John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

2 Kings 14:1



INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 14



In this chapter we have the good reign of Amaziah king of Judah, his victories over the Edomites, and war with Jehoash king of Israel, by whom he was taken, who died quickly after, 2Ki 14:1, but Amaziah lived fifteen years afterwards, and was slain by a conspiracy against him, and Azariah his son reigned in his stead, 2Ki 14:17, and a short account is given of the reign of Jeroboam the second, king of Israel, 2Ki 14:23.



Ver. 1. In the second year of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel reigned Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah. As Joash king of Israel began to reign in the thirty seventh of Joash king of Judah, 2Ki 13:10, who reigned forty years, Amaziah must therefore begin his reign in the fourth of Joash king of Israel; this therefore must be understood of his second year after he reigned alone, for he reigned two or three years in his father's lifetime.





2 Kings 14:2



Ver. 2. He was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem,.... Fourteen years contemporary with Joash king of Israel, who reigned sixteen years, 2Ki 13:10 and fifteen after him, 2Ki 14:17,



and his mother's name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem; of whom we nowhere else read,





2 Kings 14:3



Ver. 3. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord,..... At least externally, and at the beginning of his reign:



yet not like David his father; not with a perfect heart, with that sincerity and uprightness as he did, see 2Ch 25:2,



he did according to all things as Joash his father did; who at first reigned well, and then fell into idolatry, as this his son did.





2 Kings 14:4



Ver. 4. Howbeit the high places were not taken away,.... Though he first did that which was right before God; nor did his father take them away; see 2Ki 12:3.





2 Kings 14:5



Ver. 5. And it came to pass, as soon as the kingdom was strengthened in his hand,.... That he was well settled on the throne, and had a share in the affection of the people, and the idolatry and murder his father had committed were worn off of the minds of the people, and the friends of the conspirators against him were become few or none:



that he slew his servants that had slain the king his father; charged them with the murder in a court of judicature, obtained a sentence against them, and had them executed.





2 Kings 14:6



Ver. 6. But the children of the murderers he slew not,.... Which is an instance of his clemency and goodness, and of his strict regard to justice, and to the law of God; though he might fear, these, being spared, would one time or other revenge their fathers' deaths;



according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, see

De 24:16,



wherein the Lord commanded, saying, the fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children, &c. to which command Amaziah was obedient.





2 Kings 14:7



Ver. 7. He slew of Edom in the valley of Salt ten thousand,.... Of which valley, See Gill on "2Sa 8:13", the Edomites having revolted from Judah in the days of Joram, 2Ki 8:20. Amaziah undertook to reduce them with an army of 300,000 choice men; and, besides these, hired also of Israel 100,000 valiant men, for one hundred talents of silver; but at the instance of a prophet of the Lord he dismissed the latter, and went against Edom only with his men, and slew of the Edomites 10,000, besides other 10,000 he took alive, and cast headlong from a rock, which came into his hands, see 2Ch 25:5,



and took Selah by war; which signifies a rock, the same with Petra, the metropolis of Arabia Petraea, the country of the Edomites. The city itself was not a rock, nor built on one, but was situated in a plain, surrounded with rocks and mountains, as Strabo {z} and Pliny {a} relate, from whence it seems to have its name; and by the Syrians called Recem, where Rocan a king of Midian reigned {b}, called in the Greek version of Nu 31:8, Recon; though Vitringa {c} is of opinion, that not Petra, the metropolis of Edom, is meant, but Maalehakrabbim, Jos 15:3, which lay on the south border of Judea, near the salt sea:



and called the name of it Joktheel; which signifies "the obedience of God"; in memory of his obedience to the prophet of the Lord, in consequence of which he obtained this victory: and the name continued unto this day: the time of the writing this book.



{z} Geograph. l. 16. p. 536. {a} Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28. {b} Hieron. de loc. Heb. fol. 93. M. & 94. A. Vid. Joseph. Antiqu. l. 4. c. 7. sect. 1. {c} Comment. in Jesaiam, c. 16. 1.





2 Kings 14:8



Ver. 8. Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz the son of Jehu king of Israel,.... The occasion of it was this, when Amaziah dismissed the hired soldiers of Israel they were displeased, and fell upon the cities of Judea from Samaria to Bethhoron, slew 3000 men, and took much spoil, 2Ch 25:13, wherefore, when Amaziah returned from the slaughter of the Edomites, being elated with his victories, he sent the following message to the king of Israel, in order to revenge the injuries his soldiers had done; and perhaps retaining an old grudge for what Jehu, the grandfather of the king of Israel, had done to his ancestors, and it may be in hope of reducing the ten tribes to obedience to the house of David:



saying, come, let us look one another in the face; that is, in battle, as the Targum adds; it was a challenge to meet him in the field of battle, and fight with him, and try each other's courage, and see who was the best man.





2 Kings 14:9



Ver. 9. And Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah the king of Judah,.... By the return of his messengers:



saying, the thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon; intending by this proverbial way of speaking to humble the pride of Amaziah; comparing him to a thistle or thorn, a low, mean, abject, weak, prickly, and troublesome shrub, and himself to a cedar, a tree high and lofty, strong, large, and spreading:



saying, give thy daughter to my son to wife; signifying, that if in a peaceable manner he had desired to contract affinity with him, and so establish mutual friendship, he should have despised him as being as much below him as the thistle is below a cedar; and therefore should still more despise and defy him, who addressed him in an hostile manner, and in such haughty language:



and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trod down the thistle; and so there was an end put at once to its pride and ambition, and to its treaty with the cedar; intimating hereby, that his soldiers would as easily vanquish and destroy the army of Amaziah as a wild beast can destroy a thistle.





2 Kings 14:10



Ver. 10. Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, and thine heart hath lifted thee up,.... Swelled him with pride and vanity on account of the victory he had obtained over the Edomites; which pride was at the bottom of his message to him, and that goes before a fall: Pr 16:18



glory of this, and tarry at home; be content with the glory of it, and boast of it at home, but do not swagger abroad, and insult thy neighbours:



for why shouldest thou meddle to thy hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee? suggesting to him, that he had better be quiet, since it would be to the harm, if not the ruin, of him and his kingdom.





2 Kings 14:11



Ver. 11. But Amaziah would not hear,.... Being given up to a judicial hardness of heart through pride; for this was of God, and by his overruling providence, that he might be punished for his idolatry, in setting up the gods of Edom to be his gods, and offering to them, 2Ch 25:14



therefore Jehoash king Israel went up; from Samaria to the land of Judah, which was higher ground:



and he and Amaziah looked one another in the face; in the field of battle:



at Bethshemesh, which belongeth to Judah; which is observed, not merely to distinguish it from another Bethshemesh in Naphtali, but to observe, that the king of Israel waited not for him to give him the challenge, but met his adversary in his own country, whither he carried the war, not suffering him to come into his.





2 Kings 14:12



Ver. 12. And Judah was put to the worse before Israel,.... Could not face them; but, as Josephus {d} says, a sudden fear and consternation seized them, and before they joined battle with the Israelites, turned their backs:



and they fled every man to their tents; to their cities, as the Targum, and left their king alone.



{d} Antiqu. l. 9. c. 9. sect. 3.





2 Kings 14:13



Ver. 13. And Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Bethshemesh,.... And then they looked one another in the face indeed, but Amaziah must look very silly:



and came to Jerusalem; the metropolis of Judah, with his royal prisoner:



and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; in at the breach of which he went with his chariot, as Josephus says {e}, in triumph:



from the gate of Ephraim unto the corner gate, four hundred cubits; the gate of Ephraim was to the north of the city, towards the tribe of Ephraim, from whence it had its name; and the corner gate was that which joined the northern and western walls together, or rather the northern and eastern walls; for Rauwolff says {f}, there is still the corner gate in its old place, where the north and east walls meet on large and high rocks, and is still called by some the gate of Naphtali.



{e} Antiqu. l. 9. c. 9. sect. 3. {f} Travels, par. 3. ch. 3. p. 228. by Ray.





2 Kings 14:14



Ver. 14. And he took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the Lord,.... In 2Ch 25:24 it is added, "with Obededom", who, and his family, had the care of them by lot, see 1Ch 26:15



and in the treasures of the king's house; which were also spoiled and plundered:



and hostages; either such as the king of Judah had taken from Edom, as pledges of their fidelity, that they might not rebel; or which the king of Israel took of Judah, even sons of the princes, as the Targum, for security, that they would give him no more trouble:



and returned to Samaria; without attempting to bring the kingdom of Judah into subjection to him, which he might suppose he could not hold, and having enough to do with the Syrians, his avowed enemies.





2 Kings 14:15



Ver. 15. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his might,.... His valiant and mighty acts which he did in his wars with the Syrians, 2Ki 13:25,



and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah; a short account of which is given in the preceding verses:



are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? a book very often mentioned and referred to, as containing the history of the events and transactions of every reign.





