Samaria Falls Because of Israel’s Sin

17:1 In the twelfth year of King Ahaz’s reign over Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria for nine years. 17:2 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not to the same degree as the Israelite kings who preceded him. 17:3 King Shalmaneser of Assyria threatened him; Hoshea became his subject and paid him tribute. 17:4 The king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea was planning a revolt. Hoshea had sent messengers to King So of Egypt and had not sent his annual tribute to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria arrested him and imprisoned him. 17:5 The king of Assyria marched through the whole land. He attacked Samaria and besieged it for three years. 17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea’s reign, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the people of Israel to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor (the river of Gozan), and in the cities of the Medes. A Summary of Israel’s Sinful History 17:7 This happened because the Israelites sinned against the Lord their God, who brought them up from the land of Egypt and freed them from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods; 17:8 they observed the practices of the nations whom the Lord had driven out from before Israel, and followed the example of the kings of Israel. 17:9 The Israelites said things about the Lord their God that were not right. They built high places in all their cities, from the watchtower to the fortress. 17:10 They set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. 17:11 They burned incense on all the high places just like the nations whom the Lord had driven away from before them. Their evil practices made the Lord angry. 17:12 They worshiped the disgusting idols in blatant disregard of the Lord’s command. 17:13 The Lord solemnly warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and all the seers, “Turn back from your evil ways; obey my commandments and rules that are recorded in the law. I ordered your ancestors to keep this law and sent my servants the prophets to remind you of its demands.” 17:14 But they did not pay attention and were as stubborn as their ancestors, who had not trusted the Lord their God. 17:15 They rejected his rules, the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the laws he had commanded them to obey. They paid allegiance to worthless idols, and so became worthless to the Lord. They copied the practices of the surrounding nations in blatant disregard of the Lord’s command. 17:16 They abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God; they made two metal calves and an Asherah pole, bowed down to all the stars in the sky, and worshiped Baal. 17:17 They passed their sons and daughters through the fire, and practiced divination and omen reading. They committed themselves to doing evil in the sight of the Lord and made him angry. 17:18 So the Lord was furious with Israel and rejected them; only the tribe of Judah was left. 17:19 Judah also failed to keep the commandments of the Lord their God; they followed Israel’s example. 17:20 So the Lord rejected all of Israel’s descendants; he humiliated them and handed them over to robbers, until he had thrown them from his presence. 17:21 He tore Israel away from David’s dynasty, and Jeroboam son of Nebat became their king. Jeroboam drove Israel away from the Lord and encouraged them to commit a serious sin. 17:22 The Israelites followed in the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat and did not repudiate them. 17:23 Finally the Lord rejected Israel just as he had warned he would do through all his servants the prophets. Israel was deported from its land to Assyria and remains there to this very day. 17:24 The king of Assyria brought foreigners from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the Israelites. They took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. 17:25 When they first moved in, they did not worship the Lord. So the Lord sent lions among them and the lions were killing them. 17:26 The king of Assyria was told, “The nations whom you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the requirements of the God of the land, so he has sent lions among them. They are killing the people because they do not know the requirements of the God of the land.” 17:27 So the king of Assyria ordered, “Take back one of the priests whom you deported from there. He must settle there and teach them the requirements of the God of the land.” 17:28 So one of the priests whom they had deported from Samaria went back and settled in Bethel. He taught them how to worship the Lord. 17:29 But each of these nations made its own gods and put them in the shrines on the high places that the people of Samaria had made. Each nation did this in the cities where they lived. 17:30 The people from Babylon made Succoth Benoth, the people from Cuth made Nergal, the people from Hamath made Ashima, 17:31 the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their sons in the fire as an offering to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. 17:32 At the same time they worshiped the Lord. They appointed some of their own people to serve as priests in the shrines on the high places. 17:33 They were worshiping the Lord and at the same time serving their own gods in accordance with the practices of the nations from which they had been deported. 17:34 To this very day they observe their earlier practices. They do not worship the Lord; they do not obey the rules, regulations, law, and commandments that the Lord gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he renamed Israel. 17:35 The Lord made an agreement with them and instructed them, “You must not worship other gods. Do not bow down to them, serve them, or offer sacrifices to them. 17:36 Instead you must worship the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt by his great power and military ability; bow down to him and offer sacrifices to him. 17:37 You must carefully obey at all times the rules, regulations, law, and commandments he wrote down for you. You must not worship other gods. 17:38 You must never forget the agreement I made with you, and you must not worship other gods. 17:39 Instead you must worship the Lord your God; then he will rescue you from the power of all your enemies.” 17:40 But they pay no attention; instead they observe their earlier practices. 17:41 These nations are worshiping the Lord and at the same time serving their idols; their sons and grandsons do just as their fathers have done, to this very day.

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Samaria fell because Israel kept breaking the Lord’s covenant through idolatry and stubborn disobedience, not just because Assyria was powerful. After the exile, Assyria resettled foreigners in Samaria, and their worship became mixed and divided instead of faithful to the Lord alone.

This chapter tells the end of the northern kingdom of Israel. Hoshea resisted Assyria, but the Assyrian king besieged Samaria and finally captured it. The people were deported because the Lord had already warned them many times through prophets and seers.

The chapter makes the reason for the exile very clear. Israel sinned against the Lord who had rescued them from Egypt. They copied the worship practices of the nations, built high places, set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles, burned incense, and worshiped idols. They rejected the Lord’s commands, his covenant, and his law. They also followed the sins that began with Jeroboam, including false worship, and they went on to child sacrifice and divination.

The Lord had been patient, but the people would not listen. So the exile was not random. It was covenant judgment. To be removed from the land was to be thrown out from the Lord’s presence.

The last part of the chapter explains what happened when Assyria moved foreigners into Samaria. The new settlers did not know the Lord, so God sent lions among them. But instead of true repentance, they mixed worship of the Lord with worship of their own gods. The result was syncretism, not faithfulness. The chapter ends by saying this divided worship continued.

The point is not that Assyria was stronger than Israel in a merely political sense. The deeper issue was Israel’s covenant-breaking sin. The Lord had warned, judged, and done exactly what he said he would do.

• The fall of Samaria was a real historical event, and it happened under Assyrian power.
• The chapter says the deeper cause of the exile was Israel’s sin against the Lord.
• Israel worshiped idols, copied the nations, and rejected the Lord’s law.
• The Lord sent prophets and seers to warn Israel and Judah before judgment came.
• Israel would not listen, so the Lord judged them and removed them from the land.
• Exile from the land is described as being thrown from the Lord’s presence.
• Judah also sinned, but Israel received the immediate judgment in this chapter.
• The foreign peoples settled in Samaria brought mixed worship, not pure devotion to the Lord.
• Divided worship is no true worship at all.

• Turn back from evil ways.
• Obey the Lord’s commandments and rules.
• Do not worship other gods.
• Do not mix the worship of the Lord with the worship of idols.
• Listen when God warns through his word and his messengers.
• Reject syncretism and divided allegiance.
• Remember that persistent rebellion brings real judgment.

This passage belongs to the Mosaic covenant story. Israel broke the covenant’s commands, so exile came as the covenant curse the Lord had warned about. The chapter also keeps the Davidic line in Judah in view, since Judah remains for a time while Israel falls. In the larger Bible story, Samaria’s fall moves the exile-and-restoration storyline forward and shows the need for a faithful king and true covenant renewal. The passage should be kept distinct from the church, even though its warning against idolatry still teaches God’s people today.

God takes worship seriously. This chapter warns us not to give the Lord divided loyalty or mix his worship with idols, false religion, or disobedience. It also reminds us to pay attention when God warns us through Scripture. Repeated warning is mercy, but ignoring it leads to discipline. Read this passage as a call to repent, trust the Lord, and worship him alone.

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