Chapter 43 the fall of israel

They exhort the rich to be kind and the poor to be patient. They preached a new doctrine of self-denial and help to others. A logical conclusion is drawn from the above ideas, and finally a new doctrine is formed: the merciful Jehovah loves all believers as his own son, and he requires his children to love each other. However, few people are willing to listen to them. The Jews rejoiced in the new prosperity, rejoiced in the new lands conquered by their kings, reveled in the expanding trade and commerce, and who had time to listen to the few voices in the corner of the market place when the wealth of the country was soaring? A warning from a strange old man.

By the time they perceive that there may be some truth in these warnings, it is too late. In the city of Nineveh, a man of great ability and cunning stole the throne of Assyria.He called himself Tiglath-pileser in honor of a national hero five hundred years earlier.He dreamed of building an empire from the Tigris to the Mediterranean. And the Jews gave him the opportunity to realize this ambition, even faster than he expected. Ahaz, king of Judah, had a dispute with Syria, and war was imminent, for reasons we do not know.Ahaz appeals to Tiglath-bereser for help.The prophet Isaiah went to warn Ahaz not to ally with paganism.He said that the king of Judah should trust Jehovah and not others.Ahaz replied that he did not believe it, and that he knew what he was doing.His expedition to Aram will not fail.He even refused to ask God for a mascot.

But Isaiah had a different idea and predicted the downfall of both Judah and Israel.And it will happen very quickly, without waiting for the babies born at this time to grow up, and both countries will perish. Ahaz was not persuaded.He gave Tiglath-pileser all the gold and silver in the temple as a gift.And, when he went north to pay homage to his august ally, the bronze altar which had been erected before the "Holy of Holies" since the time of Solomon was taken by him to the king of Assyria. Of course Tiglath-pileser was very happy. We don't know what effect these gifts had on Tiglath-pileser's mind, whether they made him any kinder to the Jews.Because of the death of the Assyrian king, all plans were not implemented.

We can assume, however, that Tiglath at least took care of Judas. Saman-Iser, the successor of Tiglath, continued to implement the foreign policy of his predecessor, being tolerant towards the Kingdom of Judah and merciless towards Israel. The last tyrant of Israel, Hoshea, heard that the Assyrians were about to invade, and he hastily made an alliance with Egypt, but before Egypt came from both sides of the Nile, Saman-Iser had already defeated the Israeli army, captured its king and put him Sent to Nineveh and imprisoned. Then he besieged the city of Samaria. With great courage the Samaritans fought to defend their last stronghold.

They persisted for more than three years. Saman-Iser appears to have been wounded during a sortie and died outside the city. The successor Sargon attacked the city more fiercely, and Samaria finally fell. The last resistance of the Israelites was broken. Their kingdom fell in humiliation. A period of terrible suffering began. 27,280 households (about 100,000 people) were exiled.The war-torn region is home to immigrants from five Assyrian provinces and remnants of ten Jewish tribes.This formed a new race called the Samaritans.At first they were the people of Assyria.Later they were ruled by Babylonians, Macedonians and Romans.They never formed an independent nation again.

Judah outlived its Israel by a century and a half, eking out nominal independence by kowtowing to all its neighbors.When Sennacherib became king of Assyria and embarked on that ill-fated expedition against Egypt, Hezekiah, king of Judah, gave him a great deal of gold and silver. To make up that sum, the last gold leaf was scraped off the temple walls. Surprisingly, the people of Jerusalem are not ashamed of their state's status.Foreign officers and soldiers walk up and down the streets of their cities arrogantly, which does not affect their eating and drinking happily. But their dullness suddenly turned into extreme fear.