Scripture Helps
2 Kings 16–25
Wickedness in the Northern Kingdom of Israel continued. The Assyrians conquered the Israelites and captured many of them, and Israel’s homeland was repopulated with other people from the Assyrian empire. The Assyrians also invaded the Southern Kingdom of Judah and attacked Jerusalem. King Hezekiah asked the prophet Isaiah to pray for his people. The Lord, through Isaiah, told the people not to be afraid. The Lord defended the city, and the Assyrians retreated. Subsequent kings in Judah practiced idolatry, and the Lord removed His protection. When Josiah became king, he used the book of the law to call the people to repentance. After Josiah was killed in battle, the next four kings led Judah back into wickedness. During the reign of King Zedekiah, Jerusalem was destroyed, and many people were captured and taken into Babylon.
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Background and Context
Who were the Assyrians?
Throughout the first half of the first millennium BC, Assyria was a dominant power in the ancient Near East, particularly during the eighth and seventh centuries BC. Assyria’s capital was generally located in places throughout Mesopotamia, in the modern country of Iraq. The Old Testament frequently mentions Assyria’s conflicts and exchanges with the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Assyria’s name may come from Asshur, one of the sons of Shem. Asshur was also the name of both the chief god of the Assyrians and their capital city. The Assyrians had a reputation for viciously desolating the lands and torturing the people they conquered. They also often deported large portions of a conquered population to other parts of their empire to weaken them.
Bible Maps, no. 5, “The Assyrian Empire”
Why did King Ahaz seek help from Assyria?
During the reign of King Ahaz, Judah and many other nations faced the threat of being conquered by the growing Assyrian empire. The kings of Israel (Pekah) and Syria (Rezin) wanted King Ahaz and the people of Judah to join them in an alliance to resist Assyria’s dominance. When Ahaz refused, Israel and Syria threatened to go to battle against Judah and replace Ahaz with a leader who would join their alliance.
From the book of Isaiah we learn that the Lord sent the prophet Isaiah to counsel Ahaz about this matter. Isaiah encouraged Ahaz and the people of Judah to rely on the Lord for deliverance from the armies of Pekah and Rezin. He also encouraged Ahaz not to seek help from Assyria. However, Ahaz disregarded Isaiah’s counsel and asked the king of Assyria for protection.
Ahaz persisted in his apostasy after he made an alliance with Assyria. He made unauthorized changes to the furnishings and ordinances of the temple and instituted the practice of idolatry throughout the Kingdom of Judah.
What happened to the tribes of Israel after they were conquered by Assyria?
Because the people of the Northern Kingdom disobeyed the Lord’s laws, embraced idolatry, and rejected the prophets, they lost the Lord’s protection and were eventually conquered by the Assyrians. While many were killed during the Assyrian conquests, others were spared. Some of these survivors migrated to the Southern Kingdom and joined the population of other Israelites residing in Judah. Some remained in Israel and eventually intermixed with the foreign people the Assyrians relocated there. This mixed group became known as the Samaritans. Still other survivors were taken into exile in Assyria in large numbers, and they eventually became lost to history. This group is often referred to as the lost tribes of Israel, and their scattering is part of what the scriptures call the scattering of Israel.
There is much we do not know about the fate of the lost tribes of Israel. But Jesus Christ taught that they were “not lost unto the Father, for he knoweth whither he hath taken them.” The Savior also promised that He would visit the lost tribes after His Resurrection. In the Book of Mormon, the Lord spoke of a record of the lost tribes that would come forth at a future time. The scriptures teach that “the restoration of the Ten Tribes” will be an important part of the latter-day gathering of Israel.
What influenced the religious beliefs of the Samaritans?
After the Assyrians relocated foreigners from other parts of the empire to live in Samaria, a series of lion attacks began to plague the land. The Assyrians believed these attacks occurred because the newcomers did not worship Jehovah. In response, the king of Assyria brought back an exiled Israelite priest to live among the people and teach them the ways of the Lord.
