Although he may flourish among rushes, the east wind shall come, a blast from the Lord, rising from the wilderness; and his fountain shall dry up, his spring shall be parched. It shall strip his treasury of every precious thing. Samaria shall bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God; they shall fall by the sword, their little ones shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open. (Hosea 13:15-16)

In 721BC the Assyrians invaded from the east, conquered the land, stripped the treasury, killed thousands, and exiled the political and social elite.

In the aftermath of the conquest thousands who did not share the stories of Moses, the Judges, David, and the prophets were relocated into what had been the northern kingdom. Overtime the newcomers intermarried with the non-elites who remained.

The faith of Moses persisted. The newcomers mostly adopted the religious traditions of the ten tribes and came to see themselves as sharing the story of Abraham, the Exodus, and worshiping the one and only God.

Samaritan religious practice, however, increasingly diverged from that of Jerusalem. The elites of the southern kingdom would experience their own conquest and exile soon enough. But rather than empathy this experience reinforced a deep sense of separation and mutual suspicion.

The northern kingdom was lost to history.

Above is an Assyrian relief which is believed to show high officials of Lachish, a Judean city, being skinned alive during an invasion in 701BC.