Life of Martin & Chronicle 1 part 4/4

For when they had asked that their tribute be lightened, which Solomon had most heavily imposed, he, having rejected the entreaties of the suppliants, had turned away the favour of the whole common people. (2) And so by the consent of all, the rule is conferred upon Jeroboam. He, sprung from a middling stock, had for some time owed servitude to Solomon. But when he had learned, through the response of the prophet Ahijah, that the kingdom of the Hebrews was announced to him, Solomon had resolved to kill him secretly. (3) Out of that fear he fled into Egypt, and there, having taken a wife of the royal stock, on at last learning of Solomon's death, returned to his native soil and, by the will of the people as we related above, took up the rule. (4) With Rehoboam, however, two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, had remained; out of these he made ready an army of about three hundred thousand.

And when the battle-lines were being advanced, the people are admonished by the words of God to refrain from battle; that Jeroboam had received the kingdom by His will. (5) Thus the king's command being scorned, the army dispersed; Jeroboam's rule had grown strong. But since Rehoboam held Jerusalem, where the people had been accustomed to sacrifice to God in the temple built by Solomon, Jeroboam, fearing lest religion should turn the people away from him, resolved to occupy their minds with superstition. (6) And so he set up a golden calf at Bethel, another at Dan, to which the people might sacrifice, and he appointed priests from the common people, the tribe of Levi being passed over. A demand for punishment followed this outrage, hateful to God. Thereafter frequent battles between the kings, with doubtful outcome, kept the kingdoms in possession.

Rehoboam, the seventeenth year of his reign being completed, ended his life. 42 (1) In his place his son Abijah held the kingdom of Jerusalem for six years, although in the Chronicles he is reported to have reigned three years. (2) Him his son Asa succeeded, about the fifth from David, being indeed his great-great-grandson. He was a religious worshipper of God; for, having destroyed the altars and groves of idols, he removed the traces of his fathers' faithlessness. He confirmed a treaty with the king of Syria; with his help he afflicted with much slaughter the kingdom of Jeroboam, which was then held by his son, and often, the enemy being conquered, he brought back plunder from the victory. After the forty-first year, ailing in his feet, he died. (3) To him a threefold sin is ascribed;

one, that he trusted too excessively in his alliance with the king of Syria; another, that he cast into chains the prophet of God who rebuked him for this very thing; the third, that in the pain of his feet he hoped for a remedy not from God, but from physicians. (4) But at the beginning of this reign Jeroboam, king of the ten tribes, died, and left the kingdom to his son Nadab. He, hateful to God by his evil deeds and by his own and his father's deserts alike, held the kingdom no longer than two years, and his offspring, unworthy of rule, was deprived of the empire. (5) Baasha the son of Ahijah had him as a successor, equally most estranged from God. And he died in the twenty-sixth year of his reign; the kingdom devolved upon his son Elah and was retained no longer than two years.

For Zimri, the chief of the cavalry, slew him while he was feasting and seized the kingdom—a man equally impious toward God and men. (6) From him a part of the people seceded; the royal title was conferred upon a certain Tibni. But Zimri reigned seven years before him, and twelve together with him. (7) But in the part of the tribe of Judah, Asa being dead, his son Jehoshaphat began to reign, a man deservedly renowned for his religious virtues. He kept peace with Zimri. And he died when he had reigned twenty-five years. 43 (1) During the time of this reign Ahab, the son of Omri, was king of the ten tribes, beyond all others impious toward God. For Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal king of Sidon, having been taken in marriage, set up an altar and groves to the idol Baal, and slew the prophets of God.

(2) At which time the prophet Elijah shut up heaven by prayer, that it should give no rain to the earth, and he announced this to the king, that the impious man might know himself to be the cause of the evil. Therefore, with the waters suspended in heaven, when all places, scorched by the heat of the sun, gave neither food to men nor fodder to cattle, the prophet himself had shut himself within the peril of famine. (3) At that season, when he had sought the wilderness, he lived with ravens supplying him food; a nearby torrent gave him water, until it dried up. (4) Then, admonished by God, he sought the town of Zarephath and turned aside to a widow woman. And when, being hungry, he asked food from her, she pleaded her case, that she had nothing but a handful of meal and a tiny bit of oil, which once consumed she awaited death together with her sons.

