MY SHORT REPORT 2 KINGS 6 - 2 KINGS 25
The link that brought you to this page and the page title are a bit of a misnomer, because this short report is not long enough to cover so many chapters of the Bible. What the link and the title do, however, is track where we are in our plan to read through the entire Bible in 1 year. May each report pique your interest and help you to draw near to God. The Bible, James 4:8, tells us if we do so God will draw near to us. Works cited are at the end of the report.
BIBLE READING—WEEK 17—2 KINGS 6 – 2 KINGS 25: Last week I looked at the life of Elijah the Tishbite—the powerful prophet of fire—that God used against the prophets of Baal, Israel’s idolatress queen, Jezebel, and Ahab, the weak king she controlled, as well as a special appearance by the angel of the LORD. This week’s Short Report focuses on the fall of the Northern Kingdom, Israel, which includes a quick recap of the Mosaic Covenant.
Israel, the Northern Kingdom, and Judah, the Southern Kingdom, go through a series of good and bad kings, although Israel has more than their fair share of the worst kings that do evil in the sight of the Lord. Doing evil is one thing, but being hard of heart and not repenting is another. In Psalm 51 King David cried out for forgiveness and mercy born of a “broken spirit” and a “broken and contrite heart” (v. 17). But this was not the way of the kings of the Northern Kingdom. Concordia’s Bible History reports “The Kingdom of Israel existed for 253 years and had twenty kings, all of whom were ungodly” (Rathmann, 257).
Some lists only count 19 kings, moving from Zimri (1 Kg 16:15) to Omri because the portion of Israel that wanted Tibni as king lost to Omri’s side, so Tibni was killed and Omri became Israel’s king (1 Kg 16:21-22). However you count them, they were an evil lot that worshiped other gods and often resorted to murder to gain the throne.
This was the case with the Kingdom of Israel’s last king, Hoshea. He murdered Pekah to ascend to the throne (2Kg 15:30). And before him Pekah assassinated Pekahiah to become king (v. 25). During Pekah’s reign Assyria was already advancing into the Promised Land and whittling away at the Northern Kingdom.
About 30 years before Israel’s fall (Halley, 358) the Lord’s prophet, Amos, cried out against the Northern Kingdom saying, “I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals…” (Amos 2:6). And in the 4th chapter we hear Amos’ often repeated refrain: “Yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord.”
In Hosea/Joel/Amos – People’s Bible Commentary we are told “the book of Amos is primarily a message of judgment. The Lord’s word speaks like the roar of a lion devouring his prey, like the thunder that accompanies a violent storm” (Eickmann, 190).
And the violent storm came under King Hoshea’s watch when Israel became a vassal state that paid tribute to King Shalmaneser of Assyria. Then, after Shalmaneser discovered that Hoshea was trying to gain Egypt’s favor, he imprisoned Israel’s king, invaded the country and besieged Samaria for three years. Once Samaria fell, residents of the Northern Kingdom were carried away to Halah, the river of Gozan, and the cities of the Medes (17:1-6), which is the area of the northern Mesopotamian valley and the area northeast of the Tigris River as far north as the Caspian Sea.
It’s interesting to note the meaning of gozan. According to the Olive Tree Enhanced Strong's Dictionary gozan (h1470, גּוֹזָן, gôzân) comes from a root-word for quarry, which is a place for cutting stones, but gozan means to cutoff (Olive Tree). Consequently, Assyria by removing Israel from the Promised Land took the Northern Kingdom to a place meaning to cutoff.
Indeed, the Northern Kingdom was cutoff. Yes, because they sinned. But more than that, our God is a God of covenants, which is a contract or promise, and God always keeps His promises. The Essential Bible Companion says, “The word testament means ‘covenant,’ and God’s plan of redemption centers around a series of covenants, or binding agreements, which God makes with those willing to trust and serve him (Olive Tree).
The Mosaic Covenant, also called the Sinai Covenant, was established between God and His people before they entered the Promised Land. Along with the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5) the covenant set forth a number of conditions, including a requirement to be holy (Lev 19:2). For God’s people that means to be “set apart for a divine purpose” (Engelbrect, 578). The Hebrews had many purposes. For one they were to obey God by keeping the Mosaic Covenant and be a holy nation (Ex 19:5-6). When the Hebrews heard this “all the people answered together and said, ‘All that the Lord
has spoken we will do’” (19:8).
