Day 183: Israel Falls to Assyria

2 Kings 17:5-41 After the defeat of Samaria and Israel, Assyria deported a portion of the Israelite population-perhaps ten to twenty percent, and most likely the more elite citizens-to Assyria (ca. 722 BC). The Sacred Author attributes the fall of the Northern Kingdom to the persistent sins of Israel, idolatry, and the failure to worship the One True God. The Lord had sent prophets to warn the people of the consequences of their disobedience, but he was not heeded. Even to the time of Christ, the Samaritans would claim fidelity to the true and proper forms of worship, but the two Books of Kings demonstrate the faith of Abraham was preserved only in Judah. (CCC 1440, 2114, 2138)

Micah 5:1-4 This beautiful passage is a clear prophecy of the coming Messiah. Matthew’s Gospel reconstructs it to speak of Bethlehem as “by no means the least” of the tribes of Judah (cf. Mt 2:4-6). The prophecies foretold that the Messiah would come from the line of David, who also was born in Bethlehem. John’s Gospel also makes reference to this prophecy (cf. Jn 7:40-42). (CCC 207, 712)

Ch 5:5-15 The Messiah would bring an interior peace and joy to the remnant of Israel. The coming of the Savior marks the last days, meaning the final stage of God’s plan for salvation. Through his Death and Resurrection, Jesus Christ overcame sin, and those who accept him enjoy the gift of peace that the world cannot give. (CCC 65, 585, 732)

Ch 6:1-8 The sins of the people still needed to be addressed. Despite all that God had done for his people throughout history, they still turned to idolatry and sin. As in the other prophetic books, God was not swayed by mere burnt offerings and other exterior gestures, for such formalities are useless without interior repentance and conversion of heart. True religious practice goes beyond simply performing rituals of worship but involves loving God and neighbor expressed in concrete deeds. (CCC 1836, 2581)

Ch 6:9-16 The Lord detailed some of the sins of Jerusalem: vendors cheating their customers, the wealthy doing violence and injustice to the poor, widespread deceit, and the practice of idolatry. For all of this, Jerusalem was brought low.

Ch 7:1-20 After some final warnings of punishment, the prophet encouraged prayer inspired by hope in God’s mercy. With great joy in the promise of Israel’s restoration, Micah left his readers with the assurance that Jerusalem would rise again and the enemies of Israel would be punished. God will always remain faithful: forgiving sins, offering mercy and compassion, and maintaining the covenant he made with the patriarchs. (CCC 346)

Psalm 140 This prayer begs for deliverance from evildoers who close in around the petitioner. This appeal is inspired with confidence in God’s justice and assistance, since God has never ceased to come to the aid of those who offer humble prayer. Although the psalmist requests some dire punishments for his enemies, his tone is one of deference to God, who is always just. (CCC 271, 1991)

(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)

• So yesterday Fr. Mike did the math wrong and TODAY we are REALLY halfway through the Bible in a Year!! (Don’t feel bad, Fr. Mike. I’ve forgotten math as well and I used to take AP Calculus and all that jazz 🤪)

• This is the day we finish the DIVIDED KINGDOM ERA and enter tomorrow into the PERIOD OF EXILE

• This is the FALL OF SAMARIA

• This is the FALL OF THE NORTHERN KINGDOM

• TOMORROW!!

• Here we go, it’s Day 183

• Let’s get started because this is a GIFT

• It’s a GIFT of being able to come to this place

• We have been following the TEN TRIBES OF ISRAEL for a LONG TIME

• We just started Micah yesterday and are continuing today

• We recognize what Micah has to say to the TRIBES OF THE NORTHERN KINGDOM OF ISRAEL

• The prophets continue to preach both to Judah (SOUTHERN KINGDOM) and Israel (NORTHERN KINGDOM)

• The prophets tell the people, “You need to repent or what is going to happen to you is JUDGMENT. JUDGMENT is going to happen.”

