The History of Antiquity, Vol. 2 (of 6)Duncker, Max
History
The History of Antiquity, Vol. 2 (of 6)
Duncker, Max
History, Ancient
An addition in the first Book of Kings remarks that Asa removed the
harlots and the idols out of the land, that he threw down the image of
Astarte, which his mother had set up, and burnt it in the valley of the
Kidron.[432] This was a healthy reaction against the foreign rites which
had crept in in the last years of Solomon's reign. Asa's son Jehoshaphat
(873-848 B.C.) went further in this direction. The remainder of the
harlots were removed from the land; he entered into peaceful relations
with Israel. The supremacy over the Edomites was maintained, and they
were governed by viceroys of the king of Judah.[433] We find that the
Edomites sent contingents to him; and his sway extended as far as the
north-east point of the Red Sea. Here, at Elath, as in Solomon's time,
great ships were built for the voyage to Ophir.[434]
The ten tribes who had set Jeroboam at their head were the mass of the
people both in numbers and extent of territory. They might hope to carry
on the kingdom, they preserved the name of Israel; while in the south
there was little more than one powerful tribe separated from the rest.
Shechem, the ancient metropolis of the tribe of Ephraim, the place at
which the crown was transferred to Jeroboam, was the residence of the
new king. When Jerusalem was no longer the chief metropolis of the
kingdom, the temple there could not any longer be the place of worship
for all the tribes. It would be nothing less then recognising the
supremacy of Rehoboam if the tribes continued to go up to Jerusalem to
the great sacrifices and festivals. The places of worship for the new
kingdom must be within its own borders. Jeroboam consecrated afresh the
old place of sacrifice, Bethel, on the southern border of the territory
of Ephraim, the place where Abraham had offered sacrifice, and Jacob had
rested (I. 390, 408); and on the northern boundaries of his kingdom he
consecrated the place of sacrifice at Dan, which the Danites had once
founded on taking Laish from the Sidonians (p. 94). At both places he
set up a golden calf to Jehovah, and instituted priests; and, as we are
told, the Israelites came like one man to the feasts of Dan, and
sacrificed at Bethel, where the sanctuary also contained a treasury. Of
other actions of Jeroboam, we only know that he built, _i.e._ fortified,
Peniel in the land beyond Jordan; no doubt in order to be able to
maintain his supremacy over the Ammonites. The severe blow which had
fallen on the kingdom of Judah by the incursion of Shishak secured him
from any serious attack on the part of Rehoboam. The petty warfare on
the borders of Judah and Israel naturally did not cease during his reign
(p. 231).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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