The Fall of Northern Israel and the Providence of God

When Assyria rose to become a great power, King Hoshea withheld his tribute and allied himself with Egypt. Egypt gave him no real help, and after a three-year siege Assyria took Samaria and scattered the people of northern Israel across many lands.

The cause of the fall was not a political misjudgment but a heart that had betrayed God. A small turning aside, begun with the golden calf, became a road no one thought to question; as hearts hardened, it set in motion a vicious cycle of unbelief that led to wrath and judgment. That cycle is broken only when a heart that loves and fears God is set at the center.

The fall did not mean that God had given up on his people; it was part of the way toward restoration. The Samaritans, a people born out of that scattering, were the very ones Jesus went in person to meet, and to the end he never abandoned his purpose of saving them. So long as we are still in the flesh, it is never too late in the sight of God.