093. LXV. Jehu’s Revolution And Its Consequences
§ LXV. JEHU’S REVOLUTION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
1. Anointing of Jehu at Elisha’s command (2 Kings 9:1-6;2 Kings 9:10b). Now Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, Gird up your loins, take this flask of oil in your hand and go to Ramoth in Gilead. And when you arrive there look for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, and go in and make him rise up from among his kinsmen and bring him into an inner chamber. Then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, ‘Thus saith Jehovah, “I have anointed thee king over Israel.”’ Then open the door and flee without delay. So the young man (the servant of the prophet) went to Ramoth in Gilead. And just as he arrived, the commanders of the army were sitting together. And he said, I have a word for you, O commander. And Jehu said, To which of us all? And he said, To you, O commander. Then he arose and went into the house. And [the young man] poured the oil on his head and said to him, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, ‘I have anointed thee king over Jehovah’s people Israel.’ Then he opened the door and fled.
2. Proclamation of Jehu as king (2 Kings 9:11-13). When Jehu came out to the servants of his lord, they asked him, Is all well? Why did this insane fellow come to you? And he said to them, You know the man and his talk. And they said, It is false! Tell us now. And he said, Thus and thus he spoke to me, saying, ‘Thus saith Jehovah, “I have anointed thee king over Israel.”’ Then they quickly took each his garment, laid it at his feet and on the bare stairs, and blew the trumpet, crying, Jehu is king!
3. His plan to slay Joram (2 Kings 9:14-16). So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. Now Jehu, together with all Israel, was defending Ramoth in Gilead against Hazael king of Aram, but King Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Arameans had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of Aram. And Jehu said, If it be in your mind, then let none escape from the city to go to tell it in Jezreel. Then Jehu mounted his chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Joram.
4.His proach to Jezreel (2 Kings 9:17-20). Now the watchman was standing on the tower of Jezreel, when he saw the cloud of dust about Jehu, as he came, and said, I see a cloud of dust. And Joram said, Take a horseman and send him to meet them that he may inquire whether all is well. So one went on horseback to meet him and said, Thus saith the king, ‘Is all well?’ And Jehu replied, What have you to do with welfare? Turn about and follow me. So the watchman reported, The messenger came to them, but comes not back. Then he sent out a second horseman who came to them and said, Thus saith the king, ‘Is all well?’ And Jehu answered, What have you to do with welfare? Turn about and follow me. So the watchman reported, He also came to them but comes not back; however, the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he is wont to drive furiously.
5. Joram’s death by the hand of Jehu (2 Kings 9:21-26). Then Joram said, Make ready. And as soon as they had made ready his chariot, Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah set out, each in his chariot, and they went to meet Jehu and found him in the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. And when Joram saw Jehu, he said, Is all well, Jehu? And he answered, How can all be well, as long as the whoredoms of your mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many? Then Joram turned about to flee, and said to Ahaziah, Treachery, Ahaziah! But Jehu, being already armed, shot his bow and struck Joram between his shoulders, so that the arrow went through his heart and he sank down in his chariot. Then Jehu said to Bidkar his captain, Take him up and cast him in the field of Naboth the Jezreelite, for I remember how that, when I and you rode together after Ahab his father, Jehovah pronounced this judgment upon him: ‘Surely I saw yesterday the blood of Naboth and his sons,’ saith Jehovah; ‘and I will requite thee in this plot,’ saith Jehovah. Now therefore take and cast him into this plot, according to the word of Jehovah.
6. Ahaziah’s death (2 Kings 9:27-28). But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled in the direction of Beth-gannim. And Jehu followed after him, with the command, Him also! Smite him in the chariot! And they smote him at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. But he fled to Megiddo and died there. And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David.
