Text -- 2 Kings 17:17-41 (NET)

17:17 They passed their sons and daughters through the fire, and practiced divination and omen reading. They committed themselves to doing evil in the sight of the Lord and made him angry. 17:18 So the Lord was furious with Israel and rejected them; only the tribe of Judah was left. 17:19 Judah also failed to keep the commandments of the Lord their God; they followed Israel’s example. 17:20 So the Lord rejected all of Israel’s descendants; he humiliated them and handed them over to robbers, until he had thrown them from his presence. 17:21 He tore Israel away from David’s dynasty, and Jeroboam son of Nebat became their king. Jeroboam drove Israel away from the Lord and encouraged them to commit a serious sin. 17:22 The Israelites followed in the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat and did not repudiate them. 17:23 Finally the Lord rejected Israel just as he had warned he would do through all his servants the prophets. Israel was deported from its land to Assyria and remains there to this very day.

The King of Assyria Populates Israel with Foreigners

17:24 The king of Assyria brought foreigners from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the Israelites. They took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. 17:25 When they first moved in, they did not worship the Lord. So the Lord sent lions among them and the lions were killing them. 17:26 The king of Assyria was told, “The nations whom you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the requirements of the God of the land, so he has sent lions among them. They are killing the people because they do not know the requirements of the God of the land.” 17:27 So the king of Assyria ordered, “Take back one of the priests whom you deported from there. He must settle there and teach them the requirements of the God of the land.” 17:28 So one of the priests whom they had deported from Samaria went back and settled in Bethel. He taught them how to worship the Lord. 17:29 But each of these nations made its own gods and put them in the shrines on the high places that the people of Samaria had made. Each nation did this in the cities where they lived. 17:30 The people from Babylon made Succoth Benoth, the people from Cuth made Nergal, the people from Hamath made Ashima, 17:31 the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their sons in the fire as an offering to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. 17:32 At the same time they worshiped the Lord. They appointed some of their own people to serve as priests in the shrines on the high places. 17:33 They were worshiping the Lord and at the same time serving their own gods in accordance with the practices of the nations from which which they had been deported. 17:34 To this very day they observe their earlier practices. They do not worship the Lord; they do not obey the rules, regulations, law, and commandments that the Lord gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he renamed Israel. 17:35 The Lord made an agreement with them and instructed them, “You must not worship other gods. Do not bow down to them, serve them, or offer sacrifices to them. 17:36 Instead you must worship the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt by his great power and military ability; bow down to him and offer sacrifices to him. 17:37 You must carefully obey at all times the rules, regulations, law, and commandments he wrote down for you. You must not worship other gods. 17:38 You must never forget the agreement I made with you, and you must not worship other gods. 17:39 Instead you must worship the Lord your God; then he will rescue you from the power of all your enemies.” 17:40 But they pay no attention; instead they observe their earlier practices. 17:41 These nations are worshiping the Lord and at the same time serving their idols; their sons and grandsons do just as their fathers have done, to this very day.

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: 2Ki 17:18

And the greatest part of the tribe of Benjamin, with those of the tribes of Simeon and Levi who were incorporated with them.

Wesley: 2Ki 17:19

Judah's idolatry and wickedness are here remembered, as an aggravation of the sin of the Israelites, which was not only evil in itself, but mischievous to their neighbour, who by their examples were instructed in their wicked arts, and provoked to an imitation of them.

Wesley: 2Ki 17:20

All the tribes of Israel: first, one part of them, and now the rest. But this extends not to every individual person of these tribes; for many of them removed into the kingdom of Judah, and were associated with them.

Wesley: 2Ki 17:21

Which action is here ascribed to the people, because they would not tarry 'till God by his providence, had invested Jeroboam with the kingdom which he had promised him; but rashly, and rebelliously, rose up against the house of David, to which they had so great obligations; and set him upon the throne without God's leave or advice.

Wesley: 2Ki 17:21

He not only dissuaded, but kept then, by force from God's worship at Jerusalem, the only place appointed for it.

Wesley: 2Ki 17:21

So the worship of the calves is called, to meet with that idle conceit of the Israelites, who esteemed it a small sin, especially when they were forced to it by severe penalties; which yet he shews did not excuse it from being a sin, and a great sin too.

Wesley: 2Ki 17:25

For their gross neglect, and contempt of God, which was contrary to the principles and practices of the Heathens, who used to worship the gods of the nations where they lived, and gave that honour to their false Gods, which here they denied to the true. Hereby also God asserted his own sovereignty over that land, and made them to understand, that neither the Israelites were cast out, nor they brought in by their valour, or strength, but by God's providence, who as he had cast the Israelites out for their neglect of God's service; so both could, and would in his due time, turn them out also, if they were guilty of the same sins.

Wesley: 2Ki 17:28

The manner of God's worship, as it was practised in Israel; as may be gathered both from the quality of this person, who was an Israelitish priest; and from the place of his residence, Beth - el, a place infamous for the worship of the calves, and from the manner of their making priests by this man's direction.

Wesley: 2Ki 17:32

Unto the true God: for as to the worship of their own gods, they needed no instruction, and would not permit a person of another religion to minister therein.

Wesley: 2Ki 17:33

They worshipped God externally in that way which the Israelites used. But every nation made gods of their own besides.

Wesley: 2Ki 17:34

That is, till the time when this book was written, above three hundred years in all, till the time of Alexander the Great, when they were prevailed upon to call away their idols.

Wesley: 2Ki 17:34

As the Israelites before their captivity, gave these nations an ill example, in serving the Lord, and Baal together; so, or after their former manner, they do unto this day, in the land of their captivity.

Wesley: 2Ki 17:34

Though they pretended to fear, and serve both the Lord and idols, yet in truth they did not, and do not fear or worship the Lord, but their own calves, or other vain inventions: and God will not accept that mongrel and false worship, which they pretend to give to the true God.

Wesley: 2Ki 17:34

God's law delivered to their fathers, and to them, as their inheritance, Psa 119:111. This is alleged as an evidence, that they did not fear the Lord, whatsoever they pretended, because they lived in the constant breach of his statutes.

Wesley: 2Ki 17:34

A name, signifying his special interest in God, and power with him, which was given to him, not only for himself, but for his posterity also, whom God frequently honours with that name. And by this great favour he aggravates their sin.

Wesley: 2Ki 17:41

In like manner, and after their example.

Wesley: 2Ki 17:41

Who came in their stead.

JFB: 2Ki 17:24-28

This was not Shalmaneser, but Esar-haddon (Eze 4:2). The places vacated by the captive Israelites he ordered to be occupied by several colonies of his own subjects from Babylon and other provinces.

JFB: 2Ki 17:24-28

The Chaldee form of Cush or Susiana, now Khusistan.

JFB: 2Ki 17:24-28

Supposed to be Ahivaz, situated on the river Karuns, which empties into the head of the Persian Gulf.

JFB: 2Ki 17:24-28

On the Orontes.

JFB: 2Ki 17:24-28

Siphara, a city on the Euphrates above Babylon.

JFB: 2Ki 17:24-28

It must not be supposed that the Israelites were universally removed to a man. A remnant was left, chiefly however of the poor and lower classes, with whom these foreign colonists mingled; so that the prevailing character of society about Samaria was heathen, not Israelite. For the Assyrian colonists became masters of the land; and, forming partial intermarriages with the remnant Jews, the inhabitants became a mongrel race, no longer a people of Ephraim (Isa 7:6). These people, imperfectly instructed in the creed of the Jews, acquired also a mongrel doctrine. Being too few to replenish the land, lions, by which the land had been infested (Jdg 14:5; 1Sa 17:34; 1Ki 13:24; 1Ki 20:36; Son 4:8), multiplied and committed frequent ravages upon them. Recognizing in these attacks a judgment from the God of the land, whom they had not worshipped, they petitioned the Assyrian court to send them some Jewish priests who might instruct them in the right way of serving Him. The king, in compliance with their request, sent them one of the exiled priests of Israel [2Ki 17:27], who established his headquarters at Beth-el, and taught them how they should fear the Lord. It is not said that he took a copy of the Pentateuch with him, out of which he might teach them. Oral teaching was much better fitted for the superstitious people than instruction out of a written book. He could teach them more effectually by word of mouth. Believing that he would adopt the best and simplest method for them, it is unlikely that he took the written law with him, and so gave origin to the Samaritan copy of the Pentateuch [DAVIDSON, Criticism]. Besides, it is evident from his being one of the exiled priests, and from his settlement at Beth-el, that he was not a Levite, but one of the calf-worshipping priests. Consequently his instructions would be neither sound nor efficient.

JFB: 2Ki 17:29

These Assyrian colonists, however, though instructed in the worship, and acknowledging the being of the God of Israel, did not suppose Him to be the only God. Like other heathens, they combined His worship with that of their own gods; and as they formed a promiscuous society from different nations or provinces, a variety of idols was acknowledged among them.

JFB: 2Ki 17:30

That is, the "tents" or "booths of the daughters," similar to those in which the Babylonian damsels celebrated impure rites (Amo 2:8).

JFB: 2Ki 17:30

The Jewish writers say this idol was in the form of a cock, and it is certain that a cock is often associated with a priest on the Assyrian monuments [LAYARD]. But modern critics, looking to the astrological character of Assyrian idolatry, generally consider Nergal as the planet Mars, the god of war. The name of this idol formed part of the appellation of two of the king of Babylon's princes (Jer 39:3).

JFB: 2Ki 17:30

An idol under the form of an entirely bald he-goat.

JFB: 2Ki 17:31

Under that of a dog--that Egyptian form of animal-worship having prevailed in ancient Syria, as is evident from the image of a large dog at the mouth of the Nahr-el-Kelb, or Dog river.

JFB: 2Ki 17:31

According to the rabbis, it was in the form of an ass, but others understand it as a planet of ill-omen, probably Saturn.

JFB: 2Ki 17:31

Supposed by some to be the same as Molech, and in Assyrian mythology to stand for the sun. It was worshipped in the form of a mule--others maintain in that of a peacock.

JFB: 2Ki 17:31

Worshipped in the form of a hare; others say in that of a goat.

JFB: 2Ki 17:34

The time of the Babylonian exile, when this book was composed. Their religion was a strange medley or compound of the service of God and the service of idols. Such was the first settlement of the people, afterwards called Samaritans, who were sent from Assyria to colonize the land, when the kingdom of Israel, after having continued three hundred fifty-six years, was overthrown.

Clarke: 2Ki 17:17

Sold themselves to do evil - Abandoned themselves to the will of the devil, to work all iniquity with greediness.

Clarke: 2Ki 17:18

Removed them out of his sight - Banished them from the promised land, from the temple, and from every ordinance of righteousness, as wholly unworthy of any kind of good

Clarke: 2Ki 17:18

None left but the tribe of Judah only - Under this name all those of Benjamin and Levi, and the Israelites, who abandoned their idolatries and joined with Judah, are comprised. It was the ten tribes that were carried away by the Assyrians.

Clarke: 2Ki 17:24

The king of Assyria brought men from Babylon - He removed one people entirely, and substituted others in their place; and this he did to cut off all occasion for mutiny or insurrection; for the people being removed from their own land, had no object worthy of attention to contend for, and no patrimony in the land of their captivity to induce them to hazard any opposition to their oppressors

By men from Babylon, we may understand some cities of Babylonia then under the Assyrian empire; for at this time Babylon had a king of its own; but some parts of what was called Babylonia might have been still under the Assyrian government

Clarke: 2Ki 17:24

From Cuthah - This is supposed to be the same as Cush, the Chaldeans and Syrians changing ש shin into ת tau ; thus they make כוש Cush into כות Cuth ; and אשור Ashshur , Assyria, into אתור Attur . From these came the Scythae; and from these the Samaritans were called Cuthaeans, and their language Cuthite. The original language of this people, or at least the language they spoke after their settlement in Israel, is contained in the Samaritan version of the Pentateuch, printed under the Hebraeo-Samaritan in vol. i. of the London Polyglot. This Cuthah was probably the country in the land of Shinar, first inhabited by Cush

Clarke: 2Ki 17:24

From Ava - The Avim were an ancient people, expelled by the Caphtorim from Hazerim, Deu 2:23

Clarke: 2Ki 17:24

From Hamath - This was Hemath or Emath of Syria, frequently mentioned in the sacred writings

Clarke: 2Ki 17:24

From Sepharvaim - There was a city called Syphera, near the Euphrates; others think the Saspires, a people situated between the Colchians and the Medes, are meant. There is much uncertainty relative to these places: all that we know is, that the Assyrians carried away the Israelites into Assyria, and placed them in cities and districts called Halah and Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 2Ki 17:6; and it is very likely that they brought some of the inhabitants of those places into the cities of Israel.

Clarke: 2Ki 17:25

The Lord sent lions among them - The land being deprived of its inhabitants, wild beasts would necessarily increase, even without any supernatural intervention; and this the superstitious new comers supposed to be a plague sent upon them, because they did not know how to worship him who was the God of the land; for they thought, like other heathens that every district had its own tutelary deity. Yet it is likely that God did send lions as a scourge on this bad people.

Clarke: 2Ki 17:26

The manner of the God of the land - משפט mishpat , the judgment; the way in which the God of the land is to be worshipped.

Clarke: 2Ki 17:27

Carry thither one of the priests - Imperfect as this teaching was, it, in the end, overthrew the idolatry of these people, so that soon after the Babylonish captivity they were found to be as free from idolatry as the Jews themselves, and continue so to the present day. But they are now nearly annihilated: the small remains of them is found at Naplouse and Jaffa; they are about thirty families; and men, women, and children, amount to about two hundred persons! They have a synagogue, which they regularly attend every Sabbath; and they go thither clothed in white robes. The reader may find much curious information relative to this people, in a Memoire sur L’ Etat actuel des Samaritains, by Baron Sylvestre de Sacy, 8vo., Paris, 1812.

Clarke: 2Ki 17:29

Every nation made gods of their own - That is, they made gods after the fashion of those which they had worshipped in their own country.

Clarke: 2Ki 17:30

The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth - This, literally, signifies the tabernacles of the daughters or young women, and most evidently refers to those public prostitutions of young virgins at the temple of Melitta or Venus among the Babylonians. See at the end of the chapter, 2Ki 17:41 (note). From benoth it is probable that the word Venus came, the B being changed into V, as is frequently the case, and the th into s, benoth , Venos . The rabbins say that her emblem was a hen with her chickens; see Jarchi on the place

Clarke: 2Ki 17:30

The men of Cuth made Nergal - This is supposed to have been the solar orb or light. According to the rabbins, his emblem was a cock. See at the end of the chapter, 2Ki 17:41 (note)

Clarke: 2Ki 17:30

The men of Hamath made Ashima - Perhaps the fire; from אשם asham , to make atonement or to purify. Jarchi says this was in the form of a goat. See below on 2Ki 17:41 (note).

Clarke: 2Ki 17:31

The Avites made Nibhaz - This was supposed to be the same as the Anubis of the Egyptians; and was in form partly of a dog, and partly of a man. A very ancient image of this kind now lies before me: it is cut out of stone, about seven inches high; has the body, legs, and arms, of a man; the head and feet of a dog; the thighs and legs covered with scales; the head crowned with a tiara; the arms crossed upon the breasts, with the fingers clenched. The figure stands upright, and the belly is very protuberant. See below

Clarke: 2Ki 17:31

And Tartak - This is supposed by some to be another name of the same idol; Jarchi says it was in the shape of an ass. Some think these were the representations of the sun in his chariot; Nibhaz representing the solar orb, and Tartak the chariot. See below

Clarke: 2Ki 17:31

Adrammelech - From אדר adar , glorious, and מלך melech , king. Probably the sun

Clarke: 2Ki 17:31

Anammelech - From anah , to return, and מלך melech , king. Probably, the Moloch of the Ammonites. Jarchi says, the first was in the form of a mule, the second in the form of a horse; this was probably the moon.

Clarke: 2Ki 17:32

Of the lowest of them priests - One priest was not enough for this motley population; and, as the priesthood was probably neither respectable nor lucrative, it was only the lowest of the people who would enter into the employment.

Clarke: 2Ki 17:33

They feared the Lord, and served their own gods - They did not relinquish their own idolatry but incorporated the worship of the true God with that of their idols. They were afraid of Jehovah, who had sent lions among them; and therefore they offered him a sort of worship that he might not thus afflict them: but they served other gods, devoted themselves affectionately to them, because their worship was such as gratified their grossest passions, and most sinful propensities.

Clarke: 2Ki 17:36

But the Lord - Jehovah, the supreme, self-existent, and eternal Being; author of all being and life. This was to be the sole object of their adoration

Clarke: 2Ki 17:36

Who brought you up - This was a strong reason why they should adore Him only: he had saved them from the hands of their enemies, and he did it in such a way as to show his power to be irresistible; in such a Being they might safely confide

Clarke: 2Ki 17:36

Him shall ye fear - Here is the manner in which he is to be worshipped. Him ye shall reverence as your Lawgiver and Judge; ye shall respect and keep all his commandments; doing what he has enjoined, and avoiding what he has forbidden

Clarke: 2Ki 17:36

Him shall ye worship - Before Him ye shall bow the knee; living in the spirit of obedience, and performing every religious act in the deepest humility

Clarke: 2Ki 17:36

And to him shall ye do sacrifice - Ye shall consider that, as ye have sinned, so ye deserve death; ye shall therefore bring your living victims to the altar of the Lord, and let their life’ s blood be poured out there, as an atonement for your souls. We see in this verse three important points

1.    The object of their worship

2.    The reasons of that worship; and

3.    The spirit and manner in which it was to be performed: viz.

1. In fear

2. Humility; and

3. By sacrifice.

Clarke: 2Ki 17:41

So do they unto this day - This must have been written before the Babylonish captivity; because, after that time, none of the Israelites ever lapsed into idolatry. But this may chiefly refer to the heathenish people who were sent to dwell among the remains of the ten tribes

On these nations and the objects of their worship, I present my readers with the following extracts from Dodd and Parkhurst

Clarke: 2Ki 17:41

2Ki 17:30. The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth. We have here an account of the idols which were consecrated by the different nations, transplanted by the king of Assyria to Samaria. It is difficult, however, and has afforded a large field for conjecture, to give any satisfactory account concerning them. The reader will find in Selden, Vossius, and Jurieu, much upon the subject. Succoth-benoth may be literally translated, The Tabernacles of the Daughters, or Young Women; or if Benoth be taken as the name of a female idol, from בנה to build up, procreate children, then the words will express the tabernacles sacred to the productive powers feminine. And, agreeably to this latter exposition, the rabbins say that the emblem was a hen and chickens. But however this may be, there is no room to doubt that these succoth were tabernacles wherein young women exposed themselves to prostitution in honor of the Babylonish goddess Melitta. Herodotus, (lib. i., c. 199), gives us a particular account of this detestable service. "Every young woman,"says he, "of the country of Babylon must once in her life sit at the temple of Venus, [whom he afterwards tells us the Assyrians called Melitta], and prostitute herself to some stranger. Those who are rich, and so disdain to mingle with the crowd, present themselves before the temple in covered chariots, attended by a great retinue. But the generality of the women sit near the temple, having crowns upon their heads, and holding a cord, some continually coming, others going. [See Baruch 6:43]. The cords are held by them in such a manner as to afford a free passage among the women, that the strangers may choose whom they like. A woman who has once seated herself in this place must not return home till some stranger has cast money into her lap, and led her from the temple, and defiled her. The stranger who throws the money must say, ‘ I invoke the goddess Melitta for thee.’ The money, however small a sum it may be, must not be refused, because it is appointed to sacred uses. [See Deu 23:18]. The woman must follow the first man that offers, and not reject him; and after prostitution, having now duly honored the goddess, she is dismissed to her own house. In Cyprus,"adds the historian, "they have the same custom."This abomination, implied by Succoth-benoth, the men of Babylon brought with them into the country of Samaria; and both the name of the idol Melitta, and the execrable service performed to her honor, show that by Melitta was originally intended the procreative or productive power of nature, the Venus of the Greeks and Romans. See the beginning of Lucretius’ s first book De Rerum Natura. Mr. Selden imagines that some traces of the Succoth-benoth may be found in Sicca Veneria, the name of a city of Numidia, not far from the borders of Africa Propria. The name itself bears a near allusion to the obscene custom above taken notice of, and seems to have been transported from Phoenicia: nor can this well be disputed, when we consider that here was a temple where women were obliged to purchase their marriage-money by the prostitution of their bodies. See Univ. Hist., vol. xvii., p. 295, and Parkhurst’ s Lexicon on the word סך

The men of Cuth made Nergal. - Cuth was a province of Assyria, which, according to some, lies upon the Araxis: but others rather think it to be the same with Cush, which is said by Moses to be encompassed with the river Gihon; and must, therefore, be the same with the country which the Greeks call Susiana, and which to this day is called by the inhabitants Chusesta. Their idol, Nergal, seems to have been the sun, as the causer of the diurnal and annual revolutions of the planets; for it is naturally derived from נר ner , light, and by גל gal , to revolve. The rabbins say that the idol was represented in the shape of a cock; and probably they tell us the truth, for this seems a very proper emblem. Among the latter heathens we find the cock was sacred to Apollo or the sun, (see Pierii Hieroglyph., p. 223), "because,"says Heliodorus, speaking of the time when cocks crow, "by a natural sensation of the sun’ s revolution to us, they are incited to salute the god."Aethiop. lib. i. And perhaps under this name, Nergal, they meant to worship the sun, not only for the diurnal return of its light upon the earth, but also for its annual return or revolution. We may observe that the emblem, a cock, is affected by the latter as well as by the former, and is frequently crowing both day and night, when the days begin to lengthen. See Calmet’ s Dictionary under the word, and Parkhurst’ s Lexicon

