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134
Royalty and Ruin
tribes of Israel were now to reap the harvest of the apostasy that had
begun when Jeroboam set up the strange altars at Bethel and at Dan.
God’s message was: “All the sinners of My people shall die by the
sword, who say, The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.”
Amos 9:10
.
“The houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have
an end.” “Israel shall surely be led away captive from his own land.”
“Because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”
Amos 3:15
;
7:17
;
4:12
.
Judgments Held Back for a Season
For a while God delayed these predicted judgments, and during
the long reign of Jeroboam II the armies of Israel gained great
victories. But this time of apparent prosperity brought no change
in the hearts of the unrepentant ones, and it was finally decreed,
“Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away
[107]
captive from their own land.”
Amos 7:11
.
The boldness of this utterance was lost on the unrepentant king
and people. Amaziah, a leader among the idol-worshiping priests at
Bethel, was stirred to anger by the plain words spoken against the
nation and their king. He said to Amos, “Go, you seer! Flee to the
land of Judah. There eat bread, and there prophesy. But never again
prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is the royal
residence.”
Verses 12, 13
.
To this the prophet firmly responded: “Israel shall surely be led
away captive.”
Verses 17
.
The words Amos spoke against the apostate tribes were fulfilled
literally, yet the destruction of the kingdom came gradually. In
judgment the Lord remembered mercy. When the “king of Assyria
came against the land” (
2 Kings 15:19
), Menahem, then king of
Israel, was permitted to remain on the throne as a vassal of the
Assyrian realm. The Assyrians, having humbled the ten tribes,
returned for a while to their own land.
Menahem, far from repenting of the evil that had brought ruin to
his kingdom, continued in “the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat,
who had made Israel sin.”
Verse 18
. A little later, “in the days of
Pekah” his successor (
verse 29
), Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria,