worship also had subsequently its prophets. But when Eichhorn goes so far as to assert (Allg. Bibl. für bibl. Lit. iii. p. 195) that the prophets of Israel did not oppose the image-worship at Dan and Bethel, and Vatke (Religion des A. T. p. 421) thinks that it can by no means be proved that the prophets of Israel were zealous for Jehovah, inasmuch as He was worshipped in the temple at Jerusalem, they simply ignore the facts of history (comp. on this point Hengstenberg, id. p. 142 sqq.).

§ 173.

The Dynasty of Omri.

Under Omri, the royal residence was transferred from Tirzah to the city of Samaria, of which he was the builder, 1 Kings xvi. 24. This well-situated city, which shortly vied in prosperity with Jerusalem, continued-though Omri's immediate successor seems to have dwelt more in Jezreel-to be from this time the capital of the kingdom (see xviii. 45, xxi. 1; 2 Kings ix. 15), which was now also called after it, the "kingdom of Samaria." Omri's policy was evidently directed towards obtaining peace for his kingdom, by the cultivation of friendly relations, not only with the kingdom of Judah, but also with other neighbouring states. Peace seems to have been concluded, by the sacrifice of certain Israelite towns (see the supplementary remark, 1 Kings xx. 34), with Damascene Syria, which, under the dynasty of the Hadads, had become, as Israel had already experienced under Baasha, a formidable power. The marriage of Omri's son, the weak Ahab, with the Phonician princess Jezebel, is to be attributed to the above-named political motive. By the latter, however, who was a woman of an energetic spirit, an alteration for the worse was introduced into the kingdom after Ahab had ascended the throne. Hitherto the worship of Jehovah, though in an idolatrous form, had still been the national religion; but now the worship of Baal and Asherah was, at the instigation of the queen, set up in its

stead, a temple built for Baal in Samaria itself (xvi. 32 sq.), and (see especially xviii. 19) a vast number of the prophets of Baal and Asherah maintained among the people. Against the prophets of Jehovah, moreover, who must at that time have been numerous, a sanguinary persecution arose (vers. 4, 13), and they were put to death whenever the queen could lay hands on them. Under these circumstances the people remained passive: they halted between two opinions, as Elijah expressed it, ver. 21, i.e. they thought the worship of Jehovah and Baal compatible. At this period the conflict with triumphant heathenism was waged by the individual in whom was reflected the full glory of Old Testament prophetship, by Elijah the Tishbite, the Prophet of Fire, whose word burnt like a torch (as the son of Sirach designates him, xlviii. 1), and whose very name, "The Lord is my God," testified against the apostate and irresolute race. Opposing singly the royal power (1 Kings xviii. 22), while other prophets were concealing themselves, but supported in this isolation by the certainty of being the instrument of the living God, he undertook to destroy with one stroke the bulwarks of idolatry, by slaughtering the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, where the true God had borne testimony to His prophet (ver. 21 sqq.) (1). The dejection, however, of the zealous prophet was put to shame, when, in a night-vision on Sinai, God, who drew near to him not in the storm, not in the earthquake, not in the fire, but in a still small voice, reminded him of the Divine patience, referred him, while he thought himself the Lord's only worshipper, to the seven thousand hidden ones who had not bowed the knee to Baal, and at the same time revealed unto him, by the command to anoint Hazael to be king over Syria, and Jehu to be king over Israel, the judgment which, though it tarries, at last surely overtakes offenders (ch. xix.). The appointment of Hazael to be king of Syria-a case in which the prophetic agency was exerted in foreign politics-did not, however, take place till later; and Jehu's elevation was effected by Elisha, who was appointed by

the Divine command to succeed Elijah (2). After the vigorous measures of Elijah, the prophets again made their appearance in considerable numbers, and must (see 1 Kings xx. 13, 28) have been suffered to dwell unmolested in Samaria. They openly transacted business with the king, in whose case the occurrence on Carmel had evidently not been without effect, and who received fresh proofs of the power of the true God in the victories granted him over the Syrians in accordance with the prophetic word, and afterwards stern rebukes for his foolish and vacillating conduct to the conquered Benhadad (ch. xx.). Already, however, a multitude of false prophets had arisen, who said only such things as the king would like to hear; comp. the narrative in ch. xxii., where the single testimony to truth of Michaiah, the son of Imlah, is opposed to the false predictions of four hundred prophets (3). After the death of Ahab, who perished, according to the word of Michaiah (comp. § 200), in an unsuccessful battle against the Syrians, his son Ahaziah ascended the throne, walking during his short reign in the ways of his mother Jezebel, from which his brother and successor Jehoram somewhat deviated.

