Dwisioa ; 
 
 Se^ tinn • ^ ^ ^-^ 
 
CLASSBOOK OF 
 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
Classbook of Old Testament History 
 
 Everyman's Religion 
 
 Christianity Between Sundays 
 
 The Heresy of Cain 
 
 The Battles of Peace 
 
 The Human Nature of the Saints 
 
 The Path of Life 
 
 In This Present World 
 
 The Year of Grace (2 Vols.) 
 
 The Cross and Passion 
 Faith and Social Service 
 
( DEC 23 1913 
 CLASSBOOK OF ^%{:£IMi_^ 
 
 OLD TESTAMENT 
 HISTORY 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE HODGES 
 
 DEAN OF THE EPISCOPAL THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL 
 CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS 
 
 N£l33 gorft 
 
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 1913 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
Copyright, 1913, 
 By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 
 
 Set up and electro typed. Published October, 1913. 
 
 NorSuooti 33"SB 
 
 J. 8. Gushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 
 
 Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 This book is intended for the general reader, and for 
 use in classes in schools and churches. The purpose is 
 to make the course of Old Testament history clear. Con- 
 tinual references are given to the passages of which the 
 paragraphs of the book are a summary and an interpre- 
 tation. It is expected that the student will read these 
 passages. Constant use has been made of recent discov- 
 eries, and of the conservative results of scholarship. 
 
 Easily accessible helps to further study are Hastings, 
 Dictionary of the Bible ; Driver, Introduction to the Litera- 
 ture of the Old Testament ; Moore, Literature of the Old 
 Testament; H. P. Smith, Old Testa7?tent History; Kent, 
 Historical Bible, and Students' Old Testament; G. A. Smith, 
 Historical Geography of the Holy Land ; Kent, Biblical 
 Geography and History ; and the Old Testament volumes 
 of the International Critical Commentary. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 OUT OF MESOPOTAMIA INTO EGYPT 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. The Background of Old Testament History: 
 
 1. The Geographical Background .... 1 
 
 2. The Historical Background .... 2 
 
 3. The Religious Background 4 
 
 4. The Sources 5 
 
 II. The Beginning: 
 
 1. The Creation of the World 8 
 
 2. The Fall of Man 9 
 
 3. The Flood 10 
 
 4. The Origin of the Nations 11 
 
 III. The Story of Abraham : 
 
 1. The Call of Abraham . . . . . .14 
 
 2. The Fortunes of Lot 17 
 
 3. The Covenant with Abraham .... 19 
 
 IV. Isaac and Jacob : 
 
 1. The Wooing of Rebekah 21 
 
 2. Jacob and Esau 22 
 
 3. Jacob in Haran 23 
 
 4. The Wrestling of Jacob 25 
 
 V. The Story of Joseph : 
 
 1. The Selling of Joseph 27 
 
 2. The Glory of Joseph 28 
 
 3. Joseph and his Brethren 30 
 
 4. Israel in Egypt ...<,,.. 31 
 
 vii 
 
vm 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 VI. 
 
 OUT OF EGYPT INTO PALESTINE 
 
 Moses and the Exodus 
 
 1. The Oppression of the Israelites 
 
 2. The Call of Moses 
 
 3. Moses and Pharaoh 
 
 4. The Passover . 
 
 VII. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 5. The Red Sea . 
 Moses and the Law : 
 
 1. Mount Sinai .... 
 
 2. The Law by Commandments . 
 
 3. The Law by Cases . 
 
 4. The Ark of the Covenant 
 
 The March of the Invading Army: 
 
 1. The Invasion that Failed . 
 
 2. The Wandering in the Wilderness 
 
 3. By the Way of Edom and Moab 
 
 4. On the Eve of the Invasion 
 
 IX. 
 
 XL 
 
 The Conquest of Canaan : 
 
 1. The Crossing of the Jordan 
 The Destruction of Jericho 
 The Siege of Ai 
 The Battle of Beth-horon 
 The Progress of the Conquest 
 
 The Heroic Age: 
 
 1. The Land and the Tribes 
 
 2. Deborah and the Canaanites 
 
 3. Gideon and the Midianites 
 
 4. Jephthah and the Ammonites 
 
 5. Samson and the Philistines 
 
 THE UNITED KINGDOM 
 The Service of Samuel : 
 
 1. The Capture of the Ark . 
 
 2. The Leadership of Samuel 
 
 3. Samuel and Saul 
 
 32 
 33 
 35 
 36 
 36 
 
 38 
 39 
 41 
 43 
 
 44 
 45 
 46 
 47 
 
 50 
 51 
 
 52 
 52 
 54 
 
 56 
 
 57 
 59 
 59 
 60 
 
 62 
 63 
 65 
 
CONTENTS ix 
 
 XII. The Reign of Saul: page 
 
 1. The Relief of Jabesh 67 
 
 2. The Battle of the Pass of Michmash . . 68 
 
 3. The Wars of Saul 70 
 
 4. The Battle of Mount Gilboa .... 71 
 
 XIII. The Rise of David: 
 
 1. David the Giant- Killer 74 
 
 2. David the Outlaw 76 
 
 3. David and the House of Saul .... 78 
 
 XIV. The Reign of David: 
 
 1. The City of David 80 
 
 2. The Wars of David . . . . • 81 
 
 3. The Troubles of David 84 
 
 4. The Psalms of David 86 
 
 XV. The Reign of Solomon : 
 
 1. The Accession of Solomon .... 88 
 
 2. The Splendor of Solomon .... 89 
 
 3. The Wisdom of Solomon .... 91 
 
 4. The Folly of Solomon 92 
 
 FROM THE REVOLUTION OF JEROBOAM TO 
 THE REVOLUTION OF JEHU 
 
 XVI. The Revolution of Jeroboam : 
 
 1. The Definite Dates 95 
 
 2. The Oppression of the People ... % 
 
 3. The Beginnings of RebelUon .... 97 
 
 4. The Declaration of Independence ... 99 
 
 XVII. The Divided Kingdom : 
 
 1. Israel and Judah 102 
 
 2. The Reign of Rehoboam . . . .104 
 
 3. The Reign of Jeroboam 106 
 
 4. Asa and Five Kings of Israel .... 107 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 XVIII. Ahab and Jehoshaphat: page 
 
 1. The First Syrian War 110 
 
 2. Ahab's Policy of Peace 112 
 
 3. The Second Syrian War . . . .114 
 XIX. The Prophet Elijah : 
 
 1. Baal or Jehovah ? 117 
 
 2. " The Lord, He is the God ! " . . . 118 
 
 3. Naboth's Vineyard 122 
 
 XX. The Two Jehorams : 
 
 1. Ahaziah of Israel 124 
 
 2. The Two Jehorams 125 
 
 3. The Prophet Elisha 127 
 
 FROM THE REVOLUTION OF JEHU TO THE 
 FALL OF SAMARIA 
 XXI. The Revolution of Jehu : 
 
 1. Jehu seizes the Crown of Israel . . . 131 
 
 2. Athaliah seizes the Crown of Judah . . 134 
 
 3. The War with Syria 135 
 
 XXII. The Long Peace: 
 
 1. Amaziah and Jehoash 137 
 
 2. Forty Prosperous Years .... 139 
 
 3. The Beginnings of the Old Testament . . 140 
 
 XXIII. Amos and Hosea: 
 
 1. The Decline of Israel 144 
 
 2. The Prophet Amos 145 
 
 3. The Prophet Hosea 148 
 
 XXIV. The Assyrian Invasion : 
 
 1. Israel and Syria against Judah . . . 151 
 
 2. The Fall of Samaria 153 
 
 3. " The God of the Land " . . . .154 
 
 FROM THE FALL OF SAMARIA TO THE 
 FALL OF JERUSALEM 
 
 XXV. Isaiah and the Peril of Jerusalem : 
 
 1. The Prophet Micah 156 
 
 2. The Business of the Ambassadors of Babylon 158 
 
 3. The Great Deliverance 159 
 
CONTENTS xi 
 
 XXVI. The Great Reformation: page 
 
 1. Manasseh the Apostate .... 163 
 
 2. The Beginning of Reaction . . . 165 
 
 3. The Book of the Law 167 
 
 4. The Battle of Megiddo . . . .169 
 XXVII. Jeremiah at the Court of Jehoiakim : 
 
 1. The Battle of Carchemish . . . .171 
 
 2. In the Reign of Jehoiakim .... 174 
 XXVIII. The Chaldean Invasion : 
 
 1. The First Captivity 178 
 
 2. In the Reign of Zedekiah . . . .179 
 
 3. The Fall of Jerusalem . . . .180 
 
 4. Gedaliah the Governor . . . .183 
 
 UNDER FOREIGN RULERS 
 XXIX. Ezekiel and the Exile in Babylon: 
 
 1. Between the Two Captivities . . .185 
 
 2. Facing the Future 188 
 
 3. The Fall of Babylon 191 
 
 XXX. The Rebuilding of Jerusalem : 
 
 1. The Rebuilding of the Temple . . .195 
 
 2. The Expectation of the Messiah . . 196 
 
 3. The Golden Century 197 
 
 4. The Rebuilding of the Walls . . .198 
 XXXI. The Proclamation of the Law: 
 
 1. The Reforms of Nehemiah . . .201 
 
 2. The Reforms of Ezra 203 
 
 3. After Ezra and Nehemiah .... 206 
 Tables of Dates : 
 
 1. The Hebrews and their Contemporaries . 210 
 
 2. The Divided Kingdom . . . .212 
 
 3. Historical Narratives of the Old Testament 213 
 
 4. The Prophets 213 
 
 5. Other Old Testament Books . . .214 
 Index 215 
 
CLASSBOOK OF OLD TESTA- 
 MENT HISTORY 
 
 THE BACKGROUND OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 
 
 I. The Geographical Background. — The events which 
 are recorded in the Old Testament took place in Asia and 
 Africa. 
 
 The ruling nations of the ancient world lived in the 
 valleys of great rivers: in Asia, by the Tigris and Eu- 
 phrates ; in Africa, by the Nile. Along the lower courses 
 of the Asiatic rivers were the Babylonians and, conquer- 
 ing and succeeding them, the Chaldeans. The capital city 
 was Babylon. Along the upper courses were the Assyrians, 
 having their capital at Nineveh. On the banks of the 
 Nile were the Egyptians. 
 
 The empires of Asia were separated from the empire of 
 Africa by the Arabian desert. They were connected by 
 a narrow strip of habitable land, lying between the desert 
 and the Mediterranean Sea. This isthmus between the two 
 continents is the country which was first called Canaan, 
 and afterwards Palestine. All communication between 
 the Babylonians, the Chaldeans and the Assyrians on the 
 one hand, and the Egyptians on the other, was by the way 
 of Palestine. Thus the Holy Land was at the very centre 
 of the ancient world. 
 
 This country, the chief scene of Old Testament history, 
 
2 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 is bounded on the east by the desert, and on the west by 
 the sea. It ascends in the north to the snow-capped 
 mountains of Lebanon, and descends in the south to the 
 wilderness which extends toward Arabia and Egypt. It 
 is divided east and west into two unequal parts by the 
 river Jordan, which rises among the northern mountains, 
 and comes down through the Lake of Galilee to the Dead 
 Sea. It is divided north and south into two unequal parts 
 by the plain of Esdraelon, which extends from the Medi- 
 terranean to the Jordan. The country is for the most part 
 a high plateau, broken into hills and valleys, green in the 
 north with farms and forests, gray in the south with Ume- 
 stone rock. It is between the orient and the Occident, 
 and between the temperate zone and the tropics, a place 
 of olives and of apples. 
 
 2. The Historical Background. — The people who 
 lived beside the rivers in Asia and Africa, and in the con- 
 necting land of Canaan, belonged to the same human 
 stock, and are called Semites. The primitive home of 
 the Semites seems to have been northern Arabia. Thence 
 they made their way by conquest or settlement into 
 Egypt, into Babylonia and Assyria, and mingling with 
 the native races became Eg3^tians, Babylonians and 
 Assyrians. 
 
 Before the year 2000 B.C. a wave of such emigration 
 out of Arabia turned east, and laid the foundations of 
 the might of Babylon. The code of Hammurabi, king of 
 Babylon about that time, has been discovered in the ruins 
 of Susa. It contained two hundred and eighty laws for 
 the establishment of peace and justice, which show that 
 these people were already living under such regulations 
 as appeared long after in the legislation of Moses. 
 
BACKGROUND OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 3 
 
 It may have been the same emigration turning west 
 which brought the Amorites and Canaanites into the 
 land of Palestine. The frequent mention of the Amorites 
 in Babylonian inscriptions suggests a close relationship. 
 The fact that Joshua found among the spoils of Jericho 
 a " goodly Babylonish garment " (Joshua 7:21) indicates 
 commercial intercourse between the Euphrates and the 
 Jordan. The Amorites were highlanders, dwelling among 
 the hills ; the Canaanites were lowlanders, occupying the 
 coast lands and the Jordan Valley. At the time of the 
 Exodus, there were two Amorite kingdoms east of the 
 Jordan : Og was king of Bashan ; Sihon was king of 
 the country between the Jabbok and the Arnon. 
 
 These were the people who inhabited Canaan before 
 the Hebrews. In kinship and in customs they were 
 under the influence of Babylon. 
 
 P: About 1500, the Amorites and Canaanites were con- 
 quered by the Egyptians. The battle of Megiddo by 
 which the conquest was decided took place in the plain of 
 Esdraelon, and is described on the walls of the temple of 
 Amon, at Karnak, in upper Egypt. The spoils of the 
 victor show that the inhabitants were rich and civilized. 
 Flocks and herds and harvests of grain, horses and chariots 
 and armor, slaves, furniture inlaid with ivory, gold and 
 silver dishes and embroidered garments, he carried away. 
 
 About 1400, the country of Canaan was still under 
 the rule of Egypt, but the kings of many of its cities were 
 writing letters to their sovereign imploring his assistance. 
 The letters were found in the ruins of an Egyptian palace 
 at Tell el-Amarna, between Thebes and Cairo. The king 
 of Jerusalem said, " If troops can be sent before the end 
 of the year, then the territory of my lord the king may yet 
 
4 OLD TESTAMENT fflSTORY 
 
 be retained; but if no troops arrive, it will assuredly 
 be lost.'' The invaders are called Habiri. The name 
 suggests the Hebrews. 
 
 Some such wave of invasion, or of colonization, brought 
 the people of Ammon to the land east of the lower Jordan, 
 and the people of Moab to the land east of the Dead Sea, 
 and the people of Edom to the land south of that salt 
 lake. Thus came Abraham, the Hebrew. The title is 
 taken to mean the-man-who-crossed-over; that is, over 
 the river Euphrates. 
 
 Having thus on the east the Amorites of Bashan, and 
 south of them the Ammonites, the Moabites and the Edom- 
 ites, in that order, there lay on the west, along the Medi- 
 terranean shore, the lands of the Philistines. In the north- 
 west, by the sea, having Tyre and Sidon for their chief 
 cities, were the Phoenicians, famous for their trade by ships. 
 In the northeast, along the road to Nineveh and Babylon, 
 having Damascus as their chief city, were the Syrians, 
 famous for their trade by caravan. On the outskirts of 
 the civilized lands, especially in the deserts east and south, 
 were roving bands like the Bedouin of to-day, who appear 
 under the names of Amalekites and Ishmaelites and 
 Midianites. 
 
 3. The Religious Background. — The religion of Canaan 
 diflfered from the religion of Babylon as the primitive 
 worship of people who live among the hills differs natu- 
 rally from the worship of those who live on wide plains. 
 The province of Babylon was ruled by one mighty king, 
 who was the overlord of all the lesser kings, and this 
 condition appeared in religion, where one great god was 
 over all the lesser gods. The province of Canaan was 
 governed by several hundred kings, each in his own city 
 
BACKGROUND OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 5 
 
 on his own hill, and the religion of Canaan accordingly 
 included several hundred gods, each having his own shrine 
 in his own grove, on his own height. But each of these 
 gods was called Baal, which means " lord." 
 
 A shrine of Baal consisted of an altar, having beside it 
 a stone pillar, or obelisk, called a Mazzebah, and a sacred 
 tree, or pole, called an Asherah. The prayers which were 
 prayed there were for the most part for the fertility of the 
 ground. The Baals were believed to control the harvest. 
 Such sacred places the Hebrews found everywhere when 
 they came into the country. And the fascination of them 
 appears in all their history, even to the time of the exile. 
 The contention between the religion of Jeborah and the 
 religion of Baal was a persistent war. 
 
 4. The Sources. — The Old Testament history as it 
 appears in the Old Testament needs to be rewritten for 
 general reading, for two reasons. 
 
 One reason is because the history as it stands is in two 
 editions. One edition includes the books from Genesis 
 to Second Kings. It is an account of events from the 
 creation of the world to the destruction of Jerusalem in 
 586. It was compiled from ancient materials, but it is 
 plain that it did not appear in its latest revision till after 
 the last date in the series, which is 562 (II Kings 25 : 27). 
 The other edition includes the books from First Chronicles 
 to Nehemiah. It begins over again with Adam, and comes 
 down over the same history till it includes the rebuilding 
 of Jerusalem. It mentions the high priest Jaddua (Ne- 
 hemiah 12: 11) who met Alexander the Great when he 
 took possession of Jerusalem in 332. In order to get the 
 whole of the history, it is necessary to bring these two 
 series of books together. 
 
6 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 Moreover, during a period of two hundred years, from 
 the division of the Hebrew kingdom about 937, to the fall 
 of Samaria in 722, the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom 
 of Israel existed side by side. The two books of Kings re- 
 cord what happened in Judah and then what happened in 
 Israel, and then what happened next in Judah, and so 
 on, in such a way that it is difficult to follow the progress 
 of events. These reigns need to be disentangled. 
 
 Another reason for rewriting the history is because 
 there are books of poetry, and especially books of proph- 
 ecy, in the Old Testament, which were written in the 
 midst of the events which the historians narrate, and bring 
 light and new meaning into them; but they are placed 
 by themselves. It is only by the work of scholars that 
 we understand where they belong. For example, the 
 reign of Jeroboam II in Israel is dismissed by the historian 
 in a few short sentences. But the prophet Amos preached 
 in Israel in that reign, and described the life which he saw 
 about him. Also, the fall of Jerusalem is recorded with 
 very little comment in the history, but the five poems 
 which make the book of Lamentations were written by 
 men who were in the midst of that tragedy, and who ut- 
 tered the grief which filled their hearts. As for the anger 
 which also filled their hearts, we find that in the book of 
 Obadiah. There is need, therefore, for such rewriting, or 
 at least rearrangement, as shall enable us to read the Old 
 Testament history step by step, with all the knowledge 
 which the historians, the poets and the prophets together 
 can bring to our assistance. 
 
 Moreover, during years of study, and patience, and 
 devotion, and increasing knowledge, and publication of 
 books, scholars have been occupied with these writings. 
 
BACKGROUND OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 7 
 
 Some have been busy with their pens, examining and 
 recording the best possible meanings; some have been 
 busy with their spades, digging in the dust of ancient 
 palaces and libraries and tombs in Babylon and Nineveh 
 and Egypt, finding inscriptions which illustrate the Old 
 Testament history. Thus the third chapter of Second 
 Kings describes a campaign of Israel and Judah against 
 Mesha, king of Moab ; but the Moabite Stone (discovered 
 1868) tells in the words of Mesha himself of the campaign 
 in which he had his fierce revenge. 
 
 To recount the Old Testament history in order and with 
 clearness, and to bring to its interpretation the words of 
 contemporary inscription and poetry and prophecy, for 
 the better understanding of the Bible, is the purpose of this 
 book. 
 
II 
 
 THE BEGINNING 
 
 The first eleven chapters of Genesis tell what was com- 
 monly believed among the Hebrews concerning the crea- 
 tion of the world, the fall of man, the flood, and the origin 
 of the nations. 
 
 I. The Creation of the World. Genesis 1-2 : 3 ; 2 : 4-25. 
 — The Hebrews believed that in the beginning God made 
 the heavens and the earth : first, light ; then the over- 
 arching sky and the land beneath, with the waters gathered 
 into seas ; then grass and herbs began to grow out of the 
 ground, and living creatures appeared in the water, and in 
 the air, and on the earth ; and at last, as the crown of His 
 creation, God made man, and gave him dominion over 
 all living things. The Hebrews thought that this was done 
 in six days. These " days " to us mean periods of prog- 
 ress. On the seventh day, God rested from His work, 
 of which the weekly sabbath rest is a commemoration. 
 
 A different account, in the second chapter, puts first 
 the creation of man, and then of plants and animals. 
 God, having made man out of the dust and breathed into 
 his nostrils the breath of life, placed him in the garden of 
 Eden to dress it and to keep it. There was a river in the 
 garden, out of which flowed four streams, one of them 
 being the Euphrates. In the midst of the garden were 
 two mysterious trees. One was the Tree of Life, whose 
 
 8 
 
THE BEGINNING 9 
 
 fruit would make the eater live forever; the other was 
 the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Out of a rib 
 of the man, God made a woman to be his companion and 
 a helpmeet for him. 
 
 2. The Fall of Man. Genesis 3. — The Hebrews believed 
 that a serpent spoke to the woman, and persuaded her 
 to eat of the Tree of Knowledge, in spite of the command 
 of God forbidding it. She gave of it to her husband, 
 and he also ate. Then they heard the voice of the Lord God 
 walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid 
 themselves, being afraid. The Lord God cursed the ser- 
 pent, condemning it to crawl upon the ground and eat dust 
 all the rest of its days. The woman He punished by 
 sentencing her to bring forth children in pain and sorrow. 
 The man He punished by making thorns and thistles to 
 grow in the ground, thus causing him to labor for his 
 living, in the sweat of his face. And lest the man and 
 woman should take of the fruit of the Tree of Life and live 
 forever, God thrust them out of the pleasant garden, and 
 kept them from coming back by stationing angels at the 
 gate with flaming swords. 
 
 The story of Cain and Abel (Genesis 4: 1-17) seems to 
 have originally belonged to a later time, since it represents 
 the earth as already populated. Cain having killed his 
 brother Abel, fears the vengeance of his kinsfolk and neigh- 
 bors; in the land to which he goes he finds a woman 
 whom he marries, and finds men among whom he builds 
 a city. 
 
 With the descendants of Cain began the occupations 
 of society : Jabal was the first shepherd. Tubal the first 
 blacksmith, Jubal the first to play on instruments of 
 music. Lamech, their father, was the first poet, and a bit 
 
10 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 of his verse is given, rude in form and bloodthirsty in 
 spirit. With the descendants of Seth, a third son of Adam 
 and Eve, began the service of religion (Genesis 4 : 20-26). 
 
 3. The Flood. Genesis 6-9:17. — There were giants 
 in the earth in those days, and mighty heroes, men of 
 renown whose mothers were descendants of Eve, but their 
 fathers were sons of God. The wickedness of man was 
 great, and grew greater, until every imagination of the 
 thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. God was 
 sorry that He had created such a race of beings. 
 
 So the Lord said, '' I will destroy man whom I have 
 created from the face of the earth ; both man, and beast, 
 and the creeping things, and the fowls of the air; for it 
 repenteth me that I have made them." But He spared 
 the family of Noah. He told Noah to build an ark, so 
 many feet long and wide and high, and to pitch it within 
 and without with pitch to make it water-tight. Into the 
 ark he was to bring of all living creatures, one account 
 says two (Genesis 7:9), another account says seven 
 (Genesis 7 : 2), of every kind. This Noah did, and brought 
 also his wife, and his three sons and their wives. Then it 
 began to rain, till all the high hills were covered. 
 
 When the rain ceased, and the water began to go down, 
 the ark grounded on the top of a mountain in Armenia, 
 called Ararat. Noah sent out a raven and a dove, and 
 when the dove came back she had in her mouth an olive 
 branch plucked off. So Noah knew that the water had 
 gone down below the tops of the trees. Then he and all 
 that were in the ark came out, and he offered a sacrifice 
 and thanked God. And God set a rainbow in the clouds 
 as a sign of His promise that there should never be a 
 flood again to destroy the earth. 
 
THE BEGINNING ii 
 
 4. The Origin of the Nations. Genesis 10, 11. — Thus 
 the history of man began anew. Shem, Ham and Japheth, 
 Noah's sons, became the fathers of the nations. They re- 
 sumed the arts and occupations of the old time. Especially, 
 they began the building of cities. And in one of their 
 cities they undertook to build a tower whose top should 
 reach to heaven. It was like the endeavor of the Titans 
 to pile mountain upon mountain, Pelion upon Ossa, in 
 order to climb into the sky. But the Lord stopped them. 
 " Let us go down," He said, " and confound their lan- 
 guage, that they may not understand one another's 
 speech." Thus the different languages began. The 
 Tower of Babel stood at Babylon, huge and unfinished, 
 and men were scattered upon the face of all the earth. 
 
 The sons of Japheth became the nations north and 
 west of the Semitic world. They were the northern 
 peoples, who as Cimmerians (Gomer) and Scythians 
 (Magog) and Medes (Madai) menaced the empires of the 
 east, as the Goths and Vandals afterwards menaced the 
 empire of the west. They were the western peoples along 
 the shores and on the islands of the Mediterranean Sea, 
 who lived in Cyprus (Kittim) and Rhodes (Dodanim = 
 Rodanim), in Greece (Javan = Ionian) and Italy (Eli- 
 shah) and Spain (Tarshish). 
 
 The sons of Ham became the nations who oppressed 
 the Hebrews. They were the Babylonians (10:7-10), 
 builders of Babylon and other great cities in the land of 
 Shinar, one of whose ancient heroes was Nimrod, a mighty 
 hunter, such as one sees pictured on stone slabs, fighting 
 lions. They were the Assyrians (10: 11, 12), builders of 
 Nineveh. They were the Eg^-ptians (Mizraim, 10 : 13, 14) 
 from whom the Hebrews believed the Philistines to have 
 
12 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 descended. They were the Canaanites, whom the He- 
 brews found in Palestine, and with whom they fought for 
 the possession of the land, among whom the Hebrews 
 included the Phoenicians of Sidon, and the Jebusites of 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 The sons of Shem were the ancestors of the Hebrews 
 themselves. They were the Persians of Elam, whence 
 came Cyrus the deliverer ; and the Arabians, with whose 
 land of Ophir Solomon traded for gold, and whose queen 
 of Sheba visited Jerusalem (lo : 22-29) ; and the dwellers 
 in Mesopotamia (Aram), from whose city of Haran Abra- 
 ham emigrated to the land of Canaan. 
 
 These names indicate the ideas of the Hebrews concern- 
 ing the world in which they lived. They appear in the 
 book of Genesis as the chapters on foreign nations appear 
 in the books of the prophets (Isaiah 15-23, Jeremiah 
 46-51, Ezekiel 25-32). They reveal the Lord God as the 
 king of all the earth, the father of all peoples, not of the 
 Hebrews only. Their value is not so much in the field of 
 ethnology as in the field of religion. 
 
 A like value appears in the Hebrew stories of the be- 
 ginnings. They belonged, for the most part, to the com- 
 mon tradition of the east. The story of the flood, for 
 example, was told in Babylonia centuries before the time 
 of Abraham. King Ashur-bani-pal, who began to reign 
 in Nineveh in 668 B.C., was so interested in antiquity 
 that he caused to be copied for his library the oldest 
 writings of the world. One of these was a narrative of 
 the flood, brought from Babylon, so old that the god of 
 Babylon is called by a name which had been disused for 
 hundreds of years. The tablets on which this was in- 
 scribed are now preserved, with other treasures from that 
 
THE BEGINNING 13 
 
 royal library, in the British Museum. They describe the 
 ark, made by divine command, and tightened with pitch. 
 All living creatures of all kinds are brought into it. The 
 door is shut, and the storm begins. Two great gods march 
 at the front of the black cloud. All men are drowned. 
 Finally, the ark grounds on the mountain Nisir. On the 
 seventh day, a dove is let loose, then a swallow, then a 
 raven. A sacrifice is offered. '' The gods inhaled the 
 sweet odor; the gods gathered like flies above the sacri- 
 fice." Then Ea, god of wisdom, rebuked Bel, god of war, 
 and forbade him ever to bring a flood upon the earth again. 
 In Genesis, the place of the gods is taken by the one 
 Lord God. If any suggestion of the old polytheism re- 
 mains in the Bible stories it is in the words, '' Let us make 
 man," " Let us go down " ; and these expressions may be 
 only the plural of majesty. The ancient legends are 
 purified from their follies and errors, and are filled with the 
 light of a morality and a religion such as we believe in 
 to-day. The world is God's world ; man is made in His 
 image ; pain and loss are the results of disobedience. 
 
Ill 
 
 THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 
 
 I. The Call of Abraham. Genesis 11:27-13:4. — 
 Whatever had been the connection between the family of 
 Abraham and Ur of the Chaldees (Genesis 11 : 31), the 
 story of his Hfe begins at Haran in Mesopotamia. The 
 word Mesopotamia means between-the-rivers ; that is, 
 between the Tigris and Euphrates. Haran was almost 
 midway between the Tigris and the Mediterranean, on 
 a caravan route from Nineveh to Damascus. It was 
 thus a place of some importance. There was the home of 
 the Hebrews before they came to Palestine. There they 
 worshipped God under the form of the religion of the 
 country (Joshua 24: 14). Various inscriptions show that 
 the chief deity was the moon-god Sin, whose name ap- 
 pears in ^' Sinai." They said their prayers to idols (Gene- 
 sis 31:30-34). 
 
 There Abraham heard in his soul the voice of the Lord 
 God calling him away. He took Sarah his wife, and Lot 
 his brother's son, and men-servants and maid-servants, 
 and sheep and oxen and asses and camels, a considerable 
 caravan, and set out to find a new home in the west. 
 The emigration is undated, and we have no help from 
 inscriptions. Amraphel, king of Shinar ( = Babylonia), 
 who appears at the beginning of the fourteenth chapter, is 
 taken by some to be the great Hammurabi, before 2000 B.C., 
 
 14 
 
THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 15 
 
 but the identification is not certain. The el-Amarna let- 
 ters, about 1400, indicate movements of eastern peoples 
 into the west, but they were coming as armed invaders. 
 
 The patriarchs lived in that long past whose heroes and 
 events were described by word of mouth, by the telling 
 and retelling of their stories from generation to genera- 
 tion, hundreds of years before they were recorded in writ- 
 ing. It is true that Abraham when he journeyed from the 
 Euphrates to the Nile left behind him a land where writing 
 was a common art, and came to a land where that art was 
 equally common. But writing, and especially the writing 
 of history, is the natural occupation of a settled people. 
 Wandering tribes, such as the Hebrews were both before 
 and after their enslavement in Egypt, carry their tribal 
 records in their memories. Driving their flocks from one 
 pasture to another, and fighting with their wild neighbors 
 for the right to use the springs, their history is for the 
 most part in the form of songs and stories. It is colored 
 by their experiences and their ideals. It is of value not 
 so much for its statistics as for its moral meanings. It 
 precedes the era of definite dates. 
 
 Starting from Haran, Abraham probably followed the 
 caravan road west to Carchemish, where he found the great 
 fords of the Euphrates ; thence he went south to Damascus, 
 from which city he obtained a faithful servant, named 
 Eliezer (Genesis 15:2). From Damascus he may have 
 followed the valley of the Jordan till he crossed by a 
 ford which brought him into the midst of the land of 
 Canaan. 
 
 At Shechem, thirty miles north of Jerusalem, in a fertile 
 valley between two mountains, Abraham found a sacred 
 tree (Genesis 12:6, Revised Version) called the Oak 
 
i6 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 of Direction (Moreh). We have another glimpse of it 
 in Judges 9:37, where it is called the Oak of the Diviners. 
 In this place, already consecrated, he heard the voice of 
 God promising that all that country should belong to his 
 descendants. There he built an altar. He did the same 
 twenty miles farther south, near Bethel, and called upon 
 the name of the Lord. Thus these shrines of Bethel and 
 Shechem, places of prayer from time immemorial, became 
 sacred in the religion of the Hebrews. From Bethel, 
 by reason of a famine, Abraham went down for a time to 
 Egypt, afterwards returning to Bethel. 
 
 The account of Abraham in Egypt illustrates the manner 
 in which the history was written, and enables us to explain 
 the meaning of many differences of statements. The story 
 is that Abraham, fearing lest Pharaoh should kill him in 
 order to take away his beautiful wife, said that Sarah was 
 his sister. Pharaoh took Sarah, as Abraham had feared, 
 but he not only spared but enriched Abraham as Sarah's 
 brother. A plague coming upon the court of Pharaoh 
 revealed the deception, and Abraham and Sarah were sent 
 away in peace (Genesis 12). The same story is told a 
 little later on (Genesis 20), except that now the place is 
 the South Country, and the king is Abimelech. And again 
 the story is repeated (Genesis 26: 1-14), where the place 
 is the South Country, and the king is Abimelech, but now 
 the actors instead of being Abraham and Sarah are Isaac 
 and Rebekah. It is of course possible that this falsehood 
 was told three times. It is more probable, however, that 
 the compiler of the history found the story in these three 
 forms, and brought them all into his narrative. In one 
 part of the country, the incident was remembered in one 
 way ; in another part of the country, in a different way. 
 
THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 17 
 
 Not being concerned with historical values, the differences 
 and the likenesses presented no difficulty to his mind. 
 
 When the stories are compared it appears that Sarah, 
 who in the twentieth chapter is so young and fair that 
 Abimelech proposes to take her as one of his wives, was 
 already described in the seventeenth chapter as ninety 
 years of age. The two chapters were independent narra- 
 tives, placed in their present order by the compiler. 
 
 2. The Fortunes of Lot. Genesis 13 : 5-14 : 24 ; 
 18 ; 19 : 1-29. — The land being well populated, and 
 Abraham and Lot having many flocks and herds, they 
 agreed to separate. From the heights near Bethel, they 
 viewed the land. Lot chose the fertile valley of the 
 Jordan by the Dead Sea, fair as the Garden of Eden; 
 to Abraham were left the gray hills of Judah. Lot settled 
 in Sodom; Abraham settled in Hebron, in the south, 
 under the oaks of Mamre. 
 
 Then Lot, who had chosen what seemed to him the better 
 place, and the easier life, encountered disaster. 
 
 First, there came kings from the east, from Shinar and 
 Elam, by the lower waters of the Tigris and Euphrates, 
 an allied army of invasion, marching west like the hosts 
 of Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar in after times. They 
 conquered the giants who lived on the east of the Jordan, 
 the Rephaim, the Zuzim, and the Emim {im is the Hebrew 
 plural ending like our s). Then they fell upon Sodom 
 and Gomorrah. They took the two cities and plundered 
 them and carried away captives. Lot among them. Then 
 appeared Abraham as a valiant warrior. He assembled 
 his three hundred and eighteen stout servants, and sur- 
 prised the victors by night as they were encamped by the 
 sources of the Jordan. The story says that Abraham 
 
i8 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 not only routed the army of the eastern kings but that he 
 chased them for a hundred miles, from Dan to Hobah. 
 The main point, however, is that he rescued Lot and his 
 neighbors, and regained their stolen property. Returning 
 from this exploit, Abraham was met by Melchizedek, 
 king of Jerusalem, who refreshed him with bread and 
 wine, and blessed him (Hebrews 7 : 1-17). Then the king 
 of Sodom met him, saying, '^ Give me the persons, and 
 take the goods to thyself." But Abraham declined to 
 take for himself even so much as a thread. 
 
 The people of Sodom were wicked exceedingly. They 
 lived shamefully, and were inhospitable to strangers. 
 At last it happened to them as to the unfriendly city in 
 the Greek story of Baucis and Philemon, which Hawthorne 
 retold in the tale of the " Miraculous Pitcher." One day 
 there came to Abraham's tent three heavenly visitants. 
 One was the Lord God, the others were attendant angels. 
 But they looked like three men. Abraham was very 
 courteous to them, and Sarah made bread for them, and 
 roasted the tender flesh of a calf, and put butter and milk 
 upon the table, and they ate. And the man who was 
 the Lord God told Abraham that he and Sarah in their 
 old age would have a son ; at which, Sarah, who was behind 
 the tent door, laughed to herself, thinking it a foolish 
 saying. 
 
 The man who was the Lord God said to Abraham, " I 
 have heard that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is very 
 grievous. I am going now to see for myself whether they 
 are as wicked as they are reported to me to be, or not." 
 But he promised Abraham that he would spare Sodom if 
 fifty, or forty-five, or forty, or thirty, or twenty, or even 
 ten righteous men should be found therein. The two 
 
THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 19 
 
 angels discovered, however, that the place was even 
 worse than they had expected. So the next day, the Lord 
 rained fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah and 
 they were consumed. Only Lot and his family escaped. 
 Even Lot's wife, who tarried and looked back, was over- 
 taken by the fearful storm, and became a pillar of salt. 
 
 3. The Covenant with Abraham. Genesis 15; 17; 
 22. — The supreme fact about Abraham, as he appears in 
 the history, is the covenant which he made with God. 
 It was promised to him by the Lord God that his descend- 
 ants should become a great and mighty nation, and that in 
 him all the nations of the earth should be blessed. 
 
 One time (Genesis 15) this splendid vision of the future 
 came to him as he offered a sacrifice of beasts and birds. 
 It was in the night in the midst of a deep sleep and a horror 
 of great darkness. The Lord told him that his children 
 and his children's children should be in number like the 
 stars of heaven. Abraham laid out the pieces of the slain 
 beasts and birds in two rows, and between the rows, in the 
 dark night, passed a smoking furnace and a flaming torch. 
 
 Another time (Genesis 22) the vision came to him in 
 connection with a very different sacrifice. The son was 
 born whom the Lord God promised when he dined with 
 Abraham, and was named Isaac (= the laugher) because 
 his mother laughed at the promise of hi^ birth, in doubt 
 (Genesis 18 : 12) or in joy (Genesis 21:6). All the hopes 
 of Abraham were centred upon him. There was indeed 
 a son named Ishmael, but his mother Hagar was an in- 
 ferior wife. Those were the days when men had more 
 wives than one. Hagar and her son had been sent away 
 into the deserts, where he grew to be a hunter (Genesis 16 ; 
 21 : 1-2 1). Isaac was Sarah's only son. But it was borne 
 
20 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 in upon the mind of Abraham that he ought to offer Isaac 
 as a sacrifice to God. Such an act was the supreme ex- 
 pression of faith or of prayer in primitive religion. The 
 idea of it continued long among the Hebrews (Micah 6 : 7) 
 and was fulfilled by Jephthah (Judges 1 1 : 34-40) and by 
 Ahaz (II Kings 16:3), ^^^ tempted people as late as the 
 reign of Josiah (II Kings 23 : 10). Abraham was in this 
 very act of human sacrifice, when he heard the voice of 
 God forbidding him. Then the covenant was renewed. 
 " In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will 
 multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the 
 sand which is upon the seashore; and in thy seed shall 
 all the nations of the earth be blessed." 
 
 The promise was repeated (Genesis 17:1-10) in con- 
 nection with the rite of circumcision, which the Hebrews 
 shared with their Semitic neighbors. The Babylonians and 
 Assyrians did not practise it ; neither did the Philistines. 
 But it was common among the Egyptians and the Arabs. 
 It was accounted among the Hebrews as a token of the 
 covenant. 
 
IV 
 ISAAC AND JACOB 
 
 I. The Wooing of Rebekah. Genesis 23, 24. —Isaac 
 plays but a passive part in these narratives. It is remem- 
 bered of him that he was almost sacrificed by his father, 
 and that he was deceived by his son. Even the wooing 
 of Rebekah his wife was done for him by his father's ser- 
 vant ; but that was the custom of the country. 
 
 The interesting and beautiful story of the mission of 
 Abraham's servant to Mesopotamia to find a wife for Isaac 
 is told at length. 
 
 Sarah died and was buried at Hebron, in the cave of 
 Machpelah. The ceremony of the transaction of the 
 purchase of the field and the cave and the surrounding 
 trees is described in detail, and may be compared with the 
 similar courtesies which accompanied the purchase by 
 David of the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite 
 (II Samuel 24:18-25). This was the first permanent 
 possession of the Hebrews. There Abraham was buried 
 in his turn, and Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and 
 Leah, after him (Genesis 49:30; 50:13). 
 
 Abraham sent his servant to the old home of his family 
 at Haran. There Rebekah met him at the well, the 
 daughter of Bethuel, and granddaughter of Nahor, Abra- 
 ham's brother (Genesis 11 : 27-29). The servant brought 
 forth the jewels which his master had sent — gold and 
 silver, and a nose ring (Genesis 24 : 47, Revised Version) 
 
 21 
 
22 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 and bracelets. And Rebekah returned with him, bringing 
 her nurse. They found Isaac meditating in the field at 
 eventide, and Isaac took Rebekah to the tent which had 
 been his mother's. So they were married, and he loved 
 her, and was comforted after his mother's death. The 
 story is filled with the spirit of domestic affection. 
 
 2. Jacob and Esau. Genesis 27, 28. — The first-born 
 of the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah was named Esau, 
 which means " red," and the other was named Jacob, 
 meaning " heel-holder," because at his birth he had hold 
 of his brother by the heel. Esau grew up a careless lad, 
 fond of hunting in the woods; Jacob stayed quietly at 
 home, and was the favorite of his mother. 
 
 One day the younger son, taking advantage of his brother's 
 hunger, bought the birthright of him. " Give me some- 
 thing to eat," cried Esau. " I will sell it to you," said 
 Jacob, " for your birthright." Thus the two are con- 
 trasted, Jacob the prudent wdth Esau the imprudent, 
 Esau intent only on present and immediate satisfaction, 
 Jacob thinking of the future. Then when the time came 
 for Isaac in his old age to make what we should call his 
 will, to give each son his blessing, Jacob came first to his 
 blind father and pretended to be Esau, and received the 
 better blessing. The narrative represents a process of 
 selection. As Isaac had been chosen, and Ishmael sent 
 into the wilderness to become the father of the roving 
 Ishmaelites, so Jacob was chosen and Esau went away 
 out of the land of Canaan to Mount Seir beyond the Dead 
 Sea, and became the father of the Edomites (Genesis 
 36:6-8). 
 
 The historian makes no comment upon the treachery 
 of Jacob. He sets down side by side the good and bad 
 
ISAAC AND JACOB 23 
 
 qualities of each of the brothers. The sympathy of the 
 reader goes with the careless and generous Esau. It is 
 plain, however, that with his faults Jacob had the more 
 substantial virtues. It was therefore with Jacob that 
 God confirmed the covenant which he had made with 
 Abraham. The great vision of the future came to Jacob 
 at the shrine of Bethel. Overtaken by night, he had lain 
 down there to sleep, having a stone for his pillow. He 
 dreamed that he saw a ladder reaching up to heaven, with 
 angels ascending and descending upon it, and he heard the 
 voice of God saying to him as He had said to Abraham, 
 ' ' To thee will I give this land and to thy descendants. And 
 thine offspring shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou 
 shalt spread abroad throughout this country." When 
 Jacob awoke, he marked the spot where he had dreamed 
 this dream by setting up the stone on which his head had 
 rested, and pouring oil upon it. This was the rude building 
 of a shrine. Such a sacred stone (Mazzebah) anointed 
 with oil or garlanded with flowers was already the indica- 
 tion in that country of the places where men had become 
 aware of the divine presence. 
 
 3. Jacob in Haran. Genesis 29:1-30; 30:25-31:55. 
 — Coming into the neighborhood of Haran, Jacob found 
 his cousin Rachel, as Abraham's servant had found 
 Rebekah, by the well. She took him to her father Laban, 
 his mother's brother (Genesis 24 : 29), and he entered into 
 Laban 's service. When they came to make an agreement 
 as to wages, Jacob asked for Rachel, whom he already 
 loved. Laban said that he might have Rachel if he would 
 serve him seven years. But when the seven years were 
 over, Laban gave Jacob his older daughter Leah, and made 
 him serve for Rachel seven years longer. 
 
24 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 Jacob worked for Laban twenty years. He said after- 
 wards, looking back over his labors, " in the day the 
 drought consumed me, and the frost by night " ; and he 
 added that Laban had ten times changed his wages, mak- 
 ing the work harder and the pay smaller. Still, he pros- 
 pered. Twelve sons and a daughter were bom to him, 
 and, in spite of the injustice of Laban, he grew rich. One 
 time it was agreed that his pay should be all the black 
 sheep and all the speckled goats; and that year all the 
 good sheep were black, and all the sturdy goats were 
 speckled. Thus his flocks increased, but the dislike and 
 suspicion of his father-in-law increased also. 
 
