2 Kings 21:8

Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) Neither will I make the feet (foot) of Israel move (wander) . . .—Comp. the promise in 2Samuel 7:10. The reference is to the migration to Egypt; and the thought is that the permanent possession of the Promised Land depends on the permanent adherence of the nation to Jehovah only.

Only if.—If only.

According to all.—Chronicles rightly has simply (to do) all; and so LXX., Syriac, Vulg., Arabic here.

And according to all the law.—Omit and, with Chronicles and the Vatican LXX.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

21:1-9 Young persons generally desire to become their own masters, and to have early possession of riches and power. But this, for the most part, ruins their future comfort, and causes mischief to others. It is much happier when young persons are sheltered under the care of parents or guardians, till age gives experience and discretion. Though such young persons are less indulged, they will afterwards be thankful. Manasseh wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, as if on purpose to provoke him to anger; he did more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed. Manasseh went on from bad to worse, till carried captive to Babylon. The people were ready to comply with his wishes, to obtain his favour and because it suited their depraved inclinations. In the reformation of large bodies, numbers are mere time-servers, and in temptation fall away.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A graven image of the grove - Rather, "the carved work of the Asherah." This Asherah which Manasseh placed in the very temple itself, from where it was afterward taken by Josiah to be destroyed 2 Kings 23:6. Such a profanation was beyond anything that had been done either by Athaliah 2 Kings 11:18, or by Ahaz 2 Kings 16:14-18; 2 Chronicles 29:5-7.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8. Neither will I make the feet of Israel move … out of the land which I gave their fathers—alluding to the promise (2Sa 7:10).

only if they will observe, &c.—This condition was expressed from the first plantation of Israel in Canaan. But that people not only did not keep it, but through the pernicious influence of Manasseh, were seduced into greater excesses of idolatrous corruption than even the original Canaanites.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Move any more out of the land; they shall no more be carried captives into a strange land, as it had happened before.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers,.... Or suffer them to be carried captive into another land, as in the times of the judges; that is, on the following condition:

only if they will observe to do according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them by obedience to which they had the tenure of the land of Canaan, Isaiah 1:19.

Geneva Study Bible

Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will {b} observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.

(b) Therefore seeing they did not obey the commandment of God, they were justly cast from the land which they had only on condition.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8. neither will I make [R.V. cause] the feet of Israel move] R.V. to wander. The verb has the notion of a restless unsettled state. It is used (Genesis 4:12; Genesis 4:14) of Cain as a ‘vagabond’.

only if] R.V. if only. At the end of this clause there are not two sets of commands spoken of. ‘That which I have commanded them’ is only explained by ‘the law that my servant Moses commanded them’.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers. The writer's argument is that Manasseh, by these impieties, annulled God's promises, brought about the destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem, and caused the entire people to be carried off into captivity. The promises of permanence to the city and temple, and of the continued possession of the laud by the people, were, he notes, conditional; and Manasseh, by breaking through the conditions, forfeited them (comp. 2 Kings 24:3). Only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all that my servant Moses commanded them. The words are not taken from any single passage, but express the general sense of numerous passages, as for example of Deuteronomy 4:25-27; Deuteronomy 30:15-19; Psalm 89:28-32; 1 Kings 9:4-9, etc. 2 Kings 21:8

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The word of the Lord, "I will no more make the foot of Israel to move out of the land which I gave to their fathers," refers to the promise in 2 Samuel 7:10 : "I will appoint my people a place, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and be stirred up no more," which had been fulfilled by the building of the temple as the seat of the name of the Lord, in the manner indicated in pp. 85ff. The lasting fulfilment of this promise, however, was made to rest upon the condition of Israel's faithful adherence to the commandments of God (cf. 1 Kings 9:6.).