2 Kings 14:16



Ver. 16. And Jehoash slept with his fathers,.... Died as they died:



and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; where they were:



and Jeroboam his son reigned in his stead; which was Jeroboam the second.





2 Kings 14:17



Ver. 17. And Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years. Which, with the fourteen he reigned contemporary with him, made the twenty nine years he reigned, 2Ki 14:2. The Vulgate Latin version is, "twenty five years".





2 Kings 14:18



Ver. 18. And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?] Not in the canonical book of Chronicles; though there are some things of him recorded there, which are not here; but in the annals of each reign, written by the king's historian appointed for that purpose.





2 Kings 14:19



Ver. 19. Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem,.... Against Amaziah; the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the principal men of it; perhaps those whose sons the king of Israel had carried away as hostages, which they imputed to the ill conduct of Amaziah, as well as the breaking of the wall of Jerusalem, and the pillaging of the temple, and the king's palace:



and he fled to Lachish; a fortified city in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:39 but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there; in a private manner, as Josephus {g} relates.



{g} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 9. c. 9. sect. 3.)





2 Kings 14:20



Ver. 20. And they brought him on horses,.... That is, in a chariot or hearse drawn by horses; though the Jews {h} suppose he was carried on horses, and that because he worshipped the gods of the Edomites, who were themselves carried on horses; and he was not carried on the shoulders of men, because he neglected to serve the God of Israel, whose mysteries were carried on the shoulders of men:



and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David; and very probably in the sepulchre of the kings, though his father was not.



{h} Hieron. Trad. Heb. in lib. paralip. fol. 85. L.





2 Kings 14:21



Ver. 21. And all the people of Judah took Azariah,.... Called Uzziah in the next chapter, and so in the book of Chronicles; both names signifying much the same, the one "the help of the Lord", the other "the strength of the Lord":



(which was sixteen years old;) yet as he began to reign in the twenty seventh year of Jeroboam, 2Ki 15:1 and Jeroboam began to reign in the fifteenth yaer of Amaziah, 2Ki 14:23, he could be but four years of age, for the solution of which, See Gill on "2Ki 15:1":



and made him king instead of his father Amaziah; which was after his death, and not when he fled to Lachish, as Kimchi thinks.





2 Kings 14:22



Ver. 22. He built Elath,.... A port which belonged to Edom, De 2:8 which very probably David took from them when he made them tributary, and which they retook when they revolted, and Amaziah got again when he defeated them; and this his son rebuilt and fortified:



and restored it to Judah; annexed it to the kingdom of Judah, as in the days of David and Solomon:



after that the king slept with his fathers; after the death of his father Amaziah.





2 Kings 14:23



Ver. 23. In the fifteenth year of Amaziah, the son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria,.... So that he reigned fourteen or fifteen years contemporary with him; for Amaziah reigned twenty nine years:



[and reigned] forty and one years; Josephus says {i} forty, giving only the round number.



{i} Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 9.) c. 10. sect. 1.





2 Kings 14:24



Ver. 24. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord,.... Was guilty of idolatry:



he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin; the worship of the calves is especially meant; he was in all respects of the same cast with his ancestor of the same name, from whom he had it, in veneration of him.





2 Kings 14:25



Ver. 25. He restored the coast of Israel,.... The cities upon it, which had been taken away from them by their enemies:



from the entering of Hamath; which was the northern border of the land of Canaan, the entrance into it from Syria, see Nu 34:8,



unto the sea of the plain: of Jordan, called sometimes the salt sea and the Dead Sea; the lake Asphaltites, as Josephus {k}, where formerly stood Sodom and Gomorrah:



according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah the son of Amittai; the same with him whose prophecy among the small prophets bears this name; and though his prophecy concerning Jeroboam's success and victories is not there, nor anywhere else, recorded at length, yet needed not to be doubted of; this is the first of the prophets spoken of whose books are extant:



which was of Gathhepher; a city in the tribe of Zebulun, Jos 19:13, which contradicts a notion of the Jews, that no prophet came out of Galilee, when the very first of those that were the penmen of the books of prophecies was from thence, see Joh 7:52.



{k} Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 9.) c. 10. sect. 1.





2 Kings 14:26



Ver. 26. For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter,.... Being sorely oppressed by their enemies, especially the Syrians; and he was moved to have compassion upon them, and show mercy to them: for, there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel: they were in the most forlorn and helpless condition;

See Gill on "De 32:36".





2 Kings 14:27



Ver. 27. And the Lord said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven,.... Had not as yet declared it by any of his prophets, that he would do it, as he afterwards did by Hosea, Ho 1:4, and was fulfilled in the reign of Hoshea king of Israel, 2Ki 17:1.



but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash; the instrument of their deliverance from the hands of their enemies, and of recovering their borders as afore time.





2 Kings 14:28



Ver. 28. Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he warred,.... His valiant acts and warlike exploits:



and how he recovered Damascus and Hamath, which belonged to Judah, for Israel; which cities, in the times of David and Solomon, were tributary to Judah, but afterwards fell into the hands of the Syrians, from whom Jeroboam recovered them, and annexed them to the kingdom of Israel; or, as Kimchi, though Jeroboam was king of Israel, yet, having taken them, he restored them to the king of Judah, to whom they belonged:



are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? where all events of any moment were registered.





2 Kings 14:29



Ver. 29. And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel,.... Died, and was buried with them:



and Zachariah his son reigned in his stead: who was of the fourth generation from Jehu, as was promised to him, 2Ki 10:30.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

2 Kings 15:1



INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 15



This chapter begins with the reign of Azariah king of Judah, 2Ki 15:1, and then gives a short account of the several kings of Israel, to the last of them; of Zachariah, 2Ki 15:8, of Shallum, 2Ki 15:13 of Menahem, 2Ki 15:16 of Pekahiah, 2Ki 15:23, of Pekah, succeeded by Hoshea, the last of them, 2Ki 15:27, and is included with the reign of Jotham king of Judah, 2Ki 15:32.



Ver. 1. In the twenty amd seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel began Azariah the son on Amaziah king of Judah to reign. Now Amaziah lived only to the fifteenth year of Jeroboam, 2Ki 14:2 in which year, and not in his twenty seventh, it might be thought Azariah his son began to reign. There are various ways taken to remove this difficulty, not to take notice of a corruption of numbers, "twenty seven for seventeen", which some insist on. Ben Gersom and Abarbinel are of opinion, that those twenty seven years of Jeroboam's reign are not to be understood of what were past, but of what were to come before the family of Jehu was extinct; and that he reigned twenty six years, and his son six months, which made twenty seven imperfect years. Others suppose that Jeroboam reigned with his father eleven or twelve years before his death; and, reckoning from the different periods of his reign, this was either the twenty seventh year, or the fifteenth or sixteenth: and others, that the reign of Azariah may be differently reckoned, either from the time his father fled to Lachish, where he might remain eleven or twelve years, or from his death, and so may be said to begin to reign either in the fifteenth or twenty seventh of Jeroboam; or there was an interregnum of eleven or twelve years after the death of his father, he being a minor of about four years of age, which was the fifteenth of Jeroboam, during which time the government was in the hands of the princes and great men of the nation; and it was not till Azariah was sixteen years of age, and when it was the twenty seventh of Jeroboam's reign, that the people agreed to make him king, see 2Ki 14:21 and which seems to be the best way of accounting for it.





2 Kings 15:2



Ver. 2. Sixteen years old was he when he began to reign,.... By the consent of the people and princes of Judah, 2Ki 14:21



and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem: exclusive of the eleven or twelve years of his minority, from his father's death:



and his mother's name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem; of whom there is no further account any where.





2 Kings 15:3



Ver. 3. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord,.... At the beginning of his reign, and in an external way:



according to all that his father Amaziah had done; who did not do what he did as David, sincerely and cordially, 2Ki 14:3.





2 Kings 15:4



Ver. 4. Save that the high places were not removed,.... That is, he did right, excepting in that instance, and which was the case of his father and other kings before him, and others afterwards, till Hezekiah came:



the people sacrificed and burnt incense still on the high places; see

2Ki 12:3.





