Still Jehu would not part with the calves of Dan and Bethel;
and he was therefore warned that his family should likewise pass away
after the fourth generation.
Elisha had already wept at the fore-knowledge of the miseries which
Hazael of Syria should bring upon Israel; and Hazael, murdering his
master Benhadad by stifling him with a wet cloth as he lay sick on his
bed, became a dreadful enemy to Samaria. So much broken was the force of
Jehoahaz, Jehu's son, that at one time he had only one thousand foot,
fifty horse, and ten chariots; but after this, prosperity began to
return to the Israelites. Joash, his son, was a mighty king, and would
have been still greater, if he would have believed that obeying the
simple words of the prophet Elisha on his death-bed would bring him
victory. Yet so much greater was his force than that of Judah, that when
Amaziah sent him a challenge, he replied by the insulting parable of the
thistle and the cedar. Jeroboam II., his son, was likewise prosperous;
but neither blessings nor warnings would induce these kings to forsake
their golden calves. Amos, the herdsman-prophet of Tekoa, was warned
to say nothing against the king's chapel at Bethel; and Hosea in vain
declared that Ephraim was feeding on wind, and following after the
east-wind, namely, putting his trust in mere empty air.
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