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Show ~The Bookeoftefrpart o th Cuariay,Gut CuueayS. ‘Cue XXIL Of Vazia. the fucceflion ofvvattre, and tothrowthe victorious Aramites vnderth e feeteofthofe whonrthey hadfo cruelly oppreffed. The line of Jehu; to vvhich God hadpromifed the kingdome of ufrael unto the fourthgeneration, was townot farrefromthe end zane eee ni AGiits Now Againe it was'inuited vnto repentatice,bynewbenefits,.as it had been at the begin ning."Bu veie ned with him :in fae: of vho réienedl fecond, + robo i and of Teroboanrthe iti of Vzzia, The properitie ] cm } the Z Amarchie that was in the ten Tribes after the death of Yeroboam, ‘Of Zac Jatia, Sal10 tum, Menahemaad Pekahia. t the finne of vereboam the fonne of Webat; was held fo the Kingdomeirfelfe; giuentohim by God;»wasableto draw precious, that neithe; sehu from that politike ro Idolatry ;-tiér the mifery falling vpon himand his pofteritie;to bring them to abetter courfeof Religion; noryer; atthe laft, this great profperity of verebeamthe fonne of SR Zxia, who is-alfocalled Abaxia, the fonneof Totham, was made king of oe Tuday when hed was fixteetic..yeeres old, in the feauen: and twentieth ‘ ASB yeete of rereboam the fonne of Joxw k ag of Ifrael. Hee fe ued the God ZEN of his father' Dagid''; ‘and»had. therefore good fucceflerin all. his‘ enter. tifés. Hee built loth, a' Towne that ftood neeré to the:Red Sea, and reftored itto Iuda-He ouercaine the Philiftims,of whofe Townes he difmantledfome, and: built others it-findry-patts'of their Ferricories.1Alfo he got the mafteri¢ouer fome ‘parts of Arabia, ‘and ‘brought the Armmonitestor pay himi tribute. - the fraites of his profperotis Wwarres'; wherein (as Iofoybus rehearfeth his ads) hee op gan with the PhiliGims, andthen proceeded vnto the Arabians ‘and Ammonites. Hs Aimie-confifted of three' hundred atid! feauen thowfand men wf warre, onet which were appointed two thoufand and fixe hundred Captaines. For all this mult 2chres6.14, tadethe kingprepared jbreldes 5: andl ypeares, and helmets} andyvother Ane ve fite following therein happely a courfe quite oppofite: vato that.-w rome : 2 chroatige his‘late predéceffouss had held \ywho thouyhe lit betcer policie tovfe thé ferniceo : ¢ Nobilitiey thun of the saultiaude jocurrying forth cowarre! the Princes and allthe Che: jot. A BET I it ofthe Hilote World. But it was not forthe piety ofZeroboam,that he thriued.fo wel 1; for he wvas an Idolater: ivyyas only the comipaffion vwhich the Loyd had on Ifrael; feeing the exceedingbitter afflidtion, vvhereinto the Aramites:had brought his people,v vhich caufed himito alter ott éimoteimpottant; than theatchievementsof all fees thevidtories OF Hx that shad reigned ih: ludaj pee the tinyeoof Dauid'}:-fo were bistiches andmagnifi- sy cettworkesy equal,cif Aakiapatioumte any of theissthathadSéene Kings betweenc himand Salomon. For, befides that great conquefts are wonne to repay theihatges * Warttewith tripleintereftyshohad theskilltowde,ias wellas the jnaippinelle roges He turned his Lands'to the beftiele, keeping Ploughmeniand. Drefftrs ofVinesjin gpounes 0a, to inake him: render'thevhonourthat was due, tothe onely ginerofvidtorie: Whereforethe promife ofGod,made vnto Jehw,that his fons,unt o thefourth generation fhould fit on the throne of E fiael;was not enlarged; but,bei ngalmoft by vniforme confent, received as king. The true originall caufes herez of were to be fourid at Dan and Bethel, where the golden Caluesdid ftand : yet fecond inftruments ofthis difturbance,are likely not to haue coul dyand either defpifing orhating {ome qualitie eafunder, holding each what hee s in Zachariayntillafter manyyeers, Wweariédwith diffention,and the principal! of thempe rhaps,being taken out of the way by death,for want ofany other eminent man, they confented to yeeldall quietly to the fonofleroboaiy. Thavthis e lafted almoft three & twenty yeeres,wefind by the difference of time,bétweenAnarchi the fifteenth yceré ofzie, which was the laftofs roboam his oneand fortiethchis‘feauen might well keepe great Morey hhauingiivarinedoimachfonthe Anunonitesand. AnD andtwentieth concurring withthe firft of7zziz )andthe eight and thirtieth of the {me Vzzia,in the laft fixe muneths wherof Zechariz reigned in ans, that had abundance of wafte ground feruing for patturagen| Fordeteheem ils Samaria, There