight down from heaven. -But we do want to get away from all mere theories as to the way in which -God _might_ have revealed Himself, and to learn as much as we can of the -way in which He _has_ revealed Himself in actual fact, and in real human -lives."[916] - -To do this has been one of my objects in this volume, and in the -preceding volume on the First Book of Kings. - -2. We have now only to cast one last glance on this book, and on the -lessons which it is meant to teach. - -Consider, first, its deep and varied interest. It has the combined -value of History and of Biography; and, in dealing with both, its aim -is to pass over all minor and earthly details, and to show the method -of God's dealings both with nations and with the individual soul. - -If we look at the book only as a History, it shows us in the briefest -possible compass a series of national events of the greatest -importance in the annals of mankind. We become witnesses of the fierce -occasional struggles between Israel and Judah, and of the constant -warfare of both with those wild surrounding nations--the people of -Moab, and of Edom, Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek, the Philistines also, -and them that dwell at Tyre. We watch the indomitable resistance of -Tyre to Assyria and Babylon. We see the Northern Kingdom of Israel -rise into wealth, power, and luxury, only to sink into deep moral -corruption, until, at last, the patience of God is exhausted, and He -obliterates its very existence in an apparently final and irremediable -overthrow. We witness the rise, culmination, and fall of Syria; the -culmination and the crashing overthrow of Nineveh; the rise and the -splendour of Babylon. We see the surging tide of the nomad Scythians -and Cimmerians rise into flood and ebb away with spent and shallow -waves. We see the petty fortress of Zion triumph in its defiance of -the mighty hosts of Sennacherib because it is strong in reliance upon -God, and we see it grow faithless to God until it succumbs to the -captains of Nebuchadrezzar. Again and again we observe that the -Almighty stills the raging of the sea, the noise of his waves, and the -madness of the people. - -The conviction is borne upon our soul with overwhelming power, as we -read the pages of Amos, of Isaiah, and of Jeremiah, that, in spite of -all their rage and tumult, and apparently irresistible dominance, God -still sitteth above the water-floods, and God remaineth a King for ever. - -Side by side with this spectacle of the dealing of God with nations, in -which we see written in large letters, in characters of blood and of -fire, His dealing with guilty nations, we have abundantly in these -chapters the narrower yet more intense interest which arises from the -contemplation of human nature--one and the same in its general elements, -but infinitely varied in its conditions--in the lives of individual men. -It is revealed to us as in a picture--it is brought home to us, not by -didactic inferences, but with the silent conviction which springs from -the evidence of facts--that wealth is nothing, and rank nothing, and -power nothing, but that the only thing of essential importance in human -lives is whether a man does that which is good or that which is evil in -the sight of the Lord. Good and bad kings pass before us; and though the -best kings, like Hezekiah and Josiah, were no more free from earthly -misfortune than are any of the saints of God--though Hezekiah had to -suffer anguish and humiliation, and Josiah died in defeat on the -battle-field,--yet we are irresistibly led to the belief: "Say ye of the -righteous that it shall be well with him; for they shall eat the fruit -of their doings. Woe unto the wicked! It shall be ill with him; for the -work of his hands shall be done to him." - -We all have a guide in life. "We are not left to steer our course even -by the stars, which the clouds of earth may dim. The ship has something -on board which points towards the spiritual pole of the universe. I will -not venture to call it an _infallible_ guide. It wavers with tremulous -sensitiveness; it may be deflected by disturbing influences; but still -in the main it points with mysterious fidelity towards the pole of our -spirits, even God. And what is this compass which we have for our -guidance? Some would call it Conscience; but we call it by a holier -name, and say that even as the needle is acted on by the magnetic -current, so our spiritual compass is the spirit of