his successor, Elisha, did their best to stay the downward
tendency of their people, but quite largely in vain. For a while it
seemed as though there was to be some real reformation. But it did not
last long, and soon the people, led astray by their rulers, lapsed
into idolatry once more.

#70. Jehu.#--The one bright spot in all this sad story of the decline
of the Northern Kingdom is found in the story of Jehu, 891 B. C. (2
Kings 9, 10.) He dealt drastically with the worshipers of Baal, and
tried his best to put a final stop to all Baal worship. He ruled about
twenty-eight years. His son Jehoahaz continued the sin of calf
worship, and led his people once more into the downward path.

#71.# Under #Jeroboam the Second# the Northern Kingdom attained much
outward prosperity, but its spiritual life did not improve at all.
Men became greedy of gain, and worldliness and sin of gross
description gained the upper hand. It was possibly during this reign
that God sent the prophet Amos to bear witness against the sins of the
rulers and people. At this point read the prophecy of Amos, and try to
realize how earnestly he pleaded with the men of Israel to return to
the worship of the God of their fathers. But it was all in vain.
Israel was joined to his idols.

#72. Hosea#, too, comes at about this same time, and he did his best
to win Israel back from their apostasy. He has well been called the
"pleading prophet," for his tenderness is most touching. Yet all in
vain were his pleas. Israel would have none of them.

#73. Hoshea, Last of the Kings.#--At last the Divine patience seems to
have been exhausted, and God gave the Northern Kingdom over into the
hands of its enemies, and they were marched off into captivity. Hoshea
is the last of the kings of Israel, and during his rule the King of
Assyria captured Samaria, and led the people off into a strange land.
Here let the student carefully read 2 Kings 17:1-41 to see the resume
that the sacred writer gives of the reasons for the final catastrophe
that befell Israel. It was on account of their sins that they were
suffered to experience these dire disasters.

#74.# In the place of the deported people, the Assyrians, in
accordance with the customs of those days, placed peoples from alien
lands in their stead. In this manner the population of Samaria became
much mixed, and the false worship of these idolatrous peoples became
the religion of the land of the Patriarchs in its northern