(M13) Be that as it may, the history of the Hebrew kings presents some features which may perhaps, without straining them too far, be interpreted as traces or relics of a time when they or their predecessors played the part of a divinity, and particularly of Adonis, the divine lord of the land. In life the Hebrew king was regularly addressed as _Adoni-ham-melech_, “My Lord the King,”(52) and after death he was lamented with cries of _Hoi ahi! Hoi Adon!_ “Alas my brother! alas Lord!”(53) These exclamations of grief uttered for the death of a king of Judah were, we can hardly doubt, the very same cries which the weeping women of Jerusalem uttered in the north porch of the temple for the dead Tammuz.(54) However, little stress can be laid on such forms of address, since _Adon_ in Hebrew, like “lord” in English, was a secular as well as a religious title. But whether identified with Adonis or not, the Hebrew kings certainly seem to have been regarded as in a sense divine, as representing and to some extent embodying Jehovah on earth. For the king’s throne was called the throne of Jehovah;(55) and the application of the holy oil to his head was believed to impart to him directly a portion of the divine spirit.(56) Hence he bore the title of Messiah, which with its Greek equivalent Christ means no more than “the Anointed One.” Thus when David had cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe in the darkness of a cave where he was in hiding, his heart smote him for having laid sacrilegious hands upon _Adoni Messiah Jehovah_, “my Lord the Anointed of Jehovah.”(57)