7. Jezebel’s fate (2 Kings 9:30-37). Then Jehu came to Jezreel. And as soon as Jezebel heard of it, she painted her eyes, attired her head, and looked out at the window. And as Jehu came in at the gate, she said, Is all well, you Zimri, your master’s murderer? But he looked up to the window and said, Who is on my side? who? And two or three eunuchs looked at him. And he said, Throw her down. And they threw her down so that some of her blood was spattered on the wall and on the horses, and he trod her under foot. Then he went in and ate and drank. Thereupon he gave the command, See now to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king’s daughter. But when they went to bury her, they found no more of her than the skull, the feet, and the hands. When, therefore, they came back and told him, he said, This is the word of Jehovah, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘In the plot of Jezreel shall the dogs eat Jezebel’s flesh, and the body of Jezebel shall be as dung on the face of the field in the plot of Jezreel, so that they cannot say, “This is Jezebel.”’
8. Jehu’s in structions regarding Ahab’s descendants (2 Kings 10:1-6). Now Ahab had seventy descendants in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters and sent to Samaria, to the rulers of the city, to the elders, and those who had charge of the descendants of Ahab, saying, Now as soon as this letter comes to you, since you have with you your master’s sons, and chariots and horses, fortified cities and arms; choose the best and most capable of your master’s sons, and set him on his father’s throne and fight for your master’s house. But they were exceedingly afraid and said, Behold, the two kings could not stand before him, how then shall we stand? And he who was over the household and he who was over the city, together with the elders and the guardians, sent to Jehu, saying, We are your servants and we will do all that you bid us; we will not make any one king; do what you please. Then he wrote a second letter to them, saying, If you are on my side and if you wish to obey me, then take each of you the head of your master’s son [entrusted to you], and meet me at Jezreel to-morrow at this time. Now the king’s sons, seventy in all, were with the great men of the city, who brought them up.
9. Slaughter of Ahab’s descendants and friends (2 Kings 10:7-11). And as soon as the letter came to them, they took the king’s sons and slew them, seventy in all, and put their heads in baskets and sent them to him to Jezreel. And when the messenger came and told him, saying, They have brought the heads of the king’s sons, he said, Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning! And in the morning he went out and stood and said to all the people, You are fair-minded: to be sure I conspired against my master and slew him, but who smote all these? Know now that of the word of Jehovah, which Jehovah spoke against the house of Ahab by his servant Elijah, nothing shall fail of fulfilment. Thereupon Jehu smote all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, together with all his great men and his kinsmen and his priests, until he left him none remaining.
10. Of the Judean princes (2 Kings 10:12-14). Then Jehu set out on the way to Samaria. And as he was at Beth-eked of the shepherds on the way, Jehu met the kinsmen of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, Who are you? And they answered, We are the kinsmen of Ahaziah, and we have come to visit the children of the king and the children of the queen-mother. And he said, Take them alive. And they took them alive and slew them at the pit of Beth-eked, forty-two men, so that not one of them was left.
11. Compact with Jehonadab (2 Kings 10:15-16). And when he had departed from there he found Jehona-dab the son of Rechab coming to meet him. And he saluted him and said to him, Is your heart in sincere sympathy with my heart, as mine is with yours? And Jehonadab answered, It is. Then Jehu said, If it be, give me your hand. And he gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot. And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for Jehovah. So he made him ride in his chariot.
12. Destruction of the Baal worshippers (2 Kings 10:17-27). And when he came to Samaria, he smote all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, until he had destroyed all, according to the word of Jehovah which he spoke to Elijah. Then Jehu gathered all the people together and said to them, Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu will serve him much. Now therefore call all the prophets of Baal, all his worshippers and all his priests; let none remain behind; for I will make a great sacrifice to Baal; whoever shall remain behind shall not live. But Jehu did it with the secret purpose of destroying the worshippers of Baal. Then Jehu said, Proclaim a solemn assembly for Baal. And they proclaimed it. And Jehu sent through all Israel, and all the worshippers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left who did not come. And when they had come into the temple of Baal, so that the temple of Baal was filled from one end to the other, he said to the one who was in charge of the wardrobe, Bring out garments for all the worshippers of Baal. And he brought out garments for them. Then Jehu, with Jehonadab the son of Rechab, went into the temple of Baal, and said to the worshippers of Baal, Search, and look that there may not be here with you any of the servants of Jehovah, but only worshippers of Baal. Thereupon he went in to offer sacrifices and burnt-offerings. Now Jehu had appointed eighty men outside with the command, The man who allows any of the men, whom I entrust into your hands, to escape, his life shall be for the life of him. And as soon as he had finished offering the burnt-offering, Jehu said to the runners and to the captains, Go in, and slay them, let none come forth. And they put them to the sword, and the runners and the captains cast them out, and went into the sanctuary of the temple of Baal. Then they brought out the asherah from the temple of Baal and burned it, and broke down the pillar of Baal and destroyed the temple of Baal and made it a draught-house to this day.
