REIGN OF JEROBOAM. AMOS THE PROPHET IS SENT. REIGNS OF ZACHARIAH, SHALLUM, MENAHEM, PEKAHIAH, PEKAH, AND HOSHEA. THE TEN TRIBES ARE CARRIED AWAY CAPTIVE.
AFTER Elisha was dead, King Jehoash fought against the Syrians and gained the victory over them three times, as Elisha had told him, but he was not able wholly to destroy them. Jehoash was king for sixteen years, and he died, and they buried him in the city of Samaria; and Jeroboam, his son, was made king in his place.
The Lord was kind to Jeroboam and the people of Israel, for he saw the sufferings which their enemies caused them, and he pitied them. He helped Jeroboam as he had helped Jehoash, his father, in fighting against the Syrians, so that Jeroboam took from them two of their cities, Damascus and Hamath. But the men of Israel did not thank God for his kindness; they still refused to serve him, and went on worshipping the golden calves.
Then the Lord sent Amos the prophet to speak to them. Amos came and said, that they were the only people in all the earth whom the Lord had chosen for his own, yet instead of serving him, they served idols, and disobeyed all his commandments. They were cruel to the poor, they deceived and robbed one another when they sold corn and wheat, they hated those persons who did justly and told the truth, but took bribes from the wicked and allowed them to go on in their wickedness.
The Lord had seen all their sins, Amos said, and had kept back the rain from their fields, and sent famine and pestilence into their land, to show them he was angry; still they would not turn from their evil ways. Therefore a greater punishment should be sent upon them. There would be weeping and wailing in their streets and their vineyards; for an enemy should come who would gain the victory over them, and treat them cruelly, and afterward carry them away captives. Yet even now Amos told them, if they would repent and obey the Lord, the Lord would forgive them.
But woe, or sorrow, Amos said, should come to those persons who would not think of their sins, or of the punishment that was coming on the people; who put all such thoughts out of their minds and cared only to enjoy themselves; who lay on rich couches, and on beds of ivory; who ate the lambs out of the flock, and the fatted calves from the stall; who sang to instruments of music, and drank wine out of bowls. Those persons should be among the first to be carried away captives.
After Amos had spoken these things to the people, Amaziah, who was the chief priest at the idol's temple in Bethel, sent to King Jeroboam, saying, Amos is speaking against thee. He says that thou shalt be slain, and the people carried away captive. Amaziah spoke to Amos also, and said to him, Go out of our land into the land of Judah, and prophesy to the people there, but do not prophesy any more here, in Bethel. For this is the place where King Jeroboam lives, and where he worships the golden calves.
Then Amos answered Amaziah, saying, I did not use to be a prophet, neither was I the son of a prophet; I was only a herdsman and gatherer of wild figs. But as I was driving my flock out in the field, the Lord said to me, Go, prophesy to the children of Israel. Hear then, Amaziah, what the Lord commands me to say to thee. Thou tellest me not to prophesy to the people, when the Lord has sent me to prophesy to them. Now, therefore, the Lord will send his punishment upon thee also; thy wife shall go away from thy home and leave thee alone; thy sons and thy daughters shall be slain by the sword, and thou thyself shalt die in a heathen land.
King Jeroboam and the people heard the words of Amos, which the Lord had sent him to speak; and not the words of Amos only, but of the prophet Hosea also, who came and told them of their sins, and of the great punishment which the Lord would send; he, too, begged them to repent, saying that the Lord was willing to forgive them. Yet they would not listen to the words of the prophets, neither would they repent as the Lord commanded. Jeroboam was king forty-one years and he died, and Zachariah, his son, was made king in his stead.
Zachariah was king in the city of Samaria but six months. Then Shallum rebelled against him and killed him, and made himself king. But after Shallum had reigned only one month, Menahem came to Samaria and slew him, and Menahem was made king.
