"Then Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds that
were set over the host, and said unto them, Have her forth of the
ranges: and whoso followeth her, let him be slain by the sword. For
the priest said, Slay her not in the house of the Lord. So they laid
hands on her; and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate
by the king's house, they slew her there.
"And Jehoiada made a covenant between him, and between all the people,
and between the king, that they should be the Lord's people. Then all
the people went to the house of Baal, and brake it down, and brake his
altars and his images in pieces, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal
before the altars."[462]
When Jehu of Israel died, he was succeeded by Jehoahaz. "The Lord was
kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of
Ben-hadad the son of Hazael all their days." Then Jehoahaz repented.
He "besought the Lord, and the Lord hearkened unto him: for he saw the
oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them. And
the Lord gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the
hands of the Syrians."[463] The "saviour", as will be shown, was
Assyria. Not only Israel, but Judah, under King Joash, Edom, the
Philistines and the Ammonites were compelled to acknowledge the
suzerainty of Damascus.
Shalmaneser III swayed an extensive and powerful empire, and kept his
generals continually employed suppressing revolts on his frontiers.
After he subdued the Hittites, Kati, king of Tabal, sent him his
daughter, who was received into the royal harem. Tribes of the Medes
came under his power: the Nairi and Urartian tribes continued battling
with his soldiers on his northern borders like the frontier tribes of
India against the British troops. The kingdom of Urartu was growing
more and more powerful.
In 829 B.C. the great empire was suddenly shaken to its foundations by
the outbreak of civil war. The party of rebellion was led by
Shalmaneser's son Ashur-danin-apli, who evidently desired to supplant
the crown prince Shamshi-Adad. He was a popular hero and received the
support of most of the important Assyrian cities, including Nineveh,
Asshur, Arbela, Imgurbel, and Dur-balat, as well as some of the
dependencies. Shalmaneser retained Kalkhi and the provinces of
northern Mesopotamia, and it appears that the greater part of the army
also remained loyal to him.
After four years of civil war Shalmaneser died. His chosen heir,
Shamshi-Adad VII, had to continue the struggle for the throne for two
more years.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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