Lesson 11 - 2 Kings 17:7-20 - ISRAEL CARRIED AWAY INTO EXILE
INTRODUCTION: Last week, in 2 Kings 7:1-16, we studied God's miraculous protection and provision to the city of Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom, while the city was being besieged by the Aramean (Syria) army and because of the siege, was in the throes of a severe famine. When the prophet Elisha pronounced that the LORD God of Israel would end the famine and bring the cost of food back to normal levels, the king and his officers expressed unbelief and even made fun of God. The scene shifted to four starving lepers who, after concluding they had nothing lose, went to the Aramean camp to turn themselves in, but when they arrived, found a deserted camp with everything left behind, including horses and donkeys. The text revealed that God frightened the Arameans with the noise of a huge approaching army, and they fled in panic, leaving the camp completely intact. After the lepers ate and drank their fill and hid the valuables they had taken, they returned to the city and told the gatekeepers to inform the king about the Aramean camp. When the king said it must be an Aramean trick, one of his servants offered the suggestion that it might at least be worth taking a look, and five men in two chariots were dispatched to scout-out the camp, and found it as reported. The next day, food was selling in Samaria exactly "in accordance with the word of the LORD" (7:16). The main truth of the lesson was that heeding the word of God is the way out of every challenge we face in life.
This week, in 2 Kings 17:7-20, we will see the Northern Kingdom of Israel cease to exist after being conquered by Assyria, the most powerful nation in the ancient Near East at that time. What we need to see in this lesson, is that the Israelites were not conquered simply because Assyria was bigger and better armed nation; it was because they had sinned against the LORD, their God.
Synopsis of skipped verses 1-6: These verses report the final years of Hoshea, the last king of Israel. He wasn't the most evil king of Israel, but maybe the most incompetent. His predecessors had survived because they agreed to become a vassal of Assyria and pay tribute (i.e., extortion) in order to keep from being attacked. When Hoshea defied Assyria, the Assyrian king laid a siege against Samaria, the capital city, that lasted three years before the city was utterly conquered. Significantly, at no time during this ordeal did king Hoshea humble himself and seek God's help. Verse 6 concludes that "the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried away Israel to Assyria." When the Assyrians added a new territory, they typically depopulated it, turned the captives into slaves, and moved their own people in to take over the land.
Read 2 Kings 17:7-12 - THEY DID EVIL THINGS PROVOKING THE LORD
7 Now this came about because the sons of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and they had feared other gods 8 and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD had driven out before the sons of Israel, and in the customs of the kings of Israel which they had introduced. 9 The sons of Israel did things secretly which were not right against the LORD their God. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. 10 They set for themselves sacred pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, 11 and there they burned incense on all the high places as the nations did which the LORD had carried away to exile before them; and they did evil things provoking the LORD. 12 They served idols, concerning which the LORD had said to them, "You shall not do this thing."
v. 7: "Now this came about because the sons of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and they had feared other gods." -The root cause for the conquest and captivity of the Northern Kingdom wasn't due to military or geopolitical factors, it was a problem with sin. And the primary source of their sin was that "they had feared other gods."
v. 8: "and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD had driven out before the sons of Israel, and in the customs of the kings of Israel which they had introduced." - Before Israel occupied Canaan in the days of Joshua, the Promised Land was inhabited by depraved pagan peoples who practiced the most disgusting type of idolatry, including rituals that involved human sacrifices. One of the fundamental sins of Israel was that they had turned away from the LORD to "walk in the customs of" these false Canaanite deities. This was in direct violation of the first commandment: "You shall have no other gods before Me" (Ex. 20:3).
v. 9a: "The sons of Israel did things secretly which were not right against the LORD their God." - Rebellion and sin clouds the wisdom and discernment of men and woman, and in this scenario, the entire nation from the kings on down was infected with this way of thinking. I mean, their judgment was impaired enough to think they could "secretly" sin against the LORD who sees everything.
