built to be the metropolis of his kingdom; and during a reign of twelve years, he displayed a corruption of manners, and a depravity of heart, which exceeded any thing which had been recorded of his predeces

sors.

Under whose reign in Israel did the wickedness and idolatry of the people fearfully increase?

In the thirty-eighth year of Asa's governA. C. 918. ment over Judah, AHAB the son of Omri began to reign over Israel; and his unlawful marriage with the infamous Jezebel, daughter of the king of Zidon, was at once predictive of his future wickedness, and the source of the most disastrous calamities to himself and to his people. By her persuasions and influence, the Zidonian idolatry was established in Israel; the worship of Baal and Astarte was introduced; and Ahab degraded his dignity as a king, and excited the indignation of God, by personally assisting in the celebration of the profane and detestable rites.

By what great prophet was the wickedness of Ahab reproved?

The wickedness of Ahab was reproved by the prophet Elijah, one of the greatest, one of the most interesting, one of the sublimest characters described in sacred or profane history.

Relate some interesting incidents in the life of Elijah.

Inferior in dignity, in grandeur, and majesty only to Moses, Elijah was raised up by the providence of God to prevent the utter extinction of the true religion among the Israelites, to pour contempt upon the senseless abominations of the prevalent idolatry of the times, and in spite of a proud, vindictive, sanguinary, impious monarch to enforce the almost forgotten claims and authority of God. Standing before Ahab and Jezebel he cried, "As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word." After having delivered this message, he was commanded to conceal himself by the brook Cherith, where morning

A. C. 908.

and evening he was miraculously fed by ravens; and when the brook was dried up he was sent to the house of a poor widow of Zarephath, a city of the Zidonians; her only barrel of meal, her solitary cruise of oil, were supernaturally prevented from failing during the whole period of the prophet's residence in her house; and when her only son sickened and died, the prayers of Elijah for his restoration to life, were graciously and effectually answered by God. Amidst the ravages of a dreadful famine, the natural consequence of the want of rain, while the cattle were perishing, while the fruits of the earth were burnt up, and while the miseries of the Israelites might be supposed to have rendered them peculiarly susceptible of religious impressions, Elijah discovered himself to Obadiah, one of the officers of Ahab, and he soon afterwards appeared in the royal presence. Retorting upon the king the charge of being the origin of the troubles of his country, and boldly charging Ahab with his impieties and idolatry, Elijah proposed to submit the religion of the God of Israel, and the superstition of Baal, to the test of a public and solemn trial. Ahab consented; the people were convened; four hundred and fifty priests of Baal assembled; and Mount Carmel was the scene of decision. It was agreed that the priests of Baal should offer a bullock to their deity, that Elijah should offer another to his God, and that the true divinity should be ascertained by a miraculous fire to consume the victim upon the altar. When the sun, their God arose, above the eastern horizon, the numerous priests of Baal prepared their sacrifice; from morning until noon, they invoked their deity without effect; they cried, they shouted, they leaped upon their altar, they lacerated themselves with knives, in vain; "Cry aloud;" said Elijah in ironical derision, "for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is on a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked." To the time of the evening sacrifices, these wretched fanatics, or execrable impostors, continued their cries and gesticulations; but there was neither sound, nor voice, nor fire. Elijah then took twelve stones with which he composed an altar; around the altar he dug a trench, which he filled with water; he poured a

quantity of the same fluid upon the wood and the bullock, which he had placed upon the altar; he then addressed the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and implored him to display his glory and to vindicate his own cause. The fire descended; the victim was consumed; the water was dried up; the multitude fell prostrate on their faces, and cried, "Jehovah is the true God;" the priests of Baal were slain; the divine mercy was displayed; the rain clouds ascended from the sea; the thirsty earth, after three years drought, was refreshed by the descending showers; and for a short period it may be supposed that the worship of God was restored. Jezebel, however, was enraged at the destruction of her prophets, and the contempt which had been poured upon her deity; and she determined that Elijah should die. The prophet fled to Beersheba, and afterwards into Arabia Petræa. Exhausted with his journey, and depressed by his misfortunes, his faith failed, he was ready to despair, he was weary of his existence. From a slumber into which he had fallen, he was aroused by the angel of the Lord; food was prepared for him; he was commanded to eat ; upon the strength of this nourishment, so wonderfully provided for him, he went forty days and forty nights, until he arrived at the sacred mount of Horeb. There he communed with God; but neither in the roaring of the trumpet, nor in the terrors of the earthquake, nor in the flashing of the fire, was the divine communication made; a still small voice, emblematic of the infinite mercy and condescension of God, addressed him; he was commanded to return by the way of the desert to Damascus, and to anoint Hazael king of Syria, Jehu king of Israel who was to extirpate the whole family of Ahab, and Elisha, who was to be his successor in delivering the messages of God to an apostate, and in resisting the progress of idolatry in the kingdom of Israel. The prophet executed these commissions. When he threw his mantle over Elisha, that distinguished personage became inspired with a prophetic influence, and the friend and constant companion of Elijah.

