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Strange and striking as this episode was, it seems to have made no lasting impression upon Jeroboam; for we are told that he did not return from his evil ways; he continued the worship of Apis, and allowed all Israelites indiscriminately to perform the duties of priesthood.

Not long afterwards his son Abijah fell dangerously ill. In his sorrow and alarm he bethought himself of the prophet Ahijah, who had so truly foretold his future greatness in the lifetime of king Solomon. Ahijah resided in Shiloh; he had probably withdrawn from the sinful court, and looked with no favourable eye upon the misdeeds of the unscrupulous Jeroboam. Nevertheless it was to him that the king bade his wife go in close disguise, with presents of bread, cake, and honey.

Ahijah was now an aged man, and his eyes were fixed and sightless, but he was prepared by the Lord for the visit of the Egyptian princess. When he heard the sound of her feet at his door, he said: Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? but I am sent to thee with heavy tidings.' Then he predicted the death of her child; the mourning of the whole nation for that child, the only member of her race that would be buried and rest in a grave; the utter ruin and extermination of the house of Jeroboam; the accession of another royal family in Israel; and finally the destruction of the kingdom of Israel itself on account of Jeroboam's idolatry and of the people's wickedness.

With these terrible words still ringing in her ears, the unfortunate queen arose, and returned to the city of Tirzah. As she approached the threshold of her palace, a loud wail announced to her that her child was dead. He was buried and lamented by the whole people.

Jeroboam reigned twenty-two years over Israel, during which time he was repeatedly forced to take arms and fight against neighbouring tribes, and he was succeeded by his son Nadab.

106. NADAB (954-953).

[1 KINGS XV. 25—32.]

He did evil in the sight of the Lord,' and followed in the footsteps of his father, whom he resembled in religious perversion and moral corruption. But his career was cut short by an ambitious man of equal depravity. In the second year of his reign, while he was besieging a small town of the Philistines with his whole army, he was insidiously attacked and murdered by Baasha, the son of Abijah, of the tribe of Issachar, who proclaimed himself king of Israel, and was accepted by the people.

107. BAASHA (953–930).

[1 KINGS XV. 33—XVI. 7; 2 CHRON. XVI. 1—6.]

As he had acquired the throne by violence, so he commenced his infamous reign by bloodshed, for he completely destroyed the house of Jeroboam, until not a single member of the former dynasty was left. He took up his residence in Tirzah, and began to build the city of Ramah, on the very confines of Judah, intending it as a key to the rival monarchy. But Asa, the king of Judah, perceiving the danger, concluded a league with Benhadad, the king of Syria, and induced him to make a raid upon the northern provinces of the empire of Israel, hoping to discomfit and to weaken Baasha. Benhadad descended without delay upon the land of Naphtali and the adjoining districts. Baasha alarmed at the sudden appearance of the enemy, left the southern city of Ramah, and entrenched himself in Tirzah. Ramah was now dismantled by king Asa without difficulty, and the building materials were taken away to be used for the construction of Geba and Mizpah, in Benjamin. The warfare thus

commenced between Asa and Baasha, lasted during the whole extent of their reigns. Asa was a virtuous monarch; but Baasha, though valiant and bold, was unrighteous and godless. He was warned by the prophet Jehu, the son of Hanani, that on account of his sins he would be cast off like Jeroboam, and that his house would be utterly destroyed like the house of Nebat. Yet he did not mend his ways, and he carried the kingdom of Israel along with him on the path of depravity. He died in the twenty-fourth year of his reign, and was buried in Tirzah. His son Elah followed him.

108. ELAH AND ZIMRI (930-928).

[1 KINGS XVI. 8—22.]

The ill-fated king Elah ruled but two short years. Whilst drinking in his capital Tirzah, at some wild revel in the house of Arzah, his steward, he was suddenly attacked and murdered by Zimri, the captain of his chariots, who aspired to the kingdom and obtained it.

In his seven days' reign, Zimri utterly exterminated the family of Baasha, but he failed to gain the attachment and loyalty of the people. The army was at that time engaged in warfare against the Philistines, and was encamped before Gibbethon. When the men heard what had occurred in Tirzah, they at once proclaimed Omri, their captain, king of Israel. Raising the siege of Gibbethon, they proceeded to Tirzah, which they eventually took. Zimri, seeing himself and the capital in the hands of his opponents, withdrew into the palace, set fire to it with his own hands, and perished in the flames.

A part of the people was in favour of Tibni, the son of Ginath, and proclaimed him king; but Omri finally prevailed, and founded a new dynasty.

109. OMRI (928-918).

[1 KINGS XVI. 23—28.]

For six years Omri dwelt in the old capital Tirzah. Then he bought of Shemer for two talents of silver a beautiful hill westward of Tirzah, in the mountain of Ephraim, and on that hill he built the city of Samaria, the rival of Jerusalem, and made it the capital of the north. But he surpassed in deeds of wickedness and cruelty even his worst predecessors, and his name became a curse and a byword in Israel. Under him the kingdom rapidly advanced towards utter degeneracy. Yet he was not without valour; he carried on a successful war against Damascus, and conquered some towns belonging to its territory. He was buried in Samaria, and his son Ahab succeeded him.

110. AHAB (918-897).

[1 KINGS XVI. 29 sqq.]

This reign is undoubtedly one of the most eventful in the annals of Israel. It is treated in the sacred narrative with greater detail than many of the preceding and nearly all the subsequent periods, and it is invested with a peculiar interest by being interwoven with the life and work of Elijah, the great prophet of Israel, who stands out clear and prominent among a large number of less distinguished prophets and seers. Ahab himself was a contemptible monarch, more feeble than wicked, and completely under the evil influence of his queen Jezebel, a heathen princess, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of Zidon. Fierce, revengeful, and ambitious, Jezebel easily established her dominion in the kingdom of Israel, and exerted the power of a strong and indomitable will over the wavering and

fickle mind of the king. A fanatic worshipper of Baal, she built high places all over the land, raised altars, and caused countless sacrifices to be burnt to the idols. No less than eight hundred and fifty priests of Baal and Ashtarte sat at her table as her daily guests. On the other hand, she commenced a ruthless persecution of the Hebrew prophets, which continued unabated during her whole reign.

Jezreel, a new city, considerably north of Shechem, in the province of Issachar, delightfully situated in the woody heights of Mount Gilboa, became one of the favourite royal residences. There rose the palace of queen Jezebel, and there stood probably the famous house of ivory. Many cities sprang up during Ahab's reign; amongst others Jericho, which Hiel rebuilt from the ruins in which it had lain since the blast of Joshua's trumpets.

During Ahab's reign a terrible calamity fell upon the land, one of the most fearful scourges that can visit an Eastern country.

111. THE PROPHET ELIJAH.

[1 KINGS XVII. sqq.]

It is in connection with this fearful trial that Elijah, the Tishbite, first came forward as a messenger of God. There is something mysterious and marvellous in the whole account of Elijah. We cannot help being impressed by the story of his solitary life, of his sudden appearances, of his rapid journeys, and his indifference to danger, and above all by the very picture conjured up before us of that stern and grand figure, girt with a leather belt, and wrapped in his long sweeping mantle, which, uplifted like a staff, divided the waters of the

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