Lamplighter_MarApr15_Dispersion-Jews

The Assyrian Empire in 650 BC. After the Assyrian conquest of Israel, they tried to conquer
Jerusalem but failed. Judah was able to continue to exist as a tribute state.
their religiosity, they lived like pagans and denied social justice
to the poor (Amos 5:21-24).
He reminded them of the many remedial judgments God had
sent — including drought, famine, mildew, locusts, pestilence
and defeat in wars (Amos 4:6-11). He concluded by declaring
that if the nation persisted in its rebellion, God “will destroy it
from the face of the earth” (Amos 9:8).
Israel’s Final Prophet
But they did not listen. So, God raised up another prophet,
from among their own people — a man by the name of Hosea.
For the next 20 years, right up to the time of the kingdom’s
destruction, Hosea called the people to repentance. And like
Amos, he confronted them with a litany of their sins, beginning
with these words (Hosea 4:1-3):
1) Listen to the word of the LORD, O sons of
Israel, for the LORD has a case against the
inhabitants of the land, Because there is no
faithfulness or kindness or knowledge of God in
the land.
2) There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing
and adultery. They employ violence, so that
bloodshed follows bloodshed.
3) Therefore the land mourns, and everyone who
lives in it languishes along with the beasts of the
field and the birds of the sky, and also the fish of
the sea disappear.
Hosea focused on the sin of idolatry, referring to it vividly
as “the spirit of harlotry” (Hosea 4:12 and 9:1). And like Amos,
he also railed against the people’s religious hypocrisy, proclaiming:
“I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge
of God rather than burnt offerings” (6:6).
Hosea pleaded with his fellow countrymen to “return to the
LORD your God” (14:1), and he warned specifically that if they
failed to do so, God would destroy their kingdom through the
Assyrians (11:5-6). He also pointed out that should this happen,
they would have no one to blame except
themselves (13:9).
Meanwhile, in Judah, the prophet Isaiah,
who was called by God to be a prophet to his
own kingdom, also issued a warning to Israel.
He cried out, “Woe to the proud crown [the
capital city of Samaria] of the drunkards of
Ephraim [the kingdom of Israel]” (Isaiah
28:1). He then declared that God was raising
up “a mighty agent” to destroy the kingdom
(28:2). This was, of course, a reference to the
Assyrians whom Isaiah had referred to earlier
as “the rod of God’s anger” (10:5).
I think it is fascinating to note that near
the end of the reign of Israel’s very first king,
Jeroboam, a prophet named Abijah prophesied
the ultimate destruction of the kingdom
of Israel: “For the LORD will strike Israel, as
a reed is shaken in the water; and He will
uproot Israel from this good land which He
gave to their fathers, and will scatter them
beyond the Euphrates River, because they have made their
Asherim, provoking the LORD to anger” (1 Kings 14:15 —
Asherim were totem poles that were erected to honor the female
God named Asherah).
The Destruction of Israel
All these appeals and warnings fell on deaf ears. The result
was the destruction of the kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in
722 BC. The kingdom had lasted 208 years. There had been 19
kings, and not a single one had been considered righteous in the
eyes of God.
The reasons for their destruction are summed up in 2 Kings
17: “They set for themselves sacred pillars and Asherim on every
high hill and under every green tree” (10), “they burned incense
on all the high places” (11), “they served idols” (12), “they made
for themselves molten images . . . and worshiped all the host of
heaven and served Baal” (16), and “they made their sons and
their daughters pass through the fire, and practiced divination
and enchantments” (17).
The Assyrian conquest of the kingdom of Israel marked the
beginning of the dispersion of the Jewish people in accordance
with the prophecy of Deuteronomy 28:63-64. The ten Jewish
tribes of that kingdom ultimately ended up being scattered all
across the Eurasian continent, from Assyria to China and even
into the Indian subcontinent. 3
The Kingdom of Judah
The southern kingdom of Judah began with King Rehoboam
who was the rightful heir to the throne, since he was the son of
Solomon, but he veered off the path of righteousness, and his
son, Abijah (also known as Abijam), followed in his steps. It was
not until the 20th year of the kingdom that a good king by the
name of Asa ascended the throne. He reigned for 41 years and
was followed by his righteous son, Jehoshaphat, who ruled for 25
years.
It was up and down after that with regard to the kings, but
overall, there was a steady descent of the society into spiritual
darkness. It is a tragic story because no other nation had ever
March - April 2015 The Lamplighter page 5