13. Political history (2 Kings 10:32-36). In those days Jehovah began to loathe Israel, and Hazael smote them in all the territory of Israel, from the Jordan toward the east, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer by the valley of the Arnon, including Gilead and Bashan. Now the other acts of Jehu and all that he did, and all his brave deeds, are they not recorded in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? And Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son became king in his place. And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.
14. The disastrous Aramean invasions (2 Kings 13:1-9) In the twenty-third year or Joash the son of Ahaziah king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria; and he reigned seventeen years. And he did that which displeased Jehovah, and the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat with which he led Israel into sin—he did not depart from them. And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel and he delivered them continually into the hand of Hazael king of Aram, and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael. Then Jehoahaz besought Jehovah, and Jehovah hearkened to him; for he saw the oppression of Israel, how that the king of Aram oppressed them. Therefore Jehovah gave Israel a saviour, so that they escaped from the hand of the Arameans, and the Israelites could dwell in their homes as formerly. Nevertheless they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, with which he led Israel into sin, but walked therein. Also the asherah in Samaria remained standing. And he left to Jehoahaz of the people not more than fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Aram destroyed them and made them like the dust in the threshing. Now the other acts of Jehoahaz and all that he did and his brave deeds, are they not recorded in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoash his son became king in his place.
15. Partial deliverance from the Arameans (2 Kings 13:10-23). In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years. And he did that which displeased Jehovah; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat with which he led Israel into sin, but he walked therein. Now Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. But Jehovah was gracious to them and had compassion on them, and turned again to them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them nor as yet cast them from his presence.
16. Recovery of the cities (2 Kings 13:24-25). But when Hazael king of Aram died, Ben-hadad his son became king in his place. Then Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again from Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken in war from Jehoahaz his father. Three times Jehoash smote him and thus recovered the cities of Israel.
17. End of Jehoash’s reign (2 Kings 14:15-16). Now the other acts of Jehoash which he did and his mighty deeds, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not recorded in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? And Jehoash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. And Jeroboam his son became king in his place.
18. Extension of the boundaries of Israel (2 Kings 14:23-27). In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Jehoash king of Israel became king of Israel in Samaria and reigned forty-one years. And he did that which displeased Jehovah: he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat with which he led Israel into sin. He restored the boundaryline of Israel from the entrance to Hamath to the sea of Arabah, according to the word of Jehovah, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet who was of Gath-hepher. For Jehovah saw the very bitter affliction of Israel, that none was shut up nor left at large, and that there was no helper for Israel. But Jehovah had not determined to blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them through Jeroboam the son of Jehoash.
19. Conclusion (2 Kings 14:28-29). Now the other acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his brave deeds, how he carried on war and how he recovered Damascus and Hamath for Israel, are they not recorded in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel. And Zechariah his son became king in his place.
