Период седьмой. От разделения царства до разрушения храма Соломонова вавилонянами

XXXIX. The division of the kingdom, its causes and meaning. Jeroboam and the religious schism he caused 209 Soon after the death of Solomon, the prediction of the prophet Ahijah was fulfilled; His kingdom was divided, and a larger part of it went to Jeroboam. This great coup was accelerated by the indiscretion of his heir, the son of Rehoboam. Upon ascending the throne, according to established custom, he had to conclude a special agreement with the people, but the matter was complicated by the fact that upon his accession to the throne, rivalry between the tribes of Judah and Ephraim, who expressed claims to supremacy among the people, manifested itself with particular force. To settle the rivalry, Rehoboam was not content with proclaiming himself king in Jerusalem, but went to Shechem (the main city of the tribe of Ephraim) to seek confirmation of his rights to the throne from another strong tribe. Representatives of the northern tribes took advantage of this to present him with certain conditions for easing public duties, which in the last years of Solomon’s reign, due to his incessant construction and immoderate luxury, increased to such an extent that they became a “heavy yoke” for the people. The matter was serious and required an all the more prudent attitude since it was presented by representatives of the national assembly led by Jeroboam, who had returned from Egypt at that time. The king gave himself three days to discuss this issue. The votes in the State Council were divided. The old advisers who served under Solomon, understanding the real state of the state and the people, advised him to yield to the people, saying: “if you are a servant to your people this day, and serve them, and satisfy them, and speak kindly to them, then they will be your servants for all their days.” But the young, inexperienced king neglected this prudent advice and followed the advice of his young peers, who, having been brought up under the corrupting influence of the last years of Solomon's reign, looked at everything lightly. They advised the people to decisively refuse their request, declaring that the needs of the new king were even greater than the needs of Solomon, since “his little finger is thicker than his father’s loins.” In order to wean the people once and for all from such demands, the king had to, on the advice of these dignitaries, threaten them with an even greater increase in the yoke. When Jeroboam, at the head of the representatives of the national assembly, again appeared to the king, Rehoboam answered them “on the advice of the young people and said: my father has placed a heavy yoke on you, but I will increase your yoke; my father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions,” i.e. those stiletto-studded whips that were used to punish serious criminals. Then the irritated people gave vent to the feeling of discontent that had accumulated in them, and everywhere the cry that had already been heard before was heard: “What part do we have in David? We have no share in the son of Jesse, according to our tents, O Israel! Now know your home, David! And Israel dispersed to their tents." Rehoboam, not yet realizing the imprudence of his step, was about to send Adoniram, the chief of taxes, to collect taxes, but “the Israelites threw stones at him, and he died.” The king himself had to flee to Jerusalem, and the popular assembly in Shechem proclaimed Jeroboam king, who was recognized by ten tribes, so that only the tribe of Judah remained behind Rehoboam, to which Benjamin also joined. Rehoboam wanted to correct his mistake as a state by military force and gathered an army of 180,000 to subjugate the defecting tribes, but the bloodshed was prevented by Samaeus, the “man of God,” who convinced Rehoboam that all this happened by the will of God, and therefore a fratricidal war would be a direct crime against God, and Rehoboam had to reconcile with the coup that had taken place, although he had enmity with Jeroboam, which often turned into a devastating war, did not stop “all the days of their lives.” This is how the division of the Jewish people into two kingdoms took place, which received the names of the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of Israel. At first glance, one might think that the kingdom of Israel, as consisting of ten tribes, which made up two-thirds of the total population of the country and occupied the best and most fertile part of it, had on its side all the advantages and a clear guarantee of great political power. But, on the other hand, it must be borne in mind that the capital remained behind the kingdom of Judah, as the center of established government and the material interests of the people, along with the enormous state treasures accumulated there by Solomon. Moreover, not to mention the seasoned energy and enterprise of the tribe of Judah itself, it had all the advantages in religious and moral terms, since in its capital there was a church, the main shrine of the entire people, built by common popular efforts, consecrated with general popular participation and therefore involuntarily attracting general popular sympathy. This significance of the church explains the entire subsequent history of relations between both kingdoms. Seeing this attraction of the people to the temple in Jerusalem, the kings of Israel began to look at it with suspicion, fearing that the religious attraction to the church would not turn into a political attraction to Jerusalem itself, as the political capital. And so, contrary to the promise of God, which made fidelity and devotion to the true religion a condition for the longevity of the house of Jeroboam, the kings of Israel, from the very first steps of their reign, begin to strive to alienate their people from the Jerusalem temple, try to establish their own center of religious life and even introduce a religion that would have nothing in common with the religion of the Jerusalem temple. This policy directly led to a religious schism, which was carried out openly by the first king of Israel, Jeroboam. Having been proclaimed king 210, Jeroboam, first of all, began to strengthen his position from the outside. For this purpose he fortified several cities, and it was Shechem on this side and Penuel on the other side of the Jordan, which became the two main strongholds of his vast kingdom, although he founded his own residence in the beautiful city of Tirzah, in the picturesque mountains north of Shechem. But even with the possession of such a beautiful kingdom, the fatal thought did not leave Jeroboam. Feeling the insufficiency of his rights to the throne, he involuntarily thought: “the kingdom can again pass to the house of David. If this people go to Jerusalem to sacrifice in the house of the Lord, then the heart of this people will turn to their sovereign, to Rehoboam, the king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.” After consulting with his entourage, the king decided to found a new religion 211; deliberately relying on the example of Aaron, he made two golden calves and, repeating the words of the idolaters of that time, said to the people: “You do not need to go to Jerusalem; these are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt” (1 Kings 12:28; cf. Exodus 32:4, 8). He placed one of these calves in Dan, and the other in Bethel, making the latter the main sanctuary of the new cult. Here he built a church on a height, as was done among the Canaanite peoples. To serve in this church, he wanted to use those priests and Levites who lived in the Levitical cities that had gone to him; but I was wrong in my calculation. All the true priests and Levites, seeing the king’s wicked undertakings, left their cities and possessions and moved to Judea and Jerusalem. Then the king took a new step towards breaking the law and “ordained priests from among the people, who were not from the sons of Levi”; established holidays similar to the Jewish holidays and on the erected altar in Bethel he himself personally wanted to offer sacrifices in order to solemnly open the service according to the rite of the religion he had newly established. But then a “man of God” 212 appeared from Judea and, standing face to face with Jeroboam, made a prediction that one of David’s descendants, namely Josiah, would sacrifice idolatrous priests on this very altar, and confirmed his prediction with a sign that the altar itself would disintegrate and the ashes from it would scatter. The enraged king ordered to seize the daring soothsayer and stretched out his hand against him, but his hand suddenly became numb, and at the same time the altar fell apart and the ashes scattered from it. Then Jeroboam humbled himself, and through the prayer of the “man of God” his hand recovered from the defeat. He invited the “man of God” to come to his palace and refresh himself with food, promising to offer him a special gift. “But the man of God said to the king, “Even though you give me half your house, I will not go with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water in this place.” For this is what I have been commanded by the word of the Lord: You shall not eat bread or drink water there, and do not return by the way you came.” However, he himself violated this commandment and, obeying one false prophet, went to him and accepted a treat, for which he was killed on the way by a lion that attacked him - as a warning to all those who do not stand firmly in the commandment of God. Since Jeroboam did not come to his senses from the warning that was given to him, a family misfortune befell him: his son Abijah, the only one in his house, “in whom something good was found before the Lord, the God of Israel,” died. When he became ill, Jeroboam wanted to secretly take advantage of the mercy of that God whom he openly rejected 213. He ordered his wife, in disguise, to go to Shiloh to the elderly prophet Ahni, the same one who predicted that he would be king, and ask him about the upcoming fate of his son. But when she entered the house of Ahijah, the elderly prophet, despite his blindness, immediately recognized who his visitor was, and not only did not accept the gifts brought to him (“ten loaves and cakes and a jug of honey”), but pronounced a strict condemnation on the entire house of Jeroboam, declaring that for the idolatry he had introduced, the Lord would bring all kinds of disasters to his house and “sweep out the house of Jeroboam, as they sweep out rubbish until clean,” and Israel itself will be cast out from the Promised Land and taken beyond the river (Euphrates – into captivity) “because they have made idols for themselves, provoking the Lord.” The king's sick son was supposed to die, which happened as soon as the queen crossed the threshold of her palace upon her return. But then Jeroboam himself died, having reigned twenty-two years 214. He was succeeded by his son Nebat, who followed the example of his father in everything: “he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, he walked in the way of his father and in his sins, with which he made Israel sin.” Therefore, God's punishment soon befell him, and he fell victim to a military conspiracy drawn up by the military leader Baasha, who killed the king and destroyed the house of Jeroboam, as the prophet Ahijah had predicted, and himself became the self-proclaimed king of Israel 215. But the dynasty of Baasha, who followed in his policy the system of Jeroboam and even the latter indulged in wickedness and idolatry, ended with his son Elias, who was killed by the commander of his cavalry, Zimri, who put him to death when he “got drunk” while visiting the chief of his court, Arsa. Zamri proclaimed himself king and destroyed the entire house of Baasha, but he himself reigned for only seven days. Having learned that the people, without recognizing him, proclaimed another military leader Omri as their king, who, at the head of a strong army, approached Tirzah and had already taken the fortifications of the capital, Zamri, like the Assyrian king, “entered the inner room of the royal house and set fire to the royal house behind him, and died for his sins, which he sinned by doing what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, walking in the way of Jeroboam and in his sins which he committed to cause Israel to sin.” But this did not end the political unrest of the kingdom of Israel. Next to Omri, a certain Famnius came forward as a contender for the throne, who carried away half the people with him, so that the kingdom of Israel was divided among themselves, and a four-year internecine war began, and only after the death of Famnius the throne was established for Omri, who reigned for another eight years. To strengthen the throne of his dynasty, he left Tirzah with its burnt palace and dilapidated walls, and built a new capital for himself, the famous Samaria, which remained the residence of the kings of Israel until the fall of the kingdom. But to this new capital he transferred the old wickedness and idolatry of his predecessors, and in this regard “he acted even worse than all those who were before him,” thus undermining the moral strength of the state in which he wanted to strengthen his throne. Thus, the kingdom of Israel, founded by Jeroboam, having become, as a result of the religious schism caused by the latter, on the wrong path, with each reign it moved further and further away from the true path, preparing its destruction. XL. The weakness and wickedness of Rehoboam and Abijah, kings of Judah, and the godly reign of Asa and Jehoshaphat After a failed attempt to subjugate the displaced tribes by force, Rehoboam began to take care of strengthening the possession that remained to him 216. He fortified several cities and between them Bethlehem, Tekoa and Hebron, turning them into strong fortresses and supplying them with weapons and provisions. When the borders of the kingdom of Judah were determined, it embraced not only the possessions of the two main tribes of Judah and Benjamin, but also the former lands of the tribe of Dan, which moved to the north, and the lands of the tribe of Simeon, which was so weakened politically that it seemed to cease to even be considered an independent tribe. In addition, the previously conquered lands of Edom and Ammon remained under the authority of Rehoboam, and continued to pay the tribute established by David. Morally, the kingdom of Judah was further strengthened by the fact that the entire tribe of Levi moved into it - all the priests and Levites who were evicted from the kingdom of Israel as a result of the introduction of the idolatrous cult of golden calves there. As a result of all this, the first years of Rehoboam’s reign were distinguished by significant prosperity for the then political state of the country. Unfortunately, Rehoboam inherited his father's worst qualities and maintained a large harem of 18 wives and 60 concubines, giving him twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. With this, the usual rivalries and intrigues were inseparable, especially since Rehoboam showed a clear preference for his beloved wife Maachah, the daughter (or, rather, granddaughter) of Absalom, for whose son Abijah he strengthened the inheritance of the throne and in advance made him “the head and prince over his brothers.” To weaken their rivalry, he wisely “sent all his sons throughout all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, to all the fortified cities, and gave them a great allowance, and sent many wives.” But with temporary prosperity, only the oblivion of the recent terrible trials accelerated, and Rehoboam, and with him the entire Jewish people, “forsaken the law of the Lord” and “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” “And they built themselves high places, and statues, and high places on every high hill, and under every shady tree. And there were also fornicators in the land, and they did all the abominations of those nations whom the Lord drove out from before the children of Israel.” Such a religious and moral decline required punishment, and it appeared in the person of the Egyptian pharaoh Susakim 217. Susakim or Shoshenq I was the founder of the new XXII dynasty of pharaohs, which replaced the previous dynasty, with which Solomon was related. This change of dynasty took place during the lifetime of Solomon, and the new pharaoh then showed hostility towards the house of Solomon by giving shelter to Ader, the prince of Edom, and Jeroboam. Now, taking advantage of the weakening of the political power of this house, in the fifth year of the reign of Rehoboam, he launched a campaign against Jerusalem. He quickly took several fortified Jewish cities and approached Jerusalem itself. At the sight of the terrible danger, the king and the people humbled themselves and cried out for help to God, who saved them from captivity. Susakim, however, plundered the church and the royal palace, taking with him all their treasures and together the famous golden