Biblical Geography and History Part 9

=Site of Solomon's Temple.= The culminating act of Solomon's reign was the building of his palace and temple. His public buildings were reared on the northern continuation of the hill of Ophel, as it rises gradually above the site of the ancient Jebusite city.^{(99)} The jagged limestone rock, rising still higher and farther to the north was without much doubt the ancient thres.h.i.+ng-floor of Arunah, the Jebusite, on which was reared the famous temple of Solomon. The irregular ma.s.s of native rock, with its peculiar cuttings,^{(100)} which now stands in the centre of the Mosque of Omar, probably represents the great altar for burnt offerings, which stood east and therefore immediately in front of the Hebrew temple. This shrine of Solomon took the place of the older royal high place at Gibeon, where still a rock-cut altar may be seen.^{(93)}

=Significance of the Reigns of David and Solomon.= The reigns of David and Solomon gave Palestine what it had never had before and what it rarely had again in its troubled history--a period of comparative peace and prosperity, in which the rich resources of the land could be fully developed. The progress of the Hebrews during this glorious half-century was most marvellous. From a struggling, oppressed, disintegrated group of nomads they suddenly developed into a strong, opulent, and united kingdom, becoming masters not only of their own territory, but of that of their hereditary foes. The earlier Canaanite population of Palestine was also completely absorbed and its agricultural civilization a.s.similated by the conquerors.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLAN OF SOLOMON'S PALACE

(ACCORDING TO STADE)]

=Influence of the United Kingdom Upon Israel's Faith.= The great and supremely vital contest that was waged during this period of prosperity was that between the wors.h.i.+p of Jehovah, which the Hebrews brought with them from the desert, and the different Canaanite cults which they found strongly intrenched in the land. If the Hebrews had been defeated beside the Kishon, or if David had not overcome the Philistines in the Valley of Rephaim, it is doubtful whether or not the religion of Jehovah would have emerged victorious in this great contest. The topography of the land of Palestine strongly favored the development of many different sanctuaries, each devoted to the wors.h.i.+p of some local G.o.d. It was only a strong race, under a powerful central government, that could overcome the influence of physical environment and hold to its faith in one G.o.d. The establishment of the united Hebrew kingdom early in their history was therefore a mighty factor in the development of Israel's faith in one supreme Divine King.

=Solomon's Fatal Mistakes.= Solomon's selfish ambition to imitate the splendor of the oriental courts about him blinded him completely to the best interests of his family and nation. The one important force that held together his people after the danger of foreign invasion had been averted was their loyalty to their Divine King. In tolerating and patronizing the G.o.ds of his allies under the very shadow of Jehovah's temple, though it was demanded by Semitic usage, he committed a fatal error, for he thereby weakened the unity of the Hebrew nation as well as his own hold on the people's loyalty. He also failed to appreciate the spirit and traditions which his subjects had inherited from their free life in the desert and from the days of tribal independence when they had been struggling for their homes in Palestine. The Hebrews, still in close contact with the life of the desert, were suspicious of all centralized authority. They were restive under a rule which imperiously commanded them to toil under royal task-masters and to bring to the king the best fruits of the soil. From their nomadic ancestors they had inherited a thoroughly democratic ideal of the kings.h.i.+p, in which the first duty of the king was to act as the leader of his subjects rather than to treat them as his slaves.

Solomon's policy, therefore, threatened to take away the two most treasured possessions of the Hebrews--their democratic ideals and their loyalty to one G.o.d, ruling supreme over his people.

=Forces That Made for Disunion.= The men prominent in the history of the united kingdom had come from the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Many of the northern tribes had for the first time been brought into real touch with the rest of their race in the days of David and Solomon. The large population and by far the greater resources were found in the north. Solomon devoted most of his building energy to developing the south; but it was inevitable that before long the superior strength of the north would a.s.sert itself.

