2 Kings 17 reveals Hoshea to be the final king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Israel had persisted in her idolatry and rebellion from the day she was established as a kingdom, as Jeroboam took the people away in rebellion against Solomon’s son Rehoboam.
Chapter 15 reveals that during the reign of Pekah, the Assyrians had come in, and raided the land, taking hostages back to Assyria. Only a short time later Shalmaneser, the king of Israel subjugated the nation, making a vassal of Hoshea, and imposing tribute money upon him (17:3). No longer was Israel a sovereign nation. When Hoshea tried to avoid paying the tribute, the conspiracy became known and the king of Assyria threw him into prison. (17:4). In the ninth year of Hoshea’s reign, with the king in prison, the Assyrians carried the people of Israel into captivity, and the nation ceased to exist.
This was the final end of generations of sin. While Hoshea’s reign was doomed to end in this way, (God’s judgment was inevitable), he was not faultless. He “did evil in the sight of the Lord” (17:2). Sin brings ruin, collectively and individually. It may be a slow descent into ruin, or a headlong rush, but the end is inevitable, as men rebel against the God of heaven. “For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God… until the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria, as it is to this day.” (17:7, 23-24).
May we learn from the sad example of Israel, and seek always to maintain faithfulness to the Lord. May we choose the way of righteousness rather than the way of ruin.
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