When Ten Tribes (Kingdom of Israel) falls to Assyria in 722 BC, the narrator names exactly what happened and why: “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, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods” (2 Kings 17:7).

The people had rejected the terms of the conditional covenant at Mount Sinai. They had rejected the Great King who had delivered them from Egyptian bondage. They rejected relationship with him.

In the very sentence that names their apostasy, we also find the historical prologue formula found in the suzerain-vassal treaty of Exodus 20.

That record is precise and deliberate.

They abandoned the Great King who identified himself by that act of rescue. For two hundred years they ignored prophetic warning. For two hundred years the northern kingdom refused to listen and obey.

What was the unmistakable consequence, predicted in Deuteronomy 28:26 and 64? Exile.

Every major prophet since Amos had brought the same lawsuit against the people. If you reject the Great King, he will not allow you to be in his promised land.