before the people had left the desert and settled in Canaan. All these
newfangled ways, they said, are evil. They have brought us only
trouble. Especially bad is the worship of these Baals instead of
Jehovah, the God of our fathers. No doubt Jehovah is jealous and angry
and has brought war and famine and pestilence upon us for just this
reason. Many, indeed, who did not altogether object to the civilized
customs of Canaan were uneasy in their minds because of the worship of
the Baals. When Ahab made his alliance with the king of Tyre he had
built, in Samaria, shrines to the Baal of Tyre. This was in accordance
with the religious ideas of those days. When two countries made an
alliance there was supposed to be an alliance between their gods. But
the Hebrews had made a special covenant to worship no other gods but
only Jehovah. So there were many who were opposed to the worship of
the Baals.

=The Rechabites.=--One Hebrew clan known as the Rechabites, actually
became nomads again and did all they could to persuade others to do
the same. They gave up their houses and lived in tents. They pledged
themselves to drink no wine or strong drink, and they were
enthusiastically devoted to the worship of Jehovah only. Naturally
they hated Ahab for bringing in the worship of the foreign gods of
Tyre. They did much to cause the overthrow of the dynasty of Ahab in
favor of a general named Jehu, who was pledged to drive out the
Phoenicians and their gods.


THE PROPHETS

There were also certain specially religious people, called prophets,
some of whom saw the evils which were ruining the happiness of the