270 



PROPHETS. 



Judah, he invaded Philistia. and afterward marched 

 aninst Jerusalem. MflMvMK Moonttaf to thfl M.I 



ahite stone, corroborated by such notices as tli:u in -J 

 King* xiii. 2ii. tlu> .Moabiuw wore also engaged in acts 

 of successful hostility against tin- two lr.n-lii<- km/ 

 donis. and vi' iji.iv ,<-- me- that ili.-ir usual allies, the 

 Ammonites, were a.nso.'iated with th.-m. 



Tin- L-reat rvi'iit of tliis part of the history u 

 Haaael's expcditi'in against Jerusalem. 'I'lir accounts 

 of it are brief, Imt with several very distinct particu- 

 lar*. It occurred just ut the close of the reign of 

 Joash of Judah. 2 Chron. xxiv. 23. 2.1. The utter 

 watting of the Northern kingdom had continued up 

 U) that time, tliat is. :iH the days of Jchoaha/. - Kinirs 

 xiii. 3,14, 2i lla/.ac! first took (iath. and started for 



.leiii from that direction. 2 Kings xii. 18 (17). 

 With a comparatively small force he signally defeated 

 a very great army of defence, 2 Chron. xriv. '21. I In 

 he pr.nee* of Judah. and captured tln-ir 

 spoil. 2 Chron. xxiv. 23. Joa.sh bribed him to leave 

 by irivitig liim Haered treasure from the king's house 

 and the temple. 2 Kings xii. I'.l (18). It is not said 

 that he captured Jerusalem. He left Joash of Judah 

 prostrat-td by illness and about to be slain by conspir- 

 ators. '\ ('hron. xxiv. 25. Very soon after, Hazael 



Mil.Ioash. the newly crowned king of the North- 

 ern kingdom, was able, notwithstanding the depleted 

 condition of his power (2 Kings xiii. 7), to overcome 

 Hcnhadad in a succession of battles and recover the 

 cities ut' Israel. 



Rimman-nirari, the contemporary king of Assyria. 

 grandson "f 8halBMlie<8r, says that Tyre. Sidon, the 

 land Omri. Ivlotu, Philislia, were tributary to him, 

 and immediately adds an account of his besieging 

 Mariha. kinir of Damascus, and compelling him to sub- 

 mission and to the payment of immense fines. These 

 oper.it ions are not dated, but it is plausible to conjec- 

 ture that Mariha (th-? lord) is an appellation for Ha/.. icl, 

 and that the interference of the Assyrian king may ac- 

 count for the successes of Joash of Israel. Hut whether 

 this conjecture be accepted or not. the Biblical account 

 is that the successes ol lla/ael at Jerusalem were pres- 

 ently followed by his death and the humbling of his 

 kingdom. 



It remains further to be noted in connection with 

 these events that Ama/.iah. the successor of Joash of 

 Judah, a few years later regarded himself as having 

 P-ason to take bloody vengeance on the Ivlomites ; pos- 

 sibly this may su-j/. -; -omething as to the attitude of 

 Kdom in the. days of Ilazacl. 



ii of Israel reigncii sixteen years, and was suc- 



i by Jeroboam II.. who reigned forty-one years. 

 In Jerolxiam's twenty-seventh year I "z/.iah became king 

 of Judah. Waiving the <|iiestion whether we should 

 count the numerals as overlapping one another, and 

 HhouM thus, or by any other process, count the period 

 as shorter than it at tir.-t seems to be, our attention 

 should now be 6xed on the fifteen years (or whatever 

 the number may be) during which Jeroboam and I '//.iah 

 re said to have lieen contemporary. The situation 

 now contrasts very strongly with that when lla/ael 

 made his attempt upon Jerusalem. Jeroboam "re- 

 stored the Ixirder of Israel from tlie entering of Ha- 

 inatli unto the. seaof the Arabah," '1 Kings xiv. 25. He 

 11 n-lorcd Damascus and llamath to Judah in Israel." 

 xiv 2^<. Of 1'r.ziah it is recorded that he built Hlath. 

