of
Ramoth-gilead,
which
was
still
in
possession
of
the
king
of
Damascus.
Joram
was
wounded
in
battle,
and
the
two
monarchs
returned
to
the
royal
residence
at
Jezreel
while
the
wound
was
healing.
Meantime
the
prophetic
circles,
in
which
the
traditions
of
the
simple
worship
of
Jahweh
were
cherished,
determined
to
over-throw
the
hated
house
of
Ahab.
Ellsha
encouraged
Jehu,
a
military
officer
employed
in
the
siege
of
Ramoth-gilead,
to
return
to
Jezreel
and
slay
the
king.
This
he
did,
kiUing
not
only
the
king
of
Israel,
but
also
the
king
of
Judah,
and
exterminating
Jezebel
and
all
her
off-spring.
This
done,
Jehu
started
for
Samaria.
On
the
way
he
was
joined
by
Jonadab,
son
of
Rechab,
who
had
founded
a
kind
of
order
of
zealots
for
the
preserva-tion
of
the
simpler
forms
of
Jahweh
worship.
Accom-panied
by
Jonadab,
he
went
to
Samaria,
called
a
solemn
feast
in
honour
of
Baal,
and,wheu
the
worshippers
were
assembled,
massacred
them
all.
Thus
barbarous
and
unethical
were
the
Jahweh
reformers
of
this
period
(of.
2
K
9.
10).
In
the
very
year
that
Jehu
thus
gained
the
throne,
Shalmaneser
ii.
again
marched
into
the
West.
This
time
apparently
no
powerful
alliance
was
formed
against
him.
Damascus
and
Israel
were
at
war;
resistance
to
the
Assyrian
seemed
hopeless,
and
Jehu
hastened
to
render
submission
and
pay
a
tribute.
In
consequence
of
this
Jehu
is
pictured
on
the
black
obelisk
of
Shalmaneser
in
the
British
Museum
in
the
undignified
attitude
of
kissing
the
Assyrian
monarch's
foot.
Beyond
this
not
too
glorious
revolution
and
this
inglorious
submission,
the
reign
of
Jehu,
though
long,
accomplished
nothing.
In
Judah,
when
Ahaziah
was
put
to
death,
Athaliah,
the
daughter
of
Jezebel,
saw
that
her
opportunity
waa
slipping
away.
A
queen-mother
counted
for
something;
she
had
held
that
position
but
for
a
year,
and
now
it
was
gone.
Athaliah
inherited
the
spirit
and
the
ruthless-ness
of
Jezebel.
Accordingly
she
seized
the
reins
of
government
and
put
to
death,
as
she
thought,
all
the
royal
seed
that
could
In
any
way
dispute
her
sway.
Thus
it
happened
that
a
daughter
of
Jezebel
sat
on
the
throne
of
David.
Here
no
doubt
she
exercised
her
preferences
for
the
richer
and
more
repulsive
cult
of
Melkart,
but
in
Judah
there
had
developed
as
yet
no
strong
opposition
to
such
innovations.
In
this
early
period
the
religious
interest
is
in
the
Northern
Kingdom.
What
there
was
no
prophet
to
do,
priests,
however,
accomplished.
One
little
prince,
Joash,
had
been
rescued
when
the
slaughter
of
the
princes
occurred,
and
after
he
had
been
concealed
six
years,
under
the
guidance
of
Jehoiada,
the
priest,
he
was
proclaimed
king,
and
Athaliah
was
assassinated
(2
K
11).
Joash
enjoyed
a
long
reign
of
forty
years,
during
the
early
part
of
which
he
was
under
the
guidance
of
the
priests.
During
his
reign
money
for
the
repair
of
the
Temple
was
raised
in
a
very
natural
way,
but
in
a
way
not
sanctioned
by
the
later
Levitical
Code
(cf.
2
K
I?*-").
Meantime,
in
Israel,
Jehu
had
passed
away,
and
his
son
Jehoahaz
had
succeeded
him.
At
the
beginning
of
his
reign
Jehoahaz,
like
his
predecessors,
was
unsuccess-ful
in
his
efforts
against
Damascus,
but
Hazael,
who
now
occupied
the
Aramsan
throne,
was
a
less
able
man
than
his
predecessors,
and
Jehoahaz
ultimately
defeated
him
(2
K
13'-').
This
was
the
beginning
of
an
era
of
prosperity
for
Israel
which
was
continued
over
into
the
next
period.
Hazael,
as
he
was
losing
strength
in
the
East,
sought
to
increase
his
prestige
in
the
West.
After
a
successful
campaign
in
the
Maritime
Plain,
he
moved
against
Jerusalem.
Joash
was
no
warrior,
and
hastened
to
buy
off
the
Aramasan
with
a
heavy
tribute
(2
K
12'™).
Whether
it
was
this
that
disaffected
the
subjects
of
Joash
we
do
not
know,
but
he
was
assassinated
by
a
conspiracy
(2
K
122"),
which
placed
his
son
Amaziah
on
the
throne.
