We now come to the last events of the history of Ephraim, otherwise called the ten tribes. Hoshea, the murderer of Pekah, reigned nine years in Samaria while doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. His conduct in relation to Him was less profane than that of his predecessors, only, he did not take into account the judgments of God by which the subjection of Israel to Assyria had been foretold through all the prophets. From year to year king Hoshea had been sending presents to the king of Assyria (2 Kings 17:3), following the example of one of his predecessors, Menahem, who by means of presents had declared himself a vassal of Pul’s in order that this latter might establish the kingdom in his hands (2 Kings 15:19-20). Later Tiglath-pileser had come up against Pekah and, as we have seen, had transported the tribes beyond the Jordan to Assyria. Pekah evidently had not followed, as had Menahem, this rule of submission to Assyria, which would explain the political motives for the carrying away of these tribes. These political motives are not given us in the Word, but the divine motive is indicated to us by a word in Chronicles: “And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser... and he carried them away” (1 Chron. 5:26). Here in 2 Kings, the usual ways the kings of Assyria act toward Israel are brought to light. “Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria, and Hoshea became his servant, and tendered him presents” (2 Kings 17:3). The threat of an invasion by an enemy stronger than he obliges Hoshea to submit himself, howbeit unwillingly no doubt, to his vassalage. But these presents hardly help him. “For they are gone up to Assyria,” says Hosea the prophet, “as a wild ass alone by himself; Ephraim hath hired lovers. Although they hire among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall begin to be straitened under the burden of the king of princes” (Hos. 8:9-10).
“But the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and sent up no present to the king of Assyria as he had done from year to year” (2 Kings 17:4). Actually, this two-faced, suspicious conduct of the king is mentioned by the prophet: “Ephraim feedeth on wind, and pursueth after the east wind: all day long he multiplieth lies and desolation; and they make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried into Egypt” (Hos. 12:1), and again “Ephraim is become like a silly dove without understanding: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria” (Hos. 7:11). So, discovering Hoshea’s conspiracy, Shalmaneser “shut him up and bound him in prison” (2 Kings 17:4). “As for Samaria her king is cut off:” according to the prophecy of Hosea (Hos. 10:7), without the circumstances of his death being reported to us. The king of Israel having been made a prisoner, “the king of Assyria overran the whole land, and went up against Samaria, and besieged it three years” (2 Kings 17:5; cf. 2 Kings 18:9); but it was not Shalmaneser in person who took the city, for it is told us, “And at the end of three years they took it” (2 Kings 18:10). Actually, during this interval Sargon (Isa. 20:1) had succeeded Shalmaneser, or at least was at the head of the army during a short interregnum. The fate of this rebellious city was terrible, according to the word of Micah who prophesied “ concerning Samaria and Jerusalem”: “Therefore will I make Samaria as a heap of the field, as plantings of a vineyard; and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will lay bare the foundations thereof. And all her graven images shall be beaten to pieces, and all her harlot-gifts shall be burned with fire, and all her idols will I make a desolation; for of the hire of a harlot hath she gathered them, and to a harlot’s hire they shall return” (Mic. 1:6-7). Hosea also describes this event: “Samaria shall bear her guilt; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword; their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up” (Hos. 13:16).
“The king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and by the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes” (2 Kings 17:6). It has been supposed that part of the ten tribes fled to Egypt at that time. We do not think that the expression in Hosea 8:13: “They shall return to Egypt,” is to be interpreted in this manner. This same prophet had said: “They call to Egypt, they go to Assyria”; then, “Ephraim hath hired lovers” (Hos. 8:19); then again: “Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and in Assyria shall they eat that which is unclean” (Hos. 9:3). All this fully harmonizes with Hoshea’s conspiracy, as also this other word: “He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king” (Hos. 11:5). “Return into the land of Egypt” does not necessarily mean to flee there, but to seek assistance there, as it is said in Isaiah 31:1: “Woe to them to go down to Egypt for help:”
As to the passage in Hosea 8:13, it must be observed that the prophet continually associates Judah’s iniquity with that of Ephraim. “The peoples shall be assembled against them, when they are bound for their two iniquities. And Ephraim is a trained heifer, that loveth to tread out the corn; I have passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to draw; Judah shall plow, Jacob shall break his clods “(Hos. 10:10-11). So he also reunites them together in the same future blessing once they will have reached the complete measure of their servitude (Hos. 10:12). This observation helps us to understand that “They shall return to Egypt” in Hosea 8:13 applies to Judah, morally associated with Israel. What proves this is the following verse: “Israel... buildeth temples, and Judah has multiplied fenced cities,” but even more so “For behold, they are gone away because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Moph (or Noph = Memphis) shall bury them” (Hos. 9:6). Now we know from the account of Jeremiah 43-44:1 That the fugitives of Judah fled before the king of Babylon and found refuge in Egypt, and at Noph, among other places. They forced the prophet to accompany them there, and we know that there he prophesied against them when they thought they were safe from their oppressor (cf. 2 Kings 25:26).