Disobedience Brings Destruction

KEY VERSE: “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.” —II Kings 17:13

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: II Kings 17:6-14

WHILE AHAZ WAS king of Judah, a new king took power over the ten northern tribes of Israel. The new king was Hoshea, but he, too, did many evil deeds. During this period the kingdom of Assyria became dominant in the affairs of Israel, and Hoshea was forced to pay tribute to the Assyrian king, Shalmaneser. He became a servant to King Shalmaneser, and maintained his puppet regime only as long as he remained obedient.

Meantime, Hoshea made a secret alliance with King So of Egypt, strengthening his power against Assyria. Shalmaneser, however, found out about the conspiracy with Egypt, and when Hoshea failed to bring his annual tribute to the king, he was bound and cast into prison.

The capital city of the northern tribes of Israel was at Samaria, which withstood a siege of the Assyrians for three years before its final collapse, and its people were taken into captivity. (II Kings 17:1-5) “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.” (vs. 6) This marked the end of the ten-tribe kingdom, known also as Ephraim. The two-tribe kingdom of Judah was taken captive by the Babylonians a few years later because of their infidelity to God.

“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.” (vs. 7) The Israelites had fallen into idolatry and false worship. “They set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree: and there they burnt incense as did the heathen.” (vss. 10,11) Although God pleaded with his people to tum from their evil deeds, they rejected him, as well as the covenant which had been made with their fathers.

Throughout the troubled history of the Israelites, God silently carried his plan forward for the eventual birth of Messiah. He made a covenant with them, and had given promises to guide them if they remained obedient to his Law. Although there was a tendency toward idolatry and false worship in both kingdoms, there was a greater sense of faith and desire to know the true God of Israel in Judah. And this was by God’s design, for, as one of his very early pledges promised, “the sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” (Gen. 49:10) Some, while residing in Ephraim, who possessed greater faith and therefore greater faithfulness, removed themselves to live and be identified with those residing in Judah. They recognized the advantages of greater religious freedom.

Many of these experiences are typical of the spiritual house of Israel during the Gospel Age. When the apostles died, the Early Church witnessed a great ‘falling away’ from the simple faith which they, and Jesus, had taught. The Lord’s people were, figuratively speaking, again taken into captivity by Babylon, and forced to worship its idols and false teachings. However, there were those who recognized the need to remain free from such things, who removed themselves from its corrupting influences.

Some of these Christians may be among those who are found faithful even unto death.—Rev. 2:10

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