Meantime
Jehoahaz
of
Israel
had
been
succeeded
by
his
son
Jehoash,
who
followed
up
his
father's
victory
over
the
Araraasans,
defeating
them
three
separate
times,
and
regaining
all
Israel's
East-Jordanic
territory
(2
K
13*6).
Amaziah,
the
Judsean
king,
when
once
established
in
power,
executed
the
assassins
of
his
father,
and
then
set
out
to
build
up
his
kingdom.
Edom
seemed
the
natural
direction
in
which
Judah
could
expand;
he
accordingly
attacked,
defeated,
and
occupied
a
part
at
least
of
that
country.
He
then
sent
a
challenge
to
Jehoash
of
Israel,
which
that
king
at
first
treated
with
contempt.
The
challenge,
however,
produced
war,
Israel
seems
to
have
been
the
invader
after
all,
for
the
battle
was
fought
at
Beth-shemesh.
Judah
was
defeated
so
completely
that
Jehoash
went
up
and
took
Jerusalem
without
serious
opposition,
and
broke
down
four
hundred
cubits
of
its
wall,
from
the
corner
gate
to
the
gate
of
Ephraim.
Later,
Amaziah,
learning
that
a
conspiracy
had
formed
against
him,
fled
to
Lachish.
which
seems
to
have
belonged
to
Judah.
The
conspirators
pursued
him
thither,
slew
him,
and
made
his
young
son
Azariah,
or
Uzziah,
king.
18.
From
Jeroboam
n.
to
the
fall
of
Samr
ria{781
722).
—
The
chronology
of
this
period
is
as
fol'
iws:
—
Israel,
Jo
.
h.
Jeroboam
ii.
781-740.
Aaariah
Zechariah
.
6
months.
(Uzziah)
.
782-737.
Shallum
.
740-737.
Jotham
.
737-735.
Menahem
.
737-735.
Ahaz
.
.
735-725.
Fekahiah
.
2
months.
HezeMah
.
725-696.
Pekah
.
.
735-733.
Hoshea
.
733-722.
Towards
the
end
of
the
period
treated
in
the
preceding
paragraph,
Israel's
enemies
on
every
side
had
grown
weaker.
An
Assyrian
king,
Adadnirari
in.,
had
made
an
expedition
into
the
West
in
797,
on
which
he
claims
to
have
received
tribute
not
only
from
Tyre
and
Sidon,
but
also
from
the
'land
of
Omri'
as
the
Assyrians
still
called
the
kingdom
of
Israel,
but
after
this
for
more
than
half
a
century
Assyria
was
too
weak
to
distmb
the
Hebrews.
The
Arameeans
under
Hazael
had
also
lost
their
power
to
disturb
the
IsraeUtes.
Egypt
under
the
22nd
dynasty
became
unable,
after
the
one
expedition
of
Shishak,
to
interfere
in
Asiatic
affairs.
Accordingly
the
kingdoms
of
Israel
and
Judah
under
the
two
able
kings,
Jeroboam
and
Uzziah,
entered
upon
an
era
of
un-precedented
prosperity.
Between
them
these
monarchs
restored
the
territory
over
which
they
ruled,
almost
to
the
limits
of
the
Davidic
boundaries.
Jeroboam
in
his
long
reign
extended
the
boundaries
of
Israel
north-ward
to
Hamath
and
Damascus,
perhaps
including
in
his
empire
Damascus
itself
(2
K
14^8),
while
Uzziah,
if
the
Chronicler
is
to
be
followed
(2
Ch
26),
extended
his
boundaries
southward
to
the
Red
Sea,
and
reduced
the
PhiUstine
cities
once
more
to
the
position
of
tribu-taries.
With
outposts
in
all
these
directions,
and
the
Red
Sea
open
to
commerce,
a
vigorous
and
profitable
trade
sprang
up
in
this
long
era
of
peace.
Freed
from
the
necessity
of
continual
warfare,
the
spirit
of
the
nation
gave
itself
with
tremendous
enthusiasm
to
the
acquisition
of
material
advantages.
Neither
earth-quake
nor
tempest
could
dampen
their
ardour
by
mis-fortune.
Wealth
increased
greatly,
and
palaces
which
to
the
simple
Israelites
seemed
vast
were
reared
on
every
hand.
Every
document
of
the
time
speaks
of
the
erection
of
buildings
or
palaces.
Wealth
and
leisure
created
a
literary
epoch,
as
a
result
of
which,
about
750,
the
E
document
was
composed.
Wealth,
however,
was
not
evenly
distributed.
The
palaces
were
for
a
comparatively
small
minority.
The
poor,
while
they
saw
prosperity
increasing
around
them,
were
daily
becoming
poorer.
The
economic
conditions
of
the
reign
of
Ahab,
which
had
called
forth
the
denuncia-tions
of
EUjah,
not
only
existed
now
in
an
exaggerated
form,
but
were
daily
becoming
worse.
A
moneyed
class,
distinct
from
the
old
shepherd
and
agricultural
class,
had
been
evolved.
CapitaUsts
then,
as
now,
desired
interest
for
their
money.
Lending
it
to
the
poor
husbandman,
they
naturally
felt
justified
in
