THE KINGS OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH. George Rawlinson

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СКАЧАТЬ had protected Jeroboam from the hostility of Solomon (1 Kings xi. 40), would be likely to lend him effectual aid if invited to do so, and under the energetic rule of an ambitious prince, who had founded a dynasty, might even aspire to resume, on her own account, the rule of Asiatic conqueror which she had laid aside for so many centuries. Awake to these perils, Rehoboam, after his return to Jerusalem, lost no time in strengthening the defences of his kingdom, more especially in the quarters which were most open to invasion from Egypt. He “built cities for defence in Judah” (2 Chron. xi. 5), “fortifying the strongholds, and putting captains in them, with store of victual, and of oil and wine” (ibid. ver. 1 1). Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, Beth-zur, and Hebron, upon the south Shocoh, Adullam, Azekah, Gath, Lachish, and Mareshah towards the south-west, Zorahand Aijalon on the west, were “made exceeding strong” (ibid. ver. 12); ample provisions and a goodly supply of spears and shields were laid up in them, and all that was possible was done to check the progress of an invader from Egypt, should one appear.

      Three years of peace followed. The only notable occurrence during this tranquil interval was the gradual exodus of the Levites from the northern kingdom, where they were subject to indignities, and their concentration within the territorial limits of Judah and Benjamin, where they were respected and honoured. This exodus was followed by that of many pious Israelites, who disliked Jeroboam’s religious innovations, and were attached to the worship of Jehovah, as established by David and Solomon. The northern kingdom was thus continually weakened and the southern one strengthened (2 Chron. xi. 13-17), to the great dissatisfaction of Jeroboam, who proceeded to cast about in his mind for a remedy, and ere long came to the conclusion that his best course would be to invoke the aid of his Egyptian ally against his troublesome neighbour.

      Meanwhile the religious corruption introduced by Solomon was spreading itself widely among the people of the southern kingdom, unchecked by the king. “Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done. For they built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree. And there were also Sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel” (1 Kings xiv. 22-24). Rehoboam himself, as the author of Chronicles tells us (2 Chron. xii. 1), “forsook the law of the Lord,” set an ill example to his subjects, and then “all Israel forsook Jehovah with him.” The seductive rites of Phoenicia, the bloody rites of Moab and Ammon were preferred to the simple solemn ceremonies of the Jerusalem Temple; altars blazed on every high hill; emblems of Baal and Astarte were set up; frantic orgies absorbed and depraved the religious sentiment of the people; the national shrine was comparatively deserted; Judah “went a-whoring” after the gods of the nations, and practised abominations which it is impossible to describe, or more than hint at. By the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign, the apostasy had reached its height, and provoked God to inflict on His people—even on the beloved tribe of Judah—a terrible punishment.

      In the web of mundane events woven by the hand of God, the threads of worldly policy which men spin are taken into account, made use of, and given their appropriate place. The needs of Jeroboam, the ambition of Sheshonk to cover his own name with glory, and strengthen his dynasty by conciliating to it the affections of the military class, were made to fall in with God’s purposes, and help to work them out, in due season, when the fitting hour was come. From the date of Solomon’s death Sheshonk had been biding his time, waiting for a summons from Jeroboam, who would best know when he could most effectually strike. In the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign, just when the apostasy of Judah was complete, the summons came, and Sheshonk hastened to obey it. Levying an army of twelve hundred chariots, sixty (perhaps six) thousand horsemen, and footmen “‘without number “(2 Chron. xii. 3)—Lubim, Sukkiim, and Cushites—he marched into Judæa “in three columns” (Brugsch), and attacked the cities which Rehoboam had fortified with so much care. A poor resistance was made. Afraid to encounter his assailant in the open field, Rehoboam shut himself up within the walls of his capital, and left the provincial towns to defend themselves as they best could. Probably the greater number surrendered at discretion. A few were besieged and taken, as Shoco, Adoraim, and Aijalon. Meanwhile the trembling king, awaiting his foe at Jerusalem, was upbraided by the prophet Shemaiah for the sins which had brought the visitation upon him, and warned that God had determined to deliver him into the hands of Sheshonk. In this strait he “humbled himself” (ibid. ver. 6), acknowledged that he was justly punished, and deprecated the extreme anger of Jehovah. The “princes of Judah” joined in his submission. Hereupon Shemaiah was instructed to tell him that his self-humiliation was accepted, and that on account of it, God would “grant him some deliverance” (ibid. ver. 7). Sheshonk should not take him prisoner, but he must submit and become Sheshonk’s servant, that he might learn the difference between “serving the Lord” and serving a heathen suzerain. The result was in accordance with this intimation. Sheshonk encamped before Jerusalem, but instead of forming the siege, consented to accept a ransom. Rehoboam gave him all the treasures of his palace, and all the treasures of the Temple, including the shields of gold which Solomon had made for his body-guard (1 Kings x. 16, 17; 2 Chron. xii. 9); and Sheshonk, content with this booty, and with a submission which can scarcely have been more than nominal, marched his army away to further conquests.

The remainder of Sheshonk’s campaign belongs rather to the history of Israel than to that of Judah, and will be considered when we treat of the reign of Jeroboam.14 Rehoboam’s reign, after the retirement of Sheshonk, was uneventful. He continued to occupy the throne for twelve more years, and during this time was engaged in frequent, if not in continual, hostilities with Jeroboam (1 Kings xiv. 30; 2 Chron. xii. 15), but no important results followed, and it can only be said that the two kingdoms maintained their relative positions. In military strength they were not ill-matched, since, if Israel could bring more men into the field, the narrower limits of Judah made her able to concentrate her troops more rapidly, while the personal qualities of the men of Judah and Benjamin placed them in the front rank of Hebrew warriors. Thus, notwithstanding the invasion of Sheshonk, and the loss of strength which it must have occasioned, the southern kingdom held its ground firmly, though it can scarcely have continued to maintain any hold over the alien states upon its borders, such as Philistia and Edom, which David had subjugated, but which, probably from the date of Sheshonk’s invasion, recovered their independence.15

The domestic relations of Rehoboam were modelled on those of his father, but without reaching the same excess of Oriental luxury and self-indulgence. The number of his wives was eighteen, of his concubines either sixty or thirty.16 Three of his wives were his near relations, Abihail, the daughter of Eliab, David’s elder brother; Mahalath, his first cousin, the daughter of Jerimoth, Solomon’s brother; and Maachah, another cousin, the daughter or grand-daughter of Absalom.17 Abihail and Maachah bore him, each of them, four sons, while his other wives raised the number of his sons to twenty-eight, and his daughters are said to have been sixty (2 Chron. xi. 21). His favourite wife was Absalom’s granddaughter, Maachah, whose son, Abijah, succeeded him on the throne; she was probably of royal birth on both sides, descended from her namesake, Maachah (2 Sam. iii. 3), daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur.

      Rehoboam, remembering the dreariness of his own idle youth, was careful to give his sons active employment. As they grew to manhood, he dispersed them among the various provincial towns, assigning to each a charge, and at the same time an establishment. The writer of Chronicles considers that, in so doing, he acted wisely (2 Chron. xi. 23). The system which he adopted was certainly calculated to prevent, or minimise, jealousies among the princes, and to benefit their characters by giving them duties to perform, instead of making them idle hangers-on upon a Court.

Maachah survived her husband, and was Queen-mother during the next two reigns.18 Her influence over the kingdom was altogether for evil, and we may, perhaps, ascribe much of СКАЧАТЬ