The Queen of Sheba (the Queen of Ethiopia), hearing of the fame of Solomon, came to Jerusalem, with a great number of camels, bearing gold, precious stones, and spicis, as presents to Solomon ; and she communed with him of all that was in her heart. The gold which she gave Solomon was equal to one hundred and twenty talents, or £657,000.

The Queen of Sheba said to Solomon, It is a true report that I heard in my own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. After a residence of some weeks with Solomon, she returned home, and her first act was, that the crown should be hereditary in the family of Solomon for ever, and that after her no woman should be capable of wearing that crown, or being a queen, but that it should descend to the male heir, however distant, in exclusion of all females, however near.

Solomon loved, besides the daughter of Pharaoh, many strange women of the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Edomites, the Hittites, and the Zidonites. He had seven hundred wives that were princesses, who, in his old age, drove him to idolatry, and thus turned his heart from the Lord. God punished him by stirring up Hadad, king of Edom, to war against him.

Now Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, being an enterprising man, Solomon appointed him to gather the taxes of Ephraim and Manasseh; and one day, as he went out of Jerusalem, Ahijah the prophet inet him, having on a new cloak, which he rent into twelve pieces, saying to Jeroboam, Take ten to thyself; for the Lord will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and give ten tribes to thee.

Solomon died, after a reign of forty years, and was buried in the city of David, with his father; and Rehoboam, his son, reigned in his stead. Jero. boam, hearing of Solomon's death, came from Egypt, and Rehoboam would not take the advice of the old wise men, but worshipped golden calves.

And all Israel, hearing that Jeroboam was come again, rebelled against the house of David, and the ten tribes invited Jeroboam to be king over Israel, and they fixed his residence at Shechem.

Rehoboam retained Judah. There were continual wars between them. Jeroboam then made two calves of gold, and said, Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. He set one up at Bethel, and the other in Dan, and he offered sacrifice upon the altar. And there came a man of God from Judah, whilst Jeroboam stood at the altar burning incense, and the man of God said, Behold a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and the sign shall be that the altar shall be rent. And when Jeroboam heard this, he stretched forth his hand to seize him, but his arm dried up and withered, and he could not draw it back. The altar of Bethel was immediately broken in pieces, and the fire and ashes fell to the ground.

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And the King said to the man of God, Pray unto the Lord that my arm may be restored to me. And the man of God besought the Lord, and his arm was restored.

Now there dwelt an old prophet at Bethel, and his sons came and told him the words which the man of God had spoken to the king, and all that he did. The old prophet saddled his ass, and went after the man of God, and came up with him, and said, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am. And the old prophet said, Return with me to my house at Bethel, to eat bread. And he answered, Thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt eat no bread, nor drink water there. But the man of Bethel said, I am a prophet also, and an Angel spake unto me, saying, Bring him

This, however, was all

back into thine house. false. The man of God did, in consequence, return with him, and did eat bread and drink water. He then remounted his ass, and proceeded on his journey, but a lion met him on the way, and slew him. Information of this having reached Bethel, the old prophet said, It is the man of God, who disobeyed the word of the Lord. He went and brought the carcase back, and buried it in his own grave.

This extraordinary event did not deter Jeroboam from committing impiety. He however died, after a reign of twenty-two years, and Nadab, his son, succeeded him.

Now at this time Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, still reigned in Judah (the city to which the Lord chose to put his name there), but he worshipped molten images, and did according to the abomination of nations, so that Shishak, the then king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem, and took away all the treasures in the house of the Lord, and the shields of gold which Solomon had made.

Abijam succeeded Rehoboam as king of Judah, and only reigned three years. He was succeeded by his son Asa, who purified Judah from the infamous practices attendant on the worshipping of images; and after reigning thirty-five years in peace, he died of the gout.

Jehoshaphat, his son, reigned in his stead, as king of Judah, and Baasha commanded the armies of Nadab, king of Israel. He (Baasha, son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar) conspired against Nadab, and smote him at Gibbethon, a city which belonged to the Philistines, and reigned in his

stead; and, according as the Lord had spoken by Ahijah the prophet, he extirpated the house of Jeroboam. But Baasha made Israel to sin; and there was war between Asa, king of Judah, and Baasha, king of Israel, all their days.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu, the son of Hanani, the prophet, saying, I exalted Baasha out of the dust, and made him prince over my people Israel; but as he walked in the ways of Jeroboam, I will take away the posterity of his house. The Lord also said, He that dieth of the house of Baasha in the city shall the dogs eat, and he that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.

Baasha died, and Elah, his son, reigned in his stead. And Zimri, the servant of Elah, and captain of his chariots, smote him, and usurped the throne; and immediately he slew all the house of Baasha, according to the words of Jehu the prophet. In seven days after, Omri, a general in the army of Israel, burnt Zimri in the king's house, and Omri was elected king by the people; but he followed in the evil ways of Jeroboam and Nadab, and his crimes exceeded theirs in the city of Samaria.

Omri died, and was buried with his fathers, and Ahab, his son, reigned in his stead; and he took to wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Zidonians, and went and worshipped Baal. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that went before him.

And God raised up a prophet, Elijah of Tishbe,