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Despite prophetic warnings that those who do not keep his ways will be scattered, Israel’s heart is far from Him. Assyria is chosen to be God’s instrument to destroy and scatter the northern kingdom in 722BC. As Jeremiah, a later Biblical prophet, notes, they turned their back to Him, but not their face. Jeremiah warns the south that they are following in the North’s footsteps as those who moved into other lands and adopted their Gods while still claiming their own, which is an act hated by God. For their betrayal, God will deal with them in like manner.
26 “As a thief is shamed when caught, so the house of Israel shall be shamed: they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets, 27 who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ For they have turned their back to me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble they say, ‘Arise and save us!’
Jeremiah 2:26-27 ESV
17 Like the east wind I will scatter them before the enemy. I will show them my back, not my face, in the day of their calamity.”
Jeremiah 18:17 ESV
For their transgressions, the northern tribes are first conquered by the Assyrian King Tiglath-Pileser (745-727BC), then by Shalmeneser, who completes the northern scattering from 727-722BC. We read of the North’s demise in 1 Chronicles 5 and 2 Kings 15:
“But they broke faith with the God of their fathers, and whored after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them. So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, the spirit of Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and he took them into exile, namely, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river Gozan, to this day.”
1 Chronicles 5:25-26 ESV
“In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and he carried the people captive to Assyria.”
2 Kings 15:29 ESV
Most scholars agree that the northern demise occurred in/around 722BC. While there remains a small remnant in Israel, various foreigners are brought in to live in the scattered Israelite’s place, and their foreign gods are erected. These foreigners who are brought into the land of Israel become the Samaritans. Their relationship with the south becomes antagonistic as these people seem to serve God only when it suits them. In addition, any remnant that may have remained, continued to defy God and they also play both sides. 2nd Kings tells us this people feared God, but also served the other gods that came into their land, which corroborates Jeremiah’s account of them continuing to play both sides.
29 But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made [the scattered north], every nation in the cities in which they lived. 30 The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, 31 and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. 32 They also feared the Lord and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. 33 So they feared the Lord but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away. 34 To this day they do according to the former manner. They do not fear the Lord, and they do not follow the statutes or the rules or the law or the commandment that the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel.
2 Kings 17:28-34 ESV
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