Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 17:41
So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.
41. both their children ] R.V. their children likewise. A change which makes a semicolon necessary at the end of the previous clause.
It would seem from this statement that the mixed population in Samaria adhered to their several forms of idolatry through several generations, though we know that on the return of the captive Jews from Babylon b.c. 534, their descendants claimed to be allowed to take part in the restoration of the temple. The concluding words of the verse ‘so do they unto this day’ may be, and most probably are, taken from a document of earlier date than the compilation of the books of Kings. These carry the history down to about b.c. 560. The time between that date and the earlier days, when the priest sent from Babylon began to teach them something about Jehovah, may be taken in round numbers at a century and a half or nearly so. In that period the document was written from which our compiler drew, and when its author wrote the Samaritans were still idolaters. Such changes as were wrought among them, till they were all agreed to accept as authoritative the five books of Moses, would come about very gradually. Yet even imperfect teaching about Jehovah produced its effect. The priest who came to them would be one of those who had ministered at Bethel or Dan. Yet from the calves he would teach them of the God who had led Israel from Egypt to Canaan, and even from such lessons they would be brought to see that Jehovah was more than any mere local divinity, and to desire to join with the people whom they saw Him bringing once more out of the land of their captivity.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Their graven images – The Babylonians appear to have made a very sparing use of animal forms among their religious emblems. They represented the male Sun, Shamas, by a circle, plain or crossed; the female Sun, Anunit, by a six-rayed or eight-rayed star; Nebo by a single wedge or arrow-head, the fundamental element of their writing; the god of the atmosphere by a double or triple thunderbolt. The gods generally were represented under human forms. A few of them had, in addition, animal emblems – the lion, the bull, the eagle, or the serpent; but these seem never to have been set up for worship in temples. There was nothing intentionally grotesque in the Babylonian religion, as there was in the Egyptian and Phoenician.
So do they unto this day – The mixed worship, the union of professed reverence for Yahweh with the grossest idolatry, continued to the time of the composition of this book, which must have been as late as 561 B.C., or, at any rate, as late as 580 B.C. 2Ki 25:27. It did not, however, continue much longer. When the Samaritans wished to join the Jews in rebuilding the temple (about 537 B.C.), they showed that inclination to draw nearer to the Jewish cult which henceforth marked their religious progress. Long before the erection of a temple to Yahweh on Mount Gerizim (409 B.C.) they had laid aside all their idolatrous rites, and, admitting the binding authority of the Pentateuch, had taken upon them the observance of the entire Law.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 41. So do they unto this day.] This must have been written before the Babylonish captivity; because, after that time, none of the Israelites ever lapsed into idolatry. But this may chiefly refer to the heathenish people who were sent to dwell among the remains of the ten tribes.
ON these nations and the objects of their worship, I present my readers with the following extracts from Dodd and Parkhurst.
Ver. 30. The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth. We have here an account of the idols which were consecrated by the different nations, transplanted by the king of Assyria to Samaria. It is difficult, however, and has afforded a large field for conjecture, to give any satisfactory account concerning them. The reader will find in Selden, Vossius, and Jurieu, much upon the subject. Succoth-benoth may be literally translated, The Tabernacles of the Daughters, or Young Women; or if Benoth be taken as the name of a female idol, from to build up, procreate children, then the words will express the tabernacles sacred to the productive powers feminine. And, agreeably to this latter exposition, the rabbins say that the emblem was a hen and chickens. But however this may be, there is no room to doubt that these succoth were tabernacles wherein young women exposed themselves to prostitution in honour of the Babylonish goddess Melitta. Herodotus, (lib. i., c. 199,) gives us a particular account of this detestable service. “Every young woman,” says he, “of the country of Babylon must once in her life sit at the temple of Venus, [whom he afterwards tells us the Assyrians called Melitta,] and prostitute herself to some stranger. Those who are rich, and so disdain to mingle with the crowd, present themselves before the temple in covered chariots, attended by a great retinue. But the generality of the women sit near the temple, having crowns upon their heads, and holding a cord, some continually coming, others going. [See Baruch vi. 43.] The cords are held by them in such a manner as to afford a free passage among the women, that the strangers may choose whom they like. A woman who has once seated herself in this place must not return home till some stranger has cast money into her lap, and led her from the temple, and defiled her. The stranger who throws the money must say, ‘I invoke the goddess Melitta for thee.’ The money, however small a sum it may be, must not be refused, because it is appointed to sacred uses. [See De 23:18.] The woman must follow the first man that offers, and not reject him; and after prostitution, having now duly honoured the goddess, she is dismissed to her own house. In Cyprus,” adds the historian, “they have the same custom.” This abomination, implied by Succoth-benoth, the men of Babylon brought with them into the country of Samaria; and both the name of the idol Melitta, and the execrable service performed to her honour, show that by Melitta was originally intended the procreative or productive power of nature, the Venus of the Greeks and Romans. See the beginning of Lucretius’s first book De Rerum Natura. Mr. Selden imagines that some traces of the Succoth-benoth may be found in Sicca Veneria, the name of a city of Numidia, not far from the borders of Africa Propria. The name itself bears a near allusion to the obscene custom above taken notice of, and seems to have been transported from Phoenicia: nor can this well be disputed, when we consider that here was a temple where women were obliged to purchase their marriage-money by the prostitution of their bodies. See Univ. Hist., vol. xvii., p. 295, and Parkhurst’s Lexicon on the word .