shields made by Solomon, so Rehoboam was forced to replace them with copper ones in order to maintain some pomp during the king’s usual ceremonial appearances. The kingdom of Judah became a tributary of Susakim for a time, so that the unfaithful people would learn by experience “what it is like to serve God and serve the kingdoms of the earth.” The campaign of Susakim again brings biblical history into contact with Egyptian history, and the biblical legend about it is fully confirmed by the evidence of Egyptian monuments. On the walls of the famous Egyptian church of Karnak (in Thebes) this entire event is depicted, and among the captives captured by the pharaoh, captives with Jewish features in physiognomy and clothing are clearly visible, and in the list of conquered peoples and kingdoms attached to these images the name “Judah Melchi” appears, i.e. kingdom of Judah. ​​This difficult lesson, apparently, was not in vain for the king and the people of Judah. “There was some good in Judah,” but in general Rehoboam “did evil, because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.” He reigned for seventeen years, died at the age of 58 and was buried in the city of David. His reign was described in the records of the prophet Samey and Adda the seer - in the book of royal genealogies. Rehoboam was succeeded by his son Abijah, in the eighteenth year of Jeroboam's reign 218. He tried once again to regain the fallen tribes by force, and in the war that began he managed to defeat Jeroboam and take away several cities, including Bethel. This victory was the result of strong religious inspiration both from the king himself, who reproached the Israelites for their idolatry, and from the Jews in general, “who trusted in the Lord, the God of their fathers.” But Abijah himself could not stay on top of this good beginning and soon followed the bad example of his predecessors: he started a large harem of 14 wives, from whom he had 22 sons and 16 daughters, and in general began to “walk in all the sins of his father, which he committed before him,” as a result of which his reign was short-lived. He reigned for about three years and was buried in the city of David, transferring the kingdom to his son Asa. Asa, the third king of Judah, ascended the throne in the 20th year of the reign of Jeroboam and reigned in Jerusalem for forty-one years 219. Having been brought up amid the trials of his previous reigns, he reigned with the good intention of following in everything the example of his great great-great-grandfather David and, with heartfelt devotion to the true religion, began to cleanse his kingdom of the religious and moral evil that had accumulated in it. “He drove out the fornicators from the land, and rejected all the idols that his fathers had made, and even deprived his mother Anu of the title of queen because she made an image of Ashtoreth,” which he, at the same time, chopped up and burned by the brook Kidron, as Moses once did with the golden calf. However, he did not complete his transformation, so he did not destroy all the “high places” with their idolatrous paraphernalia, leaving this task to his successors. But in general, Asa showed so much pious zeal that his reign for a time again concentrated the blessing of God on himself and was characterized by complete prosperity. His father's victory over Jeroboam secured him ten years of peace, and he took advantage of it to maintain profitable trade with Arabia, the east, and the silver-rich countries of western Europe, which enabled him to once again accumulate significant treasures, both in the church and in the palace. At the same time, he again strengthened the most important cities. Having improved the internal affairs of the state, he gathered a strong army of 580,000 people - with the goal of overthrowing the tributary yoke of the Egyptians. Having learned about this, the Egyptian pharaoh Zarai the Ethiopian marched against him with a huge “army of a thousand thousand and three hundred chariots” and reached Mareshi (near the later Eleutheropolis), in the southwestern part of the tribe of Judah. Here Asa met him and, strong in his trust in God, whose help he called upon in fiery prayer before the battle, defeated him completely, capturing enormous booty. Upon his victorious return to Jerusalem, he was met by the prophet Azariah, who, with his divinely inspired speech about the good deeds of the Lord in case of trust in Him and about His terrible anger when falling away from Him, aroused in the king and the people a new impulse of zeal and true religion. “Pagan abominations” were removed from all Jewish cities, and the king renewed “the altar of the Lord, which was before the porch of the Lord,” which had probably been defiled by idolatry. At the same time, in the third month of the 14th year of his reign, Asa convened a great public meeting in Jerusalem, which was attended not only by the inhabitants of his kingdom, but also by people from the other tribes, and a solemn covenant was concluded “to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all his heart and with all his soul,” and the death penalty was imposed for idolatry. This gathering of true worshipers of Jehovah from all tribes into Jerusalem naturally increased the moral strength of the kingdom of Judah, but at the same time, it awakened with renewed vigor the suspicion of the kings of Israel, as a result of which Baasha renewed the war against the kingdom of Judah and strengthened the border Rama in order to block access to Asa for his subjects. Unfortunately, this time Asa wavered in his trust in God and not only called Ben-hadad, king of Syria, to his ally, but also bought his alliance at the dear price of the treasures of the church of the Lord and his palace. Although, thanks to this alliance, the invasion of Baasha was successfully repelled, Asa himself had to listen to a strict reproach for his sin from the prophet Ananias, who boldly reproached him for betraying the covenant he had concluded - for the fact that “he trusted in the king of Syria and did not trust in the Lord,” thereby blocking the possibility of conquering the very kingdom of Syria. But once turning off the right path, a person easily moves from one sin to another. Asa not only did not repent of his sin, but “was angry with the seer and put him in prison, because he was irritated with him for this reproach.” At the same time, he began to oppress some other people from the people at that time. In this evasion of the duty of justice, in the 39th year of his reign, he suffered a serious illness of the legs, which, developing gradually, “rose to the upper parts of the body, but even in his illness he sought not the Lord, but the doctors.” In the 41st year of his reign, he died and was buried with royal solemnity in the city of David, in a tomb he had previously prepared for himself. Despite the sins of the last years of his reign, he left behind a good memory among the people, who expressed their respect to him by burning a great variety of incense in honor of his ashes and anointing him with expensive artificial ointments. The blessing of God upon him was reflected in the very length of his reign, during which he was a contemporary of eight quickly successive wicked kings of the kingdom of Israel. His successor was his son Jehoshaphat, who ascended the throne at 35 years of age and reigned for 25 years 220. Together with the throne, he inherited from his father the best principles of the first half of his reign and possessed all the qualities that made him similar to David, who was the highest image for him. Under him, the kingdom of Judah reached a high degree of prosperity and power. He began his reign by strengthening the most important cities of the kingdom, in which he stationed security troops. Having secured himself from external attack, he began internal improvement and, himself “walking according to the commandments of God,” energetically set about eradicating idolatry among the people, abolishing “high places” and destroying “oak forests” dedicated to idols. Not content with this, in the third year of his reign he took more effective measures to raise the religious and moral life of the people and sent some of his close princes to teach the people the law of God in all the cities of Judea, together with the Levites and priests. His reward for such pious deeds was extraordinary prosperity. He was at peace with all the peoples around him. The Philistines paid him tribute in silver, the Arabians brought in a lot of all kinds of livestock, and his power was supported by a strong army, under the command of brave generals. This state of the kingdom of Judah was naturally dangerous for the kingdom of Israel, although, at the same time, it was too powerful to start a new war against it. Since at the same time, on the border of the kingdom of Israel, the dangerous kingdom of Syria was rapidly developing and strengthening, the king of Israel Ahab considered it best to enter into a close alliance with Jehoshaphat. The latter accepted this proposal and thus entered into an alliance and even became related to the most wicked king of the kingdom of Israel, thereby bringing a whole series of disasters to his own kingdom. XLI. Kings of Israel Ahab and Ahaziah. The complete establishment of idolatry in the kingdom of Israel. Prophet Elijah. The Harmful Consequences of Jehoshaphat's Alliance with the Kings of Israel While in the kingdom of Judah, after the wickedness of the first kings, efforts began to restore the true religion and the law of Moses among the people and achieved quite favorable results, in the kingdom of Israel, wickedness and idolatry intensified with each reign. But this evil reached its highest degree under the eighth king of Israel, Ahab, who succeeded his father Omri in the 38th year of the reign of Asa, and reigned for 22 years. His father had already acquired a bad reputation, but Ahab surpassed him, and left behind the saddest memory in history 221. By nature he was endowed with the inclinations of goodness and they were expressed in him in his love of the arts and the ability to accept good advice. Unfortunately, he had a weak will and completely submitted to his power-hungry and arrogant wife Jezebel, whose name is associated with an even worse reputation than his own. She was the daughter of the Sidonian king Ethbaal, a former priest who achieved the throne through the murder of his brother. His daughter fully inherited from him his worst qualities - despotic arrogance, desperate persistence, bloodthirsty cruelty and, most of all, fanatical devotion to the shameful and outrageous idolatry of Astarte, whose priest her father had once been. It is not surprising that, having become the queen of the Israeli people, she began to despise the religion of Jehovah and decided to introduce her wicked idolatry among the Israeli people. Ahab completely fell under her influence and, at her insistence, built a church and an altar to Baal in Samaria, and with it built a special oak grove for vile orgies in honor of Astarte. Then measures were taken to completely eradicate the religion of Jehovah and introduce the Phoenician cult. A special school of priests or prophets of the new cult was established, and their number can be judged by the fact that at the court of Jezebel there were 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the forest, and they all ate from Jezebel’s table. All the true prophets, at her command, were beaten, except for a hundred people who escaped and hid in a cave, where they were secretly fed bread and water by the pious Obadiah, the ruler of Ahab’s palace. The darkest period in the history of the Israeli people has arrived. True religion perished in him, and with it all the great promises for him collapsed. Then a special instrument of God’s Providence became necessary to support the sinking ship of faith. And it appeared in the person of the prophets, whose dedication in preserving the true faith increased as wickedness and idolatry increased. Since idolatrous wickedness reached its highest degree under Ahab, during his reign the greatest prophet of the Old Testament church, a terrible avenger for the trampling of the covenant, appeared, Elijah, the prototype of that great preacher of repentance who was the forerunner of Christ 222. And he was not just a preacher of the word. Under him, wickedness represented the highest earthly power in the person of the king and was manifested in tangible acts of vile depravity and untruth; Therefore, the prophet Elijah appeared as a representative of the power of God, which he put in opposition to the power of evil, and hence a whole series of great miracles that were supposed to serve as a new, more tangible than verbal preaching, form of edification and exposure of the coarsened conscience of the wicked king and his lost people. The Holy Prophet Elijah appears in history with amazing suddenness, like a lightning arrow that instantly illuminated the midnight sky. There are only vague guesses about its deposit. Judging by his name “Tishbite,” one might think that he was originally from Thisbe, a town in the northern part of Palestine, from where he, however, moved beyond the Jordan, where he lived in the deserts of Gilead, with all the simplicity and severity of the lifestyle of a desert man. From there he suddenly appeared on the glittering streets of Samaria. The extraordinary appearance of this stranger - barefoot, with long hair on his head, in a coarse cloak of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his loins and a staff in his hands - should have immediately caused a considerable stir in the criminal capital of the criminal king; but the prophet went straight to the palace and there, before the face of Ahab himself, in brief words he pronounced the terrible sentence of God: “As the Lord God of Israel lives,” said Elijah, thereby denouncing the vile wickedness and foolishness of idolatry, “in these years there will be neither dew nor rain; except at my word" 223. Having pronounced this sentence, Elijah left, avoiding the vengeance of the wicked royal couple. For a while he took refuge near the Khorath stream, which flows into the river. Jordan, where “ravens brought him bread and meat” every morning and evening. But the stream dried up, because the sentence of God came into force, and Elijah had to retire to Zarephath, a city in the domain of the king of Sidon. There he found shelter with a poor widow, whose hospitality was rewarded by the miraculous replenishment of her meager supply of flour and butter and the restoration to life of her son, who was so seriously ill, “that there was no breath left in him” 224. And the drought still continued. The fertile plains of the tribe of Ephraim turned into a hot, barren desert, and there was a famine in Samaria. Ahab and his courtier Obadiah went to survey the country to make sure of the extent of the disaster that had befallen. He sent messengers to all parts of the kingdom and to neighboring countries in search of Elijah, but he was nowhere to be found. Then the prophet appeared himself and, first of all, to Obadiah, commanding him to inform the king about his appearance. But as soon as the trembling Obadiah reported this to Ahab, Elijah himself personally appeared before him. “Is it you who troubles Israel?” The king angrily asked the prophet. “It is not I who trouble Israel, but you and your father’s house,” answered Elijah, “by the fact that you have despised the commandments of the Lord and are following the footsteps of the Baals.” To prove the truth of the religion of Jehovah and the falsity of Baal, Elijah proposed making a nationwide experiment through sacrifice, with the condition that which God would most likely hear the prayer and bring down heavenly fire to burn the sacrifice 225. Ahab accepted the offer and summoned the priests of Baal, numbering 450 people. The experience was to take place on Mount Carmel, from the majestic peak of which a view opens on one side of the vast sea, and on the other the rich plains of the promised land. A large crowd gathered, and Elijah stood alone against hundreds of priests and thousands of idolaters. The priests of Baal built an altar and placed the calf on it. When their god Baal (the sun god) began to rise from the eastern sky, they greeted his appearance with wild dancing, lamentations and cries: “Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice, no answer. “At noon Elijah began to laugh at them and said: Shout with a loud voice, for he is a god; maybe he’s lost in thought or busy with something, or on the road, or maybe he’s sleeping, so he’ll wake up.” The priests became even more enraged, screaming into a frenzy and stabbing themselves with knives and spears until they bled. “But there was no voice, no answer, no hearing.” The daylight, which they madly idolized, rolled down from the sky and disappeared into the waves of the Mediterranean Sea. Then it was the turn of the prophet of the living God. Having called the people to him, Elijah erected an altar of twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, dug it with a ditch, which he filled with water, and, having laid the sacrifice, uttered a fiery prayer to God, asking Him to show the idolaters that He is the one true God, the God of the fathers of the lost people. Then fire suddenly flashed and destroyed not only the victim, but also the water in the ditch. “When all the people saw this, they fell on their faces and said: The Lord is God! The Lord is God! In relation to the idolaters, the decree of the Mosaic Law was carried out: all the priests were captured and beaten on the banks of the Kishon stream 226. The disaster immediately ceased. In the west, a cloud rose from the sea as a harbinger of rain, and the whole country came to life with abundant moisture. Ahab joyfully galloped to his summer residence, Jezreel, and the triumphant Elijah, “girding his loins, ran before Ahab all the way to Jezreel,” a distance of 28 miles. But from there he had to quickly leave: Ahab recognized the power of the God of Israel, but everything that happened only further inflamed Jezebel’s evil rage. She decided to die rather than leave Elijah without revenge for the beating of her priests and prophets. Mad with anger, she sent a terrible message to Elijah: “If you are Elijah, then I am Jezebel; let the gods do this and that to me, and even more, if by this time tomorrow I do not do with your soul what was done with the soul of each of them,” i.e. her priests. But the prophet Elijah, like the desert wind, appeared and disappeared. First he went to Beersheba, where his weakened vigor was supported by the appearance of an angel, who brought him food for reinforcement, and then he retired to the Sinai desert “to the mountain of God Horeb,” that sacred mountain where Moses first received his calling and in the vicinity of which legislation was given. There he again became emboldened, as if taking into himself the spirit of the great lawgiver Moses, with whom he, as the two greatest representatives of the Old Testament church, subsequently appeared on Tabor in the face of the divine Leader of the new covenant. There he, like Moses, was honored with a vision of God, who appeared to him not in the menacing signs of a storm, fire and earthquake, as he might have expected, but in the “breath of the quiet wind,” as a sign of grace, invisibly and quietly descending on the human soul. Having encouraged the great prophet with the statement that among the Israelites there were still “seven thousand men whose knees did not bow to Baal and whose lips did not kiss him,” the Lord commanded him to return his way and in Damascus to anoint Hazael king over Syria, Jehu king over Israel and Elisha as prophet in his place. All three of his anointed were to go out to destroy the idolaters of Baal. Circumstances allowed Elijah to fulfill only the last of these orders, namely the anointing of Elisha, to whom he left to fulfill the rest. Elisha, the son of Shaphat, was from Abel-Meholah, in the valley of the Jordan River, near its junction with the plain of Ezdrilon 227. He was a wealthy farmer and owned twelve pairs of oxen. Elijah found him in the field while he was plowing with the twelfth pair of oxen. Passing by him, Elijah threw his “mantle” over him - as a sign of the prophetic calling, and Elisha immediately left the field work, said goodbye to his parents and, sacrificing the very pair of oxen with which he plowed, followed Elijah “and began to serve him.” Meanwhile, Ahab, having not met the formidable prophet for a long time, probably thought that he had finally freed himself from him, and took advantage of this time to commit a very heinous crime. Although his usual capital was Samaria, he also loved to live in the cheerful city of Jezreel, distinguished by the charming beauties of the surrounding nature. While expanding and decorating his palace there, he wanted to take possession of a magnificent vineyard that belonged to a resident of Jezreel, Naboth 228 . He suggested that Naboth exchange vineyards or sell it; but Naboth, as a true Israelite, never wanted to part with his hereditary estate, with which the memory of the entire family of his fathers was associated. Then the capricious and capricious, but weak-willed despot, out of frustration and anger, went to bed and stopped eating. Jezebel, who was ready for anything, brought him out of this difficulty. Having learned what was the matter, she said to him: “What kind of kingdom would there be in Israel if you did this?” Arise, eat bread and be calm: I will bring you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.” And she kept her promise. Having written secret letters on behalf of Ahab to the elders and judges of the city, she ordered them to accuse the unfortunate Naboth of blasphemy and treason at all costs. The judges carried out the criminal order with vile readiness. False witnesses were brought against Naboth, based on whose testimony that he “blasphemed God and the king,” he was condemned and stoned, and his vineyard was given into the king’s possession. But Jezebel's criminal deed outraged even Ahab's hard conscience. When the queen came to him with jubilant news that he would take for free that vineyard that Naboth did not want to give him for silver, then Ahab, having learned about the vile murder of an honest Israelite, “torn his clothes, put on sackcloth,” and only when he had already suppressed the voice of conscience in himself, “rose up to go to Naboth’s vineyard and take possession of it.” But there, on the threshold into the vineyard, he was met by the formidable Elijah with the words that made him tremble: “You killed, and are you still coming into the inheritance?” “Thus says the Lord: in the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, the dogs will lick your blood.” Puzzled and amazed by the appearance of this formidable avenger of truth at the very site of the bloody crime, Ahab could only say: “Have you found me, my enemy?” “I found it,” answered the prophet; “For you have given yourself over to doing evil in the sight of the Lord and to irritating Him,” and then pronounced a terrible sentence over the entire house of Ahab, who must perish, and the wicked Jezebel will be eaten by dogs outside the walls of Jezreel. Then Ahab's conscience awoke once again. After hearing this sentence, “he was moved before the Lord, walked and wept, tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his body, and fasted, and slept on sackcloth, and walked sadly.” As a result of such humility, the sentence was softened: it was supposed to fall not on him personally, but on his house, so that the kingdom would pass from him to his heir-son. In the last years of his reign, Ahab was busy mainly with two great wars with Syria 229. His important victories in the first of these wars were, as it were, a sign of acceptance of his repentance in the murder of Naboth. The Syrian king Benhadad II came out against him with 32 allied princes and besieged Samaria, demanding vassal submission from Ahab. But when the arrogant Benhadad demanded that he hand over his wife and children, Ahab refused him, using the proverb: “Let not the one who girds himself boast like the one who girds himself.” One prophet promised him victory, and indeed, when Benhadad, who had ordered the destruction of Samaria, carefreely feasted with his princely allies and got drunk, Ahab made a successful foray, defeated the enemy and sent him into disorderly flight with the drunken king at his head. A year later, however, the war resumed, since Ben-hadad attributed his defeat to the fact that the God of Israel is the God of the mountains, not the valleys, and therefore, if he was defeated in the mountainous areas, he would probably be victorious in the valleys, where he sent his army. But in the valleys Benhadad suffered an even greater defeat. In the battle near the city of Afek, he lost 100,000 infantry. The rest wanted to take refuge behind the fortified walls of this city, but another 27,000 people crushed them under the collapsed wall. There was only one outcome left for Ben-hadad - to surrender to the mercy of Ahab, which he did with his military leaders. Ahab received the resigned king with honor, spared his life under the condition of returning all the cities he had conquered and granting the king of Israel the right to have a special quarter in the city of Damascus for the Israelis to stay. This extraordinary partnership with the enemy of the Promised Land, whom he should have subjected to exemplary punishment in order to intimidate its other enemies, aroused the indignation of the prophets, one of whom appeared to Ahab, all beaten and with ashes on his head and with a visual parable, reproached the king for his unreasonable softness. Ahab returned to Samaria in displeasure. Peace with Syria lasted for three years; but Benhadad, apparently, did not return the conquered cities, as a result of which a new war with him became inevitable. Ahab decided to take by force the important city of Ramoth-gilead from the Syrians, but to ensure success he called for help from his ally Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, who had previously become related to him and now came to visit him. The pious Jehoshaphat did not dare to undertake such a dangerous undertaking without asking the will of God through the prophets. Ahab presented him with 400 prophets who unanimously predicted a brilliant victory for the allies, and one of them, Zedekiah, even made himself iron horns to clearly show how Ahab would “gore the Syrians until they are destroyed.” But through the mouths of all these prophets the “lying spirit” spoke. Only honest Micah openly predicted the impending defeat and death, but for this truthful prediction the horned Zedekiah hit him on the cheek, and Ahab ordered him to be put in prison with a strict order to “feed him scantly with bread and sparingly with water” until the king returned from the campaign in peace and with victorious triumph. However, Micah's words forced Ahab to take some precautions. He took off his royal robe so as not to be particularly noticeable to the enemy, insidiously giving Jehoshaphat alone the honor of wearing royal clothes during the battle. Benhadad ordered his cavalry to direct all his strength against the enemy king, and the Syrian cavalry rushed at Jehoshaphat with such irresistible force that he was saved only by a desperate cry: “I am not Ahab!” Meanwhile, despite all precautions, Ahab was mortally wounded by an arrow from an enemy bow. Out of the heat of battle, he was taken out in a chariot and died. When he fell, the Israeli army wavered and fled. The king's body was brought to Samaria and buried there, and when the bloody chariot was washed in the pond of Samaria, the dogs licked Ahab's blood, as Elijah had predicted to him. Jehoshaphat, meanwhile, returned unharmed to Jerusalem, repenting of his foolish alliance with the wicked king. He humbly listened to the reproach from the prophet Jehu for this union and with deeds of piety he wanted to atone for his offense. But its harmful consequences were not slow to affect even after that. The news of his defeat spread throughout all the surrounding nations, and the Ammonites and Moabites did not fail to take advantage of this misfortune, who decided to take revenge on the Israelites for their previous submission to them. Having united with other neighboring tribes, they formed a strong alliance against the king of Judah and made an invasion of the area rich in gardens near Engedi, west of the Dead Sea. The pious Jehoshaphat resorted to the highest help: he declared a fast throughout the country and turned to God with fiery prayer. His prayer was heard. Discord occurred between the enemy allies, they attacked each other, and the Jews took advantage of the rich booty in the camp they had left. The alliance between the two Jewish kingdoms continued, however, during the short reign of Ahab's son and successor Ahaziah 230 . He followed his father and his mother in everything, “doing evil in the sight of the Lord.” Having fallen one day from the balcony of his upper room, he sent ambassadors to the Philistine city of Ekron to ask the god Beelzebub, famous for his healing powers, whether he would recover from the bruise. Then Elijah appeared again, who, having met the ambassadors, said to them: “Is there no God in Israel, that you are going to ask Beelzebub, the deity of Akron? For this reason the Lord says: from the bed on which you (Ahaziah) lay down, you will not leave it, but you will die.” He said and left. The frightened ambassadors returned to the capital and reported to the king. The enraged king ordered Elijah to be seized and brought to him. Two detachments of troops of 50 men each approached him on the mountain, but both were destroyed by heavenly fire. Only at the request of the pious centurion of the third detachment did Elijah agree to leave his impregnable refuge, appear to the king and fearlessly repeat his formidable prediction before him. And soon Ahaziah died, leaving no direct heir, and his brother Joram reigned in his place. At the same time, the earthly career of the great prophet also ended 231. Anticipating the end of his earthly life, the prophet Elijah wanted to end it alone with God, and for this purpose he tried several times to separate from his inseparable companion and servant Elisha. But Elisha himself was aware that something extraordinary was about to happen to his great teacher, and he did not leave him. Having crossed the Jordan near Jericho, which at the wave of Elijah’s mantle parted before the prophets, the latter finally revealed to his companion and disciple that he “will be taken from him,” and said to him: “Ask what you can do before I am taken from you.” Elisha answered: “Let the spirit that is in you be doubly on me.” Elisha asked for too much, but he was given what he asked in part. As they walked further, “suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared, and separated them both, and Elijah rushed into heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha looked and exclaimed: My father, my father! the chariot of Israel and his cavalry! - and didn’t see him anymore.” In grief at being separated from his beloved teacher, he tore his clothes and picked up Elijah's fallen mantle in its place. With it on his way back he divided the waters of the Jordan; The prophets who met him recognized him as the spiritual successor of Elijah and bowed to him to the ground. On the way to Bethel, he was greeted with ridicule by the children from that city, who, apparently following the example of their wicked parents, mocked the prophet, shouting to him: “Go, you bald one, go, you bald one!” For this, as a punishment and warning to wicked parents, forty-two of these children were torn to pieces by she-bears emerging from the neighboring forest, and Elisha went to Mount Carmel, so that there, in this favorite refuge of his great teacher, in solitary communion with God, he could strengthen his prophetic spirit. Then, from there he headed to Samaria, where Ahab’s youngest son Joram reigned. XLII. Successors of Ahab. Prophet Elisha, Naaman the Syrian. Death of the House of Ahab Joram, the tenth king of Israel, 232, although the son of the wicked Ahab and Jezebel, was brought up under the influence of his father’s final trials, which forced him to humble himself before God more than once, as a sign of which, perhaps, he gave the very name to his son Joram, or more fully – Jehoram, which means: “great is Jehovah.” He ascended the throne in the 18th year of the reign of Jehoshaphat of Judah, with whom he maintained an alliance that was beneficial to him. Probably, under the influence of the pious Jehoshaphat, he destroyed the most vile institutions of idolatry in his kingdom, such as, for example, the statue of Baal made by his father, although, in general, he also “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, holding on to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.” At first he had to wage war with the Moabite king Mesa. This king of a strong and wealthy people, who owned numerous herds of all kinds of livestock, was a tributary of the kings of Israel and paid them tribute “of a hundred thousand sheep and a hundred thousand unshorn rams.” Noticing the weakness of the kingdom of Israel, he broke away from it and stopped paying tribute, as a result of which a war against it became necessary. This war, which Joram undertook in alliance with Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom, ended in his favor, and precisely thanks to the wise advice of Elisha, who from that time on has been a prominent figure in the kingdom of Israel. The ditches made on his advice led the Moabites into a disastrous error for them, as a result of which they were unexpectedly caught and defeated by the Israelites. Fleeing, Mesa and the remnants of his army locked themselves in the city of Kir-Hareshet, impregnable due to its elevated position. But when there, too, the Israeli arrows from the surrounding heights began to