Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 17:7
For [so] it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,
The sins for which Israel was carried into captivity (Not in Chronicles)
7. For so it was that ] R.V. And it was so because. A better form of introduction to this account of the causes of the captivity. These are recited under three heads. First, on entering Canaan Israel adopted the idol worship of the people of the land, and would not listen to the warnings of God’s prophets. Secondly, the ten tribes made the molten calves, and thirdly, they adopted the worship of Baal and Moloch and other idolatries from the more distant people, and indulged in all the practices of divination and enchantment which were attendant on these heathen forms of worship.
which had [R.V. omits had ] brought them up ] This omission makes the clause refer, as it does in the Hebrew, exactly to the same time as ‘whom the Lord cast out’ in the following verse.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The reasons for which God suffered the Israelites to be deprived of their land and carried into captivity were:
1. their idolatries;
2. their rejection of the Law;
3. their disregard of the warning voices of prophets and seers.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Ki 17:7-25
For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned.
A great privilege, wickedness, and ruin
I. A great national privilege. We learn herefrom that the Infinite Governor of the world had given them at least three great advantages, political freedom, right to the ]and, and the highest spiritual teaching. He had given them,
1. Political freedom. For ages they had been in political bondage, the mere slaves of despots; but here we are told that God had brought them out of the land of Egypt. Political freedom is the inalienable right of all men, is one of the greatest blessings of a people, but one which in every age has been outraged by despots. The millions are groaning in every land still under political disabilities. He had given them–
2. A right to the land. Canaan was the common right of all; true, it was divided amongst the ten tribes, but this not for the private interests of shy, but for the good of all.
3. The highest spiritual teaching.
II. A great national wickedness. Possessing all these privileges, how acted these people–not merely the people of Israel, but the people of Judah as well? Was the sentiment of worship and justice regnant within them? Were they loyal to all that is beautiful, true, and good? Nay.
1. They rejected God.
2. They adopted idols, Mark
(1) the earnestness of their idolatry. With what unremitting zeal they promoted the cause of idolatry. Mark
(2) the cruelty of their idolatry. And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire.
III. Great national ruin.
1. Their ruin involved the entire loss of their country (verse 23).
2. Their ruin involved the loss of their national existence (verse 18). The ten tribes are gone, and no one knows whether they are now worth looking after, for they were a miserable type of humanity.
3. Their ruin involved the retributive agency of Heaven. (David Thomas, D. D.)
The need of obedience to Gods laws
Charles M. Sheldon says he was once called upon unexpectedly to preach at an insane asylum. Be asked the superintendent what subject he would advise him to take. Preach on the great need of obedience, was the prompt reply. After the service, in response to Mr. Sheldons inquiry as to how much of the sermon was probably understood, the superintendent said: They understood nearly all of it. Besides, you must remember that there were more than fifty of us, counting doctors and attendants, who are sane, and I dont know but what we need the doctrine of obedience preached into us just as much as the other people. I know that disobedience to Gods laws has brought most of these people into this asylum, and the rest of us are in danger of the same end if we do not learn to obey the commands of God.
Following others in sin
Mr. Romanes, who has specially studied the minds of animals, says that we may infer intelligence in an animal whenever we see it able to profit by its own experience. But is it not the sign of a higher intelligence, that we are able to profit by the experience of others. This is the reason why history is written with so much elaboration, and studied with so much solicitude. But men, on a wide scale, disregard this history and refuse the solemn lessons. Men follow one another in sin as they do in nothing else. Baxter tells how he once saw a man driving a flock of lambs, and something meeting and hindering them, one of the lambs leaped on the wall of a bridge and fell over into the river; whereupon the rest of the flock, one by one leaped after it, and were nearly all drowned. Thus we men often act, blindly, madly, smitten by a profound infatuation we wildly follow one another, leaping into the gulf. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Confirmed sinners learn not from the past
The burnt child dreads the fire; it boldly trifles with sticks and papers until it is burnt or scalded, and henceforth keeps a respectful distance from the bars. This is equally true of men in their business life. Let a man speculate in some concern or other that turns out badly, people say, Ah! he has burnt his fingers. Now, when a man has done that, beware how you approach him with your rosy prospectuses. He has lost his money with a farm, or a bank, or a mine, or a mill; do not go to him with a farm, even were it in the land of Goshen, or a mill, even were it the mint, or a bank even were it the Bank of England. He will show you his blisters, and send you away with scant courtesy. As the Oriental says, He who has suffered from a fire-brand is afraid of a firefly; He who has been bitten by a serpent is afraid of a rope, a victim is afraid of anything that bears the most distant likeness to that from which he has suffered. This is rational–if a man acts otherwise it is because he is a fool But men are not thus cautious in regard to the moral life. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
7. For so it was, that the childrenof Israel had sinnedThere is here given a very full andimpressive vindication of the divine procedure in punishing Hishighly privileged, but rebellious and apostate, people. No wonderthat amid so gross a perversion of the worship of the true God, andthe national propensity to do reverence to idols, the divine patiencewas exhausted; and that the God whom they had forsaken permitted themto go into captivity, that they might learn the difference betweenHis service and that of their despotic conquerors.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God,…. By committing idolatry, which is the sin enlarged upon in the following discourse, as the cause of their being carried captive:
which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; which is observed to show their ingratitude, and to aggravate their sin of idolatry:
and had feared other gods; which could do them neither good nor hurt, wherefore it must be great stupidity to fear them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
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. , “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 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 , 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. : it is evident from the parallel passage, 2Ki 17:19, that the subject here stands before the relative.
2Ki 17:9 : “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 with 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 (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.” 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.” , 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 ( , 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 Chethb is not to be read (Houbig., Then., Ew. 156, e.), but after the lxx , “through all His prophets, every seer,” so that is in apposition to , 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 is omitted before also on rhetorical grounds. : “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. 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 (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 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 (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 is a continuation of 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. differs from . 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. as in Jdg 2:14.
2Ki 17:21
: “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 , 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 recall 1Ki 12:20. The 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 Chethb is to be read , the Hiphil of = , “he caused to depart away from the Lord.” The Keri , Hiphil of , he drove away, turned from the Lord (cf. Deu 13:11), is not unusual, but it is an unnecessary gloss.
(Note: As the Hebrew , 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 Stmme) thinks that he has found them in the independent Nestorians and the Jews living among them; whereas others, such as Witsius ( . 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.)
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Wickedness of Israel. | B. C. 730. |
7 For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, 8 And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. 9 And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. 10 And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree: 11 And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger: 12 For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing. 13 Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye 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. 14 Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God. 15 And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them. 16 And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. 17 And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. 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 only. 19 Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. 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 sight. 21 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. 22 For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; 23 Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.
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. x. 5. It was the Lord that rejected the seed of Israel, else their enemies could not have seized upon them, v. 20. Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? Did not the Lord? Isa. xliii. 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 (v. 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 (v. 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 (v. 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 (v. 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 (v. 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 (v. 7), they did those things that were not right (v. 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 (v. 11), in contempt of his authority and defiance of his justice. They rejected God’s statutes and his covenant (v. 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, v. 20. See Hos. iv. 6. They left all the commandments of the Lord their God (v. 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 (v. 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 (v. 8), did as did the heathen (v. 11), went after the heathen that were round about them (v. 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 (v. 8), in all the sins of Jeroboam, v. 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, v. 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. xii. 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, v. 10. They served idols (v. 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, v. 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 (v. 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, v. 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, v. 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 (v. 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 (v. 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 (v. 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, v. 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 (v. 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 Ezek. xxiii. 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.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
God’s Judgment of Israel – Verses 7-23
In this passage is found the Lord’s indictment, trial, and judgment against Israel for their apostasy from Him. He begins by stating the charge. They had sinned against Him though He had done so much for them, bringing them out of Egypt, out-of their bondage to Pharaoh, and they had turned to reverence other gods. Secondly, they had followed the statutes of the heathen whom the Lord had displaced in order to give them the land. Third, they had followed their kings in their evil leadership and had secretly tried to hide their idolatry from God. Fourth, their idol worship had spread to all the land, to every city and even to the remote outposts of their borders. In short they had come to indulge in everything the heathen had done before the Lord drove them out of Canaan and gave the land to Israel.
Israel was utterly without excuse, for the Lord had warned them before they came into the land that they would be cast out when they disobeyed and turned to other gods. Even then, however, He did not cast them out without sending them reminder in the many prophets and seers He had sent them. At least fifteen different prophets are named, besides several who were not named who were sent to preach to Israel and turn them back to the Lord during the years from the beginning of the kingship in Israel to the fall of Samaria. But the Lord says, “You would not hear, you hardened your necks just as your fathers hardened their necks.” They rejected the law of the Lord and chose vanity and emptiness, and it had brought them to this place.
The Lord charged Israel with leaving His commandments and making for themselves two molten calves, prostitution groves, of worshipping the heavenly bodies, turning to Baal, sacrificing their children in the fire, practicing the vagaries of the occult, completely selling themselves out to do evil in His sight. They had thus provoked Him to anger, and He had determined for this to remove them out of His sight, to take from them His divine watchcare, so that only the tribe of Judah was left.
