Hoshea, the last king of Israel, did evil in the eyes of the Lord. The king of Assyria attacked him, shut him up, and bound him in prison. Later, he took over Samaria and carried Israel away into Assyria, which is today’s Syria. He placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan and in the cities of the Medes (2 Kings 17:4-6). All this was due to Israel’s sinning the sins of Jeroboam and being reluctant to depart from them. They refused to obey Jehovah’s exhortation through the prophets to leave their evil ways. Being stiff-necked, they turned away from Jehovah their God and all His commandments and made for themselves two images of calves, made an Asherah, worshipped the heavenly bodies, served Baal, and did what was evil in Jehovah’s eyes, provoking His anger. Jehovah therefore resented them and chased them away from His presence (2 Kings 17:7-18). Just as they rejected God, God eventually also rejected them.
The judgment Israel received from God and their captivity should have been a strong warning to the kingdom of Judah. Instead of being forewarned, the people were wholly indifferent and continued in what was evil in the eyes of Jehovah. After Jeconiah (also known as Coniah—Jer. 22:24, and Jehoiachin— 2 Chron. 36:8-10; Jer. 37:1), the king of Judah, was carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon with the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officers, and the mighty of the land (2 Kings 24:15), he was succeeded by Zedekiah his brother. Zedekiah still did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke from the mouth of Jehovah. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning to Jehovah, the God of Israel. Moreover, all the chief priests and the people transgressed much, mocking the messengers of God, despising their words, misusing His prophets, until the wrath of Jehovah was kindled against His people without remedy (2 Chron. 36:9-16).
So Jehovah placed them in the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Chaldea, who took all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of Jehovah, to Babylon. The Chaldeans then burned the house of God and broke down the walls of Jerusalem and burned all the palaces with fire. All of this fulfilled the words of the prophet Jeremiah, “For as long as she [the land] lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years” (2 Chron. 36:17-21).
From David to the captivity covers the period from the building up of the kingdom of Israel by David to the loss of the kingdom and the carrying away of the children of Israel into captivity caused by the corruption of the kings of Israel. David who established the kingdom of Israel was a descendant of Boaz. In Boaz, we see a person who valued the birthright given by God and brought in the king who established the kingdom. In David, we see a man who did God’s will, a man after God’s heart who conquered the enemies and established God’s kingdom for the building of God’s temple. Afterwards, in Solomon we see the result of God’s grace in forgiving David’s transgression and the building of the temple. Next, in Rehoboam, we see that the fall of Solomon, one who had obtained grace, resulted in the division and confusion among God’s people. Following this, in Jeroboam, we see that the ill results of one who caused division among God’s people were the devastation of the house and the destruction of the kingdom. Later, in the kings of Judah and Israel we see that their rising and falling depended upon their relationship with God and on God’s forbearance, patience, and righteous judgment toward them; since they did not repent even at the end, their kingdom was destroyed and they were carried away into captivity.