2 Kings 17:27

_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._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

24-41 The terror of the Almighty will sometimes produce a forced or feigned submission in unconverted men; like those brought from different countries to inhabit Israel. But such will form unworthy thoughts of God, will expect to please him by outward forms, and will vainly try to reconcile his service with the love of the world and the indulgence of their lusts. May that fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom, possess our hearts, and influence our conduct, that we may be ready for every change. Wordly settlements are uncertain; we know not whither we may be driven before we die, and we must soon leave the world; but the righteous hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken from him....

Verse 27. _CARRY THITHER ONE OF THE PRIESTS_] Imperfect as this teaching was, it, in the end, overthrew the idolatry of these people, so that soon after the Babylonish captivity they were found to be as free from idolatry as the Jews themselves, and continue so to the present day. But they are now nearly annihilated: the small remains of them is found at _Naplouse_ and _Jaffa_; they are about _thirty families_; and men, women, and children, amount to about _two hundred persons_! They have a synagogue, which they regularly attend every Sabbath; and they go thither clothed in white robes. The reader may find much curious information relative to this people, in a _Memoire sur L'Etat_ _actuel des Samaritains_, by Baron _Sylvestre de Sacy_, 8vo., Paris, 1812....

CARRY ONE OF THE PRIESTS ...; LET THEM GO AND DWELL THERE, AND LET HIM TEACH - The double change of number is curious; but rise text needs no emendation. The priest would require to be accompanied by assistants, who would “go and dwell,” but would not be qualified to “teach.” The arcana of the worship would be known to none excepting the priests who had ministered at the two national sanctuaries of Dan and Bethel....

EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 17:1 THE REIGN OF HOSHEA OVER ISRAEL. DESTRUCTION OF THE ISRAELITE KINGDOM, AND THE GROUNDS OF IT RE-PEOPLING OF THE KINGDOM BY ASSYRIAN COLONISTS. 2 KINGS 17:1 REIGN OF HOSHEA. Hoshea, the last King of Israel, had a short reign of nine years only, during two of which

THEN THE KING OF ASSYRIA COMMANDED, SAYING,.... Gave the following orders and directions: CARRY THITHER ONE OF THE PRIESTS WHOM YE BROUGHT FROM THENCE; for they carried away all the people of every class, civil and religious: AND LET HIM GO AND DWELL THERE, AND LET HIM TEACH THEM THE MANNER OF THE GOD OF THE LAND; it is in the plural number, "let them go", c. o there might be more priests than one ordered, or, however, others, to attend and assist him in his work; the Jews say p, two were sent to circumcise them, and teach them the book of the law; and they give their names, Dosthai, or Dosithaeus, and Zachariah; and Josephus q says, the people desired that priests might be sent to them of the captives. o ילכו וישבו "eant et sedeant", Montanus. p Pirke Eliezer, c. 38. q Antiqu. l. 9. c. 14. sect. 3....

2 Kings 17:23. _So was Israel carried away out of their own hand to Assyria 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._ It was a part of the tactics of the Assyrian empire to take people away from their original location and colonize them in other places to shift them to another land; so that while the Israelites were taken to Babylon, numbers of those who had lived round about Babylon were brought to live in the Samaritan province, in order that nationalities might thus be broken down and patriotism might expire, thus making it easier for the Assyrian tyrant to govern the land....

7. ASSYRIA CONQUERS ISRAEL AND THE CAPTIVITY CHAPTER 17 _ 1. Hoshea, Israel's last king (2 Kings 17:1)_ 2. Shalmaneser imprisons Hoshea (2 Kings 17:3) 3. Israel carried into captivity (2 Kings 17:5) 4. Retrospect and Israel's sins (2 Kings 17:7) 5. The colonization of Samaria (2 Kings 17:24) Israel's last king was Hoshea. His name means “deliverance.” It indicates what might have been had he and the people repented of their sins. The record of his character is brief. “And he did that which was

THE ORIGIN OF THE SAMARITANS. This is a somewhat mixed account. 2 Kings 17:24 describes the settlement of the land with captives from other parts of the Assyrian empire, and the sending of a priest to teach them the manner of the God of the country. Next, 2 Kings 17:29 relates that the new settlers not only feared (_i.e._ worshipped) Yahweh, but also served their own gods. Finally (2 Kings 17:34) there is a general statement regarding the sin of Israel. This has no connexion with what precedes, nor does it in any way describe the Samaritan religion. It is perhaps nothing more than a new description of the sins for which Israel and Judah were carried away captive....

ONE OF THE PRIESTS. An idolatrous Israelite priest from Samaria (2 Kings 17:28)....