2 Kings 17

Verse 1. Twelfth. Houbigant would substitute 14th, to make the dates agree, p. 113. See Calmet. 15:30. Bible.—Till this time, Osee had been tributary to the Assyrian monarch. Grotius.—Hebrew may be, “in the 12th year … Osee … had reigned … nine years; which his true. Calmet.—He reigned so long afterwards, verse 6. Bible.

Verse 2. Him. The Jews say, that he did not hinder his subjects from going to Jerusalem to adore. One of the golden calves had been sent away by Manahem. Osee 10:5. Calmet.—Yet under the less wicked king the nation is destroyed, as their crimes were come to the height; and Osee had not sufficient virtue to suspend the stroke of divine justice any longer. Bible.

Verse 3. Salmanasar, who is called Salman, or Salomo; (Osee 10:14) and Enemassar, in the Greek of Toby. The Tyrians relate that he took many of their towns, but that Tyre sustained a siege of five years. Joseph. ix. 14.

Verse 4. Sua; probably Sabachon, king of Ethiopia, who made himself master of Egypt, and burnt king Bocchoris alive. Herodotus (ii. 137.) calls him Abacus. Jocquelot thinks that Sethon is meant, and that he was invaded by Sennacherib on account of this league with Osee. Calmet.—Prison, after he had taken the city, ( Bible.) which held out three years. This great city was then reduced to a heap of ruins, and so continued till after the captivity of the Jews, (1 Ezra 4:17) when it began to be peopled again. The inhabitants revolted against Alexander the Great, who placed Macedonians in their city, and gave the territory to the Jews. It was afterwards seized by the kings of Egypt and of Syria. But Hyrcan retook it, and levelled it with the ground. Gabinius built another town here, which bore his name till Herod greatly enlarged it, and called it Sebaste. Calmet.—The prophets describe the distress of Samaria. Osee 10:4 and 14:1. Mic. 1:6. Jeremiah 31:5.

Verse 6. Medes. See Calmet. 16:9. The great maxim and policy of these nations, was to transport the conquered nations to a distant country, in order to prevent any revolts. Calmet.

Verse 9. Offended. Hebrew “They concealed (or spoke secretly, Bible.) words, which were not right before the Lord:” ( Calmet.) being guilty of hypocrisy or of blasphemy. Bible.—Watchmen: the meanest huts. Tirinus.—All was contaminated. Calmet.—Towers were erected to guard the flocks from thieves. 2 Chronicles 26:10. Menochius.

Verse 10. Groves. Hebrew Asherim, Astarte or Venus, to whom “the groves” were consecrated. Calmet. 21:7. and 23:4. Calmet.

Verse 11. Removed by the sword, ( Menochius.) or by flight. Bible.

Verse 12. Abominations. Hebrew gillulim, “idols of dung.”—Thing. Lit. “word.”

Verse 13. Seers. See 1 Kennicott. 9:9. Menochius.—God never ceased to admonish the rebels. Bible.—Jeremiah 25:5. Menochius.

Verse 15. Testimonies. The ceremonial law was in memory of some great transactions, as the sabbath was of the creation; and the whole law was given with great solemnity, in the presence of witnesses. Calmet.

Verse 16. Heaven: sun and mood; and the stars, which were like the soldiers of the two former. This expression is very common in Scripture.

Verse 17. Fire. See Calmet. 16:3.—Delivered. Hebrew “sold,” 3 Kennicott. 21:20. 1 Maccabees 1:16. Calmet.—To provoke. This was the consequence of their wickedness. Worthington.

Verse 18. Sight, as objects of horror, cast away from the temple, and from the promised land.—Tribe, or kingdom. See 3 Kennicott. 12:20. Israel began to be rejected by God, when the schism took place. Bible.—It was entirely lost, when Salmanasar took the people into captivity. Some few were left; and these formed a part of the kingdom of Josias, on their returning to the service of the true God, (2 Chronicles 24:6) while others fled into Egypt. Osee 8:13 and 9:3. Calmet.

Verse 23. Day. If Esdras was the author of this book, as it is very probable, this observation would tend to show how much more favourably the Jews were treated than the kingdom of Israel, which was still, for the most part, in captivity. Calmet.

Verse 24. King, Assaraddon, who led away the remnants of Israel, and fulfilled the prediction, Isaiah 7:8. D.—Babylon, or the territory. These people had been lately conquered from the Babylonian empire, from Syria, and so forth—Cutha: the greatest part were from this city; so that the Samaritans were afterwards called Cutheans.—Emath, on the Orontes.—Sepharvaim; or the Saspires, near Media. Calmet.—We find several other places mentioned, 1 Ezra 4:9. Bible.

Verse 25. Lions. The Sam. Chronicle says the fruits, though beautiful to the eye, were of a poisonous quality; and Josephus, as usual, (ix. 14.) alters the text, saying that the people were afflicted with pestilence, and the oracle being consulted, told them to worship the High God; on which account, they desired the king to send them a priest. Calmet.—These nations had not been accustomed to fear the Lord in their own country; but God was more offended when they exercised their idolatrous worship in that land, which he had chosen in a particular manner for himself. Menochius.—He suffers wickedness and infidelity to prevail to a certain point; but when his patience is exhausted, ( Calmet.) all nature fights for him against the wicked. Bible.