man acted on by the -Spirit of the living and infinite God." The lesson of this book--of -every book of biography or of history--is that men are noble and useful -in proportion as they are true to that law of an enlightened conscience -which represents to them the will and the voice of God. - -Ahaziah and Jehoram of Judah, tainted with the blood of Jezebel, and -perverted by the example of Ahab, live wretchedly, reign contemptibly, -and perish miserably; while good Jehoshaphat and pious Josiah are -richly blessed. In the vaunting elation of Amaziah, in the -blood-stained ferocity of Jehu, in the ruthless examples of usurpation -and murder set by king after king in Israel, and in the consequences -which befell them, we see that "fruit is seed." Shallum, Menahem, -Pekah, Athaliah, have to pay a terrible price for brief spells of -troubled royalty; and the slow corruption and disintegration of the -people reflects the vile example of their rulers. Like king, like -people; like people, like priest. We look on at a succession of -thrilling scenes--the horrors of beleaguered cities, the raptures of -unexpected deliverance, the insulting vanities of triumph; we hear the -wail that rises from long lines of fettered captives as they turn -their backs weeping upon their native land. And we are told "strange -stories of the deaths of kings." We see the King of Moab sacrificing -his eldest son to Chemosh upon the wall of Kir-Haraseth in the sight -of three invading hosts. We shudder to think of Ahaz and Manasseh -passing their children through the fire before the grim bull-headed -monster in the valley of the children of Hinnom. We see the two -ghastly piles of the heads of young princes on either side the gates -of Jezreel. We see Jehu driving his fierce chariot over the body of -the painted Tyrian Queen. We catch a glimpse of the sackcloth under -the purple of the King of Israel as he rends his clothes at the -horrible cry of mothers who have devoured their babes. We see the -child Joash standing with the high priest in the Temple amid the blast -of trumpets, while the alien murderess is pushed out and hewn to the -ground. We see Manasseh dragged with hooks to Babylon. We watch the -haggard face of the miserable Zedekiah as his sons are slaughtered -before the eyes which thenceforth are blinded for evermore. We burn -with indignation to see the villain Ishmael close with corpses the -well of Mizpah. But even when the phantasmagoria seems most appalling -and most bloody, we watch the Day-star from on high begin to shed its -glory over the grey east. In due time that Day-star was to rise in -men's hearts and on the world, with healing in His wings; and we feel -that somehow, beyond the smoke and stir of earth's anguish, - - "God's in His heaven, - All's right with the world." - -And like a Greek chorus amid the agonies of destiny stand the -prophets, those clearest and greatest of moral teachers. They, in -spite of their holiness and faithfulness, are not exempt from the -calamities of life. Amos was insulted and expelled by the high priest -of Bethel; Urijah was martyred; Hosea's prophecy is one long and -almost unbroken wail; Isaiah was mocked and slandered by the priests -of Jerusalem, and, if the tradition be true, sawn asunder; Micah, -though spared, prophesied under imminent peril; Jeremiah, saddest of -mankind, type of the suffering servant of Jehovah, was smitten in the -face by the priest Pashur, thrust into the stocks for the general -derision, flung into a deathful prison, let down into a miry well, -hurried into exile, defied, denounced, insulted, at last in all -probability martyred. Prophets in general were hated and disbelieved. -They were the eternal antagonists of priests and mobs. With priests -they had so little affinity, that when a prophet was born a priest, -like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, he might count on the undying hatred and -antagonism of his order. Priests, with scarcely an exception, under -every erring or apostatising king, from Rehoboam to Ahaz, from Ahaz to -Zedekiah, with a monotony of meanness, did nothing but acquiesce, -careful mainly for their own rights and revenues; prophets did little -but raise, against them and their party, an unavailing protest. When, -in the days of the priest-regent Jehoiada, the priests had power, he -had made a special ordinance that there should be overseers in the -Temple whose function it should be to put in the stocks and the collar -"every