When and how was Israel conquered by the Assyrians?

This principally refers in the O.T. to the 'carrying away' of Israel and Judah. The order in which Israel was carried into captivity is not very clear. It appears however that the events recorded in 1 Chr. 5:26 occurred first, because of Pul king of Assyria being mentioned, for he reigned before Tiglath-pileser: here the latter is named as carrying away the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh: showing that the Israelites who stopped short of their privileges, and did not cross the Jordan, were the first to be carried into captivity. There is nothing in the passage to fix the date, but in 2 Kings 15:29 is another reference to Israel when Tiglath-pileser took Ijon, Abel-beth-maachah, Janoah, Kedesh, and Hazor, which are all in the north on the west of the Jordan; but then is added Gilead, which is on the east, and this may be intended to embrace the two and a half tribes; then Galilee with all the land of Naphtali is added, which is again in the north on the west. So that this may be a summary of all that this king carried away captive to Assyria. It was 'in the days of Pekah,' and Pekah reigned 20 years: the date is generally reckoned as B.C. 740 for the captivity of the two and a half tribes.

A more definite date is given for the captivity of the remaining portion of Israel in 2 Kings 18:10-11. It was in the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel and the sixth of Hezekiah that Samaria was taken by the Assyrians after a three years' siege: this would be B.C. 722. The captives were carried to Halah and Habor by the river of Gozan (these same names being mentioned in 1 Chr. 5:26, with Hara added there). These places are supposed to be in the north of Assyria; but in the above passage in Kings the words are added "and in the cities of the Medes." This is a region much farther east, where they would be far removed from their brethren in Assyria and from Judah, who were afterwards carried to Babylon.

The captivity of the ten tribes was completed in the days of Hoshea king of Israel who, following his predecessors, did evil in the sight of the Lord. When Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came against Hoshea, he “became his servant, and gave him presents,” but the king of Assyria “found conspiracy in Hoshea…therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison” (2 Kings 17:2–4). Samaria was then besieged for three years, and “in the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes” (verses 5, 6). Israel’s sins against the Lord was the cause of their captivity, as is shown in verses 7–23, and in chapter 18:11-12.

There were six kings of Assyria in the days of Israel's kings; Pul, Tiglath-Pileser, Shalmaneser, Sargon, Sennacherib and Esarhaddon (2 Kings 15:19, 29; 2 Kings 17:3; Isa. 20:1; Isa. 36:1; Isa. 37:38). The first, Pul, was bought over by Menahem, king of Israel, with a thousand talents of silver. Tiglath-Pileser came against Israel in the days of Pekah the son of Remaliah, captured a number of cities, and took the captives to Assyria. The remainder of the ten tribes, in the days of Hoshea, king of Israel, were taken by Shalmaneser, and carried "away into Assyria, and placed" in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

Shalmaneser, King of Assyria, then came against him, and Hoshea became his servant. The Biblical account is meager, but the Assyrian inscriptions have a great deal to say about this period. Shalmaneser's name is given in these inscriptions as "Salmanu-ussir" and Hoshea's as "A-usi." From these inscriptions we learn that after the siege of Samaria had lasted two years Shalmaneser was succeeded by Sargon, who took Samaria in the first year of his reign. While Sargon is not mentioned in the record here it is significant that the capture of Samaria is not attributed to Shalmaneser. Both passages, 2 Kings 17:6 and 18:10-11, speak only of the king of Assyria. These inscriptions declare that Sargon captured Samaria, led away 27,290 of its inhabitants and appointed a governor over Samaria. There is also a record of the deportation of Israel and the colonization of the land. 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.

King of Assyria, successor to Tiglath-pileser, B.C. 727. He is sometimes called Shalmaneser 3, and sometimes 4. He made Hoshea, king of Israel, tributary; but Hoshea revolted, relying on So, king of Egypt. In the ninth year of Hoshea's reign, B.C. 722, Samaria was taken and the inhabitants were carried away captive. 2 Kings 17:3; 2 Kings 18:9. It may be noticed that Shalmaneser's name is mentioned only in these two passages, afterwards the term 'the king of Assyria' is employed; and in 2 Kings 18:10 it is said, "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 succeeded to the Assyrian throne in the year B.C. 722, and on his monuments he claims to have taken Samaria in his first year.

This city was built by Omri, king of Israel, and came into prominence by becoming the capital of the kingdom of the ten tribes. It was situated on the side of a hill, and was adorned and fortified by the kings of Israel. Ben-hadad, king of Syria, besieged Samaria in the reign of Ahab, but by the intervention of God it was not taken. 1 Kings 20:1-34. In the days of Jehoram it was again besieged by Ben-hadad, and the famine became so great that they were on the point of capitulating when some lepers brought word that the enemy had fled, and abundance of provision was to be found in the camp. 2 Kings 6:24-33; 2 Kings 7:1-20.

It was besieged again by Shalmaneser, about B.C. 723, but held out for three years, being eventually taken by Sargon. The people were now carried into captivity. 2 Kings 18:9-12. Among the Assyrian inscriptions there is one in which Sargon says, "The city of Samaria I besieged, I captured; 27,280 of its inhabitants I carried away." It was partly re-peopled by the colonists imported by Esar-haddon. Samaria was again taken by John Hyrcanus, who did his best to destroy it.