• We must realize that WE are being called back TOO

• GOSH

• 2 Kings 17 here we are

• This is it

• This is the fall of the Kingdom of the North

• The King of Assyria has come in and taken the people of the Ten Tribes of the North and he has EXILED them

• This is a CRITICAL MOMENT

• The Ten Tribes of the North are GONE FOREVER

• We can’t OVEREMPHASIZE how IMPORTANT this is

• The two tribes in the SOUTH are Judah and Benjamin are STILL THERE

• 2 Kings 17:19-20, “Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the customs which Israel had introduced. And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel, and afflicted them, and gave them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.”

•  Judah and Benjamin tribes are going to be around for a bit more and then they will be exiled into Babylon (spoiler!)

• BUT...

• They will be able to COME BACK and RESETTLE THE LAND

• BUT…

• The Ten Northern Tribes will NEVER EVER COME BACK

• They will NEVER BE THE SAME

• Not only will they never come back, but you can see that in the middle of 2 Kings 17, the King of Assyria brought people from FIVE NATIONS

• BABYLON

• CUTHAH

• AVVA

• HAMATH

• SEPHARVAIM

• These five nations are settled in the cities of Samaria instead of the sons of Israel

• The took possession of Samaria and dwelled in their cities

• This is going to be REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT

• When we think of SAMARIA, we think of SAMARITANS

• Jews have NOTHING to do with Samaritans

• By the time of Jesus, there are all these Samaritans WHO ARE NOT JEWS

• What happens?

• THIS IS SO IMPORTANT, OH MY GOODNESS!!

• There is a lot of strife

• There are LIONS that come into the land of Samaria and they are killing people

• So the King of Assyria says, “Shoot. Maybe this is because they have abandoned the god of the land.”

• Keep this in mind

• The King of Assyria is using lower case ‘g’ for god

• This king is referring to the localized god

• NOT THE LORD GOD

• The King of Assyria basically says, “Because we have driven out all their priests, the land is cursed now. So we need to bring back one of these priests so they kinda sorta can reestablish their religion because the god of the land is the reason why the lions are here killing people.”

• Not only do they UNDERESTIMATE that the LORD GOD is the GOD OF EVERYTHING

• BUT…

• The King of Assyria brings ONE PRIEST, of the NORTHERN KINGDOM

• NOT EVEN A LEVITICAL PRIEST

• And this priest is now teaching this CORRUPTED VERSION of what we would call the Old Testament 

• This began with the first king, Jeroboam

• Because of this and because these five new kingdoms have been introduced into the land, the Samaritans will come to think of THEMSELVES as Jews in some ways

• They don’t think of themselves as Jews

• In John Ch 4 the woman at the well is a Samaritan

• At one point she says in John 4:9 “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me a woman of Samaria?”

• Because Samaritans had nothing to do with the Jews

• John 4:20, “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.”

• Jesus makes clear that Salvation is from the Jews

• Jesus says, “We worship what we understand. But you worship what you do not understand.”

• This is because of this WHOLE HISTORY that started 700 years or so before Jesus

• Fr. Mike was accurate, so he deserves credit

• SO THIS IS THE KEY

• To be able to understand this tension between Jews and Samaritans

• Samaritans are now living in the land that BELONGED to the Jews but the King of Assyria had exiled the Jews and brought in these five OTHER kingdoms

• Here is this REMARKABLE thing in John Ch 4

• How many husbands has the Samaritan woman had?

• She says, “I don’t have a husband.”

• Jesus says, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband…”

• This is not only true of the woman, with five marriages and now a new guy

• BUT…

• This is also TRUE of the people of that REGION

• What was brought into Samaria?

• FIVE KINGDOMS! 🤯🤯🤯

• FIVE COUNTRIES! 🤯🤯🤯

• BABYLON

• CUTHA

• AVVA

• HAMATH

• SEPHARVAIM

• All those five kingdoms/nations were brought into that place

• FIVE HUSBANDS 🤯🤯🤯

• The one that you are with now, some random Samaritan is NOT YOUR HUSBAND

• OH MY GOODNESS!!! 🤯🤯🤯 (ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?? ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!?!?! 🤯🤯🤯🤯)

• Remember in Hosea what does God say?

• Hosea 2:16, “‘And in that day, says the Lord, you will call me, ‘My husband,’ and no longer will you call me, ‘My Baal’.”

