For a long time I thought God was unfair to use another king to punish His people, and then get angry with that king and punish Him for his brutality in doing the very thing that God had wanted him to do. I believe the reason that God was unhappy with His instrument of punishment is that the power he wielded in fulfilling his mission always corrupted him, and he took the brutality too far. This inevitable result reminds us that there is no controlling sin; it controls us before we know it, and then we are too damaged by it to perceive the truth of what has happened to us. God’s word describes what happened to His Old Testament people as, “They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless.”
II Kings 17 is a sobering chapter. Those tribes that had made up the northern kingdom of Israel were scattered, and blended in with the people among whom they were settled. They were not dedicated enough to any of their distinctive traditions to turn back to them in exile, and thus failed to remain distinct as a people. They didn’t know God well enough to turn to Him in the midst of suffering. These tribes of God’s people have disappeared so that they are forgotten.
Comments are brief today to focus attention on this fearsome reminder of how destructive sin is. Please take a little time to contemplate prayerfully that reality of life in a sin-cursed world ruled by Satan, and ask God to give you the same hatred for sin that He has.