v. 9b: "Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city." - This describes building new raised altars in the Canaanite manner, referred to as "high places," which were set up throughout the Northern Kingdom in large and small towns. By doing this, they had essentially turned their backs on the true Temple of God in Jerusalem. They did not specifically renounce YHWH, the LORD God of Israel, but treated Him as one God among many.
v. 10: "They set for themselves sacred pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree," - the terms "pillars and Asherim" refer to useless idols, carved from stone or wood in the likenesses of the false deities. The absurdity of idols asks the question how can anything conceived by human thought and made by human hands offer anyone spiritual fulfillment? Isaiah said: "It does not move from its place. Though one may shout to it, it cannot answer; It cannot save him from his distress" (Isa. 46:7). Asherim was one of three goddesses of the Canaanite deities. People who practiced these false religions also believed in superstitions like fortune-telling and witchcraft.
v. 11: "and there they burned incense on all the high places as the nations did which the LORD had carried away to exile before them; and they did evil things provoking the LORD." - The Israelites were duplicating the forbidden religious practices of the pagan nations, i.e., the Canaanites, "which the LORD had carried away to exile before them. The burning of incense symbolized prayer. So, they burned incense while they prayed to all these Canaanite deities from the altars they built at all of these widely scattered high places. This evil "provoked the LORD" because Torah Law specifically prescribed that incense was only to be burned on the golden altar within the veil of the Temple in prayers offered to YHWH, the One True God (Ex. 30:7-8).
v. 12: "They served idols, concerning which the LORD had said to them, "You shall not do this thing." - In doing these things, the Israelites had specifically violated the 4th and 5th Commandments God had given them at Sinai: "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God." (Ex. 20:4-5). Even today, anything people elevate and worship many things above God, e.g. material possessions, money, power, hobbies, etc., can all become idols when people allow them to hinder their worship of God.
Read 2 Kings 17:13-15 - THE LORD WARNED ISRAEL AND JUDAH THROUGH HIS PROPHETS
13 Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah through all His prophets and every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you through My servants the prophets." 14 However, they did not listen, but stiffened their neck like their fathers, who did not believe in the LORD their God. 15 They rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers and His warnings with which He warned them. And they followed vanity and became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the LORD had commanded them not to do like them.
v. 13: "Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah through all His prophets and every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you through My servants the prophets." - Because of God's covenantal love for His people, He sent prophets to warn them in both the Northern and Southern kingdoms. The message His prophets delivered to them was crystal clear: "Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments," as specified in Ex. 20:1-26. "My statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers," referred to the entire body of Torah Law: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, which instructed them how to be faithful in all walks of life. They can't plead ignorance as a defense. They are without excuse.
v. 14: "However, they did not listen, but stiffened their neck like their fathers, who did not believe in the LORD their God." - Ever since the revolt of Jeroboam that resulted in the division of the Davidic Kingdom (1 Kings 11 and 12), there had been a succession of prophets sent to both nations whose task was to rebuke the peoples' sin and pronounce the precepts of God's Law. The expression "stiffened their neck like their fathers," is a Hebrew figure of speech derived from the stubborn resistance of an ox being placed in yoke. Here, it describes a stubborn, self-centered people who will not accept any kind of correction-a yoke-and refuse to be led.
v. 15a: "They rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers and His warnings with which He warned them." - This refers to the covenant the LORD made at Sinai, first with the Israelite people generally (Ex. 19:5-8) as ratified by their leaders, Moses, Aaron, etc. (Ex. 24:3-8), and the "warnings" denoted God's commandments as pronounced in Ex. 20:1-26.
v. 15b: "And they followed vanity and became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the LORD had commanded them not to do like them." - The word used for "vanity" (Heb. habal [haw-bal']) literally means to become empty, to follow things that are useless and worthless. When they worshipped empty things, they became empty themselves, and when they bowed down to false gods, they bowed down to nothing and became nothing.
