SECTION I. THE FIRST CENTURY AFTER THE DISRUPTION OF THE KINGDOM-continued. 59 59 62 1. Struggle between Jahveism and Heathenism II. ELISHA AND HIS AGE. THE RECHABITES 1. Commencement of Elisha's Career: his Miracles. 2. The Reign of Jehoram in Israel. 3. The Reigns of Jehoram and Ahaziah in Judah B. THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH TO THE DEATH OF UZZIAH I. CONSEQUENCES OF THE REVOLUTION UNDER JEHU I. NATURE OF THEIR EMPIRE. II. FALL OF THE KINGDOM OF THE TEN TRIBES 1. Shallum; Menahem; Pekahiah III. THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH, ITS DELIVERANCE AND INCREASED 3. Consequences of the Flight of the Assyrians D. DEVELOPMENT OF ART, PHILOSOPHY, AND LITERATURE 2. Lyric and Dramatic Composition 3. Development of Historical Composition SECTION III. THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH TILL ITS FALL . V. LITERATURE IN THE LAST AGE OF THE MONARCHY 1. Decline of Force both in Language and Thought. 2. Mixture of the Poetic and Prophetic Styles. 3. Decline of Arts connected with Literature Errata. Page 50 note 1, for Gibea read Gibeah. 129 note 1, line 10, for Prophets read Prophet. 196 note 3, line 15, for x. 5-12 read x. 5–xii. 286 295 305 HISTORY OF ISRAEL. BOOK IV. DISRUPTION AND DECLINE OF THE KINGDOM. INTRODUCTION. ISRAEL had now of its own accord, though not without the influence of a higher force, entered on a new phase of its existence, in which the question would inevitably arise whether or not it would succeed in finding that larger prosperity which was the fond hope of the majority. It brought with it out of its past into the new and unknown future which lay before it, an abundance of recently-acquired and material blessings, the elevating sense of extensive power and dignity among the other nations of the world, together with the strong impulse to seek after wisdom even in every department of Nature. Nor was this all. Those who were moved by a deeper and sincerer spirit further added the clear consciousness that Israel had only attained this prosperity and importance by a faithful and strenuous adhesion to the true religion, and they kept up either the active aspiration after a still more perfect king than David, or the blessed recollection of how the goal of this new stage of their history, the perfect human king of the community of the true God, had been in David almost if not altogether reached. That Solomon had, in the latter part of his reign, fallen further and further below this standard, was plainly recognised by the prophets and all the better minds of Israel; but neither of the two states into which the monarchy was now divided, had any clear idea how it was to be attained. 1. The balance, however, at first inclined in every respect in favour of the northern kingdom, separated from the house of David. It far surpassed the southern, in the first place, in the extent of its territory, and the amount of its population. Ten tribes, says the narrative, revolted from the house of David; only one remained loyal to it. Some obscurity, however, hangs over the precise interpretation of their numerical proportion, and the exact determination of the frontiers of the two states where they were contiguous. The previous history of the tribe of Levi forbids us to suppose that it was included in the computation on either side. Nor can these numbers take in the tribe of Simeon, for there is no proof that any portion of its territory remained with the kingdom of the Ten Tribes, of which it might thus perhaps have been regarded as a tenth part. The territory of the tribe of Dan had, indeed, in consequence of earlier disasters, been partly occupied by Judah,' and these districts were now entirely amalgamated with it; but the rest certainly remained as a full tribe with the northern kingdom. On the other hand, the position of the tribe of Benjamin was now of necessity entirely altered. Allied by its early history with Joseph, and not with Judah, it now saw itself attracted equally strongly to the latter by the situation of Jerusalem on its ancient territory. It was consequently really divided between the two kingdoms, as Jerusalem lay on its border on the extreme south. Some districts which were too near Jerusalem, and could be too easily dominated by this powerful fortress, remained, together with Jerusalem itself, in the possession of Judah; those places, however, which their past history had rendered most sacred or memorable,- Bethel," 3 sentially only of one great fortified city with its often discontented territory; and the City becomes to such an extent its centre, that it is henceforth even called briefly, i.e. wóλIS. The general national life contracts within narrower and narrower limits. In the warmth and closeness of this circle, it produces (just as in an ancient Phoenician, Greek, or Latin city) the most vigorous and active or the most vicious results within the whole range of antiquity, which we still describe by the name of Politics, derived from this source. In a city life of this sort the great families possessed much importance, which, in the course of centuries, naturally increased; to what extent that was the case in Judah also may be seen from Is. xxii. 20 sqq.; Zech. xii. 12–14; Jer. xxvi. 24, xxxix. 14, and other passages. 5 Bethel is often described as belonging to the northern kingdom; as to what tribe it belonged to, see ii. p. 413. |