But Judah was also not guiltless. They too had rejected His commandments and patterned their walk like that of Israel. For that they would be cast out too. The Lord was rejecting them all, delivering them into the hand of spoilers. Already Judah had been chastised of Him in wresting the tribes of the north from the family of David and giving them to Jeroboam. From Jeroboam Israel had then run their wicked course to the finish, in spite of all the Lord did to bring them again to Him. So they went into their long dispersion”unto this day.”
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.
2Ki. 17:9. Children of Israel did secretly things not right against the LordThe word has been rendered variously, as secret blasphemy, acts of treachery, dissimulating words; but its meaning, to cover, cloke, when taken with , may be accepted as they hid or concealed Jehovah from attention and homage by idolatrous intrusions, so that He was ignored.
2Ki. 17:17. Worshipped all the hosts of heavenThe idol Astarte represented the moon, and Moloch (or Baal) the sun; and between these they arrayed for worship all the hosts of heaven. This was an addition to their objects of idolatrous reverence, and appears as a new feature of Israelitish worship. This astral homage came in upon Israel through the Assyrian alliances by Pekah and Ahaz, for star worship was distinctively an Assyrian importation.
2Ki. 17:18. Removed Israel out of His sightAfter 256 years of separate existence from Judah, the kingdom of the ten tribes thus ignominiously ended, its nationality perished. On this kingdom of Israel lay the twofold sin: first, of revolting from loyal tribes of Judah and Benjamin, thus violating the unity of Gods chosen nation; and, next, of revolting against Jehovah and His worship, thus debasing the sacred distinction for which God called then to be His people; therefore Israel became not useless only, but an affront to Jehovah, and was consigned to just retribution.
2Ki. 17:24. King of Assyria brought men from Babylon, &c.Had the land been depopulated there would have seemed promise of the exiles return; but under the royal direction Assyrian subjects came in and possessed the sacred soil, making it the home of foreigners. This king, called here is regarded by many expositors as Esarhaddon; but a doubt naturally springs from the fact that Esarhaddon did not come to the throne for some twenty-six years after Shalmanezer, who carried Israel into captivity. From Ezr. 4:2 we gain information that Esarhaddon brought these colonists into Samaria.
2Ki. 17:27. Carry thither one of the priests The country was too thinly populated to subdue the growth of those beasts of prey by which the land had been infested prior to its occupancy by Israel (Jdg. 14:5; 1Sa. 17:34, &c.); now they again multiplied and ravaged the country. Interpreting this as a judgment from God for the neglect of His worship, an exiled priest was sent back to the people to teach them Jehovahs will. And from this event arose that mingled religion which became distinctive of the Samaritans; also the Samaritan version of the Pentateuch, which acquired such historic importance.
2Ki. 17:30. The men of Babylon made Succoth-benothBooths of the daughters, i.e., tents of voluptuousness, where lust was sanctioned as a religious observance. NergalIdentified in the British Museum inscriptions as Mars, the god of war. Ashimaa goat idol. Nibhaza dog. Tartakan ass, or planet of ill omen. AdrammelechEither Moloch the Assyrian sun-god; or, as others think, a mule or a peacock. AnammelechAn idol in form of a hare. Thus the Samaritans became a people of varied religious forms and vagaries, the true worship and knowledge of God being perverted by the rival heathenish fallacies and rites which the immigrants of Babylon had brought into the land. So even though Jehovah was in some way feared (2Ki. 17:32), idolatry was fostered, and they served their graven images through generations following (2Ki. 17:41).W. H. J.
HOMILETICS OF 2Ki. 17:7-32
IDOLATRY THE DESTRUCTIVE FORCE IN NATIONAL LIFE
FROM the lengthy review embraced by this paragraph we again obtain a glimpse into the moral purpose of the historian of kings. In the writers estimation everything is to be subordinated to the setting forth of the Divine purpose in raising up the Hebrew people, and the miseries that came upon them for the violation of their part of the covenant. The rise and fall of dynasties, the conduct of great battles, the advance of the nation in commercial prosperity and civilization, the notice of contemporary nations, are all dismissed with the briefest reference; but whatever affects the theocratic aspect of the history is described with significant fullness of detail. The downfall of Israel was a catastrophe so momentous that the historian pauses in the midst of his narrative to enlarge upon its moral aspects. One of the most impressive lessons we learn in this review is that Idolatry is the great destructive force in national life. Observe
I. That idolatry demoralises the national spirit.
1. It weakens the sense of moral obligation to obey the Divine law (2Ki. 17:12). When Israel was rescued out of Egyptian bondage, they became Gods covenant people, and pledged themselves to obey Him. The fact of this great and signal deliverance stands at the head of the covenant law (Exo. 20:2), and is always cited as the chief and fundamental act of the Divine favour (Lev. 11:45; Jos. 24:17; 1Ki. 8:51; Psa. 81:10; Jer. 2:6). The discipline of the wildnerness and the awful displays of the Divine power and majesty, were intended to divest them of the remnants of heatheuism that still clung to them, and to instruct them in the knowledge and worship of the only True God. Every relapse into idolatry was a loss of moral stamina, weakened the bonds of obligation, and made obedience more difficult. We have need to be on our guard every moment against the seductive lures of idolatryall the more dangerous because there is so much in us ever ready to respond to its bewitching overtures. We have need, in moments of temptation, to cultivate towards our Heavenly Father the artless simplicity of the child who, in a state of alarm, ran to his parent, and cried, Mother, my goodness grows weakhelp me!
2. It leads its votaries into the lowest depths of wickedness (2Ki. 17:7-11; 2Ki. 17:15-17). In these verses we have the genesis and career of the idolater graphically portrayed. Distaste and neglect of the Divine statutes and commandmentsa preference and love for other godssecret indulgence, unblushing publicityenforcing by statute on others what he had at tirst but timidly practised himself; a more complete wrenching away from his allegiance to Jehovah; a defiant, menacing attitude assumed; utter rejection of God; reckless and unreserved abandonment to his self-chosen deities; selling himself to do evil; infatuated devotion to the most revolting practices; the end, desolation and ruin.
II. That idolatry hardens its victims against the most faithful warnings and appeals (2Ki. 17:13-14). Israel was not allowed to drift to her fate unchecked and unwarned; the most gifted prophets of the Hebrew school were sent to instruct and admonish the people. Doubtless some gave heed to their teachers, and mourned over the infatuation of their countrymen. But the bulk of the nation, following the lead of those high in authority, shut their ears to instruction, disdained reproof, and persevered in their sins. It is illustrative of the subtle, dangerous power of idolatry, that it renders its votaries so oblivious to the truth and so impervious to its strokes. The action of water, which, in an early stage, will soften a given substance when continued incessantly, only petrifies it the more; so is it with the moral influence of truth: the nature that was once easily melted is now defiant and obdurate.
III. That idolatry involves the nation in decay and ruin (2Ki. 17:18-23). In these verses the writer takes pains to show that their idolatry was the parent of every other sin that weakened and degraded the national character. The heroism and compact union which rendered them invincible in days when Jehovah was honoured and worshipped no longer existed, and they became an easy prey to the spoiler. The Knights of St. John of Malta, in the early period of the order, were remarkable for their devout Christian spirit as well as for bravery and prowess. In 1565 they defended the island against 30,000 Turks. When, after incredible acts of heroism and endurance on both sides, the fortress of St. Elmo fell, the Turkish commander, looking from its ruined bastions across the harbour at the lofty ramparts of St. Angelo, exclaimed, What will not the parent cost us when the child has been gained at so fearful a price! He was obliged to raise the seige, and of the 30,000 Turks scarcely 10,000 found their way back to Constantinople. What was invincible to warfare in the 16th century yielded too easily to bribery and corruption in the 18th. The gold of Napoleon accomplished what the combined forces of Turkey had failed to do; and as Napoleon entered the gates of Malta, General Caffarelli remarked to him, glancing at the massive defences, It is fortunate we have some one to admit us, for we should never have got in of ourselves. So greatly had the knights of 1798 degenerated from the brave defenders of St. Elmo in 1565. The nation, as the individual, is strong only as it is genuinely religious: decay in piety means decay in all that gives greatness and permanence to a nation.
LESSONS:
1. Whatever lowers the national moral tone is a calamity.
2. Idolatry is an audacious attempt to live without God in everything.
3. The nation that persistently ignores God will come to naughtit produces in itself the elements that shall destroy it.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
2Ki. 17:7-23. A review of the moral causes of national decay.
1. Civil dissension and revolt (2Ki. 17:21-23).
2. Flagrant abandonment of God (2Ki. 17:15-16).
3. Voluntary choice and practice of grossest idolatry (2Ki. 17:8-12).
4. Habitual neglect of prophetic warning and instruction (2Ki. 17:13-14).
Their iniquity was their ruin. Out of Hosea and Amos their sins may be gathered; and especially their abominable idolatry, contempt of Gods prophets, and abuse of His benefits. Of the ruin of the Greek empire the historian assigns these for the chief causes: First, the innovation and change of their ancient religion, whereof ensued a world of woes; then covetousness, coloured with the name of good husbandry, the utter destruction of the chief strength of the empire; next envy, the ruin of the great; false suspect, the looser of friends; ambition, honours overthrow; distrust, the great minds torment; and foreign aid, the empires unfaithful porter, opening the gate even to the enemy himself.Trapp.
