The
king of Assyria came. He swept away all the heathen people of
Damascus, and killed their king. But he did not stop there. In a
very few years, he came on into the land of Israel, besieged Samaria
for three years, and took it, and carried off the whole of the
inhabitants of the country; and there was an end of that miserable
kingdom of Israel, which had been sinking lower and lower ever since
the days of Jeroboam. This was the natural outcome of all their sin
and folly, of which we have been reading for the last few Sundays.
Elijah's warnings had been in vain, and Elisha's warnings also.
They liked, at heart, Ahab's and Jezebel's idolatries better than
they did the worship of the true God. And why? Because, if they
worshipped God, and kept his laws, they must needs have been more or
less good men, upright, just, merciful, cleanly and chaste livers:
while, on the other hand, they might worship their idols, and
nevertheless be as bad as they chose. Indeed, the very idol-feasts
and sacrifices were mixed up with all sorts of filthy sin,
drunkenness and profligacy; so that it is a shame even to speak of
the things which went on, especially at those sacrifices to
Ashtaroth, the queen of heaven, of which they were so fond. They
choose the worse part, and refused the better; and they were filled
with the fruit of their own devices, as every unrepenting sinner
surely will be.
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