 At last, while Laban was away at the sheep-shearing, 
 Jacob gathered together his wives and children and his 
 cattle, and started for the land of Canaan. Rachel, with- 
 out the knowledge of her husband, stole her father's 
 sacred images. Idols, such as these, serving perhaps 
 as household gods, are found later in the shrine at which 
 Gershom, the grandson of Moses, served as priest for the 
 tribe of Dan (Judges 18:5, 30, 31). David had such 
 images in his house when Saul tried to kill him, and 
 Michal, David's wife, laid one of these in David's bed, 
 with its head on the pillow and the bedclothes tucked in 
 about it, that the messengers whom Saul sent might think 
 that it was David, sick (I Samuel 19:13-16). Laban 
 came in angry pursuit, accusing Jacob of both cheating 
 and stealing. But the gods could not be found, for Rachel, 
 who had hidden them under the camel's saddle, sat upon 
 the saddle. Finally, Jacob and Laban piled up a heap of 
 stones and called it Mizpah, the watch tower, and made 
 an agreement of peace. Then Laban returned, and Jacob 
 continued on his way. 
 
ISAAC AND JACOB 25 
 
 4. The Wrestling of Jacob. Genesis 32, 33. — The 
 return of Jacob from Mesopotamia to Canaan, with the 
 twelve sons who became the fathers of twelve tribes, repre- 
 sents an emigration of eastern people into the west such as 
 had taken place under the leadership of Abraham. The 
 interest of the historian, however, is not in these successive 
 colonizations of Palestine, but in the successive revelations 
 of the providence of God. The central person in the record 
 is not Abraham, nor Isaac, nor Jacob, but the Lord God. 
 Thus an account is given of what was taking place in the 
 soul of Jacob. On his way, God met him. 
 
 Jacob was encamped beside the river Jabbok, ready 
 on the morrow to cross the Jordan. He had been informed 
 that his brother Esau was awaiting him across the river, 
 and he was afraid. He seemed to have escaped the anger 
 of his father-in-law only to encounter the anger of the 
 brother whom he had defrauded. In the night, alone in 
 the darkness beside the river, there came a man and 
 wrestled with him till the break of day. No explanation 
 of this mysterious struggle is given, but the victory of Jacob 
 is recorded, and in commemoration of it he is given the 
 name of Israel, meaning "he-who-perseveres-with-God." 
 He had made his way all along in the face of difficulty. 
 He had striven, as the mysterious wrestler said, with God 
 and with men, and had prevailed. His life was to be an 
 assurance to all who should come after him that obstacles 
 do not prevent success. Abrahami had seen the splendid 
 vision of national greatness ; he represents the ideal which 
 the Hebrews never forgot, which made them different 
 from all their contented neighbors. They were to be a 
 mighty people, bringing blessing to all the nations of the 
 earth. Jacob perceived that this ideal could be attained 
 
26 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 only by the conquest of difficulty; he represents the 
 hope which sustained the Hebrews in all times of their 
 tribulation; that out of adversity, wrestling even with 
 God, they should come forth triumphant. 
 
 Then on the morrow Esau met him and was generous 
 and friendly and forgiving. Jacob settled for a time in 
 Shechem, till his sons quarrelled with the men of that place. 
 Here, as often elsewhere, that which is described as the 
 action of individuals may be an account of the contention 
 of tribes. Thus Jacob's daughter Dinah may represent a 
 clan of Israel; her connection with Shechem may mean 
 that the clan was intermarrying with the Canaanites of 
 that district, and was in danger of being absorbed. The 
 tribes of Simeon and Levi interfere to prevent this, and 
 are defeated by the Canaanites with such effect that they 
 lose their place among the tribes of Israel (Genesis 49 : 7). 
 
 Jacob journeyed south to Bethel, first taking the idols 
 which had been brought from Haran, and burying them 
 under the sacred oak (Genesis 35 : 4). At Bethlehem 
 (Ephrath), as he Journeyed to the south, Rachel died 
 at the birth of Benjamin (Jeremiah 31 : 15, Matthew 
 2:18). At last, the patriarch pitched his tent beyond the 
 tower of Eder (Genesis 35 : 21, 27) in the vicinity of 
 Hebron. 
 
THE STORY OF JOSEPH 
 
 I. The Selling of Joseph. Genesis 37. — The parable 
 of the Wrestling of Jacob found fulfilment in the experi- 
 ence of Joseph. In the midst of difl&culties which seemed 
 to insure inevitable failure, he made his way to high posi- 
 tion. The story is full of unfailing human interest. 
 
 Of the twelve sons, Jacob cared most for Joseph, whose 
 mother was Rachel. He showed his preference by clothing 
 him in a coat of many colors, or, according to another 
 translation, in a long gown with sleeves. The dislike 
 which was consequently felt for him by his brothers was 
 increased by his own claims of superiority. He dreamed 
 that as they were binding sheaves, his sheaf stood upright 
 and all their sheaves came and bowed before it. He 
 dreamed again that the sun and moon and eleven stars 
 made obeisance to him ; the sun meaning his father, and 
 the moon his mother. At this point the historian is evi- 
 dently using a version of the story different from the 
 version which had already contained an account of his 
 mother's death. 
 
 Then, one day, Joseph being sent by his father to find his 
 brothers where they fed their flocks, and following them 
 north to Shechem, and still farther north to Dothan, by 
 the plain of Esdraelon, they saw him coming and plotted 
 to get rid of him. Here again a difference of statement is 
 
 27 
 
28 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 explained by the historian's use of the ancient accounts. 
 As the story was told in the tribe of Judah, Joseph was 
 saved from death by Judah, who proposed selling him 
 instead of killing him ; and he was sold to a company of 
 Ishmaelites. As the story was told in the tribe of Ephraim, 
 the saviour of Joseph was Reuben, at whose suggestion 
 he was put in a pit, whence he was taken up and sold to a 
 company of Midianites. The purchasers of Joseph carried 
 him to Egypt. " Now," said the brothers, " we shall 
 see what will become of his dreams." They took his coat, 
 and dipped it in the blood of a goat, and brought it to their 
 father. " See," they cried, " what we have found ! Is it 
 not Joseph's coat?" And Jacob said, "It is my son's 
 coat ; an evil beast hath devoured him ; Joseph is without 
 doubt torn in pieces." 
 
 2. The Glory of Joseph. Genesis 39-41. — So Joseph 
 w^as brought down to Egypt, and sold to Potiphar, captain 
 of Pharaoh's guard. The young man found favor in his 
 master's sight, and came presently to be overseer of his 
 household. He found favor in the sight of his mistress 
 also, who tempted him to be unfaithful to his master, and, 
 when he refused, brought a false accusation against him. 
 He was accordingly put out of his position, and cast into 
 prison. 
 
 But the keeper of the prison trusted Joseph, and made 
 him overseer of the prisoners. His appearance and his 
 evident ability impressed the keeper as they had im- 
 pressed the captain. Then two prisoners, the butler and 
 the baker of the king, each dreamed a dream, and came to 
 Joseph to have their dreams interpreted. According to 
 his interpretation the butler would presently be pardoned, 
 but the baker would be hanged. And thus it came to pass. 
 
THE STORY OF JOSEPH 29 
 
 Then Pharaoh dreamed, and when the court interpreters 
 failed to give an explanation the butler remembered Joseph. 
 Joseph said that the dream meant that seven years of 
 plenty were to be followed by seven years of famine in all 
 the land of Egypt ; and he ventured to suggest that grain 
 be laid by in storehouses during the time of plenty to be 
 ready for the time of want. Thereupon Pharaoh said, 
 '^ Where can I find a wiser man than Joseph? " He put 
 his ring upon the hand of Joseph, and clothed him in fine 
 linen, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made him 
 ride in his second chariot, and set him over all the kingdom. 
 Joseph married Asenath, the daughter of the priest of On, 
 and had two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. And when the 
 famine came he sold grain till the hungry people paid him 
 first their cattle, and then their land, and then themselves : 
 all became Pharaoh's (Genesis 47 : 13-26). 
 
 The word " Pharaoh " is a title rather than a name, like 
 the word " Emperor." The name of Joseph's Pharaoh is 
 not given. The local references in the narrative do not 
 indicate any particular reign. The first clear date in the 
 Old Testament is in the statement (Exodus i : 11) that the 
 Hebrews in Egypt built for Phardoh store-cities, Pithom 
 and Raamses. These cities were erected, as the ruins 
 show, in the time of Rameses H (i 295-1 225 B.C.). 
 Even so, the length of time from Moses back to Joseph is 
 so differently stated that we cannot be sure about it. 
 Was it four generations, or four centuries? The longer 
 time appears in some passages (Genesis 15:13, Exodus 
 12:40, followed in Galatians 3:17); in other passages 
 (Genesis 15:16, Exodus 6:16-20) the shorter. The 
 shorter period, of four generations (= about 150 years), 
 seems somewhat more likely, in view of the fact that the 
 
30 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 Hebrews were able to maintain their racial identity. In 
 that case, the Pharaoh of Joseph's day was probably 
 Amenhotep IV, who died about 1350 B.C. He was the 
 reforming Pharaoh who tried to substitute the sun god for 
 all the gods of Egypt. He built the palace at Tell el- 
 Amarna, and it was to him that the famous letters from 
 Canaan were written. In his day a Semite named Yan- 
 hamu had control of the stores of grain in the Delta of the 
 Nile, and was in authority over Palestine. So the in- 
 scriptions say. It shows the possibility in that age of 
 the attainment of high position by a Hebrew such as 
 Joseph. 
 
 3. Joseph and his Brethren. Genesis 42-45 : 15. — 
 Among those whom the famine drove to the court of 
 Pharaoh to buy grain were Joseph's brothers. He knew 
 them, but in his glory they knew him not. At first he put 
 them into prison on the charge of being spies. Then he 
 kept Simeon only, and released the others with food for 
 their families, on condition that they would come again 
 and bring their youngest brother, Benjamin; he being 
 Joseph's own brother, the son of Rachel. So they de- 
 parted. When they opened their sacks they were surprised 
 to find in each sack the money which they had paid. 
 
 The famine continued in the land of Canaan as in the 
 land of Egypt, and the brothers went again to buy food, 
 taking Benjamin with them. But this time, when they 
 set out to return, Joseph caused his silver cup to be hidden 
 in Benjamin's sack, and sent an officer after them to arrest 
 the thief. Back they all came in deep distress, and 
 Judah offered to take the place of Benjamin and suffer 
 in his stead. Thus did Joseph test his brothers to see if 
 they had improved as they grew older, or if they were still 
 
THE STORY OF JOSEPH 31 
 
 as selfish as before. Then he told them who he was, to 
 their great amazement. 
 
 4. Israel in Egypt. Genesis 45: 16-50: 26. — Immedi- 
 ately Joseph sent for his father and for all the family of 
 Israel, providing Eg)^tian wagons to convey them. And 
 Jacob saw again the son whom he had mourned as dead. 
 Learning that Joseph's kindred were shepherds, Pharaoh 
 gave them grazing lands in Goshen, a district between the 
 Delta of the Nile and the isthmus of Suez. There they 
 fed their flocks and prospered. There at the end of his 
 long life Jacob blessed them : first Ephraim, thenManasseh, 
 sons of Joseph ; then the others. In the poem called the 
 Blessing of Jacob the sons are described not as individuals 
 but as tribes. The days of their slavery in Egypt and of 
 their wanderings in the wilderness are over, and they are 
 settled in the promised land. The strong tribe of Judah 
 holds the sceptre in the south ; the strong tribe of Joseph 
 (= Ephraim) abides in might in the fertile places of the 
 north. "- 
 
 When Jacob died they carried his body to Hebron, and 
 buried him in the cave of Machpefah. Notice is taken of 
 the fact that his body was embalmed in the Egyptian 
 manner, after the fashion of the ancient mummies. And 
 Joseph died, and his body was embalmed likewise, and 
 put in a coffin, — in a decorated mummy-case such as 
 one sees in Egyptian rooms of great museums, — until the 
 sojourn in Egypt should be over, and the people should 
 return, bearing the body of Joseph with them, to the land of 
 Canaan. 
 
VI 
 
 MOSES AND THE EXODUS 
 
 I. The Oppression of the IsraeHtes. Exodus i. — None 
 of the Pharaohs of the books of Genesis and Exodus is 
 called by his name. The record is like an account of Eng- 
 lish history which should speak of " the king," but never of 
 King William, or King Henry, or King John. In such a 
 case the natural inference would be that the writer lived 
 so long after the event that the memories which had come 
 down to him contained no distinction between one king 
 and another. So it is with the history of the Hebrews. 
 When we come to the books of the kings we read of Pharaoh 
 Shishak (I Kings 14: 25) and Pharaoh Nechoh (II Kings 
 23 : 29), but in Genesis and Exodus we are still deaUng 
 with the times before definite historical records began. 
 The excavation of the store-city of Pithom which the men 
 of Israel built (Exodus i : 11) shows that it was erected in 
 the reign of Rameses II (i 295-1 225 B.C.). It is therefore 
 likely that he was the Pharaoh of the oppression. In 
 that case, the exodus may have taken place about 1200 B.C. 
 The number of the Israelites is variously stated. It is 
 said in one place that they were six hundred thousand 
 (Exodus 12 : 37). On the other hand, it is said that two 
 nurses were enough to assist the Hebrew mothers at the 
 birth of their children (Exodus i : 10). These differences 
 indicate not only that the compiler of the ancient records 
 used now one version and now another, but that all the 
 
 32 
 
MOSES AND THE EXODUS 33 
 
 memories and traditions were like inscriptions which are 
 so old that time and accident and change have marred 
 them, blotting out words here and there, and making the 
 reader uncertain of the meaning. They are marks of 
 great age. 
 
 It is plain that the Hebrew people were sufficiently 
 numerous to give the Egyptians cause for alarm. It 
 w^as feared that on the occasion of the appearance of a 
 foreign enemy, the Hebrews might rise up to assist them. 
 Thus not only were their lives made bitter with hard 
 service in brick and in mortar in the building operations for 
 which the reign of Rameses II is famous, but an endeavor 
 was made to stop their growth by putting their male 
 children to death. 
 
 2. The Call of Moses. Exodus 2-4. — Under these 
 hard conditions Moses was born, the son of Amram and 
 Jochebed of the tribe of Levi (Exodus 6 : 20). When he 
 was three months old he was put into an ark of bulrushes 
 among the reeds of the river, where he would be found by 
 Pharaoh's daughter. The princess adopted him, and he 
 was brought up and educated in the palace. As he came 
 to manhood, however, it was perceived that his sym- 
 pathies were with his own people. One day, finding an 
 Egyptian beating a Hebrew, he smote the Egyptian and 
 killed him. Being thus disclosed as the possible leader of 
 a slave rebellion, he was obliged to flee the country. 
 Thus he came into the land of Midian. 
 
 East of Egypt, across the isthmus of Suez, is the penin- 
 sula of Sinai, between two arms of the Red Sea. The arm 
 of the Red Sea on the west of the peninsula is the Gulf of 
 Suez; the arm on the east is the Gulf of Akabah. The 
 land of Goshen, where the Hebrews lived, is at the top of 
 
 D 
 
34 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 the Gulf of Suez. The land of Midian, to which Moses 
 fled, cannot be so definitely located, because the Midian- 
 ites were roving people, driving their flocks from place to 
 place. Some of them appear in the story of Joseph near 
 the plain of Esdraelon, on their camels, carrying mer- 
 chandise to Egypt. They who received Moses seem to 
 have had their residence by the Gulf of Akabah, east or 
 northeast. They are described as kinsfolk of the Hebrews, 
 descendants of Abraham (Genesis 25 : 1-4). A priest of 
 Midian named Jethro (or Hobab, Judges 4:11) gave 
 Moses a place in his own family, and he married Zipporah 
 his daughter. 
 
 Years passed, and Moses fed the flocks of his father- 
 in-law. Then he came in search of pasture to the moun- 
 tain which is sometimes called Horeb (Exodus 3:1, 
 Deuteronomy 4: 10-15), and sometimes Sinai. There he 
 had a vision of God in the flame of a burning bush, and 
 heard in his soul the voice of God telling him to go back 
 and deliver his people out of bondage. He was to bring 
 them into that free country to which he himself had come, 
 and where he stood, into the land of Midian, into the 
 neighborhood of Horeb-Sinai. Beside that mountain 
 they should worship God. At the same time, there was 
 revealed to him a sacred name. Every people had its 
 own names for the gods. The Canaanites called God 
 Baal ; the Philistines, Dagon (I Samuel 5:2); the Moab- 
 ites, Chemosh; the Ammonites, Molech (I Kings 11 : 7). 
 Bel and Ishtar and Marduk were divine titles among the 
 Babylonians, to which the Assyrians added Asshur ; 
 Amon, Isis and Osiris were worshipped in Egypt. Moses, 
 and the Hebrews after him, called God Jehovah. Out of 
 the burning bush Jehovah spoke. As Moses listened, 
 
MOSES AND THE EXODUS 35 
 
 Aaron his brother came from Egypt, and was made his 
 spokesman. 
 
 3. Moses and Pharaoh. Exodus 5-1 1. — Thus called 
 to be the deliverer of his oppressed people, Moses returned 
 to Egypt and demanded for them the privilege of keeping a 
 religious festival in the wilderness . To this Pharaoh replied 
 only by increasing their burdens. The men were needed 
 in the erection of the public buildings. Pharaoh could 
 not spare them. He reminded them that they were slaves 
 under his absolute authority by compelling them not only 
 to make as many bricks as before but to provide for them- 
 selves the straw which had previously been provided for 
 them. When they failed to do this they were beaten. 
 
 Then followed a series of national calamities. The 
 annual discoloration of the Nile was so great that year 
 that the river was red as blood. Out of the defiled water 
 came multitudes of frogs. The frogs dying and decaying 
 brought swarms of flies. The flies carried plague germs 
 to the cattle. And there were great storms, with thunder 
 and lightning and heavy hail and thick darkness. An 
 east wind blew the locusts into the land. At first, Pharaoh 
 saw in these plagues only the common afflictions of the 
 country, somewhat w^orse than usual. When, however, 
 they continued, and came at last to a crisis in a pestilence 
 which entered into every household, he was convinced 
 for the moment that these were works of God on behalf 
 of the Hebrews. At last, he consented to let the people go. 
 
 The fact that the Nile begins to rise in June, and that 
 hail would fall in Egypt in January, being the rainy season, 
 suggests that the contention between Moses and Pharaoh 
 was extended over the greater part of a year. It was 
 probably in the spring when the first request was made to 
 
36 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 keep the festival in the wilderness, according to the com- 
 mon manner of primitive people worshipping the gods 
 who restore life to the earth after the desolation of winter. 
 It was in the spring again that the request was granted. 
 
 4. The Passover. Exodus 12, 13. — Taking advan- 
 tage of the terror of the Egyptians, the Hebrews gathered 
 together such of their goods as they could carry, and de- 
 manded of the Egyptians gold and silver, after their years 
 of unpaid service. The sacrifice of a lamb in every He- 
 brew household had provided blood which they took to 
 mark the posts of their doors, that the destroying angel 
 might pass over them. The deliverance gave a name to 
 that day forever. The bread which they took with them 
 was made in such haste, in the urgency of their departure, 
 that it had no yeast, or leaven. Afterwards, they kept the 
 Feast of the Passover as an annual celebration of their 
 escape, as it is kept to this day. A lamb is served with 
 bitter herbs in remembrance of the bitterness of the 
 Egyptian bondage, and the bread is unleavened. And 
 this takes place at the time of the full moon which follows 
 the vernal equinox, the twenty-first of March. 
 
 5. The Red Sea. Exodus 14, 15. — The destination of 
 the Hebrews under the leadership of Moses was the land 
 of Midian. Thither they had been summoned by the 
 voice of God. There they had friends and kinsfolk. 
 There they might hope to find a secure refuge from the 
 Egyptians. There was indeed a roa d which led straight out 
 of Egypt into Palestine, but Palestine could be entered 
 only by an invading army, and the escaping multitudes of 
 slaves, unacquainted with war, accustomed to the trade 
 of the mason and of the carpenter, were not equipped to 
 undertake it. Their only way led across the isthmus of 
 
MOSES AND THE EXODUS 37 
 
 Suez, and thence by caravan routes over the peninsula to 
 the mountains of Horeb. 
 
 Across this road they found a fortress and a wall, holding 
 the isthmus against all comers and goers. And behind 
 came the pursuing Egyptians. Pharaoh, who had hardly 
 believed that the plagues were the work of Jehovah for 
 His people, had recovered from the terror into which the 
 pestilence had cast him. He came out with chariots and 
 horsemen to overtake these workmen of his and drive 
 them back to their tasks. There they were, then, with the 
 road blocked before them, and the Egyptians approaching 
 from behind. 
 
 In this peril, the Lord caused a strong east wind to 
 blow, and a path appeared in the midst of the shallow 
 waters of the sea. Over they went by land, and the 
 Egyptians followed them. " The enemy said, ' I will 
 pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil. My desire 
 shall be satisfied upon them. I will draw my sword, my 
 hand shall destroy them.' " Thus it is written in the 
 ancient Song of Deliverance. Then the wind changed, 
 and the waters of the sea came back, and the eager pur- 
 suers were drowned. '' Thou didst blow with thy wind, 
 and the sea covered them. They sank as lead in the 
 mighty waters." The circumstances of this deliverance 
 made a profound impression upon the mind of the people. 
 It was plain to them that they had escaped not by their 
 own device or strength but by the hand of Jehovah. 
 '' Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously : 
 the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." 
 
VII 
 MOSES AND THE LAW 
 
 I. Mount Sinai. — Standing on the safe side of the Red 
 Sea, the Israelites had a choice between the roads. 
 
 They might have gone south along the coast to the 
 great mountains near the point of the peninsula. This 
 route has the support of all tradition, but there are diffi- 
 culties in the way of accepting it. One difficulty is in the 
 fact that there were extensive Egyptian quarries beside 
 this road, where slaves worked under the guard of soldiers : 
 escaping slaves would hardly go that way. Another 
 difficulty is in the fact that the road after passing the 
 quarries leads only into the midst of bleak mountains. 
 
 They might have gone east across the desert to the 
 head of the Gulf of Akabah, and so to Midian. This 
 road, following the trail of the caravans, would have 
 brought the host to Elath, which sounds a little like Elim 
 (Exodus 15 : 27), and would have conducted them thence 
 to the country whence Moses had come, and to which he 
 was intending to return. There they would find the 
 mountain of God (Exodus 3:1) where he had seen the 
 burning bush. There among the Midianites, by the land 
 of Edom, amidst the heights of the Mount Seir range 
 (Deuteronomy 33 : 2), we are probably to look for the 
 eminence, sometimes called Sinai, and sometimes Horeb, 
 into whose summit Moses ascended to converse with God. 
 
 38 
 
MOSES AND THE LAW 39 
 
 2. The Law by Commandments. Exodus 19 : 16- 
 20 : 21 ; 34 : 1-27. — The first thing to do with the multi- 
 tude of escaped slaves was to establish discipline. They 
 had obeyed their masters in Egj^t under the rule of force ; 
 they were now to be taught to be their own masters obedi- 
 ent to God under the rule of conscience. To this end 
 there must be laws, and the laws must be recognized as 
 expressing the will of God. 
 
 The experiences of the people on the journey out of 
 Egypt into the land of Midian had already assured them 
 of the care of God. They said afterwards, recalling those 
 days, that the Lord supplied them with bread from heaven, 
 raining manna upon them (Exodus 16) ; and that Moses, 
 smiting with his rod, brought forth water for them from 
 the flinty rock (Exodus 17:1-7). They had been at- 
 tacked by Amalekites, wild men of the desert, and Joshua 
 had commanded their victorious defence, but the true 
 cause of the victory was the prevailing prayer of Moses 
 for the help of God (Exodus 17 : 8-16). The exodus had 
 effected their social and political independence, but the 
 whole movement had been conducted under conditions 
 which made it a religious revolution. It had been made 
 possible and successful by the power of God. Thus the 
 people were ready to receive the initial laws of their new 
 state not at the hands of any representative assembly of 
 legislators, and not by the imposition of a king and his 
 court, but by the word of God. 
 
 These laws were established at Mount Sinai. Moses 
 went up into the cloudy peaks to commune with God, 
 amidst thunderings and lightnings. The people saw 
 with their eyes and heard with their ears that this legisla- 
 tion was not the will of Moses only but of God. Thus 
 
40 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 Hammurabi of Babylon had been represented on the 
 monuments, centuries before, as receiving laws like these 
 from the hand of God. 
 
 Moses talked so long with God upon the mountain that 
 the people despaired of his return. Under the leader- 
 ship of Aaron they made a golden calf and worshipped it, 
 singing and dancing about it, and crying, " These be thy 
 gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of 
 Egypt." The story may have been colored in the re- 
 telling by the reprobation of the golden calves which 
 Jeroboam set up to the scandal of the southern kingdom 
 (I Kings 12 : 28). He is said to have repeated the formula 
 of the heresy of Aaron. The incident, however, is true 
 to human nature. The people easily reverted to the cus- 
 toms of their forefathers, who had worshipped idols in 
 Haran; or followed the customs of their neighbors and 
 former masters, the Egyptians. Every religion in the 
 world made use of idols. The Hebrews came very 
 slowly into their realization of the religion of the Spirit. 
 Thus they set up the golden calf with the blessing of Aaron. 
 Moses coming down, bringing the law written on the stone 
 tablets, and finding the people thus engaged, broke the 
 tablets in his indignation, and after destroying the idol 
 returned into the mount to confer again with God. The 
 history says that the laws were inscribed a second time 
 upon the pages of stone. 
 
 A comparison of the thirty-fourth with the twentieth 
 chapter of Exodus discloses the fact that they were differ- 
 ent laws. The Ten Commandments in the twentieth 
 chapter (see also Deuteronomy 5 : 6-21) are concerned 
 with moral duties. The Ten Commandments in the thirty- 
 fourth chapter (see also Exodus 23: 15-19) are concerned 
 
MOSES AND THE LAW 41 
 
 with religious institutions: i. Thou shalt worship no 
 other god (verse 14). 2. Thou shalt make thee no 
 molten gods (17). 3. The feast of unleavened bread 
 shalt thou keep (18). 4. Every first-born is mine (19, 
 20). 5. Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh 
 thou shalt rest (21). 6. Thou shalt observe the feast 
 of weeks (22). 7. Thou shalt not offer the blood of my 
 sacrifice with leaven (25). 8. Neither shall the sacrifice 
 of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning (25). 
 9. The firstfruits of thy land shalt thou bring unto the 
 Lord thy God (26). 10. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in 
 his mother's milk (26). After this manner, in these 
 ritual regulations, did the Lord speak to Moses (Exodus 
 34:27, 28), making His covenant with the people of 
 Israel. And Moses " wrote upon the tables the words of 
 the covenant, the ten commandments." This is plainly a 
 kind of legislation other than that which appears in the 
 laws, " Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit 
 adultery, Thou shalt not steal." 
 
 The relation between these two versions of the ten 
 commandments is one of the interesting problems of Old 
 Testament study. 
 
 3. The Law by Cases. Exodus 18:1-27. — One 
 way of making law is by the statement of fundamental 
 principles, constitutions, commandments. Another way 
 is by the application of the principles to particular cases. 
 
 Thus, day by day, Moses sat to judge the people. 
 They brought him their disputes and difficulties, and he 
 decided them. And these decisions became precedents. 
 Presently, by the advice of his father-in-law, Moses ap- 
 pointed men from among the people, *' able men, such as 
 fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain," who should 
 
42 OLD TEST.\MENT HISTORY 
 
 decide the lesser cases, bringing only the more important 
 ones to him. These cases they decided according to the 
 laws which Moses had received from God. And this went 
 on, year after year. In the wilderness, and on the march, 
 and presently in the land of Canaan, after the death of 
 Moses, the will of the great lawgiver was thus carried 
 out, and all the laws were called the laws of Moses. 
 
 This long and gradual process makes it almost impossi- 
 ble to date the Old Testament laws. In this respect they 
 are like the Psalms and the Proverbs. They are as- 
 sembled under the great name of Moses, as the Psalms 
 are ascribed to David, and the Proverbs to Solomon. 
 It means that the foundation of the Hebrew state was laid 
 by Moses. He made the constitution. It was due to 
 him that the Israelites differed from their neighbors in 
 that they were governed not by the caprice of kings nor by 
 the ambition of priests but by the law, to whose obedience 
 both priests and kings were bound. It was by him that 
 the law was based upon the righteousness of God. 
 
 The laws which grew out of the Mosaic beginnings are 
 collected in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers 
 and Deuteronomy. The oldest legislation is perhaps that 
 which is contained in the Ten Com^nandments of Exodus 34 ; 
 on the ground that in the history of religion ritual laws 
 commonly precede moral laws. Along with this ap- 
 pears the primitive code called the Book of the Covenant 
 (Exodus 20:23-23:19), to which are prefixed the Ten 
 Commandments of Exodus 20. A great part of the 
 book of Deuteronomy (5-1 1; 12-26; 28) seems to have 
 appeared in its present form in the seventh century B.C., 
 in the time of King Josiah (II Kings 22). A great part of 
 the book of Leviticus (17-26) seems to have appeared in its 
 
MOSES AND THE LAW 43 
 
 present form in the fifth century B.C. and to be connected 
 with the mission of Ezra the scribe (Nehemiah 8 : 1-3). 
 
 Even the latest collections, however, contain laws which 
 are far older than the date of the collection. And the 
 earliest groups of statutes contain regulations concerning 
 that agricultural life into which the Hebrews did not 
 enter till long after the sojourn at Sinai. It shows 
 that these were living laws, in constant use, changing 
 as the conditions changed, kept close to the actual 
 needs of the people. The law was like a tree which puts 
 forth new branches year by year, all of them growing out 
 of the parent stem. The parent stem was planted by 
 Moses. 
 
 4. The Ark of the Covenant. Exodus 25-28 ; 33 : 7-1 1. 
 — The tables of stone were placed in a box of acacia wood, 
 called the Ark of the Covenant, and the ark was kept in a 
 tent of goat's hair. Into this tent Moses entered when he 
 would commune with God. There the Lord spoke with 
 Moses, " face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend." 
 Aaron and his sons were made priests to offer sacrifices 
 to God before the tent, which was the symbol of the 
 divine presence. At the door of this tabernacle, the people 
 said their prayers. There Aaron ministered, dressed in a 
 gown of blue, having on the hem of it pomegranates of 
 blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and between the 
 pomegranates little golden bells which tinkled as he 
 walked. 
 
VIII 
 THE MARCH OF THE INVADING ARMY 
 
 I. The Invasion that Failed. Numbers 13, 14. — 
 West of Sinai and south of the land of Canaan lay the 
 Wilderness of Paran, having in the midst of it a flowing 
 spring called Kadesh (Numbers 13 : 26). To this place 
 they marched. When they took up the ark to begin a day's 
 journey Moses cried, " Rise up, O Lord, and let thine 
 enemies be scattered " (Psalm 68: i). When they rested 
 he cried, " Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of 
 Israel" (Numbers 10 : 35, 36). North of the Wilderness of 
 Paran was the South Country, the beginning of that land 
 of hills and valleys where Abraham and Isaac and Jacob 
 had fed their flocks, and toward which the hopes of these 
 their descendants were directed. 
 
 From Kadesh, Moses sent spies to view the land. " See 
 the land what it is ; and the people that dwelleth therein, 
 whether they be strong or weak, few or many ; and what 
 the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad ; 
 and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in 
 tents or in strongholds ; and what the land is, whether it 
 be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein or not." 
 
 So the men went up as far as Hebron, where their fore- 
 fathers lay buried in the cave of Machpelah ; and farther 
 north to Eshcol, whence they brought a branch bearing a 
 great cluster of grapes. They reported that the land was 
 
 44 
 
THE MARCH OF THE INVADING ARMY 45 
 
 fertile, '' flowing with milk and honey," but they said 
 that it was already populated, having Amalekites in 
 the south, and Amorites in the mountains, and Canaan- 
 ites by the sea and in the valley of the Jordan. These 
 people dwelt, they said, in walled cities, and were of gi- 
 gantic stature, so that we seemed like grasshoppers be- 
 side them. 
 
 The people, hearing this report, refused to go, though 
 Joshua and Caleb, the leaders of the spies, joined Moses 
 in urging them. Some of the people were disposed to 
 stone Caleb and Joshua, and to desert the leadership of 
 Moses. " Let us make a captain," they said, " and 
 return into Egypt." Others, however, were so impressed 
 by the good report that they determined to go into Canaan 
 even after Moses had abandoned the expedition. They 
 advanced, therefore, some way into the country, against 
 the will of Moses. But the Amalekites and the Canaanites 
 came out and chased them back. 
 
 2. The Wandering in the Wilderness. Numbers 11; 
 16 ; 20 : 1-13. — This failure made it plain that the 
 people were not prepared for war. They needed the 
 discipline of experience. They must be strengthened and 
 toughened by hard living. Thus they were made to 
 wander in the wilderness. They became acquainted with 
 hunger and thirst, against which they cried bitterly, and 
 reviled Moses, wishing that they had stayed in Egypt. 
 Korah, a kinsman of Moses, and Dathan and Abiram, 
 descendants of Reuben, the eldest son of Jacob, led a re- 
 bellion of tw^o hundred and fifty men, which was sup- 
 pressed only by an earthquake and a plague. Even after 
 many years, the people were still sorry that they had come 
 out of Egypt. They looked back with regret to the days of 
 
46 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 their slavery. They remembered the fish which they used 
 to eat, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks and the garlic, 
 and were weary of the monotony of the manna. " Where- 
 fore," they cried, " have ye made us to come up out of 
 Egypt to bring us into this evil place? It is no place of 
 seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates ; neither is 
 there any water to drink." They hated it. Moses, strong 
 and patient as he was, found himself tried by them be- 
 yond the limit of endurance. But in spite of their con- 
 tinual complaining, the muscles of the men grew strong, 
 and there was a new courage in their hearts. 
 
 How many years were spent in this preparation we are 
 not definitely told. The number forty, which occurs so 
 often in the Bible, is what we call a " round number," 
 meaning a good while. It was long enough, however, for 
 a new generation to grow up, born in the wilderness, 
 nomads like the Bedouin, strong and courageous. 
 
 3. By the Way of Edom and Moab. Numbers 20 : 14- 
 21:11; 22-24. — At last, it was decided to undertake 
 again the adventure of invasion. It was now proposed, 
 instead of attacking the land of Canaan from the south, 
 to attack it from the east. They would march up through 
 Edom and Moab and enter the country by crossing the 
 Jordan. Edom was the first region on this line of march, 
 being south of the Dead Sea ; to the north of Edom was 
 Moab. 
 
 From Kadesh, therefore, they sent messengers to the 
 king of Edom, saying, '' We are your kinsfolk, and are come 
 out of Egypt ; let us pass through your land. We will not 
 pass through the fields, or through the vineyards, neither 
 will we drink of the water of the wells ; we will go by the 
 king's highway." But the king of Edom refused, and came 
 
THE MARCH OF THE INVADING ARMY 47 
 
 out with an army ; so that they had to take a long, hard 
 journey around the borders of that country. 
 
 There it was that Moses made the brazen serpent 
 which Hezekiah, long after, broke in pieces as an idol 
 (II Kings 18:4). Moses put the serpent on a pole, that 
 they who were bitten by serpents might look at it and be 
 healed (John 3 : 14, 15). 
 
 Then they journeyed, and came to Moab. And Balak, 
 king of Moab, sent for Balaam, a prophet in the east, to 
 curse these invaders of his land. Balaam came reluctantly. 
 He told the king of Moab that even the ass on which he 
 rode was stopped by an angel in the way. And having 
 come, and building altars on the heights of the mountains 
 overlooking the camp of Israel, Balaam could not pro- 
 nounce the words of cursing, but blessed the enemies of 
 Balak. A series of oracles in poetic form expresses the 
 expectation of a victorious future. The people shall 
 be great in number. " Who can count the dust of Jacob, 
 and the number of the fourth part of Israel?" They 
 shall conquer Moab and Edom. " The shout of a king 
 is among them." '^ The people shall rise up as a great 
 lion." " There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a 
 Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners 
 of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. And 
 Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession 
 for his enemies, and Israel shall do valiantly." It de- 
 scribes the triumph of the Hebrews under the leadership 
 of David (II Samuel 8 : 2, 14). 
 
 4. On the Eve of the Invasion. Numbers 21:12-35, 
 Deuteronomy 2:1-3:17, Numbers 31, 34. — Then came 
 fighting. Sihon, king of the Amorites, refused to let the 
 host of Israel pass through his land. But the invaders 
 
48 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 had now more confidence in their own might than when 
 they had been driven away by the king of Edom. They 
 attacked Sihon and defeated him and took possession of 
 his country. They did the same with Og, the king of 
 Bashan, whose vast bedstead of iron amazed them (Deuter- 
 onomy 3 : 1 1). Thus they did hkewise with the Midianites. 
 By these conquests the Hebrews made themselves masters 
 of the east of the Jordan. At last they had a land of their 
 own. And some of them — the tribes of Reuben and 
 Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh — were contented, 
 and began to settle in the fertile fields. 
 
 But across the Jordan lay the Land of Promise. Coming 
 in from the desert, like other nomad tribes before and after 
 them, they felt the call of the land beyond the river. 
 
 Meanwhile, Aaron had died, and Eleazar his son had 
 become priest in his stead (Numbers 20: 22-29). Moses 
 perceived that the end of his own life was near. The book 
 of Deuteronomy contains a long Farewell Address reviewing 
 the years which had passed since the crossing of the Red 
 Sea, and urging the people to keep their faith and obedience. 
 The heart of all their life, he said, was their loyalty to 
 Jehovah their God. After the Address follows the Song 
 of Moses (Deuteronomy 32 : 1-43) ; and the Blessing of 
 Moses follows the Song (Deuteronomy ^t,). But the 
 Blessing of Moses, like the Blessing of Jacob (Genesis 49), 
 is a description of the tribes as settled in the land. The 
 value of the chapters is not in the words but in the spirit 
 of Moses. They are concerned not so much with his lips 
 as with his soul. They reveal him as he was indeed, the 
 man who delivered the people out of Egypt, and kept the 
 tribes together, and taught them their law and their 
 religion, and led them through the long discipline of the 
 
THE MARCH OF THE INVADING ARMY 49 
 
 desert, and brought them within sight of the Land of 
 Canaan. 
 
 Moses appointed Joshua as his successor, laying his 
 hands upon him and bidding him be strong and of a good 
 courage. Then he chmbed to the peak of Pisgah in the 
 range of Nebo, and looked across the Jordan. The whole 
 fair land lay at his feet: Judah's future country on his 
 left, Ephraim's on his right, as far north as Dan and 
 Naphtali ; with the " utmost sea " beyond ; beneath the 
 mountain, the valley of the Jordan, and across the ford 
 the palms of Jericho. The tradition that Moses had of- 
 fended God (Numbers 20 : 10-13) and was therefore ex- 
 cluded from the land of Canaan, probably arose from the 
 common feeling that whoever missed the great rewards of 
 life had somehow sinned. It expresses a sense of incom- 
 pleteness in the life of him who brought the tribes to the 
 bank of the Jordan, and saw the Land of Promise with his 
 eyes, but went not over. 
 
 It is not likely that any such thought was in the mind 
 of Moses. He had lived his life, he had finished his course, 
 he had kept the faith, he had done the work which had 
 been given him to do. There in the land of Moab he died. 
 When the writer of Deuteronomy says that God buried 
 him, he is expressing not only the mystery of his death, 
 alone on the mountain, but the reverence of all Israel for 
 him who had been to them prophet and priest and king. 
 
IX 
 
 THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN 
 
 I. The Crossing of the Jordan. Joshua 3-5. — Joshua, 
 the new leader, entered at once upon the work of invasion. 
 Orders were given to march ; priests went before, bearing 
 the ark of the covenant ; thus they advanced to the brink 
 of the Jordan. The importance of the passage of the river 
 is indicated by the fact that the narrative glorifies it with 
 miracle such as attended the passage of the Red Sea. 
 The Jordan was at flood that day, but when the feet of 
 the priests touched the water the river was suddenly 
 dammed, high up by the city of Adam. And thus a road 
 was opened for the invaders, from shore to shore. Over 
 they went, the priests with the ark standing in the midst 
 of the channel till all had passed. Twelve stones from the 
 middle of the river were piled on the west bank to com- 
 memorate the event. 
 
 There at Gilgal the sacrament of circumcision, already 
 associated with Abraham (Genesis 17:9-14) and with 
 Moses (Exodus 4 : 24-26), was renewed, as a sign of the con- 
 secration of the men of Israel to the service of God. There 
 they ate the corn of the land, having come into the settled 
 country where there were farms. There Joshua had a 
 vision of an angel with a drawn sword, '' the captain of 
 the host of the Lord," and was assured that God was on 
 his side. 
 
 so 
 
THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN 51 
 
 2. The Destruction of Jericho. Joshua 2, 6. — The 
 first thing to do was to attack the town of Jericho. It 
 stood in the Jordan valley among palm trees, having a 
 stout wall about it. 
 
 Into this place Joshua had already sent spies. They had 
 made friends with the family of a woman named Rahab, 
 who had hidden them under stalks of flax on the roof of 
 her house. The house was by the city wall, and she helped 
 them to escape when they were discovered, letting them 
 down by a cord through a window over the wall. The 
 spies promised in return that Rahab and her family should 
 be spared in the destruction of the city, and she marked 
 her house by binding a line of scarlet thread in the window 
 by which she had let them down. The spies brought back 
 word to Joshua that the people of Jericho were afraid. 
 
 Seven days the besiegers marched around the little town 
 in silence, the ark borne before them, and when on the 
 seventh day the priests blew their ram's horn trumpets 
 and all the people shouted with a great shout, the walls 
 fell down flat. Thus is described the completeness of the 
 victory. In they rushed, every man straight before him, 
 and took the town. 
 
 Being nomad people, fresh from the desert and un- 
 acquainted with cities, they destroyed the place. They 
 kifled the people, and broke or burned all of their possessions. 
 It was like the invasion of the Roman Empire by the 
 barbarians. The Israelites, men of the open air, wan- 
 derers in the wilderness, were superior both in strength 
 and in character to the more civilized people of the land 
 of Canaan. The cruelty of the victors is accounted for 
 in part by the instincts of the desert, and in part by their 
 belief that these killings and burnings were an offering 
 
52 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 acceptable to God. Thus far had they come, and no 
 farther, in that progress in the knowledge of God of which 
 the whole history is a record. Jericho lies to-day, much 
 as they left it, a heap of ruins. The Jericho of the New 
 Testament was built beside it. 
 
 3. The Siege of Ai. Joshua 7, 8. — Leaving Jericho, 
 and advancing into the midst of the country, they came 
 to Ai, near the ancient shrine of Bethel (Genesis 12:8). 
 This place they at first besieged in vain, being driven back 
 with loss of life. In the defeat they saw the divine dis- 
 pleasure, and were able to account for it when they found 
 that one of their company, a man named Achan, had dis- 
 obeyed the order to destroy the wealth of Jericho for the 
 glory of God. Out of the spoil he had saved for himself 
 a wedge of gold, and two hundred pieces of silver, and a 
 goodly Babylonish garment. Achan being taken out and 
 stoned to death as a punishment and a warning, they again 
 attacked Ai, setting an ambush behind the city, and pre- 
 tending to run away in fright in front. The men of Ai 
 pursued them, the men of the ambush came out and en- 
 tered the town and set it on fire. Again the people were 
 put to death and the place was destroyed. 
 
 4. The Battle of Beth-horon. Joshua 9, 10. — West 
 of Ai was Gibeon, whose citizens made peace with the in- 
 vaders by a stratagem. Messengers came to Joshua, 
 with bread mouldy in their baskets, and shoes worn as 
 by a long journey, and said that they came from a far 
 country. They asked for a treaty of alliance. When this 
 was made, it was discovered that the men came from 
 Gibeon, the next town. Nevertheless, the Israelites kept 
 their promise. Long after, in the time of David, when 
 there was a three-years famine, it was believed to be a 
 
THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN 53 
 
 sign of the displeasure of the Lord because Saul slew the 
 Gibeonites (II Samuel 21 : 1-6). 
 
