Two dynasties had thus arisen in Israel, and had been swept away by revolutionary outbursts, while at Jerusalem the descendants of David followed one another in unbroken succession. Asa outlived Nadab by eleven years, and we hear nothing of his relations with the neighbouring states during the latter part of his reign. We are merely told that his zeal in the service of the Lord was greater than had been shown by any of his predecessors. He threw down the idols, expelled their priests, and persecuted all those who practised the ancient religions. His grandmother Maacah “had made an abominable image for an asherah;” he cut it down, and burnt it in the valley of the Kedron, and deposed her from the supremacy in the royal household which she had held for three generations. He is, therefore, the first of the kings to receive favourable mention from the orthodox chroniclers of later times, and it is stated that he “did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did David his father.” * Omri proved a warlike monarch, and his reign, though not a long one, was signalised by a decisive crisis in the fortunes of Israel.** The northern tribes had, so far, possessed no settled capital, Shechem, Penuel, and Tirzah having served in turn as residences for the successors of Jeroboam and Baasha. Latterly Tirzah had been accorded a preference over its rivals; but Zimri had burnt the castle there, and the ease with which it had been taken and retaken was not calculated to reassure the head of the new dynasty. Omri turned his attention to a site lying a little to the north-west of Shechem and Mount Ebal, and at that time partly covered by the hamlet of Shomerôn or Shimrôn--our modern Samaria.*** * 1 Kings xv. 11; cf. 2 Ohron. xiv. 2. It is admitted, however, though without any blame being attached to him, that “the high places were not taken away” (1 Kings xv. 14; cf. 2 Chron. xv. 17). ** The Hebrew writer gives the length of his reign as twelve years (1 Kings xvi. 23). Several historians consider this period too brief, and wish to extend it to twenty-four years; I cannot, however, see that there is, so far, any good reason for doubting the approximate accuracy of the Bible figures. *** According to the tradition preserved in 1 Kings xvi. 24, the name of the city comes from Shomer, the man from whom Ahab bought the site.