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2 Kings 17 (King James Version)
1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.
Twelve years have passed in Judah while under the kingship of Ahaz, while in Israel, the king who reign was Hoshea.
2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him.
King Hoshea was not a good king. However, he was better than some of the kings who reign in Israel before him.
3 Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.
The king of Assyria came against Hoseha, and he became his servant, and Hoseha gave King Shalmaneser gifts.
4 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.
The king of Assyria found out the Hoshea was planning evil behind his back. Hoshea conspired against the king of Assyria with the king of So. There were no gifts brought as usual to the king of Assyria, so he put Hoshea in prison.
5 Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years
King Assyria besieged Samaria for three years.
6 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.
Because of the kings of Samaria's constant disobedience, God removed his protection, and Israel left the people into the hands of the Assyrians.
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,
Israel refused to stop sinning.
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.
Israel chose the same behaviors God hated before the children came into the promised land. If we act like unbelievers, God will respond to us as unbelievers. God brought the children of Israel to the promised land because he swore to Abraham that he would. However, the children of Israel hated discipline and walked away from God.
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.
There is no secret thing we can do; God sees the secret. When we deceive ourselves, we fool ourselves.
10 And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:
Images: Impression
Groves: To organize groups to impress (it looks like a work of art) The children of Israel wanted what looked good.
high hill- an artificial heap or mound
green-tree- not appropriate for wood to make fire
I defined these words to see what God is saying about the behavior of the children of Israel. They were able to attract people. People love what looks good. Things that we can see and look good to us are a distraction.
Genesis 3:6. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eye, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Men love women. Women love stuff. It was not Adam who was deceived; it was Eve. When men love women and women love stuff, men will leave God because they follow women, and women get carried away with stuff.
Not so with a godly woman. Who can find one? Her price is high. If you can find a woman that will submit to her husband, you have found a union that will stick to the stabilization of God's word.
Even today, the industry is geared toward women. Men will leave God and follow women, while women pursue stuff.
How women view things can be easily applied to understanding Genesis 3:6.
Sin is pleasurable, sin is attractive, and sin is deadly. The devil knows how to deceive. But Jesus, who is the light of the world (the devil uses the world to fool us), but Jesus exposes his plots with the word of God who is the light. Without the light, we live in darkness. And when we live in darkness, nothing is attractive.
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:
The enemy uses aroma to draw us to his death plot. Sin is famous. When the children of Israel left the truth and pursued a lie, it was because they wanted to. When we sin, we want to. We take an I don't care moment, and we regret that moment every single time.
When we do not study God's word, we will create gods of our own. We must keep the Word of God before our eyes daily. We sin when we don't read God's word. The Word of God is the air and water we need for living daily.
12 For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.
To serve means to minister. We minister to idols, and this hurts the heart of God. If an idol could talk, and it can't: it would perhaps say, who or what are you doing? I am a piece of wood, or I am a stone; God commands me to assist you while you worship the one and true living God by keeping you warm and providing you with what he knows you need. I am good for you, but I am not God.
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.
God sends teachers and people who understand times to persuade you to take another look at what you are forfeiting when you walk away from him.
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.
The people were stubborn and refused to listen to the instructions of God. Today, I beg people to take another look at the word of God; most don't listen. I hear them say God said this and that, and I feel like screaming! I had no idea that the response to such a good God would be so ignored.
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.
History is healthy. When we ignore what happened to others and proceed to do what has been judged wrong by God, we sin. God is the judge. What he said is what we are to do.
Today we read about what happened in Israel's children's lives, but we refuse to change. When we do as they did, we don't believe as they did not believe God. My heart breaks when I see a refusal in listening to God's instructions from day to day.
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.
The sins they saw hundreds of years earlier are the same sins they did in Israels' day, and they are the same sins we do today. No new sins. Same God, same sins equal same results.
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.
Same sins they saw when they came into Caanan.
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.
God kept his word. He told Moses to tell the children of Israel, if you don't obey me, I will treat you accordingly, and he did. Israel lost protections from God.
The Assyrian conquest brought the northern kingdom of Israel to an end. ... The Assyrians left some of the people of Israel on their land, but resettled others in cities across the Assyrian empire
When did Israel split into two kingdoms?