man that is mad, and that maketh himself a prophet";[917] and -Shemaiah was quite indignant that there should be any delay in putting -this convenient ordinance into force. Priests were chiefly absorbed in -functions and futilities in the exact spirit of their guilty -successors in the days of Christ. There could be little sympathy -between them and the inspired messengers who spoke of such reliance on -observances with almost passionate scorn, and to whom religion meant -righteousness towards men and faith in the Living God. - -This high lesson of Prophecy came into greater prominence with each -succeeding generation. It had been taught by Amos, the first of the -literary prophets, with emphatic distinctness. It was summarised by -Hosea in words which our Saviour loved to quote: "Go ye and learn what -that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice." It had been -uttered by Micah in an outburst of splendid poetry which summed up all -that God requires. It was reiterated in many forms by Isaiah and by -Jeremiah in words of richer moral value than all that came from the -teaching of the priestly functionaries from the days when Aaron -seduced Israel with his golden calf till the days when Caiaphas and -Annas goaded the multitude to prefer Barabbas to Jesus, and to shout -of their Messiah, "Let Him be crucified." - -It was the richest fruit which sprang from the long Divine discipline of -the nation,--the knowledge that outward things are of no avail to save -any man; that God requires righteousness, that God looketh at the heart. - -And the prophets themselves had to learn by the irony of events that -no suppression of local sanctuaries under Hezekiah, no multiplication -of ceremonies and acceptance of Deuteronomic Codes under Josiah, were -deep enough to change men's hearts. Isaiah, like Amos, dwells with -anger on the reliance upon vain ritual, which is so cheap a substitute -for genuine holiness; and Jeremiah, despairing utterly of that -reformation under Josiah of which he had once felt hopeful, had to -denounce the new reliance on the Temple and its sacrifices. He -ultimately felt no confidence in anything except in a new covenant in -which God Himself would write His law upon men's hearts, and all -should know Him from the least even to the greatest. - -But the History of Prophecy also in this epoch is marked by events of -world-wide importance. In the days of Isaiah we see the change of -Israel from a nation into a church of the faithful, for which alone he -has any permanent hope. In him, too, we hear the first distinct -utterances of the final form in which should be fulfilled the -Messianic hope. Under Jeremiah there was still further advance. He -points, as Joel does, to the epoch of the gift of the Holy Spirit, and -shows that God does not only deal with men as nations, or as churches, -or even as families, but as beings with individual souls. - -This and much besides we have seen in the foregoing pages, in which we -have endeavoured to point the lessons of the Books of Kings. The one -main lesson which the narrative is meant to teach is absolute faith -and trust in God, as an anchor which holds amid the wildest storms of -ruin, and of apparently final failure. Not until we have realised that -truth can we hear the words of God, or see the vision of the Almighty. -When we have learnt it, we shall not fear, though the hills be moved -and carried into the midst of the sea. It is the lesson which gets -behind the meaning of failure, and raises us to a height from which we -can look down on prosperity as a thing which--except in fatally -delusive semblance--cannot exist apart from righteousness and faith. -This is the lesson of life, the lesson of lessons. If it does not -solve all problems on their intellectual side, it scatters all -perplexities in the spiritual sphere. It shows us that duty is the -reward of duty, and that there can be no happiness save for those who -have learnt that duty and blessedness are one. And thus even by this -book of annals--annals of wild deeds and troubled times--we may be -taught the truths which find their perfect illustration and proof in -the life and teaching of the Son of God. When those truths are our -real possession, the work of life is done. Then - - "Vigour may fail the towering fantasy, - But yet the Will rolls onward, like a wheel - In even motion by the love impelled - That moves the sun in heaven and all the stars." - -FOOTNOTES: - -[916] T. Hodgkin, _Friends' Quarterly_, September 1893, p. 401. - -[917] Jer. xxix. 25-27. - - - - - APPENDIX I - - _THE KINGS OF ASSYRIA, AND SOME OF THEIR - INSCRIPTIONS._ - - -Dates from the _Eponym Canon_ and the Assyrian Monuments; Schrader, -_Cuneiform Inscriptions, and the Old Testament_, E. Tr., 1888, pp. -167-187. - - B.C. - - 860.