People of the northern kingdom of Israel were taken into exile after their defeat by the Assyrians and the fall of Samaria. The Israelites were transported to Assyria in stages, starting with the upper strata of society. They were replaced by immigrants from other parts of the Assyrian empire. The Israelites had to share their land with these people when they returned from exile after the downfall of the Assyrians. This was the origin of the Samaritan people.
Israel was warned of coming punishment for her misconduct
God warned his people
Deuteronomy 28:62–66; Isaiah 5:12–13 See also Leviticus 26:27–28; Deuteronomy 28:49–57; Isaiah 10:5–6; Hosea 8:1–8, Hosea 13:16; Amos 3:2, Amos 3:11, Amos 5:27, Amos 9:4, Amos 9:7–9; Micah 1:6–7
You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left few in number, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God. Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and multiply, so also it will please Him to annihilate you and destroy you. And you will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess. Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. Among those nations you will find no repose, not even a resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despairing soul. So your life will hang in doubt before you, and you will be afraid night and day, never certain of survival.
At their feasts are the lyre and harp, tambourines and flutes and wine. They disregard the actions of the LORD and fail to see the work of His hands. Therefore My people will go into exile for their lack of understanding; their dignitaries are starving and their masses are parched with thirst.
Some prophecies referred specifically to Assyria as God's instrument
Isaiah 8:4–7, Isaiah 10:5–6 See also Hosea 8:9–10; Nahum 1:11–13
For before the boy knows how to cry ‘Father’ or ‘Mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.” And the LORD spoke to me further: “Because this people has rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoiced in Rezin and the son of Remaliah, the Lord will surely bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates— the king of Assyria and all his pomp. It will overflow its channels and overrun its banks.
Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath. I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.
Warning through Solomon
When they sin against You — for there is no one who does not sin — and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to his own land, whether far or near, and when they come to their senses in the land to which they were taken, and they repent and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’ and when they return to You with all their heart and soul in the land of the enemies who took them captive, and when they pray to You in the direction of the land that You gave to their fathers, the city You have chosen, and the house I have built for Your Name, then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and petition, and may You uphold their cause. May You forgive Your people who have sinned against You and all the transgressions they have committed against You, and may You grant them compassion in the eyes of their captors to show them mercy.
The history of Israel's capture
Tiglath-Pileser III invades Israel in 743 B.C. but withdraws upon payment of slave-indemnity
See also 2 Kings 15:19–20
A further attack takes place ten years later
2 Kings 15:29; 1 Chronicles 5:26
Shalmaneser V comes on the scene
2 Kings 17:3–6 After a three-year siege, Samaria falls in 722 B.C.
Israelites are removed to Assyria under Sargon II
2 Kings 17:5–7 See also 2 Kings 17:23
Then the king of Assyria invaded the whole land, marched up to Samaria, and besieged it for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried away the Israelites to Assyria, where he settled them in Halah, in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes. All this happened because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They had worshiped other gods
Non-Israelites are settled in Israel
God sees his people in their distress
Psalm 69:33 See also Leviticus 26:40–46
For the LORD listens to the needy and does not despise His captive people.
Assyria to be punished eventually
Isaiah 10:5 Despite having been used as God's instrument, Assyria will come under God's judgment. See also Isaiah 10:12; Nahum 3:18–19
Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.
Nineveh will fall
Nahum 1:14, Nahum 2:1–2 See also Nahum 3:1–5
The LORD has issued a command concerning you, O Nineveh: “There will be no descendants to carry on your name. I will cut off the carved image and cast idol from the house of your gods; I will prepare your grave, for you are contemptible.”
One who scatters advances against you, O Nineveh. Guard the fortress! Watch the road! Brace yourselves! Summon all your strength! For the LORD will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, though destroyers have laid them waste and ruined the branches of their vine.
God's people will be restored
Related themes
Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Bible Aquifer. Formatted for this site, with Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.