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2 Kings 17

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The Fall of Samaria and the End of Israel 1–6

1
In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel, and reigned nine years. ​
2
And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, yet not as the kings of Israel that were before him. ​
3
Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and brought him tribute. ​
4
And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. ​
5
Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.
6
In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away unto Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. ​

The Theological Reason for Israel's Exile 7–23

7
And it was so, because the children of Israel had sinned against Jehovah 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, ​
8
and walked in the statutes of the nations, whom Jehovah cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they made.
9
And the children of Israel did secretly things that were not right against Jehovah their God: and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city; ​
10
and they set them up pillars and Asherim upon every high hill, and under every green tree;
11
and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the nations whom Jehovah carried away before them; and they wrought wicked things to provoke Jehovah to anger;
12
and they served idols, whereof Jehovah had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.
13
Yet Jehovah testified unto Israel, and unto Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, 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 neck, like to the neck of their fathers, who believed not in Jehovah their God.
15
And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified unto them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the nations that were round about them, concerning whom Jehovah had charged them that they should not do like them. ​
16
And they forsook all the commandments of Jehovah their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, 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 that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger. ​
18
Therefore Jehovah 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 Jehovah their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. ​
20
And Jehovah 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 drove Israel from following Jehovah, and made them sin a great sin. ​
22
And the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them;
23
until Jehovah removed Israel out of his sight, as he spake by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.

Foreign Settlers and Syncretistic Worship 24–41

24
And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof. ​
25
And so it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not Jehovah: therefore Jehovah sent lions among them, which killed some of them. ​
26
Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast carried away, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the law of the god of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the law of the god of the land.
27
Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the law of the god of the land.
28
So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Beth-el, and taught them how they should fear Jehovah. ​
29
Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.
30
And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
31
and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burnt their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. ​
32
So they feared Jehovah, and made unto them from among themselves priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
33
They feared Jehovah, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away. ​
34
Unto this day they do after the former manner: they fear not Jehovah, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law or after the commandment which Jehovah commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel; ​
35
with whom Jehovah had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:
36
but Jehovah, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, him shall ye fear, and unto him shall ye bow yourselves, and to him shall ye sacrifice: ​
37
and the statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods:
38
and the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods:
39
but Jehovah your God shall ye fear; and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.
40
Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner.
41
So these nations feared Jehovah, and served their graven images; their children likewise, and their children’s children, as did their fathers, so do they unto this day. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for 2 Kings 17

Verse 1

Hoshea the son of Elah — He came to the throne by conspiring against Pekah and killing him (2 Kings 15:30). Hoshea is the name Joshua bore before Moses changed it: 'Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua' (Num 13:16). He is the last king of Israel, and Samaria is taken in his ninth year (2 Kings 18:10).

Verse 2

not as the kings of Israel that were before him — The earlier kings are charged again and again with not departing 'from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat' (2 Kings 15:24), and Hoshea's evil is set apart from theirs. Hezekiah began in Hoshea's third year (2 Kings 18:1), and 'divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves' at his call (2 Chr 30:11).

Verse 3

Shalmaneser king of Assyria — The LORD had called Assyria 'the rod of mine anger' and said, 'I will send him against an hypocritical nation' (Isa 10:5–6), with Samaria named in Isa 10:11. 'Presents' is minchah, the word the KJV translates 'meat offering' in 2 Kings 16:13. Here it is tribute paid by a servant to his lord.

Verse 4

found conspiracy in Hoshea — Qesher is the word for Hoshea's own conspiracy against Pekah (2 Kings 15:30). He sent to So king of Egypt and stopped the yearly present. Egypt is later called 'the staff of this bruised reed' (2 Kings 18:21), and Hosea says of Ephraim, 'they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt' (Hos 12:1).

Verse 6

carried Israel away into Assyria — Samaria fell at the end of a siege of three years that began in Hoshea's seventh year (2 Kings 18:9–10). Halah, Habor and the river Gozan are also named for the tribes east of the Jordan taken earlier (1 Chr 5:26). Moses had said, 'the LORD shall scatter thee among all people' (Deut 28:64).

Verse 7

feared other gods — This verse opens the account of why Israel fell (vv.7–23). It rests on the first commandment: the LORD 'which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt' (Ex 20:2), and 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me' (Ex 20:3). The fear (yare) owed to the LORD alone (v.36) had been given to others.

Verse 9

did secretly — Chaphah occurs only here. The high places stood 'from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city', the same phrase that marks the reach of Hezekiah's victories (2 Kings 18:8): everywhere, from a lone watchtower to a walled city. Ezekiel's vision of what Israel's elders did 'in the dark' is a later parallel (Ezek 8:12).

