The chapter details the final fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. King Hoshea's rebellion against Assyria led to Samaria's three-year siege and Israel's subsequent captivity. This judgment was a direct consequence of Israel's persistent idolatry and rejection of the LORD's commandments, despite prophetic warnings. New inhabitants were then settled in Samaria, who developed a syncretistic religion, fearing the LORD while also serving their own gods.
And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present 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.
In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
¶ 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,
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
¶ And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them.
Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.
Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.
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.
So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;
With whom the LORD 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:
But the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice.
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.
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.
Study Notes for 2 Kings 17
Verse 1
Hoshea was the last king of the Northern Kingdom (Israel). His reign was marked by political instability and increasing subservience to the rising power of Assyria.
Verse 2
Hoshea’s evil was relative; he was likely less aggressive in promoting Baalism than kings like Ahab, perhaps due to Assyrian dominance limiting internal religious policy, but he still failed to worship Yahweh exclusively.
Verse 3
Shalmaneser V (727–722 BCE) initiated the final campaign against Israel. The requirement of 'presents' (tribute) indicates Israel’s status as a vassal state to the Assyrian Empire.
Verse 4
Seeking alliance with Egypt (likely Pharaoh Osorkon IV, referred to here as So) and withholding tribute constituted high treason against Assyria, an act often condemned by prophets like Isaiah.
Verse 6
The conquest occurred in 722 BCE. While Shalmaneser V began the siege, his successor Sargon II often claimed credit for the capture and subsequent deportation, which was a standard Assyrian strategy to prevent future rebellion.
Verse 7
This verse marks a crucial shift from historical narrative to theological interpretation. The exile is explicitly framed as divine judgment for covenant violation, specifically forgetting the deliverance from Egypt.
Verse 9
The 'high places' (Bamot) were unauthorized worship sites, often mixing Yahweh worship with Canaanite fertility rites, which were spread throughout the land, symbolizing pervasive apostasy.
Verse 13
This emphasizes God’s justice and patience; judgment was not arbitrary but followed repeated, clear warnings delivered through generations of prophets calling Israel back to the Mosaic Law.
Verse 15
To 'follow vanity and become vain' links the worship of worthless idols (vanity) directly to the moral and spiritual emptiness (becoming vain) of the worshiper, illustrating the corrupting power of idolatry.
Verse 16
The mention of the 'two calves' explicitly recalls the foundational sin initiated by Jeroboam I at Bethel and Dan (1 Kings 12), justifying the removal of his dynasty’s kingdom.
Verse 17
Causing children to pass through the fire refers to child sacrifice, associated with the god Molech, representing the most severe form of religious apostasy and moral depravity.
Verse 18
This verse underlines the completeness of the judgment on the Northern Kingdom. Only the Southern Kingdom (Judah) remained, though Judah’s own faithfulness was also precarious (v. 19).
Verse 19
The historian includes this warning about Judah to show that the principles of divine judgment are universal, foreshadowing Judah’s own eventual exile (586 BCE) if they continued in the sins of Israel.
Verse 21
The political schism initiated by Jeroboam I (931 BCE) is identified here as the foundational theological sin that led the entire Northern Kingdom into persistent idolatry and eventual destruction.
Verse 24
The Assyrian policy of deporting conquered populations and replacing them with foreign settlers led to a mixed, non-Israelite population in the central region, which eventually became known as Samaria.
Verse 25
The text interprets the attack by lions as divine judgment for the foreigners' failure to acknowledge Yahweh, the 'God of the land,' according to common ancient Near Eastern belief that local deities controlled their territories.
Verse 28
The returned priest settles in Bethel, a site historically associated with unauthorized Yahwistic worship (Jeroboam's calves). This compromise ensured that the instruction given was already corrupted and syncretistic.
Verse 31
The Sepharvites practiced child sacrifice, a horrific pagan ritual similar to that practiced by the former Israelites (v. 17), highlighting the persistent evil that continued in the land.
Verse 33
This verse defines syncretism: they 'feared the LORD' (acknowledged Yahweh as a powerful local deity) but simultaneously 'served their own gods,' violating the core command of exclusive worship.
Verse 34
'Unto this day' provides a chronological marker, indicating that the mixed religious practices persisted into the time of writing, explaining the complex origins of the later Samaritans.
Verse 36
The historian contrasts the fear of foreign gods with the proper fear and worship owed exclusively to Yahweh, the God who demonstrated singular power through the Exodus deliverance.
Verse 41
This final summary confirms that the syncretistic religion established by the settlers became hereditary, continuing the pattern of compromised and mixed worship that Yahweh had condemned in Israel itself.
Use ←→ arrow keys to navigate
Settings
Reading Style
Typeface
Font Size px
The Calling of Disciples
19And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
Options
Choose a Book
Study Note
Bible Version
Recent History
Get the App
Add TrulyRandomVerse to your home screen for instant access
TRV