April 12, 2025 - 2 Kings 15-17

"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. 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.” - 2 Kings 17:6-7

Theses chapters cover a particularly dark time in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Both were ruled by wicked kings and inhabited by wicked, idolatrous people. To make matters worse, there is not even a remnant of faithfulness mentioned in the passage. Although, we know from other books that there were some minor prophets active during this period. The passage tells us that the exile of the northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians occured because of the sins of the majority. As we will see in future reading, the same would occur to Judah, albeit with quite a delay and by a different enemy due to some of the good kings and people’s faith.

One interesting thing to reflect on is the fact that Assyria was the agent of God wrath against the Israelites. He used them to bring judgment on them and to bring about the exile that was warned about by the prophets. But still, the Assyrians desired and planned this warfare and will be held accountable for this action. This truths offers insight into how God sovereignly ordains even national events while individuals retain their desires and make choices they are help responsible for.