(5) But when Elijah promised, by the words of God, that neither the jar would be diminished of meal nor the vessel of oil, the woman, not delaying to give faith to the one asking and to trust the prophet, obtained the faithfulness of the promises, since by daily increments there grew as much as she each day took away. At the same time Elijah brought back to life the dead son of the same widow. (6) Then, by the command of God, he came to the king, and having reproached him for his sacrilege, demanded that all the people be gathered to him. When they had quickly assembled, the priests of the idols and groves, about four hundred and fifty, being summoned, a dispute arose among them there; (7) while Elijah proclaimed God, they were asserting their own superstitions.

At last it seemed good that a trial be made: that, if fire sent from heaven should consume someone's slain victim, the religion which had shown forth such power should be held as true. So the priests, having slain a calf, began to invoke the idol Baal, and when their invocations had been spent in vain, they silently confessed the weakness of their god. Then Elijah, mocking them, said, 'Lest perchance he sleep, cry out more vehemently, that he may wake from the sleep in which he is held.' Indeed the wretched men, trembling, muttered, and yet awaited what Elijah was about to do. (8) But he placed the slain calf upon the altar, having first filled the sanctuary with water, and when he had invoked the Lord, while all looked on, fire fell from heaven and consumed the water together with the victim. Then indeed the people, prostrate on the ground, confessed God and execrated the idols;

finally, at Elijah's command, the profane priests were seized and led down to the torrent and put to death. (9) The prophet escorted the king as he returned thence; but when Jezebel the king's wife was preparing peril for his life, he withdrew to more remote regions. There God addressed him, declaring that there were still seven thousand men who had not given themselves to idols. This was a marvel to Elijah, who had believed that he alone was free from the sacrilege. 44 (1) At that season Ahab, king of Samaria, coveted the vineyard of Naboth, which adjoined his own. When the latter was unwilling to sell it to him, he was slain by the wiles of Jezebel. Thus Ahab gained possession of the vineyard, although he is reported nevertheless to have grieved at Naboth's death.

(2) Soon, rebuked by the words of God through Elijah, having acknowledged his crime, he is reported to have done penance clothed in sackcloth; by which deed he averted the impending punishment. (3) For the king of Syria, with a great army, having taken into the alliance of war thirty-two kings, entered the borders of Samaria and began to besiege the city together with the king. Then, the affairs of the besieged being in straits, he offers terms of war: if they should hand over gold and silver and their women, he would spare their lives. (4) But it seemed better to suffer the worst than such unjust terms. And when the safety of all was now despaired of, a prophet sent by God came to the king, urged him to go out to battle, and confirmed him, as he hesitated, with many words. Thus, a sally having been made, the enemy were routed and abundant plunder found.

(5) But after a year, his forces restored, the Syrian returned into Samaria, desiring to go and avenge the defeat he had received, and was again conquered. In that battle a hundred and twenty thousand of the Syrians perished; pardon was granted to the king, and his kingdom and former state were conceded to him. (6) Then Ahab was rebuked by the prophet, by the words of God, for having abused the divine gift in sparing the enemy delivered into his hands. Therefore the Syrian, after three years, made war upon the Hebrews. Against him Ahab went down to battle at the urging of the false prophets, having scorned the prophet Micaiah and cast him into chains, because he had announced that the fight would be destructive to him. Thus in that battle Ahab was slain, and left the empire to his son Ahaziah.

45 (1) When he, being sick in body, had sent some of his attendants to consult the idol concerning his recovery, Elijah, warned by God, presented himself to meet them, and rebuking them, commanded them to report back to the king that his death would follow. (2) Then the king ordered him to be seized and led to him, but the men sent were consumed by heavenly fire. The king, as the prophet had foretold, died. His brother Jehoram succeeded him; and he held the empire for twelve years. But in the part of the two tribes, Jehoshaphat the king being dead, his son Jehoram held the kingdom for eighteen years. He had Ahab's daughter as wife, nearer to his father-in-law than to his father. (3) After him his son Ahaziah obtained the empire. While he was reigning, Elijah is reported to have been translated.

At the same time Elisha, his disciple, arose, powerful in many signs; which are all too well known to need our exposition. (4) By him a widow's son was raised again, or a Syrian was cleansed of leprosy, or in a time of famine an abundance of all things was brought in, the enemy being routed, or water was supplied for the use of three armies, or, by the boundless increase of a little oil, a woman's debt was discharged and a sufficient means of living given to her as well. (5) In his times, as we have said, Ahaziah was king of the two tribes, while Jehoram, as we related above, ruled over the ten; and between them a treaty was struck.

