Hoshea: The Last King of Israel

 “Hosea: The Last King of Israel”

 Message @ Jericho Ridge Community Church – Sunday, July 21, 2019

Text: 2 Kings 17 // Series: 2 Kings: Faith in Faithlessness  

Good morning.  Welcome here, friends.  My name is Brad Sumner, I’m part of the teaching and leadership team here at Jericho Ridge and it is our privilege and pleasure to have you here with us today.   

On one of my return trips from Tanzania, there was an older gentleman sitting beside me on the airplane.  His bag was labeled with the acronym IOM, the International Organization for Migration, meaning that according to the United Nations, he was a displaced person.  A refugee.  I wasn’t able to ascertain where he had come from but he was definitely one of the 4.4 million people in Africa who have been displaced by conflict, famine or ethnic violence.  It was clearly his first time on an airplane so helped him with his seatbelt and showed him how to select French as the language of choice for the in-flight movies (which meant he probably came from West Africa).  As I helped him disembark with everything he owned in the world in a little plastic bag, and IOM people met him and whisked him off to who knows where, I was reminded of the horrors of losing your home.  

 My wife Meg and our daughter Sophie and myself along with John Kwon, Ruth Ellen, Peter & Brady Ash from Jericho Ridge were part of a team that recently spent two weeks in East Africa leading a summer camp for children with albinism.  One of the things that happens to me when I am gone for a period of time is that you really do appreciate what it means to have a Home Sweet Home.  To me, home is a feeling of comfort.  A place of safety where you are surrounded by ones you love.  But imagine if you were forced to flee and your home was taken from you.  In modern terms, you would be a refugee.  A displaced person.  And our text today in the book of 2 Kings, we are going to see that like many refugee sagas, it’s a story with a long and complicated history, but it also has at its heart a clear message for you and me about the promises of God, the propensity of the human heart to drift from what is good and right and the consequences of forgetting or ignoring God’s invitation to do justice and love mercy and walk with humility and compassion in the world. 

This summer, we’ve been studying the book of 2 Kings with a view of helping us understand the story of God as it unfolds.  So let’s do a quick review / overview of where we are in history.  If you start at the beginning, you have Genesis, which records the story of God’s calling of a people who were to be a light to the whole world.  The people of God are exiled as refugees to Egypt, then God delivers them and places them in a land God promised to them.  God gives them Judges and prophets to lead them but the people want a king like the neighbouring nations.  [Put up timeline] So around 1051 BC, the time of the Kings begins in ancient Israel with first Saul, then David and finally King Solomon.  But in 931 BC, the Kingdom splits into two – Judah in the South, and Israel in the North.  And you can see some of the prophets and books of the Bible that are written during this time. 

But today, we are coming to the end of one of those lines.  After almost 200 years and 19 horrible leaders, the Northern Kingdom, which is most often referred to as Israel, comes to an end. The people are taking into exile never to return. How did it happen? 

Listen to the story of Hoshea, the last king of Israel, as it is recorded in 2 Kings 17. 

When we visited the British Museum in London, England we were able to see some of these ancient carvings from Assyria.  And this one tells the story of how King Hoshea of Israel was coming and bowing down and paying homage to the Kind of Assyria, BUT all the while, he was actually planning on tricking him.    

Turn with me in your Bibles or on your devices to 2 Kings 17:3-4.

So Israel is behind on their payments, they have committed treason by sneaking behind Assyria’s back and going and asking Egypt for help.  So the king of Assyria decides that he is finished with them and he arrests King Hoshea and he order the Assyrian Army to besiege Samaria, Israel’s capital.  And for three years they used battering rams and archers and all kinds of fortifications to try and break through the walls. 

2 Kings 17:5-6

In a forced resettlement program, the people of Israel were taken as captives to Assyria.   The idea behind this kind of forced migration in the ancient world was to keep people from banding together and rising up against the people in power.  So when a nation conquered another nation, they would take people away into captivity [map] and then they would bring in some of their people or other people to settle in that location.  So let’s try a bit of this.  Schacters: I know you normally sit near the front here.  But we can’t’ have you banding together.  So we’re going to remove one family and move them over here.   [You Get the idea} J 

The historical inscriptions recovered by archaeologists from Assyria indicate that 27,200 people from Israel into captivity in Nineveh, the capital of Assyria.   

So that’s WHAT happened… The ancient northern Kingdom of Israel was overthrown by Assyria because they plotted clandestinely to

But the important thing to assess isn’t really WHAT happened but WHY it happened.  Why did an entire people group lose their home and become refugees?  Let’s keep reading because the authors of 2 Kings are very clear on why this occurred.  2 Kings 17:7-8.

2 Kings 17:13-14a

2 Kings 17:14b-15

The Exile happened because of 200+ years of persistent, willful, serious disobedience to God

This was not something that should chock us or surprise us.  But it does form one of the central and defining events in the Biblical narrative.  It shapes the world that most of the Old Testament is written in and it has generational impact that continues to resonate down into the time of Christ.  For example, the people that get resettled in the northern area become known as Samaritans.  They are a mixed race of some Jewish blood and foreign blood and thus when Jesus comes on the scene and interacts with a Samaritan woman in John 4, people are shocked because Jews did not interact with Samaritans.  Or the parable of the Good Samaritan.  It’s shocking to the first hearers because of the history of the Samaritan people.  They were forcibly relocated there not because they wanted to live close to Judah but because a foreign military power said “this is your new address”.  So the tension and disease between first century Jews and Samaritans becomes much more understandable when we read 2 Kings 17. 

