ISRAEL
697
ISRAEL
nited people. Although Jeroboam, the founder of the kingdom, himself reigned nearly twenty-two years, yet his son and successor Nadab was violently cut off after a brief reign of less than two years, and with him the whole house of Jeroboam.
Thus speedily closed the first dynasty, and it was but a type of those which followed. Eight houses, each ushered in by a revolution, occupied the throne in rapid succession, the army being frequentl}-^ the prime movers in these transactions. Thus Baasha, in the midst of the army at Gibbethon, slew Nadab, the son of Jero- boam ; and, again, Zimri, a captain of chariots, slew Elah, the son and successor of Baasha, and reigned only seven dat/s, diu-ing which time, however, he smote all the posterity and kindred of his predecessor, and ended his own days by suicide (1 Kings xvi, 18). Omri, the captain of the host, was chosen to punish the usurper Zimri, and after a civil war of four years he prevailed over his other rival Tibni, the choice of half the people. Omri, the sixth in order of the Israelitish kings, found- ed a more lasting dynasty, for it endured for forty-five years, he having been succeeded by his son Ahab, of whom it is recorded that he '• did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him" (1 Kings xvi, 33) ; and he, again, by his son Ahaziah, who, after a reign of less than two years, died from the effects of a fall, and, leaving no son, was succeeded by his brother Jehoram, who reigned twelve years, until slain by Jehu, the captain of the army at Ramoth-Gilead, who also executed the total destruction of the femily of Ahab, which perished like those of Jeroboam and of Baasha (2 Kings ix, 9").
jMeanwhOe the relations between the rival kingdoms were, as might be expected, of a very unfriendly char- acter. " There was war between Kehoboam and Jero- boam all their days" (1 Kings xiv, 30) ; so also between Asa and Baasha (1 Kings xv, 14, 32). The first men- tion of peace was that made by Jehoshaphat with Ahab (1 Kings xxii, 44), and which was continued between their two successors. The princes of Omri's house cul- tivated an alliance with the contemporary kings of Ju- dah, which was cemented by the marriage of Jehoram and Athaliah, and marked by the community of names among the royal children. Ahab's Tyrian alliance strengthened him with the counsels of the masculine mind of Jezebel, but brought him no further su]iport.
The kingdom of Israel suffered also from foreign ene- mies. In the reign of Omri the Syrians had made themselves masters of a portion of the land of Israel (1 Kings XX, 33), and had proceeded so far as to erect streets for themselves in Samaria, which had just been made the capital. Further incursions were checked by Ahab, who concluded a peace with the Syrians which lasted three years (1 Kings xxii, 1), imtil that king, in league with Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. attempted to wrest Ramoth-Cjilead out of their hands, an act which cost him his life. The death of Ahab was followed by the revolt of the IMoabites (2 Kings i, 4), who were again, however, subjugated by Jehoram, in league with Jehoshaphat. Again the Syrians renewed their inroads on the kingdom of Israel, and even besieged Samaria, but fled through panic. In the reign of Jelui " the Lord began to cut Israel short : and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel" (2 Kings x, 32). Their troubles from that quarter increased still further during the fol- lowing reign, when the Syrians reduced them to the ut- most extremities (2 Kings xiii, 7). To this more pros- perous days succeeded, with a reverse to Judah, whose king presumptuously declared war against Israel.
Under Jeroboam II, who reigned forty-t-wo years, the affairs of the northern kingdom revived. "He restored the coast of Israel, from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain ; ... he recovered Damascus, and Hamath, which belonged to Judah, for Israel" (2 Kings xiv, 25, 28). Damascus was by this time probably weakened by the advance of the power of Assyria. This period of prosperity was followed by another of a
totally different character. Jeroboam's son and suc- cessor Zachariah, the last of the dynasty of Jehu, was assassinated, after a reign of six months, by Shallum, who, after a reign of only one month, was slain by Men- ahem, whose own son and successor Pekahiah was in turn murdered by Pekah, one of his captains, who was himself smitten by Hoshea. In the days of Menahem, and afterwards of Pekah, the Assyrians are seen extend- ing their power over Israel; first under Pul, to Avhom Menahem paid a tribute of threescore talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the king- dom in his hand (2 Kings xv, 19). Now the Assyrians are found pushing their conquests in everj^ direction; at one time, in the reign of Pekah, leading away into captivity a part of the inhabitants of Israel (2 Kings XV, 29), and again coming to the assistance of Ahaz, king of Judah, then besieged in Jerusalem by the Isra- elites, in conjunction with the SjTians, who had some- how recovered their former ascendency. See Syria. This interposition led to the destruction of Damascus, and in the succeeding weak reign of Hoshea, who had formed some secret alliance with Egypt which was of- fensive to the Assyrian monarch, to tlie destruction of Samaria, after a three-years' siege, by Shalmaneser, and the removal of its inhabitants to AssjTia; and thus ter- minated the kingdom of Israel, after an existence of 253 years. Some gleanings of the ten tribes yet remained in the land after so many years of religious decline, moral debasement, national degradation, anarchy, blood- shed, and deportation. Even these were gathered up by the conqueror and carried to Assj'ria, never again, as a distinct people, to occupy their portion of that goodly and pleasant land which their forefathers won under Joshua irom the heathen. (See Ewald, Einleitung in die Geschichte des Volkes Israel, and Geschichte dts Volkes Israel his Christus, Getting. 1851 ; also Witsii, AtKa<pv- \ov, de decern tribuhus Israel, in his jEfjijptiaca, p. 308 sq. ; J. G. Klaiber, Hist, regni Ephraim., Stuttg. 1833.) — Fairbairn; Kitto; Smith.