Before leaving this period of Hosea's prophetic ministry, we should note one consequence of the Assyrian conquest of Israel, the memory of which continued for centuries afterwards. The origins of the Samaritan people for whom the Jews of New Testament times felt hostility and contempt, were in this period of history.

2 Kings 17: 7-23 gives the explanation of the writer of the book of Kings for the fall of the northern kingdom and the conquest of Samaria (from which the Samaritan people took their name). The northern kingdom came to an end because of the disobedience of the people who paid no heed to the prophets sent to warn them. The people of Israel continued to worship idols, to practice fertility worship and to reject the law of the Covenant. The consequence of this continued disobedience to the Covenant Law and way of life was their rejection by God, who handed them over to their enemies, the Assyrians. The Assyrians took many of the survivors of the war of conquest and deported them to Assyrian controlled territories in other parts of the Middle East.

2 Kings 17:24-41 then describes what happened in the territory of the northern people. The Assyrians brought in deportees from other conquered nations and settled them forcibly in the area of Samaria. Sargon II's records give independent confirmation of such policies which were intended to prevent the conquered peoples from regaining strength and rising against their Assyrian masters. From the many deportees and the surviving Israelites, a mixed race developed. The syncretistic religious situation which also developed, in which there were elements of half a dozen polytheistic religions and a debased form of Yahweh worship, is vividly described by the writer in verses 25-33. He considers that the people who were settled in the area of Samaria were pagans and not to be counted as true worshippers of God.

The Samaritans of the New Testament period were the descendants of these people, and from references such as John 4: 1-26 and Luke 9: 51-56, it is apparent that the bitter memories of the origins of the Samaritan people still persisted after seven centuries, causing the woman of Samaria to say to Jesus, 'You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan-so how can you ask me for a drink?'