In B.C. 722 SARGON succeeded, and apparently it was he who captured Samaria. An inscription of his at Khorsabad reads, "I besieged the city of Samaria and carried away 27,280 men who dwelt there into captivity, and took fifty chariots from among them, and ordered the rest to be taken. I set my judges over them, and imposed upon them the tribute of the former kings." He also placed colonists in Samaria, but it is supposed by the names of the places mentioned from which these were sent, that this was not done immediately. Sargon captured Carchemish, punished the king of Syria, flayed alive the king of Hamath, and then successfully overcame So or Sabako. Sargon is mentioned in Isa. 20:1 as sending his general to Ashdod, who took it. An inscription also mentions the fall of the city. Sargon defeated Merodach-baladan in Babylonia, but was assassinated in B.C. 705. He was called SHARRU-KENU, that is, 'faithful king.'

We now come to the last events of the history of Ephraim, otherwise called the ten tribes. Hoshea, the murderer of Pekah, reigned nine years in Samaria while doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. His conduct in relation to Him was less profane than that of his predecessors, only, he did not take into account the judgments of God by which the subjection of Israel to Assyria had been foretold through all the prophets. From year to year king Hoshea had been sending presents to the king of Assyria (v. 3), following the example of one of his predecessors, Menahem, who by means of presents had declared himself a vassal of Pul's in order that this latter might establish the kingdom in his hands (2 Kings 15:19-20). Later Tiglath-pileser had come up against Pekah and, as we have seen, had transported the tribes beyond the Jordan to Assyria. Pekah evidently had not followed, as had Menahem, this rule of submission to Assyria, which would explain the political motives for the carrying away of these tribes. These political motives are not given us in the Word, but the divine motive is indicated to us by a word in Chronicles: "And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tiglath-pileser … and he carried them away" (1 Chr. 5:26). Here in 2 Kings, the usual ways the kings of Assyria act toward Israel are brought to light. "Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria, and Hoshea became his servant, and tendered him presents" (2 Kings 16:3). The threat of an invasion by an enemy stronger than he obliges Hoshea to submit himself, howbeit unwillingly no doubt, to his vassalage. But these presents hardly help him. "For they are gone up to Assyria," says Hosea the prophet, "as a wild ass alone by himself; Ephraim has hired lovers. Although they hire among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall begin to be straitened under the burden of the king of princes" (Hosea 8:9-10).

"But the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and sent up no present to the king of Assyria as he had done from year to year" (v. 4). Actually, this two-faced, suspicious conduct of the king is mentioned by the prophet: "Ephraim feeds on wind, and pursues after the east wind: all day long he multiplies lies and desolation; and they make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried into Egypt" (Hosea 12:1), and again "Ephraim is become like a silly dove without understanding: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria" (Hosea 7:11). So, discovering Hoshea's conspiracy, Shalmaneser "shut him up and bound him in prison" (v. 4). "As for Samaria her king is cut off," according to the prophecy of Hosea (Hosea 10:7), without the circumstances of his death being reported to us. The king of Israel having been made a prisoner, "the king of Assyria overran the whole land, and went up against Samaria, and besieged it three years" (v. 5; cf. 2 Kings 18:9); but it was not Shalmaneser in person who took the city, for it is told us, "And at the end of three years they took it" (2 Kings 18:10). Actually, during this interval Sargon (Isa. 20:1) had succeeded Shalmaneser, or at least was at the head of the army during a short interregnum. The fate of this rebellious city was terrible, according to the word of Micah who prophesied "concerning Samaria and Jerusalem": "Therefore will I make Samaria as a heap of the field, as plantings of a vineyard; and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will lay bare the foundations thereof. And all her graven images shall be beaten to pieces, and all her harlot-gifts shall be burned with fire, and all her idols will I make a desolation; for of the hire of a harlot has she gathered them, and to a harlot's hire they shall return" (Micah 1:6-7). Hosea also describes this event: "Samaria shall bear her guilt; for she has rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword; their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up" (Hosea 13:16).

"The king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and by the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes" (v. 6). It has been supposed that part of the ten tribes fled to Egypt at that time. We do not think that the expression in Hosea 8:13: "They shall return to Egypt," is to be interpreted in this manner. This same prophet had said: "They call to Egypt, they go to Assyria"; then, "Ephraim has hired lovers" (Hosea 8:19); then again: "Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and in Assyria shall they eat that which is unclean" (Hosea 9:3). All this fully harmonizes with Hoshea's conspiracy, as also this other word: "He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king" (Hosea 11:5). "Return into the land of Egypt" does not necessarily mean to flee there, but to seek assistance there, as it is said in Isaiah 31:1: "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help."

What follows, in reference to the siege of Samaria, occurred, in point of time, before Hoshea's imprisonment, though recorded after. "Hoshea's imprisonment was not before the capture of Samaria, but the sacred writer first records the eventual fate of Hoshea himself, then details the invasion as it affected Samaria and Israel" (Fausset). "Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes." This siege and capture of Samaria are recorded on the monuments of Assyria just as they are narrated here in 2 Kings 17. What finally became of Hoshea is not revealed, unless he is the king meant in the prophet's poetic allusion, "As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water" (Hosea 10:7). His name means deliverer, and may have a prophetic significance, as a gracious reminder to the now long scattered nation, of that, great "Deliverer" who shall "come out of Zion" (God's grace) "and turn away ungodliness from Jacob." And then, and so," all Israel shall be saved "(Rom. 11:26).

"So it came to pass in the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came up against Samaria, and besieged it. And at the end of three years they took it, even in the sixth year of Hezekiah (that is, the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel) Samaria was taken." We have just a little connection with the destruction of the other kingdom before we find the attack upon Jerusalem. "And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel into Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes: because they obeyed not the voice of Jehovah their God, but transgressed his covenant and all that Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them."