2 Kings 17 Hoshea & The Fall

Hoshea is the last king of the northern kingdom of Israel before the fall. This wasn’t an overnight happening, but a long list of grievances the Lord had against Israel. They broke the covenant and now reap the consequences.

Hoshea plots against Pekah and assonates him to become king. The timelines are very confusing to me though. I know it is because different groups compiled the books of Kings and Chronicles. But when I’m trying to weave a story, it sure helps when I can get the players right and in the right order.

Tiglath-pileser III took Judah as a willing vassal kingdom during the reign of King Ahaz. He conquered Israel as well and subjected them to being a vassal kingdom. His son, Shalmaneser V takes over and rules both kingdoms as a vassal kingdom, but then ultimately destroy Israel when they rebel against him. This happened first, because the people abandoned the Lord, and second, because they rebelled against their Assyrian masters.

I HOPE I have cleared up a bit of the timeline, for me too. Let’s rejoin our journey and see where the Spirit takes us today.

♥ ♦ ♥

Tiglath-pileser removes the threat of Israel for King Ahaz of Judah. He conquers Israel and forces them into being a vassal kingdom. Hoshea, the captain of Pekah’s army is not pleased with his king for bowing down to Tiglath-pileser’s heavy hand.

“Would you that I had let him destroy every last man” demands Pekah.

“No, my king. Sparing the lives of you men is a worthy cause” answers Hoshea.

“Then I will hear no more of this talk of resistance.”

Hoshea bows then leaves the king’s presence. His mind and heart do not leave the problem though. “How could the king have bowed so readily? If the throne were mine, I would have stood against him. But there is no undoing what has been done.”

After a few weeks, Hoshea begins to wonder about what else Pekah will surrender to Assyria. He shakes his head. “Leaving the kingdom in that fool’s hands will be the undoing of us all. I have to save Israel from Pekah.”

That was the day Hoshea’s plans begin in earnest. He starts recruiting from within his men those who will help him seize the throne. It takes three months, but Hoshea is finally ready. Nearly every commander in the army under him is ready to back his grab for the throne.

Hoshea goes to the palace one evening and finds Pekah walking in the garden. There is no one else in sight. Hoshea advances in a friendly manner. Pekah suspects nothing amiss from his chief commander.

“Shalom, my king.”

“Shalom Hoshea. What brings you here at this time of night?”

“I want to discuss our situation; as vassal to Assyria.”

“I told you that I was through discussing this! It is done and there is no undoing it. We live only because Tiglath-pileser accepted my surrender instead of killing me outright.”

“I believe there is another way. If I were king…”

“But YOU are NOT king! I am and I had to make the decision I felt was best.”

Pekah shakes his head in defeat and turns to look out at his garden. While Pekah is in silent meditation, Hoshea silently slips his dagger from its sheath and plunges it into Pehah’s back, between his shoulder blades. The knife easily slips through bone and sinew, severing Pekah’s spinal cord. Pekah falls to the ground as the connection between his brain and his limbs is no more. Hoshea stands over him.

“As I was saying, If I were king, I would find a way to shake the yoke of Assyria from my neck.”

Hoshea doesn’t reach out to help Pekah at all. After speaking his piece, Hoshea quickly slits the king’s throat from ear to ear. He had no desire to stand there and watch Pekah suffer any longer.

Hoshea returns to the garrison to ready his men. “Someone should find the king’s body at any moment. We need to be ready to announce my taking the throne the moment hi is discovered.”

Heads nod around the gathering. They are all ready to install Hoshea as the latest and greatest king of Israel. Hoshea has one confession to make before that happens.

“We cannot undo the damage Rezin created by making us a vassla kingdom right away. What we can do is wait for the right opportunity and pull away from under him. I give you my word. I will not rest in seeking the perfect moment to break free.

By evening Hoshea is installed as king of Israel. He spends the next few months exploring all that the job entails. It is a LOT more than he thought there would be. His men come to him with questions.

“How much longer are we going to be under Assyria’s thumb?”

“That is not an easy question to answer. Right now, they have their hand in everything. I have to cultivate relationships with other kingdoms that might help us stand against the. Judah is not willing to help us; thanks to Pekah’s attack. They are grateful to be under Assyria’s ‘care’.”

“What are we supposed to do then? Sit back and let them ravage our nation?”

“It’s not as bleak as it seems. Tiglath-pileser is old. He will be dead within a few years. The next king to sit on the throne may be better and agree to allow us more freedoms. I will keep working on securing allies in the meantime. I know it’s not what we wanted to hear, but it is where we stand now. Stay strong. This WILL end.”

The commanders leave feeling less than optimistic about the future. Hoshea continues searching out allies. And he continues to pay the tribute demanded by Assyria each year. It is high, but it is doable.

