JULY 8

The Fall of Israel

Despite prophetic warnings, Israel still rejects God, and the end is at hand for the northern tribes. Last-minute desperation will lead to an alliance with Egypt in an effort to stave off Assyria, but the cause is hopeless. After a three-year siege, Samaria will fall and many of the people of Israel will be led captive to Assyria. Their lands and homes will be occupied by settlers sent in from Babylonia and other Eastern countries. These new Samaritans will become a hybrid people and will develop an unusual mixed religion.

The Assyrian king at the time of the siege is Shalmaneser V. Upon Shalmaneser's death, in 722 B.C., Sargon II takes credit for the capture of Israel, but the fall itself is probably accomplished in 723 B.C. Here is the extremely brief account of one of the darkest hours in the history of God's chosen nation.

In Israel

VASSAL TO SHALMANESER. 2 Kgs. 17:3

Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up to attack Hoshea, who had been Shalmaneser's vassal and had paid him tribute.

ALLIANCE DISCOVERED. 2Kgs. 17:4a

But the king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea was a traitor, for he had sent envoys to So king of Egypt, and he no longer paid tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year.

HOSHEA IMPRISONED. 2 Kgs. 17:4b

Therefore Shalmaneser seized him and put him in prison.

THREE-YEAR SIECE. 2 Kgs. 17:5,18:9

In King Hezekiah's fourth year, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and laid siege to it. The king of Assyria invaded the entire land, marched against Samaria and laid siege to it for three years.

SAMARIA FALLS. 2 Kgs. 18:10

At the end of three years the Assyrians took it. So Samaria was captured in Hezekiah's sixth year, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel.

ISRAEL TAKEN CAPTIVE. 2Kgs 17:6 18:11

The king of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in towns of the Medes.

REASON FOR ISRAEL'S FALL. 2 Kgs. 17:7-12 18:12

All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the lord their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods and followed the practices of the nations the lord had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced. The Israelites secretly did things against the lord tlicir God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city they built themselves high places in all their towns. They set up sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. At every high place they burned incense, as the nations whom the lord had driven out before them had done. They did wicked things that provoked the lord to anger. They worshiped idols, though the lord had said, "You shall not do this."'¹

PROPHETS' WARNINGS IGNORED2 Kgs. 17:13,14

. The lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers; "Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your fathers to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets."

But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who did not trust in the lord their God.

ISRAEL'S SINS. 2Kgs. 17:15-17

They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their fathers and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the lord had ordered them, "Do not do as they do," and they did the things the lord had forbidden them to do.

They forsook all the commands of the lord their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal. They sacrificed their sons and daughters in/ the fire. They practiced divination and sorcery and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the lord, provoking him to anger.

JUDAH NOT PERFECT. 2Kgs. 17:18-20

So the lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left, and even Judah did not keep the commands of the lord their God. They followed the practices Israel had introduced. Therefore the lord rejected all the people of Israel; he afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers, until he thrust them from his presence.

JEROBOAM'S GUILT. 2Kgs. 17:21-23

When he tore Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king. Jeroboam enticed Israel away from following the lord and caused them to commit a great sin. The Israelites persisted in all the sins of Jeroboam and did not turn away from them until the lord removed them from his presence, as he had warned through all his servants the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria, and they are still there.

FOREIGNERS INHABIT SAMARIA. 2Kgs.17:24

The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in its towns.

LIONS ATTACK SETTLERS. 2Kgs.17:25,26

When they first lived there, they did not worship the lord; so he sent lions among them and they killed some of the people. It was reported to the king of Assyria: "The people you deported and resettled in the towns of Samaria do not know what the god of that country requires. He has sent lions among them, which are killing them off, because the people do not know what he requires."

SAMARITANS MIX RELIGION. 2Kgs.17:27-41

Then the king of Assyria gave this order: "Have one of the priests you took captive from Samaria go back to live there and teach the people what the god of the land requires." So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria came to live in Bethel and taught them how to worship the lord.

Nevertheless, each national group made its own gods in the several towns where they settled, and set them up in the shrines the people of Samaria had made at the high places. The men from Babylon made Succoth Benoth, the men from Cuthah made Nergal, and the men from Hamath made Ashima; the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire as sacrifices to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. They worshiped the lord, but they also appointed all sorts of their own people to officiate for them as

priests in the shrines at the high places. They worshiped the lord, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought.

To this day they persist in their former practices. They neither worship the lord nor adhere to the decrees and ordinances, the laws and commands that the lord gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel. When the lord made a covenant with the Israelites, he commanded them: "Do not worship any other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them. But the lord, who brought you up out of Egypt with mighty power and outstretched arm, is the one you must worship. To him you shall bow down and to him offer sacrifices. You must always be careful to keep the decrees and ordinances, the laws and commands he wrote for you. Do not worship other gods. Do not forget the covenant I have made with you, and do not worship other gods. Rather, worship the lord your God; it is he who will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies."

They would not listen, however, but persisted in their former practices. Even while these people were worshiping the lord, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did.

In Judah meanwhile, Hezekiah holds his own against Assyria and Wages a successful campaign against the ever-present Philistines.

In Judah

REBELLION AGAINST ASSYRIA 2Kgs.18:7b

He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.

DEFEAT OF PHILISTINES 2Kgs.18:8

From watchtower to fortified city, he defeated the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory.