As  a  rule,  good  crops  were  reaped,  and  they
would  have  been  so  to  a  larger  extent  had
proper  attention  been  paid  to  the  storing  of
water  in  reservoirs,  so  that  absence  of  rain
should  not  result,  as  it  generally  did,  in  fam
ine.  Agriculture  and  the  keeping  of  flocks
and  herds  continued,  through  all  the  period
of  scriptural  history,  the  staple  industries
of  Palestine,  which  was  not  to  any  consider
able  extent  a  commercial  land.
A-grip'pa.    See  HEROD.
A'gur  [garnered,  hired,  or  collector].
Son  of  Jakeh,  and  author  of  the  maxims
contained  in  Proverbs  xxx.  (see  ver.  1).
A 'nab  [a  father's  brother].
1.  A  king  of  Israel,  and  son  and  successor
of  Omri.  He  began  to  reign  about  874  B.  c.,
in  the  thirty-eighth  year  of  Asa,  king  of
Judah  (1  Kin.  xvi.  29).  He  married  an  idol
atress  of  masculine  temperament,  Jezebel,  the
daughter  of  Ethbaal,  king  of  Sidon.  She
worshiped  Baal,  and  her  husband  being  weak
and  irresolute,  she  ruled  over  him.  and  made
him  also  a  Baal-worshiper  (30-33).  This  was
a  revolution  in  the  national  religion  of  Israel.
When  Jeroboam  set  up  the  two  golden  calves,
he  still  desired  to  worship  Jehovah  nominal
ly,  using  them  as  helps  for  the  purpose.  But
Ahab,  under  Jezebel's  influence,  wholly  gave
up  the  adoration  of  Jehovah,  Baal  being  a
rival  god.  The  intolerant  Jezebel  did  not
stop  with  Ahab's  perversion,  but  attempted!


Ahab


19


Ahava


to  force  the  whole  people  to  adopt  her  faith.
