a writing from Elijah the prophet.

For, as there is not any other reference to Elijah throughout the Books of Chronicles, we infer that his activity had been

confined to the northern kingdom, and that this solitary prophecy in regard to the kingdom of Judah must have been

due to the connection of Jehoram with the house of Ahab, - or, to be more particular, to his marriage with Athaliah and

her influence upon him. And we would date the composition of this "writing," or it may be its commission, shortly after

that ill -fated union.252

For it seems of quite secondary importance whether Elijah himself wrote this letter, with direction to have it delivered

at the proper time to the husband of Athaliah, or else commissioned one of his disciples to write it in his name, when

the circumstances of the case indicated it. And as regards this latter view, we remember that the direction to Elijah to

anoint Hazael king of Syria, was executed six or seven years after the death of Ahab, that to anoint Jehu fourteen years

after Ahab: in both cases, therefore, many years after the commission had been given (1 Kings 19:15, 16); in both cases

also, not by Elijah himself, nor yet with precisely literal fulfillment of the commission given.

The "writing from Elijah" announced, for the public and personal sins of Jehoram, public and personal judgments. But

even before that warning came from the dead prophet, with all the solemnity of a message straight from heaven, the

judgment upon Judah had begun. Indeed, as the sacred writer remarks,253 it would have extended to the destruction of

the whole family of Jehoram ­ and with it of the commonwealth of Israel -but for the gracious promise to David of the

continuance of his house till his rule should merge in that of "David's greater Son"254 (2 Samuel 7:12, 13; 1 Kings

Still most serious calamities befell the country, both in the east and in the west. In the south-east, Edom had for one

hundred and fifty years been subject to Judah. It now re belled. Josephus reports that the governor, whom Jehoshaphat

had appointed, was murdered; while, from the prophecies of Joel (3:19), we infer that the rebellion was attended by a

massacre of the Judaean settlers in Edom. From the account of the expedition against Edom - given with only slight

variations in the Books of Kings and Chronicles - we learn that Jehoram started from Jerusalem with the host, and

notably war-chariots;255 that he was surrounded by the Edomites, but that he and the captains of his chariots -

representing the standing army - fought their way through the Edomites, while the people ­ that is, the probably

undisciplined multitude that had followed Jehoram, fled to their homes.

Thus ended the brief campaign, with the permanent loss of Edom which, except temporarily and for a short period

,

(comp. 2 Kings 14:7, 22), did not again become subject to Judaea, till its subdual under the Maccabean prince Hyrcan,

about a century before Christ. It afterwards returned to Palestine the terrible gift of a Herod.

Nor was Edom the only loss which the southern kingdom sustained. In the west, not far from the borders of Philistia,

Libnah,256 the ancient Canaanitish royal, and afterwards a priest city, revolted (comp. Joshua 15:42; 12:15; 21:13).

Its site h as not been localized with certainty, though it has, with some probability, been suggested that it is represented

by the modern Tell-es - Safieh, somewhat to the south-east of Ascalon, and on the edge of the great Philistine plain. The

hill on which the sit e stands was known in crusading times as "bright hill" (collis clarus), and the fort built upon it as

"white garde" (Blanche Garde, alba specula or alba custodia). The name not only corresponds to the ancient Libnah,

"whiteness," "sheen," but to the description of the place,257 as in its white sheen visible in all directions. If Libnah was

at the time inhabited by priests, it may have been that Diehard's apostasy from the faith led to its revolt from his rule.

This may have been prompted by the success of the rising in Edom, and the movement itself have been encouraged by

the Philistines.

This view is supported by the account in the Book of Chronicles, that the Philistines, aided by certain Arab tribes from

the neighborhood of Ethiopia - probably hired for the purpose ­ made an incursion into Judaea, and literally "clave it."

We know sufficient of the fierceness of these Arabs "by the side of the Cushites," when their spirit is roused, to

understand that Judah, divided and enfeebled, and under the rule of a Jehoram, could not withstand their onset. The

invading host seems to have taken, if not Jerusalem258 itself, yet the place where the king and his household were; and

they carried away with them what of the royal property they found, as well as the wives and sons of Jehoram, and

indeed killed all the latter except the youngest, Jehoahaz, who, from some reason unknown, escaped death.