The Hebrews in the desert:  their families, clans, and tribes—­The Amorites and the Hebrews on the left bank of the Jordan—­The conquest of Canaan and the native reaction against the Hebrews—­The judges, Ehud, Deborah, Jerubbaal or Gideon and the Manassite supremacy; Abimelech, Jephihdh.

The Philistines, their political organisation, their army and fleet—­Judah, Dan, and the story of Samson—­Benjamin on the Philistine frontier—­Eli and the ark of the covenant—­The Philistine dominion over Israel; Samuel, Saul, the Benjamite monarchy—­David, his retreat to the desert of Judah and his sojourn at Zilclag—­The battle of Gilboa and the death of Saul—­The struggle between Ish-bosheth and David—­David sole king, and the final defeat of the Philistines—­Jerusalem becomes the capital; the removal of the ark—­Wars with the peoples of the East—­Absalom’s rebellion; the coronation of Solomon.

Solomon’s government and his buildings—­Phoenician colonisation in Spain:  Hiram I. and the enlargement of Tyre—­The voyages to Ophir and Tarshish—­The palace at Jerusalem, the temple and its dedication:  the priesthood and prophets—­The death of Solomon; the schism of the ten tribes and the division of the Hebrew kingdom.

The XXIst Egyptian dynasty:  the Theban high priests and the Tanite Pharaohs—­The Libyan mercenaries and their predominance in the state:  the origin of the XXIInd (Bubastite) dynasty—­Sheshonq I. as king and his son Auputi as high priest of Amon; the hiding-place at Deir el-Bahari—­Sheshonq’s expedition against Jerusalem.

The two Hebrew “kingdoms”; the fidelity of Judah to the descendants of Solomon, and the repeated changes of dynasty in Israel—­Asa and Baasha—­The kingdom of Damascus and its origin—­Bezon, Tabrimmon, Benhadad I.—­Omri and the foundation of Samaria:  Ahab and the Tyrian alliance—­The successors of Hiram I. at Tyre:  Ithobaal I.—­The prophets, their struggle against Phonician idolatry, the story of Elijah—­The wars between Israel and Damascus up to the time of the Assyrian invasion.

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CHAPTER III—­THE HEBREWS AND THE PHILISTINES—­DAMASCUS

The Israelites in the land of Canaan:  the judges—­The Philistines and the Hebrew kingdom—­Saul, David, Solomon, the defection of the ten tribes—­the XXIst Egyptian dynasty—­Sheshonq—­Damascus.

After reaching Kadesh-barnea, the Israelites in their wanderings had come into contact with various Bedawin tribes—­Kenites, Jerahmelites, Edomites, and Midianites, with whom they had in turn fought or allied themselves, according to the exigencies of their pastoral life.  Continual skirmishes had taught them the art of war, their numbers had rapidly increased, and with this increase came a consciousness of their own strength, so that, after a lapse of two or three generations, they may be said to have constituted