the example
of oppression, seldom possessed the resources necessary to make his
decisions effective. True, he was chief of the most influential family
in either Judah or Israel, a chief by divine appointment, consecrated
by the priests and prophets of Jahveh, a priest of the Lord,* and he was
master in his own city of Jerusalem or Samaria, but his authority did
not extend far beyond the walls.

* Cf. the anointing of Saul (1 Sam. ix. 16; x. 1; and xiv.
1), of David (1 Sam. xvi. 1-3, 12, 13), of Solomon (1 Kings
i. 34, 39, 45), of Jehu (2 Kings ix. 1-10), and compare it
with the unction received by the priests on their admission
to the priesthood (Exod. xxix. 7; xxx. 22, 23; cf. Lev.
viii. 12, 30; x. 7).

It was not the old tribal organisation that embarrassed him, for the
secondary tribes had almost entirely given up their claims to political
independence. The division of the country into provinces, a consequence
of the establishment of financial districts by Solomon, had broken them
up, and they gradually gave way before the two houses of Ephraim and
Judah; but the great landed proprietors, especially those who held royal
fiefs, enjoyed almost unlimited power within their own domains. They
were, indeed, called on to render military service, to furnish forced
labour, and to pay certain trifling dues into the royal treasury;* but,
otherwise, they were absolute masters in their own domains, and the
sovereign was obliged to employ force if he wished to extort any tax or
act of homage which they were unwilling to render. For this purpose
he had a standing army distributed in strong detachments along the
frontier, but the flower of his forces was concentrated round the royal
residence to serve as a body-guard. It included whole companies of
foreign mercenaries, like those Cretan and Carian warriors who, since
the time of David, had kept guard round the Kings of Judah;** these, in
time of war,*** were reinforced by militia, drawn entirely from among
the landed proprietors, and the whole force, when commanded by an
energetic leader, formed a host capable of meeting on equal terms the
armies of Damascus, Edom, or Moab, or even the veterans of Egypt and
Assyria.

* 1 Kings xv. 22 (cf. 2 Ohron. xvi. 6), where "King Asa made
a proclamation unto all Judah; none was exempted," the
object in this case being the destruction of Ramah, the
building of which had been begun by Baasha.