general readers of the Bible.

On the first of these questions the present writer has not seen any reason for departing from the old

lines of the Church's faith, but rather everything to confirm our adherence to them. Thus literary

criticism may, and ought, in this, as in other matters, to continue its independent course of

investigation without causing any misgivings to those who, on good and valid grounds, hold fast

to the old truth concerning' Moses and the prophets' and the assured fact of their testimony to

Christ. And the final result of all investigations can only be the confirmation and vindication of the

faith of the Church.

In conclusion I have to thank the readers of this Bible History for their kindness, and the

indulgence extended to me in completing this series. Any delay in it has been caused by literary

engagements. To me, at least, it has afforded the refreshment of periodically returning to a loved

work, while the marked advance in cognate studies tending to the illustration of this History has

been of the gre atest advantage during the progress of the Series. It only remains, with all humility,

to offer the results of these labors to those who love the Old Testament, in the earnest hope that He

in Whose service they were undertaken may graciously accept, and by His blessing further them,

not only to the fuller knowledge, but to the spiritual understanding of His own Word.

ALFRED EDERSHEIM

6, CRICK ROAD, OXFORD, July 21, 1887.

CHAPTER 1 - ATHALIA, (SEVENTH) QUEEN, AND JEHOASH, (EIGHTH) KING OF

Murder of the remaining Princes of Judah by Athaliah - Rescue of Jehoash, and his Preservation in

the Temple - Reign of Athaliah - The Revolution inaugurated by Jehoiada - Proclamation and

Coronation of Jehoash - Death of Athaliah - Destruction of the House of Baal - New Settlement in

Church and State. (2 KINGS 11:1-20; 2 CHRONICLES 12:10-23:21.)

WITH the accession of Jehu and the destruction of the house of Ahab, and with the ill -fated

alliance between the doomed race of Ahab and the descendants of David, the last period in the

history of Israel and Judah's national decline had begun. The measure was not only full, but the

Hand hitherto lifted in threatening was no longer stayed. We have reached a period of judgments,

when each follows the other with only b rief intermission. Of the events in Israel connected with

the rebellion of Jehu, of the character of the religious changes introduced by him, and of the

troubles and difficulties of the military monarchy which he founded, a detailed account has

already been given.* But the full sweep and import of these events will only be perceived as we

mark their direct and indirect influence on the history of Judah.

* See Vol. 6, pp. 193-213. Here we recall only these points: 1. The literal fulfillment of the

prophetic predictions concerning the house of Ahab (1 Kings 21:21-24; 2 Kings 9:6-10). 2. That

the reaction against the foreign idolatry introduced by Ahab and Jezebel consisted in a return not

to the pure service of Jehovah, but to that under the form of the gold en calves instituted by

Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:27 -33). In short it was an attempt to reverse the whole previous policy both

in Church and State and to reconstitute the kingdom of Israel as Jeroboam had sought to found it

on its original separation from Judah. And it may well have been that his slaughter of Ahaziah,

and then of the princes royal of Judah (2 Kings 9:27; 10:13, 14), may, from a political point of

view, have been determined by the wish to break the bonds that were re -uniting the kingdoms of