On the first establishment of the Israelites in Pal- estine, lest the example of foreign nations should draw them into the worship of idols, intercourse and alli- ance with such nations were strongly interdicted (Lev. sviii, 3, 4 ; xx, 22, 23). For the same object of po-
litical isolation a country was assigned to them shut in by the sea on the west, by deserts on the south and east, and by mountains and forests on the north. But with the extension of their power under the kings, the Jews were brought more into contact with foreigners, and alliances became essential to the security of their commerce (q. v.). These diplomatic arrangements may primarily be referred to a partial change of feel- ing which originated in the time of David, and which continued to operate among his descendants. During his wanderings he was brought into association with several of the neighboring princes, from some of whom he received sympathy and support, which, after he ascended the throne, he gratefully remembered (2 Sam. x, 2). He married the daughter of a heathen king, and had by her his favorite son (2 Sam. iii, 3) ; the king of Moab protected his family (1 Sam. xxii, 3, 4) ; the king of Amnion showed kindness to him (2 Sam. x, 2); the king of Gath showered favors upon him (1 Sam. xxvii ; xxviii, 1, 2) ; the king of Hamath sent his own son to congratulate him on his victories (2 Sam. viii, 15); in short, the rare power which David possessed of attaching to himself the good opinion and favor of other men, extended even to the neighboring nations, and it would have been difficult for a person of his disposition to repel the ad- vances of kindness and consideration which they made. Among those who made such advances was Hiram, king of Tyre; for it eventually transpires that "Hi- ram was ever a lover of David" (1 Kings v, 2), and it is probable that other intercourse had preceded that relating to the palace which Hiram's artificers built for David (2 Sam. v, 11). The king of Tyre was not disposed to neglect the cultivation of the friendly in- tercourse with the Hebrew nation which had thus been opened. He sent an embassy to condole with Solomon on the death of his father, and to congratu- late him on his own accession (1 Kings v, 1). The plans of the young king rendered the friendship of Hiram a matter of importance, and accordingly "a league" was formed (1 Kings v, 12) between them ; and that this league had a reference not merely to the spe- cial matter then in view, but was a general league of amity, is evinced by the fact that more than 250 years after a prophet denounces the Lord's vengeance upon Tyre, because she "remembered not the brotherly covenant" (Amos i, 9). Under this league large bod- ies of Jews and Phoenicians were associated, first in preparing the materials for the Temple (1 Kings v, 6-18), and afterward in navigating the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean (1 Kings ix, 26-28). Solomon also contracted an alliance with a Pharaoh, king of Egypt, which was cemented by his marriage with a princess of the royal family ; by this he secured a monopoly of the trade in horses and other products of that coun- try (1 Kings x, 28, 29). After the division of the kingdom the alliances were of an offensive and defen- sive nature ; they had their origin partly in the inter- nal disputes of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, and partly in the position which these countries held rela- tively to Egypt on the one side, and the great Eastern monarchies of Assyria and Babylonia on the other. The scantiness of the historical records at our com- mand makes it probable that the key to many of the events that, occurred is to be found in the alliances and counter-alliances formed between these people, of which no mention is made. Thus the invasion of Shishak in Rehoboam's reign was not improbably the result of an alliance made with Jeroboam, who had previously found an asylum in Egypt (1 Kings xii, 2 ; xiv, 25). Each of these monarchs sought a connec- tion with the neighboring kingdom of Syria, on which side Israel was particularly assailable (1 Kings xv, 19); but Asa ultimately succeeded in securing the active co-operation of Benhadad airainst Baasha (1 Kings xv, 16-20). Another policy, induced probably by the encroaching spirit of Syria, led to the formation
ALLIANCE
166
ALLIANCE
of an alliance between the two kingdoms under Ahab and Jehoshaphat, which was maintained until the end of Ahab's dynasty ; it occasionally extended to com- mercial operations (2 Chron. xx, 36). The alliance ceased in Jehu's reign ; war broke out shortly after between Amaziah and Jeroboam II ; each nation look- ed for foreign aid, and a coalition was formed between Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah on the one side, and Ahaz and Tiglath- Piles sr, king of Assyria, on the other (2 Kings xvi, 5-9). By this means an opening was afforded to the advances of the Assyrian power; and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, as they were successively attacked, sought the alliance of the Egyp- tians, who were strongly interested in maintaining the independence of the Jews as a barrier against the en- croachments of the Assyrian power. Thus Hoshea made a treat}- with So (Sabaco, or Sevechus), and re- belled against Shalmaneser (2 Kings xvii, 4) ; Heze- kiah adopted the same policy in opposition to Sen- nacherib (Isa. xxx, 2): in neither case was the alliance productive of much good — the Israelites were aban- doned by So ; it appears probable that his successor Sethos, who had offended the military caste, was un- able to render Hezekiah any assistance ; and it was only when the independence of Egypt itself was threat- ened that the Assyrians were defeated by the joint forces of Sethos and Tirhakah, and a temporary relief afforded thereby to Judah (2 Kings xix, 9, 36 ; Herod, ii, 141j. The weak condition of Egypt at the begin- ning of the 26th dynasty left Judah entirely at the mercy of the Assyrians, who, under Esarhaddon, sub- dued the country, and by a conciliatory policy secured the adhesion of Manasseh and his successors to his side against Egypt (2 Chron. xxxiii, 11-13). It was apparently as an ally of the Assyrians that Josiah re- sisted the advance of Necho (2 Chron. xxxv, 20). His defeat, however, and the downfall of the Assyrian empire, again changed the policy of the Jews, and made them the subjects of Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar's first expedition against Jerusalem was contempora- neous with and probably in consequence of the expe- dition of Necho against the Babylonians (2 Kings xxiv, 1 ; Jer. xlvi, 2) ; and lastly, Zedekiah's rebel- lion was accompanied with a renewal of the alliance with Egypt (Ezek. xvii, 15). A temporary relief ap- peals to have been afforded by the advance of Hophrah (Jer. xxxvii, 11), but it was of no avail to prevent the extinction of Jewish independence.