Here where the kingdom of the ten tribes comes to an end and disappears for ever from history, was the place for casting a glance back upon its development and history. This the writer does from the old Testament standpoint, according to which God chose the people of Israel to be His own peculiar people, made a covenant with it, and took it under His special guidance and direction for the welfare and salvation of all nations. The breach of the covenant by the Northern Kingdom is in his view the first, the peculiar, and the only cause of its final fall, and this fall is the judgment of the holy and just God. If he had not known that this covenant law, in the form in which he was familiar with it, had existed long before the division of the kingdom, he could not have declared so distinctly and decidedly that the fall of the kingdom of the ten tribes was a Divine judgment upon it for its apostacy from that law.Lange.
Would that men, when they read such passages, would stop and think, and would enter upon a comparison between the peoples of God at that time and of this, and would thus make application of the lesson of history. The people of Israel were hardly as wicked as the Christians of to-day. The responsibility of to-day is far greater, for they were called to righteousness under the old law, we under the Gospel of free grace. The people of the Ten Tribes did not reject belief in God at first; but, contrary to the law of this God, they made to themselves an image of Him. This was the beginning of their downfall, the germ of their ruin. This led from error to error. They commenced with an image of Jehovah; they finished with the frightful sacrifices of Moloch. He who has once abandoned the centre of revealed truth, sinks inevitably deeper and deeper, either into unbelief or into superstition, so that he finally comes to consider darkness light, and folly wisdom. So it was in Israel, so it is now in Christendom. He who abandons the central truth of ChristianityChrist, the Son of Godis in the way of losing God. A nation which no longer respects the Word of God, but makes a religion for itself, according to its own good pleasure, will sooner or later come to ruin.Ibid.
2Ki. 17:9-12. The progressive development of evil.
1. Begins in secret.
2. Gradually gains the mastery over conscientious scruples.
3. Soon acquires a shameless effrontery in public.
4. Becomes universally established by popular usage and example.
5. Reckless of consequences, to either God or man, cares not how deeply God is grieved or man is injured.
2Ki. 17:9. They hid, or covered, or cloaked over what they did; but in vain; for God is all eye, and to Him dark things appear, dumb things answer, silence itself maketh confession.Trapp.
2Ki. 17:12. But they did it the rather; taking occasion by the law, that their sin might appear to be exceeding sinful (Rom. 7:13). Such is the canker of our vile natures, that the more God forbids a thing, the more we bid for it.Ibid.
2Ki. 17:13. The obduracy of impenitence.
1. Is coldly indifferent alike to warning or entreaty (2Ki. 17:13).
2. Is intensified by persistent unbelief (2Ki. 17:14).
3. Is confirmed in its defiant attitude by the character of its daily worship (2Ki. 17:15).
4. Utterly rejects every vestige of Divine authority and guidance (2Ki. 17:16).
5. Voluntarily abandons itself to the most debasing practices (2Ki. 17:17).
6. Inevitably incurs the Divine displeasure (2Ki. 17:18).
2Ki. 17:13. Neither were these slips of frailty, or ignorant mistakings, but wilful crimes, obstinate impieties, in spite of the doctrines, reproofs, menaces, and miraculous convictions of the holy prophets. Thy destruction is of thyself, O Israel! What could the just hand of the Almighty do less than consume a nation so incorrigibly flagitiousa nation so unthankful for mercies, so impatient of remedies, so incapable of repentance. What nation under heaven can now challenge an indefeasible interest in God, when Israel itself is cast off? He that spared not the natural olive, shall He spare the wild?Bp. Hall.
2Ki. 17:16. And worshipped all the host of heaven. It is not easy to determine the exact form which the worship of the heavenly bodies took in the various nations of Western Asia. The purest form of star worship was that of the Assyrio-Persian Magism; it admitted of no images of the Deity, and in its adoration of the heavenly bodies it drew its deepest inspiration from the thought of their perfect beauty. This was the cultus to which Job felt himself tempted when he beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness (Job. 31:26, compared with Deu. 4:19). A second mode of regarding the stars was that of the Phnicians, by whom they were looked upon as the originators of the growth and decay of naturethe embodiment of the creative and regenerative principle; and from this view there was readily developed a further symbolism, which led ere long to the grossest idolatries. The third great system of astral worship was that whose leading tendency was to dwell rather on the contemplation of the eternal unchangeableness of the heavenly bodies, as contrasted with the chances and changes of this transitory life. This was the form most common among the Chaldeans, and naturally produced the astrology for which they were famous. It is not always possible to determine which form of the worship of the host of heaven was that which presented itself as a temptation to the children of Israel. On the whole, we may assume it to have been the second, not only from the connection in which it is mentioned, but also from the circumstances of the case.Wilkins Phoenicia and Israel.
2Ki. 17:17. And they sold themselves to to do evil in the sight of the Lord. The responsibility of the sinner.
1. Is grounded in his freedom of volition.
2. Is abused by every act of iniquity he voluntarily commits.
3. Cannot be destroyed by the most frantic efforts of self-forgetfulness and sin.
4. Will one day make him terribly conscious how deeply he has offended God.
2Ki. 17:18. The kingdom of Israel had nineteen kings, and not one of them was truly pious. Wonder not at the wrath, but at the patience of God in that He endured their evil ways for many hundred years, and at their ingratitude that they did not allow themselves, by His long-suffering, to be brought to repentance. Is it any better now-a-days?Lange.
Speaking humanly, the state was past redemption; the utter corruption and impenitence of the people are attested by the denunciations of Hosea, and confirmed by their scornful rejection of Hezekiahs call to repentance and union. Even the king was only some shades better than his predecessors; and it was no partial reform that could save and renew the state. Viewing the case from the higher ground taken throughout the Scripture historythe inseparable connection between national prosperity or adversity, and religious obedience or rebellionwe cannot say that it was too late for Israel to be saved; as Sodom would have been, if five righteous men had been found in her; as Nineveh was, when her people repented at the preaching of Jonah. They had only forty days of grace; Heshea and his people had three years. Had the king of Israel made common cause with Hezekiah, and thrown himself upon the protection of Jehovah, we have a right to believe that the times of David might have returned. But Hoshea took the very course denounced by the law of Mosesreliance upon Egypt. His sudden destruction is compared by the prophet Hosea to the disappearance of foam upon the water.Dr. Smiths Student Scripture History.
2Ki. 17:20-23. A God-forsaken people.
1. The fruit of obstinate and continued disobedience (2Ki. 17:22).
2. Become a prey to suffering and spoliation (2Ki. 17:20).
3. Cannot but observe the contrast between the goodness and patience of God, and the cruelty of their despotic conquerors (2Ki. 17:21; 2Ki. 17:23).
4. May be restored, if the Divine favour be sought in penitence and humble submission.
2Ki. 17:23. The ultimate fate of the Ten Tribes of Israel. The main body of the inhabitants were transplanted to the remotest provinces of the Assyrian empire. After this it is difficult to discover any distinct trace of the Northern tribes. Some returned with their countrymen of the Southern kingdom. In the New Testament there is special mention of the tribe of Asher, and the ten tribes generally are on three emphatic occasions ranked with others (Jas. 1:1; Act. 26:7; Rev. 7:5-8). The immense Jewish population which made Babylonia a second Palestine was in part derived from them; and the Jewish customs that have been discovered in the Nestorian Christians, with the traditions of the sect itself, may indicate at any rate a mixture of Jewish descent. That they are concealed in some unknown region of the earth is a fable with no foundation either in history or prophecy.Stanley.
There has been a wide-spread belief among modern Christians that the Ten Tribes, having never returned to their native country, must still exist somewhere in a collected body. Travellers have thought to discover them in Malabar, in Kashmir, in China, in Turkistan, in Afghanistan, in the Kurdish mountains, in Arabia, in Germany, in North America. Books have been written advocating this or that identification, and the notion has thus obtained extensive currency that somewhere or other in the world the descendants of the Ten Tribes must exist, and that when found they might be recognized as such by careful and diligent enquiry. It seems to have been forgotten that, in the first place, they were scattered over a wide extent of country (Hurran, Chaleitis, Gozan, or Mygdonia and Media) by the original conquerors; that, secondly, in the numerous conquests and changes of populations which are known to have taken place in these regions they would naturally become more scattered; that, thirdly, a considerable number of them probably returned with the Jews under Zerubbabel and Ezra (Ezr. 6:17; Ezr. 8:35; 1Ch. 9:3); that, fourthly, those who remained behind would naturally either mingle with the heathen among whom they lived, or become united with the Jews of the dispersion; and that, fifthly, if there had been anywhere in this part of Asia at the time of Alexanders conquests, or of the Roman expeditions against Parthia and Persia, a community of the peculiar character supposed, it is most improbable that no Greek or Roman historian or geographer should have mentioned it. Against these arguments there is nothing to be set but a statement of Josephus, in the first century of our era, that the Ten Tribes still existed beyond the Euphrates in his day (he does not say in a collective form); and a similar declaration of Jerome in the fifth. Neither writer has any personal acquaintance with the countries, or speaks from his own knowledge. Both may be regarded as relating rather what they supposed must be, than what they knew actually was the case. Again, neither may mean more than that among the Hebrews of the dispersion (Act. 2:9) in Parthia, Media, Elam, and Mesopotamia were many Israelites. On the whole, therefore, 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 heathen and were absorbed, or returned to Palestine with Zerubbabel and Ezra, or became inseparably united with the dispersed Jews in Mesopotamia and the adjacent countries. No discovery, therefore, of the Ten Tribes is to be expected, nor can any works written to prove their identity with any existing race or body of persons be regarded as anything more than ingenious exercitations.Speakers Comm.