--Shalmaneser II. - - 854.--Battle of Karkar. War with _Ahab_ and _Benhadad_. - - 842.--War with Hazael. Tribute of _Jehu_. - - 825.--Samsi-Ramman.[918] - - 812.--Ramman-Nirari. - - 783.--Shalmaneser III. - - 773.--Assur-dan III. - - 763.--June 15th. Eclipse of the sun. - - 755.--Assur-Nirari. - - 745.--Tiglath-Pileser II. - - 742.--Azariah (Uzziah) heads a league of nineteen Hamathite - districts against Assyria (?). - - 740.--Death of Uzziah (?). - - 738.--Tribute of Menahem, Rezin, and Hiram. - - 734.--Expedition to Palestine against Pekah. Tribute of Ahaz. - - 732.--Capture of Damascus. Death of Rezin. First actual - collision between Israel and Assyria. - - 728.--Hoshea refuses tribute. - - 727.--Shalmaneser IV. - - 724.--Siege of Samaria begun. - - 722.--Sargon. Fall of Samaria. - - 721.--Defeat of Merodach-Baladan. - - 720.--Battle of Raphia. Defeat of Sabaco, King of Egypt. - - 715.--Subjugated people deported to Samaria. Accession of - Hezekiah. - - 711.--Capture of Ashdod. - - 707.--Building of great palace of Dur-Sarrukin. - - 709.--Sargon expels Merodach-Baladan, and becomes King of - Babylon. - - 705.--Assassination (?) of Sargon. - - 705.--Sennacherib. - - 704.--Embassy of Merodach-Baladan to Hezekiah. - - 703.--Belibus made King of Babylon. - - 702.--Construction of the Bellino Cylinder. - - 721.--Siege of Ekron. Defeat of Egypt at Altaqu. Siege of - Jerusalem. Campaign against Hezekiah and Tirhakah - disastrously concluded at Pelusium and Jerusalem. - - 681.--Murder of Sennacherib. - - 681.--Esar-haddon. - - 676.--Manasseh pays tribute. - - 668.--Assur-bani-pal (Sardanapalus). - - 608.--Death of Josiah in the battle of Megiddo against Pharaoh - Necho. - -The dates and names of Assyrian kings as given in _Records of the -Past_ (ii. 207, 208) do not exactly accord with these in all cases. - - B.C. - - Tiglath-Pileser II. 950 - Assur-dan II. 930 - Rimmon-Nirari II. 911 - Tiglath-Uras II. 889 - Assur-natzu-pal 883 - Shalmaneser II. 858 - Assur-dain-pal (a rebel) 825 - Samsi-Rimmon II. 823 - Rimmon-Nirari III. 810 - Shalmaneser III. 781 - Assur-dan III. 771 - Assur-Nirari 753 - Tiglath-Pileser III. (Pul) 745 - Shalmaneser IV. (an usurper) 727 - Sargon (Jareb?) (usurper) 722 - Sennacherib 705 - Esar-haddon I. 681 - Assur-bani-pal 668 - * * * * * * - Destruction of Nineveh under Esar-haddon - II., or Sarakos 606 - - - INSCRIPTION OF SHALMANESER II. ON THE BLACK OBELISK - IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM[919] - -It begins with an invocation to the gods Rimmon, Adar, Merodach, -Nergal, Beltis, Istar, and proceeds:-- - -"I am Shalmaneser, the strong king, king of all the four Zones of the -Sun, the marcher over the whole world, ... who has laid his yoke upon -all lands hostile to him, and has swept them like a whirlwind." - -It tells of his campaigns against the Hittites etc., etc. - -The allusion to Jehu runs as follows:-- - -"The tribute of Yahua, son of Khumri, silver, gold, bowls of gold, -vessels of gold, goblets of gold, pitchers of gold, lead, sceptres for -the king's hand, staves, I received." - -This inscription is supplemented by another on a monolith found at -Karkh, twenty miles from Diarbekr (_Records_, iii 81-100), which -mentions the battle of Karkar, with its slaughter of fourteen thousand -of the enemy, among whom was Sirlai--_i.e._, Ahab of Israel. - - - II - - TIGLATH-PILESER II. (CIRC. B.C. 739) - -In his Records he mentions no less than five Hebrew kings--Azariah, -Jehoahaz (Ahaz), Menahem, Pekah, Hoshea--as well as Rezin of Damascus, -Hiram of Tyre, etc. His name perhaps means "He who puts his trust in -Adar." See _Records of the_ _Past_, v. 45-52; Schrader, _Keilinschr._, -pp. 149-151; G. Smith, _Assyrian Discoveries_, pp. 254-287. - -Unfortunately the inscriptions are very mutilated and fragmentary. - - - III - -Our chief knowledge of SARGON is from the great inscription in the -Palace of Khorsabad. It is translated by Prof. Dr. Jules Oppert, -_Records of the Past_, ix. 1-21. The king's inscription at Bavian, -north-east of Mosul, is in the same volume, pp. 21-28, translated by -Dr. T. G. Pinches. See, too, _id._, vii. 21-56, xi. 15-40. - -The Khorsabad