defended. And so the faith of mankind has been undermined by the very
means intended to preserve it."

For priests, Jeroboam selected the lowest of the people,--whoever could
be induced to offer idolatrous sacrifices in the high places,--since the
old priests and Levites remained with the tribe of Judah at Jerusalem.

These abominations and political rivalries caused incessant war between
the two kingdoms for several reigns. The northern kingdom, including the
great tribe of Ephraim or Joseph, was the richest, most fertile, and
most powerful; but the southern kingdom was the most strongly fortified.
And yet even in the fifth year of the reign of Rehoboam, the king of
Egypt, probably incited by Jeroboam, invaded Judah with an immense army,
including sixty thousand cavalry and twelve hundred chariots, and
invested Jerusalem. The city escaped capture only by submitting to the
most humiliating conditions. The vast wealth which was stored in the
Temple,--the famous gold shields which David had taken from the Syrians,
and those also made by Solomon for his body-guard, together with the
treasures of the royal palace,--became spoil for the Egyptians. This
disaster happened when Solomon had been dead but five years. The
solitary tribe left to his son, despoiled by Egypt and overrun by other
enemies, became of but little account politically for several
generations, although it still possessed the Temple and was proud of its
traditions. After this great humiliation, the proud king of Judah, it
seems, became a better man; and his descendants for a hundred years
were, on the whole, worthy sovereigns, and did good in the sight of
the Lord.

Political interest now centres in the larger kingdom, called Israel.
Judah for a time passes out of sight, but is gradually enriched under