The Expositor's Bible Part 24

And it is idle to object that even if Israel had been faithful she must have inevitably perished before the superior might of Damascus, or Nineveh, or Babylon. How can we tell? It is not possible for us thus to write unwritten history, and there is absolutely nothing to show that the surmise is correct. In the days of David, of Uzziah, of Jeroboam II., Judah and Israel had shown what they could achieve. Had they been strong in faithfulness to Jehovah, and in the righteousness which that faith required, they would have shown an invincible strength amid the moral enervation of the surrounding people. They might have held their own by welding into one strong kingdom the whole of Palestine, including Philistia, Phnicia, the Negeb, and the Trans-Jordanic region. They might have consolidated the sway which they at various times attained southwards, as far as the Red Sea port of Elath; northwards over Aram and Damascus, as far as the Hamath on the Orontes; eastwards to Thapsacus on the Euphrates; westward to the Isles of the Gentiles.

There is nothing improbable, still less impossible, in the view that, if the Israelites had truly served Jehovah and obeyed His laws, they might then have permanently established the monarchy which was ideally regarded as their inheritance, and which for brief and fitful periods they partially maintained. And such a monarchy, held together by warrior statesmen, strong and righteous, and above all secure in the blessing of G.o.d, would have been a thoroughly adequate counterpoise, not only to dilatory and distracted Egypt, which had long ceased to be aggressive, but even to brutal a.s.syria, which prevailed in no small measure because of the isolation and mutual dissension of these southern princ.i.p.alities.

But, as it was, "a.s.syria and Egypt--the two world-powers in the dawn of history, the two chief sources of ancient civilisation, the twin giant-empires which bounded the Israelite people on the right hand and on the left--were cruel neighbours, between whom the ill-fated nation was tossed to and fro in wanton sport like a shuttlec.o.c.k. They were cruel friends before whom it must cringe in turns, praying sometimes for help, suing sometimes for very life--alternate scourges in the hand of the Divine wrath. Now it is the fly of Egypt, and now it is the bee of a.s.syria, whose ruthless swarms issue forth at the word of Jehovah, settling in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes, with deadly sting, fatal to man and beast, devastating the land far and wide. Holding the poor Israelite in their relentless embrace, they threatened ever and again to crush him by their grip. Like the fabled rocks which frowned over the narrow straits of the Bosporus, they would crash together and annihilate the helpless craft which the storms of destiny had placed at their mercy.

Israel reeled under their successive blows. As was the beginning, so was the end. As the captivity of Egypt had been the cradle of the nation, so was the captivity of a.s.syria to be its tomb."[416]

In any case the principle of the historian remains unshaken. Sin is weakness; idolatry is folly and rebellion; uncleanness is decrepitude.

St. Paul was not thinking of this ancient Philosophy of History when he wrote his Epistle to the Romans; yet the intense and masterly sketch which he gives of that moral corruption which brought about the long, slow, agonising dissolution of the beauty that was Greece, and the grandeur that was Rome, is one of its strongest justifications.

His view only differs from the summary before us in the power of its eloquence and the profoundness of its psychologic insight. He says the same thing as the historian of the Kings, only in words of greater power and wider reach, when he writes: "For the wrath of G.o.d is revealed from heaven against all unG.o.dliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold down the truth in unrighteousness. Knowing G.o.d, they glorified Him not as G.o.d, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasonings" (?ata????sa?, the very word used in the LXX. in 2 Kings xvii. 15), "and their senseless heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools" (words which might describe the expediency-policy of Jeroboam I., and its fatal consequences), "and changed the glory of the incorruptible G.o.d for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. For this cause G.o.d gave them up to pa.s.sions of dishonour, and unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity,"--and so on, through a long catalogue of iniquities which are identical with those which we find so burningly denounced on the pages of the prophets of Israel and Judah.

Even a Machiavelli, cool and cynical and audacious as was his scepticism, could see and admit that faithfulness to religion is the secret of the happiness and prosperity of states.[417] An irreligious society tends inevitably and always to be a dissolute society; and a "dissolute society is the most tragic spectacle which history has ever to present--a nest of disease, of jealousy, of dissensions, of ruin, and despair, whose last hope is to be washed off the world and disappear. Such societies must die sooner or later of their own gangrene, of their own corruption, because the infection of evil, spreading into unbounded selfishness, ever intensifying and reproducing pa.s.sions which defeat their own aim, can never end in anything but moral dissolution." We need not look further than the collapse of France after the battle of Sedan, and the cause to which that collapse was attributed, not only by Christians, but by her own most worldly and sceptical writers, to see that the same causes ever issue and will issue in the same ruinous effects.

