The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, The men of BabylonThe reference to "the men of Babylon" highlights the origin of these settlers who were brought into the land of Israel after the Assyrian conquest. Babylon, a city known for its grandeur and idolatry, was a center of pagan worship. Historically, Babylon was a powerful empire, and its influence extended into religious practices. The Babylonians were known for their pantheon of gods, and their presence in Israel signifies the introduction of foreign religious practices that were contrary to the worship of Yahweh. made Succoth-benoth
"Succoth-benoth" is believed to be a deity worshiped by the Babylonians. The name itself is somewhat obscure, but it is thought to refer to a goddess associated with fertility or protection. The creation of this idol by the Babylonians in Israel represents the syncretism that occurred when foreign peoples settled in the land. This act of making idols is a direct violation of the first two commandments given to Israel, emphasizing the spiritual decline and the mixing of pagan practices with the worship of the one true God. the men of Cuth
The "men of Cuth" refers to people from Cuthah, another region under Assyrian control. Cuthah was known for its own distinct religious practices and deities. The mention of these people underscores the diversity of pagan influences that were introduced into Israel. Historically, the Assyrians relocated conquered peoples to prevent rebellion, leading to a melting pot of cultures and religions in the land of Israel. made Nergal
"Nergal" was a deity worshiped by the people of Cuthah, often associated with war, death, and the underworld. The worship of Nergal in Israel signifies the deepening apostasy and the acceptance of foreign gods. This idol represents the spiritual darkness that had enveloped the land, as the Israelites turned away from the covenant with Yahweh and embraced the gods of their conquerors. the men of Hamath
The "men of Hamath" were from a city-state located in modern-day Syria. Hamath was another region that fell under Assyrian control, and its people were relocated to Israel. The inclusion of Hamathites in this verse highlights the widespread nature of idolatry and the various cultural influences that were present in Israel during this period. made Ashima
"Ashima" is another deity, possibly linked to a god of fate or destiny. The creation of Ashima by the Hamathites in Israel further illustrates the religious pluralism that had taken root. This idol, like the others mentioned, represents a departure from the exclusive worship of Yahweh and the acceptance of foreign gods, which led to the spiritual and moral decline of the nation. Persons / Places / Events 1. BabylonA significant city in ancient Mesopotamia, known for its influence and power. In this context, it represents the origin of certain idolatrous practices brought into Israel. 2. Succoth-benothAn idol or deity worshiped by the people of Babylon. The name suggests a connection to booths or tents, possibly indicating a festival or ritual practice. 3. CuthA region from which people were brought into Israel. The inhabitants brought with them the worship of Nergal, a deity associated with war and the underworld. 4. NergalA deity worshiped by the people of Cuth, often associated with war, death, and the underworld in Mesopotamian mythology. 5. HamathAnother region whose people were resettled in Israel. They introduced the worship of Ashima, a deity about whom little is known but is part of the syncretistic practices condemned in this passage. Teaching Points The Danger of SyncretismMixing true worship with pagan practices leads to spiritual compromise. Believers must guard against incorporating non-biblical elements into their faith. The Consequences of DisobedienceThe Israelites' failure to remain faithful to God resulted in their exile. Disobedience to God's commands can lead to severe consequences in our lives. The Importance of Purity in WorshipGod desires pure and undivided worship. We must examine our practices to ensure they align with biblical teachings. Cultural Influence on FaithJust as the Israelites were influenced by surrounding cultures, we must be vigilant about how modern culture affects our beliefs and practices. God's Call to HolinessGod calls His people to be set apart. This requires a commitment to holiness and a rejection of practices that lead us away from Him. Bible Study Questions 1. What are some modern-day "idols" that can distract us from true worship of God, and how can we guard against them? 2. How does the account of Israel's idolatry in 2 Kings 17:30 serve as a warning for us today in maintaining the purity of our faith? 3. In what ways can cultural influences lead us away from biblical truth, and how can we discern and resist these influences? 4. How does the commandment against idolatry in Exodus 20 relate to the events described in 2 Kings 17:30? 5. Reflect on a time when you faced a choice between following God's commands and succumbing to external pressures. What did you learn from that experience, and how can it apply to your current walk with God? Connections to Other Scriptures Exodus 20:3-5This passage connects to the commandment against idolatry, emphasizing the prohibition of worshiping other gods and making idols. Deuteronomy 12:29-31These verses warn against adopting the religious practices of other nations, which is precisely what happened in 2 Kings 17:30. 1 Kings 11:1-8Solomon's downfall due to idolatry serves as a parallel, showing the dangers of foreign influences leading to the worship of false gods. 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 Ashima, Ashi'ma, Babylon, Benoth, Cuth, Cuthah, Hamath, Nergal, Succoth, Succothbenoth, Succoth-benoth, Suc'coth-be'nothDictionary of Bible Themes 2 Kings 17:24-33 4215 Babylon 2 Kings 17:24-41 7560 Samaritans, the 2 Kings 17:27-34 8720 double-mindedness 2 Kings 17:29-33 7442 shrine 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 17:30 NIV2 Kings 17:30 NLT2 Kings 17:30 ESV2 Kings 17:30 NASB2 Kings 17:30 KJV
2 Kings 17:30 Commentaries
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