lomon enabled the latter to realise his dreams of
luxury and royal magnificence. But the kingdom which had been created
by David and Solomom rested solely on their individual efforts, and its
continuance could be ensured only by bequeathing it to descendants who
had sufficient energy and prudence to consolidate its weaker elements,
and build up the tottering materials which were constantly threatening
to fall asunder. As soon as the government had passed into the hands
of the weakling Rehoboam, who had at the outset departed from his
predecessors' policy, the component parts of the kingdom, which had
for a few years been, held together, now became disintegrated without
a shock, and as if by mutual consent. The old order of things which
existed in the time of the Judges had passed away with the death of
Saul. The advantages which ensued from a monarchical regime were too
apparent to permit of its being set aside, and the tribes who had been
bound together by nearly half a century of obedience to a common master
now resolved themselves, according to their geographical positions, into
two masses of unequal numbers and extent--Judah in the south, together
with the few clans who remained loyal to the kingly house, and Israel in
the north and the regions beyond Jordan, occupying three-fourths of the
territory which had belonged to David and Solomon.

Israel, in spite of its extent and population, did not enjoy the
predominant position which we might have expected at the beginning of
its independent existence. It had no political unity, no capital
in which to concentrate its resources, no temple, and no army; it
represented the material out of which a state could be formed rather
than one already constituted. It was subdivided into three groups,
formerly independent of, and almost strangers to each other, and between
whom neither David nor Solomon had been able to establish any bond which
would enable them to forget their former isolation. The centre group was
composed of the House of Joseph--Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh--and
comprised the old fortresses of Perea, Mahanaim, Penuel, Succoth,
and Eamoth, ranged in a line running parallel with the Jordan. In the
eastern group were the semi-nomad tribes of Reuben and Gad, who still
persisted in the pastoral habits of their ancestors, and remained
indifferent to the various revolutions which had agitated their race
for several generations. Finally, in the northern group lay the s