(722 years before Christ.)
The kings and the people of Israel continued to worship strange gods,
and would not listen to the prophets of the Lord. So the punishment must
come. The king of Assyria, the powerful Shalmaneser, put Hoshea, the
last king, in chains, and his successor took Samaria and carried the
people to Assyria. One of the later kings sent heathens from his
countries to dwell in the land. These were called Samaritans, and
learned more and more to know Jehovah; but the inhabitants of Judah and
Benjamin would not acknowledge them as right brethren, and there was
bitter enmity between the Samaritans and the Jews. (2 Kings 17.)