While the secluded and barren hills of Benjamin and Judah restricted their inhabitants to a relatively slow development, the broad valleys and the fruitful fields of Northern Israel, cut by great highways of commerce, offered to its people every opportunity to acquire wealth and culture. During the period of stress and struggle David was able with rare tact and organizing ability to bind together these diverse elements in the kingdom and to overcome the fundamental differences of physical environment; but even during his reign the wide breach between the north and the south was revealed. It is doubtful whether or not, in the new stage of Israel's development, even David could have overcome these wide differences. Unfortunately, Solomon's foolish policy only tended to emphasize them, and his son, Rehoboam, by his tyrannical reply to the reasonable demands of the northern tribes, made harmonious union forever impossible.

=Situation of Shechem.= The scene of the final breach between the north and south was the old Canaanite city of Shechem,^{(103)} in the heart of the territory of Ephraim, the most powerful northern tribe.

The town was one of the most beautifully situated cities in Palestine and at the same time the least easily defended. It lay in a valley between one-half to a mile in width, between the two highest mountains in Samaria--Ebal Ebal and Gerizim. The mountain slopes on either side were clothed with vineyards and olive groves. From Gerizim on the south twenty-two springs burst from the rock, irrigating the gardens of the ancient town, which, like the present city of Nablus, clung close to the southern mountain. Because of its peculiar position, the city was long and narrow, extending from east to west. The open valley at each end offered no natural defence and the overhanging heights rendered it especially open to hostile attack. Its importance was due to the rich territory which encircled it and to the important highways which connected it with Jerusalem and Hebron in the south, with central Israel, Damascus, and Phnicia in the north, with the coast plains on the west, and with the Jordan valley on the east. At Shechem all these great roads focused, making the city throughout all its history an influential commercial metropolis.

=Significance of the Division.= The result of the fateful conference at Shechem was a division of the territory of Israel along the natural line marked out during the period of settlement and during the early Philistine wars. The boundary line followed the Wady Kelt up from the Jordan to the vicinity of Michmash and thence turned a little south of the Benjamite Ramah, running through Gibeon and westward to Gezer. To Northern Israel fell fully two-thirds of Palestine and at least three-fourths of its arable land. The division left Judah a complete geographical and political unit, and, thus dissevered from the more heterogeneous elements of the nation, free to develop its own life and faith. The division and the civil wars which followed inevitably weakened the strength of both kingdoms and prepared the way for that fate which overtook each in turn. In losing their strength and unity, they preserved, however, their two most distinctive and precious possessions--their democratic traditions and their undivided loyalty to Jehovah.

XVIII

THE NORTHERN KINGDOM

=The Varied Elements in the North.= The northern kingdom was rich in resources but lacked unity. Within its limited territory were found almost every kind of climate, flora, and fauna. Its population was as varied as its physical contour. In the east-Jordan land the shepherd and the Bedouin still held sway. Its valleys in the west-Jordan were the home of the agriculturist. The cities on its western borders and beside the great highways were already beginning to engage in commerce. Around the Sea of Galilee were thriving fis.h.i.+ng villages.

Every type of civilization, therefore, the nomadic, the agricultural, and the commercial, was to be found within its bounds. In view of its mixed population, its varied interests, and its exposed situation, the only force that could hold together Northern Israel was a strongly centralized military regime. When a dynasty became weak, a stronger man mounted the throne. Hence Northern Israel's history is a series of b.l.o.o.d.y rebellions in which a.s.sa.s.sins, rising from the ranks of the army, seized the throne and founded short-lived dynasties.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ISRAEL AND JUDAH AFTER THE DIVISION OF THE HEBREW EMPIRE.]

=Capitals of Northern Israel.= Jeroboam, who was called to the throne of Northern Israel after the division, came from the ranks of the common people. His home was in the small, as yet unidentified town of Zeredah in Mount Ephraim. At first he established his capital at Shechem, but this city was incapable of defence and so the centre of authority was transferred across the Jordan to Penuel near Succoth.