I. The Prophetic Guilds. The policy of Ahab and the aggressive proselyting activity of Jezebel on the one hand, with the courageous preaching of Elijah and the more quiet educational work of Elisha on the other, developed in Israel a strong and growing party whose watchword was absolute and uncompromising loyalty to Jehovah. The great prophets, like Elijah, Elisha and Micaiah, were the natural leaders in this movement; but it is evident from the popular Elisha stories that the so-called “sons of the prophets” were especially active at this period, and that they were in close touch with the prophetic leaders. Their presence and prominence are evidence of the growing popular reaction against the encroachments of Baalism. From the references in the popular traditions it is evident that the sons of the prophets lived together in guilds with their wives and children, all sharing a common table. These prophetic guilds were connected with the ancient sanctuaries, such as Bethel, Gilgal and Samaria. As in the days of Samuel, their religious exercises apparently consisted of frenzied ecstasy induced by song and music. The fact that their frenzy was infectious may in part explain why they joined themselves together in guilds. From the reference in I Kings 2041 it may be inferred that the members of each guild bore a certain distinguishing mark. While there is no direct evidence, there is every reason to believe that the popular stories in the historical books of the Old Testament, and especially those which gather about the names of Elijah and Elisha, grew up and were transmitted within the circle of those prophetic societies. From II Kings 438 and 61 it may also be inferred that the sons of the prophets, as disciples, at times received instruction from leading prophets like Elisha. At this period of their history, however, the sons of the prophets figure as more than mere religious enthusiasts. Their zeal for Jehovah impelled them to adopt active measures to drive out the hated followers of Baal. While they themselves probably never took up the sword, it is clear that they aroused public opinion and actively engaged in the politics of their day. They appealed both to the patriotism and to the religious emotions of the people. Their narrowness, intensity and devotion increased the strength of their appeal. Their influence with the people must have been great, for they shared the popular conceptions of Jehovah and enjoyed that peculiar reverence which the ancient East was always ready to pay to those who gave evidence of being under the influence of a supernatural power.
II. The Jehovah Party in Israel. Doubtless to the same group of devoted followers of Jehovah belonged Jonadab, whose descendants, the Rechabites, according to Jeremiah 35, still retained down to the period of the Babylonian exile their peculiar life and traditions (§ LXXXVII 18–23). Their aim was evidently to preserve in its simple purity the old nomadic religion of Jehovah. They were, therefore, bitterly opposed to that Canaanite civilization which had been adopted by the rank and file of the Northern Israelites. They and the Nazirites, whose vow was in many ways similar, stood as a permanent protest against the corruption, intemperance and luxury of the dominant Canaanite civilization. As the evils of Baalism became more apparent and calamity began to overshadow the house of Ahab, the zealous but narrow champions of Jehovah began to enlist a wider sympathy and following from the mass of the nation. At last when Joram, the king of Israel, had been smitten by an Aramean foe, the moment seemed ripe for action. It was natural that the rebellion should be instigated by Elisha, the disciple of Elijah and the recognized leader of the zealous Jehovah party.
III. The Anointing of Jehu. The revolution itself is recorded fully and vividly in a narrative which is closely related in language, point of view and interest, to the early Elijah stories. Jehu, the commander of the forces of Israel engaged in the siege of the famous city of Ramoth in Gilead, was chosen, because of his position and ruthless energy, to head the revolt. The account implies that there was already an understanding between him and Elisha. As a signal to the people that the right moment for action had arrived and to Jehu that he had the support of the representatives of Jehovah, one of the sons of the prophets was dispatched by Elisha to anoint Jehu. The anointing, which signified a divine call to an unique service, and, in the case of a military leader like Jehu, to nothing less than the kingship of Israel, was performed in secret; but it soon became known to the other officers in the army. So far had the spirit of reaction against the house of Ahab permeated even the military class, that they immediately proclaimed Jehu king.
Leaving the warriors behind, with the command that no one be allowed to follow him, Jehu set out alone in hot haste to establish his title to the kingship by slaying the reigning king. Fortune favored the revolutionist. Joram, with his guest and kinsman, Ahaziah, king of Judah, came out to meet Jehu. The place of the meeting was the field of Naboth with its tragic memories. To the king’s salutation, “Is all well?” Jehu replied that conditions could not be well, while the malign influence of Jezebel dominated the court and kingdom. Then as the king, alarmed by this ominous reply, turned to flee, he fell mortally wounded by the hand of Jehu, and his body was cast into the field of Naboth. Ahaziah, of Judah, whose mother was the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, was also slain at Jehu’s command.
IV. Jehu’s Bloody Reform Measures. Personal ambition and blind religious zeal were so blended in the energetic, ruthless character of Jehu that his revolution was the most bloody recorded in all of Israel’s history. Jezebel was naturally his next victim. Attired in all her finery, the aged queen met him with a bitter taunt. To the last she played consistently the rôle of an imperious queen. No one was found in the court or land of Israel to take up the sword in defence of Jezebel or the house of Ahab. Ignominiously she died, and her fate was regarded as signal evidence of a divine judgment and a fulfilment of the stern prediction of Elijah. From the point of view of her race and religion, Jezebel was doubtless adjudged a supremely able and devoted servant of the Baal of Tyre. From the point of view of Israel, she was the evil genius who brought divine displeasure and calamity upon Ahab, his family and his kingdom.
