Then from Tirzah, Menahem attacked Tiphsah, all who were there, and its territory. Because they did not surrender, therefore he attacked it. All the women there who were with child he ripped open. (2 Kings 15:16)

The Final Forty Years Of Israel

When Israel first became a nation, they rebelled against the Lord, and He punished them with forty years of wanderings in the wilderness. God had given the land of Canaan to Israel, but they lacked faith in His power to overcome the giants of the land. Throughout the forty years, Israel complained, murmured, rebelled, and disobeyed the voice of the Lord. After forty years, Joshua led the nation across the Jordan, and the conquest began. At first, the land was ruled by judges, and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Prophets like Samuel helped to guide the people in the will of the Lord. In time, the people wanted a king. Three kings would rule over the United Kingdom: Saul, David, and Solomon.

Following the death of Solomon, civil war split the nation with ten tribes giving allegiance to Jeroboam and two tribes loyal to Rehoboam. Thus began a long and sorted history of evil as kings rose that would lead the people of Israel into oblivion. About nineteen kings ruled over the northern tribes called Israel, which lasted just over two hundred years. In the south, nineteen kings ruled Judah, with seven kings seeking the will of the Lord. Judah would be taken captive in 606 B.C. in Babylon. It was the final forty years of the northern kingdom of Israel that would describe the failure of the Jews to keep the law of God.

Only six kings would rule Israel in the final forty years. After the reign of Jeroboam II, which lasted forty-one years, Zechariah was assassinated in six months, and Shallum was murdered within one month. Shallum conspired against Zechariah and killed him in front of all the people. A month later, Shallum was assassinated by Menahem in Samaria. Menahem attacked the city of Tiphsah and its territory because they did not surrender. All the women there who were pregnant, he had his soldiers rip them open. After Menahem died, his son, Pekahiah, reigned for two years before being murdered by Pekah, the son of Remaliah, an officer of his.

Pekah ruled for twenty years before being murdered by Hoshea, the son of Elah. Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, made Hoshea his vassal and paid him tribute money. When it was discovered Hoshea had made a pact with Egypt, Shalmaneser put Hoshea in prison. During the reign of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away to Assyria. The ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel would disappear from history and be known as the Samaritans, hated by the Jews.

The final forty years of Israel (part of) were much like its beginning. There was a rebellious spirit that never seemed to leave the Hebrews. Their history did not teach them to follow the Lord. The prophets warned them of impending doom, and they would not listen. How many miracles did the Lord show Israel in the wilderness, yet they still refused to believe? The nation of Israel that began the first forty years mirrored the people in the final forty years. When the people rejected God, evil abounded. The land was filled with immorality, murder, rape, the assassination of leaders, idolatry, and the desire for fleshly pleasures. When a nation turns away from God, the only measure left is destruction.

Judah in the south had times of revival when the hearts of the people returned to the Lord. Their final destruction came in the same manner as Israel. They turned their hearts away from God, and He turned His heart away from them. When a nation removes God from its moral center, the center of its morality becomes corrupt. No nation will stand when God is reviled and ridiculed, and rejected. Oddly enough, those corrupting the nation blame God for the destruction. All nations will fall who do not exalt the word of God. Righteousness will always exalt a nation, but woe to that nation that forgets God. Just ask Israel in its final forty years.