2015-10-23
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week I was directed to write about the divided kingdom, Judah’s, evil king, Ahaz (son of Jotham), who got involved with enemies and adopted their evil ways of worship. God’s own country has a sorry history of alliances with enemy nations, such as with Assyria (under Tigaleth Pileser III), Israel (under King Pekah), and Aram [Syria] (under King Rezin) in the 700’s BC. Long before God had said, in DT 8: 3b, “You cannot live by bread alone, but by every word from the mouth of God.” God decided there would be negative consequences when there is serial disobedience to Him. This week, I will share the story of the beginning of the Assyrian captivity in 722 BC of the northern kingdom of Israel with its capital at Samaria [2 K 17-1-18: 16]. The last king of the divided kingdom of Israel was Hoshea, son of Elah, who did evil in his disobedience to God, but not quite like his predecessors. He ruled for nine years, from 732-723 BC.
Hoshea had been a vassal of King Shalmaneser V of Assyria, who ruled from 727-722 BC. Hoshea had been paying a tribute to Shalmaneser, but then stopped. Hoshea was a traitor and sent envoys to King So of Egypt [2 K 17: 3]. Shalmaneser responded by laying siege to Samaria for three years, imprisoning Hoshea. In 723 BC, the 9th year of Hoshea’s reign, Shalmaneser deported (exiled) Hoshea to Assyria’s Halah in Gorzan on the Harbor River and in the towns of the Medes [2 K 17: 6]. We must remember that the Assyrian Captivity of the northern kingdom of Israel began in 722 BC, and the Babylonian Captivity of the southern kingdom of Judah didn’t begin until about 602 BC with the temple in Jerusalem being taken in 586 BC. If one wants to ask what the root cause of all this activity is, he would have to answer the question with sin, sin against God in idolatry-the sin God hates the most.
The ways the people of Israel and some of Judah practiced idolatry were to erect high altars for the worship of the god, Baal, and his evil wife, Asherah. They built Asherah poles and practiced the burning of babies on them, one evil feature of this form of Paganism. The people had been warned by the prophets that God was displeased with what was going on. They practiced divination and sorcery. Two idols were cast in the form of calves, and they worshipped them [2 K 17: 15b], “’Do not do as they do,” and they did the things that God had forbidden them to do.” Only some of the people of Judah refused to do this, so God’s anger was great. He thrust the idolaters from His presence and allowed their enemies to take them into exile. At the time, he took the throne of Israel away from the house of David and allowed Jeroboam to become king. Jeroboam enticed the people into idol worship and other forms of evil. That’s when the people of Israel were forcibly relocated to Assyria.
This led to the resettlement of Samaria. 2 K 17: 24-25 tells us that Israelites were made to go to enemy towns of Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hammath, and Sepharvaim . This author is certain that God was very upset at the defilement of Israel due to idolatrous worship. A priest from Bethel who was exiled in Assyria was sent to teach the people who were now settled in the towns of Samaria to worship the true God. This had been an order of Shalmaneser, but their efforts to mix Judaism with idolatrous Paganism certainly didn’t quell God’s anger. This kind of worship certainly was breaking the covenant, in which God had clearly told the people, “Do not worship other gods or bow down to them” [2K 17: 35]. The people in exile continued to mix Judaism with idolatry, and God realized He needed to take action. This would be not to destroy His people, but to punish them. That action would be the first dyaspora, which would last 160 years in the north (Israel) and 70 years in the south (Judah). God would never destroy or abandon His people, Israel, but He would allow them to suffer at the hands of their enemies for a measured time, just enough to get them to realize He alone is their God, and they are His people. 2700 Israelites were deported to Assyria, never to see their homeland again. The Assyrians were violent, hostile, and deeply resentful toward their captives. This was revealed in the book of Jonah.
In the third year of Hoshea’s reign in Israel (729 BC), Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began his reign over Judah. He was 25 years old at the time and reigned over Judah for 29 years (729-7000 BC) [2 K 18: 1-2]. Hezekiah was a good king, one who led the people to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. His mother was Abijah, daughter of Zechariah. Hezekiah went to the high places and broke up the altars to Baal and Asherah there. Then, he broke up the pole with the snake, called Nehushtan, Moses had made for the ailing Jews in the desert [NU 21: 4-9]. Hezekiah opposed the Assyrian king and defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza. Nothing is ever perfect. During the fourteenth year of Hezekiah reign, 715 BC, King Sennacarib of Assyria came down toward Jerusalem (Judah’s capital), capturing numerous cities. At Lachish, Hezekiah sent him a message capitulating and offering to pay a tribute if the Assyrian king would withdraw. He paid Sennacarib 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold. God supported Hezekiah, and Judah’s enemies withdrew once paid from the silver and gold that were a part of the temple, built into its walls.
PRAYER: O Lord, You are teaching us a lesson that we must obey and worship only You. What happened to these figures of Israel’s history revealed to us how precious our covenant with You really is to You. You kept Your promise, of PS 9: 9-10, of never abandoning those who show their love for You. Moreover, we learn how important it is to You that we refuse all kinds of idolatry. Back in the 700’s BC, the idols were from Baal worship, a particularly detestable form of idolatry. Today, the idols are materialism, greed, thirst for power to be used for evil purpose, and intolerance. Whatever the idols might be, You tell us not to worship them, not to act on evil purpose in the pursuit of them. You are a righteous and loving God. You are omnipresent and omniscient. We can turn to You at any time of day or night for Your wisdom and Your will. As those who do love You, who put You at the center of our lives, we pledge to seek Your direction, to act according to Your will, and to demonstrate the love that Jesus taught us. That love is Your love; those lessons allow us “to pass through the narrow gate and remain on the hard path” to eternal life [MT 7: 13-14]. It is by our Lord Jesus’ sacrifice of His physical life on the cross that we can look forward to resurrection, as He was resurrected, the First Fruits offered. It is through Him, that we can live righteously and that our minds have been renewed in His image [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25]. We realize there are tremendous and righteous ramifications due to Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and our repentance and faith in Him. Dearest Lord, we pledge our lives to You and to Your lessons. We offer You our heartfelt love in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: We’ll look at how the Pagan gods of Assyria were denounced by OT prophets. Then, we’ll delve, at the behest of the Holy Spirit, into God’s forgiveness of all but one sin. In the meanwhile, there are many good lessons to learn from our study of 2 K 17: 1 to 2K 18: 16 today. On the national level, there should be refusal to enter into poorly-conceived alliances with enemy nations. The recent “deal” made with Iran concerning the build-up of nuclear arms comes to mind. While we or Judah in the past would play by the book [Bible], the enemy doesn’t. While we value human life; the enemy doesn’t. These “deals” leave us on an uneven playing field and vulnerable to serious consequences. On the individual level, God has made His will clear to us. We are to place Him in the center of our lives, obey Him faithfully, and worship no other god(s). We are to learn the lessons of the past and to keep true to our covenant relationships with God and with other believers and potential believers. Discipleship, as it is described, is the forwarding of our spiritual maturity. This is to be done by serving others, by both regular corporate and individual worship, by studying the word of God, by praying often and listening for God’s direction, and by reaching out to others with the Gospel message of salvation and peace. It is only by living this way that we can be bona fide members of God’s team. There is nothing more important in our lives than our covenant relationships with God and others. If my own experience is any teacher, this is the way to real happiness and inner peace. That’s what I would pray for that each of you would have. Praise be to the God of our fathers, who never stops loving or caring about us!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2015. All Rights Reserved.
<-- Back to Archives