Ahab’s descendants in Samaria were also put to death at Jehu’s instigation. Even the Judean princes, who were captured in the territory of Northern Israel, did not escape Jehu’s mad zeal to root out all offspring of the hated house of Ahab. By this act the friendly relation, which had been established between the two Hebrew kingdoms in the days of Ahab, was forever severed. According to the tradition, Jehu’s religious fervor was not cooled until all the prophets and worshippers of Baal, together with the pillar an 1 temple, were completely destroyed.
Jehu’s acts were doubtless approved by the extremists of his day. It is true that the evils which he undertook to correct were deep-seated and deadly. Disloyalty to Jehovah was counted in ancient Israel as treason, and treason in all ages has been punished by death. Jehu also lived before the conception of Jehovah as the God not only of justice but of love had been clearly proclaimed to the race. But measured even by the standards of his own age, his deeds as recorded by tradition cannot be wholly justified. Politically, Jehu’s policy of slaying the leaders of his nation was as disastrous as it was indefensible. It left his kingdom weak and open to attack on every side at the moment when all its strength was needed to meet the great dangers which impended. The prophet Hosea, who saw clearly the mistakes of the past, absolutely condemned Jehu’s bloody acts (§ LXIX 2).
V. Jehu’s Tribute to Assyria. Although the biblical narrative contains no reference to the event, it appears from the famous black obelisk of Shalmaneser II, that in 842 B.C., Jehu, together with the Tyrians and Sidonians, paid tribute to the Assyrian king. This tribute consisted of “silver, gold, a golden bowl, golden goblets, a golden ladle, golden pitchers, bars of lead, a sceptre for the hand of the king and spear shafts.” This tribute is a confession of weakness and reveals Jehu’s desire not only to purchase immunity from the attack of the Assyrians, but also to secure their aid in establishing his position on the throne of Israel. It marks a complete reversal of the policy of the house of Ahab, which had so valiantly fought against the Assyrian invader. At this time, and also in 839 B.C., the Arameans suffered most from the Assyrian attack; but the city of Damascus survived the siege, and when the Assyrian armies retired, the kingdom of Damascus, under Hazael, rapidly recovered its strength and supremacy.
VI. The Cruel Oppression by the Arameans. During the half century following 839 B.C., the fortunes of Northern Israel reached their lowest ebb. Hazael of Damascus proved an ambitious and energetic ruler. He was not slow to avenge the disloyalty of Jehu in paying tribute to their common foe Assyria. His armies ravaged the east-Jordan territory of Gilead and Bashan, and even penetrated as far south as the Philistine town of Gath, which was completely destroyed. The barbarity of the conqueror knew no limit. Cities were pillaged, men were pitilessly slain, women were ravished, and Hebrew children were dragged off to cruel slavery. Even before the death of Jehu, all of the east-Jordan territory, including Moab, appears to have been captured by the Arameans. Under Jehoahaz, Jehu’s son and successor, Northern Israel suffered even greater reverses and indignities, which the biblical historian passes over with the general but significant statement that “the king of Aram destroyed the Israelites and made them like the dust in the threshing.” Only fifty horsemen, ten chariots and ten thousand footmen remained to protect the northern kingdom, which at this time had probably become but a dependency of Damascus. It is perhaps from this period that the story in II Kings 624–717 comes, which tells of a siege of Samaria by the Arameans so severe that in their hunger the people within the city were beginning to devour their own children.
