The Fall of the Northern Kingdom

Assyria besieges Samaria for three years and finally captures it in 722 BC. The ten northern tribes are deported and resettled across the Assyrian empire, effectively ending the kingdom of Israel. The author of Kings is blunt about why: the people abandoned God's covenant, worshiped other gods, and refused to listen to every prophet God sent. Foreigners are resettled in the land, creating the mixed population later known as the Samaritans.