Clarke: 2Ki 17:41

The men of Hamath made Ashima. - There are several cities and countries which go under the name of Hamath; but what we take to be here meant is that province of Syria which lies upon the Orontes, wherein there was a city of the same name; which when Shalmaneser had taken, he removed the inhabitants from thence into Samaria. Their idol Ashima signifies the atoner or expiator, from אשם asham . The word is in a Chaldee form, and seems to be the same as אשמת שמרון ashmath Shomeron , the sin of Samaria, mentioned Amo 8:14, where ashmath is rendered by the Lxx. propitiation. It is known to every one who has the least acquaintance with the mythology of the heathen, how strongly and universally they retained the tradition of an atonement or expiation for sin, although they expected it from a false object and wrong means. We find it expressed in very clear terms among the Romans even so late as the time of Horace, lib. i., ode 2: -

Cui dabit partes scelus expiandi Jupiter

And whom, to expiate the horrid guilt, Will Jove appoint

The answer is, "Apollo,"the god of light. Some think that, as Asuman or Suman, asman , in the Persian language, signifies heaven, the Syrians might from hence derive the name of this god; who, they suppose, was represented by a large stone pillar terminating in a conic or pyramidical figure, whereby they denoted fire. See Parkhurst on the word אשם asham , Calmet’ s Dictionary, and Tennison on Idolatry

Clarke: 2Ki 17:41

2Ki 17:31. The Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak. - It is uncertain who these Avites were. The most probable opinion seems to be that which Grotius has suggested by observing that there are a people in Bactriana, mentioned by Ptolemy, under the name of Avidia, who possibly might be those transported at this time into Palestine by Shalmaneser. Nibhaz, according to the rabbins, had the shape of a dog, much like the Anubis of the Egyptians. In Pierius’ s Hieroglyphics, p. 53, is the figure of a cunocephalus , a kind of ape, with a head like a dog, standing upon his hinder feet, and looking earnestly at the moon. Pierius there teaches us that the cunocephalus was an animal eminently sacred amongst the Egyptians, hieroglyphical of the moon, and kept in their temples to inform them of the moon’ s conjunction with the sun, at which time this animal is strangely affected, being deprived of sight, refusing food, and lying sick on the ground; but on the moon’ s appearance seeming to return thanks, and congratulate the return of light both to himself and her. See Johnston’ s Nat. Hist. de Quadruped., p. 100. This being observed, the נבחז nibchaz , (which may well be derived from נבח nabach , to bark, and חזה chazah , to see), gives us reason to conclude that this idol was in the shape of a cunocephalus , or a dog looking, barking, or howling at the moon. It is obvious to common observation that dogs in general have this property; and an idol of the form just mentioned seems to have been originally designed to represent the power or influence of the moon on all sublunary bodies, with which the cunocephaluses and dogs are so eminently affected. So, as we have observed upon Nergal, the influence of the returning solar light was represented by a cock; and the generative power of the heavens by Dagon, a fishy idol. See Parkhurst on נבחז who is of opinion that Tartak תרתק is compounded of תר tar , to turn, go round, and רתק rathak , to chain, tether; and plainly denotes the heavens, considered as confining the planets in their respective orbits, as if they were tethered. The Jews have a tradition that the emblem of this idol was an ass; which, considering the propriety of that animal when tethered to represent this idol, is not improbable; and from this idolatrous worship of the Samaritans, joined perhaps with some confused account of the cherubim, seems to have sprung that stupid story by the heathens, that the Jews had an ass’ s head in their holy of holies, to which they paid religious worship. See Bochart, vol. ii., p. 221. Jurieu is of opinion that as the word Nibhaz, both in the Hebrew and Chaldee, with a small variation, denotes quick, swift, rapid; and tartak , in the same languages, signifies a chariot, these two idols may both together denominate the sun mounted on his car, as the fictions of the poets and the notions of the mythologists were wont to represent that luminary

Clarke: 2Ki 17:41

The Sepharvites burned their children - to Adrammelech and Anammelech. - As these Sepharvites probably came from the cities of the Medes, whither the Israelites were carried captive, and as Herodotus tells us that between Colchis and Media are found a people called Saspires, in all likelihood they were the same with those here named Sepharvites. Moloch, Milcom, and Melech, in the language of different nations, all signify a king, and imply the sun, which was called the king of heaven; and consequently the addition of אדר adar , which signifies powerful, illustrious, to the one, and of ענה anah , which implies to return, to answer, to the other, means no more than the mighty or the oracular Moloch. And as the children were offered to him, it appears that he was the same with the Moloch of the Ammonites. See Univ. Hist. and Calmet. Mr. Locke is also of opinion that these two names were expressive of one and the same deity. What they were, or in what form, and how worshipped, we have not light from antiquity to determine.

Defender: 2Ki 17:33

The new inhabitants of Samaria, after the Israelites had been carried away into Assyria, soon became a mixed nation - partly composed of Israeli blood and partly of many other tribes, all of which were pagan (2Ki 17:24). Consequently, their religion became a strange mixture of worship of Jehovah and of various pagan gods. These people became the Samaritans of New Testament times, despised by their Jewish half-brothers. Except for scattered individuals, the exiled Israelites never returned to their homeland."

TSK: 2Ki 17:17

they caused : 2Ki 16:3, 2Ki 21:6; Lev 18:21; 2Ch 28:3; Psa 106:37, Psa 106:38; Eze 20:26, Eze 20:31; Eze 23:37, Eze 23:39

used : 2Ki 21:6; Deu 18:10-12; 2Ch 33:6; Isa 8:19, Isa 47:9, Isa 47:12, Isa 47:13; Jer 27:9; Mic 5:12; Act 16:16; Gal 5:26

sold : 1Ki 21:20, 1Ki 21:25; Isa 50:1

in the sight : 2Ki 17:11, 2Ki 21:6

TSK: 2Ki 17:18

removed : 2Ki 13:23, 2Ki 23:27; Deu 29:20-28, Deu 32:21-26; Jos 23:13, Jos 23:15; Jer 15:1; Hos 9:3

the tribe : 1Ki 11:13, 1Ki 11:32, 1Ki 11:36, 1Ki 12:20; Hos 11:12

TSK: 2Ki 17:19

Also Judah : 1Ki 14:22, 1Ki 14:23; 2Ch 21:11, 2Ch 21:13; Jer 2:28, Jer 3:8-11; Eze 16:51, Eze 16:52; Eze 22:2-16, Eze 23:4-13

walked : 2Ki 8:18, 2Ki 8:27, 2Ki 16:3

TSK: 2Ki 17:20

rejected : 2Ki 17:15; 1Sa 15:23, 1Sa 15:26, 1Sa 16:1; Jer 6:30; Rom 11:1, Rom 11:2

all the seed : 1Ch 16:13; Neh 9:2; Isa 45:25; Jer 31:36, Jer 31:37, Jer 33:24-26, Jer 46:28

delivered : 2Ki 13:3, 2Ki 13:7, 2Ki 15:18-20, 2Ki 15:29, 2Ki 18:9; 2Ch 28:5, 2Ch 28:6; Neh 9:27, Neh 9:28

until he had cast : 2Ki 17:18; Deu 11:12; Jon 1:3, Jon 1:10; Mat 25:41; 2Th 1:9

TSK: 2Ki 17:21

For he rent : 1Ki 11:11, 1Ki 11:31, 1Ki 14:8; Isa 7:17

they made : 1Ki 12:19, 1Ki 12:20; 2Ch 10:15-19

Jeroboam drave : 1Ki 12:20, 1Ki 12:28-30, 1Ki 14:16; 2Ch 11:11, 2Ch 11:15

a great sin : Gen 20:9; Exo 32:21; 1Sa 2:17, 1Sa 2:24; Psa 25:11; Joh 19:11

TSK: 2Ki 17:22

walked in all the sins : 2Ki 3:3, 2Ki 10:29, 2Ki 10:31, 2Ki 13:2, 2Ki 13:6, 2Ki 13:11, 2Ki 15:9

TSK: 2Ki 17:23

the Lord : 2Ki 17:18, 2Ki 17:20

as he had said : 2Ki 17:13; 1Ki 13:2, 1Ki 14:16; Hos 1:4-9; Amo 5:27; Mic 1:6

So was Israel : 2Ki 17:6, 2Ki 18:11, 2Ki 18:12

TSK: 2Ki 17:24

am 3326, bc 678

the king : Ezr 4:2-10

Babylon : 2Ki 17:30; 2Ch 33:11

Ava : 2Ki 17:31, 2Ki 18:31; Isa 37:13, Ivah

Hamath : 2Ki 19:13; Isa 10:9, Isa 36:19

in the cities thereof : 2Ki 17:6; Mat 10:5

TSK: 2Ki 17:25

they feared : 2Ki 17:28, 2Ki 17:32, 2Ki 17:34, 2Ki 17:41; Jos 22:25; Jer 10:7; Dan 6:26; Jon 1:9

the Lord sent : 2Ki 2:24; 1Ki 13:24, 1Ki 20:36; Jer 5:6, Jer 15:3; Eze 14:15, Eze 14:21

TSK: 2Ki 17:26

and placed : 2Ki 17:24

know not : 2Ki 17:27; 1Sa 8:9, 1Sa 10:25; Amo 8:14

TSK: 2Ki 17:27

one of the priests : Jdg 17:13; 1Ki 12:31, 1Ki 13:2; 2Ch 11:15

TSK: 2Ki 17:28

in Bethel : 1Ki 12:29-32

taught them : Isa 29:13; Mat 15:14

TSK: 2Ki 17:29

made gods : Psa 115:4-8, Psa 135:15-18; Isa 44:9-20; Jer 10:3-5; Hos 8:5, Hos 8:6; Mic 4:5; Rom 1:23

TSK: 2Ki 17:30

Babylon : 2Ki 17:24

Succoth benoth : Succoth benoth , literally ""the tents of the daughters."

Cuth : Cuth is probably the Cush watered by the Gihon, or Araxes, now Aras (Gen 2:13), the ancient country of the Scythians, where we meet with the Quitians, Coethians, or Coete, and Cytheans, and the cities of Cotatis, Cetemane, Cythanum, Cyta, Cethena, etc.

Nergal : Supposed to denote the solar orb; the emblem of which, according to the Rabbins, was a cock.

Ashima : Jarchi says this idol was of the form of a goat.

TSK: 2Ki 17:31

the Avites : 2Ki 17:24; Ezr 4:9

Nibhaz : Supposed to be the same as the Anubis of the Egyptians; and was in form partly a dog and partly a man.

burnt their children : 2Ki 17:17; Lev 18:21; Deu 12:28, Deu 12:31

TSK: 2Ki 17:32

made unto themselves : 1Ki 12:31, 1Ki 13:33

the houses : 2Ki 17:29, 2Ki 23:19; 1Ki 13:31

TSK: 2Ki 17:33

They feared : 2Ki 17:41; 1Ki 18:21; Hos 10:2; Zep 1:5; Mat 6:24; Luk 16:13

whom they carried : etc. or, who carried them away from thence, The new inhabitants of the land imitated the idolatrous Israelites, by associating their idols with Jehovah, as the objects of worship. The remainder, however, of the verses seem to relate to the Israelites after they were carried captive. They still persevered in idolatry and disobedience; and not being purified, were left to be consumed in the furnace. It is said that the Israelites ""did not fear the Lord,""yet the heathens, who followed their example, are said ""to have feared the Lord.""The Israelites did not so much as fear the wrath of Almighty God; but, on the other hand, the poor pagans feared the power of his wrath, and to avert it paid some ignorant worship, according to the wretched instructions given them. As this was an external acknowledgment of his power and Godhead, and a homage paid to him, he was pleased in consequence to withdraw his judgments from them. - Scott

TSK: 2Ki 17:34

fear not : 2Ki 17:25, 2Ki 17:27, 2Ki 17:28, 2Ki 17:33

whom he named Israel : Gen 32:28, Gen 33:20, Gen 35:10; 1Ki 11:31, 1Ki 18:11; Isa 48:1

TSK: 2Ki 17:35

With whom : 2Ki 17:15; Exo 19:5, Exo 19:6, Exo 24:6-8; Deu 29:10-15; Jer 31:31-34; Heb 8:6-13

charged them : Exo 20:4, Exo 20:5, Exo 34:12-17; Deu 4:23-27, 13:1-18; Jos 23:7, Jos 23:16

fear other gods : Jdg 6:10; Jer 10:5

TSK: 2Ki 17:36

a stretched : Exo 6:6, Exo 9:15; Deu 5:15; Jer 32:21; Act 4:30

him shall ye fear : Lev 19:32; Deu 6:13, Deu 10:20, Deu 12:5, Deu 12:6, Deu 12:11, Deu 12:12; Mat 10:28; Rev 15:4

TSK: 2Ki 17:37

the statutes : Lev 19:37; Deu 4:44, Deu 4:45, Deu 5:31-33, Deu 6:1, Deu 6:2, Deu 12:32; 1Ch 29:19; Psa 19:8-11; Psa 105:44, Psa 105:45

wrote for you : Deu 31:9, Deu 31:11; Neh 9:13, Neh 9:14

and ye shall not : 2Ki 17:35

TSK: 2Ki 17:38

ye shall not forget : Deu 4:23, Deu 6:12, Deu 8:14-18

TSK: 2Ki 17:39

the Lord : 2Ki 17:36; 1Sa 12:24; Isa 8:12-14; Jer 10:7; Mat 10:28; Luk 1:50

he shall deliver : Neh 9:27; Luk 1:71, Luk 1:74, Luk 1:75

TSK: 2Ki 17:40

they did not : Jer 13:23

but they did : 2Ki 17:8, 2Ki 17:12, 2Ki 17:34; Deu 4:28

TSK: 2Ki 17:41

these nations : 2Ki 17:32, 2Ki 17:33; Jos 24:14-20; 1Ki 18:21; Zep 1:5; Mat 6:24; Rev 3:15, Rev 3:16

unto this day : Ezr 4:1-3

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: 2Ki 17:17

Compare 2Ki 16:3 note, and see Lev 20:2-5 note.

Barnes: 2Ki 17:19

This verse and the next are parenthetical. Here again, as in 2Ki 17:13, the writer is led on from his account of the sins and punishment of the Israelites to glance at the similar sins and similar punishment of the Jews.

It was the worst reproach which could be urged against any Jewish king, that he "walked in the way of the kings of Israel"2Ki 8:18; 2Ki 16:3; 2Ch 21:6; 2Ch 28:2. The Baal worship is generally the special sin at which the phrase is leveled; but the meaning here seems to be wider. Compare Mic 6:16.

Barnes: 2Ki 17:20

All the seed of lsrael - The Jews, i. e. as well as the Israelites. God’ s dealings with both kingdoms were alike. "Spoilers"were sent against each, time after time, before the final ruin came on them - against Israel, Pul and Tiglath-pileser 2Ki 15:19, 2Ki 15:29; 1Ch 5:26; against Judah, Sennacherib 2Ki 18:13-16, Esar-haddon 2Ch 33:11, and Nebuchadnezzar thrice.

Barnes: 2Ki 17:21

The strong expression "drave Israel"is an allusion to the violent measures whereto Jeroboam had recourse in order to stop the efflux into Judea of the more religious portion of his subjects 2Ch 11:13-16, the calling in of Shishak, and the permanent assumption of a hostile attitude toward the southern kingdom.

Barnes: 2Ki 17:23

As he had said by all his servants the prophets - The writer refers not only to the extant prophecies of Moses (Lev 26:33; Deu 4:26-27; Deu 28:36, etc.), Ahijah the Shilohite (marginal reference), Hosea Hos 9:3, Hos 9:17, and Amos Amo 7:17, but also to the entire series of warnings and predictions which prophet after prophet in a long unbroken succession had addressed to the disobedient Israelites 2Ki 17:13 on their apostasy, and so leaving them wholly "without excuse"(see the 2Ki 17:13 note).

Unto this day - The words, taken in combination with the rest of the chapter, distinctly show that the Israelites had not returned to their land by the time of the composition of the Books of Kings. They show nothing as to their ultimate fate. But, on the whole, it would seem probable:

(1) that the ten tribes never formed a community in their exile, but were scattered from the first; and

(2) that their descendants either blended with the pagan and were absorbed, or returned to Palestine with Zerubbabel and Ezra, or became inseparable united with the dispersed Jews in Mesopotamia and the adjacent countries.

No discovery, therefore, of the ten tribes is to be expected, nor can works written to prove their identity with any existing race or body of persons be regarded as anything more than ingenious exercitations.

Barnes: 2Ki 17:24

Sargon is probably the king of Assyria intended, not (as generally supposed) either Shalmaneser or Esar-haddon.

The ruins of Cutha have been discovered about 15 miles northeast of Babylon, at a place which is called Ibrahim, because it is the traditional site of a contest between Abraham and Nimrod. The name of Cuilia is found on the bricks of this place, which are mostly of the era of Nebuchadnezzar. The Assyrian inscriptions show that the special god of Cutha was Nergal (see the 2Ki 17:30 note).

Ava or Ivah or Ahava Ezr 8:15 was on the Euphrates; perhaps the city in ancient times called Ihi or Aia, between Sippara (Sepharvaim) and Hena (Anah).

On Hamath, see 1Ki 8:65 note.

Sepharvaim or Sippara is frequently mentioned in the Assyrian inscriptions under the name of Tsipar (2Ki 17:31 note). The dual form of the Hebrew name is explained by the fact that the town lay on both sides of the river. Its position is marked by the modern village of Mosaib, about 20 miles from the ruins of Babylon up the course of the stream.

The towns mentioned in this verse were, excepting Hamath, conquered by Sargon in his twelfth year, 709 B.C.; and it cannot have been until this time, or a little later, that the transplantation here recorded took place. Hamath had revolted, and been conquered by Sargon in his first year, shortly after the conquest of Samaria.

Instead of the children of Israel - This does not mean that the whole population of Samaria was carried off (compare 2Ch 34:9). The writer here, by expressly confining the new-comers to the "cities of Samaria,"seems to imply that the country districts were in other hands.

Barnes: 2Ki 17:25

The depopulation of the country, insufficiently remedied by the influx of foreigners, had the natural consequence of multiplying the wild beasts and making them bolder. Probably a certain number had always lurked in the jungle along the course of the Jordan Jer 49:19; Jer 50:44; and these now ventured into the hill country, and perhaps even into the cities. The colonists regarded their sufferings from the lions as a judgment upon them from "the god of the land"(2Ki 17:26; compare 1Ki 20:23 note).

Barnes: 2Ki 17:27

Carry one of the priests ...; let them go and dwell there, and let him teach - The double change of number is curious; but rise text needs no emendation. The priest would require to be accompanied by assistants, who would "go and dwell,"but would not be qualified to "teach."The arcana of the worship would be known to none excepting the priests who had ministered at the two national sanctuaries of Dan and Bethel.

Barnes: 2Ki 17:28

The priest sent to the colonists was not a true Yahweh-priest, but one of those who had been attached to the calf-worship, probably at Bethel. Hence, he would be willing to tolerate the mixed religion, which a true Yahweh-priest would have unsparingly condemned.

Barnes: 2Ki 17:29

The "Samaritans"here are the Israelites. The temples built by them at the high places 1Ki 12:31; 1Ki 13:32 had remained standing at the time of their departure. They were now occupied by the new-comers, who set up their own worship in the old sanctuaries.

Barnes: 2Ki 17:30

Succoth-benoth probably represents a Babylonian goddess called Zir-banit, the wife of Merodach. She and her husband were, next to Bel and Beltis, the favorite divinities of the Babylonians.

Nergal, etymologically "the great man,"or "the great hero,"was the Babylonian god of war and hunting. His name forms an element in the Babylonian royal appellation, Nergal-shar-ezar or Neriglissar. The Assyrian inscriptions connect Nergal in a very special way with Cutha, of which he was evidently the tutelary deity.

Ashima is ingeniously conjectured to be the same as Esmun, the AEsculapius of the Cabiri or "great gods"of the Phoenicians.

Barnes: 2Ki 17:31

Nibhaz and Tartak are either gods of whom no other notice has come down to us, or intentional corruptions of the Babylonian names Nebo and Tir, the great god of Borsippa, who was the tutelar deity of so many Babylonian kings. The Jews, in their scorn and contempt of polytheism, occasionally and purposely altered, by way of derision, the names of the pagan deities. Anammelech is possibly an instance of the same contemptuous play upon words.

Adrammelech, "the glorious king,"signifies the sun. The Assyrian inscriptions commonly designate Tsipar, or Sepharvaim 2Ki 17:24, "Sippara of the Sun."The title "Adrammelech"has not yet been found in the inscriptions hitherto; but it would plainly be a fitting epithet of the great luminary.

The sun-god of the Babylonians, Shamas, was united at Sippara and elsewhere with a sun-goddess, Anunit, whose name may be represented in the Anammelech of the text. The Hebrews, taking enough of this name to show what they meant, assimilated the termination to that of the male deity, thus producing a ridiculous effect, regarded as insulting to the gods in question.

Barnes: 2Ki 17:32

Of the lowest of them - Rather, "from all ranks."See marginal reference note.

Barnes: 2Ki 17:33

Understand the passage thus: "They (the colonists) served their own gods after the manner of the nations from which they (the government) removed them,"i. e., after the manner of their own countrymen at home.

Barnes: 2Ki 17:34

They fear not the Lord - The new-comers in one sense feared Yahweh 2Ki 17:33, 2Ki 17:41. They acknowledged His name, admitted Him among their gods, and kept up His worship at the high place at Bethel according to the rites instituted by Jeroboam 2Ki 17:28. But in another sense they did not fear Him. To acknowledge Yahweh together with other gods is not really to acknowledge Him at all.

