but worship the LORD your God, and He will deliver you from the hands of all your enemies." But fear the LORD your GodThe phrase "fear the LORD" is a recurring theme throughout the Old Testament, emphasizing a deep reverence and awe for God. The Hebrew word for "fear" is "yare," which can mean to be afraid, but more often in this context, it signifies a profound respect and acknowledgment of God's power and authority. This reverence is not about terror but about recognizing God's sovereignty and aligning one's life with His will. Historically, the Israelites were called to fear God as a foundational aspect of their covenant relationship, distinguishing them from surrounding nations who worshipped multiple deities. This fear is the beginning of wisdom ( Proverbs 9:10) and is essential for a life that honors God. and He will deliver you
The promise of deliverance is central to God's covenant with Israel. The Hebrew word for "deliver" is "natsal," which means to snatch away, rescue, or save. This deliverance is not just physical but also spiritual, as God rescues His people from sin and its consequences. Throughout Israel's history, God repeatedly delivered them from their enemies when they turned back to Him. This assurance of deliverance is a testament to God's faithfulness and His desire to protect and preserve His people. It serves as a reminder that God is a refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1). from the hands of all your enemies
The phrase "hands of all your enemies" signifies the power and control that enemies can exert over God's people. In the ancient Near Eastern context, "hands" often symbolize strength and authority. The Israelites faced numerous adversaries, both external and internal, throughout their history. This promise of deliverance from all enemies underscores God's omnipotence and His ability to overcome any force that opposes His people. It also highlights the spiritual battle that believers face, reminding them that God is their ultimate defender against both physical and spiritual adversaries. This assurance encourages believers to trust in God's protection and to remain faithful to Him, knowing that He is greater than any enemy they may encounter. Persons / Places / Events 1. The LORD (Yahweh)The one true God of Israel, who demands exclusive worship and promises deliverance. 2. IsraelThe Northern Kingdom, which is being addressed in this context, facing consequences for their idolatry. 3. EnemiesThe surrounding nations and powers that threaten Israel, both physically and spiritually. 4. AssyriaThe dominant empire at the time, which eventually conquers the Northern Kingdom due to their disobedience. 5. ProphetsGod's messengers who warned Israel of the consequences of their idolatry and called them back to worship Yahweh alone. Teaching Points Exclusive WorshipGod demands our exclusive worship. Just as Israel was called to worship Yahweh alone, we too must ensure that our devotion is not divided by modern-day idols such as wealth, power, or status. Promise of DeliveranceThe promise of deliverance is contingent upon our worship of God. Trusting in God and worshiping Him alone brings His protection and deliverance from our "enemies," whether they be spiritual, emotional, or physical. Consequences of IdolatryThe history of Israel serves as a warning. Idolatry leads to spiritual and often physical downfall. We must be vigilant in identifying and removing idols from our lives. Faithfulness in AdversityIn times of trouble, our response should be to turn to God in worship and trust. He is our deliverer, and our faithfulness in adversity is a testament to our trust in His promises. Role of Prophets and ScriptureJust as prophets called Israel back to God, Scripture serves as our guide and reminder to remain faithful. Regular engagement with the Bible helps us stay aligned with God's will. Bible Study Questions 1. What are some modern-day "idols" that can distract us from exclusive worship of God, and how can we identify them in our lives? 2. How does the promise of deliverance in 2 Kings 17:39 encourage you in your current life circumstances? 3. Reflect on a time when you experienced God's deliverance. How did worship play a role in that experience? 4. How can the warnings and consequences faced by Israel in 2 Kings 17 inform our understanding of obedience and faithfulness today? 5. In what ways can we use Scripture to guard against idolatry and ensure our worship remains focused on God alone? Connections to Other Scriptures Exodus 20:3-5The first commandment, which emphasizes the exclusive worship of Yahweh and forbids idolatry. Deuteronomy 6:13-15A call to fear the LORD and serve Him only, warning against following other gods. Psalm 18:2-3A declaration of God as a deliverer and refuge, reinforcing the promise of deliverance for those who worship Him. Matthew 4:10Jesus' affirmation of worshiping the Lord God only, during His temptation in the wilderness. 1 John 5:21A New Testament exhortation to keep away from idols, echoing the call to exclusive worship of God. 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 Deliver, Enemies, Fear, Hands, Salvation, WorshipDictionary of Bible Themes 2 Kings 17:39 8728 enemies, of Israel and Judah 2 Kings 17:24-41 7560 Samaritans, the 2 Kings 17:34-41 8831 syncretism 2 Kings 17:35-39 7525 exclusiveness
8769 idolatry, in OT 2 Kings 17:38-39 8138 monotheism 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 17:39 NIV2 Kings 17:39 NLT2 Kings 17:39 ESV2 Kings 17:39 NASB2 Kings 17:39 KJV
2 Kings 17:39 Commentaries
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