escapeth from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay:  and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay.”  The sacred writings go on to tell us that the prophet who had held such close converse with the Deity was exempt from the ordinary laws of humanity, and was carried to heaven in a chariot of fire.  The account that has come down to us shows the impression of awe left by Elijah on the spirit of his age.*

Ahab was one of the most warlike among the warrior-kings of Israel.  He ruled Moab with a strong hand,** kept Judah in subjection,*** and in his conflict with Damascus experienced alternately victory and honourable defeat.  Hadadidri [Hadadezer], of whom the Hebrew historians make a second Benhadad,**** had succeeded the conqueror of Baasha.^

     * The story of Elijah is found in 1 Kings xvii.-xix., xxi.
     17-29, and 2 Kings i., ii. 1-14.

     ** Inscription of Mesha, 11. 7, 8.

     *** The subordination of Judah is nowhere explicitly
     mentioned:  it is inferred from the attitude adopted by
     Jehoshaphat in presence of Ahab (1 Kings xxii. 1, et seq.).

     **** The Assyrian texts call this Dadidri, Adadidri, which
     exactly corresponds to the Plebrew form Hadadezer.

^ The information in the Booh of Kings does not tell us at what time during the reign of Ahab his first wars with Hadadezer (Benhadad II.) and the siege of Samaria occurred.  The rapid success of Shalmaneser’s campaigns against Damascus, between 854 and 839 B.C., does not allow us to place these events after the invasion of Assyria.  Ahab appears, in 854, at the battle of Karkar, as the ally of Benhadad, as I shall show later.

The account of his campaigns in the Hebrew records has only reached us in a seemingly condensed and distorted condition.  Israel, strengthened by the exploits of Omri, must have offered him a strenuous resistance, but we know nothing of the causes, nor of the opening scenes of the drama.  When the curtain is lifted, the preliminary conflict is over, and the Israelites, closely besieged in Samaria, have no alternative before them but unconditional surrender.  This was the first serious attack the city had sustained, and its resistance spoke well for the military foresight of its founder.  In Benhadad’s train were thirty-two kings, and horses and chariots innumerable, while his adversary could only oppose to them seven thousand men.  Ahab was willing to treat, but the conditions proposed were so outrageous that he broke off the negotiations.  We do not know how long the blockade had lasted, when one day the garrison made a sortie in full daylight, and fell upon the Syrian camp; the enemy were panic-stricken, and Benhadad with difficulty escaped on horseback with a handful of men.  He resumed hostilities in the following year, but instead of engaging the enemy in the hill-country of Ephraim, where his superior numbers brought him no advantage,