On the succession of Solomon's son, Rehoboam, around 930 BCE, the biblical account reports that the country split into two kingdoms: the Kingdom of Israel (including the cities of Shechem and Samaria) in the north and the Kingdom of Judah (containing Jerusalem) in the south
Because of David, God saved Judah. Everyone else was taken into captivity.
When we love wrong, we must get the consequences of being wrong. God removes, and the enemy moves in and overtakes people who refuse to listen to God's instructions.
19 Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.
2 Kings 17:19. Also Judah kept not, &c., but walked in the statutes of Israel — Followed the idolatrous devices of the ten tribes, which they did most notoriously in the reign of Ahaz. And though his son Hezekiah made a noble reformation, it lasted no longer than his time, so extremely corrupted was the nation. Judah's idolatry and wickedness are here remembered as an aggravation of the sin of the Israelites, which was not only evil in itself, but mischievous to their neighbours, who by their examples were instructed in their wicked arts, and provoked to an imitation of them: see Hosea 4:15; Matthew 18:7. 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.
The city fell after a siege, which lasted either eighteen or thirty months, and Nebuchadnezzar again pillaged both Jerusalem and the Temple and then destroyed both. After killing all of Zedekiah's sons, Nebuchadnezzar took Zedekiah to Babylon and so put an end to the independent Kingdom of Judah.
Judah was not obedient. Because of the promise to David, God did not turn his back on Judah.
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.
Israel rejects God. God rejects Israel.
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.
When Israel refused to obey, God's first move was to use Jeroboam to lead ten tribes. Jeroboam added sin to sin. He led as a sinner, and the people followed him to sin. Jeroboam is credited for division, denominations, and the 1st administrator of using God's word and still live in sin.
22 For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them;
Jeroboam was a hard worker, and God saw leadership qualities in him. God told him if he would listen to him, he would allow his family to continue to be in leadership. Jeroboam did not listen. He cut corners and taught Israel to do the same. He did not want the discipline and did not allow God's Word to be heard. He sought an opportunity to diminish God's word and caused the ten tribes to mimic him.
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.
To be removed from God's sight? Out of sight, out of mind. Out of mind? Nothing but trouble. How dreadful. To be removed from the presence of God is unthinkable. Israel had no relationship with God. God did not want a relationship with a man if he did not want a relationship with him. God gave us a freedom that I can't describe. We saw the things that God made for us and left the God who made the thing and served the thing he made for our good.
24 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.
Isreal is gone. For 200 years, being led by a man (king) brought Israel to poverty. Now the land is filled with people who have no idea what they have gotten themselves into.
25 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.
God sent lions to the land that invaders invaded. This land was set aside for God's people. Even if Israel was on punishment, God is the landlord of his land. The lions were God police to speak to the intruders; you are dwelling on private property. If a man does not submit to God, God will use what man has dominion over to dominate him.
26 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.
Although Israel would not obey God, they knew what made God angry. They advised a wicked king in what to do to protect the foolish move he made, sending people to the land that was set aside for God's particular use. This land was designated. The Assyrians had land that God allowed them to have. They trashed what he gave them. Now they want to invade good land and trash it too. God is saying through this, I may be angry, but I am in control. I am God.
27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.
The king did what was advised. When men have not known God, God deals with them differently. God knows you don't see what you are doing. Today we are inexcusable. If we sin, we have written consequences if we disobey and the blessing of his protection written for us if we obey, that we can adhere to.
28 Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.
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.
A priest was sent to teach them the ways of God. If he taught them as God would have him to teach, they did not listen.
30 And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
31 And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
Sin increases in the land of Israel. Israel is gone, and the people who move in set up sin campuses.
32 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.
They took the land and had knowledge of the living God but did what they were accustomed to by serving idols.
33 They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.
They did as Israel. They ignored God.
34 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;
35 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:
36 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.
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 the LORD your God ye shall fear; and he shall 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 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.
Not obeying God is senseless. Lord, I can see clearly others who disobey you. Please help me to remember how much I do want you as my God. Thank you for being patient enough for me to get to know you. Please help me to obey you every day. Lord, I want to remind you that I need you to help me to do what pleases you when I serve others.
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