 The march of the invaders over the ruins of Jericho and 
 Ai, and the alliance made with Gibeon, aroused the people 
 of the land. They were still living, as in the time of the 
 el-Amarna letters, city by city, each by its own spring 
 or on its own fortified hill, independent of its neighbors, 
 under its own king. The overlordship of Egypt had 
 now ceased. Rameses III had successfully met a great 
 invasion of Syria and Palestine from Asia Minor; the 
 Philistines, with their families and household goods follow- 
 ing them in ox-carts, and their ships accompanying them 
 along the shore, had been turned back from attacking 
 Egypt itself. But after Rameses III came nine other 
 Pharaohs of that name, during a period of eighty years, 
 each one more incompetent than his predecessor. It was 
 probably in the midst of this time of Egyptian weakness 
 that the Hebrews came. The Palestinian kings could ex- 
 pect no help from Pharaoh. Under the king of Jerusalem 
 they combined to meet the Israelites in a general battle. 
 
 The place was the Pass of Beth-horon. So long was the 
 conflict and so decisive the victory that in the war-songs 
 of the book of Joshua it was said that the sun and moon 
 stood still to watch it. 
 
 Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, 
 
 And thou, Moon, in the vaUey of Ajalon. 
 
 And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, 
 
 Until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. 
 
 According to one account (Joshua 10:17-27) the king 
 of Jerusalem and his royal allies were shut up in a cave, 
 whence they were brought after the battle, that the cap- 
 tains of Israel might set their feet upon their neck, and 
 
54 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 then were hanged. According to what looks Hke another 
 account (Judges i : 5-8), Adonibezek, king of Jerusalem, 
 being captured, they cut off his thumbs and great toes. 
 This he acknowledged as an act of justice. '' Threescore 
 and ten kings," he said, ^' having their thumbs and great 
 toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table : as I have 
 done, so hath God requited me." Then they brought 
 him to Jerusalem, where he died, and they smote the city 
 with the sword and burned it. 
 
 5. The Progress of the Conquest. Joshua 11, Judges 
 I, 2. — The boast of Adonibezek may indicate a state of 
 civil strife which had weakened the cities of Canaan, and 
 made the progress of invasion possible. The fact, however, 
 that Jerusalem continued in the possession of its ow^n 
 people (Judges 1:21) and was not taken by the Israelites 
 till the time of David (II Samuel 5 : 6-9) shows that the 
 conquest which began so brilliantly proceeded very slowly 
 and imperfectly. In the book of Joshua the victorious 
 army defeats the southern kings of Canaan at the battle 
 of Beth-horon, and the northern kings at the battle of 
 Merom (Joshua 11), and thus subdues the whole land, 
 which they then divide among the tribes. 
 
 But the first two chapters of the book of Judges record 
 not only the successes but the failures of the long cam- 
 paign. " The Lord was with Judah, and he drove out the 
 inhabitants of the mountains ; but he could not drive out 
 the inhabitants of the valley because they had chariots of 
 iron." The tribe of Judah captured Hebron, and the tribe 
 of Joseph captured Bethel : thus two of the ancient shrines 
 fell into the hands of the invaders. But Manasseh could 
 not take Taanach or Megiddo ; " the Canaanite would 
 dwell in that land." Neither did Ephraim take the strong- 
 
THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN 55 
 
 hold of Gezer. Neither did Zebulum, nor Asher, nor 
 Naphtali succeed in their endeavors. The Amorites 
 forced the tribe of Dan into the mountain ; they would not 
 suffer them to come down to the valley. 
 
 The Israelites settled in the land as they were able. 
 Some places they destroyed, from some they were driven 
 away, in others they settled beside the people of the land. 
 They entered into the experience of other like invaders 
 who come among nations more civilized than themselves. 
 They learned much from the ancient cities, some of it good, 
 some of it bad. They ceased to be a desert people, 
 wandering from place to place, and began to till the ground 
 and to live in towns. They were attracted not only by the 
 civilized manners and customs but by the religion of their 
 neighbors. They turned out of the way which their fathers 
 had walked in, and bowed down to the gods of the land. 
 
 Joshua died, and all that generation passed away, " and 
 there arose another generation which knew not the Lord, 
 nor yet the works which he had done for Israel." " The 
 Israelites dwelt among the Canaanites, and they took their 
 daughters as wives, and gave their own daughters to their 
 sons, and served their gods." 
 
X 
 
 THE HEROIC AGE 
 
 I. The Land and the Tribes. Ge7iesis 49, Deuteron- 
 omy 33. — Two poems, the Blessing of Jacob (Genesis 49) 
 and the Blessing of Moses (Deuteronomy 2>^), describe the 
 settled tribes. In the Blessing of Jacob, the longest pas- 
 sages concern the fortunes of Joseph and of Judah. 
 These two occupied the central and southern portions of 
 the land, having the little tribe of Benjamin between them. 
 
 The tribe of Joseph, descended from his two sons, 
 Ephraim and Manasseh, settled south of the plain of 
 Esdraelon, in the district which included the holy places 
 of Shechem and Bethel. The tribe of Judah settled west 
 of the Dead Sea, in the district which included the holy 
 place of Hebron. South of them was the tribe of Simeon, 
 of which the Blessing of Jacob says, " I will divide them in 
 Jacob and scatter them in Israel " ; and of which the 
 Blessing of Moses makes no mention. This tribe was ab- 
 sorbed in Judah, including the shrine of Beersheba, the 
 southernmost place in the Promised Land. Dan, by the 
 sources of the Jordan, was the northernmost. 
 
 An interesting account is given (Judges 17, 18) of the 
 manner in which a part of the tribe of Dan took possession 
 of their lands in the north. Six hundred men with weapons 
 of war fell upon the unsuspecting Phoenician town of 
 Laish and captured it. On their way through the terri- 
 tory of Ephraim, they had stolen from a man named Micah 
 
 S6 
 
THE HEROIC AGE 57 
 
 his family priest Jonathan, of the tribe of Levi. Jonathan's 
 father was Gershom. His grandfather, according to the 
 King James Version, was Manasseh, but according to the 
 Revised Version, Moses (Judges 18:30). This grandson 
 of Moses (Exodus 2:22) was serving Micah's shrine, which 
 was adorned with molten images. The tribe of Dan took 
 the images with the priest and established the worship of 
 God, in this form, in their new home. 
 
 In the neighborhood of Dan, north of the plain of 
 Esdraelon, were Asher and Zebulun, and Naphtali and 
 Issachar by the Lake of Galilee. 
 
 Reuben, Gad and part of the tribe of Manasseh remained 
 on the east of the Jordan. 
 
 The tribe of Levi, which is described in the Blessing of 
 Jacob as scattered with Simeon, is exalted with praise in 
 the Blessing of Moses. But they had no land. It was ap- 
 pointed to them to live in the cities of their brethren 
 (Joshua 21). 
 
 2. Deborah and the Canaanites. Judges 4, 5. — The 
 divided tribes were surrounded on every side by enemies. 
 In the south were roving Amalekites and Ishmaelites. 
 On the west in the fertile plains by the sea, were the 
 Philistines over against Judah and Benjamin ; and north 
 of them the Phoenicians, up to Tyre and Sidon. On the 
 east, in the desert, were Ammonites and Midianites ; and 
 south of them the old enemies of Israel, Moab and Edom. 
 A great part of all the central portion of the country, 
 especially including the plain of Esdraelon, continued 
 in the strong hands of the Canaanites. 
 
 Among the first to attack their new neighbors were the 
 men of Moab, who came across the fords at Jericho and 
 levied tribute upon Benjamin. But Ehud, a left-handed 
 
S8 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 Benjamite, who brought the tribute, assassinated Eglon, 
 king of Moab, and delivered his people (Judges 3 : 12-30). 
 Ephraim arose to the aid of Benjamin, at the sound of 
 Ehud's trumpet, and they held the fords. 
 
 The strength of the Canaanites had successfully resisted 
 the shock of the Israelite invasion. Holding Esdraelon, 
 they separated the northern from the central tribes, and 
 seemed likely to reduce the Hebrews in that part of the 
 country to the slavery which their forefathers had endured 
 in Egypt. The men of Israel did not dare to appear upon 
 the highways; among their forty thousand warriors was 
 neither sword nor shield. If the victory of the waters of 
 Merom (Joshua 11 : 1-14) had been fought already, all its 
 advantages had been lost, but the description may be only 
 another version of the triumphant uprising under Deborah 
 and Barak. 
 
 These two, Deborah the prophetess and Barak the cap- 
 tain, rallied the scattered forces of the tribes. She was 
 of Ephraim, he was of Naphtali. They were joined by 
 men from Benjamin and Issachar and Zebulun. Two 
 accounts are given of the battle, one in prose and one in 
 poetry. The Song of Deborah is commonly believed by 
 scholars to be contemporary with the event. The battle- 
 field was the wide plain. Barak rushing down from Mount 
 Tabor encountered Sisera and his nine hundred chariots 
 of iron. A storm of wind and rain flooded the plain and 
 made the chariots useless. The stars in their courses 
 fought against Sisera. Barak was overwhelmingly vic- 
 torious. Sisera seeking refuge in a tent of the clan of the 
 Kenites was slain by Jael. This decisive battle made the 
 Israelites masters of the land. It was the crisis of the con- 
 quest. 
 
THE HEROIC AGE 59 
 
 3. Gideon and the Midianites. Judges 6-9. — The 
 Israelites were rulers of the central parts of Palestine, 
 and held the fertile plain of Esdraelon, but they could not 
 reap their harvests. Out of the eastern deserts came the 
 Midianites and spoiled the farms. They were driven 
 away at last by Gideon. 
 
 Gideon was of the tribe of Manasseh. His brothers 
 had been killed by these robbers and he arose to avenge 
 their blood. His first act was to reassert the religion of 
 Israel, by breaking down an altar of Baal. Men gathered 
 about him, a great company, out of whom he chose three 
 hundred. The sign of a fleece of wool, one night wet with 
 dew, another night dry, assured him of the help of God. 
 He equipped his men with trumpets and torches and 
 pitchers, and they came upon the Midianites by night, as 
 they slept after their successful plundering. The sudden 
 crash of broken pitchers, the flare of flaming torches, the 
 shout of men with trumpets, frightened the Midianites, 
 and they fled in a panic. With the slaughter of their 
 chiefs Gideon avenged his brothers, and with the spoils 
 of the battle he made a molten image, which he set up in 
 his native town of Ophrah, near Shechem. 
 
 There Gideon established a little kingdom, being suc- 
 ceeded by his son Abimelech (Judges 9). The son, how- 
 ever, was unworthy of his father. His bad end was pre- 
 dicted at the beginning of his career by his brother Jotham 
 in the fable of the Trees and the Bramble. He succeeded 
 in putting down an insurrection of the men of Shechem, 
 but at a siege of the town of Thebez a woman cast a piece 
 of a millstone upon him from the tower, and killed him. 
 
 4. Jephthah and the Ammonites. Judges 10-12. — 
 Meanwhile the tribes on the east of the Jordan were suffer- 
 
6o OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 ing from the incursions of the Ammonites. In desperation, 
 they appointed a dictator, Jephthah, the chief of a band of 
 outlaws. He Hved in Gilead. Jephthah brought with 
 him his band of fighting men, and demanded of the Am- 
 monites that they should cease their attacks. The Am- 
 monites replied that the land in which the Israelites had 
 settled was their land, and that they intended to take it 
 back again. Jephthah answered, " You have the land 
 which Chemosh your God has given you, and we have the 
 land which Jehovah our God has given us ; and we propose 
 to keep it." This was the beginning of a war. Jephthah, 
 as he went to battle, made a vow that if God would give 
 him victory, he would sacrifice the first living thing which 
 should meet him on his return. He won the victory, but 
 the first living thing which met him was his daughter. 
 
 Dissension had early appeared between the tribes on the 
 east and the tribes on the west of the Jordan. The western 
 tribes had protested against an altar which the eastern 
 tribes had built (Joshua 22 : 9-31), fearing that it was the 
 symbol of a separation in religion. That difference had 
 been fraternally settled, but the conquests of Jephthah 
 aroused again the old suspicious jealousy. The tribe 
 of Ephraim complained because Jephthah had not called 
 them with him into battle. They feared the erection of a 
 rival kingdom. By way of answer, Jephthah's Gileadites 
 seized all the Ephraimites whom they could find, and slew 
 them at the fords of the river. When they were in doubt 
 they made the men pronounce the word " Shibboleth." 
 If they said " Sibboleth," they knew that they belonged to 
 Ephraim. 
 
 5. Samson and the Philistines. Judges 13-16. — Of all 
 the foes of Israel in the days of their settlement in Canaan, 
 
THE HEROIC AGE 6i 
 
 the Philistines were the most persistent. They had in- 
 vaded the land from the west, coming out of Asia Minor, 
 about the time when the Hebrews were invading from the 
 east. A contention between the two peoples was inevi- 
 table. In the early stages of this strife Samson played his 
 mischievous pranks. His adventures seem to have been 
 undertaken more for his own amusement than for the good 
 of his country, and he was probably as lacking in religion 
 as he was in morals, but the stories of his exploits afforded 
 unending merriment. The riddle of the Lion and the Bees, 
 the tying of the firebrands in the foxes' tails, the slaughter 
 with the jawbone of an ass, the carrying-off of the gates 
 of Gaza, the betrayal of the giant by his mistress Delilah, 
 and the pulling down of the Philistine temple on the 
 heads of his enemies, were told by fathers to their children, 
 and recited in the midst of loud laughter beside the camp- 
 fires of Israel. 
 
XI 
 
 THE SERVICE OF SAMUEL 
 
 I. The Capture of th<e Ark. / Samuel 4-7. — The 
 territory of the Philistines extended along the Mediter- 
 ranean coast from Phoenicia in the north to Egypt in the 
 south, between the central uplands and the sea. They 
 had five fortified cities : Ekron and Gath in the northeast 
 by the hills ; Askelon, Gaza and Ashdod in the southwest 
 by the coast. From them the whole land came to be called 
 Palestine, the country of the Philistines. 
 
 In the conflict between the Philistines of the plains and 
 the Israelites of the hills the plains people had the advan- 
 tage of being united ; the hills people had the disadvantage 
 of being divided. The valleys separated hill from hill, 
 and town from town. Each individual tribe followed its 
 own leader and attended to its own interests. The cam- 
 paigns of the age of the judges were local wars. There was 
 as yet no nation. 
 
 In a battle which was fought near Shechem the Israel- 
 ites were beaten with much loss of life. They endeavored 
 to save their fortunes by reinforcing themselves with super- 
 natural strength. Not content to pray for help, they sent 
 for the sacred ark that thereby they might bring the 
 might of God into the midst of the battle. The ark of the 
 covenant was kept at Shiloh, where Eli was its guardian. 
 He was an old man, and could not go with the ark into the 
 
 62 
 
THE SERVICE OF SAMUEL 63 
 
 battle. His two sons who carried it were unworthy per- 
 sons whose conduct had long been a scandal. In spite of 
 the presence of the ark, the Philistines were again victorious. 
 Israel was defeated, the two sons of EU were slain, and 
 the ark itself was taken. When the bad news came to 
 Eli he fell backward off the bench on which he sat, and 
 died. 
 
 But the ark, as it was borne in triumph from one Philis- 
 tine city to another, was accompanied by pestilence. At 
 Ashdod the terror of the people was increased by the falling 
 of the image of the god Dagon, in whose temple the ark 
 was placed. From Ashdod the ark was carried to Gath, 
 from Gath to Ekron, In every place there was a deadly 
 destruction throughout the city. 
 
 At last the dangerous trophy was sent back. The five 
 golden boils and the five golden mice, which were placed 
 upon it as an offering from the Philistines, suggest that the 
 disease was the bubonic plague. Even in Israel, at Beth- 
 shemesh, death seemed to come with the ark. From Beth- 
 shemesh it was sent to Earjath-jearim. There it found an 
 abiding place in the house of Abinadab in the hill, where 
 Eleazar his son became its guardian. 
 
 2. The Leadership of Samuel. / Samuel 1-3. — The ark 
 was returned, but the Philistines were supreme. They 
 held the Israelites in subjection. It is significant of the 
 situation that they shut up every blacksmith's shop in 
 the land of Israel (I Samuel 13 : 19, 20). The Hebrews, as 
 in the days of Deborah, had neither sword nor spear. 
 Even their ploughshares and their axes they must carry 
 down to the Philistines to be sharpened. Not only the 
 political but the religious existence of Israel was in peril, 
 for Jehovah seemed to have abandoned His people. The 
 
64 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 ark was hidden in the woods of Kirjath-jearim, and the 
 gods of the Philistines seemed to have subdued the Lord 
 who brought the tribes from Egypt. 
 
 In this crisis, the Israehtes were saved by the leader- 
 ship of Samuel. Samuel had been brought up from 
 childhood under the instruction of Eli, beside the ark at 
 Shiloh. Hannah his mother had dedicated him from his 
 birth to the service of the Lord. As he grew up, it became 
 plain to wise people that the Lord spoke to Samuel as 
 He had spoken of old to Abraham, to Jacob, to Moses 
 and to Joshua. 
 
 Two accounts, following two ancient traditions, are 
 given of the service which was rendered by Samuel in the 
 guidance of the people. They agree that the need of the 
 time in the face of Philistine oppression was such a union 
 of the tribes as was possible only under the strong rule 
 of a king. In one account (I Samuel 9 : 15-17) this need 
 was first seen by Samuel. In a later account (I Samuel 
 8; 10:17-19; 12), written after the kings had disappointed 
 the nation, and had proved to be oppressors themselves, 
 the demand arose among the people, and was granted by 
 Samuel reluctantly. 
 
 By whomsoever suggested, whether by the people or 
 by the prophet, the necessity was imperative. The di- 
 vided tribes must be brought together. The independ- 
 ence which was congenial with the free life of the wilder- 
 ness, and was fostered by the scattering of the people 
 among the hills, must give way to a central organization. 
 In this movement, Samuel, whether summoned by the 
 voice of God or by the voice of the people, was the di- 
 vinely chosen leader. His mission was to find and ap- 
 point a king. 
 
THE SERVICE OF SAMUEL 65 
 
 3. Samuel and Saul. / Samuel g, 10. — One day a 
 
 man of the tribe of Benjamin, seeking for a drove of asses 
 which had strayed from his father's farm, came to Ramah, 
 where Samuel lived. He sought out Samuel, his only 
 thought being that the prophet could tell him where to 
 look for his lost property. But Samuel, at the same time, 
 was looking for Saul. When he came in sight the prophet 
 perceived in this tall, sturdy person, standing head and 
 shoulders above his neighbors, the man who should be 
 king. He conferred with him, and solemnly consecrated 
 him, declaring to him by the symbol of the anointing oil 
 that he was called of God to undertake the salvation of 
 the people. 
 
 This summons Saul received with mingled emotions. 
 At first, in the enthusiasm of the vision of the great task, 
 he visited the " sons of the prophets," companies of men 
 filled with a fervor which was both patriotic and religious, 
 who prayed night and day in an excitement of spirit 
 which was stimulated by the sound of music. Such so- 
 cieties appear again in the time of Elijah (I Kings 18 : 4; 
 II Kings 2:3, 5) when the religion of Israel was in peril 
 before the religion of Baal. They represent a sense of 
 crisis, an appeal to Jehovah to save His people out of 
 unusual dangers which threaten either their faith or their 
 existence. With these prophets, Saul allied himself. 
 
 But later, when Samuel came to Mizpah and called 
 the people together to proclaim the king, Saul hid him- 
 self. And when he was brought forth and publicly de- 
 clared to be leader of the tribes, and the people shouted 
 '' God Save the King," even then he assumed no royal 
 state nor authority, and took no command over his neigh- 
 bors. He did not summon an army against the Philis- 
 
66 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 tines. He returned quietly to his usual occupation, and 
 went on with the ploughing of his farm. 
 
 Indeed, it was plain that the people in general were 
 not ready for united action. The northern tribes were not 
 affected by the Philistine oppression ; and even in Judah 
 and Benjamin, while there went with Saul a band of men 
 " whose hearts God had touched," there were others who 
 said: "How shall this man save us? Shall Saul reign 
 over us? " For Saul had as yet done no deed of valor. 
 He was commended only by his good looks, and by the 
 approval of Samuel. They despised him. But he held 
 his peace. 
 
XII 
 
 THE REIGN OF SAUL 
 
 I. The Relief of Jabesh. / Samuel ii. — Saul began to 
 be the king of Israel in fact as well as in name by calling 
 the tribes to a united fraternal action. Across the Jor- 
 dan in Gilead, the town of Jabesh was attacked by the 
 Ammonites. These enemies, driven away by Jephthah, 
 had returned and were surrounding Jabesh with a siege so 
 bitter and complete that the garrison was compelled to 
 ask for terms of peace. The reply was that the lives of 
 the besieged should be spared on one condition only: 
 that the victors might thrust out the right eyes of all the 
 vanquished. 
 
 Saul was coming home from the ploughing, driving his 
 oxen before him, when he was met by messengers from 
 Jabesh, crying that they had three days' respite before 
 this fate should fall upon them. He took immediate 
 action. Hewing a yoke of oxen in pieces, he sent the 
 bloody fragments throughout the land of Israel, with this 
 word : '' Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after 
 Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen." It is significant 
 that no appeal Vv^as made to patriotism or to the spirit of 
 brotherhood. The divided clans, each considering its own 
 interest, could be touched only by the frank threat of 
 personal injury. The names of the tribes who responded 
 to the summons are not given, but an army was assembled, 
 
 67 
 
68 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 a rapid march was made, the Ammonites, surprised in the 
 midst of the morning watch, were attacked and scattered 
 and the siege was raised. 
 
 At Gilgal by the fords of the Jordan, where Joshua 
 had set up the twelve stones from the river in memory of 
 the entrance of the people into the Promised Land (Joshua 
 4: 19-24), they made Saul king indeed. With the sacri- 
 fice of peace-offerings, and with great rejoicing, they 
 entered into a new era of their history, the era of the kings. 
 2. The Battle of the Pass of Michmash. / Samuel 
 13 : 1-14 : 46. — In the strength of this victory, the 
 king undertook the work to which he had been called. 
 He attacked the Philistines. 
 
 The first blow was struck by Saul's son Jonathan. 
 There was a garrison of the Philistines in Gibeah, where 
 Saul lived. Jonathan attacked them. The history 
 does not say whether the attack was successful or unsuc- 
 cessful, but it records the fact that the Philistines took it as 
 the beginning of a revolution. " The Hebrews," they said, 
 " have revolted." The report was confirmed by the blare 
 of trumpets, calling the Israelites together. The Philis- 
 tines gathered a great army to put down the rebellion of 
 the Hebrews, — chariots and horsemen, and people, like 
 the sand on the seashore. As for the Israelites, they hid 
 themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in 
 high places, and in pits. Some of them fled over the 
 Jordan to the land of Gilead. Saul had only six hundred 
 men, and they followed him trembling. 
 
 A passage in the narrative (13 : 8-14) seems to imply 
 that in this crisis the young king was forsaken even by the 
 prophet who appointed him. Samuel had agreed to come 
 to Saul in seven days. The days passed, and he did not 
 
THE REIGN OF SAUL 69 
 
 come, and meanwhile the Philistines were advancing, while 
 Saul's soldiers were deserting. There was no time to 
 wait for the courtesies of precedence. Saul offered the 
 customary sacrifices, preparing to go into battle. Then 
 Samuel came and reproved him, and told him that on 
 account of his disobedience his kingdom should not con- 
 tinue. Already, he said, the Lord has found a man after 
 His own heart to be the captain over His people. But 
 this incident belongs to a later chapter. The scene is 
 Gilgal, not Gibeah where Saul was preparing for the 
 battle, and the time is after the choice of David to be king 
 instead of Saul. The narrative reads straight on, passing 
 from the seventh to the sixteenth verse of the thirteenth 
 chapter. The intervening passage may be a version of 
 that rejection of Saul which took place after his war with 
 Amalek (I Samuel 15). 
 
 The Philistines assembled over against Gibeah, at 
 Michmash. Saul's six hundred trembling soldiers, across 
 the deep ravine, were armed only with the mattocks, 
 the forks and the axes with which they tilled the ground 
 and felled the trees. Saul and Jonathan alone had swords 
 and shields. But the Philistines were overconfident. 
 They were so sure of easy victory that three portions of 
 their army went off in different directions on plundering 
 expeditions. 
 
 At this moment, Jonathan with his armor-bearer at- 
 tacked the remaining garrison. The two men climbed 
 the steep side of the pass, and fell upon the enemy with 
 such boldness and fury that they seemed the vanguard of 
 an army. The enemy were thrown into a panic, and 
 began to flee. The Israelites arose from their hiding- 
 places and pursued them. Saul with his little army came 
 
70 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 hastening after. Jonathan's splendid adventure ended 
 in a total rout of the oppressors. 
 
 An unhappy incident dimmed the glory of the great 
 day. Saul had made the soldiers take a vow to taste no 
 food till the enemy should be destroyed : whoever touched 
 food was to be put to death. Jonathan, not knowing 
 that such a vow was made, ate some wild honey. Then 
 the sun went down, and the hungry people flew upon the 
 spoil. But when Saul proposed to continue the pursuit 
 of the Philistines by night, and asked counsel of God 
 whether to go or stay, the oracle returned no answer. It 
 was plain that some offence had been committed. 
 Lots were drawn to discover the offender, and the lot fell 
 on Jonathan. And Jonathan confessed that he had trans- 
 gressed in ignorance of the king's command. " I did 
 but taste a little honey," he said, " and lo, I must die.'* 
 And Saul answered, " God do so and more also, for thou 
 shalt surely die, Jonathan." The whole incident — the 
 vow, the silent oracle, the readiness to offer human sac- 
 rifice — shows that the conditions are those of primitive 
 civilization. But the people prevented the sacrifice of 
 Jonathan. " Shall Jonathan die, who hath wrought 
 this great salvation in Israel ? God forbid. As the Lord 
 liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the 
 ground : for he hath wrought with God this day." Thus 
 they read the will of God not in the oracle but in the 
 battle, in the actual facts of life. 
 
 3. The Wars of Saul. / Samuel 14:47, 48; 15. — ■ 
 Saul fought battles, which are mentioned but not de- 
 scribed, against Moab and Ammon and Edom, the hostile 
 neighbors across the Jordan, and against the Philistines. 
 *' Whithersoever he turned himself, he vexed them." The 
 
THE REIGN OF SAUL 71 
 
 little kingdom knew no peace. On every side were ene- 
 mies. 
 
 In the south were the Amalekites. " Go and smite 
 Amalek," said Samuel, " and utterly destroy all that 
 they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and 
 woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass." 
 This he believed to be the will of God. The words are 
 like a date showing how far the people of Israel had come 
 in civilization and religion. It is one of the milestones 
 which mark that moral progress of which the Bible is 
 a record. Saul disobeyed the command of Samuel. He 
 destroyed only the property which had no value. He 
 took the sheep and oxen, and made Agag, king of the 
 Amalekites, a prisoner. Samuel came out to meet him. 
 '' What meaneth," he said, " this bleating of the sheep 
 in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear ? " 
 Saul said that he had brought them home for sacrifice. 
 Samuel cried, " Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt 
 offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the 
 Lord? " He himself took Agag, and with his own hands 
 hewed him in pieces. Then he turned away in deep anger, 
 declaring that the Lord had rejected Saul from being king. 
 
 4. The Battle of Mount Gilboa. / Samuel 28, 31, 
 I Chronicles 10. — The campaign against Amalek was but 
 an incident in the wars of Saul ; the continued contest was 
 with the Philistines. " There was sore war against the 
 Philistines all the days of Saul." Sometimes there was 
 victory, especially after Saul, in his search for strong and 
 valiant men, had found young David. Then the women 
 came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, 
 to meet King Saul, with tabrets, with Joy and with in- 
 struments of music. But there were defeats also, and the 
 
72 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 Philistines grew stronger and stronger. At last, they 
 made ready a great army to bring the Israelites back into 
 their old bondage. And Saul perceived that he was out- 
 numbered by his enemies. The Philistines marched along 
 the plain of Esdraelon, thus parting the tribes of the north 
 from the tribes of the south, and making it impossible 
 for Saul to assemble the united strength of the people. 
 He took up his position in the southeastern part of the 
 plain, on the slopes of Mount Gilboa. 
 
 On the night before the battle, as he waited with his 
 trembling army for what seemed sure defeat, Saul dis- 
 guised himself and sought out a woman of Endor, who 
 still continued in the old pagan religion of the place, and 
 was called a witch. He desired her to summon the spirit 
 of Samuel from the regions of the dead. This she agreed 
 to do. " I see him ! " she cried in the darkness, '' I see 
 a god coming up out of the earth." Saul said, '' What is 
 his appearance?" The woman answered, "It is the 
 form of an old man, covered with a mantle." And Saul 
 said to Samuel, " God is departed from me. He answers 
 me no more, neither by prophets nor by dreams. What 
 shall I do? " And Samuel answered (or was said by the 
 woman to answer), " The Lord will deliver Israel into 
 the hand of the Philistines. To-morrow thou and thy 
 sons shall be with me." 
 
 Then the morrow came, and the battle was joined. 
 The Philistines fought and the men of Israel fled, and 
 Saul was wounded by the archers. According to one 
 report (I Samuel 31 : 1-6) he begged his armor-bearer to 
 put him to death, and, when he refused, fell upon his own 
 sword, and so escaped the tortures of the enemy. Ac- 
 cording to another report (II Samuel i : i-io) Saul called 
 
THE REIGN OF SAUL 73 
 
 to a passing Amalekite to slay him ; and this the Amalekite 
 did, taking away with him the crown that was upon Saul's 
 head and the bracelet that was upon his arm. 
 
 In one way or another the first king of Israel came to 
 the end of his life. The Philistines finding him dead, and 
 his three sons dead beside him, cut off his head, sent 
 pieces of his armor to their five towns as trophies, and 
 fastened his body and the bodies of his sons to the wall of 
 Bethshan. But the men of Jabesh heard what had be- 
 fallen the man who had saved their right eyes, and cer- 
 tain among them arose and went all night and took the 
 bodies from the wall and gave them decent burial at 
 Jabesh. 
 
XIII 
 THE RISE OF DAVID 
 
 I. David the Giant-Killer. / Samuel 17-21. — When 
 Samuel withdrew his approval from Saul, he sought for a 
 man after the Lord's own heart whom he might make king 
 in Saul's place, and found him in the person of David. 
 
 David lived at Bethlehem, where his ancestors had 
 owned land for several generations. He was descended 
 from Boaz, a rich farmer of that neighborhood, and Ruth 
 his wife who had come from Moab to Bethlehem with 
 Naomi her mother-in-law. The romantic story of their 
 marriage is told in the book which bears her name (Ruth 
 
 1-4). _ 
 
 David's father was Jesse. There were older brothers, 
 and three nephews, Joab and Asahel and Abishai, sons of 
 an older sister. David grew up in this family of sturdy 
 youths. His work was to tend the sheep, defending them 
 from lions and bears. There he was found by Samuel, 
 who came to Bethlehem, looked carefully at seven sons 
 of Jesse and passed them by, and sent for the youngest 
 son who sat among the sheep. So David came, a lad of 
 a beautiful countenance, ruddy and goodly to look to, 
 and on him the prophet poured the consecrated oil. 
 
 The historian has preserved two different accounts of 
 the first appearance of David at the court of Saul. In 
 one account (I Samuel 16 : 14-23) he appears as a minstrel, 
 
 74 
 
THE RISE OF DAVID 75 
 
 playing on a harp for the relief of the king in a sickness of 
 his mind. Saul had begun to be afflicted with epilepsy, 
 or insanity, and the music soothed him. David would 
 take the harp and play with his hand, and the evil spirit 
 would pass away from Saul. In another account (I Samuel 
 17 : 55-58) David appears as a champion, coming from the 
 farm with provision for his brothers in the army, and of- 
 fering to fight the Philistine giant, Goliath. After the 
 duel, Saul says to Abner, "Whose son is this youth?" 
 and Abner answers, " As thy soul liveth, King, I cannot 
 tell." The explanation of this ignorance is that two in- 
 dependent and quite different traditions are recorded side 
 by side. 
 
 Coming thus from the sheepfold to the court, and slay- 
 ing the giant of whom all the men of Israel were afraid, 
 David became a popular hero. The king gave him a 
 command in the Philistine war, and there he so distin- 
 guished himself that presently the women were singing 
 in their songs of victory, " Saul hath slain his thou- 
 sands and David his ten thousands." Under any cir- 
 cumstances, a king would have resented such an exalting 
 of a captain over himself, but Saul in the disorder of his 
 mind resented it exceedingly. He hated David. Saul 
 had promised that whoever should kill the giant might 
 marry his daughter, and this was very pleasing to the 
 princess Michal, for the young hero had won her heart. 
 But now Saul required that David should first go on a 
 dangerous expedition against the Philistines, hoping that 
 he might lose his life. Back he came, however, in safety 
 and triumph, and they were married. 
 
 One time when the evil spirit was upon Saul, and David 
 played upon the harp to soothe him, he threw his spear 
 
76 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 at him, trying to kill him. Another time, he sent mes- 
 sengers to David's house to kill him, but Michal let him 
 down through a window, and he escaped. 
 
 In the midst of the jealousy and hatred of the king, 
 David had a steadfast friend in the king's son, Jonathan. 
 Jonathan tried to make peace between his father and his 
 friend, but to no purpose. For a moment Saul relented, 
 but his sickness came upon him again, or new praises of 
 David again aroused him, and when Jonathan took David's 
 part, Saul threw his spear even at him. The two friends 
 met in secret in a field, and exchanged vows of everlasting 
 loyalty, and David betook himself to flight to save his 
 life. Even the priests who fed the fugitive and gave him 
 the sword of Goliath, Saul put to death. 
 
 2. David the Outlaw. / Samuel 22-27; 29, 30. — So 
 David became an outlaw. At first he sought refuge 
 among the Philistines, with Achish, king of Gath. But it 
 was remembered against him how the women said 
 " David hath slain his ten thousands," and David had 
 to pretend to be a madman in order to escape. He scrab- 
 bled upon the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall 
 down upon his beard. Thus they did him no harm, for 
 madmen were considered to be under the special protec- 
 tion of the gods. Thence he went to the cave of Adullam, 
 where other men joined him, and he became a captain 
 over them. They spent their days in fighting, sometimes 
 with the Philistines, sometimes with the Amalekites. 
 They lived on the spoil which they took, and also on the 
 tribute which they collected from farmers and sheep- 
 masters for protecting them from worse brigands than 
 themselves. 
 
 One sheep-master, named Nabal, being drunk when 
 
THE RISE OF DAVID 77 
 
 David's collectors came, and not knowing what he did, 
 refused to pay. " Who is David? " he said, "and who is 
 the son of Jesse? there be many servants nowadays that 
 break away every man from his master." Abigail his 
 wife immediately sent what David had demanded, — 
 loaves of bread, and bottles of wine, and sheep ready 
 dressed, and parched corn, and figs and raisins, — and 
 went herself to turn away the wrath of David. When 
 Nabal came to his right mind and understood what he 
 had done, he was so frightened that he fell sick and died : 
 such was the fear of David and his mighty men in all the 
 countryside. 
 
 Saul pursued David even into the wilderness. The his- 
 tory contains what seem to be two different accounts of 
 how the outlaw had the king in his power and spared 
 him. According to one account, Saul came into the very 
 cave where David chanced to be hidden. The outlaw was 
 so close to the king that he took his sharp sword and cut 
 off the skirt of Saul's robe. Saul went out of the cave 
 not knowing what peril he was in, and David called him, 
 and showed him the piece of the robe in his hand. " See," 
 he said, " the skirt of thy robe in my hand, and I killed 
 thee not; yet thou huntest my soul to take it." And Saul 
 was touched, and gathered his men about him and went 
 home. 
 
 According to the other account, the king and his men 
 slept in their camp. Beside the king slept his captain 
 Abner, and at the king's head was a cruse of water, and 
 his spear stuck in the ground. David and his nephew 
 Abishai went softly among the sleepers and brought 
 away the cruse of water and the spear, and Abishai 
 would have killed Saul where he slept, but David forbade 
 
78 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 him. Then from the side of the hill David called and 
 awoke Abner and the king. " Abner," he cried, '' where 
 is the king's spear, and the cruse of water that was at his 
 bolster? " And Saul, perceiving that David had spared 
 his life, repented of his hatred, and gathered his men about 
 him, and went home. 
 
 At last, weary of this outlaw life and wishing to get 
 beyond the reach of Saul, David obtained from Achish, 
 king of Gath, the town of Ziklag. There he made his 
 headquarters, going out on plundering forages against the 
 Amalekites, while Achish believed that he was attacking 
 the villages of his own people in Judah. Indeed, Achish 
 would have taken David and his men with the Philistine 
 army, which was being mustered for the battle of Mount 
 Gilboa, had not other Philistine chiefs objected. Thus 
 the army marched to the great battle, and David, much 
 to his relief, was left behind. 
 
 3. David and the House of Saul. II Samuel 1-4; 9; 
 16 : 1-4 ; 19 : 24-30 ; 21 : 1-14. — When King Saul fell 
 down slain on Mount Gilboa, a contention arose as to the 
 succession to the throne. The men of Judah acclaimed 
 David, and he was formally anointed king in Hebron. 
 But the men of Ephraim, with Benjamin and the tribes of 
 the north and east, accepted Saul's son Ishbaal as the 
 rightful possessor of his father's plac . His true name 
 was Ishbaal (I Chronicles S: t,^), but in later days, when 
 good men hated even the name of Baal, the historians 
 wrote it Ishbosheth, — bosheth meaning ^' shame " : 
 and so it stands. 
 
 Thus the men of David, having Joab, David's nephew, 
 for their captain, and the men of Ishbosheth, having his 
 cousin Abner for their captain, fell to fighting. From the 
 
THE RISE OF DAVID 79 
 
 first, the fortunes of war were on the side of David. 
 There was a battle by the pool of Gibeon, beginning 
 with a tournament in which twelve champions from the 
 army of Abner fought with twelve champions from the 
 army of Joab. The tournament was indecisive, and the 
 fighting became general. Abner fled and Joab pursued 
 him; and in the flight, Abner, much against his will, 
 killed Joab's brother Asahel. Thus there came into the 
 war the motive of blood revenge. 
 
 At last, Abner, having quarrelled with Ishbosheth, 
 offered his sword and his soldiers to David; but Joab 
 caught him and killed him for the death of Asahel. 
 Thereupon, Ishbosheth having now neither captain nor 
 army, assassins broke in upon him and put him to death, 
 and brought his head to David. Thus ended the en- 
 deavor of the house of Saul to hold the throne of Israel. 
 
 David had no share in these tragedies. He disavowed 
 and publicly lamented the killing of Abner ; and when the 
 assassins of Ishbosbeth brought him the king's head and 
 expected a reward, he rewarded them with the edge of a 
 sharp sword. But by these deeds of violence, David 
 gained the crown. The elders of all the tribes met him at 
 Hebron. " Thou wast our captain," they said, '' even 
 when Saul was king over us." And David made a league 
 with them, and they anointed him to be their king. 
 
XIV 
 
 THE REIGN OF DAVID 
 
 c. 1017-977 
 
 I. The City of David. 1 1 Samuel ^-y, I Chronicles 11-1^; 
 15, 16. — One of the first acts of David on becoming king 
 was to establish a capital city. Saul, like the judges before 
 him, had lived in his native town, and his kingship had 
 been closely connected with his own tribe. It is an in- 
 dication of the genius of David that he chose to set his 
 throne in a new place, which had never belonged to any 
 tribe of Israel. 
 
 The ancient fortress of Jerusalem was still in possession 
 of the Jebusites. So great was the natural strength of the 
 citadel, so steep the walls of rock, so easy the defence, 
 that the garrison defied David with derision. They said 
 that even the blind and lame among them could hold the 
 rock against an army. Joab turned this boast into de- 
 feat. He climbed up by the watercourse, and took the 
 fortress by surprise. 
 
 Thus the new king had a strong city, won by the valor 
 of his own soldiers, standing between the tribe of Judah 
 and the tribe of Benjamin. The capture of this place, 
 and the building of a city on this hill, is one of the deter- 
 mining facts of history, like the founding of Alexandria 
 by Alexander, and of Constantinople by Constantine. 
 
 80 
 
THE REIGN OF DAVID 8i 
 
 Into his new city David brought the ark of God. It 
 was the one common possession of all the tribes, the 
 symbol of their common history. They all knew how 
 Moses had made the ark at Sinai, how the people had 
 borne it through the wilderness, how they had followed it 
 in their battles with Moabites and Amorites, in their 
 passage of the Jordan, in their siege and capture of Jericho. 
 They had lost it, indeed, to the Philistines, but the Phil- 
 istines had been compelled to send it back. Guarded 
 now in the house on the hill among the woods of Kirjath- 
 jearim, it represented the ancient unity of Israel. 
 
 The ark represented also the religion of the nation. 
 And religion, as they understood it was the condition of 
 their national existence. They were surrounded by hos- 
 tile kingdoms each of which had its tribal god, who gave 
 prosperity and victory. The God of Israel was Jehovah ; 
 and of the presence of Jehovah among them the ark was 
 an assurance. In no way could David have done more 
 to make Jerusalem the centre of the united tribes than 
 to bring into it the ark of the Lord. This, accordingly, 
 he did, in the midst of a procession of singers and players 
 upon instruments of music and with the offering of sac- 
 rifices. The sudden death of a man who put out his hand 
 to keep the ark from falling was understood by the 
 people to certify the mysterious sacredness of the ancient 
 chest. 
 
 Thus Jerusalem became the central sanctuary of the 
 nation, the City of God. There David built a palace, made 
 of cedar, and would have built a temple for the ark, but 
 that honor was kept for Solomon his son. 
 
 2. The Wars of David. // Samuel 8, lo, 12:26-31, 
 / Chronicles 14:8-17; 18-20. — In addition to the ad- 
 
 G 
 
82 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 vantage of the possession of a new capital, thus the central 
 city and the central shrine of Israel, David had the strength 
 of a small but loyal army. He had six hundred trained 
 and valiant men on whom he could depend. Many of 
 them had been his companions in the cave of Adullam, and 
 served him because they loved him. They had had ex- 
 perience of adventures. Remembrances still remain in 
 the history of the stories which were told about them: 
 how they fought with giants, and met hosts of the Phil- 
 istines single-handed and were not afraid; how they 
 swam flooded rivers, and encountered lions in pits on snowy 
 days; how three of them broke through the Philistine 
 army to bring David a cup of water from the well by the 
 gate of Bethlehem (II Samuel 21 : 15-22 ; 23 : 8-22). 
 
 This was the army which enabled David to conquer 
 the forces of the house of Saul, and take the throne. It 
 made him the victor in a series of foreign wars. 
 
 The first war was with the Philistines. The battle of 
 Mount Gilboa had made them masters of the land of 
 Israel. To the strife for the crown, they had paid no 
 attention. Whoever won it must be their servant. They 
 were content that David should be the victor, for he was 
 already vassal to Achish, king of Gath. It soon ap- 
 peared, however, that David was bent on independence, 
 and the Philistines appeared with an army in the valley 
 of Rephaim. The historian is so much more interested 
 in persons than in events that little is said about the im- 
 portant fighting which ensued. It appears, however, 
 that the PhiHstines saw so clearly that the battle would 
 be a decisive one that they brought their gods with them. 
 This help proved unavailing, and they fled, leaving the 
 images behind them. The ground was strewn with 
 
THE REIGN OF DAVID Ss 
 
 Baals. A second victory confirmed the first, and the 
 Philistines ceased thereafter to be a menace to Israel. 
 David did not venture, however, to carry his arms into 
 the Philistine country. It was practically settled that 
 the coast belonged to the Philistines, and the hills to Is- 
 rael. The presence of Philistines in David's body-guard 
 (II Samuel 15 : 18) indicates the peace which prevailed. 
 
 A like understanding existed with the Phoenicians. 
 Hiram, king of Tyre, became an ally of David, and sup- 
 plied him with architects and carpenters and masons. 
 
