In about the year 700 B. C., according to the record of Holy Writ, when Shalmaneser had dealt kindly with Hoshea, who had accepted his yoke and agreed to pay tribute, the faithless king of Judah entered into conspiracy with Sebakah. Since the common name, So, is the one that is used in the Scripture, we shall refer to this pharaoh by that name from this point on. The tribute that Hoshea should have paid to the king of Assyria he diverted, and paid it into the hand of So for the help that was promised him in throwing off the yoke of Assyria. There is abundant reason to believe, from all the collateral records, that this conspiracy was promoted by So and Hoshea.
This action on the part of the Hebrew king was entirely unwarranted and consisted of a breach of faith on his part. Indeed, the prophet Hosea utters a stern and unmistakable reproof against this action in the strong words of the first verse of his twelfth chapter:
“Ephraim feedeth on wind and followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt. The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.”
As a result of this conspiracy, Hoshea was captured by the king of Assyria and carried away into an imprisonment. The plan did not work out as the faithless allies had intended. Shalmaneser invaded Palestine to punish this rebellion. This wise and able general divided his forces, so that a major portion of his military strength lay between Egypt and Palestine at a part of the border that was easily defended. When So found that the cost of reaching Hoshea with aid was to be a major battle which would endanger his entire dominion, he simply defaulted and left Hoshea to bear alone the brunt of the battle. The prophecy of Hosea was thus literally fulfilled. With the faithlessness that Hoshea had manifested toward Shalmaneser, he had been rewarded by the defection of So from his covenant.
It is interesting to note that So seemed to have been a little ashamed of his conduct, for he offers a rather flimsy excuse for his failure to stand by his contract. His statement is that Hoshea had paid only half of the price agreed upon and for that reason he came not to his aid.
In this invasion of Shalmaneser’s, many of the Hebrew people were taken captive. Hoshea, after being for some time incarcerated in disgrace and punishment, was forgiven by Shalmaneser and restored to his throne and dominion. Shalmaneser seems to have reasoned that having once failed and having tasted of punishment, Hoshea was now to be trusted. Thus, the first conspiracy ended with the common people of Samaria paying the price. Two years later the faithless and foolish Hoshea again listened to the siren song of rebellion as it was sung by the deceitful So and again rebelled against his over-lord and benefactor. Shalmaneser, in great wrath, again moved against Samaria, which resisted in a bitter struggle that lasted three years.
Although the following details are not all mentioned in the text of II Kings, seventeenth chapter, they are emphasized by the change of person in the record. In this bitter conflict of three years, no help came from Egypt. The seventh verse of the text says that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord, their God. They had gone again into idolatry and had put themselves back under the yoke of Egypt, from which God had repeatedly redeemed them. The miserable and faithless So turned out to be a bruised reed indeed! But while this campaign was being fought, Shalmaneser disappeared. A revolution took place in the homeland and the common oriental disease which may be described as six inches of steel between the ribs, quietly removed Shalmaneser from the scene. A usurper named Sargon, who writes his own genealogy and calls himself “the son of Nobody,” succeeded to the throne.
Thus in the seventeenth chapter of II Kings we have many royal persons, and in order to keep the records straight, we set them forth this way:
Hoshea was the king of Samaria; and he reigned over Israel nine years.
Shalmaneser the Fifth was the king of Assyria, who is mentioned in the third verse by name.
The fourth verse continues a record of Shalmaneser, in carrying away Hoshea and punishing him.
So is the pharaoh with whom we have been dealing.
The king of Assyria who is not named in the sixth verse, is Sargon, who succeeded to the throne after the probable murder of Shalmaneser.
This Sargon is the second man of that name to have reigned in Assyria. The time of his reign may be given as from 722-705 B. C. The first Sargon reigned sometime in the twentieth century, B. C.