<P> And when Asa heard these words, even the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the detestable things out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill - country of Ephraim; and he renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD . </P> <P> And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and them that sojourned with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon; for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him . </P> <P> According to 2nd Chronicles, Chapter 30, there is evidence that at least some people of the Northern Kingdom of Israel were not exiled . These were invited by king Hezekiah to keep the Passover in a feast at Jerusalem with the Judean population . (The holiday was set one month forward from its original date .) Hezekiah sent his posts to spread the word among the remnant of the Northern kingdom; the posts were mocked during their visit to the country of Ephraim, Manasseh and Zebulun . However, some people of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem . In a later part of the chapter, even people from the Tribe of Issachar and the strangers that "came out from the land of Israel" were said to take part in the passover event . Biblical scholars such as Umberto Cassuto and Elia Samuele Artom claimed that Hezekiah might have annexed these territories, in which inhabitants of the Kingdom of Israel remained, into his own kingdom . </P> <P> And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the LORD, the God of Israel . (2 Chronicles 30: 1) </P>

Who was king of the southern kingdom when the northern kingdom of israel fell to assyria