Menahem reigned ten years, and all that time he did evil. And Pul, the king of Assyria, came up against him. Then Menahem was afraid, and promised to pay Pul a thousand talents of silver if he would be his friend and help him, and allow him still to be king. Menahem had not this money himself, but he forced the rich men of his kingdom to give it to him, and when they had given it, he paid it to Pul. So Pul took the thousand talents and allowed Menahem still to be king over Israel. And Pul went back to his own land. After this Menahem died, and Pekahiah, his son, was made king in his place.
The Bible tells us that Pekahiah sinned as Jeroboam, the first king of Israel, had done. We have read that Jeroboam was the one who first set up the golden calves for idols, and told the people that these were their gods that brought them up out of Egypt. And Pekahiah, when he was made king, did not put down these idols, but he went to their temples to worship them, and taught the people to go there, instead of going to Jerusalem to worship God. After he had been king for two years, Pekah, the son of one of his captains, came into the king's palace in the city of Samaria, and killed him; and Pekah was made king.
Pekah also did wickedly. He went up to Jerusalem to fight against that city, but was not able to take it. And the king of Assyria came with an army and made war against him, and carried away many of the people. After Pekah had been king twenty years, Hoshea rebelled against him and killed him, and made himself king.
Hoshea was king for nine years, and he did evil and displeased the Lord. Against him also the king of Assyria came up, and Hoshea promised to be his servant and obey him, and to pay him tribute money each year. But he did not keep his promise, for after the king of Assyria had gone back to his own land, Hoshea sent word to the king of Egypt, asking that king to help him against the king of Assyria; neither did Hoshea send the king of Assyria tribute money as he had done the years before. Then the king of Assyria bound Hoshea and put him in prison, and came up with an army against Samaria and besieged it for three years, until he took the city.
We have seen by what we have now read, how wicked the people of Israel had been. Ever since they separated from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and made a kingdom of their own, they had gone on sinning against God. For instead of doing as he taught them, they chose to do as the heathen nations did, that lived around them. Those nations would not serve God because he commanded them to be pure and holy; they served false gods who, they pretended, allowed them to do everything that was wicked. The Bible tells us they worshipped their false gods on high places. We are not told how these high places were made, but we suppose they were on hills, or else were made of earth heaped up, or perhaps were built of wood and stone. The heathen people made groves also, and under the shade of trees they worshipped their false gods.
And the people of Israel did like them. They made high places in all their cities, and groves on their hills, and on the tops of the high places and under the shade of every green tree, they burnt incense and offered sacrifices to the idols. And they kindled fires before the idols and made their sons and their daughters go through the fire, and be burned, because, they pretended, the idols would be pleased at it. Beside doing these things, they were wicked to each other, hating and killing one another, and robbing one another of houses, and lands, and gold. God waited long for them to turn from their sins; as we have read, he sent famine and pestilence and war into their land to show them he was angry. When they still continued to disobey him,: he sent his prophets to warn them. We have been told how those prophets came and preached to the people, telling them of the punishment that was coming upon them, and begging them to repent and cease doing evil, so that God might forgive them and keep them for his children: but they would not. So at last God did to them what his prophets had said he would do. He drove the people of Israel out of Canaan, as he had driven out the heathen nations that lived there before them.
For the king of Assyria, after he had shut up Hoshea in prison, went through all the land of Israel and took the people and carried them away captive to the land of Assyria. There he gave them cities to live in; but he would not let them come back to the land of Israel again.
So the kingdom of Israel was ended. It had lasted two hundred and fifty-four years, ever since the ten tribes chose Jeroboam for their king. Nineteen kings had ruled over them during that time, every one of whom did evil and disobeyed the Lord. And the king of Assyria sent people from his own land to live in the cities of Israel, where the ten tribes had lived; and they came and lived there, and took those cities for their own. But we do not read that the ten tribes ever returned, and no one can tell what afterward became of them.
We have now finished the story of the kingdom of Israel, and will go back two hundred and fifty-four years, to begin the story of the kingdom of Judah.