wreak havoc in the city and the city itself began to suffer an extreme need for food, then Mesa, in despair, in order to appease the gods, wanted to sacrifice his own heir-son. This caused such indignation among the Israelites that they retreated from the city and stopped the war 233. Meanwhile, after the death of Jehoshaphat, his son Moram reigned in the kingdom of Judah, 234 so that in both Jewish kingdoms there were kings of the same name who continued to maintain an alliance with each other. The harmful consequences of such an alliance were reflected with particular force in the person of this king. Having married the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, Athaliah, he succumbed to the influence of his bloodthirsty wife, upon ascending the throne he beat all his brothers and, with his indiscretion and vile life, brought a whole series of disasters to his kingdom. The Edomites rebelled against him and took the main trading port on the Red Sea - Elath; The Philistines and Arabians invaded his country, even attacked his palace, captured his wives and beat his sons. He himself died from an ugly and painful disease - in such contempt that he was not even worthy of burial in the tomb of the kings. He was succeeded by his son Ahaziah 235, who continued his friendship with Joram of Israel, whose history from that time on is closely connected with the history of the prophet Elisha, as a worthy bearer of the great spirit of his teacher Elijah. Already in the war with the Moabites, Elisha rendered an irreplaceable service to the allied kings, which glorified his name in both kingdoms. But then begins a series of amazing miracles that fill the entire reign of Joram. While still in Jericho, he miraculously purified the malignant water of one spring that caused infertility; then he multiplied the oil in the poor widow's vessel, making it possible to pay off the debt of her late husband, for which the lender threatened to take her two sons as slaves to himself; in Sonam he delivered one rich woman from infertility, from whom he enjoyed hospitality, and resurrected her dead son; destroyed the destructive properties of poisonous herbs that accidentally fell into the food of the prophetic disciples in Gilgal; miraculously nourished a hundred people with twelve barley loaves and several green ears of corn and caused an ax that had fallen into the Jordan to float to the surface of the water. The fame of these miracles spread not only throughout Palestine, but also beyond its borders, and this served as the occasion for one of the most remarkable events in the life of Elisha. When, after the division of the Jewish people into two hostile kingdoms, its political power weakened, the various peoples conquered by the autocratic kings broke away from them and formed independent states. One of the most powerful was the kingdom of Syria, with its capital - ancient Damascus. The kings of this newly formed state soon became so powerful that they entered into struggle even with the formidable kings of Assyria, and depending on the circumstances, they were either friends or hostiles with the neighboring kingdoms of Israel and Judah, which sometimes called on them for help in their mutual wars. These constant relations, naturally, brought them closer to each other in other respects - in trade and even religious, so that the influence of the Israeli prophets was felt in Damascus. And so it happened that the main military commander of the Syrian king Naaman, on whose military genius the entire strength of the state rested in those turbulent times, was struck by leprosy, a terrible and disgusting disease that plunged into grief not only Naaman himself, but also the king, Benhadad 236. The disease was considered incurable, and the ill-fated commander was left in grief and despair to lay down his glorious armor. At this time, among the slaves who served Naaman's wife, there was one Israelite girl, captured by the Syrians in one of those unexpected raids that were a common occurrence in hostile relations between neighboring states. Struck by the misfortune of her great master, she, with childish intelligence, remembered the prophet Elisha, the fame of whose miracles resounded throughout the kingdom of Israel, and told her mistress that this prophet would undoubtedly heal Naaman if only he could turn to him. Since popular rumors about the Israeli prophet undoubtedly reached Damascus, Naaman’s grief-stricken wife, with a ray of hope flashing in her soul, reported this to her husband, and through him to the king himself. Delighted at the opportunity to somehow console his famous commander, Ben-hadad wrote an official letter to Joram, with whom he was on peaceful terms at that time, and asked him to provide all the assistance he could in the enterprise, and included large gifts of ten talents of silver and 6,000 shekels of gold, in addition to ten changes of clothes. With this letter, Naaman, accompanied by a brilliant retinue and an armed convoy, set off for Samaria. Benhadad, as a pagan, wrote a letter in a purely pagan spirit, not even mentioning the prophet, but directly expressing the desire that the king of Israel himself would take care of this. But Joram, struck by such a strange request, saw in this only a pretext on the part of Benhadad to begin military action against him, and out of irritation and fear he even tore his clothes. Then the prophet Elisha himself rescued him from this difficulty, and sent the king to tell him to send a noble foreigner to him, and the latter would know “that there is a prophet in Israel.” Naaman actually went to the house of the prophet, but through ignorance of the ritual laws of the Jewish religion he almost ruined the whole matter. Elisha, as a strict Jew, could not approach the leper, and therefore sent only his servant to Naaman with instructions. Accustomed to Eastern self-worship, Naaman could not understand and tolerate such a disdainful attitude towards his high-ranking personality. Moreover, the very remedy proposed by the prophet seemed to him almost a mockery. The Prophet, through his servant, ordered him to go to the Jordan River and bathe in it seven times. Puzzled by this, in his opinion, strange proposal, the arrogant Naaman openly expressed his indignation and said to his entourage: “I thought that he would go out and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and lay his hand on that place, and remove the leprosy.” But he sent only some servant and ordered him to simply bathe in this muddy Jordan! “Are not Avana and Farfar, the rivers of Damascus (with their clear waters), better than all the waters of Israel?” Angered by all this, Naaman turned away from the prophet's house and went back. But, fortunately, among his retinue there were people who knew how to calm the anger of their master. They told him that the prophet demands only very little, and that if he probably would have done much more for his healing, then why should he not fulfill this simple proposal of the prophet, which seems offensive only because of its extraordinary simplicity. Convinced by these arguments, Naaman agreed and headed to the Jordan, which was located about forty miles from Samaria. And so, when he actually bathed seven times in the sacred river of the Israeli people, “his body was renewed like the body of a little child, and he was cleansed.” Delighted by such a miraculous healing, Naaman immediately went back to Samaria, to the house of the prophet, to express his deepest gratitude to him and offered him rich gifts. Now the prophet personally came out to meet him, although the honor of Jehovah forbade him to accept gifts, so that it would not seem to Naaman that the healing was carried out by the corrupt magic of pagan priests, as happened in Damascus. This selflessness amazed Naaman even more, and a complete religious revolution took place in his soul. “So I learned that there is no God in all the earth except Israel. “Your servant will no longer offer burnt offerings or sacrifices to other gods besides the Lord,” cried Naaman.” In order to worthily worship the true God, Naaman even asked Elisha for permission to take with him the sacred land of Israel, on which he could make burnt offerings to Jehovah in his Damascus. At the same time, however, Naaman asked for leniency towards himself as an official, since, due to the duties of his position, he would have to be present at the idolatry of his king and outwardly also bow before the Syrian idol Rimmon. “May the Lord forgive your servant in this case!” he spoke to the prophet. His heart was devoted to the Lord, but circumstances demanded from him at least external, formal idolatry. Elisha saw the sincerity of his heart and answered only to him: “Go in peace.” And Naaman actually went back to his country with peace and a spark of true faith in his good, regenerated soul, and his leprosy passed on to the prophet’s selfish servant, Gehazi, who wanted to deceive him to take advantage of at least part of those rich gifts that the prophet himself had refused. Given the usual hostility of the ancient states, even the miraculous healing of Naaman was not enough to strengthen peaceful relations between the kings of Syria and Israel, and soon war broke out between them. In this war, the prophet Elisha again provided important services to Joram, giving him such wise advice that they frustrated all the enemy’s military plans. Annoyed by this, Benhadad the Syrian sent a detachment of his army to surround the city of Dophain, located not far from Samaria, and capture Elisha, who was there 237. But the army was struck by blindness and was led into Samaria, although the prophet did not allow it to be exterminated and ordered the king to release the soldiers with refreshments. However, Samaria was heavily surrounded by the enemy on all sides. The cost of living supplies became unusually high, so that “a donkey’s head was sold for 80 shekels of silver, and a quarter of a cabbage of pigeon dung for five shekels of silver.” Two women, in desperate pangs of hunger, agreed to kill their children in turn for food, and one of them came with a complaint to the king in order to force her friend to fulfill the terrible condition. Hearing about this, the king in despair tore his clothes and put on sackcloth, in which he walked along the walls of the capital. Joram already wanted to take revenge on this terrible disaster on Elisha, as the prophet predicted the quick deliverance of the capital from the siege and the unexpected abundance and cheapness of life supplies. The prediction was completely justified. Four unfortunate lepers, no longer able to bear the pangs of hunger, decided in desperation to go to the Syrian camp, saying: “Why should we sit here, waiting for death? Let us better go to the Syrian camp. If they leave us alive, we will live, and if they kill us, we will die.” But as they approached the enemy camp, to their extraordinary amazement, they found it abandoned, with all the rich supplies of life supplies. In the distance, only echoes of the disorderly flight of the Syrians could be heard, who, as it turned out, hearing the noise of the approaching army and thinking that it was the formidable army of the Egyptian king who had come to the rescue of Samaria, were struck by sudden panic and fled. Rich spoils rewarded the inhabitants of Samaria for the suffering they endured. One dignitary, who did not believe the prophet’s prediction, saw the fulfillment of this prediction, but he himself did not take advantage of the spoils, as the prophet had predicted to him, because he was crushed at the city gates by the people who rushed to collect the spoils. After this event, the prophetic glory of Elisha spread far beyond the borders of the kingdom of Israel, so that Benhadad the Syrian himself, during his illness, sent the military commander Hazael to him to ask about the outcome of this illness. The prophet, having revealed to Hazael the imminent death of the king, at the same time predicted to him with tears that, unfortunately for the Israelites, he would be the king of Syria. And indeed, the next day Hazael strangled Benhadad with a soaked blanket and proclaimed himself king of Syria. The kings of Israel and Judah wanted to take advantage of this coup in order to regain Ramoth Gilead, which still remained under the rule of the Syrians. King Ahaziah of Judah so submitted to the influence of his wicked mother Athaliah (daughter of Ahab and Jezebel) and his uncle Joram of Israel that idolatry to Baal and Ashtoreth was established in the kingdom of Judah. But the seat of Ahab's grandson on the throne of David overflowed the measure of God's long-suffering, and therefore this military enterprise of the Jewish kings should have served as a reason for the punishment of both of them, as representatives of the house of Ahab. Joram was wounded at the very beginning of the war and returned to Jezreel, where Ahaziah also went to visit the sick man. Elisha, meanwhile, in fulfillment of the will of God, sent one of the prophetic disciples to anoint the kingdom of Jehu, the military commander of the king of Israel. Having learned about this, the army also proclaimed him king. Without hesitating any longer, Jehu, distinguished by his amazing horsemanship and indomitable spirit, dashingly rushed to Jezreel to consolidate his kingdom. He met both kings in the vineyard of Naboth, that terrible proof of the vile bloodthirstiness of the house of Ahab. During Elijah's menacing prediction to Ahab, Jehu was with him in this very vineyard and now hastened to fulfill this prediction. Drawing his bow, he shot Joram, who was sitting in the chariot, and ordered his body to be thrown out on Naboth's property to be devoured by dogs. Ahaziah fled to escape to Samaria; but was overtaken and also killed. The aged Jezebel, hearing about the confusion, wanted to ward off disaster from herself with the charms of her faded, rouged beauty,” but Jehu ordered the eunuchs to throw her out the window from her high chamber. “And they threw it away. And her blood splashed on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled on her” 238. Jehu, however, ordered “to bury her cursed, since she is the king’s daughter,” but nothing was found from her except the skull, legs and hands. Her body was eaten by dogs, as predicted by Elijah. Without knowing the limits of his jealousy, Jehu demanded the heads of 70 sons of Ahab from the elders of Samaria. On the way to Samaria, having met 42 relatives of Ahaziah, who, not knowing anything about what had happened, were going to visit the sons of Ahab, he also killed all of them, justifying his bloodthirsty cruelty with the decree of God. In Judah the dominion of the house of Ahab was continued for another six years by the seizure of the throne by Athaliah; but she accelerated her death by the complete extermination of the royal family, from which only one newborn son of Ahaziah Joash, hidden from the fury of his wicked grandmother by his aunt Josabeth, was saved. Her husband, the high priest Jehoiada, secretly raised him at the church and in the seventh year proclaimed him king. Upon learning of this, Athaliah screamed: “Conspiracy, conspiracy!” but was immediately killed. With her death the last branch of the house of Ahab perished, “and all the people of the earth rejoiced, and the city was calm.” The high priest Jehoiada took advantage of this to awaken the religious and moral conscience of the people, solemnly “concluded a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people,” and the joyful people “went to the house of Baal, and destroyed his altars, and his images were completely broken, and Matthan, the priest of Baal, was killed in front of the altars,” after which the order of true worship in the church was restored. Thus, with the destruction of the wicked house of Ahab, his wicked deeds were partly destroyed. XLIII. King Jehu of Israel and his successors. Prophet Jonah. The fall of the kingdom of Israel and the dispersion of the ten tribes. Righteous Tobit With the destruction of the house of Ahab in both kingdoms, hope arose for the restoration of true religion in them, jealousy for which was initially shown by the rulers of both kingdoms. But this hope was not destined to be fully realized. Jehu of Israel was too bloodthirsty for this holy deed, 239 and Joash of Judah was still young. True, Jehu showed himself to be a zealous executor of the will of God upon ascending the throne, and with his usual cruelty, having gathered the prophets of Baal under the guise of a solemn worship service, he killed them at the very sacrifice, smashed the idol and desecrated and destroyed its church; but he himself, nevertheless, could not completely free himself from the wicked policy of Jeroboam and therefore did not want to completely abandon idolatry. Therefore, although for the zeal he showed, the dynasty he founded was promised stability until the fourth generation (his dynasty reigned for 111 years), but it was during his reign that the general fall of the kingdom of Israel began, which, as