The occasion of this transfer was probably the invasion of Palestine by s.h.i.+shak, king of Egypt, who overran and plundered the west-Jordan territory. Later the capital was transferred again to the city of Tirzah, somewhere west of the Jordan. The identification of this city is uncertain. It may have been at the modern town of Telluza, situated on a hill one thousand nine hundred and forty feet above the level of the sea, immediately north of Mount Ebal. The town has many ancient cisterns but no spring. This identification would correspond to the statement of an early traveller (Borocardus) that Tirzah was on a height three leagues east of Samaria. The other more probable site is at Teiasir, about twelve miles northeast from Shechem, on the main highway that leads from this ancient capital through the Ophrah of Gideon to Bethshean and the upper Jordan valley (_cf._ p. 80). Teiasir is a central and commanding site, with extensive ruins to the north which indicate that it was once an important city. In II Kings 15:14 it is stated that "Menahem went up from Tirzah to Samaria," which applies excellently to Teiasir down near the Jordan but not to Telluza, which is one thousand feet higher and five hundred feet above Samaria. There is little doubt, therefore, that Teiasir represents the ancient northern capital.

=The Aramean Kingdom.= Northern Israel suffered from its exposed position. At first there was war between Judah and its northern rival, which resulted disastrously for the southern kingdom. To aid them in the conflict, the southern Israelites made the fatal mistake of calling in the Arameans to attack their foes on the north. By this time the Arameans had taken possession of northern Syria and established themselves at the ancient city of Damascus, which lay on a fertile oasis out in the desert, on the border line between Syria and northern Arabia.^{(42)} By virtue of its central position it commanded the land trade of Egypt, Palestine, and Phnicia on the west, and of Arabia, Mesopotamia, and Babylon on the east. It was "the harbor of the desert." The Aramean kingdom, with its capital at this favorable point, rapidly developed great wealth and military resources, and soon became a menace to the independence of both Hebrew kingdoms, for the natural line of expansion of this Aramean kingdom was toward the south. The exposed position of Damascus alone saved the Hebrews from complete subjugation.

=The Philistine Stronghold of Gibbethon.= From the southwest the Philistines, availing themselves of the weakness of the two Hebrew kingdoms, fortified Gibbethon. This border fortress was the scene of repeated sieges. It is probably to be identified with Kibbiah, which lies in the foot-hills, seven miles northeast of Lydda. Kibbiah is eight hundred and forty feet above the ocean level and in the heart of the debatable territory between hill and plain. The possession of Gibbethon by the Philistines was a constant menace to the cities of southern Ephraim, but its strength seems to have baffled the Israelite armies for several decades.

=Omri's Strong Rule.= It was while besieging this Philistine stronghold that Omri, after the death of the adventurer, Zimri, was elected king by his soldiers. He proved to be in many ways the strongest king who ever sat on the throne of Northern Israel. The transference of his capital from Tirzah to the strong central city of Samaria^{(59)} demonstrated his military skill and organizing ability.

He also reconquered the territory of the Moabites as far as the Arnon, and, as is recorded on the Moabite stone, established strong garrisons throughout this territory.^{(46)} He was not able, however, to repel the Aramean armies that at this time came marching down through the open highways from the north.

=Ahab's Aramean Wars.= Omri's son, Ahab, proved an even more able general than his father. In a series of engagements, in which he fought against great odds and against armies equipped far better than his own, he repelled the Arameans, who overran his territory. In the first engagement, which was fought near Samaria, the Hebrews, profiting by the blind overconfidence of the enemy, won through a sudden attack. The decisive battle was fought a year later near Aphek.

This city is not the Aphek on the southeastern side of the Plain of Sharon, but is probably to be identified with the modern town of Fik, beside the important highway which runs from the southern end of the Sea of Galilee northeastward toward Damascus. Ahab's courage was shown in thus going out to meet his foe on the northeastern border of his territory. The town lay on the top of the plateau at the end of a valley that looked down upon the Sea of Galilee on the west. The battle was probably fought on the level plain of the Jaulan, which ran east of the town, and resulted in the complete defeat of the Aramean army and the capture of its king.

