And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, [that] Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it.
The verse dates the fall of the northern kingdom by two reigns at once: Hezekiah's fourth year in Judah, and Hoshea's seventh in Israel. The same Assyrian army that swallowed one kingdom would soon stand at the gates of the other.
Chapter 17 has already told the story of Samaria's fall. Dating it again by Hezekiah's reign sets Israel's end beside Judah's safety.
It was in the fourth year of Hezekiah that the king of Assyria began his siege of Samaria, taking the city captive in Hezekiah's sixth year. So the larger part of the nation Israel went into captivity. Judah and Benjamin came through safely, because the most faithful king was reigning over them at the time. Verse 12 repeats the reason for the captivity of the ten tribes. They did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant conveyed to them through Moses. Not only did they not do what was commanded them: they would not listen.
Judah escaped Samaria's fate, but not because Judah was innocent. Under Hezekiah's father Ahaz, Judah was as guilty as Israel.
Judah had transgressed as well as Israel. The Lord has now prepared the Assyrian rod in righteous anger, and He raises it against Jerusalem as well as Samaria. The day of Ahaz there had been as the day of Hoshea here. But Hezekiah, who came after Ahaz, did what was right in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord argued with His rod, and the Assyrian did not prevail over Judah, as he had over Israel.
Hoshea was dealing with Egypt and Assyria at the same time. The prophet had already described that habit of playing both sides.
The prophet mentions this two-faced, suspicious conduct of the king: "Ephraim feeds on the wind and pursues the east wind all day long; they multiply falsehood and violence; they make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried to Egypt" (Hosea 12:1). He says again, "Ephraim is like a dove, silly and without sense, calling to Egypt, going to Assyria" (Hosea 7:11). So, discovering Hoshea's conspiracy, Shalmaneser "shut him up and bound him in prison."
This verse names Shalmaneser as the king who came up and laid siege. From the next verse on, the text uses only the title "the king of Assyria".
Notice that Shalmaneser's name appears only in these two passages. Afterwards the text uses the term "the king of Assyria". And in 2 Kings 18:10 it says, "at the end of three years they took it." This leaves room for Sargon, the next king of Assyria, to have finished the siege and to have carried away the captives. He came to the Assyrian throne in the year B.C. 722, and on his monuments he claims to have taken Samaria in his first year.
(Note: this argument rests on the older reading "they took it" in verse 10; the ESV renders it "he took it.")
Assyria's own inscriptions describe this siege.
From these inscriptions we learn that the siege of Samaria had lasted two years when Sargon succeeded Shalmaneser. Sargon took Samaria in the first year of his reign. The record here does not mention Sargon. Still, it is significant that it does not credit the capture of Samaria to Shalmaneser. These inscriptions say that Sargon captured Samaria, carried away 27,290 of its people, and appointed a governor over the city. What would these interesting ancient inscriptions mean if it were not for the Bible? Again we say they are proven true because the Word of God confirms them.
Israel's fall left its mark on Hezekiah himself.
God often allows things to happen to teach us to know our own hearts, so that we might have no confidence in them. Hezekiah's first false step comes in the very trust that marks his walk above all else. Israel's terrible disaster through Shalmaneser's invasion no doubt shook his confidence. But when Hezekiah saw all the cities of Judah fallen into the hands of the king of Assyria, his heart failed him.
- Dated twice — Hezekiah's fourth year and Hoshea's seventh mark the same siege, setting the two kingdoms side by side.
- Cause — Hoshea courted Egypt while under Assyria. The prophet had already named that double-dealing.
- Verdict — the ten tribes went into captivity because they did not obey the voice of the Lord and would not listen.
- Instrument — Shalmaneser begins the siege, but the text stops naming him. That leaves room for Sargon, whose monuments claim the city and count its captives.
- Contrast — Judah had sinned as Israel had, yet came through under a faithful king. Even so, Israel's collapse shook Hezekiah's own confidence.
And at the end of three years they took it; in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.
This verse marks the fall of Samaria, the chief city of the northern kingdom, after a three-year siege. It dates that fall by the reign of Hezekiah, king in Jerusalem — so why is Israel's end measured by Judah's king?
The siege starts and ends inside Hezekiah's reign. That dating puts the two kingdoms side by side at the same hour.
Verses 9-11 refer to what we have already read in connection with Hoshea, king of Israel. It was in the fourth year of Hezekiah that the king of Assyria began his siege of Samaria, taking the city captive in Hezekiah's sixth year. So the larger part of the nation Israel went into captivity. Judah and Benjamin came through safely, because they had the most faithful king reigning over them at the time.
The book has already told this story in full. It comes up again here because of what happens next.
We get just a brief link back to the destruction of the other kingdom before we come to the attack on Jerusalem.
Some translations end this verse with "they took it" rather than "he took it." One writer reads that plural as a clue about who was actually leading Assyria when Samaria fell.
after-note: DELETE
Once the Assyrians had taken the king of Israel prisoner, "the king of Assyria overran the whole land, and went up against Samaria, and besieged it three years." Shalmaneser did not take the city himself. We are told, "And at the end of three years they took it." In the meantime Sargon had taken over from Shalmaneser, or was at least leading the army during a short gap between reigns.
Assyria's own records name that successor and supply the numbers the Bible does not give.
Shalmaneser besieged Samaria again about 723 B.C., but the city held out for three years, and Sargon finally took it. The people now went into captivity. One Assyrian inscription records Sargon's own words: "The city of Samaria I besieged, I captured; 27,280 of its inhabitants I carried away."
Those first six years of Hezekiah were not silent years for the north. Before Samaria fell, an appeal had already gone out to Israel.
This was a sweeping judgment of God against His people Israel, and the ten tribes have never returned to their land since that time. It seems this took place before the captivity. During the first six years of his reign in Judah, Hezekiah sent messengers to Israel to invite them to come to Jerusalem for his great Passover.
Judah was not innocent, and the same Assyrian power that swallowed Samaria came up against Jerusalem. The difference lay in the man on the throne.
Judah had sinned as well as Israel. The Lord has now prepared the Assyrian rod in righteous anger, and He raises it against Jerusalem as well as Samaria. The day of Ahaz in Judah had been like the day of Hoshea in Israel. But Hezekiah, who came after Ahaz, did right in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord contended with His rod, and the Assyrian did not overcome Judah as he had overcome Israel.
The people carried off that year disappeared from view. Commentators do not claim to trace them, but they do not treat them as finished.
When Israel was carried away, they were settled in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. So far as we know they never returned. No doubt some people found their way back in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, and in the four hundred years that followed before the Lord appeared. But as a whole nation they are still widely called 'the Lost Tribes.' God knows where to find them when His set time of blessing arrives. The twelve tribes do still exist, and remnants of them will come into the land again.
Commentators differ on how that return will come. One writer holds that nothing short of a miracle can undo a scattering this wide:
Now that God has allowed this great scattering of the ten tribes, only a miraculous act of God at the end of the Tribulation will bring His people Israel back to their land.
- Dated — The siege ran from Hezekiah's fourth year to his sixth, Hoshea's ninth. Judah's calendar dates Israel's last day.
- Deserved — The fall was a sweeping judgment of God on His people, not just an Assyrian win.
- Delayed — The Lord raised the same rod over Jerusalem too. Hezekiah did right, and that, not Judah's innocence, is why the city stood.
- Detailed — The older reading "they took it" points past Shalmaneser to Sargon. His own inscription records the capture and 27,280 captives.
- Deferred — Hezekiah's Passover invitation reached them before the fall. They never returned, but God knows where to find them when His time of blessing comes.