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his friend Jehonadab, and gave orders to make search whether there were not any foreigner er stranger among them, for he would have no one of a different religion to mix among their sacred offices. And when they said that there was no stranger there, and they were beginning their sacrifices, he set fourscore men without, they being such of his soldiers as he knew to be most faithful to him, and bid them slay the false prophets, and now vindicate the laws of their country, which had been a long time in disesteem. He also threatened, that if any one of them escaped, their own lives should go for them. So they slew them all with the sword; and burnt the house of Baal, and by that means purged Samaria of foreign customs, [idolatrous worship]. Now this Baal, was the god of the Tyrians; and Ahab, in order to gratify his father-in-law, Ethbaal, who was the king of Tyre and Sidon, built a temple for him in Samaria, and appointed him prophets, and worshipped him with all sorts of worship, although when this god was demolished, Jehu permitted the Israelites to worship the golden heifers. However, because he had done thus, and taken care to punish the wicked, God foretold by his prophet, that his sons should reign over Israel for four generations: and in this condition. was Jehu at this time.

CHAP. VII.

How Athalia reigned over Jerusalem for five [six] years, when Jehoiada the high priest slew her, and made Jehoash, the son of Ahaziah, king.

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1. Now when Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, heard

of the death of her brother Joram, and of her son Ahaziah, and of the royal family, she endeavoured that none of the house of David might be left alive, but that the whole family might be exterminated, that no king might arise out of it afterward; and, as she thought, she had actually done it but one of Ahaziah's sons was preserved, who escaped death after the manner following: Ahaziah had a sister by the same father, whose name was Jehosheba, and she was married to the high priest Jehoiada. She went into the king's palace, and found Jeloash, for that was the little child's name, who was not above a year old, among those that were slain, but concealed with his nurse; so she took him with her into a secret bed-chamber, and shut him up there, and she and her husband Jehoiada brought him up privately in the temple six years, during which time Athaliah reigned over Jerusalem, and the two tribes.

2. Now, on the seventh year, Jehoiada communicated the matter to certain of the captains of hundreds, five in number, and persuaded them to be assisting to what attempts he was making against Athalia, and to join with him in asserting the kingdom to the child. He also received such oaths from them as are proper to secure those that assist one another from the fear of discovery; and he was then of good hope that they should depose Athaliah. Now those men whom Jehoiada the priest had taken to be his partners, went into all the country, and gathered together the priests and the Levites, and the heads of the tribes out of it, and came and brought them to Jerusalem, to the high priest. So he demanded the security of an oath of them, to keep private whatsoever he should discover to them which required both their silence and their assistance. So when they had taken the oath, and had thereby made it safe for him to speak, he produced the child that he had brought up of the family of David, and said to them, "This is your king, of that house "which you know God hath foretold should reign over you " for all time to come: I exhort you therefore that one-third

part of you guard him in the temple, and that a fourth part "keep watch at all the gates of the temple, and that the next "part of you keep guard at the gate which opens and leads "to the king's palace, and let the rest of the multitude be "unarmed in the temple, and let no armed person go in"to the temple, but the priest only. He also gave them "this order besides, that a part of the priests and the Levites "should be about the king himself, and be a guard to him, "with their drawn swords, and to kill that man immediately, "whoever he be, that should be so bold as to enter armed

into the temple; and bid them be afraid of nobody, but persevere in guarding the king." So these men obeyed what the high-priest advised them to, and declared the reality of their resolutiou by their actions. Jehoiada also opened that armoury which David had made in the temple, and distributed to the captains of hundreds, as also to the priests and Levites, all the spears and quivers, and what kind of weapons soever it contained, and set them armed in a circle round about the temple, so as to touch one anothers hands, and by that means excluding those from entering that ought not to enter. So they brought the child into the midst of them, and put on him the royal crown, and Jehoiada anointed him with the oil, and made him king; and the multitude rejoiced, and made a noise, and cried, "God save the king."

3. When Athaliah unexpectedly heard the tumult and the acclamations, she was greatly disturbed in her mind, and suddenly issued out of the royal palace with her own army; and

when she was come to the temple, the priests received her, but as for those that stood round about the temple, as they were ordered by the high-priest to do, they hindered the armed men that followed her from going in. But when Athaliah saw the child standing upon a pillar, with the royal crown upon his head, she rent her clothes, and cried out vehemently, and commanded [her guards] to kill him that had laid snares for her, and endeavoured to deprive her of the government. But Jehoiada called for the captains of hundreds, and commanded them to bring Athaliah to the valley of Cedron, and slay her there, for he would not have the temple defiled with the punishments of this pernicious woman; and he gave order, that if any one came near to help her, he should be slain also; wherefore those that had the charge of her slaughter, took hold of her, and led her to the gate of the king's mules, and slew her there.

