Session 11 2 Kings 17:7-20
2 KINGS 17:7-20
MEMORY VERSE: 2 KINGS 17:13
On October 21, 1868, a severe earthquake hit Hayward, California. Ten days later, J.D. Cooper, a San Francisco physician, wrote a newspaper editorial calling for an earthquake early warning system. He suggested putting an “earthquake bell” on a tower in the center of the city. Detectors could be placed in increments of 10-100 miles, radiating from the city. If shocks occurred, warnings would be sent across telegraph wires. Through the years, various detection systems have been developed. The intent is for the warnings to save lives.
(In PSG, p. 100)
Hoshea became king over Israel and reigned nine years but continued the evil practices of his predecessors (2 Kings 17:1-2). He initially submitted to Shalmaneser, king of Assyria. But when he tried to get help from Egypt against Assyria, Shalmaneser captured Hoshea and invaded the Northern Kingdom (17:3-5). After a three-year siege, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and exiled the inhabitants (17:6).
Israel’s defeat occurred because the people sinned against God (17:7). When they had entered the promised land, they soon adopted the pagan customs of the peoples there (17:8-11). The Lord had warned His people not to worship idols and even sent prophets to turn them back to Him (17:12-13). Instead, the people continued to reject God’s covenant and His commandments (17:14-16). Finally, God brought judgment on the Israelites because of their sin (17:17-18). The Southern Kingdom of Judah also adopted Israel’s detestable practices; they failed to learn from the Northern Kingdom’s tragic example (17:19).
God’s people had lived as one united nation of Israel under Saul, David, and Solomon. When the nation divided into two kingdoms—the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah—the Israelites did not follow in God’s ways and did not listen to God’s prophets (17:21-23). Their actions led to God’s judgment.
The king of Assyria brought foreign populations into the land of Israel to settle the cities of Samaria (17:24). However, God sent lions against them, and the settlers were afraid because they did not know the requirements of the God of the land (17:25-26). Therefore, the king of Assyria arranged for one of Samaria’s former priests to come and instruct the people in God’s ways (17:27-28). Nevertheless, the people continued to make gods of their own and worship them alongside the one true God (17:29-33). In fact, their abominable practices continued for many generations (17:34).
God had made a covenant with His people and commanded them to serve Him alone and to adopt His statutes rather than following other gods (17:35-38). If they followed the Lord, He would deliver them from all their enemies (17:39). Sadly, the people did not listen; rather, they served the Lord half-heartedly, alongside the idols they worshiped, and this evil persisted for generations until God removed them from the land (17:40-41).
EXPLORE THE TEXT
7 This disaster happened because the people of Israel sinned against the LORD their God who had brought them out of the land of Egypt from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt and because they worshiped other gods. 8 They lived according to the customs of the nations that the LORD had dispossessed before the Israelites and according to what the kings of Israel did.
When Hoshea, Israel’s last king, rebelled against Assyria, the Assyrians responded quickly and besieged Samaria (17:4-5). After three years, Samaria fell, and the Assyrians deported its population (17:6).
The writer of 2 Kings placed the blame exactly where it belonged: this disaster happened because the people of Israel sinned against the LORD their God. The Northern Kingdom abandoned God and consequently received judgment.
The text cites two general sins of which God’s people were guilty. First, they lived according to the customs of the nations that the LORD had dispossessed before the Israelites. God told His people through Moses that when they entered Canaan they were not to adopt the practices of the land’s inhabitants (Deut. 12:2-3). Instead, God’s people accommodated many of the Canaanites’ pagan customs and eventually became like them. Indeed, the Canaanites’ abominable practices were the reason God was driving them from the land (Lev. 18:24-30).
Second, God’s people of the Northern Kingdom lived according to what the kings of Israel did. As soon as the kingdom of Israel divided into northern and southern kingdoms, Jeroboam, Israel’s first king, took steps to ensure Israel and Judah remained distinct. He placed golden calves in Dan and Bethel and instructed the people to worship there instead of in Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:26-30). He also changed a festival date and appointed priests who did not come from the tribe of Levi through Aaron (1 Kings 12:31-32). He thus corrupted the manner of worship God had commanded and thereby set the stage for Israel’s spiritual ruin. Jeroboam’s successors followed his evil example (1 Kings 16:26,31; 22:52; 2 Kings 10:29; 13:2; 15:18).
9 The Israelites secretly did things against the LORD their God that were not right. They built high places in all their towns from watchtower to fortified city. 10 They set up for themselves sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. 11 They burned incense there on all the high places just like the nations that the LORD had driven out before them had done. They did evil things, angering the LORD. 12 They served idols, although the LORD had told them, “You must not do this.” 13 Still, the LORD warned Israel and Judah through every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commands and statutes according to the whole law I commanded your ancestors and sent to you through my servants the prophets.”