2 Kings 15:5



Ver. 5. And the Lord smote the king,.... With leprosy; the reason of it was, because he intruded into the priest's office, and went into the temple to burn incense on the altar of incense, 2Ch 26:19,



so that he was a leper unto the day of his death; but how long it was to it from his being smitten cannot be said with certainty; Dr. Lightfoot {l} thinks he died the same year he was smitten:



and dwelt in a several house: without Jerusalem, as the Targum; for lepers, according to the law, were to dwell separate without the camp or city, Le 13:46 the word for "several" signifies "free" {m}; here he lived alone, free from the company and conversation of men, free from the business of government, his son doing that for him, and in the country, where he might freely walk about, as lepers did, and take the air; the Jews say {n}, his house was among the graves, where he was free among the dead, as the phrase is, Ps 88:5, but not likely; much better is what Abendana observes from R. Jonah, that the word, in the Arabic {o} language, signifies a little house, and so this might be in which he dwelt out of the city, in comparison of his palace:



and Jotham the king's son was over the house; had the direction of the palace, and the management of all affairs in it:



judging the people of the land; administering justice in all cases, for which they came to him, and so filled up his father's place; he did not depose his father, nor take upon him to be king, only did the business of one.



{l} Works, vol. 1. p. 99. {m} tyvpxh tybb "in domo libero", V. L. Tigurine version, &c. {n} T. Hieros. apud Jarchium in loc. {o} "in exiqua domo resedit assidue", Castel. Lexic. col. 1345.





2 Kings 15:6



Ver. 6. And the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?] In the history of the reigns of those kings; some of them are recorded in the canonical book of the Chronicles, 2Ch 26:1 and some were written by the prophet Isaiah, 2Ch 26:22.





2 Kings 15:7



Ver. 7. So Azariah slept with his fathers,.... Or died, when he had reigned fifty two years:



and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David; but not in the sepulchres of the kings, but in the field of the burial, or the burying ground which belonged to them, because he was a leper, 2Ch 26:23. Benjamin of Tudela {p} places his grave near the pillar of Absalom, and the fountain of Siloah, near the brook Kidron:



and Jotham his son reigned in his stead; who reigned sixteen years; a further account of him, and his reign, we have in the latter part of this chapter, after the reigns of several of the kings of Israel.



{p} Itinerar. p. 43.





2 Kings 15:8



Ver. 8. In the thirty eighth year of Azariah king of Judah did Zachariah the son of Jeroboam reign over Israel in Samaria six months. Since Azariah began to reign in the twenty seventh of Jeroboam, 2Ki 15:1, and Jeroboam reigned forty one years, 2Ki 14:23, his last year must be the fifteenth or sixteenth of Azariah, in which year Zachariah must have begun to reign, had he immediately succeeded his father in the throne; there must be therefore an interregnum of twenty two years at least, which might be owing to the dissensions among the princes and people about the succession, and a dislike to Zachariah on some account; however, after all, he must reign, though but six months, to fulfil the word of the Lord, see

2Ki 15:12.





2 Kings 15:9



Ver. 9 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his fathers had done,.... Even all his predecessors, from the time of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, from whose sin, in worshipping the calves, they departed not.





2 Kings 15:10



Ver. 10. And Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him,.... A friend of his, as Josephus {q} calls him, encouraged by the dissatisfaction of the people to him:



and smote him before the people, and slew him; in a public manner, the people consenting to it, and approving of it, not liking Zachariah to be their king;



and reigned in his stead; though but a very short time.



{q} Antiqu. l. 9. c. 11. sect. 1.





2 Kings 15:11



Ver. 11. And the rest of the acts of Zachariah,.... During his six months' reign, and what he might do before in the interregnum:



behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel: for be they more or fewer, good or bad, they were all recorded there which were of any moment.





2 Kings 15:12



Ver. 12. This was the word of the Lord which he spake unto Jehu,.... Which was now fulfilled in the short reign of Zachariah:



saying, thy sons shall sit on the throne of Israel unto the fourth generation; see 2Ki 10:30, and so it came to pass; as every word of the Lord does, not one fails; for after Jehu reigned Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam the second, and Zachariah, all descendants of Jehu.





2 Kings 15:13



Ver. 13. Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the nine and thirtieth year of Uzziah king of Judah,.... The same with Azariah: he is sometimes called by one name, and sometimes by the other, see

2Ki 14:21,



and he reigned a full month in Samaria: and no longer; so soon were the conspiracy against his sovereign, and the murder of him, punished.





2 Kings 15:14



Ver. 14. For Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah,.... A city in the tribe of Manasseh, the royal city of the kings of Israel before Omri, of which See Gill on "Jos 12:24", whether Menahem was of this city, or was now besieging it with an army he had the command of, as Josephus {r} suggests, is not certain; however, hearing what had befallen Zachariah, he came from hence: and came to Samaria; which, according to Bunting {s}, was six miles from Tirzah:



and smote Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria, and slew him, and reigned in his stead; judging he had as good a right to the throne as Shallum had.



{r} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 9. c. 11. sect. 1.) {s} Travels, &c. p. 169.





2 Kings 15:15



Ver. 15. And the rest of the acts of Shallum, and his conspiracy which he made, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. In which, no doubt, an account of the cause of the conspiracy, and of the persons assisting to him in it, was given, with other things done in his short reign.





2 Kings 15:16



Ver. 16. Then Menahem smote Tiphsah, and all that were therein, and the coasts thereof from Tirzah,.... The Jewish writers commonly take this Tiphsah to be without the land of Israel, the same with that in 1Ki 4:24 on the borders of Syria, and near the Euphrates; but it seems to be some place nearer Samaria, and Tirzah; according to Bunting {t}, it was but six miles from Samaria:



because they opened not to him, therefore he smote it; they refused to open the gates of their city to him, and receive him, and acknowledge him as their king; therefore he exercised severity on the inhabitants of it, and the parts adjacent, as far as Tirzah, putting them to the sword:



and all the women therein that were with child he ripped up: which was a most shocking instance of barbarity, and which he did, to terrify others from following their example. Ben Gersom interprets it of strong towers built on mountains, which he demolished, deriving "haroth", which we render "women with child", from rh, "a mountain".



{t} Travels, &c. p. 169.





2 Kings 15:17



Ver. 17. In the nine and thirtieth year of Azariah king of Judah began Menahem the son of Gadi to reign over Israel,.... Shallum reigning but one month, both their reigns began the same year.





2 Kings 15:18



Ver. 18. And he did that which was evil,.... The same character is given of him as of those before him, 2Ki 15:9.





2 Kings 15:19



Ver. 19. And Pul the king of Assyria came against the land,.... The land of Israel, he invaded it; a Jewish chronologer {u} calls him Pulbelicho; and he is generally thought to be the same with Belochus or Belesis, governor of Babylon, who, with Arbaces the Mede, slew Sardanapalus, said to be the last of the Assyrian kings, and translated the empire to the Chaldeans; he ruling over Babylon and Nineveh, and Arbaces over the Medes and Persians; but Pul was not a Babylonian, but an Assyrian {w}, and the first king of the Assyrians, at least, the Scriptures speak of: we read no more of him; but one Metasthenes, a Persian historian, feigned and published by Annius, and so named by him instead of Megasthenes, calls him Phulbelochus, and says {x} he reigned forty eight years:



and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver; and a talent of silver, according to Brerewood {y} was three hundred and seventy five pounds; but Bishop Cumberland {z} calculates it at three hundred and fifty three pounds eleven shillings and ten pence half penny; 1,000 of them made a large sum of money, according to the former 375,000 pounds; and this he gave to him, not only to desist from the invasion of his land, but



that his hand might be with him; and not against him:



and to confirm the kingdom in his hand; which being got by usurpation, and supported by cruelty, was but tottering.



{u} David Ganz. Tzemach David, par. 2. fol. 5. 2. {w} See the Universal History, vol. 4. B. 1. ch. 8. sect. 5. {x} De Judicio Temp. & Annal. Pers. fol. 221. 2. {y} De Ponder & Pret. Vet. Num. c. 4. {z} Scripture Weights and Measures, c. 4. p. 120.





2 Kings 15:20



Ver. 20. And Menahem exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth,.... Who were most able to pay it, by which means he eased the poor, and might thereby attach them to him:



of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria: that is, he required them to pay fifty shekels apiece to make up the above sum as a present to Pul; though the words in the original text lie more naturally thus, "to give to the king of Assyria fifty shekels of silver for one man"; that is, for every man in his army; which amounted to about six pounds a man:



so the king of Assyria turned back; to his own country:



and stayed not there in the land; in the land of Israel, neither to distress nor to help Menahem, for which he gave him the money.





2 Kings 15:21



Ver. 21. And the rest of the acts of Menahem,.... We are referred to the same book of chronicles for them as for those of the rest of the kings, which seems to be a form the historian uses of them all.





2 Kings 15:22



Ver. 22. And Menahem slept with his fathers,.... Died a natural death, and in peace, though an usurper and a tyrant:



and Pekahiah his son reigned in his stead; the kingdom he had usurped continued in his family.





2 Kings 15:23



Ver. 23. In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria,.... As it was in the thirty ninth of Azariah that his father began his reign, and he reigned ten years, they must end in the forty ninth of Azariah, and therefore there must be an interregnum of a year; perhaps the title of Pekahiah might be disputed, and it was a year before he could get settled on the throne:



and reigned two years; being slain by one of his captains, as after related.