But leaning about history is only marginally mentally intriguing.  Learning facts even about WHY something happened isn’t as important as understanding Yahweh, the One True and living God behind all of this. 

And in this chapter, we see three things about God that are relevant for you and I in our world today.  The first thing we see is that

1) God is incredibly Patient & Longsuffering

For hundreds of years through some incredibly, incredibly horrific leadership, God still exercises patience with God’s people.  God still sends prophets and warnings to them.  God sends foreign kings to get them back on track.  God so deeply desires for them to forsake their rebellion.  But after 200 years, they just don’t.  And so God acts.  Numbers 14 helps us understand this balance.

• “The Lord is slow to anger and filled with unfailing love, forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion. But He does not excuse the guilty.”          (Numbers 14:18)

 God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love and compassion.  But God is also not interested in just sweeping blatant evil under the rug.  17:17 says s that they even sacrificed their own children!  So this was not minor offenses.  And finally, after giving them time to repent and then more time and more time, God says “we’re finished here”.  But notice how much time God gave them to repent. 200 years!

I love the way Peter, who knew Jesus personally, puts this in 2 Peter 3

• “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.”                 (2 Peter 3:9)

What we. Might label as God’s inaction is, in some cases, is actually God’s mercy.  God is interested in giving you and I and others time.  Time to repent.  He is being patient not for God’s sake, but for our sake!  God wants you and I to come to places of repentance in our lives. 

So here’s the thing to think about in your own life.   

Romans 2 reminds us that “God’s kindness is meant to lead us to repentance”. 

(?) Is there anything in my life that God is giving me time to repent of?

• “Those who hear the warnings…should not congratulate themselves, thinking, ‘I am safe, even though I am following the desires of my own stubborn heart.’ This would lead to utter ruin!”                      (Deuteronomy 29:19)

This is a powerful statement at the

Second thing we learn about God…

2) God is Always Faithful to God’s Promises

• “If you obey the commands of the Lord your God and walk in His ways, the Lord will establish you as His holy people as He swore He would do. Then all the nations of the world will see that you are a people claimed by the Lord, and they will stand in awe of you.”                                            (Deuteronomy 28:9-10)

Illustration:  Two kids – one, pleasant, kind.  Say Which one do you want to take with you to your parent’s place?  The pleasant one!

God’s Ideal: To make Israel a light to the nations.

REALITY: Israel was The Unruly Child

It was as if God was saying “I can’t take you anywhere!  You are not showing the world what I am like and what my family is like!”

• “But if you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and do not obey all the commands and decrees I am giving you today… The Lord will exile you and your king to a nation unknown to you and your ancestors. There in exile you will worship gods of wood and stone! 37 You will become an object of horror, ridicule, and mockery among all the nations to which the Lord sends you.” (Deuteronomy 28:9-10)

This was a promise made to Moses waaaaaaaay back when.  It was repeated to each King as they ascended to the throne.  God’s laws and God’s requirements were made clear.  It’s just that Israel was like a child who refused to obey and so God says finally “OK, remember what I said?  I am going to follow through on it!”   

Like the dad who says “if you don’t stop that, I’ll turn this car around”. But never does!  God isn’t like that. God always keeps God’s promises.  When God says something will happen, it happens. 

But God also said to the people: “this really is about how you act and interact. 

(?) How are my actions today creating the        reality I will live with tomorrow?

• Israel’s idolatry resulted in others nations failing to learn about and worship God
• Hoshea’s treachery resulted in his capture

Mahatma Ghandi was fond of saying “The future depends on what you do today”.

What are you doing today that will impact the outcome of tomorrow?  For us here at Jericho, that’s one reason why we felt a physical presence in neighbourhood was important.  We began to look long into the future and ask “what

And so we acted to secure this space.  And we’re working to raise the money to renovate it.  We are in this together, not just for ourselves, but for the next generations in Clayton and Willoughby.  What we do today will have a big impact spiritually on the lives of people who have yet to be born.  The future depends on what you do today.  So make good choices.  With your finances.  With your time. 

3) Even when we think there is no hope, God always provides a way back

• “But afterward the people will return and devote themselves to the Lord their God and to David’s descendant, their king. In the last days, they will tremble in awe of the Lord and of his goodness.” (Hosea 3:5)

• “In that day I will restore the fallen house of David. I will repair its damaged walls. From the ruins I will rebuild it… I will bring my exiled people of Israel back from distant lands, and they will rebuild their ruined cities and live in them again. (Amos 9:11, 14)

(?) What feels beyond repair in your life?         Bring it to God for healing & restoration

Get back on the path.  God will

I invite you to stand as the team lead us in song. We’ll sing two 2 songs then I will come up and close us with a benediction.   Our prayer response team will be available at the back for you.  Let’s pray together.