and even Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but lived according to the customs Israel had introduced. and even JudahThe phrase "and even Judah" highlights the surprising and disappointing nature of Judah's actions. Historically, Judah was the southern kingdom, often seen as more faithful compared to the northern kingdom of Israel. The Hebrew word for Judah, "יְהוּדָה" (Yehudah), means "praised" or "celebrated," which adds a layer of irony to their failure. This phrase sets the stage for understanding that Judah, despite its heritage and the presence of the Temple in Jerusalem, was not immune to the same spiritual failings as Israel. did not keep
The phrase "did not keep" is derived from the Hebrew word "שָׁמַר" (shamar), meaning to guard, watch, or preserve. This word implies a deliberate neglect or failure to protect something valuable. In this context, it underscores Judah's failure to guard the commandments, which were meant to be a source of life and blessing. The use of "did not keep" suggests a conscious choice to abandon their covenantal responsibilities. the commandments of the LORD their God
This phrase refers to the divine laws given by God to the Israelites, encapsulated in the Torah. The Hebrew word for commandments, "מִצְוֹת" (mitzvot), signifies directives meant to guide the moral and spiritual life of the people. The use of "the LORD their God" emphasizes the personal relationship and covenant between God (YHWH) and Judah. It is a reminder of the unique identity and calling of the people of Judah, who were to be a light to the nations through their obedience. but walked in the customs
The phrase "but walked in the customs" indicates a lifestyle or habitual practice. The Hebrew word for "walked," "הָלַךְ" (halak), often signifies one's manner of life or conduct. This suggests that Judah adopted a way of life contrary to God's commandments. The term "customs" refers to practices or traditions, often associated with the surrounding pagan nations. This highlights the influence of cultural assimilation and the abandonment of distinctiveness as God's people. Israel had introduced
This phrase points to the northern kingdom of Israel, which had established its own religious practices contrary to God's commandments. The Hebrew word for "introduced," "עָשָׂה" (asah), means to make or do, indicating that these customs were actively created and implemented. Historically, Israel's introduction of idolatrous practices, such as the worship of golden calves, set a precedent that Judah unfortunately followed. This serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of compromising one's faith and the ripple effect of disobedience. Persons / Places / Events 1. JudahThe southern kingdom of the divided Israelite nation, consisting of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Known for having a few righteous kings, but ultimately fell into idolatry and disobedience. 2. IsraelThe northern kingdom, consisting of the other ten tribes. Known for its consistent idolatry and rebellion against God, leading to its eventual conquest by Assyria. 3. The LORD their GodRefers to Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel, who gave the commandments and laws to His people through Moses. 4. Commandments of the LORDThe laws and decrees given by God to the Israelites, primarily found in the Torah, which were meant to guide them in righteousness and holiness. 5. Customs Israel had introducedRefers to the idolatrous practices and pagan worship that the northern kingdom of Israel adopted, which were contrary to God's commandments. Teaching Points The Danger of CompromiseJudah's failure to keep God's commandments and their adoption of Israel's customs serve as a warning against compromising with worldly practices that contradict God's Word. The Importance of ObedienceThis verse underscores the necessity of adhering to God's commandments as a demonstration of faithfulness and love towards Him. Consequences of IdolatryThe adoption of idolatrous customs led to spiritual decline and eventual judgment, reminding believers of the destructive nature of idolatry in any form. Learning from HistoryThe history of Israel and Judah serves as a lesson for contemporary believers to remain vigilant in their faith and avoid the pitfalls of past generations. God's Call to RepentanceDespite Judah's failure, God's desire for repentance and restoration remains, offering hope and a path back to Him for those who turn from their ways. Bible Study Questions 1. What specific customs or practices today might lead believers away from keeping God's commandments, similar to Judah's adoption of Israel's customs? 2. How can we ensure that we are not compromising our faith by adopting worldly practices that contradict Scripture? 3. In what ways does the history of Judah and Israel serve as a warning for the modern church? 4. How can we apply the lessons of obedience and faithfulness from this passage in our daily walk with God? 5. Reflecting on God's call to repentance in Jeremiah 3, how can we cultivate a heart that is quick to repent and return to God when we stray? Connections to Other Scriptures Deuteronomy 28This chapter outlines the blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience to God's commandments, providing a backdrop for understanding the consequences faced by Judah and Israel. 2 Chronicles 36Chronicles the fall of Judah and the reasons for their exile, highlighting their failure to heed the warnings of the prophets and their persistence in idolatry. Jeremiah 3Describes God's call for repentance to both Israel and Judah, emphasizing His desire for their return to Him despite their unfaithfulness. 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 Commandments, Commands, Customs, Didn't, Followed, Guided, Introduced, Judah, Kept, Orders, Practices, Practised, Rules, Statutes, Walk, WalkedDictionary of Bible Themes 2 Kings 17:19 5286 custom 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 17:13-20 6195 impenitence, results 2 Kings 17:14-20 8741 failure 2 Kings 17:17-23 8748 false religion 2 Kings 17:18-20 6232 rejection of God, results
7266 tribes of Israel 2 Kings 17:18-23 1305 God, activity of 2 Kings 17:18-28 7324 calf worship 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 17:19 NIV2 Kings 17:19 NLT2 Kings 17:19 ESV2 Kings 17:19 NASB2 Kings 17:19 KJV
2 Kings 17:19 Commentaries
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