2Ki 17:1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz the king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah reigned in Samaria, nine years over Israel.
2Ki 17:2 And he did the evil in the eyes of Jehovah, only not as the kings of Israel who were before him.
2Ki 17:3 Shalmaneser the king of Assyria came against him, and Hoshea was a servant to him, and paid him tribute.
2Ki 17:4 And the king of Assyria found a conspiracy in Hoshea, in that he had sent messengers to So the king of Egypt, and had not offered tribute up to the king of Assyria, as year by year. And the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in a prison.
2Ki 17:5 And the king of Assyria went up into all the land, and he went up to Samaria and besieged it three years.
2Ki 17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and removed Israel to Assyria, and made them live in Halah, and in Habor, by the river Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
2Ki 17:7 And it was so because the sons of Israel had sinned against Jehovah their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and feared other gods,
2Ki 17:8 and walked in the statutes of the nations that Jehovah had dispossessed from the face of the sons of Israel, and of the kings of Israel that they made.
2Ki 17:9 And the sons of Israel secretly did the things which were not right against Jehovah their God, and built high places for themselves in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city,
2Ki 17:10 and set up for themselves pillars and Asherahs on every high hill, and under every green tree;
2Ki 17:11 and burned incense there in all high places, like the nations that Jehovah had removed from their face; and did evil things to provoke Jehovah,
2Ki 17:12 and served the idols, of which Jehovah had said to them, You shall not do this thing.
2Ki 17:13 And Jehovah testified against Israel, and against Judah, by the hand of all His prophets, and every seer, saying, Turn back from your evil ways, and keep My commands, My statutes, according to all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by the hand of My servants the prophets.
2Ki 17:14 And they did not listen, and hardened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who did not remain faithful to Jehovah their God.
2Ki 17:15 And they rejected His statutes and His covenant that He made with their fathers, and His testimonies that He testified against them, and went after the vain thing, and became vain, and after the nations that were around them, of whom Jehovah had commanded them not to do like them.
2Ki 17:16 And they left all the commands of Jehovah their God and made for themselves casted images, two calves, and made an Asherah, and bowed to all the host of the heavens, and served Baal,
2Ki 17:17 and caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire and divined, and used incantations, and sold themselves to do the evil in the eyes of Jehovah, to provoke Him,
2Ki 17:18 so that Jehovah was very angry against Israel, and turned them away from His face; not one was left, only the tribe of Judah by itself.
2Ki 17:19 Also Judah did not keep the commands of Jehovah their God, and they walked in the statutes of Israel that they had made.
2Ki 17:20 And Jehovah rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and gave them into the hand of the plunderers, until He had cast them out from His presence.
2Ki 17:21 For He tore Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king; and Jeroboam lured Israel from following Jehovah, and caused them to sin a great sin.
2Ki 17:22 And the sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam that he did; they did not turn aside from them;
2Ki 17:23 until Jehovah turned away Israel from His face, as He spoke by the hand of all His servants the prophets; and Israel was exiled from off its land to Assyria to this day.
2Ki 17:24 And the king of Assyria brought men in from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and made them live in the cities of Samaria instead of the sons of Israel; and they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities.
2Ki 17:25 And it happened at the beginning of their living there, they did not fear Jehovah, and Jehovah sent lions among them, and they were striking among them.
2Ki 17:26 And they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations that you have exiled and have made to live in the cities of Samaria do not know the custom of the God of the land, and He has sent the lions into their midst; and, behold, they are killing them, since they do not know the custom of the God of the land.
2Ki 17:27 And the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Cause one of the priests whom you removed from there to go there, and they shall go and live there; and he shall teach them the custom of the God of the land.
2Ki 17:28 And one of the priests whom they exiled from Samaria came and lived in Bethel, and he taught them how they should fear Jehovah.
2Ki 17:29 And nation by nation was making gods of their own, and putting them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, nation by nation in their cities where they lived.