The men of Cuth made Nergal. – Cuth was a province of Assyria, which, according to some, lies upon the Araxis: but others rather think it to be the same with Cush, which is said by Moses to be encompassed with the river Gihon; and must, therefore, be the same with the country which the Greeks call Susiana, and which to this day is called by the inhabitants Chusesta. Their idol, Nergal, seems to have been the sun, as the causer of the diurnal and annual revolutions of the planets; for it is naturally derived from ner, light, and by gal, to revolve. The rabbins say that the idol was represented in the shape of a cock; and probably they tell us the truth, for this seems a very proper emblem. Among the latter heathens we find the cock was sacred to Apollo or the sun, (see Pierii Hieroglyph., p. 223,) “because,” says Heliodorus, speaking of the time when cocks crow, “by a natural sensation of the sun’s revolution to us, they are incited to salute the god.” AEthiop. lib. i. And perhaps under this name, Nergal, they meant to worship the sun, not only for the diurnal return of its light upon the earth, but also for its annual return or revolution. We may observe that the emblem, a cock, is affected by the latter as well as by the former, and is frequently crowing both day and night, when the days begin to lengthen. See Calmet’s Dictionary under the word, and Parkhurst’s Lexicon.
The men of Hamath made Ashima. – There are several cities and countries which go under the name of Hamath; but what we take to be here meant is that province of Syria which lies upon the Orontes, wherein there was a city of the same name; which when Shalmaneser had taken, he removed the inhabitants from thence into Samaria. Their idol Ashima signifies the atoner or expiator, from asham. The word is in a Chaldee form, and seems to be the same as ashmath Shomeron, the sin of Samaria, mentioned Am 8:14, where ashmath is rendered by the LXX. propitiation. It is known to every one who has the least acquaintance with the mythology of the heathen, how strongly and universally they retained the tradition of an atonement or expiation for sin, although they expected it from a false object and wrong means. We find it expressed in very clear terms among the Romans even so late as the time of Horace, lib. i., ode 2: –
Cui dabit partes scelus expiandi Jupiter?
And whom, to expiate the horrid guilt, Will Jove appoint?
The answer is, “Apollo,” the god of light. Some think that, as Asuman or Suman, [Persian] asman, in the Persian language, signifies heaven, the Syrians might from hence derive the name of this god; who, they suppose, was represented by a large stone pillar terminating in a conic or pyramidical figure, whereby they denoted fire. See Parkhurst on the word asham, Calmet’s Dictionary, and Tennison on Idolatry.
Ver. 31. The Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak. – It is uncertain who these Avites were. The most probable opinion seems to be that which Grotius has suggested by observing that there are a people in Bactriana, mentioned by Ptolemy, under the name of Avidia, who possibly might be those transported at this time into Palestine by Shalmaneser. Nibhaz, according to the rabbins, had the shape of a dog, much like the Anubis of the Egyptians. In Pierius’s Hieroglyphics, p. 53, is the figure of a cunocephalus, a kind of ape, with a head like a dog, standing upon his hinder feet, and looking earnestly at the moon. Pierius there teaches us that the cunocephalus was an animal eminently sacred amongst the Egyptians, hieroglyphical of the moon, and kept in their temples to inform them of the moon’s conjunction with the sun, at which time this animal is strangely affected, being deprived of sight, refusing food, and lying sick on the ground; but on the moon’s appearance seeming to return thanks, and congratulate the return of light both to himself and her. See Johnston’s Nat. Hist. de Quadruped., p. 100. This being observed, the nibchaz, (which may well be derived from nabach, to bark, and chazah, to see,) gives us reason to conclude that this idol was in the shape of a cunocephalus, or a dog looking, barking, or howling at the moon. It is obvious to common observation that dogs in general have this property; and an idol of the form just mentioned seems to have been originally designed to represent the power or influence of the moon on all sublunary bodies, with which the cunocephaluses and dogs are so eminently affected. So, as we have observed upon Nergal, the influence of the returning solar light was represented by a cock; and the generative power of the heavens by Dagon, a fishy idol. See Parkhurst on who is of opinion that Tartak is compounded of tar, to turn, go round, and rathak, to chain, tether; and plainly denotes the heavens, considered as confining the planets in their respective orbits, as if they were tethered. The Jews have a tradition that the emblem of this idol was an ass; which, considering the propriety of that animal when tethered to represent this idol, is not improbable; and from this idolatrous worship of the Samaritans, joined perhaps with some confused account of the cherubim, seems to have sprung that stupid story by the heathens, that the Jews had an ass’s head in their holy of holies, to which they paid religious worship. See Bochart, vol. ii., p. 221. Jurieu is of opinion that as the word Nibhaz, both in the Hebrew and Chaldee, with a small variation, denotes quick, swift, rapid; and tartak, in the same languages, signifies a chariot, these two idols may both together denominate the sun mounted on his car, as the fictions of the poets and the notions of the mythologists were wont to represent that luminary.