 '2 Kue.'s xiv. 22; that he made successful war with the 

 Philistines and other enemies, and received tribute 

 from tl>e Ammonites, 2 Chron. xxvi. 6-8; that "his 

 name spread abroad even to the entering in of Egypt. " 

 xxvi. X ; that he fortified Jerusalem, ami had an im- 

 army, xxvi. 9-15 ; that " li is name spread tar 

 abroad," xxvi. 15. It is common to a.-siimc lliat Ju 

 dab and Israel were at this time in hostility ; but the 

 )HUages cited more naturally imply the contrary, and 

 >:ive us to understand that they were two kingdoms 

 with OIK; policy and purpose, and with a sway under 

 which ll.ini.il li, Syria I >ama.-ciis, the Ammonite coun- 



try, and Philistia were included as tributaries. Thin, 

 with the possession of the Klaniiic L'ulf. imp!; 

 subjection of Moab and Kdom, as well as of the i 



Illellti 



We instinctively ask how it was possible that Assyria 

 would allow such a power to spring up in the west, and 



reduce her tributaries to tribute? At present, then' is 

 no answer to this i|iiestiun, but certain Assyrian in- 

 scriptions of a lew years later testify to the fact that 

 these Assyrian tributaries, actually had " in their faith- 

 lessness made revolt to Azariah," giving him such 

 strciiL'th as to make him a formidable toe to Assyria. 

 See Schroder's Cuneiform Inscription*, translated by 

 Whitehoiisu (pp. 20S-2I2), or the inscriptions attrili- 

 uted to Tiirlath-pile.ser, in any collection of Avyno- 

 logieal matter. The inscrii)tions in question are so 

 mutilated that very little, can In- learned from them, 

 but they clearly agree with the Biblical statements as 

 to the greatness of I '/./.iah and the extent of the sway 

 of the combined Jewish-Israelite kingdoms of this 

 period. They further indicate a temporary decadence 

 of the Assyrian empire, covering a longer or briefer 

 time, between the date when Assvria held all this re- 

 gion in undisputed subjection, and the date when As- 

 syria wiis making efforts to wrest the same region Iruui 

 its allegiance to Uzziah. 



Leaving the remainder of the history, for the pres- 

 ent, we are now ready to look at the prophetic bonks 

 which connect themselves with the history as already 

 sketched. 



The Book of Amn. This book dates iteelf "in 

 the days of" Uzziah and Jeroboam, "two years be- 

 fore the earthquake." The lies! analysis of it makes 

 it to consist of four discourses, the song " I will not 

 reverse it," i. 3-ii. 16. the exhortation, iii.-iv., the 

 lamentation, v.-vi., and the bctok of visions, vii.-ix. 

 The present treatment will be confined to a single 

 point, namely, the historical situation presented in the 

 book. 



This is twofold : the book Is quite distinct in its pic- 

 ture of the times when it was written, and in addition 

 to this, it is very distinct in its presentation of a cer- 

 tain earlier period, to which it alludes in the way of 

 reminiseence. We find here the same representation 

 that we found in the historical Ixmks as to the extent 

 of the d'iminion of Israel in the reigns of Jerolxiam 

 and I 'mah. "From llamath to the brook of tin; 

 Arabah," AMI. vi. 14, shows this, as does the chal- 

 lenge to compare the region of Assyrian conquests 

 centring in Calneh with the region from Mamaih to 

 (!ath, vi. 2. If " l>amascu<" i- the correct reading 

 in iii. 12. that verse represents Israelite grand 

 living in luxury in the subject city Damascus. It fol- 

 lows that some at le;ist of the peonies mentioned in i. 

 and ii. are there thought of as dependent on Israel 

 and Judah. and not as independent. 



We find the same community of interest lietwcen 

 Israel and Judah that we found in the accounts in I lie 

 historical books. Amos is a Judaitc. i. 1. Mis pie- 

 dilectious are for the house of David, is. 11, il <il. 

 But his prophecy refers almost exclusively to the 

 Northern Kingdom, He seems to know no difference 

 between Jeroboam's llamath and Uzziah's (lath, but 

 speaks as if both were included in the same interest. 

 The passage between him and JcrolHiam s priest . \ma- 

 y.iah (vii. 10, 12) could hardly have taken the form il 

 did, except when thw relations Mweeii Israel and Ju- 

 dah were intimate. See also iii. ] and ix. 12. 



We find that the prosperity mentioned in the his- 

 torical books ha^ rcsiiiicd in luxury, dissipation, and 

 the oppression of the poor by the rich, on the part of 

 lioth men and women, ii. ft. 7 ; iii. '.'. 12 ; iv. I ; v. 11, 

 23; vi. 1. 4-6. We further find, throughout the 

 book, descriptions of the religious life of the Northern 

 kingdom, its various sanctuaries, its conformities to the, 

 law of Moses and the- opposite, that give to tie 

 especial historical interest and value. 



To mention only one thing more in this list, the 