not justifying the highest intentions of God, from that time “the Lord began to cut off in parts,” giving them to foreigners, and especially to Hazael of Syria, who under Jehu took possession of the entire Trans-Jordan country. After the 28-year reign of Jehu, he was succeeded by his son Jehoahaz, 240 who, for his devotion to idolatry, was also attacked by the Syrians and got rid of them only by his fiery prayer. The mercy of God, however, did not heal all the ulcers of his conscience and state, and he transferred the throne to his no more pious successor - his son Joash 241. Under this king, the prophet Elisha died 242. When he was approaching death and lay on his sick bed, King Joash visited him and, fully appreciating the importance of the great prophet in the state, wept over his bed, saying the very words with which Elisha himself said goodbye to Elijah who ascended to heaven: “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and his horses!” To console the king, Elisha told him to shoot an arrow into the ground as a sign that he had defeated the Syrians. Joash fired only three arrows and stopped, not believing in the possibility of winning more than three victories over the Syrians. If he had more faith and trust in the omnipotence of God, he would have completely overthrown them, the dying prophet remarked to him. But with three victories over Benhadad, the son of Hazael, Joash returned the possessions taken from his father, and humbled the arrogance of the Jewish king Amaziah. During his reign, Elisha's last miracle took place. A year after the death of the prophet, the Moabites raided the land of Israel. At this very time they were carrying the dead man to burial. Frightened by the raid, the bearers threw the body into the first tomb they came across, which turned out to be the tomb of Elisha, and from contact with the bones of the wonderworker, the dead man came to life and stood up. Joash's successor was his son Jeroboam II, one of the most remarkable kings of the kingdom of Israel 243. He reigned for 41 years and during this long period managed to temporarily restore the power and splendor of his state. He was a warlike king, and, first of all, he directed his weapons against the predatory enemies of his kingdom, the Moabites and Ammonites, who, taking advantage of the turmoil of the kingdom of Israel, began to plunder it again. To punish them, the Israeli regiments crossed the Jordan, took Rabbah, the capital of Ammon, burned it and captured the king himself and his most important dignitaries. A similar fate befell the Moabites. After the Israelites retreated from Kir-Hareshet, the capital of Moab, Mesa, of course, again continued to refuse tribute to the Israelites, and then even began making predatory raids on Israeli land. Now the Moabites had to suffer due punishment. Jeroboam II, in alliance with the Edomites, made a formidable invasion of them. Their cities were destroyed, and the cry of the population rang throughout the desert. Happy was the one who, at least naked, fled into the desert and was saved from death. Everyone who had time fled to the mountains, but many were killed or sold into slavery. The very vineyards, fields and pastures were burned out and destroyed. Having humbled these small predatory peoples, Jeroboam II also spoke out against the more powerful enemies of his kingdom, namely the Syrians, and achieved brilliant success in this regard. Even Damascus, the capital of Syria, bowed before his power, which he forced to surrender. In this regard, Shalmaneser II of Assyria provided him with unexpected help, who constrained the Syrian king from the east, taking from him a huge indemnity, which undermined the strength of the state. After these victories, Jeroboam II had no strong rivals in the east. Only Phenicia remained in the northwest; but this country was also exhausted from internal strife. The internecine wars, which finally forced the famous princess Elissa to flee, who, under the name of Dido, became famous as the founder of the famous Phoenician colony in northern Africa, namely Carthage, undermined the power of Tire, which also fell under the rule of Shalmaneser II. As for the kingdom of Judah, its king Ahaziah maintained peace with Jeroboam II, as a result of which friendly relations were established between both kingdoms, and Jerusalem and Samaria competed only in the field of peaceful industry and trade. As a result, the material well-being of the state reached a high level. Samaria became rich from military spoils and trade. Magnificent houses rose everywhere, the interior walls of which, in imitation of Ahab's palace, were sheathed with ivory tiles brought from Africa by the Phoenicians. The rooms were filled with luxurious furniture, decorated with the same expensive material. There were special cool houses for the hot season, and warm houses for the winter. The adjacent mountain slopes were covered with excellent vineyards. All the rich plains east and west of the Jordan were sown with various types of crops, and sowers and reapers were visible everywhere - each in his own time. Rich people of both sexes shone with exquisite luxury; but at the same time, the majority of the population was in need and poverty. While the wealth of the few increased, the mass of the population became increasingly poor. The vast majority of the population no longer had their own land, which, as a result of the general violation of the laws of Moses, passed into the hands of the rich, and the people were forced to live only on wages for cultivating someone else's land, which reduced them to the level of slaves. Already from the last circumstance it is clear that all the external successes of Jeroboam II did not have a strong guarantee for themselves in a religious and moral sense, since in general he adhered to the same direction that was outlined by the first king of the Israeli people, Jeroboam I. The state religion still remained the worship of Jehovah, but under the pagan symbol in the form of a sacred calf. In Bethel, the religious capital of the state, there was a special church with many priests and magnificent rituals. The attempt made to cleanse religion of the grossest growths of paganism was unsuccessful, and idolatry invaded from all sides. Even the idolatry of Baal, so zealously eradicated by Jehu, was again established in various cities of the country. In Samaria itself there were several churches. It was reopened in the capital and church of Asher. Women, following the example of idolatrous peoples, brought incense before the shameful symbols of the goddess and performed riotous festivities. Images of Baal, made of gold and silver, were even erected by private individuals. The smoke of idol sacrifices smoked on the mountain heights, and idolatry was performed in sacred oak groves. The Promised Land was again desecrated by the shamelessness of the pagan cult. Girls and women forgot feminine honor and became harlots at the churches. All this showed that the power of evil had finally established itself in the kingdom of Israel, and the brilliant reign of Jeroboam II was only the last and, moreover, illusory flowering before complete withering. This is exactly what happened after the death of this king. After his relatively comfortable reign, the kingdom of Israel again plunged into terrible turmoil, during which the throne was replaced by a number of regicide-usurpers, who in turn became victims of subsequent usurpers. As a result, the power of the state quickly fell, and it naturally strove for destruction, and meanwhile in the east, beyond the great river Euphrates, the great Assyrian monarchy quickly grew and developed, amassing forces to conquer the world. The Assyrian monarchy, after a temporary weakening, thanks to which David could extend the rule of the Israelites as far as the Euphrates River, again began to rapidly develop its political power. A number of famous conquering kings appeared on the Assyrian throne in the capital of the monarchy, Nineveh, who began to undertake long campaigns. They dealt the first blow to the Syrian kingdom, which was supposed to lay down its arms before the formidable conquerors. The same fate then awaited the kingdom of Israel. But God still wanted to extend his long-suffering towards him, and since the people of Israel no longer had sufficient military forces to resist the conquerors, their salvation remained only in moral strength, and so the representative of this very force appeared the prophet Jonah, who was sent to preach humility and repentance to the Ninevites. The influence of the prophets of the Israeli people had previously extended beyond the borders of their possessions and was recognized even in hostile Syria, but now the power of the inspired word of Jehovah’s messengers had to be recognized by the inhabitants of the distant, proud capital of powerful Assyria. Even the prophet himself was afraid of this messenger and wanted to secretly flee to Tarshish, a distant Phoenician colony in Spain; but during a storm, exposed by the sailors of his sin and thrown into the sea by lot, he was devoured by a large sea fish, and only after being thrown ashore by it did he go to his destination. Nineveh at this time was at the height of its power and wealth. It was one of the greatest cities of antiquity. Its walls rose menacingly by almost fifteen fathoms and were so wide that three chariots could gallop along them side by side, and they were protected by 1,555 towers, each up to thirty fathoms high. The space it occupied was at least a hundred miles in circumference. As for the population, it can be judged by the fact that there were 120,000 of these babies who did not yet know how to distinguish their right hand from their left. As a pagan city, Nineveh was distinguished by excessive pride and wickedness, and so the Israeli prophet had to teach her a lesson in humility and piety. And his preaching was a complete success. The Ninevites humbled themselves and repented, recognizing in Jonah the messenger of some “unknown God,” whom, however, the pagans revered. The details of this famous journey of the prophet Jonah are described in his book, namely in the “book of the prophet Jonah.” Thus, for a time, the danger of foreign conquest was turned away from the kingdom of Israel and the opportunity was provided for repentance and correction. But the evil in him finally triumphed. After Jeroboam II comes a series of kings (Zechariah, Sellum, Menahem, Phakiah, Pekah), who quickly succeed one after another on the throne in Samaria, marking their short-term reign with wickedness and bloodthirstiness, increasingly weakening their kingdom and preparing its inevitable destruction. But even then the Lord still did not leave His people without moral encouragement and sent prophets who, with their preaching, reminded of the trampled law and with their prophecies warned of the coming wrath of God. Such were the prophets Amos (the shepherd of Tekoa) and Hosea dating back to this time. They had already clearly predicted the impending captivity, and although they softened this terrible prediction with a prophecy of deliverance, in their prophecies one could hear an inconsolable cry about the impending fate. Addressing the people of Israel, the prophet Hosea spoke thus on behalf of God: “My people have become stagnant in falling away from Me, and although they are called to things above, they do not rise up with one accord. How will I deal with you, Ephraim? How can I betray you, Israel? Will I do to you as I did to Adma, will I do to you what I did to Adma 244. My heart has turned in Me; all my pity was kindled.” Terrible natural disasters, such as the earthquake predicted by the prophet Amos, also served as dire warnings to the people. But it was all in vain. Impiety and untruth filled the cup of God’s patience, and then the Lord allowed the formidable conqueror to put an end to the kingdom of Israel. Under Menaim, the 17th king of Israel, the first invasion of the Assyrians took place, who imposed a heavy tribute on the Israelites; under Pekah, the 19th king, the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pelassar, having conquered the kingdom of Syria, at the same time conquered the entire eastern side of the Jordan, and took captive the inhabitants of the Trans-Jordanian tribes. But then, a few years later, a similar fate befell all the other tribes of the kingdom of Israel. This was under Hoshea, the last, 20th king of Israel, who, like his predecessors, achieved the throne through regicide 245. When he refused to pay tribute to the Assyrians, he caused the invasion of Shalmaneser, who decided to punish him for the rebellion. Then, in desperation, Hosea, contrary to the direct prohibition of the Law of Moses, resorted to the help of Egypt. At this time, the rivalry between these great eastern monarchies was revealed with particular force, and at the court in Samaria there was a party that saw the only salvation from the Assyrians in an alliance with Egypt. But this alliance only irritated Shalmaneser even more and even frightened Hosea himself, who, in order to appease the formidable conqueror, rode out to meet him and thereby accelerated the fate of his kingdom. Shalmaneser “took the king into custody and imprisoned him in a prison house,” and then besieged Samaria 246. A desperate struggle ensued under the walls of this city, as is generally the case with the struggle of perishing peoples. The strong position made it possible for Samaria to hold out against the enemy for three years, so Shalmaneser himself died without waiting for the surrender of the stubborn capital, and the siege was ended, as Assyrian monuments show, by his son Sargon. He took Samaria in the ninth year of the reign of the unfortunate Hosea and on Assyrian monuments he arrogantly speaks about this: “I looked at Samaria and took it” 247. In order to completely weaken the country and deprive it of the possibility of an uprising, Sargon took a significant part of the Israelites into captivity and settled them within the Assyrian monarchy, where they were scattered among the various tribes of this huge monarchy, and in their place he resettled pagans in Palestine, from a mixture with which a mixed nation was formed, which later received the name Samaritans. Thus ended the kingdom of Israel. It existed for 257 years and had 20 kings, but not one of them was worthy of his high calling as a representative of the chosen people: all were idolaters and wicked traitors to the religion of Jehovah. “And the Lord was greatly angry with the Israelites, and cast them out from before him. There was no one left except the tribe of Judah.” But, despite the general spread of wickedness, among the people of Israel there were some righteous people who continued to strictly observe the laws of Moses and maintain the true religion. Such was the righteous Tobit from the tribe of Naphtali, who was not only distinguished by righteousness and piety in his native country, but did not abandon his pious lifestyle even in captivity in Nineveh. For his benefits to his poor fellow tribesmen, he was persecuted by the Assyrian government and then experienced a series of trials that ended with the complete blessing of God for him and his descendants. The instructive story of the life of this righteous man is described in detail in the “book of Tobit,” which belongs to the non-canonical books of the Old Testament. XLIV. Kings of Judah Joash, Ahaz, Hezekiah and Manasseh. Prophet Isaiah. Transformative activity of King Josiah While the kingdom of Israel, which had finally rejected the law of God, was uncontrollably striving for inevitable destruction, accelerated by the increasing wickedness and idolatry of its rapidly successive kings, in the kingdom of Judah hope for a better future still shone from time to time. There, with the enthronement of the young Joash, the only surviving descendant of the Davidic family, under the beneficial influence of the high priest Jehoiada, the religious and moral revival of the people began 248. The young king fully followed the wise advice of the high priest, restored the church to its former splendor and, to streamline its income, made a cash box at the church gate for offerings. Divine services were carried out correctly there until the death of the high priest Jehoiada, which followed in the 23rd year of the reign of Joash. But with the death of the high priest, all good undertakings collapsed. The ruling princes of the Jews, who, apparently, with displeasure tolerated the influence of the high priest on the king, now tried to destroy this beneficial influence and openly began to set an example for the people of disdain for the church of Jehovah and idolatry, to which they persuaded the king himself. The prophet Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, courageously rebelled against such wickedness; but his voice was drowned out by a terrible crime, a murder, which, by order of the king, was committed against him in the very courtyard of the church, between the altar and the church (2 