Over the next few centuries, the foreigners who had been brought into Israel continued to worship their own gods along with Jehovah. Eventually this mixed population of Israelites and foreigners came to predominantly identify themselves as children of Israel and became known as Samaritans. The Jews of later years refused to accept the Samaritans because of their mixed ancestry and what the Jews viewed as improper religious practices. This rejection led to hostility between the two groups, which was evident both after the Jewish exile and during the life of Jesus Christ.
Why did King Hezekiah destroy the brass serpent?
The brass serpent created by Moses when the Israelites were bitten by poisonous snakes in the wilderness had been preserved for centuries. At some point, the Israelites began burning incense to it. King Hezekiah wanted to eliminate idol worship. So he destroyed the brass serpent and all other forms of idol worship that had been prevalent during the reign of his father, Ahaz, in the Kingdom of Judah.
Why did Hezekiah rebel against Assyria?
As part of the treaty King Ahaz established with the king of Assyria, the Kingdom of Judah was subservient to Assyria and required to pay a large annual tribute. This arrangement continued through the reign of Hezekiah until around 705 BC, when Hezekiah rebelled against Assyria following the death of their king. A few years after Judah’s revolt, the new Assyrian king, Sennacherib, mobilized a huge army to invade the Kingdom of Judah. The Assyrians conquered many cities of Judah on their way to attacking Jerusalem, the capital of the Kingdom of Judah.
Some of the cities of Judah conquered by Assyria in their attempt to destroy Jerusalem (see Isaiah 10:28–32).
How did the prophet Isaiah help Hezekiah?
King Hezekiah’s reign coincided with the ministry of the prophet Isaiah. After hearing the Assyrians’ threats against his kingdom and people, Hezekiah went to the temple and prayed mightily to God. He also sent messengers to seek Isaiah’s counsel and to ask him to pray for the people. Isaiah reassured Hezekiah’s messengers that the Lord would protect Jerusalem against the mighty Assyrian army, echoing his prophecy recorded in Isaiah 10. Isaiah later sent word to Hezekiah that the Lord had heard the king’s prayers and further reassured him that the Lord would defend Jerusalem against the Assyrian army. Isaiah’s promise was fulfilled when a plague struck the Assyrian camp, and Judah was spared.
What was the book of the law discovered in the temple?
Most scholars believe that the book of the law was a version of Deuteronomy, although it could have included more of the Pentateuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy). The words of the book had a great impact on King Josiah. He later instituted major religious reforms to reverse the evil and idolatrous practices cultivated by his grandfather, Manasseh, and his father, Amon.
Illustration of King Josiah reading the book of the law to the people, © Providence Collection/licensed from goodsalt.com
Who was Huldah?
Huldah was known as a prophetess, a term sometimes used in the Bible for women who had the spirit of revelation and prophecy. She is one of only a few women called a prophetess in the Bible. King Josiah’s servants went to Huldah for spiritual guidance regarding the book of the law that had been found in the temple. In response, she prophesied about the coming destruction of Israel. It is unknown why King Josiah’s servants went to Huldah to inquire of the Lord rather than to other prophets who were in Jerusalem at the time. But the fact that they went to her demonstrates her spiritual stature among the people.
What does it mean that “the people stood to the covenant”?
After reading the words of the book of the law, Josiah and his people made a covenant to live according to the words of the book “with all their heart.” The people then “stood to the covenant,” meaning they pledged to keep the covenant with the Lord. This was likely part of a formal covenant-renewal ceremony like the one Moses and the children of Israel performed before entering the promised land.
Who were the Babylonians?
Babylon, the capital city of the region known as Babylonia, was located in today’s southern Iraq. The scriptures indicate that Babylon was founded by Nimrod shortly after the Flood. Over the course of millennia, Babylonia was inhabited and controlled by various people. By 750 BC, Babylonia came under the control of the Chaldeans, whose rise to power coincided with the decline of the Assyrian Empire. After the fall of Assyria, King Nebuchadnezzar II established the Neo-Babylonian or Chaldean Empire in Babylonia. It was during his reign (605–562 BC) that the Kingdom of Judah was conquered and much of Jerusalem was destroyed, around 586 BC. The name Babylon appears numerous times throughout the scriptures, often as a symbol of wickedness and worldly corruption.