Esdras has a vision of the Ten Tribes separating themselves from the heathen and migrating to a distant land, never before inhabited by men (2Es. 13:40-47). Perhaps this vision of Esdras was the starting point of all the speculations about the Lost Tribes, for they have been lost and found in nearly every part of Asia, Europe, and North America. But vague traditional tales and ingenious speculations are of little weight to counter-balance the abundant testimony of Scripture on the subject, which may be stated as follows:
1. A considerable portion of the Israelitish population never went into the Assyrian exile. The first deportations were by Pul and Tiglath-Pileser, and in all probability were composed of fewer captives than Sargon carried away after the capture of Samaria and the fall of the Northern Kingdom. Sargons inscription, which would not be likely to make too low an estimate, mentions 27, 280 captives; but the Northern Kingdom must surely have had a population far exceeding these numbers. Multitudes were of course slain in the siege of Samaria and in previous wars; but supposing the captives to be ten times the number given, what became of all the rest of Israel, which in Davids time numbered 800,000 warriors, which implied a population of many millions (2Sa. 24:9). Only the cities of Samaria seem to have been depopulated, so that in other and remoter districts of the kingdom a larger majority of the populaton seem to have been left to care for the land. Thus the Kingdom of the Ten Tribes ceased to exist; but numerically the mass of the people ware left in their ancient homes. Certain it is that they were not all carried into exile.
2. The captives were not allowed to settle in one district. Perhaps a majority were placed in Halah and along the Habor; but others, and how large a proportion does not appear, were scattered abroad in various cities of Media. This fact of their being scattered throughout various parts of the vast Assyrian empire argues against the notion of their continuing their tribal distinctions, and especially of their perpetuating the Ten Tribes as an organized community.
3. There is reason to believe that ofter the fall of Samaria the old enmity between Judah and Israel began to cease. In the reign of Hezekiah numbers of the tribes of Israel accepted the public invitation to celebrate the Passover at Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 30); and at the close of the Passover all Israel that were present went out and destroyed all the signs of idolatry out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh (2Ch. 31:1). The like thing was done by Josiah (2Ki. 23:19; 2Ch. 29:7; 2Ch. 35:8). Such a coming together in their now oppressed land would rapidly efface from Judah and Israel their ancient bitterness and jealousy. The better portion of all the people would see and obey the manifest will of Jehovah, and the rest, having no bond of union, would gradually die and fade away.
4. The prophets, with one voice, represent both Judah and Israel returning together from their exile. More than a century after the fall of Samaria, Judah also was led into exile, and Jeremiah, who flourished at that time, began at once to comfort them with prophecies of a restoration. (Compare Jer. 3:18; Jer. 30:3; Jer. 33:7; Jer. 1:4; Eze. 37:21-22; Isa. 11:11-13; Isa. 14:1; Hos. 1:11; Mic. 2:12). So we may believe that the chastisement of the exile not only cleansed all Israel from idolatry, but also utterly crushed out the tribal feuds and jealousies. Some of these prophecies are doubtless Messianic, but all have more or less to show that in their exile Judah and Israel became united in all their higher sympathies and hopes, and were thus prepared, whenever opportunity offered, to return together to the land of their fathers.
5. Finally: All we know of the subsequent history of Israel tends to show that in the lands of their exile, and elsewhere, Judah and Israel became largely intermingled. It is likely many of the exiles from Judah were settled in cities and districts already occupied by descendants of those Israelites from the cities of Samaria, who had been carried off by the Assyrian kings more than a century before. Since the captivity the common name for all Israelites, wherever scattered abroad, is Jews. With the fall of Samaria, the kingdom of the house of Israel had no longer an existence, but was largely absorbed by Judah; and therefore it is not to be wondered at that no express mention is made of descendants of the Ten Tribes returning along with Judah from exile. But there were vast multitudes of Judah and Israel that never accepted the offer to return to the father-land. They are spoken of as scattered abroad in the Persian empire (Est. 3:8). They are referred to on the day of Pentecost as out of every nation under heaven (Act. 2:5-10). Josephus speaks of the great numbers of Jews who, in his time, dwelt in Babylon, Mesopotamia, and beyond the Euphrates (Antiq. xv. 22; iii. 1; xviii. 9, 1). Paul speaks of our Twelve Tribes Act. 26:7); and James addressed his Epistle to the Twelve Tribes scattered abroad. From all this we infer, that after the Babylonish exile, the old dominion of Judah and Israel became lostall the scattered tribes became intermixed, no one region held any one tribe, or any definite number of tribesthe name of Jews was applied to them all; the Ten Tribes, as a distinct nation, had long ceased to exist, and the whole body of Israelites throughout the world became amalgamated into one people, recognizing themselves as the descendants and representatives of the twelve ancient tribes.Whedon.
Respecting the fate of the captives we have had the statement of their transplantation to certain districts of Assyria and Media, where we almost lose sight of them. Nor is this surprising. The gradual contraction of the limits of the Samaritan kingdom suggests, what the inscription of Sargon confirms, that the numbers carried captive at last were far less considerable than is commonly supposed. Their absorption in the surrounding population would be aided by their long addiction to the practices of idolatry; and the loss of reverence for their religion involved absence of care for the records of their national existence. As they furnished no confessors and martyrs, like Daniel and the three children, so neither did they preserve the genealogies on which Judah based the order of the restored commonwealth. But yet their traces are not utterly lost. The fact that a priest was found among them, to teach the Samaritans to fear Jehovah, proves that they maintained some form of worship in His name. The Book of Tobit preserves the record of domestic piety among captives of the tribe of Naphthali. After the great captivity of Judah, it is most interesting to see how continually Ezekiel addresses the captives by the name of Israel. The prophetic symbol of the rod of Judah and the rod of the children of Israel his companions being joined into one, in order to their restoration as one nation, as Isaiah also had predicted, seems to imply that all that was worth preserving in Israel became amalgamated with Judah, and either shared in the restoration, or became a part of the dispersion who were content to remain behind, and who spread the knowledge of the true God throughout the East. The edict of Cyrus, addressed to the servants of Jehovah, God of Israel, would find a response beyond the tribe of Judah, and though none of the Ten Tribes appear, as such, among the returned exiles, there is room for many of their families in the number of those who could not prove their pedigrees. As for the rest, according to the very images of the prophet,
Like the dew on the mountain,
Like the foam on the river,
Like the bubble on the fountain,
They are gone, and FOR EVER.
The very wildness of the speculations of those who have sought them at the foot of the Himalayas and on the coast of Malabar, among the Nestorians of Abyssinia and the Indians of North America, proves sufficiently the hopelessness of the attempt. Have, then, the promises of God concerning their restoration failed? No! They were represented, as we have seen, in the return of Judah; and for the rest, though they are lost to us, the Lord knoweth them that are His. When God shall reveal out of every nation those who have feared God and wrought righteousness, all the tribes of believers in Israel will be owned, in some special manner, as His people. That this restoration will not be temporal, but spiritual, seems to be the plain teaching of St. Paul in the passage which forms the great New Testament authority on the whole subject (Romans 9-11).Dr. Smiths Student Scripture History.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
B. EXPLANATION OF THE CAPTIVITY OF ISRAEL 17:723
TRANSLATION
(7) And it came to pass because the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God who brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; but they feared other gods. (8) And they walked In the statutes of the nations which the LORD had driven out from before the children of Israel, and (hi the customs of) the kings of Israel which they had introduced. (9) And the children of Israel did secretly the things which were not right against the LORD then- God, and built for themselves high places in all their cities from the tower of the watchmen unto the fortified city. (10) And they set up for themselves pillars and Asherim upon every high hill and under every green tree. (11) And they burned incense there in all the high places like the nations which the LORD had carried away from before them; and did evil things to provoke the LORD. (12) And they served idols which the LORD had said to them, Do not do this evil thing. (13) Yet the LORD testified against Israel and against Judah by the hand of all His prophets and all the seers, saying, Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statutes and all the instruction which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent unto you by the hand of My servants the prophets. (14) Yet they did not hearken, but hardened their necks like the neck of their fathers who did not believe in the LORD then- God. (15) And they rejected His statutes and His covenant which He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He testified against them; and they followed after vanity and became vain, and acted like the nations which were round about them concerning which the LORD had commanded them that they should not do like them. (16) And they forsook all the commands of the LORD their God, and made for themselves molten images, two calves, and they made an Asherah, and they worshiped all the host of the heavens, and served Baal. (17) And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and practiced divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the LORD to provoke Him. (18) And the LORD became exceedingly angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; not one was left except the tribe of Judah alone. (19) Also Judah did not keep the commands of the LORD their God, and walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. (20) And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and gave them into the hand of spoilers until He had cast them from before Him. (21) When he had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king; and Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD, and made them to commit a great sin. (22) And the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not turn from it. (23) Until the LORD removed Israel from His sight as He had spoken by the hand of all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away captive from off their land to Assyria until this day.
