Hashem the Puppeteer

      This week we began learning about the last of the kings of Yisrael. Each one had a similar rule- ruled a few months or years, follow is father or predecessor in doing their sins, rebelled against, killed, and a new king takes over. This all happens over a course of many years; Yisrael constantly changes kings, while the rule in Yehuda remains the same. This should be a big sign that Yehuda isn't as bad as Yisrael. The last king that comes before the exile of the ten tribes is הושע. He is seen a little differently than the kings before him. He is said to have done bad, but not as bad as those before him. There is an excellent example of the "action/reaction" cycle here. הושע takes action- he acts as a servant for אשור and pays taxes to him. However when he stops paying taxes, what happens? אשור attacks. This begs the question: why did הושע  stop paying taxes? It could be that הושע simply did not want to be controlled by אשור anymore.
      All this time, Hashem has sent ישעיהו to stop the kings from making alliances for foreign aid and relying on Hashem instead. Sadly, none of them listened and הושע is no different. This could be seen as the religious reason as to why they were attacked during הושע's reign. Hashem is throwing up his hands in the air and saying "enough is enough!". הושע's refusal to turn to Hashem is what finally pushes Him over the top. This is all a result of refusal to believe in Hashem's power. The action/reaction cycle that is repeated so many times throughout these פרקים is caused by the ignorance of the kings.
      ישעיהו at first began showing the problems of Yisrael to Yehuda as sort of a warning- "You are next". He is leading up to the greatest punishment of all- the exile of the ten tribes. The main purpose of all of this was to show the kings that Hashem is ultimately the one who is always in control- always has the power. He is the one pulling the strings; we are just the puppets in His world. If the kings had only realized this sooner, they might have been spared all of the attacks and losing the hundreds of thousands of people that were exiled during גלות שומרון.
      This particular part of the פרקים spoke to me strongly. It's very hard to understand what life was like back then, the choices the kings had to make under pressure, the choices the people had to make under pressure, but I could never understand how the king could be so stupid! (for lack of a better word) They are told over and over and over again: "Don't do this. It is bad." and yet they continue to ignore it! They are basically TOLD what will happen to them and yet they act as if they don't even care. I am not a king of Yehuda or Yisrael, but I myself would not be overjoyed if a large, fairly MEAN nation came and destroyed my land. We are still in exile today, which should tell us all something: we are the same as the nations back then. We are the remnant left of the nation of Yehuda. If we don't change our ways, we will never come out of exile and we'll be just as bad as the last kings of Yisrael.