18 sieged Samaria the capital. He took the city, and carried the people away. to Halah, to the river Habor, or Chaboras, or Chebar, and to Gozan, on the east side of the Tigris, and to the cities of the Medes. This was two hundred and fifty-three years after the separation of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The kingdom of Israel was then entirely destroyed, and the king of Assyria sent people from Babylon to inhabit Samaria and the surrounding eountry. The kingdom of Judah was now a small terri tory lying between the dominions of the king of Egypt and the king of Assyria. These two rival kings were both anxious to seize upon it, as it would have given either of them a great advantage against his heighbour. But so long as the people retained the temple worship, and avoided the idol atry of the surrounding nations, God preserved them from their Hezekiah, the first king of Judah after the destruction வி Israel, W3S fì. goot! man, who encouraged the people in obeying and serving the true God. When Sennacherib, king
