Year 2, Week 3, Day 5 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 3, Day 5

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of 2 Kings 17.

Today’s reading notes the demise of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. There is no corresponding account from Chronicles that focuses much on this situation, for the Chronicler did not record many things about the Northern Kingdom. But Kings narrates the history of the Northern Kingdom and what we find in today’s reading is the culmination of nineteen wicked kings and about 200 years of the LORD’s patience. 2 Kings 17 notes the last of Israel’s Kings: “In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, and he reigned nine years. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him” (2 Kings 17:1-2). While Hoshea may not have been as wicked at many of Israel’s kings, he will prove to be extremely foolish. Under his reign, Israel, and Samaria, the capital of Israel fell to the hands of the Assyrians: “In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.” (2 Kings 17:6). The Northern Kingdom came to an end and its people were carried into exile.

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was the clear explanation behind the Assyrians conquest of Israel: “And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who 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 customs of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced” (2 Kings 17:7-8). While the immediate cause for the demise of Israel was the foolish actions of Hoshea, there was more than one dimension to the story of Israel being overthrown by the Assyrians. Certainly Hoshea, by his treachery, provoked the Assyrians: “Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria. And Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute. But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea…Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison” (2 Kings 17:3-4). Hoshea attempted to conspire against the king of Assyria by forming an alliance with the king of Egypt. But Shalmaneser found out.

But the end of the Northern Kingdom is not explained simply by the foolish treachery of Hoshea. Issues that had displeased the LORD had been stirring for years: “And the people of Israel did secretly against the LORD their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns…They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the LORD carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the LORD to anger” (2 Kings 17:9-11). A summary of the Northern Kingdom’s history would be that they: “walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel” (2 Kings 17:8a); and they: “made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the LORD carried away before them” (2 Kings 17:11a). The LORD’s requirements were clear: “When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you…You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. You shall not intermarry with them…for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire” (Deuteronomy 7:1-5). Israel did not break down the altars of the false gods; they built them and frequented them.

After 200 years of Israel’s rejection of the LORD, judgment fell upon them. There was 200 years of warnings: “Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets” (2 Kings 17:13). And tragically, there was 200 years of stubbornness: “But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God. They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them” (2 Kings 17:14-15a). And after 200 years, time was up for Israel: “Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only” (2 Kings 17:18).

And while the Southern Kingdom of Judah remained, they were in a precarious place before the LORD: “Judah also did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced” (2 Kings 17:19). Would Judah pay attention to what happened to Israel? The ultimate consequence of Israel’s idolatry was stated three times: “the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight…he had cast them out of his sight…the LORD removed Israel out of his sight” (2 Kings 17:18a,20b,23a). Would the same consequence await Judah or would they repent?

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe