While Judah was a fairly compact nation,there still lived a large number of foreign tribes within the realm of Israel.Some of these made sacrifices to Baal,the god of the sun.Others worshipped the Golden Bull,which to many people of Asia and Africa had always seemed the embodiment of all that was strong and dignified.
It was very difficult for the kings of Israel to make an end to this most regrettable state of affairs.After all these centuries,the Israelites still formed a racial minority in the country which Joshua had conquered.They could not afford to interfere with the private opinions of the original natives,without the risk of causing a revolt.To-day in India there are many religious sects of which the British people do not approve,but the government wisely refuses to interfere.There had been one great rebellion,due to a misunderstanding of certain religious prejudices of certain native troops,and that lesson has not been forgotten.The government keeps aloof from the native temples.
Baasha had been faced with similar difficulties.There were a score of unheeding fanatics in his country who regarded all tolerance as a sign of moral weakness.They were for ever urging him (and all the other kings)to exterminate the pagan gods and the pagan priests,and those who refused to recognise Jehovah as the only true God.When the rulers (for practical reasons of state)refused to follow this program and commit political suicide,these same zealots denounced them as enemies of all righteousness who were unworthy to occupy the throne.
Baasha,who had come to his high position over the dead body of his murdered sovereign,was in no position to take any risks.He was forced to be very lenient towards those who made their offerings before a golden calf,if in turn they promised him their support against his enemies.He listened politely to Jehu,whenever the Prophet felt compelled to deliver his message,but he refused to take any steps whatsoever against the much despised heathen,and when he died,there were more temples of Baal in Israel than there had ever been before.Jehu,in his wrath,prophesied all sorts of terrible things which would happen to the Baasha dynasty as a punishment for their indifference.
These predictions came true with alarming quickness.
Baasha had been dead only a short time when his son Elah was murdered.This young man was no better than his father.At a very disreputable party which he gave in Tirzah,he got into a quarrel with Zimri,the commander of his war-chariots.Zimri took his dagger and stabbed Elah.Then he proclaimed himself King of Israel and took possession of the royal palace.
This brazen act of violence was too much for the people,accustomed as they were to murder and bloodshed.They sent messengers to Omri,the commander-in-chief of the army,who was finishing the siege of Gibbethon and asked him to return to the capital and establish order.When Zimri heard that the army was marching against Tirzah,he lost courage.He set fire to his palace and to the city and less than a week after his accession to the throne,he perished amidst the flames of his own capital.
As Zimri had assassinated all the brothers of Elah during the six days of his reign,there was no legitimate candidate for the throne.Omri,as the only logical candidate,was made King.He decided to leave the ruins of Tirzah,and he began to look for a suitable location for his own capital.
This he found further towards the west on the top of a hill which belonged to a farmer by the name of Shemer.Omri bought the hill for two talents (or about 3,000dollars)and there built a city which was called the town of Shemer,or Samaria.
Among,the many rulers who succeeded each other in such rapid succession to the throne of Israel,Omri was by far the most important.Whatever his failings,he could at least fight.He spent twelve years of his reign making war upon Benhadad.It was a very uneven struggle,but Omri held his own,and even added small bits of territory to his old possessions.
When he died,he left a greatly increased kingdom to his son Ahab.
With Ahab,the real troubles of Israel began.
For Ahab was weak,but his wife Jezebel was strong.
Soon the woman was the real ruler of Israel and all the people were made aware of this fact.
Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal,the king of the Phoenician city of Sidon.The Phoenicians were sun-worshippers and Jezebel was a devout adherent of the Baal faith.As a rule,queens adopt the religion of the country of their husbands.Jezebel,however,did nothing of the sort.When she came to Samaria,she brought her own priests with her and as soon as she had established herself in Ahab's palace,she began to erect a temple to Baal in the very heart of the Israelite capital.
The people were shocked and the prophets cried out to high Heaven.But Jezebel did not care and ere long,she began a regular campaign against those who had remained faithful to Jehovah and inaugurated a reign of religious terror which lasted until she was overthrown by the revolution of Jehu.
Fortunately for the persecuted followers of Jehovah,the kingdom of the south just then was ruled by a very wise and intelligent king who was called Jehoshaphat.He was the son of Asa.He had been carefully trained for his high office,and was a diplomat and strategist of no mean ability.
Jehoshaphat knew that his own kingdom was inferior to that of Israel when it came to a contest of arms.
