The Holy Land and the Bible; . uggests, in lieu of salt forseasoning, unless, as seems more probable, the name was applied tosome inferior kind of vegetable food, a bean peihaps, since the Arabsnow call one seed they eat sparrows dung^-—sold for over tenshillings;*^ and mothers, in despair, killed their own children andboiled them for food. And who can tell \vhat this hill must have seenof agony in the three years siege, before the Assyrians under Sargonforced their way in, to carry off into captivity the survivors of theassault ? ^ Founded as a military despotism, the northern kingdom, like a
The Holy Land and the Bible; . uggests, in lieu of salt forseasoning, unless, as seems more probable, the name was applied tosome inferior kind of vegetable food, a bean peihaps, since the Arabsnow call one seed they eat sparrows dung^-—sold for over tenshillings;*^ and mothers, in despair, killed their own children andboiled them for food. And who can tell \vhat this hill must have seenof agony in the three years siege, before the Assyrians under Sargonforced their way in, to carry off into captivity the survivors of theassault ? ^ Founded as a military despotism, the northern kingdom, like allcommunities, had remained true to tlie s])irit of its origin. Revolutionhad been a passion from the beginning, and with it every element ofsocial degeneracy and decay had kept pace. The sway of a roughsoldiery alternated with the luxury of a heathen court, until violence, 1 2KinKS V. 9: vi. 32; xiii. 14. 2 1 Kings xvi. 24. 31 Kings xx. 34. 41 Kings xx. 16. 5 Gesenius»Lex., 8te Auf. 6 2 Kings vi. 25, 29. 7 2 Kings xvii. ^XX^^-J THE CITY OF SAMARIA. 495 lawlessness, immorality, and self-indulgence brought all to ruin. Afew were possessed of great wealth, often secured by foul means, andthe mass of the people were at once vicious and in misery, so that theState was left helpless, in spite of a superficial air of prosperity main-tained by the upper class to the last. Samaria grew sick unto deathlong before it fell, and the prophets only proclaimed what must havebeen patent to all thinking men when they foretold its overthrow atthe hand of Assyria, then striding on to universal empire in But their words have had a wonderfully literal fulfilment,especially those of Micah, when he says, in his prophetic vision, Iwill make Samaria a mire-heap of the field: I will turn it into vine-yard plantations: I Avill roll down its stones into the valley beneath,and make bare its foundations. All its carved images of stone will beshattered to pieces, all the wealth in its te
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