In order to complete the history of the Northern Kingdom, the historian here antic.i.p.ates the order of time by telling us what happened to the mongrel population whom Sargon transplanted into central Ephraim in place of the old inhabitants.

The king, we are told, brought them from Babylon--which was at this time under the rule of a.s.syria; from Cuthah--by which seems to be meant some part of Mesopotamia near Babylon;[418] from Avva, or Ivah--probably the same as Ahavah or Hit, on the Euphrates, north-west of Babylon; from Sepharvaim, or Sippara, also on the Euphrates;[419]

and from Hamath, on the Orontes, which had not long remained under Jeroboam II.[420] It must not be supposed that the whole population of Ephraim was deported; that was a physical impossibility. Although we are told in a.s.syrian annals that Sargon carried away with him so vast a number of captives, it is, of course, clear that the lowest and poorest part of the population was left.[421] We can imagine the wild confusion which arose when they found themselves compelled to share the dismantled palaces and abandoned estates of the wealthy with the horde of new colonists, whose language, in all probability, they but imperfectly understood. There must have been many a tumult, many a scene of horror, such as took place in the long antagonism of Normans and Saxons in England, before the immigrants and the relics of the former populace settled down to amalgamation and mutual tolerance.

Sargon is said to have carried away with him the golden calf or calves of Bethel, as Tiglath-Pileser is said by the Rabbis to have carried away that of Dan.[422] He also took away with him all the educated cla.s.ses, and all the teachers of religion.[423] No one was left to instruct the ignorant inhabitants; and, as Hosea had prophesied, there was neither a sacrifice, nor a pillar, nor an ephod, and not even teraphim to which they could resort.[424] Naturally enough, the disunited dregs of an old and of a new population had no clear knowledge of religion. They "feared not Jehovah." The spa.r.s.eness of inhabitants, with its consequent neglect of agriculture, caused the increase of wild beasts among them. There had always been lions and bears in "the swellings of Jordan,"[425] and in all the lonelier parts of the land; and to this day there are leopards in the woods of Carmel, and hyaenas and jackals in many regions.

Conscious of their miserable and G.o.dless condition, and afflicted by the lions, which they regarded as a sign of Jehovah's anger, the Ephraimites sent a message to the King of a.s.syria. They only claimed Jehovah as their local G.o.d, and complained that the new colonists had provoked the wrath of "the G.o.d of the land" by not knowing His "manner"--that is, the way in which He should be worshipped. The consequence was that they were in danger of being exterminated by lions. The kings of a.s.syria were devoted worshippers of a.s.sur and Merodach, but they held the common belief of ancient polytheists that each country had its own potent divinities. Sargon, therefore, gave orders that one of the priests of his captivity should be sent back to Samaria, "to teach them the manner of the G.o.d of the land." The priest selected for the purpose returned, took up his residence at the old shrine of Bethel, and "taught them how they should fear Jehovah." His success was, however, extremely limited, except among the former followers of Jeroboam's dishonoured cult. The old religious shrines still continued, and the immigrants used them for the glorification of their former deities. Samaria, therefore, witnessed the establishment of a singularly hybrid form of religionism. The Babylonians worshipped Succoth-Benoth,[426] perhaps Zirbanit, wife of Merodach or Bel; the Cuthites worshipped Nergal, the a.s.syrian war-G.o.d, the lion-G.o.d;[427] the Hitt.i.tes, from Hamath, worshipped Ashima or Esmn, the G.o.d of air and thunder, under the form of a goat;[428] the Avites preferred Nibhaz and Tartak, perhaps Saturn--unless these names be Jewish jeers, implying that one of these deities had the head of a dog, and the other of an a.s.s.[429] More dreadful, if less ridiculous, was the worship of the Sepharvites, who adored Adrammelech and Anammelech, the sun-G.o.d under male and female forms, to whom, as to Moloch, they burnt their children in the fire. As for ministers, "they made unto them priests from among themselves,[430] who offered sacrifices for them in the shrines of the bamoth." Thus the whole mongrel population "feared the Lord, and served their own G.o.ds," as they continued to do in the days of the annalist whose record the historian quotes. He ends his interesting sketch with the words, that, in spite of the Divine teaching, "these nations"--so he calls them, and so completely does he refuse to them the dignity of being Israel's children--feared the Lord, and served their graven images, their children likewise, and their children's children,--"as did their fathers, so do they unto this day."[431]