Barnes: 2Ki 17:37

Which he wrote for you - It is worth observing here, first, that the author regards the whole Law as given to the Israelites in a written form; and secondly, that he looks on the real writer as God.

Barnes: 2Ki 17:41

Their graven images - The Babylonians appear to have made a very sparing use of animal forms among their religious emblems. They represented the male Sun, Shamas, by a circle, plain or crossed; the female Sun, Anunit, by a six-rayed or eight-rayed star; Nebo by a single wedge or arrow-head, the fundamental element of their writing; the god of the atmosphere by a double or triple thunderbolt. The gods generally were represented under human forms. A few of them had, in addition, animal emblems - the lion, the bull, the eagle, or the serpent; but these seem never to have been set up for worship in temples. There was nothing intentionally grotesque in the Babylonian religion, as there was in the Egyptian and Phoenician.

So do they unto this day - The mixed worship, the union of professed reverence for Yahweh with the grossest idolatry, continued to the time of the composition of this book, which must have been as late as 561 B.C., or, at any rate, as late as 580 B.C. 2Ki 25:27. It did not, however, continue much longer. When the Samaritans wished to join the Jews in rebuilding the temple (about 537 B.C.), they showed that inclination to draw nearer to the Jewish cult which henceforth marked their religious progress. Long before the erection of a temple to Yahweh on Mount Gerizim (409 B.C.) they had laid aside all their idolatrous rites, and, admitting the binding authority of the Pentateuch, had taken upon them the observance of the entire Law.

Poole: 2Ki 17:17

Sold themselves to do evil of which phrase See Poole "1Ki 21:20" .

Poole: 2Ki 17:18

Out of his sight i.e. out of Canaan, the only place of God’ s solemn worship and gracious presence; or, out of his church.

The tribe of Judah only and the greatest part of the tribe of Benjamin, and those of the tribes of Simeon and Levi, who adhered to them, and were incorporated with them; and therefore very fitly denominated from them: See Poole "1Ki 11:13" .

Poole: 2Ki 17:19

Judah’ s idolatry and wickedness is here remembered, as an aggravation of the sin of the Israelites, which was not only evil in itself but scandalous and mischievous to their neighbour, who by heir examples were instructed in their wicked arts, and provoked to an imitation of them: see Hos 4:15 , and compare Mat 18:7 .

Poole: 2Ki 17:20

All the seed of Israel i.e. all the kingdom or tribes of Israel; first one part of them, 2Ki 15:29 , and now the rest. But this extends not to every individual person of these tribes; for many of them removed into the kingdom of Judah, and were associated with them, as appears from 2Ch 11:16 , and many other places.

Poole: 2Ki 17:21

They made Jeroboam king which action is here ascribed to the people, because they would not tarry till God, by his providence, had invested Jeroboam with the kingdom which he had promised him; but rashly, and unthankfully, and rebelliously rose up against the house of David, to which they had such great obligations, and set him upon the throne without God’ s leave or advice.

Jeroboam drave Israel from following the Lord he not only dissuaded, but kept them by force from God’ s worship at Jerusalem, the only place appointed for it.

A great sin so the worship of the calves is called, to meet with that idle conceit of the Israelites, who esteemed it a small sin, especially when they were forced to it by severe penalties; which yet he shows did not excuse it from being a sin, and a great sin too.

Poole: 2Ki 17:22

But willingly and resolutely followed the wicked example and commands of their kings, though contrary to God’ s express commands.

Poole: 2Ki 17:23

The Lord removed Israel out of his sight: they continued to the last obstinate and incorrigible under all the instructions and corrections which God sent to them; and therefore were most justly given up by God into this dreadful captivity; which all this foregoing discourse was designed to prove.

Poole: 2Ki 17:24

The king of Assyria either Shalmaneser, or rather his son and successor, Esar-haddon, Ezr 4:2 , because this was a work of some time; and as his father had projected, and possibly begun this, so he executed or finished it; whence it is ascribed to him, rather than to his father. Babylon then was subject to the Assyrian monarch; but a few years after revolted from him, and set up another king; as appears both from sacred and profane histories.

Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim ; several places then in his dominion.

Poole: 2Ki 17:25

They feared not the Lord they did not acknowledge nor worship God in any sort.

Therefore for this gross neglect and contempt of God, which was contrary to the principles and practices of the heathens, who used to worship the gods of the nations where they lived, and gave that honour to their false gods which here they denied to the true. Hereby also God asserted his own right and sovereignty over that land, and made them to understand that neither the Israelites were cast out nor they brought into that land by their valour or strength, but by God’ s providence, who as he had cast the Israelites out for their neglect of God’ s service, so both could and would in his due time turn them out also, if they were guilty of the same sins.

Poole: 2Ki 17:26

They spake i.e. they wrote, or sent messengers to him for relief.

Know not the manner of the God of the land they supposed the true God to be like one of their topical deities, who had their particular countries and provinces allotted to them.

Poole: 2Ki 17:27

One of the priests i.e. one of the chief of the priests, with others, to be under his inspection and direction, as may be gathered from the following words; where it is said of the same person, or persons,

let them go & c., and then,

let him teach & c. Nor is it probable that one priest could suffice for the instruction of the inhabitants of so many and distant parts.

Poole: 2Ki 17:28

i.e. The manner of God’ s worship, as it was practised in Israel; as may be gathered both from the quality of this person, who was all Israelitish priest; and from the place of his residence, Beth-el, a place infamous for the worship of the calves, and from the manner of their making priests by this man’ s direction, 2Ki 17:32 .

Poole: 2Ki 17:29

Made gods of their own or, worshipped , (as that verb is sometimes used; of which see Exo 32:35 ) i.e. those whom they worshipped in the places from whence they came, whose names here follow.

The Samaritans i.e. the former people, or inhabitants, not of the city, but of the kingdom of Samaria.

Poole: 2Ki 17:32

Of the lowest of them priests of the high places: See Poole "1Ki 12:31".

Which sacrificed for them to wit, unto the true God; for as to the worship of their own gods, they needed no instruction, and would not permit a person of another religion to minister therein.

Poole: 2Ki 17:33

They feared the Lord they worshipped God externally in that way which the Israelites used.

Served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence: these words belong, either,

1. To both the foregoing branches, and to the Israelites; and then the sense is, they trod in the steps of their predecessors, the Israelites, (who, in regard of their several tribes, are both here and elsewhere called nations,) who did, many of them, worship both God in their calves, and Baal too. Or,

2. To the last branch only; but then the words must be otherwise rendered, they served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from which they brought, or carried them, or from whence they (these new inhabitants) were brought, i.e. each of them served the god of the country or place whence he was brought, as is related above, 2Ki 17:30,31 . But these nations could not so properly be said to be carried away , or to be carried away captive , (as this Hebrew word signifies,) as the Israelites; and therefore the former interpretation seems more proper.

Poole: 2Ki 17:34

Unto this day they do either,

1. The Samaritans, whose religion he hath hitherto been describing, and to the description whereof he returns, 2Ki 17:41 . So the following verses are a digression, wherein he designs only to take an occasion to compare them with the Israelites, and to aggravate the sins of the Israelites above theirs, which he doth, 2Ki 17:35 , &c., and then returns to the former description, 2Ki 17:41 . Or rather,

2. The Israelites, who are the principal subjects of this whole discourse; and of whom he unquestionably speaks, 2Ki 17:35 , and thence to 2Ki 17:41 , of whom also the last words of 2Ki 17:33 are to be understood; and from thence he takes an occasion to return to his main business, to relate and aggravate the sins of Israel, and thereby to justify his severe proceedings against them to all the world. So the sense of the place is this, As the Israelites before their captivity gave these nations an ill example, in serving the Lord and Baal together; so, or after their former manner, they do unto this day , in the land of their captivity. They fear not the Lord ; though they pretended to fear and serve both the Lord and idols, yet in truth they did not, and do not fear or worship the Lord, but their own calves, or other vain inventions; and God will not accept that mongrel and false worship, which they pretend to give to the true God. Or this may intimate that the Israelites were worse than their successors, because these feared the Lord and idols too; but they did quite cast off the fear and worship of God in their captivity, and wholly degenerate into heathenish idolatry. Their statutes , i.e. God’ s law delivered to their fathers, and to them, as their inheritance, Psa 119:111 . This is alleged as an evidence that they did not fear the Lord, whatsoever they pretended because they lived in the constant breach of his statutes. The children of Jacob , i.e. themselves; the noun put for the pronoun; which is usual among the Hebrews. Israel ; a name signifying his special interest in God, and power with him, which was given to him, not only for himself, but for his posterity also, whom God frequently honours with that name. And by this great favour he aggravates their sin.

Poole: 2Ki 17:35

A covenant containing many precious promises, upon the condition here following: see Gen 17:7 Exo 19:5 24:7 .

Poole: 2Ki 17:39

The Lord your God i.e. God alone, as the whole context shows.

He shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies and therefore you have no pretence of need to go to other gods for relief.

Poole: 2Ki 17:41

So i.e. in like manner, and after their example. These nations, who came in their stead.

Haydock: 2Ki 17:17

Fire. See chap. xvi. 3. ---

Delivered. Hebrew, "sold," 3 Kings xxi. 20., and 1 Machabees i. 16. (Calmet) ---

To provoke. This was the consequence of their wickedness. (Worthington)

Haydock: 2Ki 17:18

Sight, as objects of horror, cast away from the temple, and from the promised land. ---

Tribe, or kingdom. See 3 Kings xii. 20. Israel began to be rejected by God, when the schism took place. (Haydock) ---

It was entirely lost, when Salmanasar took the people into captivity. Some few were left; and these formed a part of the kingdom of Josias, on their returning to the service of the true God, (2 Paralipomenon xxiv. 6.) while others fled into Egypt, Osee viii. 13., and ix. 3. (Calmet)

Haydock: 2Ki 17:23

Day. If Esdras was the author of this book, as it is very probable, this observation would tend to show how much more favourably the Jews were treated than the kingdom of Israel, which was still, for the most part, in captivity. (Calmet)

Haydock: 2Ki 17:24

King, Assaraddon, who led away the remnants of Israel, and fulfilled the prediction, Isaias vii. 8. (Du Hamel) ---

Babylon, or the territory. These people had been lately conquered from the Babylonian empire, from Syria, &c. ---

Cutha: the greatest part were from this city; so that the Samaritans were afterwards called Cutheans. ---

Emath, on the Orontes. ---

Sepharvaim; or the Saspires, near Media. (Calmet) ---

We find several other places mentioned, 1 Esdras iv. 9. (Haydock)

Haydock: 2Ki 17:25

Lions. The Samaritan Chronicle says the fruits, though beautiful to the eye, were of a poisonous quality; and Josephus, as usual, ([Antiquities?] ix. 14.) alters the text, saying that the people were afflicted with pestilence, and the oracle being consulted, told them to worship the High God; on which account, they desired the king to send them a priest. (Calmet) ---

These nations had not been accustomed to fear the Lord in their own country; but God was more offended when they exercised their idolatrous worship in that land, which he had chosen in a particular manner for himself. (Menochius) ---

He suffers wickedness and infidelity to prevail to a certain point; but when his patience is exhausted, (Calmet) all nature fights for him against the wicked. (Haydock)

Haydock: 2Ki 17:26

King; Assar-adon, 1 Esdras iv. 2. They did not send as soon as they came into the country. ---

Land. They reason according to their false notions, as if a plurality of gods were not incompatible: and all would go on well, if each were served according to his will. On the same principle, they united the worship of the true God with that of idols, (Calmet) as had been done before by the Israelites. (Menochius) ---

Yet God having shewn that he could have forced them to comply, (Tostat) was pleased to remove the scourge; as if he preferred that imperfect worship rather than to suffer pure idolatry to reign. (Genebrard)

Haydock: 2Ki 17:27

Let him. Hebrew, Chaldean, Septuagint, "them go." Probably more went; but one was of superior dignity. He might have been priest of the golden calves, as none of the priests of Jerusalem had yet been taken. Hence he taught the Cutheans to join the worship of God with that of idols. Some think that no part of the Scripture was used among them, till the building of the temple by Sanballat, on Mount Garizim: (Le Quien, Antiquite. v. 13.) but this is extremely improbable. How should he pretend to teach the law without the books of Moses? (Haydock) ---

The Samaritans have retained the Pentateuch in the Phœnician character, while the Jews have insensibly adopted the Chaldee, during their captivity. On some occasions, these people have boasted of their descent from the patriarchs, John iv. 12., and 20. But in times of danger, they have confessed their true origin. (Josephus, [Antiquities?] ix. fin., and xii. 5.

Haydock: 2Ki 17:28

Bethel. Garizim was not then honoured with the temple, as the Samaritans would pretend. (Chronicles) They wished to join in building that at Jerusalem, under Esdras. (Calmet) ---

Lord. Collins would make us believe, that the Samaritans continued "for a long time" without the Pentateuch, and all "heathens for many ages." But the first supposition "is to me incredible," says Kennicott; and Hottinger himself allows, that the priests did bring back a copy of the law "exactly corresponding with the autograph of Moses." (Exert. p. 8.) And as for the Samaritans being heathens, Prideaux, whom this infidel writer quotes, (Haydock) says, "consistently with his Bible, that they continued in that gross idolatry of worshipping other gods in conjunction with the True; which last words are very unfairly omitted." (Kennicott, Diss. ii. p. 115.) ---

This was the true origin and state of this mixture of nations, who were sent to cultivate the lands of Samaria. (Haydock)

Haydock: 2Ki 17:29

Dwelt. This impure service did not deserve a mitigation of the late chastisement. But God often punishes in this world (Haydock) to manifest his glory, (John ix. 3.) and spares to display his power (Calmet) and goodness. (Haydock) ---

He had sufficiently convinced these nations of his dominion over all.

Haydock: 2Ki 17:30

Socoth-benoth, "the tents of young women," who prostituted themselves once in their lives at Babylon, in honour of Mylitta. (Herodotus ii. 199.) ---

Nergel, "light." (Calmet) ---

The Pyreia (Haydock) of the Persians are famous in history. (Strabo xv.) (Selden, Synt. ii. 8.) ---

Asima, like an ape, goat, &c. (Calmet)

Haydock: 2Ki 17:31

Hevites, who came from Ava. ---

Nebahaz. "Nebo the seeing, or living and possessing." Nebo was a famous idol of Babylon. ---

Tharthac; perhaps Sar, (prince) Sak, or Sesac, (Jeremias xxv. 26., and li. 41.) the sun, &c. ---

Adramelech, "the magnificent king," and Anamelech, "the king of clemency," may denote the sun and moon; as these were the divinities commonly adored in the East, under various names. The same victims were offered to these as to Moloc and Saturn; whence we may infer, that they were the same idols. St. Jerome translates the work of Eusebius on the Hebrews, (Calmet) and places without any disapprobation of his opinion, that Socoth-benoth, &c., were the names of towns, which the people built in Samaria. (Haydock)

Haydock: 2Ki 17:32

Worshipped, or appeared to worship: for true religion admits of no false god. (Worthington) ---

Lowest. This expression sometimes means the most noble. (Haydock) ---

But the priests were chosen from the midst of the people, without examination. They employed the priest, whom the king had sent for the worship of the true God, whilst others were appointed to serve the idols. (Calmet)

Haydock: 2Ki 17:34

His ceremonies. Hebrew, "they fear not the Lord, neither do they after their statutes." (Protestants) (Haydock) ---

This involves a sort of contradiction, unless we explain it of the Israelites; thought hey had not been mentioned before. There is a confusion in the original text; and ver. 41 seems to require that we should understand it in this manner, as the Cutheans could hardly be blamed for neglecting a thing of which they had before no knowledge. The Israelites are justly blamed for obstinately continuing in their prevarication, even in the midst of their captivity. The Syriac and Arabic translate, "The Israelites have been forced to leave their country, because they have abandoned the Lord; and they have not obeyed his laws, his precepts, and his ordinances, which he gave to," &c. Many adopt this explanation. (Junius; Vatable, &c.) (Calmet) ---

Septuagint make these people unite the true and the false worship, as ver. 41. "They did according to their judgment. These fear, and do according to their justifications ( Greek: dikaiomata ) and decision; and according to the law," &c. (Haydock)

Gill: 2Ki 17:17

And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire,.... To Baal or Moloch, which were the same, and represented the sun, which, as the above writer observes, presides in the element of fire; this was done either by way of lustration, or so as to be burnt, see 2Ki 16:3.

and used divination and enchantments: to get knowledge of what was to be done at present, or of things to come, neglecting the word of God and his prophets, and acting against the express law of God, Deu 18:10.

and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger; as Ahab their king did, see 1Ki 21:20, they were as much the servants of sin as if they had sold themselves to be slaves to it.

Gill: 2Ki 17:18

Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel,.... Nothing being more provoking to him than idolatry:

and removed them out of his sight; not out of the reach of his all seeing eye, but from all tokens of his favour, from the good land he had given them, and all the benefits and privileges of it:

there was none left but the tribe of Judah only; and part of Benjamin, which was annexed to it, and incorporated in it, and made one kingdom, and maintained the same worship; and there was the lot of Simeon, which was within the tribe of Judah; and the priests and the Levites, and various individuals of the several tribes, that came and settled among them for the sake of worship; but no perfect, distinct, tribe besides.

Gill: 2Ki 17:19

Also Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God,.... But were infected with the idolatry of the ten tribes, and drawn into it by their example, and persisted therein, notwithstanding what befell the ten tribes; which are aggravations of the sins of them both, see Jer 3:7,

but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made; worshipping the calves as they did, particularly in the times of Ahaz, he setting the example, see 2Ki 16:3.

Gill: 2Ki 17:20

And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel,.... The ten tribes, with loathing and contempt, and wrote a "loammi" on them, rejected them from being his people, gave them a bill of divorce, and declared them no more under his care and patronage:

and afflicted them; as he did before he utterly cast them off, as by famine, drought, and pestilence, Amo 4:6.

and delivered them into the hands of spoilers; as, first, into the hands of Hazael and Benhadad, kings of Syria, and then of Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, 2Ki 13:3,

until he had cast them out of his sight; by suffering them, as now, to be carried captive by Shalmaneser, 2Ki 17:6.

Gill: 2Ki 17:21

For he rent Israel from the house of David,.... In the times of Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when ten tribes revolted from him, signified by the rending of a garment in twelve pieces, ten of which were given to Jeroboam; and it is here ascribed to the Lord, being according to his purpose and decree, and which was brought about by his providence, agreeably to a prophecy of his, see 1Ki 11:30.

and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king; of themselves, without consulting the Lord and his prophets; and which was resented by him, though it was his will, and he had foretold it, that Jeroboam should be king, see Hos 8:4.

and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the Lord; forbidding them to go up to Jerusalem to worship; the Targum is,

"made them to err:"

and made them sin a great sin; obliging them to worship the calves he set up.

Gill: 2Ki 17:22

For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did,.... They observed his injunction, not to go to Jerusalem to worship, and they worshipped the calves he did:

they departed not from them: in all succeeding reigns, until the time of their captivity.

Gill: 2Ki 17:23

Until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight,.... Suffered them to be carried captive into the land of Assyria:

as he had said by all his servants the prophets; by Hosea, Amos, Micah, and others; see their prophecies, and also 1Ki 13:32,

so was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria, unto this day; the time of the writing this book; nor have they returned unto our days, nearly 2,800 years later.

Gill: 2Ki 17:24

And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon,.... Which was at this time under the dominion of the king of Assyria; though in a little time after this it revolted, and had a king of its own, 2Ki 20:12, this king of Assyria was either Shalmaneser, who carried Israel captive, or it may be rather his son Esarhaddon, see Ezr 4:2,

and from Cuthah; which, according to Josephus ^k, was a city in Persia, where was a river of the same name; but it was rather a place in Erech, in the country of Babylon; see Gill on Gen 10:10,

and from Ava; the same with Ivah, Isa 37:13, where perhaps a colony of the Avim had settled, Deu 2:23.

and from Hamath; a city of Syria, which lay on the northern borders of the land of Canaan, Num 34:8

and from Sepharvaim; thought by some to be the Sippara of Ptolemy, or the Sippareni of Abydenus, in Mesopotamia; though Vitringa takes it to be a city in Syro-Phoenicia; see Gill on Isa 36:19,

and placed them in the cities of Samaria, instead of the children of Israel; not in Samaria, which was now destroyed, according to the prophecy in Mic 1:6 as Abarbinel and other Jewish writers note:

and they possessed Samaria; as an inheritance; sowed it with corn, and planted vineyards there:

and dwelt in the cities thereof; in the several parts of the kingdom.

Gill: 2Ki 17:25

And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord,.... Did not serve him in any manner, but their idols only, which they brought with them; whereas it was usual with Heathens to serve the gods of the country, as they reputed them, where they came, along with their own; but even this those men did not do:

therefore the Lord sent lions among them; even into their cities, into which lions sometimes came ^l, especially when old, out of the thickets of Jordan and other places where they haunted, see Jer 49:19.

which slew some of them; this the Lord did to assert his sovereignty, authority, and mighty power, and to let them know that he could as easily clear the land of them, as they, by his permission, had cleared the land of the Israelites, Josephus ^m calls this a plague that was sent among them.