The people set up for themselves sacred pillars and Asherah poles. These sacred pillars were often made of stone and sometimes bore the image of a god. The patriarch Jacob worshiped God by use of a pillar (Gen. 28:18; 35:14), but God later prohibited the practice when the people settled the land. Asherah poles were made of wood and represented Asherah, the mother of the Canaanite god Baal. The book of Judges describes how the Israelites constantly fell into sin, forsaking the Lord and worshiping Baal and Asherah instead (Judg. 3:7; 6:25-30). Asherah was a goddess of fertility, and worship of Asherah often involved sexual rites the Law of Moses denounced. God’s people established idolatrous worship practices on every high hill and under every green tree.
The people also burned incense there on all the high places. They worshiped God in places and in a manner He had not prescribed. The Law of Moses stipulated that, while sacred incense was to burn continually in the tabernacle and temple, the priests were to use a certain mixture of ingredients that was to be used only for that purpose (Ex. 30:34-38). The people were not to burn incense to God or to other gods as acts of private worship. When they did this, they were doing just like the nations the LORD had driven out before them had done.
Today’s world is in some ways little different from ancient Israel. Believers face numerous temptations to compromise and to adopt the world’s practices—practices the Bible says we should avoid.
The people served idols alongside their worship of God. The text has already mentioned Asherah, and we know Baal worship was common in the Northern Kingdom. The Lord’s strong prohibition to His people, you must not do this, follows the structure of the prohibitions in the Ten Commandments. The practices Israel committed violated the second commandment.
God saw His people straying into idolatry and immorality, and He called them to turn them back to Him. He warned Israel and Judah through every prophet and every seer He sent. The words prophet and seer are essentially interchangeable (1 Sam. 9:9). God called these individuals to bring His message to His wayward people. The message God’s holy messengers brought was straightforward: turn from your evil ways and keep my commands and statutes. The people needed to replace their sinful ways with God’s ways. Likewise today, in order to experience God’s salvation, people need to not only repent of sin but also place their faith in Jesus Christ and in His finished work. God told His people He wanted His people to live according to the whole law I commanded your ancestors and sent to you through my servants the prophets.
God displayed His faithfulness to His people over many generations. He rescued them from bondage in Egypt and established His covenant with them. He gave them His laws and statutes so they would know how to live. When they turned from Him, He graciously sent prophets to awaken repentance in them and turn them back to Him.
God still calls people today to repent and turn to Him. The gospel is not about making bad people good; it is about making dead people alive. The apostle Paul told the Ephesian believers they were dead in their sins until God made them alive by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:1-9). When we repent of our sins and place our faith in the Lord Jesus, we become new creatures (2 Cor. 5:17) and God adopts us into His family (Gal. 4:4-7). No one can make that decision for us; each of us bears a personal responsibility to choose Christ.
(In PSG, p. 104)
Twice the text mentions that the Lord had driven out the peoples who had lived in this land before (vv. 8,11). Why might the children of Israel think they would be treated differently and wouldn’t be run out of the land?
14 But they would not listen. Instead they became obstinate like their ancestors who did not believe the LORD their God. 15 They rejected his statutes and his covenant he had made with their ancestors and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves, following the surrounding nations the LORD had commanded them not to imitate.
God’s people would not listen to God’s Word. Instead, they became obstinate (literally “stiffened their neck”). They stood defiantly against God and refused to bow their heads in submission. In doing so, they were like their ancestors who did not believe the LORD their God.
Tragically, even the people who saw all God’s miracles in Egypt still did not believe God could give them the promised land (Num. 13:25–14:10). Disobedience to God’s commands generally results because we do not believe His ways are truly best. God calls us to trust Him in everything, not to doubt or disbelieve.
God’s obstinate people rejected his statutes and his covenant he had made with their ancestors. God commanded parents to teach their children God’s ways at every turn of life (Deut. 6:6-7). Each generation needed to learn from the former generation.
The text provides further sad testimony regarding the people: they followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. The word translated worthless denotes worthlessness or futility. A form of it occurs in the book of Ecclesiastes, where Solomon described life’s futility apart from a relationship with God (Eccl. 1:2,13-14). A century later, the prophet Jeremiah used the same language to depict God’s people in Judah (Jer. 2:5). The people became like the worthless idols they worshiped.
16 They abandoned all the commands of the LORD their God. They made cast images for themselves, two calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed in worship to all the stars in the sky and served Baal. 17 They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire and practiced divination and interpreted omens. They devoted themselves to do what was evil in the LORD’s sight and angered him.
