Misery of Jehoram's reign--Thwarted invasion of Moab--Aggression of Benhadad--At Ramoth-Gilead--The young prophet--The two kings absent from the camp--The dangerous commission--The assembled captains--Jehu secretly anointed--His accession enthusiastically welcomed by the army--His sudden enthronement--His swift resolution--The watchman at Jezreel--The two horsemen--The two kings--Their murder--Ferocity of Jehu--Elijah's prophecy--Jezebel--She is hurled down--Jehu drives over her body--The curse fulfilled. CHAPTER XII JEHU ESTABLISHED ON THE THRONE (B.C. 842-814) 125 His politic subtlety--The murder of the seventy princes--The ghastly heaps--Hypocritic ferocity. CHAPTER XIII FRESH MURDERS--THE EXTIRPATION OF BAAL-WORSHIP (B.C. 842) 131 Wading through blood to a throne--The ride to Samaria--The brethren of Ahaziah of Judah--The corpse-choked tank of the shepherds--The Bedawy ascetic--The scene of slaughter in the temple of Baal--Did Elisha approve of these atrocities?--Prophetic judgment on Jehu--Ravages of Hazael--Jehu's anguish--He pays tribute to Assyria. CHAPTER XIV ATHALIAH (B.C. 842-836)--JOASH OF JUDAH (B.C. 836-796) 146 The murderess-daughter of Jezebel--Fierce ambition--Jehosheba--The rescued child--Reared in the Temple--The high priest's plot--The coronation of the boy-king--Athaliah enters the Temple--Her murder--The fate of Baal's high priest--Proposed restoration of the Temple--Joash calls to task the defaulting priests--Death of Jehoiada--Defection of Joash--Murder of Zechariah--Bad record of the line of Jewish priests--Hazael attacks Judah--Defeat of Joash and plunder of Jerusalem--Murder of Joash--Names of the murderers. CHAPTER XV AMAZIAH OF JUDAH (B.C. 796-783[?]) 167 The House of David--Amaziah brings to justice the murderers of his father, but spares their children--Grounds for this--Different views taken of him by the historian and the chronicler--Splendid victory of Amaziah in the Valley of Salt--Expansion of the story in the Chronicles--His defiance of Joash--His defeat and murder. CHAPTER XVI THE DYNASTY OF JEHU--JEHOAHAZ (B.C. 814-797)--JOASH (B.C. 797-781) 175 Israel at its nadir--Calf-worship--Oppression of Hazael--Disappearance of Elisha--Repentance of Jehoahaz--Joash of Israel visits the death-bed of Elisha--"The arrow of the Lord's deliverance"--Three victories over the Syrians--Death of Elisha, and posthumous marvels--Joash and Amaziah--Contemptuous answer to the King of Judah--Crushing defeat of Judah. CHAPTER XVII