Gill: 2Ki 17:26

Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria,.... In letters, or by messengers they sent unto him:

saying, the nations which thou hast removed; from different places before mentioned:

and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land; taking Jehovah the God of Israel to be a topical deity, limited peculiarly to the land of Israel, whereas he was the God of the whole earth; a like notion obtained among the Syrians, see 1Ki 20:28 now they say they know not his "manner" or "judgment" ⁿ, the laws, statutes, ordinances, and judgments, according to which he was worshipped by the people of Israel:

therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them; they perceived it was not a common case, nor could they impute it to any second cause, as want of food with the lions, &c. but the hand of a superior Being was in it: and they could think of no other reason, but

because they know not the manner of the God of the land; how he was to be worshipped; and because they did not worship him, and knew not how to do it, it was resented in this manner by him.

Gill: 2Ki 17:27

Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying,.... Gave the following orders and directions:

carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; for they carried away all the people of every class, civil and religious:

and let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land; it is in the plural number, "let them go", &c. ^o; there might be more priests than one ordered, or, however, others, to attend and assist him in his work; the Jews say ^p, two were sent to circumcise them, and teach them the book of the law; and they give their names, Dosthai, or Dosithaeus, and Zachariah; and Josephus ^q says, the people desired that priests might be sent to them of the captives.

Gill: 2Ki 17:28

Then one of the priests whom, they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel,.... According to an Arabic writer ^r, his name was Uzziah; but Epiphanius ^s says his name was Esdras; but he wrongly makes him to be sent by Nebuchadnezzar, thirty years after the captivity of the Jews in Babylon: this priest was, doubtless, one of the priests of the calves; for there were none else in the kingdom of Israel carried captive, and as seems also by his choosing to dwell in Bethel, where probably he formerly dwelt, and officiated in the service of the calf there, and by teaching to make priests of the lowest order of the people, as Jeroboam's priests were, 2Ki 17:32.

and taught them how they should fear the Lord; serve and worship him; he might not teach them the worship of the calves, that being a political business, and now no end to be answered by it; and besides, they were now carried out of the land. This priest taught, no doubt, according to the law of Moses, but was not the author of the Pentateuch; which ridiculous conceit of Le Clerc is sufficiently exposed by Witsius ^t.

Gill: 2Ki 17:29

Howbeit, every nation made gods of their own,.... Served and worshipped those they brought with them, and which were the work of their own hands, even the nations, or those out of the nations, mentioned 2Ki 17:24 these, notwithstanding the instructions they had about the worship of the God of Israel, retained and served their own deities: and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt; as the Israelites had built high places everywhere for idolatry, and put images in them, 2Ki 17:9 these Heathens placed their gods there in the room of them, which were as follow.

Gill: 2Ki 17:30

And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth,.... That is, those that came from Babylon made and served an idol of this name, which, according to the Jewish writers ^u, were the figures of an hen and chickens; but others suppose them to be the Pleiades, or seven stars, the stars being had in great veneration by the Babylonians; though others rather think those Succothbenoth, "tabernacles", or "booths of the daughters", as the words may be rendered, have respect to the apartments in the temple of Venus, or Mylitta with the Babylonians and Assyrians, in which women once in their lives prostituted themselves to whomsoever asked them, in honour of Venus; of which filthy practice of theirs Herodotus ^w makes mention; and Valerius Maximus speaks ^x of a temple of Sicca Venus, which is near in sound to this, where the like impurities were committed:

and the men of Cuth made Nergal; which, according to the Jews, was in the likeness of a cock; but others, because the first part of the word signifies a lamp, suppose fire is meant, worshipped by the Persians, from whom it is thought these men came; but rather the word signifies, as Hillerus ^y observes, the fountain of light, and denotes the sun, worshipped by the Babylonians, Cuth being a province of theirs; from hence one of the princes of Babylon had part of his name, Jer 39:3.

and the men of Hamath made Ashima; which, the Jews say, was in the form of a goat, without any wool on it, or an ape ^z; but according to Hillerus ^a, with the Arabs, Ashima is the name of a lion, a symbol of the sun, under which form it might be worshipped; unless Ashima is the same with Shamaim, the heavens, worshipped by the Heathens; we read of the Ashemath of Samaria, by which they swore, Amo 8:14, though that was before these men came thither.

Gill: 2Ki 17:31

And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak,.... The former of which is represented by the Jews in the shape of a dog, deriving the word from "nabach", to bark, as if it was the same with the Anubis Latrator of Virgil ^b, an Egyptian deity; though that is said ^c to have its name from NOeb, which in the Egyptian language signifies "gold", the statutes of it being made of gold; and the latter in the form of an ass, for what reason I cannot say; but the first word, according to Hillerus ^d, signifies, "the remote one seeth", that is, the sun, which beholds all things; and Tartak is a chain, and may denote the fixed stars chained as it were in their places; or the satellites of the planets, chained to their orbs:

and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and to Anammelech the gods of Sepharvaim; which were the same with Moloch; which may be concluded, partly from the worship paid them, and partly from the signification of their names; both end with "melech", king, which Moloch also signifies; the first may be interpreted the mighty king, and the latter the king that answers in an oracular way; from the first, one of the sons of Sennacherib king of Assyria had his name, Isa 37:36, though the Jews, according to their fancy, represent the one in the likeness of a mule, and the other in the likeness of a horse; and some make the one to be a peacock, and the other a pheasant ^e; the Septuagint version puts the article before them in the feminine gender, excepting the two last, taking them for she deities, or leaving the word εικονα, "images", to be understood.

Gill: 2Ki 17:32

So they feared the Lord,.... Worshipped the God of Israel in the manner they were taught:

and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places; these were made after the manner of Jeroboam's priests, 1Ki 12:31, and were to sacrifice to the God of Israel in the high places, and temples built there; for otherwise they had, no doubt, priests of their own to sacrifice to their gods, and which they brought with them.

Gill: 2Ki 17:33

They feared the Lord, and served their own gods,.... Worshipped both:

after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence; the Israelites, whom they had carried captive from Samaria; they worshipped the Lord in their idols, as they did, who pretended to worship God in the calves; so they worshipped the supreme God in and by their idols, and made use of them as mediators with him.

Gill: 2Ki 17:34

Unto this day they do after the former manners,.... Which may be understood either of the new colonies in Samaria doing after the former customs in their own land, or after the customs of the idolatrous Israelites; or of the Israelites in captivity continuing in their idolatry, not being in the least reformed by their troubles; or of such of them as were left in the land, who repented not of their idolatries, nor reformed from them:

they fear not the Lord; did not worship him, at least not alone, and much less in a spiritual manner, with reverence and godly fear:

neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel; that is, they did not observe the statutes and ordinances of the law given on Mount Sinai respecting religious worship, to act according to them.

Gill: 2Ki 17:35

With whom the Lord had made a covenant,.... As he did at Sinai, 2Ki 17:15.

and charged them, saying, ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them; all which is contained in the first and second commandments of the law.

Gill: 2Ki 17:36

But the Lord, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt, with a great power, and a stretched out arm,.... Which is observed, to show the obligations they lay under, in point of gratitude, to serve the Lord:

him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice: and him only, and not other gods; none but he being the object of religious fear and divine worship, and to whom sacrifices should be offered.

Gill: 2Ki 17:37

And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment which he wrote for you,.... On the two tables of stone:

ye shall observe to do for evermore; those commands relating to religious worship, especially the object of it, and to moral duties, being of eternal obligation; and all other statutes and ordinances of a ceremonial kind he ordered to be written for them, being such that they were to regard until the Messiah came, and a new world began:

and ye shall not fear other gods; which is repeated, that it might be observed, as it also afterwards is.

Gill: 2Ki 17:38

And the covenant that I have made with you, ye shall not forget,.... The law given at Mount Sinai; the first table of which chiefly concerned the worship of the one true and living God, and forbid the worship of any other, as follows:

neither shall ye fear other gods; or make them the object of worship.

Gill: 2Ki 17:39

But the Lord your God ye shall fear,.... Or worship him, both internally and externally, according to his revealed will; for the fear of God includes both internal and external worship:

and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies; that is, provided they feared and served him as he required, and it became them to do.

Gill: 2Ki 17:40

Howbeit, they did not hearken, but did after their former manner. They did not repent of their idolatries, but persisted in them, and even when they were in captivity in Assyria, or such of them as were left in the land.

Gill: 2Ki 17:41

So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images,.... Just in like manner as the Israelites had done, who served the Lord and the calves, and worshipped God and Baal:

both their children, and their children's children; that is, the children and children's children of the Samaritans:

as did their fathers, so do they unto this day; to the writing of this book, which some ascribe to Jeremiah, to whose times, and even longer, they continued this mixed and mongrel worship, for the space of three hundred years, to the times of Alexander the great, of whom Sanballat, governor of Samaria, got leave to build a temple, on Gerizim, for his son-in-law Manasseh, of which he became priest; and the Samaritans were prevailed upon to relinquish their idolatry, and to worship only the God of Israel; and yet it seems but ignorantly, and not without superstition, to the times of Christ, Joh 4:22.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 2Ki 17:17

¹ sn See the note at 2 Kgs 16:3.

² tn Heb “they sold themselves to doing what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, angering him.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 17:18

¹ tn Heb “very angry.”

² tn Heb “turned them away from his face.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 17:19

¹ tn Heb “they walked in the practices of Israel which they did.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 17:20

¹ tn Or “afflicted.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 17:21

¹ tn Heb “and they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king.”

² tc The consonantal text (Kethib) assumes the verb is נָדָא (nada’), an alternate form of נָדָה (nadah), “push away.” The marginal reading (Qere) assumes the verb נָדָח (nadakh), “drive away.”

³ tn Heb “a great sin.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 17:22

¹ tn Heb “turn away from.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 17:23

¹ tn Heb “until.”

² tn Heb “the Lord turned Israel away from his face.”

³ tn Heb “just as he said.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 17:24

¹ tn The object is supplied in the translation.

² sn In vv. 24-29 Samaria stands for the entire northern kingdom of Israel.

NET Notes: 2Ki 17:25

¹ tn Heb “in the beginning of their living there.”

² tn Heb “fear.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 17:26

¹ tn Heb “and they said to the king of Assyria, saying.” The plural subject of the verb is indefinite.

² tn Heb “Look they are killing them.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 17:27

¹ tc The second plural subject may refer to the leaders of the Assyrian army. However, some prefer to read “whom I deported,” changing the verb to a first person singular form with a third masculine plural pronominal suffix. This reading has some support from Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic witnesses.

² tc Heb “and let them go and let them live there, and let him teach them the requirements of the God of the land.” The two plural verbs seem inconsistent with the preceding and following contexts, where only one priest is sent back to Samaria. The singular has the support of Greek, Syriac, and Latin witnesses.

NET Notes: 2Ki 17:28

¹ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

² tn Heb “fear.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 17:29

¹ sn The verb “make” refers to the production of idols. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 210-11.

² tn Heb “Samaritans.” This refers to the Israelites who had been deported from the land.

NET Notes: 2Ki 17:30

¹ sn No deity is known by the name Succoth Benoth in extant Mesopotamian literature. For speculation as to the identity of this deity, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 211.

² sn Nergal was a Mesopotamian god of the underworld.

³ sn This deity is unknown in extra-biblical literature. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 211-12.

NET Notes: 2Ki 17:31

¹ sn Nibhaz and Tartak were two Elamite deities. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 212.

² sn Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of the Sepharvaim are unknown in extra-biblical literature. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 212.

NET Notes: 2Ki 17:32

¹ tn Heb “feared.”

² tn Heb “and they appointed for themselves from their whole people priests for the high places and they were serving for them in the house[s] of the high places.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 17:33

¹ tn Heb “fearing.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 17:34

¹ tn Heb “fear.”

² tn Heb “commanded.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 17:35

¹ tn Or “covenant.”

² sn That is, the descendants of Jacob/Israel (see v. 35b).

NET Notes: 2Ki 17:36

¹ tn Heb “and outstretched arm.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 17:40

¹ sn This refers to the foreigners whom the king of Assyria settled in the land (see v. 35a).

Geneva Bible: 2Ki 17:17

And they caused their sons and their daughters to ^{( h )} pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and ^{( i )} sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

^{( h )} Read (2Ki 16:3).

^{( i )} Read of this phrase in (1Ki 21:20, 1Ki 21:25).

Geneva Bible: 2Ki 17:18

Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah ^{( k )} only.

^{( k )} No whole tribe was left but Judah, and they of Benjamin and Levi who remained were counted with Judah.

Geneva Bible: 2Ki 17:20

And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his ^{( l )} sight.

^{( l )} Out of the land where he showed the greatest tokens of his presence and favour.

Geneva Bible: 2Ki 17:21

^{( m )} For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin.

^{( m )} That is, God cut off the ten tribes, (1Ki 12:16, 1Ki 12:20).

Geneva Bible: 2Ki 17:24

And the king of Assyria brought [men] from Babylon, and from ^{( n )} Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed [them] in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.

^{( n )} Of these people came the Samaritans, of which mention is so often made in the gospel, and with whom the Jews would have nothing to do, (Joh 4:9).

Geneva Bible: 2Ki 17:25

And [so] it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, [that] they ^{( o )} feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew [some] of them.

^{( o )} That is, they served him not: therefore, lest they should blaspheme him, as though there were no God, because he chastised the Israelites, he shows his mighty power among them by this strange punishment.

Geneva Bible: 2Ki 17:27

Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God ^{( p )} of the land.

^{( p )} That is, how to worship him: thus the wicked rather than losing their conveniences will change to all religions.

Geneva Bible: 2Ki 17:30

And the men of Babylon made ^{( q )} Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,

^{( q )} Meaning that every country served the idol that was most esteemed in the place to which they came.

Geneva Bible: 2Ki 17:33

They ^{( r )} feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.

^{( r )} That is, they had a certain knowledge of God, and feared him because of the punishment, but they continued to be idolaters as do the papists who worship both God and idols: but this is not to fear God, as appears in (2Ki 17:34).

Geneva Bible: 2Ki 17:34

Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after ^{( s )} their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;

^{( s )} He means by this the Israelites to whom God had given his commandments.

Geneva Bible: 2Ki 17:41

So these ^{( t )} nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.

^{( t )} That is, these strangers who were sent into Samaria by the Assyrians.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: 2Ki 17:1-41

1 Hoshea's wicked reign.

3 Being subdued by Shalmaneser, he conspires against him with So, king of Egypt.

5 Samaria for sinning is led into captivity.

24 The strange nations which were transplanted into Samaria, being plagued with lions, make a mixture of religions.

MHCC: 2Ki 17:7-23

Though the destruction of the kingdom of the ten tribes was but briefly related, it is in these verses largely commented upon, and the reasons of it given. It was destruction from the Almighty: the Assyrian was but the rod of his anger, Isa 10:5. Those that bring sin into a country or family, bring a plague into it, and will have to answer for all the mischief that follows. And vast as the outward wickedness of the world is, the secret sins, evil thoughts, desires, and purposes of mankind are much greater. There are outward sins which are marked by infamy; but ingratitude, neglect, and enmity to God, and the idolatry and impiety which proceed therefrom, are far more malignant. Without turning from every evil way, and keeping God's statutes, there can be no true godliness; but this must spring from belief of his testimony, as to wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness, and his mercy in Christ Jesus.

MHCC: 2Ki 17:24-41

The terror of the Almighty will sometimes produce a forced or feigned submission in unconverted men; like those brought from different countries to inhabit Israel. But such will form unworthy thoughts of God, will expect to please him by outward forms, and will vainly try to reconcile his service with the love of the world and the indulgence of their lusts. May that fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom, possess our hearts, and influence our conduct, that we may be ready for every change. Wordly settlements are uncertain; we know not whither we may be driven before we die, and we must soon leave the world; but the righteous hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken from him.

Matthew Henry: 2Ki 17:7-23

Though the destruction of the kingdom of the ten tribes was but briefly related, it is in these verses largely commented upon by our historian, and the reasons of it assigned, not taken from the second causes - the weakness of Israel, their impolitic management, and the strength and growing greatness of the Assyrian monarch (these things are overlooked) - but only from the First Cause. Observe, 1. It was the Lord that removed Israel out of his sight; whoever were the instruments, he was the author of this calamity. It was destruction from the Almighty; the Assyrian was but the rod of his anger, Isa 10:5. It was the Lord that rejected the seed of Israel, else their enemies could not have seized upon them, 2Ki 17:20. Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? Did not the Lord? Isa 43:24. We lose the benefit of national judgments if we do not eye the hand of God in them, and the fulfilling of the scripture, for that also is taken notice of here (2Ki 17:23): The Lord removed Israel out of his favour, and out of their own land, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. Rather shall heaven and earth pass than one tittle of God's word fall to the ground. When God's word and his works are compared, it will be found not only that they agree, but that they illustrate each other. But why would God ruin a people that were raised and incorporated, as Israel was, by miracles and oracles? Why would he undo that which he himself had done at so vast an expense? Was it purely an act of sovereignty? No, it was an act of necessary justice. For, 2. They provoked him to do this by their wickedness. Was it God's doing? Nay, it was their own; by their way and their doings they procured all this to themselves, and it was their own wickedness that did correct them. This the sacred historian shows here at large, that it might appear that God did them no wrong and that others might hear and fear. Come and see what it was that did all this mischief, that broke their power and laid their honour in the dust; it was sin; that, and nothing else, separated between them and God. This is here very movingly laid open as the cause of all the desolations of Israel. He here shows,

I. What God had done for Israel, to engage them to serve him. 1. He gave them their liberty (2Ki 17:7): He brought them from under the hand of Pharaoh who oppressed them, asserted their freedom ( Israel is my son ), and effected their freedom with a high hand. Thus they were bound in duty and gratitude to be his servants, for he had loosed their bonds; nor would he that rescued them out of the hand of the king of Egypt have contradicted himself so far as to deliver them into the hand of the king of Assyria, as he did, if they had not, by their iniquity, betrayed their liberty and sold themselves. 2. He gave them their law, and was himself their king. They were immediately under a divine regimen. They could not plead ignorance of good and evil, sin and duty, for God had particularly charged them against those very things which here he charges them with (2Ki 17:15), That they should not do like the heathen. Nor could they be in any doubt concerning their obligation to observe the laws which they are here charged with rejecting, for they were the commandments and statutes of the Lord their God (2Ki 17:13), so that no room was left to dispute whether they should keep them or no. He had not dealt so with other nations, Psa 147:19, Psa 147:20. 3. He gave them their land, for he cast out the heathen from before them (2Ki 17:8), to make room for them; and the casting out of them for their idolatries was as fair a warning as could be given to Israel not to do like them.

II. What they had done against God, notwithstanding these engagements which he had laid upon them. 1. In general. They sinned against the Lord their God (2Ki 17:7), they did those things that were not right (2Ki 17:9), but secretly. So wedded were they to their evil practices that when they could not do them publicly, could not for shame or could not for fear, they would do them secretly - an evidence of their atheism, that they thought what was done in secret was from under the eye of God himself and would not be required. Again, they wrought wicked things in such a direct contradiction to the divine law that they seemed as if they were done on purpose to provoke the Lord to anger (2Ki 17:11), in contempt of his authority and defiance of his justice. They rejected God's statutes and his covenant (2Ki 17:15), would not be bound up either by his command or the consent they themselves had given to the covenant, but threw off the obligations of both, and therefore God justly rejected them, 2Ki 17:20. See Hos 4:6. They left all the commandments of the Lord their God (2Ki 17:16), left the way, left the work, which those commandments prescribed them and directed them in. Nay, lastly, they sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, that is, they wholly addicted themselves to sin, as slaves to the service of those to whom they are sold, and, by their obstinately persisting in sin, so hardened their own hearts that at length it had become morally impossible for them to recover themselves, as one that has sold himself has put his liberty past recall. 2. In particular. Though they were guilty (no doubt) of many immoralities, and violated all the commands of the second table, yet nothing is here specified, but their idolatry. This was the sin that did most easily beset them; this was, of all sins, most provoking to God: it was the spiritual adultery that broke the marriage-covenant, and was the inlet of all other wickedness. Hence it is again and again mentioned here as the sin that ruined them. (1.) They feared other gods (2Ki 17:7), that is, worshipped them and paid their homage to them, as if they feared their displeasure. (2.) They walked in the statutes of the heathen, which were contrary to God's statutes (2Ki 17:8), did as did the heathen (2Ki 17:11), went after the heathen that were round about them (2Ki 17:15), so prostituting the honour of their peculiarity, and defeating God's design concerning them, which was that they should be distinguished from the heathen. Must those that were taught of God go to school to the heathen - those that were appropriated to God take their measures from the nations that were abandoned by him? (3.) They walked in the statutes of the idolatrous kings of Israel (2Ki 17:8), in all the sins of Jeroboam, 2Ki 17:22. When their kings assumed a power to alter and add to the divine institutions they submitted to them, and thought the command of their kings would bear them out in disobedience to the command of their God. (4.) They built themselves high places in all their cities, 2Ki 17:9. If in any place there was but the tower of the watchmen (a country tower that had no walls, but only a tower to shelter the watch in time of danger), or but a lodge for shepherds, it must be honoured with a high place, and that with an altar. If there was a fenced city, it must be further fortified with a high place. Having forsaken God's only place, they knew no end of high places, in which every man followed his own fancy and directed his devotion to what god he pleased. Sacred things were hereby profaned and laid common, when their altars were as heaps in the furrows of the field, Hos 12:11. (5.) They set them up images and groves - Asherim (even wooden images, so some think the term, which we translate groves, should be rendered) or Ashtaroth (so others) - directed contrary to the second commandment, 2Ki 17:10. They served idols (2Ki 17:12), the works of their own hands and creatures of their own fancy, though God had warned them particularly not to do this thing. (6.) They burnt incense in all the high places, to the honour of strange gods, for it was to the dishonour of the true God, 2Ki 17:11. (7.) They followed vanity. Idols are called so, because they could do neither good nor evil, but were the most insignificant things that could be; those that worshipped them were like unto them, and so they became vain and good for nothing (2Ki 17:16), vain in their devotions, which were brutish and ridiculous, and so became vain in their whole conversation. (8.) Besides the molten images, even the two calves, they worshipped all the host of heaven - the sun, moon, and stars: for it is not meant of the heavenly host of angels; they could not rise so far above sensible things as to think of them. And, withal, they served Baal, the deified heroes of the Gentiles, 2Ki 17:16. (9.) They caused their children to pass through the fire, in token of their dedicating them to their idols. (10.) They used divinations and enchantments, that they might receive directions from the gods to whom they paid their devotions.

