2 Kings 17:1-6

The Reader will do well, while reading this chapter, to keep in view what the prophets have said concerning the events recorded in those days. The prophets Isaiah and Hosea particularly merit our closest attention. The latter, in his first and second Chapter s, hath woefully described this unchurching of Israel; : and at the same time comforted the chosen of the Lord with the sure prospects of their becoming a church again. God had indeed called them by the prophet, Lo-ammi, as being no longer his people; but he still promised that after he had brought them into the wilderness, and pleaded with them there, they should be again the Ammi, the beloved of the Lord. Let the Reader study those sweet Chapter s while looking at this history of Israel, and indeed the whole of Hosea's prophecy, all of which must have been delivered before the captivity. The siege of three years before Samaria was taken, seemed to speak God's reluctance to give them up; How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? Hosea 11:8. if the Reader be not thoroughly acquainted with the history of this event of the captivity of Israel, it may not be amiss to observe, that the ten tribes which constituted the kingdom of Israel, were all carried away in this captivity; and though no doubt many of each tribe, as individuals, have been gathered from the general loss, yet never to this hour have they returned. They are, scattered, and perhaps dispersed in every country under heaven; yet a time is promised when the deliverer shall arise from Zion, and to whom, as the glorious Shiloh, the gathering of the people shall be. But from the period of this captivity all the tribes, except Judah and Levi, were taken away and unchurched. Let the Reader consult these precious scriptures which foretell their recovery: Hosea 3:4; Romans 11:26; Romans 11:26; Revelation 7:8; Revelation 7:8.