2 Rois 17:21 Commentaire

This chapter gives us an account of the captivity of the ten tribes, and so finishes the history of that kingdom, after it had continued about 265 years, from the setting up of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. In it we have, I. A short narrative of this destruction (Kg2 17:1-6). II. Remarks upon it, and the causes of it, for the justifying of God in it and for warning to others (v. 7-23). III. An account of the nations which succeeded them in the possession of their land, and the mongrel religion set up among them (v. 24-41).

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 17 This chapter relates the captivity of the ten tribes of Israel, and how it came about, Kg2 17:1, the cause of it, their idolatry, which they persisted in, notwithstanding the remonstrances made against it, Kg2 17:7, in whose stead were placed people from different parts, who exercised a mixed religion, partly Heathenish, and partly Israelitish, Kg2 17:24.

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 Kg1 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 Hos 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.

“Faithless Israel has shown itself less guilty than false Judah.” The letter of the text just read has something unclear that we need to understand first. Then, after this, if God wills, we shall know his mystical plan. He wants us then to know in these words, just as it is written in Kings, that the people were divided in those times into the kingdom of ten tribes under Jeroboam and the kingdom of two tribes under Roboam. And those under Jeroboam were called Israel, and those under Roboam Judah. And the division of the people persisted, according to the history, until today. For we know of nothing in the history that united Israel and Judah “into the same nation.” Then Israel first, under Jeroboam and under his successors, sinned excessively, and Israel sinned so much beyond Judah that they were sentenced by providence to become captives “to the Assyrians until the sign,” as the Scripture says. After this, the people of Judah also sinned, and as captives they were sentenced to Babylon, not until a sign, as Israel, but for “seventy years,” as Jeremiah prophesied and Daniel also mentioned.

[The Lord] takes hold of two principal lions, the Assyrians and the Babylonians. According to the history in the fourth book of Kings, there are two. For Assyria removed the sons of Israel to Assyria “until today,” but Babylon removed the sons of Judah “to Babylon.” Except he did not say here first and second, but first and last. For the first lion is the antagonistic devil; he is a murderer. The very last lion at the completion of the age is “the man of sin, the son of perdition, who exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship.”

Finally, how inseparable is the sacrament of unity and how hopeless are they and what greatest perdition they seek for themselves from the indignation of God—they who make a schism and, after having abandoned their bishop, appoint for themselves another false bishop from without—the divine Scripture declares in the book of Kings, when from the tribe of Judah and Benjamin ten tribes were separated and, abandoning their king, appointed themselves another from without. “And the Lord was offended,” it says, “at all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them and delivered them up to plunder till he cast them away from his face because Israel was torn from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam son of Nabath their king.” It said that the Lord was offended and gave them over to perdition because they had been dispersed from unity and had appointed another king for themselves.And so great indignation of the Lord remained against those who had made the schism that even when the man of God had been sent to Jeroboam to upbraid him for his sins and to foretell future vengeance, he was forbidden also to eat bread and to drink water among them. Since he had not heeded this and had dined contrary to the precept of God, he was immediately stricken by the majesty of divine censure; on his return, he was killed on the journey by the attack and bite of a lion. And does anyone of you dare to say that the life-giving water of baptism and heavenly grace can be common with schismatics with whom neither earthly food nor worldly drink ought to be common? Moreover, the Lord satisfies us in his gospel and reveals a greater light of understanding that the same people who then had separated themselves from the tribe of Judah and Benjamin and, after having abandoned Jerusalem, had withdrawn to Samaria should be reputed among the profane and the Gentiles. For when he first sent his disciples upon the ministry of salvation, he commanded and said, “Do not go in the direction of the Gentiles or enter the town of the Samaritans.” Sending first to the Jews, he orders the Gentiles to be passed over as yet; but, adding that the city of the Samaritans, where there were schismatics, ought to be omitted, he shows that the schismatics were in the same category as the Gentiles.

Hoshea's wicked reign, Kg2 17:1, Kg2 17:2. Shalmaneser comes up against him, makes him tributary, and then casts him into prison, Kg2 17:3, Kg2 17:4. He besieges Samaria three years; and at last takes it, and carries Israel captive into Assyria, and places them in different cities of the Assyrians and Medes, Kg2 17:5, Kg2 17:6. The reason why Israel was thus afflicted; their idolatry, obstinacy, divination, etc., Kg2 17:7-18. Judah copies the misconduct of Israel, Kg2 17:19. The Lord rejects all the seed of Israel, Kg2 17:20-23. The king of Assyria brings different nations and places them in Samaria, and the cities from which the Israelites had been led away into captivity, Kg2 17:24. Many of these strange people are destroyed by lions, Kg2 17:25. The king of Assyria sends back some of the Israelitish priests to teach these nations the worship of Jehovah; which worship they incorporate with their own idolatry, Kg2 17:26-33. The state of the Israelites, and strange nations in the land of Israel, Kg2 17:34-41.

HOSHEA'S WICKED REIGN. (Kg2 17:1-6) In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, began Hoshea . . . to reign--The statement in Kg2 15:30 may be reconciled with the present passage in the following manner: Hoshea conspired against Pekah in the twentieth year of the latter, which was the eighteenth of Jotham's reign. It was two years before Hoshea was acknowledged king of Israel, that is, in the fourth of Ahaz, and twentieth of Jotham. In the twelfth year of Ahaz his reign began to be tranquil and prosperous [CALMET].

Reign of Hoshea King of Israel. - Kg2 17:1. In the twelfth year of Ahaz began Hoshea to reign. As Hoshea conspired against Pekah, according to Kg2 15:30, in the fourth year of Ahaz, and after murdering him made himself king, whereas according to the verse before us it was not till the twelfth year of Ahaz that he really became king, his possession of the throne must have been contested for eight years. The earlier commentators and almost all the chronologists have therefore justly assumed that there was en eight years' anarchy between the death of Pekah and the commencement of Hoshea's reign. This assumption merits the preference above all the attempts made to remove the discrepancy by alterations of the text, since there is nothing at all surprising in the existence of anarchy at a time when the kingdom was in a state of the greatest inward disturbance and decay. Hoshea reigned nine years, and "did that which was evil in the eyes of Jehovah, though not like the kings of Israel before him" (Kg2 17:2). We are not told in what Hoshea was better than his predecessors, nor can it be determined with any certainty, although the assumption that he allowed his subjects to visit the temple at Jerusalem is a very probable one, inasmuch as, according to Ch2 30:10., Hezekiah invited to the feast of the Passover, held at Jerusalem, the Israelites from Ephraim and Manasseh as far as to Zebulun, and some individuals from these tribes accepted his invitation. But although Hoshea was better than his predecessors, the judgment of destruction burst upon the sinful kingdom and people in his reign, because he had not truly turned to the Lord; a fact which has been frequently repeated in the history of the world, namely, that the last rulers of a decaying kingdom have not been so bad as their forefathers. "God is accustomed to defer the punishment of the elders in the greatness of His long-suffering, to see whether their descendants will come to repentance; but if this be not the case, although they may not be so bad, the anger of God proceeds at length to visit iniquity (cf. Exo 20:5)." Seb. Schmidt.