III. What means God used with them, to bring them off from their idolatries, and to how little purpose. He testified against them, showed them their sins and warned them of the fatal consequences of them by all the prophets and all the seers (for so the prophets had been formerly called), and pressed them to turn from their evil ways, 2Ki 17:13. We have read of prophets, more or less, in every reign. Though they had forsaken God's family of priests, he did not leave them without a succession of prophets, who made it their business to teach them the good knowledge of the Lord, but all in vain (2Ki 17:14); they would not hear, but hardened their necks, persisted in their idolatries, and were like their fathers, that would not bow their necks to God's yoke, because they did not believe in him, did not receive his truths, nor would venture upon his promises: it seems to refer to their fathers in the wilderness; the same sin that kept them out of Canaan turned these out, and that was unbelief.

IV. How God punished them for their sins. He was very angry with them (2Ki 17:18); for, in the matter of his worship, he is a jealous God, and resents nothing more deeply than giving that honour to any creature which is due to himself only. He afflicted them (2Ki 17:20) and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, in the days of the judges and of Saul, and afterwards in the days of most of their kings, to see if they would be awakened by the judgments of God to consider and amend their ways; but, when all these corrections did not prevail to drive out the folly, God first rent Israel from the house of David, under which they might have been happy. As Judah was hereby weakened, so Israel was hereby corrupted; for they made a man king who drove them from following the Lord and caused them to sin a great sin, 2Ki 17:21. This was a national judgment, and the punishment of their former idolatries; and, at length, he removed them quite out of his sight (2Ki 17:18, 2Ki 17:23), without giving them any hopes of a return out of their captivity.

Lastly, Here is a complaint against Judah in the midst of all (2Ki 17:19): Also Judah kept not the commandments of God; though they were not as yet quite so bad as Israel, yet they walked in the statutes of Israel; and this aggravated the sin of Israel, that they communicated the infection of it to Judah; see Eze 23:11. Those that bring sin into a country or family bring a plague into it and will have to answer for all the mischief that follows.

Matthew Henry: 2Ki 17:24-41

Never was land lost, we say, for want of an heir. When the children of Israel were dispossessed, and turned out of Canaan, the king of Assyria soon transplanted thither the supernumeraries of his own country, such as it could well spare, who should be servants to him and masters to the Israelites that remained; and here we have an account of these new inhabitants, whose story is related here that we may take our leave of Samaria, as also of the Israelites that were carried captive into Assyria.

I. Concerning the Assyrians that were brought into the land of Israel we are here told, 1. That they possessed Samaria and dwelt in the cities thereof, 2Ki 17:24. It is common for lands to change their owners, but sad that the holy land should become a heathen land again. See what work sin makes. 2. That at their first coming God sent lions among them. They were probably insufficient to people the country, which occasioned the beasts of the field to multiply against them (Exo 23:29); yet, besides the natural cause, there was a manifest hand of God in it, who is Lord of hosts, of all the creatures, and can serve his own purposes by which he pleases, small or great, lice or lions. God ordered them this rough welcome to check their pride and insolence, and to let them know that though they had conquered Israel the God of Israel had power enough to deal with them - that he could have prevented their settling here, by ordering lions into the service of Israel, and that he permitted it, not for their righteousness, but the wickedness of his own people - and that they were now under his visitation. They had lived without God in their own land, and were not plagued with lions; but, if they do so in this land, it is at their peril. 3. That they sent a remonstrance of this grievance to the king their master, setting forth, it is likely, the loss their infant colony had sustained by the lions and the continual fear they were in of them, and stating that they looked upon it to be a judgment upon them for not worshipping the God of the land, which they could not, because they knew not how, 2Ki 17:26. The God of Israel was the God of the whole world, but they ignorantly call him the God of the land, apprehending themselves therefore within his reach, and concerned to be upon good terms with him. Herein they shamed the Israelites, who were not so ready to hear the voice of God's judgments as they were, and who had not served the God of that land, though he was the God of their fathers and their great benefactor, and though they were well instructed in the manner of his worship. Assyrians begged to be taught that which Israelites hated to be taught. 4. That the king of Assyria took care to have them taught the manner of the God of the land (2Ki 17:27, 2Ki 17:28), not out of any affection to that God, but to save his subjects from the lions. On this errand he sent back one of the priests whom he had carried away captive. A prophet would have done them more good, for this was but one of the priests of the calves, and therefore chose to dwell at Bethel for old acquaintance' sake, and, though he might teach them to do better than they did, he was not likely to teach them to do well, unless he had taught his own people better. However, he came and dwelt among them, to teach them how they should fear the Lord. Whether he taught them out of the book of the law, or only by word of mouth, is uncertain. 5. That, being thus taught, they made a mongrel religion of it, worshipped the God of Israel for fear and their own idols for love (2Ki 17:33): They feared the Lord, but they served their own gods. They all agreed to worship the God of the land according to the manner, to serve the Jewish festivals and rites of sacrificing, but every nation made gods of their own besides, not only for their private use in their own families, but to be put in the houses of their high places, 2Ki 17:9. The idols of each country are here named, 2Ki 17:30, 2Ki 17:31. The learned are at a loss for the signification of several of these names, and cannot agree by what representations these gods were worshipped. If we may credit the traditions of the Jewish doctors, they tell us that Succoth-Benoth was worshipped in a hen and chickens, Nergal in a cock, Ashima in a smooth goat, Nibhaz in a dog, Tartak in an ass, Adrammelech in a peacock, Anammelech in a pheasant. Our own tell us, more probably, that Succoth-Benoth (signifying the tents of the daughters ) was Venus. Nergal, being worshipped by the Cuthites, or Persians, was the fire, Adrammelech and Anammelech were only distinctions of Moloch. See how vain idolaters were in their imaginations, and wonder at their sottishness. Our very ignorance concerning these idols teaches us the accomplishment of that word which God has spoken, that these false gods should all perish (Jer 10:11); they are all buried in oblivion, while the name of the true God shall continue for ever. 6. This medley superstition is here said to continue unto this day (2Ki 17:41), till the time when this book was written and long after, above 300 years in all, till the time of Alexander the Great, when Manasse, brother to Jaddus the high priest of the Jews, having married the daughter of Sanballat, governor of the Samaritans, went over to them, got leave of Alexander to build a temple in Mount Gerizim, drew over many of the Jews to him, and prevailed with the Samaritans to cast away all their idols and to worship the God of Israel only; yet their worship was mixed with so much superstition that our Saviour told them they knew not what they worshipped, Joh 4:22.

II. Concerning the Israelites that were carried into the land of Assyria. This historian has occasion to speak of them (2Ki 17:22), showing that their successors in the land did as they had done ( after the manner of the nations whom they carried away ), they worshipped both the God of Israel and those other gods; but what did the captives do in the land of their affliction? Were they reformed, and brought to repentance, by their troubles? No, they did after the former manner, 2Ki 17:34. When the two tribes were afterwards carried into Babylon, they were cured by it of their idolatry, and therefore, after seventy years, they were brought back with joy; but the ten tribes were hardened in the furnace, and therefore were justly lost in it and left to perish. This obstinacy of theirs is here aggravated by the consideration, 1. Of the honour God had put upon them, as the seed of Jacob, whom he named Israel, and from him they were so named, but were a reproach to that worthy name by which they were called. 2. Of the covenant he made with them, and the charge he gave them upon that covenant, which is here very fully recited, that they should fear and serve the Lord Jehovah only, who had brought them up out of Egypt (2Ki 17:36), that, having received his statutes and ordinances in writing, they should observe to do them for evermore (2Ki 17:37), and never forget that covenant which God had made with them, the promises and conditions of that covenant, especially that great article of it which is here thrice repeated, because it had been so often inculcated and so much insisted on, that they should not fear other gods. He had told them that, if they kept close to him, he would deliver them out of the hand of all their enemies (2Ki 17:39); yet when they were in the hand of their enemies, and stood in need of deliverance, they were so stupid, and had so little sense of their own interest, that they did after the former manner (2Ki 17:40), they served both the true God and false gods, as if they knew no difference. Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone. So they did, and so did the nations that succeeded them. Well might the apostle ask, What then, Are we better than they? No, in no wise, for both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin, Rom 3:9.

Keil-Delitzsch: 2Ki 17:7-23

The causes which occasioned this catastrophe. - To the account of the destruction of the kingdom of the ten tribes, and of the transportation of its inhabitants into exile in Assyria, the prophetic historian appends a review of the causes which led to this termination of the greater portion of the covenant-nation, and finds them in the obstinate apostasy of Israel from the Lord its God, and in its incorrigible adherence to idolatry. 2Ki 17:7. כּי ויהי , "and it came to pass when"(not because, or that): compare Gen 6:1; Gen 26:8; Gen 27:1; Gen 44:24; Exo 1:21; Jdg 1:28; Jdg 6:7, etc. The apodosis does not follow till 2Ki 17:18, as 2Ki 17:7-17 simply contain a further explanation of Israel's sin. To show the magnitude of the sin, the writer recalls to mind the great benefit conferred in the redemption from Egypt, whereby the Lord had laid His people under strong obligation to adhere faithfully to Him. The words refer to the first commandment (Exo 20:2-3; Deu 5:6-7). It is from this that the "fearing of other gods"is taken, whereas פּרעה יד מתּחת recall Exo 18:10.

2Ki 17:8

The apostasy of Israel manifested itself in two directions: 1. in their walking in the statutes of the nations who were cut off from before them, instead of in the statutes of Jehovah, as God had commanded (cf. Lev 18:4-5, and Lev 18:26, Lev 20:22-23, etc.; and for the formula וגו הורישׁ אשׁר הגּוים , which occurs repeatedly in our books - e.g., 2Ki 16:3; 2Ki 21:2, and 1Ki 14:24 and 1Ki 21:26 - compare Deu 11:23 and Deu 18:12); and 2. in their walking in the statutes which the kings of Israel had made, i.e., the worship of the calves. עשׂוּ אשׁר : it is evident from the parallel passage, 2Ki 17:19, that the subject here stands before the relative.

2Ki 17:9

דברים ויחפּאוּ : "they covered words which were not right concerning Jehovah their God,"i.e., they sought to conceal the true nature of Jehovah their God,"i.e., they sought to conceal the true nature of Jehovah by arbitrary perversions of the word of God. This is the explanation correctly given by Hengstenberg (Dissert. vol. i. p. 210, transl.); whereas the interpretation proposed by Thenius, "they trifled with things which were not right against Jehovah,"is as much at variance with the usage of the language as that of Gesenius ( thes. p. 5050, perfide egerunt res ... in Jehovam, since חפּא with על simply means to cover over a thing (cf. Isa 4:5). This covering of words over Jehovah showed itself in the fact that they built בּמות (altars on high places), and by worshipping God in ways of their own invention concealed the nature of the revealed God, and made Jehovah like the idols. "In all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city." נוצרים מגדּל is a tower built for the protection of the flocks in the steppes (2Ch 26:10), and is mentioned here as the smallest and most solitary place of human abode in antithesis to the large and fortified city. Such bamoth were the houses of high places and altars built for the golden calves at Bethel and Dan, beside which no others are mentioned by name in the history of the kingdom of the ten tribes, which restricts itself to the principal facts, although there certainly must have been others.

2Ki 17:10

They set up for themselves monuments and asherim on every high hill, etc., - a practice condemned in 1Ki 14:16, 1Ki 14:23, as early as the time of Jeroboam. In this description of their idolatry, the historian, however, had in his mind not only the ten tribes, but also Judah, as is evident from 2Ki 17:13, "Jehovah testified against Israel and Judah through His prophets,"and also from 2Ki 17:19.

2Ki 17:11

"And burned incense there upon all the high places, like the nations which Jehovah drove out before them." הגלה , lit., to lead into exile, is applied here to the expulsion and destruction of the Canaanites, with special reference to the banishment of the Israelites.

2Ki 17:12

They served the clods, i.e., worshipped clods or masses of stone as gods ( גּלּלים , see at 1Ki 15:12), notwithstanding the command of God in Exo 20:3., 2Ki 23:13; Lev 26:1, etc.

2Ki 17:13-14

And the Lord was not satisfied with the prohibitions of the law, but bore witness against the idolatry and image-worship of Israel and Judah through all His prophets, who exhorted them to turn from their evil way and obey His commandments. But it was all in vain; they were stiff-necked like their fathers. Judah is mentioned as well as Israel, although the historian is simply describing the causes of Israel's rejection to indicate beforehand that Judah was already preparing the same fate for itself, as is still more plainly expressed in 2Ki 17:19, 2Ki 17:20; not, as Thenius supposes, because he is speaking here of that which took place before the division of the kingdom. The Chethîb כל־חזה כּל־נביאו is not to be read וכל־חזה כּל־נביא (Houbig., Then., Ew. §156, e.), but after the lxx כּל־חזה כּל־נביאו , "through all His prophets, every seer,"so that כּל־חזה is in apposition to כּל־נביאו , and serves to bring out the meaning with greater force, so as to express the idea, "prophets of every kind, that the Lord had sent."This reading is more rhetorical than the other, and is recommended by the fact that in what follows the copula ו is omitted before חקּותי also on rhetorical grounds. וגו שׁלחתּי ואשׁר : "and according to what I demanded of you through my servants the prophets."To the law of Moses there was added the divine warning through the prophets. את־ערפּם יקשׁוּ has sprung from Deu 10:16. The stiff-necked fathers are the Israelites in the time of Moses.

2Ki 17:15

"They followed vanity and became vain:"verbatim as in Jer 2:5.

A description of the worthlessness of their whole life and aim with regard to the most important thing, namely, their relation to God. Whatever man sets before him as the object of his life apart from God is הבל (cf. Deu 32:21) and idolatry, and leads to worthlessness, to spiritual and moral corruption (Rom 1:21). "And (walked) after the nations who surrounded them,"i.e., the heathen living near them. The concluding words of the verse have the ring of Lev 18:3.

2Ki 17:16-17

The climax of their apostasy: "They made themselves molten images, two (golden) calves"(1Ki 12:28), which are called מסּכה after Exo 32:4, Exo 32:8, and Deu 9:12, Deu 9:16, "and Asherah,"i.e., idols of Astarte (for the fact, see 1Ki 16:33), "and worshipped all the host of heaven (sun, moon, and stars), and served Baal"- in the time of Ahab and his family (1Ki 16:32). The worshipping of all the host of heaven is not specially mentioned in the history of the kingdom of the ten tribes, but occurs first of all in Judah in the time of Manasseh (2Ki 21:3). The fact that the host of heaven is mentioned between Asherah and Baal shows that the historian refers to the Baal and Astarte worship, and has borrowed the expression from Deu 4:19 and Deu 17:3, to show the character of this worship, since both Baal and Astarte were deities of a sidereal nature. The first half of 2Ki 17:17 rests upon Deu 18:10, where the worship of Moloch is forbidden along with soothsaying and augury. There is no allusion to this worship in the history of the kingdom of the ten tribes, although it certainly existed in the time of Ahab. The second half of 2Ki 17:17 also refers to the conduct of Ahab (see at 1Ki 21:20).

2Ki 17:18-19

This conduct excited the anger of God, so that He removed them from His face, and only left the tribe (i.e., the kingdom) of Judah, although Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord and walked in the statutes of Israel, and therefore had deserved rejection. 2Ki 17:19 contains a parenthesis occasioned by וגו שׁבט רק (2Ki 17:18). The statutes of Israel in which Judah walked are not merely the worship of Baal under the Ahab dynasty, so as to refer only to Joram, Ahaziah, and Ahaz (according to 2Ki 8:18, 2Ki 8:27, and 2Ki 16:3), but also the worship on the high places and worship of idols, which were practised under many of the kings of Judah.

2Ki 17:20

ויּמאס is a continuation of יהוה ויּתאנּף in 2Ki 17:18, but so that what follows also refers to the parenthesis in 2Ki 17:19. "Then the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel,"not merely the ten tribes, but all the nation, and humbled them till He thrust them from His face. מאס differs from מפּניו השׁליך . The latter denotes driving into exile; the former, simply that kind of rejection which consisted in chastisement and deliverance into the hand of plunderers, that is to say, penal judgments by which the Lord sought to lead Israel and Judah to turn to Him and to His commandments, and to preserve them from being driven among the heathen. שׁסים בּיד נתן as in Jdg 2:14.

2Ki 17:21

וגו קרע כּי : "for He (Jehovah) rent Israel from the house of David."This view is apparently more correct than that Israel rent the kingdom from the house of David, not only because it presupposes too harsh an ellipsis to supply את־המּמלכה , but also because we never meet with the thought that Israel rent the kingdom from the house of David, and in 1Ki 11:31 it is simply stated that Jehovah rent the kingdom from Solomon; and to this our verse refers, whilst the following words וגו ויּמליכוּ recall 1Ki 12:20. The כּי is explanatory: the Lord delivered up His people to the plunderers, for He rent Israel from the house of David as a punishment for the idolatry of Solomon, and the Israelites made Jeroboam king, who turned Israel away from Jehovah, etc. The Chethîb וידא is to be read ויּדּא , the Hiphil of נדא = נדה , "he caused to depart away from the Lord."The Keri ויּדּה , Hiphil of נדח , he drove away, turned from the Lord (cf. Deu 13:11), is not unusual, but it is an unnecessary gloss.

2Ki 17:22-23

The sons of Israel (the ten tribes) walked in all the sins of Jeroboam, till the Lord removed them from His face, thrust them out of the land of the Lord, as He had threatened them through all His prophets, namely, from the time of Jeroboam onwards (compare 1Ki 14:15-16, and also Hos 1:6; Hos 9:16; Amo 3:11-12; Amo 5:27; Isa 28:1 etc.). The banishment to Assyria (see 2Ki 17:6) lasted "unto this day,"i.e., till the time when our books were written.

(Note: As the Hebrew דע , like the German bis , is not always used in an exclusive sense, but is frequently abstracted from what lies behind the terminus ad quem mentioned, it by no means follows from the words, "the Lord rejected Israel ... to this day ,"that the ten tribes returned to their own country after the time when our books were written, viz., about the middle of the sixth century b.c. And it is just as impossible to prove the opposite view, which is very widely spread, namely, that they are living as a body in banishment even at the present day. It is well known how often the long-lost ten tribes have been discovered, in the numerous Jewish communities of southern Arabia, in India, more especially in Malabar, in China, Turkistan, and Cashmir, or in Afghanistan (see Ritter's Erdkunde , x. p. 246), and even in America itself; and now Dr. Asahel Grant ( Die Nestorianer oder die zehn Stämme ) thinks that he has found them in the independent Nestorians and the Jews living among them; whereas others, such as Witsius ( Δεκαφυλ . c. iv.ff.), J. D. Michaelis ( de exsilio decem tribuum , comm. iii.), and last of all Robinson in the word quoted by Ritter, l. c. p. 245 ( The Nestorians , etc., New York, 1841), have endeavoured to prove that the ten tribes became partly mixed up with the Judaeans during the Babylonian captivity, and partly attached themselves to the exile who were led back to Palestine by Zerubbabel and Ezra; that a portion again became broken up at a still later period by mixing with the rest of the Jews, who were scattered throughout all the world after the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, and a further portion a long time ago by conversion to Christianity, so that every attempt to discover the remnants of the ten tribes anywhere must be altogether futile. This view is in general the correct one, though its supporters have mixed up the sound arguments with many that are untenable. For example, the predications quoted by Ritter (p. 25), probably after Robinson (viz., Jer 50:4-5, Jer 50:17, Jer 50:19, and Eze 37:11.), and also the prophetic declarations cited by Witsius (v. §§11-14: viz., Isa 14:1; Mic 2:12; Jer 3:12; Jer 30:3-4; Jer 33:7-8), prove very little, because for the most part they refer to Messianic times and are to be understood spiritually. So much, however, may certainly be gathered from the books of Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, that the Judaeans whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive were not all placed in the province of Babylonia, but were also dispersed in the different districts that constituted first the Assyrian, then the Chaldaean, and afterwards the Persian empire on the other side of the Euphrates, so that with the cessation of that division which had been so strictly maintained to suit the policy of the Israelitish kings, the ancient separation would also disappear, and their common mournful lot of dispersion among the heathen would of necessity bring about a closer union among all the descendants of Jacob; just as we find that the kings of Persia knew of no difference between Jews and Israelites, and in the time of Xerxes the grand vizier Haman wanted to exterminate all the Jews (not the Judaeans merely, but all the Hebrews). Moreover, the edict of Cyrus (Ezr 1:1-4), "who among you of all his people,"and that of Artaxerxes (Ezr 7:13), "whoever in my kingdom is willing of the people of Israel ,"gave permission to all the Israelites of the twelve tribes to return to Palestine. And who could maintain with any show of reason, that no one belonging to the ten tribes availed himself of this permission? And though Grant argues, on the other side, that with regard to the 50,000 whom Cyrus sent away to their home it is expressly stated that they were of those "whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away into Babylon"(Ezr 2:1), with which 2Ki 1:5 may also be compared, "then rose up the heads of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites, etc.;"these words apply to the majority of those who returned, and undoubtedly prove that the ten tribes as such did not return to Palestine, but they by no means prove that a considerable number of members of the remaining tribes may not have attached themselves to the large number of citizens of the kingdom of Judah who returned. And not only Lightfoot ( Hor. hebr. in Eph 1 ad Cor. Addenda ad c. 14, Opp. ii. p. 929) and Witsius (p. 346), but the Rabbins long before them in Seder Olam rab . c. 29, p. 86, have inferred from the fact that the number of persons and families given separately in Ezra 2 only amounts to 30,360, whereas in Ezr 2:64 the total number of persons who returned is said to have been 42,360 heads, besides 7337 men-servants and maid-servants, that this excess above the families of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi, who are mentioned by name, may have come from the ten tribes. Moreover, those who returned did regard themselves as the representatives of the twelve tribes; for at the dedication of the new temple (Ezr 6:17) they offered "sin-offerings for all Israel, according to the number of the twelve tribes. "And those who returned with Ezra did the same. As a thanksgiving for their safe return to their fatherland, they offered in sacrifice " twelve oxen for all Israel , ninety-six rams, seventy-seven sheep, and twelve he-goats for a sin-offering, all as a burnt-offering for Jehovah"(Ezr 8:35). There is no doubt that the overwhelming majority of those who returned with Zerubbabel and Ezra belonged to the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi; which may be explained very simply from the fact, that as they had been a much shorter time in exile, they had retained a much stronger longing for the home given by the Lord to their fathers than the tribes that were carried away 180 years before. But that they also followed in great numbers at a future time, after those who had returned before had risen to a state of greater ecclesiastical and civil prosperity in their own home, is an inference that must be drawn from the fact that in the time of Christ and His apostles, Galilee, and in part also Peraea, was very densely populated by Israelites; and this population cannot be traced back either to the Jews who returned to Jerusalem and Judaea under Zerubbabel and Ezra, or to the small number of Israelites who were left behind in the land when the Assyrian deportation took place.