4. Now as soon as what concerned Athaliah was by this stratagem, after this manner dispatched, Jehoiada called together the people and the armed men into the temple, and made them take an oath, that they would be obedient to the king, and take care of his safety, and of the safety of his government; after which he obliged the king to give security [upon oath] that he would worship God, and not transgress the laws of Moses. They then ran to the house of Baal, which Athaliah and her husband Jehoram had built, to the dishonour of the god of their fathers, and to the honour of Ahab, and demolished it, and slew Matan, that had his priesthood. But Jehoiada entrusted the care and custody of the temple to the priests and Levites, according to the appointment of king David, and enjoined them to bring their regular burnt-offerings twice a-day, and to offer incense according to the law. He also ordained some of the Levites, with the porters, to be a guard to the temple, that no one that was defiled might come there.

5. And when Jehoiada had set these things in order, he, with the captains of hundreds, and the rulers, and all the people, took Jehoash out of the temple into the king's palace, and when he had set him upon the king's throne, the people shouted for joy, and betook themselves to feasting, and kept a festival for many days; but the city was quiet upon the death of Athaliah. Now Jehoash was seven years old when he took the kingdom: His mother's name was Zibiah, of the city Beersheba. And all the time that Jehoiada lived, Jehoash was careful that the laws should be kept, and very zealous in the worship of God; and when he was of age, he married two wives, who were given to him by the highpriest, by whom were born to him both sons and daughters

And this much shall suffice to have related concerning king Joash, how he escaped the treachery of Athaliah, and how he received the kingdom.

CHAP. VIII.

Ilazael makes an expedition against the people of Israel, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Jehu dies, and Jehoahaz succeeds in the government. Jchoash, the king of Jerusalem, at first is careful about the worship of God, but afterwards becomes impious, and commands Zachariah to be stoned. When Jehoash [king of Judah] was dead, Amaziah succeeds him in the kingdom.

§ 1. Now ow Hazael, king of Syria fought against the Israelites and their king Jehu, and spoiled the eastern parts of the country beyond Jordan, which belonged to the Reubenites and Gadites, and to [the half tribe of] Manassites; as also Gilead and Bashan, burning and spoiling, and offering violence to all that he laid his hands on, and this without impeachment from Jehu, who made no haste to defend the country when it was under this distress: nay, he was become a contemner of religion, and a despiser of holiness, and of the laws; and died when he had reigned over the Israelites twenty-seven years. He was buried in Samaria; and left Jehoahaz his son his successor in the government.

2. Now Jehoash, king of Jerusalem, had an inclination to repair the temple of God; so he called Jehoiada, and bid him send the Levites and priests through all the country, to require half a shekel of silver for every head, towards the rebuilding and repairing of the temple, which was brought to decay by Jehoram, and Athaliah and her sons. But the high-priest did not do this, as concluding that no one would willingly pay that money; but in the twenty-third year of Jehoash's reign, when the king sent for him and the Levites, and complained that they had not obeyed what he enjoined them, and still commanded them to take care of the rebuilding the temple, he used this stratagem for collecting the money, with which the multitude was pleased. He made a wooden chest, and closed it up fast on all sides, but opened one hole in it; he then set it in the temple beside the altar, and desired every one to cast into it, through the hole, what hé pleased, for the repair of the temple. This contrivance was acceptable to the people, and they strove one with another, and brought in jointly large quantities of silver and gold: and when the scribe and the priest that were over the

treasuries had emptied the chest, and counted the money in the king's presence, they then set it in its former place, and thus did they every day. But when the multitude appeared to have cast in as much as was wanted, the high-priest Jehoiada, and king Joash, sent to hire masons and carpenters, and to buy large pieces of timber, and of the most curious sort; and when they had repaired the temple, they made use of the remaining gold and silver, which was not a little, for bowls and basons, and cups, and other vessels; and they went on to make the altar every day fat with sacrifices of great value. And these things were taken suitable care of as long as Jehoiada lived.

3. But as soon as he was dead, (which was when he had lived one hundred and thirty years, having been a righteous, and in every respect, a very good man, and was buried in the king's sepulchres at Jerusalem, because he had recovered the kingdom to the family of David,) king Jehoash betrayed his [want of] care about God. The principal men of the people were corrupted also together with him, and offended against their duty, and what their constitution determined to be most for their good. Hereupon God was displeased with the change that was made on the king, and on the rest of the people, and sent prophets to testify to them what their actions were, and to bring them to leave off their wickedness: but they had gotten such a strong affection, and so violent an inclination to it, that neither could the examples of those that had offered affronts to the laws, and had been so severely punished, they and their entire families, nor could the fear of what the prophets now foretold, bring them to repentance, and turn them back from their course of transgression, to their former duty. But the king commanded that Zachariah, the son of the high priest Jehoiada, should be stoned to death in the temple, and forgot the kindnesses he had received from his father; for when God had appointed him to prophecy, he stood in the midst of the multitude, and gave this counsel to them, and to the king, that they should act righteously, and foretold to them, that if they would not hearken to his admonitions, they should suffer an heavy punishment: but as Zachariah was ready to die, he appealed to God as a witness of what he suffered, for the good counsel he had given them, and how he perished after a most severe and violent manner for the good deeds his father had done to Jehoash.

4. However, it was not long before the king suffered punishment for his transgression; for when Hazael, king of Syria, made an irruption into his country, and when he had overthrown Gath, and spoiled it, he made an expedition against

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