The Fall of Samaria

Christians know Ahaz as the Judean king to whom Isaiah delivered the famous prophecy (as interpreted by Matthew): “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel” (Matthew 1:23 = Isaiah 7:14).  Today’s reading from the Second Book of Kings gives us the historical context of this prophecy: the complex world of ancient Middle Eastern politics—so what else is new! 
            Ahaz had come to the throne in one of the greatest crises in Judean history.  A plot was afoot among the small western states to throw off the Assyrian yoke; Israel and Syria, one-time enemies, had become bed-fellows.  Ahaz had to choose between accepting defeat at the hands of the coalition or appealing for outside help.  Isaiah advised Ahaz not to ask for Assyrian intervention (Isaiah 7:7-10), but this would have required an act of faith of which King Ahaz was incapable. 
            The mention of Ahaz in our reading (2 Kings 17:1) serves to date the accession to the throne of Hoshea, King of Samaria (= Israel), whose downfall is narrated.  The First and Second Books of Kings were written from the perspective of Judah, and they interpreted the separation of the northern tribes after Solomon’s death (1 Kings chapter 12) as the beginning of idolatry, the rejection  of God and the temple, and the cause of the fall of the northern kingdom in the year 722:
                        So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.
                        In the ninth year of Hoshea the King of Assyria captured Samaria
                        and carried the Israelites away to Assyria.  This was so because the
                        people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God.
            Today we are less confident in our ability to see the hand of God at work in the fortunes of nations.  However, it remains as true today as it was in the ancient Near East that when leaders fail, the people perish. 
            The brutal refusal of the military dictatorship in Burma to allow foreign aid to come into the Irrawaddy Delta devastated by cyclone Nirgis resists world-wide condemnation and diplomatic pressure. 
            In our neighbor to the south the last eight years have ushered in the post-American era in which America may remain the only world super-power, but has lost its place as world leader.  This is why the campaign to nominate the contenders in the election next November is being followed with such passionate interest. 
            In a democracy we get the leaders we deserve, and the consequences of bad leadership are as devastating today as they were in the days of King Ahaz and King Hoshea.