26 So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul, king of Assyria, even the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away into exile, namely the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara and to the river of Gozan, to this day.
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1 Chronicles 5:25-26 meaning
In 1 Chronicles 5:25-26, the chapter quickly turns on one word: But they acted treacherously against the God of their fathers (v 25). The tribes that once cried out to God in battle and were answered (1 Chronicles 5:20) broke faith with Him. Acted treacherously translates the Hebrew word "ma‘al," which Strong's concordance defines as acting covertly or treacherously--betrayal from inside a trust. The same word describes Achan taking what was devoted to God (Joshua 7:1) and King Saul's unfaithfulness that ended his dynasty (1 Chronicles 10:13).
The treachery took the form of worship: they played the harlot after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them (v 25). Scripture pictures the covenant between the LORD and Israel as a marriage, so chasing other gods is adultery against Him (Exodus 34:15-16; Hosea 1:2). 1 Chronicles 5:25 also exposes the folly inside the betrayal. The tribes served the gods of peoples whom God had destroyed before them (v 25)--gods who had already lost to the God these tribes abandoned.
God's judgment on Israel came through an enemy empire: So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul, king of Assyria, even the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria (v 26). The word, "even," identifies the two names as one man. Pul is the name by which this king first appears in Israel's history, collecting tribute from King Menahem (2 Kings 15:19), and Tilgath-pilneser is the Chronicler's spelling of the king called Tiglath-pileser in 2 Kings 15:29. Assyria's king marched for his own reasons, yet the verse traces the invasion to the God of Israel, who stirred up his spirit and directed it.
The next verse narrates Assyria's attack: And he carried them away into exile, namely the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara and to the river of Gozan, to this day (v 26). 2 Kings 15:29 records the same campaign from the other side of the Jordan: Tiglath-pileser "captured" a string of northern cities along with "Gilead and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria." The eastern tribes, exposed on the frontier, went first.
The destinations lay in upper Mesopotamia, far to the northeast. About a decade later the rest of the northern kingdom followed them: when Samaria fell, Assyria "settled them in Halah and Habor, on the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes" (2 Kings 17:6). The eastern tribes were carried into the very region where all Israel would soon join them. To this day, writes the chronicler--generations later, as he wrote, the eastern tribes remained in exile.
These two verses close the chapter's arc, and the arc carries its lesson. Reuben forfeited his birthright through sin (1 Chronicles 5:1-2); the three tribes received victory "because they trusted in Him" (1 Chronicles 5:20); and those same tribes lost their land through their own treachery (v 25). In this chapter, blessing follows trust, and loss follows betrayal, under the hand of the same God.
The chronicler's first readers had just lived that story themselves in Babylon. The verb of verse 26 returns at the very end of the book, where the LORD "stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia" (2 Chronicles 36:22) to send His people home. The God who moved one king to scatter His people moved another king to bring them back.