Cry aloud at Bethaven
‘They are after thee, O Benjamin!’
Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke,
And upon the tribes of Israel
I make known what shall surely be.
The princes of Judah were like them that remove the landmark;
Therefore will I pour out my wrath upon them like water.[[48]]
“The prophetic words were soon accomplished, in the rapid downfal of the kingdom of Israel. Assyria, which Jehovah calls the rod of his indignation,[[49]] made Menahem, the next king after Zechariah, tributary; and Tiglath-pilesar carried away many of the inhabitants of Israel. Galilee, and the district beyond Jordan were lost. Hoseah, the last king of Israel, contrary to the advice of Isaiah, made a league with So, the king of Egypt, and was defeated by Salmanassar. Samaria was destroyed, the inhabitants carried beyond the Tigris, to the neighbourhood[neighbourhood] of the river Chebar, and the Lord put away Israel from before him, as he threatened by his servants the prophets.
“Where once the tribes of Israel, the sons of Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasseh had dwelt, strangers from the east had settled themselves, and being infested with lions, they requested from the king that Israelitish priests might be sent them; and so they polluted the land, the village of Jacob, and many other sacred spots, by a mixture of the worship of God with that of idols, which continues to defile it even to this day.
“Thus had Jehovah manifested, both by deed and precept, his retributory judgments in the case of Israel. Would that Judah had been wise, and had learned from the fate of her sister kingdom that lesson which they who will not read must feel!