מלכים ב, פרק י״ז, פסוק ב׳

Hoshea, the final king of the northern kingdom, stands out in history as a ruler who sinned, yet his actions were notably different from the kings who ruled before him. The primary shift during his reign involved the traditional pilgrimage to Jerusalem. For generations, roadblocks and armed guards were stationed along the borders to stop the Israelites from traveling to the Temple to celebrate the holidays. Hoshea changed this by removing these blockades, finally granting the people the freedom to worship in Jerusalem if they chose to do so [מצודת דוד, חומת אנך, אברבנאל]. This historic removal of the border guards occurred on the fifteenth day of the month of Av, which is one of the reasons this date was established as a joyous holiday [רד״ק, אברבנאל].

This decision was not necessarily driven by a deep spiritual return to God, but rather by a practical response to a new reality. The golden calves that previous kings had set up in Beit El and Dan as alternative places of worship had already been captured and taken away by the Assyrian empire. With the golden calves gone, there was simply no longer a reason to keep guards stationed on the roads [מלבי״ם, רש״י].

Tragically, this single positive act is exactly what sealed the kingdom's fate and led to its ultimate destruction. In the past, when the kings actively blocked the roads, the Israelites could easily blame their corrupt leaders for their failure to visit the Temple. Once Hoshea removed the barriers, the choice was entirely in the hands of the people. When they still freely chose to stay away from Jerusalem, they lost their only excuse. The nation's distance from the path of God was exposed as their own personal choice, leaving them with no one else to blame and finalizing the decree for their exile [רש״י].