Yet through all His prophets and seers, the LORD warned Israel and Judah, saying, "Turn from your wicked ways and keep My commandments and statutes, according to the entire Law that I commanded your fathers and delivered to you through My servants the prophets." Yet through all His prophets and seersThe phrase highlights the persistent and comprehensive nature of God's communication with His people. The Hebrew word for "prophets" is "נְבִיאִים" (nevi'im), which refers to those who are divinely inspired to deliver God's messages. "Seers" (רֹאִים, ro'im) were those who received visions from God. This dual mention underscores the various means through which God reached out to His people, emphasizing His desire for them to return to Him. Historically, prophets and seers played crucial roles in guiding Israel, often standing against prevailing cultural and religious norms to call the nation back to covenant faithfulness. the LORD warned Israel and Judah
The use of "the LORD" (יהוה, Yahweh) signifies the covenantal relationship between God and His people. The warning is not merely a prediction of doom but a call to repentance. "Israel and Judah" refers to the divided kingdoms, both of which were recipients of God's messages. This historical context is significant as it shows God's impartiality and His desire for both kingdoms to return to Him, despite their political and spiritual divisions. saying, 'Turn from your evil ways
The Hebrew word for "turn" is "שׁוּב" (shuv), which means to return or repent. This is a central theme in the prophetic literature, emphasizing a change of heart and direction. "Evil ways" refers to the idolatry and moral corruption that had permeated the society. The call to turn is both an invitation and a command, reflecting God's justice and mercy. and keep My commandments and statutes
"Keep" (שָׁמַר, shamar) implies guarding, observing, and obeying. "Commandments" (מִצְוֹת, mitzvot) and "statutes" (חֻקִּים, chukim) refer to the laws given by God, which were meant to guide the Israelites in righteous living. This phrase underscores the importance of obedience as a response to God's covenantal love and as a means of maintaining a relationship with Him. according to all the law that I commanded your fathers
This phrase points back to the Mosaic Law, which was foundational for Israel's identity and relationship with God. "Your fathers" refers to the patriarchs and the generations that received the law at Sinai. The historical context here is crucial, as it reminds the Israelites of their heritage and the continuity of God's expectations. and delivered to you through My servants the prophets
"Delivered" (נָתַן, natan) indicates the transmission of divine revelation. "My servants the prophets" highlights the role of prophets as God's chosen messengers. This phrase emphasizes the continuity of God's message and His faithfulness in providing guidance through His appointed representatives. The historical role of prophets was not only to foretell but to forth-tell, calling the people back to the covenant. Persons / Places / Events 1. The LORDThe covenant God of Israel, who communicates His will and warnings through His prophets. 2. Prophets and SeersGod's chosen messengers who convey His warnings and instructions to the people of Israel and Judah. 3. Israel and JudahThe divided kingdoms of God's chosen people, who are being warned to turn from their sinful ways. 4. Commandments and StatutesThe laws given by God to the Israelites, which they are called to obey. 5. FathersThe ancestors of the Israelites, who received God's law and covenant. Teaching Points God's Persistent WarningsGod, in His mercy, continually warns His people through prophets. We should be attentive to God's warnings in our lives today, whether through Scripture, spiritual leaders, or personal conviction. Call to RepentanceThe call to "turn from your evil ways" is timeless. Repentance is a crucial step in restoring our relationship with God and aligning our lives with His will. Obedience to God's LawObedience to God's commandments is not just a historical requirement but a present-day expectation for believers. We should strive to live according to God's Word. The Role of ProphetsProphets played a vital role in guiding and correcting God's people. Today, we can look to Scripture and godly counsel for guidance and correction. Consequences of DisobedienceIgnoring God's warnings leads to consequences. We should learn from Israel and Judah's mistakes and seek to live in obedience to God. Bible Study Questions 1. How does God's use of prophets in 2 Kings 17:13 demonstrate His character and His desire for His people? 