• God wants to be in that COVENANT RELATIONSHIP with His People

• So this is one of those INCREDIBLE moments of TYPOLOGY 

• We see way back here in 2 Kings 17 this FORESHADOWING of what is going to be FULFILLED in John Ch 4 when Jesus speaks to the Samaritan woman, CALLING HER TO FAITH

• Jesus also calls the people of her town in which she is living TO FAITH IN HIM

• IT IS REMARKABLE!!

• IT IS SO COOL!!

• IT IS AMAZING!!

• Let’s go to Micah quick 

• We don’t have a lot of time, but we are going to do our best

• Micah Ch 5 there are some famous words

• Maybe you’ve heard them around Christmas or Advent

• Micah 5:2, “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel...”

• THIS IS THE PROPHECY OF JESUS CHRIST BEING BORN IN BETHLEHEM!! 🤯🤯🤯

• “...whose origin is from old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who has labor pains has brought forth; then the rest of his brethren shall return to the sons of Israel.”

• You guys and gals, THIS IS INSANE!! 🤯🤯🤯

• Micah is preaching to ISRAEL

• “You are going to be scattered to the wind,”

• “But, from BETHLEHEM in Judah will come a ruler who will bring you BACK.”

• This is just BONKERS!! (To our international brothers and sisters, “BONKERS” means “crazy” not insane as in mental illness, but just WOW!!! 😁)

• This is SO INCREDIBLE!!

• THE PROPHECY ABOUT JESUS CHRIST BEING BORN IN BETHLEHEM!!!

• GOLLY!

• Micah Ch 6 is about What the Lord Requires

• Micah 6:6, “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

• Ahab did that

• Ahab actually SACRIFICED HIS OWN SON

• The people of the NORTHERN KINGDOM were actually SACRIFICING THEIR OWN CHILDREN

• They were getting it ALL WRONG!!

• Fr. Mike was maybe in high school the first time he read this

• He remembered saying, “God what do you want from me? What can I give you? I know you are calling me to something and I don’t know what it is. How much do you want?”

• Here is the person in Micah’s book saying those same things

• What do I come with?

• Micah answers for God in Micah 6:8…”He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

• THAT IS SO CLEAR

• THIS IS WHAT THE LORD DESIRES

• OBEDIENCE to his Commandments, his statutes, his heart, and to do His Will in our lives

• BUT ALSO…

• TO DO JUSTICE

• TO LOVE KINDNESS

• AND TO WALK HUMBLY WITH YOUR GOD

• There is almost no better thing to reflect on this last day of DIVIDED KINGDOM as we go into EXILE tomorrow

• Remember what God has REQUIRED of US

• DO JUSTICE

• LOVE KINDNESS

• WALK HUMBLY WITH OUR GOD

• Let’s pray that we can be men and women THAT CAN DO THAT

• PRAY FOR EACH OTHER

• PRAY FOR FR. MIKE

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, thank you. Thank you for your Word. Thank you for your love for us. Thank you for calling us back to you. Lord God, the Psalmist David is praying. He is praying to you for help because yes, it’s true that we face the snares of our enemies. We face the net that our enemies have laid for us and now those could be human enemies, but just like St. Paul said, ‘The REAL enemies we face are not flesh and blood, but are Principalities and Powers, the evil spirits, the Satan that roams around the world seeking the ruin of souls. And so we pray for your protection against the true enemy. Lord God, you have revealed to us that the forces that are against us are the world, the flesh, and the Devil. The fallen world. The corrupt world. Our own fallen flesh. And the fallen angel of Satan. All three of those obstacles, all three of those enemies trip us up. They become snares for us. And so we just ask you, help us not only to be vigilant and to be wise, to be able to have our eyes open clearly, and to see those traps of the world, the flesh, and the devil. But also, to have the courage in the midst of the battle to call out to you, in the midst of the battle to actually fight. Lord God, let us never ever just exchange comfort for truth. Let us never try to escape discomfort by capitulating to the traps and the snares of the Enemy. Help us always to be courageous, to be wise, and to be yours in all things. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”