The "unto this day" refers, no doubt, to the doc.u.ment from which the historian of the Kings was quoting--perhaps about B.C. 560, in the third generation after the fall of Samaria. A very brief glance will suffice to indicate the future history of the Samaritans. We hear but little of them between the present reference and the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. By that time they had purged themselves of these grosser idolatries, and held themselves fit in all respects to co-operate with the returned exiles in the work of building the Temple. Such was not the opinion of the Jews. Ezra regarded them as "the adversaries of Judah and Israel."[432] The exiles rejected their overtures. In B.C. 409 Mana.s.seh, a grandson of the high priest expelled by Nehemiah for an unlawful marriage with a daughter of Sanballat, of the Samaritan city of Beth-horon, built the schismatic temple on Mount Gerizim.[433] The relations of the Samaritans to the Jews became thenceforth deadly. In B.C. 175 they seconded the profane attempt of Antiochus Epiphanes to paganise the Jews, and in B.C. 130 John Hyrca.n.u.s, the Maccabee, destroyed their temple. They were accused of waylaying Jews on their way to the Feasts, and of polluting the Temple with dead bones.[434] They claimed Jewish descent (John iv. 12), but our Lord called them "aliens"

(?????e???, Luke xvii. 18), and Josephus describes them as "residents from other nations" (?t?????, ????e??e??). They are now a rapidly dwindling community of fewer than a hundred souls--"the oldest and smallest sect in the world"--equally despised by Jews and Mohammedans.

The Jews, as in the days of Christ, have no dealings with them. When Dr.

Frankl, on his philanthropic visit to the Jews of the East, went to see their celebrated Pentateuch, and mentioned the fact to a Jewish lady--"What!" she exclaimed: "have you been among the worshippers of the pigeon? Take a purifying bath!" Regarding Gerizim as the place which G.o.d had chosen (John iv. 20), they alone can keep up the old tradition of the _sacrificial_ pa.s.sover. For long centuries, since the Fall of Jerusalem, it is only on Gerizim that the Paschal lambs and kids have been actually slain and eaten, as they are to this day, and will be, till, not long hence, the whole tribe disappears.

FOOTNOTES:

[389] Hos. iv. 4; v. 1, "Hear ye this, O priests ... ye have been a snare on Mizpah," etc.; vi. 9, "The company of the priests murder by the way to Shechem."

[390] Hos. x. 10 (so R.V., and in the main the versions after the Hebrew margin). LXX., ?? t? pa?de?es?a? a?t??? ?? ta?? d?s?? ?d???a?? a?t??; Vulg., "_c.u.m corripientur propter duas iniquitates suas_"; A.V., "When they shall bind themselves in their two furrows." I believe that the "_two_ iniquities" may mean _two_ cherubs at Bethel. See x. 15: "So shall Bethel do unto you because of the evil of your evil."

[391] Hos. xi. 8-11.

[392] 2 Kings xvii. 1 is inconsistent with xv. 30, 33, and it is wholly useless for our purpose to enter into complicated chronological hypotheses, every one of which may be erroneous.

[393] Schrader, _K. A. T._, p. 255.

[394] _Seder Olam_, xxii. 2; 2 Chron. x.x.x. 6-11.

[395] See Herod., ii. 137; called So (Heb., So or Seve) in 2 Kings xvii.

4. Perhaps Shebek, the founder of the twenty-fifth dynasty. LXX., S????; Vulg., _Sua_; Manetho, _Sabachon_. In the _Eponym Canon_ he is called an Egyptian general, _Sibakhi_, who helped Gaza against a.s.syria, and was defeated. The _ka_ appended at the end of his name (Egyptian Shaba-ka) is thought by some to be the Cus.h.i.te article. The race of the priest Hirhor died out with Piankhi, and the Ethiopians elected a n.o.ble named Kashta. Shabak was his son. He conquered Sais, and burnt his rival Bek-en-raut alive (B.C. 724). His dynasty ruled for fifty years; he was succeeded by Sevechus (Shabatok), and he by Tehrak (Tirhakah).

[396] His name means "Salman, pardon." We have no monuments or inscriptions of this king; only an imperial weight.

[397] Mic. v. 1.

[398] Hos. xiii. 13.

[399] Hos. xiii. 7-11. The prophecy is rhythmic, though not written in actual poetry.