COMMENTS
In 2Ki. 17:7-23 the writer ceases to be mere historian and becomes a prophetic teacher, interpreting for future generations the calamitous fall of the Northern Kingdom. 2Ki. 17:7-12 contain a general statement of Israels wickedness. After God had delivered his people from the oppression in Egypt they had taken up the worship of other gods (2Ki. 17:7). They followed the statutes of the heathen, i.e., their customs and religious observances, even though it was these very statutes which caused the Holy God to order the Canaanite nations driven from that land. The kings of the Northern Kingdom had also been a negative influence upon the people as a whole, introducing into the nation the apostate calf worship as a substitute for the pure worship which the Lord had ordained to be conducted in Jerusalem (2Ki. 17:8).
In secret, i.e., private, the Israelites participated in all kinds of rites which were not pleasing to the Lord. High places were built throughout the land in open violation of the divine command that there be one Temple and one altar. The proverbial expression, from the tower of the watchman to the fortified city (2Ki. 17:9), means from the smallest and most solitary place to the largest and most populous. Stone pillars such as used in heathen symbolism were set up along with Asherim (not groves as in KJV), the wooden poles emblematic of the female deity Asherah (2Ki. 17:10). The worship in the high places followed the pattern of Canaanite worship with the offering of incense (2Ki. 17:11). By these actions the men of Israel were indicating their allegiance to the idols. The word for idols in 2Ki. 17:12 is a term of derision rarely used except by Ezekiel. The basic meaning of gillulim seems to be something like things of dung or odorous ones.
In spite of the blatant apostasy of Israel, God graciously continued to plead with them and warn them through His spokesmen. Prophets and seers are terms used interchangeably in the Old Testament (cf. 1Sa. 9:9). One thinks of the ministries of Ahijah the Shilonite (1Ki. 14:2); Jehu the son of Hanani who prophesied concerning Baasha (1Ki. 16:1); Elijah and Micaiah who were active during the reign of Ahab; Elisha who bore testimony during the first half of the Jehu dynasty; Jonah and Amos who ministered during the prosperous reign of Jeroboam II; and Hosea who labored the last half-century of Israels history. In Judah one thinks of Shemaiah who was contemporary with the first king of the Divided Monarchy; of Micah and Isaiah who labored in the eighth century; and of a whole host of lesser known prophets mentioned by the Chronicler.[595] All of these men of God pleaded urgently with the inhabitants of the land to heed the divinely revealed Law of Moses (2Ki. 17:13). But in spite of these efforts the people continued to harden their necks, i.e., to be obstinate, just as their stiff-necked fathers who failed God so often in the period of the wilderness wanderings (2Ki. 17:14). Rejecting the statutes of God, the people of Israel had in effect rejected the covenant with God into which they had entered at Mt. Sinai (cf. Exo. 19:5-8). His testimoniesthose commandments which witness of Him and reveal His naturethey also rejected. The people chose to follow vanity, the empty, futile, impotent pagan gods, and as a result they themselves became vain, i.e., impotent. Whereas God had commanded and expected His people to be separate and distinct from all nations, they chose instead to follow the way of the heathen (2Ki. 17:15).
[595] E.g., Iddo (2Ch. 13:22); Azariah (2Ch. 15:1); Hanani (2Ch. 16:7); Jehu (2Ch. 19:2); Jahaziel (2Ch. 20:14); Eliezer (2Ch. 20:37); Zechariah (2Ch. 24:20).
The inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom forsook the commands of the Lord and made for themselves molten images, viz., the two calves. How devoted they were to these symbols of their apostate worship! Every king of Israel had maintained the calf cult, and Bethel had become known as the kings chapel (Amo. 7:13). In the days of Ahab, Phoenician deities were introduced alongside the apostate calf worship, and for a time both Baal and his consort Asherah had companies of prophets in Samaria. At some stage, astral deities had been introduced into Israelthe host of heavenworship of the various planets. Such worship must have been imported from Mesopotamia (2Ki. 17:16). With the pagan deities came the pagan practiceschild immolation (see 2Ki. 16:3), and various magical practices (see 2Ki. 9:22). They had sold themselves to do evil with the deliberate intention, it would seem, of provoking the Lord (2Ki. 17:17). When their cup of iniquity was full, Gods wrath, long restrained, descended upon them. God removed them out of His sight. They were cast off, removed from their land, and declared no longer to be the people of God (Hos. 1:9). Judah alone was left to become Gods peculiar people (2Ki. 17:18).
By Gods grace the Southern Kingdom was preserved for a few short years after the destruction of the Northern Kingdom. But Judah rejected the commandments of the Lord for the statutes of Israel, i.e., the Baal worship and all the vile practices connected with it (2Ki. 17:19). The only sin of Israel not attested in Judah is that of the calf worship. Since God is no respecter of persons, He rejected all the seed of IsraelJudah as well as Israeland afflicted them by the hand of foreign oppressorsthe Arameans, the Assyrians and finally the Chaldeans. The spoilers would include in addition to the powers just mentioned, the neighboring nations which took advantage of the weakness of Israel and Judah and attacked and plundered them. This divine program of harassment and humiliation lasted until Judah as well as Israel had been removed from Gods land and Gods favor (2Ki. 17:20).
The rejection and punishment of all the seed of Israel took place in two great stages. God had torn the ten Northern tribes away from the house of David in the schism of 931 B.C. Those tribes had made Jeroboam the son of Nebat their king. The political separation alone might not have had any ill result. But under the leadership of Jeroboam the Northern Kingdom fell into religious apostasy. The calf worship introduced by this king had the effect of driving the people of the Northern tribes away from strict obedience to the Lord (2Ki. 17:21). Throughout the history of the Northern Kingdom, the people continued to walk in the sins of Jeroboam which, in addition to the golden calves, also included the appointment of priests who were not of the seed of Aaron (1Ki. 13:33). Even in the reform movement of Jehu in 841 B.C. no effort was made to correct this basic apostasy (2Ki. 17:22). Warnings of punishment and deportation had been given by all the prophets of God by Moses (Deu. 4:26-27), Ahijah (1Ki. 14:15-16), Amos (2Ki. 7:17), Hosea (2Ki. 9:3; 2Ki. 9:7), and others. The inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom experienced the fate of which they had been warned. They were carried away in large numbers to the far reaches of the Assyrian empire where they were still residing at the time the Book of Kings was compiled (2Ki. 17:23).[596]
[596] A great deal of speculation has arisen about the fate of these Northern tribes. Many of these people returned with Zerubbabel to Palestine in 538 B.C. and others with Ezra in 458 B.C. (See Ezr. 2:70; Ezr. 3:1; Ezr. 6:16-17; Ezr. 7:13; Ezr. 8:35; 1Ch. 9:2-3; Zec. 8:13). Those who remained in the lands of the captivity either united with the Jewish colonies which were later established there, or else they simply adopted fully the practices of the heathen, intermarried with them, and disappeared as a distinct group.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(7-23) REFLECTIONS OF THE LAST EDITOR ON THE MORAL CAUSES OF THE CATASTROPHE.
(7) For so it was.Literally, and it came to pass.
Sinned against the Lord . . . Egypt.The claim of Jehovah to Israels exclusive fealty was from the outset based upon the fact that He had emancipated them from the Egyptian bondagea fact which is significantly asserted as the preamble to Jehovahs laws. (See Exo. 20:2; and comp. Hos. 11:1; Hos. 12:9.)
Had feared other gods.Such as the Baals and Asheras of Canaan, which symbolised the productive powers of Nature, and, further, the heavenly bodies. Comp. Amo. 5:25-26; Eze. 8:14; Eze. 8:16.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. For so it was, that Rather, and it came to pass when. Compare the use of , in Gen 6:1; Gen 26:8; Gen 27:1; Gen 44:24. From this verse on through 2Ki 17:17 the historian gives the theocratic view of Israel’s downfall. The apodosis, giving the consequences of Israel’s sins, follows in 2Ki 17:18-23. So momentous a catastrophe was the fall of the kingdom of Israel, that the historian pauses in the midst of his narrative to dwell at length upon its moral aspects.
Which had brought them up out of Egypt “The deliverance from Egypt was really the selection of Israel to be God’s peculiar and covenant people. Exo 19:4-6. It was not only the beginning, but also the symbol, of all Divine grace towards Israel, the pledge of its Divine guidance. It therefore stands at the head of the covenant, or organic law, (Exo 20:2; Deu 5:6,) and it is always cited as the chief and fundamental act of the Divine favour. Lev 11:45; Jos 24:17; 1Ki 8:51; Psa 81:10; Jer 2:6. Therefore this author also makes it the stand-point for his review and criticism of the history. He means to say thereby: “Although no people on earth had experienced such favour from Almighty God as Israel had, nevertheless it abandoned this God and served other gods.” Bahr.
Feared other gods See the fuller statement of 2Ki 17:16.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
YHWH’s Final Judgment On Israel Because Of All Their Disobedience Will Result In Their Being Removed In The Same Way As He Had Previously Cast Out The Nations From Before Them ( 2Ki 17:7-23 ).
