1. Who Are Israel.--The children of Israel are the descendants of Abraham through the loins of Isaac and Jacob, taking their name, however, from the last-named patriarch, whose name was changed by an angel of the Lord from Jacob to Israel, which means a prince of God. Unto Jacob by four wives were born twelve sons--the heads of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Joseph, Jacob's son by his wife Rachel, being his father's favorite son, was hated by his brethren, and without the father's knowledge was sold to merchants, who carried him into Egypt. His cruel brethren rent his clothing and stained it in blood, then taking it to their father represented that his son had been destroyed by a wild beast. The Lord was with Joseph in Egypt, and gave him favor in the eyes of the rulers of that land, until he became second in authority in the kingdom. Having been warned in a dream of an approaching famine, some years before it took place, he laid up in store an abundance of corn, so that while famine distressed surrounding countries there was plenty in Egypt, and thither the sons of Israel went to purchase food. Joseph revealed his identity to his brethren, became reconciled to them, and sent for his father and all attached to his household--about seventy souls in all--to {363} come to him and take up their abode in Egypt. This the aged patriarch did, and ended his days there. 2. Israel Enslaved.--Some time after Joseph's death, there arose a king who knew him not, and observing that the Israelites were likely to become more numerous than the Egyptians--since they did not murder their offspring either before or at birth, as many among the Egyptians did--this monarch enslaved them and placed task masters over them, and by oppression and the destruction of their male offspring sought to prevent their increase. Finally the Lord raised up Moses and delivered them from bondage amid a splendid display of his Almighty power, and eventually settled them in the land of Canaan--the land he had promised unto Abraham as an inheritance--where they became a mighty nation. [See note 1, end of section.] 3. Revolt of the Ten Tribes.--As a nation the Israelites reached the zenith of their splendor under the reign of David and his son Solomon. At the death of the latter, 975 B. C., the kingdom was divided. Ten tribes revolted against the oppression of Solomon's successor, his son Rehoboam, and formed the kingdom of Israel, choosing for their king Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, one of Solomon's servants. The new king--a man of great valor--established his capital at Shechem [Shek-em], but fifty years afterwards it was removed to Samaria.