inscription has these passages:-- - -"The great gods have made me happy by the constancy of their affection; -they have granted me the exercise of my sovereignty over all kings." - -He says:-- - -"I besieged and occupied the town of Samaria; I took twenty-seven -thousand two hundred and eighty of its inhabitants captive. I took -from them fifty chariots, but left them the rest of their belongings. -I placed my lieutenants over them; I renewed the obligations imposed -upon them _by one of the kings who preceded me_." [Tiglath-Pileser, -whom Sargon does not choose to name.] - -"Hanun, King of Gaza, and Sabaco, Sultan of Egypt, allied themselves -at _Raphia_ to oppose me. I put them to flight. Sabaco fled, and no -one has seen any trace of him since. I imposed a tribute on Pharaoh, -King of Egypt." - -He tells us that he defeated the usurper Ilubid of Hamath, who had -been a smith; burnt Karkar; and flayed Ilubid alive. - -He defeated Azuri and Jaman of Ashdod, and his most persistent enemy, -Merodach-Baladan, son of Jakin, King of Chaldaea. - -He ends with a prayer that Assur may bless him. - - - IV - -Bellino's Cylinder comprises the first two years of SENNACHERIB. It is -translated by Mr. H. F. Talbot, _Records of the Past_, i. 22-32. It -was published by Layard in the first volume of _British Museum -Inscriptions_, pl. 63. The facsimile of it was made by Bellino. - -It begins:-- - -"SENNACHERIB, the great king, the powerful king, the king of Assyria, -the king unrivalled, the pious monarch, the worshipper of the great -gods, ... the noble warrior, the valiant hero, the first of all kings, -the great punisher of unbelievers who are breakers of the holy -festivals. - -"Assur, my lord, has given me an unrivalled monarchy. Over all princes -he has raised triumphantly my arms. - -"In the beginning of my reign I defeated Marduk-Baladan, King of -Babylon, and his allies the Elamites, in the plains near the city of -Kish. He fled alone; he got into the marshes full of reeds and rushes, -and so saved his life." - -(He proceeds to narrate the spoiling of Marduk's camp, and his palace -in Babylon, and how he carried off his wife, his harem, his nobles.) - -We see here an illustration of the vaunting tones of this king which -are so faithfully reproduced in 2 Kings xviii. - -His Bull Inscription, chiefly relating to his defeats of -Merodach-Baladan, is translated by Rev. J. M. Rodwell (_Records of the -Past_, vii. 57-64). - - - V - -The Taylor Cylinder, so called from its former possessor, is a hexagonal -clay prism found at Nineveh in 1830, and now in the British Museum -(translated by Mr. H. F. Talbot, _Records of the Past_, i. 33-53). - -The first two campaigns of Sennacherib are related as on the Bellino -Cylinder. The Taylor Cylinder narrates campaigns of his first eight -years. - -The story of the third campaign narrates the defeat of Elulaeus, King -of Sidon; the tribute of Menahem, King of Samaria; the defeat of -Zidka, King of Askelon; the revolt of Ekron, which deposed the -Assyrian vassal Padi, and sent him in iron chains to Hezekiah; the -battle of Egypt and Ethiopia at Altaqu (Eltekon, Josh. xv. 59), and -the capture of Timnath. Of Hezekiah the king says:-- - -"And Hezekiah, King of Judah, who had not bowed down at my feet, -forty-six of his strong cities, castles, and smaller towns, with -warlike engines, I captured; 200,500 people, small and great, male and -female, horses, sheep, etc., without number, I carried off. Himself I -shut up like a bird in a cage inside Jerusalem. Siege-towers against -him I constructed. I gave his plundered cities to the kings of Ashdod, -Ekron, and Gaza. I diminished his kingdom; I augmented his tribute. -The fearful splendour of my majesty had overwhelmed him. The -horsemen, soldiers, etc., which he had collected for the fortification -of Jerusalem his royal city, now carried tribute, thirty talents of -gold, eight hundred of silver, scarlet, embroidered woven cloth, large -precious stones, ivory couches and thrones, skins, precious woods; his -daughters, his harem, his male and female slaves, unto Nineveh, my -royal city, after me he sent; and to pay tribute he sent his envoy." - -He then narrates his fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh campaigns -against Elam, etc. His eighth was against "the children of Babylon, -wicked devils," etc. He ends by describing the splendour of the palace -which he built. - - - VI - -An inscription of ESAR-HADDON, found at Kouyunjik, now