2Ki 17:30 And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth; and the men of Cuth made Nergal; and the men of Hamath made Ashima;
2Ki 17:31 and the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their sons with fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech the gods of Sepharvaim.
2Ki 17:32 So it was that they feared Jehovah, and made for themselves, of the lowest of them, priests of the high places and they sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
2Ki 17:33 They feared Jehovah, and served their own gods, according to the custom of the nations from where they exiled them.
2Ki 17:34 To this day they do according to the former custom; they do not fear Jehovah, and do not do according to their statutes, and according to their ordinances, and according to the Law, and according to the commandment that Jehovah commanded the sons of Jacob, on whom He set His name, Israel.
2Ki 17:35 And Jehovah made a covenant with them, and commanded them, saying, You shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them;
2Ki 17:36 but Jehovah who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a stretched out arm, you shall fear Him, and you shall bow yourselves to Him, and you shall sacrifice to Him;
2Ki 17:37 and the statutes, and the judgments, and the Law, and the commandments that He wrote for you, you shall observe to do forever, and you shall not fear other gods;
2Ki 17:38 and the covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget, and you shall not fear other gods;
2Ki 17:39 but you shall fear Jehovah your God, and He shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.
2Ki 17:40 But they did not listen, but did according to their former custom.
2Ki 17:41 And it happened, these nations feared Jehovah, yet they served their graven images, both their sons and their sons' sons. As their fathers did, they are doing to this day.
Verses 1-23 Summary: Hoshea reigns for nine years. Eventually, Israel falls to Assyria to king Shalmaneser. The Israelites that were not killed were moved to foreign cities. The writer is precise and exacting in the reasons for the judgements that befall Israel. The list is long, but two main recurring themes are seen. 1) Idolatry 2) Ignoring God's commands. God sums it up as them becoming "vain." Judah does not escape God's notice in this judgement. They too have wandered from His service.
1. What lesson can we learn from verse 9? There are no "secret" sins. The unjust action of a sin must be answered/accountable. It was so out of hand that it permeated Israel.
2. What lesson can we learn from verses 21-22? This is another recurring theme. A sin originates for a culture and they adhere to it in perpetuity. They take measures to make sure little of the truth is revealed to them to make them uncomfortable. Truth tellers are hated. It is a sickness of self-will and as God puts it, vanity.
Verses 24-41 Summary: The Assyrian king fills Samaria with foreigners. They serve idols. Because they serve idols, God sends lions to punish them. They report it to the Assyrian king. He sends a priest to teach them how to serve God. He does. They continue to serve idols. They fear God, but the serve the other idols as well.
3. Can you think of a reason why Assyria made a practice of transplanting conquered peoples to foreign lands? It makes logistical sense. Simply overthrowing a nation would be useless if not for the riches it may bear. By moving the inhabitants, they would be enslaved in a strange land and be more manageable. Subsequent generations might even forget their heritage land and become assimilated. The transplanted peoples into the lost land would be subject to the king that put them there so they too are better managed as well. Taxes, products and services would now be made in the name of the new king.
4. Later, in the days of the New Testament, the descendants of the people placed in Samaria by the king of Assyria were known as Samaritans. Now, why did the Jews of Jesus' day have nothing to do with them? The Jewish tradition of tracing heritage became muddied for the northern Israelites. So many were shipped out of the region. any of those left behind would end up mingling with non-Jews. Their bloodline was "tainted." In the time of Christ, Jews had little to do in close relationships with Gentiles if at all possible. Gentiles were "unclean." Samaritan/Jewish descent was part of that unclean culture.
Note: Samaritan Jews believed in Jehovah. They believed in the Pentateuch only, which is convenient to the cognitive dissonance required concerning their history of disobedience and subsequent rejection by Jehovah. By the time Jesus comes along, John Hycanus (Maccabean/priest) had destroyed the Samaritan temple in 120 BCE. This action solidified the rift we see during the days of the Christ.
5. What year did Israel fall to Assyria? 721BC
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