=Strength and Fatal Weakness of Ahab's Policy.= Ahab was contented to make a favorable treaty with his fallen foe. The captured Israelite cities were restored and a trading quarter was set aside in Damascus for the Hebrew merchants. Ahab evidently sought in every way to develop the commercial resources of his kingdom. His marriage with Jezebel, the daughter of the Tyrian king, was intended to cement more closely the relations with this great commercial people on the west.

Viewed from the point of view of world politics, Ahab's policy in maintaining the natural boundaries and in developing the commercial resources of his nation was sound. By his contemporaries he was doubtless regarded as a most successful king. His fatal mistake, however, was that of Solomon: in his pursuit of material splendor he disregarded the inherited beliefs and rights of his subjects. The official recognition of the Canaanite wors.h.i.+p of his Phnician queen was even more of a menace to the pure wors.h.i.+p of Jehovah in Northern Israel in the days of Ahab than in Jerusalem in the days of Solomon.

Northern Israel was pre-eminently Baal's land. Here the Canaanites had been most strongly intrenched and their religious traditions still pervaded the land. Communication with the Canaanites on the Mediterranean coast was exceedingly close and there was much in these ancient Baal cults to attract the prosperous, pleasure-loving, cosmopolitan people of Northern Israel. Ahab's policy did not contemplate a subst.i.tution of the wors.h.i.+p of the Tyrian G.o.d, Baal Melkart, for that of Jehovah, but it did mean obscuring the fundamental characteristics and demands of Israel's G.o.d.

=Elijah's Home.= It was natural that the prophet who was able to a.n.a.lyze the situation and to point out its dangers, should come from the borderland of the desert where Moses had first impressed upon his people the unique character of Jehovah. Tishbe, the town from which Elijah came, will probably never be identified with absolute certainty, but it was somewhere in the land of Gilead. Modern tradition fixes it at Mar Elyas, a village a little north of the modern town of Ajlun in northern Gilead. Amidst this land of deep, rus.h.i.+ng river-beds and steep, tree-clad hills, which gradually merge into the desert, was reared this stern champion of Jehovah and foe of the degenerate cults of agricultural Canaan. In one of these wadies, which cut down through the Gileadite hills toward the Jordan, Elijah found a refuge when the drought parched the fields west of the Jordan.

His other home was Mount Carmel, whose fertile top and n.o.ble vistas resembled his native land across the Jordan.

=The Scene on Mount Carmel.= Excepting when he found refuge in the Phnician city of Zarephath, which lay on a promontory about eight miles south of Sidon, and again at h.o.r.eb far in the south, Elijah performed his life work almost entirely in the narrow strip of land which lay between Gilead and Carmel. It was somewhere on the eastern end of Mount Carmel,^{(102)} where it jutted out far into the Plain of Esdraelon, that he summoned king and people to the great conference which revealed to them the vital issue between the religion of Jehovah and that of Baal. Modern tradition identifies it with a site called El-Mahrakah, Place of the Burning. A spring a little below favors the conclusion that this was an ancient sanctuary. This retired spot, far away from the distractions of the city life below, was eminently fitted for the delivery of the prophet's brief but searching message.

It looked along the western side of the plain to the old stronghold of Megiddo, the centre of the ancient Canaanite kingdoms. Due east lay the battle-field beside the Kishon where Jehovah fought for his people and demonstrated in a language that a child nation could understand, his superiority to the local baals. To the south were the fertile, undulating hills and valleys of Samaria, to the north those of lower and upper Galilee, while eastward across the plain were the hills where lay the prophet's home, and far away in the northeast rose the snowy height of Mount Hermon. It was a scene that spoke clearly and impressively of Jehovah's might and of his tender love and care for his people. When at last, after the great convocation was over, the lightning flashed and the thunder rolled across the plain, none could doubt that Jehovah was still in the midst of his people demanding their undivided loyalty.

