OMRI ____|____ | | JEHOSHAPHAT Ahab = Jezebel | _______|__________________ | | | | | Ahaziah Jehoram Athaliah = Jehoram (of Israel). (of Israel). | (of Judah). | Ahaziah (of Judah). [142] Jotham ben-Uzziah was not the colleague of his father, but his public representative. [143] The only other king of Judah whose mother's name is not mentioned (perhaps because his father Jotham had but one wife) is Ahaz. [144] 2 Kings xi. 18; 2 Chron. xxi. 11, xxiv. 7. [145] Vulg., _Seira_; Arab., _Sa'ir_ (but the historian never uses the name Mount Seir); LXX., Σιώρ. There is perhaps some corruption in the text, and the reading of the Chronicler "with his princes" shows that it may have once been צַמ־שָׂרָיו. [146] 2 Kings viii. 21. "The people" (_i.e._, the army of Judah) "fled to their tents." Apparently this means that they slunk away home. The word "tents" is a reminiscence of their nomad days, like the treasonable cry, "To your tents, O Israel." [147] Josh. x. 29-39. [148] Jos., _Antt._, IX. vi. 1. CHAPTER XI _THE REVOLT OF JEHU_ B.C. 842 2 KINGS ix. 1-37 "Te semper anteit sæva Necessitas Clavos trabales et cuneos manu, Gestans ahenâ." HORAT., _Od._, I. xxxv. 17. A long period had elapsed since Elijah had received the triple commission which was to mark the close of his career. Two of those Divine behests had now been accomplished. He had anointed Elisha, son of Shaphat, of Abel-Meholah, to be prophet in his room;[149] and Elisha had anointed Hazael to be king over Syria;[150] the third and more dangerous commission, involving nothing less than the overthrow of the mighty dynasty of Omri, remained still unaccomplished. If the name of Jehu ("Jehovah is He")[151] had been actually mentioned to Elijah, the dreadful secret must have remained buried in the breast of the prophet and in that of his successor for many years. Further, Jehu was yet a very young man, and to have marked him out as the founder of a dynasty would have been to doom him to certain destruction. An Eastern king, whose family has once securely seated itself on the throne, is hedged round with an awful divinity, and demands an unquestioning obedience. Elijah had been removed from earth before this task had been fulfilled, and Elisha had to wait for his opportunity. But the doom was passed, though the judgment was belated. The sons of Ahab were left a space to repent, or to fill to the brim the cup of their father's iniquities.