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2 Kings 17:28
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26 So they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations whom you have removed and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the rituals of the God of the land; therefore He has sent lions among them, and indeed, they are killing them because they do not know the rituals of the God of the land.”
27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Send there one of the priests whom you brought from there; let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the rituals of the God of the land.”
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 However every nation continued to make gods of its own, and put them ain the shrines on the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities where they dwelt.  
30 The men of aBabylon made Succoth Benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima,  
31 aand the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites bburned their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.  
32 So they feared the Lord, aand from every class they appointed for themselves priests of the1 high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places.  
33 aThey feared the Lord, yet served their own gods—according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away.  
34 To this day they continue practicing the former rituals; they do not fear the Lord, nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances, or the law and commandment which the Lord had commanded the children of Jacob, awhom He named Israel,  
35 with whom the Lord had made a covenant and charged them, saying: a“You shall not fear other gods, nor bbow down to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them;  
36 but the Lord, who abrought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and ban outstretched arm, cHim you shall fear, Him you shall worship, and to Him you shall offer sacrifice.  
37 And the statutes, the ordinances, the law, and the commandment which He wrote for you, ayou shall be careful to observe forever; you shall not fear other gods.  
38 And the covenant that I have made with you, ayou shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods.  
39 But the Lord your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.”
40 However they did not obey, but they followed their former rituals.
41 aSo these nations feared the Lord, yet served their carved images; also their children and their children’s children have continued doing as their fathers did, even to this day. 
Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
<< 2 Kings 17:27   2 Kings 17:29 >>


2 Kings 17:24-28

the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, etc.—This was not Shalmaneser, but Esar-haddon (Ezekiel 4:2). The places vacated by the captive Israelites he ordered to be occupied by several colonies of his own subjects from Babylon and other provinces.

from Cuthah—the Chaldee form of Cush or Susiana, now Khusistan.

Ava—supposed to be Ahivaz, situated on the river Karuns, which empties into the head of the Persian Gulf.

Hamath—on the Orontes.

Sepharvaim—Siphara, a city on the Euphrates above Babylon.

placed them in the cities of Samaria, etc.—It must not be supposed that the Israelites were universally removed to a man. A remnant was left, chiefly however of the poor and lower classes, with whom these foreign colonists mingled; so that the prevailing character of society about Samaria was heathen, not Israelite. For the Assyrian colonists became masters of the land; and, forming partial intermarriages with the remnant Jews, the inhabitants became a mongrel race, no longer a people of Ephraim (Isaiah 7:6). These people, imperfectly instructed in the creed of the Jews, acquired also a mongrel doctrine. Being too few to replenish the land, lions, by which the land had been infested (Judges 14:5; I Samuel 17:34; I Kings 13:24; I Kings 20:36; Song of Solomon 4:8), multiplied and committed frequent ravages upon them. Recognizing in these attacks a judgment from the God of the land, whom they had not worshipped, they petitioned the Assyrian court to send them some Jewish priests who might instruct them in the right way of serving Him. The king, in compliance with their request, sent them one of the exiled priests of Israel [II Kings 17:27], who established his headquarters at Beth-el, and taught them how they should fear the Lord. It is not said that he took a copy of the Pentateuch with him, out of which he might teach them. Oral teaching was much better fitted for the superstitious people than instruction out of a written book. He could teach them more effectually by word of mouth. Believing that he would adopt the best and simplest method for them, it is unlikely that he took the written law with him, and so gave origin to the Samaritan copy of the Pentateuch [DAVIDSON, Criticism]. Besides, it is evident from his being one of the exiled priests, and from his settlement at Beth-el, that he was not a Levite, but one of the calf-worshipping priests. Consequently his instructions would be neither sound nor efficient.




Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing 2 Kings 17:28:

Ezra 4:2

 

<< 2 Kings 17:27   2 Kings 17:29 >>

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