In effect the Hebrews promised to be a city on a hill and the salt of the earth (cf. Mt 5:13-16). But they broke the Mosaic Covenant by detesting the Law, worshiping other gods and performing child sacrifice (2 Kings 17:15-17), so they became salt that was tasteless—good for nothing.
In Deuteronomy 11:26-28 they were told: “I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known."
Their first king, Jeroboam, took the Northern Kingdom off track by setting up two golden calves for Israel to worship (1 Kings 12:28). The rest of the kings followed suit. For instance, Omri, Israel’s sixth king “walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in the sins that he made Israel to sin, provoking the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger by their idols” (16:26). And of the people of the Northern Kingdom we are told: “The people of Israel walked in all the sins that Jeroboam did. They did not depart from them, until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight” (2 Kings 17:22-23).
God sent one prophet after another to warn the kingdom of their evil ways and to call them back to the Lord and to obey His Laws. Israel did not listen because they “did not believe in the Lord their God” (2 Kings 17:13-14). Thus they cursed themselves and fell under judgement as found in Deuteronomy 28 starting with the 15th verse. In this section of Holy Scripture God tells them, if they did not obey Him, He would bring on them a foreign nation from a long distance away that would besiege their towns causing starvation and would not show them any mercy. Moreover, the invaders would harm them with harsh and extraordinary afflictions “until you are destroyed” (vv. 49-61).
Halley (p. 209) writes this about the Assyrians:
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Assyrian policy was to deport conquered peoples to other lands, to destroy their sense of nationalism and make them more easily subject. Assyrians were great warriors. Most nations then were robber nations. Assyrians seem to have been about the worst of them all. They builded [sic] on the loot of other peoples. They practiced cruelty. They skinned their prisoners alive, or cut off their hands, feet, noses, ears, or put out their eyes, or pulled out their tongues, and made mounds of human skulls, all to inspire terror.
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Truly the Kingdom of Israel broke faith with God. Lead by one worthless king after another they stayed their course on the wide road, the path to destruction, and suffered the consequences of their actions.
Like Adam and Eve being sent out of the Garden of Eden, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the great Flood, the fall of Israel is one of the prominent tragedies found in the Bible. Many refer to the Northern Kingdom as the Ten Lost Tribes. In my research I read one attempt to say they weren’t lost at all, because God knows where they are, but the author completely lost the point. On the other hand, Wolfgramm (p. 256) puts the correct focus on the event:
Like Adam and Eve being sent out of the Garden of Eden, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the great Flood, the fall of Israel is one of the prominent tragedies found in the Bible. Many refer to the Northern Kingdom as the Ten Lost Tribes. In my research I read one attempt to say they weren’t lost at all, because God knows where they are, but the author completely lost the point. On the other hand, Wolfgramm (p. 256) puts the correct focus on the event:
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Now the hour had come for Israel’s judgment. In 722 B.C. Shalmaneser (or perhaps it was his successor, Sargon II) captured Samaria and led the rest of the Israelites into captivity. He resettled them into districts of northern Mesopotamia. From that moment the kingdom of Israel became “the ten lost tribes” first they were lost spiritually; then they became lost physically. They intermarried with others and ceased to be a political entity.
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A last thought: earlier I mentioned that the Hebrews had many God-given purposes and listed one associated with the Mosaic Covenant. Another divinely established purpose the Hebrews were given came from the Abrahamic Covenant and stems from God’s promise to send a Redeemer as found in Genesis 3:15. A promise kept through the Southern Kingdom, and the tribe of Judah.
In conclusion, this week’s Short Report focused on the fall of the Northern Kingdom, and by way of explanation included a quick recap of the Mosaic Covenant, which they broke and led to their downfall.
In conclusion, this week’s Short Report focused on the fall of the Northern Kingdom, and by way of explanation included a quick recap of the Mosaic Covenant, which they broke and led to their downfall.