What did the ten tribes of Israel then do? What do you mean by "revolted?" A. Rebelled, or departed from their duty to their king. How many tribes then did Rehoboam reign over? Which were those two tribes ? How many kingdoms were thus formed? After Solomon's death (a) Rehoboam his son being set on the throne, the ten tribes of Israel revolted; so that he ruled over two tribes only, which were those of Judah and Benjamin. Thus, there were two kingdoms formed, the one called the kingdom of Israel, which comprehended the ten revolted tribes, the other called the kingdom of Judah, et were the names of which consisted of the two the two kingdoms ? Of what did the kingdom of Judah consist? How long did the kingdom of Israel subsist? Who was the first king of it? What did Jeroboam fear? What did he do to prevent it? What did he make for this purpose? Had not the people of Israel a right to keep their solemn festivals wherever they pleased? A. No; they were commanded to keep their solemn festivals only at Jerusalem. Under whose name did they worship the golden calves? What did Jeroboam' appoint? What was therefore es tribes that remained faithful to Rehoboam. The kingdom of Israel subsisted about two hundred and fifty years; Jeroboam was the first king of it. This prince, fearing that his subjects would return to the obedience of Rehoboam, king of Judah, when they should go to Jerusalem on the solemn festivals to worship God in the temple, and to offer their sacrifices there, set up a false worship in his kingdom. He made two golden calves, which they worshipped under the name of the God of Israel. He appointed solemn feasts and priests; so that in the reign of Jeroboam and his successor, idolatry was established in the kingdom of Israel. All the kings of Israel were idolaters, and (a) 1 Kings xii. &c. tablished in the kingdom of kept up the false worship Israel? What is idolatry? What were all the kings of Israel? What kind of worship did they keep up? Whom did God send to the ten tribes ? For what purpose? Who was the most eminent of these Prophets? In whose time did he pro phesy? What kind of king was Ahab? 19. What became at last of the kingdom of the ten tribes ? to What was the name of In whose time was it taken? ten tribes? 2 the which Jeroboam had established. God sent several Prophets to the ten tribes, to turn them from their sins, and to preserve the knowledge of himself among them. The most eminent of these prophets was Elijah. t He prophesied in the time of Ahab, who was one of the wickedest of the kings of Israel. At last the kingdom (a) of the ten tribes was destroyed, and Samaria, their capital city, was taken in the time of Hosea, the last king of Israel, by Salmaneser, king of Assyria, who carried away the ten tribes into his own kingdom, from whence they were dispersed into divers countries, and have never since been settled again in their own land, The kingdom of Judah lasted an hundred and thirty years longer than that of Israel. The capital city of this kingdom was Jerusalem, where the true God was served in the temple of Solomon. But idolatry crept in also into the kingdom of Judah. God raised up prophets from time to time, who opposed the errors and sins of that people, who (a) 2 Kings xvii. Whom did God raise up from time to time? What did the Prophets oppose? With what did they threaten the people? What did they foretell? Who was one of the most eminent of these prophets? What did some good kings endeavour to do? Who were they? In what did the people hotwithstanding continue? What did God at last do with the kingdom of Judah? Who besieged Jerusalem? In whose reign? Who was Nebuchadnez zar ? What did Nebuchadnezzar do to the city? To what place did he carry away the people? How long after Solomon had laid the foundation of the temple of Jerusalem, did this happen? How long before the birth of our Lord? threatened them with the judgments of God, and foretold the coming of the Messias. Isaiah was one of the most eminent of these prophets. There were also some good kings, who endeavoured to abolish idolatry, as Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Josiah, and some others. But the people continuing (a) in their sins, God, after he had long threatened them and afflicted them at sundry times by the neighbouring kings, de stroyed also the kingdom of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, besieged Jerusalem in the reign of Zedekiah the last king of Judah. He took it, and burnt it, with the temple, and carried away the people to Babylon, about four hundred and twenty years after Solomon had laid the foundation of the temple of Jerusalem, and five hundred and four-score years before the birth of our Lord. CHAPTER VI. Of the time between the Captivity of Babylon and Jesus Christ. The Babylonish captivity lasted seventy years, as the Prophet Jeremiah had foretold (b) it should. When (a) 2 Kings xxv. Who was Cyrus ? :Under whose conduct did they return? For what purpose ? By whom were they interrupted? How long was the work delayed? What did Darius command? Who were the Prophets that lived at that time? What did they exhort the Jews to do? Who went some years afterwards into Judea? By whose permission did he go? What did he cause to be done? What did he restore in that city? What space of time was there from the rebuilding of Jerusalem to the destruction of that city? How much is seventy weeks of years? S.Why do seventy weeks of years mean four hundred and ninety years? A. Because in the prophecies, a day stands for a year, and seven times seventy make four hundred and ninety. Who predicted or foretold this circumstance? To whom were the Jews subject after they returned into their own country? To whom afterwards? these seventy years were expired, the Jews (a) returned into their own country by the leave of Cyrus, king of Persia, under the conduct of Zerobabel, to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem. But in this they were interrupted by the neighbouring nations, and this work was delayed to the time of Darius, king of Persia, who commanded that the temple and the service of God should be set up again. The Prophets Haggai and Zachariah lived at that time, and they exhorted the Jews to labour in building the temple. Some years afterwards (b) Nehemiah went into Judea by the permission of king Artaxerxes. He caused the walls of Jerusalem to be built, and restored order, and civil government in that city. From the rebuilding of (c) Jerusalem, in the reign of Darius, to the destruction of that city, which happened after the coming of Jesus Christ, there were seventy weeks of years; that is to say, four hundred and ninety years, according to the pre (a) Dan. ix. 2. iv. v. &c. (b) Neh. i. &c. Esd. i. To what were they sex diction of the Prophet posed? Which was the last, and most cruel of the persecutions? What did king Antiochus do to the temple of Jeru salem? What did he make use of in order to force the Jews to renounce their religion? Where may this be seen? What did Mattathias and many Jews do in consequence of this violence? For what purpose were they to enter into a covenant?: By whose courage and conduct did they gain many victories? Under whose government were they after they recov ered their liberty, and had again set up the exercise of their religion? Whom did they succeed? What title did they take? What are they called? Under whose dominion did the Jews at last fall? Daniel. The Jews, being returned into their own country, were for some time subject to the kings of Persia, and afterwards to the kings of Syria. They were exposed to divers persecu tions; whereof the last, and most cruel, was that of king Antiochus (a) who plundered and profaned the temple of Jerusalem, and made use of torments in order to force the Jews to renounce their religion, as may be seen in the history of the Maccabees. This was he that forced Mattathias, and many Jews, to enter into a cove nant together for the preservation of their religion, and liberty. They gained many victories by the courage and conduct of Judas Maccabeus, and Jonathan, both sons of Mattathias. Having recovered their liberty, and again set up the exercise of their religion, they were for a long time under the government of the priests, who succeeded Judas and Jonathan, and took the title of kings. These are they who are called Asmoneans. At last, the Jews fell under the dominion of |