Bible Commentaries

2 Kings 17:1. The twelfth year of Ahaz. Hoshea did not get confirmed in the kingdom of nine years, for in 2 Kings 15:30 it is said that he began to reign the twentieth year of Jotham. Either there is some mistake in the transcriber, or there was an interregnum.

2 Kings 17:4. So, king of Egypt. Dean Prideaux is confident, out of Diodorus Siculus and Herodotus, that this So is Sabacon, an Ethiopian by birth, who swayed the sceptre of Egypt.

2 Kings 17:6. Placed them in Halah and in Habor. These are called rivers, which run into the Caspian sea. They were also dispersed in the cities of the Medes, almost a thousand miles east of Samaria. Thus was fulfilled the prophecies of Moses against the apostate race of Israel. The Assyrians were at this time masters of the Medes, and the cruel policy of that bloody nation was to break the heart of all captives, and remove them away like cattle. Enquiries have in all ages been made for remnants of this dispersion of the ten tribes. Dr. Claudius Buchanan, twelve years a missionary in India, and a learned traveller, says, “There exists a nation of Jews in India called Affgans. This nation hitherto reputed Mahomedans, are really Jews, and in complete possession of the old testament.” The doctor adds, “there are two other colonies of Jews in Cochin, the one white, and the other black. Their number is about sixteen thousand. They possess the Pentateuch, the Psalms, and the book of Job. They seem to know nothing of the prophets, but still hope for the Messiah.” The Samaritans were also mixed remnants of the ten tribes.

2 Kings 17:25. The Lord sent lions among them. The destructive character of the Assyrian wars had so depopulated the countries, that the wild beasts of mount Lebanon multiplied.

2 Kings 17:28. One of the priests, a son of Aaron, true to his God, succeeded ultimately in teaching those strangers, and in prevailing with them to put away their idols, which could not defend Samaria, nor now protect them from the lions.

2 Kings 17:30. Succoth-benoth. The learned Selden relieves us here, by saying that the Greeks, as is usual with them, changed the letters B for V, which makes Venoth, Venos, or Venus. The rabbins read here, tabernacula filiarum, daughters of the tabernacle, stars or satellites, or sanctified harlots that surround the temple of the goddess. Herodotus says, that at the festivals the worshippers assemble before the temple, when the lower sort of people prostitute themselves to the goddess, but that the better sort attend only to pay their respects to her.

2 Kings 17:31. Burnt their children to Adrammelech. It should read, Adram- Moloch, and Anam-Moloch, as we often find Baal joined to the name of the place where the idol was adored. Thus ended the kingdom of the ten tribes; it began in apostasy and strife, was perpetuated by wars, by superstition, and rivers of blood. This kingdom, according to Usher, continued about two hundred and fifty four years. What other end can be expected of a nation, guided by evil counsel, and supported by wicked means.