Having described the taking away of the cream of the people of Israel into other lands the prophetic author gives his explanation of why YHWH has allowed such a thing. The philosophy of sin and retribution found here is essentially Mosaic, especially as brought out in Leviticus and Deuteronomy (to call it simply Deuteronomic is to close the eyes to the wider facts for the sake of a theory. The ideas are found throughout the Pentateuch). It was because they had disobeyed His commandments, and especially because they had engaged in false worship and evil doings in spite of all the He had done for them in delivering them out of Egypt, and they had continued to do it in spite of the fact that He had sent prophets to warn them, that they were open to judgment. Thus just as YHWH had cast out the nations from before them, so now He was removing them, all except ‘Judah’ (i.e. the southern kingdom).
While there are certainly indications in the passage of the author’s knowledge of the whole of the Pentateuch, and of Joshua to Samuel, (as there are throughout the Book of Kings), it is in fact surprising how little he draws on their language in any depth, demonstrating that while he would use choice phrases, the thinking was his own. The principles behind his statements are, however, undoubtedly found throughout the Pentateuch.
The passage fits together as a whole and there is therefore no reason to seek diverse authorship. We can view it as follows:
The Activity Of Israel.
This commences with the deliverance from Egypt (2Ki 17:7-8, compare Exodus 1-20).
Considers how Israel gradually introduced syncretism into Yahwism in the time of the Judges, something which then expanded even more under the kings (2Ki 17:9-12).
Emphasises how YHWH sent His servants the prophets to try to win them back (2Ki 17:13-15).
Moves on to the action of Jeroboam which resulted in the ultimate dilution of Yahwism and the covenant (2Ki 17:16).
Continues on with the thought of the introduction of further outside foreign influences through Ahab and others (2Ki 17:17).
And concludes that this is what has resulted in the exile of Israel, with a probationary period and a warning being given to Judah (2Ki 17:18-19).
The Activity Of YHWH.
2Ki 17:20-22
In the time of the Judges and Samuel, He had delivered them to the spoilers (2Ki 17:20).
He had then divided up the two kingdoms, rending Israel from the faltering house of David, but instead of their taking warning as a result it had produced the resultant apostasy of Jeroboam, an apostasy which Israel had lapped up (2Ki 17:21-22; compare 1Ki 14:7-8).
And finally, having first sent His prophets to plead with them, He had fulfilled what the prophets had warned about, namely their sending into exile and the destruction of their kingdom (2Ki 17:23).
The passage can also be analysed as follows:
Analysis.
a
b And the children of Israel did secretly things that were not right against YHWH their God: and they built themselves high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city, and they set themselves up pillars and Asherim on every high hill, and under every green tree, and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the nations whom YHWH carried away before them; and they wrought wicked things to provoke YHWH to anger, and they served idols, of which YHWH had said to them, “You shall not do this thing” (2Ki 17:9-12).
c Yet YHWH testified to Israel, and to Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, saying, “Turn you 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” (2Ki 17:13).
d Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their neck, in a similar way to the neck of their fathers, who believed not in YHWH their God (2Ki 17:14).
e And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified to them, and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the nations who were round about them, concerning whom YHWH had charged them that they should not do like them (2Ki 17:15).
f And they forsook all the commandments of YHWH their God, and made themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal (2Ki 17:16).
e And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do what was evil in the sight of YHWH, to provoke him to anger (2Ki 17:17).
d Therefore YHWH was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight. There was none left but the tribe of Judah only (2Ki 17:18).
c Judah also did not keep the commandments of YHWH their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made (2Ki 17:19).
b And YHWH 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 sight. For he tore Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king, and Jeroboam drove Israel from following YHWH, and made them sin a great sin (2Ki 17:20-21).
a And the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did. They did not depart from them, until YHWH removed Israel out of his sight, as he spoke by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria to this day (2Ki 17:22-23).
Note that in ‘a’ they disobeyed YHWH and followed the gods of the nations who were cast out, and in the parallel because they walked in the sins of Jeroboam they themselves were to be cast out. In ‘b’ we have a description of all the ways in which Israel provoked God to anger, and in the parallel we have the consequences for Israel. In ‘c’ YHWH testified to both Israel and Judah what would happen to them if they did not obey His commandments and in the parallel Judah too was found guilty of breaking His commandments. In ‘d’ they hardened their necks and followed the unbelieving ways of their fathers, and in the parallel YHWH was angry and removed them out of His sight, apart from Judah. In ‘e’ they became vain and followed the nations round about, and in the parallel they especially did this by child sacrifice, and using divination and enchantments. Centrally in ‘f’’ they forsook the commandments of YHWH and sought other gods.
2Ki 17:7-8
‘And it was so, because the children of Israel had sinned against YHWH their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, and walked in the statutes of the nations, whom YHWH cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they made.’
The reason why YHWH had allowed the exile of the Israelites to happen is now given. It was because in spite of the fact that He had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, they had sinned against Him and had rather ‘feared’ other gods, and had walked in the statutes of the nations whom YHWH had cast out before them. And as He had constantly warned them, if they did this they would be ‘spewed out of the land’ (Lev 18:24-29). Thus this exile followed His constant warnings to them of what would happen if they failed to obey His covenant. See especially Lev 18:24-29 (in the context of passing through the fire to Molech); Lev 26:30-33 (note the direct connection there of the exile with ‘high places’ and ‘images’); Deu 28:64. The warnings in Leviticus appear to be especially in mind.
The theme of YHWH’s deliverance of His people from Egypt is a common one in Scripture. It was this that had made them His special people (Exo 19:5-6; Exo 20:2). and it was constantly mentioned in the Psalms. After He had put so much effort into redeeming them, it was seen as making their turning to other gods totally inexcusable. How much more then are we inexcusable if we turn away from obedience to the One Who suffered so much for us, and redeemed us through His cross.
For the phrase ‘under the hand of Pharaoh’ compare Gen 41:35. For ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt’ see Gen 41:46; Exo 6:11; Exo 6:13; Exo 6:27; Exo 6:29; Deu 7:8. For ‘bringing forth out of the land of Egypt’ compare Exo 29:46; Lev 23:43; Deu 29:25; Jos 24:17 ; 1Sa 12:6; 1Ki 8:21; 1Ki 9:9. For the idea of ‘the statutes of the nations’ (chuqqoth ha goyim) see Lev 20:23 (chuqqoth ha goy); 2Ki 18:2-3 ; 2Ki 18:30.
2Ki 17:9-12
‘And the children of Israel did surreptitiously things that were not right against YHWH their God, and they built themselves high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city, and they set themselves up pillars and Asherim on every high hill, and under every green tree, and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the nations whom YHWH carried away before them; and they wrought wicked things to provoke YHWH to anger, and they served idols, of which YHWH had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.” ’
The idea behind ‘surreptitiously’ (or ‘secretly’) is that they maintained outwardly the worship of YHWH while at the same time flirting with Baal and Asherah ‘in secret’. Like so many foolish people they thought that God would not see (such was their low conception of YHWH. But as we often think the same it is difficult to suggest that it was a ‘primitive’ idea).
But what they did was not really done in too much secrecy, except possibly from the upright priests and the prophets, and the righteous kings. They built their high places (bamoth) in their cities, for a high place could be any place uplifted for worship, such as a high altar approached by steps or a roof top sanctuary. And they also set up pillars (to Baal) and Asherim (images or poles set up to Asherah, the Canaanite fertility goddess) at hill top sanctuaries and beneath spreading and fruitful trees, worshipping in the same way as the Canaanites had previously, and behaving with the same sexual licence. Thus they ‘wrought wicked things which provoked YHWH to anger’. And they specifically disobeyed YHWH by serving the very idols of which YHWH had said, “You shall not do this thing.”
‘From the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city.’ The tower of the watchmen may refer to the tower from which the shepherd watched over his flock, or it could refer to the watchtowers on the borders (compare 2Ki 18:8). The fortified city was the pinnacle of civilisation. So wherever Israelites were, in country or city, they indulged in their false worship.
For the mention of ‘high places’ see Lev 26:30; Num 33:52; 1Ki 3:2-3 and often. For ‘under every green tree’ see 2Ki 16:4; Deu 12:2; 1Ki 14:23. For ‘provoking YHWH to anger’ see Deu 4:25; Deu 9:8; Deu 31:29; Deu 32:16; Deu 32:21; 1 Kings often. For ‘fortified (fenced) cities’ see 2Ki 3:19; 2Ki 8:12 ; 2Ki 10:2; Num 13:19; Num 32:17; Num 32:36; Jos 10:20; Jos 19:29; Jos 19:35; 1Sa 6:18 ; 2Sa 24:7.
2Ki 17:13
‘Yet YHWH testified to Israel, and to Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, saying, “Turn you 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.” ’
However, they were without excuse, for YHWH continually testified to both Israel and Judah through many prophets and seers, calling on Israel to turn from their evil ways, and keep His commandments and statutes, in accordance with all the Law which He gave them through His servants the prophets. Here is YHWH’s definition of righteousness.
2Ki 17:14
‘Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their neck, in a similar way to the neck of their fathers, who believed not in YHWH their God.’
In spite of YHWH’s efforts Israel had not heard Him. They had ‘hardened their necks’ in the same way as their fathers had, who had also not ‘believed in YHWH their God’. Their fathers had also similarly not trusted God and obeyed Him, as had been made clear throughout the Pentateuch and the ‘historical books’, compare, for example, Exodus 32; Numbers 13-14; Judges 2. For ‘hardened-necks’ see Deu 10:16; Exo 32:9; Exo 33:3; Exo 33:5; Exo 34:9; Deu 9:6; Deu 9:13; Deu 31:27. For ‘believing, not believing, in YHWH their God’ see Gen 15:6; Exo 4:31; Exo 14:31; Num 14:11; Deu 1:32; Deu 9:23.
