The Republican., 1924-05-08
SUNDAY, MAY II.
JEHOIADA'S VICTORY OVER
RAAT

Perhaps cold storage would be the
better term since it was among the
chill Judaan hills that life was exist
ing, but not breaking thru the shell
that surrounded. 1t was progressing
toward the wonderful never-to-be-
forgotten era when Isaiah sang and
jeremiah wrote, but thru these CEN
turies there was no manifestation of
any such thing. Life was there but
it was incubating. The world listened
to the Homer and laid the foundations
of Rome. Israel grew lusty and lost
her way in the labyrinth of national
ambitions; Ninevah passed and Baby
Ion became the worlds leading CEN
ter; Damascus rose to power and be-
came a subject province; Egypt in
trigued for position and won and lost
betimes, yet thru all the years Judah,
among her mountain SUBMITS, mingl-
ed little with world matters. The
prophet who bowed himself out of
Solomon's court appeared but seldom
y
successors. Rehoboam had one in
terview not very satisfactory in con-
nection with the separation and again
when Shshak invaded his territory,
but there was little connection be-
tween Shemaah and the palace and
the king appears to have gone his
own way with little desire for
"voce." Politically, the government
was a stable one descending from
father to son in David's line until it
was finally set aside by the fall of
Jerusalem, but up to the capture of
Samaria the only break was that of
Alfalfa, who became the one reigning
queen in Judah's history.
Rehgiously, Solomon had set going
forces that were far afeld from the
worship of Jehovah. Olivet must
have had numerous temples to the
deities imported with his wives and
each shrined a reality as vital as Je
hovah in the mind Of the Judeans.
Heathenish practices fourished un-
checked and unchallenged until the
DAYS of Asia, who sought to purify
some of the conditions but the idea of
one God for all the world was yet far
from the thinking of the people. The
splendour of the temple overshadOWed
the rest, but its despailation to sat
isfy what were felt to be political
needs discredited the God to whom it
was dedicated The steadiness of rule
and the stability of government gave
opp oz,.-,...--,.t5y z,.,.-,.t5y for institutional growth
rather than the development of great
ideas and the religion was primarily
state affair with vast tolerance
for the multi-colored cults that flour
ished, many Of them under the cover
of Jehovah's name.
THE REVOLUTION.
After the separation, the temple
became the care of the priesthood and
it gathered to Itself out of the revolt
ing tribes a number of Levites who
found congenial home among its
there was enlarged power and the
forming of an organization that ran
its way to the High Priest, as jealous
of his prerogatives as the king. But
he never assumed to dictate policy as
did the prophet and there was none of
the exaltation in affairs that was Civ
en- Elisha in Israel and to Isaiah and
jeremiah later in Judah. His distinc-
ton was in numbers, in ritual knowl-
edge and in the pageantry OF formal
worship that must be correct to be
effective In the days of Jehoshaphat
the differences were adjusted between
the two Hebrew kingdoms and the
daughter of Jezebel became the seal
upon the treaty as an inmate of the
Jerusalem palace. Jehoram, her hus-
band, was typical despot who inau-
gurated his rule with the murder Of
his brothers as possible claimants to
the throne. Alfalfa brought with her
the ideas of kingship held by her
mother, and also the religion that
able queen so delighted to foster. Ty-
rian Baalism hated democracy and
made its bid for equality of privilege
with Jehovah. The Hebrew in rec
Ognizing other gods placed them a bit
lower than his own, but this Baal
would have none of such patronage
and the stuggle staged by Elijah be-
came part of the story of Judah.
But there it was priest and not pro-
phet against queen. The Jehu revolu-
ton that slew Judah's king and would
have ousted Alfalfa from her coveted
honors as queen-mother gave her op-
portunity to seize the throne and fol-
low the policy that she had condoned
if not urged upon her husband of kill
ing other heirs and she swept the city
of all who might oppose her will.
There was no popular protest, there
appears TO have been no party that
could voice democracy in that hour of
despotic triumph and Baal and blood