 Thus the kingdom of Israel was bounded on the west 
 by the Phoenicians and Philistines. The conquests of 
 David were made on the east of the Jordan. The Am- 
 monites, having wantonly insulted David's ambassadors, 
 shaving off half their beards, he invaded their country. 
 They called the Syrians to their assistance. David's 
 generals, Joab and Abishai, divided the army. Joab 
 and his soldiers encountered the Syrians, Abishai and his 
 soldiers encountered the Ammonites; both of the com- 
 manders were successful. 
 
 When the Syrians assembled their armies and their 
 allies to avenge this defeat, David met them with another 
 victory, and brought back to Jerusalem the shields of gold 
 which had been borne by the servants of the Syrian king. 
 
 David smote Moab, putting a great number of pris- 
 oners to death. He smote Edom, putting garrisons in 
 all the cities of that land. 
 
 In a final campaign against Ammon, Joab besieged 
 Rabbah the capital, and seized the fortress which pro- 
 tected the supply of water. David completed the capture 
 of the city. He took from the head of an idol there a 
 crown of gold weighing a hundred and forty pounds. 
 
84 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 In the midst was a precious stone which he set in his own 
 crown. He made the Ammonites work for him with 
 saws and picks and axes, and at the brick moulds. 
 
 Thus all the lands east of the Jordan from Mount Her- 
 mon in the north to the eastern branch of the Red Sea 
 in the south were subject to King David or paid him 
 tribute. 
 
 3. The Troubles of David. II Samuel 11, 12; 15-19; 
 20. — In the midst of these victories, David suffered a 
 lamentable defeat. Remiaining in Jerusalem, while Joab 
 was besieging the water-fortress of Rabbah, he saw one 
 day a beautiful woman, named Bathsheba, whom he 
 desired to add to the number of his wives. But Bath- 
 sheba had a husband. His name was Uriah, and he was 
 a soldier in David's army. Thereupon David sent word 
 to Joab to put Uriah in the place where the fighting was 
 fiercest, where he would be likely to be killed. Uriah 
 was killed, as the king intended, and Bathsheba was 
 taken into the palace. 
 
 For these crimes of adultery and murder, the king was 
 / boldly reproved by the prophet Nathan. The parable 
 
 of the Ewe Lamb touched his conscience. He had be- 
 haved himself like other kings of that old time when the 
 world was only beginning to be civilized : as Hanun, king 
 of Ammon, might have behaved, or Hadadezer, king of 
 Syria. It was a brave and most important service which 
 Nathan rendered when he declared that Jehovah hates 
 such wickedness as that. Nathan put Hebrew religion 
 and righteous living together. The one thing which may 
 be said for David is that he perceived that Nathan was 
 right. In humility, and with a penitent heart, he con- 
 fessed that he had sinned. 
 
THE REIGN OF DAVID 85 
 
 Then troubles came by reason of Absalom, one of 
 David's sons. Absalom killed his brother Amnon be- 
 cause of his brutal treatment of his sister. The history- 
 makes it plain that there was still in the veins of the 
 people, even in the royal family, the fierce passions of the 
 desert. Absalom iied from the anger of his father, but 
 was recalled by the persuasions of Joab. Returning, he 
 devoted himself to the undermining of his father's throne. 
 He gathered restless and discontented people about him 
 and made himself so strong that they crowned him king 
 at Hebron, the old capital. The number of those who 
 flocked to join the army of Absalom shows not only the 
 unrest which always exists under a strong government, 
 but also the existence of a feeling that David had taken the 
 crown unlawfully from the house of Saul. So menacing 
 was the advance of Absalom upon Jerusalem, and so un- 
 certain was David whom to trust, that the king abandoned 
 the city, and fled across the Jordan. And as he went an 
 enemy named Shimei stoned him and cursed him, crying, 
 " The Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the 
 house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned." 
 
 The account of the conspiracy is given with such knowl- 
 edge of men and events that we perceive that we are now 
 reading history which was written by the men who were 
 engaged in making it. 
 
 David sought refuge among the loyal tribes in Gilead. 
 Joab was with him. Absalom had as commander in his 
 place an Ishmaelite named Amasa; also he had about 
 him certain false friends who disclosed his plans to David. 
 The rebellion was short-lived. The prince pursued the 
 king his father with an army, and the valor of Amasa was 
 pitted against the veteran experience of Joab. Absalom 
 
86 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 was defeated, and in his retreat became entangled in the 
 thick forest. There Joab found and killed him. 
 
 It was only by he reproaches of Joab that David was 
 recalled from his lamentations over the death of his son. 
 '' I perceive," said Joab, " that if Absalom had lived, 
 and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee 
 well." Even then the king's return was made difficult 
 by the confusion which the rebellion of Absalom had 
 brought upon the land. David was obliged to appeal to 
 his own kinsfolk, the tribe of Judah. In his endeavor 
 to conciliate them, remembering also what hand had slain 
 his son, he promised to make Amasa commander of the 
 army in the place of Joab. 
 
 But when the king came back, brought by the tribe of 
 Judah, all the other tribes were angry. " Why," they 
 said, '' have our brethren the men of Judah stolen thee 
 away? " " We have ten parts in the king," they said to 
 Judah. '' We have more right in David than ye." And 
 Sheba of the tribe of Benjamin put himself at the head of 
 a rebellion. He blew a trumpet and cried, " We have no 
 part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of 
 Jesse. Every man to his tents, O Israel ! " In this crisis, 
 Amasa proved himself incompetent. He moved slowly 
 while the rebels grew steadily stronger. At last, David 
 summoned Abishai, and Abishai brought Joab. Amasa 
 encountered the fate which had befallen Abner: Joab 
 met him with pretended friendship and killed him. Then 
 Sheba's rebellion was speedily put down; and Sheba's 
 head, flung over the wall of a city which Joab was besieg- 
 ing, was the price of peace. 
 
 4. The Psalms of David. — The fame of David as a 
 king has been exceeded by his fame as a poet. Of the 
 
THE REIGN OF DAVID 87 
 
 hundred and fifty psalms collected in the Psalter, seventy- 
 three are attributed to him. Many of these are con- 
 nected with various events in his career : the fifty-first 
 psalm, for example, is said to have been composed after 
 his great sin. These references, however, appear not in 
 the psalms, but in the titles which Jewish scholars pre- 
 fixed to them for reasons which are unknown to us. It is 
 known that David played upon the harp. It is known 
 also that he composed and sang a song of lamentation 
 over the defeat and death of Saul and Jonathan (II Sam- 
 uel 1 : 17-27), though in this song there is no note of 
 religion. The history contains a long hymn ascribed to 
 David (II Samuel 22), filled with the spirit of religion, 
 which appears again as the eighteenth psalm. In the 
 tradition of his people it was he who first in a great way 
 used music and verse in the worship of God. The oldest 
 collection of Hebrew lyrical poetry, added to through 
 centuries to make the Psalter as we have it, bore his 
 name (Psalms 72 : 20). 
 
XV 
 
 THE REIGN OF SOLOMON 
 
 c. 977-937 
 
 I. The Accession of Solomon. / Kings i, 2. — 
 Bathsheba's son, Solomon, became king before the death 
 of his father. This was in consequence of the conspiracy 
 of Adonijah. 
 
 The death of Absalom left Adonijah the oldest of the 
 sons of David. He resented the promise which David had 
 made to Bathsheba that her son should be his successor. 
 Accordingly, he gathered friends about him, as Absalom 
 had done, and when he felt that all was ready he as- 
 sembled them at a banquet and they acclaimed him king. 
 But word of these proceedings came to the prophet Nathan, 
 and he hurried with Bathsheba to the presence of David, 
 now aged and infirm. David, aroused by these tidings, 
 instructed Nathan and Zadok the priest to anoint and 
 acclaim Solomon. This sudden action broke up the 
 conspiracy, and the leaders, among whom were Joab and 
 the priest Abiathar, fled for safety. 
 
 Then Solomon was made king, and David died in peace, 
 in a good old age, full of days, having lived to the end of 
 his desire. 
 
 The first act of Solomon was to secure his throne by 
 putting to death the men who had conspired against him. 
 
 88 
 
THE REIGN OF SOLOMON 89 
 
 Finding an occasion against his brother Adonijah, he 
 sent Benaiah, the captain of his body-guard, to slay him. 
 By the same hand he struck down the aged Joab, who had 
 made the reign of David possible : Joab, who by suppress- 
 ing the house of Saul had put David on the throne, who by 
 his own might had taken Jerusalem, and given David his 
 capital, who had fought with success against all the enemies 
 of Israel, who had put down the rebellion of Absalom and 
 the rebellion of Sheba. He was killed at the altar where he 
 had taken refuge. Abiathar the priest, who had stood by 
 David since the days of the cave of Adullam, Solomon 
 deposed and sent to his home at Anathoth. Opportunity 
 was found to kill Shimei, who had stoned David at the 
 time of his flight from Absalom. Thus after the manner 
 of the age, he rid himself of his adversaries. 
 
 2. The Splendor of Solomon. / Kings 4-10, // 
 Chronicles 1-8; 9 : 13-31. — Solomon was contented with 
 the extent of the dominions of his father. Undertaking 
 no wars, he directed his energies toward increasing the 
 wealth and luxury of his court. He divided the land into 
 twelve provinces, disregarding the ancient boundaries of 
 the tribes, and made each province responsible for the 
 maintenance of his royal household for one month. Thirty 
 measures of fine flour, and sixty measures of meal, ten 
 oxen from the stalls and twenty from the pastures, a 
 hundred sheep, besides deer and fatted fowl, was the pro- 
 vision for one day. 
 
 The king delighted in building. In the north, above the 
 Sea of Galilee, he fortified Hazor. He strengthened the 
 fortress of Megiddo, commanding the plain of Esdraelon, 
 and the fortresses of Gezer and Beth-horon, commanding 
 the passes from the west. He built Tadmor, or Tamar, in 
 
90 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 the south below the Dead Sea. He made a wall around 
 Jerusalem. On the height of the holy hill, he erected a 
 palace and a temple, which were among the wonders of 
 the world 
 
 A part of the palace was called the House of the Forest of 
 Lebanon, because there were so many cedar pillars in it. 
 On the walls were hung the golden shields and bucklers of 
 the body-guard. Through a pillared court one came into 
 the Hall of Judgment. There was the king's throne of 
 ivory overlaid with gold. Beside the throne stood two 
 lions, and twelve lions stood there on the one side and on 
 the other upon the six steps. Beyond the Hall of Judg- 
 ment was the residence of the king, and the residence of his 
 favorite queen, the daughter of the Pharaoh of Egypt. 
 Beyond and above these buildings, at the top of the hill, 
 was the temple. 
 
 The temple was built of stone and lined with cedar. 
 Against the two sides and the rear were rooms for the 
 priests, in three stories, entered only from without. In 
 front of the temple was a great altar cut in the solid rock 
 of the summit of the hill. There it was, they said (II 
 Samuel 24 : 16), that David saw an angel standing, on the 
 threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, when Jerusalem 
 was smitten with the plague. The angel stayed his hand, 
 and the plague ceased, and David bought the place. 
 Beside the altar was a vast bowl of brass, fifty feet in 
 circumference, and holding sixteen thousand gallons of 
 water. The water was carried to the priests for their 
 sacrificial purifications in ten smaller brazen bowls on 
 wheeled stands. 
 
 A flight of steps led into the temple. Two pillars of 
 brass stood on either side of the entrance, their capitals 
 
THE REIGN OF SOLOMON 91 
 
 splendid with carved lily-work. The outer room of the 
 temple contained a table on which twelve loaves of bread 
 were daily placed representing the twelve tribes, and a 
 golden candlestick, or lamp-stand, with seven branches. 
 In the dark inner room, the holy of holies, whose length 
 and breadth and height were equal, two figures of cherubs, 
 sixteen feet tall, overspread with their wings the sacred 
 ark, within which were the two tables of stone inscribed 
 with the Ten Commandments. 
 
 In the construction of these buildings Solomon employed 
 the skill of his neighbors, the men of Tyre. They knew 
 how to cut timber and engrave stone, and were wise in 
 all the art of architecture. They were also the mariners 
 of that time, sending their fleets into all the waters of the 
 Mediterranean. They took the cedar logs which the 
 Hebrews carried from the mountains to the coast, and 
 loaded them upon floats to be brought by sea to Joppa, 
 and thence to be carried overland to Jerusalem. 
 
 King Solomon had a navy of ships at the port of Ezion- 
 geber in the eastern branch of the Red Sea. Hiram, king 
 of Tyre, provided him with experienced seamen. Thus 
 he brought gold from Ophir, and red sandalwood and 
 precious stones. Once every three years his fleet came 
 back from longer voyages, bringing gold and silver, and 
 ivory and apes and peacocks. Looking back upon these 
 days of glory, they said that Solomon made silver as com- 
 mon in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar he made as plenti- 
 ful as the sycamore trees that grow in the lowland. 
 
 3. The Wisdom of Solomon. / Kings 3 : 5-28 ; 4 : 29- 
 34; 10:1-9, ^I Chronicles 9:1-12. — Solomon was 
 famous for his wisdom. The renown of it appears not 
 only in the Bible but in the Arabian Nights, where the 
 
92 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 king by his knowledge of the secrets of the world could 
 call the spirits to his service. The wisdom for w^hich he is 
 praised in the Bible was of a more homely and practical 
 kind. At the beginning of his reign he prayed that God 
 would give him an understanding heart to judge and rule 
 his people. When two mothers came bringing two children, 
 one living and one dead, and each claimed that the li\dng 
 child was hers, he knew how to settle the dispute. Even 
 from Sheba in Arabia, the queen came to test him with 
 hard questions, and he knew the answers to them all. 
 Also, ^' he spake of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon 
 even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall : he 
 spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, 
 and of fishes." The reference is probably not to scientific 
 knowledge, but to such shrewd sayings as are found in 
 the Proverbs concerning eagles and ants and lions and 
 spiders (Proverbs 30 : 18-31). Thus the book of Proverbs 
 is associated with Solomon, and the book of Psalms is 
 associated with David: Solomon being the first notable 
 master of that kind of wisdom. 
 
 4. The Folly of Solomon. / Kings 11. — The use 
 which was made of the name of Solomon by the writers of 
 Ecclesiastes and of Solomon's Song recalls the fact that the 
 wise king fell into folly. He is represented in Ecclesiastes 
 as looking back over his splendid life, and finding in it 
 nothing that was of value (Ecclesiastes 2:1-11). ''I 
 made me great works," he says ; " I builded me houses. 
 I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treas- 
 ure of kings and of the provinces ; whatsoever mine eyes 
 desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart 
 from any joy. Then I looked on all the works that my 
 hands had wrought, and behold, all was vanity and vexa- 
 
THE REIGN OF SOLOMON 93 
 
 tion of spirit." In Solomon's Song he is represented as 
 desiring to add to his harem a maiden from the village of 
 Shunen. The meaning is obscure, but the reading of many 
 scholars finds the maiden refusing him and continuing 
 faithful to her peasant lover. 
 
 The history says that Solomon married many wives. 
 But that was the fashion of the time. His offence was in 
 the fact that the wives came from all the surrounding 
 nations, with whom the king thus made alliance, and that 
 the strange wives brought their strange gods with them, 
 and that Solomon joined them in their worship. Thus 
 did he who had built the temple build shrines also in 
 Jerusalem for Chemosh of Moab, and Molech of Ammon, 
 and for Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians. 
 
 Still more grievous to his people was the enforced labor 
 which Solomon put upon them. Thirty thousand men of 
 Israel toiled in the forest of Lebanon. Seventy thousand 
 were made bearers of burdens. Eighty thousand hewed 
 stone in the mountains. And their work was neither for 
 their own good, nor for the good of the nation, but for the 
 wealth and glory of the king. He chastised the people, 
 as they said afterwards, with whips, driving them to their 
 tasks, as they had been driven in Egypt. 
 
94 
 
 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
XVI 
 THE REVOLUTION OF JEROBOAM 
 
 937 
 
 I. The Definite Dates. — The period of history into 
 which we now enter covers almost a hundred years, begin- 
 ning with the Revolution of Jeroboam about 937 B.C. and 
 ending with the Revolution of Jehu in 842. 
 
 With this period we come into the time of definite dates. 
 The chronological method of remote antiquity was to 
 measure time by the length of the lives of patriarchs and 
 founders, or from the accession of kings. But there was 
 no fixed starting point. Thus we are told that Solomon 
 reigned forty years (I Kings 11:42) beginning with the 
 death of David, and that David reigned forty years 
 (I Kings 2:11) beginning with the death of Saul. But we 
 are not told when Saul died. We have no starting point. 
 Moreover, the frequent use of forty in the Old Testament 
 (" forty years," " forty days," many times) indicates a 
 round number, meaning " a good while." It is plain that 
 accurate chronology has not yet come into the records. 
 
 This indefiniteness was changed in the usage of Greek 
 and Latin historians by the arbitrary adoption of a Year 
 One. The Greeks selected as their Year One that which 
 we now call 776 B.C., being the First Olympiad; that is, 
 the time of the beginning of the Olympic games. The 
 
 95 
 
96 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 Romans selected as their Year One that which we now call 
 753 B.C., being the year of the foundation of Rome. 
 
 The Assyrian Year One, so far as our purposes are con- 
 cerned, was in the same century. The Assyrian plan was 
 to call each year by the name of a magistrate, and to note 
 the chief events. Lists of the years were kept in the li- 
 brary at Nineveh, and several copies are still in existence. 
 They cover a period of nearly two hundred and fifty years. 
 In one of these years there was a total eclipse of the sun 
 in the month Sivan, which we call June. The date of this 
 eclipse has been calculated by astronomers, and has been 
 found to be in the year 763. By this means the events 
 of all these two hundred and fifty years are accurately 
 dated. The lists begin in 911 B.C. and come down to 666. 
 Happily for us, this was the time when the kings of Assyria 
 were extending their conquests into the west. They were 
 invading Palestine. Thus we learn that Jehu, king of 
 Israel, paid tribute to Shalmaneser II, king of Assyria, in 
 842. This establishes the date of the Revolution of Jehu. 
 Then it is easy, taking the lengths of reigns in the Old 
 Testament and calculating back, to find that Solomon's 
 reign ended and the Revolution of Jeroboam occurred 
 about 937. Another entry in the Assyrian list places the 
 fall of Samaria and the end of the kingdom of Israel in 722. 
 There are minor differences in some places between the 
 Hebrew and the Assyrian dates ; some scholars place the 
 rise of Jeroboam in 931 instead of 937. But in the main 
 the course of the years is clear, and the dates are definite. 
 
 2. The Oppression of the People. / Samuel 8 : 10-18, 
 / Kings 12:4. — The kingdom which Saul had founded, 
 and David had established, and Solomon had strengthened, 
 was a mighty kingdom, but the might belonged to the 
 
THE REVOLUTION OF JEROBOAM 97 
 
 king. The people were miserable. He was rich, but 
 they were poor. It is said, indeed, that " the king made 
 silver to be in Jerusalem as stones " ; but that was in the 
 court, not in the street. It is said also (I Kings 9 : 20-23) 
 that the men of whom the king made slaves, to hew the 
 cedars in the mountains and to cut the stones in the 
 quarries, were those who were left of the ancient inhabit- 
 ants of the land. On them did Solomon levy a tribute of 
 bond service : not on the men of Israel. The men of 
 Israel were " Men of war, and his servants, and his princes, 
 and his captains, and rulers of his chariots, and his horse- 
 men." It is recorded, however, in other passages that even 
 the people of Israel complained bitterly. Out of them also 
 did Solomon raise a levy (I Kings 5 : 13). Their service, 
 they said, was grievous, and their yoke was heavy (I 
 Kings 12:4). They remembered the hard lot of their 
 forefathers in Egypt. They found a description of Solo- 
 mon in the warnings of Samuel. '' This will be the manner 
 of the king that shall reign over you : he will take your 
 sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots and to 
 be his horsemen, and will set them to till his ground and to 
 reap his harvest. He will take your daughters to be con- 
 fectionaries, and to be cooks and to be bakers. He will 
 take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive yards. 
 Ye shall cry out in that day because of your king." 
 
 3. The Beginnings of Rebellion. / Kings 11 : 14-40. — 
 Early in the reign of Solomon, adversaries had appeared 
 in the south and in the north. 
 
 The Edomites of the south had been conquered by David 
 (II Samuel 8: 14), and Joab the captain of the host had 
 maintained for six months a reign of terror in that country 
 in an attempt to put every man and boy to death. The 
 
98 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 little prince Hadad, however, had been taken by some 
 of the fleeing servants of the court and carried into Egypt. 
 There he remained under the distinguished favor of Pha- 
 raoh until both David and Joab died. Then he returned, 
 and became the leader of revolt. 
 
 About the same time, the Syrians of the north set them- 
 selves free. David had conquered them in the course of 
 his campaign against the Ammonites (II Samuel lo : 6-19). 
 But Rezon, who had fled from his king whom David had 
 brought into subjection, and had become (like David him- 
 self in his youth) the captain of a band of outlaws, took 
 possession of Damascus, and there reigned, hating and 
 defying Israel. 
 
 The most serious insurrection appeared in Jerusalem. 
 A young man named Jeroboam, of the tribe of Ephraim, 
 a widow's son, had attracted the attention of Solomon by 
 his ability and industry, and had been made overseer of 
 the men of his tribe (I Kings 11 : 28) whom the king had 
 compelled to labor in strengthening the wall of Jerusalem. 
 Jeroboam was moved by the sufferings of his brethren as 
 Moses had been moved by the distresses of the Hebrews 
 under the lash of the Egyptians. One day, on a highway 
 outside of Jerusalem, he was met by a prophet named 
 Abijah. The prophet called the overseer aside into a field 
 where they two were alone. He had dressed himself in 
 a new garment. On this he laid hold and tore it into 
 twelve pieces, and ten of these he gave to Jeroboam. 
 " Take these ten pieces," he said, " for thus saith the Lord, 
 the God of Israel, ' Behold, I will rend the kingdom out 
 of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee, 
 and thou shalt reign according to all that thy soul desireth, 
 and shalt be king over Israel.' " The reply of Jeroboam 
 
THE REVOLUTION OF JEROBOAM 99 
 
 to this call is not recorded, but that he accepted the pa- 
 triotic mission, and immediately undertook to free his 
 people, is indicated in the statement that Solomon sought 
 to kill him. He fled to Egypt, where the Pharaoh Shishak 
 received him hospitably, and there he remained until the 
 death of Solomon. 
 
 4. The Declaration of Independence. / Kings 12: i- 
 24, // Chronicles 10. — The death of Solomon brought to 
 the throne his son Rehoboam. It also recalled from 
 Egypt Jeroboam the champion of the oppressed people. 
 The two men met at Shechem, where the people were as- 
 sembled to decide whether they would have Rehoboam 
 for their king, or not. Thus the elders of Israel had met 
 at Hebron (II Samuel 5:3) and had anointed David to be 
 their king. Solomon, indeed, had been crowned during 
 his father's lifetime, and at his father's command, but the 
 idea that the king should be chosen, or at least accepted, 
 by the people, still continued. /Jeroboam was the people's 
 spokesman. " Thy father," he said, " made our yoke 
 grievous. Now therefore make thou the grievous service 
 of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, 
 lighter, and we will serve thee." 
 
 Rehoboam took three days for consideration. He con- 
 sulted first the older men who had watched the working 
 of the policy of Solomon, and then the younger men who 
 had hardly begun to be acquainted with responsibility. 
 They advised him according to their age. The older men 
 told him to give heed to the popular complaint. The 
 younger men told him to defy it. Rehoboam, confident 
 in his strength, took the advice of his companions. " My 
 little finger," he declared, " shall be thicker than my 
 father's loins. My father laded you with a heavy yoke, 
 
loo OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 I will add to your yoke. He chastised you with whips, 
 I will chastise you with scourges." / 
 
 Immediately under the leadership of Jeroboam, the 
 people asserted themselves. 
 
 The tribe of Ephraim which Jeroboam represented, and 
 the tribe of Judah which Rehoboam represented, had been 
 rivals since the conquest. Ephraim had settled in the 
 northern part of the kingdom, Judah in the southern. 
 Saul, of the tribe of Benjamin, whose land lay between 
 Ephraim and Judah, had for the brief space of his reign 
 united the north and the south. But after his death, the 
 men of Ephraim maintained the claims of Saul's son, 
 while the men of Judah supported the claims of their own 
 tribesman, David. The civil war had been decided by 
 the weakness of Ishbosheth and the overmastering strength 
 of David, and the northern tribes had given way. Toward 
 the end of David's reign, however, Ephraim had rebelled 
 under the leadership of Sheba (II Samuel 20). They had 
 raised the cry, " We have no part in David. To your 
 tents, O Israel ! " But the rebellion had been put down 
 by the strong hand of Joab. During the reign of Solomon, 
 Ephraim had seen the wealth and power of the nation 
 centralized in Judah, and had been compelled to labor 
 under Judean taskmasters in the building of Jerusalem. 
 Only a pretext was needed for another uprising of the 
 north against the south. 
 
 This pretext was afforded by the folly of Rehoboam. 
 The old cry was raised again. '' To your tents, O Israel ! 
 Now see to thine own house, David ! " And the young 
 king found himself accepted by his own tribe only. 
 
 Rehoboam could not believe it. He sent Adoniram, 
 the officer in charge of the levies of forced laborers (I Kings 
 
THE REVOLUTION OF JEROBOAM 
 
 lOI 
 
 5 : 13, 14), to speak to his rebellious subjects, perhaps to 
 order them back to work ; but they stoned him to death. 
 Rehoboam himself escaped only by mounting his chariot 
 and fleeing for his life to Jerusalem. The assembly of the 
 people acclaimed Jeroboam king. None followed the 
 house of David but the tribe of Judah only. 
 
XVII 
 THE DIVIDED KINGDOM 
 
 JuDAH Israel 
 
 Rehoboam 937-920 Jeroboam 937-915 
 
 Abijam 920-917 
 
 Asa 917-876 Nadab 915-913 
 
 Baasha 913-889 
 Elah 889, Zimri 887 
 Omri 887-875 
 
 I. Israel and Judah. — It was as if the kingdom should 
 be founded in a divided England, north and south, the 
 southern kingdom consisting only of London and its 
 neighborhood. 
 
 Rehoboam had the advantage of possessing the capital, 
 and of inheriting the fame and wealth of David and Solo- 
 mon. He had also certain advantages of situation : 
 his little kingdom was exposed, indeed, to attack from 
 Edom and from Egypt, but it was sheltered for a time from 
 the invasion of two enemies, Syria and Assyria, who 
 must first conquer the northern kingdom before they could 
 approach the southern. Moreover, it was cut off in some 
 measure from those foreign influences which, in the reign 
 of Solomon, had begun to change the life and debase the 
 religion of the Hebrews. 
 
 The history as we have it in Kings and Chronicles was 
 written for the most part by southern men, from the 
 southern point of view. Indeed, the Chronicler omits 
 
THE DIVIDED KINGDOM 103 
 
 the northern kingdom almost entirely. He regarded the 
 northerners as rebels from the true state, and as dissenters 
 from the true church. Even the great ministries of 
 Elijah and Elisha had no interest for him. We have to 
 take this natural prejudice into account in estimating the 
 situation. 
 
 As a matter of fact, the northern kingdom included by 
 far the greater part of the Hebrew people. It called itself 
 by the name which had belonged to the kingdom of Saul, 
 of David and of Solomon, the Kingdom of Israel. They 
 who were loyal to Rehoboam had to choose a new name, 
 calling themselves the Kingdom oj Judah. ! The northern 
 kingdom contained so large a portion of the Holy Land 
 that its southern fortress of Ramah was only about six 
 miles north of Jerusalem. Even when this fortress was 
 taken and destroyed, the men of Judah did not venture to 
 extend their boundary, but contented themselves with 
 fortifying Geba and Mizpah, a mile nearer to their capital. 
 Israel had the fertile land, with wide plains and rich valleys, 
 and carried on a profitable commerce with the Phoenicians 
 of Tyre, on the northwest, and with the Syrians of 
 Damascus, on the northeast. 
 
 At the same time, the kingdom of Israel was subject to 
 serious disadvantages. 
 
 Its wide territory was cut across by the plain of Esdrae- 
 Ion, which parted its northern tribes from the southern, 
 and by the valley of the Jordan, which parted its eastern 
 tribes from the western. It lacked the compactness of 
 Judah. It lacked also the centralized strength of such a 
 commanding capital as Jerusalem. It was therefore much 
 more dijfficult to govern. Instead of a single royal family, 
 as in Judah, possessing the throne from generation to gen- 
 
I04 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 eration, its history was interrupted by a series of revolu- 
 tions. Thus, although Jeroboam was able to hand down 
 the sceptre to his son, his son was able to keep it only 
 two years, when he was assassinated. And this kind of 
 tragedy was repeated again and again. 
 
 Moreover, the wealth which was gained by tilling the 
 fertile fields and by trading with Syrians and Phoenicians 
 emphasized those contrasts between the rich and the poor, 
 with selfishness on the one side and misery on the other, 
 which are the shadows cast by all abounding prosperity. 
 The familiar acquaintance with the pagan neighbors 
 carried with it the rites and customs of paganism, and 
 corrupted the purity of Hebrew religion. Also the wide 
 lands, whose uncertain boundaries were defended with 
 difficulty, exposed Israel to constant attack, and lay on 
 the line of march of those ambitious nations, first Syria, 
 and then Assyria, who were determined to extend their 
 borders. 
 
 2. The Reign of Rehoboam. I Kings 12:21-24, 
 14: 1-31, // Chronicles 11, 12.^-The first desire of the 
 young king was to bring into subjection the people who had 
 so unexpectedly refused to receive him. He assembled, 
 such warriors as were left to him in Judah, and in Benjamin 
 which bordered on Judah, and proposed to fight to win his 
 kingdom back. From this rash undertaking he was dis- 
 suaded by a prophet named Shemaiah, who declared 
 boldly that the division of the kingdom was the Lord's 
 doing. " Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your 
 brethren the children of Israel: return every man to his 
 house; for this thing," saith the Lord, '' is from me." 
 Rehoboam, accordingly, contented himself with strength- 
 ening such cities as remained, and the two kingdoms went 
 
THE DIVIDED KINGDOM 105 
 
 on each in its own way. The Chronicler, i^yriting his his- 
 tory six or seven hundred years after these events, and 
 describing what he felt sure must have taken place^ says 
 that all the priests and the Levites forsook Israel and came 
 down to Judah, and that along with them came all the 
 loyal and devout people, " such as set their hearts to seek 
 the Lord." But of such an emigration the books of Kings 
 say nothing. 
 
 The Old Testament historians agree, however, that a 
 heavy calamity came upon Rehoboam in the form of an 
 invasion of Shishak, king of Egypt. Every such disaster 
 had its occasion, so men thought, in the sins of the people. 
 The prophet Shemaiah declared this plainly. The only 
 reason why Shishak did not entirely destroy the kingdom 
 of Judah, he said, was because the people humbled them- 
 selves before the Lord. Even so, the Egyptians plundered 
 Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the king's 
 house and of the Lord's house, even all the shields of gold 
 which hung upon the walls of the Hall of the Forest of 
 Lebanon; and Rehoboam had to make shields of brass 
 to hang in their places. 
 
 On the southern wall of the temple of Amon at Karnak, 
 Shishak inscribed a long list of cities of Palestine which he 
 captured in this campaign. It thus appears that not only 
 Rehoboam but Jeroboam suffered in the invasion. The 
 whole divided kingdom may have fallen for a time into the 
 hands of Egypt. " They shall be Shishak's servants," 
 said the Lord by Shemaiah, '' that they may know [the 
 difference between] my service, and the service of the kings 
 of the countries." 
 
 Thus the inglorious reign of Rehoboam came to an end, 
 and Abijam his son reigned in his stead. 
 
io6 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 3. The Reign of Jeroboam. / Kings 12:25-14:20, 
 // Chronicles 13. — Abijam's reign lasted but three years, 
 and the writer of Kings knew of no incident in it worth 
 recording. Only he says there was war between him and 
 Jeroboam. The Chronicler gives an account of one of the 
 battles of this war. The king of Judah had a considerable 
 army, but it was only half the size of the army of the king 
 of Israel. In a speech before the fight, Abijam reviled 
 Jeroboam as a rebellious and profane person who had cast 
 off the religion of his fathers. " The Lord is our God," 
 cried Abijam, " and we have not forsaken him." Then 
 the Judeans marched into battle, the priests going before 
 them blowing the trumpets of alarm, and although the 
 Israelites led them into an ambush, still the southern army 
 won a decisive victory : " there fell down slain of Israel 
 five hundred thousand chosen men." This is, perhaps, 
 what ought to have taken place, according to the Chroni- 
 cler, rather than what actually happened. 
 
 Jeroboam established his capital at Shechem, ' where 
 Abimelech (Judges 9) had undertaken to maintain the 
 short-lived monarchy of the House of Gideon. In the 
 place of the temple at Jerusalem, he adopted the ancient 
 shrine of Bethel (Genesis 28, 35 : 9-15) in the south, and of 
 Dan (Judges 18) in the north. These shrines he adorned 
 with golden calves or bulls, such as Aaron is said to have 
 made for the worship of the people in the wilderness. In 
 this, Jeroboam had no wrong intention. In the temple 
 of Solomon, even in the Most Holy Place, there were im- 
 ages of creatures whose wings overspread the ark. Many 
 years were still to pass before the Hebrews had learned to 
 worship God according to the second commandment. 
 
 Two stories illustrate the southern feeling against 
 Jeroboam. 
 
THE DIVIDED KINGDOM 107 
 
 One story (I Kings 13) is that a man of God from Judah 
 went to Bethel and, at the altar there, rebuked Jeroboam 
 to his face. When Jeroboam put out his hand to seize 
 him, his hand was withered, and the altar was broken. 
 Afterward, the man of God, who had been forbidden to 
 eat bread in Bethel, was deceived by an old prophet of that 
 place and went in and ate bread with him, and was killed 
 by a lion. 
 
 The other story (I Kings 14) is that Jeroboam's wife, in 
 distress because of the sickness of their little son, went for 
 comfort to the prophet Ahijah, then old and blind, and that 
 the prophet not only told the poor mother that the child 
 should die, but added the assurance of a bad end to the 
 whole family of Jeroboam. 
 
 4. Asa and Five Kings of Israel. I Kings 15 : 9-16 : 28, 
 // Chronicles 14-16. — The tragedy predicted in the hard 
 words of Ahijah came to pass in the case of Jeroboam's son 
 and successor, Nadab. ( He had reigned two years, and was 
 in the midst of the siege of Gibbethon of the Philistines, 
 when a man named Baasha, of the tribe of Issachar, made 
 a conspiracy against him and killed him, and also killed 
 , with him every membj^r of the house of Jeroboam. 
 
 i^^ Asa was king of I^ael at that time. .The Chronicler 
 
 says that after ten years of peace, during which the king 
 had taken away many strange altars and broken many images 
 sacred to the sun, the land was invaded by Zerah the 
 Ethiopian with an army of a thousand thousand men . And 
 Asa prayed, and said, "Lord, there is none beside thee to 
 help, between the mighty and the weak : help us, O Lord our 
 God, for we rely on thee, and in thy name are we come 
 against this multitude." Then the battle was joined, and 
 the Ethiopians were defeated. And Asa, encouraged by 
 
io8 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 this victory, renewed the altar of the Lord which was be- 
 fore the porch of the temple, and even expelled his mother / 
 from his court because she had made an abominable idol. 
 
 Asa was not so successful in his war with Baasha. /Almost 
 within sight of Jerusalem, Baasha had built the forti- 
 fications of Ramah. Asa could not prevent it. There 
 was the new fort, proclaiming the power of Israel, both a 
 threat and an insult, but Asa did not venture to attack it. 
 Instead of that, he took the gold and silver that he had, 
 and hired Benhadad, king of Syria, to invade Baasha 
 from behind. Baasha, being set upon by this new enemy, 
 was obliged to withdraw from Ramah and to stop his plans 
 against Jerusalem. The Chronicler says that Asa was 
 properly rebuked by the seer Hanani, whom he put in 
 the stocks for his plain speaking. I 
 
 In the northern kingdom, Hanani's son Jehu rebuked 
 King Baasha for evil-doing, of which the history gives no 
 details, and the curse was fulfilled in his son and successor, 
 Elah, who was killed in a drunken debauch by Zimri, 
 captain of half his chariot force. News of this tragedy 
 coming to the army, which was still engaged in the siege 
 of Gibbethon, they acclaimed Omri as king; others ac- 
 claimed Tibni. Within seven days Omri was besieging 
 Tirzah, Zimri's capital, and Zimri, finding that the for- 
 tunes of war were against him, burned his palace over his 
 head and perished in the ruins. Omri then overcame his 
 rival Tibni, and became undisputed king of Israel. 
 
 Omri removed the capital from Tirzah, which was a 
 few miles northeast of Shechem, to Samaria, a few miles 
 northwest. There on a strong height he built a city which 
 was thereafter to the northern kingdom what Jerusalem 
 was to the southern, a fortress almost invincible, able to 
 
THE DIVIDED KINGDOM 109 
 
 stand the shock of great invading armies. An inscribed 
 stone which was found in the land of Moab records Omri's 
 conquest of Moab. Omri was king of Israel, and op- 
 pressed Moab a long time because Chemosh was angry 
 with his land. References to the " statutes of Omri " 
 (Micah 6:16) and to the " princes of the provinces " 
 (I Kings 20: 15) may indicate that the king applied him- 
 self to the organization of his kingdom. So deeply did 
 he impress his neighbors in the east that Palestine was 
 called " the land of the house of Omri " even in the in- 
 scriptions of Sargon of Assyria, who destroyed Samaria 
 in 722. 
 
XVIII 
 
 AHAB AND JEHOSHAPHAT 
 
 JuDAH Israel 
 
 Jehoshaphat 876-851 Ahab 875-853 
 
 I. The First Syrian War. I Kings 20. — The situation 
 which Ahab found when he succeeded his father Omri 
 shows that the Syrians had done very thoroughly the 
 work which Asa had hired them to do. They had taken 
 IsraeHte cities north of the plain of Esdraelon (I Kings 
 15:20) and east of the Jordan (I Kings 22:3). They 
 had compelled Omri to set apart certain streets for them 
 in his capital city, Samaria (I Kings 20 : 34), probably 
 for purposes of trading. Benhadad, king of Syria, pro- 
 ceeded now to besiege Ahab in Samaria, intending to 
 bring the whole kingdom of Israel into subjection. Ahab, 
 at first, saw no way of escape. 
 
 Benhadad sent ambassadors from Damascus to Samaria 
 to demand a tribute of gold and silver. And Ahab an- 
 swered, '' My lord, O King, according to thy saying, I 
 am thine, and all that I have." Emboldened by this sub- 
 mission, ambassadors were sent again to demand the 
 giving over of the city to plunder. '' I will send my 
 servants unto thee to-morrow about this time, and they 
 shall search thine house, and the houses of thy servants ; 
 and it shall be that whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes, 
 
AHAB AND JEHOSHAPHAT iii 
 
 they shall put it in their hand and take it away." This 
 demand Ahab refused. 
 
 So there was war. Benhadad said, '' The gods do so 
 unto me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suf- 
 fice for handfuls for all the people that follow me." Ahab 
 said, ''Tell him, ' Let not him that girdeth on his armor 
 boast himself as he that putteth it off.' " 
 
 In this modest defiance, Ahab was encouraged by a 
 prophet who assured him of certain victory. So they 
 went out to battle. Benhadad in the confidence of his 
 might was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions when 
 word was brought that the Israelites were coming. He 
 gave a drunken order to take them alive, whether they 
 came for peace or came for war. Immediately the Is- 
 raelites fell upon the Syrians and threw the whole camp 
 into disorder. Some of them they slew, others they put 
 to flight, and Benhadad himself escaped only by the 
 swiftness of his horse. 
 
 A year later, the Syrians returned. They had ac- 
 counted for their defeat by the theory that the gods of 
 Israel were gods of the hills while the gods of Syria were 
 gods of the plain. " What we must do," they said, " is 
 to fight them in the plain." They took the precaution, 
 however, to remove the princes who had been in command 
 on the occasion of the former battle, and to put captains 
 in their places. 
 
 The armies met at Aphek, east of the Jordan, on a high 
 plain overlooking the Sea of Galilee. The Syrians filled 
 the country. The Israelites pitched their tents before 
 them " like two little flocks of kids." For seven days the 
 hosts encamped opposite each other, then the battle was 
 joined, and again the Syrians were put to flight. Ben- 
 
112 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 hadad hid himself in Aphek, and sent his servants, dressed 
 in sackcloth and having ropes around their heads, to beg 
 for mercy. Ahab received them graciously, called for 
 Benhadad, took him into his chariot, and made a treaty of 
 peace with him. The Syrians agreed to restore the cities 
 which they had taken from the Israelites, and to give 
 them streets in Damascus, as the Israelites had given the 
 Syrians streets in Samaria. 
 
 2. Ahab*s Policy of Peace. / Kings 20 : 35-43. — The 
 peace thus made was a source of strength to the kingdom 
 of Israel. It opened to the Israelites the markets of Da- 
 mascus, and the caravan routes to the east. 
 
 It is possible that Ahab had also in mind the new peril 
 which was appearing in the ambition of Assyria. Al- 
 ready, according to the inscriptions, Assur-nazir-pal had 
 marched across the range of Lebanon, washed his sword 
 in the Great Sea, and taken tribute of Tyre and Sidon. 
 Also, according to the inscriptions, the next Assyrian 
 king, Shalmaneser II, invaded the western provinces, 
 and at the battle of Karkar, in 854, was met by Ahab and 
 Benhadad, and their neighbors. Benhadad is said to 
 have come to battle bringing twelve hundred chariots and 
 horsemen and twenty thousand footmen. Ahab came 
 with two thousand chariots and ten thousand footmen. 
 The many chariots of Ahab may have been the spoil of 
 the battle of Aphek. Thus Ahab may well have felt 
 that the alliance with Syria was necessary for protection 
 against the Assyrians. 
 
 The policy of the king met with the disapproval of the 
 prophets. As Ahab was returning from the victory of 
 Aphek, having spared Benhadad, a man met him whose 
 face was bandaged. The man cried to the king and said, 
 
AHAB AND JEHOSHAPHAT 113 
 
 " In the midst of the battle, I was given a prisoner to keep, 
 my life for his life if he escaped, and while I was busy 
 here and there, he was gone ! " The king said, " Thy life 
 shall be for his life ; thou hast decided it." Then the man 
 took the bandage from his face, and the king saw that he 
 was one of the prophets. And the prophet said, " Thus 
 saith the Lord, Because thou hast let go out of thine hand 
 a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore 
 thy life shall go for his life." For the prophets were not 
 interested in the politics but in the religion of the nation. 
 They cared more for the national character than for the 
 national prosperity. They wisely feared the moral in- 
 fluences of this alliance with the Syrians. 
 
 The prophets were of the same mind regarding the al- 
 liance which Ahab made with the Phoenicians. These 
 people were the mariners and merchants of the ancient 
 world (Ezekiel 27). Out of their harbors of Tyre and 
 Sidon, their ships sailed into all seas. A priest of Baal, 
 named Ethbaal, was king of these Phoenicians. He had 
 gained the throne, according to an ancient historian, by 
 the assassination of his predecessor. Ethbaal's daughter, 
 Jezebel, Ahab had married (I Kings 16 : 31). She brought 
 her religion with her, and Ahab built for her a temple and 
 an altar in Samaria. It was no more than Solomon had 
 done for his foreign wives (I Kings 11 : 7, 8), but it became 
 a serious danger to the religion of Israel, because Jezebel 
 was a strong and active person who gathered her priests 
 about her, and opposed and persecuted the prophets of 
 the Lord. 
 
 A third alliance of friendship or of supremacy was made 
 with the kingdom of Judah. Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, 
 made peace with the king of Israel (I Kings 22 : 44). In 
 
114 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 order to make this peace permanent, Ahab's daughter, 
 Athahah, was married to Jehoshaphat's son, Jehoram. 
 
 3. The Second Syrian War. I Kings 22 : 1-50, // 
 Chronicles 18. — Jehoshaphat, according to the Chron- 
 icler, continued the reforms of his father Asa, not only by 
 breaking idols but by appointing teachers of true religion 
 (II Chronicles 17:7-9). They went about among the 
 towns of Judah, having the book of the Law of the Lord 
 with them. Jehoshaphat built castles and cities, and had 
 a strong army. 
 
