3

reduced his credit to its lowest point, fell ill, and despatched his general Hazael' with the most costly presents 2 to bear a friendly greeting to Elisha, and at the same time obtain from him an oracle of Jahveh about his recovery. The prophet of Israel sent word to him that he might recover; but added the further intimation for Hazael alone, that God had as surely revealed to him that the king would soon die. But this was not all; he looked at him long and strangely with unchanged countenance and wept. At length Hazael asked why the man of God was weeping, and the prophet declared that he knew beforehand how much evil Hazael would hereafter do in war to the people of Israel; nay, he concluded, as the other modestly declined such future military glory, Jahveh had revealed to him as he spoke that Hazael would hereafter be king of the Arameans. Upon this they parted, and Hazael gave the necessary report to his master, repeating, however, only the cheerful message of Elisha. On the next day, however, the king was found dead, not certainly from his illness, but from violence; as he was going to take his bath, his servant (we do not now know from what particular motive) dipped the bath-cloth into the warm water, and, before the king could call for help, drew it so tight over his head that he was smothered.*

He was succeeded on the throne by Hazael, under whom the Aramean monarchy rose most vigorously to new power. The more energetic arm of Hazael was felt soon enough in Samaria

1 That Hazael was Benhadad's commander-in-chief is only an inference from the general relations of that period. Naaman, who (2 Kings v.) occupies a position of similar dignity, certainly does not belong to any earlier age (judging from the description of him and of his time) than that of the house of Hazael in Damascus, and of Jehu in Israel.

2 They consisted of all kinds of the valuable commodities which could then be obtained in Damascus, to the weight of forty camel-loads; this last expression is obviously only intended to denote their value, taking about as much corn as a camel could carry as a measure. How valuable such presents were may be seen from Herodot. i. 50-54.

not described as a person of such malignity, and is not indicated by the prophet as the murderer of his sovereign, it is by no means clear how he could have been present at the king's bath; for that the king was smothered in his bath (which in the East is always warm) is obviously implied in the words. If the article in 3 points to the fact that the wellknown bath-cloth must have been used, there is no difficulty (according to § 2946 of my Lehrb.) in making the bath-servant the subject of the verb p; and if the first verbs in ver. 15 were intended to refer to Hazael, the subsequent repetition of his name would be superfluous; cf. Ex. xxxiv. 4.-Very similar modes of murder were common, as in the cases of Agamemnon (Aesch. Ag. 1056 sqq.), of the last of the Asmoneans (Jos. Ant. xv. 3. 3), of Tiberius (Tac. Ann. vi. 50), of Constans II. at Syracuse in the year 668 A.D., and Romanus Argyrus (by Zoé) in the year 1034.

3 The words viii. 10, cf. ver. 14, are not capable of any other interpretation, since there must be some significance in the change from the second to the third person. ♦ It might perhaps be inferred from vv. 14, 15 that it was Hazael himself who had thus murdered his master; but the Cf. also the addition of the LXX, context makes this scarcely credible. To 2 Kings ix. 16. say nothing of the facts that Hazael is

by Jehoram. He found himself compelled to send an army of observation to Ramoth in Gilead, marched himself to the war which had become inevitable, but was wounded in battle, and leaving his army behind in Ramoth, retired to his palace in Jezreel to be healed.' A time like this of unsuccessful fighting, or of delay in his palace on the part of the king while his army was on the field, encountering a dreaded enemy, had already proved fatal to the royal houses of Jeroboam and Baasha; and now, in addition to this danger, a successful change of dynasty had been effected in Damascus, which, like every similar revolution, might easily spread its stimulus over adjoining countries. Everything, therefore, difficulties abroad as well as disunion at home, seemed to be bringing on the ruin of the house of Omri.

