“And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life” ([1 Kings xv, 6]). These two nations therefore have been launched at a pretty fair pace on the downhill grade.
Judah, however, had the best of it. For the kingdom of Israel lasted only two hundred and fifty-four years. Shalmanezer, king of Nineveh, takes Samaria and carries the Ten Tribes into captivity. These are what are usually known as the lost tribes. Lost nonsenses!—they had forsaken their former method of worship and adopted another.
The kingdom of Judah lasted to the time the Temple was burnt, 588 B.C., having lasted three hundred and eighty-seven years—one hundred and thirty-three years longer than the kingdom of Israel. And what is more, these are the very Jews that are scattered all over the world. These latter are the representatives of these three tribes, Levi, Benjamin, and Judah. And if any person is curious enough to inquire of any Jew to what tribe he belongs, he will receive the answer that he belongs to one of the three above mentioned, that originally formed the kingdom of Judah. Why they were preserved is nothing miraculous. It has nothing to do with God or Jehova, or the ark, or any special grace, as people generally believe. The reason is plain and perfectly natural. The Levites preserved them, the Levites sustained them, the Levites were the brainy race. The Levites, the priestly tribe who were appointed by Moses, himself one of that tribe, to be the rulers, governors, lawgivers, fosterers, priests and preachers, were the brain of the whole nation. They clung to the idea of nationhood with all their priestly might, craft, and ingenuity, and are still clinging to it, with all their might and main. Judah and Benjamin survived only because of the Levites.
THE MIRACLE-MONGERS.
At 958 B.C. Abijah is king over Judah. He reigns only three years. King Asa follows, 955.
Nadab follows Jeroboam, king of Israel; dies; and Baasha reigns in 954.
“And there was war between Asa, and Baasha king of Israel, all their days” ([1 Kings xv, 16]).
These facts go to show that fighting continued between Israel and Judah. Foreign powers are now invited to help, and the struggle continues.
In 918 Ahab is king of Israel. It is during his reign that a new class of men rise, agitators, talkers, prophets, and small miracle-makers.