The Story of the Bible

But a small part of the people of Israel were left in their own land. The king of Assyria brought to the land of Israel people from other countries, and placed them in the land. But they were too few to fill the land, and to care for it; so that the wild beasts began to increase in Israel, and many of these strange people were killed by lions who lived among the mountains and in the valleys. They thought that the lions came upon them because they did not worship the God who ruled in that land, and they sent to the king of Assyria, saying, "Send us a priest who can teach us how to worship the God to whom this land belongs; for he has sent lions among us, and they are destroying us."

They supposed that each land must have its own God, as the Philistines worshipped Dagon, and the Moabites Chemosh, and the Tyrians and Zidonians, Baal and Asherah. They did not know that there is only one God, who rules all the world, and who is to be worshipped by all men.

Then the king of Assyria sent to these people a priest from among the Israelites in his land; and this priest tried to teach them how to worship the Lord. But with the Lord's worship, they mingled the worship of idols; and did not serve the Lord only, as God would have them serve him. In after time these people were called Samaritans, from Samaria, which had been their chief city. They had their temple to the Lord on Mount Gerizim, near the city of Shechem, and in that city a few of them are found even in our time.

The First Four Kings of Judah.

II Chronicles xii: 1, to xx: 37.

Now we turn from the story of the kingdom of Israel in the north to the story of the kingdom of Judah in the south. You read in Story One of Part Fourth how the Yen Tribes broke away from the rule of King Rehoboam and set up a kingdom of their own under Jeroboam. This division left the kingdom of Judah very small and weak. It reached from the Dead Sea westward to the land of the Philistines on the shore of the Great Sea, and from Beersheba on the south not quite to Bethel on the north; but it held some control over the land of Edom on the south of the Dead Sea. Its chief city was Jerusalem, where stood the Temple of the Land and the palace of the king.

After Rehoboam found that he could no more rule over the Ten Tribes, he tried to make his own little kingdom strong by building cities and raising an army of soldiers. But he did not look to the Lord as his grandfather David had looked; he allowed his people to worship idols, so that soon on almost every hill and in almost every grove of trees there was an image of stone or wood. God was not pleased with Rehoboam and his people, because they had forsaken him for idols. He brought upon the land of Judah a great army from Egypt, led by Shishak, the king of Egypt. They marched over all the land of Judah, they took the city of Jerusalem, and they robbed the Temple of all the great treasure in gold and silver which Solomon had stored up. This evil came upon Judah because its king and its people had turn away from the Lord their God.

After Rehoboam had reigned seventeen years he died, and his son Abijah, became king of Judah. When Jeroboam, the king of Israel, made war upon him, Abijah led his army into the land of Israel. But Jeroboam's army was twice as large as Abijah's, and his men stood not only in front of the men of Judah but also behind them, so that the army of Judah was in great danger of being destroyed. But Abijah told his men to trust in the Lord, and to fight bravely in the Lord's name. And God helped the men of Judah against Israel, and they won a great victory; so that Jeroboam never again came against Judah.

Abijah's reign was short, only three years; and after him came Asa, his son, who was a great warrior, a great builder of cities, and a wise ruler. Against Asa a great army of enemies came up from Ethiopia, which was south of Egypt. Asa drew out his little army against the Ethiopians at a place called Mareshah, in the south of Judah, near the desert. He had no hope of success in his soldiers, because they were so few and the enemies were no many. But Asa called upon the Lord, and said:

"O Lord, it makes no difference to three whether there are few or many. Help us, O Lord, for we trust in thee; and in thy name we fight this vast multitude. O Lord, thou art our God; let not man succeed against thee."

The Lord heard Asa's prayer, and gave him a great victory over the Ethiopians. Asa took against the cities in the south which had gone over to the side of the Ethiopians, and he brought to Jerusalem great riches, and flocks of sheep, and heads of cattle, and camels, which he had taken from his enemies.