2 Kings 17:14

12 for they served idols, ^aof which the Lord had said to them, ^b“You shall not do this thing.”

13 Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His ^aprophets, ^bevery seer, saying, ^c“Turn 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.”

14 Nevertheless they would not hear, but ^astiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who ^bdid not believe in the Lord their God.

15 And they ^arejected His statutes ^band His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them; they followed ^cidols, ^dbecame idolaters, and went after the nations who were all around them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should ^enot do like them.

16 So they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, ^amade for themselves a molded image and two calves, ^bmade a wooden image and worshiped all the ^chost of heaven, ^dand served Baal.

17 ^aAnd they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, ^bpracticed witchcraft and soothsaying, and ^csold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger.

18 Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; there was none left ^abut the tribe of Judah alone.

19 Also ^aJudah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.

20 And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and ^adelivered them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them from His ^bsight.

21 For ^aHe tore Israel from the house of David, and ^bthey made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord, and made them commit a great sin.

22 For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them,

23 until the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, ^aas He had said by all His servants the prophets. ^bSo Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria, as it is to this day.

Assyria Resettles Samaria

24 ^aThen the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, ^bAva, Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities.

25 And it was so, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they did not fear the Lord; therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them.

Commentaries:

Forerunner Commentary
What is the Forerunner Commentary?

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2 Kings 17:15 >>

What Does 2 Kings 17:14 Mean?

2 Kings 17:5-17

II Kings 17:7-17 catalogs the sins of Israel:

» Widespread idolatry. Israel "feared other gods" (verse 7). "They built for themselves high places in all their cities . . . . They set up for themselves sacred pillars and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree; and there they burned incense on all the high places, as the nations had done whom the LORD had carried away before them." (verses 9-11). Further, they "followed idols, became idolaters, and . . . made for themselves a molded image and two calves, made a wooden image and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal" (verses 15-16).

» Pagan Religious Practices. The Israelites "caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger" (verse 17).

» Rejection of God's Law. Israel "walked in the statutes of the nations whom the LORD had cast out from before the children of Israel." (verse 8). Verse 15 points out that the people "rejected [God's] statutes and His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them." The prophet Amos particularizes the epidemic of social injustice in the Kingdom of Israel. As an example, notice Amos 2:6-7, where Amos chides the Israelites: ". . . because they sell the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals. They pant after the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor, and pervert the way of the humble." The Israelites displayed a pandemic failure to love their fellow man.

II Kings 17:5-6 relates the ultimate consequence.

Now the king of Assyria went throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years. . . . The king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

Assyria, a kingdom known as much for its innovative weapons as for their brutal implementation, conquered the Kingdom of Israel in 718 BC. So it was that, about 250 years after it was established, the ten-tribed northern kingdom became extinct as a sovereign nation. The Assyrians deported the population en masse from its homeland in Canaan, transplanting it virtually in toto to the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. The Kingdom of Israel fell below the historian's radar.

Charles Whitaker
Searching for Israel (Part Six): Israel Is Fallen, Is Fallen

2 Kings 17:14-16

This was Israel's great sin, typified as prostitution: debasing themselves and God through the adoption and practice of the way of the heathen, and rejecting the way, providence, and sovereignty of God for something far inferior, corrupting, and shameful.

In the midst of His law, God warns Israel—and thus us as the Israel of God (Galatians 6:16)—that to do things as the heathens do them constitutes harlotry. His terminology is in His instructions to Israel in Leviticus 20:2-8 is extremely clear.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Beast and Babylon (Part Nine): Babylon the Great

Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing 2 Kings 17:14:

2 Kings 17:5-17
Ecclesiastes 3:5
Isaiah 10:27-34
Amos 4:6-12

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2 Kings 17:15 >>

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Assyria Resettles Samaria

What Does 2 Kings 17:14 Mean?

A Verse and a Thought,Every Morning

A Verse and a Thought,
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