Read 2 Kings 17:16-18 - THE LORD REMOVED ISRAEL FROM HIS SIGHT
16 They forsook all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. 17 Then they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and practiced divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him. 18 So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from His sight; none was left except the tribe of Judah.
v. 16: "They forsook all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal." - They disregarded God's commandments, they offered no ritual sacrifices, ignored the appointed feasts, and continually violated the moral law (e.g., lying, swearing, stealing, adultery, drunkenness, bloodshed, etc); in short, they fell into complete rebellion against God in every way. The "two calves" pointed to Jeroboam's rebellion when he sent one calf image to Bethel and another to Dan to establish places of pagan worship (1 Kings 12:26-30). "Asherah" was a fertility goddess who was a consort of Baal, the god of weather, and a "grove" was a forested area in which a pillar or altar was established as a place to conduct pagan worship rites (Judg. 3:7).
v. 17a: "Then they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, - As if it couldn't any worse, some were offering child sacrifices to the pagan Canaanite deity Moloch. Scholars aren't sure whether sure whether Moloch was a name for the false god or an allusion to the type of sacrifice. This is the only place where this type of detestable sacrifice is specifically ascribed to Israelites.
v. 17b: "and practiced divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him." - Magic and witchcraft became common practices in the Northern Kingdom, especially during Jezebel's time. Magical rituals typically accompanied idolatry and were of many different kinds. All such practices are abominations that provoke the anger of God.
v. 18: "So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from His sight; none was left except the tribe of Judah." - When all of the things enumerated in the foregoing verses had taken place, the LORD God was moved to be "very angry with Israel." The cup that represented all their iniquities was now full, and God' righteous wrath, long restrained, now descended on them so completely that God "removed them from His sight." Of the original 12 tribes of Israel that crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land, "none was left except the tribe of Judah."
Read 2 Kings 17:19-20 - JUDAH DID NOT KEEP THE COMANDMENTS OF THE LORD
19 Also Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the customs which Israel had introduced. 20 The LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them out of His sight.
v. 19: "Also Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the customs which Israel had introduced." - Judah could not count itself to be a permanent exception to the fate suffered by the Northern Kingdom of Israel. They were also falling into sin and apostasy. The main difference was that they had had some good kings along the way who tried to turn things around (e.g., Hezekiah, 715-686 B.C. and Josiah, 640-609 B.C.). Judah would survive another 125 years until being conquered by Babylon. Their people would also be taken captive, too, but would be allowed to return to their homeland after 70 years as recorded in Nehemiah and Ezra.
v. 20: "The LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them out of His sight." - As to the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, God, in effect, gave them a decree of divorce so that they were no longer under His protection and patronage. God effectively "cast them out of His sight," so that they were permanently dispersed all over the known world in what scholars refer to as the First Diaspora.
Application-God will Judge the Nations
1. No nation is exempt from God's oversight. The sins of people in the Northern kingdom of Israel, who began their descent into the sin of apostasy and idolatry soon after the kingdom divided in 931 B.C., reached the point reached a point after 209 years where God declared, in effect, "that's it!," and "cast them out of his sight" (v. 20), never to return. God, by His prophets, had warned them and gave them every opportunity to repent and return to Him. You might recall in one of our previous lessons, when Eljiah was fleeing from Jezebel, that God informed him that there were still 7,000 faithful people in Israel (1 kings 19:1-21). According to historical records that estimate Israel's population to have been about 800,000 people at the time, that's adds up to less than 1% of the nation. Today In the U.S., 64% of people claim to be Christians, but only 43% of those are listed as being Bible-believing evangelicals. And the decline continues. After almost 2,000 years, the work of the church is still largely unfinished-over 68% of the world is still lost. In fact, the centers of world evangelic outreach have shifted from Europe and North America to South America and Central Africa.
2. Continued disobedience to God is very dangerous. Though judgment may be deferred for a time, it will come. The simple fact is that there will be eternal consequences for nations that are not following God's commands! In our case, God does not want us to insulate ourselves inside our comfortable churches with like-minded believers but to "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation" (Mark 16:15). Until Jesus returns to judge the nations, that's still our job description. (Matt. 25:31-46).