 With this army, Jehoshaphat was summoned by Ahab 
 to join him in a second Syrian war. In spite of the treaty 
 of peace, whereby the Syrians agreed to give back the 
 cities which they had taken from Israel, Ramoth in Gilead 
 was still in their possession. Now after three years, 
 Ahab proposed to go over and take it, and Jehoshaphat 
 agreed to help him. 
 
 The two kings with their armies met at the gate of 
 Samaria, and consulted the prophets as to the result of 
 their expedition. " Shall I go against Ramoth- Gilead? " 
 said Ahab, '^ or shall I forbear?" The prophets with 
 one voice cried, '' Go up ; for the Lord shall deliver it 
 into the hand of the king." 
 
 But the king of Judah was not satisfied. The four 
 hundred prophets seemed too ready with their confident 
 approval. " Is there not here," he said, " another 
 prophet of the Lord, that we might enquire of him? " So 
 Ahab sent for the prophet Micaiah, whom, as he said, he 
 hated, because he commonly prophesied evil rather than 
 good. 
 
 The kings sat each on his throne, each in his royal robes, 
 at the gate of Samaria. While the messengers were fetch- 
 
AHAB AND JEHOSHAPHAT 115 
 
 ing Micaiah, one of the prophets named Zedekiah brought 
 out horns of iron which he had made. " With these," 
 he said, " shalt thou push the Syrians, until thou hast 
 consumed them." Then Micaiah came, and Ahab said, 
 *' Shall we go, or not? " And Micaiah answered, " Go 
 and prosper, for the Lord shall deliver Ramoth into the 
 hands of the king." But it was plain by his voice and 
 face that he did not mean what he said. " Come," said 
 the king, " tell us the truth." And Micaiah answered, "I 
 saw all Israel scattered upon the hills as sheep that have 
 not a shepherd." He said also, " I saw the Lord sitting 
 on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him 
 on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, 
 
 * Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up, and fall 
 at Ramoth-Gilead ? ' And there came forth a spirit 
 and said, *I will persuade him.' And the Lord said, 
 
 * Wherewith ? ' And he said, ' I will go forth and be a 
 lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' " 
 
 Then Zedekiah struck Micaiah in the face, and Ahab 
 took the prophet who had been brave enough to tell the 
 truth and had him put in prison. '' Feed him with bread 
 of afHiction and with water of affliction until I come in 
 peace." 
 
 So the king of Israel and the king of Judah went up to 
 battle. Ahab was enough impressed by the prophecy of 
 evil to take the precaution of disguising himself. Jehosh- 
 aphat went in his royal robes. And in the battle, the 
 captains of the king of Syria fell upon Jehoshaphat, 
 mistaking him for Ahab, till he cried out and so escaped. 
 But a man who drew his bow at a venture, not knowing 
 what he did, smote the king of Israel between the joints 
 of his armor. The wounded king was held up in his char- 
 
ii6 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 iot till the sun began to set. Then he died. And there 
 went a cry throughout the army. " Every man to his 
 city, and every man to his own country, for the king is 
 dead." Thus in defeat and tragedy the reign of Ahab 
 came to an end, and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead. 
 As for Jehoshaphat, he returned safely to Jerusalem, 
 where Jehu the son of Hanani rebuked him for his alli- 
 ance with Israel. He appointed judges in his cities, bid- 
 ding them remember that they were in the service of the 
 Lord and not of men. '' Deal courageously," he said, 
 " and the Lord be with the good " (II Chronicles 19 : 4-1 1). 
 The king lived long enough to have dealings with Ahaziah, 
 and with Ahaziah's brother and successor Jehoram. 
 
XIX 
 THE PROPHET ELIJAH 
 
 I. Baal or Jehovah? — More important than the war 
 with Syria, was the contention between the religion of 
 Jehovah and the religion of Baal. This contention had 
 been going on since the time of the conquest. The He- 
 brews entering the land of Canaan had found the country 
 filled with shrines. Every high place had its altar, every 
 great tree was sacred to a local god. The common name 
 of all these local gods was Baal, meaning Lord. 
 
 The Hebrews came but slowly to realize that there is 
 one God over all the earth. Jehovah was, indeed, the 
 one God of their race and religion, and they were forbid- 
 den to have any other. But they believed that there were 
 other gods. Chemosh was the god of Moab (Judges 
 II : 24), Molech was the god of Ammon (I Kings 11:7). 
 Among these gods there was none like unto the Lord 
 Jehovah (Psalms 86 : 8), but there they were, supernatural 
 beings having a real existence. The wiser Hebrews, the 
 leaders of the true religion, hated these gods, but they did 
 not yet deny that they were gods. As for the people, 
 they were continually in temptation to pray to the Baal 
 of the nearest shrine, because the Baals (Baalim is the 
 plural in Hebrew) were believed to be connected with the 
 rain and the sun and the soil. They were the gods of 
 agriculture. The Hebrews learned agriculture from the 
 
 117 
 
ii8 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 native people of the land; they had no knowledge of 
 farming till they came to Canaan. And as they learned 
 to plough and sow and reap, they learned at the same time 
 to pray to the proper Baal of fertility. Moreover, there 
 were customs and ceremonies connected with these shrines, 
 festivals of springtime and harvest, music and dancing, 
 some of it good, but some of them morally bad. Thus 
 not only the religion but the character of the Hebrews 
 was in peril. 
 
 When Ahab married the daughter of a priest of Baal, 
 and this religion was thus introduced even into the court 
 of Israel, all these temptations were magnified. It was 
 not the intention of Ahab to expel, or even to subordinate, 
 the religion of Jehovah. So far as he was concerned, 
 that was his own religion to the day of his death. The 
 prophets whom he consulted on the eve of his last battle 
 were prophets of Jehovah, not of Baal. He was content 
 to permit his wife to keep her own religion, and to worship 
 in her own temple. The stories of Elijah, however, make 
 it plain that this was not the mind of Jezebel. Her strong 
 will, and her devotion to the Baal of the Sidonians, whose 
 priest her father had been, put the worship of Jehovah 
 in grave peril. For this Baal was not, like the other Baals, 
 the spirit of a local shrine, but the god of a national re- 
 ligion. 
 
 2. "The Lord, He is the God." / Kings 17-19. —A 
 definite choice between Baal and Jehovah was forced upon 
 the nation by the prophet Elijah. 
 
 In the midst of the historical records in the books of 
 Kings appear the half-dozen chapters which contain the 
 account of Elijah ; as different from the others as poetry 
 is different from prose, or as the lives of the saints are 
 
THE PROPHET ELIJAH 119 
 
 different from the lives of the contemporary sovereigns 
 and statesmen. The narrative suddenly takes on a new 
 interest; it becomes dramatic; it is filled with mystery 
 and marvel. A man appears in the court of Israel who 
 is able to prevent the clouds from raining, and can call 
 down fire from heaven. The point of view is changed: 
 the history was concerned with Ahab's wars and foreign 
 alliances, the stories deal with the religious and social 
 situation within the kingdom. Ahab appears in a differ- 
 ent light : the strong king, advancing the power and pros- 
 perity of the nation, the brave soldier whose death brings 
 immediate defeat upon the army, is here seen under the 
 influence of his pagan wife, permitting the persecution of 
 the prophets of the Lord, and allowing one of his subjects 
 to be put to death that he may take his land. Over 
 against the king and queen stands the prophet Elijah. 
 
 Elijah came from the country across the Jordan, from 
 Gilead, where the wild hills meet the desert. He is de- 
 scribed (II Kings 1:8) as '^ an hairy man and girt with 
 a girdle of leather about his loins." This may mean that 
 his hair and beard were long, or that he was dressed in a 
 hairy garment, such as the skin of a camel. In either 
 case, it was plain from his appearance that he was a man 
 of the woods and mountains. 
 
 This strange-looking person suddenly confronted Ahab 
 in his palace and announced a drought. " As the Lord 
 God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not 
 be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word." 
 The meaning of this announcement was plain. The people 
 were believing that it was Baal who gave or withheld the 
 rain ; they were now to be taught that the sky over the 
 land of Israel belonged to Jehovah. 
 
I20 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 Elijah departed as mysteriously as he had come, and 
 hid himself for a time in the valley of a brook which flowed 
 into the Jordan, where the ravens fed him till the brook 
 dried up. Then he made his way into Phoenicia, to a 
 village in the neighborhood of Sidon, where a widow 
 woman gave him a lodging. And all the time that he 
 lived in her house, her barrel of meal did not waste, neither 
 did her cruse of oil fail, no matter how much was taken out ; 
 and when the widow's son fell sick, Elijah brought him 
 back to life. 
 
 So three years passed, and there was neither dew nor 
 rain. The contention between the two religions deepened 
 into persecution. The altars of the Lord were thrown 
 down, and the prophets of the Lord were slain with the 
 sword or hid themselves in caves. The drought was so 
 severe that even the king and Obadiah his steward went 
 out to search for water. Ahab went one way by himself, 
 and Obadiah went another way by himself. Suddenly, 
 as Obadiah was in the way, Elijah met him, and the 
 steward recognized the prophet, and bowed down before 
 him to the earth. '' Go," said the prophet, " tell thy lord, 
 'Behold, Elijah is here!'" ''But," said the steward, 
 " suppose I go, and as soon as I am gone the Spirit of the 
 Lord shall carry thee whither I know not, and so when I come 
 and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me." 
 Elijah answered, " As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom 
 I stand, I will surely show myself unto him this day." 
 
 The result of this meeting was the Assembly of the 
 Great Decision. To the heights of Mount Carmel, beside 
 the Mediterranean Sea, Ahab gathered all the prophets 
 of Baal, and all the people. Elijah alone stood for the Lord. 
 It was agreed that an appeal should be made first to Baal, 
 
THE PROPHET ELIJAH 121 
 
 then to Jehovah, for a reply by fire. Baal's prophets 
 made an altar, and sacrificed a bullock on it, and prayed 
 for fire. They prayed, and cried aloud, and cut themselves 
 with knives after their manner, till midday was past, 
 and the hour of the evening sacrifice came, but there was 
 neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded. 
 Then Elijah took twelve stones and repaired an ancient 
 altar of the Lord that was broken down. He sacrificed 
 a bullock, and had water poured over the sacrifice, and he 
 prayed for fire. " Hear me, O Lord, hear me," he cried, 
 '^ that this people may know that thou art the Lord God." 
 And the fire of the Lord came down. And when the people 
 saw it, they fell upon their faces and cried, " The Lord, 
 he is the God ! The Lord, he is the God." 
 
 Then was the long drought ended. Elijah, with his 
 servant, went to the top of Carmel, and while he prayed 
 he bade his servant watch the sky and the sea. And 
 there arose, at last, a little cloud out of the sea, like a 
 man's hand. Then Elijah went to Ahab. ^' Prepare 
 thy chariot," he said, " and get thee down, that the rain 
 stop thee not." And in a little while, the heavens grew 
 black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. 
 
 It seemed a complete victory for the religion of the Lord, 
 but it was immediately turned into defeat. The truth 
 makes its way, not by dramatic events, not even by calling 
 fire from heaven, but by the slow change of the hearts of 
 men. The very next day Jezebel was looking for Elijah 
 to kill him, and Elijah was fleeing for his life, over the 
 hills and plains to Sinai (= Horeb), defeated, disheart- 
 ened, ready to die. There he sought the help of the God 
 who had blessed Moses. As he hid in a cave, there came a 
 strong wind, and then an earthquake, and then a fire ; at 
 
122 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 last in the soul of Elijah came a still, small voice; and 
 God was in the voice. He comforted his prophet. He 
 told him that things were not so bad as Elijah thought. 
 He said that there were seven thousand faithful souls 
 in Israel of whom Elijah knew nothing. He sent the 
 prophet out to call to his assistance men who, after 
 him, should carry on the great contention. 
 
 3. Naboth's Vineyard. / Kings 21. — The next ap- 
 pearance of Elijah was in defence of social justice. 
 
 In addition to his capital at Samaria, the king of Israel 
 had another at Jezreel. This was on the northern slope 
 of Mount Gilboa, having on the right the Vale of Jezreel 
 open to the Jordan, and on the left the plain of Esdraelon 
 sweeping to the Great Sea. There beside the palace of 
 Ahab a man named Naboth had a vineyard; and Ahab 
 wanted the vineyard to make it a garden of vegetables. 
 But Naboth would not sell it. This refusal so vexed 
 Ahab that, king and soldier though he was, he went home 
 and lay down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and 
 would not eat. There Jezebel found him, and she said, 
 '' Arise, and let thy heart be merry; I will give thee the 
 vineyard of Naboth." 
 
 Then Jezebel hired men to say that they had heard 
 Naboth curse the king. And thus they said before the 
 elders and the nobles of the city, and sentence was there- 
 fore passed on Naboth, and he was taken out and stoned to 
 death. Then came Jezebel to Ahab, and said, " Now you 
 may take possession of the vineyard, for Naboth is dead." 
 
 So Ahab went to take possession of the vineyard, and 
 two of his captains, Bidkar and Jehu (II Kings 9 : 25), 
 rode behind him. And in the vineyard was Elijah. Ahab 
 said, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" And 
 
THE PROPHET ELIJAH 123 
 
 Elijah answered, ^' I have found thee, because thou hast 
 done evil. And now saith the Lord, ' In the place where 
 dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, 
 even thine ; and dogs shall eat the blood of Jezebel by 
 the rampart of Jezreel.' " And the king confessed that he 
 had done evil. He rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth 
 and fasted. It is one of the great scenes of history, like 
 the repelling of the Emperor Theodosius by St. Ambrose 
 from the church gate in Milan. 
 
XX 
 
 THE TWO JEHORAMS 
 
 JuDAH Israel 
 
 Jehoram 851-843 Ahaziah 853-852 
 
 Jehoram 852-842 
 
 I. Ahaziah of Israel. / Kings 22:40, 49, 51-53, // 
 Kings I . — In the history of the next ten years, from Ahab 
 and Jehoshaphat to Jehu and AthaUah, the dates are 
 confused, and some of the most important events are 
 connected with a king whose name is not given ; nobody 
 knows to what reign they belong. After a year or two of 
 Ahaziah in Israel, there are two Jehorams side by side in 
 the two kingdoms. The prophet of the period is Elisha. 
 
 Ahaziah proposed to Jehoshaphat to make a partner- 
 ship and build a fleet in the eastern arm of the Red Sea 
 to go to the gold-fields of Ophir. But Jehoshaphat, 
 who had already lost one such venture, declined ; his ships 
 had been broken in pieces by a great wind before they had 
 put out from port. 
 
 / Nothing more is known of Ahaziah except that he fell 
 down through a lattice in the upper story of his palace 
 in Samaria, and was severely injured. In his distress, 
 he sent messengers to the shrine of Baal-zebub. But on 
 their way Elijah met them and turned them back. '' Is 
 there no God in Israel," he said, " that ye go to inquire 
 
 124 
 
THE TWO JEHORAMS 125 
 
 of Baal-zebub? " Angry at this interference, Ahaziah, 
 who was evidently of his mother's temper, sent a captain 
 with fifty men to seize the prophet. But Elijah called 
 down fire from heaven and burned them up. And so with 
 another fifty. A third company he spared, when the 
 captain fell on his knees and prayed for the life of his men. / 
 
 This killing of a hundred men, whose only offence was 
 their obedience to their orders, is in contrast with Elijah's 
 indignation over the murder of Naboth. Even more 
 strange is the idea that God would answer such a wicked 
 prayer. When the apostles suggested that Jesus should 
 do what Elijah was said to have done, he rebuked them 
 sharply (Luke 9: 54, 55). It is not necessary, however, 
 to read the account as history. It is based perhaps on 
 fact, but colored by imagination, and it probably appealed 
 to its early tellers and hearers on its amusing rather than 
 on its tragic side. Another story, much more pleasant, 
 tells how Elijah at the end of his life was carried up to 
 heaven in a chariot of fire (II Kings 2). The true splendor 
 of Elijah is not in such tales as these, but in his defence 
 of the religion of the Lord at Carmel, and in his defence 
 of the rights of the people at Naboth's vineyard. 
 
 2. The Two Jehorams. — Ahaziah did not recover 
 from his accident, and his brother Jehoram came to the 
 throne of Israel. A few months later, his brother-in- 
 law, Jehoram, came to the throne of Judah. The work of 
 Elijah seemed to have been without effect. Jezebel, the 
 king's mother, in the court of Israel, and her daughter 
 Athaliah, the king's wife in the court of Judah (II Kings 
 8:18), fostered the religion of Baal. 
 
 Jehoram of Judah (II Kings 8:16-24, II Chronicles 
 21) began his reign in the worst manner of oriental kings, 
 
126 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 by killing all his brothers. Their father had enriched 
 them with treasures and castles, of which Jehoram thus 
 gained possession. But the reign thus begun was one of 
 disaster. Edom had been subject to Judah since the days 
 of David (II Samuel 8: 14). Now the Edomites rose in 
 rebellion, surrounded the array of chariots which Jehoram 
 sent to subdue them and drove them out, and won their 
 independence. The Chronicles say that the Philistines 
 and the Arabians broke into Judah, robbed the king of all 
 the wealth which he had got by the murder of his brothers, 
 and carried away all his sons, except the youngest. The 
 Chronicles add that they carried away all his wives (II 
 Chronicles 21 : 16, 17). It is only too plain, however, 
 by the subsequent history, that they did not carry away 
 Athaliah. A like confusion involves a letter which Elijah 
 is said to have written to the king, declaring that the Lord 
 would bring a plague upon him. The plague is said to 
 have come in the form of a dreadful disease, of which he 
 died (II Chronicles 21:12-15). So evil and lamentable 
 had been his reign that the people refused to give him 
 honorable burial in the sepulchres of the kings. 
 
 Jehoram of Israel (II Kings 3) induced Jehoshaphat 
 to join him in invading Moab. The Moabites, under 
 their king, Mesha, had regained the independence which 
 they lost at the hands of Omri. The Moabite stone de- 
 scribes how they slew the Hebrews who had taken posses- 
 sion of their cities. The allied armies attacked Moab 
 from the south by the way of Edom, where they nearly 
 died of thirst. Out of this strait they were delivered by 
 the prophet Elisha, who had them dig ditches in the valley 
 and by his prayers brought down water from the hills 
 and filled them. The next day, the Moabites, seeing the 
 
THE TWO JEHORAMS 127 
 
 sun shining red upon the ditches, thought they saw the 
 blood of the invaders who had fallen to fighting one an- 
 other, and coming in disorder to the camp were easily 
 overthrown by Israel and Judah. Then the invaders 
 spoiled the land, cutting down the trees, stopping the 
 wells, and casting stones on every good piece of ground, 
 until the king of Moab in desperation, having failed with 
 seven hundred men to break through to the king of Edom, 
 took his eldest son, and offered him for a burnt offering to 
 Chemosh on the wall of his besieged capital. At that 
 sight, the allied armies withdrew, fearing lest the God 
 thus tremendously invoked would destroy them. A 
 different account of the war with Moab is given by the 
 Chronicler (II Chronicles 20). In this account, Moab 
 and Edom and Ammon attack Judah, and the invaders 
 are driven back without the striking of a blow, by the 
 power of prayer. 
 
 3. The Prophet Elisha. / Kings 19: 19-21, // Kings 
 2-8 : 6. — The prophet Elisha, who saved the aUies in the 
 war against Moab, was the disciple and successor of Elijah. 
 He had been chosen on the day when Elijah came down 
 from Sinai, having heard the still, small voice. He was 
 ploughing in his father's field that day, driving twelve yoke 
 of oxen, and Elijah passing by cast his mantle upon him. 
 He does not appear with his master in the story of Naboth's 
 vineyard, or in the story of the captains and the fifties; 
 but when Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven, 
 Elisha was beside him. He took up Elijah's mantle 
 which had fallen from him, and became a prophet in his 
 place. 
 
 Elisha was very different from Elijah. Coming from 
 a prosperous farm, instead of appearing like Elijah from 
 
128 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 the wild mountains, he ministered among the people, 
 and was the friend of kings. 
 
 There was, indeed, a certain element of fierceness in 
 him, as there was in Elijah. One of the many curious 
 stories which they told about him is that one time, by the 
 gate of Bethel, Httle children mocked him, crying, '' Go 
 up, thou bald head ! Go up, thou bald head ! " Where- 
 upon he turned back and cursed them, and immediately 
 forty-two she-bears came out of the woods and ate them 
 up ! It was he who suggested the spoiling of the land of 
 Moab. The most important thing which he did was to 
 stir up rebellion both in Syria and in Israel. 
 
 But for the most part, Elisha showed a kindly spirit. 
 He went about, like the saints in the mediaeval stories, 
 working pleasant miracles. One time, they showed him 
 a spring whose water made the ground barren instead of 
 fruitful, and he put salt into it and changed it. Another 
 time, as they were getting dinner, making pottage in a 
 great pot, one of them put in with the herbs the gourds of 
 a wild vine, and the gourds poisoned the pottage, till the 
 prophet poured in meal and made it right. They were 
 building a house, cutting the beams beside the river Jordan, 
 and an axe-head fell into the water. " Alas, master ! " 
 cried the man who had lost it, " alas ! for it was bor- 
 rowed." And they showed Elisha where it fell, and he 
 cut down a stick and put it in the river, and the iron came 
 up. He fed a hundred men with twenty loaves of bread, 
 so that each one had enough. A poor woman came to him, 
 whose husband was dead and whose two sons were about 
 to be sold to pay the family debts, and who had nothing 
 left except a single pot of oil. EHsha said, " Go borrow 
 all the empty vessels of the neighborhood, all the pots and 
 
THE TWO JEHORAMS 129 
 
 pans and pails and pitchers " ; and when she had done so, 
 " Now," he said, " pour oil into them." And out of her 
 one little cruse of oil she poured and poured until all were 
 filled. Like Elijah, he restored to life the son of the 
 woman with whom he lodged. The lad had fallen sick 
 in the field among the reapers, crying " My head ! My 
 head ! " and the life had gone out of him. Elisha prayed, 
 and lay upon the child, and the child sneezed seven times 
 and opened his eyes. 
 
 Three of the stories of Elisha are connected with the 
 Syrians. 
 
 One of the captives seized in a raid of the Syrians upon 
 the land of Israel was a little maid. She was taken into 
 the household of Naaman, commander of the Syrian army, 
 and she waited on Naaman's wife. Then Naaman was 
 seized with leprosy, and the little maid said that Elisha 
 could make him well. So Naaman came with his horses 
 and his chariot to Elisha, and after some reluctance did 
 as the prophet told him, and bathed in the Jordan seven 
 times, and was cured. Being thus blessed by the prophet 
 of the God of Israel, Naaman chose Jehovah for his god ; 
 but the god of Syria was Rimmon. " What shall I do? " 
 he said ; "I must go with the king, my master, into the 
 temple of Rimmon, and bow when the king bows." Elisha 
 answered, " Go in peace." 
 
 One time, in the midst of an undated war, the king of 
 Syria was told that every ambush which he made was dis- 
 closed to the king of Israel by Elisha the prophet, and 
 he sent to seize Elisha. The prophet was surrounded; 
 horses and chariots of Syria were on every side. " Alas, 
 my master!" cried his servant, "What shall we do?" 
 And Elisha gave his servant a new sight, and behold the 
 
 E 
 
I30 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 mountains round about were filled with the horses and 
 chariots of God. Then Elisha smote the Syrians with 
 blindness, and offered to be their guide, and when he 
 opened their eyes they were in the midst of Israel, at the 
 gate of Samaria. '^ Shall I smite them? " cried the king 
 of Israel, " shall I smite them? " But Elisha forbade it. 
 He prepared great provision for them, and sent them home 
 in safety. 
 
 Again, in the midst of another war undated, the city of 
 Samaria was so besieged by the Syrians that mothers ate 
 their children. Even the life of Elisha was in danger 
 from the great anger of the king of Israel, who held the 
 prophet responsible for the loss of the favor of God. 
 Elisha said that to-morrow there should be abundance. 
 That night, four lepers went over to the camp of the Sy- 
 rians, saying one to another, " We can but die ; if we stay 
 in the city we shall die of hunger. Possibly the Syrians 
 will give us food." And they found the camp deserted. 
 A panic had arisen among the Syrians and they had fled, 
 leaving their gold and silver, and their food. 
 
XXI 
 
 THE REVOLUTION OF JEHU 
 
 JuDAH Israel 
 
 Ahaziah 843-842 Jehoram 852-842 
 
 Athaliah 842-836 Jehu 842-814 
 
 Joash 836-796 Jehoahaz 814-797 
 
 I. Jehu seizes the Crown of Israel. II Kings S: y-i$, 
 9-13 : 9. — The word of God, as Elijah understood it 
 (I Kings 19: 15-17), told him to make Hazael king of 
 Syria, and Jehu king of Israel. These two revolutions 
 were brought about by Elijah's successor, Elisha. 
 
 Elisha went to Damascus, where the king of Syria lay 
 sick, and Hazael, one of the officers of the court, met the 
 prophet with a present and a message from the king. 
 " Ask him," said the king, '' shall I recover of this 
 disease? " Hazael asked Elisha, and received this curious 
 answer : " You may tell Afw," said Elisha, " that he may 
 recover; but let me tell you that he shall surely die." 
 And the prophet wept. " Why weepeth my lord? " 
 said Hazael. " Because," replied Elisha, " I know the 
 evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel." And 
 Elisha said, " The Lord hath showed me that thou shalt 
 be king over Syria." Then Hazael returned to his 
 master, and told him that Elisha had promised his re- 
 covery. And the next day he took a thick cloth, and 
 
 131 
 
132 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 dipped it in water, and spread it on the king's face, and 
 the king breathed no more. And Hazael was king. 
 
 A like thing EHsha did in Israel. There was war be- 
 tween Israel and Syria. Ramoth in Gilead, when Ahab 
 had fallen in battle, was still besieged. The army was in 
 command of a captain named Jehu, who had been with 
 Ahab at Naboth's vineyard. Elisha called one of his 
 disciples, and gave him a box of oil, and sent him to Ra- 
 moth. " Find Jehu," he said, " take him into an inner 
 room, pour this oil upon his head, and say, ' Thus saith the 
 Lord, I have anointed thee king over Israel.' Then 
 open the door, and flee." This the disciple did, and im- 
 mediately Jehu mounted his chariot and drove furiously 
 across the plain toward Israel. 
 
 Jehoram of Israel had been wounded in the war with 
 Syria, and had gone to his palace at Jezreel to be healed. 
 There he was with Jezebel his mother. Johoram of Judah 
 had been succeeded by his son Ahaziah, and Ahaziah had 
 come to visit his uncle Jehoram in his sickness (II Kings 
 8: 28, 29). So the king of Israel and the king of Judah 
 were together in the palace. 
 
 Then from the watch tower horses and chariots were 
 seen speeding along the Vale of Jezreel from the Jordan, 
 and the watchman guessed from the furious driving that 
 the foremost man was Jehu. The two kings went to meet 
 him, each in his chariot. And Jehu as he came near drew 
 a bow with his full strength and smote Jehoram between 
 the arms, and the place where he fell was by the vineyard 
 of Naboth. As for Ahaziah, he turned and fled, and Jehu 
 pursued him, crying, " Smite him also in the chariot." 
 This was done, and his body was carried to Jerusalem. 
 
 Thus came Jehu to the palace, and Jezebel looked out 
 
THE REVOLUTION OF JEHU 133 
 
 at a window. Brave and proud to the end, she had dressed 
 herself as for an occasion of state. She called the assassin 
 *' Zimri," remembering that other murderer who had 
 killed a king. But the palace attendants, seeing how 
 things stood, threw her down, and she died, and the 
 street dogs ate her flesh. 
 
 The connection of Elisha with this revolution suggests 
 that it was meant to be a revolt not only against the house 
 of Ahab, but against the religion of Baal which the court 
 of Ahab encouraged. It was the final campaign in the 
 holy war which Elijah had begun. 
 
 The murder of Jehoram and Ahaziah was followed by 
 a massacre of all the royal family of Israel, and of a num- 
 ber of the royal family of Judah who were met on their -T 
 way to visit their relatives at the court, f Seventy heads, 
 s^t up in baskets from Samaria, were piled in two heaps 
 at the gate of Jezreel. But, even so, the great blow was 
 not yet struck. Jehu set out in his chariot for Samaria, 
 and meeting on his way Jehonadab the son of Rechab, 
 a hater of Baal, he took him up into his chariot. " Come 
 with me," he said, " and see my zeal for the Lord." So 
 they came to Samaria. And Jehu pretended to be on the 
 side of Baal. " Ahab," he said, " served Baal a little, 
 but Jehu shall serve him much." So he assembled all 
 the worshippers of Baal as for a splendid sacrifice; the 
 temple was filled from one end to another. Out of the 
 vestry were brought forth vestments, and the men were 
 dressed in the gorgeous cloaks of their religion. Jehu 
 himself offered the sacrifice. Then rose up eighty ap- 
 pointed men with swords, the doors being secured, and fell 
 upon the multitude of unarmed worshippers till they were 
 all destroyed. And the image of Baal was broken down, 
 
134 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 and the temple of Baal was laid in ruins. Thus with 
 treachery and blood the old religion of the land was ended. 
 
 2. Athaliah seizes the Crown of Judah. // Kings ii ; 
 // Chronicles 22:10-23:21. — The uprising of Jehu, 
 which destroyed the religion of Baal in the kingdom of 
 Israel, served for a time to strengthen it in the kingdom 
 of Judah. When the queen-mother, Athaliah, saw that 
 her son was dead, she took the throne herself. She com- 
 pleted the destruction of the royal family, which Jehu 
 had begun, that she might have no rival. Whoever had 
 been spared when the Philistines and Arabians had in- 
 vaded the land, she put to death, except her youngest 
 grandson. The princess Jehosheba, a sister of the dead 
 king Ahaziah, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, hid her little 
 nephew when the king's sons were slain. Jehoash was 
 only a year old. 
 
 So Athaliah was the queen, and the religion of Baal 
 prospered in the kingdom of Judah beside the religion of 
 Jehovah. This continued for six years. But in the 
 seventh year, Jehoiada conferred with the faithful captains 
 and showed them the king's son. And on a sabbath day, 
 when all the plans were made, he brought the little king 
 into the temple, set armed guards about him, showed him 
 to all the people, and put the crown upon him. And they 
 made him king, and anointed him, and they clapped 
 their hands, and shouted, " God save the king! " And 
 Athaliah heard the shouting and came to see what it was 
 about, and there by the pillar, in the king's place, stood 
 the little king with the crown upon his head, and the armed 
 guards beside him, and the trumpeters were blowing with 
 their trumpets. Then Athaliah cried, ''Treason ! Treason I" 
 but there was none to help her. So she died and Jehoash 
 
THE REVOLUTION OF JEHU 135 
 
 reigned. And the temple of Baal was torn down, and his 
 altars and his images " broke they in pieces thoroughly." 
 
 Jehoash began his reign under the protection and guid- 
 ance of the priest Jehoiada. It is remembered of him that 
 he repaired the temple, which had been neglected while 
 Athaliah worshipped Baal. Jehoiada took a chest and 
 bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it by the altar which 
 was before the temple door, and into this the people put 
 their offerings, and out of these offerings the masons and 
 the carpenters were paid. The Chronicler says (II Chron- 
 icles 24 : 17-22) that after Jehoiada's death Joash behaved 
 badly, and when Zechariah, Jehoiada's son, reproved him 
 he had him stoned to death in the court of the temple. 
 Joash himself died at last at the hands of assassins. 
 
 3. The War with Syria. II Kings 10:32-36; 11 : 17, 
 18 ; 13 : 1-9. — Hazael, king of Syria, was in the meantime 
 justifying all the fears of Elisha. 
 
 It was against him that Jehu was fighting at Ramoth 
 when he was anointed king of Israel. It may have been 
 in defence against him that Jehu paid tribute to the king 
 of Assyria, Shalmaneser II, to buy the help of the As- 
 syrian arms. Assyrian inscriptions say that Jehu paid 
 " silver, gold, a golden bowl, a golden goblet, a golden 
 ladle, golden pitchers, bars of lead, a sceptre for the hand 
 of the king, and spear shafts." That was in 842, and in 
 that same year Shalmaneser attacked Damascus. He 
 defeated Hazael, who lost over a thousand chariots, and 
 sixteen thousand men, but held his capital against the 
 siege. Nothing daunted, Hazael came out again and took 
 away from Israel all the lands which lay east of the Jor- 
 dan. More than fifty years after, when the prophet 
 Amos wrote (Amos i : 3), it was remembered how the Syr- 
 
136 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 ians threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron. 
 Jehoahaz the son of Jehu had but ten thousand footmen 
 left in his army, and fifty horsemen and ten chariots. 
 
 Hazael carried the arms of Syria even into Philistia, 
 where he besieged Gath and took it. In the reign of 
 Jehoash he appeared with his victorious host before the 
 walls of Jerusalem. And Jehoash took all the treasures 
 of the temple, and all the gold that he had, and gave it to 
 Hazael that he might go away and spare the city. 
 
 Thus Hazael became the mightiest of the rulers of 
 Damascus. Under his strong hand the whole country, 
 north and south, was subject to Syria. He was master of 
 Judah under Jehoash and of Israel under Jehoahaz. 
 
XXII 
 THE LONG PEACE 
 
 JuDAH Israel 
 
 Amaziah 796-782 Jehoash jg'j-'jSi 
 
 Uzziah 782-735 Jeroboam II 781-740 
 
 I. Amaziah and Jehoash. // Kings 13:10-14:20, 
 // Chronicles 25. — In the midst of the sovereignty of 
 Hazael over the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, " the 
 Lord gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from 
 under the hand of the Syrians." This saviour was the 
 king of Assyria. 
 
 The prophet Elisha was on his deathbed when he was 
 visited by Jehoash of Israel, the son and successor of 
 Jehoahaz. " My father, my father," cried the king, 
 '' the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof ! " It 
 seemed to him that in the passing of Elisha the last hope 
 of the nation was disappearing. The prophet was like 
 an army with banners; he was the chariot of Israel and 
 its horsemen. Elisha said, " Take bow and arrows." 
 And when he took them the dying man put his hands on 
 the king's hands. " Shoot," he said, " out of the window 
 eastward." So he shot, three times. He shot, as Elisha 
 said, " the arrow of the Lord's deliverance, and the arrow 
 of deliverance from Syria." It was a promise of three vic- 
 tories. 
 
 These victories were won, and the cities which Syria 
 137 
 
138 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 had taken from Israel were recovered in the midst of the 
 disorder of a great invasion. The inscriptions say that 
 the Assyrians marched again (797) to the Great Sea. 
 In Tyre and Sidon, in " the land of Omri " (= Israel), in 
 Philistia, in Edom, they reduced the people to subjection 
 and laid them under tribute. But the weight of the in- 
 vasion fell most heavily upon Syria. The king was shut 
 up in Damascus. Dread of Asshur (the god of Assyrians) 
 struck him to the earth. " He clasped my feet," says the 
 Assyrian king, " and gave himself up. His countless 
 wealth and goods I seized in Damascus." 
 
 The immediate effect of this overthrow was to deliver 
 the two kingdoms from the fear of Syria. 
 
 Thereupon Amaziah, king of Judah, successfully in- 
 vaded Edom. It is remembered in praise of Amaziah 
 that while he put to death the men who had killed his 
 father, he spared their sons. Up to this time common 
 opinion had regarded a man's family as a part of the man ; 
 if he offended, all must share his punishment. Now, for 
 the moment, the rights of the individual were recognized. 
 / Meanwhile, Jehoash, king of Israel, had been winning 
 victories which Elisha had predicted against the enfeebled 
 Syrians. 
 
 Then the kings, made bold by these successes, turned 
 their arms against each other. Amaziah challenged 
 Jehoash. Jehoash replied with the fable of the Thistle 
 and the Cedar. " The thistle that was in Lebanon sent 
 to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, ^ Give thy 
 daughter to my son to wife ' : and there passed by a wild 
 beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle." 
 And he added a fair warning. " Thou hast indeed smitten 
 Edom, and thine heart hath lifted thee up : glory of this, 
 
THE LONG PEACE 139 
 
 and tarry at home; for why shouldest thou meddle to 
 thy hurt ? " But Amaziah did not heed the warning. He 
 went to war with Jehoash, and was so seriously defeated 
 that the men of Israel came and broke down the wall of 
 Jerusalem, and carried away the treasures of the palace 
 and the temple. Then a conspiracy was made against 
 Amaziah, who had brought this disaster upon Judah, and 
 he was put to death, like his father. / 
 
 2. Forty Prosperous Years. // Kings 14 : 23-15 : 7, 
 // Chronicles 26. — Amaziah of Judah was followed by 
 his son Uzziah (= Azariah), and Jehoash of Israel was 
 followed by his son Jeroboam II. These two kings reigned 
 side by side in great prosperity for nearly forty years. 
 There had been nothing like it in Hebrew history since 
 the days of Solomon. Syria was broken by the Assyrian 
 invasion, and Assyria was occupied with problems and 
 troubles at home. There was no oppressor. 
 
 Uzziah restored to Judah the important port of Elath 
 on the Red Sea, the gate of commerce with the far east. 
 He conquered the Philistines and the Arabians who had 
 overrun the country in the days of Jehoram. Ammon 
 paid him tribute. He rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem which 
 Jehoash of Israel had broken down, and made towers 
 at the gates. He encouraged agriculture, having husband- 
 men and vine dressers in the mountains and in the fruitful 
 fields. He encouraged the raising of cattle, building towers 
 in the wilderness for the protection of the herdsmen, and 
 hewing out cisterns. He equipped his army with shields, 
 and spears, and helmets, and coats of mail, and bows, and 
 stones for slinging. In his time cunning men invented 
 engines to shoot arrows and great stones from the battle- 
 ments. 
 
I40 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 Jeroboam II is credited in the history with wars 
 which added Hamath and Damascus to Israel. This 
 wide domain was predicted by a Galilean prophet, Jonah 
 of Gath-hepher near Nazareth. The records of this 
 great reign are contained in a few sentences, but that 
 Jeroboam was a strong and wealthy king, ruling a pros- 
 perous people, is emphasized in the sermons of the prophet 
 Amos. 
 
 3. The Beginnings of the Old Testament. — Much 
 more important than the conquests of Uzziah and of Jero- 
 boam II is the quiet work, undated but probably proceeding 
 in these days of peace, whereby progress was made in the 
 compilation of the ancient materials which were used in 
 the construction of the historical books of the Old Testa- 
 ment. 
 
 These materials consisted in great part of songs, stories 
 and statutes. They had been brought down from the 
 long past in the memory of the people. 
 
 The earliest public speech of primitive man seems to 
 have been in the form of poetry. What he had to say, 
 he sang in a rude chant. Thus he voiced the joys and 
 sorrows of his tribe ; thus he gloried over their victories, 
 and lamented their defeats. A bit of such verse is in the 
 Song of Lamech in Genesis (4: 23, 24), and in the Song 
 of the Well, in Numbers (21:17, 18). There is no doubt 
 as to the contemporary character of the Song of Deborah 
 (Judges 5). 
 
 Almost as early as the poet, appears the teller of stories. 
 History in its primitive form is dramatic, and consists 
 not only of record but of dialogue. The heroes speak. 
 The purpose is to make the past real, vivid and alive. 
 The historian is concerned not in the connected progress 
 
THE LONG PEACE 141 
 
 of events, not in dates or national conditions, but in per- 
 sons. He is interested, for example, not in Egypt but in 
 Joseph ; not in the wars of Jeroboam II but in the wonder- 
 ful works of Elisha. 
 
 Meanwhile, in every advancing civilization, alongside 
 of songs and stories, there will be statutes. Gradually, 
 by the strength and ability of rulers and judges, and by 
 the lessons of experience, a collection of laws will come 
 into being. At first, they will be for the most part in 
 memory only, in the form of tribal customs; sometimes 
 in groups of ten, one for each finger of the two hands. 
 Then they will be inscribed on stone. After a considerable 
 time, during which new laws are added to old through 
 many generations, they will be collected into a code. That 
 this stage of progress may be a very ancient one, is shown 
 by its appearance in the inscription which contains the 
 Code of Hammurabi. 
 
 Such statutes, songs and stories were in the possession 
 of the Hebrews. Some of them were connected with 
 local shrines, such as Shechem and Bethel and Hebron 
 and Beer-sheba. Some were the common treasure of all 
 the people, such as were associated with Abraham and 
 with Moses. Some belonged to the inheritance of the 
 Semitic race, such as the traditions of the beginning of 
 the world. Some were written in court chronicles, being 
 accounts of men and events with which the writers were 
 themselves acquainted. Thus in the court of Solomon 
 were two " scribes " and a " recorder " ; references begin 
 to be made to contemporary accounts, — " the rest of the 
 acts of Solomon and all that he did and his wisdom, are 
 they not written in the book of the Acts of Solomon? " 
 (I Kings II : 41.) Presently the reader is referred to the 
 
142 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 '' book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah " (I 
 Kings 14 : 29) and to the " book of the Chronicles of 
 the Kings of Israel " (I Kings 14 : 19). Such writings 
 described the later heroes, Samuel, Saul, David and 
 Solomon. 
 
 Then the kingdom was divided, and the statutes, songs 
 and stories were recited by fathers to children in Israel 
 and in Judah, with such minor differences as would natu- 
 rally arise under the conditions of such a separation. Grad- 
 ually, they were written down. First, in the kingdom of 
 Judah, because its situation afforded more quiet time for 
 such a work ; perhaps in the middle of the ninth century 
 (c. 850), in such a reign as that of Jehoshaphat, when 
 teachers are said to have had the " book of the law " 
 with them (II Chronicles 17:9). Then, in the kingdom 
 of Israel, perhaps in the middle of the eighth century 
 (c. 750), in such a reign as that of Jeroboam 11. 
 
 The existence of two such collections was first discov- 
 ered by the appearance of such duplicate narratives as 
 we have already noticed in the accounts of the Creation, 
 and the Flood, of the experiences of Abraham in Egypt, 
 and in the story of Joseph. It was presently noticed that 
 in such dupUcations one account would be found to call 
 God Jehovah (= " Lord '') and the parallel account would 
 be found to call Him Elohim (= " God "). It was found 
 further that the Jehovah records, which scholars call /, 
 were so interested in the southern tribes as to suggest their 
 compilation in Judah, while the Elohim records, called 
 E., were so interested in the northern tribes as to suggest 
 their compilation in Israel. Thus analysis finds a strand 
 of narrative beginning with the story of the creation and 
 extending perhaps to the death of David, and another 
 
THE LONG PEACE 143 
 
 strand of narrative beginning with Abraham and extend- 
 ing perhaps to the ascension of Elijah. 
 
 Later, after the destruction of the northern kingdom, 
 perhaps in such a reign as that Manasseh^ when the 
 ancient religion was under persecution (c. 650), the two 
 collections were combined in one. Thus J (c. 850) -f- E 
 (c. 750) = JE (c. 650). 
 
XXIII 
 AMOS AND HOSEA 
 
 JuDAH Israel 
 
 Uzziah 782-735 Jeroboam 781-740 
 
 Jotham regetit to 735 Zechariah, Shallum 
 
 Menahem, Pekahiah, to 735 
 
 Amos 
 
 Hosea 
 
 &. The Decline of Israel. II Kings 15 : 8-30, II Chron- 
 icles 26:16-27:9. — The prosperous reign of Uzziah of 
 Judah was clouded toward the end by the king's illness. 
 He became a leper, an afHiction which the Chronicler 
 attributed to his presumption in burning incense on 
 the altar in the temple. Thereupon, his son Jotham 
 acted as regent. / 
 
 ' Meanwhile, the prosperous reign of Jeroboam II of 
 Israel was followed by immediate disaster. The kingdom 
 suffered from the greed, the oppression and the folly of its 
 rulers, and from repeated invasions of the Assyrians. 
 Zechariah, the son of Jeroboam, reigned six months, and 
 was murdered by a man named Shallum, who became 
 king in his place. Shallum continued only one month, 
 when he was murdered by Menahem, who took the 
 throne. 
 
 The obscure and scanty records of the reign of Mena- 
 hem indicate that the usurper met with opposition. In 
 
 144 
 
AMOS AND HOSEA 145 
 
 order that the kingdom might be confirmed in his hand, 
 he hired the help of Tiglath-pileser (= Pul), paying him 
 a thousand talents of silver. This money he extorted 
 from all the " mighty men of wealth " in the land, making 
 each man give fifty shekels. The date of this transaction 
 in the Assyrian records is 738. When the Assyrians came 
 again in 734, not only Menahem but Pekahiah his son 
 had finished their troubled reigns. It is therefore nec- 
 essary to subtract some years from the ten which are 
 ascribed to Menahem in the history. 
 
