You will now understand that we can make only the most general historical assertions in the Chapters which are to follow and that we are none too certain of our arguments in the present Chapter,which endeavours to explain why the Jewish kingdom was predestined to go to pieces before it had even acquired the outward characteristics of a regular empire.
Whether the men of Israel (the direct descendants of Jacob)were more energetic than those of Judah (who claimed their descent from Jacob through his fourth son and a native woman of the village of Adullam),we do not know.
Whether living among the wide and pleasant valleys of the northland,with its many villages and cities,had made the Israelites different from the Judaeans,who dwelt amidst the dark rocks of a high and arid plateau and retained the habits of the patriarchal shepherds much longer than their neighbours,we could not tell you with any degree of accuracy.
But the fact remains that almost all the leaders of the Jewish people,from the days of Joshua and Gideon and Samuel and Saul,to those of John the Baptist and Jesus,were born in the north.
Indeed,with the single exception of David,the south produced almost no men of great prominence.
It is an open question whether it would not have been better for the Jewish people if the consolidation of the tribes into a single state had been undertaken by a northerner.
But such historical speculations are of little value.Germany to-day would undoubtedly be a much pleasanter country if Bismarck had been a Bavarian.
But he was a Prussian,just as David happened to be a Judaean,and nothing can change those facts or their influence upon all future historical development.
This much is certain.Once David had escaped the wrath of Saul (who was probably prejudiced against his rival on the general ground of his being a “southerner”)and had been made King of the Jews,he followed a very wise policy of conciliation.
In his eagerness to placate the prejudices of the north,he often went so far that he incurred the hostility of his own tribesmen.But his kingdom was based upon the firm foundation of moderation and compromise and it easily weathered the revolutions which took place when the sovereign himself was too old to take the field.
Solomon,during the first half of his reign,tried to follow the same policy.He was,however,less truthful and less generous than David.
Those who threatened to be dangerous to the safety of the state were ruthlessly persecuted and killed.
In the field of foreign politics,however,he was more successful than his father.By a series of successful wars (fought by his generals,for the King himself had no love for the hardships of camp life)he protected his frontiers against all enemies and he assured peace and prosperity to his own subjects.
Within a short time he had made himself as popular in the north as he already was in the south.But when Solomon reached middle-age,he began to commit those errors which finally brought about the downfall of the Empire,as we shall now tell you.
Probably for reasons of strategy,Jerusalem had been made the capital of the entire country.It is true that the Israelites would have liked to see the royal palace and the temple built within their own northern domains,but they accepted the decision of Solomon with good grace and travelled many hundreds of miles whenever they wanted to make a sacrifice to Jehovah.
Then Solomon commenced to build.
Of course,other monarchs have driven their subjects into bankruptcy by the glorious ambition of their architectural dreams.But few countries have ever been so completely drained of their gold and silver supply as both Israel and Judah were drained by the exactions of the “Peaceable Monarch.”
In the beginning,the Israelites did not object.They felt that they were working for the glory of Jehovah and were willing to make great sacrifices.But when Jerusalem was turned into a gaudy,barbaric capital,and when the King himself began to waste the royal revenue upon temples to Moloch and to Chemosh and to a dozen other strange heathenish gods,there was a murmur of discontent among the masses.
Finally when they were being driven into practical slavery and serfdom,that Solomon might order further cargoes of gold from Ophir and more shiploads of silver from Tarshish,they threatened rebellion.
But before they took to arms,a Prophet had already given utterance to the national grievance.
