Two Hundred Years of Rebellion

In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree: And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger: For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing. II Kings 17:6-12

Steps: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

After the division of the tribes, the northern tribes – called Samaria or Israel – chose to accept Jeroboam’s idolatrous influence and it infected the thinking of the people for about 200 years. Not one time during this history did God ever state that there was even one king of Israel who did right. All of these kings rebelled against God, and against the prophets that God sent to them. They rebelled so thoroughly, and followed the ways of the heathen so thoroughly, that God finally allowed them their desire and He sent them to live with the Assyrians and never called them back home again. During this time God allowed Judah – the southern two tribes, and all of the people from the northern ten tribes, who had left Samaria and joined themselves to Judah – to observe the events of Samaria and decide whether to follow God or to follow Baal. This same opportunity has been granted to us so that we to can decide whether to follow God or to follow the ways of the heathen and reap all of the rewards of our decisions.

Prayer for Today: God, You know how easily we follow others, especially popular people. Help us to be able to see and compare these people with You and help us to trust that the history You have presented in the Bible is true and applicable to us. We tend to think that somehow we are different and wiser than all of the people who have gone before us. Help us to see how history repeats and that the same issues come up over and over again. Help us to be humble enough to learn from You and to choose to follow You in all things, for our recovery depends upon it.