“The king of Assyria invaded the entire land, marched against Samaria and laid siege to it for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria…. All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God” (2 Kings 17: 5-7, NIV).

When I was a little boy I used to watch a cartoon on television called Popeye the Sailor. Popeye was a one-eyed mariner outfitted in a sailor cap and pipe. Most observably, he had over-developed forearms and under-developed biceps. Popeye also had a skinny girlfriend named Olive Oil who was much taller than he and a nemesis named Brutus who was a big muscular brute as his name suggested.

The theme of each Popeye episode was essentially the same. Brutus would beat up Popeye and steal Olive away. When Popeye became fed up with Brutus’ brutality, he would exclaim, “That’s all I can stands, I can’t stands no more” and reach into his shirt and pull out a can of spinach!

Popeye would squeeze the contents of the can of spinach into his mouth, which would cause Popeye’s scrawny biceps to expand into powerful, muscular arms. Then, He would deliver a blow to Brutus that sent him soaring off into the distance. And, Popeye would reclaim Olive as his girl.

In 722 BCE, some ten to twenty years after the Assyrians had invaded Israel and begun deporting the Israelites, the capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel, Samaria, was finally seized by Sargon II, ruler of Assyria, after a three-year siege started by Shalmaneser V, his predecessor. This is the event these verses from 2 Kings 17 are referencing.

After King Solomon’s death around 930 B.C. the kingdom of Israel had divided into a northern kingdom, which retained the name Israel, and a southern kingdom called Judah, named after the tribe of Judah. Israel and Judah co-existed for about two centuries although they often fought against each other. The books of 1 and 2 Kings are the story of how under the leadership of its many evil kings, the northern kingdom of Israel spiraled downward into a state of apostasy. (The same end cam to the southern kingdom, Judah, about 150 years later.)

After two hundred years of monarchy God was finally fed up with Israel’s kings’ bad behavior. 2 Kings 17 declares that the northern kingdom of Israel had for too long followed the idolatrous religious practices of the other nations they had driven out of the promised land. Verse 15 says “they followed worthless idols” and in so doing “themselves became worthless” to God.

As a result of Israel’s apostasy, God used the Assryrians to transact His judgment on Israel and invade and ultimately capture the capital city of Samaria. The king of Assyria resettled people from other countries in the land of Israel, the northern kingdom, and it thereafter lost its identity as God’s covenant people (only Judah remained).

While God is gracious, patient and slow to anger (Psalm 86:15), when His people continue down an evil road to self-inflicted destruction, they can reach a point to where God “can’t stands no more.” Then, He will take measures to remove the evil-doers from the evil!

In so doing, God also evokes His mercy. “In Your wrath remember mercy” (Habakkuk 3:2, NIV).

God’s judgment always has a redemptive quality. Restoration is always the planned outcome of judgment. God may have to disown His people in order to reclaim them as His own. (The story line in the book of Hosea provides an excellent example of this proposition.)

For Christians there is a better way to live out your salvation than by living in a vicious cycle of sin and disobedience accompanied by God’s wrath and judgement. Living a Spirit-Led life: “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. (Romans 8:13-14, NIV).