On the other hand, even the arguments adduced by Grant in support of his view, viz., (1) that we have not the slightest historical evidence that the ten tribes every left Assyria again, (2) that on the return from the Babylonian captivity they did not come back with the rest, prove as argumenta a silentio but very little, and lose their force still more if the assumptions upon which they are based- namely, that the ten tribes who were transported to Assyria and Media had no intercourse whatever with the Jews who were led away to Babylon, but kept themselves unmixed and quite apart from the Judaeans, and that as they did not return with Zerubbabel and Ezra, they did not return to their native land at any later period-are, as we have shown above, untenable. Consequently the further arguments of Grant, (3) that according to Josephus ( Ant . xi. 5, 2) the ten tribes were still in the land of their captivity in the first century, and according to Jerome ( Comm. on the Prophets ) in the fifth; and (4) that in the present day they are still in the country of the ancient Assyrians, since the Nestorians, both according to their own statement and according to the testimony of the Jews there, as Beni Yisrael , and that of the ten tribes, and are also proved to be Israelites by many of the customs and usages which they have preserved ( Die Nestor . pp. 113ff.); prove nothing more than that there may still be descendants of the Israelites who were banished thither among the Jews and Nestorians living in northern Assyria by the Uramiah-lake, and by no means that the Jews living there are the unmixed descendants of the ten tribes. The statements made by the Jews lose all their importance from the fact, that Jews of other lands maintain just the same concerning themselves. And the Mosaic manners and customs of the Nestorians prove nothing more than that they are of Jewish origin. In general, the Israelites and Jews who have come into heathen lands from the time of Salmanasar and Nebuchadnezzar onwards, and have settled there, have become so mixed up with the Jews who were scattered in all quarters of the globe from the time of Alexander the Great, and more especially since the destruction of the Jewish state by the Romans, that the last traces of the old division into tribes have entirely disappeared.)

Keil-Delitzsch: 2Ki 17:24-41

The Samaritans and Their Worship. - After the transportation of the Israelites, the king of Assyria brought colonists from different provinces of his kingdom into the cities of Samaria. The king of Assyria is not Salmanasar, for it is evident from 2Ki 17:25 that a considerable period intervened between the carrying away of the Israelites and the sending of colonists into the depopulated land. It is true that Salmanasar only is mentioned in what precedes, but the section vv. 24-41 is not so closely connected with the first portion of the chapter, that the same king of Assyria must necessarily be spoken of in both. According to Ezr 4:2, it was Esarhaddon who removed the heathen settlers to Samaria. It is true that the attempt has been made to reconcile this with the assumption that the king of Assyria mentioned in our verse is Salmanasar, by the conjecture that one portion of these colonists was settled there by Salmanasar, another by Esarhaddon; and it has also been assumed that in this expedition Esarhaddon carried away the last remnant of the ten tribes, namely, all who had fled into the mountains and inaccessible corners of the land, and to some extent also in Judaea, during Salmanasar's invasion, and had then collected together in the land again after the Assyrians had withdrawn. But there is not the smallest intimation anywhere of a second transplantation of heathen colonists to Samaria, any more than of a second removal of the remnant of the Israelites who were left behind in the land after the time of Salmanasar. The prediction in Isa 7:8, that in sixty-five years more Ephraim was to be destroyed, so that it would be no longer a people, even if it referred to the transplantation of the heathen colonists to Samaria by Esarhaddon, as Usher, Hengstenberg , and others suppose, would by no means necessitate the carrying away of the last remnant of the Israelites by this king, but simply the occupation of the land by heathen settlers, with whom the last remains of the Ephraimites intermingled, so that Ephraim ceased to be a people. As long as the land of Israel was merely laid waste and deprived of the greater portion of its Israelitish population, there always remained the possibility that the exiles might one day return to their native land and once more form one people with those who were left behind, and so long might Israel be still regarded as a nation; just as the Judaeans, when in exile in Babylon, did not cease to be a people, because they looked forward with certain hope to a return to their fatherland after a banishment of seventy years. But after heathen colonists had been transplanted into the land, with whom the remainder of the Israelites who were left in the land became fused, so that there arose a mixed Samaritan people of a predominantly heathen character, it was impossible to speak any longer of a people of Ephraim in the land of Israel. This transplantation of colonists out of Babel, Cutha, etc., into the cities of Samaria might therefore be regarded as the point of time at which the nation of Ephraim was entirely dissolved, without any removal of the last remnant of the Israelites having taken place. We must indeed assume this if the ten tribes were deported to the very last man, and the Samaritans were in their origin a purely heathen people without any admixture of Israelitish blood, as Hengstenberg assumes and has endeavoured to prove. But the very opposite of this is unmistakeably apparent from 2Ch 34:6, 2Ch 34:9, according to which there were not a few Israelites left in the depopulated land in the time of Josiah. (Compare Kalkar, Die Samaritaner ein Mischvolk, in Pelt's theol. Mitarbeiten, iii. 3, pp. 24ff.). - We therefore regard Esarhaddon as the Assyrian king who brought the colonists to Samaria. The object to ויּבא may be supplied from the context, more especially from ויּשׁב , which follows. He brought inhabitants from Babel, i.e., from the country, not the city of Babylon, from Cuthah, etc. The situation of Cuthah or Cuth (2Ki 17:30) cannot be determined with certainty. M. v. Niebuhr ( Gesch. p. 166) follows Josephus, who speaks of the Cuthaeans in Ant. ix. 14, 3, and x. 9, 7, as a people dwelling in Persia and Media, and identifies them with the Kossaeans, Kissians, Khushiya, Chuzi, who lived to the north-east of Susa, in the north-eastern portion of the present Khusistan; whereas Gesenius ( thes. p. 674), Rosenmüller (bibl. Althk. 1, 2, p. 29), and J. D. Michaelis (Supplem. ad Lex. hebr. p. 1255) have decided in favour of the Cutha (Arabic kûthâ or kûtha) in the Babylonian Irak, in the neighbourhood of the Nahr Malca, in support of which the fact may also be adduced, that, according to a communication from Spiegel (in the Auslande, 1864, No. 46, p. 1089), Cutha, a town not mentioned elsewhere, was situated by the wall in the north-east of Babylon, probably on the spot where the hill Ohaimir with its ruins stands. The greater number of colonists appear to have come from Cutha, because the Samaritans are called כותיים by the Rabbins.

עוּא , Avva , is almost always, and probably with correctness, regarded as being the same place as the עוּה ( Ivvah ) mentioned in 2Ki 18:34 and 2Ki 19:13, as the conjecture naturally suggests itself to every one that the Avvaeans removed to Samaria by Esarhaddon were inhabitants of the kingdom of Avva destroyed by the Assyrian king, and the form עוּה is probably simply connected with the appellative explanation given to the word by the Masoretes. As Ivvâh is placed by the side of Henah in 2Ki 18:34 and 2Ki 19:13, Avva can hardly by any other than the country of Hebeh, situated on the Euphrates between Anah and the Chabur (M. v. Niebuhr, p. 167). Hamath is Epiphania on the Orontes: see at 1Ki 8:65 and Num 13:21. Sepharvaim is no doubt the Sippara ( Σιπφάρα ) of Ptolem. (v. 18, 7), the southernmost city of Mesopotamia on the Euphrates, above the Nahr Malca, the Ἡλιούπολις ἐν Σιππάροισιν or Σιππαρεενῶν πόλις , which Berosus and Abydenus mention (in Euseb. Praepar, evang. ix. 12 and 41, and Chronic. Armen. i. pp. 33, 36, 49, 55) as belonging to the time of the flood. - שׁמרון : this is the first time in which the name is evidently applied to the kingdom of Samaria.

2Ki 17:25-29

In the earliest period of their settlement in the cities of Samaria the new settlers were visited by lions, which may have multiplied greatly during the time that the land was lying waste. The settlers regarded this as a punishment from Jehovah, i.e., from the deity of the land, whom they did not worship, and therefore asked the king of Assyria for a priest to teach them the right, i.e., the proper, worship of God of the land; whereupon the king sent them one of the priests who had been carried away, and he took up his abode in Bethel, and instructed the people in the worship of Jehovah. The author of our books also looked upon the lions as sent by Jehovah as a punishment, according to Lev 26:22, because the new settlers did not fear Him. העריות : the lions which had taken up their abode there. שׁם וישׁבוּ וילכוּ : that they (the priest with his companions) went away and dwelt there. There is no need therefore to alter the plural into the singular.

The priest sent by the Assyrian king was of course an Israelitish priest of the calves, for he was one of those who had been carried away and settled in Bethel, the chief seat of Jeroboam's image-worship, and he also taught the colonists to fear or worship Jehovah after the manner of the land. This explains the state of divine worship in the land as described in 2Ki 17:29. "Every separate nation ( גּוי גּוי : see Ewald, §313, a .) made itself its own gods, and set them up in the houses of the high places ( הבּמות בּית : see at 1Ki 12:31, and for the singular בּית , Ewald, §270, c.) which the Samaritans ( השּׁמרנים , not the colonists sent thither by Esarhaddon, but the former inhabitants of the kingdom of Israel, who are so called from the capital Samaria) had made (built); every nation in the cities where they dwelt."

2Ki 17:30

The people of Babel made themselves בּנות סכּות , daughters' booths. Selden (de Diis Syr. ii. 7), Münter (Relig. der Babyl. pp. 74, 75), and others understand by these the temples consecrated to Mylitta or Astarte, the καμάραι , or covered little carriages, or tents for prostitution (Herod. i. 199); but Beyer (Addit. ad Seld. p. 297) has very properly objected to this, that according to the context the reference is to idols or objects of idolatrous worship, which were set up in the בּמות בּית . It is more natural to suppose that small tent-temples are meant, which were set up as idols in the houses of the high places along with the images which they contained, since according to 2Ki 23:7 women wove בּתּים , little temples, for the Asherah, and Ezekiel speaks of patch-work Bamoth, i.e., of small temples made of cloth. It is possible, however, that there is more truth than is generally supposed in the view held by the Rabbins, that בּנות סכּות signifies an image of the "hen,"or rather the constellation of "the clucking-hen"(Gluckhenne), the Pleiades, - simulacrum gallinae coelestis in signo Tauri nidulantis , as a symbolum Veneris coelestis , as the other idols are all connected with animal symbolism. In any case the explanation given by Movers, involucra seu secreta mulierum , female lingams, which were handed by the hierodulae to their paramours instead of the Mylitta-money ( Phöniz. i. p. 596), is to be rejected, because it is at variance with the usage of speech and the context, and because the existence of female lingams has first of all to be proved. For the different views, see Ges. thes. p. 952, and Leyrer in Herzog's Cycl. - The Cuthaeans made themselves as a god, נרגּל , Nergal, i.e., according to Winer, Gesenius, Stuhr, and others, the planet Mars, which the Zabians call n^e rîg , Nerig, as the god of war (Codex Nasar, i. 212, 224), the Arabs mrrîx, Mirrig; whereas older commentators identified Nergal with the sun-god Bel, deriving the name from ניר , light, and גּל , a fountain = fountain of light (Selden, ii. 8, and Beyer, Add. pp. 301ff.). But these views are both of them very uncertain. According to the Rabbins (Rashi, R. Salomo, Kimchi), Nergal was represented as a cock. This statement, which is ridiculed by Gesenius, Winer, and Thenius, is proved to be correct by the Assyrian monuments, which contain a number of animal deities, and among them the cock standing upon an altar, and also upon a gem a priest praying in front of a cock (see Layard's Nineveh). The pugnacious cock is found generally in the ancient ethnical religions in frequent connection with the gods of war (cf. J. G. Müller in Herzog's Cycl.). עשׁימא , Ashima, the god of the people of Hamath, was worshipped, according to rabbinical statements, under the figure of a bald he-goat (see Selden, ii. 9). The suggested combination of the name with the Phoenician deity Esmun, the Persian Asuman, and the Zendic açmano , i.e., heaven, is very uncertain.

2Ki 17:31

Of the idols of the Avvaeans, according to rabbinical accounts in Selden, l.c. , Nibchaz had the form of a dog ( נבחז , latrator , from נבח ), and Tartak that of an ass. Gesenius regards Tartak as a demon of the lower regions, because in Pehlwi tar - thakh signifies deep darkness or hero of darkness, and Nibchaz as an evil demon, the נבאז of the Zabians, whom Norberg in his Onomast. cod. Nasar. p. 100, describes as horrendus rex infernalis: posito ipsius throno ad telluris, i.e., lucis et caliginis confinium, sed imo acherontis fundo pedibus substrato, according to Codex Adami, ii. 50, lin. 12. - With regard to the gods of the Sepharvites, Adrammelech and Anammelech, it is evident from the offering of children in sacrifice to them that they were related to Moloch. The name אדרמּלך which occurs as a personal name in 2Ki 19:37 and Isa 37:38, has been explained either from the Semitic אדר as meaning "glorious king,"or from the Persian dr , ‛zr , in which case it means "fire-king,"and is supposed to refer to the sun (see Ges. on Isaiah, ii. p. 347). ענמּלך is supposed to be Hyde ( de relig. vett. Persarum , p. 131) to be the group of stars called Cepheus, which goes by the name of "the shepherd and flock"and "the herd-stars"in the Oriental astrognosis, and in this case ענם might answer to the Arabic gnm = צאן . Movers, on the other hand ( Phöniz. i. pp. 410, 411), regards them as two names of the same deity, a double-shaped Moloch, and reads the Chethîb סכרים אלה as the singular הסּפרום אל , the god of Sepharvaim. This double god, according to his explanation, was a sun-being, because Sepharvaim, of which he was πολιοῦχος , is designated by Berosus as a city of the sun. This may be correct; but there is something very precarious in the further assumption, that "Adar-Melech is to be regarded as the sun's fire, and indeed, since Adar is Mars, that he is so far to be thought of as a destructive being,"and that Anammelech is a contraction of מלך עין , oculus Molechi, signifying the ever-watchful eye of Saturn; according to which Adrammelech is to be regarded as the solar Mars, Anammelech as the solar Saturn. The explanations given by Hitzig (on Isa. p. 437) and Benfey (die Monatsnamen, pp. 187, 188) are extremely doubtful.

2Ki 17:32

In addition to these idols, Jehovah also was worshipped in temples of the high places, according to the instructions of the Israelitish priest sent by the king of Assyria. יראים ויּהיוּ : "and they were (also) worshipping Jehovah, and made themselves priests of the mass of the people"( מקצוՀªם as in 1Ki 12:31). להם עשׂים ויּהיוּ : "and they (the priests) were preparing them (sacrifices) in the houses of the high places."

2Ki 17:33

2Ki 17:33 sums up by way of conclusion the description of the various kinds of worship.

2Ki 17:34-39

This mixed cultus, composed of the worship of idols and the worship of Jehovah, they retained till the time when the books of the Kings were written. "Unto this day they do after the former customs." הראשׁנים המּשׁפּטים can only be the religious usages and ordinances which were introduced at the settlement of the new inhabitants, and which are described in 2Ki 17:28-33. The prophetic historian observes still further, that "they fear not Jehovah, and do not according to their statutes and their rights, nor according to the law and commandment which the Lord had laid down for the sons of Jacob, to whom He gave the name of Israel"(see 1Ki 18:31), i.e., according to the Mosaic law. חקּתם and משׁפּטם "their statutes and their right,"stands in antithesis to והמּצוה התּורה which Jehovah gave to the children of Israel. If, then, the clause, "they do not according to their statutes and their right,"is not to contain a glaring contradiction to the previous assertion, "unto this day they do after their first (former) rights,"we must understand by וּמשׁפּטם חקּתם the statutes and the right of the ten tribes, i.e., the worship of Jehovah under the symbols of the calves, and must explain the inexactness of the expression "their statutes and their right"from the fact that the historian was thinking of the Israelites who had been left behind in the land, or of the remnant of the Israelitish population that had become mixed up with the heathen settlers (2Ki 23:19-20; 2Ch 34:6, 2Ch 34:9, 2Ch 34:33). The meaning of the verse is therefore evidently the following: The inhabitants of Samaria retain to this day the cultus composed of the worship of idols and of Jehovah under the form of an image, and do not worship Jehovah either after the manner of the ten tribes or according to the precepts of the Mosaic law. Their worship is an amalgamation of the Jehovah image-worship and of heathen idolatry (cf. 2Ki 17:41). - To indicate the character of this worship still more clearly, and hold it up as a complete breach of the covenant and as utter apostasy from Jehovah, the historian describes still more fully, in 2Ki 17:35-39, how earnestly and emphatically the people of Israel had been prohibited from worshipping other gods, and urged to worship Jehovah alone, who had redeemed Israel out of Egypt and exalted it into His own nation. For 2Ki 17:35 compare Exo 20:5; for 2Ki 17:36, the exposition of 2Ki 17:7, also Exo 32:11; Exo 6:6; Exo 20:23; Deu 4:34; Deu 5:15, etc. In 2Ki 17:37 the committal of the thorah to writing is presupposed. For 2Ki 17:39, see Deu 13:5; Deu 23:15, etc.

2Ki 17:40-41

They did not hearken, however (the subject is, of course, the ten tribes), but they (the descendants of the Israelites who remained in the land) do after their former manner. הראשׁון משׁפּטם is their manner of worshipping God, which was a mixture of idolatry and of the image-worship of Jehovah, as in 2Ki 17:34. - In 2Ki 17:41 this is repeated once more, and the whole of these reflections are brought to a close with the additional statement, that their children and grandchildren do the same to this day. - In the period following the Babylonian captivity the Samaritans relinquished actual idolatry, and by the adoption of the Mosaic book of the law were converted to monotheism. For the later history of the Samaritans, of whom a small handful have been preserved to the present day in the ancient Sichem, the present Nablus, see Theod. Guil. Joh. Juynboll, commentarii in historiam gentis Samaritanae , Lugd. Bat. 1846, 4, and H. Petermann, Samaria and the Samaritans , in Herzog's Cycl .

Constable: 2Ki 9:30--18:1

C. The Second Period of Antagonism 9:30-17:41

The kingdoms of Israel and Judah continued without an alliance between them for the rest of the time the Northern Kingdom existed. This period began with Jehu's accession to the throne in 841 B.C. and continued until the Assyrian captivity of the Northern Kingdom in 722 B.C.

Constable: 2Ki 17:7-41

17. The captivity of the Northern Kingdom 17:7-41

The writer of Kings took special pains to explain the reasons for and the results of Israel's captivity.

Constable: 2Ki 17:7-23

The reasons for the captivity 17:7-23

In this section the writer catalogued Israel's transgressions of God's Word that resulted in her going into captivity. Ironically Israel's last king had sought help from Egypt from which Israel had fled 724 years earlier.

They feared other gods (v. 7; cf. Exod. 20:3; Judg. 6:10).

They adopted Canaanite customs (v. 8; cf. Lev. 18:3; Deut. 18:9).

They adopted customs condemned by the Mosaic Law (v. 8; cf. 16:3; 17:19).

They practiced secret sins (v. 9).

They built pagan high places (v. 9; cf. Deut. 12:2-7, 13-14).

They made many sacred pillars and Asherim (v. 10; cf. Exod. 34:12-14).

They burned incense to other gods (v. 11).

They did evil things that provoked Yahweh (v. 11).

They served idols (v. 12; cf. Exod. 20:4).

They refused to heed God's warnings (vv. 13-14).

They became obstinate (v. 14; cf. Exod. 32:9; 33:3).

They rejected God's statutes (v. 15).

They rejected God's covenant (v. 15; cf. Exod. 24:6-8; Deut. 29:25).

They pursued vanity (v. 15; cf. Deut. 32:21).

They became vain (v. 15).

They followed foreign nations (v. 15; cf. Deut. 12:30-31).

They forsook Yahweh's commandments (v. 16).

