and Athaliah and their sons, he took a wooden chest and made a hole in the lid, and set it up in the temple beside the altar. He desired the people to cast into the box through the hole whatever they wished to give towards the repair of the temple. So they strove with one another to see which would give the most, and large quantities of silver and gold were every day put into the box. Every day the priests counted over the money that had been given in the presence of the king, and it was turned into the treasury and the box was replaced. When a large sum had been collected in this way, the king and Jehoiada the high-priest set carpenters and masons to work, and they restored the temple to its former condition. As long as Jehoiada lived, the altar was every day heaped up with sacrifices.

But when Jehoiada died, the king fell away from God and neglected His worship. The people also went back to their idols. Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, stood up in the temple and denounced the king and the people for their wickedness, and prophesied that God would punish them. Then Jehosh was angry, and ordered that Zechariah should be stoned to death where he stood, and the people obeyed him.

It was not long before God avenged the death of His priest. For Hazael, king of Syria, made an expedition against the country, and overthrew many of the cities, and would have taken Jerusalem but that Jehoash sent him all his treasures and all the treasures that were in the temple, and so bought him off. Afterwards Jehoash fell into a dangerous illness, and was killed in his bed by the friends of Zechariah.

CHAPTER LXXIII

THE DEATH OF ELISHA

MEANWHILE, the king of Syria had turned his victorious a ns against Israel, which at this time was governed by Jehoakaz, who had succeeded his father, Jehu. Now, Jehoahaz was a very wicked man, and God allowed Hazael to defeat his armies, and take away from him his great cities, and reduce his people to slavery.

Jehoahaz died after he had reigned seventeen years, and was succeeded by his son Jehoash. As this was in the lifetime of Jehoash, king of Judah, there were now two kings of this name, as before there had been two Jehorams. It was during the reign of Jehoash of Israel that the prophet Elisha died. He was a very old man. On his death-bed he was visited by the king, who shed tears over him. But Elisha comforted him, and commanded a bow and some arrows to be brought to him, and he bade the king shoot the bow. The king shot three arrows and stopped. Then Elisha said,

"If thou hadst shot more arrows, thou hadst utterly destroyed the kingdom of Syria, and swept it from the earth; but since thou hast been satisfied with shooting three times only, thou shalt fight and beat the Syrians no more times than three, and shalt only recover from them those cities which they cut off from thy kingdom in the reign of thy father."

When the king had departed, Elisha died, and he was buried in a magnificent manner. And it happened, shortly afterwards, that some robbers slew a traveller and threw his body

into the grave of Elisha, and the murdered man came to life again.

Jehoash made war against Adad, the king of Syria, who had succeeded his father Hazael, and defeated him in three great battles, and took from him all that country and all those cities which had belonged to the kingdom of Israel. He also defeated Amaziah, king of Judah, as will be related in the next chapter. And having done these things, he died, leaving the throne of Israel to his son Jeroboam.

CHAPTER LXXIV

AMAZIAH, KING OF JUDAH

AFTER the death of Jehoash, king of Judah, his son Amaziah succeeded to the kingdom. Amaziah was a warlike prince, and he gathered together an army of three hundred thousand armed men of his own people, in order to lead them against the Amalekites and Edomites and Gebalites. He also sent to the king of Israel and hired one hundred thousand of his men for a hundred talents of silver. But as he was making ready to start, a prophet warned him that he should dismiss the Israelites, for they were bad men, and God would not bless him if he made use of such allies. Though Amaziah thought it was hard that he should be obliged to dismiss the Israelites after paying their hire, yet he obeyed the prophet. Then he marched with his own army against the enemy, and defeated them in many battles, and returned with a great booty.

Amaziah began to be puffed up with pride on account of his great victories, and he forgot that God had helped him, and even went so far as to worship the idols he had brought out of the country of the Amalekites. When a prophet was

sent to upbraid him, Amaziah angrily told him to hold his peace and begone. The prophet answered that he would indeed hold his peace in future, but that God would surely punish the king.

Then Amaziah wrote an insolent letter to Jehoash, king of Israel, and commanded that he and his people should submit to him, even as the Israelites had formerly submitted to David and to Solomon, his ancestors.

"And if thou wilt not do this," wrote Amaziah, "thou wilt have to fight for thy dominion."

To which message Jehoash returned this answer in writing: "King Jehoash to King Amaziah: There was once a tall cypress-tree in Mount Lebanon, and a thistle that grew beside it. The thistle spoke to the cypress, asking that the daughter of the cypress be given in marriage to the son of the thistle. But while the thistle was speaking there came a wild beast and trod it down. And this may be a lesson to thee, not to be so ambitious, and to have a care lest thou growest too proud on account of thy success over the Amalekites, and bringest dangers upon thyself and upon thy kingdom."

When Amaziah had read this letter he was very angry, and he gathered up an army to chastise King Jehoash and reduce him to subjection. But just as the men of Judah were marching out to give battle to the Israelites, a strange terror came down upon them from God, and they dispersed in confusion and fled from the field, leaving Amaziah alone and undefended. The Israelites took him captive, and Jehoash threatened to kill him unless he would persuade the people of Jerusalem to open their gates to him and receive him and his army into the city. Amaziah, being in terror for his life, did as he was told. Jehoash threw down a part of the wall and drove into the city through the breach, and became master of Jerusalem. He took away all the treasure he could find in the temple and in the royal palace and in the houses of the citizens, and returned to Samaria, leaving Amaziah behind

him. After this some of the men of Jerusalem conspired against Amaziah and slew him, and he was succeeded by his son Uzziah.

CHAPTER LXXV

THE PROPHET JONAH

JEROBOAM the second, who succeeded his father, Jehoash, as king of Israel, was a very wicked prince, and was the cause of many misfortunes to his people. In spite of his wickedness, God was willing to make use of him to chastise the Syrians, who were also a very wicked people. He sent a prophet named Jonah to tell him that he should make war with the kingdom of Syria and destroy their towns, and Jeroboam did as he was told, and the Lord gave him the victory. God had also told Jonah that he should go to a city named Nineveh and warn the citizens that a great punishment was in store for them. But out of fear he disobeyed God, and fled to the city of Joppa, and, finding a ship there, he embarked on it to go to Tarsus. On the passage a terrible storm arose, and the ship was in danger of sinking. Then the captain and his men began to pray to God, but Jonah did not join in their prayers, for he knew that it was on his account that the storm had been sent. The tempest increased, and the sailors began to think there was some one on board who was pursued by the anger of God. They threw lots to determine who this was, and the lot fell upon Jonah.

They asked him, "Who art thou, and what wicked thing hast thou done?"

Jonah answered. "I am an Israelite by birth, and a prophet of God, and if you wish to escape the danger you are in, cast me overboard, for I am the occasion of this storm."