The kingdom of Judah lasted to the time the Temple was burnt, 588 B.C., having lasted three hundred and eighty-seven years--one hundred and thirty-three years longer than the kingdom of Israel. And what is more, these are the very Jews that are scattered all over the world. These latter are the representatives of these three tribes, Levi, Benjamin, and Judah. And if any person is curious enough to inquire of any Jew to what tribe he belongs, he will receive the answer that he belongs to one of the three above mentioned, that originally formed the kingdom of Judah. Why they were preserved is nothing miraculous. It has nothing to do with God or Jehova, or the ark, or any special grace, as people generally believe. The reason is plain and perfectly natural. The Levites preserved them, the Levites sustained them, the Levites were the brainy race. The Levites, the priestly tribe who were appointed by Moses, himself one of that tribe, to be the rulers, governors, lawgivers, fosterers, priests and preachers, were the brain of the whole nation. They clung to the idea of nationhood with all their priestly might, craft, and ingenuity, and are still clinging to it, with all their might and main. Judah and Benjamin survived only because of the Levites. THE MIRACLE-MONGERS. At 958 B.C. Abijah is king over Judah. He reigns only three years. King Asa follows, 955. Nadab follows Jeroboam, king of Israel; dies; and Baasha reigns in 954. "And there was war between Asa, and Baasha king of Israel, all their days" (1 Kings xv, 16). These facts go to show that fighting continued between Israel and Judah. Foreign powers are now invited to help, and the struggle continues. In 918 Ahab is king of Israel. It is during his reign that a new class of men rise, agitators, talkers, prophets, and small miracle-makers. Elijah makes his appearance. Jehu had already prophesied against Baasha; he was a minor star in the field of prophecy. Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, "said unto Ahab," etc., says 1 Kings xvii, 1. Ahab was king of Israel 918. No miracles are reported to have occurred after Moses. Joshua did not perform any, except that incident about the sun. During all these centuries from 1443, the date of Joshua's death, up to the reign of Ahab, not a miracle-maker appears. There are strong men, bad men, fighting men, priests, brave generals, very wicked men, etc., but none performs a miracle. Another class of men are soon to appear. They, however, do not make their appearance until a century later, or so. I mean the nervous men, the visionary dreamers and prophets of the type of Isaiah. In addition, any number of soothsayers, necromancers, fortune-tellers, and quacks had entered into the business of miracle-making on a small scale. And a new school of skeptics and philosophic speculators slowly developed.