2

3. Moreover, the kingdom of Judah fell at that time from the elevation to which Asa and Jehoshaphat had raised it. Jehoram, the eldest son of Jehoshaphat, was thirty-two years of age when he began to reign, but he seemed only made to undo all the benefits which his father had conferred upon the kingdom. He immediately put to death his six brothers on whom his father had bestowed governorships of fortresses and rich settlements; perhaps only from avarice after their wealth.3 Soon, however, Edom revolted from his dominion, possibly stirred up by this outrage. With his chariots and other troops he marched to meet the enemy, who had already penetrated as far as Zair, south of the Dead Sea. He was, however, surrounded, and could only save himself by a night attack; and, although victorious, he was compelled to recognise the new king of Edom, and had to be satisfied with a sort of vassalship to which his antagonist consented.* It was probably about the same time that the Philistines and the Arabic populations on the south of Judea 5 broke into the kingdom, and even succeeded in taking Jerusalem by surprise and carrying off from the royal palace a quantity of treasure, as well as several of the

12 Kings viii. 28 sq., ix. 14 sq. 2 Pp. 32, 35.

3 2 Chron. xxi. 1-4.

42 Kings viii. 20-22, repeated in 2 Chron. xxi. 8-10; cf. the remark p. 88 note 1. The place named Zair in the first passage, is probably identical with what is otherwise called Zoar, cf. the pronunciation Σnyúp, LXX, Is. xv. 5; see also i. p. 314.

5 We know nothing of all this except from the brief words 2 Chron. xxi. 16 sq., xxii. 1; and here it is not expressly said

that Jerusalem was conquered; the event itself possesses certainly the more historical credibility since it explains the revolt of Libnah, mentioned quite by itself 2 Kings viii. 22; but the name Arabians, which does not appear before the age of Isaiah, is certainly in this case and also in that of Jehoshaphat, xvii. 11, used by the Chronicler only, to whom belongs also the clause 'who live near the Cushites,' by which it is probably intended to describe the remote habitations of these Arabians stretching to the far south.

king's wives and children, and it may have been on this occasion that Gath' recovered its freedom. The confusion and weakness in Judah reached such a pitch that the town of Libnah, which lay over against the Philistine territory, though it had always belonged to Judah, openly went over to the enemy, and continued for a long time in revolt. But in spite of all these disasters Jehoram constantly permitted himself to be led away by his wife Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab,2 into the promotion of heathenism; and the temple of Baal, with the altars and images of Baal himself and his fellow-gods, which was destroyed in Jerusalem after Athaliah's fall,3 was probably erected under this king, after the pattern of the one at Samaria, with the treasures accumulated by Jehoshaphat. When, therefore, he fell ill with a very serious internal disease, which lasted two years, it was treated as a sign of divine punishment; and on his death after a reign of eight years (at any rate according to the narrative of the Chronicler) the usual honour of a public burial was not accorded to him. He was succeeded by his only surviving son, Jehoahaz, who received on his accession the name of Ahaziah." This prince was then twenty-two years of age, and he allowed himself to be so completely led in everything by his mother Athaliah, and other friends of the house of Ahab, that the spirit of the kingdom of the Ten Tribes seemed to have subjugated Judah also.

6

If, then, any prophet of Elisha's power had directed his glance from the northern to the southern kingdom, to see whether any deliverance from the dominion of heathenism was to be looked for from that quarter (though we have already seen how impossible it then was to think of any reunion of the two monarchies), he would have recoiled with even greater horror from the spectacle it presented. In both kingdoms at the same time, heathenism, supported by the influence of the crown, threatened to crush the old religion. The ancient faith made one more violent effort at resistance, but it was only

1 P. 46.

2 P. 63.

* 2 Kings xi. 18. 42 Chron. xxi. 18 sq.; cf., however, iii. p. 273 note 2.

5 In this way the two names, 2 Chron. xxi. 17, xxii. 1, may certainly be reconciled; but Azariah, xxi. 6, must be a transcriber's

error.

According to 2 Kings viii. 26; the number forty-two in 2 Chron. xxii. 2 is obviously a copyist's error, just as '? 'ap ver. 6, for 'app. It is further

surprising to learn from 2 Chron. xxi. 17, xxii. 1 that Ahaziah was the youngest son of Jehoram, since the latter was only forty years old at his death. Meantime we are only to understand here the children of Jehoram by the queen proper, as in the case of Jehoshaphat, where the seven children are all mentioned by name, 2 Chron. xxi. 2. According to 2 Kings X. 13 sq., Ahaziah had forty-two more brothers; but this expression may denote Chron. xxii. 8, the expression is changed all male relations indeterminately; in 2 for 'brothers' sons.'

spasmodic, and had no other instrument than that which had hitherto been alike its living spring and its most vigorous force, -the prophetic power; moreover, it proceeded from that kingdom which had grown accustomed to being the theatre of such violent convulsions and deadly struggles between the two great independent powers. But no revolution in the kingdom of the Ten Tribes had ever been more terrible and destructive than this, the aim of which was to annihilate at the same time the heathenism which had gone on insinuating itself more and more deeply, and a dynasty which had for half a century been constantly taking firmer root in the kingdom. The deepest basis of the realm was shattered by the revolution; and the waves of the storm reached even to the foundation of the kingdom of Judah, which was at that time in such close alliance with the northern monarchy, and very nearly overthrew it.

