[551] The defeat had important consequences. Egypt did not again attack Palestine till three centuries later, under Pharaoh Nechoh (B.C. 609). The defeat weakened the Bubastite dynasty (Rawlinson, p. 36), though it continued to reign for two centuries. The "invasion" may have been a mere raid. The Pharaohs always seem to have degenerated from the founders of their dynasty, both in personal beauty and intellectual force. [552] Josh. xviii. 25, now Er-Ram. No great importance can be attached to the dates, which are often self-contradictory. [553] Ben-Hadad, "son of Hadad," the Sun-god (Macrob., _Saturn_, i. 24). Tabrimmon, "Rimmon is good." According to Sayce (_Hibbert Lectures_, p. 42), Rimmon--an Accadian name, which became, in Semitic, Rammânu, "the exalted"--was identified by the Syrians with the Sun-god Hadad, whom Shahmanaser called _Dada_. In Assyrian _Dadu_ ("dear child") is akin to David and to Dido. [554] Ijon is probably Merj Ayion, "the meadow of the House of Maachah"; called also, Abel-maim, "the meadow of the waters"; "a city and a mother in Israel" (2 Sam. xx. 19); now Abil in the Ard-el-Huleh. [555] See Numb. xxxiv. 11; Josh. xiii. 27. [556] Josh. xxi. 17; 2 Kings xxiii. 8. [557] LXX., ἡ σκοπία. Jer. xli. 5-9. Into this well Ishmael flung the corpses of the murdered adherents of Gedaliah. [558] Renan, _Hist. du Peuple Israel_, ii. 248. Comp. Rephaiah. [559] 2 Chron. xv. 1-15. [560] 2 Chron. xvi. 9, 10. CHAPTER XXXI. _JEHOSHAPHAT._ 1 KINGS xxii. 41-50. Before we leave the House of David we must speak of Jehoshaphat, the last king of Judah whose reign is narrated in the First Book of Kings. He was abler, more powerful, and more faithful to Jehovah than any of his predecessors, and was alone counted worthy in later ages to rank with Hezekiah and Josiah among the most pious rulers of the Davidic line. The annals of his reign are found chiefly in the Second Book of Chronicles, where his story occupies four long chapters. The First Book of Kings compresses all record of him into nine verses, except so far as his fortunes are commingled with the history of Ahab. But both accounts show us a reign which contributed as greatly to the prosperity of Judah as that of Jeroboam II. contributed to the prosperity of Israel.