The Sepharvites burned their children – to Adrammelech and Anammelech. – As these Sepharvites probably came from the cities of the Medes, whither the Israelites were carried captive, and as Herodotus tells us that between Colchis and Media are found a people called Saspires, in all likelihood they were the same with those here named Sepharvites. Moloch, Milcom, and Melech, in the language of different nations, all signify a king, and imply the sun, which was called the king of heaven; and consequently the addition of adar, which signifies powerful, illustrious, to the one, and of anah, which implies to return, to answer, to the other, means no more than the mighty or the oracular Moloch. And as the children were offered to him, it appears that he was the same with the Moloch of the Ammonites. See Univ. Hist. and Calmet. Mr. Locke is also of opinion that these two names were expressive of one and the same deity. What they were, or in what form, and how worshipped, we have not light from antiquity to determine.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
So, i.e. in like manner, and after their example. These nations, who came in their stead.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images,…. Just in like manner as the Israelites had done, who served the Lord and the calves, and worshipped God and Baal:
both their children, and their children’s children; that is, the children and children’s children of the Samaritans:
as did their fathers, so do they unto this day; to the writing of this book, which some ascribe to Jeremiah, to whose times, and even longer, they continued this mixed and mongrel worship, for the space of three hundred years, to the times of Alexander the great, of whom Sanballat, governor of Samaria, got leave to build a temple, on Gerizim, for his son-in-law Manasseh, of which he became priest; and the Samaritans were prevailed upon to relinquish their idolatry, and to worship only the God of Israel; and yet it seems but ignorantly, and not without superstition, to the times of Christ, Joh 4:22.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(41) So these nations feared . . . images.A variation of 2Ki. 17:33.
Their children, and their childrens children.The captivity of Ephraim took place in 721 B.C. Two generations later bring us to the times of the exile of Judahthe age of the last Redactor of Kings.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
REFLECTIONS
PAUSE, my soul, over this chapter, and behold the awful visitations of God upon his own people. Well may every truly awakened soul take part in what he reads here, and tremble lest, for the wickedness of our own land, the Lord should send similar judgments. Are we better than they? (saith the apostle upon an occasion not unlike this) No, in no wise. For he hath before concluded all under sin. And though from the relation God the Father stands in to his people in his dear Son; though from the ransom he hath received from our Almighty Surety, the everlasting welfare of the regenerate is secure; yet for the honour of his holy name, to prevent the abuse of his covenant-mercy, and for the holiness of his nature, God will correct (and to what extent who shall say) the unhumbled state of his people in their sins and transgressions.
Reader! are you a real follower of the Lord Jesus Christ? Hath the Holy Ghost convinced you of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment? Hath he led you to the precious Jesus for the whole of your salvation? And if so; can you be unmoved in the view of the present state of the church in this highly favoured land, and behold the languishing condition of Zion among us, unconcerned. How did holy men of old feel on such occasions? My flesh trembleth (saith one of them) for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy judgments! for these things (saith another) weep, mine eyes run down with tears. When I heard (saith a third) my belly trembled, my lips quivered at the voice; rottenness entered into my bones. Are you unmoved! Oh! for grace from him who hath the residue of the Spirit, to be earnest in prayer with him for his sparing mercy!
Precious Jesus! where shall we flee, to whom shall we come, but to thee? We are indeed a guilty, sinful land, a wretched, unworthy people. We are sadly gone away from thee. We are a race of evildoers, children that are corrupters. We have sinned, what shall we say, O thou Preserver of men? But, Lord, help us to return, Let thy grace induce, in all ranks, a spirit of reform. Oh! thou exalted Prince and Saviour! pour out thine ascension gifts of repentance, and remission of sins. Bring us before thee, looking with an eye of faith to thy blood, beholding thee as the Lamb that hath been slain, and wearing thy Priesthood still. And oh! be thou very jealous for this land, and heal thy people. Come, gracious Lord, return to thy people with pardons to bless, with grace to purify, with love to allure; and draw our hearts unto thee. And let us hear those soul reviving words; I am returned to the British Jerusalem in mercy. Then may our souls answer to the words of thy grace, and say; Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. The Lord will not retain his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again. He will have compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities: and thou wilt cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
as = according as.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
feared
(See Scofield “Psa 19:9”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
these nations: 2Ki 17:32, 2Ki 17:33, Jos 24:14-20, 1Ki 18:21, Zep 1:5, Mat 6:24, Rev 3:15, Rev 3:16
unto this day: Ezr 4:1-3
Reciprocal: Exo 20:5 – bow down Exo 20:23 – General 2Ki 17:25 – they feared Ezr 4:2 – we do Joh 4:22 – ye know Rom 11:8 – unto this day Jam 1:8 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ki 17:41. So these nations feared the Lord, &c. Namely, the nations that came in the place of the Israelites. They followed their example, and acted as they had done, endeavouring to unite things perfectly irreconcilable, the worship of the true God and the worship of idols.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
17:41 So these {t} nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.
(t) That is, these strangers who were sent into Samaria by the Assyrians.