ISRAEL
north-eastern
Galilee,
and
Baasha
was
compelled
to
desist
from
his
Judaean
campaign
and
defend
his
own
borders.
Asa
tools
this
opportunity
to
fortify
Geba,
about
eight
miles
north-east
of
Jerusalem,
and
Mizpeh,
five
miles
to
the
north-west
of
it
(1
K
IS's-z').
The
only
other
important
event
of
Asa's
reign
known
to
us
consisted
of
the
erection
by
Asa's
mother'of
an
asKirah
made
in
a
disgustingly
realistic
form,
which
so
shocked
the
sense
of
the
time
that
Asa
was
compelled
to
remove
it
(151=).
Of.,
for
fuller
discussion,
below,
II.
§
1
(3).
During
the
reign
of
Elah
an
attempt
was
made
once
more
to
capture
Gibbethon.
The
siege
was
being
prosecuted
by
an
able
general
named
Omri,
while
the
weak
king
was
enjoying
himself
at
Tirzah,
which
had
been
the
royal
residence
since
the
days
of
Jeroboam.
While
the
king
was
in
a
drunken
brawl
he
was
killed
by
Zimri,
the
commander
of
his
chariots,
who
was
then
himself
proclaimed
king.
Omri,
however,
upon
hearing
of
this,
hastened
from
Gibbethon
to
Tirzah,
overthrew
and
slew
Zimri,
and
himself
became
king.
Thus
once
more
did
the
dynasty
change.
Omri
proved
one
of
the
ablest
rulers
the
Northern
Kingdom
ever
had.
The
Bible
tells
us
little
of
him,
but
the
information
we
derive
from
outside
sources
enables
us
to
place
him
in
proper
perspective.
His
fame
spread
to
Assyria,
where,
even
after
his
dynasty
had
been
overthrown,
he
was
thought
to
be
the
ancestor
of
Israelitish
kings
(cf.
KIB
i.
151).
Omri,
perceiving
the
splendid
military
possibilities
of
the
hill
of
Samaria,
chose
that
for
his
capital,
fortified
it,
and
made
it
one
of
his
residences,
thus
introducing
to
history
a
name
destined
in
succeeding
generations
to
play
an
important
part.
He
appears
to
have
made
a
peaceful
alliance
with
Damascus,
so
that
war
between
the
two
kingdoms
ceased.
He
also
formed
an
alliance
with
the
king
of
Tyre,
taking
Jezebel,
the
daughter
of
the
Tynan
king
Ethbaal,
as
a
wife
for
his
son
Ahab.
We
also
learn
from
the
Moabite
Stone
that
Omri
con-quered
Moab,
compelling
the
Moabites
to
pay
tribute.
According
to
the
Bible,
this
tribute
was
paid
in
wool
(2
K
3«).
Scanty
as
our
information
is,
it
furnishes
evidence
that
both
in
military
and
in
civil
aflairs
Omri
must
be
counted
as
the
ablest
ruler
of
the
Northern
Kingdom.
Of
the
nature
of
the
relations
between
Israel
and
Judah
during
his
reign
we
have
no
hint.
Probably,
however,
peace
prevailed,
since
we
find
the
next
two
kings
of
these
kingdoms
in
alUance.
17.
From
Ahab
to
Jeroboam
11.
(875-781).
—
The
monarchs
of
this
period
were
as
follows:
—
Israel.
Jddah.
Ahab
.
.
875-853.
Jehoshaphat
.
876-851.
Ahaziah
.
853-851.
Jehoram
.
.
851-843.
Joram
.
.
851-842.
Ahaziah
.
.
843-842.
Jehu
.
.
842-814.
Athaliah
.
.
842-836.
Jehoahaz
.
814-797.
Joash
.
.
.
836-796.
Jehoash
.
797-781.
Amaziah
.
.
796-782.
Azanah
(Uzziah)
782-
.
With
the
reign
of
Ahab
we
come
upon
a
new
period
in
Israel's
history.
Economic
and
reUgious
forces
which
had
been
slowly
developing
for
centuries
now
matured
for
action
and
made
the
period
one
of
remarkable
activity.
Movements
began
which
were
destined
in
their
far-off
consummation
to
differentiate
the
reUgion
of
Israel
from
the
other
religions
of
the
world.
The
new
queen
Jezebel
was
a
Tyrian
princess.
Accord-ing
to
the
custom
of
the
time,
she
was
permitted
to
raise
shrines
for
her
native
deities,
Melkart
and
Ashtart
of
Tyre.
These
gods
were
kindred
to
Jahweh
and
the
Canaanite
Baals
in
that
all
had
sprung
from
the
same
antique
Semitic
conceptions
of
divinity;
but
they
differed
in
that
Tyre
had
become
through
commerce
one
of
the
wealthiest
cities
of
the
world,
and
its
wealth
had
made
its
cult
more
ornate
than
the
simpler
cults
of
rural
Canaan,
and
much
more
ornate
than
the
Jahweh
cult
of
the
desert.
The
idleness
which
wealth
creates,
too,
had
tended
to
heighten
in
a
disgusting
way
the
sexual
aspects
of
the
Semitic
cult
as
practised
at
Tyre.
ISRAEL
These
aspects
were
in
primitive
times
comparatively
innocent,
and
in
the
Jahweh
cult
were
still
so
(cf
.
