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| | CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Israel |
 | | Roboam's insulting reply to the northern tribes, when, gathered at Sichem, after Solomon's demise, they asked for some relief from the heavy yoke put upon them by the late monarch, was the immediate occasion of their permanent rupture with the line of David and the southern tribes. |
 | | But while the Northern Kingdom was larger and more populous than the Southern, it decidedly lacked the unity and the seclusion of its rival, and was therefore the first to succumb, a comparatively easy prey to the eastern conquerors, when their victorious march brought them to the western lands. |
 | | Abroad, Israel's friendly relations with Juda assumed to permanent character by the marriage of Athalia the daughter of Achab and Jezabel, with Joram the son of Josaphat; and in point of fact, Israel was at peace with Juda throughout the twenty-two years of Achab's reign. |
| www.newadvent.org /cathen/08193a.htm (6937 words) |
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