The Fall of Samaria

Shalmaneser comes against Hoshea, who becomes his servant. "And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year." Hoshea is imprisoned. Samaria is besieged three years. "In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes."

"For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt." They walked in the customs of the nations, built high places, set up pillars and Asherim, served idols, made two calves, worshiped the host of heaven, served Baal, "caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire." "Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets… Turn ye from your evil ways." "Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only."

"And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria." Lions kill some of them; a deported priest is sent back to teach "the manner of the God of the land" at Bethel. "They feared the LORD, and served their own gods." Each nation makes its own gods: Succoth-benoth, Nergal, Ashima, Nibhaz, Tartak, Adrammelech and Anammelech.

Shalmaneser V or Sargon II?

Kings names Shalmaneser V (727–722 BC) as the besieger; "the king of Assyria" who takes the city is unnamed. The Babylonian Chronicle says Shalmaneser "ravaged Samaria" (Shamara'in). Sargon II (722–705 BC) repeatedly claims he conquered Samaria and deported 27,290 (or 27,280) people, and resettled it, probably after a revolt in 720 BC. Models: one conquest in 722 claimed by both kings; or two, in 722 (Shalmaneser) and 720 (Sargon). The question is open.

So king of Egypt

"So" has not been identified with certainty. Proposals: Osorkon IV of Tanis; a city, Sais ("to So(is), the king of Egypt"); or a title. Egypt was divided in this period.

The people of Samaria and the Samaritans

This chapter is the biblical basis of an old Jewish polemic that Samaritans descend from foreign settlers ("Cutheans"). The Samaritans themselves trace their descent from the northern tribes who remained. Archaeology shows both deportation and continuity of local population. The chapter describes 8th-century resettlement; it does not settle the identity of the later Samaritan community, which deserves to be heard on its own terms.