Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/227

 certainly lived in and about Jerusalem. Besides, consider ing its previous history as a centre of Israelitish idolatry, the Jews were not in the least likely to have gone, or sent there, " to entreat the face of Jehovah." On the other hand, it is not only in accord with Bible history, but there is a special significance in a deputation coming from Bethel to Jerusalem. According to the original division of the land by Joshua, Bethel fell to Benjamin (Josh, xviii. 1 3); but at the great schism from the House of David under Jeroboam it went with that part of Benjamin which fell away with the northern tribes, and became the chief centre, as already stated, of the idolatrous worship set up by the son of Nebat, who built there a " sanctuary," or temple, in imitation of, and as a rival to, the Temple in Jerusalem, as well as a royal palace for his own residence (Amos vii. 1 3). It was overthrown and became desolate in the over throw, first of the northern kingdom of Israel by Assyria, and again in the subsequent overthrow of Judah, and the desolation of the whole land by the Babylonians; but it was rebuilt after the partial restoration at the conclusion of the seventy years captivity, and a considerable number of the former inhabitants, mixed probably with some from the other tribes, once again settled in it (Ezra ii. 28; Neh. vii. 32, xi. 31).

Now, the special significance in this deputation from Bethel to the " House of Jehovah " in Jerusalem lies in the fact that it is, as J. P. Lange and Dr. Wright well point out, an evidence " that the lessons taught by the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities were not lost upon the men of Bethel." The men who had formerly belonged to the northern ten-tribed kingdom no longer cherished hopes of a separate destiny, nor looked to a different centre than their brethren of Judah. " Notwithstanding the many sacred memories connected with their city, and the fact that it had been the seat of a Temple in the days of the Israelitish kingdom, to which the tribes of Israel had resorted in numbers, no attempt was now made on their part to dispute the legitimate right to Jerusalem being