2. In what ways can we "turn from our evil ways" in today's context, and what role does repentance play in our spiritual lives? 3. How can we ensure that we are attentive to God's warnings and instructions in our daily lives? 4. What are some practical ways we can live in obedience to God's commandments and statutes today? 5. How can we apply the lessons from Israel and Judah's disobedience to avoid similar pitfalls in our own spiritual journey? Connections to Other Scriptures Deuteronomy 6:1-9This passage emphasizes the importance of keeping God's commandments, which were given to the fathers of Israel. Jeremiah 25:4-5Similar to 2 Kings 17:13, this passage highlights God's persistent sending of prophets to warn the people to turn from their evil ways. Amos 3:7This verse underscores the role of prophets as God's mouthpiece, revealing His plans and warnings to His people. 2 Chronicles 36:15-16This passage describes how God repeatedly sent messengers to His people, but they mocked and despised them, leading to judgment. People Adrammelech, Ahaz, Anammelech, Avites, Avvites, David, Elah, Hoshea, Israelites, Jacob, Jeroboam, Nebat, Pharaoh, Sepharvites, ShalmaneserPlaces Assyria, Avva, Babylon, Bethel, Cuth, Cuthah, Egypt, Gozan, Habor River, Halah, Hamath, Samaria, SepharvaimTopics Accordance, Commanded, Commandments, Commands, Decrees, Delivered, Entire, Evil, Fathers, Forewarned, Guided, Judah, Law, Obey, Observe, Orders, Prophet, Prophets, Rules, Saying, Seer, Seers, Servants, Statutes, Testified, Testifieth, Turn, Warned, Witness, YetDictionary of Bible Themes 2 Kings 17:13 5408 messenger
5777 admonition
6027 sin, remedy for
6733 repentance, nature of
7773 prophets, role
7781 seer
8244 ethics, and grace 2 Kings 17:3-18 7560 Samaritans, the 2 Kings 17:3-23 7233 Israel, northern kingdom 2 Kings 17:6-23 6659 freedom, acts in OT 2 Kings 17:7-20 8705 apostasy, in OT 2 Kings 17:7-23 6026 sin, judgment on 2 Kings 17:13-14 1611 Scripture, inspiration and authority
6627 conversion, nature of
8404 commands, in OT 2 Kings 17:13-20 6195 impenitence, results Library Divided Worship
'These nations feared the Lord, and served their own gods.'--2 KINGS xvii. 33. The kingdom of Israel had come to its fated end. Its king and people had been carried away captives in accordance with the cruel policy of the great Eastern despotisms, which had so much to do with weakening them by their very conquests. The land had lain desolate and uncultivated for many years, savage beasts had increased in the untilled solitudes, even as weeds and nettles grew in the gardens and vineyards of Samaria. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureA Kingdom's Epitaph
'In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. 7. For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, 8. And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture September the Eleventh a Fatal Divorce
"They feared the Lord, and served their own gods." --2 KINGS xvii. 24-34. And that is an old-world record, but it is quite a modern experience. The kinsmen of these ancient people are found in our own time. Men still fear one God and serve another. But something is vitally wrong when men can divorce their fear from their obedience. And the beginning of the wrong is in the fear itself. "Fear," as used in this passage, is a counterfeit coin, which does not ring true to the truth. It means only the …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year Upon Our Lord's SermonOn the Mount
Discourse 9 "No man can serve two masters; For either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: For they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions Mongrel Religion
I. I shall first call your attention to THE NATURE OF THIS Mongrel Religion. It had its good and bad points, for it wore a double face. These people were not infidels. Far from it: "they feared the Lord." They did not deny the existence, or the power, or the rights of the great God of Israel, whose name is Jehovah. They had not the pride of Pharaoh who said, "Who is Jehovah that I should obey his voice?" They were not like those whom David calls "fools," who said in their hearts, "There is no God." …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 27: 1881 Building in Troublous Times
'Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the Lord God of Israel; 2. Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto Him since the days of Esar-haddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither. 3. But Zerubbabel, and Joshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Profession and Practice.