 Thus in the space of five years, from the death of Jero- 
 boam II in 740 to the murder of Pekahiah in 735, the land 
 had four kings, three of whom were assassinated. The 
 social and religious situation during this tragic time ap- 
 pears in the books of Amos and Hosea. / 
 
 2. The Prophet Amos. — The sermons of Amos rep- 
 resent the situation in the midst of the reign of Jeroboam, 
 and reveal the evils which caused the swift decline which 
 followed. 
 
 The home of Amos was in the kingdom of Judah, in 
 Tekoa, twelve miles south of Jerusalem, and twenty-two 
 miles south of the shrine of Bethel where he preached 
 his sermons. The village had already entered into the 
 history as the residence of a wise woman whom Joab sent 
 to David (II Samuel 14: 1-21). Amos was a herdsman, 
 and a gatherer of the sycamore fruit out of which the 
 poorer people made bread (Amos i : i, 7 : 14). He had no 
 connection with those religious societies called " prophets " 
 and " sons of prophets," of which we read in the 
 lives of Elijah and Elisha (II Kings 2:3, 5 ; see also I 
 Kings 22:6, I Samuel 10:10). Living though he did 
 among his flocks, Amos knew how to write, at a time 
 
146 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 when that was a somewhat rare accomplishment, and 
 was master of a picturesque and vigorous style. He was 
 acquainted also with the great world. He knew what was 
 taking place in Damascus, in Gaza and in Tyre, and in 
 the courts of Edom, of Moab and of Ammon (Amos 
 1-2:3). This he may have learned from passing cara- 
 vans, or from his own journeys to sell the wool of his 
 flock. He was especially concerned about the kind of 
 life which he saw or heard of in Israel. 
 
 Amos was much impressed by the wealth and luxury of 
 the kingdom of Jeroboam. He saw that the rich had 
 summer houses as well as winter houses, built of hewn 
 stone, adorned with ivory, surrounded by gardens. He 
 observed their feasts, at which they reclined on soft 
 cushions covered with silk, and ate lambs out of the flock 
 and calves out of the midst of the stall, singing idle songs 
 to the sound of the viol, and drinking wine in bowls 
 (3: 12, 15, 6:4-6). 
 
 Amos found the people devoted to the religion of Jehovah. 
 Pilgrims brought their sacrifices to the shrines on the first 
 day of their arrival, and on the third day paid their tithes. 
 The sacred feasts and solemn assemblies were observed 
 with singing and instrumental music (4:4; 5 : 21-23). 
 
 Amos perceived that along with this pleasant living, 
 and these carefully attended services, went greed, and 
 dishonesty and cruelty. The rich stored up violence and 
 robbery in their palaces. Even the women crushed the 
 needy. By trampHng on the poor, and taking exactions 
 of wheat, by afflicting the just and taking bribes, they had 
 increased their fortunes. The merchants were impatient 
 to have the Sabbath over that they might sell their corn 
 and wheat, and in the selling they cheated their customers 
 
AMOS AND HOSEA 147 
 
 with false balances, making the measure small and the 
 weight great (3 : 10 ; 4:1; 5:11,12; 8 : 4-6). 
 
 At last, in Bethel, in the face of the people who were 
 doing these things, Amos publicly denounced them. He 
 stood beside the palace and the shrine, a shepherd prophet, 
 and declared that God had sent him to rebuke and warn 
 the kingdom of Jeroboam. He reminded them how God 
 had blessed them in the past (2:9, 10), and how He had 
 endeavored to recall them from their evil ways by means of 
 famine and pestilence (4: 6-1 1). Because they had paid 
 no heed, God, he said, hated and despised their feast days 
 and all the ceremonies of their religion (5 : 21-24). Be- 
 cause they had gone on in their selfishness and injustice, God, 
 he said, would bring sore punishment upon them. Amos 
 did not speak the name of Assyria, but his meaning was 
 plain. " Thus saith the Lord God, ' An adversary there 
 shall be even round about thy land; and he shall bring 
 down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be 
 spoiled '"(3:11). "I will raise up against you a nation," 
 saith the Lord the God of Hosts, " and they shall afflict 
 you from the entering in of Hamath unto the brook of the 
 Arabah," — over all that wide domain which the might 
 of Jeroboam had subdued (6 : 14). "I will cause you to 
 go into captivity beyond Damascus," saith the Lord 
 (5:27). " The high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and 
 the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste ; and I will rise 
 against the house of Jeroboam with the sword " (7:9). 
 
 Then came the priest of Bethel, Amaziah, and stopped 
 the prophet. " Get you away," he cried, " into the land 
 of Judah and prophesy there. Speak these things no more 
 in Bethel, for this is the place of the king's sanctuary and 
 of the king's palace " (7 : 12, 13). It is one of the great 
 
148 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 scenes of history. The man of the established order, in 
 alliance with political power and private wealth, silenced 
 the man who rebuked the sins of the great in the name of 
 the Lord. 
 
 3. The Prophet Hosea. — Jeroboam was still upon the 
 throne, and the prophecies of Amos were still unfulfilled, 
 when the word of the Lord came to a man of the kingdom 
 of Israel, named Hosea. This took place under singular 
 circumstances. Hosea had been deserted by his wife. 
 She had left him and her three children, and had gone away, 
 at first with one man, then with another. This she had 
 done expecting happiness, but she had found misery. 
 Forsaken by her lovers, and falling from one distress to 
 another, she was at last exposed in the market place to be 
 sold into slavery. Here Hosea found her, and bought her. 
 He paid fifteen pieces of silver, and several bushels of barley, 
 and took her home (3 : 1-3). 
 
 Up to this moment, Hosea had preached in the stern 
 manner of Amos. His first-born son he had named 
 Jezreel, in memory of the place where Jehu, founder of the 
 line of kings to which Jeroboam belonged, had begun his 
 reign with blood. " The Lord said, ^ A little while, and I 
 will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, 
 and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease.* " 
 He gave his daughter a name which means '' not-loved, '* 
 and his next son a name which means " not-my-people." 
 Thus Hosea declared before the death of Jeroboam that 
 God would have no pity on the nation, and would no longer 
 regard them as his people (i : 4-9). 
 
 But when his wife was taken back, and he found that in 
 spite of all her desertion and her sin he loved her still, he 
 came to realize that God was of that same mind toward 
 
AMOS AND HOSEA 149 
 
 deserting and sinning Israel. Thus he added a new note 
 to the message of Amos. Amos had preached the in- 
 dignation of God. Hosea preached the constant love of 
 God. He did not mean by this that God cared less 
 about the wickedness of the people, or that there was 
 any doubt about the misery into which that wickedness 
 must bring them ; but behind it all he saw the grief and 
 love of God, and the divine longing for the repentance of 
 his people. 
 
 Hosea changed the names which said that God had 
 ceased to care for Israel. He still declared that God 
 would punish all their sins. " I am unto thee as a lion, as 
 a leopard will I watch by the way. It is thy destruction, 
 O Israel, that thou art against me, against thy help " 
 (13 : 7-9). "They sow the wind, and they shall reap the 
 whirlwind. I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall 
 devour the castles thereof " (8 : 6, 7, 14). But with this 
 message of doom was a continually recurring note of divine 
 sorrow and affection. 
 
 In Hosea's book, we are brought into the midst of the 
 five years of assassination and disorder. He says, " there 
 is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. 
 There is nought but swearing and breaking faith, and kill- 
 ing and stealing and committing adultery" (4 : i, 2). Even 
 the priests are robbers and murderers (6:9), and the princes 
 spend their time in drunkenness. They devour their rulers, 
 all their kings are fallen (7:5, 7). We perceive more 
 clearly than in the history that the nation, conscious of 
 v»reakness, is uncertain whether to turn to Assyria or to 
 Egypt. These two great powers are about to contend for 
 the possession of the world. Israel lies between them. 
 The counsels of the rulers, and the minds of the people, 
 
I50 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 are divided. There seems to be an Assyrian party and an 
 Egyptian party in the court. " Ephraim is like a silly 
 dove ; they call unto Egypt, they go unto Assyria " (7 : 11). 
 In either direction, Hosea says, they go away from their 
 only hope, the hope which is founded upon obedience to 
 God. 
 
XXIV 
 THE ASSYRIAN INVASION 
 
 JUDAH ISR..EL 
 
 Ahaz 735-715 Pekah 735-734 
 
 Hoshea 734-722 
 
 I. Israel and Syria against Judah. // Kings 15 : 23- 
 29 ; 16, // Chronicles 28, Isaiah 7. — In the great 
 debate between the policy of submission and the pohcy 
 of resistance to Assyria, Menahem and his son Pekahiah 
 had been on the side of submission. But the Assyrians 
 were now engaged in campaigns in the east. It was al- 
 ways possible that such campaigns might be unsuccessful 
 or might seriously weaken the Assyrian power. Accord- 
 ingly, the Palestinian provinces took the opportunity to 
 rebel. The plan was to unite against Assyria. 
 
 For the success of such a plan it was necessary to have 
 the cooperation of all the Palestinian kings. But Ahaz 
 of Judah, and probably Pekahiah of Israel, refused to join 
 the union. Thereupon Pekahiah was conspired against 
 by Pekah, one of his captains, who came over from Gilead 
 with fifty men and killed him. Then Pekah in alliance 
 with Rezin of Syria marched against Ahaz. 
 
 The social and religious situation in Judah under Ahaz 
 is revealed in the sermons of the prophet Isaiah. In the 
 year when King Uzziah died, Isaiah, then a young courtier 
 in Jerusalem, saw a vision of the Lord enthroned, and heard 
 
 151 
 
152 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 a voice calling him to warn the people that for their sins 
 the land should be made desolate (Isaiah 6). The long 
 prosperity of Uzziah's reign had made the nation rich, 
 but had brought also the temptations which accompany 
 material success. The land was full of gold and silver, 
 but it was also full of idols (Isaiah 2 : 7-22). " Jerusalem 
 is ruined, and Judah is fallen," cried the prophet, " be- 
 cause their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, 
 to provoke the eyes of his glory." In Judah as in Israel, 
 the rich were beating the people to pieces, and grinding 
 the faces of the poor. The women were interested in their 
 gowns and ornaments (Isaiah 3 : 18-23) ; the men were 
 idle and drunken, sitting at feasts, listening to the music 
 of the viol and the harp. Therefore, says the prophet, 
 shall the Lord call to the nations, and they shall come with 
 speed swiftly, whose arrows are sharp and all their bows 
 are bent, whose roar is like the roar of the sea (Isaiah 5 : 26- 
 
 30)- 
 
 The peril of the threatened invasion of Judah by the 
 allied armies of Israel and Syria moved the hearts of Ahaz 
 and his people as the trees of the wood are moved with the 
 wind. Isaiah endeavored to encourage the king. Meet- 
 ing him at the conduit of the upper pool, whither he had 
 gone to inspect the water supply of the city in the event 
 of a siege, the prophet told him not to be faint-hearted. 
 Pekah and Rezin, he said, are not fire but smoke. They 
 shall not hurt you ; they shall be destroyed. Only wait 
 in faith, and see their downfall (Isaiah 7 : 16). But Ahaz 
 would not wait. At first, in his fear, he fell into a panic 
 of superstition. Like the king of Moab (II Kings 3:27) 
 he offered his son as a burnt offering to the Lord. Then, 
 as the march of the invaders continued; he appealed to 
 
THE ASSYRIAN INVASION 153 
 
 Assyria. He took the treasures of the palace and the 
 temple and sent them to Tiglath-pileser. 
 
 The Assyrian response was immediate. Within the 
 space of a few months both Syria and Israel were con- 
 quered with a thoroughness from which they never re- 
 covered. Tiglath-pileser introduced into the history of 
 conquest a new and effective poHcy. His plan was to re- 
 move a great part of the leading people of a conquered 
 province, and to settle strangers in their places. Thus he 
 not only changed the character of the subject kingdom, 
 but destroyed its traditions, and made it over into a new 
 nation. This he did with Damascus, transporting its 
 population into northern Assyria. This he did with the 
 kingdom of Israel. Out of Gilead, east of the Jordan, 
 out of Galilee, north of the plain of Esdraelon, he carried 
 away people captive. Only the city of Samaria and 
 the surrounding country remained of the splendid domain 
 of Jeroboam. Pekah was put to death, and Hoshea, who 
 killed him, was made governor under the king of Assyria. 
 
 As for Ahaz, he hastened to do homage to Tiglath- 
 pileser at Damascus, whence he brought away the pattern 
 of an Assyrian altar which he caused to be set up in the 
 temple at Jerusalem. Not only the altar but the deface- 
 ment of the temple showed that the Assyrians were masters 
 in Judah as in Israel. The brazen oxen which had sup- 
 ported the vast bowl called the "sea," Ahaz was obliged 
 to give to the king of Assyria ; the bowl was rested on a 
 pedestal of stone. 
 
 2. The Fall of Samaria. // Kings 17 : 1-23, Isaiah 17. 
 — So much of the kingdom of Israel as remained after the 
 Assyrian invasion and deportation of 734 continued under 
 the governorship of Hoshea until 727. Then Tiglath- 
 
154 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 pileser died, and Shalmaneser IV reigned in his stead. 
 Such a change was commonly the signal for rebellion in 
 the restless empire of Assyria, and the Egj^tian party in 
 the court of Samaria took the occasion to urge a declara- 
 tion of independence. There was a new Pharaoh in Egypt 
 from whom they hoped great things. To these rash coun- 
 sellors Hoshea listened. He refused to pay the annual 
 tribute. But before the Egyptians could assist him, down 
 came the swift army of the Assyrians. Hoshea was 
 seized and bound in prison and Samaria was besieged. 
 Three years the city on its strong hill withstood the siege, 
 and Shalmaneser died before its surrender. It was taken 
 by his successor Sargon (722 B.C.). 
 
 Sargon destroyed the city. Some of the people he 
 transported to the extreme north of his empire, to Habor, 
 the river of Gozan ; others he carried to the extreme east, 
 to the cities of the Medes. There they settled, and 
 mingled with the people of the land, and lost both their 
 religion and their nationality, and were heard of no more. 
 Only the peasants and the poorer people remained. And 
 Sargon brought in men who had rebelled against him in 
 Babylon and in Hamath, and made a new population out 
 of this mixture of strange races and religions. 
 
 3. "The God of the Land." // Kings 17: 24-41.— 
 One curious incident indicates the character of the 
 new inhabitants. Being thus settled in the desolated coun- 
 try, in the midst of the devastation left by the three-years 
 siege, the people from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and 
 from Hamath found themselves attacked by lions. 
 They accounted for this plague by ascribing it to the anger 
 of the God of the Land, whom they did not know, and about 
 whose proper worship they were ignorant. In this diffi- 
 
THE ASSYRIAN INVASION 155 
 
 culty, the king of Assyria sent back one of the priests of 
 the Lord out of the land of exile to instruct them. 
 
 Thereafter, they had a mixed religion. Each group 
 of newcomers had their own god, according to the religion 
 of their native land, and Nergal and Ashima and Adram- 
 melech and other strange deities were worshipped at the 
 ancient shrines, but they all agreed to say their prayers 
 to Jehovah in addition. '' They feared the Lord, and 
 served their own gods." Thus the kingdom of Israel per- 
 ished utterly, and in the place of the Hebrews the land was 
 inhabited by this mixed race called Samaritans. 
 
XXV 
 
 ISAIAH AND THE PERIL OF JERUSALEM 
 
 JuDAH Assyria 
 
 Hezekiah 715-686 Sargon 722-705 
 
 Micah Sennacherib 705-681 
 
 Isaiah 
 
 I. The Prophet Micah. Micah 1-3, Jeremiah 26: 17- 
 19. — The fall of Samaria became a text for the sermons 
 of Micah. The village of Moresheth, in which he lived, 
 was southwest of Jerusalem, on the highlands which over- 
 look the Philistine plain. Micah could see the Mediterra- 
 nean in the distance. Between the water and the hills, 
 along the plain, ran that famous warpath of the ancient 
 world, along which marched the armies of the Tigris and 
 Euphrates to meet the armies of the Nile. 
 
 They come ! cried Micah, the fierce soldiers of Assyria, 
 having destroyed Samaria. They ruin all our pleasant 
 country-side. The villages of our neighborhood, — 
 Saphir, and Maroth and Lachish, — they beat in pieces. 
 Then shall they march upon Jerusalem. Destruction is 
 come unto Judah ; it is come unto the gate of my people, 
 even to Jerusalem ! 
 
 The cause of this calamity was found by Micah in the 
 sins of the rich. They covet the fields of their poorer 
 neighbors, and take them away by violence ; women and 
 children are cast out of their pleasant houses. They hate 
 
 156 
 
ISAIAH AND THE PERIL OF JERUSALEM 157 
 
 the good and love the evil. They pluck off the skin of 
 the people, and their flesh from oft* their bones. They ab- 
 hor judgment and pervert all equity. They build up 
 Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. 
 
 For this cause, said Micah, the holy city shall be utterly 
 destroyed. "Zion for your sake shall be plowed as a field, 
 and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of 
 the house as the high places of the forest." 
 
 The immediate result of these bold words was a reforma- 
 tion. Hezekiah was now king of Judah. He endeavored 
 to undo the evil of his father Ahaz. What he attempted 
 in the amending of the moral wrongs against which 
 Micah prophesied, we are not clearly told. The histo- 
 rian deals with the changes which he made in the ritual of 
 religion. 
 
 He began that destruction of the local shrines which 
 was afterwards completed by Josiah. At these ancient 
 altars on high places, under sacred groves, the worship of 
 images had continued; there the old idolatries had lin- 
 gered. Also, he cleansed the temple after the desecrations 
 of his father. Again the sacred lamps were lighted, and 
 the sacrifices were offered upon the altar, with singing 
 and harps and cymbals (II Chronicles 29). Moreover, 
 the feast of the passover, which had not been celebrated 
 for a long time, was observed in Jerusalem with great so- 
 lemnity. There had not been the like since the days of 
 Solomon (II Chronicles 30). In the midst of these 
 reforms, Hezekiah took the brazen serpent which the people 
 of Israel had brought with them from the desert, from the 
 days of Moses, and of which they had made an idol, burn- 
 ing incense before it, and he broke it, saying, " It is nothing 
 but a serpent of brass " (= Nehushtan). 
 
158 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 2. The Business of the Ambassadors of Babylon. // 
 
 Kings 20, // Chronicles 32:24-31, Isaiah 38, 39. — 
 Nevertheless, the peril which Micah saw continued ; and 
 the particular sins which, according to Micah, invited the 
 peril, continued also. It was only after tragic teaching 
 that the nation learned the lesson of the prophets: ^' To 
 what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me ? 
 saith the Lord. Wash you, make you clean, put away the 
 evil of your doings from before mine eyes. " It is significant 
 that Hezekiah made a pool and a conduit, and brought 
 water into Jerusalem (II Kings 20:20). He stopped 
 the watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down 
 to the west side of the city (II Chronicles 32 : 30). This 
 was in preparation for the siege which was constantly 
 possible. 
 
 In subjection to Assyria, under the hand of Sargon, and 
 forced to pay a heavy tribute, Judah, together with the 
 other provinces of Palestine, looked in every direction for 
 relief. The fate of Israel had not destroyed the hope of 
 relief from Egypt. Neither did Judah profit by the ex- 
 perience of Philistia. Gaza rebelled, and Sargon came 
 and took the city, and drove its Egyptian allies back to 
 Egypt. Ashdod rebelled, and Sargon came and took it. 
 Still, the minds of the men of Judah were so turned toward 
 Egypt that Isaiah walked in Jerusalem for three years in 
 the dress of a captive, to remind all who saw him of his 
 sure prediction that the Assyrians would conquer Egypt, 
 and lead away the Egyptians prisoners (Isaiah 20). 
 
 Meanwhile, there arose a possibility of relief from Baby- 
 lon. King Hezekiah had been very sick, but had been 
 recovered by the prayers of Isaiah. He had been assured 
 of longer life by the sign of the sundial of Ahaz, on which 
 
ISAIAH AND THE PERIL OF JERUSALEM 159 
 
 the sun, at the word of the prophet, went backward ten 
 degrees, perhaps by the shadow of an edipse. In the midst 
 of his recovery, he was visited by ambassadors from Baby- 
 lon. They came with presents and a letter from the king 
 of that country, congratulating him on his return to 
 health. The incident appears in the history after the ac- 
 count of the great siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib, but 
 the reception of these ambassadors by Hezekiah shows 
 that it preceded that devastating calamity. For Hezekiah 
 had treasures to display. He showed his visitors the house 
 of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the 
 spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his 
 armor. These houses were sadly empty after the visit 
 of Sennacherib. 
 
 But the king of Babylon, like the king of Judah, was 
 in subjection to the king of Assyria. He was preparing 
 to rebel. His sending of ambassadors to Judah was prob- 
 ably part of a plan to secure an alliance of the Palestinian 
 provinces. For this reason, Isaiah rebuked Hezekiah 
 for his hospitality. In the far future these Babylonians 
 would be deadly foes ; even now their friendship was dan- 
 gerous. 
 
 3. The Great Deliverance. // Kmgs 18 : 13-19 : 37, 
 II Chronicles ^2: 1-2 7,, Isaiah 10:5-34; 36, 37. — The 
 death of Sargon was the signal for a general uprising. The 
 Phoenicians rebelled under the lead of Sidon ; the Philis- 
 tines rebelled under the lead of Ekron. Isaiah, who in the 
 time of Ahaz had set himself against any dealings with 
 Assyria, now set himself with the same earnestness against 
 rebellion. He was convinced that the safety of Judah 
 consisted in keeping out of the contentions of the nations. 
 Ahaz had involved the kingdom in these contentions by 
 
i6o OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 becoming subject to Assyria; the wisdom of Hezekiah 
 would be shown in quiet submission to that Assyrian power 
 which he could not successfully resist. 
 
 This counsel all the leading men of Jerusalem resented. 
 We know as much as Isaiah, they said, concerning these 
 affairs of state. Shall he teach us ? They mocked him, as 
 one who was forever saying the same foolish thing ; " pre- 
 cept upon precept, precept upon precept ; line upon line, 
 line upon line." The Hebrew words are sav la-sav, sav la- 
 sav, quav la-qtiav, qauv la-quav, like the refrain of an idle 
 song. Their plan was to ally themselves with Egypt. 
 Isaiah declared that Egypt could not help them. " The 
 strength of Pharaoh," he said, " shall be your shame, and 
 the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion " (Isaiah 
 30 : 3). Your true strength, he said, is in the Lord. Obey 
 Him and trust in Him, and He will save you. 
 
 In spite of Isaiah, Judah entered into the general 
 conspiracy. Then Sennacherib, who succeeded Sargon, 
 came with his army. He subdued the Phoenicians; he 
 attacked the Philistines. The army of Egypt, which had 
 come to the aid of Ekron, he drove back. He turned his 
 face toward Jerusalem. Isaiah pictured to the trembling 
 people the successive steps of his invincible advance. 
 Now he is come to Aiath (nine miles away), he is passed 
 to Migron, he pitches his camp at Geba ; from Gibeah 
 (three miles away) the people flee before him ; at last at 
 Nob, within sight of Jerusalem, he shakes his fist against 
 our holy hill. His army covers the country like a forest, 
 like the vast woods of Lebanon. 
 
 In the presence of this tremendous peril, in the midst 
 of the alarm of the city as it awaited the besieger, Isaiah 
 kept his courage. He maintained that the city would be 
 
ISAIAH AND THE PERIL OF JERUSALEM i6i 
 
 saved. *' Behold," he cried, " the Lord, the Lord of hosts, 
 shall lop the bough with terror." He shall come against 
 this forest as the woodsman with his axe hews a great tree, 
 and it falls mightily. The king of Assyria was exalted 
 in his pride. He was saying, " I have removed the bounds 
 of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures, and I have 
 brought down as a valiant man them that sit on thrones ; 
 and as one gathereth eggs that are forsaken, have I 
 gathered all the earth; there was none that moved the 
 wing, or that opened the mouth or chirped." The Assyr- 
 ian inscriptions show how this pride was warranted by 
 the events. " Hezekiah of Jerusalem, who had not sub- 
 mitted to my yoke, forty-six of his strong cities, fortresses 
 and smaller towns round about their border without num- 
 ber, hewing about, and trampling down, I besieged, I took. 
 Two hundred thousand people from the midst of them I 
 brought out, and I counted them as spoil. Himself, as in 
 a cage, in the midst of Jerusalem, his royal city, I shut 
 up. Siegeworks against him I erected, and the exit of the 
 great gate of his city I blocked up." The first chapter 
 of the book of Isaiah may give a picture of this desola- 
 tion. " Your country is desolate, your cities are burned 
 with fire ; your land, strangers devour it in your presence." 
 Still, Isaiah declared that not an Assyrian should enter 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 Hezekiah paid a vast ransom for the preservation of the 
 city: all the gold and silver from those treasuries of the 
 palace and the temple which had already been emptied 
 so many times. He cut off the gold from the doors and 
 pillars of the temple to make up the price. And Sen- 
 nacherib turned away. It seemed for the moment as if by 
 the payment of this vast sum the city had been saved. 
 
i62 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 But the hope was vain. From Lachish, Sennacherib sent 
 an embassy to demand the surrender of the city. 
 
 The messengers said, " If you trust in the help of Egypt, 
 Egypt is but a broken reed : if you trust in the help of the 
 Lord your God, have you not broken down his altars on all 
 the high places? He is angry with you. What gods of 
 any land have been able to resist the king of Assyria? 
 He has destroyed the nations.'' 
 
 To this message, Hezekiah, advised by Isaiah, sent a 
 refusal to surrender. This refusal came to Sennacherib at 
 Libnah as he was setting out to fight the king of Egypt, 
 who was reported to be advancing against him. He sent 
 a letter repeating his demands, and Hezekiah, again in deep 
 despair, spread the letter before the Lord, praying in the 
 temple. Again he was encouraged by Isaiah. The Lord, 
 he said, will put a hook in the nose of Sennacherib, and a 
 bridle in his mouth, and turn him back by the way by 
 which he came. I will defend this city, saith the Lord, 
 and save it. 
 
 And so it came to pass. By attack, by panic, by pesti- 
 lence — the history does not say — the angel of the Lord 
 smote the camp of the Assyrians. The great king, who 
 had come down (as in Byron's poem) " like the wolf on the 
 fold," abandoned the campaign, went back to his own 
 land, and was seen in Palestine no more. 
 
XXVI 
 THE GREAT REFORMATION 
 
 JUDAH Assyria 
 
 Manasseh 686-641 Esar-haddon 680-668 
 
 Amon 641-639 Ashurbanipal 668-626 
 
 Josiah 639-608 
 
 Zephaniah j 
 
 Nahum 
 
 I. Manasseh the Apostate. // Kings 21, // Chron- 
 icles T,:^^. — The tremendous experience through which the 
 kingdom of Judah had passed must have assisted the moral 
 reforms which were urged by Micah and Isaiah, and the 
 ritual reforms which were urged by Hezekiah. But people 
 hate to be reformed. 
 
 The destruction of the altars in the shrines on the high 
 places must have given distress to many who had wor- 
 shipped all their lives in the sacred groves on the con- 
 secrated hills. The breaking of the brazen serpent must 
 have seemed to some an act of sacrilege. There may 
 have been those , to whom the invasion of Sennacherib 
 and the misery of the land seemed a punishment sent by 
 God in His anger at the desecration of His ancient temples. 
 Even the religion of Baal, which had possessed the country 
 long before the Hebrews had come in from the deserts 
 bringing the religion of Jehovah, must have survived all 
 the efforts of Jehu and Jehoiada to suppress it. It con- 
 
 163 
 
i64 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 tinned in concealment, as the religion of Greece and 
 Rome continued in spite of the overthrow of the empire 
 by the barbarians. 
 
 Accordingly, when Manesseh came to the throne, being 
 only twelve years old, they who disliked the policy of 
 Hezekiah asserted themselves. Under their influence, the 
 young king abandoned the principles of his father. He 
 built again the high places which his father had destroyed. 
 He restored the worship of Baal. He brought in from 
 Assyria the worship of the sun and moon and all the host 
 of heaven. Altars to these gods were erected in the courts 
 of the temple ; an idol was set up in the holy place. 
 ■ That these changes were not due to political considera- 
 tions only, appears in the conduct of the king himself. 
 His mind was filled with superstition. He practised 
 soothsaying, and divination, and sorcery, and encouraged 
 those who dealt with ghosts and familiar spirits. As the 
 years went by he testified to the genuineness of his own 
 convictions not only by shedding innocent blood in Jeru- 
 salem from one end to another, — probably in a persecution 
 of the faithful, — but by offering his own son as a burnt 
 sacrifice. 
 
 There were prophets who declared that for these evils 
 the Lord would deliver the people into the hand of their 
 enemies, and would wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a 
 dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. But nothing 
 happened. Manasseh is said in the history to have had 
 the longest reign of any king who ever sat on the throne 
 of either Israel or Judah ; and though the fifty-five years 
 which are given him are difficult to fit with other dates, 
 it is plain that his reign reached a perplexing length. The 
 Chronicler found a tradition that Manasseh was carried 
 
THE GREAT REFORMATION 165 
 
 a prisoner to Assyria, and that he came back a better man. 
 But even so, the theory that God punishes heresy and idol- 
 atry with defeat and failure and spoiling of goods was dis- 
 concerted by the prosperity of Manasseh. He died in 
 peace, and his son succeeded him. 
 
 2. The Beginning of Reaction. Zephaniah 1-3, Nahum 
 1-3. — The assassination of Manasseh 's son Amon, after 
 a reign of two years, may mean that the people had begun 
 to be weary of a debased religion. Other conditions also 
 contributed towards reaction. 
 
 The little king, Josiah, being only eight years old when 
 he began to reign, was open to the instruction of wise 
 advisers, who must have guided the course of the kingdom 
 till he came to years of discretion. The names of Hilkiah 
 the priest, and Shaphan the scribe, and Huldah the 
 prophetess, which appear presently in the records of 
 Josiah's reign, may indicate some of the formative influ- 
 ences which made him so different from his father and 
 his grandfather. The lad was naturally of a religious dis- 
 position. While he was yet young he began to seek after 
 the God of David. The Chronicler says that even at the 
 age of twelve he undertook a reformation. That zeal for 
 religion, that willingness to follow conviction no matter 
 where it leads, which Josiah had inherited from his grand- 
 father, his teachers were able to direct away from supersti- 
 tion into the old faith. The king became a great factor 
 in the religious change. 
 
 Josiah and his counsellors were much assisted in this 
 matter by two events in the world outside, which took place 
 when he was about twenty-one years old. One of these 
 was the invasion of the Scythians, the other was the death 
 of the last great king of Assyria. 
 
i66 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 The Scythian invasion, which is recorded by Herodotus, 
 was probably the occasion of the sermons of Zephaniah. 
 Out of the vast plains of Russia, through the passes of 
 the Caucasus, over Armenia and Syria, these wild people 
 came down along the warpath by the sea, past Palestine, 
 towards Egypt. They were forerunners of the barbarians 
 who in Christian times overturned the Roman Empire. 
 
 The Scythians filled the souls of men with terror. It 
 seemed as if they were to verify at last the predictions 
 of Micah, and to punish Judah for all the idolatries of Ma- 
 nasseh. Zephaniah saw in them the end of the world. 
 Indeed, that mediaeval day-of- judgment hymn, the 
 Dies IrcB, found its inspiration in the first chapter of 
 Zephaniah's book : "I will consume man and beast," 
 says the Lord by Zephaniah. " I will cut off man from the 
 land." The Baal worship of Manasseh's time is still 
 continuing ; people are saying their prayers to the stars 
 from the housetops of Jerusalem. But they shall be de- 
 stroyed. The great day of the Lord is near. Upon Phi- 
 listia, upon Moab and Ammon, upon Egypt, even upon 
 Assyria, shall fall a tempest of destruction. " I will also 
 stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the 
 inhabitants of Jerusalem." 
 
 At the same time the death of Ashurbanipal, and the 
 approach of the downfall of the empire of Assyria, called 
 out the sermons of Nahum. He sees from afar the destruc- 
 tion of the Assyrian capital. Nineveh shall be over- 
 thrown. The great gods whom Manasseh had worshipped 
 shall be proved powerless. Nahum hears the noise of the 
 rattling wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the 
 jumping chariots of the besiegers. Their shields are red, 
 their soldiers are in scarlet, the torches are flaming, and the 
 
THE GREAT REFORMATION 167 
 
 chariots are justling one against another in the broad 
 ways. Already, Nineveh of old is spoiled, and waste, and 
 empty, and devoured with fire ! 
 
 3. The Book of the Law. // Kings 22, 23 : 1-28, II 
 Chronicles T,/^, 35:1-19, Deuteronomy 12-26; 28. — The 
 Scythians did not invade Judah, as Zephaniah had ex- 
 pected. Neither did the death of Ashurbanipal realize 
 at once the hopes of Nahum. But the very thought of 
 these impending events discredited the idolatries which 
 Manasseh had encouraged. The situation came to a 
 crisis in the discovery of the Book of the Law (621 B.C.). 
 
 In the neglected temple, which Josiah was cleansing 
 and repairing, Hilkiah found a book. He gave it to 
 Shaphan to read, and Shaphan read it to the king. The 
 king read the book with amazement and terror, and asked 
 the advice of the prophetess Huldah. She declared that 
 it was the very word of the Lord God. Thereupon the 
 king assembled the people of Jerusalem, both small and 
 great, and read the book to them. And the result was a 
 great and thorough reformation. 
 
 It is inferred from the reforms which were thus under- 
 taken that the book so mysteriously discovered was that 
 which is now contained in the greater part of Deuteronomy. 
 " These are the statutes and the judgments which ye shall 
 observe to do in the land which the Lord God of thy fathers 
 giveth thee to possess it." Thus the book began (Deu- 
 teronomy 12:1). ''This day the Lord thy God hath 
 commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments; 
 that thou mayest be a holy people with the Lord thy God." 
 Thus the book ended (Deuteronomy 26:17, 19) with 
 appended curses (28). 
 
 On the plains of Moab, looking across the Jordan towards 
 
i68 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 the Promised Land, Moses gave directions for the future. 
 Some of the things which he said were preserved in memory, 
 some may have been preserved in manuscript. As the 
 years passed, they were collected and arranged and written 
 down. We have already seen how this work was in prog- 
 ress during the Long Peace. In the nature of things, these 
 ancient laws and counsels would be not only recorded but 
 interpreted. They would be understood in the light of 
 experience. They would be applied to present needs. 
 Men would be interested in them not archaeologically but 
 practically. They would desire to know the mind of the 
 great lawgiver regarding the problems of their own day. 
 
 One of the most pressing of these problems was that of 
 the local shrines. These were plainly sanctioned in the 
 old laws (Exodus 20 : 24). In any place where a man had 
 heard the voice of God, he might set up an altar, and there 
 offer sacrifices. And this had been so understood by 
 Joshua (Joshua 24:26) and by Samuel (I Samuel 1:3, 
 11: 15, 14:35) and by most of the kings of Israel and 
 Judah. The land was filled with sanctuaries. It had been 
 found, however, that these sanctuaries lent themselves 
 to the purposes of superstition and idolatry. They were 
 the refuges of paganism. Accordingly, Hezekiah had 
 endeavored to destroy them. But Manasseh had rebuilt 
 them. These two reigns made the contention plain be- 
 tween the sanctioning of the altars on the holy hilltops and 
 in the sacred groves, and the centralizing of all worship 
 at the altar in the temple of Jerusalem. 
 
 In this debate, what was the mind of Moses? 
 
 Now, in the reign of Manasseh, in the days of persecu- 
 tion, when no man could speak and keep his life, an 
 unnamed teacher wrote in a book that which he could 
 
THE GREAT REFORMATION 169 
 
 not preach in the street. He wrote a summary of the 
 laws of Moses, especially as they bore upon the evil days 
 in which he lived. In the stern words of Moses against 
 alliance with foreign religions (Numbers 25:5) he found 
 him warning the people against such temptations as were 
 presented by the local shrines. And in the summary of the 
 law, in his account of the last counsels of Moses according 
 to the best knowledge which his studies gave him, he set 
 this in the forefront : ''Ye shall utterly destroy all the 
 places wherein the nations which ye shall possess served 
 their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the high 
 hills, and under every green tree. And ye shall overthrow 
 their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves 
 with fire " (Deuteronomy 12 : 2, 3). 
 
 This book the prophet laid up in the house of God, and 
 there Hilkiah found it. 
 
 King Josiah carried these laws into immediate effect. 
 He brought out of the temple all the vessels that had been 
 made for Baal and burned them. He broke down all the 
 sacred trees or poles which stood beside the altars. He 
 stopped the burning of incense to Baal, and to the sun, 
 and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the stars. 
 He took away the horses and chariots which kings of Judah 
 had consecrated to the sun. He destroyed the temples 
 which Solomon had built in Jerusalem for Ashtoreth the 
 goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the god of the 
 Moabites, and for Molech the god of the Ammonites. 
 Even at Bethel, he broke down the altar which had been 
 made by Jeroboam. 
 
 4. The Battle of Megiddo. // Kings 23 : 29, 30, // 
 Chronicles 35 : 20-27. — ^^ the midst of these reforms came 
 the interruption of a sad disaster. The good king had 
 
lyo OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 ruled his people well. He seems to have extended his 
 kingdom, or at least his influence, over the old borders of 
 Israel. In the decline of Assyria, such an extension would 
 hardly be resisted. It may, indeed, have been arranged 
 by Assyria, Josiah ruling the two provinces under the 
 Assyrian king as overlord. Then the king of Egypt, 
 Pharaoh Necho, seeing that the king of Assyria was weak, 
 marched up along the Mediterranean warpath intending 
 to take into his own possession the whole land west of the 
 Euphrates. And Josiah, loyal to his Assyrian master, and 
 trusting in the help of God, went out to attack him by the 
 way. Thus was fought the battle of Megiddo. The king 
 of Egypt is said to have sent Josiah a friendly warning, 
 saying that he was upon another errand, and had no mind 
 nor time to fight with Judah. But the warning was not 
 heeded. Josiah disguised himself, as Ahab had done, but 
 to no purpose. The battle went against him, the archers 
 w^ounded him, he was carried in his chariot to Jerusalem, 
 where he died. 
 
 To the faithful people, the tragedy seemed not only a 
 national but a theological defeat. The wicked Manasseh 
 had Hved prosperously during a reign of nearly half a cen- 
 tury, and had died in peace. The belief that God blesses 
 the good with material rewards was again disconcerted. 
 The Book of the Law said that He did ; but the battle of 
 Megiddo seemed to contradict it. 
 
XXVII 
 JEREMIAH AT THE COURT OF JEHOIAKIM 
 
 JUDAH ChALDEA 
 
 Jehoahaz 608 Nebuchadnezzar 604-362 
 
 Jehoiakim 608-597 
 
 Uahakkuk 
 
 Jeremiah 
 
 I. The Battle of Carchemish. Hahakkuk i, 2, Jere- 
 miah 46. — The people mourned for Josiah with a bitter 
 lamentation. They had reason to weep not so much for 
 him as for themselves ; for with the death of Josiah the 
 glory of Judah passed away. 
 
 Between two sons of the dead king, the nation chose the 
 younger, Jehoahaz. He was not acceptable, however, to 
 Pharaoh Necho, whose victory had made him ruler of the 
 country. Jehoahaz was summoned to Hamath, where 
 Pharaoh deposed him, bound him in chains, and sent him 
 to Egypt, after a reign of three months. His elder brother, 
 whom Necho named Jehoiakim, was appointed in his place, 
 and a heavy tribute of gold and silver was exacted from the 
 people. 
 
 Instead of taking this tribute out of the treasures which 
 the prosperity of Josiah had brought to the king's house, 
 Jehoiakim collected it from the people. He devoted his 
 energies to the erection of a splendid palace, ceiled with 
 cedar and painted with vermilion (Jeremiah 22: 10-17). 
 Thus he returned to the oppressive policy of Solomon. 
 
 171 
 
172 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 He builded his house by unrighteousness ; he compelled 
 his subjects to labor without wages. His heart was bent 
 only on his dishonest gain, for which he shed innocent blood 
 and ruled by violence. 
 
 Meanwhile, in the great world without, two events were 
 taking place which gave the provinces of Palestine a new 
 master. One of these was the fall of Nineveh in 606 ; 
 the other was the decisive battle of Carchemish in 605. 
 
 As the capital city of Assyria, Nineveh had ruled the 
 empire of the Tigris and Euphrates. This included the 
 ancient kingdom whose capital was Babylon, and whose 
 rulers were the Chaldeans. After various unsuccessful 
 rebellions, — in one of which they sent an embassy to 
 Hezekiah, — the Chaldeans won their independence. 
 Thereupon they made a combination with the Medes in 
 the north, and the two armies of the Chaldeans and the 
 Medes besieged Nineveh, and took it , and destroyed it. 
 
 Thus the city fell, as Nahum had predicted with exul- 
 tation. The Chaldeans and the Medes divided the Assyr- 
 ian empire, the Chaldeans taking the lands west of the 
 Euphrates. These were the kingdoms which Pharaoh 
 Necho was just then engaged in conquering. They met, 
 therefore, — the Chaldeans and the Egyptians, — to fight 
 for the mastery of that part of the world : the Egyptians 
 under Necho, the Chaldeans under their king's son, 
 Nebuchadnezzar (= Nebuchadrezzar). The battle was 
 fought at Carchemish on the Euphrates. The Egyptians 
 were defeated, and fled across the country and down the 
 warpath by the sea towards Egypt, with the Chaldeans 
 after them. The victors would have taken Eg3^t itself, 
 had not the death of the king of Babylon called Nebuchad- 
 nezzar back to secure his father's throne. 
 
JEREMIAH AT COURT OF JEHOIAKIM 173 
 
 This decisive battle, which made Babylon the capital of 
 the Mediterranean world, profoundly perplexed the mind 
 of the prophet Habakkuk. He had been greatly troubled 
 over the situation in Judah under Jehoiakim. " O Lord," 
 he said, " how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! 
 even cry to thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! " 
 At first, he found satisfaction in the thought that the 
 Chaldeans would probably come, and punish Jehoiakim 
 and Jerusalem for all their sins. But then he reflected that 
 in such a punishment the whole nation might be destroyed, 
 the innocent with the guilty. He could not reconcile it 
 with the divine justice. On the far horizon he saw the 
 Chaldeans coming, that bitter and hasty nation which shall 
 march through the breadth of the land to possess the 
 dwelling places that are not theirs. Their horses are 
 swifter than the leopards, and more eager than the eagles. 
 They come all for violence, scoffing at kings, and deriding 
 every stronghold. Will God permit this devastation? 
 Will He hold His peace when the wicked swalloweth up 
 the man that is more righteous than he? The prophet 
 waits to see what God will do, troubled and perplexed, yet 
 confident that the just shall live by reason of their faith- 
 fulness. 
 
 The battle of Carchemish entered into the vision of 
 another prophet in another way. Jeremiah had first been 
 called into prophetic activity by that impending invasion 
 of the Scythians which had stirred the hearts of Zephaniah 
 and Nahum. The first six chapters of the book which bears 
 his name seem to belong for the most part to that time. 
 The reformation under Josiah was not yet begun. The 
 land was filled with iniquity and idolatry. Even the 
 reformation did not satisfy the prophet. It is uncertain 
 
174 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 what part he had in it, but the chapters from the seventh 
 to the twentieth show that the condition of the country 
 gave him no satisfaction. There had been some change in 
 ritual, but little change in conduct. The battle of Car- 
 chemish, however, brought Jeremiah at once into that 
 activity which occupied the rest of his life. Immediately, 
 he rejoiced in the spirit of a great triumph over the defeat 
 of Egypt. " This is the day of the Lord God of Hosts, a day 
 of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries ; 
 for the Lord of Hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country 
 by the river Euphrates " (Jeremiah 46 : 10). 
 