2 Kings 15:24



Ver. 24. And he did that which was evil,.... Besides other sins, he cleaved to that of worshipping the calves, a piece of state policy all the kings of Israel gave into.





2 Kings 15:25



Ver. 25. But Pekah the son of Remaliah, a captain of his,.... The word signifies a "third" man, the third to the king, as some think; Josephus {a} calls him a "chiliarch", one that had the command of a thousand men:



conspired against him, and smote him in Samaria, in the palace of the king's house; Josephus {b} says it was at a banquet:



with Argob, and Arieh; whom, according to Abarbinel, Pekah slew with the king, being mighty men, who were always about him; but they seem rather to be conspirators with Pekah, and assisting to him in smiting the king; the former of these, Ben Gersom thinks, was governor of Argob, a country on the other side Jordan, and the latter had his name from his fortitude, which signifies a lion:



and with him fifty men of the Gileadites; which may seem to strengthen the above notion concerning Argob, since the Gileadites were of the same side of Jordan, and were near Argob, see De 3:13



and he killed him, and reigned in his room, as his father killed Shallum, and reigned in his stead.



{a} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 9. c. 11. sect. 1.) {b} Ibid.





2 Kings 15:26



Ver. 26. And the rest of the acts of Pekahiah,.... The same form of expression is used as before, 2Ki 15:21, of all the kings.





2 Kings 15:27



Ver. 27. In the fifty second year of Azariah king of Judah Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria,.... Which was the last year of the reign of Azariah:



and reigned twenty years; which was a long reign for an usurper and murderer.





2 Kings 15:28



Ver. 28. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord,.... Not only in committing the above crimes of usurpation and murder, but idolatry, and particularly the worshipping of the calves, hinted at in the text.





2 Kings 15:29



Ver. 29. In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria,.... Into the land of Israel; he is called by a Jewish chronologer {c}, Pul-Asir; so Phul-Assar by Metasthenes {d}, who says he reigned twenty five years; he very probably was the son of Pul the Assyrian king, mentioned 2Ki 15:19, and is thought to be the same that Aelianus {e} calls Tilgamos; some think he had the first part of his name from Diglath, or Diglito, by which the river Tigris is called in Pliny {f}, with which Assyria was washed; and that Pil, or Pul, is Baal, Bel, Jupiter, and Azar is Mars {g}; of all which his name is composed:



and took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah; of which see 1Ki 15:20,



and Janoah; a city in the tribe of Ephraim, Jos 16:6



and Kedesh, and Hazor; cities in Naphtali: Jos 19:36



and Gilead; a country beyond Jordan, which belonged to the Reubenites, Gadites, and half tribe of Manasseh:



and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; that is, upper Galilee, which lay in Naphtali:



and carried them captive to Assyria; which was the first captivity of Israel in which half their tribes were carried away.



{c} David Ganz. Ut supra. (Tzemach David, par. 2. fol. 3. 2.) {d} Ut supra. (De Judicio Temp. & Annal. Pers. fol. 221. 2.) {e} De Animal. l. 12. c. 21. {f} Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 27. {g} Hyde Hist. Relig. Pers. p. 65, 66.





2 Kings 15:30



Ver. 30. And Hoshea the son or Elab made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him, and reigned in his stead,.... Did by him as he had done by Pekahiah, 2Ki 15:28, this was measure for measure, as the Jews say: and this he did



in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah; and yet Jotham is said to reign but sixteen years, 2Ki 15:33, this must be reckoned therefore either from the time of his being viceroy, and judging Israel in his father's lifetime, 2Ki 15:5 or this was the fourth year of Ahaz, and the twentieth year, reckoning from the time Jotham began to reign, who is the rather mentioned, because as yet the historian had taken no notice of Ahaz.





2 Kings 15:31



Ver. 31. And the rest of the acts of Pekah,.... Not recorded here, were to be read in the book of chronicles of the kings so often referred to.





2 Kings 15:32



Ver. 32. In the second year of Pekah, the son of Remaliah king of Israel, began Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah to reign. Pekah began to reign in the fifty second year of Azariah, or Uzziah, which was his last year, 2Ki 15:27, and which was the first of Pekah; Uzziah reigned full fifty two, and then Jotham succeeded, which was the beginning of the second of Pekah.





2 Kings 15:33



Ver. 33. Five and twenty years old was he when he began to reign,.... Alone, after the death of his father:



and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and his reign, upon the whole, was a good reign:



and his mother's name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok; a person well known in those times; Dr. Lightfoot {h} thinks he was high priest.



{h} Works, vol. 1. p. 100.





2 Kings 15:34



Ver. 34. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord,.... Jarchi, in 2Ch 27:2, observes, from a writer of theirs, that in all the kings of Judah before him, even in the best, some sins were found; but in Jotham there was nothing scandalous and reproachful; and it is a high character Josephus {i} gives of him, that there was no virtue wanting in him; he was pious towards God, just towards men, and careful of the public good; but the inspired historian chiefly respects matters of religious worship; he did not give into idolatry:



he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done; that is, according to what was well done by him; he did not imitate him in going into the temple to burn incense, which is particularly excepted.

2Ch 27:2.



{i} Antiqu. l. 9. c. 11. sect. 2.





2 Kings 15:35



Ver. 35. Howbeit the high places were not removed,.... As they were not by his father, and the same is observed of the best of kings before:



the people sacrificed and burnt incense still in the high places; from which they could not be brought off by prophets or kings:



he built the higher gate of the house of the Lord; which was between the temple and the king's palace, which led to it; this he repaired and beautified, or added something to it; or otherwise it was built by Solomon, and therefore called the new gate, Jer 26:10 it is the same that was afterwards called the gate of Nicanor; the east gate, as say the Jewish writers {k}.



{k} T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 7. 1. Gloss. in ib. Maimon. Cele Hamikdash, c. 7. sect. 6.





2 Kings 15:36



Ver. 36. Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?] Of which mention is often made by the inspired historians; some of Jotham's other acts are recorded in the canonical book of Chronicles, 2Ch 27:1.





2 Kings 15:37



Ver. 37. In those days,.... At the end of the days of Jotham, or after his death, things might be in design, and preparations made before, but nothing of what follows came to pass in his life, but in the times of his son;



the Lord began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah: to make war with them as a scourge to Ahaz for his sins; of which is in the following chapter.





2 Kings 15:38



Ver. 38. And Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father,.... Died, and was buried with the kings of Judah in their sepulchres:



and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead; an account of whose reign we have in the next chapter.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

2 Kings 16:1



INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 16



This chapter contains the reign of Ahaz only, relates his idolatry, 2Ki 16:1 his hiring the king of Assyria with the treasure of the temple, and his own, to assist him against the kings of Israel and Syria, who besieged him, 2Ki 16:5, his seeing the altar of an idol at Damascus, the fashion of which he took, and ordered one like it to be built at Jerusalem, 2Ki 16:10, his defacing and removing some things in the temple, 2Ki 16:17, and the chapter is concluded with his death and burial, 2Ki 16:19.



Ver. 1. In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. Jotham began to reign in the second of Pekah, and he reigned sixteen years, and therefore his last year would fall in the eighteenth of Pekah; but as his first year might be at the beginning of the second of Pekah, his last was towards the end of the seventeenth of Pekah's, as here; see 2Ki 15:32.





2 Kings 16:2



Ver. 2. Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem,.... The same number of years his father did:



and did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord God, like David his father; his more remote progenitor, nor even like his more immediate father, from whom he received such good instructions, and of whom he had so good an example; but grace is neither propagated by blood, nor obtained through the force of education.





2 Kings 16:3



Ver. 3. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel..... Worshipping the calves as they did; which, as it was contrary to the religious sentiments in which he was educated, so against his political interest, which was the only, or at least the principal thing, which swayed with the kings of Israel to continue that idolatry:



yea, and made his son to pass through the fire; between two fires to Molech, by way of lustration; which might be true of Hezekiah his son, and others of his sons, for he had more he burnt with fire, as appears from 2Ch 28:3, both ways were used in that sort of idolatry,

See Gill on "Le 18:21",



according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel; the old Canaanites; so the Carthaginians, a colony of the Phoenicians, used in time of calamity to offer human sacrifices, and even their children, to appease their deities {l}. Theodoret says, he had seen in some cities, in his time, piles kindled once a year, over which not only boys, but men, would leap, and infants were carried by their mothers through the flames; which seemed to be an expiation or purgation, and which he takes to be the same with the sin of Ahaz.



{l} Justin. e Trogo, Hist. l. 18. c. 6. Curt. Hist. l. 4. c. 3. Pescennius Festus apud Lactant. de fals. Relig. l. 1. c. 21.