2Ki 17:15
‘And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified to them, and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the nations who were round about them, concerning whom YHWH had charged them that they should not do like them.’
Their unbelief was revealed in the fact that they rejected YHWH’s statutes and testimonies, and the covenant that He had made with their fathers (e.g. Exodus 20-24; Exodus to Numbers; Deuteronomy). Instead they followed what was empty and vain, and became foolish, following the examples of the nation round about them, in spite of the fact that YHWH had charged them not to behave like them. They had blatantly disobeyed Him.
2Ki 17:16
‘And they forsook all the commandments of YHWH their God, and made themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.’
And they especially forsook the first two commandments of YHWH, making molten images, even the two golden calves, and an Asherah image, and worshipping all the host of Heaven, and serving Baal. It is possible that the mention of the worship of ‘the host of Heaven’ especially had in mind Ahaz’s innovations, although we must remember that Assyrian influence had been applied to Israel much earlier, but its placing suggests rather that it refers to Canaanite religious ideas in parallel with Asherah and Baal. For the worship of the sun, moon and stars was almost universal and would have taken place in Canaan for centuries. (Consider ‘Beth-shemesh’, the house of the sun, and Re the sun god in Egypt, while Abraham’s father had probably worshipped the moon god at Harran, and the moon god yrh was worshipped at Ugarit). Thus the ‘host of heaven’ was probably simply an abbreviated way of describing such worship. For the general idea of these verses compare Exo 20:5; Exo 23:24; Exo 34:13; and often. For ‘molten images’ compare Num 33:52; 1Ki 1:9. For the two golden calves see 1Ki 12:26-30. For ‘all the host of Heaven’ compare Deu 4:19; Deu 17:3. For serving Baal and Asherah see, for example, Exo 34:13; Deu 16:21-22; Jdg 2:13; Jdg 3:7; Jdg 8:33; Jdg 10:6 ; 1Sa 12:10.
2Ki 17:17
‘ And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do what was evil in the sight of YHWH, to provoke him to anger.’
The worship of idols led on to child sacrifice, divination and sorcery. These things were evil in the eyes of YHWH and ‘provoked Him to anger’. Divination was widely practised, whether in Egypt, Philistia, Tyre, Assyria or Babylon. Indeed, Balaam was expected to use divination in his oracles against Israel (Num 22:7). Sorcery was also practised worldwide through the ages. All these sins were therefore probably practised in Baalism. For us ‘divination’ would include tarot cards, fortune telling, palmistry, reading tea leaves, ouija boards, and engaging in the occult, all of which are forbidden to those who walk with God.
Had ‘to cause to pass through the fire’ stood on its own we might have seen it as simply an extreme method of dedication involving fire, but Jeremiah made clear that it involved child sacrifice (Jer 19:5). For the phrase compare Lev 18:21; Deu 18:10. For divination and enchantments see again Deu 18:10. It was therefore already present in Canaan in the time of Moses.
‘And sold themselves to do what was evil in the sight of YHWH, to provoke him to anger.’ Doing evil in the eyes of YHWH is found in Num 32:13; Deu 4:25; Deu 31:29. But in no case is the verb ‘sold’ applied to those verses. We can, however, compare Isa 52:3, where the prophet says, ‘you have sold yourselves for nothing’, (and as a result they would be redeemed without price). The idea would appear to be that they have handed themselves over either to gods or to men, and have gained nothing from it, not receiving the reward promised. Here then it probably refers to some artificial transaction whereby they had sold themselves to Baal and as a result had walked in the evil and sordidness of Baalism. But all that they had gained from it was shame and exile.
2Ki 17:18
‘Therefore YHWH was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight. There was none left but the tribe of Judah only.’
And all these were the reasons why YHWH was very angry with Israel and thus removed them out of His sight. It was because, instead of worshipping Him fully, and in spite of the great efforts of the prophets, especially Elijah and Elisha, they had bastardised Yahwism and diluted it until it had lost all its content. Even official Yahwism had become syncretistic and blurred, and open Baalism had become common. That was the result of ‘the sin of Jeroboam’. Judah had done a little better for they had the original Ark of the Covenant, and at least in the Temple (apart from the aberrations of those influenced by their connection with the house of Ahab, and of course Ahaz) had maintained a kind of purity of religion, at least ritualistically (but even then see Isa 1:11-18), while their flirting with the gods of Canaan was both unofficial, and even probably officially frowned on. Thus they alone of the tribes (‘the tribe of Judah’ here indicated all who permanently lived in Judah seen in terms of the dominant tribe) were spared YHWH’s anger, at least for a time, although with a timely warning added.
2Ki 17:19
‘Judah also did not keep the commandments of YHWH their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.’
However, he did not feel that he could leave us with the impression that in Judah all was fine, so he stresses that Judah were also guilty of not keeping the commandments of YHWH, and were indeed walking in the statutes that Israel had invented, ‘the statutes of the nations’, which had resulted in social injustice and divisiveness, something which was also apparent in Judah.
A Summary Of YHWH’s Response To The Above Failures.
Throughout the whole of Israel’s history YHWH had been active in judgment on His erring people.
In the time of the Judges and Samuel, He had delivered them to the spoilers (2Ki 17:20; compare Jdg 2:14).
He had then divided up the two kingdoms, rending Israel from the faltering house of David, but instead of their taking warning as a result it had produced the resultant apostasy of Jeroboam, an apostasy which Israel had lapped up (2Ki 17:21-22; compare 1Ki 14:7-8).
And finally, having first sent His prophets to plead with them, He had fulfilled what the prophets had warned about, namely their sending into exile and the destruction of their kingdom (2Ki 17:23).
2Ki 17:20
‘And YHWH 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 sight.’
This had in fact commenced from the beginning. It was especially true of the times of the Judges (Jdg 2:14), and throughout that book. It occurred again with the Philistines in Samuel, and was only ‘reined in’ in the time of David. It occurred once more at the end of Solomon’s reign, and had continued on from then on until it had now reached its climax in the exile of many in Israel.
2Ki 17:21
‘For he tore Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king, and Jeroboam drove Israel from following YHWH, and made them sin a great sin.’
Because of their sins He had torn Israel from the security of the Davidic covenant, and the protection of the house of David (viewed idealistically), for they had set over themselves the house of Jeroboam who had driven Israel from truly following YHWH. Note how YHWH’s sovereign action and man’s freewill activity go hand in hand.
2Ki 17:22-23
‘And the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did. They did not depart from them, until YHWH removed Israel out of his sight, as he spoke by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria to this day.’
The result was that the Israelites had set their faces to walk in all the ways of Jeroboam, and had refused to be turned from it. They had persistently continued in them in spite of the warnings of the prophets (there had, of course, been exceptions, the ‘seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal’, and the like, who composed the ‘true Israel’) until they had finally reaped their reward and had been carried away by the Assyrians out of their land to Assyria, where they still were. Thus had come to an end the northern kingdom of Israel.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Though the Lord is not accountable to any of his creatures for what he doth; yet is he graciously pleased to manifest the equity of his dealings, and to prove, even to the conviction of the sinner himself, that the Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. He appeals, by his servants the prophets, to the minds of men, in proof of this. It was not the king of Assyria that could have ruined Israel, had not the Lord commissioned him. The Assyrian (as Isaiah saith) was the rod of his anger, and the staff in the Assyrian’s hand was the indignation of the Lord. It was the Lord that sent the Assyrian against Israel, as an hypocritical nation; and it was the Lord which gave Jacob to the spoil, and Israel to the robbers, against whom Israel had sinned. See Isa_10:5-6; Isa_42:24-25 . Reader! while you peruse these solemn scriptures, and behold God’s just judgments executed upon his own people; read with trembling. Though God hath promised in covenant engagements by his dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that the redeemed shall not be cast off forever; yet the seed of Jesus, if they break his laws, and keep not his commandments, the Lord will visit their offences with a rod, and their sins with scourges. Psa 89:30-32 . I do not find in the whole bible a promise to give encouragement to a loose and careless life. But on the contrary, though the church of Christ must stand and shall prevail against all opposition, yet that church may be taken from one spot to flourish more in another. The golden candlestick is a moveable thing in the Lord’s house. Rev 2:5 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2Ki 17:7 For [so] it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,
Ver. 7. For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned. ] Their iniquity was their ruin. Out of Hosea and Amos their sins may be gathered; and especially their abominable idolatry, contempt of God’s prophets, and abuse of his benefits. Of the ruin of the Greek empire, the historian assigneth these for the chief causes: – first the innovation and change of their ancient religion, by Michael Paleologus, whereof ensued a world of woes: then covetousness, coloured with the name of good husbandry, the utter destruction of the chief strength of the empire. Next unto that, envy, the ruin of the great; false suspect, the looser of friends; ambition, honour’s overthrow; distrust, the great mind’s torment; and foreign aid, the empire’s unfaithful porter, opening the gate even to the enemy himself; whereunto foul discord joined, what wanted that the barbarous enemy could desire, for the helping of them in the supplanting of so great an empire! a
a Turk. Hist., 178.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
children = sons.
sinned. Hebrew. chata. App-44.