=Ancient Jezreel.= Jezreel, Ahab's northern capital, is ordinarily identified with the present town of Zerin,^{(11)} although the absence of ancient ruins at this point renders the identification exceedingly doubtful. The village lies on a broad elevation rising three hundred feet above the plain and is encircled by fertile fields which extend for miles in almost every direction. The statement in I Samuel 29:1 that "the Israelites encamped by the fountain in Jezreel" implies that the ancient site was either further east near the copious spring now known as 'Ain el-Meiyiteh, or else to the southeast under the northwestern end of Mount Gilboa beside 'Ain Jald which is probably the famous Spring of Harod of Judges 7:1. Jezreel was on the central highway from Northern to Southern Israel and guarded the entrance to the Valley of Jezreel. Under royal patronage this fertile land would quickly be transformed into a paradise of gardens and vineyards.

Ancient Jezreel, however, was a paradise in which a man listened to the tempting voice of his wife to his undoing. In reaching out and taking with his ruthless hand the vineyard of Naboth, Ahab condemned his family to exile and death. The voice of the dauntless prophet of Gilead p.r.o.nounced his doom. Near this same vineyard the dogs licked the blood of Ahab, as his body was borne back across the Plain of Jezreel from the scene of his last battle with the Arameans.

=Situation of Ramoth-Gilead.= Like many of the east-Jordan sites, the identification of the famous city of Ramoth-Gilead, which was the scene of so many battles between the Hebrews and their northern foes, is uncertain. By some it has been identified with Reimun, a few miles west of Jerash, on one of the northern branches of the Jabbok, but this is on no important highway and has neither water nor the ruins of an ancient city. Eusebius apparently identifies Ramoth in Gilead with Es-Salt, fifteen miles west of Rabbath-Ammon, but this is too far south to satisfy fully the biblical references and has no large plain near by where chariots could manuvre. Possibly the modern Jerash, which lies on a northern confluent of the Jabbok, was the site of the famous stronghold.^{(44)} The name Ramoth implies that it was on a broad height and its prominence as a frontier town in the Aramean wars indicates that it was in northern Gilead. It may have been situated on the site of the modern Remtheh in northeastern Gilead. The modern town is to-day occupied by a Turkish garrison and stands near the point where the main road from Bethshean and the upper Jordan valley joined the great pilgrim highway on the edge of the desert. This identification would be in accord with the statement in I Kings 4:13, that Solomon's prefect, who resided in Ramoth-Gilead, collected taxes not only from the Mana.s.site towns of Jair in Gilead, but also in the region of Argob, which is in Bashan. The latter region probably lay to the north and east of the upper waters of the Yarmuk. The implication in Josephus's Antiquities VIII, 15:4, that Ramoth in Gilead was a three-days' march from the city of Samaria, also favors the conclusion that it was the extreme outpost of the east-Jordan land. The other possible and, on the whole, most probable site is that suggested by Princ.i.p.al Smith, of Aberdeen University. He identifies it with the present city of Gadara. This town lies one thousand one hundred and ninety-four feet above the sea-level, on a bold plateau which runs out from the hills of Gilead. This height, two miles wide and at least four miles in length from east to west, is bounded on the north by the deep valley of the Yarmuk, on the west by the Jordan, four and one-half miles away and over one thousand eight hundred feet below, and on the south by the Wady el-Arab, which cuts a deep gorge into the Gileadite hills. It is due south of Aphek, where was fought the great battle between the Hebrews and the Arameans under Ahab, and is on one of the chief highways which leads up from the Jordan through Arbela to join the pilgrim highway, to Damascus and Arabia. It is, therefore, the chief gateway and at the same time the natural fortress which guards northern Gilead. On the wide level plateaus about there is ample room for the manuvring of chariots and an important road leads directly from it across the Jordan to Ahab's northern capital.

=Elisha's Home.= According to Jerome, Abel Meholah, the home of Elisha, was about nine miles south of Bethshean. The name, Meadow of the Dance, or of the Circle, implies that it was a low-lying valley.