are fome indeede, that by fuppofin gJerobaam to haue reigned with is father eleauen yeeres, do cutoff the interreg num in Juda (before mentioned) and by mi fterncsior Ponds, do/ephisccallstheinWarer-courlosy-butdi fackdiy grounds;ites enough tharticdound watery by-diggingtinthe moftdikely places.bdfibythiete iBowaes df beene wanting, vpon which; the wifdome ofman was teady to'caft an eye. Probableit is;that the Captaines of thearmy (who afterwards flew one another,fo faft,thatin fourteenyeers there reigned fiue kin gs ) 30 did now by head-ftrong violence, rendthe kingdom conuenient forfiich husbatidrys: In othin places hd had Cattell Feeding' ; whereof! ,o CrxveliandHeardfimensdiebuilt Towstesinitheavibdernictie: Healfodi ged expired, caue.ware ning oftheapproaching end, by an accident (fo ftrangejt hat we; whorfinde no particulars recorded, can hardly ghefle atthe occafions) foregoin g the laft accomplifhment, Wher zeroboam the fonne ofIeas, after aviGorio us reigne of one and forty yeeres, had endedhis life; it feemesin all reafonthat Zecharia his fonne,fhould forthwith hate beenadinitted, to'reigninhis ftead ; the Nobilitie ofthat race hauitig gotten {ach alu. 20 ftre, by the immediate fucceffion of foure Kings, that any Competitor; had the Crown pafled by eleétion; muft needes haue appeared bafe ; and thevertu e ofthe laft king, has uing ‘beene fo' great, as might well ferne to lay the foundation of anew houfe, much moreto.éftablifhthealready confirmed right ofafami ly fo rooted in poffeffion.All thig fhotwithftanding, two or threeand twenty: 'yeeres did paffe, before Zechariathe fonne ofJevaboam was, {élues therewith! quéftionlelle hetookeshe-onély cdurfey by:which hee rpsgntlecn. 40the fame reafon, abridge this Anarchie,that was before the reigne ofZacharia in Ifrael. Yet they leaue it twelue yeeres long : whichis time fufficient to proue, that the kingdome OF the ten Tribes was no leffe e drought, when the few Springs therein found, areleft free to the we Trauailers, Befides all this coft,and the building both of Eloth by the Red S and offundty Townes amongthe Philiftims ; he repaired the wall of Ierufalem,whic bio h104 4 ha ba dClr for I donot think, that God bleffed this Idelater,both with'a longerreign,and hee\f{o: comatanded the waters. thatinont could Avithout his edaicnty reheonethen lyholdtheordihipouenallehe Wildernetfe; ¢iebeinig hardly: paflables by ae the extream ken downe, andfortified it with Towres,whereoffome were anhundred andiity V" bits high. 26 TOE. The State of Ifrael did neuerfo ourifh,as at this time,fince thediuifion of the" Tzibesinto twokingdomes. For as /zzia preuailed in the South, fo (if not mor'? foboamthe fonneof Lozs, king of the ten Tribes, enlarged_his bor , where obtaining manyvictories againft the Syrians,he wanthe Royall citie ot + cus,and he wan Hamath, withall the eountry thereabout fromthe extriz of aKingrgas, V#t0 the Sea ofthe wilderneffe, that is, (as the moft expoundi t) vnto the Arabia,the end whereof was vndifcouered. So the bounds of Ifrael in tho intime of this Jeroboam, the fame(ornot much narrow Reigne of Dania, er) which they ha diftempered,than as is already noted. But I choofe tater to follow the more common opinion,as concurring more exadly with thetimes t Fother Princes reigning abroad in theWorld,than this doubtful coniecture,that giues eens a andfifty yeeres, by addir g three quarters of his fathers Reign voto his us Ne vasit felfe indeed fo long,that hee may well feeme to haue begun it very ‘Thus mo eee bedig a ietuant Dex were 5° Fe or. stieae 8 nenen ofthe time, whe ein the Throné of Ifrael wasvoyde lafted but hy faces little may fuffice to bee {aidof his Reigneitfelfe, , bewhich a hinfaife : cw uile, Sixe moneths oncly vvas hee king ; invvhich time he decla. mete a vvorfhipperof the golden Calues ; .vvhich vvas enough to tuftifie the ment of God, vvhereby hee wvas flaine. Hee wvas the laft of Zehu's houfe, being a ceesly) the firft ofthatline 3 vvhich may haue beene fome caufe ofthe troubles 2npeaching his orderly fucceffion: the prophecie hauing determinedthat race in the va 7boucration, But(befides that Godsp1 omife was extendedvntothe ytmoft)there € _» Watrant giuen to Sallwm or toanyothe! , for the death of Zacharia ,as had beenc UC £0 thy, for the flaughterofZeboram, and for the eradication of Ababs houte. Aacharia |