III. THE GREAT REVOLUTION.

Of this great change we possess now only one account; but it is derived from an ancient source, and presents the event to our view with remarkable vividness.1

After Jehoram, Ahab's son, had left his army behind at Ramoth in Gilead,2 and had returned covered with wounds to his palace in Jezreel, Elisha commissioned one of the disciples of the prophets to anoint a prince, i.e. an officer who was encamped with the troops in Gilead, king of Israel, as the man whom Jahveh had chosen to destroy the worship of Baal, and to avenge the prophets slain by Ahab and Jezebel. The personage thus selected was Jehu, son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi; and certainly there was no military prince more fitted to carry out such a purpose, on whom Elisha's prophetic glance could have fallen. He had been among the young horsemen who had ridden two and two in brilliant procession behind Ahab, when Elijah's voice of thunder had announced to him in Jezreel the approach of the divine doom upon him for the murder of Naboth. On Jehu, that moment had plainly made an impression which nothing could efface. But with all the dissimulation and subtle cunning of a thorough Israelite, he had so effectively concealed from his royal masters the thoughts that were seething within him, that Jehoram still relied entirely upon his loyalty. He was now about forty years

3

12 Kings viii. 28-x. 28, by the older

narrator.

2 P. 94.

3 2 Kings ix. 25 sq.

42 Kings ix. 15-22, x. 1-10, 18-25, comp. with the remarks iii. p. 62.

old; respected among his fellow-officers, accustomed to command and be obeyed with strictness; but there still glowed in him all the fire of youth. Everyone knew how impetuously he rode and drove,' in which he stood alone in the whole army; but while he was capable of the most irresistible vehemence and stormy haste, he equally well understood how to follow up his purpose with cold craft and daring cunning; and it was the close union of these opposite means which supplied him with his most terrible weapon.

The disciple of the prophets executed his commission in apparent haste. This unexpected coming and going, the rapid kindling of a flame on the already heated ground, a spirit agency seemingly from another world, these were obviously in those days of persecution characteristic of the successors of Elijah. He found Jehu in the midst of his brother officers, who were probably holding a council of war. He led him apart to a 'chamber in a chamber,' i.e. to the innermost room of the house, hastily explained to him his commission from Elijah, and disappeared, as if fleeing from the sight of men. When Jehu came out again, his comrades were almost afraid the 'mad man' might have done him some harm. Questioned about his strange visitor, he replied that they must certainly be already aware who it was and what he came for; but when they asserted that they were not, he at once explained to them what had taken place, and as though they had long since lost all real trust in Jehoram's royal dignity, and were now suddenly seized with the same spirit which they saw beaming upon Jehu's countenance, they immediately saluted him publicly as king, and, in token of their homage,2 cast their garments without further delay on the steps of the house from which he was about to come forth. With swift determination he took the next step necessary; requested them on no account to allow any person whatever to quit the town, to prevent the fatal news reaching Jehoram too soon; mounted his chariot, accompanied only by his old companion in arms Bidkar, whom he appointed captain of his body-guard, and, armed with his bow, drove in violent haste to Jezreel.

Jehoram had been lying there for some weeks ill of his wounds, and the young king Ahaziah had arrived at the palace from Jerusalem on a visit to the royal invalid.3 The warder on

12 Kings ix. 20.

2 As in Matt. xxi. 7 sq.

It might appear from 2 Kings viii. 28 as though Ahaziah had joined Jehoram in his campaign; but this contradicts the

VOL. IV.

H

evidence of the other passages, ver. 29, ix. 14, 16. The particle, therefore, after 5, viii. 28, should be struck out, although the false reading had already determined the representation in 2 Chron. ii. 5.