All these indications point to 'Ain Hel-weh, a ruined mound beside a gus.h.i.+ng spring on the western side of the Jordan valley. It was surrounded by fertile fields. Throughout all his work Elisha, in contrast to Elijah, revealed his familiarity and close touch with the agricultural civilization of Northern Israel. The scenes of a greater part of his activity were the Jordan valley and the plains of Jezreel and Esdraelon, which lead into it from the west.

=Jehu's Revolution.= The culminating act of Elisha's work was to call Jehu to the kings.h.i.+p. The call came to him as he was directing the siege of Ramoth-Gilead. It is easy in imagination to follow his furious ride down the heights from Ramoth-Gilead across the Jordan and along its western side, past Bethshean and up the Valley of Jezreel to the northern capital of Ahab. On the open plain near the city of Jezreel he slew his master and thence rode into the city to complete the slaughter of the house of Ahab. By the sword he not only mounted the throne, but rooted out the Baalism against which Elijah and Elisha had both contended.

=Rule of the House of Jehu.= The history of Northern Israel for the next two generations is a record of humiliation and disaster. Jehu secured his position on the throne by paying a heavy tribute to the king of a.s.syria, whose armies were hovering on his northern borders.

The active and ruthless Aramean king, Hazael, overran Northern Israel, destroying most of its warriors and extracting heavy tribute. In this hour of Israel's weakness the Philistines made forays into the south, carrying off Hebrews as slaves to foreign markets. It was not until Jehoash, the grandson of Jehu, came to the throne of Israel that the tide turned. Damascus, attacked in the rear by a northern Aramean people, was unable to cope with the Israelite armies. The east-Jordan territory was reconquered by Jehoash's son, Jeroboam II, and the Moabites again laid under tribute. For the first time in Israel's history a prophet arose in the land of Galilee. In the small town of Gath-Hepher, situated on a hill a little west of the highway which runs north from Nazareth, lived Jonah, the son of Amittai. He predicted that Jereboam's kingdom would extend, as it did later, from the southern end of the Dead Sea to the gateway between the Lebanons in the north, that marked the southern boundary of the strong northern Aramean kingdom of which the capital was Hamath. Again Northern Israel touched its widest bounds. Pride and self-confidence took possession of the nation. The military n.o.bles who rallied about the king, enriched by the spoils of war, enslaved their fellow-countrymen whose fortunes had been depleted by the disastrous Aramean wars. Outwardly Northern Israel seemed strong and prosperous, but within were social wrongs which were eating the very vitals of the nation.

=The Advance of a.s.syria.= It was at this time that a.s.syria became the dominating factor in Northern Israel's history. This enterprising and ambitious nation was apparently an offshoot of the old Babylonian empire. It occupied the fertile plains east of the upper Tigris. As early as the eighteenth century B.C. it began to break away from the authority of Babylon. About 1100 B.C. Tiglath-pileser I laid the foundations of the a.s.syrian empire by campaigns in Babylonia, Elam, Mesopotamia, and Syria; but it was not until 854 B.C. that a.s.syria touched Israel. Then, according to the annals of the a.s.syrian king, Shalmanezer II defeated Ahab, together with the other princes of Syria, at the battle of Karkar. By 842 he had conquered practically all of Syria and received tribute from Jehu of Israel. During the reigns of the next two a.s.syrian kings the advance of this great world power was stayed. But when Tiglath-pileser IV founded a new dynasty he injected fresh energy into the empire, recovered its lost territory, and advanced to the conquest of Palestine.