2 Kings 16:4



Ver. 4. And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills,.... Which none of the kings of Judah before him ever did; for though they connived at this practice in the people, they never encouraged it by their own example; and very probably he offered sacrifices there to idols, see 2Ch 28:25 whereas the people sacrificed to the true God, though at a wrong place:



and under every green tree; and which is never said of the people, and seems to confirm it, that Ahaz sacrificed to other gods, since the Heathens used to place idols under green trees, and worship them, whom the Jews imitated, Jer 2:2.





2 Kings 16:5



Ver. 5. Then Rezin king of Syria, and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to war,.... To fight with Ahaz, moved to it by the Lord, to chastise Ahaz for his idolatry, 2Ki 15:37



but could not overcome him; so as to take Jerusalem, and set up another king there, as their scheme was, Isa 7:5 though they had both at other times got great advantages over him, and slew many of his people, and carried them captive, see 2Ch 28:5.





2 Kings 16:6



Ver. 6. At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria,.... A port on the Red sea, that formerly belonged to Edom, taken from them by David, retaken by them when they revolted in Joram's time, and perhaps taken by Amaziah again, since his son Azariah rebuilt it, and restored it to Judah, 2Ki 14:22 and it seems by this that it had been in the hands of the Syrians, who now recovered it; unless instead of Aram, rendered Syrians, we could substitute Edom, which Le Clerc has ventured to do without any authority:



and drave the Jews from Elath; who were in possession of it. This is the first time that the inhabitants of the kingdom of Judah are called Jews, from the name of their original patriarch, and principal tribe; though some think {m} they had this name from the time this tribe went up first against the Canaanites, Jud 1:1, however, it is a mistake of R. Elias Levita {n}, that it is never found in the Bible they were called Jews, but from the time the ten tribes were carried captive, and not before; and a greater mistake still it is of Tacitus {o}, that they were called Jews or Judaeans, as if they were Idaeans from Mount Ida in Crete, from whence he supposes they came:



and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day; the marginal reading is Edomites; and so read the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions; and Kimchi observes that it is written "Aramim", Syrians, because the king of Syria took it, and by his means the Edomites returned to it, but is read "Edomim", Edomites, because it belonged to the children of Edom; and it is certain the Edomites had come and smitten Judah, 2Ch 28:17.



{m} Polydor. Virgil. de Invent. l. 4. c. 1. {n} Tishbi, p. 143. So David de Pomis Lexic. fol. 83. 4. {o} Hist. l. 5. sect. 2.





2 Kings 16:7



Ver. 7. So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglathpileser king of Assyria,.... Of whom see 2Ki 15:29



saying, [I am] thy servant, and thy son; signifying, that he would be his vassal, and become tributary to him, and serve him as a servant to his master, or a son his father, on condition he would come to his assistance, and so he became his servant; hence his son Hezekiah is said to rebel against the king of Assyria, 2Ki 18:1



come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king off Israel, which rise up against me; which assistance he had no reason to call in, since the Lord had promised him deliverance from both those kings, and gave him a sign of it, Isa 7:4.





2 Kings 16:8



Ver. 8. And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord,.... Which Uzziah and Jotham had put there; for all that was found there in the times of Amaziah was taken away by Jehoash king of Israel, 2Ki 14:14



and in the treasures of the king's house; whatever gold and silver he had of his own:



and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria; to obtain his help and assistance.





2 Kings 16:9



Ver. 9. And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him,.... Complied with his request:



for the king of Syria went up against Damascus, and took it; the metropolis of the kingdom of Syria, and so made a powerful diversion in favour of the king of Judah:



and carried the people of it captive to Kir; not Cyrene, as the Vulgate Latin version, a country belonging to Egypt, which the king of Assyria had no power over; but a place in upper Media, as Josephus {p} relates, which belonged to the Assyrian king; see Isa 22:6, compared with

2Ki 21:2, of this captivity Amos had prophesied some time before, Am 1:5



and slew Rezin; the king of Syria, which also was foretold in the same prophecy.



{p} Antiqu. l. 9. c. 12. sect. 3.





2 Kings 16:10



Ver. 10. And King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglathpileser king of Assyria,.... When he heard he was come thither, and had taken it, to congratulate him on the victory, and to give him thanks for his assistance; which place from Jerusalem was one hundred and sixty miles, according to Bunting {q}



and saw an altar that was at Damascus; where, in all probability, he attended at the sacrifice on it along with the king of Assyria:



and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof; not only the size and form of it, but all the decorations and figures on it, with which it was wrought. This Urijah was very probably the high priest, for it can scarcely be thought that Ahaz would write to any other, or that any other priest would or could have complied with his request; and he seems to be the same Isaiah took to be a witness in a certain affair, though he now degenerated from the character he gives of him, Isa 8:2.



{q} Travels, &c. p. 185.





2 Kings 16:11



Ver. 11. And Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus,.... Exactly according to the size, form, figure, and carved work of it, though expressly contrary to the command of God; which fixed both the form and matter of the altar of God, with everything appertaining to it, which he, being high priest, could not be ignorant of, Ex 27:1, &c. but he was a timeserver, and sought to curry favour with his prince:



so Urijah the priest made it against King Ahaz came from Damascus; both king and priest were in haste to have this altar made. Ahaz could not stay till he came home, but sent directions about it from Damascus, and the priest was so expeditious in observing his commands, that he got it done before he came thence to Jerusalem.





2 Kings 16:12



Ver. 12. And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar,.... Looked at it, and liked it, being exactly according to the pattern he had sent:



and the king approached the altar, and offered thereon; either by a priest, or it may be in his own person, having no regard to the laws and appointments of God, and especially as his sacrifices were not offered to him, but to the gods of Damascus and Syria, 2Ch 28:23.





2 Kings 16:13



Ver. 13. And he burnt his burnt offering, and his meat offering,.... Which went together according to the law of God, and was imitated by the Heathens:



and poured his drink offering; a libation of wine, as probably it was, like what they used according to the Levitical law:



and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings upon the altar; as used according to the same law; for all sorts of sacrifices were offered by idolaters, as by the people of God, in imitation of them.





2 Kings 16:14



Ver. 14. And he brought also the brasen altar which was before the Lord,.... That which Solomon made, 2Ch 4:1, which stood in the court by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord, Le 1:5 from the forefront of the house; the frontispiece of the temple, which was at the eastern gate of it:



from between the altar and the house of the Lord for it seems Urijah had placed the new altar behind the old one, more out of sight; the brasen altar standing between that and the eastern gate, or entrance into the temple; wherefore he removed the brasen altar, and put his new one in the room of it:



and put it; that is, the brasen altar of Solomon:



on the north side of the altar; of the new altar, at the right hand as they went into the temple; where it was as in a corner, in greater obscurity, and the new altar more in view as they came into the temple.





2 Kings 16:15



Ver. 15. And King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying,.... Who was not to be commanded by the king in matters of worship, but to attend to the laws and institutions of God:



saying, upon the great altar; meaning the new one, which either was of a larger size than the altar of God, or was greater in the esteem of Ahaz:



burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening meat offering; the daily sacrifice, morning and evening:



and the king's burnt sacrifice, and his meat offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their meat offering, and their drink offerings; such as were offered up at any time on the account of the rulers of the land in particular, or of the whole congregation of Israel, see Le 4:1



and sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice; as it used to be sprinkled upon the altar of the Lord:



and the brasen altar shall be for me to inquire by; to search, inquire, and consider what was to be done with it; for altars were never inquired by as oracles; the meaning is, that it was never to be made use of but by him, and when he pleased.





2 Kings 16:16



Ver. 16. Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that King Ahaz commanded. Not only concerning the structure of the altar, but the sacrifices to be offered on it; like king like priest, both apostates and idolaters.





2 Kings 16:17



Ver. 17. And King Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them,.... In the temple there were ten lavers for the priests to wash in, which are here meant, the singular being put for the plural; and these had bases of brass, on which they were set; and about these bases were borders, which had on them figures of various creatures, lions, oxen, and cherubim; and these Ahaz cut off, either to deface them, in contempt of them, or to convert the brass to other uses, as he might also the bases themselves, since he removed the lavers from off of them, see 1Ki 7:27



and took down the sea from off the brasen oxen [that were] under it; the molten sea Solomon made, which he set upon twelve oxen made of brass; this Ahaz took down from thence, either to abate its magnificence, and render it despicable, or for the sake of the brass, of which the oxen were made, see 1Ki 7:23



and put it upon a pavement of stones; not upon the floor of the temple, for that was of wood, fir, or cedar, but on rows of stones, placed instead of bases for it to stand upon.