Chronicles 24:21; Matt. 23:35), - in the very place where the father of the prophet had once anointed the now forgotten Joash to the kingdom. Dying under a hail of stones, the prophet cried out: “Let the Lord see and seek!” And the Lord soon exacted the price of righteous blood. The kingdom was punished by the invasion of the Syrians, who, having destroyed many people and the princes of Judah, forced the treasures of the church to be handed over to themselves, and Joash, stricken with illness, was killed in bed by his entourage and was not even awarded burial in the common royal tomb, where the high priest Jehoiada was buried in his place. The next kings of Judah, Amaziah, Uzziah, and Jotham, present a strange duality in their character. Trying to be pious, they, at the same time, show extreme self-will and disrespect for the shrine, so that Uzziah even dared to arrogate to himself the priestly right to burn incense before the altar of incense, for which he was struck with leprosy. Nevertheless, they managed to raise the state to a fairly high degree of political power, and brought many neighboring Philistine cities and the Ammonites into tributary status. But this power was quickly destroyed again with the accession to the throne of the twelfth king of Judah - Ahaz, the son of the pious Jotham 249. He not only did not follow the example of his pious father, who fought against the growing wickedness and idolatry among the people, but he himself completely surrendered to the prevailing evil: he erected idols to Baal and sacrificed his own children to Molech in the Valley of Emmon, “imitating the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the children of Israel.” His punishment was the devastating invasion of the combined forces of the king of Syria and Israel (Pekah), who, having inflicted a terrible defeat on the Jewish army, which lost 120,000 people, along with rich booty, captured 200,000 wives, sons and daughters, although, according to the admonition of the prophet Oded, the prisoners were released. In addition, the kingdom of Judah was also attacked by the Edomites and Philistines, who, taking advantage of the unfortunate situation of the kingdom, took revenge on it for their previous humiliation from it and captured several fortified cities. But even this hard lesson did not bring Ahaz to his senses. Seeing himself in a hopeless situation, he did not think to seek the help of the only Helper of the chosen people, but decided to rely on powerful Assyria, thus becoming closer to the monarchy, which took every opportunity to conquer and absorb all neighboring states, both hostile and friendly to it. Ahaz did not retreat from this insane step even when the prophet Isaiah, who spoke at that time, seeing into the future, predicted with what disaster this union threatened the Jewish people, and passionately urged them to hold on to the only banner of salvation - faith in the one who had come, Emmanuel, which means God is with us. It was at this time that Isaiah uttered his famous prophecy: “Behold, a virgin will be with child and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel” 250. The alliance with the Assyrians contributed to the acceleration of the fall of the kingdom of Israel, but did not bring any benefit to Ahaz, although he humbly groveled before the powerful Tiglath-Pelassar II and gave him all his treasures, even robbing the temple of Jerusalem, which he then locked and thus stopped worship, establishing instead idolatry with disgusting altars to idols in all corners of Jerusalem. But the light of piety on the throne of David had not yet completely extinguished, and it flared up again in the person of Ahazov’s son and successor, Hezekiah 251. The difficult trials and disasters of the previous reign, as well as the preaching of the great prophet Isaiah, forced Hezekiah to remember the glorious example of his great ancestor David, this true “lamp of Israel.” With his accession to the throne, he decided to restore worship in the church and piety among the people. Having opened the deserted church and restored all liturgical order in it, Hezekiah, in order to revive the religious and moral consciousness of the people, decided to solemnly celebrate Easter, to which he invited not only his subjects, but also the inhabitants of the kingdom of Israel. Inspired by religious zeal, Hezekiah began to destroy all the altars and dens of idolatry, and even destroyed the copper serpent, which in the eyes of the ignorant people began to serve as an object of superstitious worship. Then, strong in faith and trust in God, he overthrew the Assyrian yoke assumed by his father Ahaz, expelled the predatory Philistines from the borders of his kingdom and with courage and hope met the terrible news of the invasion of the Assyrian king Sennacherib, who came out with a huge army to punish him for his disobedience. To save the country from devastation, Hezekiah tried to ward off the wrath of Sennacherib by paying him a war indemnity of 30 talents of gold and 300 talents of silver. But this only temporarily satisfied the angry conqueror, and he, having heard about Hezekiah’s relations with the Egyptian pharaoh Tirgak, decided to finally defeat the rebellious king of Judah, especially since the example of disobedience he gave found echoes in neighboring countries that also broke away from Assyria. And now the formidable army of Sennacherib has already besieged Jerusalem. But the city of David with its strongholds was impregnable. Then the Assyrian king began a regular siege of it. High towers were built around the city, from which shooters could harm residents. A magnificent pavilion was built for Sennarichim himself, from which the proud monarch, sitting on his brilliant throne, personally observed the siege and awaited the final victory. Hezekiah's position became hopeless and the fall of the city was inevitable. In this extremity, he again turned to the Lord with a fiery prayer and was consoled by the prophet’s assurance that his prayer had been heard and his state was safe. And indeed, the very next night some mysterious defeat occurred between the Assyrians, which befell not only all the bravest warriors, but also the commander-in-chief himself. The proud king himself had to hastily lift the siege and retreat, and returned to his state in shame. On the monuments he erected in Nineveh (now open and read), he describes this campaign in detail, even mentions the indemnity taken from Hezekiah, but out of understandable pride he is completely silent about his shameful retreat from the walls of Jerusalem. Upon his return to Nineveh, he was killed by his own sons. From the miraculous defeat under the walls of Jerusalem, the Assyrians lost 195,000 people, which greatly weakened the power of the kings of Assyria. God's favor towards Hezekiah was confirmed by another miraculous sign when, during his serious illness, the shadow of the sundial moved back ten steps - confirming Isaiah's prediction that he would recover from his illness. He actually recovered and received congratulations from Merodoch Baladan, the independent king of Babylon, through a magnificent embassy, ​​which probably included Chaldean sages who wanted to investigate the wonderful and mysterious phenomenon of the movement of the shadow for them. At the same time, this embassy probably also had in mind a political goal - to enter into an agreement with Hezekiah for the joint overthrow of the Assyrian yoke. Hezekiah received the embassy with extraordinary cordiality and revealed to him all his treasures, probably increased as a result of the rich booty left behind by the fleeing Sennacherib. For this careless vanity, which could arouse the greed of foreigners, the king received a reproach from the prophet Isaiah, accompanied by a warning about punishment. Internal turmoil in Assyria gave Hezekiah the opportunity to spend the remaining years of his reign in peace. His treasury was rich, the people also prospered. The king strengthened the cities and supplied Jerusalem with a new water supply system, and finally, after a 29-year reign, “Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him under the tombs of the sons of David, and after his death all the Jews and inhabitants of Jerusalem gave him honor.” With his death, both the historical glory and political independence of the kingdom of Judah ended. He was succeeded by Manasseh, whose unbelief and crimes mainly brought upon the Jews the strange calamities that awaited them. In the person of Manasseh, wild wickedness and unbelief reigned on the throne of David 252. Having ascended the throne as a 12-year-old boy, he completely fell under the influence of his worthless associates, who managed to instill in him all their bad qualities. Having come of age, Manasseh began to zealously restore idolatry and was the first to set an example of idolatry and the vices and superstitions associated with it. “Imitating the abominations” of the Canaanite peoples, he “made his son pass through the fire, and told fortunes, and cast spells, and brought in conjurers of the dead and magicians; I have done many things that are displeasing in the sight of the Lord to anger Him.” He completed his wickedness by placing the idol of Astarte, the goddess of debauchery and all uncleanness, in the very church of the Most High God! With all this, the king corrupted his people to the point that “they did worse than all the nations that the Lord destroyed from before the children of Israel.” Along with his wickedness, Manasseh was distinguished by bloodthirsty cruelty, and when the prophets began to denounce him, he shed “very much innocent blood, so that he filled Jerusalem with it from edge to edge.” Among other prophets, the venerable prophet Isaiah died a martyr’s death from his bloodthirsty hand; With him the word of the prophets fell silent, and only “dumb dogs” remained, as Isaiah sarcastically called the imaginary prophets who indulged in the vices of the wicked king. But God's patience was exhausted. To punish the royal wicked man, Esargaddon appeared, uniting Assyria and Babylonia under his rule. In the 22nd year of the reign of Manasseh, he besieged Jerusalem, took Manasseh captive and took him in chains to Babylon. The severity of his imprisonment awakened repentance in him; Upon his restoration to the throne, he tried to at least partially atone for his previous wickedness and restored worship in the church. His previous deeds, however, deprived him of the honor of burial in the royal tomb, and his name became hated by posterity. The dark time of the reign of Manasseh was marked by one valiant deed, which showed that faith in the Providence of God had not yet completely extinguished among the Israeli people and that among them there were still people strong in faith and, as its fruit, heroic selflessness in defense of the people. This is precisely the famous feat of Judith, recounted in the book named after her. According to this story, in the 18th year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, who reigned over the Assyrians in the great city of Nineveh, the Assyrian commander Holofernes invaded Palestine and, suspecting the remnants of the Israelis of treason, began to destroy everything with fire and sword. The same fate threatened the city of Bethulia, which blocked the path from the plain of Ezdrilon to Judea. Constrained by a strong siege, the inhabitants intended to surrender; but then Judith appeared, who, ashamed of the cowardice of her fellow citizens, decided to show them an example of ancient valor. Unarmed, she went to the enemy camp, and, having drunk Holofernes, who was carried away by her beauty, with wine, she cut off his head with her own hands, which she brought as a trophy to her fellow citizens; Meanwhile, the enemies, struck by the unexpected death of their commander, were horrified and fled Palestine in disarray. – This event, in all likelihood, dates back to the time of Manasseh’s captivity in Babylon, when Judea and the remnants of the Israeli people who joined it were under the control of the high priest Joachim. If so, then the name Nebuchadnezzar means Assurbanipal, who, being at that time the ruler of Babylon, could bear the name Nebuchadnezzar as a title, in honor of the Babylonian god Nabu 253. His son Amon, who succeeded him, 254, imitating in everything the example of his wicked father, reigned for only two years and fell victim to the conspiracy of his entourage, clearing a place for his young but worthy son Josiah. Josiah ascended the throne at the age of eight and reigned for 31 years 255. One of the most glorious pages in Biblical history is associated with his name. The last glow of the fading “lamp of Israel” seemed to flare up in his face. The time of his childhood was marked by the darkest reign of corruption and godlessness; but already in the eighth year of his reign, at the age of 16, Josiah “began to resort to the God of David his father,” and in the twelfth year of his reign he directly began to destroy idolatry, and not only within his kingdom, but also other tribes. By his command and in his personal presence, “the altars of Baal and the statues that towered over them were destroyed everywhere; and the dedicated trees he cut down; and he broke the carved and cast idols, and smashed them into dust, and scattered them on the tombs of those who offered sacrifices to them. And he burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and cleansed not only Judea and Jerusalem, but also the land of Israel 256. Then, upon returning to Jerusalem, he began to restore and cleanse the church. This pious deed culminated in an extremely important event. The high priest Hilkiah, under whose leadership the restoration and cleansing of the church was carried out, found there “the book of the law of the Lord, given by the hand of Moses.” When the pious king began to read this long-forgotten law, he was horrified at the sight of how far the life of the chosen people had deviated from the commandments of God and what terrible wrath of God awaited for this. In despair, he tore his clothes and turned to the prophetess Huldana (the second prophetess after Deborah) with a request to explain to him the meaning of many incomprehensible passages of the law that amazed him. Convinced from her explanation of the inevitability of God's righteous wrath for wickedness and mercy for himself for pious zeal, Josiah convened a national assembly and ordered the priests to read to him the open book of the law, and then, solemnly renewing the people's covenant with God, he set about eradicating the remnants of idolatry with even greater zeal. He himself went to Bethel, where Jeroboam first introduced idolatry, which later infected the entire promised land, and by destroying there not only all the paraphernalia of the pagan cult, but also the priests themselves, he exactly fulfilled the prediction made about him to Jeroboam. Upon returning to Jerusalem, Josiah celebrated the Passover, according to the decree of the newly discovered law, and with such solemnity with which it was no longer celebrated until the fall of the kingdom. In view of all this, the kingdom of Judah seemed to be revived again to life and glory, especially since external political circumstances were temporarily favorable to this. The Assyrian monarchy finally fell, and the Babylonian monarchy emerged and strengthened in its place. The last Assyrian king Sarak 257, besieged in his capital Nineveh (about 625 BC) by the combined forces of Media, Babylonia and Egypt, seeing no other outcome, burned himself in the palace with all his wives and treasures. The friendship established by the previous kings was still maintained with Egypt, and Josiah could be plotting to restore the kingdom of David and Solomon. But the hour of the fall of the kingdom of Judah had already struck, and all of Josiah’s undertakings ended with his unfortunate death during a skirmish at Meggidon with the army of the Egyptian pharaoh Necho, whom he decided to hinder on his way to the Euphrates. “And he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. And all Judea and Jerusalem mourned Josiah,” who was almost the last and, after David, the best and most pious of the kings of Judah. The lamentable songs that accompanied the burial of Josiah became the historical property of the people and, collected in a special book, were used by the people for a long time. “Josiah and Jeremiah (the prophet) mourned in a lamentable song.” The reign of the pious Josiah was marked by the revival of prophecy, which had completely fallen silent under his two wicked predecessors. The activities of the prophets Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk and the greatest of them, Jeremiah, date back to this time. His prophetic activity began in the 13th year of the reign of Josiah. Although his name is mentioned only once in the history of the reign of Josiah, the entire content of his prophetic book proves that with his preaching he encouraged the king and the people in the matter of religious and moral