[400] Till the discovery of the a.s.syrian records, Sargon (Sharru-kenu, 'the faithful king') was but a name. The Jews knew but little of him. He is but once mentioned in Scripture (Isa. xx. 1), and was probably confused by some Jews with other kings. Yet he reigned sixteen years (722-705), and his records give the annals of fifteen campaigns. In 720 he crushed a confederacy headed by Yahubid of Hamath, and reduced that city to a "heap of ruins." He then advanced against Hanno, King of Gaza, who was in alliance with Sabaco, and defeated the combined forces of the Philistines and Egyptians at Raphia, half-way between Gaza and the Wady-el-Arish, "the torrent [_nachal_] of Egypt." Sargon was at the time too much occupied with other enemies to pursue his advantage over Egypt; for Armenia, Media, and other countries needed his attention. This encouraged Ashdod to rebel, and its king, Azuri, refused his tribute (see Isa. xx. 1). Sargon deposed him, and put his brother Ahimit in his place. Relying on Egyptian promises, Philistia joined Judah, Edom, and Moab in defying a.s.syria. They deposed Ahimit as an a.s.syrian nominee, and put Yaman in his place. Egypt, as usual, failed to help, and in 711 the a.s.syrian Turtan, or Commander-in-chief, took Ashdod after three years'

resistance, and carried its people into captivity. The punishment of Egypt was reserved for the subsequent reigns of Esarhaddon (681-668) and a.s.surbanipal. See Driver's _Isaiah xlv._ (Isa. xx.). Isa. xiv. 29-32 is an ode of triumph for the Fall of Philistia.

[401] Hos. xiii. 16.

[402] See De Hincks in _Journ. of Sacr. Lit._, October 1858; Layard, _Nin. and Bab._, i. 148.

[403] Isa. xxviii. 1-4.

[404] 2 Kings xvii. 13, "by all the prophets, and all the _seers_,"

(_choseh_). Havernick thinks that the _nebi'im_ were such _officially_.

[405] See Amos ii. 4, 5; Isa. xxviii. 15; Jer. xvi. 19, 20; Ezek. xx.

13-30, etc.

[406] Deut. xxvi. 5.

[407] Isa. xli. 14.

[408] Hos. xi. 9.

[409] See my _Minor Prophets_, 6-97.

[410] Not as in A.V., "Habor, _by_ the river of Gozan."

[411] 2 Kings xvii. 6. The LXX. has "rivers" and "mountains": ?? ??a?

?a? ?? ??? p?ta??? G???? ?a? ??? ??d??. The river is not Ezekiel's Chebar. These deportations _en ma.s.se_ of a whole population, with their women and children, their waggons and flocks, are depicted on Sargon's series of tablets in his splendid palace at Khorsabad.

[412] Ezra iv. 10. "The great and n.o.ble Asnapper" of the pa.s.sage is either some a.s.syrian general, or a confusion of the name a.s.surbanipal.

[413] 2 Kings xvii. 9. Heb., "covered"; A.V. and R.V., "did secretly,"

rather "perfidiously"; LXX., ?f??sa?t? ?????? ?d????? ?at? ??????; Vulg., _Et offenderunt verbis non rectis dominum suum_.

[414] Star-worship is not mentioned in the Book of the Covenant (Exod.

xx.-xxiii.) or the oldest sections of the Mosaic Law. It is first forbidden in Deut. iv. 19, xvii. 3, when contact with Syrians and a.s.syrians made it known (comp. Job x.x.xi. 26-28; Jer. viii. 2, xix. 13; Zeph. i. 5). The language of 2 Kings vii.-xxiii. frequently reflects the prohibitions of Deuteronomy (see Deut. xii. 2, 30, 31, iv. 19, v.

7, 8, xvi. 21, xviii. 10, x.x.xi. 16, etc.)

[415] In 2 Kings xvii. 11, for "they did wicked things," the LXX. has ????????? (_i.e._, _qedeshim_) ????a?a? ?a? ?ta???da? (_qedeshoth_); _i.e._, they had depraved _hieroduli_ of both s.e.xes. Comp. Hos. iv.

14; Gen. x.x.xviii. 21 (where the allusion is to one of the votaries of Asherah).

[416] Bishop Lightfoot, _Sermons_, p. 267.

[417] "La quale Religione se ne Principi della Republica Christiana si fusse mantenuta, secondo che dal dottore d'essa ne fu ordinato, sarebbero gli State e le Republiche Christiane piu unite e piu felici a.s.sai ch' elle non sono" (_Discorsi_, i. 12).

[418] 2 Kings xvii. 24. Comp. xviii. 34. Hence the later Jews comprehensively called the Samaritans Cuthites. Comp. 2 Kings xix. 13; Isa. x.x.xvii. 13.

[419] Heliopolis, Ptolemy, v. 18, -- 7; Isa. x.x.xvi. 19. Here, according to the Chaldaean legends, Xisuthrus buried his tablets about the Creation, etc.