They made molten calves (v. 16; cf. Exod. 20:4).

They made an Asherah (v. 16; cf. Exod. 20:4).

They worshipped the stars (v. 16; cf. Deut. 4:15, 19; Amos 5:26).

They served Baal (v. 16).

They practiced child sacrifice (v. 17; cf. Lev. 18:21; Deut. 12:31).

They practiced witchcraft (v. 17; cf. Lev. 19:26; Deut. 18:10-12).

They sold themselves to do evil (v. 17; cf. 21:20).

Though God allowed Judah to remain, she was not innocent (v. 19).

The cult of Jeroboam was a major source of Israel's apostasy (vv. 21-22).

Constable: 2Ki 17:24-41

The results of the captivity 17:24-41

The immediate result of the captivity (vv. 24-33) was twofold. The Assyrians deported many Israelites to other places in the Assyrian Empire, and they imported other people from the empire into the newly formed Assyrian province that they called Samaria (v. 24). The king who did this was probably Sargon II (722-705 B.C.). Shalmaneser died either during or shortly after the siege of Samaria. These imported foreigners eventually intermarried with the Jews who remained in the land and probably were the ancestors of the Samaritans of Jesus' day (cf. John 4:9). As polytheists the Assyrians did not hesitate to worship Yahweh as well as their other gods (cf. Exod. 20:3). They had no priestly caste but appointed anyone as a priest (v. 32). The syncretistic worship of Yahweh and false gods prevailed (vv. 32-33). The writer again emphasized the judgment of God that came on the Israelites who remained in the land for their apostasy.

The continuing result of the captivity (vv. 34-41) was the same. In this section of verses the theme of Israel's disobedience reaches a climax. In verses 35-39 note the loose quotation of these passages from the Mosaic Law: Exodus 6:6; 9:15; 14:15-30; 20:4-5, 23; Leviticus 19:32; Deuteronomy 4:23, 34; 5:6, 15, 32; 6:12-13; and 7:11, 25.

This chapter concludes the second major section of Kings (-1 Kings 12-2 Kings 17). The lessons of the history of the divided kingdom that the writer emphasized could not be clearer.

"God's people had become disloyal to their Suzerain who had brought them redemptively out of Egyptian servitude. They had expressed disloyalty by worshipping other gods (17:15-17). And they did all this despite his persistent reminders to them through his spokesmen, the prophets, that what they were doing constituted high treason. The inevitable result was the judgment of God, a judgment which took the form of exile from the land of promise."¹¹³

Guzik: 2Ki 17:1-41

2 Kings 17 - The Fall of Israel

A. The fall of Samaria.

1. (1-2) The evil reign of Hoshea.

In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned nine years. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel who were before him.

a. Hoshea the son of Elah: We last saw Hoshea in 2 Kings 15:30, as the man who led a conspiracy against Pekah, the king of Israel. After the successful assassination, Hoshea took the throne and started his own brief dynasty.

b. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel who were before him: Hoshea was an evil man, but by no means the worst of the kings of Israel. Sadly, his bloody overthrow of the preceding king and violent ascent to power did not make him unusually evil among the kings of Israel.

i. "He seems not to have inaugurated or continued the anti-Yahwistic practices for which Israel itself is condemned." (Wiseman)

ii. This reminds us that judgment may not come at the height of sin. When God judges a nation or a culture, He has the big picture in view. For that reason, the actual events of judgment may come when things are not as bad in a relative sense.

iii. "It is not the last sand that exhausteth the hour-glass, nor the last stroke of the axe that felleth the tree; so here." (Trapp)

2. (3-4) Hoshea's futile resistance against Assyria.

Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him; and Hoshea became his vassal, and paid him tribute money. And the king of Assyria uncovered a conspiracy by Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and brought no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.

a. Hoshea became his vassal, and paid him tribute money: In the pattern of Mehahem before him (2 Kings 15:17-22), Hoshea accepted the status of vassal unto the king of Assyria. If he paid his money and did as the king of Assyria pleased, he would be allowed to continue on the throne of Israel.

i. Hoshea thought he had a strategic opportunity when a new king came to the Assyrian throne, but he was wrong. "When Tiglath-pileser III died in 727 B.C. and was succeeded by his own son Shalmaneser V (727-722), the time seemed ripe for certain western states to renounce their vassal status. Moreover, a seemingly important ally lay southward in the delta of Egypt." (Patterson and Austel)

b. And the king of Assyria uncovered a conspiracy by Hoshea: King Hoshea hoped to find help among the Egyptians, who were in a constant power struggle with the Assyrian Empire. On account of this conspiracy, and the failure to pay the yearly tribute money, Hoshea was imprisoned by the king of Assyria.

i. As we might expect among the kings of Israel, Hoshea did not look to the LORD for help - he looked to Egypt. Therefore, Hosea said of him: As for Samaria, her king is cut off like a twig on the water. (Hosea 10:7)

ii. The reference to So, king of Egypt, is probably better understood as a reference to a place - Sais, which was at that time the capital of Egypt. "Thus understood, v. 4 would read 'he had sent envoys to Sais (even unto) the king of Egypt.' " (Patterson and Austel)

3. (5-6) The northern kingdom of Israel is finally conquered by the Assyrians.

Now the king of Assyria went throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

a. The king of Assyria went throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years: This was a long, dedicated campaign to finally crush the rebellious Kingdom of Israel, who had defied the power of the Assyrian Empire. Though it took a three-year siege, it was worth it to the Assyrians.

i. Three years: "The fact that it took Assyria that long to break Samaria's resistance is a testimony to the good wall Omri and Ahab had built around the capital city." (Dilday)

ii. This shows us that when God brings His judgment, He may use human instruments to do it.

b. The king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away to Assyria: When Samaria finally fell and the northern kingdom was conquered, the Assyrians implemented their policy towards conquered nations. They deported all but the very lowest classes back to the key cities of their empire, either to train and utilize the talented or to enslave the able.

i. 200 years and 19 kings after the time of Solomon (the last king over a united Israel), the northern kingdom of Israel fell. It was not because the God of Israel was unable to help them, but because they had so forsaken that God and ignored His guidance and correction that He finally stopped actively protecting them and let them rot and degrade according to their desire.

ii. As they carried Israel away to Assyria, they followed their typical custom. When the Assyrians depopulated and exiled a conquered community, they led the captives away on journeys of hundreds of miles, with the captives naked and attached together with a system of strings and fishhooks pierced through their lower lip. God would make sure they were led in this humiliating manner through the broken walls of their conquered cities (Amos 4:2-3).

iii. This shows another principle of God's judgment: When it comes, it is often humiliating and degrading.

iv. It seems that Sargon II, the brother and successor of Shalmaneser, finished this siege or at least took credit for it: "The men of Samaria with their king were hostile to me and consorted together not to carry out their vassal obligations and bring tribute to me, so they fought me . . . I clashed with them and took as booty 27,280 people with their chariots and their gods in whom they trusted. I incorporated 200 chariots into my army. The rest of the people I made to dwell within Assyria. I restored the city of Samaria and made it greater than before." (Inscribed Prisms of Sargon II from Nimrud, cited in Wiseman)

B. The reasons for the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel.

"The rest of this chapter is spent in vindicating the Divine providence and justice; showing the reason why God permitted such a desolation to fall on a people who had been so long his peculiar children." (Clarke)

1. (7) They disregarded the God of their redemption.

For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had feared other gods,

a. For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD: In the following verses, the divine historian explains the fundamental reasons for the conquering and captivity of the northern kingdom. At the root, it was a problem with sin. It wasn't geopolitical changes or social causes - it was sin.

b. They had feared other gods: In the central act of redemption in Old Testament history, God brought Israel up out of the land of Egypt. Remembrance of this act alone should prompt Israel to a single-hearted commitment to the LORD. Yet they did not remember this and instead they feared other gods, breaking the covenant God made with His people.

i. However, the kingdom of Israel had feared other gods since their founding some 200 years before this. This shows us another principle of God's judgment: It is often a long time in coming, because God holds back His judgment as long as possible.

2. (8) They conformed themselves to the godless nations around them.

And had walked in the statutes of the nations whom the LORD had cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.

a. And had walked in the statutes of the nations whom the LORD had cast out from before the children of Israel: Before Israel occupied Canaan in the days of Joshua, the Promised Land was populated by degenerate, pagan peoples who practiced the worst kinds of idolatry and human sacrifice. One of the fundamental sins of Israel was that they followed in these ancient Canaanite ways.

i. Whom the LORD had cast out: God cast out the Canaanite nations in the days of Joshua because of these sins. Now He had cast out the northern kingdom of Israel for the same sins. God's judgment was not against the ancient Canaanites because of race or ethnicity; it was because of their conduct. As Israel shared the same conduct, they would share the same judgment.

b. Which they had made: It is a little difficult to say if what they made refers to the other gods mentioned in the previous verse or to the statutes mentioned in this verse. Either is valid or true. Men make both their laws and their idols after their own ingenuity and desire.

3. (9-12) Their secret and openly practiced idolatry.

Also the children of Israel secretly did against the LORD their God things that were not right, and they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from watchtower to fortified city. They set up for themselves sacred pillars and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree. There they burned incense on all the high places, like the nations whom the LORD had carried away before them; and they did wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger, for they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, "You shall not do this thing."

a. Also the children of Israel secretly did against the LORD their God things that were not right: Rebellion and sin cloud the judgment of men, and clearly the judgment of Israel was affected. Their judgment was impaired enough to think they could sin secretly against the God who sees everything.

b. They built for themselves high places in all their cities: These were places of unauthorized and idolatrous sacrifice, as were the sacred pillars.

c. Like the nations whom the LORD had carried away before them: The divine historian repeats this theme. The same sins that brought judgment upon the Canaanites also brought judgment on the northern kingdom of Israel.

4. (13-15) They rejected the repeated warnings from God.

Yet the LORD testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His prophets, every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets." Nevertheless they would not hear, but stiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who did not believe in the LORD their God. And they rejected His statutes and His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them; they followed idols, became idolaters, and went after the nations who were all around them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them that they should not do like them.

a. Yet the LORD testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His prophets: In love, God sent prophets to the northern and southern kingdoms. Their message was a warning against the sins that corrupted God's people and separated them from their God. They invited God's people with the theme, "Turn from your evil ways."

b. Nevertheless they would not hear: God sent these messengers to help Israel and to spare them the judgment that would come if they did not turn from their evil ways. Yet God's people became more stubborn when God brought this call to repentance, and they sunk deeper into sin.

i. When God brings judgment, He first brings warning - and often many warnings over a long period. It is only after these warnings are rejected that the judgment comes.

ii. "Their sin was first against law, but finally it was against patient love." (Morgan)

iii. But stiffened their necks: "Refused to submit their neck to the yoke of God's precepts; a metaphor from stubborn oxen, that make their necks hard, or stiff, and will not bow to the yoke." (Poole)

c. They followed idols, became idolaters: The NIV translates this, "They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless." The NASB has it, "They followed vanity and became vain."

i. "The original is more accurate at this point: 'They worshipped emptiness and became empty.' The word here is hebel meaning 'air,' 'delusion,' or 'vanity.' The idea is that they became like the gods they worshipped. They bowed down to nothingness and became nothing." (Dilday)

5. (16-23) They forsook God and served idols - until judgment finally came.

So they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, made for themselves a molded image and two calves, made a wooden image and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger. Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; there was none left but the tribe of Judah alone. Also Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. And the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them from His sight. For He tore Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD, and made them commit a great sin. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them, until the LORD removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria, as it is to this day.

a. Made for themselves a molded image and two calves: This refers to the infamous sin of Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:26-29). This state-sponsored idolatry did not immediately ruin the kingdom - the northern kingdom of Israel lasted as an independent nation for another 200 years following the time of Jeroboam. Yet it certainly was the beginning of the end.

b. And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire: This refers to the abominable worship of the idol Molech, to whom children were burned in sacrifice.

c. Practiced witchcraft and soothsaying: The northern tribes embraced the same occult practices that the Canaanite tribes before them. Collectively, these great sins of idolatry provoked God to anger.

d. Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; there was none left but the tribe of Judah alone: This was the end of the ten northern tribes as an independent kingdom. When they were dispersed by the Assyrians, some assimilated into other cultures, but others kept their Jewish identity as exiles in other lands.

i. Yet, it is a mistake to think of these ten northern tribes as lost. Far back in the days of Jeroboam and his original break with the southern kingdom of Judah, the legitimate priests and Levites who lived in the northern ten tribes did not like the Jeroboam's idolatry. They, along with others who set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel, then moved from the northern kingdom of Israel to the southern kingdom of Judah (2 Chronicles 11:13-16). So actually, the southern kingdom of Judah contained Israelites from all of the ten tribes.

ii. Considering all this, we can say that the ten northern tribes were not lost, and they certainly did not migrate to Britain in accord with some British-Israelite theories.

· Some (in particular, the godly of that day) migrated to the southern kingdom of Judah in the days of Jeroboam I.

· Some assimilated into other cultures.

· Some kept their Jewish culture and identity in the lands of their exile.

e. Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made: Spiritually speaking, Judah was more faithful to God than the northern kingdom of Israel. Yet they also began to imitate their sinful neighbors to the north.

i. Judah had the lesson right in front of them - the conquered nation of Israel was evidence of what happened when hearts turned from God. Yet they ignored these plain lessons and imitated the sins of Israel.

f. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them, until the LORD removed Israel out of His sight: The summary of Israel's sin is simply that they were given over to idolatry. The worshipped the true God in a false way and then began to also worship false gods.

C. The resettlement of Samaria.

1. (24-26) God warns the foreigners who are resettled in Samaria.

Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities. And it was so, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they did not fear the LORD; therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them. So they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, "The nations whom you have removed and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the rituals of the God of the land; therefore He has sent lions among them, and indeed, they are killing them because they do not know the rituals of the God of the land."

a. Then the king of Assyria brought people: The policy of the Assyrian Empire was to remove rebellious, resistant people and to resettle their former lands with people from other parts of the empire.

i. "Not only did the Assyrian monarchs hope to make the repopulated and reconstituted districts more manageable, but they hoped to train and encourage the citizenry to transfer their loyalties to the Assyrian Empire." (Patterson and Austel)

b. They did not fear the LORD; therefore the LORD sent lions among them: This shows that there was not only something special about the kingdom of Israel, but also something special about the land of Israel. God demanded to be feared among the people of the land, even if they came from other nations.

i. "Perhaps because many unburied bodies still remained after the bloody warfare and due to the depopulating of the land, voracious lions began to roam freely through the area." (Patterson and Austel)

ii. Zechariah 2:12 tells us that the land of Israel is the Holy Land. God regards it as something special, and will hold accountable those who live there and do not fear Him.

iii. "Hereby also God asserted his own right and sovereignty over that land, and made them to understand that neither the Israelites were cast out nor they brought into that land by their valour or strength, but by God's providence." (Poole)

c. Because they do not know the rituals of the God of the land: These Assyrian officials seemed to know what the recently-conquered kingdom of Israel did not know - that they had to honor the God of Israel. Yet, any faith in God among these resettled people was founded in simple fear of the lions - leading to an inadequate relationship with God.

i. "He did send lions among them, and it was these lions that converted them. Their teeth and fangs and fiery eyes and the thunders of their roars converted them. They must have a god to deliver them: they could not bear the lions, therefore they must fear the Lord who could send lions, and who perhaps would cease to send them. Now, dear friends, always be somewhat diffident of your own conversion if you can trace it only and solely to motives of terror." (Spurgeon)

2. (27-33) A religion for Samaria is established.

Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, "Send there one of the priests whom you brought from there; let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the rituals of the God of the land." Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD. However every nation continued to make gods of its own, and put them in the shrines on the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities where they dwelt. The men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, and the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. So they feared the LORD, and from every class they appointed for themselves priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. They feared the LORD, yet served their own gods; according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away.

a. Taught them how they should fear the LORD: The priesthood of the kingdom of Israel was corrupt, but the king of Assyria did not know and was not interested in the pure religion of Israel. Therefore this nameless, corrupt priest taught the new inhabitants of the land a corrupt religion.

i. Certainly, it had elements of the true faith in it; but at the same time it was corrupted by the centuries of state-sponsored idolatry that reigned in Israel.

b. Every nation continued to make gods of its own: The priest-for-hire brought in by the Assyrians did not tell the new inhabitants of the land that they must only worship the LORD God of Israel. He did not teach it because, coming from Israel, he did not believe it.

c. They feared the LORD, yet served their own gods: This described the pagan peoples that the Assyrians brought into populate the area of the northern kingdom of Israel. They gave a measure of respect to the God of Israel - after all, they did not want to be eaten by lions. Yet they also served their own gods and picked and chose among religious and spiritual beliefs as it pleased them.

· This accurately described the pagan peoples who re-populated Israel.

· This accurately described the northern kingdom of Israel before they were conquered and exiled.

· This accurately describes common religious belief in the modern world.

i. "Are you sure this is not a true description of your own position? You pay an outward deference to God by attending his house, and acknowledging his day, whilst you are really prostrating yourself before other shrines." (Meyer)

ii. "Is not worldly piety, or pious worldliness, the current religion of England? They live among godly people, and God chastens them, and they therefore fear him, but not enough to give their hearts to him. They seek out a trimming teacher who is not too precise and plain-spoken, and they settle down comfortably to a mongrel faith, half truth, half error, and a mongrel worship half dead form, and half orthodoxy." (Spurgeon)

iii. "Let me be right, and let there be no mistake about it; but do not let me try to be both right and wrong, washed and filthy, white and black, a child of God and a child of Satan." (Spurgeon)

3. (34-41) The continuance of this false religion.

To this day they continue practicing the former rituals; they do not fear the LORD, nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances, or the law and commandment which the LORD had commanded the children of Jacob, whom He named Israel, with whom the LORD had made a covenant and charged them, saying: "You shall not fear other gods, nor bow down to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them; but the LORD, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm, Him you shall fear, Him you shall worship, and to Him you shall offer sacrifice. And the statutes, the ordinances, the law, and the commandment which He wrote for you, you shall be careful to observe forever; you shall not fear other gods. And the covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods. But the LORD your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies." However they did not obey, but they followed their former rituals. So these nations feared the LORD, yet served their carved images; also their children and their children's children have continued doing as their fathers did, even to this day.

a. To this day they continue practicing the former rituals: The area of the northern kingdom of Israel was not re-occupied by Judah before their own subjugation and conquest by the Babylonian empire. This mixed religion first promoted by the Assyrians continued for many centuries in Samaria, existing even until New Testament times.

i. It seems that God was more lenient with these Samaritans of corrupt belief than He was with disobedient Israel. This teaches us that those with more revelation from God are held to stricter account before Him.

ii. Yet, 2 Chronicles 30:10-19 shows us that in the days of King Hezekiah of Judah, there were some worshippers of the true God among the area that was formerly the northern kingdom of Israel. Some responded to his invitation to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem.

b. But the LORD your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies: The writer states this to remind us that if Israel had been faithful - even moderately faithful - to their covenant with God, they would still stand. God would have delivered them from all of their enemies. Instead, they were conquered by the Assyrian Empire after their own self-destruction in sin and rebellion.

© 2006 David Guzik - No distribution beyond personal use without permission

Commentary -- Other

Critics Ask: 2Ki 17:41

2 KINGS 17:41 —How could the nations fear the true God and serve false gods?

PROBLEM: This text says plainly that “these nations feared the Lord” (cf. v. 32 ). Yet this same passage claims that they “served their own gods” (v. 33 ). Isn’t this a flat contradiction?

SOLUTION: Not all verbal contradictions are actual contradictions (see comments on Ps. 53:5 ). This is a good example of using the same word (“fear”) in different senses (see also comments on 1 John 4:18 ). The contrasting senses in which they feared God is revealed in verse 41 : “So these nations feared the Lord, yet served their carved images.” In other words, they feared God ingeneral, but not on this pa rticular matter. They did not cease being monotheists, but they were idolatrous ones.   

Introduction / Outline

JFB: 2 Kings (Book Introduction)

THE FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF KINGS, in the ancient copies of the Hebrew Bible, constitute one book. Various titles have been given them; in the Septuagint and the Vulgate they are called the Third and Fourth Books of Kings. The authorship of these books is unknown; but the prevailing opinion is that they were compiled by Ezra, or one of the later prophets, from the ancient documents that are so frequently referred to in the course of the history as of public and established authority. Their inspired character was acknowledged by the Jewish Church, which ranked them in the sacred canon; and, besides, it is attested by our Lord, who frequently quotes from them (compare 1Ki 17:9; 2Ki 5:14 with Luk 4:24-27; 1Ki 10:1 with Mat 12:42).