 2. In the Reign of Jehoiakim. // Kings 23 : 31- 
 24 : 7, // Chronicles 36 : 1-8, Jeremiah 7, 26, 19, 20, 
 36, 35- — Many of the chapters in the collection of Jere- 
 miah's speeches are dated, and it is plain by comparison 
 of dates that they are not arranged in the order of time. 
 (Compare 34: 2 with 36: i.) The dates show, however, 
 that the fourth year of Jehoiakim was a time of great 
 prophetic activity in the life of Jeremiah. In that year, 
 which followed the battle of Carchemish, he became a 
 very important and unpopular person in the kingdom of 
 Judah. 
 
 One time (Jeremiah 7, 26) he spoke in the court of the 
 temple, and denounced the wickedness of the land. He 
 said that the men of Judah oppressed the stranger, the 
 fatherless and the widow, and shed innocent blood ; they 
 were stealing, murdering, committing adultery and burn- 
 ing incense to Baal ; in the streets of Jerusalem, women 
 were baking cakes to the queen of heaven; and all this 
 they did without fear because they believed that no harm 
 could happen to the Holy City. This was their inference 
 from the saying of Isaiah that Jerusalem should not fall 
 
JEREMIAH AT COURT OF JEHOIAKIM 175 
 
 into the hands of Sennacherib. They believed that it was 
 safe forever. Jeremiah said that unless they changed their 
 lives, the Lord would destroy the city utterly. Already, 
 another prophet who said the same thing had been put to 
 death. The priests and the prophets proposed to kill 
 Jeremiah. It was only by the protection of influential 
 friends that he escaped. 
 
 Another time (Jeremiah 19, 20), declaring that the Lord 
 would bring such evil on Jerusalem that the ears of all who 
 heard of it should tingle, he took a potter's earthen bottle 
 and threw it down upon the stones. Thus should the city 
 be destroyed. For this, they put him in the stocks. He 
 felt that all men were against him. 
 
 By the hand of his friend Baruch (Jeremiah 36), Jere- 
 miah wrote out the sermons which he had preached during 
 the past twenty years, and Baruch read them to the people 
 in the court of the temple. One who heard him, went and 
 told the princes, and they sent for Baruch. " Sit down 
 now," they said, " and read it in our ears." When they 
 had heard the sermons, they carried the writing to the 
 king. The king sat in his winter house, and there was a 
 fire on the hearth burning before him. He listened while 
 three or four leaves were read, but it was plain that he dis- 
 liked it greatly. Then he took the paper out of the reader's 
 hand, cut it into pieces with his penknife and threw the 
 pieces in the fire. And he did not change his ways. 
 
 It is likely that Jehoiakim, owing his throne to Egypt, 
 came unwillingly under the rule of Chaldea. The battle 
 of Carchemish had resulted, indeed, in the defeat of Egypt, 
 but that ancient empire was still unconquered. Egypt 
 was near at hand, Chaldea was far away, and Nebuchad- 
 nezzar was busy with the rebuilding of Babylon. It is 
 
170 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 easy, at this distance, to see the folly of the rebellion of 
 Jehoiakim, but at that time the might of Egypt was still 
 a part of Hebrew tradition. The king of Judah may easily 
 have trusted in the protection of Pharaoh. Accordingly 
 Jehoiakim rebelled. 
 
 For the moment, Nebuchadnezzar was content to deal 
 with this rebellion by sending against Judah such Chal- 
 dean regiments as were near at hand, together with com- 
 panies of Syrians and Moabites and Ammonites, to 
 plunder and distress the country. Among those who were 
 thus driven for safety within the walls of Jerusalem were 
 members of the clan of the Rechabites, descendants of 
 the Jonadab whom Jehu took up into his chariot as he 
 drove to Samaria to massacre the priests of Baal. These 
 men, who had come down from Israel to Judah, repre- 
 sented an ancient protest against all that civilization which 
 they felt had involved the people of God in idolatry and 
 sin. They had been taught by their fathers to hate cities 
 and all cultivated lands. They continued in that wan- 
 dering life of the desert out of which the Hebrews had come 
 to Canaan. They lived in tents. They were forbidden to 
 build houses, or to plant fields, or to grow vines, or to drink 
 the wine which represented the luxury which they de- 
 spised. These rules they still kept even when the perils 
 of the open country had driven them into the walled town. 
 They maintained that simple life which their father had 
 commanded. 
 
 Before these men (Jeremiah 35) Jeremiah set bowls of 
 wine and bade them drink, and made their refusal the text 
 of a sermon. See, he said, how the Rechabites keep the 
 commandment of their father, while you men of Judah 
 break the commandments of your God. "Therefore thus 
 
JEREMIAH AT COURT OF JEHOIAKIM 177 
 
 saith the Lord God of hosts, Behold, I will bring upon 
 Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, all the 
 evil that I have pronounced against them." 
 
 In the midst of his rebellion, while the land was ravaged 
 by bands of spoilers, Jehoiakim died and his eighteen- 
 year-old son Jehoiachin came to the throne. 
 
XXVIII 
 THE CHALDEAN INVASION 
 
 JUDAH ChALDEA 
 
 Jehoiachin 579 Nebuchadnezzar 604-562 
 
 Zedekiah 597-586 
 Gedaliah 586 
 
 Jeremiah 
 
 Ohadiah 
 
 Lamentations 
 
 I. The First Captivity. II Kings 24 : 8-16, 25 : 27^30, 
 // Chronicles 36 : 9, 10, Jeremiah 24, 29 : 1-14. — Hardly 
 had the young Jehoiachin come to the throne when Neb- 
 uchadnezzar invaded the rebellious land in earnest. He 
 besieged Jerusalem, and the city immediately surrendered. 
 He carried to Babylon the king and his mother, and his 
 princes and the officers of his court, and all the men of 
 might, even seven thousand, and a thousand craftsmen 
 and goldsmiths and blacksmiths. The land was robbed 
 of its most valiant warriors and of its most skilful work- 
 men. Also he took away the treasures of the Lord's 
 house and of the king's house ; the temple and the palace 
 he left bare. The vessels of gold which Solomon had made, 
 and which had survived so many sieges, he cut in pieces. 
 A remaining son of Josiah, to whom the conqueror gave the 
 name of Zedekiah, was placed upon the broken throne. 
 
 Such a calamity should have convinced the people that 
 Jeremiah, whose predictions it fulfilled, was a true prophet 
 
 178 
 
THE CHALDEAN INVASION 179 
 
 of God. It should have brought those who remained in 
 Judah to repent them of their sins and change their ways. 
 But it had none of these effects. Jeremiah, they said, 
 prophesied the destruction of the city, and it was not de- 
 stroyed, it was only plundered. And they hated him as 
 before. As for the carrying away of so many into exile, 
 the men who were left felt this to be a benefit to them. 
 The exile vacated a thousand offices, and opened a thou- 
 sand positions. Into these moved the inferior men, who 
 proceeded at once to take the empty places. 
 
 The difference between those who had been taken to 
 Babylon and those who remained in Jerusalem was com- 
 pared by Jeremiah to the contrast between two baskets of 
 figs (Jeremiah 24). One basket was filled with very good 
 figs, the other with very bad figs, which could not be eaten, 
 they were so bad. The comparison did not increase the 
 liking of the survivors for Jeremiah. Still less were they 
 pleased with his word from the Lord. " I will deliver them 
 to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their 
 hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, 
 in all places whither I shall drive them." 
 
 At the same time, Jeremiah wrote a letter (Jeremiah 
 29 : 1-14) to the exiles in Babylon, advising them to build 
 houses and plant gardens and make ready for a long stay, 
 for seventy years must be accomplished before the Lord 
 would bring them back. And this displeased them, for 
 they were looking every day for a divine release from their 
 captivity. 
 
 2. In the Reign of Zedekiah. // Kings 24:17-20, 
 II Chronicles 36:11-16, Jeremiah 27, 28. — Zedekiah 
 was the creature of the king of Chaldea, as Jehoiakim 
 had been the creature of the king of Egypt. He had 
 
i8o OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 sworn a great oath of allegiance (Ezekiel 17:11-21). 
 But he broke the oath. The bitter experience through 
 which Jerusalem had passed had taught him nothing. 
 His mind and the minds of his court were still possessed 
 with the idea of the might of Egypt. To Jeremiah, as to 
 Isaiah before him, this idea was utter folly. It was plain 
 to the prophet that the king of Babylon held the Pales- 
 tinian provinces in his hand, and that it was impossible 
 for Egypt to take them out. 
 
 But Jeremiah stood alone. Even the prophets were 
 against him. In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, 
 at a time when messengers were present in the court from 
 Edom and Moab and Ammon and Tyre, Jeremiah made 
 wooden yokes and gave one to each of them, saying that 
 any nation which would not put their neck under the yoke 
 of the king of Babylon should be punished with the sword. 
 Only by submission could they escape death. He declared 
 that the prophets who were promising a speedy return from 
 Babylon were speaking lies. One of the prophets took off 
 the yoke which Jeremiah had on his own neck, and broke 
 it, declaring that within two years the yoke of Babylon 
 should be broken, and all the exiles should return. For 
 the moment Jeremiah went away in silence. But he 
 came back and changed the yokes of wood for yokes of 
 iron. 
 
 Nevertheless, Zedekiah put his trust in Egypt. Thither 
 he sent ambassadors (Ezekiel 17 : 15). He rebelled 
 against Nebuchadnezzar. He thereby invited the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem which followed. 
 
 3. The Fall of Jerusalem. // Kings 2^, II Chronicles 
 36 : 17-21, Jeremiah 34, 37, ^^. — When the siege began, 
 Zedekiah sent to consult Jeremiah, hoping perhaps for such 
 
THE CHALDEAN INVASION i8i 
 
 an answer as Isaiah had given in his time. But Jeremiah 
 replied that the only hope for safety was in surrender. '' I 
 myself will fight against you," saith the Lord, " with an 
 outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, 
 and in fury, and in great wrath " (Jeremiah 21 : 1-7). "He 
 that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the 
 famine, and by the pestilence ; but he that goeth out to 
 the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live." Thus he 
 said, day after day, till they put him in prison to silence 
 him. 
 
 The Egyptians came to help their aUies, and the siege 
 was raised while the Chaldeans went to meet them. It 
 seemed like the siege of Sennacherib over again, and the 
 people were full of joy and confidence. In one matter, they 
 had obeyed Jeremiah : they had freed such of their own 
 countrymen as had been made slaves to them for debt 
 (Jeremiah 34). But when the Chaldeans went away, 
 they took them back. Jeremiah declared that the Chal- 
 deans would return. " They shall come again, and fight 
 against this city and take it, and burn it with fire." 
 
 In the interval, the prophet attempted to leave the city. 
 He was arrested at the gate, on the charge of deserting 
 to the Chaldeans, and was put into a worse prison 
 than before. There the king secretly consulted him 
 again. ''Is there any word from the Lord?" said 
 Zedekiah. " There is," repHed the prophet : "Thou shalt 
 be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon." The 
 king released him from the dungeon, but kept him in the 
 prison court. Daily, in the famine which was then begin- 
 ning, he had a piece of bread out of the bakers' street. 
 
 Again he was put in strict confinement. They said that 
 he was telling the people to desert to the enemy. He was 
 
i82 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 let down into a deep dry cistern under the prison. But 
 out of this, one of the king's servants, a man from Ethiopia, 
 saved him. He threw down rags to Jeremiah to put under 
 his arms, and drew him up with a rope. And still the siege 
 went on. 
 
 At last, the wall was broken, and the king of Babylon 
 came in, and all his princes with him, and Zedekiah and the 
 garrison went out by the gate of the king's garden. They 
 went by night and fled across the plain. And the Chal- 
 deans followed and overtook them in the neighborhood of 
 Jericho. The sons of Zedekiah and all his nobles were 
 slain before his eyes. The Chaldeans burned the palace 
 and the houses and broke down the walls. They put out 
 the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, 
 and carried him to Babylon. And with him they carried 
 all but the poorest of the people. These they left to till 
 the fields. The brazen pillars of the Lord's house, and the 
 *' brazen sea," they broke in pieces ; and all the gold and 
 silver things, they took away. The chief priest, and the 
 second priest, and the commander of the garrison, and the 
 principal scribe, and some others, they killed by the way 
 at Riblah. The rest they brought to Babylon. 
 
 Two little books remain to express the grief and indigna- 
 tion of the exiles. One is the prophecy of Obadiah against 
 Edom, the other is the Lamentations. 
 
 The soul of Obadiah was filled with the memory of those 
 men of Edom who looked on with exultation at the fall of 
 Jerusalem. " In the day that thou stoodest on the other 
 side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive 
 his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast 
 lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them. Thou 
 shouldest not have rejoiced over thy brethren the children 
 
THE CHALDEAN INVASION 183 
 
 of Judah in the day of their destruction." " Neither 
 shouldest thou have stood in the crossway to cut off those 
 that did escape." " Thy reward shall return on thine own 
 head." 
 
 The five poems which compose the book of Lamentations 
 bewail the fate of the holy city. " How doth the city sit 
 solitary, that was full of people ! Judah is gone into cap- 
 tivity. For these things I weep. Mine eye, mine eye 
 runneth down with water. The Lord hath cast off his 
 altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary. Is this the city 
 that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the 
 whole earth? The mountain of Zion, foxes walk upon 
 it!" 
 
 4. Gedaliah the Governor. // Kings 25 : 22-26, Jere- 
 miah 39-44. — Over the farmers and vinedressers, and 
 the others who were left in the land, Nebuchadnezzar 
 appointed as governor one of their own countrymen, 
 Gedaliah, grandson of Josiah's old chancellor, Shaphan. 
 To Jeremiah the choice was courteously given whether 
 to go to Babylon or to remain. He preferred to remain. 
 Jerusalem being in ruins, the governor established him- 
 self near by, at Mizpah. The captains of the forces which 
 were in the fields came in; and Jews returned who had 
 found refuge in Edom, in Moab and in Ammon; and 
 were sent out to gather fruit and wine and oil, and to 
 dwell in their cities. 
 
 But the captains came to Gedaliah and reported that 
 one of their number, named Ishmael, had been hired by 
 the king of Ammon to kill him. The governor would 
 not believe it. Captain Johanan offered to slay Ishmael 
 before he could carry out his plot, but Gedaliah would 
 not permit it. Then came Ishmael and ten men with 
 
i84 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 him to Gedaliah, and dined with him with all show of 
 friendship, and after dinner they rose up and smote him 
 so that he died. They put to death all whom they found 
 in the place, and beside them eighty men who came down 
 from Samaria to burn incense on the altar of the ruined 
 temple; and the bodies were cast into the ditch which 
 King Asa had dug in the old time to protect the wall of 
 Jerusalem from the attack of Baasha. Those who re- 
 mained they seized to carry them to Ammon. 
 
 Then Johanan gathered men and waylaid Ishmael by 
 the pool of Gideon, and released the captives. Ishmael 
 escaped to Ammon. Thus Johanan was the head of the 
 people. He proposed to flee to Egypt for fear of the Chal- 
 deans, and this was done in spite of the protests of Jere- 
 miah. Down they went into Egypt, taking Jeremiah 
 with them. 
 
 And there in Egypt, the prophet continued to reprove 
 the people for their sins. They began to worship other 
 gods. They declared that they were prosperous, and had 
 good luck and plenty to eat in the days when their wives 
 made cakes to the queen of heaven ; and they vowed that 
 they would do it again. Everything, they said, has gone 
 wrong since we stopped it. Jeremiah explained in vain 
 that the wrong had come by reason of their sins ; that it 
 was their idolatries which had made their land a desola- 
 tion, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an in- 
 habitant. They would not listen. With this character- 
 istic scene, the like of which had been enacted a hundred 
 times in Jeremiah's faithful life, his voice, stern but tender, 
 faUs into silence, and he appears no more. 
 
XXIX 
 EZEKIEL AND THE EXILE IN BABYLON 
 
 597-538 
 
 I. Between the Two Captivities. Ezekiel 1-24. — Con- 
 cerning the condition of the Jews who were carried to 
 Babylon in 597, the Old Testament historians are silent. 
 The only fact which they record is that after some years 
 King Jehoiachin was released from prison and given an 
 honorable place in the Babylonian court (II Kings 25 : 
 27-30). But this was after the destruction of Jerusalem 
 in 586. Our information regarding the ten years between 
 the two captivities comes from one of the captives them- 
 selves, the prophet Ezekiel. 
 
 In the midst of this time, five years after Nebuchad- 
 nezzar had brought to Babylon the leaders of the Jewish 
 state and church and the chief citizens of Jerusalem, 
 Ezekiel saw visions of God. 
 
 We learn from his writings that the colony of exiles were 
 living beside the river Chebar, one of the canals which 
 carried water from the Euphrates to irrigate the rich 
 plains of Babylonia. The ten thousand men of the first 
 captivity (II Kings 24 : 14), with their wives and families, 
 seem not to have been scattered like the exiles from Sa- 
 maria (II Kings 17:6), but to have been settled in a single 
 district. This was in accordance with the constructive 
 
 185 
 
i86 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 policy of Nebuchadnezzar, whose inscriptions are filled 
 with records not of fighting, but of building. He needed 
 honest and industrious colonists, some to be masons and 
 carpenters, and some to be market gardeners to supply 
 the great and increasing population of the capital. The 
 exiles were a sad and homesick people ; by the waters of 
 Babylon they sat down and wept (Psalm 137). But they 
 were well treated; they had their liberty; they lived 
 under their own laws, which were administered by their 
 elders (Ezekiel 14: i). 
 
 For ten years the exiles persisted in the expectation of 
 return. Against that expectation, Ezekiel protested. 
 He declared that Jerusalem should be destroyed. 
 
 One time he took a tile, — a large flat brick of clay, such 
 as they used in Babylon to write on, — and drew upon it 
 the outline of a city, with tents about it to indicate a 
 siege, and pictures of battering rams; and between the 
 city and himself, he held up a sheet of iron. Thus he 
 showed not only that Jerusalem should be besieged, but 
 that in that time of distress the city should have no help 
 from God (Ezekiel 4: 1-3). 
 
 Another time he cut off his hair, and burned three 
 parts of it in a fire which he made on the tile city. Three 
 parts he struck with a knife; the remaining three parts 
 he scattered in the mud ; a few hairs he saved. Thus he 
 declared that of the people of Jerusalem, a third should 
 die of plague and famine, a third should fall by the sword, 
 and a third — except a few — should be scattered to the 
 wind (Ezekiel 5 : 1-4). 
 
 He told of a vision which he saw. He was in the temple 
 in Jerusalem, and there was an idol there of some strange 
 god; and there was a pictured chamber, all of whose 
 
EZEKIEL AND THE EXILE IN BABYLON 187 
 
 walls were painted with the likenesses of beasts and 
 creeping things, and seventy men of Israel were burning 
 incense before them ; and there was a gate where women 
 sat weeping for Tammuz, a god of the Phoenicians ; and 
 there was a court where twenty-five men, with their backs 
 to the altar of the Lord, worshipped the rising sun. And 
 there came a man with a writer's inkhorn by his side, and 
 five men after him with swords ; and the man with the ink- 
 horn went through the city and made a mark on the fore- 
 heads of all who were sorry for these things, and the men with 
 the swords followed him and slew all who were not marked. 
 And in the temple was the appearance of the likeness of a 
 throne, blue as sapphire, blue as the clear sky, and the 
 throne had wheels, and about it were living creatures with 
 wings, and between the wheels were coals of fire. The 
 man with the inkhorn scattered the coals of fire over the 
 city. And the wheeled throne began to move, first to 
 the threshold of the temple, then outside, then up from the 
 midst of the city, and out to the mountain on the east. 
 The vision meant that God had forsaken the city which 
 the people had polluted by their idolatries (Ezekiel 10, 
 
 II). 
 
 And that which Ezekiel thus declared in symbols and 
 visions, he said also with plainness. He knew very well 
 what would follow when King Zedekiah rebelled and 
 sought the aid of Egypt (Ezekiel 17:11-21). It came 
 to pass, even as he had predicted. Nebuchadnezzar 
 sent again, and punished the rebellious city with complete 
 destruction. And one came running (Ezekiel ^7,: 21) and 
 cried " the city is smitten ! " The second company of 
 exiles followed, nearly five thousand men, with women 
 and children (Jeremiah 52 : 28-30). 
 
i88 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 2. Facing the Future. Ezekiel 36-48, Leviticus 17-26. 
 — The departure of the people from Palestine affected 
 their history and character as deeply as their entrance 
 into it. 
 
 The Conquest had made the tribes of Israel a nation. 
 Leaving the wilderness behind them, where they had 
 wandered like Bedouin, they settled in the land, and began 
 to till the ground. They had vineyards and olive yards, 
 and lived in villages and towns. 
 
 The Exile destroyed the nation. The people were 
 scattered over the face of the earth ; they settled not only 
 in Egypt with Jeremiah and in Chaldea with Ezekiel, but 
 wherever else they could find hospitality and occupation. 
 And that condition continues to this day. It is true that 
 some of them returned, and the city and the temple were 
 rebuilt; but those who returned were but a fraction of 
 the people, and they lived under foreign rulers, having no 
 longer any kings of their own, till the final destruction 
 of the temple by the Romans (70 a.d.). The descrip- 
 tion of the Jews who were attending the feast of Pente- 
 cost at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles indicates 
 the wideness of their dispersion. They came from the 
 lands of the Parthians and Medes and Elamites, from 
 Mesopotamia and Cappadocia, from Pontus and Asia, 
 from Phrygia and Pamphylia, from Egypt and the part 
 of Libya about Cyrene, from Rome, from Crete, from 
 Arabia. Ceasing to be farmers, they became traders. 
 Ceasing to be bound together by a common government, 
 they were united, no matter how far apart they lived, 
 by a common religion. The Exile, which was the end 
 of the Hebrew state, was the beginning of the Jewish 
 Church. 
 
EZEKIEL AND THE EXILE IN BABYLON 189 
 
 The first necessity was to comfort the exiles in their 
 despair by turning their faces toward the future. This 
 was done by the prophet Ezekiel. The great blow having 
 now fallen, the kingdom of Judah having met the fate of 
 the kingdom of Israel, the predictions of the prophet 
 having been fulfilled, Ezekiel changed his message of 
 destruction for a message of restoration. He declared 
 that the people should return to their own land, and re- 
 build their desolated city and their ruined temple (Eze- 
 kiel 36: 1-12). He described another invasion, like that 
 of Sennacherib and of Nebuchadnezzar. On came the 
 vast army, out of Asia and Africa and Europe, with Gog 
 of the land of Magog leading them, to destroy the restored 
 people. And the Lord fought against the invaders, and 
 the slaughter was so great that it was seven months 
 before they could bury all the slain; and their shields 
 and bucklers, their bows and arrows, served the people 
 for seven years for firewood (Ezekiel 38, 39). In the 
 midst of the land thus defended by the Lord, Ezekiel 
 pictured a new temple in a new Jerusalem. There was 
 no king, and the main duty of the princes was to provide 
 material for the sacrifices; the leaders and rulers were 
 the priests. 
 
 A second necessity was to keep the people separate 
 from their neighbors. As the years went by and they 
 prospered in their new home, they were in danger of for- 
 getting their own land, and of adopting not only the cus- 
 toms but the religion of Babylon. Having no longer any 
 temple, they could not offer the sacrifices nor perform the 
 services to which they had been accustomed; even the 
 memory of these might perish. The wise men who saw 
 these perils called Moses to their assistance. They re- 
 
iQo OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 vived and rewrote the counsels which Moses had given 
 in the old time regarding the behavior of the Chosen 
 People in strange lands. Thus came into its present form 
 a great part of the book of Leviticus, especially the Code 
 of Holiness, which is contained in the chapters from the 
 seventeenth to the twenty-sixth. The word hoHness in 
 this sense means separation. The purpose of the renewal 
 of the ancient laws was to keep the people apart from all 
 influences which might cause them to cease to be Jews 
 and become Gentiles. The fact that there were certain 
 kinds of food which they were forbidden to eat prevented 
 them from dining with their neighbors, and thus protected 
 them from the social life which might break down the 
 barriers of distinction. 
 
 In order that the people might be taught these laws, 
 the synagogue came into existence. In the place of the 
 temple, these houses of prayer and preaching were built 
 in the midst of every little community. They there read 
 not only the book of Deuteronomy, which taught them 
 their duty towards their neighbors, and the book of 
 Leviticus, which taught them their duty towards God, but 
 those histories of their forefathers which had been col- 
 lected in the kingdom of Israel, and in the kingdom of 
 Judah, and brought together after the kingdom of Israel 
 had been destroyed. The day appointed for these meet- 
 ings in the synagogue was the Sabbath, upon which they 
 now laid new emphasis, and which was devoted not only, 
 as at the beginning, to rest, but to religion. Thus the 
 need of keeping the people from Babylonian influences 
 brought into prominence the institutions which have 
 distinguished the Jews from that day to this — the Sab- 
 bath, the Synagogue and the Law. 
 
EZEKIEL AND THE EXILE IN BABYLON 191 
 
 3. The Fall of Babylon. Isaiah 45 : 1-4 ; 13, 14. — 
 
 The successors of Nebuchadnezzar on the throne of Baby- 
 lon were inferior to him both in wisdom and in strength. 
 His son Evil-Merodach, who freed Jehoiachin from prison 
 (II Kings 25:27), was assassinated by Nergilissar, who 
 may have been the Nergal-Sharezer of the siege of Jeru- 
 salem (Jeremiah 39 : 3). He was followed by Narbonidus, 
 who occupied himself in studies of ancient history and in 
 the rebuilding of old temples, and left the ruling of the 
 kingdom to his son Belshazzar (Daniel 5). 
 
 Meanwhile, in the north, the Medes, who had divided 
 the ancient empire of Assyria with the Chaldeans after 
 their united armies had destroyed Nineveh, had come 
 under the rule of a new king, Cyrus. This vigorous sov- 
 ereign, who took the title of king of Persia, conquered 
 Mesopotamia, and marching to the west defeated Croesus, 
 the rich king of Sardis, and took possession of all Asia 
 Minor. Then he moved his victorious forces to the 
 south, carrying everything before him, and made himself 
 master of Babylon. This was in 538. Thus the sceptre 
 of the world changed hands again. As the Chaldeans 
 had dethroned the Assyrians by the fall of Nineveh, so 
 now the Persians by the fall of Babylon dethroned the 
 Chaldeans. 
 
 Two chapters in the book of Isaiah (13, 14) express the 
 exultation of the Jews over the conquest of their Chaldean 
 masters. The prophet rejoices in the taking of Babylon, 
 as Nahum had rejoiced in the taking of Nineveh. 
 
 The policy of Cyrus the Persian in his dealings with 
 subject nations was altogether different from the policy 
 of Sennacherib who deported the people of Israel, and of 
 Nebuchadnezzar who deported the people of Judah. His 
 
192 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 inscriptions represent him as saying, " The gods whose 
 sanctuaries from of old had lain in ruins I brought back 
 again to their dwelling-places and caused them to reside 
 there forever. All the citizens of these lands I assembled 
 and I restored them to their homes." Thus with the 
 accession of Cyrus, the long exile of the Jews in Babylon 
 was ended. 
 
XXX 
 
 THE REBUILDING OF JERUSALEM 
 
 JuDAH Persia 
 
 Sheshbazzar 538 Cyrus 538-529 
 
 Zerubbabel and Joshua 520 Cambyses 529-522 
 
 Haggai Darius 521-485 
 
 Zechariah 
 
 Ezra Xerxes 485-465 
 
 Nehemiah 444-432 Artaxerxes 465-425 
 
 Malachi 
 
 I. The Rebuilding of the Temple. Ezra 1-6, Haggai, 
 Zechariah 1-8. — The family lists of returned exiles in 
 Ezra (ch. 2) and Nehemiah (ch. 7), with the total number 
 of forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty, appear 
 at the first, reading to represent a triumphal procession. 
 They came with men servants and women servants, on 
 horses and mules and asses and camels, accompanied by 
 priests and singers, bearing the gold and silver vessels 
 which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple. 
 
 This account, however, was written so long after the 
 event that we are left in uncertainty as to the leader 
 of the expedition, whether he was Sheshbazzar (Ezra i : 11) 
 or Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:2). And the names on examina- 
 tion are found to include Nehemiah and Ezra (Azariah) 
 (Nehemiah 7:7), who did not come till nearly a hundred 
 years after the fall of Babylon. It is significant that 
 o 193 
 
194 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 Haggai and Zechariah make no mention of any return. 
 Even Nehemiah, referring to the people of Palestine, 
 speaks of them as " the Jews that had escaped, which 
 were left of the captivity," " the remnant that are left of 
 the captivity there in the province." 
 
 The exiles were comfortable and prosperous in their 
 homes in the east. The stories of Daniel and his friends 
 in the court of Nebuchadnezzar and of Belshazzar (Daniel 
 1-6), and of Esther and Mordecai (Esther i-io) in the 
 court of Ahasuerus (= Xerxes), and the record of Ne- 
 hemiah in the court of Artaxerxes (Nehemiah 1:2), indicate 
 that Jews had access to high places of trust and honor. 
 And the journey across the plains to Palestine was difficult 
 and dangerous ; and the conditions in the ruined city of 
 their fathers were uninviting. So many years had passed 
 since the beginning of the exile that most of those who were 
 freed by the decree of Cyrus had been born in Babylon. 
 They were disposed to stay there. Companies of them 
 from time to time, under Sheshbazzar, under Zerubbabel, 
 with Ezra, with Nehemiah, returned to Jerusalem. But 
 the majority of those who heard the urgent sermons of 
 Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, and with whom Ezra 
 and Nehemiah dealt, were probably the descendants of 
 the people who had fled from the Chaldean captors, and 
 had returned from their refuges in Moab, and Edom, and 
 Ammon, and Egypt (Jeremiah 40: 11). 
 
 The temple had indeed been destroyed, but the altar 
 at the gate of the temple could not be destroyed, being 
 cut in the native rock of the hill. There, from the first, 
 the faithful had come, even from Samaria (Jeremiah 41 : s), 
 bringing their offerings, and praying their prayers. The 
 temple lay in ruins. Exiles returned after the fall of 
 
THE REBUILDING OF JERUSALEM 195 
 
 Babylon, but the Lord's house still lay waste. They 
 built their own houses, but they were too poor, or dis- 
 couraged, or indifferent, to undertake the rebuilding of 
 the temple. 
 
 It is significant that the definite beginning of the work 
 occurred in 520, when a new young king of Persia, Darius, 
 was contending against rebellion in many parts of his 
 empire. It looked like the breaking up of the Persian 
 power. Zechariah, in the vision with which his book 
 opens, saw four horns which had scattered Israel, Judah 
 and Jerusalem, and four carpenters come to cut them 
 down. Haggai heard the voice of the Lord saying, " I 
 will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the 
 dry land, and I will shake all nations." It seemed as if 
 the Jews might assert their independence. In order to 
 make such an assertion possible there must be a revival 
 of the national spirit ; and to that end there must be a 
 restoration of the central shrine. 
 
 At such a time, the prophets stirred up Joshua the high 
 priest, and Zerubbabel the governor, and " the remnant 
 of the people," and they set about the rebuilding of the 
 temple. 
 
 The progress of the work was threatened by the inter- 
 ference of Tattenai, the Persian governor of the provinces 
 west of the Euphrates, who informed Darius that the 
 house of the great god was being builded with great stones, 
 and evidently suspected that this was another in the series 
 of revolts against the throne of Persia. But Darius 
 found the decree in which Cyrus had permitted the res- 
 toration, and not only allowed the work to go on, but 
 ordered that materials for the daily sacrifices should be 
 provided at government expense (Ezra 5, 6). Thus, 
 
196 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 after four years, the temple was completed, and was 
 dedicated with great joy. 
 
 2. The Expectation of the Messiah. — To those who 
 remembered the former temple, the new one seemed as 
 nothing in comparison to it ; but they hoped that in one 
 important respect it would be far better. In the new 
 temple might appear at last the long-expected redeemer of 
 the people, the Messiah. The name, which is familiar 
 to us in its Greek form, the Christ, means the Anointed 
 One, from the ceremony with which kings were conse- 
 crated. " The desire of all nations shall come, and I 
 will fill this house with glory, said the Lord of hosts " 
 (Haggai 2 : 7). 
 
 The Messiah was thought of as the ideal king, who 
 should bring the people out of their subjection and dis- 
 tress, and restore again the ancient splendor of the days 
 of David. He was called the Branch, meaning that he 
 would grow out of the family of David as a branch grows 
 from the trunk of a tree (Isaiah 11 : i). " Behold, the 
 days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a 
 righteous Branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, 
 and shall execute judgment and righteousness in the 
 earth" (Jeremiah 23:5, 6 compare Ezekiel 17:22-24, 
 Zechariah 6 : 12, 13). Micah looked for him from Bethle- 
 hem to save the people from the Assyrians (Micah 5 : 2, 
 5). Zechariah hoped that he had come at last in the 
 person of Zerubbabel, the prince of the house of David, 
 the restorer of the temple. " He shall build the temple 
 of the Lord ; and he shall bear the glory and shall sit and 
 rule upon his throne." " In that day," said the Lord by 
 Haggai, " I will take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, and 
 I will make thee as a signet ; for I have chosen thee, saith 
 the Lord of hosts." 
 
THE REBUILDING OF JERUSALEM 197 
 
 The Messiah represented the Golden Age. In him was 
 personified the faith of the Jews that they were indeed the 
 Chosen People, and that God would make that choice 
 evident to all the earth. As their afflictions continued, 
 and they were in subjection under foreign rulers, their 
 confidence continued also that the time of their redemp- 
 tion must be drawing near. The Messiah was Immanuel, 
 God-with-us. He was '' Wonderful, Counsellor, the 
 Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of 
 Peace" (Isaiah 8 : 8-10 ; 9 : 6). 
 
 They hoped that the new temple would be glorified by 
 the coming of this saviour, who would deliver them out 
 of their distress, and make Jerusalem a city of truth and 
 righteousness for all the nations of the earth. 
 
 3. The Golden Century. — With the completion of the 
 temple in 516 all records cease for half a century. Be- 
 tween the sixth and seventh chapters of the book of Ezra 
 there is a long silence. Nobody knows what events were 
 taking place. But meanwhile, outside in the great world, 
 important events were happening, and remarkable men 
 were beginning to exert influences which continue strong 
 to this day. 
 
 In 515, Darius bridged the Hellespont and invaded 
 Europe. In 490, he was successfully resisted at Marathon. 
 In 480, the Greeks met Xerxes at Thermopylae, and de- 
 feated him at Salamis. iEschylus, Sophocles and Eu- 
 ripides were producing their plays at Athens, where Soc- 
 rates was teaching philosophy. In China, Confucius 
 (551-478) was founding the religious system which bears 
 his name. In India, Gotama (568-488) was beginning 
 to preach the creed and conduct which resulted in Budd- 
 hism. 
 
igS OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 It is possible that this was the time of the writing of 
 the book of Job. The problem of the book is one which 
 the situation in Judea may well have forced upon the 
 attention of reflective minds. That situation contra- 
 dicted the doctrine that God would give the good the 
 reward of prosperity, and the bad the punishment of 
 adversity. For the people, in spite of their endeavors 
 to be good, in spite of the prayers and praises of the re- 
 stored temple, were still oppressed and poor and miser- 
 able. Job is presented in the poem which bears his name 
 as a man ideally righteous, yet suffering the loss of all 
 his property, and being in bitter pain of body. In this 
 situation, he maintains his integrity and his faith in God 
 crying " Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." 
 
 4. The Rebuilding of the Walls. Malachi, Ezra 4, 
 Nehemiah 1-7 : 4. — The temple was rebuilt, but the en- 
 thusiasm of the people waned. The times were hard, 
 the harvests were small, the Persian taxes must be paid, 
 the expected Messiah did not come. The example of the 
 patience of Job was hard to follow. Many felt that God 
 had forsaken them. They said, " It is vain to serve God " ; 
 they said, ''What profit is it that we have kept his law?" 
 They neglected the services in the temple, and for sacri- 
 fices they offered animals which were blind, or lame, or 
 sick. The priests were as bad as the people (Malachi 
 1 : 8, 13 ; 2:1, 2). The prophet Malachi rebuked these 
 offenders. The Messiah, he said, shall surely come, but 
 who may abide the day of his coming? for he shall come 
 in swift judgment against the wicked. 
 
 Meanwhile the walls of Jerusalem were still in ruins. 
 To the rebuilding of the temple, the Persians made no 
 objection, that was a renewal of the local religion. But 
 
THE REBUILDING OF JERUSALEM 199 
 
 the rebuilding of the walls, thus fortifying again the 
 strong citadel of Jerusalem, was a different matter. This 
 was accomplished at last by the influence and energy of 
 Nehemiah. 
 
 Nehemiah was the cup-bearer of Artaxerxes, in his 
 palace at Susa. The report of the affliction and reproach 
 of the holy city, how its walls were broken and its gates 
 burned with fire, came to the ears of Nehemiah, and his 
 distress attracted the sympathetic interest of the king. 
 Artaxerxes made him governor of the province, and gave 
 him authority to rebuild the walls. He went with letters 
 from the king which assured him safe-conduct to the land 
 of Judah, and gave him the right to call on the keeper of 
 the king's forest for timber to make beams ; and captains 
 and horsemen went with him. 
 
 Having come to Jerusalem, he first examined the situ- 
 ation privately, riding by night around the ruined walls 
 till he came to a place where the broken stones were piled 
 so high that he could go no farther. Then he called the 
 leaders of the people together, showed them his warrant 
 from the king, and called upon them to join with him in 
 the work of rebuilding. Thus the work began. Nehe- 
 miah assigned the wall in sections, here to this family, 
 there to that, men being especially charged to rebuild the 
 parts which were nearest to their own houses. 
 
 The work proceeded in the face of difficulty. The 
 ancient hostility between the kingdom of Judah and the 
 kingdom of Israel reappeared in connection with this 
 strengthening of Jerusalem. The Jews who were de- 
 scended from the survivors of the Assyrian invasion of the 
 northern kingdom seem to have desired to join with their 
 brethren who were descended from the survivors of the 
 
200 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 Chaldean invasion of the southern kingdom. But their 
 proposals were refused, and the refusal made them enemies. 
 
 The fourth chapter of the book of Ezra, being dated in 
 the reign of Artaxerxes, refers to the building of the walls, 
 and to a letter which these enemies sent to the Persian 
 court calling attention to the fact that the Jews were 
 rebuilding " the rebellious and bad city." This hindrance 
 being of no avail, they threatened to stop the work by force. 
 Under the leadership of Sanballat and Tobiah they came 
 to fight against Jerusalem. Even so, Nehemiah did not 
 pause. He armed the workmen, and set watchmen with 
 trumpets to give alarm if the enemy appeared. Sanballat 
 and Tobiah then tried treachery. They proposed a con- 
 ference with Nehemiah in a neighboring village, to which 
 he replied, " I am doing a great work, so that I cannot 
 come down." They hired a man to warn him of a con- 
 spiracy to kill him, and to urge him to hide in the temple ; 
 to which he replied, " Should such a man as I flee? " 
 
 Thus all the devices of the enemy came to naught, and, 
 by working day and night, in fifty-two days the walls 
 were completed. 
 
XXXI 
 THE PROCLAMATION OF THE LAW 
 
 I. The Reforms of Nehemiah. Nehemiah 5, 13. — In 
 the midst of the account of the rebuilding of the walls 
 appears an incident which shows that reconstruction was 
 needed not only by the city but by the citizens. 
 
 A bitter complaint was made by the poor against the 
 rich. Under the burden of taxation to pay the king's 
 tribute, and under the stress of dearth caused by failure 
 of the crops, many had been obliged to mortgage their 
 lands and vineyards and houses to buy food. And as the 
 necessity continued they had been compelled to sell their 
 children into slavery. The holders of the mortgages and 
 the purchasers of the children were their own rich breth- 
 ren. It was a repetition of the situation against which 
 Amos had protested (Amos 2:6). A great cry was made, 
 especially by the poor women, mothers weeping for their 
 sons and daughters. And the cry came to the ears of 
 Nehemiah. 
 
 He called an assembly, and publicly rebuked the greed 
 and cruelty of the nobles. '' We," he said, meaning him- 
 self and his friends, " have been giving our money to 
 redeem our brethren out of bondage to the heathen, and 
 you, in order to make money, are bringing them into bond- 
 age. Moreover, I am here at my own expense. Your 
 former governors have required you to furnish them with 
 bread and wine, and have taxed you for their support. 
 
202 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 Not only have I asked nothing, but I have daily enter- 
 tained a hundred and fifty of you at my own table, besides 
 such as come from neighboring countries ; so many that 
 every day I have had to provide an ox and six sheep, 
 beside bread and wine, to feed them. And here are you, 
 thinking only of your gain. Come now, cease these exac- 
 tions. Give back to the people their lands and their 
 vineyards and their houses, and their children." 
 
 And this the nobles did, for very shame. But the fact 
 that they needed such a rebuke for their behavior is evi- 
 dence that the social situation in Jerusalem was bad. 
 The temple had been rebuilt, the walls were being re- 
 built, it was now necessary to rebuild the people. 
 
 Nehemiah perceived, like Malachi, that the services of 
 the restored temple were neglected. The Levites and the 
 singers, being no longer supported by the offerings, had 
 gone to the fields to earn their living. The house of God 
 was forsaken. He gathered them again, and made the 
 people pay the proper tithes. 
 
 Nehemiah found that the Sabbath, to whose observance 
 so much importance had come to be attached in the land 
 of the exile, was not kept with strictness in Judea. Men 
 were treading wine presses and bringing in sheaves, and 
 lading asses, and carrying their produce to the market in 
 Jerusalem, and selling it on the Sabbath as on other days. 
 The governor commanded that the gates should be shut 
 on the afternoon of the day before the Sabbath, and not 
 opened till the morning after. Once or twice the mer- 
 chants and sellers of all kinds of ware lodged outside, on the 
 Sabbath, by the wall, hoping for opportunities of trade. 
 " If ye do so again," said the governor, " I will lay 
 hands on you." So that was stopped. 
 
THE PROCLAMATION OF THE LAW 203 
 
 Nehemiah saw that little attention was paid to the 
 distinction between Jews and Gentiles. That separation 
 which had been so strictly observed in Babylon for the 
 preservation of their race and religion had not seemed so 
 necessary in Judea. The matter first arose in connection 
 with Tobiah, who with Sanballat had led the opposition 
 against the rebuilding of the walls. Tobiah had ridiculed 
 the work, saying that if a fox ran over the wall it would 
 fall down. Now the priest Eliashib had prepared for 
 Tobiah a great chamber in the temple. The chamber 
 was intended originally for the offerings of corn and wine 
 and oil, and was empty because the offerings were not 
 made. Nehemiah turned Tobiah out, with all his house- 
 hold stuff, and had the place cleaned and restored to its 
 former uses. 
 
 The same treatment he gave to a grandson of Eliashib 
 the priest, who had married a daughter of Sanballat. 
 He says, " I chased him from me." 
 
 These alliances of the high priest represented a general 
 situation. Jews had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon 
 and of Moab. Their children could not speak the Jewish 
 language. '' I contended with them," says Nehemiah, 
 " and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked 
 off their hair." The situation seemed to him to call for 
 vigorous action. 
 
 2. The Reforms of Ezra. Ezra 7-10, Nehemiah 8-10. 
 — The same reformation was undertaken by Ezra the 
 scribe. The narrative is confused, and it is difficult to 
 make out the order of events. Very curious is the fact 
 that Nehemiah never mentions Ezra, and that the record 
 of the work of Ezra, except in one doubtful place, makes 
 no reference to the work of Nehemiah. 
 
204 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 Ezra appeared upon the scene with a great company of 
 returning exiles, provided with a letter from Artaxerxes 
 which was written in such a manner, and granted such 
 privileges, and promised the bearer such an amazing 
 amount of money from the Persian government, that some 
 scholars have transferred the whole matter, and Ezra 
 himself with it, from the world of fact to the world of 
 imagination. 
 
 Learning upon his arrival that the Jews had intermarried 
 with the Gentiles, he sat down on the ground in a public 
 place, tore his clothes and his hair as men did who were 
 in great distress, and continued in silence until the time 
 of the evening sacrifice, surrounded by crowds of aston- 
 ished and troubled people. Then he fell upon his knees, 
 and confessed to God the sins of the people. And the 
 people joined their tears with his. Thereupon a proclama- 
 tion was made calling a general assembly on the third day. 
 The day came, and the people stood in the street trem- 
 bling, in a heavy rain. " You must put away your foreign 
 wives," cried Ezra. And the people answered with a loud 
 voice, " As thou hast said, so must we do." But the 
 matter could not be settled by shouting. Divorce courts 
 were opened in Jerusalem and in the towns about, and 
 cases were heard for the space of two months. 
 
