The Assyrian Captivity
Audio:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/W1oBY6KDmEQ?list=PL4ByrircmXL4AIWLkRrpeoEq_A6VmA54y
In the days of Pekah,who reigned twenty years, Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, invaded Israel and carried away with him a multitude of captives from among the tribes living in Galilee and east of the Jordan. The destruction that befell the northern kingdom was a direct judgment from Heaven. The Assyrians were merely the instruments that God used to carry out His purpose. Such were some of the results that had followed the setting up of two calves of gold by Jeroboam. The first departure from established forms of worship had led to the introduction of grosser forms of idolatry, until finally nearly all the inhabitants of the land had given themselves over to the alluring practices of nature worship. Forgetting their Maker, Israel deeply corrupted themselves. Hosea 9:9
The evils that had overspread the land had become incurable; and upon Israel was pronounced the dread sentence: Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone. Hosea 4:17