Other narratives describe the life of the young David at the court of the first king of the northern kingdom. The scenes cover the district which he took with the sword, and the brave Saul is represented in an unfavourable light. One must allow for the popular tendency to idealize great figures, and for the Judaean origin of the compilation. To David is ascribed the sovereignty over a united people. But the stages in his progress are not clear. After being the popular favourite of Israel in the little district of Benjamin, he was driven away by the jealousy and animosity of Saul. Gradually strengthening his position by alliance with Ju daean clans, he became king at Hebron at the time when Israel suffered defeat in the north. His subsequent advance to the king ship over Judah and Israel at Jerusalem is represented as due to the weak condition of Israel, and the compliance of Saul's general, Abner; partly, also, to the long-expressed wish of the Israelites that their old hero should reign over them. Saul had been chosen by Yahweh to free his people from the Philistines ; he had been rejected for his sins, and had suffered continuously from this enemy; Israel at his death was left in the unhappy state in which he had found it ; it was the Judaean David, the faithful servant of Yahweh, who was now chosen to deliver Israel, and to the last the people gratefully remembered their debt. David accomplished the conquests of Saul, but on a grander scale ; "Saul hath slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands" is the popular couplet comparing the relative merits of the rival dynasts. A series of campaigns against Edom, Moab, Ammon and the Aramaean states, friendly relations with Hiram of Tyre, and the recognition of his sovereignty by the king of Hamath on the Orontes, combine to portray a monarchy which was the ideal. (See further, DAVID; SAMUEL; SAUL.) David, the warrior, was followed by his son Solomon, as "peace ful" as his name signifies, famous for his wealth, wisdom and piety, above all for the magnificent Temple which he built at Jerusalem. Phoenician artificers were enlisted for the purpose, and with Phoe nician sailors successful trading-journeys were regularly under taken. Commercial intercourse with Asia Minor, Arabia, Tarshish (in Spain), and Ophir (q.v.) filled his coffers, and his realm ex tended from the Euphrates to the border of Egypt. Tradition depicts him as a worthy successor to his father, and represents a state of luxury and riches impressive to all who were familiar with the great oriental courts. (See SoLoMON.) Judah and Israel dwelt at ease, or held the superior position of military officials, while the earlier inhabitants of the land were put to forced labour. But another side of the picture shows the domestic intrigues which darkened the last days of David. The accession of Solomon had not been without bloodshed, and Judah, together with David's old general, Joab, and his faithful priest, Abiathar, were opposed to the son of a woman who had been the wife of a Hittite warrior. The era of the Temple of Jerusalem starts with a new regime, another captain of the army and another priest — Zadok of Jeru salem. Moreover, the employment of Judaeans and Israelites for Solomon's palatial buildings, and the heavy taxation for the up keep of a court which was the wonder of the world, caused grave discontent. External relations, too, were unsatisfactory. The Edomites, who had been almost extirpated by David in the valley of Salt, south of the Dead sea, were now strong enough to seek revenge ; and the powerful kingdom of Damascus, whose founda tion is dated to this period, began to threaten Israel on the north and north-east. These troubles, we learn, had affected all Solo mon's reign, and even Hiram, the Phoenician, appears to have acquired a portion of Galilee. In the approaching disruption writers saw the punishment for the king's apostasy, and they con demn the sanctuaries in Jerusalem which he erected to the gods of his heathen wives. Nevertheless, these places of cult remained some 30o years until almost the close of the monarchy, when their destruction is attributed to Josiah (Sec. i 1). At Solomon's death the opportunity was seized to request from his son, Rehoboam, a more generous treatment. The reply is memorable : "My little finger is thicker than my father's loins; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions." These words were calculated to inflame a people whom history proves to have been haughty and high-spirited, and the great Israel renounced its union with the small district of Judah. Jeroboam (q.v.), once one of Solomon's officers, became king over the north, and the his tory of the divided monarchy begins (about 937 B.c.) with the Israelite power on both sides of the Jordan and with Judah extend ing southwards from a point a few miles north of Jerusalem.
