And God was fed up with their idolatry!
II Kings 17:1-2- 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.
The next king to ascend the throne would follow in this tradition of idolatry. God was going to make an end of the nation of Israel.
II Kings 17:3-6- 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. Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. 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.
The Lord allowed the king of Assyria to come back. At first, all the king of Assyria wanted was for Hoshea to pledge his allegiance and send gifts to him. But, Hoshea decided that he didn't want to do that, so he tried to make an alliance with the king of Egypt.
The king of Assyria took Hoshea and locked him in a dungeon, and then he waged war on the capitol city of Samaria for three years. When the city was finally taken, the people were brought into Assyria as slaves.
Why would God allow this to happen to His people?
II Kings 17:7-8, 12-14, 18- 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. 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. 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.
God allowed this to happen because they kept sinning. God tried to show them that they were sinning. He sent prophets to tell them to turn back to God. He sent enemies to encourage them to turn to back to God. He sent famine and disease and troubles in hopes that they would turn to God during these times. But, they wouldn't listen.
And, God is only longsuffering for so long.
II Kings 17:20- 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.
II Kings 18:12- Because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them.
What happened to the land of Israel, and the city of Samaria?
II Kings 17:24- 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.
The king of Assyria took men from the different places that he ruled and relocated them to the city of Samaria.
These men were just as wicked as the children of Israel had been, so the Lord decided to teach them a lesson.
II Kings 17:25-27- 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.
God sent lions into the land of Israel. These lions caused trouble for the new inhabitants; so much so, that the king of Assyria commanded that an Israelite priest be sent back to Samaria to teach the people the laws of God.
II Kings 17:28-29, 33- Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, 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. They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.
These people's learned the laws of God, but they wouldn't stop worshiping their false idols. They thought that they could serve both the Lord God Almighty and false images.
But, God doesn't want half of your worship. He isn't satisfied with half of your heart.
Deuteronomy 6:5, 14-15- And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
Deuteronomy 8:19- And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.
He told the children of Israel what He expected way back under Moses. And, He hasn't changed!
Matthew 6:24- No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Jesus said that you can't serve God and the things of the world. You will start to love one for what you perceive it gives you, and hate the other for what you perceive it takes from you.
The Gentiles who came in to dwell in the land of Samaria thought they could do both, and that's what their descendants did.
II Kings 17:41- 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.
The Jews who were in the land of Israel were taken away in the Assyrian captivity because they wouldn't obey the Lord. In time, the Lord allowed them to come back to their land, but they never became the great nation they had been before.
The people who returned married the Gentiles who lived there, and became known as the Samaritans- half Jew, half Gentile. These Samaritans were treated badly by both the Jews and the Gentiles for years to come!
It wasn't until the Messiah came, the Lord Jesus Christ, that the Samaritans were looked at as anything other than a curse.
