Passage Overview · Free · 2 Kings 17:5–23
Hoshea and the Fall of Samaria
Hoshea rebels against Assyria; Samaria falls after siege and the northern kingdom is deported. The northern kingdom falls to Assyria, but the narrator refuses to explain the catastrophe as mere geopolitics. A long inspired interpretation traces exile to covenant rebellion, rejected prophets, idolatry, and imitation of the nations; the later resettlement of Samaria begins a complicated history that should not be reduced to a one-line origin story for the Samaritans.