in the British -Museum, mentions his receipt of the intelligence of his father's -murder by his unnatural brothers, while he was commanding his fathers -army on the northern confines. - -"From my heart I made a vow. My liver was inflamed with rage. -Immediately I wrote letters, saying I assumed the sovereignty of my -Father's House." He prayed to the gods and goddesses; they encouraged -him, and in spite of a great snowstorm he reached Nineveh, and defeated -his brother, because Istar stood by his side and said to their army, "An -unsparing deity am I" (_Records of the Past_, iii, 100-108). - - - VII - -A terra-cotta cylinder of ASSUR-BANI-PAL (the Sardanapalus of the -Greeks) is now in the British Museum. It is translated by Mr. G. -Smith, _Records of the Past_, i. 55-106, ix. 37-64; Oppert, _Memoire -sur les Rapports de l'Egypte et l'Assyrie_; and G. Smith, _Annals of -Assur-bani-pal_. - -Its most interesting parts relate to the campaign of his father -Esar-haddon against Egypt, and how Tirhakah, King of Egypt and -Ethiopia, reoccupied Memphis. He defeated the army of Tirhakah, who, -to save his life, fled from Memphis to Thebes. The Assyrians then took -Thebes, and restored Necho's father, Psamatik I., to Memphis and Sais, -and other Egyptian kings, friends of Assyria, who had fled before -Tirhakah. The kings, however, proved ungrateful, and made a league -against him. He therefore threw them into fetters, and had them -brought to Nineveh, but subsequently released Necho with splendid -presents. Tirhakah fled to Ethiopia, where he "went to his place of -night"--_i.e._, died. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[918] Up to the time of Tiglath-Pileser II., the Eponym Year (which is -not here given) marks the second complete year of each king's reign. - -[919] This Shalmaneser died about B.C. 825, after a reign of -thirty-five years (Sayce in _Records of the Past_, v. 27-42; Oppert, -_Hist. des Empires de Chaldee et d'Assyrie_; Menant, _Annales des Rois -d'Assyrie_, 1874). - - - - - APPENDIX II - - _INSCRIPTION IN THE TUNNEL OF SILOAM_ - - -The inscription of Siloam is the oldest known Hebrew inscription. "It is -engraved on the rocky wall of the subterranean channel which conveys the -water of the Virgin's Spring at Jerusalem into the Pool of Siloam. In -the summer of 1880 one of the native pupils of Dr. Schick, a German -architect, was playing with other lads in the Pool, and while wading up -the subterranean channel slipped and fell into the water. On rising to -the surface he noticed, in spite of the darkness, what looked like -letters on the rock which formed the southern wall of the channel. Dr. -Schick visited the spot, and found that an ancient inscription, -concealed for the most part by the water, actually existed there." The -level of the water was lowered, but the inscription had been partly -filled up with a deposit of lime, and the first intelligible copy was -made by Professor Sayce in February 1881, and six weeks later by Dr. -Guthe. Professor Sayce had to sit for hours in the mud and water, -working under masonry or earth. There can be little doubt that this work -is alluded to in 2 Kings xx. 20; 2 Chron. xxxii. 30; Isa. viii. 6 ("the -waters of Shiloah ["the tunnel"?] which flow softly"). - -The alphabet is that used by the prophets before the exile, somewhat -like that on the Moabite Stone, and on early Israelitish and Jewish -seals. The language is pure Hebrew, with only one unknown -word--_zadah_, in line three: perhaps "excess" or "obstacle." - -Professor Sayce thinks that it proves that "the City of David" (Zion) -must have been on the southern hill, the so-called Ophel. If so, the -Valley of the Sons of Hinnom must be the rubbish-choked Tyropoeon, -under which must be the tombs of the kings, and the relics of the -Temple and Palace destroyed by Nebuchadrezzar. - -The inscription is:-- - -"The excavation! Now this is the history of the excavation. While the -excavators were lifting up the pick each towards his neighbour, and -while there were yet three cubits [to excavate], there was heard the -voice of one man calling to his neighbour, for there was an excess in -the rock on the right hand [and on the left?]. And after that on the -day of excavating, the excavators had struck pick against pick, one -against another, the water flowed from the spring [_motsa_, "exit," 2 -Chron. xxxii. 