After five years of trying to find allies, Hoshea discovers one in the last place he would think to look. He finds a potential ally in So, king of Egypt. Hoshea and So begin corresponding through messengers, trying to iron out the details. It is tricky because Judah lies between Israel and Egypt, and Assyria controls it too. Care has to be taken to get Egypt past Judah without alerting Assyria. It also cost a tidy sum for Egypt’s help. They are not doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. To meet that cost, Hoshea has to ‘forget’ to pay Assyria their tribute this year.

Shalmaneser has recently taken the throne of Assyria, after his father, Tiglath-pileser’s death. He is determined to keep control of all the territories and nations that his father acquired over his lifetime. He also wants to make a name for himself by increasing the Assyrian empire even further. The only thing holding him back at the moment, is knowing where to start.

It is tribute day in Assyria. All the nations that are under Assyria’s thumb have to bring their tributes today. Shalmaneser watches as nation after nation drops their portion into the hands of the palace guards. He counts them all off in his mind. When the line ends, he starts looking around. “Where is the representative from Israel” he demands.

“There is no one here from Israel, my king.”

“Is he running late? Or is he not coming?” asks Shalmaneser with growing suspicion.

“It has been noted by spies that messengers are going back and forth between Samaria and Egypt. One can only ‘guess’ at the messages being delivered.”

“I’m certain that I do not need to guess, considering that none are here to represent them.”

Shalmaneser rises from his throne and begins pacing the room. “This cannot stand.” He paces a little more, then stops abruptly. “Rally the troops! We will teach this little upstart who is in charge here. Not even Egypt will be able to save her from destruction.”

The Assyrian troop numbers top one million. They are so many that they fear no other armies. The sound of their approach makes the heart of their enemies faint! Israel is about to experience this fear.

Shalmaneser marches out with his army. They make straight for Samaria and they descend on it like a plague of locust. Hoshea knows they are coming three days before they actually arrive. He sent word to So of Egypt as soon as he learned of their advancement. But he has as of yet to hear back from So. He is on his own when they arrive.

Hoshea is not a horrible king, especially compared to others who occupied this throne, but he is not a godly king either. He does not go to the Lord in his time of trouble. Instead, he bows down before the golden calf at Bethel. He hears no answer. He goes to the high places and shakes the stones for answers to his questions, but they tell him nothing. He calls out to Baal to save him, but Baal is silent. The Lord has sent prophets throughout the years to speak words of repentance, but even He is silent now.

Shalmaneser surrounds Samaria with his army and calls out to Hoshea. “Come out here Hoshea or I will destroy every soul in your land.”

Hoshea cares about his people, but he also values his own life. He calls a messenger to him. “Take this to Shalmaneser. “Here is the message; ‘What will you do with me if I surrender. And what of my people?’”

The messenger bows and then turns and makes his way to the camp of the Assyrians. He walks over to the first guard he sees. “I have a message from King Hoshea for Shalmaneser.”

The guard takes the messenger to the tent of the commanders. Shalmaneser is among them, preparing strategy for war. “This Hebrew says he has a message from his king to you, my king.”

“Speak your message” Shalmaneser commands.

As soon as he has said the final words, Shalmaneser begins pacing. He is thinking of his response. When he has finished formulating his plan, he stops in front of the messenger. “Take this message to your king. ‘I, Shalmaneser, assure you that you will not be killed if you surrender this day. Beyond that, there is no guarantee of your safety. As to your people, if they welcome me into their gates, I will restore order to what has been broken. If they resist me, they will be ripped from their land, never to see it again.’”

The messenger’s face is white when he returns to Hoshea. The king already knows that the words of Shalmaneser are not favorable. “Speak Shalmaneser’s words without fear.”

The messenger speaks every one of the words he received while the king listens. Hoshea drops his chin to his chest. To save his people, he will surrender. “I will turn myself over to him. I cannot tell the people what to do. They must make this decision for themselves.”

Hoshea stands. He carefully removes his royal robe. He folds it and lays it on his thrown. Next, he takes the crown from his head and places it atop the robe. “These need to be safeguarded for another day” he tells the messenger. Then he slowly makes his way to the front gates of Samaria.

Hoshea’s hands are held out to his sides as he walks through the gates. Shalmaneser’s men meet him there. Chains are placed on his hands and feet and around his neck. He has enough length in his chain to walk, but nothing more. He is taken to a prisoner cage, where he is shoved inside. Here he will wait until his captors decide where he is to go.

Shalmaneser calls out to the people of Samaria. “Your king has surrendered. Do the same and live. Otherwise, I cannot guarantee your safety.”

No one else walks through the gates. Instead, the gates are double barred from the inside, and soldiers line up on the walkways of the walls, ready to repel the enemy. Hoshea looks up at his men standing along the walls and weeps for them. He hoped to save them when he reached out to So of Egypt. Now he has doomed them. He has no illusion of Israel withstanding the brute force of Assyria.

Hoshea also knows that they are under the righteous judgment of the Lord. From the time that Jeroboam made the golden calves for the people of Israel to worship, they have been living in sin.

Hoshea spends a cold night huddled inside the cage with nothing but a crust of bread and a cup of water. He knows that he has earned this punishment himself because he did not try and reconcile the people of Israel back to their God. “If only we had not been so stubborn. I could have pulled down the altars. The people would have revolted, but at least then I would have died for doing good instead of evil. WHY didn’t I listen? Will ANY from Israel listen? What will happen to Judah? They have turned away as well” Hoshea says to himself.

In that cold cage, for the first time in more years than he can remember, Hoshea turns his heart towards the Lord. “Lord God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. Forgive me O my Lord. I have sinned and rejected Your ways. I know that I deserve everything that is happening to me now. I’m asking though that You protect the people. The ones who have remained true to You, Your words, and Your statutes. I have no right to ask anything of You, but for them I will come humbly before You. For the rest of the people who still refuse to acknowledge You, I pray it is not too late for them to mend their ways. Don’t forget Your people forever.”

Hoshea is taken away the next morning by a small contingent of soldiers. He is taken to the palace of Shalmaneser. Once there he is led to the dungeon where he is locked inside. He will never see the sun again or feel its warmth on his skin. He already knows that this will be the place he dies. He has no idea how long it will be until that day. He is prepared to wait and pay for his sins.

Shalmaneser has given the people of Samaria enough time to respond. They remain locked in their city and their houses. “It is time” he calls out to his commanders. As per their tactical discussion, a portion of the troops will remain here to ensure no one goes in or out of Samaria. The rest will be broken into four groups. They each take a direction on the compass and begin attacking EVERY city of Israel. When one falls, they move onto the next. The people in the cities they take are bound and caged just as Hoshea was. They are taken “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 cities are plundered and then given over to others to inhabit. Once the cleansing of Israel is well underway, Shalmaneser brings his troops back to Samaria. Now it is time to make the final push. It has been almost three years since his men took up station around Samaria. “It’s time to finish this” commands Shalmaneser.

Samaria is extremely weakened from three years of a blockade. No food goes in, no garbage comes out. The city is a cesspool of filth, filled with starving people. The final push of Shalmaneser burst through into a hopeless city. The people are almost glad that this siege has ended.

Shalmaneser is moved by the people’s plight. Instead of striking them down where they stand, he deports them to join their relatives in Assyria. A ‘cleaning crew’ goes through Samaria, gathering anything of value and setting everything besides the buildings on fire. Fire is the only thing strong enough to clean the filth left behind.

When all the people of Israel are gone, Shalmaneser brings in “people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities” (2 Kings 17:24). They take possession of the fields and vineyards left behind by those of Israel.

When the people settle in, they bring their gods with them, but the do not honor the Lord at all. Even though His people are being punished for their unfaithfulness, this is STILL the land God promised to His children. It is HIS land. To ensure that the new inhabitants recognize that, He sends lions among the people. They kill several of them before they realize their own sin.

Word is sent to Shalmaneser as soon as they make the connection. “The nations that you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land” (2 Kings 17:26).

“Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there, and let him go and dwell there and teach them the law of the god of the land” (2 Kings 17:27) Shalmaneser commands.

One priest of the Lord was brought back from Assyria. He was given a home in Bethel and he served to teach the people inhabiting the land of God about the God of creation. This did not keep the people from serving other gods, but it did put the fear of the Lord into them. This fear, respect, was enough to keep them from being torn by wild beasts. They raised up MANY people to serve as priests for every god they served throughout the land.

The people in the land and the people of Israel scattered throughout Assyria and beyond KNEW the reason the people were exiled. THEY did not fear the Lord their God.

“You shall not fear other gods or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them, but you shall fear the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm. You shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice. And the statutes and the rules and the law and the commandment that he wrote for you, you shall always be careful to do. You shall not fear other gods, and you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. You shall not fear other gods, but you shall fear the Lord your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies” (2 Kings 17:35-39). The people are plagued by an avalanche of ‘if only’s.

(to be continued)

The hardest part of this story is realizing that the people were warned what was coming time and Time and TIME again. This was no surprise to them. They had lived so long in this sin that maybe they figured God had forgotten. I think more likely they figured that God wouldn’t act in their lifetime, so why worry about it.

God moves at HIS speed. HE knows the timing of all things. And, YES, judgment is coming to us as well. Don’t wait and be one of those who have to be dragged out, still reeking of the stench of sin. Turn to Him NOW. He loves you and wants you as His own. But He will NOT force anyone to choose Him. But NOT choosing Him has DIRE consequences. Are you willing to ‘take the chance’ that He doesn’t mean what He says? One way or another, EVERYONE will learn the TRUTH.

Father God, I’m sorry for all the pain You endured, bringing man along to this point. The pain of watching Your children walk away. The pain of KNOWING what danger lies ahead and being ignored. Or worse yet, being called a liar. Those we truly love wound us the deepest. Thank You Lord for forgiving me for all the wounds I have inflicted on You. Lead me in the way I should go so that I stop wounding You. I know I won’t walk Your path perfectly, but I also KNOW You still love me in spite of that.