Verse 26. King; Assar-adon. 1 Ezra 4:2. They did not send as soon as they came into the country.—Land. They reason according to their false notions, as if a plurality of gods were not incompatible: and all would go on well, if each were served according to his will. On the same principle, they united the worship of the true God with that of idols, ( Calmet.) as had been done before by the Israelites. Menochius.—Yet God having shewn that he could have forced them to comply, (Tostat.) was pleased to remove the scourge; as if he preferred that imperfect worship rather than to suffer pure idolatry to reign. Genebrard.

Verse 27. Let him. Hebrew Chal. Septuagint “them go.” Probably more went; but one was of superior dignity. He might have been priest of the golden calves, as none of the priests of Jerusalem had yet been taken. Hence he taught the Cutheans to join the worship of God with that of idols. Some think that no part of the Scripture was used among them, till the building of the temple by Sanballat, on Mount Garizim: (Le Quien, Antiquite. verse 13.) but this is extremely improbable. How should he pretend to teach the law without the books of Moses? Bible.—The Samaritans have retained the Pentateuch in the Phœnician character, while the Jews have insensibly adopted the Chaldee, during their captivity. On some occasions, these people have boasted of their descent from the patriarchs. John 4:12 and 20. But in times of danger, they have confessed their true origin. Joseph. ix. fin. and xii. 5.

Hebrew: them

Verse 28. Bethel. Garizim was not then honoured with the temple, as the Samaritans would pretend. Chron. They wished to join in building that at Jerusalem, under Esdras. Calmet.—Lord. Collins would make us believe, that the Samaritans continued “for a long time” without the Pentateuch, and all “heathens for many ages.” But the first supposition “is to me incredible,” says Kennicott; and Hottinger himself allows, that the priests did bring back a copy of the law “exactly corresponding with the autograph of Moses.” Exert. p. 8. And as for the Samaritans being heathens, Prideaux, whom this infidel writer quotes, ( Bible.) says, “consistently with his Bible, that they continued in that gross idolatry of worshipping other gods in conjunction with the True; which last words are very unfairly omitted.” Kennicott, Diss. ii. p. 115.—This was the true origin and state of this mixture of nations, who were sent to cultivate the lands of Samaria. Bible.

Verse 29. Dwelt. This impure service did not deserve a mitigation of the late chastisement. But God often punishes in this world ( Bible.) to manifest his glory, (John 9:3) and spares to display his power ( Calmet.) and goodness. Bible.—He had sufficiently convinced these nations of his dominion over all.

Verse 30. Socoth-benoth, “the tents of young women,” who prostituted themselves once in their lives at Babylon, in honour of Mylitta. Herod. ii. 199.—Nergel, “light.” Calmet.—The Pyreia ( Bible.) of the Persians are famous in history. Strabo xv. Selden, Synt. ii. 8.—Asima, like an ape, goat, and so forth Calmet.

Verse 31. Hevites, who came from Ava.—Nebahaz. “Nebo the seeing, or living and possessing.” Nebo was a famous idol of Babylon.—Tharthac; perhaps Sar, (prince) Sak, or Sesac, (Jeremiah 25:26 and 51:41) the sun, and so forth—Adramelech, “the magnificent king,” and Anamelech, “the king of clemency,” may denote the sun and moon; as these were the divinities commonly adored in the East, under various names. The same victims were offered to these as to Moloc and Saturn; whence we may infer, that they were the same idols. S. Jerom translates the work of Eusebius on the Hebrew ( Calmet.) and places without any disapprobation of his opinion, that Socoth-benoth, and so forth were the names of towns, which the people built in Samaria. Bible.

Verse 32. Worshipped, or appeared to worship: for true religion admits of no false god. Worthington.—Lowest. This expression sometimes means the most noble. Bible.—But the priests were chosen from the midst of the people, without examination. They employed the priest, whom the king had sent for the worship of the true God, whilst others were appointed to serve the idols. Calmet.

Verse 34. His ceremonies. Hebrew “they fear not the Lord, neither do they after their statutes.” Prot. Bible.—This involves a sort of contradiction, unless we explain it of the Israelites; thought hey had not been mentioned before. There is a confusion in the original text; and verse 41 seems to require that we should understand it in this manner, as the Cutheans could hardly be blamed for neglecting a thing of which they had before no knowledge. The Israelites are justly blamed for obstinately continuing in their prevarication, even in the midst of their captivity. The Syr. and Arab. translate, “The Israelites have been forced to leave their country, because they have abandoned the Lord; and they have not obeyed his laws, his precepts, and his ordinances, which he gave to,” and so forth Many adopt this explanation. Jun. Vatab. and so forth Calmet.—Septuagint make these people unite the true and the false worship, as verse 41. “They did according to their judgment. These fear, and do according to their justifications (δικαιωματα) and decision; and according to the law,” and so forth Bible.