(1) According to Hitzig, Gesch. des Volkes Israel, i. p. 176, the water poured by Elijah over his sacrifice and its pile of wood was from a naphtha spring.

(2) The many miracles which appear in the history of Elijah and his successor Elisha are peculiar, no miracles being ordinarily attributed to the prophets of the Old Testament. Here, too, as well as at the exodus from Egypt, it is shown that (as pointed out, § 63) the agency of miracles was chiefly employed when the question was to oppose the worship of false gods by proving the existence of the true God.

(3) That these 400 were not the prophets of Asherah (A. V. of the groves) of 1 Kings xviii. 19, whom Elijah did not cause to be slain, nor heathen prophets at all, is evident from xxii. 16, 23. They were more probably connected with the image-worship at Bethel.

§ 174.

Schools of the Prophets, and Characteristics of the Prophetship of the Period. Fall of Jehoram. The Rechabites.

The schools of the prophets are now again mentioned (1), though their historical connection with the association of prophets in the time of Samuel cannot be proved. It is probable that they were revived by Elijah, for the purpose of providing a kind of religious fulcrum for the people who were cut off from the lawful sanctuary and worship at Jerusalem, and of raising up among them instruments for the maintenance of their spiritual life. Not less than three of these institutions are found within a tolerably limited area, and at the very headquarters of idolatry, viz. at Bethel (2 Kings ii. 3), Jericho (ver. 5), and Gilgal (iv. 38),—the latter being afterwards, for want of space, transferred to the Jordan valley (vi. 1 sq.). From the last-named passage, as well as from ii. 7, 16 sq.,—in each of which fifty sons of the prophets are mentioned,—and iv. 43, a numerous occupation of these institutions may be inferred. About one hundred sons of the prophets sit before Elisha at Gilgal, and their numbers at Jericho could hardly have been less. The name D', sons of the prophets, which is not used of the association of prophets under Samuel, but first appears 1 Kings xx. 35, points to an educational relation (2). Eichhorn's explanation, which makes them sons properly speaking of prophets, is erroneous, for it is obvious that the prophetic office was not hereditary (3). There were, as is shown especially by the expression, 2 Kings ix. 4, younger people among them; but besides these, as the narrative iv. 1 evidences, married men, who probably (see expositors on the passage) had their separate households; while the others, on the contrary, took their meals in common, iv. 38 sqq. From these communities the prophets seem to have traversed the

country, for the purpose of exercising their ministry among the people. The example, however, of Elisha, who, according to ii. 25, iv. 25, must have dwelt-perhaps like a hermit in a cave-for a long time upon Carmel, and subsequently, according to v. 9, vi. 32, lived in his own house in Samaria, shows that they might also permanently take up their abode away from these institutions. From what has already been said, it is also evident that membership in these schools of the prophets imposed no obligation to celibacy. For the rest, their mode of life would certainly correspond with the gravity of their vocation. Even their external appearance was to announce their opposition to worldly conformity. For while Samuel, according to 1 Sam. xv. 27, wore they, which recalled the official robes of the high priest, Elisha wore, according to 2 Kings i. 7 sq., a rough mantle of sheep's or goat's skin or camel's hair, and a simple, unornamented leathern girdle. Henceforth the hairy mantle seems to have been the mark of the prophetic vocation (comp. Isa. xx. 2, according to which Isaiah wore sackcloth like a mourner, Zech. xiii. 4, Heb. xi. 37, and what is said of the raiment of John the Baptist, Matt. iii. 4, xi. 8). Hence Elijah, when he called Elisha to be his successor, cast his mantle upon him (1 Kings xix. 19),—a symbolical action, analogous to the investiture of priests with their office, which is nowhere else mentioned. Ordinarily there seems to have been no special ceremony for consecrating prophets to their office. Anointing (with oil) is indeed mentioned 1 Kings xix. 16, but seems to have been omitted even in the case of Elisha (4). The succession to the prophetic office was not connected with any legal ceremony, nor dependent on human appointment, but is said to have rested solely on the direct call and consecration of God, Amos vii. 15, Isa. vi., Jer. i., Ezek. i. Elisha was indeed called by Elijah, but this was in virtue of a Divine command; and when Elisha entreated his master that he might be endowed with a double portion of his spirit above the other disciples of the prophet,-in other words, that he might receive the first

VOL. II.

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