Swiftly the End Came

About two years later, the Assyrian armies besieged Samaria, and multitudes perished miserably of hunger and disease, as well as by the sword. The city and nation fell, and the broken remnants of the ten tribes were scattered in the provinces of the Assyrian realm.RR 108.1

The destruction of the northern kingdom was a direct judgment from Heaven. Through Isaiah the Lord referred to the Assyrian armies as “the rod of My anger and the staff in whose hand,” He said, “is My indignation.” Isaiah 10:5.RR 108.2

Because the children of Israel refused steadfastly to repent, the Lord “afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them from His sight,” in harmony with the plain warnings He had sent them “by all His servants the prophets.”RR 108.3

“So was Israel carried away from their own land to Assyria,” “because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant.” 2 Kings 17:20, 23; 18:12.RR 108.4

In the terrible judgments on the ten tribes the Lord had a wise and merciful purpose. What 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 rebellious and unrepentant. 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 His character and the blessings of His law.RR 108.5