Verse 13

by all the prophets, and by all the seers — 'Seers' is chozeh, one who sees a vision, a word found only here in 2 Kings. The message was to 'turn' (shub) from evil ways, as in 'Return ye now every man from his evil way' (Jer 35:15). The warning went to Judah as well as Israel, 'according to all the law which I commanded your fathers'.

Verse 15

followed vanity, and became vain — Hebel, emptiness, and the verb formed from it: those who went after what is empty became empty. Moses had called idols 'vanities' (Deut 32:21), and Jeremiah repeats the line, 'walked after vanity, and are become vain' (Jer 2:5). Paul says of the nations that they 'became vain in their imaginations' (Rom 1:21).

Verse 16

two calves — Jeroboam made 'two calves of gold' and said, 'behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt' (1 Kings 12:28), the words said of Aaron's calf (Ex 32:4). 'Grove' is asherah. The 'host of heaven' was forbidden in Deut 4:19, and 'served Baal' recalls Ahab (1 Kings 16:31).

Verse 17

their sons and their daughters — Of Ahaz it was said that he made his son pass through the fire (2 Kings 16:3). Here the charge is made against the people, 'sons and daughters', together with divination, as in Deut 18:10. 'Sold themselves' (makar) is said of Ahab, who 'did sell himself to work wickedness' (1 Kings 21:25).

Verse 18

removed them out of his sight — The verb is sur, to turn aside or take away, and it returns in 2 Kings 23:27: 'I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel'. Judah alone remained of the tribes, the one tribe kept 'for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake' (1 Kings 11:13).

Verse 19

walked in the statutes of Israel — Judah is charged with the practices of the northern kingdom, as Ahaz 'walked in the way of the kings of Israel' (2 Kings 16:3). Jeremiah says that Judah 'feared not' after Israel was put away (Jer 3:8), and that 'The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah' (Jer 3:11).

Verse 21

rent Israel from the house of David — The verb qara is the tearing in Ahijah's sign, when Jeroboam was given ten pieces: 'I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon' (1 Kings 11:31). 'A great sin' (chata'ah gedolah) is Moses' own phrase for the golden calf, 'sinned a great sin' (Ex 32:31).

Verse 24

Babylon… Cuthah… Ava… Hamath… Sepharvaim — Five places supplied the settlers, and their gods are named in vv.30–31. Hamath and Sepharvaim appear again in the Assyrian boast, 'have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand?' (2 Kings 18:34). They were placed in the cities of Samaria 'instead of the children of Israel', and Ezra 4:10 recalls the same resettlement.

Verse 25

the LORD sent lions among them — Wild beasts are among the judgments the LORD set out in the covenant: 'I will also send wild beasts among you' (Lev 26:22). The settlers explain it to the king as ignorance of 'the manner of the God of the land' (v.26), and the answer is a priest sent to teach that manner (v.27).

Verse 28

dwelt in Bethel, and taught them — The priest settles at Bethel, where Jeroboam had set up one of his calves (1 Kings 12:29). 'Taught' is yarah, the root from which torah, law, is formed. The verse names only what he taught: how they should fear the LORD, and verse 41 shows the result.

Verse 31

burnt their children in fire — The verb is saraph, to burn, where 2 Kings 16:3 and 17:17 have 'pass through the fire' (abar). Deut 12:31 describes the practice as what the nations did to their gods: 'their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire'. Nibhaz and Tartak were the gods of the Avites, Adrammelech and Anammelech of the Sepharvites.

Verse 33

feared the LORD, and served their own gods — Fear joined to the service of other gods is not accepted: 'No man can serve two masters' (Matt 6:24), and Elijah had asked Israel, 'How long halt ye between two opinions?' (1 Kings 18:21). 'Manner' (mishpat) is the word used of 'the manner of the God of the land' in vv.26–27.

Verse 34

Unto this day — Verse 33 says they feared the LORD, and this verse says they 'fear not' him. The fear is measured by whether they do 'after their statutes… or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel'. The name was given in Gen 35:10.

Verse 36

a stretched out arm — The reminder goes back to the Exodus, where the LORD promised to redeem 'with a stretched out arm' (Ex 6:6). The command 'him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship' matches Deut 6:13, 'Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him'. Verses 35–39 restate the covenant made with the children of Jacob (v.34).

Verse 41

unto this day — The settlers' children and grandchildren keep the same mixed worship. Ezra 4:2 records people of that land saying, 'we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assur'. Zephaniah describes the same combination: those 'that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham' (Zeph 1:5).