PART III. _Renewal of Hostilities; Decline of both Kingdoms before the power of the Assyrian Empire._ CHAP. I. Accession of Jehu CHAP. II. Athaliah and Joash; Death of Elisha CHAP. III. Amaziah and Jeroboam II.; Era of Jonah CHAP. IV. Decline and Captivity of the Kingdom of Israel CHAP. V. Reign of Hezekiah CHAP. VI. Reign of Manasseh――Reforms of Josiah CHAP. VII. Death of Josiah――Captivity of Judah NOTE. _Duration, Relation, Contrasts of the Two Kingdoms_[441] BOOK XI. _From the Captivity to the Close of the Canon._ CHAP. I. Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar CHAP. II. Reigns of Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and Darius CHAP. III. Rebuilding of the Temple――Esther and Ahasuerus CHAP. IV. Times of Ezra and Nehemiah――Close of Canon APPENDIX AND CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES INDEX MAPS. 1. The Dispersion of Noah’s Descendants (Genesis x.) 2. A Map of Canaan, Egypt, and Sinai, to illustrate the Patriarchal History and the Exodus. With Mount Sinai enlarged 3. The Holy Land divided among the Twelve Tribes 4. Solomon’s Dominions, The Kingdoms of Judah and Israel, and the Lands of the Captivities BOOK I. FROM THE CREATION TO THE DISPERSION OF MANKIND. CHAPTER I. _THE CREATION._ GEN. I. II. B.C. 4004. _IN the beginning God created the heavens and the earth._ With these simple but sublime words commences the History contained in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, teaching us that the Universe did not exist from all eternity, but owed its origin to the creative act of God. To us this truth appears so elementary and self-evident that we can hardly appreciate the dim and uncertain notions on this point, which the best and wisest of the heathen possessed. Certain it is, however, they were very much in the dark respecting the origin of the world. Some philosophers held that it existed from all eternity: others taught that there are two independent Causes, the one Light, and the other Darkness, and that out of the unending struggle between them the Universe had its origin; others imagined that all the marvellous order and harmony we see around us was the result of Chance; others, again, conceived that the world was an emanation from Deity, and a part of Deity. Distinct from all these guesses and conceptions is the _declaration_ of the Scripture Narrative. It affirms that the world is not eternal; that it had its origin with time and in time; that it owed its beginning neither to Chance, nor Necessity, but the Creative will of a Personal God, infinitely exalted above it, the Maker and Sustainer of all things. (Comp. Joh. i. 1–3, Rom. xi. 36, 1 Cor. viii. 6, Col. i. 15, 16, Heb. i. 2, 3).