transformation. In his fiery prophecies, he clearly predicted the approaching destruction and menacingly denounced that party in Jerusalem which, with the approaching political storm, wanted to seek salvation in an illegal alliance with Egypt. XLV. The fall of the kingdom of Judah. Prophet Jeremiah. Death of Jerusalem. Captivity of Babylon After the death of Josiah, the kingdom of Judah actually fell under the rule of Egypt, whose pharaoh Necho managed to raise the power of his state so much that even the Mesopotamian warriors trembled before him. He took possession of all of northern Syria, which made up the province of Assyria, and in order to keep it behind him, he built a military camp on the banks of the Orontes, near Imath. Having in mind the main enemy - Assyro-Babylonia, Pharaoh left the kingdom of Judah for a time without any attention. The Jews took advantage of this circumstance and, imagining themselves as still an independent state, began to elect a new king, who elected the fourth son of the late Josiah - Cellum 258, preferred to others probably because he was from the most beloved wife of the late king. Anointed king, Cellum, according to custom, received a new sacred name Joahaz - “supported by Jehovah.” But his reign lasted only until ambassadors arrived from Pharaoh Necho, announcing to the people the Pharaoh’s disfavor for this arbitrary choice and reminding them of his vassal position in relation to the Pharaoh. Resistance to the powerful warrior would have been useless, and Joahaz was taken captive - to the military camp of the pharaoh. From there, apparently, he was sent to Egypt, where he remained as a prisoner until his death. It would be better for him to die on the battlefield, like his father. He was an energetic and promising young man, “a young lion who began to walk among lions and learned to catch prey.” But the foreign ruler “put him in a cage on a chain and led him away to the fortress, so that his voice would no longer be heard on the mountains of Israel” (Jer. 19:6, 9). Speaking about his fate, the prophet Jeremiah exclaimed: “Do not cry for the deceased and do not regret him; but weep bitterly for him who goes into captivity, for he will never return, nor will he see his native country” (Jer. 22:10). In the place of the overthrown king, Pharaoh installed Eliakim 259, the second son of Josiah, under difficult conditions - the annual payment of a huge tribute. This protege of Pharaoh (renamed Joachim) undertook to pay his master one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold - an amount that was unbearable for the small kingdom of Judah, and all the more difficult because it was levied with merciless severity. But even this tribute did not limit the hardships of the people. The tsar himself, trying to live with royal pomp, also imposed new taxes on the people, which he collected with the help of military force. He built himself a new palace in Jerusalem and used the free labor of the people, who were forced to do so by force, for the construction. It is clear that such a king could only hasten the death of his state. All these disasters should have had an intelligible effect on the people and turned their gaze to the one true King of Israel; but alas, the evil of former idolatry had already poisoned the conscience of the people so much that in these very disasters they began to see vengeance on the part of the gods rejected under Josiah. It seemed to him that he was happier when he worshiped Baals and Ashtoreth. There were people who began to preach the restoration of paganism. “Let us, they said, burn incense to the goddess of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judea and in the streets of Jerusalem; because, they added, then we were full and happy, and did not see trouble” (Jer. 44:17). Joachim, of course, willingly joined this movement, and idolatry quickly began to take hold in the land again. In addition to Canaanite idols, Egyptian idols were also introduced. In the very basements of the Temple of Jerusalem, sacred animals were placed, the gods of the patron god of Joachim, Pharaoh, and incense was offered to them. At the northern gates of the church, women screamed about the disappearance of the Phoenician god Adonis, so that when they found him, they would indulge in the most shameless debauchery. Even worse, in the courtyard, between the portico and the sanctuary, pagan priests gathered, who, turning their faces to the east, idolized the rising sun as their god Baal. The gods in Judea became as numerous as the cities. Idols made of gold and silver, wood and stone were also worshiped in private homes. The heights of the hills were smoking from idolatrous sacrifices. The groves were desecrated by the shameful churches of Astarte. In the valley of Ginnomova, under the very walls of Jerusalem, the wild triumph of madmen was again heard, sacrificing their children to Moloch. In accordance with such a religious state, the moral state was equally terrible. The pages of the books of modern prophets are striking in their depiction of the abyss of the moral decline of society. Around the prophets Jeremiah, Baruch and Habakkuk there was still a small circle of people devoted to Jehovah, but they were powerless to stop the increasingly spreading flow of evil. For their loyalty to religion they were subjected to oppression and persecution. Life itself became a burden for them, and they would like to find refuge for themselves even somewhere in the wilds of the desert, just to get rid of evil. But the duty of service kept them in place. Some of the prophets and their followers had to endure severe persecution and suffering. Jeremiah was imprisoned in a block and thrown into an underground drainage pit turned into a prison, and was forced to flee from Judea to save his life; The prophet Uriah, for his denunciation of the king and the people, was also persecuted by Joachim, who wanted to put him to death. Fleeing from the king's vengeance, Uriah fled to Egypt, but at the request of Joachim, he was extradited by the Egyptian government and vilely killed in Jerusalem. Nature itself seemed to be indignant at the iniquities committed on earth, and the sky did not give rain, so that the country suffered a terrible drought, which, according to the explanation of the prophets, was precisely the punishment for iniquities. The Sabbath was not observed at all and this holy day was spent in the market, in trade and revelry. For all this, according to the prophets, the kingdom of Judah was to be subjected to the greatest disasters from external conquerors, and this is exactly what the alliance with Egypt will lead to. But such preaching only made the preacher-prophets themselves even more hated by the people, who despised them and persecuted them as violators of public order. Meanwhile, a thunderstorm was quickly approaching. Nineveh had already fallen, and all the power of Mesopotamia was concentrated in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar, the son of the founder of the Babylonian monarchy Nabopolassar, leading his father's troops, not only repulsed the Egyptian pharaoh, who continued to lay claim to Mesopotamia, but also inflicted a decisive defeat on him at the Battle of Karchemish on the Euphrates. Then a free path to the Mediterranean Sea opened up for this new conqueror, and he moved to subjugate all the peoples and countries that, having once constituted tributaries of Assyria, then fell under the rule of Egypt and now, by inheritance, were to pass into the power of Babylonia. On this path of the formidable conqueror lay Palestine, which inevitably had to become his prey. This danger was foreseen most clearly by the prophet Jeremiah, who predicted that Babylon would crush the kingdom of Judah and the people would be taken into captivity, in which they would remain for seventy years (Jer. 25). Such a disaster should have served as a strong incentive for religious and moral upsurge in order to appease the angry Jehovah; but the stiff-necked people remained in their wickedness and lawlessness. Finally, in order to somehow awaken the dormant conscience of the people, the prophet wrote his prophecies on a special scroll and ordered them to be read loudly at the entrance to the church, where pilgrims were constantly crowded. And he achieved, in part, his goal. Terrible prophecies made everyone tremble. But only when Nebuchadnezzar was already approaching Jerusalem, everyone was convinced of the truth of Jeremiah’s prophecy. The frightened people filled the air with prayers and cries. Anxiety spread throughout the city. Baruch, who read the prophetic scroll at the entrance to the church, was demanded into the palace, where he was forced to read the prophecy before the king himself, who at this winter time lived in the warm chambers of his magnificent palace. One could hope that the king, having heard the menacing words of the prophecy, would bow to the command of Providence and repent. But the hope was not justified. Hearing the prediction about the death of the kingdom, the king in irritation tore the scroll from the reader’s hands, cut it into pieces himself and threw it into the heated oven, thereby wanting to show his contempt for what seemed to him the empty ravings of crazy people. The prophets themselves had to flee from the king, who threatened them with exemplary punishment for disturbing the peace of the king and the city. Then a new prophecy was spoken to him by Jeremiah, who predicted that for such arrogance and unbelief the king would not personally transfer the throne of David to his son, that his body would be thrown out unburied in the streets, and only after decomposition would it be buried in a “donkey’s burial,” and no one would utter the usual lamentations about him: “alas, sir!” - “alas, his greatness!”... This prediction was soon justified in all its terrible accuracy. Having invaded Palestine, Nebuchadnezzar demanded submission from Joachim, and the frightened king hastened to abandon the Egyptian pharaoh and surrender to Babylon. With such quick submission, he temporarily averted the death of his state and, if he had remained faithful to his new ruler, he could have retained the throne for the rest of his life. But he succumbed to the suggestions of the Egyptian party in Jerusalem, and on its advice, after three years, he broke away from the Babylonians and again handed himself over to Pharaoh Necho. As soon as the news reached Nebuchadnezzar about this, he quickly appeared before the gates of Jerusalem, which the frightened king opened without resistance before the formidable warrior, hoping by this to at least partially soften his anger. But he still had to pay a heavy fine and saw with sadness how the Babylonian warrior took with him all the expensive vessels and sent them to Babylon. At the same time, the conqueror captured several thousand people and several noble youths as hostages, intending at the same time to give them a Chaldean education and subsequently make them faithful servants of the throne. Among these young men was Daniel with his three companions - Ananias, Azariah and Mishael, whose subsequent fate made them famous in history 260. This was the so-called first captivity, which is considered the beginning of the seventy-year captivity of Babylon. Joachim himself died an inglorious death a few years later. With his new intrigues in favor of the pharaoh, he again aroused the wrath of the Babylonians, who took Jerusalem, chained the rebellious king to send him to Babylon; but he was soon killed in Jerusalem itself, and his body, according to Jewish tradition, was thrown into the street and only then given a “donkey” burial. Meanwhile, the death of Nabupolassar forced Nebuchadnezzar to hasten his return to Babylon to secure the throne for himself, which temporarily delayed the final fall of the kingdom of Judah. The treasonous relations of the new king Jehoiachin 261 with Egypt, however, again caused the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar, who personally appeared under the walls of Jerusalem, and the city was saved from destruction only by the surrender of the king with all his wives and entourage. All of them, together with many of the best warriors and artisans, numbering 10,000 people, were taken to Babylon. Among the captives were the prophet Ezekiel and Shimei, the grandfather of the later famous Mordecai. Only the poor and inferior population remained in Judea. This event is called the great captivity. But the existence of the kingdom of Judah did not completely end with him. To manage his pitiful remains, Nebuchadnezzar appointed the third son of the pious Josiah, Matthania, who was renamed Zedekiah 262. During his eleven-year reign, he abused power even more than his pathetic predecessors. In the ninth year of his reign, despite the wise warnings of the prophet Jeremiah, he decided to overthrow the Babylonian yoke and again started relations with Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar appeared for the last time under the walls of Jerusalem and began its siege 263. Jerusalem desperately defended itself for a year and a half, and there was even hope for deliverance, especially when news arrived that the Egyptian pharaoh had come to its rescue. But Nebuchadnezzar quickly overtook and defeated the Egyptians and then besieged Jerusalem even more tightly. A terrible famine began in the city. Finally, the walls couldn’t stand it either. In one place a gap was made, through which the Babylonians invaded. Zedekiah thought to flee, but was captured and brought to Nebuchadnezzar. His children were killed before his eyes and he himself was blinded. Childless and blind, the last king of the Jews was taken captive and imprisoned. Jerusalem was then subjected to the merciless vengeance of the victor. It, along with the church and palaces, was destroyed to the ground, and all the treasures, not excluding the famous bronze columns, were captured by the enemy and taken to Babylon. The high priests were killed and most of the rest of the population was taken into captivity. It was on the 10th day of the fifth month, in the 19th year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, and this terrible day of the fall of the city of David is still remembered by the Jews with strict fasting. The pitiful remains of the population, left by Nebuchadnezzar to cultivate the land and vineyards under the control of Gedaliah, were then, after the indignation they caused and the murder of the ruler, taken to Egypt, and thus the land of Judea was finally deserted. All the disasters that befell the kingdom of Judah were predicted in advance by the prophet Jeremiah, and he was an eyewitness to the terrible fulfillment of his prediction. The prophet mourned the fall of Jerusalem in deeply touching songs that make up the book “Lamentations of Jeremiah.” The prophet himself died in Egypt, where he was forcibly taken along with the remnants of the Jewish population. XLVI. The internal state of the chosen people in the VII period. The state of the surrounding peoples. Chronology The period of division of the chosen people into two kingdoms hostile to each other entailed not only a weakening of the political power of the people, but also their fall in religious and moral terms. That tendency towards wickedness and idolatry, which manifested itself among the people even during the monarchy, did not find a counterbalance in the piety of the kings, who observed (in the best years of their reign) the implementation of the religious and moral laws of Moses; with the division of the kingdom, it received state approval and was encouraged by the entire direction of politics in the kingdom of Israel. The kings of the latter, starting with Jeroboam, set up idolatry as the banner of their political independence, and in order to strengthen their throne, they alienated the people from the temple of Jerusalem by all means. With this direction, the kingdom of Israel was forever lost for the economy of God, and although God, in His great mercy, raised up great prophets in it, who with their preaching and miracles awakened the criminally dormant conscience of the kings and people, their preaching could no longer turn this kingdom away from the path of religious and moral error on which it had entered and which inevitably led it to destruction. All the best hopes were then concentrated in the kingdom of Judah, in its capital Jerusalem, “which God chose for Himself to dwell there for His name.” But “Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord his God, but walked according to the customs of the Israelites, as they did” (2 Kings 17:19). Then it became obvious that the kingdom of Judah could not be a faithful bearer of the promise entrusted to the chosen people, and it also had to perish, but not forever. There still remained in him more healthy religious and moral inclinations, and therefore, although it, like the kingdom of Israel, was destroyed, and the people were taken into captivity, captivity was for him only a temporary test, and the Jewish people