118                  Jewish Wars as Precedents for Modern Wars.             [April,

captive and carried away to Babylon, (2 Kings xxv. Jer. xxi.)
In all these cases, right and justice between the parties were on
the side of Israel, while their enemies were, in each instance, ruth-
less invaders, whose only objects were conquest and plunder. The
fact that in these cases the Jews were forbidden to fight, shows
conclusively that in the judgment of God even unprovoked inva-
sions like these do not in themselves constitute a sufficient cause
for war. Thus again, and in the opposite direction, does the argu-
ment from Jewish precedents prove too much for our modern
defenders of defensive war.
   But an insurrection for the avowed purpose of dismembering
the nation was no more sufficient cause for war than an invasion.
When Rehoboam came to the throne, ten tribes dictated to him
conditions on which they would continue to submit to the estab-
lished government, saying: "Thy father made our yoke grievous;
now, therefore, make thou the grievous service of thy father, and
his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve
thee." The young king foolishly followed the advice of the young
men who had grown up with him, in preference to that of the old
men who had stood before his father, and threatened them with
heavier burdens and greater severities than Solomon had inflicted.
Upon this the ten tribes revolted. Rehoboam, indignant at an at-
tempt to dismember the nation, destroy its military resources, and
degrade it in the eyes of the world, assembled an army of one hun-
dred and eIghty thousand men, to bring the rebels back to a sense of
duty. But Shemaiah, the prophet of God, commanded that the army
should be disbanded," and they returned every man to his house."
(1 Kings xii.) The revolution was effected without the shedding,
of blood, and the proud young king was compelled, by the express
command of God, to swallow his wrath, and submit quietly to the
loss of much the greater part of his kingdom. This shows that a
revolt against an established government is not in itself a suffi-
cient cause for war, even when the revolting party has no better
cause than the fear of future oppression at the hands of their
rulers. If insufficient in onec case, it is insufficient in every other
case; and if such war is ever justifiable, it must be made so by
some consideration not found in the nature of the quarrel. Here,

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