Barton,
Semitic
Origins,
300).
Jezebel
seems
to
have
persuaded
her
husband
also
to
disregard
what
the
Israelites,
in
whom
the
spirit
of
Individual
and
tribal
feeling
still
survived,
considered
to
be
their
rights.
There
was
a
royal
residence
in
the
city
of
Jezreel.
Near
this
a
certain
Naboth
owned
a
vineyard,
which
the
royal
pair
desired.
As
he
refused
to
part
with
it
on
any
terms,
the
only
way
for
them
to
obtain
it
was
to
have
him
put
to
death
on
the
false
charge
of
having
cursed
God
and
the
king.
This
Jezebel
did,
and
then
Ahab
seized
his
property.
Hebrew
polity
made
no
provision
for
the
forcible
taking
of
property
by
the
Government
even
if
the
equivalent
in
money
were
paid,
and
this
high-handed
procedure
brought
from
the
wilds
of
Gilead
a
champion
of
Jahweh
and
of
popular
rights
against
the
king
and
the
foreign
gods
—
^in
the
person
of
Elijah
the
Tishbite.
It
was
not
that
Naboth
had
been
put
to
death
on
false
testimony,
but
that
his
property
had
been
taken,
that
was
in
the
eyes
of
Elijah
the
greater
sin.
This
infringement
of
old
Hebrew
privilege
he
con-nected
with
the
worship
of
the
foreign
deity,
and
in
his
long
contest
with
Ahab
and
Jezebel
he
began
that
prophetic
movement
which
centuries
after
for
economic,
religious,
and,
later.forethicalreasonsproduced
Judaism.
On
the
political
side
we
know
that
Ahab
made
an
alliance
with
Jehoshaphat
of
Judah,
which
secured
peace
between
the
two
kingdoms
for
a
considerable
time.
Jehoram,
the
son
of
Jehoshaphat,
married
Athaliah,
the
daughter
of
Ahab
and
Jezebel
(1
K
22«,
2
K
8^').
Ahab
rebuilt
and
fortified
Jericho
(1
K
16M).
The
first
part
of
his
reign
seems
to
have
been
prosperous,
but
about
the
middle
of
it
the
Moabites,
according
to
the
Moabite
Stone,
gained
their
independence.
In
B.C.
854
Ahab
was
one
of
a
confederacy
of
twelve
kings,
who
were
headed
by
Benhadad
11.
of
Damascus,
and
who
fought
Shalmaneser
11.
at
Karkar
on
the
Orontes
(KIB
i.
173
fl.).
Although
Shalmaneser
claims
a
victory,
it
is
clear
that
the
allies
practically
defeated
him.
He
may
have
taken
some
spoil
as
he
claims,
but
he
made
no
further
progress
into
Palestine
at
that
time.
In
the
next
year
we
find
that
Benhadad
had
invaded
the
trans-
Jordanic
territory
and
had
seized
Ramoth-gilead.
Ahab,
in
endeavouring
to
regain
it,
had
the
assi.stance
of
the
Judaean
king,
but
was
wounded
in
battle
and
lost
his
Ufe.
When
Ahab
died,
therefore,
the
Moabites
and
Aramseans
had
divided
his
East-Jordanic
lands
between
them.
Of
the
brief
reign
of
his
son
Ahaziah
we
know
nothing.
Meantime,
in
Judah,
Jehoshaphat
had
had
a
prosperous
reign,
although
the
BibUcal
writers
tell
us
little
of
it.
He
had
made
Edom
tributary
to
him
(1
K
22^'),
and
had
re-established
a
Hebrew
fleet
upon
the
Bed
Sea
(22").
Jehoram
(or
Joram),
who
succeeded
to
the
throne
of
Israel
In
Jehoshaphat's
last
year,
leaving
the
Aramjeans
in
possession
of
Ramoth-gilead
for
a
time,
endeavoured,
with
the
aid
of
Jehoshaphat
and
his
tributary
king
of
Edom,
to
re-subjugate
Moab
(2
K
3).
They
made
the
attack
from
the
south,
marching
to
it
around
the
Dead
Sea.
The
armies
were
accompanied
by
the
prophet
Elisha,
who
had
succeeded
to
the
work
of
Elijah,
although
he
was
not
a
man
of
Elijah's
sturdy
mould.
After
a
march
on
which
they
nearly
died
of
thirst,
they
overran
Moab,
besieged
and
nearly
captured
its
capital.
In
his
distress
the
king
of
Moab
sacrificed
his
eldest
son
to
Chemosh,
the
Moabite
god.
The
sacrifice
was
performed^n
the
city
wall
in
sight
of
both
armies,
and
produced
such
opposite
effects
on
the
super-stitious
minds
of
the
besieged
and
the
besiegers
that
the
siege
was
raised
and
the
conquest
of
Moab
abandoned.
The
chief
event
of
the
reign
of
Jehoram
of
Judah,
Jehoshaphat's
successor,
was
the
loss
of
Edom,
which
regained
its
independence
(2
K
S'"").
His
son
Ahaziah,
the
son
of
Athaliah,
and
a
nephew
of
Jehoram,
the
reigning
king
of
Israel,
went
to
aid
his
uncle
in
the
siege