had to return to their land again so that the “lamp of David, the servant of God” would shine again until the fulfillment of times came. But the weaker the chosen people became, the stronger the voice of God was heard, awakening the criminally sleeping conscience of the people. As the religious and moral decline of the people progressed, the promises of the Savior, the only Savior in whom the people had to trust in the times of their terrible disasters, were repeated more and more clearly and loudly. At this very time, one after another, the greatest prophets appear, who, together with other (minor) ones, both in word and in deed, predict the approaching fulfillment of times, and in these prophecies not only the signs of the coming of the Messiah are indicated in detail, but also His entire earthly life is described with amazing accuracy from the birth of the Virgin (Isaiah 7:14) in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2), until the giving of the new covenant (Jer. 31:31). ), suffering (Isa. 53:5), resurrection (Hos. 6:2), and the pouring out of the Spirit of God on all flesh (Joel 2:28). Divine services continued to be performed according to the previously established order in the Jerusalem temple, but its splendor fell more and more as the kingdom itself fell. Under pious kings it rose, as for example. under the kings Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Josiah, and under the wicked, the church itself was desecrated and even closed for worship, as was especially the case under Ahaz and Manasseh. Its wealth was gradually plundered both by external conquerors and by the kings of Judah themselves, who, in the absence of other means to pay tribute or indemnity, used the treasures of the church for this. The church itself, as the religious and moral feeling among the people, who believed piety in dead ritual, became coarser, lost its high significance, and the prophets openly preached the advantage of internal piety over external, the superiority of works of mercy and love over ritual works of sacrifice. With the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, both the church and the ark of the covenant itself disappeared without a trace. As the chosen people became more and more unable to be the living bearer and custodian of the covenant of God and the promises of the Savior, writing became increasingly important in this regard, which reached a high level of development by the time of the fall of the kingdoms. The main representatives of the enlightenment were the prophets, who still constituted religious brotherhoods or prophetic schools, which reached their most flourishing state under the prophets Elijah and Elisha. After these two greatest representatives of oral prophecy, written prophecy began to develop more and more, as it provided more opportunities for preserving the spoken truths in the troubled and difficult times of the people's life. Thus, eleven books of the prophets were compiled at this time, written by the prophets Jonah, Hosea, Amos, Joel, Isaiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Obadiah, Zephaniah and Jeremiah. The Prophet Jeremiah compiled another special book called “Lamentations of Jeremiah,” in which the fall of Jerusalem is mourned. The origin of the non-canonical book “Judith”, which contains the story of the feat of this valiant Israeli woman, also dates back to this period. In civil government with the division of the monarchy, political unrest became inevitable, weakening both states and often turning into internecine devastating wars. But in the kingdom of Judah there is more stability and order than in the kingdom of Israel. In it, the throne, according to the promise of God, was invariably preserved in the line of David and generally passed from father to son; Meanwhile, in the kingdom of Israel, the newly established dynasty of Jeroboam ended with his son, and then a whole series of regicides and usurpations followed, as a result of which kings quickly succeeded on the Israeli throne. In the space from the division of the kingdom to the simultaneous killing of Ahaziah, king of Judah, and Joram, king of Israel, by Jehu (which would be a period of 95 years), only six kings were replaced on the throne of Judah, while on Israel there were ten kings, and during the entire 258-year period from the division until the fall of the kingdom of Israel, 20 kings were replaced on the throne of Israel, while on the throne of Judah only 12 - clear evidence of greater stability of government in the latter. Both this instability and the fact that in the kingdom of Israel all the laws of justice were brazenly trampled upon (the story of Naboth) and thus the very foundations of state and social life were undermined, explains the fact that the kingdom of Israel fell 134 years earlier than the kingdom of Judah. Moreover, it died completely, while the latter was resurrected to a new political life and existed until the founding of the true spiritual kingdom of David by his Divine Son, the King of the universe. The shameful weakness of the chosen people during this period was manifested in the fact that they increasingly lost their intended position - to be a light for all other peoples. Instead of morally dominating the surrounding nations and preparing them to join the kingdom of God, the people of Israel themselves completely succumbed to the corrupting influence of these peoples, and not only in the kingdom of Israel, but also in the kingdom of Judah, idolatry was completely established on the soil of the promised land and often triumphed over true religion, especially under Manasseh, who placed the image of the disgusting Asherah in the very church of God. This state of affairs was all the more sad because the cult of the pagan peoples became more and more disgusting and ugly due to the immoral influence that it produced. Hence superstition and corruption were the inevitable consequences of such a cult, and in this respect the chosen people often fell even lower than their pagan seducers. The latter, of course, only rejoiced at such a fall of the Israeli people and during their death they openly expressed their gloating. At the sight of the destruction of both kingdoms, especially Jerusalem, the Ammonites exclaimed maliciously: “Ah! A! about the sanctuary, because it has been desecrated; about the land of Israel, because it was desolate, and about the house of Judah, because they went into captivity” (Ezek. 25:3). Moab and Seir said with contempt: “Here is the house of Judah, like all nations!” (v. 8). The Philistines, seeing the death of the people of Israel, “acted vindictively, and took revenge with contempt in their souls, to destruction, out of eternal hostility” (v. 15). The once friendly Tire now spoke of Jerusalem: “Ah! A! he is broken - the gates of cities; he addresses me; I will be filled: it is empty” (Ezek. 26:2). And Edom cruelly took revenge on the kingdom of Judah for the slavery it had once endured and maliciously exclaimed: “Destroy, destroy it to its foundations” (Ps. 137:7). As for the state of the surrounding peoples, as was clear from the very course of history, during this period there were many upheavals in their destinies. After a temporary weakening of the most powerful monarchies of the ancient East of Egypt and Assyria, a weakening that made it possible for the sovereign kings of Israel to expand their state to the extreme limits of their possession, the strengthening of these states began again, and already under Rehoboam, the Egyptian pharaoh Susakim began to make regular campaigns deep into Asia, and took and plundered Jerusalem. At the same time, in the northeast of the promised land, a new state, the Syrian, had become very strong, which, having its capital Damascus, famous for its antiquity and wealth, had sufficient power to constantly threaten both Jewish kingdoms. But beyond the Euphrates, the power of Assyria again began to rapidly increase, on the throne of which is a number of indomitable warriors eager for conquest. With a mighty hand they moved their hordes to the west, destroyed the Syrian kingdom, pushed back the Egyptians, conquered all the small states - right up to the Phoenician cities, and under the blows of these warriors the kingdom of Israel fell, as it lay closer to the military road of the Assyrian conquerors. Continuous campaigns, however, weakened Assyria: Nineveh was taken and destroyed by the combined forces of the Medes, Egyptians and Babylonians, and the power of Mesopotamia was concentrated in Babylon. The Egyptian pharaohs wanted to take advantage of this weakening of their long-time rival, and Necho laid claim to all Asian countries that had hitherto been under the rule of Assyria. But he met a formidable opponent in Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who, having crushed the power of the Egyptians, became the ruler of all Western Asia and completed the death of the Israeli people - with the capture and destruction of Jerusalem, which happened in the 19th year of his reign in Babylon, precisely in 588 BC. The chronology of the 7th period is based on the testimony of St. books of Kings and Chronicles regarding the years of reign of each king, both in the kingdom of Judah and in Israel. It is further facilitated by the fact that when reporting the accession of any new king, the year of reign of the corresponding king in another kingdom is also indicated. But this double number system also has its disadvantages, since with the slightest modification of the number (which, undoubtedly, happened when copying books), the entire chronology became confused. In the book of the prophet Ezekiel, the entire period of “iniquity of the house of Israel” is defined as 390 years; This figure shows approximately the time of existence of the Jewish people from Jeroboam to the destruction of Jerusalem. This figure also agrees with the private indication of the years of reign of the kings in both kingdoms 264. Reign of Jeroboam 1st, 1 Kings 12–13. The beginning of the religious schism, 1 Kings. 12:26–33. Reproof from the prophet, 1 Kings. Chapter 13 Dynasty of Baasha, 1 Kings. 15 et seq. Reign of Rehoboam, 1 Kings. 14:29–31; 2 Chronicles 12:13–16. Invasion of Shusakim, 1 Kings 14:25–28; 2 Chronicles 12:2–11. Reign of Abijah, 1 Kings 15:1, 2; 2 Par. 13:1, 2. Reign of Asa, 1 Kings 15:9-24; 2 Chronicles 14:15. Reign of Jehoshaphat, 1 Kings 15:24, 22:41, 42; 2 Chronicles 17–20:31. Reign of Ahab, 1 Kings. 18–22. Prophet Elijah, 1 Kings 16 – 2 Kings 2:18. Prediction of drought, 1 Kings 17:1; Wed. Jacob 5:17, 18. Stay in Zarephath, 1 Kings 17:8–24. From the comparison of 1 Kings 17:8–9; Avd. 20 ; Onion. 4 we can conclude that this widow was a Jewish woman, married to a Phoenician, in the family of the mother of the artist Hiram. Test of Faith, 1 Kings. 18. All these priests of Baal were essentially Israelis, apostates of the true faith, and the death penalty was imposed for apostasy to idolatry. See Deut. 13:15–16. Prophet Elisha, 2 Kings. 2–10:13 . The Case of Naboth's Vineyard, 1 Kings. 21. Wars of Ahab, 1 Kings. 20–22. Reign of Ahaziah, 1 Kings. 22:51; 2 Kings 1. The taking of the prophet Elijah to heaven, 2 Kings. 2. 10th king of Israel Joram, 2 Kings. 1:17; 3 et seq. This war with Mesa, the king of Moab, received particular interest due to the fact that recently, precisely in 1868, a stone monument was discovered with an inscription on it in the name of this very Mesa, the king of Moab. The inscription, in general, tells about this particular event, and in it Mesa, among other things, says: “I erected this stone to He-mosh (Chemosh) in Cyrus as a stone of salvation, for it delivered me from all the robbers and made me see my desire on all my enemies, on Omri, the king of Israel.” It goes on to tell how the following kings of Israel oppressed the Moabites, but Chemosh, their national god, delivered them. In general, the inscription contains many features that lead us to assume that it tells from the Smoabite point of view, by the way, the very event that is also narrated in the Bible (2 Kings 3:4-27). The monument is made of black basalt and is 3 feet 10 inches high, 2 feet wide and 14 1/2 inches thick. It has 44 lines written in Phoenician letters. It was found in the ruins of the ancient city of Dibon, the former northern capital of Moab, north of the Arnona River. Thus, this unexpectedly preserved monument, erected more than 2 1/2 thousand years ago, turned out to be an amazing witness to the truth of the biblical narrative. Joram 5th king of Judah, 2 Kings. 8:17; 2 Par. 21:5. Ahaziah 6th king of Judah, 2 Kings. 9:29; 2 Par. 22:1–4. Healing of Naaman, 2 Kings. 5 ch. Two defeats of the Syrian army, 2 Kings. Chapters 6 and 7 Death of Jezebel, 2 Kings. 9:30–37 ; Wed. 1 Kings 21:23. Jehu - 11th king of Israel, 2 Kings. 10:11–36. Death of Elisha, 2 Kings. 13:14–21. Jeroboam II, 2 Kings. 14:23–29. Adma and Zeboim are cities that perished along with Sodom and Gomorrah. Hosea, 20th king of Israel, 2 Kings 17 et seq.; 2 Chronicles 26:1–23. Siege and capture of Samaria by the Assyrians, 2 Kings. 17 et seq. See Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 148. Joash, 8th king of Judah, 2 Kings. 12:1–21. Ahaz, 12th king of Judah, 2 Kings. 16:1–20. Hezekiah, 13th king of Judah, 2 Kings. 18–20; 2 Par. 29–32. Manasseh, 14th king of Judah, 2 Kings 21:1-18; 2 Chronicles 33:1–20. Prayer of Manasseh at the end of book 2. Steam. Nebuchadnezzar or Babylon. Nabu-kudur-utsur means “the god Nabu protects the crown.” Amon, 15th king of Judah, 2 Kings 21:19–26; 2 Chronicles 33:21–25. Josiah, 16th king of Judah, 2 Kings 22 and 2 Kings 23:1–28; 2 Par. 34. All this was in fulfillment of the prediction made by the prophet Jeroboam I. Sarak was the son of Asseurbanipal or Sardanapalus of the Greek writers, with whom he was often confused, and who was usually considered the last Assyrian king, until modern discoveries made it possible to correct this error. Sellum or Jehoahaz – 17th king of Judah, 2 Kings. 23:31–33. Josiah had four sons: Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim (or Eliakim), Zedekiah, Shellum. See 1 Chron. 3:15. Eliakim or Joachim – 18th king of Judah, 2 Kings. 23ff. First Captivity, Dan. Chapter 1 Jehoiachin, 19th king of Judah, 2 Kings. 24:8–16. Zedekiah, the 20th and last king of Judah, 2 Kings. 24ff. The fall of Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah, 2 Kings. 25 ch. Duration of the reign of the kings of Judah and Israel: Kings of Judah: Rehoboam - 17 years (from 980 BC); Aviya – 3; Asa – 41; Jehoshaphat – 25; Joram – 8; Ahaziah – 1; Athaliah – 6; Joash – 40; Amaziah - 29; Uzziah - 52; Joa-tham – 16; Ahaz - 16; Hezekiah - 29; Manasseh – 55; Amon – 2; Josiah - 31; Joahaz – 3 months; Joachim – 11 years old; Jehoiachin – 3 months; Zedekiah – 11 years old. Destruction of Jerusalem: 588 BC. Kings of Israel: Jeroboam I reigned for 23 years; Na-vat – 2; Vaasa – 24; Ila – 2; Zamriy – 7 days; Famnius and Ambrius - 4 years; Omri one – 8; Ahab - 22; Ahaziah –2; Joram – 12; Jehu – 26; Joahaz - 17; Joash – 16; Jeroboam II – 41; Interregnum – 11; Zechariah – 6 months; Cellum – 1 month; Menaim - 10 years; Fakiya – 2; Fakei – 20; Hosea – 9. Destruction of Samaria: 722 BC. It must be said, however, that the chronology of the period from the time of the division of the monarchy to the destruction of Jerusalem still needs a detailed study on more solid data, which is still impossible to do with the current state of science. Until now, it is still impossible to accurately determine the very moment of the division of the monarchy, as a result of which chronologists diverge by two decades: 980–963. The first of these figures is determined by the sum of the years of the reign of the kings of Judah, and the second - by the sum of the years of the reign of the kings of Israel. Egyptian chronology could provide a solid footing if it established the date of the invasion of Pharaoh Shoshenq or Susakim I into Palestine. Likewise, further research into Assyrian and Babylonian chronology would shed significant light on this still insufficiently explained area, especially since there are many Assyro-Babylonian monuments on which the modern kings of Assyro-Babylonia and Palestine are jointly listed. These data could shed light on biblical testimony about the number of years of reign of kings in one or another of the Jewish states, and at the same time, it would probably turn out that These testimonies require a more precise definition of what needs to be attributed to joint reigns (for example, father and son) and what needs to be attributed to the interregnum. In any case, even in the current state of science, it can be affirmed with positivity that if there are, apparently, disagreements between the biblical chronology and the chronology of Egypt and Assyro-Babylonia, then these disagreements are only apparent, and on the contrary, in the main points they coincide with each other with amazing accuracy, and this is increasingly confirmed by each new discovery in the history of the neighboring countries. You might be interested in: