II Kings 15-18  The Lord had told Jehu that 4 generations would serve as king of Israel and it happened that way.  After that there were 5 kings until the Assyrians came and captured Israel and sent them into exile. Over and over, with each king of Israel the phrase that is repeated is: " and he did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeraboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin."   Over 200 years and 17 kings after Solomon, Israel is gone.  The Assyrians brought in other nationalities to live in place of the Israelites.  They came from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sephar-vaim. They all brought their idols with them. So the Lord sent lions among them.

The Assyrian king commanded that a priest from Israel be sent back to occupied Israel to teach the people there to fear the Lord so that the lions would not plague them any more.  The priest came and taught them,  and they "feared the Lord" but they also continued with their own gods.  Not acceptable in God's sight.

Chapter 17 takes a break from recording just the historical facts about the kings and adds a commentary about why Israel fell. " Now this came about, because the sons of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and they had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord had driven out before the sons of Israel, and in the customs of the kings of Israel which they had introduced." ( v7-8)  Israel continually provoked the Lord with their idol worship.  They ignored His warnings. ".. they did not listen, but stiffened their neck like their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God." 

"So, the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; none was left except the tribe of Judah." ( v18)

The people of God, were to serve and fear Him only.  But they would not.  The consequences were exactly what God warned them about.  We are also given the same instructions... to turn back to the Lord our God, to obey His Word, to serve Him only, and to fear no other.   In our days we are seeing foreign gods being brought into our country.  We need to be diligent to teach the Word of God.. to follow Him alone, to bow to Him only, and to not fear other gods.  " But the Lord Your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of your enemies." (v39).  May we not be like those who would not listen.  May we be faithful to the Lord, the only True God.

Father in Heaven, never changing, never failing, You alone are God.  We will worship You alone.  We will bow before You and give You all our praise.  Fear has a way of creeping into our lives, Lord.  But we know that You are our Light and our salvation.  You are our stronghold.  Lord, help us to boldly proclaim Your Word to a lost world bogged down by the sin of idolatry.  Only You can save us. Open our eyes to see You and open our mouths to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.  In Him we come before You to ask these things. Amen.