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Response
Assyria’s conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel began around 740 BC under King Pul. First Chronicles 5:26 states, “So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul, the king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tiglath-pileser, the king of Assyria. He took them into exile, specifically the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river Gozan, where they remain to this day.” These tribes, situated east of the Jordan River, were the initial ones conquered by Assyria.
Nearly 20 years later, around 722 BC, the Assyrians captured the capital city, Samaria, under Shalmaneser V. Initially, tribute payments were demanded, but when the city refused to pay, Shalmaneser besieged it. After a three-year siege, 2 Kings 17:5-6 reports that “in the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria. He deported the Israelites to Assyria, settling them in Halah, on the Habor River, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.” In 701 BC, the Assyrians advanced south into Judah, but they failed to seize Jerusalem due to the Lord’s intervention, as stated in 2 Chronicles 32:22..
The Lord had long forewarned Israel of judgment, dating back to Moses’ stern admonition in Deuteronomy 28:62–65. Second Kings 17:13 mentions, “Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah through every prophet and seer.” Numerous efforts were made to bring the people back to the Lord, including endeavors by Elijah and Elisha, two prominent prophets in Israel’s history.
Second Kings 17:15–17 details the various transgressions of Israel against the Lord, resulting in His judgment upon them.
Land: “They despised His statutes and His covenant that He made with their fathers and the warnings that He gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the LORD had commanded them that they should not do like them. And they abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.” Israel broke the Law, worshiped other gods— even burning their children as offerings— and used divination as part of their godless lifestyle.
Verse 18 notes, “Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them out of His sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only.” Though a remnant remained in the north, the nation of Israel was under Assyrian rule, and tens of thousands were deported and made servants in Assyria.
Further, the Assyrians began to populate Israel with people from other nations they had defeated. Verse 24 says, “And the king of Assyria brought 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.” The descendants of these foreigners and the remnant of Israel were later simply called “Samaritans.” During the time of Christ, the Samaritans were despised as an “unclean” people because of their mixed ancestry and rejection of temple-based worship.