God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
sinned
Cf. Deu 28:15-68. From this captivity the ten tribes have never been restored to Palestine. A remnant of Judah returned under Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, and individuals out of the ten tribes (called, after the division of Solomon’s kingdom, “Israel” in the historical books and Prophets, also “Ephraim” by the latter) went back, but the national restoration is yet to be fulfilled. See Palestinian Covenant, (See Scofield “Deu 30:3”), Kingdom, 2Sa 7:8-17.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
sinned: Deu 31:16, Deu 31:17, Deu 31:29, Deu 32:15-52, Jos 23:16, Jdg 2:14-17, 2Ch 36:14-16, Neh 9:26, Psa 106:35-41, Eze 23:2-16, Hos 4:1-3, Hos 8:5-14
the Lord: 2Ki 16:2, 1Ki 11:4, 1Ki 15:3, 2Ch 36:5
which had: Exo 20:2
and had feared: 2Ki 17:35, Jer 10:5
Reciprocal: Lev 26:43 – they despised Deu 29:26 – they went 1Ki 8:33 – because they have 1Ki 14:15 – the Lord 2Ki 18:12 – they obeyed not 1Ch 5:25 – and went 2Ch 6:24 – because 2Ch 34:21 – that are left Psa 78:56 – General Isa 24:5 – because Jer 3:6 – backsliding Jer 11:10 – the house of Israel Eze 9:9 – The iniquity Eze 16:15 – and playedst Eze 23:5 – Aholah Eze 39:24 – General Dan 9:7 – near Hos 4:18 – committed Hos 6:10 – there Hos 12:14 – provoked Hos 13:9 – thou Amo 2:6 – For three Amo 5:12 – manifold Mic 1:5 – the transgression of Jacob
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
ISRAELS DECLINE AND FALL
The children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God.
2Ki 17:7
As to the causes which led to the captivitythe one great evil was idolatry, it lies at back of all else. We have here (1) a picture of this idolatry in some of its prominent features; then (2) a description of the way in which Israel defied Jehovah.
I. A picture of Israels idolatry.(a) In general. They sinned against the Lord their God. How suggestive this is. Jehovah was their God. He it was Who deserved their loyalty by reason of what He had done for them in the past. He had brought them up out of the land of Egypt. Then, in distinct contrast with this powerful God, we have the other gods, whose worshippers found no help in their deities, for the Lord cast out the heathen from before the children of Israel. It was a deliberate choice, too, for these infatuated rebels walked in the statutes of the heathen, and of their own idolatrous kings. This was the general charge; leaving their own mighty God, and serving the poor helpless idols that were powerless to save their devotees when first the children of Israel conquered Canaan.
(b) In particular. What an indictment follows. First, they destroyed the simple purity of the Mosaic ritual (this seems to be the meaning of an obscure passage), covering or adorning a worship which was not the true one. Second, they spread this false religion until it was to be detected by its altars all the land over. The tower of the watchmen, solitary and in desert places, beheld these altars, and so did the fortified city. Third, the hill tops were crowned with heathen obelisks, and under the boughs of the trees carved images of Ashteroth, the licentious goddess of the vilest worship, were placed. Fourth, the sacred privilege of prayer was degraded by burning incense as the heathen did. Fifth, the degradation of religion was followed, as is always the case, by the degradation of morals. Sixth, in one word, they served idols. The word used is one of indescribable contempt and opprobrium, and they did it with open eye and deliberate purpose, for the Lord had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing. This leads to
II. A consideration of the aggravated guilt of Israel, sinning, as they did, against light and knowledge and mercy.
(a) We listen to the pleading of Divine love. Prophets, speaking the message of God to Israel, and seers, upon whose spiritual sight flashed visions from on high, united to say, Turn ye from your ways and keep My commandments. To turn from self to God, this has always been the plea. There is no change in Gods Word to man.
(b) This is followed by a declaration of the determined resistance of Israel. The picture here is of the stubborn ox refusing to be guided, and making his neck rigid and unbending. The thought is that to resist God costs an effort. It is not natural or easy to refuse such tender pleadings as His.
(c) One brief sentence lets us into the secret of this godlessness. They did not believe in the Lord their God. The most amazing thing in all the world is unbelief. Israel formed part of the people specially called and chosen and cared for. Yet, with such a history in the past as no other nation ever had, they would not believe. One may well distrust self in the light of this lesson. The evil heart of unbelief is indeed deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.
Illustrations
(1) In this chapter we read of the end of Israels sinthey were carried away into captivity. They had warnings enough, but they disregarded them. Opportunities for salvation came, down to the very last, but the condition always was repentance and a return to God, and the people would not leave their sins. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. They fell into the hands of their enemies and were carried away into a strange land as captives. They lost their homes, their country, their liberty. This was the ending of the kingdom, for as a nation they were blotted from the face of the earth and from the pages of history. They never returned.
(2) Mark that it was sin that caused all this trouble. The historian may explain in other ways the cause of the downfall of the kingdom. But whatever the political or other reasons may have been, on the moral side it was sin that brought the terrible ruin. Sin always brings calamity. It destroys nations. It destroys homes. It destroys individual lives. God loves men with a love that is wonderful, a love that led to the greatest sacrifice possible; yet even the Divine love cannot stay the natural outworking of sin.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
2Ki 17:7. For so it was, &c. Though the destruction of the kingdom of the ten tribes is but briefly related in the preceding verses, it is largely commented upon by the historian in those that follow; and the reasons of it assigned, which are not taken from the second causes, the weakness of Israel and their impolitic management; the strength and growing greatness of the Assyrian monarchy: these things are overlooked, and only the first cause is mentioned. It was the Lord that removed Israel out of his sight: whoever were the instruments, he was the author of this calamity. The destruction was from the Almighty, and the Assyrian was but the rod of his anger, Isa 10:5. It was the Lord that rejected the seed of Israel, otherwise their enemies could not have seized upon them. Who gave Jacob to the spoil, and Israel to the robbers? Did not the Lord? Isa 42:24. We lose the benefit of national judgments if we do not mark the hand of God in them, and the fulfilling of the Scriptures. It must be well observed, however, that their way and their doing 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 God did them no wrong, and that others might hear and fear. The children of Israel had sinned against the Lord, and had feared other gods This they had done a long time: for, from the beginning of Jeroboams setting up the golden calves, to the carrying of Israel away captive, were two hundred and sixty-three years, to say nothing of their former various and multiplied idolatries.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 17:7-23. A Recapitulation of the Reasons for Israels Captivity.The language recalls Deuteronomy and Jeremiah. The sins for which Israel is condemned are: (a) the building of high places, pillars, and Asherim (2Ki 17:9 f.; 1 Kings 12*, pp. 98100); (b) idolatry (2Ki 17:12; 2Ki 17:16); (c) making their children pass through the fire and using divination and enchantments (Isaiah 26); (d) walking in the sins of Jeroboam (see 1 Kings 12). A statement of Judahs sin is added in 2Ki 17:19.
2Ki 17:9. from the tower . . . city: every type of city from the most insignificant upwards.A. S. P.]
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
17:7 For [so] it was, that the children of Israel had {d} sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,
(d) He sets forth at length the cause of this great plague and perpetual captivity, to admonish all people, and nations to cleave to the Lord God, and worship only him for fear of similar judgment.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
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.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
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 (2Ki 17:7; cf. Exo 20:3; Jdg 6:10).
They adopted Canaanite customs (2Ki 17:8; cf. Lev 18:3; Deu 18:9).
They adopted customs condemned by the Mosaic Law (2Ki 17:8; cf. 2Ki 16:3; 2Ki 17:19).
They practiced secret sins (2Ki 17:9).
They built pagan high places (2Ki 17:9; cf. Deu 12:2-7; Deu 12:13-14).
They made many sacred pillars and Asherim (2Ki 17:10; cf. Exo 34:12-14).
They burned incense to other gods (2Ki 17:11).
They did evil things that provoked Yahweh (2Ki 17:11).
They served idols (2Ki 17:12; cf. Exo 20:4).
They refused to heed God’s warnings (2Ki 17:13-14).
They became obstinate (2Ki 17:14; cf. Exo 32:9; Exo 33:3).
They rejected God’s statutes (2Ki 17:15).
They rejected God’s covenant (2Ki 17:15; cf. Exo 24:6-8; Deu 29:25).
They pursued vanity (2Ki 17:15; cf. Deu 32:21).
They became vain (2Ki 17:15).
They followed foreign nations (2Ki 17:15; cf. Deu 12:30-31).
They forsook Yahweh’s commandments (2Ki 17:16).
They made molten calves (2Ki 17:16; cf. Exo 20:4).
They made an Asherah (2Ki 17:16; cf. Exo 20:4).
They worshipped the stars (2Ki 17:16; cf. Deu 4:15; Deu 4:19; Amo 5:26).
They served Baal (2Ki 17:16).
They practiced child sacrifice (2Ki 17:17; cf. Lev 18:21; Deu 12:31).
They practiced witchcraft (2Ki 17:17; cf. Lev 19:26; Deu 18:10-12).
They sold themselves to do evil (2Ki 17:17; cf. 2Ki 21:20).
Though God allowed Judah to remain, she was not innocent (2Ki 17:19).
The cult of Jeroboam was a major source of Israel’s apostasy (2Ki 17:21-22).