The people abandoned all the commands of the LORD their God and invented their own standards for living. First, they made cast images for themselves, two calves, and an Asherah pole. Jeroboam, Israel’s first king, began this wickedness (1 Kings 12:26-30), but later generations continued it. Second, the people bowed in worship to all the stars in the sky. Third, they served Baal, chief god of the Canaanites and husband to the goddess Asherah. Over a century earlier, Elijah the prophet demonstrated God’s power over Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:19-40). Clearly, the people had forgotten.
Sometimes people read about Israel’s sin and think, “We would never worship idols.” Yet, people still do in some parts of the world. Moreover, many people today worship other less obvious idols such as money, sex, fame, or power. All idolatry leads to ruin.
God’s people also sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire, an expression most interpreters believe denotes child sacrifice. Jeremiah specifically condemned Judah for this horrific practice (Jer. 7:31). God is a God of life, and His Word affirms the value of children (Ps. 127:3-5; Matt. 18:1-6). Many of the pagan gods were in reality Satan’s tool of death.
The people also practiced divination and interpreted omens. Such practices attempted to contact the spiritual realm in manners God had not prescribed. Through these actions, the people devoted themselves (literally “sold themselves”) to do what was evil in the LORD’s sight and angered him. They intentionally defied God.
Rejecting God leads to greater folly and evil. People who reject God usually also reject the Bible, because if there is no God, the Bible is not His Word. Consequently, they live as they please and fall deeper into sin. Moses told the people that God had put before them life and death, blessing and curse, and urged them to choose life (Deut. 30:19-20). Living by God’s holy standards means we are free to live as God intends.
18 Therefore, the LORD was very angry with Israel, and he removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah remained. 19 Even Judah did not keep the commands of the LORD their God but lived according to the customs Israel had practiced. 20 So the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel, punished them, and handed them over to plunderers until he had banished them from his presence.
The LORD was very angry with Israel for the sin He saw. After generations of extending grace and patience, he removed them from his presence (that is, from the promised land) and used the Assyrians to scatter them. The year 722/721 BC marked the end of the Northern Kingdom. It began in 930 BC and continued for over two centuries with nineteen kings, all of whom failed to follow the Lord.
Only the tribe of Judah remained. The tribe of Judah was the tribe from which King David and his son Solomon came. Solomon’s son Rehoboam was not able to maintain hold of the entire nation, and a division occurred (1 Kings 12:16-19). During the divided kingdom period, twenty kings ruled Judah, but only eight received a positive spiritual evaluation from the writers of Kings and Chronicles.
Sadly, even Judah did not keep the commands of the LORD their God. One might have expected David’s descendants would have remained faithful since they had received God’s special promise of blessing (2 Sam. 7:12-16; 1 Kings 2:2-4). Interestingly, however, Jeroboam, Israel’s first king, also received such a promise (1 Kings 11:37-38) but rejected it. God used David and Solomon—not perfect men, to be sure—in powerful ways when they followed Him. The inconsistent record of Judah’s kings that followed highlights how each generation must choose for itself to follow God or not.
Judah also lived according to the customs Israel had practiced. Despite seeing the Northern Kingdom’s judgment, the Southern Kingdom likewise did not maintain a pure faith.
The sad result was that the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel. The focus is probably the Northern Kingdom, though in light of verse 19, it likely includes Judah. The Lord punished them for their wickedness and handed them over to plunderers. The word plunderers describes an army that conquered God’s people and then took whatever it wanted. The plunder might even include people, including women and children (2 Kings 5:2; Amos 1:6,9). The statement that the Lord banished them from his presence indicates the severest of God’s judgment, for to be without God was truly to be without anything. The word translated banished can also mean “cast away” and connotes a forceful flinging.
Judgment awaits all who reject God. In the book of Revelation, the apostle John assured his readers that the most blessed part of eternal life is that God is with us directly (Rev. 21:3-4; 22:5). On the other hand, the most awful aspect of God’s judgment is that people who reject Him spend eternity without Him (Matt. 25:41). Second Kings 17 provides a strong warning to those who persist in unbelief and rebellion. Judgment day is coming, and all those who do not know Christ as their Lord and Savior will experience God’s everlasting judgment (Matt. 25:46).
(In PSG, p. 107)
God
Examine cross references to gain deeper insight.
Use a cross reference Bible to identify at least three biblical commands mentioned in 2 Kings 17:7-20 that God’s people ignored or rejected. Consider why the people might have strayed from God’s commands and think of reasons God might have given these particular commands. What are the benefits that come through obeying God or the damage that comes from ignoring Him?