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Royalty and Ruin
Because the children of Israel refused steadfastly to repent, the
Lord “afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of plunderers,
until He had cast them from His sight,” in harmony with the plain
warnings He had sent them “by all His servants the prophets.”
“So was Israel carried away from their own land to Assyria,”
“because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but
transgressed His covenant.”
2 Kings 17:20, 23
;
18:12
.
In the terrible judgments on the ten tribes the Lord had a wise
and merciful purpose. What He could no longer do through them in
the land of their fathers He would seek to accomplish by scattering
them among the heathen. Not all who were carried captive were
rebellious and unrepentant. Some had remained true to God, and
others had humbled themselves before Him. Through these He
would bring multitudes in Assyria to a knowledge of His character
and the blessings of His law.
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