Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1891-03-27

attacks of his neighbors and compelled
them to respect Israel To his son and
successor he left a united people, whom no
other nation dared to attack, and fair
field for the arts OF peace Solomon brought
the kingdom to its highest point of glory.
/ Education, agriculture and commerce were
/ brought to a fourishing condition. This
was the golden age of Israel The fame OF
| Solomon filled the earth. He is still the
theme of q thousand legends among the
nations of southern Asia, and the Jews
through all the Twenty-Five centuries
since his day have pointed with mingled
| pride and sadness to the glory of Solomon.
| The third stage-thc four centuries of al
most continuous decay and decentralization
began with Rehoboam, though the seeds
of decay were thickly sown before For
some reasons not well understood there
had long been a division in feeling, the
tribe of Judah and some fractions of other
tribes standing together, and the rest of
the nation occasionally breaking away.
Again and again during the life Of David
did this spirit produce dangerous or bloody
results nor did David succeed in uniting
the tribes till the heir Of Saul, Ishbosheth,
had been assassinated. Twice during that
reign there were bloody instructions. 1t
Is but reasonable to conclude that the men
of Judah were greatly favored at the court
of Solomon, and that the jealousy Of other
tribes smoldered all through the forty
years of his glorious reign.
Nevertheless the kingdom left by Solo
mon extended northeast to the Euphrates
and south as far as the Red sea. His death
was the signal for the old jealousy to re-
vive, and the folly of Rehoboam completed
the division. There were thenceforth two
kingdoms and internecine strife, and the
hatred on both sides was so intense that
even the prophets were affected by it, as
we see in many of their utterances. Against
the dark background of war and apostacy
stand out the mighty figures of Elijah and
Elisha, heroes and patriots, almost mar
tyrs, yet miraculously sustained and pre-
served struggling nightly bat in vain to
bring back deluded people to their duty
to God and their native land.
AS the northern kingdom began it's
career under Jeroboam by systematically
excluding the Mosaic institutions, so it's
downward career was most rapid. Idol
airy, despotism and corruption were its
methods; conspiracy, revolt and regicide
determined the choice Of rulers through
most of the $50 years Of its troubled exist
ence. Once Elisha succeeded in restoring
faint spirit of piety and patriotism, and
under the dynasty of Jehu (who was an
ointed by Elisha there was a show of order
during the reigns of Jehoahaz, Joash, Jero-
boam II and Xachariah; but the latter was
murdered by Shallum (773 b. Co., who was
murdered n month later by Menahem,
whose son Pekahiah was slain by Pekah
who was in turn assassinated by Hoshea,
with whom the kingdom was destroyed
amid unspeakable miseries The ten tribes
were taken into captivity, and 50 disap-
peared from history. Many fanciful ac-
counts of them have appeared, and many
learned men, whose learning was not tenn
pered with Judgment, have maintained ex-
travagant theories concerning "The Lost
Tribes but there is every reason to be
lieve that they were never reunited Their
idolatry and neglect of the Mosaic law
would naturally cause them to he absorbed
and lost as a race in the nations among
whom they settled.
The history of the other kingdom, com
monty called Judah, is far more important
and interesting; for it continued "A king
dom till 5SS b. c., was partially restored
after the captivity, and maintained des-
,erata struggle for nationality for nearly
I've centuries longer Nor was the Jewish
community completely broken up and the
people scattered till the reign of the Ro-
man emperor, Hadrian about 1871 A. d.,
when the last instruction under Bar Cox
heba was suppressed in frightful massa-
ores, after which the Jews were forbidden
to enter Jerusalem under penalty of death,
and the dispersion was complete. Never
theless it is Judah that has preserved the
national name and blood, and the Jews re-
main people apart among all nations to
this day.
1t is fitting to cite here few facts as to
that portion of Jewish history between the
close of the Old Testament and opening of
the New. Cyrus decreed the return of the
Jews, but of the whole dispersion certainly
not more than a third, and some think no
more than Il fifth, came back, and these
completed the new temple about 57G B. @.
Ezra somewhat later brought colony from
beyond the Euphrates, and Nehemiah
another in AS b. G. There was long
peace, during which the sacred books were
completed, cpd the canon of the Hebrew
Scriptures made up. Nor was this peace
broken till Alexander the Great conquered
the Persian expire 1884 to 1871 b, O..
Palestine remained Il Greek province,
though under various rulers, for century
and a half; all the educated people read
and to some extent spoke Greek, and the
Scriptures were translated into that
tongue (the Septuagint) In 170-160 B. c.
tho land became again Independent under
the Maccabees, but Il century later a hor-
rible civil war resulted in an appeal to
the Romans, who took the country.
The lessons just closed the careers of
Elijah and Elisha, cover the first stages of
this dreadful history, and it may with
reverence be said that they deserve the
study of those who would be statesmen al
most as much as that Of those who would
be enlightened Christians. In these chap
tiers is portrayed Gods method in dealing
with an apostate aud decaying nation.
The moral is set forth in Scripture Ian
guage, which cannot be improved, Tho
wicked shall be turned into hell and all
the nations that forget God
The cause OF Poor Health
Is often found in the neglect of ones