6. The Rival Kingdoms.—The history of the two kingdoms is contained in Kings and the later and relatively less trustworthy Chronicles, which deals with Judah alone. In the former a sepa rate history of the northern kingdom has been curiously combined with Judaean history by means of synchronisms (see BIBLE : Old Testament Chronology; KINGS, BOOKS oF). Moreover, the Ju daean compiler finds in Israel's troubles the punishment for its schismatic idolatry; nor does he spare Judah, but judges its kings by a standard which agrees with the standpoint of Deuteronomy and is scarcely earlier than the end of the 7th century B.C. He looks back upon the time when each kingdom laid the foundation of its subsequent fortunes. Judah enjoys an unbroken dynasty, which survived the most serious crises, a temple which grew in splendour and wealth under royal patronage, and a legitimate priesthood which owed its origin to Zadok, the successful rival of David's priest, Abiathar. Israel, on the other hand, signed its death-warrant by the institution of calf-cult, a cult which, how ever, was scarcely recognized as contrary to the worship of Yah weh before the denunciations of Hosea (see CALF, GOLDEN). Ju dah had natural connections with Edom and southern Palestine; Israel was more closely associated with Gilead and the Aramaeans of the north. That Israel was the stronger may be suggested by the acquiescence of Judah in the new situation. A diversion was caused by Shishak's invasion (c. 93o), but of this reappearance of Egypt after nearly three centuries of inactivity little is preserved in biblical history. Only the Temple records recall the spoilation of the sanctuary of Jerusalem, and traditions of Jeroboam I. show that Shishak's prominence was well known (cf. 2 Chron. xii. 8). Although both kingdoms suffered, common misfortune did not throw them together. On the contrary, the statement that there was continual warfare is supplemented in Chronicles by the story of a victory over Israel by Abijah, the son of Rehoboam.
Jeroboam's son, Nadab, perished in a conspiracy whilst besieging the Philistine city of Gibbethon, and Baasha of (north) Israel seized the throne. Incessant war prevailed between him and Abi jah's successor, Asa. The newly arisen state of Baasha was in league with Damascus, which had once been hostile to Solomon (I Ki. xi. 24 seq.). Upon whom Asa could rely is not stated. Baasha seized Ramah about 5 m. N. of Jerusalem, and the exist ence of Judah was threatened. Asa utilized the treasure of the Temple and palace to induce the Syrians to break off their rela tions with Baasha. These sent troops to harry north Israel, and Baasha was compelled to retire. Asa, it would seem, was too weak to achieve the remarkable victory ascribed to him in 2 Chron. xiv. Baasha's short-lived dynasty resembles that of his predecessors. His son, Elah, after a reign of two years (like Ishbaal and Nadab), was slain in a drunken carousal by his captain, Zimri. Meanwhile, the Israelite army was again besieging the Philistines at Gibbethon, and the recurrence of these conflicts points to a critical situation in a district in which Judah itself (although ignored by the writers) must have been vitally concerned. The army preferred their general, Omri, and, marching upon Zimri at Tirzah, burnt the palace over his head. A fresh rival immediately appeared, the otherwise unknown Tibni. Israel was divided into two camps, until, on the death of Tibni and his brother Joram, Omri became sole king (c. 887 B.c.). The scanty details of these important events stand in contrast to the comparatively full accounts of earlier Philistine wars and internal conflicts in narratives which, in point of fact, probably date from this or a later age.
7. The Dynasty of Omri.—Omri (q.v.), the founder of one of the greatest dynasties of Israel, was contemporary with the revival of Tyre under the priest-king, Ithobaal, whose daughter was mar ried to Omri's son, Ahab. Omri's most notable recorded achieve ment was the subjugation of Moab (q.v.). Moreover, Judah (now under Jehoshaphat) was bound intimately to Israel; and tradi tions of intermarriage, and of co-operation in commerce and war, imply what was practically a united Palestine. Alliance with Phoenicia gave the impulse to extended intercourse; trading expe ditions were undertaken from the Gulf of `Akaba, and Ahab built himself a palace decorated with ivory. The cult of the Baal of Tyre followed Jezebel to the royal city, Samaria, and even found its way into Jerusalem. This, the natural result of matrimonial and political alliance, already met with under Solomon, receives the usual denunciation. The conflict between Yahweh and Baal and the defeat of the latter are the characteristic notes of the religious history of the period, the records of which are now more abundant.