What victories did Ahab gain over the Syrians?

In the eighteenth year of the reign of Ahab, Ben

A. C. 901.

hadad the king of Syria with a formidable army laid siege to Samaria, and transmitted to Ahab an insolent demand of unconditional surrender. "Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off," was the reply of Ahab. At noon-day, while Benhadad and his companions were drinking in the royal tent, the Israelites to the number of seven thousand men made a furious sally from the city, and killed all that opposed them; the Syrians fled in dismay, and the triumphant soldiers of Ahab returned to the city laden with spoils. The next year the Syrians returned; and from a foolish presumption that the God of the Israelites could only assist them when arrayed on the hills, they advanced to the attack along the plain. With a far inferior army, Ahab advanced against Benhadad, but a prophet assured him that he would gain the victory. The prediction was verified; a hundred thousand Syrians were slain; the remnant of the mighty host crowded into the city of Aphek; the walls fell as they were rushing to the gate, and twenty thousand men were crushed to death beneath the ruins. Benhadad threw himself upon the clemency of Ahab; the king of the Israelites most imprudently reinstated the Syrian monarch on his throne, and thus lost the opportunity of crushing the power of a rival nation, whose malevolence was afterwards the source of the most dreadful calamities to his country.

What abominable act of cruelty and treachery was perpetrated by Ahab?

The influence of Jezebel soon after these transactions involved Ahab in the darkest and most abominable treachery, injustice, and murder. Naboth had a vineyard immediately adjoining the royal palace at Jezreel; Ahab perceiving its convenient situation, became desirous of possessing it, and he offered Naboth a sum of money which he supposed was equivalent to its value. But it was disgraceful to dispose of an inheritance, and Naboth peremptorily rejected the overtures of the king. Jezebel soon discovered the cause of her husband's evident mortification; she procured an accusation to be brought against Naboth of treason and blasphemy; false witnesses were brought

forwards; the judges were corrupt; Naboth was condemned by the iniquitous tribunal, and was stoned to death; and Ahab took possession of the vineyard. But as he returned to Samaria, he was met by Elijah, the voice of the prophet proclaimed his awful doom, "In the very place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall they lick thy blood also,-and dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel."

Under what circumstances did Ahab die?

The war between the Syrians and the Israelites again broke out, and Ahab determined to gain possession of Ramoth-Gilead, a town belonging to the tribe of Gad. Before he proceeded upon his expedition, he received a visit from Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah. This wise and excellent prince ascended the throne of Judah after the death of Asa, at the mature age of thirty-five years. His first care was to deA. C. 914. stroy the relics of idolatry which had escaped the observation of his father, and to communicate, by the agency of the priests and Levites, the knowledge of the great principles of the law to all his subjects. He fortified his cities, he enrolled a militia which amounted to more than a million of men, the Arabians and Philistines were his tributaries, and he was equally feared and respected by all the surrounding nations. The marriage of his son Jehoram to Athaliah the daughter of Ahab, and his intimate connexion with the wicked monarch of the Israelites, tarnished the consistency of his character, and brought his life into the most imminent danger. While Jehoshaphat was in Samaria, Ahab induced him to accompany the expedition against Ramoth-Gilead; but the piety of the king of Judah would not allow him to leave the city, until he had ascertained, from one of the true prophets, the will of God. Four hundred false prophets assured the two sovereigns of victory; but Micaiah, one of the devoted servants of Jehovah, foretold the defeat and the death of Ahab, and declared that the predictions of the numerous impostors who had preceded him, had been permitted to ensnare him to inevitable destruction. Micaiah was thrown into prison, and Jehoshaphat and Ahab proceeded to the battle. The Syrian officers were commanded by their