18th Sunday after Trinity. S. Matt. xxii. 42. "What think ye of Christ?" INTRODUCTION.--Many men are Christians neither in understanding nor in heart. Some are Christians in heart, and not in understanding. Some in understanding, and not in heart, and some are Christians in both. If I were to go into a Temple of the Hindoos, or into a Synagogue of the Jews, and were to ask, "What think ye of Christ?" the people there would shake their heads and deny that He is God, and reject His teaching. The …
S. Baring-Gould—The Village Pulpit, Volume II. Trinity to Advent The Original Text and Its History.
1. The original language of the Old Testament is Hebrew, with the exception of certain portions of Ezra and Daniel and a single verse of Jeremiah, (Ezra 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26; Dan. 2:4, from the middle of the verse to end of chap. 7; Jer. 10:11,) which are written in the cognate Chaldee language. The Hebrew belongs to a stock of related languages commonly called Shemitic, because spoken mainly by the descendants of Shem. Its main divisions are: (1,) the Arabic, having its original seat in the …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible The Prophet Hosea.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. That the kingdom of Israel was the object of the prophet's ministry is so evident, that upon this point all are, and cannot but be, agreed. But there is a difference of opinion as to whether the prophet was a fellow-countryman of those to whom he preached, or was called by God out of the kingdom of Judah. The latter has been asserted with great confidence by Maurer, among others, in his Observ. in Hos., in the Commentat. Theol. ii. i. p. 293. But the arguments …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament A Sermon on Isaiah xxvi. By John Knox.
[In the Prospectus of our Publication it was stated, that one discourse, at least, would be given in each number. A strict adherence to this arrangement, however, it is found, would exclude from our pages some of the most talented discourses of our early Divines; and it is therefore deemed expedient to depart from it as occasion may require. The following Sermon will occupy two numbers, and we hope, that from its intrinsic value, its historical interest, and the illustrious name of its author, it …
John Knox—The Pulpit Of The Reformation, Nos. 1, 2 and 3. Of the Power of Making Laws. The Cruelty of the Pope and his Adherents, in this Respect, in Tyrannically Oppressing and Destroying Souls.
1. The power of the Church in enacting laws. This made a source of human traditions. Impiety of these traditions. 2. Many of the Papistical traditions not only difficult, but impossible to be observed. 3. That the question may be more conveniently explained, nature of conscience must be defined. 4. Definition of conscience explained. Examples in illustration of the definition. 5. Paul's doctrine of submission to magistrates for conscience sake, gives no countenance to the Popish doctrine of the obligation …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion A More Particular view of the Several Branches of the Christian Temper, by which the Reader May be Farther Assisted in Judging what He Is, And
1, 2. The importance of the case engages to a more particular survey what manner of spirit we are of.--3. Accordingly the Christian temper is described, by some general views of it, as a new and divine temper.--4. As resembling that of Christ.--5. And as engaging us to be spiritually minded, and to walk by faith.--6. A plan of the remainder.--7. In which the Christian temper is more particularly considered with regard to the blessed God: as including fear, affection, and obedience.--8, 9. Faith and …
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul Solomon's Temple Spiritualized
or, Gospel Light Fetched out of the Temple at Jerusalem, to Let us More Easily into the Glory of New Testament Truths. 'Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Isreal;--shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out hereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof.'--Ezekiel 43:10, 11 London: Printed for, and sold by George Larkin, at the Two Swans without Bishopgate, …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3 Kings
The book[1] of Kings is strikingly unlike any modern historical narrative. Its comparative brevity, its curious perspective, and-with some brilliant exceptions--its relative monotony, are obvious to the most cursory perusal, and to understand these things is, in large measure, to understand the book. It covers a period of no less than four centuries. Beginning with the death of David and the accession of Solomon (1 Kings i., ii.) it traverses his reign with considerable fulness (1 Kings iii.-xi.), …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links 2 Kings 17:13 NIV2 Kings 17:13 NLT2 Kings 17:13 ESV2 Kings 17:13 NASB2 Kings 17:13 KJV
2 Kings 17:13 Commentaries
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