 Thus by the strong hand of Nehemiah, or by the courts 
 of Ezra, or by both together, the separation was completed. 
 Families were broken up ; women and children were turned 
 out of doors. The little book of Ruth may serve to show 
 that there were some who disapproved, for it tells how 
 David himself was descended from the marriage of a man 
 of Bethlehem with a woman of Moab. But the distinc- 
 tion was made which to this day preserves the separate 
 existence of the Jewish people. 
 
THE PROCLAMATION OF THE LAW 205 
 
 This, however, was only a part of the mission of Ezra. 
 The title of scribe which is given to him suggests the office 
 of one whose business is to record, copy and compile the 
 writings of the past. It was a natural and necessary 
 occupation of the days of the exile, to preserve the history 
 and institutions of the people. Ezra brought with him 
 the results of those long labors. 
 
 On a day in October, standing on a high pulpit of wood, 
 in the street before the water gate, he opened the Book of 
 the Law. And as he opened it all the people stood up, 
 and Ezra blessed God, and all the people answered " Amen, 
 Amen," and the book was read aloud. " They read in 
 the book of the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, 
 and caused them to understand the meaning." This was 
 done day by day for a whole week. Finding in the book 
 that the Lord desired them to keep a feast that month, 
 they proceeded to do it, going out into the neighboring 
 hills and woods and fetching branches of olive, and pine, 
 and myrtle, and palm, and making booths or tents for 
 themselves in the streets, and in the gardens, and on the 
 flat roofs of houses : a festivity which had not been ob- 
 served since the days of Joshua. 
 
 And they made a covenant and signed it, promising 
 to keep the law of the Lord. 
 
 The Jews had carried with them into exile two codes of 
 ancient laws. One was the Code of Exodus, called the 
 Book of the Covenant (Exodus 20-23, 34) ; the other was 
 the Code of Deuteronomy, called the Book of Instruction 
 (Deuteronomy 5-11 ; 12-26; 28). Along with these laws 
 went two collections of materials of history, one made 
 in the kingdom of Judah, the other in the kingdom of 
 Israel. 
 
2o6 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 The Jews seem to have brought out of exile, from Baby- 
 lon to Jerusalem, a third body of law, and a third collection 
 of materials of history. The law was the Code of Leviticus 
 (Exodus 25-40, Leviticus, Numbers), the heart of which 
 (Leviticus 17-26) is called the Code of Holiness. The 
 history was an account of the origin of religious institu- 
 tions, especially such as were connected with the priest- 
 hood and ritual of the temple, beginning with the conse- 
 cration of the Sabbath (Genesis 1-2 14). It was prob- 
 ably some part of the Code of Leviticus which was read 
 from the pulpit of Ezra. 
 
 Afterwards the history which was made by combining 
 the collections of Israel with the collections of Judah w^as 
 united with the history which was collected in Babylon. 
 Thus the Babylon history appears in the account of the 
 creation in the first chapter of Genesis, and the Judah- 
 Israel history in the other account in the second chapter. 
 The codes of laws were inserted in the history, and the 
 result was the five books from Genesis to Deuteronomy, 
 called the Pentateuch ; and the book of Joshua, making 
 six. 
 
 3. After Ezra and Nehemiah. Jonah, Esther, Daniel. — 
 Old Testament history ends with the last words of the 
 book of Nehemiah: " Remember me, O my God, for 
 good." But other books give us glimpses of the people 
 in later days. 
 
 The scenes of Jonah and of Esther are laid in the lands 
 beyond the Euphrates. The mission of Jonah is to the 
 Nineveh with whose fall the Assyrians had ceased to be a 
 power in Asia. Esther is queen in the court of the Xerxes 
 who fought at Thermopylas and Salamis. The value of 
 the books, however, is moral rather than historical. They 
 
THE PROCLAMATION OF THE LAW 207 
 
 reveal two quite different conceptions of the right relation 
 of the Jews to the Gentiles. Taking the distinction 
 which separated the Chosen People from their neighbors, 
 the question which is under discussion concerns the duty 
 of the Jews under such conditions. 
 
 The hero of the book of Jonah and the heroine of the 
 book of Esther agree in holding that the Jews should have 
 no dealings with the Gentiles, except to hate them. Jonah 
 at first refuses to go to Nineveh, and then, being com- 
 pelled, goes reluctantly, not because he is afraid that the 
 Ninevites will do him harm, but because he is afraid that 
 he may do the Ninevites good. And when his fears are 
 realized, and they are converted and escape the doom 
 which he denounced upon them, he is angry with the mer- 
 ciful God. The story is a gentle satire upon the Jews 
 who have no sense of mission. 
 
 As for Esther, when the plot against her people has 
 been foiled, and the pagan Persians are meeting the pun- 
 ishment which they devised against the Jews, '' the king 
 said to Esther the queen, ' The Jews have slain and de- 
 stroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the 
 ten sons of Haman ; what is thy desire further ? ' Then 
 said Esther, ' If it please the king, let it be granted to the 
 Jews which are in Shushan to do to-morrow according to 
 this day's decree [let them kill five hundred more] and 
 let Haman's ten sons be hanged on the gallows.' " It is 
 a revelation of the hatred which had been produced in the 
 Jewish heart by several centuries of pagan oppression. 
 
 In the book of Daniel the scene is the court of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar and Belshazzar, but the writer's purpose in the 
 retelling of these old tales of faith and courage is to make 
 a contribution not to the annals of history, but to the 
 
208 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 confidence and patience of his countrymen who, long after, 
 are suffering under the Uke afflictions. Out of dens of lions, 
 out of burning fiery furnaces, shall the Lord deliver His 
 people. 
 
 The prophet beholds four great beasts coming from the 
 sea (Daniel 7) : the four powers of the world, the Chal- 
 deans, and the Medes, and the Persians, and then the 
 Greeks. The fourth beast is dreadful and terrible, and 
 strong exceedingly ; such was Alexander the Great. His 
 ten horns are ten generals, Seleucids in Syria and Ptol- 
 emies in Egypt, among whom his domains were divided. 
 And a little horn appears, speaking great words, making 
 war against the saints; such was Antiochus Epiphanes, 
 who about the year 1 70 was trying to destroy the religion 
 of the Jews. He tore down the altar of the Lord, and in 
 its place erected one to the Greek god Zeus. On this 
 altar, the " abomination of desolation," he sacrificed the 
 flesh of swine. He endeavored to poison the Jewish re- 
 ligion at its source. 
 
 In the face of this tremendous calamity, the writer 
 of the book of Daniel came to the aid of faith. The 
 horn made war against the saints and prevailed against 
 them. But the Ancient of days did sit, whose throne was 
 like the fiery flame, and the wheels of his throne as burning 
 fire. The judgment was set and the books were opened, 
 and the beast was slain. 
 
 " I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the 
 Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to 
 the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 
 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a king- 
 dom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve 
 him : his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall 
 
THE PROCLAMATION OF THE LAW 209 
 
 not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be 
 destroyed." 
 
 Thus in the midst of the fresh persecution shone the 
 ancient vision of the Golden Age. Still, the kingdom of 
 heaven seemed at hand. '' Blessed is he that waiteth." 
 The latest book of the Old Testament closes with these 
 brave words (Daniel 12:12, 13): "Blessed is he that 
 waiteth. Thou shalt stand in thy lot at the end of the 
 days." 
 
TABLES OF DATES 
 
 I. THE HEBREWS AND THEIR CONTEMPORARIES 
 
 1. Before 1000 B.C. 
 
 2000 Egyptians by the Nile have founded Memphis and Thebes 
 
 to and built the pyramids. 
 
 1500 Sumerians by the Tigris and Euphrates are writing in 
 cuneiform. 
 Semites from Arabia are settling Babylonia and Assyria. 
 Hammurabi builds Babylon and garrisons Assyria 
 (some say 2250). Other Semites turning west are 
 settling Canaan (Canaanites and Amorites). If 
 Amraphel (Genesis 14:1) is Hammurabi, this is the 
 period of Abraham. 
 1500 Hindus are descending into India (some say 1600), singing 
 
 to the Vedic hymns, sacred in Brahmanism. 
 
 1400 Hyksos, " Shepherd Kings," have invaded and ruled Egypt, 
 
 and after their expulsion, Thothmes III (about 1500) is 
 
 extending sway of Egypt over Canaan to Euphrates. 
 
 1400 Amenhotep IV (about 1400) is receiving letters at Tel 
 
 to el-Amarna from Jerusalem and other cities of Canaan 
 
 1300 in peril of " Habiri " (perhaps Moabites, Ammonites, 
 
 Edomites). 
 1300 Shalmaneser I builds Nineveh early in this century ; 
 
 to Babylon becomes tributary. 
 
 1200 Semites from Arabia found Damascus. 
 
 Achaeans are descending into Greece, and building Athens. 
 Rameses II builds Pithom by Hebrew labor. Merenptah, 
 his son, describing campaign in Caanan, mentions 
 " Israel " (1260), perhaps indicating that not all the 
 Israelites went to Egypt with Jacob. 
 
TABLES OF DATES 211 
 
 1200 Rameses III repels northern raiders who settle along 
 to coast of Canaan (Philistines). 
 
 1100 Trojan War (1194-1184). 
 
 Moses and the Exodus ; Joshua and the Conquest of 
 
 Canaan (1150). 
 In northern Canaan, Tiglath-pileser I (1150-1100) is 
 carrying Assyrian armies to Mediterranean. 
 1100 The Heroic Age of the Hebrews: the " Judges." 
 to 
 1000 
 
 2. From Saul (1000) to Alexander the Great (332) 
 
 1000 Hebrew monarchy begins with Saul, followed by David 
 to and Solomon; but the kingdom is divided (937). 
 
 900 Greek minstrels begin to sing the stories of the Iliad, 
 David takes Jerusalem. 
 Shishak of Egypt invades Canaan (932). 
 900 Assyrians invade Canaan under Shalmaneser IH who meets 
 to Ahab at battle of Karkar (854) and receives tribute 
 
 800 from Jehu (842). 
 
 Elijah (875 ), Elisha (850). 
 The Odyssey is being composed. 
 600 Greek history begins with the First Olympiad (776). 
 to Roman history begins with founding of Rome (753). 
 700 Assyria the world power invades Palestine under Tiglath- 
 pileser II, who takes Damascus (732), Sargon, who 
 destroys Samaria (722), and Sennacherib, who besieges 
 Jerusalem (701). 
 Amos (750), Hosea (740), Micah, Isaiah (737-701). 
 Zarathustra (Zoroaster) begins the Avesta, sacred book 
 of the Persians. 
 700 In first half of century, Assyria under Ashurbanipal 
 to takes Thebes and conquers Egypt (660). 
 
 600 In second half (626) Scythians terrorize the nations, 
 impelling prophecies of Zephaniah and Jeremiah. 
 Draco reforms Athenian law, Thales begins Greek phi- 
 losophy. 
 At end of century, Pharaoh Necho defeats Josiah (608), 
 
212 OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar (606) destroys Nineveh, and defeats 
 Pharaoh Necho at Carchemish (605). 
 Babylonia is the world power, 
 600 Babylonians (Chaldeans) invade Judah (597). Ezekiel is 
 to among those carried captive to Babylon. 
 
 500 Again they invade (586) and Nebuchadnezzar destroys 
 Jerusalem. 
 Persians under Cyrus take Babylon (538). Persia is the 
 world power. Persians under Cambyses conquer Egypt. 
 The temple is rebuilt at Jerusalem (520-516). 
 Gotama Buddha is beginning Buddhism; Confucius is 
 beginning Confucianism. 
 600 Greeks repel Persian invasion of Europe. Marathon (490), 
 to Thermopylae, Salamis (480). 
 
 400 ^schylus (525-456), Sophocles (496-406), Euripides (480- 
 406), Age of Pericles (461-431), Pantheon built (438), 
 Socrates (469-399), Plato (427-347). 
 The walls are rebuilt at Jerusalem (445). 
 400 Under Alexander, Greece is the world power, Alexander 
 to conquers Syria and Palestine (332). 
 
 300 
 
 II. THE DIVIDED KINGDOM 
 
 Judah Israel 
 
 Rehoboam 937 Jeroboam 937-915 
 
 Abijam 920-917 
 
 Asa 917-876 Nadab 915-913 
 
 Baasha 913-889 
 Elah 889, Zimri 887 
 Omri 887-875 
 
 Jehoshaphat 876-851 Ahab 875-853 
 
 Jehoram 851-843 Ahaziah 853-852 
 
 Ahaziah 843-842 Jehoram 852-842 
 
 Athaliah 842-836 Jehu 842-814 
 
 Jehoash 836-796 Jehoahaz 814-797 
 
TABLES OF DATES 213 
 
 Jehoash 797-781 
 Amaziah 796-782 Jeroboam II 781-740 
 
 Uzziah 782-735 Zechariah, Shallum 
 
 Jotham regent to 735 Menahem 738 
 
 Pekahiah 735 
 
 Ahaz 735-71S Pekah 735-734 
 
 Hoshea 734-722 
 
 III. HISTORICAL NARRATIVES OF THE OLD TESTA- 
 MENT 
 
 1. Materials of history (Genesis to Ruth), 
 (i) Before Deuteronomy (621). 
 
 850 collection of materials in Judah (J). 
 
 750 collection of materials in Israel (E). 
 
 650 collections combined (JE). 
 (2) After Deuteronomy. 
 
 Code of Deuteronomy added (D). 
 
 Code of Leviticus (" Holiness ") added perhaps in 
 exile, 550 (H). 
 
 Priestly narrative, history of institutions, added per- 
 haps after exile, 350 (P). 
 
 2. National history of Israel and Judah (Samuel, Kings). 
 
 From beginning of monarchy with Saul (1000) to fall of 
 Jerusalem (586). Court chronicles and contemporary 
 narratives edited. 
 
 3. Ecclesiastical history of Judah (Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah). 
 
 To the reestablishment of the Jewish people after the 
 Exile; from priestly point of view; perhaps 250. 
 
 IV. THE PROPHETS 
 
 I. In the eighth century (second half). 
 
 Amos : doom of Israel, divine justice. 
 Hosea : doom of Israel, divine love. 
 
 Micah : peasant, Judah in peril of Assyria. 
 Isaiah : courtier, Judah in peril of Syria and Assyria (chap- 
 ters 40-66 are of the sixth century). 
 
214 OLD TESTAMENT fflSTORY 
 
 2. In the seventh century (second half). 
 
 Zephaniah : in peril of Scythians. 
 Nahum : before fall of Nineveh. 
 Habakkuk : after fall of Nineveh. 
 
 3. In the sixth century. 
 
 Jeremiah : destruction of Jerusalem. 
 
 Obadiah : after destruction of Jerusalem (Edom). 
 
 Ezekiel : in exile in Babylon. 
 
 Haggai : rebuilding of temple. 
 Zechariah : rebuilding of temple. 
 Malachi : neglect of temple worship. 
 
 4. Later books. 
 
 Joel : undated, plague of locusts. 
 
 Jonah : undated, mission to Nineveh. 
 
 Daniel: apocalypse, Greek persecution; about 170. 
 
 V. OTHER OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS 
 
 Lamentations : five poems on destruction of Jerusalem. 
 
 Psalms : collection of religious lyrics, beginning in time of David, 
 
 perhaps completed about 100 B.C. 
 Proverbs : collection of moral counsels, beginning in time of 
 
 Solomon, completed before 250. 
 Job : the wise man in adversity ; after the Exile. 
 Ecclesiastes : the wise man in prosperity ; about 200. 
 Esther : a story of the Persian period. 
 Song of Solomon : a dramatic poem of the Greek period. 
 
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES 
 
 Aaron, brother of Moses, 35 ; makes 
 golden calf, 40; becomes high 
 priest, 43 ; dies in wilderness, 48. 
 
 Abel, story of, 9. 
 
 A-bi'-jam (= Abijah), king of Judah, 
 defeats Jeroboam, 106. 
 
 A-bim'-e-lech, son of Gideon, king 
 of Shechem, killed at siege of 
 Thebez, 59. 
 
 Ab'-ish-ai, nephew of David, 74; 
 would slay Saul, 77; captain 
 against Ammonites, 83. 
 
 Abner, in Saul's camp, 75 ; with Saul 
 pursues David, 78; commands 
 army of Ishbosheth, 78; kills 
 Asahel, 79; deserts to David, is 
 killed by Joab, 79. 
 
 Abraham, in Haran, 14; journeys to 
 Canaan, 15 ; in Egypt, 16 ; rescues 
 Lot, 17, 18; makes covenant with 
 God, 19, 20; offers Isaac, 19; finds 
 wife for Isaac, 21. 
 
 Absalom, son of David, kills Amnon 
 his brother, 85 ; raises rebellion 
 and expels father, 85 ; defeated 
 and killed by Joab, 85; lamented 
 by David, 86. 
 
 Achan, his sin at Jericho, 52. 
 
 A-don-i-be'-zek, conquered by Joshua, 
 54- ' 
 
 Ad-o-ni'-jah, son of David, his un- 
 successful rebellion, 88; put to 
 death by Solomon, 89. 
 
 Agag, king of Amalekites, put to 
 death by Samuel, 71. 
 
 Ahab, son of Omri, king of Israel, no, 
 defeats invading Syrians, in; 
 spares Benhadad, 112; makes 
 alliance with Syrians and Phoeni- 
 
 cians, 113; marries Jezebel, 113; 
 meets Elijah on Carmel, 120-122; 
 and in Naboth's vineyard, 122; 
 disregards warning of Micaiah, 
 and falls in battle, 115, 116. 
 
 A-has-u-e'-rus (= Xerxes), king of 
 Persia, marries Esther. 
 
 Ahaz, king of Judah, 151 ; disregards 
 counsel of Isaiah, 152; appeals to 
 Assyrians against Syria and Judah, 
 153; defaces temple to pay tribute, 
 153. 
 
 A-haz-i'-ah, king of Israel, falls 
 through lattice, prays to Baal- 
 zebub, 124. 
 
 Ahaziah, king of Judah, killed by 
 Jehu, 132. 
 
 A'-i, siege of, 52. 
 
 Am'-a-lek'-ites, men of the desert, 4; 
 attack Israel in wilderness, 39; 
 defeated by Saul, 71; their king, 
 Agag, killed by Samuel, 71; 
 attacked by David, 78. 
 
 Am'-a-sa, an Amalekite, commands 
 Absalom's army, 85 ; supersedes 
 Joab, 86; and is killed by him, 
 86. 
 
 Am-a-zi'-ah, king of Judah, 138; 
 invades Edom, 138; defeated by 
 Jehoash of Israel, 138. 
 
 Am'-mon-ites, their place and settle- 
 ment, 4; conquered by Jephthah, 
 59, 60; driven by Saul from 
 Jabesh, 67; conquered by David, 
 83, 84. 
 
 Am'-or-ites, their place and settle- 
 ment, 4 ; conquered by Egypt, 3 ; 
 religion of, 4, 5 ; defeated by Israel, 
 47, 48. 
 
 215 
 
2l6 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Amos, herdsman of Tekoa, 145 ; 
 prophecies against Israel, 146, 147 ; 
 driven away by priest of Bethel, 
 147, 148. 
 
 Ar-au'-nah, sells threshing-floor to 
 David, 90. 
 
 Asa, king of Judah, his reforms, 107 ; 
 defeats invading Ethiopians, 107 ; 
 defeated by Baasha of Israel, 108 ; 
 hires against Baasha Benhadad of 
 Syria, 108. 
 
 Assyrians, their place and settlement, 
 1,2; make their appearance in the 
 west, 112; they meet Ahab, 112; 
 take tribute of Jehu, 135 ; invade 
 Syria, 138; help Menahem of 
 Israel, 145 ; hired by Ahaz of 
 Judah against Syria and Israel, 
 153 ; destroy kingdom of Syria, 
 153 ; destroy kingdom of Israel, 
 153-155; besiege Jerusalem, 159, 
 160; Hezekiah pays ransom to, 
 161 ; turned back from siege, 162 ; 
 partition of their kingdom be- 
 tween Medes and Chaldeans, 172. 
 
 Ath-a-li'-ah, daughter of Ahab and 
 Jezebel, 114; seizes throne of 
 Judah, 134. 
 
 Baal, shrine of, 5; in Palestine, 117; 
 of Sidonians, 118; Elijah contends 
 against, 1 18-12 1; Jehu contends 
 against, 133; Jehoiada contends 
 against, 135. 
 
 Ba'-ash-a, king of Israel, defeats 
 Asa of Judah, 108. 
 
 Babylonians, their place and settle- 
 ment, 1,2; send ambassadors to 
 Hezekiah, 159; make Babylon the 
 capital of the world, 173; con- 
 quered by Cyrus, 191. 
 
 Ba'-laam, called by Balak of Moab 
 to curse Israel he blesses them, 
 47- 
 
 Ba'-rak, called by Deborah he defeats 
 Canaanites, 57. 
 
 Bath-she '-ba, wife of David, 84; 
 mother of Solomon, 88. 
 
 Bel-shaz'-zar, 194. 
 
 Ben-ai'-ah, captain of Solomon's 
 
 bodyguard, 89. 
 Ben'-ha-dad I, king of Syria, hired by 
 
 Asa of Judah to attack Baasha of 
 
 Israel, 108. 
 Benhadad II, of Syria, defeated by 
 
 Ahab, 110-112. 
 Benjamin, brother of Joseph, the 
 
 cup in his sack, 30. 
 Bethel, Abraham builds altar there, 
 
 16; and Jacob sees vision, 23; 
 
 Jeroboam's shrine at, 106, 107. 
 Beth-horon, battle of, 52. 
 Bethlehem, birthplace of David, 74; 
 
 well of, 82. 
 
 Cain, story of, 9 ; descendants of, 9. 
 
 Canaanites, their place and settle- 
 ment, 3 ; conquered by Egypt, 3 ; 
 religion of, 4, 5 ; beginning of con- 
 quest of, 50-55; completion of 
 conquest of, 58. 
 
 Car-che'-mish, battle of, 172, 173. 
 
 Carmel, scene of triiunph of Elijah, 
 121. 
 
 Chaldeans, see Babylonians. 
 
 Cyrus, his policy of restoration, 191, 
 192. 
 
 Da'-gon, Philistine god, falls before 
 ark, 63. 
 
 Damascus, capital of Syria, 4; 
 visited by Abraham, 15; Ahaz 
 copies an altar of, 153; taken by 
 Assyrians, 138; destroyed by 
 Assyrians, 153. 
 
 Dan, migration of, 56. 
 
 Daniel, stories of, 194-207 ; visions 
 of, 208, 209. 
 
 Darius, king of Persia, permits res- 
 toration of Jerusalem, 193 ; in- 
 vades Europe, 197. 
 
 David, birthplace and family, 74; 
 minstrel and champion, 75 ; mar- 
 riage with Saul's daughter Michal 
 75 ; friendship with Saul's son 
 Jonathan, 76; in cave of Adullam, 
 
INDEX 
 
 217 
 
 76; dealings of, with Nabal and 
 Abigail, 77 ; pursued by Saul, 77, 
 78 ; at Ziklag, 78 ; seizes the throne, 
 79; takes Jerusalem, 80; and 
 brings ark into it, 81 ; his body- 
 guard, 82 ; defeats Philistines, 82, 
 83 ; his foreign wars, 83 ; commits 
 adultery and murder, 84; re- 
 bellion of Absalom against, 85 ; 
 rebellion of Sheba against, 86; 
 his psalms, 87 ; makes Solomon 
 his successor, 88. 
 Deborah, summons Barak against 
 Canaanites, 58; her song, 140. 
 
 Edomites, their place and settlement, 
 4 ; oppose march of Israel, 46 ; 
 conquered by David, 83 ; gain in- 
 dependence, 126; invaded by 
 Amaziah of Judah, 138; Obadiah 
 against, 182. 
 
 Egyptians, conquering Canaan, 3 ; 
 and losing it, 3, 53 ; Abraham 
 visits, 16; Joseph rules, 28, 29, 31 ; 
 oppress Israel, 32, 33; Israel 
 escape from, under Moses, 35-37 ; 
 invade under Shishak, 105 ; invade 
 under Necho, 177; defeated by 
 Chaldeans, 172. 
 
 E'-hud, delivers Israel from Moab- 
 ites, 57. 
 
 Eli, guardian of ark, 62 ; teacher of 
 Samuel, 64; his death, 63. 
 
 Elijah, announces drought, 119; in 
 widow's house, 120; contends 
 against Baal at Carmel, 120, 121; 
 flees to Sinai, 121, 122; confronts 
 Ahab at Naboth's vineyard, 122; 
 meets captains of fifty, 125; his 
 ascension, 125. 
 
 Elisha, called by Elijah, 127; stories 
 of, 128; heals Naaman, 129; 
 guides Syrian army, 130; in siege 
 of Samaria, 130; summons Hazael 
 of Syria, 131 ; calls Jehu to take 
 throne of Israel, 132, 133; tells 
 Jehoash of Israel to shoot arrows, 
 137- 
 
 Ephraim, tribe of, settle in Canaan, 
 56 ; summon tribes against Ca- 
 naanites, 58 ; jealous of Jephthah, 
 60; fight against David who 
 takes throne from house of Saul, 
 78; led by Sheba into rebellion 
 against David, 86; under Jero- 
 boam throw off yoke of house of 
 David, 99, 100; become kingdom 
 of Israel, 102-104. 
 
 Esau, sells birthright, 22; forgives 
 Jacob, 26. 
 
 Es-dra-e'-lon, plain of, 2 ; scene of 
 victory of Egyptians over Ca- 
 naanites, 3 ; and of Israel over 
 Canaanites, 58; defended against 
 Midianites, 59; there Philistines 
 defeat Saul, 72. 
 
 Esther, story of, 206, 207. 
 
 Ezekiel, captive in Babylon, 185; 
 declares destruction of Jerusalem, 
 186; his symbol of the tile, 186; 
 and of the hair, 186; his vision of 
 idols, 187; declares restoration of 
 Jerusalem, 189. 
 
 Ezra, his reforms, 203-205. 
 
 Gedaliah, governor of Jerusalem, 183 ; 
 assassinated, 184. 
 
 Gibeonites, make covenant with 
 Joshua, 52 ; which was broken by 
 Saul, and the breach avenged, 
 
 53- 
 
 Gideon, breaks altar of Baal, sees 
 sign of fleece, fights against Mid- 
 ianites, establishes kingdom, 59. 
 
 Gog, his invasion, 189. 
 
 Hab-ak'-kuk, his prophecy, 173. 
 
 Haggai, his prophecy, 195. 
 
 Ham, descendants of, 11. 
 
 Ham-mu-rab'-i, king of Babylon, his 
 laws, 2, 14, 141. 
 
 Ha'-za-el, king of Syria, after con- 
 ference with Elisha, 131; fights 
 with Israel, is invaded by Assyria, 
 but becomes overlord of Palestine, 
 131, 132. 
 
2l8 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Hebron, house of Abraham, 17; and 
 of Jacob, 26 ; burials there in cave 
 of Machpelah, 21, 31; visited by 
 spies, 44 ; David made king there, 
 78 ; Absalom acclaimed king there, 
 8s. 
 
 Hezekiah, king of Judah, his reforms, 
 157; prepares for Assyrian in- 
 vasion, 158; his recovery, 158; 
 his dealings with Babylon, 159; 
 besieged by the Assyrians, aided 
 by Isaiah, 161, 162. 
 
 Hiram, king of Tyre, ally of David, 
 83 ; and of Solomon, 91. 
 
 Holy Land, situation, i ; boundaries, 
 2 ; neighbors, 4 ; divided among 
 tribes, 54-57 ; divided into two 
 kingdoms, 103, 104. 
 
 Hosea, his domestic experience, 148; 
 prophecies against Israel, 149, 150. 
 
 Hoshea, made king of Israel by 
 Assyrians, 153; appeals to Egypt, 
 154; imprisonedby Assyrians, 154. 
 
 Huldah, the prophetess, advises 
 King Josiah, 167. 
 
 Isaac, son of Abraham, marries 
 Rebekah, 21, 22; father of Jacob 
 and Esau, 22. 
 
 Isaiah, courtier in Jerusalem, 151 ; 
 his call, 152; tries to encourage 
 Ahaz against Syria and Israel, 152 ; 
 warns against alliance with Egypt, 
 158, 160; heals Hezekiah, 158; 
 rebukes him in matter of Babylon, 
 159; portrays Assyrian advance, 
 160 ; strengthens Hezekiah against 
 Assyrians, 160-162. 
 
 Ish-bosh'-eth (= Ishbaal), son of 
 Saul, fights against David for his 
 father's throne, assassinated, 78, 
 79. 
 
 Israel, kingdom of, under Jeroboam I, 
 100, 106; advantages and dis- 
 advantages 103, 104; under 
 Baasha, 108; and Omri, 108, 109; 
 under Ahab, 1 10-123; under 
 Ahaziah, 124; under Jehoram, 
 
 126; under Jehu, 131-136; under 
 Jehoash, 138; under Jeroboam II, 
 139; decline of, 144-150; under 
 Pekah, 151, 152; under Hoshea, 
 153; Assyrians destroy, 153-155. 
 
 Jacob, son of Isaac, buys birthright, 
 22; sees celestial ladder, 23; 
 serves Laban, 23, 24; wrestles 
 with angel, 25 ; father of twelve 
 sons, dies in Egypt, 31. 
 
 Japheth, descendants of, 11. 
 
 Je-ho'-a-haz, king of Israel, subject 
 to Syria, 136. 
 
 Jehoahaz, king of Judah, deposed by 
 Necho, 171. 
 
 Je-ho'-ash, king of Israel, shoots 
 Elisha's arrows, 137; defeats 
 Syrians, defeats Amaziah of Judah, 
 138. 
 
 Jehoash, king of Judah, saved from 
 his mother, Athaliah, 134; made 
 king by Jehoiada, repairs temple, 
 134 (= Joash). 
 
 Je-hoi'-a-chin, king of Judah, carried 
 captive to Babylon, 178; released, 
 185. 
 
 Je-hoi'-a-kim, king of Judah, his 
 selfish policy, 171, 172; burns 
 Jeremiah's sermons, 175; rebels 
 against Chaldeans, 175, 176. 
 
 Je-hon'-a-dab, joins Saul against 
 Baal, 133 ; his sons refuse in- 
 vitation of Jeremiah, 176. 
 
 Je-ho'-ram, king of Israel, invades 
 Moab, 126; killed by Jehu, 132. 
 
 Jehoram, king of Judah, marries 
 Athaliah, 114; loses Edom, 126; 
 invaded by Philistines and Ara- 
 bians, 126; denied royal burial, 
 126. 
 
 Je-hosh'-a-phat, king of Judah, his 
 son Jehoram marries Athaliah, 1 13, 
 114; joins Ahab in war against 
 Syrians, 114-116; declines part- 
 nership with Ahaziah of Israel, 
 124; joins Jehoram of Israel in 
 war against Moab, 126, 127. 
 
INDEX 
 
 219 
 
 Jehu, king of Israel, summoned by 
 Elisha, seizes throne of Israel, 132, 
 133 ; after massacre of royal 
 family, destroys worshippers of 
 Baal, 133. 
 
 Jephthah, outlaw in Gilead, leader 
 against Ammonites, his vow 60; 
 contention with Ephraim, 60. 
 
 Jeremiah, aroused by battle of Car- 
 chemish, 173 ; his speech in temple 
 court, 174; his symbol of the 
 bottle, 175; the king burns the 
 sermons of, 175; draws lesson 
 from Rechabites, 176; his symbol 
 of baskets of figs, 179; his letter 
 to exiles, 179; his symbol of the 
 yokes, 180; declares destruction 
 of Jerusalem, 181 ; imprisoned, 
 181, 182; chooses to stay in Jeru- 
 salem, 183; carried to Egypt, 184. 
 
 Jericho, siege of, 51. 
 
 Jer-o-bo'-am I, overseer of forced 
 labor, 98; called by Abijah, 98; 
 flees to Egypt, 99 ; leads rebellion 
 against house of David, 100; 
 establishes shrines at Dan and 
 Bethel, and makes Shechem his 
 capital, 106; rebuked by prophet 
 from Judah, 107, and by Abijah, 
 107. 
 
 Jeroboam II, king of Israel, his 
 prosperous reign, 140. 
 
 Jerusalem, letters from, 3; capture 
 by David, 80; besieged by Sen- 
 nacherib, 160; destroyed by 
 Nebuchadnezzar, 183 ; lamented, 
 183; rebuilt, 193-200. 
 
 Jez'-e-bel, daughter of Ethbaal, 
 king of Sidonians, and wife of 
 Ahab, 113; fosters religion of 
 Baal, 118; threatens Elijah, 121; 
 secures death of Naboth, 122; 
 put to death in rebellion of Jehu, 
 133. 
 
 Joab, nephew of David, 74; com- 
 mands army against Abner, 78; 
 kills Abner, 79 ; takes Jerusalem, 
 80; commands campaigns against 
 
 Ammon, 83; secures recall of 
 Absalom, 85 ; commands arm.y 
 against Absalom, 85; and kills 
 him, 86 ; is superseded by Amasa, 
 and kills him, 86; puts down re- 
 bellion of Sheba, 86; takes part 
 in conspiracy of Adonijah, 88; is 
 put to death by Solomon, 89. 
 
 Job, story of, 198. 
 
 Johanan, friend and successor of 
 Gedaliah, 183, 184 
 
 Jonah, story of, 206. 
 
 Jonathan, son of Saul, friend of 
 David, 76; hero of battle of 
 Michmash, 69, 70 ; killed in battle 
 with Phihstines, 73. 
 
 Joseph, son of Jacob, his dreams, 27 ; 
 sold by brethren, 28; interprets 
 dreams and becomes a ruler of 
 Egypt, 29; meets brethren, 30; 
 establishes family in Egypt, dies 
 there, 31. 
 
 Joshua, fights Amalekites, 39; leads 
 spies, 45; succeeds Moses, 49; 
 brings Israel over Jordan, 50; 
 destroys Jericho, 51; and Ai, 52; 
 wins battle of Beth-horon, 53, 
 and battle of Merom, 54; divides 
 land among tribes, 54. 
 
 Josiah, king of Judah, restores re- 
 ligion of Jehovah, 165; discovers 
 the Book of the Law, 167; his 
 reforms, 169; falls at the battle 
 of Megiddo, 170. 
 
 Judah, kingdom of, under Reho- 
 boam, 102-105; under Abijam, 
 106; under Asa, 107, 108; under 
 Jehoshaphat, 113, 114, 115, 124, 
 126; under Jehoram, 125, 126; 
 under Ahaziah, 132; under Atha- 
 liah, 134, 135 ; under Jehoash, 135 ; 
 under Amaziah, 138 ; under Uzziah, 
 139; under Ahaz, 1 51-153; under 
 Hezekiah, 157-162 ; under Manas- 
 seh, 163, 164 ; under Josiah, 165— 
 170; under Jehoiakim, 171-177; 
 under Jehoiachin, 178; Chaldeans 
 destroy, 179-183. 
 
220 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Korah, rebellion of, against Moses, 
 45. 
 
 Laban, brother of Rebekah, father 
 
 of Rachel, 23 ; served by Jacob, 24. 
 Levi, tribe of, 57. 
 Lot, companion of Abraham, 14; 
 
 chooses Sodom, taken captive, 17; 
 
 rescued by Abraham, 18; escapes 
 
 from Sodom, 19. 
 
 Malachi, his prophecy, 198. 
 
 Manasseh, king of Judah, restores 
 worship of Baal, 164; offers his 
 son as a sacrifice, 165; his long 
 reign, 164. 
 
 Mel-chiz'-e-dek, meets Abraham, 18. 
 
 Menahem, king of Israel, seizes 
 throne, hires Assyrians, 144, 145. 
 
 Messiah, 196, 197. 
 
 Micah, loses his priest and idols, 57. 
 
 Micah of Moresheth, his prophecies, 
 156. 
 
 Micaiah, warns Ahab, 115. 
 
 Michal, daughter of Saul, wife of 
 David, 75, 76. 
 
 Michmash, battle of, 68, 69. 
 
 Midianites, carry Joseph to Egypt, 
 28; receive Moses fleeing from 
 Egypt, 33, 34 ; Moses leads Israel 
 to land of, 38; invade Palestine, 
 driven away by Gideon, 59. 
 
 Moabites, their place and settlement, 
 4; contend with Israel, 47; their 
 king killed by Ehud, 57; con- 
 quered by David, 83 ; conquered 
 by Omri, 109 ; invaded by Je- 
 horam of Israel, 116, 117. 
 
 Moses, adopted by princess, 33 ; 
 kills Egyptian and flees to Midian, 
 33 ; marries daughter of priest of 
 Midian, 34; called at burning 
 bush, 34; calls down plagues on 
 Egypt, 35 ; leads Israel over Red 
 Sea, 36, 37; establishes law by 
 commandments, 39-41 ; estab- 
 lishes law by cases, 41-43 ; makes 
 the ark of the covenant, 43 ; sends 
 
 the spies, 44; leads march of in- 
 vading army, 46-48; appoints 
 Joshua his successor, 49; dies on 
 Pisgah, 49. 
 
 Na'-a-man, Syrian general, healed by 
 Elisha, 129. 
 
 Nabal, his dealing with David, 76. 
 
 Naboth, his vineyard coveted by 
 Ahab, 122. 
 
 Nahum, his prophecy, 166. 
 
 Nathan, rebukes David, 84; secures 
 coronation of Solomon, 88. 
 
 Neb-u-chad-nez'-zar, king of Chal- 
 deans, wins battle of Carchemish, 
 172; invades Judea, 176, 178. 
 
 Necho, king of Egypt, defeats Josiah, 
 170; loses battle of Carchemish, 
 170; Jehoiakim rebels against, 176. 
 
 Nehemish, cupbearer of Artaxerxes, 
 199; rebuilds walls of Jerusalem, 
 199, 200; his reforms, 201-203. 
 
 Nineveh, capital of Assyria, i ; 
 Nahum concerning fall of, 166; 
 fall of, 172, 173. 
 
 Noah, story of, 10; descendants of, 
 II. 
 
 Obadiah, prophecy of, 182. 
 
 Omri, seizes throne of Israel, makes 
 Samaria his capital, 108; invades 
 Moab, 109 ; organizes his kingdom, 
 108. 
 
 Pekah, king of Israel, 151; invades 
 Judah, 151, 152; conquered and 
 killed by Assyrians, 153. 
 
 Pekahiah, king of Israel, killed by 
 Pekah, 151. 
 
 Philistines, their place and settle- 
 ment, 53 ; Samson's adventures 
 among, 61 ; their five cities, 62 ; 
 win battle near Shechem, 62 ; 
 return ark, 63 ; hold Israel in 
 subjection, 64; defeated by Jona- 
 than, 68-70; defeat Saul at Mt. 
 Gilboa, 72, 73 ; defeated by David, 
 82. 
 
INDEX 
 
 221 
 
 Phoenicians, allies of David, 83 ; and 
 of Ahab, 113; visited by Elijah, 
 
 Rachel, wife of Jacob, 23 ; hides the 
 
 household gods, 24. 
 Ra-me'-ses II, perhaps the Pharaoh 
 
 of oppression, 32. 
 Rameses III, repels Philistine in- 
 vasion, 53. 
 Ramoth-Gilead, Ahab falls besieging, 
 
 114, 115; Jehu begins revolution 
 
 there, 132. 
 Rebekah, at the well, 21 ; wife of 
 
 Isaac, 22; mother of Jacob and 
 
 Esau, 22. 
 Re-ho-bo'-am, son of Solomon, king 
 
 of Judah, refuses petition, 99; 
 
 and loses most of kingdom, 100, 
 
 loi ; invaded by Shishak, 105 ; 
 
 fights with Jeroboam, 106. 
 Ruth, story of, 204. 
 
 Samaria, built by Ormi, 108; be- 
 sieged by Syrians, 130; destroyed 
 by Assyrians, 154. 
 
 Samaritans, their origin, 155; their 
 enmity, 199. 
 
 Samson, his exploits, 60. 
 
 Samuel, brought up by Eh, 64 ; makes 
 Saul king, 65 ; rebukes Saul, 69, 71 ; 
 chooses David, 74; at Endor, 72. 
 
 Sanballat, opposes the rebuilding of 
 the walls, 200, 203. 
 
 Sarah, wife of Abraham, 14, 16; 
 mother of Isaac and Ishmael, 19; 
 death of, 21. 
 
 Sargon, king of Assyria, destroys 
 Samaria, 154. 
 
 Saul, first king of Israel, 61 ; relieves 
 Jabesh, 67 ; rebuked by Samuel, 
 69, 71 ; at battle of Michmash, 
 68-70; his jealousy of David, 75; 
 and pursuit of him, 77; his wars, 
 especially with Amalek, 71; his 
 defeat and death, 71-73. 
 
 Sen-nach'-er-ib, king of Assyria, be- 
 sieges Jerusalem, 160-162. 
 
 Shallum, king of Israel for one month, 
 144. 
 
 Shal-man-e'-ser II, king of Assyria, 
 invades west and takes tribute of 
 Ahab, 112. 
 
 Shalmaneser IV, king of Assyria, be- 
 sieges Samaria, 154. 
 
 Sheba, leader of revolt against David, 
 86. 
 
 Sheba, queen of, visits David, 92. 
 
 Shechem, visited by Abraham, 16; 
 capital of Gideon's kingdom, 59; 
 rebels against Abimelech, 59; 
 ark captured in battle there, 62; 
 revolution of Jeroboam begins 
 there, 99; becomes Jeroboam's 
 capital, 106. 
 
 Shem, descendants of, 12, 
 
 Shi'-shak, king of Egypt, invades 
 Palestine, 105. 
 
 Sihon, king of Amorites, opposes 
 Israel, 47. 
 
 Sinai, location of, 38; Moses at, 39- 
 41 ; Elijah at, 121. 
 
 Sisera, captain of Canaan, defeated 
 by Barak, 58; killed by Jaal, 
 58. 
 
 Solomon, son of David and Bath- 
 sheba, king instead of Adonijah, 
 88; provision for his court, 89; 
 his palace, 90; his temple, 90, 91; 
 his navy, 91 ; his wisdom, 92 ; 
 his folly, 92, 93 ; burdens the 
 people with forced labor, 93, 97 ; 
 Edomites rebel against, 97 ; Syrians 
 rebel against, 98; Jeroboam rebels 
 against, 98, 99. 
 
 Syrians (= Arameans), traders by 
 caravan, capital Damascus, 4; 
 conquered by David, 83; free 
 themselves under Solomon, 98; 
 hired by Asa of Judah against 
 Baasha of Israel, 108; Ahab de- 
 feats, hi; and brings into alliance, 
 112 ; defeat Ahab at Ramoth, 114- 
 116; deceived by Elisha, 130; 
 who heals their captain, Naaman, 
 129; besiege Samaria, 130; Hazael 
 
222 
 
 INDEX 
 
 becomes their king, 131 ; attacked 
 by Assyrians, 135 ; but are masters 
 of Palestine, 136 ; again invaded by 
 Assyrians, 138; Ahaz of Judah 
 hires Assyrians to invade Syria 
 and Israel, and Tiglath-pileser 
 destroys Syrian kingdom, 153. 
 
 Tell el-Amarna, letters from Canaan, 
 
 3- 
 Tig-lath-pil-e'-ser, king of Assyria, 
 
 receives tribute from Menahem, 
 
 145 ; attacks Syria and Israel, 153 ; 
 
 destroys kingdom of Syria, 157; 
 
 Ahaz does homage to, 153. 
 
 Uzziah (= Azariah), his prosperous 
 reign over Israel, 139; becomes a 
 leper, 144. 
 
 Zechariah, king of Israel for six 
 months, 144. 
 
 Zechariah, his prophecy, 194, 195. 
 
 Zephaniah, his prophecy, 166. 
 
 Ze-rub'-ba-bel, the governor of Jeru- 
 salem, 193; a possible Messiah, 
 196. 
 
 Zedekiah, king of Judah, appeals to 
 Egypt against Chaldea, 180; con- 
 sults Jeremiah, 181 ; carried captive 
 to Babylon, 182. 
 
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