Swiftly the End Came

About two years later, Samaria was besieged by the hosts of Assyria, and multitudes perished miserably of hunger and disease, as well as by the sword. The city and nation fell, and the broken remnant of the ten tribes were scattered in the provinces of the Assyrian realm.SS 155.2

The destruction that befell the northern kingdom was a direct judgment from Heaven. Through Isaiah the Lord referred to the Assyrian hosts as “the rod of Mine anger.” “The staff in their hand,” He said, “is Mine indignation.” Isaiah 10:5.SS 155.3

Because the children of Israel refused steadfastly to repent, the Lord “afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until He had cast them out of His sight,” in harmony with the plain warnings He had sent them “by all His servants the prophets.”SS 155.4

“So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria,” “because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant.” 2 Kings 17:20, 23; 18:12.SS 156.1

In the terrible judgments on the ten tribes the Lord had a wise and merciful purpose. That which He could no longer do through them in the land of their fathers He would seek to accomplish by scattering them among the heathen. Not all who were carried captive were impenitent. Some had remained true to God, and others had humbled themselves before Him. Through these, He would bring multitudes in Assyria to a knowledge of the attributes of His character and the beneficence of His law.SS 156.2