What Brought the Downfall of the Northern Tribes?

2 Kings 17:7: "All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the LORD their God."

In 2 Kings, the story is told of the bitter end of the northern tribes of Israel. Hoshea was the last king who ruled on the throne of the northern tribes before the Assyrian invasion of the promised land. He had been paying tribute to the Assyrians to keep them from destroying his kingdom; however, Hoshea attempted to break from the control of the Assyrians by allying with the Egyptians. This decision proved to be fatal for the kingdom. When Shalmaneser (reign 725-722 BC) discovered that Hoshea was a traitor, he sent his army to lay siege to Samaria. For three years, the Assyrians sacked the capitol of the northern kingdom, bringing its utter destruction. Many of the inhabitants of the land were deported with the king, and the northern kingdom would cease to exist.

What I find interesting is that Scripture gives reasons for the demise of the northern kingdom, and this explanation is found immediately following the historical account of the Assyrian invasion. Here are the reasons:

1. The Israelites sinned against the LORD their God (vs 7)
2. They worshiped other gods (vs 7)
3. They followed the practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before them (vs 8)
4. They followed the practices of other nations that the kings of Israel had observed and brought back to the people (vs. 8)
5. They practiced detestable things in secret (vs 9)
6. They practiced detestable things out in the open on high places (vs 9)
7. They set up pagan icons and altars everywhere (vs 10)
8. They honored and worshiped the pagan deities by burning incense to them (vs 11)
9. They would not listen to the prophets sent by God to warn them (vs 14)
10. They did not trust in the LORD their God (vs 14)
11. They rejected the LORD's decrees and covenant (vs 15)
12. They sacrificed their children in the fire to honor the pagan deities (vs 17)
13. They practiced divination and sorcery and sold themselves to do evil (vs 17)

It is a rather exhaustive list isn't it? God had given plenty of opportunities for the Israelites to repent, but they would not listen. Prophets like Hosea were summoned by the LORD to go to the northern tribes and preach judgment upon the people if they would not return to the LORD. Tragically, there was no positive response.

We would do well to learn from the northern tribes, that sin will never go unpunished. What is revealed in the story above is that the root problem of the Israelites was a quest for lordship over the One True Lord. There was no desire to surrender because there was no desire for the LORD. There was only a desire for self . . . the foundational cause of all sin.