For both they warred against the Syrians with united forces, and against Jehu, who had been anointed by a prophet as king of the ten tribes, they went out together into battle and perished in the same fight. 46 (1) But Jehu held the kingdom of Jehoram. After Ahaziah, king in Judaea, who reigned one year, his mother Athaliah seized the empire, the empire being taken from her grandson—then still a small boy, whose name was Joash. But to him, after about eight years, the empire snatched away by his grandmother was restored through the priests and the people, his grandmother being driven out. (2) He at the beginning of his reign was most observant of divine worship, and adorned the temple at great expense; afterwards, corrupted by the flattery of the princes and worshipped by them, he earned wrath. For Hazael, king of Syria, made war upon him;

and his affairs being in decline, he bought peace with the gold of the temple. Nor yet did he gain possession of it, being slain by his own men out of odium for the deed, in the fortieth year of his reign. (3) His son Amaziah succeeded him. But in the part of the ten tribes, Jehu being dead, his son Jehoahaz reigned, hateful to God by his evil deeds, on account of which his kingdom was a prey to the Syrians, until, by God's mercy, the enemy being driven off, they began to have their former state. (4) Jehoahaz, having ended his days, left the kingdom to his son Joash. He brought a civil war upon Amaziah, king of the two tribes; having gained the victory, he turned much plunder into his own kingdom. This is reported to have befallen Amaziah on account of his offence, since, having entered victorious into the borders of the Edomites, he had taken up the idols of that nation.

He is recorded to have reigned nine years, according to what I found in the books of Kings. But in Paralipomena and likewise in the Chronicles he is noted to have held power for twenty-nine years, persuaded indeed by that reasoning which can readily be perceived in these books of Kings. For Jeroboam, king of the ten tribes, is reported to have begun to reign in the eighth year of the reign of Amaziah, and to have held power for forty-one years; and to have died at last in the reign of Uzziah, son of Amaziah, in the fourth year of his rule. By this reckoning he assigns twenty-nine years to king Amaziah. And so we, following this very calculation, since it is our aim to trace the chronology, have adhered to the authority of the Chronicles. Therefore Uzziah, the son of Amaziah, succeeded him.

For in the portion of the ten tribes, Joash, having died, had made way for his son Jeroboam, and after him his son Zechariah reigned. We have not thought it necessary to record the dates of these kings, nor of all who ruled over the ten tribes in Samaria, because, aiming at brevity, we have omitted what is superfluous, and we judged that for the understanding of the chronology the years of that portion in particular should be traced which, being later carried off into captivity, held its kingdom for a longer span of time. So Uzziah, having obtained the kingdom of Judah, took special care to know the Lord, making much use of the prophet Zechariah (Isaiah too is said first to have prophesied under him); by which merit he waged wars with prosperous outcomes against his neighbors, and even subdued the Arabs.

And now he had struck Egypt with terror at his name; but, lifted up by his successes and presuming upon what was unlawful, he offered incense to God, which it was the custom for the priests alone to do. And so, being rebuked by the priest Azariah, when he was compelled to withdraw from the place and had flared up in anger, he was struck with leprosy and departed. Afflicted with this disease he ended his life, having reigned fifty-two years. The kingdom was then given to his son Jotham; he is said to have been thoroughly holy and to have administered his rule prosperously; he subdued the nation of the Ammonites in war and forced them to pay tribute. He reigned sixteen years, and his son Ahaz succeeded him. About these times the famous faith of the Ninevites is recorded.

That city, founded of old by Asshur the son of Shem, was the capital of the kingdom of the Assyrians, then thronged with a multitude of inhabitants, sustaining a hundred and twenty thousand men, and, as is fitting in a great population, abounding in vices. Moved by these, God commanded the prophet Jonah to go from Judaea and to announce to the city its destruction, just as of old Sodom and Gomorrah had been consumed by divine fires. But the prophet, shrinking from the ministry of that proclamation — not out of stubbornness, but out of foreknowledge, by which he saw that God would be appeased by the people's repentance — boarded a ship that was making for Tarshish, a far different region. But when they had gone out into the deep, the sailors, driven by the fury of the sea, sought out by lot who might be the cause of the evil.

When the lot had fallen upon Jonah, he was cast into the deep as an expiation for the tempest; and, taken up by a sea-monster and swallowed, after about three days he was cast out upon the shores of the Ninevites and proclaimed his commands — namely, that the city would perish within three days because of the people's sins. So, not unheeded as once at Sodom, the prophet's voice was listened to; and at once, by the king's command and example, the whole people, and even the newborn, abstained from food and drink; the beasts of burden likewise, and animals of various kinds, driven by hunger and thirst, presented along with the people the appearance of mourners. Thus the impending evil was averted. When Jonah complained to God that no faith had been given to his words, the answer came that pardon could not be denied to the penitent.

