The Cause Of Israel’s Weakness. 2 Kings 17:1-12
The Decline and Fall of Israel and Judah
INTRODUCTION
The Second Book of Kings is a continuation of the First. It records the reigns of fifteen kings in Judah and of eleven kings in Israel. In Judah the dynasty of David continued to the end, while in Israel there were nine changes of dynasty.
The northern kingdom maintained an unbroken course of idolatry, until the nation was ripe for destruction. The end came in 722 B.C., when Samaria was taken by the Assyrians. Judah continued her course for nearly 150 years longer. But in spite of the efforts of prophets and good kings, the tide of idolatry could not be stayed, and Jerusalem fell before the Babylonians, 586 B.C. Nothing but the Exile could avail to purify the nation and restore the spirit of true worship.
I. FROM THE REIGN OF AHAZIAH TO THE FALL OF SAMARIA, 1Ki_22:51 – 2Ki_17:1-41; 2Ki_18:9-12
10. The Fall of Samaria, 2Ki_17:1-41; 2Ki_18:9-12
38. How did the downfall of Israel come about?
THE CAUSE OF ISRAEL’S WEAKNESS
HOSHEA REIGNS IN ISRAEL
In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned for nine years.
He did evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel who came before him.
Shalmaneser [V] king of Assyria came up against him, and Hoshea became his servant and paid him tribute (money).
But the king of Assyria discovered a conspiracy in Hoshea, who sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year; therefore the king of Assyria arrested him and bound him in prison.
Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land [of Israel] and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years.
THE FALL OF ISRAEL
In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried [the people of] Israel into exile to Assyria, and settled them in Halah and in Habor, by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
EXILE BECAUSE OF IDOLATRY
Now this came about because the Israelites had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had feared [and worshiped] other gods
and walked in the customs of the [pagan] nations whom the LORD had driven out before the sons (descendants) of Israel, and in the pagan customs of the kings of Israel which they had introduced.
The Israelites ascribed things to the LORD their God which were not true. They built for themselves high places [of worship] in all their towns, from [the lonely] lookout tower to the [populous] fortified city.
They set up for themselves sacred pillars (memorial stones) and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree.
There they burned incense on all the high places, just as the [pagan] nations whom the LORD had deported before them; and they did evil and contemptible things, provoking the LORD [to anger].
And they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.”
THE CAUSE OF ISRAEL’S WEAKNESS
This chapter reads like a page from the books of the great white throne. Hoshea, the last king of Israel, did not follow in all the evil deeds of his eighteen predecessors, but the degeneracy of the nation was too far advanced for anything to arrest its collapse. The dry-rot had eaten its way through the specious covering. Worldly policy was the immediate cause of the nation’s downfall. Had they obeyed God simply and absolutely, they could have trusted Him to maintain their independence. But they chose to enter into alliances, now with Syria, and then with Egypt, and so became entangled in the wars of their allies. See Hos_7:11; Hos_9:3; Hos_9:6; Hos_12:1, etc.
Let us read carefully the bill of divorce which the Heavenly Husband gave to the recreant people whom he put away. It is a pathetic document from 2Ki_17:7 onward; but none can say that Jehovah had not good and sufficient cause for acting as he did. The wonder is that He bore so long with the apostate race. Read Hos_1:1-11; Hos_2:1-23; Hos_3:1-5 to learn how the divine heart was rent when the hour of separation came: but let us not forget the assurances of Rom_11:1-36, that the true Israel shall ultimately be saved.
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