VII. The Revival of Northern Israel under Jehoash and Jeroboam. In 803 B.C. Damascus, together with Tyre, Sidon and Israel, paid tribute to Adad-nirari III, the Assyrian king who was then carrying on war against the states of northern Syria. According to the biblical narrative, at the accession of Jehoash, the grandson of Jehu, which occurred about this time, the tide of battle turned and Israel began to regain its independence and lost territory. The reason given by the author of Kings for this change was because “Jehovah raised up a saviour for Israel.” Hitherto this saviour has been identified with Assyria; but from the contemporary inscriptions it is clear that for the next thirty years, to the end of the reign of Shalmaneser III, the Assyrians were fully occupied at home defending their empire from the attack of the northern kingdom of Urartu. In the light of an Aramaic inscription recently discovered in Northern Assyria by M. Pognon, the French consul in Mesopotamia, it would now appear that the saviour which delivered the Northern Israelites from the cruel rule of Damascus was another Aramean kingdom which rose to power at the beginning of the eighth century before Christ, and conquered Damascus, as well as northern Syria. The inscription consists of four stone fragments, the lower part of a monolith once surmounted by a statue, probably representing the conquering king who reared the monument. Of the fifty or sixty lines, but fifteen are well preserved; but these and the remaining fragments make it possible to determine the general purport of the inscription. The first part, which is the best preserved, reads: “The stele which Zakar, king of Hamath and Laash, erected to El-Ur and inscribed it, ZAKAR KING OF HAMATH AND LAASH.
“I was a man of humble birth and the Lord of Heaven helped me and supported me, and the Lord of Heaven made me king over Hazrak. And Ben-hadad son of Hazael king of Aram united against me seventeen kings. Ben-hadad and his army, Ben-raggash and his army, and the king of Cilicia and his army, and the king of Aruk and his army, and the king of Gurgum and his army, and the king of Samal and his army, and the king of Miliz . . . and seven kings and their armies. All these kings laid siege to Hazrak. And they raised a wall higher than the wall of Hazrak, and dug a trench deeper than its trench. Then I lifted up my hands to the Lord of Heaven, and the Lord of Heaven answered and spoke to me through seers and astrologers and said to me: ‘Fear not, for I made thee king, and will support thee and will deliver thee from these kings who are besieging thee.’” From the broken fragments which follow it is clear that this otherwise unknown king of Hazrak utterly vanquished his foes and conquered their territory. Of his two later capitals, Hamath was the famous city on the River Orontes in central Syria. Since the discoverer has not yet disclosed the place at which the inscription was discovered, the site of Hazrak has not yet been made public. It is clearly to be identified with the Hadrach referred to in Zechariah 91 in connection with Damascus and in the Assyrian Eponym Canon as Hatarikka, situated somewhere to the north of Damascus. The rise of this powerful yet hitherto almost unknown kingdom must have been somewhere between 800 and 772 B.C., for in 772 the Assyrian king Ashurdan III made an expedition against Damascus, and in the following year another against Hatarikka. The statement is so brief in the Eponym Canon that there is no suggestion regarding the result of these campaigns, but inasmuch as they were not repeated and the remainder of the reign of Ashurdan, until 755 B.C., was devoted to suppressing rebellions nearer home, it would seem clear that the strength of the northern Aramean kingdom founded by Zakar remained unbroken, possibly until the middle of the eighth century. The hour of Damascus’s humiliation was Northern Israel’s opportunity. Jehoash of Israel and his successor Jeroboam II, in a series of campaigns against the Damascenes, recovered their ancient territory and reestablished their prestige, until the boundary of Israel extended from the territory of the Aramean kingdom with its capital at Hamath in the north, to the southeast of the Dead Sea. Even Amaziah, the strong king of Judah, who rashly challenged Jehoash to ‘battle, was defeated, and part of the wall of Jerusalem was torn down. From the people of Judah, as well as from the neighboring nations whom they had conquered, the kings of Israel received rich spoil and tribute. The victories and prosperity of the reign of Jeroboam II were all the more impressive because of the contrast with the defeats and calamities of the preceding years. It was the Indian summer of Northern Israel’s history. Overconfidence succeeded the former despondency, and the leaders of the people began to shut their eyes to existing evils and to dream of a world-wide empire. The end for which Elijah and Elisha had struggled—the extermination of Baalism in Israel—had been realized, and the nation had at last recovered from the shock of Jehu’s revolution. But new political and social dangers loomed on Israel’s horizon, and a new type of prophet and a far broader and truer conception of Jehovah and of his demands were required to guide the people in meeting these new crises.