2 Kings 16:18



Ver. 18. And the covert for the sabbath that they had built in the house,.... Used on the sabbath day, either for the people to sit under to hear the law explained by the priests; or for the course of the priests to be in, that went out that day, to give way to the course that entered, which yet did not depart from the temple till evening; or rather for the king himself to sit under, while attending the temple service of that day, and might be the cover of the scaffold, 2Ch 6:13 and be very rich cloth of gold; and therefore he took it away for the king of Assyria, or to signify that he should not frequent the place any more: and hence it follows,



and the king's entry without, turned he from the house of the Lord; the way which led from the king's palace to it, he turned it a round about way, that it might not be discerned there was a way from the one to the other: and this he did



for the king of Assyria; to gratify him, that he might from hence conclude that he had wholly relinquished the worship of God in the temple, and should cleave to the gods of Damascus and Syria; or for fear of him, that he might not see the way into the temple, and take away the vessels; or find him, should he be obliged to hide himself there, when in danger by him.





2 Kings 16:19



Ver. 19. Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?] Some others are written in the canonical book of Chronicles, 2Ch 28:1 and were, it is highly probable, in the annals of the kings of Judah, now lost.





2 Kings 16:20



Ver. 20. And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David,.... But not in the sepulchres of the kings of Israel, as David and Solomon, he being such a wicked prince, 2Ch 28:27



and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead; of whom much is said in the following part of this history.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

2 Kings 17:1



INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 17



This chapter relates the captivity of the ten tribes of Israel, and how it came about, 2Ki 17:1, the cause of it, their idolatry, which they persisted in, notwithstanding the remonstrances made against it, 2Ki 17:7, in whose stead were placed people from different parts, who exercised a mixed religion, partly Heathenish, and partly Israelitish, 2Ki 17:24.



Ver. 1. In the tenth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years. In this account there is some difficulty, since it was in the twentieth of Jotham, that is, the fourth of Ahaz, that Hosea conspired against Pekah king of Israel, and slew him, when it might be reasonably thought he began his reign: now either there was an interregnum until the twelfth of Ahaz, or Hoshea however was not generally received and acknowledged as king till then, as others think; he being a tributary to the king of Assyria, and a kind of viceroy, is not said to reign until he rebelled against him; after which he reigned nine years, four in the times of Ahaz, and five in the reign of Hezekiah, 2Ki 18:9, in this way the author of the Jewish chronology goes {r}, in which he is followed by other Jewish writers; and this bids as fair as any to remove the difficulty, unless these nine years refer to the time of his reign before the twelfth of Ahaz; and the sense be, that in the twelfth of Ahaz he had reigned nine year's; but it is said he "began" to reign then.



{r} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 22.





2 Kings 17:2



Ver. 2. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him. He did not worship Baal, as some of them had done; and he could not worship the calves, as all of them had, for they were carried away by the Assyrians in the former captivities, as the Jews {s} say; and who also observe {t}, that he removed the garrisons set on the borders of the land to watch the Israelites, that they might not go up to Jerusalem; and this being done on the fifteenth of Ab, that day was afterwards observed as a festival on that account; and they further remark {u}, that the captivity of the ten tribes was in the reign of this king, who was better than the rest, to show that it was not barely the sins of the kings on whom the Israelites would cast the blame, that they were carried captives, but their own, according to Ho 5:3.



{s} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 22. {t} T. Bab. Gittin, fol. 88. Kimchi in loc. {u} Seder Olam Raba, ut supra. (c. 22.)





2 Kings 17:3



Ver. 3. Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria,.... Which some take to be the same with Tiglathpileser, see 1Ch 5:26 but he rather seems to be his son; his name was to be found, as Josephus {w} relates, in the archives of the Tyrians, against whom he had an expedition; his name is Salmanassar in Metasthenes {x}, who says he reigned seventeen years:



and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents, to depart from him; he became tributary to him, and agreed to pay him a yearly tax.



{w} Antiqu. l. 9. c. 14. sect. 2. {x} De Judicio Temp. fol. 221. 2.





2 Kings 17:4



Ver. 4. And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea,.... That he was forming a scheme to rebel against him, and cast off his yoke; of this he had intelligence by spies he sent, and placed to observe him very probably:



for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt; to treat with him, and enter into alliance with him, to help him against, and free him from, the king of Assyria. This king of Egypt is supposed to be Sabacon the Ethiopian, who reigned in Egypt ninety years; of whom Herodotus {y} and Diodorus Siculus {z} make mention; by Theodoret he is called Adramelech the Ethiopian, who dwelt in Egypt:



and brought no presents to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year; did not pay him his yearly tribute:



therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison; that is, after he took Samaria, the siege of which is next related; unless it can be thought that he met with him somewhere out of the capital, and seized him, and made him his prisoner, and after that besieged his city; which is not so likely.



{y} Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 137. {z} Bibliothec l. 1. p. 59.





2 Kings 17:5



Ver. 5. Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land,.... Of Israel, there being none to oppose his march; Hoshea not daring to come out, and meet him and fight him:



and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years; so long the city held out against him, see 2Ki 18:9.





2 Kings 17:6



Ver. 6. In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria,..... Which was the last year of his reign, and to be reckoned either from the time of his reigning in full power and authority, or from his first casting off the Assyrian yoke; See Gill on "2Ki 17:1"



and carried Israel away into Assyria; not only the inhabitants of Samaria, but all the ten tribes inhabiting the several parts of the kingdom, for which Josephus is express {a}



and placed them in Halah, and in Habor, by the river of Gozan; some of them he placed here, which were in Assyria. Halah is the Calachena of Ptolemy, at the north of Assyria, and Habor is the mount Chobaras of the same; from which mountain, as you go to the Caspian sea, about midway, is the city Gauzania, the same with Gozan, which might give name to this river {b}. The Jews say {c}, this is the river Sambation, which runs so swiftly, that there is no passing except on the sabbath day; and which then the Jews cannot pass because of the profanation of the sabbath; and is the reason they give why the ten tribes are there detained; and Manasseh ben Israel {d} fancies Habor to be Tabor, a province in Tartary, where some Jews are:



and in the cities of the Medes; others of them he placed there, under his jurisdiction, the same with Hara, 1Ch 5:26, which with the Greeks is called Aria; and Herodotus says {e}, these Medes formerly were called by all Arii. It appears from hence that the kingdom of Media was now subject to the king of Assyria: some {f} take Halach to be Colchi, and Habor to be Iberia, and Hara to be Armenia, and Gauzani to be Media, which all bounded the north of Assyria.



{a} Antiqu. l. 9. c. 10. sect. 1. {b} Vid. Witsium de 10 Trib. Israel. c. 4. sect. 2. {c} Rambam apud Eliam in Tishbi, p. 134. {d} Spes Israelis, sect. 17. p. 55. {e} Polymnia, sive, l. 7. c. 60. So Pausanias Corinthiac. sive, l. 2. p. 91. Vid. Vossium in Melam, de Situ Orbis, l. 1. c. 2. p. 13. {f} See Bierwood's Inquiries, p. 104.





2 Kings 17:7



Ver. 7. For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God,.... By committing idolatry, which is the sin enlarged upon in the following discourse, as the cause of their being carried captive:



which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; which is observed to show their ingratitude, and to aggravate their sin of idolatry:



and had feared other gods; which could do them neither good nor hurt, wherefore it must be great stupidity to fear them.





2 Kings 17:8



Ver. 8. And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel,.... Meaning the Canaanites, in whose idolatrous ways they walked, and whom they imitated; though their ejection out of the land should have been a warning to them, and they were the more inexcusable, as they were particularly cautioned against walking in them, Le 18:3



and of the kings of Israel, which they had made; their laws and statutes, to worship the golden calves, and not go up to Jerusalem to worship.





2 Kings 17:9



Ver. 9. 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 metropolis only, but in all the cities of the kingdom; and not in large cities only, but in every town and village between one fortified city and another; even wherever there was a watch tower erected, either for shepherds to watch their flocks, or for keepers of gardens, orchards, and vineyards, to watch the fruits of them, that they were not taken away.



{g} wapxy "occultaverunt", Montanus, Vatablus, Grotius; "palliaverunt", Piscator.





2 Kings 17:10



Ver. 10. And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree. That is, statues and idols; for groves of trees could not be set under green trees; but they placed idols of stone, and of wood, as the latter were, in such places as Heathens were wont to do; see Jer 3:6

See Gill on "1Ki 14:23", so the Indians to this day have idols dispersed here and there in the fields, placed in little groves, or at the foot of some hill that casts a shadow {h}.



{h} Agreement of Customs between the East Indians and Jews, art. 5. p. 34.