Bible Maps, no. 6, “The New Babylonian Empire and the Kingdom of Egypt”
Why were Judah’s leaders the first to be exiled to Babylon?
Jehoiachin, Josiah’s grandson, had reigned in Judah for only three months when Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem for the first time, eventually conquering it around 598 BC. Jehoiachin’s surrender to the Babylonians suggests a pragmatic decision to save the city from destruction. The Babylonians took many wealthy, educated, and skilled people back to Babylon as captives to disable Judah from being able to wage war. The prophet Ezekiel was among these exiles. The Babylonians also took with them most of the king’s riches and the temple’s sacred and precious items.
Why did Nebuchadnezzar make Zedekiah king of Judah?
After King Jehoiachin was taken captive to Babylon, his uncle Mattaniah was made king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar changed Mattaniah’s name (which means “gift of Yahweh”) to Zedekiah (meaning “Yahweh is my justice/righteousness”). This was perhaps Nebuchadnezzar’s way of implying that what he was doing to Jerusalem was just. Regardless, Nebuchadnezzar’s appointing of a new king and renaming him demonstrated that the kingdom was under Babylonian control.
Lehi, the first prophet of the Book of Mormon, lived at Jerusalem during the first year of Zedekiah’s reign. The Lord warned Lehi to flee Jerusalem with his family before the city was destroyed. The Lord then led them to the promised land in the Western Hemisphere.
Lehi Prophesying to the People of Jerusalem, by Del Parson
How does the destruction of Jerusalem relate to the scattering of Israel?
In response to Zedekiah’s rebellion, Babylonian armies tore down the walls of Jerusalem, burned the temple, and carried away many of the remaining people to Babylon. These events, along with the destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel almost 150 years earlier, were part of the scattering of Israel.
“The ancient Israelites were scattered because they rejected Jehovah and were not faithful to their covenants with Him (see Leviticus 26:33; Deuteronomy 4:23–27). This scattering happened over time, as the Israelites were conquered by other nations and carried away into captivity (see 2 Kings 17:6–23; 25:1–12; 1 Nephi 22:3–5). Even more tragically, many of them lost their sense of identity as God’s covenant people (see 2 Nephi 6:8–11).”
While the scattering of Israel included invasion and deportation, the Lord saved some of the righteous from destruction, such as Lehi and his family. In His wisdom, the Lord ultimately used the scattering of Israel to bless the nations of the earth.
God also promised that He would gather scattered Israel in the last days. President Russell M. Nelson taught that the latter-day gathering of Israel is “an essential prelude to the Second Coming of the Lord” and “the most important work in the world.”
Were all of Zedekiah’s sons killed?
The biblical account reports that Nebuchadnezzar’s army “slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes.” We learn from the Book of Mormon that one of Zedekiah’s sons, Mulek, survived and escaped the destruction of Jerusalem. The Lord directed Mulek and others to the promised land in the Western Hemisphere sometime after Lehi and his family left Jerusalem. Hundreds of years later, some of Lehi’s descendants found Mulek’s descendants and joined them in Zarahemla.
Learn More
Idolatry among the Israelites
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David H. Madsen, “No Other Gods before Me,” Ensign, Jan. 1990, 48–52
The scattering and gathering of Israel
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Russell M. Nelson, “The Gathering of Scattered Israel,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2006, 79–82
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Topics and Questions, “Gathering of Israel,” Gospel Library
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Paul K. Browning, “Gathering Scattered Israel: Then and Now,” Ensign, July 1998, 54–61
Media
Videos
“Josiah and the Book of the Law” (12:25)
“What Is the Book of Mormon About?” (1:53)
Images
People Thanked God, © Lifeway Collection/licensed from goodsalt.com
Shaphan Brings the Scrolls to Josiah, by Robert T. Barrett
King Josiah / Yoshiyahu Cleansing of Idols, by William Brassey Hole / Lebrecht History / Bridgeman Images
The Flight of the Prisoners, by James Tissot