and walked in the customs of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites, as well as in the practices introduced by the kings of Israel. and they had walkedThe phrase "and they had walked" signifies a deliberate and continuous action. In Hebrew, the word "walked" (הָלַךְ, halak) often implies a way of life or conduct. It suggests that the Israelites adopted a lifestyle that was contrary to God's commandments. This walking is not merely physical but spiritual, indicating a journey away from God's path. in the customs of the nations
The "customs of the nations" refers to the practices and traditions of the surrounding pagan nations. The Hebrew word for "customs" (חֻקּוֹת, chuqqot) can also mean statutes or decrees. These were the cultural and religious practices that God had explicitly warned the Israelites against adopting (Leviticus 18:3). The adoption of these customs signifies a profound spiritual compromise and disobedience. that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites
This phrase underscores the historical context of God's judgment against the Canaanite nations. The LORD (יהוה, Yahweh) had driven out these nations due to their abominable practices, as seen in Deuteronomy 9:4-5. The Israelites' adoption of these same practices is a tragic irony, highlighting their failure to remain distinct and holy as God intended. as well as in the practices introduced by the kings of Israel
The "practices introduced by the kings of Israel" refers to the idolatrous innovations and religious syncretism initiated by the northern kings, starting with Jeroboam I, who set up golden calves in Bethel and Dan (1 Kings 12:28-30). These practices were a direct violation of the first and second commandments and led the people further away from true worship of Yahweh. Persons / Places / Events 1. IsraelitesThe chosen people of God, who were expected to follow His commandments and live according to His statutes. 2. Nations Driven OutRefers to the pagan nations that inhabited the Promised Land before the Israelites, whose practices were abominable to God. 3. Kings of IsraelThe rulers of the Northern Kingdom, many of whom led the people into idolatry and away from the worship of Yahweh. 4. Promised LandThe land given by God to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which was to be a place of holiness and obedience to God. 5. Pagan PracticesThe idolatrous and immoral customs of the surrounding nations that were adopted by the Israelites, leading to their downfall. Teaching Points The Danger of Cultural AssimilationThe Israelites' adoption of pagan customs serves as a warning against conforming to worldly practices that contradict God's commands. Leadership and InfluenceThe role of the kings in leading the people astray underscores the importance of godly leadership and the impact it has on a nation's spiritual direction. The Call to HolinessBelievers are called to be set apart, living lives that reflect God's holiness and not the sinful practices of the world around them. Consequences of DisobedienceThe eventual downfall of Israel due to their idolatry and disobedience serves as a sobering reminder of the consequences of turning away from God. The Importance of ScriptureRegular engagement with God's Word helps believers discern truth from error and remain steadfast in their faith amidst cultural pressures. Bible Study Questions 1. What specific practices of the surrounding nations did the Israelites adopt, and why were these practices detestable to God? 2. How did the actions of the kings of Israel contribute to the spiritual decline of the nation, and what can we learn about the influence of leadership today? 3. In what ways are Christians today tempted to conform to the patterns of the world, and how can Romans 12:2 guide us in resisting these temptations? 4. Reflect on a time when you faced pressure to conform to worldly standards. How did you respond, and what biblical principles can help you stand firm in the future? 5. How can regular study and meditation on Scripture help us maintain a life of holiness and obedience to God in a culture that often opposes biblical values? Connections to Other Scriptures Deuteronomy 18:9-14This passage warns the Israelites against adopting the detestable practices of the nations they were to dispossess, emphasizing the need for holiness and separation. 1 Kings 12:25-33Describes how Jeroboam, the first king of the Northern Kingdom, introduced idolatry to prevent the people from worshiping in Jerusalem, setting a precedent for future kings. Romans 12:2Encourages believers not to conform to the patterns of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of their minds, highlighting the ongoing relevance of resisting cultural assimilation. 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 Cast, Customs, Dispossessed, Driven, Drove, Heathen, Introduced, Kings, Nations, Practices, Practised, Presence, Rules, Sons, Statutes, Walk, WalkedDictionary of Bible Themes 2 Kings 17:3-18 7560 Samaritans, the 2 Kings 17:3-23 7233 Israel, northern kingdom 2 Kings 17:5-8 5607 warfare, examples 2 Kings 17:6-23 6659 freedom, acts in OT 2 Kings 17:7-8 5286 custom 2 Kings 17:7-20 8705 apostasy, in OT 2 Kings 17:7-23 6026 sin, judgment on 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 17:8 NIV2 Kings 17:8 NLT2 Kings 17:8 ESV2 Kings 17:8 NASB2 Kings 17:8 KJV
2 Kings 17:8 Commentaries
Bible Hub |
