The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 36

THE DIVIDED filNODOMS OF JUDAH AND ISRAEL. We may pass on rapidly now. In a sketch of this kind it would not be possible, nor if possible be worth while, to give a detailed notice of each of the kings that for a time reigned over the divided kingdoms of Judah and Israel. It will suffice to state the general cha,racteristics of each kingdom, and to trace the tendencies in each from the division of the monarchy to the Captivities. There is a dismal mono- tony about many of the reigns, especially in the northern kingdom. The special features·of each, and the lessons which they seem to inculcate, will be f01rud in the commentaries on the Books of Kings and of Chronicles. Sometimes a weak rule following a strong one is a clear gain: the nation is able to advance more firmly, and clevelope more freely, for the relaxation which follows after discipline. Such might possibly have been the case had Rehoboam ma.de wise concessions to the reasonable demands of his subjects. As it was, there was an unhealthy reaction, a severing of ties both political and religious in a way that almost precluded the possibility of reunion. It was a severing of ties which had long fretted some of those who were bound by them, and who were therefore all the less likely to seek to be reunited. The rivalry between Ephraim and Judah bas been compared to that between the houses of York and Lancaster in our own history; but the parallel fails in several obvious particulars. In England we bad not the miserable result of two rival kingdoms perpetuated for centuries. Again, the con- test was between two royal families and their followers ; there was no deep cleft running through the whole nation. When the families ceased to quarrel, the nation at once reunited. Lastly, our civil. war was not embittered by differences of religion : neither party set up a religious as well as a political schism. From the tirue of the conquest of Cana.an the leadership of Israel had been more or less with Ephraim. Joshua had belonged to it,, and Ephraim held his tomb. Shechem with the two sacred mountains, and Shiloh th11 ancient sanctuary, were within its borders. The territory of Ephraim was both rich and secui-e. Its fruitful plains coulu scarcely be approached by an army either from the east or from the west, a,ncl no attack from either quarter is on record. Its vulnera,ble, though not very vulner- able, side was the north, and here, from the plain of J ezreel, Sbalma.neser invaded it. These a,dva.nta.ges fostered the haughty spirit which was nature.I to the tribe. Hence their jealous complaints against Gideon (Judges viii. 1), against Jepbthah (Judges xii. 1), and against DcLVid (2 Sam. xix. 41). The death of Ishbosheth aml the personal popularity of David staved off the rapture for a time, and retainecl Ephraim in uneasy union with Judah: but the success of Absa.lom's revolt shows how insecure the tie between the rival tribes was. Had Solomon succeeded in killing Jeroboam (1 Kings xi. 40), the union might possibly have continued for some time longer for want of a sufficiently able leader to head the secession. Rehoboam's selecting She chem rather than Jerusalem for his coronati6n shows that he was not disinclined to recognise Epl.u:o.im's claims on the 1·eigning house. But it was xlii INTRODUCTION TO TB:tll IDSTORICAL DOORS: