2 Kings 17:1-6 -- Hoshea assassinated Pekah in a conspiracy, having first gained permission from Tiglath-pileser. The Emperor died a short time later in 727 BC, and was succeeded by Shalamaneser V. Taking advantage of the turmoil in this change over, Hoshea stopped sending tribute. Instead, he saved it up and sent it as a gift to Pharaoh So of Egypt. However, the latter was unable to send significant help, despite grand promises. Shalamaneser's troops rolled down across the land, hardly noticing any resisting forces along the way. Laying seige to Samaria, the old fortress city held out for three years. During that time, Shalamaneser died and was replaced by Sargon II. This emperor quickly brought the city to its knees. He imprisoned Hoshea upon surrender. The people of Israel, barring a few servants and some peasants, were deported to areas near the imperial capital, Ninevah. Starting just east of Charan, they were scattered across the hilly areas that fed into the upper Euphrates, and spread as far east as the mountainous areas of northern ancient Media, now known as northwestern Iran. The Fall of Samaria is pegged at 722 BC.
17:7-23 -- There is a long recitation of the reasons God allowed the northern half of His nation taken away from the Promised Land. It reads like a specification of broken laws, charges read before a court. They took advantage of the national division and never returned to Jehovah.
17:24-41 -- There is some debate how soon the land was repopulated. There were enough peasants left for a third deportation some time later under Esarhaddon (681-668 BC). If left with this minimal farming population, there need not be a quick replacement of the upper classes. That would mean roughly 40 years passed with this scattered rural peasantry kept raising a minimal tribute. Eventually, the emperor brought in an upper class with their own peasants. Some of the replacements are identified as Elamites, as well as a swap with some of the people living where the Israelites were settled, along with Hamathites and folks from the Euphrates just above Babylon. Very few of the original Israelites were left.
By then, the cities had been empty quite some time. The folks moved in, followed by a seasonal migration of the lions to areas they were used to roaming unimpeded for several decades. The people's assumption was quite correct; the lions came because Jehovah was not honored. Syrian lions were usually not interested in populated places, so this was clearly an unnatural affliction. The new inhabitants sent an appeal to the Emperor for a priest of the god of the place. What they got was an apostate priest who knew of Jehovah, and presented the new inhabitants with a heavily edited Torah. The worship center was Bethel. While they did indeed adopt the rituals of Jehovah's worship, they kept their tribal gods. Some were quite despicable.
18:1-8 -- There is some dispute as to when Hezekiah succeeded his father Ahaz to the throne of Judah. To make the most sense of the story, we will assume the year is 716 BC. His long reign of 29 years (until 687 BC) reflects his righteousness. Indeed, his reign is called by many scholars a "revival" because he promptly destroyed every evil his father had built up. Indeed, he destroyed the old bronze serpent image Moses had raised on a pole in the wilderness of below Edom (Numbers 21:9). The people had built a cult around it, calling it "the Bronze Thing." Hezekiah is compared favorably to his ancestor David, as Jehovah prospered him at every turn. Thus, he was protected by God in throwing off the yoke of Assyria according to the submission of Ahaz. He also subdued the Philistines again. However, for fuller accounting of his return to Jehovah, we shift to 2 Chronicles 29.
2 Chronicles 29:3-19 -- His first act was to have the Temple doors unsealed. Then he called the Levites back from their scattered homes. While they gathered, he had the doors repaired and refinished. The Levites and a few priests assembled in the open court, which was on the east side of the Temple Mount. With the newly repaired doors standing open behind him, he basically preached a sermon about the serious neglect, and ordered them to cleanse and sanctify the Temple afresh. How else to turn away the wrath of the Lord? He recounted some samples of that wrath. The leaders are named, and the Levites set to work. It took a week to remove the clutter from the Temple, and another 9 days to put everything back in place. The rubbish was dumped into the Kidron Valley, directly out in front of the Temple. Somewhere in all this, they had replated the door with gold, and trimmed the pillars as well. They announced it to their king.
29:20-36 -- Hezekiah then called a sacred assembly of the elders. He brought out seven each of the sacrificial animals. Their blood was sprinkled on the sacred objects. Upon beginning to burn the carcasses, he had ordered the musicians to sing and play the Psalms of David and Asaph. Everyone was so delighted, the asked them to keep on after the offerings were consumed. The joyous worship that followed had not been seen for quite some time.
In this heady atmosphere, the worshippers were invited to bring the other kinds of freewill offerings. The Levites had been more serious about ritual purification, and were ready to work from the first day of Hezekiah's orders to clean the Temple. The priests, however, had been rather lax. The sacrifices were too numerous to be handled by the few priests ready, so the Levites pitched in while a bunch of priests hurried to complete the purification rituals. There were enough food offerings and other kinds of gifts that the Temple management had a running start on keeping things going. There was plenty to feed the first rotation of priests and Levites, and plenty of money and materials to keep things in good shape. It is noted folks were really thrilled God had made it possible, since the whole thing was thrown together rather abruptly.
We take a moment here to note a difference in quality between the priests and Levites. After Urijah's apostasy under Ahaz, they seem taken with a lack of seriousness about worship. This problem raises its ugly head at times over the following centuries until, in Jesus' time, they are the party of secularism. The Levites were regarded as lesser in rank for the humbleness of their task. Yet they are clearly more concerned with obedience to the letter and spirit of the Law.
30:1-12 -- What follows would have been politically impossible at any time prior, since the division of the Nation. Hezekiah sent runners all over the Nation, described with the proverbial "from Dan to Beersheba" to designate the extremes of north and south. This after the Fall of Samaria, and the runners were allowed to pass by the few Assyrian guards, who saw it as one more chance to weaken the resolve of those remaining in Israel to resist. This looked to them like an invitation to rejoin the House of David, which was then a faithful vassal of the Empire under Ahaz. At that point, Hezekiah had shown no inclination to alter that situation. All Israel and Judah were invited to celebrate the Passover, which came at a later date that year. The standard Day of Passover had been missed because the priests had been too slow going through the purification rituals in sufficient numbers for the one day annually that required all of them on duty at once. It was delayed a full month. This delay was no different than when the Lord so instructed for an alternative date (Numbers 9:9ff).
The message was faithful and offered them some refuge, as well. The claim was if they would humble themselves and forget politics, the Lord would preserve their relatives taken away after the seige, and would reduce their own losses in the future last deportation. Most of their audience mocked, but a few humbled themselves and came down to Passover. Those few who cared about Jehovah were moved to be of one heart.
30:13-20 -- As the nation gathered and prepared their hearts to celebrate the deliverance of God from Egypt, all the little shrines around Jerusalem were tossed into the Kidron with everything else that had fouled the Temple. They stayed on for the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It is noted that many from the north had insufficient time to prepare themselves ceremonially. Thus, the Levites had to stand in for them, bringing the families' lambs for sanctification for the Passover Feast. And while they were also not ready to eat the Sacred Meal, Hezekiah interceded on their behalf with good effect. A pure heart could stand in for ritual purity.
30:21-27 -- The whole event was described as a true celebration. The singing and playing was something sorely missed for many generations. The Levites who knew the Law also went among the people and taught it and the Psalms. Because of Hezekiah's generosity in personally providing a huge heard of cattle and sheep for food, the people agreed as a whole to keep the feast another week. The nobles also contributed a large number of animals. The scribe notes that this period of worship and celebration had not been seen since the days of Solomon, some 200 years before. In like manner, Jehovah honored the priests blessings of the people, which they gave according to the Law.
This all comes after the Fall of Samaria, plus the events herald a new age of faithfulness under Hezekiah. This sets the starting place for the next section of these lessons, wherein Judah stands alone.
[ Return to Lesson Index ]
[ <-- Previous Lesson ]
[ --> Next Lesson ]
Ed Hurst
30 April 2005
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: People of honor need no copyright laws; they are only too happy to give credit where credit is due. Others will ignore copyright laws whenever they please. If you are of the latter, please note what Moses said about dishonorable behavior -- "be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23)