2 Kings 17:28

_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....

The priest sent to the colonists was not a true Yahweh-priest, but one of those who had been attached to the calf-worship, probably at Bethel. Hence, he would be willing to tolerate the mixed religion, which a true Yahweh-priest would have unsparingly condemned....

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 ONE OF THE PRIESTS WHOM, THEY HAD CARRIED AWAY FROM SAMARIA CAME AND DWELT IN BETHEL,.... According to an Arabic writer r, his name was Uzziah; but Epiphanius s says his name was Esdras; but he wrongly makes him to be sent by Nebuchadnezzar, thirty years after the captivity of the Jews in Babylon: this priest was, doubtless, one of the priests of the calves; for there were none else in the kingdom of Israel carried captive, and as seems also by his choosing to dwell in Bethel, where probably he formerly dwelt, and officiated in the service of the calf there, and by teaching to make priests of the lowest order of the people, as Jeroboam's priests were, 2 Kings 17:32 AND TAUGHT THEM HOW THEY SHOULD FEAR THE LORD; serve and worship him; he might not teach them the worship of the calves, that being a political business, and now no end to be answered by it; and besides,

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....

_Then_[R.V. SO] _one of the priests whom they had carried away_ We can see from this that the events here spoken of took place within a very limited time. The priest who had been taken away from Samaria was still alive, and in vigour enough to be selected to go back again and to undertake the office of a teacher among the heathen colonists. _came and dwelt in Beth-el_ The place where one of the golden calves had been set up. The worship of these objects would be what the priest taught as the national worship of the ten tribes. _how they should fear the Lord_ For the worship of the ten tribes was professedly a worship of Jehovah, though performed in a manner contradictory to His express commandment....

B. THE REPOPULATION OF SAMARIA 17:24-41 TRANSLATION (24) And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath and from Sepharvaim, and made them dwell in the cities of Samaria in place of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in her cities. (25) And it came to pass at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the LORD. And the LORD sent against them lions which slew some of them. (26) And they said to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which you carried away and caused to dwell in the cities of Samaria do not know the manner of the God of the land, and He has sent among them lions; and behold they are killing them because they do not know the manner of the God of the land. (27) And the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Cause one of the priests which you carried away from there to go there, and let them go and dwell there...