30] to the Pool" (that of Siloam, which therefore was -the only one which then existed) "for twelve hundred cubits. And -[part] of a cubit was the height of the rock over the head of the -excavators" (Sayce, _Records of the Past_, i. 169-175). - -The letters are on an artificial tablet cut in the wall of rock, -nineteen feet from where the subterranean conduit opens on the Pool of -Siloam, and on the right-hand side. The conduit is at first sixteen -feet high, but lessens in one place to no more than two feet. It is, -according to Captain Conder, seventeen hundred and eight yards long, -but not in a straight line, as there are two _culs-de-sac_, caused by -faulty engineering. The engineers, beginning, as at Mount Cenis, from -opposite ends, intended to meet in the middle, but failed. The floor -has been rounded to allow the water to flow more easily. It is a -splendid piece of engineering for that age. - -The Pool of Siloam is at the south-east end of a hill which lies to -the south of the Temple hill: the Virgin's Fountain is on the opposite -side of the hill, more to the north, and is the only natural spring or -"Gihon" near Jerusalem, so that its water was of supreme importance. -Being outside the city wall, a conduit was necessary. Hezekiah -"stopped all the fountains" (2 Chron. xxxii. 4)--_i.e._, concealed -them. By providing a subterranean channel for them, he saved them from -the enemy and secured the water-supply of the besieged city. - - - - - APPENDIX III - - _WAS THERE A GOLDEN CALF AT DAN?_ - - -The question might seem absurd, but for its solution I must refer to -my paper on the subject in the _Expositor_ for October 1893. - -The _sole_ authorities for a calf at Dan are 1 Kings xii. 28-30; 2 Kings -x. 29. If in the former passage we alter _one letter_, and read [Hebrew: -hfd] (the "ephod") for [Hebrew: hchd] (the "one")--as Klostermann -suggests--we throw light on an obscure and perhaps corrupt passage. The -allusion then would be to Micah's old idolatrous image (which _may_ have -been a calf) at Dan. The two words "and in Dan" in 2 Kings x. 29 may -easily have been (as Klostermann thinks) an exegetical gloss added from -the error of one letter in 1 Kings xii. 30. - -Dan was a most unlikely place to select: for (1) It was a remote -frontier town; and (2) there was no room, and no necessity there, for -a new cultus beside the ancient one established some centuries -earlier, and still served by priests who were direct lineal -descendants of Moses (Judg. xviii. 30, 31). - -This would further account for the absolute silence of prophets and -historians about any golden calf at Dan; and it adds to the inherent -probability, also supported by some evidence, that there were _two_ -cherubic calves at Bethel. - -For further arguments I must refer to my paper. - - - - - APPENDIX IV - - _DATES OF THE KINGS OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH, AS - GIVEN BY KITTEL AND OTHER MODERN CRITICS[920]_ - - - ISRAEL - - B.C. - - Ahaziah 855-854 - Jehoram 854-842 - Jehu 842-814 - Jehoahaz 814-797 - Joash 797-781 - Jeroboam II. 781-740 - Zachariah 740 - Shallum 740 - Menahem 740-737 - Pekahiah 737-735 - Pekah 735-734 - Hoshea 734-725 - - - JUDAH - - B.C. - - Jehoram ben-Jehoshaphat 851-843 - Ahaziah ben-Jehoram 843-842 - Athaliah 842-836 - Joash ben-Ahaziah 836-796 - Amaziah 796-783 - Amaziah-Uzziah 783-737 - Jotham 737-735 - Ahaz 735-715 - Hezekiah 715-686 - - Manasseh 686-641 - Amon 641-639 - Josiah 639-608 - Jehoahaz 608 - Jehoiakim 608-597 - Jehoiachin 597 - Zedekiah 597-586 - -FOOTNOTE: - -[920] Many of these dates can only be regarded as uncertain and -approximate. Kamphausen dates the commencement of all the latter kings -a year later (_Die Chronologie der hebraeischen Koenige_, Bonn, 1883). - - - - -Transcriber's Notes: - - -Obvious punctuation and spelling errors have been fixed throughout. - -Non-Latin characters have been replaced with the nearest Latin -equivalent for example oe (the oe ligature), was replaced with oe. - -Inconsistent hyphenation left as in the original text. - -Missing footnote anchors have been placed, when possible to determine -placement. - -Footnote 198: Greek has been corrected to add accents. - -Footnote 215: Greek has been corrected. - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Expositor's Bible, by F. W. Farrar - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE *** - -***** This file should be named 42027.txt or 42027.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/0/2/42027/ - -Produced by Douglas L. 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