2 Kings 17:11



Ver. 11. And there they burnt incense in all the high places,.... As even the tribe of Judah did, which is observed in all the preceding reigns:



as did the Heathen whom the Lord carried away before them: the Canaanites, and therefore they might justly expect to be carried captive also:



and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger: by their several immoralities, but especially their idolatries.





2 Kings 17:12



Ver. 12. For they served idols,.... Baalim, as the Targum; dunghill gods, as the word signifies, as they are often called in Scripture; and Sterculius was one of the names of Saturn, an Heathen deity, which he had, as is supposed, by his finding out the method of making land fruitful with dung {i}:



whereof the Lord said unto them, ye shall not do this thing; see

Ex 20:3.



{i} Vid. Macrob. l. 1. c. 7. Lactant. de fals. Relig. l. 1. c. 20.





2 Kings 17:13



Ver. 13. Yet the Lord testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, [and by] all the seers,.... Against their sins, reproving them for them, dehorting them from them, exhorting them to repent and leave them; as in all preceding reigns, by Ahijah the Shilonite, by Elijah and Elisha, by Hosea, Amos, and Micah, and others:



saying, turn ye from your ways; repent of them, and reform from them, worship of the calves particularly:



and keep my commandments, and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers; which was given them and enjoined them at Mount Sinai:



and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets; by whom he put them in mind of them, explained them, and urged obedience to them.





2 Kings 17:14



Ver. 14. Notwithstanding, they would not hear,.... Their instructions, advice, and admonitions, and obey them:



but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God: as Terah and Nahor, who were idolaters; or rather, their fathers in the wilderness, that made and served the calf, and those that rebelled against Moses and Aaron; it is a metaphor taken from oxen, that will not submit their necks to the yoke, but draw back from it, or cast it off, see Ac 7:51.





2 Kings 17:15



Ver. 15. And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers,.... At Sinai and Horeb, see Ex 24:8,



and his testimonies which he testified against them; calling heaven and earth to witness what he would do to them if they broke his laws, De 4:26, and which were so many testifications of his mind and will what they should do, or otherwise what should be done to them; Ben Gersom also interprets this of the feasts of the passover and tabernacles, which were witnesses of Israel's coming out of Egypt, and of the sanctification and redemption of the firstborn, a testimony of the slaying the firstborn in Egypt:



and they followed vanity; idols, which are vain things for help, can neither hear, see, speak, &c.



and became vain; as sottish and stupid as the idols they worshipped; which is the usual fruit and effect of idolatry, see Ro 1:21



and went after the heathen that were round about them: imitated them in their idolatrous practices, as the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, &c. concerning



whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them; of this charge see De 6:13.





2 Kings 17:16



Ver. 16. And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God,.... Which their idolatry led them to; and indeed he that offends in one point is guilty of them all, Jas 2:10



and made them molten images, [even] two calves; which they set up at Dan and Bethel, in the times of their first king Jeroboam, 1Ki 13:28



and made a grove; as Ahab, another of their kings, did, 1Ki 16:33



and worshipped all the host of heaven: not the angels, sometimes so called, but, besides the sun and moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Venus:



and served Baal; which was service to the sun, as Abarbinel interprets it; this was the god of the Zidonians Ahab worshipped, having married a princess of that people, 1Ki 16:31.





2 Kings 17:17



Ver. 17. And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire,.... To Baal or Moloch, which were the same, and represented the sun, which, as the above writer observes, presides in the element of fire; this was done either by way of lustration, or so as to be burnt, see 2Ki 16:3



and used divination and enchantments: to get knowledge of what was to be done at present, or of things to come, neglecting the word of God and his prophets, and acting against the express law of God, De 18:10



and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger; as Ahab their king did, see 1Ki 21:20, they were as much the servants of sin as if they had sold themselves to be slaves to it.





2 Kings 17:18



Ver. 18. Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel,.... Nothing being more provoking to him than idolatry:



and removed them out of his sight; not out of the reach of his all seeing eye, but from all tokens of his favour, from the good land he had given them, and all the benefits and privileges of it:



there was none left but the tribe of Judah only; and part of Benjamin, which was annexed to it, and incorporated in it, and made one kingdom, and maintained the same worship; and there was the lot of Simeon, which was within the tribe of Judah; and the priests and the Levites, and various individuals of the several tribes, that came and settled among them for the sake of worship; but no perfect, distinct, tribe besides.





2 Kings 17:19



Ver. 19. Also Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God,.... But were infected with the idolatry of the ten tribes, and drawn into it by their example, and persisted therein, notwithstanding what befell the ten tribes; which are aggravations of the sins of them both, see Jer 3:7,



but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made; worshipping the calves as they did, particularly in the times of Ahaz, he setting the example, see 2Ki 16:3.





2 Kings 17:20



Ver. 20. And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel,.... The ten tribes, with loathing and contempt, and wrote a "loammi" on them, rejected them from being his people, gave them a bill of divorce, and declared them no more under his care and patronage:



and afflicted them; as he did before he utterly cast them off, as by famine, drought, and pestilence, Am 4:6



and delivered them into the hands of spoilers; as, first, into the hands of Hazael and Benhadad, kings of Syria, and then of Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, 2Ki 13:3,



until he had cast them out of his sight; by suffering them, as now, to be carried captive by Shalmaneser, 2Ki 17:6.





2 Kings 17:21



Ver. 21. For he rent Israel from the house of David,.... In the times of Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when ten tribes revolted from him, signified by the rending of a garment in twelve pieces, ten of which were given to Jeroboam; and it is here ascribed to the Lord, being according to his purpose and decree, and which was brought about by his providence, agreeably to a prophecy of his, see 1Ki 11:30



and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king; of themselves, without consulting the Lord and his prophets; and which was resented by him, though it was his will, and he had foretold it, that Jeroboam should be king, see Ho 8:4



and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the Lord; forbidding them to go up to Jerusalem to worship; the Targum is,



"made them to err:''



and made them sin a great sin; obliging them to worship the calves he set up.





2 Kings 17:22



Ver. 22. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did,.... They observed his injunction, not to go to Jerusalem to worship, and they worshipped the calves he did:



they departed not from them: in all succeeding reigns, until the time of their captivity.





2 Kings 17:23



Ver. 23. Until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight,.... Suffered them to be carried captive into the land of Assyria:



as he had said by all his servants the prophets; by Hosea, Amos, Micah, and others; see their prophecies, and also 1Ki 13:32,



so was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria, unto this day; the time of the writing this book; nor have they returned unto our days, nearly 2,800 years later.





2 Kings 17:24



Ver. 24. And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon,.... Which was at this time under the dominion of the king of Assyria; though in a little time after this it revolted, and had a king of its own, 2Ki 20:12, this king of Assyria was either Shalmaneser, who carried Israel captive, or it may be rather his son Esarhaddon, see Ezr 4:2,



and from Cuthah; which, according to Josephus {k}, was a city in Persia, where was a river of the same name; but it was rather a place in Erech, in the country of Babylon, See Gill on "Ge 10:10",



and from Ava; the same with Ivah, Isa 37:13, where perhaps a colony of the Avim had settled, De 2:23



and from Hamath; a city of Syria, which lay on the northern borders of the land of Canaan, Nu 34:8



and from Sepharvaim; thought by some to be the Sippara of Ptolemy, or the Sippareni of Abydenus, in Mesopotamia; though Vitringa takes it to be a city in Syro-Phoenicia, See Gill on "Isa 36:19",



and placed them in the cities of Samaria, instead of the children of Israel; not in Samaria, which was now destroyed, according to the prophecy in Mic 1:6 as Abarbinel and other Jewish writers note:



and they possessed Samaria; as an inheritance; sowed it with corn, and planted vineyards there:



and dwelt in the cities thereof; in the several parts of the kingdom.



{k} Antiqu. l. 9. c. 14. sect. 1.





2 Kings 17:25



Ver. 25. And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord,.... Did not serve him in any manner, but their idols only, which they brought with them; whereas it was usual with Heathens to serve the gods of the country, as they reputed them, where they came, along with their own; but even this those men did not do:



therefore the Lord sent lions among them; even into their cities, into which lions sometimes came {l}, especially when old, out of the thickets of Jordan and other places where they haunted, see Jer 49:19



which slew some of them; this the Lord did to assert his sovereignty, authority, and mighty power, and to let them know that he could as easily clear the land of them, as they, by his permission, had cleared the land of the Israelites, Josephus {m} calls this a plague that was sent among them.



{l} Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 44. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 16. {m} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 9. c. 14. sect. 1.)





2 Kings 17:26



Ver. 26. Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria,.... In letters, or by messengers they sent unto him:



saying, the nations which thou hast removed; from different places before mentioned:



and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land; taking Jehovah the God of Israel to be a topical deity, limited peculiarly to the land of Israel, whereas he was the God of the whole earth; a like notion obtained among the Syrians, see 1Ki 20:28 now they say they know not his "manner" or "judgment" {n}, the laws, statutes, ordinances, and judgments, according to which he was worshipped by the people of Israel:



therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them; they perceived it was not a common case, nor could they impute it to any second cause, as want of food with the lions, &c. but the hand of a superior Being was in it: and they could think of no other reason, but



because they know not the manner of the God of the land; how he was to be worshipped; and because they did not worship him, and knew not how to do it, it was resented in this manner by him.



{n} jpvm "judicium", Pagninus, Montanus, &c.





2 Kings 17:27



Ver. 27. 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} wbvyw wkly "eant et sedeant", Montanus. {p} Pirke Eliezer, c. 38. {q} Antiqu. l. 9. c. 14. sect. 3.





2 Kings 17:28



Ver. 28. 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, 2Ki 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, they were now carried out of the land. This priest taught, no doubt, according to the law of Moses, but was not the author of the Pentateuch; which ridiculous conceit of Le Clerc is sufficiently exposed by Witsius {t}.



{r} Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. Dyn. 3. p. 65. {s} Contr. Haeres. l. 1. Haer. 8. {t} Miscellan. tom. 1. l. 1. c. 14. sect. 7. 28.





2 Kings 17:29



Ver. 29. Howbeit, every nation made gods of their own,.... Served and worshipped those they brought with them, and which were the work of their own hands, even the nations, or those out of the nations, mentioned 2Ki 17:24 these, notwithstanding the instructions they had about the worship of the God of Israel, retained and served their own deities: and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt; as the Israelites had built high places everywhere for idolatry, and put images in them, 2Ki 17:9 these Heathens placed their gods there in the room of them, which were as follow.





2 Kings 17:30



Ver. 30. And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth,.... That is, those that came from Babylon made and served an idol of this name, which, according to the Jewish writers {u}, were the figures of an hen and chickens; but others suppose them to be the Pleiades, or seven stars, the stars being had in great veneration by the Babylonians; though others rather think those Succothbenoth, "tabernacles", or "booths of the daughters", as the words may be rendered, have respect to the apartments in the temple of Venus, or Mylitta with the Babylonians and Assyrians, in which women once in their lives prostituted themselves to whomsoever asked them, in honour of Venus; of which filthy practice of theirs Herodotus {w} makes mention; and Valerius Maximus speaks {x} of a temple of Sicca Venus, which is near in sound to this, where the like impurities were committed:



and the men of Cuth made Nergal; which, according to the Jews, was in the likeness of a cock; but others, because the first part of the word signifies a lamp, suppose fire is meant, worshipped by the Persians, from whom it is thought these men came; but rather the word signifies, as Hillerus {y} observes, the fountain of light, and denotes the sun, worshipped by the Babylonians, Cuth being a province of theirs; from hence one of the princes of Babylon had part of his name, Jer 39:3



and the men of Hamath made Ashima; which, the Jews say, was in the form of a goat, without any wool on it, or an ape {z}; but according to Hillerus {a}, with the Arabs, Ashima is the name of a lion, a symbol of the sun, under which form it might be worshipped; unless Ashima is the same with Shamaim, the heavens, worshipped by the Heathens; we read of the Ashemath of Samaria, by which they swore, Am 8:14, though that was before these men came thither.



{u} T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 63. 2. {w} Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 199. {x} L. 2. c. 6. sect. 15. {y} Onomastic. Sacr. p. 601. {z} David de Pomis Lexic. fol. 17. 2. {a} Onomast. Sacr. p. 609.





2 Kings 17:31



Ver. 31. And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak,.... The former of which is represented by the Jews in the shape of a dog, deriving the word from "nabach", to bark, as if it was the same with the Anubis Latrator of Virgil {b}, an Egyptian deity; though that is said {c} to have its name from NOeb, which in the Egyptian language signifies "gold", the statutes of it being made of gold; and the latter in the form of an ass, for what reason I cannot say; but the first word, according to Hillerus {d}, signifies, "the remote one seeth", that is, the sun, which beholds all things; and Tartak is a chain, and may denote the fixed stars chained as it were in their places; or the satellites of the planets, chained to their orbs:



and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and to Anammelech the gods of Sepharvaim; which were the same with Moloch; which may be concluded, partly from the worship paid them, and partly from the signification of their names; both end with "melech", king, which Moloch also signifies; the first may be interpreted the mighty king, and the latter the king that answers in an oracular way; from the first, one of the sons of Sennacherib king of Assyria had his name, Isa 37:36, though the Jews, according to their fancy, represent the one in the likeness of a mule, and the other in the likeness of a horse; and some make the one to be a peacock, and the other a pheasant {e}; the Septuagint version puts the article before them in the feminine gender, excepting the two last, taking them for she deities, or leaving the word eikona, "images", to be understood.



{b} Aeneid. l. 6. So Ovid. Metamorph. l. 9. Fab. 12. ver. 689. {c} Jablonski apud Michael. Obs. Sacr. Exercit. 4. p. 66, 67. {d} Ut supra, (Onomast. Sacr.) p. 859. {e} Vid. Kimchium in loc.





2 Kings 17:32



Ver. 32. So they feared the Lord,.... Worshipped the God of Israel in the manner they were taught:



and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places; these were made after the manner of Jeroboam's priests, 1Ki 12:31, and were to sacrifice to the God of Israel in the high places, and temples built there; for otherwise they had, no doubt, priests of their own to sacrifice to their gods, and which they brought with them.





2 Kings 17:33



Ver. 33. They feared the Lord, and served their own gods,.... Worshipped both:



after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence; the Israelites, whom they had carried captive from Samaria; they worshipped the Lord in their idols, as they did, who pretended to worship God in the calves; so they worshipped the supreme God in and by their idols, and made use of them as mediators with him.





2 Kings 17:34



Ver. 34. Unto this day they do after the former manners,.... Which may be understood either of the new colonies in Samaria doing after the former customs in their own land, or after the customs of the idolatrous Israelites; or of the Israelites in captivity continuing in their idolatry, not being in the least reformed by their troubles; or of such of them as were left in the land, who repented not of their idolatries, nor reformed from them:



they fear not the Lord; did not worship him, at least not alone, and much less in a spiritual manner, with reverence and godly fear:



neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel; that is, they did not observe the statutes and ordinances of the law given on Mount Sinai respecting religious worship, to act according to them.





2 Kings 17:35



Ver. 35. With whom the Lord had made a covenant,.... As he did at Sinai, 2Ki 17:15



and charged them, saying, ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them; all which is contained in the first and second commandments of the law.





2 Kings 17:36



Ver. 36. But the Lord, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt, with a great power, and a stretched out arm,.... Which is observed, to show the obligations they lay under, in point of gratitude, to serve the Lord:



him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice: and him only, and not other gods; none but he being the object of religious fear and divine worship, and to whom sacrifices should be offered.





2 Kings 17:37



Ver. 37. And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment which he wrote for you,.... On the two tables of stone:



ye shall observe to do for evermore; those commands relating to religious worship, especially the object of it, and to moral duties, being of eternal obligation; and all other statutes and ordinances of a ceremonial kind he ordered to be written for them, being such that they were to regard until the Messiah came, and a new world began:



and ye shall not fear other gods; which is repeated, that it might be observed, as it also afterwards is.





2 Kings 17:38



Ver. 38. And the covenant that I have made with you, ye shall not forget,.... The law given at Mount Sinai; the first table of which chiefly concerned the worship of the one true and living God, and forbid the worship of any other, as follows:



neither shall ye fear other gods; or make them the object of worship.





2 Kings 17:39



Ver. 39. But the Lord your God ye shall fear,.... Or worship him, both internally and externally, according to his revealed will; for the fear of God includes both internal and external worship:



and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies; that is, provided they feared and served him as he required, and it became them to do.





2 Kings 17:40



Ver. 40. Howbeit, they did not hearken, but did after their former manner. They did not repent of their idolatries, but persisted in them, and even when they were in captivity in Assyria, or such of them as were left in the land.





2 Kings 17:41



Ver. 41. So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images,.... Just in like manner as the Israelites had done, who served the Lord and the calves, and worshipped God and Baal:



both their children, and their children's children; that is, the children and children's children of the Samaritans:



as did their fathers, so do they unto this day; to the writing of this book, which some ascribe to Jeremiah, to whose times, and even longer, they continued this mixed and mongrel worship, for the space of three hundred years, to the times of Alexander the great, of whom Sanballat, governor of Samaria, got leave to build a temple, on Gerizim, for his son-in-law Manasseh, of which he became priest; and the Samaritans were prevailed upon to relinquish their idolatry, and to worship only the God of Israel; and yet it seems but ignorantly, and not without superstition, to the times of Christ, Joh 4:22.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

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