But in Samaria, a certain Shallum slew Zechariah, a thoroughly impious king, whom we mentioned above as having reigned, and seized the kingdom; and he likewise perished by treachery from Menahem, after the pattern of his own deed. Menahem held the dominion he had wrested from Shallum and left it to his son Pekahiah. But a certain Pekah slew this same Pekahiah and seized the kingdom. Soon, slain by Hoshea, he lost his empire by the same crime by which he had taken it. This man, more impious than all the former kings, earned for himself punishment from God and perpetual captivity for his nation. For Shalmaneser, king of the Assyrians, made war upon him, conquered him, and made him his tributary.

But when, by secret counsels, he was preparing a rebellion and summoning to his aid the king of the Ethiopians, who then held Egypt, and Shalmaneser had learned of it, he cast him into prison in perpetual chains, destroyed the city, carried off the whole people into his own kingdom, and stationed Assyrians on hostile soil to guard it. From then on that region was called Samaria, because in the language of the Assyrians the guards are called Samaritans. Of these, very many adopted the divine ceremonies, while the rest persisted in the error of heathenism. In this war Tobit was led into captivity.

But in the portion of the two tribes, king Ahaz, hated by God for his impiety, when he was often hard pressed by wars with his neighbors, resolved to worship the gods of the nations, doubtless because by their help his enemies had emerged victorious in frequent battles. Thus in this expiation of his wicked mind he ended his days, having been in the kingdom sixteen years. His son Hezekiah succeeded him, very unlike his father in disposition. For at the beginning of his reign, exhorting the people and the priests to the worship of God, he discoursed at length, showing that, though frequently chastened by the Lord, they had more often obtained mercy; and that at last the ten tribes, lately carried off into captivity, had paid the penalties of their sacrilege; and that they must take diligent care not to deserve to suffer the same things.

So, with the minds of all turned to religion, he ordained the Levites and all the priests to celebrate the sacrifices according to the law, and instituted the keeping of the Passover, which had long since been neglected. And when the festal day drew near, having sent messengers throughout all the land, he appointed a day of assembly, so that, if any remained in Samaria after the deportation of the ten tribes, they might come together to the solemn rite. Thus, with a most crowded assembly, the sacred day was passed in public rejoicing, the lawful worship being after a long interval restored by Hezekiah. Then with equal diligence to that with which he had attended to divine things, he conducted the business of war, and crushed the Philistines in frequent battles;

until Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians, made war upon him, entering his territory with a great army and, having widely laid waste the fields with none to resist, pressed the siege of the city; for Hezekiah, being inferior in numbers and not daring to join battle, defended himself within the walls. The Assyrian king, assaulting the gates, threatened destruction and demanded surrender; saying that Hezekiah trusted in God in vain, that he himself had taken up arms rather by God's will, and that the conqueror of all nations and destroyer of Samaria could not be escaped, unless they took counsel for themselves by a timely surrender. In this state of affairs Hezekiah, relying on God, consulted the prophet Isaiah, and was instructed by his answer that there would be no danger from the enemy, and that divine aid would not be lacking.

And not long after, Tirhakah, king of the Ethiopians, invaded the kingdom of the Assyrians. At this news Sennacherib, turning to protect his own, raging and crying out that the victory was being snatched from him in his triumph, abandoned the war, sending a letter to Hezekiah in which, with insulting words, he announced that, his affairs at home being soon settled, he would in good time return to the destruction of Judaea. But Hezekiah, unmoved by these things, is recorded to have prayed to God not to let so great an insolence of this man go unpunished. So that same night an angel attacked the camp of the Assyrians and gave many thousands of men to death. The king, trembling, fled to the city of Nineveh, and there, killed by his sons, met an end worthy of himself. About the same time Hezekiah lay sick in body with disease.

And when Isaiah had announced to him by the words of the Lord that the end of his life was at hand, the king is recorded to have wept; and so he merited that fifteen years be added to his life. When these were accomplished, he died in the twenty-ninth year of his reign and left the kingdom to his son Manasseh. He, degenerating greatly from his father, forsook God and practiced impious worships; for which, being delivered into the power of the Assyrians and compelled by misfortune, he acknowledged his error, and exhorted the people to forsake idols and worship God. He did nothing indeed worthy of memory, but reigned fifty-five years. Then his son Amon obtained the kingdom, but did not possess it beyond two years; heir of his father's impiety, neglectful of God, he perished, beset by the treachery of his own people. The rule passed to his son Josiah.

