Midrasch zu Könige II 17:25

After the Israelites were expelled from Samaria, Sennacherib stationed his officers there to collect taxes for his government from those he had settled there. The Holy One, blessed be He, sent lions among them, as it is said: Therefore the Lord hath sent lions among them, which killed some of them (II Kings 17:25). The tax collectors sent a message to him, saying: The nations which thou hast carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land; therefore He hath sent lions among them, and behold, they slay them (ibid., vv. 26–27). Whereupon he summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them: “During the years in which you dwelt in your land, wild beasts never devoured you; why is this happening now?” They whispered to each other: “Let us all give the same answer and perhaps he will permit us to return.” They told him: “That land welcomes no one who does not occupy himself with the Torah and is uncircumcised.” “Then select two men from among you,” he replied, “to go there and instruct them.” Since a king’s command may not be rescinded, they sent R. Dostai the son of Yannai and R. Sabaya there. They taught them the written Torah in abbreviated form.

And when the Israelites were exiled from Samaria to Babylon, the king sent his servants, and he caused them to dwell in Samaria, to raise tribute for (his) kingdom. What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He sent lions among them, || which killed some of them, as it is said, "And so it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord: therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them" (2 Kings 17:25). They sent to the king, saying: Our lord, the king ! The land whither thou hast sent us will not receive us, for we are left but a few out of many. The king sent and called for all the elders of Israel, and said to them: All those years during which ye were in your land, the beasts of the field did not bereave you, and now it will not receive my servants. They gave him a word of advice, (thinking) perhaps he would restore them to their land. They said to him: Our lord, O king! That land does not receive a nation who do not study the Torah; behold, that land does not receive a nation who are not circumcised. The king said to them: Give me two of you, who shall go and circumcise them and teach them the book of the Torah; and there is no refusal to the word of the king. They sent Rabbi Dosethai of the Court-House, and Rabbi Micaiah, and they circumcised them, and they taught them the book of the Torah in the Noṭariḳon script, and they wept. Those nations followed the statutes of the Torah, and they served (also) their own gods.