A Journey Through The Old Testament - Elmer Towns

that Israel’s captivity really began. The tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh
became increasingly involved in the pagan practices God had banned from His people. “So the
God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, that is, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria.
He carried the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh into captivity” (1 Chron.
5:26).
Ahaz the son of Jotham began to reign as king of Judah in the south (735-716 B. C.). This
Judean king was so evil as to engage in human sacrifice and even offered his own son in a
sacrifice. Early in his reign he was confronted with the struggle with the allied forces of northern
Israel and Syria. Since it looked like the Southern Kingdom would lose, the people began to
wonder if they could survive the battle. It was in this context God sent Isaiah to the Judean king.
Isaiah assured the king Judah would survive the conflict with Israel and Syria. Isaiah
offered a sign from God by way of verification. But Ahaz was not interested in what the prophet
had to say and refused the sign. Probably God had intended the sign as a means of strengthening
the faith of the people, but Ahaz had refused the sign in unbelief. As a result, Isaiah spoke of a
sign God would give, but it would be a sign performed long after Ahaz had died. “Behold the
virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isa. 7:14).
The south was not defeated, but the Northern Kingdom was lost. The captivity of Israel
had begun.
The defeat of Israel posed a serious threat to the security of Judah. For years the prophets
of God had warned of Israel’s fate. Some of the same prophets had also warned Judah of its own
coming day of judgment. Ahaz realized Syria now posed a military threat to the security of
Judah. Something had to be done about it and Ahaz was prepared to act.
But gone were the days when those who sat on the throne of David shared David’s
commitment to his God. In the valley of Elah, young David had been willing to take on Goliath
because the Philistine giant had blasphemed the name of Israel’s God. Now Ahaz, a descendant
of David, would go to meet another enemy of Judah and Judah’s God, but his would be a
different response. “Now in the time of his distress King Ahaz became increasingly unfaithful to
the Lord. This is that King Ahaz. For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which had defeated
him, saying, `because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, I will sacrifice to them that they
may help me.’ But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel” (2 Chron. 28:22-23).
In his abandoning of the God who had brought Israel out of Egypt, he engaged in a
systematic removal of the religion of Jehovah from Judah. In the process he destroyed the instruments
used in the worship of God in the temple and sealed the doors of that magnificent edifice
built by Solomon for the worship of Israel’s God. Then, throughout his capital, he established
pagan centers of worship, idols devoted to the gods of other lands. “And in every single city of
Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoke to anger the Lord God of
his fathers” (v. 25).
Hoshea, the last king of the northern tribes, like so many kings of Israel before him, “did
evil in the sight of the Lord” (2 Kings 17:2). But the evil of Hoshea was not as severe or extreme
as that of previous kings. When Shalmaneser IV, king of Assyria, who had succeeded Tiglath-
Pileser came up against him, Hoshea agreed to pay tribute to the Assyrians and continued to
serve in his office as king. But Hoshea did not intend to pay that tribute. Secretly he began
making an alliance with Egypt whom he hoped would deliver his nation from the yoke of the
Assyrians. But before anything could be finalized, word leaked out and the king of Assyria
learned of Hoshea’s secret discussions with the king of Egypt. When the tribute from Israel
failed to arrive, Shalmaneser IV appeared quickly before the gates of Samaria. For three weary