CAPTIVITY OF THE TEN TRIBES.

(2 Kings xvii:6-18.)

I. The Analysis.

1. The End of the Northern Kingdom (verses i, 18).— It is significant that while a remnant of Judah returned from

the Babylonian captivity, the ten tribes have not yet been brought back, nor is their whereabouts known.

2. Jehovah's Indictment of Israel (verses 7-17).—This is reducible to general counts, 1. Ingratitude, verse 7. All their sins were against that Jehovah who had compassionated their slavery in Egypt and had redeemed them. 2. Disobedience, verses 8, 15, 16. They forsook the will of God for self will, and the statutes of the heathen. 3. Apostasy, verses 9-17. They forsook the worship of Jehovah for the worship of false gods and idols.

3. The Lord's Long Suffering (verse 13).—Every prophet testified against the sins of Israel, but, also, had testified of the willingness of God to forgive, and to heal if only they would turn to Him in repentance and obedience.

II. The Heart of the Lesson.

Inevitable judgment for unforsaken sin—that is the large truth of this lesson. Let it be remembered that seven hundred years of Israelitish history lie between this act of final judgment, and the day when, under the warnings of Moses as recorded in Deuteronomy, God had brought the people into that land. Moses had sounded the faithful warning: "If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book . . . . . then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful . . . . . and the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other" (Deut. xxviii:58-65).

How little the warning was heeded, how soon the sin came, the inspired history bears witness. Then came that which had not been foretold—the six hundred years of the divine forbearance and long suffering, together with ceaseless efforts to win back His people. So far as Moses' words went, judgment might have fallen instantly upon the disobedience. What God did not reveal through Moses, was the age long interval of forbearance. Just so, in the Old Testament prophecies the first and second advents of Messiah blend in one horizon, for to the Old Testament prophet the day of grace which has lasted now almost nineteen centuries was not revealed (Eph. iii:2-10). No wonder they "searched diligently," "what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories which should follow" (1 Pet. i:10, 11).

But "the long suffering of God waited," as in the days of Noah, and because "judgment was not speedily executed" men ceased to believe in retribution. A parallel only on a cosmic instead of limited Palestinian scale is found in our own age. Nothing can be at once more simple, direct and awful than the testimony of scripture to the dread alternative of neglecting or rejecting the offered grace of God. The Lamb's book of life or the lake of fire—these are the only two possible ultimate destinies. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him" (John iii:36).

And what we need to see is that the inevitableness of eternal separation from God of those who do not believe, desire or love God, rests not upon ome arbitrary decree, but upon the eternal and indestructible distinctions between good and evil, faith and doubt, love and hatred. "He loved cursing, so let it be unto him; he hated blessing, so let it be far from him," is God's sorrowful assent to man's deliberate choice.