So there they were--Israel, bounded by Syria on the north, and with Assyria pressing on from the west and coming now to the height of its power; Judah nearer to Egypt and with the Assyrian power threatening it scarcely less than Israel in the west. The first trouble from the big empires between which they lay fell on Judah, from the Egyptian side. Shishak, the Pharaoh of Egypt, made Judah pay tribute to him, after coming with a conquering army, and apparently some of the Israelite tribes had to pay tribute also. But Israel as a whole did not come under his power. As the story goes on we find the two kingdoms engaged in small wars both with each other and with the neighbouring small nations. There was continual fighting between the northern kingdom and Syria farther to the north again. The moment of Israel's greatest strength was in the reign of Omri, who founded its capital, Samaria. But Syria was a more numerous and powerful nation than Israel without the aid of Judah; and Ahab, the Israelitish king, was a vassal of Benhadad, king of Syria, whose capital city was Damascus. Ahab aided Benhadad in defending Syria from the attack of Shalmaneser II. of Assyria, but the allies were badly beaten, and Israel had to pay tribute to Assyria. She won back her independence for a short time, when Assyria had other business to attend to, but just so soon as Assyria had leisure to deal seriously with Israel and Syria again, Samaria was taken. The Assyrians left them no opportunity for further revolt. {102} As a nation, Israel disappears out of the story from the year of the fall of Samaria, 722 B.C. Assyria was now in the full tide of her power. Once the vassal of Babylon, she had now made Babylon a vassal of hers. Judah had escaped the fate of Israel by prudently taking sides with Assyria. [Illustration: SENNACHERIB IN HIS CHARIOT.] Egypt was not likely to be very pleased with this interference on the part of Assyria with people whom she looked on as her tributaries. Judah and the neighbouring small states must have been terribly perplexed to know which was their wisest line to take--submission to Assyria or to Egypt. Egypt, at the moment, was under a powerful dynasty of Ethiopian, or what we should call negro, race. She began to move against the aggressive Assyrians, and under Hezekiah Judah decided to take the Egyptian side. A powerful combination was formed against Assyria, which her {103} vassal Babylon joined, as well as some of the peoples along the Mediterranean coast, the Philistines and Phœnicians. But as yet Assyria was too strong or too clever in her fighting methods for them all. The Egyptian army, with the various allied forces, was seriously beaten, and Jerusalem was saved only by the payment of a very heavy tribute to Sennacherib, the Assyrian king. [Sidenote: The fall of Assyria]