(6) “In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away unto Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. (7) And it was so, because the children of Israel had sinned against Jehovah their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, (8) and walked in the statutes of the nations, whom Jehovah cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they made. (9) And the children of Israel did secretly things that were not right against Jehovah their God; and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city; (10) and they set them up pillars and Asherim upon every high hill, and under every green tree; (11) and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the nations whom Jehovah carried away before them; and they wrought wicked things to provoke Jehovah to anger; (12) and they served idols, whereof Jehovah had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing. (13) Yet Jehovah testified unto Israel, and unto Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, 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. (14) Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their neck, like to the neck of their fathers, who believed not in Jehovah their God. (15) And they rejected His statutes, and His covenant that He made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He testified unto them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the nations that were round about them, concerning whom Jehovah had charged them that they should not do like them. (16) And they forsook all the commandments of Jehovah their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. (17) And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke Him to anger. (18) Therefore Jehovah was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of His sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.”
Golden Text.—“The face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” 1 Peter 3: 12.
SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.
(1) What occurred in the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel? Verse 6. Note 1. (2) Why did this great calamity come upon Israel? What had God done for them? Verse 7. (3) In what did Israel’s sin mainly consist? Verses 7 (last clause) and 8. (4) What did the people do “secretly,” or under false pretense? Verse 9. Note 2. (5) What did they set up in prominent places? Verse 10. Note 3. (6) In what other way did they imitate the heathen? Verse 11. Note 4. (7) What had the Lord said concerning these things? Verse 12. (8) By whom had Jehovah testified unto Israel and Judah? What was the burden of their messages? Verse 13; Neh. 9: 26–31. Note 5. (9) How did they regard God’s merciful testimonies? Verse 14. Note 6. (10) What else did they reject? To what extent did they do this? Verse 15. (11) In addition to forsaking the commandments of God, what did they make and worship? Verse 16. (12) What other charges are placed against that wayward people? Verse 17. Note 7. (13) What was the sad result to Israel? Verse 18. Note 8.
NOTES.
1. “The ninth year of Hoshea” was the sixth year of the reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and Israel’s downfall came while Judah was in the midst of a great reformation. It was Shalmaneser IV. who carried on the war against Israel, destroying all the surrounding country, and finally laying siege to the city of Samaria. The siege lasted three years, but Shalmaneser died before the city surrendered. One of his generals, Sargon, succeeded him, and under his reign the captivity was effected. On a slab found in Sargon’s library in Nineveh (now in the museum in Berlin), is inscribed his own account of the taking of Samaria. He says: “I besieged the city of Samaria and took it. I carried off twenty-seven thousand two hundred and eighty of the citizens. I chose fifty chariots for myself from the whole number taken; all the other property of the people of the city I left for my servants to take. I appointed resident officers over them, and imposed on them the same tribute as had formerly been paid. In the place of those taken into captivity, I sent thither inhabitants of lands conquered by me, and imposed the tribute on them which I require from Assyrians.” The regions mentioned in verse 6 indicate a very large range of country through which the captives were distributed. The number of captives mentioned in the record by Sargon was probably only the first instalment of prisoners taken away.
2. “Did it secretly,” etc.—They worshiped idols under the pretense of worshiping God. The theory of heathen religions is not that the idols are themselves gods, but visible representations of their mythical deities. So the Israelites could imitate the heathen under pretense that the images represented their own God. We have the same thing in Sunday observance. Sunday (as its name implies) was first dedicated to sun-worship, but the masses have come to observe it as the Sabbath of the Lord. Many do so unwittingly, but that does not alter the principle. Its observance is the obeying of a decree of man while assuming that it is the commandment of God.
3. “Asherim,” pillars, generally carved, set up near the images. A number of these were sometimes called a grove. The tops of hills (high places), and under large trees, or in natural groves, were the favorite sites for heathen worship.
4. The Lord had driven the Canaanites out of the land because of their idolatry, therefore there was no reason for keeping another people under His special protection who did the same thing.
5. Many times the Lord had sent merciful messages of warning and instruction to His people, by the prophets, and if these had been heeded no enemy ever could have done them harm. Here are two lessons: (1) It is always wise to heed the warnings of the Lord’s prophets; (2) true reformation is always through allegiance to the Word of God, a turning to His commandments. Obedience to His law is the test of faith in Him, and therefore of a perfect life.
6. “Hardened their necks,” indicates that, in spite of all the merciful appeals by the prophets, the people were determined to go their own way.
7. “They sold themselves,” etc. To depart from the commandments of God, after so many warnings and such earnest appeals as Israel had received, was to deliberately sell themselves to the adversary of God; and their experiences were written for our learning. Rom. 15: 4. “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.” Prov. 28: 9.
8. Judah was spared for two reasons: (1) Because of God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Gal. 3: 16; Gen. 18: 18; 26: 1–4; 28: 13–15; 49: 10; 2 Sam. 7: 12–17; Acts 2: 29–31. (2) Judah was at that time in the midst of a great reformation, putting away idolatry and turning to the commandments of God. Israel might have been spared also had they not rejected the Lord’s overtures of mercy.
