On  the  death  of  Solomon,  the  disintegrating  forces,  already
threatening  the  unity  of  the  empire,  received,  through  the  folly
of  his  successor,  a  sudden  accession  of  strength,  which  pre-
cipitated the  catastrophe,  Rehoboam,  entreated  to  lighten  the
burdens  of  the  Israelites,  declared  his  intention  of  increasing
their  weight,  and  thus  drove  the  bulk  of  his  native  subjects
into  rebelUon.  The  disunion  of  the  conquering  people  gave
the  conquered  tribes  an  opportunity  of  throwing  off  the  yoke,
whereof  with  few  exceptions  they  availed  themselves.  In  lieu
of  the  puissant  State,  which  under  David  and  Solomon  took
rank  among  the  foremost  powers  of  the  earth,  we  have  hence-
forth to  deal  with  two  petty  kingdoms  of  small  account,  the
interest  of  whose  history  is  religious  rather  than  political.
The  kingdom  of  Israel,  established  by  the  revolt  of  Jero-
boam, comprises  ten  out  of  the  twelve  tribes,  and  reaches  from
the  borders  of  Damascus  and  Hamath  to  within  ten  miles  of
Jerusalem.  It  includes  the  whole  of  the  trans-Jordanic  terri-
tory, and  exercises  lordship  over  the  adjoining  country  of


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ANCIENT  HISTORY  47

Moab.  The  proportion  of  its  population  to  that  of  Judah
in  the  early  times  may  be  estimated  as  two  to  one.  But  the
advantage  of  superior  size,  fertility,  and  population  is  counter-
balanced by  the  inferiority  of  every  Israelite  capital  to  Jerusa-
lem, and  by  the  fundamental  weakness  of  a  government  which,
deserting  purity  of  religion,  adopts  for  expediency's  sake  an
unauthorized  and  semi-idolatrous  worship.  In  vain  a  succes-
sion of  Prophets,  some  of  them  endowed  with  extraordinary
miraculous  power,  struggled  against  this  fatal  taint.  Idolatry,
intertwined  with  the  nation's  life,  could  not  be  rooted  out.
