2 Kings 17:9

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

7-23 Though the destruction of the kingdom of the ten tribes was but briefly related, it is in these verses largely commented upon, and the reasons of it given. It was destruction from the Almighty: the Assyrian was but the rod of his anger, Isaiah 10:5. 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. And vast as the outward wickedness of the world is, the secret sins, evil thoughts, desires, and purposes of mankind are much greater. There are outward sins which are marked by infamy; but ingratitude, neglect, and enmity to God, and the idolatry and impiety which proceed therefrom, are far more malignant. Without turning from every evil way, and keeping God's statutes, there can be no true godliness; but this must spring from belief of his testimony, as to wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness,...

Verse 2 Kings 17:9. _DID SECRETLY_ THOSE _THINGS_] There was much _hidden_ _iniquity_ and _private idolatry_ among them, as well as public and notorious crimes. _FROM THE TOWER OF THE WATCHMEN TO THE FENCED CITY._] That is, the idolatry was _universal_; every place was made a place for some idolatrous rite or act of worship; from the largest city to the smallest village, and from the public watchtower to the shepherd's cot....

Literally, the words run thus - “And the children of Israel concealed (or ‘dissembled’) words which were not so concerning the Lord their God;” the true meaning of which probably is, the Israelites cloaked or covered their idolatry with the pretence that it was a worship of Yahweh: they glossed it over and dissembled toward God, instead of openly acknowledging their apostasy. FROM THE TOWER OF THE WATCHMEN TO THE FENCED CITY - This phrase was probably a proverbial expression for universality, meaning strictly; “alike in the most populous and in the most desolate regions.” “Towers of watchmen” were built for the protection of the flocks and herds which were pastured in waste and desert places 2Ch 26:10; 2 Chronicles 27:4....

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

AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL DID SECRETLY THOSE THINGS THAT WERE NOT RIGHT AGAINST THE LORD THEIR GOD,.... As being partly conscious to themselves that they were not right, and ashamed to commit them openly; and partly as foolishly imagining, that, being done privately, they were not seen and observed of God, having imbibed some atheistical notions of him, that he was not omniscient, or saw not, and had forsaken the earth; or they "covered" g these actions of theirs under reigned and plausible pretences, that what they did they were obliged to by their kings, and with political views, and that they worshipped the true God in the calves; but these were coverings too thin not to be seen through: AND THEY BUILT THEM HIGH PLACES IN ALL THEIR CITIES, FROM THE TOWER OF THE WATCHMEN TO THE FENCED CITY; not content with those built in former times, they built new ones; and these not in their metr...

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

A RECAPITULATION OF THE REASONS FOR ISRAEL'S CAPTIVITY. The language recalls Deuteronomy and Jeremiah. The sins for which Israel is condemned are: (_a_) the building of high places, pillars, and Asherim (2 Kings 17:9 f_.;_ 1 Kings 12*, pp. 98- 100); (_b_) idolatry (2 Kings 17:12; 2 Kings 17:16); (_c_) making their children pass through the fire and using divination and enchantments (Isaiah 26); (_d_) walking in the sins of Jeroboam (see 1 Kings 12). A statement of Judah's sin is added in 2 Kings 17:19. 2 Kings 17:9.

FROM THE TOWER... TO THE FENCED CITY: from the remote watchtower in the country to the fortified city. the whole country....

The sins for which Israel was carried into captivity (Not in Chronicles) 7. _For_so _it was that_ R.V. AND IT WAS SO BECAUSE. A better form of introduction to this account of the causes of the captivity. These are recited under three heads. First, on entering Canaan Israel adopted the idol worship of the people of the land, and would not listen to the warnings of God's prophets. Secondly, the ten tribes made the molten calves, and thirdly, they adopted the worship of Baal and Moloch and other idolatries from the more distant people, and indulged in all the practices of divination and enchantment which were attendant on these heathen forms of worship. _which had_[R.V. omits _had brought them up_ This omission makes the clause refer, as it does in the Hebrew, exactly to the same time as -whom the Lord cast out" in the following verse....