JFB: 2 Kings (Outline)

• MOAB REBELS. (2Ki 1:1)
• AHAZIAH'S JUDGMENT BY ELIJAH. (2Ki 1:2-8)
• ELIJAH BRINGS FIRE FROM HEAVEN ON AHAZIAH'S MESSENGERS. (2Ki 1:9-16)
• AHAZIAH DIES, AND IS SUCCEEDED BY JEHORAM. (2Ki 1:17-18)
• ELIJAH DIVINES JORDAN. (2Ki 2:1-10)
• HE IS TAKEN UP TO HEAVEN IN A CHARIOT OF FIRE. (2Ki 2:11-18)
• ELISHA HEALS THE WATERS. (2Ki 2:19-25)
• JEHORAM'S EVIL REIGN OVER ISRAEL. (2Ki 3:1-3)
• MESHA, KING OF MOAB, REBELS. (2Ki 3:4-5)
• ELISHA PROMISES WATER AND VICTORY OVER MOAB. (2Ki. 3:6-24)
• ELISHA AUGMENTS THE WIDOW'S OIL. (2Ki 4:1-7)
• PROMISES A SON TO THE SHUNAMMITE. (2Ki 4:8-17)
• RAISES HER DEAD SON. (2Ki. 4:18-37)
• PURIFIES DEADLY POTTAGE. (2Ki 4:38-41)
• SATISFIES A HUNDRED MEN WITH TWENTY LOAVES. (2Ki 4:42-44)
• NAAMAN'S LEPROSY. (2Ki 5:1-7)
• ELISHA SENDS HIM TO JORDAN, AND HE IS HEALED. (2Ki 5:8-15)
• ELISHA REFUSES NAAMAN'S GIFTS. (2Ki 5:15-19)
• GEHAZI, BY A LIE, OBTAINS A PRESENT, BUT IS SMITTEN WITH LEPROSY. (2Ki 5:20-27)
• ELISHA CAUSES IRON TO SWIM. (2Ki 6:1-7)
• DISCLOSES THE KING OF SYRIA'S COUNSEL. (2Ki 6:8-17)
• HIS ARMY SMITTEN WITH BLINDNESS. (2Ki 6:18-23)
• BEN-HADAD BESIEGES SAMARIA. (2Ki 6:24-33)
• ELISHA PROPHESIES INCREDIBLE PLENTY IN SAMARIA. (2Ki. 7:1-16)
• THE UNBELIEVING LORD TRODDEN TO DEATH. (2Ki 7:17-20)
• THE SHUNAMMITE'S LAND RESTORED. (2Ki 8:1-6)
• HAZAEL KILLS HIS MASTER, AND SUCCEEDS HIM. (2Ki 8:7-15)
• JEHORAM'S WICKED REIGN. (2Ki 8:16-23)
• AHAZIAH SUCCEEDS HIM. (2Ki 8:24)
• JEHU IS ANOINTED. (2Ki. 9:1-23)
• AHAZIAH IS SLAIN. (2Ki 9:27-35)
• JEZEBEL EATEN BY DOGS. (2Ki 9:36-37)
• JEHU CAUSES SEVENTY OF AHAB'S CHILDREN TO BE BEHEADED. (2Ki. 10:1-17)
• HE DESTROYS THE WORSHIPPERS OF BAAL. (2Ki 10:18-29)
• JEHOASH SAVED FROM ATHALIAH'S MASSACRE. (2Ki 11:1-3)
• HE IS MADE KING. (2Ki 11:4-12)
• ATHALIAH SLAIN. (2Ki 11:13-16)
• JEHOIADA RESTORES GOD'S WORSHIP. (2Ki 11:17-20)
• JEHOASH REIGNS WELL WHILE JEHOIADA LIVED. (2Ki. 12:1-18)
• HE IS SLAIN. (2Ki 12:19-21)
• JEHOAHAZ'S WICKED REIGN OVER ISRAEL. (2Ki 13:1-7)
• JOASH SUCCEEDS HIM. (2Ki. 13:8-25)
• AMAZIAH'S GOOD REIGN OVER JUDAH. (2Ki 14:1-6)
• HE SMITES EDOM. (2Ki 14:7)
• JOASH DEFEATS HIM. (2Ki 14:8-16)
• HE IS SLAIN BY A CONSPIRACY. (2Ki 14:17-20)
• AZARIAH SUCCEEDS HIM. (2Ki 14:21-22)
• JEROBOAM'S WICKED REIGN OVER ISRAEL. (2Ki 14:23-29)
• AZARIAH'S REIGN OVER JUDAH. (2Ki 15:1-7)
• ZECHARIAH'S REIGN OVER ISRAEL. (2Ki 15:8-16)
• MENAHEM'S REIGN. (2Ki 15:17-21)
• PEKAHIAH'S REIGN. (2Ki 15:22-24)
• PEKAH'S REIGN. (2Ki 15:27-31)
• JOTHAM'S REIGN OVER JUDAH. (2Ki 15:32-38)
• AHAZ' WICKED REIGN OVER JUDAH. (2Ki. 16:1-16)
• HE SPOILS THE TEMPLE. (2Ki 16:17-19)
• HOSHEA'S WICKED REIGN. (2Ki 17:1-6)
• SAMARIA TAKEN, AND ISRAEL FOR THEIR SINS CARRIED CAPTIVE. (2Ki. 17:7-41)
• HEZEKIAH'S GOOD REIGN. (2Ki 18:1-3)
• HE DESTROYS IDOLATRY. (2Ki. 18:4-37)
• SENNACHERIB BESIEGES JERUSALEM. (2Ki. 18:17-37)
• HEZEKIAH IN DEEP AFFLICTION. (2Ki 19:1-5)
• COMFORTED BY ISAIAH. (2Ki 19:6-7)
• SENNACHERIB SENDS A BLASPHEMOUS LETTER TO HEZEKIAH. (2Ki 19:8-13)
• HEZEKIAH'S PRAYER. (2Ki. 19:14-34)
• AN ANGEL DESTROYS THE ASSYRIANS. (2Ki 19:35-36)
• SENNACHERIB SLAIN. (2Ki 19:37)
• HEZEKIAH'S LIFE LENGTHENED. (2Ki 20:1-7)
• THE SUN GOES TEN DEGREES BACKWARD. (2Ki 20:8-20)
• MANASSEH'S WICKED REIGN, AND GREAT IDOLATRY. (2Ki. 21:1-18)
• AMON'S WICKED REIGN. (2Ki 21:19-26)
• JOSIAH'S GOOD REIGN. (2Ki 22:1-2)
• HE PROVIDES FOR THE REPAIR OF THE TEMPLE. (2Ki 22:3-7)
• HILKIAH FINDS THE BOOK OF THE LAW. (2Ki 22:8-15)
• JOSIAH CAUSES THE LAW TO BE READ. (2Ki 23:1-3)
• HE DESTROYS IDOLATRY. (2Ki. 23:4-28)
• JEHOIAKIM PROCURES HIS OWN RUIN. (2Ki 24:1-7)
• JEHOIACHIN SUCCEEDS HIM. (2Ki 24:8-9)
• JERUSALEM TAKEN. (2Ki 24:10-16)
• ZEDEKIAH'S EVIL REIGN. (2Ki 24:17-20)
• JERUSALEM AGAIN BESIEGED. (2Ki 25:1-3)
• ZEDEKIAH TAKEN. (2Ki. 25:4-30)

TSK: 2 Kings (Book Introduction)

The events detailed in these books (Kings) are highly interesting and important. The account of the wisdom, magnificence, and extended commerce of Solomon; the rash and impolitic conduct of Rehoboam; the disobedient prophet; the widow of Zarephath; Elijah and the prophets of Baal; Ben-hadad’s pride and defeat; Elijah’s assumption into heaven; Elisha’s succession to his ministry, and the series of illustrious miracles he performed; the panic flight of the Syrians; the history of Ben-hadad and Hazael; and the predicted death of Ahab and Jezebel, and their children, are all pregnant with instruction, and have furnished themes for frequent dissertation. We perceive in these impressive histories the characters and qualities of men painted with the utmost fidelity, and the attributes of God displayed with great effect. we contemplate the exact accomplishment of God’s promises and threatenings, the wisdom of his dispensations, and the mingled justice and mercy of his government. The particulars and circumstances are sketched out with a brief and lively description, and the imagination lingers with pleasure in filling up the striking outlines presented to our view. The authenticity of these books is attested by the prophecies they contain, which were subsequently fulfilled; by the citation of our Saviour and his Apostles; by their universal reception by the Jewish and Christian churches; and by the corresponding testimonies of profane authors and ancient sculptures.

TSK: 2 Kings 17 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

2Ki 17:1, Hoshea’s wicked reign; 2Ki 17:3, Being subdued by Shalmaneser, he conspires against him with So, king of Egypt; 2Ki 17:5, Samaria for sinning is led into captivity; 2Ki 17:24, The strange nations which were transplanted into Samaria, being plagued with lions, make a mixture of religions.

Poole: 2 Kings 17 (Chapter Introduction)

KINGS CHAPTER 17

Hoshea king of Israel, his wicked reign: being subdued by Shalmaneser king of Assyria, he conspireth against him with So king of Egypt: he is besieged; taken prisoner; and with all the people carried captive to Assyria for their sins, 2Ki 17:1-23 . The strange nations transplanted into Samaria are plagued with lions: an Israelitish priest is sent to them; whence followeth a mixture of religious, 2Ki 17:24-41 .

MHCC: 2 Kings 17 (Chapter Introduction)

(2Ki 17:1-6) Reign of Hoshea in Israel, The israelites carried captives by the Assyrians.

(v. 7-23) Captivity of the Israelites.

(v. 24-41) The nations placed in the land of Israel.

Matthew Henry: 2 Kings (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Second Book of Kings

This second book of the Kings (which the Septuagint, numbering from Samuel, called the fourth ) is a continuation of the former book; and, some think, might better have been made to begin with the fifty-first verse of the foregoing chapter, where the reign of Ahaziah begins. The former book had an illustrious beginning, in the glories of the kingdom of Israel, when it was entire; this has a melancholy conclusion, in the desolations of the kingdoms of Israel first, and then of Judah, after they had been long broken into two: for a kingdom divided against itself cometh to destruction. But, as Elijah's mighty works were very much the glory of the former book, towards the latter end of it, so were Elisha's the glory of this, towards the beginning of it. These prophets out-shone their princes; and therefore, as far as they go, the history shall be accounted for in them. Here is, I. Elijah fetching fire from heaven and ascending in fire to heaven, ch. 1 and 2. II. Elisha working many miracles, both for prince and people, Israelites and foreigners, ch. 3-7. III. Hazael and Jehu anointed, the former for the correction of Israel, the latter for the destruction of the house of Ahab and the worship of Baal, ch. 8-10. IV. The reign of several of the kings, both of Judah and Israel, ch. 11-16. V. The captivity of the ten tribes, ch. 17. VI. The good and glorious reign of Hezekiah, ch. 18-20. VII. Manassah's wicked reign, and Josiah's good one, ch. 21-23. VIII. The destruction of Jerusalem by the king of Babylon, ch. 24 and 25. This history, in the several passages of it, confirms that observation of Solomon, That righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is the reproach of any people.

Matthew Henry: 2 Kings 17 (Chapter Introduction)

This chapter gives us an account of the captivity of the ten tribes, and so finishes the history of that kingdom, after it had continued about 265 years, from the setting up of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. In it we have, I. A short narrative of this destruction (2Ki 17:1-6). II. Remarks upon it, and the causes of it, for the justifying of God in it and for warning to others (v. 7-23). III. An account of the nations which succeeded them in the possession of their land, and the mongrel religion set up among them (v. 24-41).

Constable: 2 Kings (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Second Kings continues the narrative begun in 1 Kings. It opens with the translation of godly Elijah to heaven and closes with the transportation of the ungodly Jews to Babylon. For discussion of title, writer, date, and scope of 2 Kings, see the introductory section in my notes on 1 Kings.

Message¹

Second Kings is a sequel to 1 Kings. First Kings covers about one and a half centuries and 2 Kings about three centuries. In both books the two thrones are in view: the earthly and the heavenly.

First Kings emphasizes the facts of these thrones. The earthly throne consistently failed, but the heavenly throne consistently prevailed. Second Kings emphasizes the consequences that result from each of these situations. Its major value is its revelation of the failure of man and the victory of God.

The failure of man comes through the content of this book, but the victory of God comes through the pre-exilic prophets who wrote during the three centuries covered in 2 Kings. These prophets were Hosea, Amos, and Jonah in Israel. In Judah they were Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah.

Notice first the revelation of this book concerning human failure.

The reason the nations failed was the people lost their vision of Yahweh. We can see this quite clearly in the attitudes and actions of the kings. Most of the kings were evil because they had no vision of the throne in heaven. They did not appreciate their position under God. A few of them were good, but even these fell short of the standard of devotion to God that David had set. Some of them conducted reforms, but none of them removed the places of pagan worship in the land (the "high places"). Essentially they conducted state business with little concern for God. Idolatry and foreign alliances are the evidence that the people lacked a vision of God. Another evidence of this is the people's inability to perceive their national setbacks as divine discipline. The prophets were constantly trying to help the people see this.

The method by which the nations failed was the people forgot their national vocation. They developed, on the one hand, an improper exclusiveness. They did not believe God could have any pity or mercy on any other people but themselves. Jonah demonstrated this attitude. On the other hand, they failed to be exclusive as God meant them to be. They formed alliances with other nations contrary to God's will. God intended His people to be a blessing to all other people and to trust in Him alone. The people not only lost their vision of God, they also lost their vision of their own vocation as a unique nation in the world (Exod. 19:5).

The evidence that the nations failed was the people lost their spiritual sensitivity. It is amazing but true that the ministry of the writing prophets that occupies so much space in the Old Testament was very ineffective in their own day (e.g., Isa. 53:1). The religious reformations that did take place were fairly superficial (cf. 2 Kings 22:8-20). When Hezekiah began his reform it took 16 days simply to carry the accumulated rubbish out of the temple (2 Chron. 29:17). In Josiah's day not even one copy of the Law was available until someone discovered one among the debris in the temple. When the people heard it read they were completely unfamiliar with it (2 Chron. 34:14-21).

Notice too in this book the revelation concerning the victory of God. There is much evidence of this as well.

The reason for God's victory is traceable to His promise, with an oath, to bless Abraham's descendants (Gen. 22:16-18). He will allow nothing to keep Him from fulfilling that promise. His covenant with Abraham underlies all of His dealings with the Israelites that this book documents. Remember that the Davidic Covenant grew out of the Abrahamic Covenant. God's covenants rested on His love.

The method by which God accomplished victory was by using the prophets as His messengers to communicate with His people and by using direct intervention to control their history.

The evidence of God's victory is the continued existence of the physical seed of Abraham. The Jews still exist today. Arnold Toynbe, the historian, called the Jews a fossil race. God has preserved them to fulfill His purposes on the earth. So even though they failed Him, He has not failed them.

I would summarize the message of 2 Kings, therefore, as follows. Though people fail God, God will not fail people. This is foundational to the doctrine of eternal security that the New Testament expounds more fully.

The main reason the Israelites failed God was they lost sight of Him. Proverbs 29:18 says, "Where there is no vision (of God) the people cast off restraint." When people lose sight of God their ideals deteriorate. They turn to idolatry to fill the vacuum left by God's absence. Also, their purposes suffer defeat. They do not achieve fulfillment or realize their destiny. Furthermore their consciences become dead. They become unresponsive to the Word of God. You have a high calling. Point people to God.

On the other hand, God will never fail humanity (Isa. 42:1, 4). The man who said this, Isaiah, could do so because He did not lose sight of God. His vision of God was clear and great (Isa. 1:1; 6:1). It enabled him to maintain confidence in the throne in heaven when the throne on earth was failing terribly (Isa. 40:27-31). Is your confidence in God? Many evangelicals are wringing their hand in distress because the Christian cause seems to be suffering in America. God is still on His throne.

If we are to serve our generation faithfully, we must see God. When we do, we will find inspiration in the certainty of His ultimate victory. How can we keep God in our view? Read the Word daily. Pray. Bring Him into all your decisions, your worries, your fears. Do not lose sight of Him for one day. Do not forget your vocation in life (Matt. 28:19-20). Ask God to keep you spiritually sensitive.

Constable: 2 Kings (Outline)

Outline

(Continued from notes on 1 Kings)

3. Ahaziah's evil reign in Israel -1 Kings 22:51-2 Kings 1:18

4. Jehoram's evil reign in Israel 2:1-8:15

5. Jehoram's evil reign in Judah 8:16-24

6. Ahaziah's evil reign in Judah 8:25-9:29

C. The second period of antagonism 9:30-17:41

1. Jehu's evil reign in Israel 9:30-10:36

2. Athaliah's evil reign in Judah 11:1-20

3. Jehoash's good reign in Judah 11:21-12:21

4. Jehoahaz's evil reign in Israel 13:1-9

5. Jehoash's evil reign in Israel 13:10-25

6. Amaziah's good reign in Judah 14:1-22

7. Jeroboam II's evil reign in Israel 14:23-29

8. Azariah's good reign in Judah 15:1-7

9. Zechariah's evil reign in Israel 15:8-12

10. Shallum's evil reign in Israel 15:13-16

11. Menahem's evil reign in Israel 15:17-22

12. Pekahiah's evil reign in Israel 15:23-26

13. Pekah's evil reign in Israel 15:27-31

14. Jotham's good reign in Judah 15:32-38

15. Ahaz's evil reign in Judah ch. 16

16. Hoshea's evil reign in Israel 17:1-6

17. The captivity of the Northern Kingdom 17:7-41

III. The surviving kingdom chs. 18-25

A. Hezekiah's good reign chs. 18-20

1. Hezekiah's goodness 18:1-12

2. Sennacherib's challenge to Hezekiah 18:13-37

3. Yahweh's immediate encouragement 19:1-13

4. Hezekiah's prayer 19:14-19

5. Yahweh's answer 19:20-37

6. Hezekiah's illness and recovery 20:1-11

7. The prophecy of Babylonian captivity 20:12-19

8. Hezekiah's death 20:20-21

B. Manasseh's evil reign 21:1-18

C. Amon's evil reign 21:19-26

D. Josiah's good reign 22:1-23:30

1. Josiah's goodness 22:1-2

2. Josiah's reforms 22:3-23:27

3. Josiah's death 23:28-30

E. Jehoahaz's evil reign 23:31-35

F. Jehoiakim's evil reign 23:36-24:7

G. Jehoiachin's evil reign 24:8-17

H. Zedekiah's evil reign 24:18-25:7

I. The captivity of the Southern Kingdom 25:8-30

Constable: 2 Kings

2 Kings

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: 2 Kings (Book Introduction)

THE FOURTH BOOK OF KINGS.

INTRODUCTION.

This Book brings us to the conclusion of the kingdom of Israel, (chap. xvii.) and to the captivity of Juda, at Babylon, chap. xxv. We behold some virtuous princes reigning over the two tribes [of Juda and Benjamin], while the ten were uniformly governed by men of perverse morals. (Worthington) --- Yet there were some who adhered to the Lord in both kingdoms. David and his descendants (Haydock) occupy the throne near 480 years; and, after the captivity, continue in some degree of honour till the coming of Christ. (Worthington) --- But various families rule over Israel; some by usurpation, (Haydock) others by God's appointment: who thus chooses to chastise the wicked. He still watches over his Church, and sends his prophets for the instruction of all. (Worthington) --- We have enquired in the preface of the former Book, who composed this. (Haydock) --- The kingdom of Israel subsists about 250, (Worthignton) or 254 years. This Book contains the transactions of 308 years. (Calmet) --- But the chronology is extremely perplexed. To the sixth year of Ezechias, when Israel was led away captive, the kingdom of Juda seems to have lasted 260, and that of Israel only 241 years, though they both commenced at the same period. The errors regard the kings of Isreal, according to Houbigant, who would assign the following years to the respective kings of Juda and Israel. 1. Of Juda: Solomon, 40; Roboam, 17; Abiam, 3; Asa, 41, Josaphat, 25; Joram, 8; Ochozias, 1; (the same is said to have begun to reign in the preceding year, the 11th of Joram, 4 Kings ix. 29, incorrectly) Athalia, 6; Joas, 40; Amasias, 29p; (he reigns 15 after the death of Joas, king of Isreal) Azarias, 52; Joatham, 16; Achaz, 16; Ezechias, 6; in which year, the three hundredth from the commencement of Solomon's reign, and the two hundred and sixtieth of the kingdom of Juda, Samaria was taken. 2. The kings of Israel: Jeroboam, 22; Nadab, 2; Baasa, 24; Ela, 2; Zambri, 7 days; Amri, 12; Achab, 22; Ochozias, 2; Joram, 12; Jehu, 28; Joachaz, 17; Joas, 16; Jeroboam, 41; Zacharias, 10½; (in the text 10 is omitted.; Haydock) Sellum, 1 month; Manahem, 10; Phaceia, 2; Phacee, 30; (in the text, 20.; Haydock) Osee, 9; in all, 261½ years, (Houbigant, Chron. Sac.) or 261 years and 7 months. The variation of 19 months, which still appears, may be owing to some of the years being incomplete. (Haydock) --- 3. After a reign of 28 years over Juda, Ezechias is succeeded by Manasses, who reigns 55: Amon, 2; Josias, 31; Joachaz, a few months; Eliacim, or Joakim, 11; Joachin, Conias, or Jechonias, had reigned ten years with his father. After three months and ten days reigning alone, he is led away to Babylon with part of the people. Matthanias, or Sedecias, is appointed in his stead; but proving refractory, is also, after nine years, deprived of his sight, and conducted with 832 of his subjects to Babylon. Nabuchodonosor had already led away 3023, under Joachin. After the death of Godolias, who was left to govern the miserable remains of the people, the year of the world 3417, he made 745 more captives, and thus an end was put to the kingdom of Juda. The scourge had been retarded for some time, by the repentance of Manasses, and the prayers of the prophets. (Calmet)

Gill: 2 Kings (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS

This, and the preceding book, are properly but one book divided into two parts, because of the size of it, as the book of Samuel; it is a continuation of the history of the kings of Israel and Judah; and for a further account of it the reader is referred to the title of the preceding book.

Gill: 2 Kings 17 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 17

This chapter relates the captivity of the ten tribes of Israel, and how it came about, 2Ki 17:1, the cause of it, their idolatry, which they persisted in, notwithstanding the remonstrances made against it, 2Ki 17:7, in whose stead were placed people from different parts, who exercised a mixed religion, partly Heathenish, and partly Israelitish, 2Ki 17:24.