He is recorded to have been thoroughly religious and to have administered divine matters with the greatest care, making good use of the priest Hilkiah. When the latter had read in the temple a book, written with the words of God, found by the priest, in which it was contained that the Hebrew nation was to be destroyed because of its frequent impieties and sacrileges, by pious prayers to God and continual weeping he averted the impending calamity. And when he learned through the prophetess Huldah that this had been granted to him, with greater care, being as it were bound by the divine benefits, he practiced the worship of God. So he burned all the vessels consecrated to idols by the superstitions of the former kings. For profane rites had so prevailed there that they gave divine honors to the sun and the moon, and even built shrines of metal for them.

When Josiah had reduced these to dust, he also slew the priests of the profane temples. But he did not spare even the tombs of the impious, which, once foretold by a prophet, was observed to be fulfilled. In the eighteenth year of his reign the Passover was celebrated. After nearly three years, having marched out to battle against Necho, king of Egypt, who was waging war on the Assyrians, before the battle-lines met one another, he was struck by an arrow. And from that wound, carried back into the city, he died, having reigned twenty-one years. His son Jehoahaz then obtained the kingdom and held it three months, destined for captivity because of his impiety.

For Necho, king of Egypt, led him away bound and captive, and not long after he ended his days in chains. A yearly tribute was imposed on the Jews, and Eliakim was given them as king by the choice of the conqueror, who afterward, with his name changed, was called Jehoiakim. This man was the brother of Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, nearer to his brother than to his father, hated by God for his sacrilege. So when he was obeying the king of Egypt, to whom indeed he paid tribute, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, occupied the land of Judaea by arms and for three years possessed it as victor by the right of war. For, the king of Egypt now yielding and the boundaries of empire being fixed between them, it had been agreed that the Jews should belong to Babylon.

So when Jehoiakim, having spent eleven years in the kingdom, had made way for his son of the same name, and the latter had stirred up against himself the anger of the king of Babylon — God doubtless working it, who had determined to give the Jewish nation over to captivity and slaughter — Nebuchadnezzar, entering Jerusalem with his army, leveled the city, the walls, and the temple to the ground; he carried off an immense quantity of gold and the sacred ornaments, both public and private, and all the adults of male and female sex, leaving those whose weakness or age was a thing of disdain to the conquerors. That useless throng was assigned to slavery, to till and cultivate the fields, lest the soil lie uncultivated. And king Zedekiah was set over them, his strength removed and only the empty shadow of the royal name granted him.

But Jehoiachin held the time of his rule for three months. He was carried off with the people to Babylon and cast into prison; released after the thirtieth year and received by the king into friendship, sharing his table and his counsels, he died not without consolation for the calamity he had suffered. Meanwhile Zedekiah, king of the useless throng — though without strength, of a faithless disposition and forgetful of God, who did not understand that the captivity had been brought on because of the nation's offenses, and at last owing the final evils — offended the king's mind. So after nine years Nebuchadnezzar made war upon him, and, having driven him to take refuge within the walls, besieged him for three years.

In this crisis he consulted the prophet Jeremiah, who had already more than once declared that captivity was hanging over the city, to learn whether perhaps any hope remained. But Jeremiah, not ignorant of the heavenly wrath, being asked the same thing more than once, answered, announcing to the king himself a special punishment. Then indeed Zedekiah, roused to anger, ordered the prophet to be thrust into prison; and soon he repented of the cruel deed, but, opposed by the leaders of the Jews — whose custom from the very beginning had been to oppress the good — he did not dare to free the innocent man. At their compulsion he was let down into a pit of immense depth, dreadful with mire and filth and the deadly stench arising therefrom, so that he should not even expire by a simple death.

But the king, impious though he was, yet somewhat milder toward the priests, ordered the prophet to be brought up out of the pit and restored to the custody of the prison. Meanwhile the force of the enemy and famine pressed the besieged, and, all that could be eaten being consumed, hunger had grown strong; so, the defenders being worn out by starvation, the town was captured and burned. The king, as the prophet had foretold, had his eyes gouged out and was carried off to Babylon, while Jeremiah was, by the enemy's mercy, taken out of prison. When Nebuzaradan, the royal commander, was leading him away captive with the rest, the choice being offered him by that man whether he wished to remain in his deserted and desolate native soil, or to depart with him in the highest honors, he chose rather to stay in his homeland.

Nebuchadnezzar, having led away the people, set Gedaliah, a man of the same nation, over those remaining whom the condition of war or the disdain for plunder had caused to be left behind by the conquerors — but without any royal distinction or title of rule, because there was no dignity in presiding over a few and wretched people.