=Amos's Home at Tekoa.= It was probably about the time when Tiglath-pileser IV began to inst.i.tute his aggressive policy that Amos delivered his epoch-making sermon at the royal sanctuary in Bethel.^{(77)} His home was at Tekoa, twelve miles south of Jerusalem, and but twenty-two from Bethel. Tekoa was the eastern outpost of Judah. Broad, rich fields lay on the north and west, but to the east it looked down upon the barren rounded hills that descended to the Dead Sea and toward the bold uplands of Moab in the distance. The town was situated on an elevated plateau which commanded a view of nearly all the places mentioned in the prophet's sermons: Kirioth in Moab, the region about Bethel and Gilgal, and the roads that led to Philistia, Egypt, and Edom. The dominant feature in the landscape was the Dead Sea, with its blue waters, its rising mists, and its gray, purple, and yellow cliffs. It was a grim, rugged, awe-inspiring outlook and clearly made a deep impression upon the thought and life of the prophet. Among the dry, rock-covered pasture lands, that run up to the eastern side of the town of Tekoa, the prophet received his training.^{(103)} To-day, as in the past, it is the land of sheep and goats. The wildness of the region and the proximity to the desert demanded strong, stalwart shepherds, inured to hards.h.i.+p, keen to detect the presence of a foe, quick to repulse the attack of wild beast or lurking Arab robbers, and tender in their care of the young and the injured. Among these silent, treeless hills or beside the occasional spring, the traveller to-day meets this type of shepherd, silent and resourceful, armed with his short, heavy, wooden staff.

=Influence of His Environment Upon the Prophet.= Here Amos learned to champion the cause of the oppressed, to scent danger from afar, and faithfully to sound the alarm. His occupation doubtless took him to the annual festivals and market days at Jerusalem and Bethel, where his shepherd training a.s.serted itself. He could not shut his eyes to the cruel oppression of the poor and dependent cla.s.ses by the rich, greedy n.o.bles. From afar he also noted the approach of the a.s.syrian lion. Being a faithful shepherd he could not remain silent. As he meditated on the situation in the quiet of his shepherd life among the hills about Tekoa, the conviction deepened into certainty that Jehovah in these varied ways was speaking to him, calling him to sound the note of alarm that the rulers of Israel might see the peril, right the wrongs, and thus save their nation. The influence of his shepherd's life and point of view is present in all his utterances. His message is a clear blast of desert air, sweeping through the corrupt atmosphere of the city, tainted as it was by that degenerate Canaanite civilization which still polluted the centres of Northern Israel's life.

=Evidence Regarding Hosea's Home.= A few years after Amos appeared at Bethel a prophet arose in Northern Israel itself, who reiterated the message of the shepherd from Tekoa in equally impressive terms. The superscription of Hosea's prophecy is unfortunately silent regarding his home. Local oriental tradition, however, has supplied this lack.

One of the most commanding heights of southern Gilead bears the name of Jebel osha, which is the Arabic for "Mountain of Hosea." Here, according to a tradition at least three hundred years old and perhaps based upon an older Jewish original, the prophet was buried. Here the Bedouin still sacrifice sheep in his honor. Possibly local tradition has preserved a fact unrecorded in the biblical narrative. It is indeed significant that Hosea alone of all the prophets makes frequent mention of the land of Gilead and reveals an intimate knowledge of its history. Thus, for example, he refers in 10:14 to the time when Shalmen, probably the a.s.syrian king Shalmanezer III, laid in ruins Beth-arbel in the day of battle. The city referred to is clearly one of the two east-Jordan towns bearing this name, and in all probability the Arbel east of Pella in the heart of northern Gilead. In 12:11 he declares: "In Gilead is iniquity, yea, they have wrought vanity."

Again in 6:8, probably referring to the unidentified city east of the Jordan mentioned in Judges 10:17, he declares:

Gilead is a city of evil-doers, Tracked with b.l.o.o.d.y footprints, And as bandits lay in wait for a man, So a band of priests murder on the way to Shechem, Verily they commit deliberate crime.

=View From Jebel osha.= The bold heights of Jebel osha commanded a view of most of the places mentioned in Hosea's prophecies. Across the valley lay the territory of the great tribe of Ephraim whose name is constantly used by him as a synonym for Northern Israel. A little to the northwest were the heights of Ebal and Gerizim, which guarded Shechem and the highway which led directly to the city of Samaria.

