In the meantime, all Israel and Samaria quaked at the fate that awaited them. Pekah, who had been lending Rezin what help he could, without entirely weakening himself, was ready and willing to give the Assyrian battle. Tiglath-Pileser, however, had his hands full with Damascus. He therefore, welcomed the suggestion of a certain Hoshea, son of Elah of Samaria, who offered to follow the example of the traitor Menahem. Tiglath-Pileser assented gladly. He promised help and protection to Hoshea, as he did to Ahaz, for voluntary submission to Assyrian rule. So Hoshea conspired against Pekah in Samaria, slew him, proclaimed himself king under the protection of Assyria. and sent tribute to Tiglath-Pileser at Damascus. Cowardice and treachery thus once more sealed the fate of the kingdom of Israel. After the fall of Damascus, the victorious Assyrian ordered a great _Durbar_ to celebrate his victory in that city. All the tributary kings in Palestine were commanded to meet him and pay homage to him there. The splendor and display of the gathering was rivaled only by the magnificence of the welcome the terrible monarch received on his return to Asshur, his own capital. Among the princes who hob-nobbed with their master at Damascus were the cowardly Ahaz and the traitorous Hoshea. But both were happy in that their countries escaped the awful havoc they witnessed in Damascus and throughout Syria. Tiglath-Pileser always carried with him a wonderfully wrought altar on which he offered sacrifices to Asshur, the Assyrian god. During the religious exercises at the Damascus festival, in which all the Assyrian vassals participated, Ahaz was particularly struck with the beauty of this altar. Thereupon he sent to Urijah, the high priest in Jerusalem, "the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof," with instructions to have it duplicated for the Temple in Jerusalem. Isaiah, when he heard of this, was thunderstruck by the audacity of the king who had no respect for his people or for his God. Not only was this heathen altar built, but it replaced the ancient one, which was set aside. Ahaz even went further. When he returned from Damascus, he himself, instead of the regularly appointed priest, offered the sacrifices upon the new altar, as he had seen Tiglath-Pileser do. To cap the climax, Ahaz introduced certain pagan religious ideas, copied from the Assyrian worship, into the cult of the Temple, simply to please and gratify his Assyrian master. With so base a king, Isaiah could hope nothing for the nation. Truly could he cry out in the anguish of his spirit: "My people--a boy is their leader!" "My people--thy guides lead thee astray." Of one thing, however, Isaiah was positive. When messengers came to him from various parts of the country to inquire what to do in this national crisis he answered them all alike: "God hath founded Zion, and in her shall the afflicted of His people take refuge."