The Daily Fountain Daily Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 9 JUNE 2023 – TOPIC: THE RESULT OF REBELLION
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TOPIC: THE RESULT OF REBELLION
17:1. In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria, [and he reigned] nine years.
17:2. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel who were before him.
17:3. Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him; and Hoshea became his vassal, and paid him tribute money.
17:4. And the king of Assyria uncovered a conspiracy by Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and brought no tribute to the king of Assyria, as [he had done] year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.
17:5. Now the king of Assyria went throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years.
17:6. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
17:7. For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had feared other gods,
17:8. and had walked in the statutes of the nations whom the LORD had cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.
17:9. Also the children of Israel secretly did against the LORD their God things that [were] not right, and they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from watchtower to fortified city.
17:10. They set up for themselves [sacred] pillars and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree.
17:11. There they burned incense on all the high places, like the nations whom the LORD had carried away before them; and they did wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger,
17:12. for they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.”
17:13. Yet the LORD testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His prophets, every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments [and] My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.”
17:14. Nevertheless they would not hear, but stiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who did not believe in the LORD their God.
17:15. And they rejected His statutes and His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them; they followed idols, became idolaters, and [went] after the nations who [were] all around them, [concerning] whom the LORD had charged them that they should not do like them.
17:16. So they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, made for themselves a molded image [and] two calves, made a wooden image and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
17:17. And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger.
17:18. Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; there was none left but the tribe of Judah alone.
17:19. Also Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.
17:20. And the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them from His sight.
17:21. For He tore Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD, and made them commit a great sin.
17:22. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them,
17:23. until the LORD removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria, [as it is] to this day.
THE MESSAGE:
Hoshea was the last king of Isreal in Samaria. Although he did not seek the Lord in any particular way nor carried out any religious reform, he was not considered to be as evil as the kings before him. During his reign, the Israelites were taken into exile and ceased to exist as a nation. They had tested the patience and the kindness of the Lord for too long and so He finally thrust them out of the land, as He had threatened long before (Deuteronomy 28:58-65). God’s covenant with the Israelites was that they would be His people and He would be their God. God fulfilled his part of the covenant but they lived in rebellion by worshipping idols.
God is loving and compassionate, but He becomes angry with those who know His laws and refuse to obey them. God delivered Samaria into the hands of the Assyrians, leaving them to the idols that could not save them (verse 18). Rebellion brings destruction. Beloved, God will never leave His promises unfulfilled in our lives. Unlike the Israelites who tended to always abandon God, let us remain planted on the solid Rock. God will never leave us nor forsake His own (Hebrews 13:5).
PRAYER: O Lord my God, You are faithful from the ages past, help me to remain faithful and obedient to Your word, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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