From the same mountain height could be seen to the northwest the rounded top of Mount Tabor, which is the northernmost point mentioned by Hosea. Directly across the Jordan was the northern Gilgal, and a little to the southwest was the table-land of Bethel. Farther south was the height of Ramah. Hosea's prophecies also contain a surprising number of references to the lower Jordan valley, which lay stretched out immediately below the mountain peak which to-day bears his name.

Just opposite were probably to be found the ancient cities of Admah and Zeboim. The former may be identified with the city of Adam, mentioned in the second chapter of Joshua (_cf._ p. 125), which probably stood near the Damieh ford, just below the point where the Jabbok enters the Jordan. Farther north the Plain of Jezreel comes down to the Jordan, while to the southwest one may see the Valley of Achor, the present Wady Kelt, cutting its way through the western hills toward Ai and Bethel. Hosea also refers to Baal-peor in southern Gilead and to s.h.i.+ttim in the valley below, near the lower fords of the Jordan. Thus there are many indications in the ancient prophecy that Hosea lived among the hills of Gilead, and that, like Amos, he was a man who moved among the heights with a broad outlook ever before him.

The message which these two prophets proclaimed was as different as the vistas which opened before them. Amos used the figures of the shepherd; Hosea those of agricultural life. Amos looked upon the evidence of Jehovah's might and justice; Hosea upon fertile fields and tree-clad hills, which spoke of Jehovah's love and his gracious provision for his people's needs. Thus the messages of these two contemporary prophets supplemented each other, the one proclaiming Jehovah's justice, the other Jehovah's love.

=Conquest of Galilee and Gilead.= The rulers of Northern Israel, however, were as irresponsive to Hosea's pleadings as they were to Amos's stern warnings. The result was that when in 734 B.C.

Tiglath-pileser IV invaded Northern Israel, an a.s.sa.s.sin sat on the throne and the rank and file of the people were crushed by the cruelty and oppression of those who should have defended them. Northern Israel was swept by the armies of the conqueror. Ijon, which was a city on the rich plain in northern Galilee between the Litany and the Nahr el-Hasbany, that still bears the name Merj Ayun (Ijon); Janoah, a city in the heights six miles east of Tyre; Abel-beth-maacah, at the upper end of the Jordan valley; Kadesh, Hazor, east of Lake Huleh and Ijon, were among the important cities captured in northern Galilee. Lower Galilee and Gilead were also overrun, their leading citizens transported to a.s.syria, and their territory annexed to that of the a.s.syrian empire.

=The Exiled Northern Israelites.= Tiglath-pileser IV left to Hoshea, the last king of Northern Israel, simply the territory west of the Jordan and south of the Plain of Esdraelon. After ruling for a decade as the va.s.sal of a.s.syria, this king rebelled. For nearly three years his capital, Samaria, held out against the a.s.syrian armies, but at last, late in 722 B.C., Samaria fell before the conqueror and twenty-seven thousand two hundred and ninety of its citizens were deported to different parts of the a.s.syrian empire. Some were settled in the province of Gozan on the upper waters of the Habor River, which flows southward into the Euphrates. They found a home, therefore, near the centre of Mesopotamia. References in the a.s.syrian inscriptions suggest that Halah was a city in western Mesopotamia. The third colony of exiles were settled in the Median cities to the east of a.s.syria.

=The Fate of Northern Israel.= The great majority of the people of Northern Israel were left behind in their cities and villages. To destroy their racial unity colonists were imported by the a.s.syrians from three cities--Babylon, Kutha, which is probably the a.s.syrian Kutu, a city a little northeast of Babylon, and Sippar, north of Babylon. Other colonists were brought from Hamath, the capital of the conquered northern Aramean kingdom. These colonists were in time absorbed by the native population. In later history this mixed race is known as the Samaritans.^{(104, 105)} For the next century Northern Israel largely lost its political and religious significance and became simply a part of the great a.s.syrian empire. In its brief history it demonstrated the great truth that prosperity, opportunity, and culture do not necessarily develop strong national character. At the same time through its prophets it gave to the world certain truths regarding Jehovah's justice and love which are the corner-stones of the faith of humanity.

XIX

THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM