blow ye with the trumpet, and cry, God save King Solomon! So shall he be king after me."

So Zadok the priest took a horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and they anointed Solomon to be king. And they blew the trumpet, and all the people cried, "God save King Solomon!" And they played with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy.

And Adonijah and his guests heard it when they had made an end of eating. When Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, "What meaneth this uproar in the city?"

While he yet spake, Jonathan, the son of Abiathar, came; and Adonijah said, "Come in, for thou art a good man, and bringest good tidings."

Jonathan answered and said, "Verily our lord King

David hath made Solomon king; and he hath sent with him Zadok, and Nathan, and Benaiah, and the Guard, and the Six Hundred, who have caused him to ride on the king's mule, and have anointed him king in Siloam. Great hath been the rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that ye have heard."

And when Adonijah's guests heard this they were afraid, and rose up, and went their way; but Adonijah arose and laid hold on the horns of the altar.

And it was told Solomon, "Behold, Adonijah feareth the king, for he hath laid hold on the horns of the altar, saying, Let King Solomon swear unto me this day that he will not slay me with the sword."

Solomon said, "If he will show himself a worthy man, there shall not a hair of him fall to the earth; but if wickedness be found in him he shall die."

So King Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he bowed himself before the king, and the king said unto him, “Go now to thine own house."

So Solomon reigned in the room of David, his father. And David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.

These are the last words of David, the son of Jesse :

"David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,

"The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was in my tongue.

"The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake

to me.

"He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.

"And he shall be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth, as a morning without clouds; as the tendergrass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.”

THE STORY OF AHAB AND

HIS HOUSE

ZIMRI and Omri were chief captains of the host to Elah, king of Israel, and the king sent them against Gibbethon of the Philistines, but he himself remained in Tirzah. There Zimri slew him as he was drinking in his steward's house, and made himself king in his stead. But after seven days, Omri and the army that was at Gibbethon marched against Zimri, and besieged him in the palace. Then Zimri, seeing that there was no hope of escape, burnt himself and all that he had in the palace. Thus did Omri become king, and he reigned twelve years. And when he was dead, Ahab, his son, reigned in his stead.

This Ahab made alliance with Ethbaal, king of the Zidonians, and married Jezebel, his daughter.1 This was the beginning of great evils. For whereas Jeroboam and the kings that came after him had caused Israel to sin against the Lord by worshipping the calves that had been set up in Bethel and in Dan, Ahab constrained his people to transgress far more grievously, even by following Baal and Ashtaroth. This he did at

1 Very likely the motive of this alliance was the growing power of the Assyrians. But there was a natural disposition between the two nations to make arrangements for mutual support, if only religious obstacles could be removed. Thus Solomon had friendly relations with Hiram. We may compare also the narrative in the Acts (xii. 20), where we see the anxiety of the Phoenicians to be on friendly terms with their Jewish neighbours.

the bidding of Jezebel, his wife, being ruled in all things by her. And not only did he worship these false gods with much pomp and splendour,1 but he persecuted them that were still faithful to Jehovah. For the armed messengers of the queen went through the land, throwing down the altars of the Lord, and slaying all such as would not bow the knee to Baal. Against the prophets of Jehovah did Ahab and Jezebel, his wife, rage especially. Many were killed with the sword, and they that escaped were content to hide themselves in caves and dens of the earth. Yet there were some that were found faithful even in the king's court; of such was Obadiah, the king's steward, who took a hundred of the Lord's prophets and hid them in two caves, fifty in each, and fed them there.

more.

Then the Lord sent Elijah of Tishbi, in the land of Gilead, to King Ahab. Elijah stood before him as he sat on his throne, and said, "As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word."2 And when he had said this he turned away and was seen no But when there had been drought for a long time, and the famine began to be sore in the land, Ahab bethought him of the man that had denounced this judgment against him and his people. And he sent throughout all the land of Israel, and to all the nations round about, seeking for him. To whomsoever he sent he made him swear that Elijah was not with him; but I still he could not find him. But Elijah dwelt by the Brook Cherith, where the ravens fed him with bread and flesh; and when the brook failed for the drought,

1 Thus we hear of four hundred and fifty priests of Baal that were fed at Jezebel's table, and of four hundred priests of the grove.

2 There was a peculiar propriety in this kind of visitation, for the false gods for whom Jehovah had been forsaken were supposed to be peculiarly powers of nature.

he sojourned with a widow-woman of Sarepta, that belonged to Sidon; and the Lord, for his sake, so ordered it that the woman's cruse of oil and barrel of meal failed not till the famine was ended.

At the end of the third year the Lord said to Elijah, "Go, show thyself to Ahab, and I will send

rain upon the earth." Now about this time King Ahab said to Obadiah, his steward, "Go throughout the land to all fountains of water and brooks. Peradventure we may find grass to save such of the horses and mules as are left." So they divided the land between them— Ahab went one way and Obadiah went another. as Obadiah was on his way, Elijah met him; and Obadiah knew him for the prophet that had stood before Ahab, and he fell on his face before him, and

And