236 BATTLES OF THE BIBLE.

twenty-two years, was smitten by the Lord and died,
his son Nadab succeeding him. Nadab walked in the
wicked ways of his father, and was permitted to reign
only for two years. He was besieging Gibbethon, a city
in the territories of the Danites, but which had belonged
to the tribe of Levi; when that tribe was driven away
by Jeroboam, they had been obliged to desert this city,
and now the Philistines had taken possession of it.
While Nadab was carrying on the siege, a conspiracy
was formed against him among his own troops, and
Baasha, of the tribe of Israel, slew him, and reigned in
his stead. The first act of the new king was to kill all
the descendants of Jeroboam, both male and female ;
not one was left alive.

Marianne. How horribly cruel.

Grandfather. Yes, Baasha was a barbarous man, but
he was an instrument in the Lord’s hand to execute the
vengeance he had denounced against the first king of
Israel, and his wicked family. “The Lord shall raise
him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of
Jeroboam that day,” were the words of Abijah the
prophet to the wife of Jeroboam, while her husband was
yet alive. From the fate of Jeroboam and his family,
we learn that punishment assuredly will follow sin,
unless it be repented of.

Marianne. But were all Jeroboam’s family bad people?
Was there not one good among them ?

Grandfather. One of them was pious, a son of Jero-
boam, named Abijah, but he died young. He was taken