Why did God allow Israel to be taken away to Assyria?

This passage says Israel was taken to Assyria because they sinned against the Lord for a long time and would not turn back. God had brought them out of Egypt and made a covenant with them, but they followed other gods, copied the nations around them, built high places, and even practiced child sacrifice and witchcraft. God sent prophets and seers to call them to repent, but they hardened their hearts. The exile is shown as God’s judgment, not just Assyria’s strength. It is the sad result of long, stubborn rejection of God’s commands.

Who was Hoshea and what did he do wrong in this passage?

Hoshea was the last king of the northern kingdom of Israel. He is said to have done evil in the Lord’s sight, though not as badly as earlier kings. At first he became a servant to the king of Assyria and paid tribute. Later he secretly sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, trying to form an alliance and stop paying tribute. This conspiracy was found out, and the Assyrian king imprisoned him and then attacked the land. Hoshea’s trust in political schemes instead of God led straight into Israel’s final defeat.

What specific sins of Israel are listed as reasons for their exile?

The passage is very clear and detailed. Israel feared other gods, copied the customs of the nations, and used high places, images, and groves for worship. They made molten calves, bowed to the host of heaven, and served Baal. They offered their sons and daughters through the fire, used divination and enchantments, and did secret things that were not right before God. They rejected God’s statutes, covenant, and testimonies, left all his commandments, and would not listen to the prophets. All of this together led to God removing them from his sight.

What does it mean that God “removed Israel out of his sight”?

“Removed Israel out of his sight” means God took away his favor, protection, and special presence from them as a nation. He allowed them to be conquered, their capital Samaria taken, and the people carried into Assyria. They lost the land he had given them and the place where they had lived as his covenant people. The phrase does not mean God stopped seeing them at all, but that he no longer owned them as his visible people in that land. It shows how serious it is to keep on in sin and refuse his warnings.

Why does the passage mention prophets and seers so strongly?

The passage repeats that God spoke to Israel and Judah “by all the prophets and by all the seers,” telling them to turn from evil and keep his commandments. This shows that the exile did not come without warning. God was patient and gave many chances to repent. The people’s guilt is greater because they would not hear, but hardened their necks like their fathers. Mentioning the prophets underlines God’s kindness in calling them back, and the people’s stubbornness in ignoring the clear words he sent through his servants.

Who are the new nations brought into Samaria, and what is their problem?

After Israel was taken away, the king of Assyria brought people from places like Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim into the cities of Samaria. At first they did not fear the Lord at all, so God sent lions among them, and some were killed. They said they did not know “the manner of the God of the land,” so a priest from Israel was sent back to teach them. But instead of truly turning to the Lord, each nation kept making its own gods and used the high places, mixing some fear of the Lord with their old idol worship.

What does it mean that they “feared the Lord and served their own gods”?

This line shows a mixed and empty kind of religion. They had some outward respect for the Lord, likely because of fear after the lions came, and they learned certain forms of worship from the priest. Yet they did not give up their old idols. Each group still made images and served its own gods. So they tried to honor the Lord and keep their old religion at the same time. The passage is clear that this is not real obedience. True fear of the Lord means turning away from other gods, not adding him to them.

How does this passage describe the beginning of the Samaritans?

The passage shows how Samaria changed after Israel’s exile. Foreigners from different nations were settled in the cities of Samaria in place of the Israelites. One of the priests from Israel came back to Beth-el and taught them to fear the Lord, yet they also set up their own gods in the high places. Over time, their children and grandchildren kept this mixed worship. This background explains why later the people in that region had a blended religion, not fully following the law and covenant God had given to Jacob’s children.

What does this chapter teach about God’s character and patience?

Here we see that God is patient but also just. He brought Israel out of Egypt with great power, made a covenant with them, gave them clear laws, and warned them many times through prophets and seers. He did not judge them at once. Their judgment was gradual, from tribute to siege to exile. Yet when they hardened their hearts, rejected his covenant, and gave themselves fully to idols and evil practices, he finally removed them from the land. God’s patience does not mean he ignores sin, but he gives many chances before he acts in judgment.

How can believers today apply the warning in this passage?

This passage warns against drifting into half-hearted or mixed worship. Israel copied the nations around them, trusted human powers instead of God, and would not listen when God spoke through his word and his messengers. Today it calls believers to check what they love, trust, and obey. It pushes us to turn from any “modern idols” that take God’s place, to listen humbly when Scripture exposes sin, and to remember that God is kind but also holy. Staying close to his commands and relying on him, not on our own schemes, is the safe path.

2Kgs.17.1

2 Kings 17:1

KJV

In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.

Hoshea the Last King of Israel

Hoshea Reigns over Israel

1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.

And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him.

Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.

And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.

Israel Carried Captive to Assyria

¶ Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.

Israel Captive

¶ In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

Why Israel Fell

For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,

And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.

And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the Lord their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:

And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger:

For they served idols, whereof the Lord had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.

Yet the Lord testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.

Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God.

And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them.

And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.

And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.

Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.

Also Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.

And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.

For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the Lord, and made them sin a great sin.

For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them;

Until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.

Samaria Resettled

Cities of Israel Filled with Strangers

¶ And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.

And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord: therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them.

Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.

Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.

Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Beth-el, and taught them how they should fear the Lord.

Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.

And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,

And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

So they feared the Lord, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.

They feared the Lord, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.

Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the Lord, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;

With whom the Lord had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:

But the Lord, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice.

And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods.

And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods.

But the Lord your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.

Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner.

So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.

Cross References

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