SEMESTER 3
447 – Israel’s Fall to Assyria
BIBLE INSTITUTE OF CORRESPONDENCE
COURSE: BIBLE SURVEY III LESSON # 47
ISRAEL’S FALL TO ASSYRIA
Read I Kings 12:25-33
and II Kings 17:1-18.
INTRODUCTION:
1. It is commonly but wrongly supposed that Israel went into Babylonian captivity.
2. Israel fell to the nation of Assyria about 135 years before Judah went into Babylonian captivity.
3. It was the knowledge of this coming siege that caused Jonah to so dread seeing Nineveh, the capitol of Assyria, repent and be forgiven by God.
4. Israel was finally destroyed, as far as the Northern Kingdom is concerned, in about 722 B.C.
I. THE REASON FOR ISRAEL’S FALL
1. We could cite many particular sins to which the death of Israel might be attributed.
i. Ahab’s sin against Naboth. (I Kings 21:1-16)
ii. Athaliah’s sin against the royal seed. (II Kings 11:1-16)
iii. The many murderous conspiracies such as I Kings 16:8-22.
2. The real reason, however, was the principle of idolatry, the violation of the first commandment, from Solomon all the way through to Hoshea.
3. Men today think of moral misconduct as the great sins, and as the reason for God’s wrath upon a people.
4. God does indeed judge these sins, but above all, God judges idolatry, which may simply be neglect of worship of the true God.
Note: The institution of the golden calves started with determination to “not go up to Jerusalem.”
II. GOD’S WARNINGS AND CHASTENINGS BEFORE THE FALL
1. God gave Israel faithful and even shocking prophets to awaken them to their sin.
i. Ahijah (friend of Jehovah) I Kings 11:30-39, I Kings 14:2-16.
ii. Elijah (God is Jehovah) I Kings 17:1, I Kings 18:17-46.
iii. Elisha (God his salvation) I Kings 19:16-17, II Kings 6:24-33.
2. God reminded them, by Amos, of their constant rebellion. (Amos 4:6-11)
3. He told them of their hopeless state as the judged enemies of God. (Amos 4:1-5, Amos 4:12-13)
4. Divine warning always precedes judgment, and forgiveness is always promised or implied to the repentant transgressor.
5. But Israel refused God’s grace and forgiveness, thus they must fall.
III. THE FINALITY OF THIS JUDGMENT
1. This nation (as it was) fell to rise no more.
2. This does not mean there are “ten lost tribes.” Those tribes were integrated back into the nation of Judah. See the book of Ezra.
3. But the nation, as it was, under any human king never did and never shall rise again.
4. It departed from the house of David under Jeroboam, and was in living death even then.
5. All the following blessings and future hope of that nation, lay in the “remnant” principle. (Rom. 9:25-29)
6. There is a future restoration of that nation, however, as a total unit, under Jesus Christ, the Son of David. (Rom. 11:1-4, Rom. 11:15-29)