So the LORD was very angry with Israel, and He removed them from His presence. Only the tribe of Judah remained, So the LORD was very angry with IsraelThis phrase indicates God's intense displeasure with the northern kingdom of Israel due to their persistent idolatry and disobedience. The anger of the LORD is a recurring theme in the Old Testament, often resulting from the breaking of the covenant established at Sinai (Exodus 19-24). The Israelites had turned to worship Baal and other Canaanite deities, violating the first commandment ( Exodus 20:3). This anger is not arbitrary but a response to Israel's repeated rejection of God's laws and prophets ( 2 Kings 17:13-17). The anger of God is also a reflection of His holiness and justice, as He cannot tolerate sin. and He removed them from His presence
This removal refers to the Assyrian exile of the northern kingdom in 722 BC, when the Assyrians conquered Samaria and deported the Israelites. Being removed from God's presence signifies a loss of divine favor and protection, as well as a physical displacement from the Promised Land, which was a central aspect of the covenant with Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3). The presence of God was symbolically associated with the temple in Jerusalem, and being removed from His presence implies a severance from the spiritual and communal life centered around worship. This exile fulfilled the warnings given by prophets like Amos and Hosea, who had foretold the consequences of Israel's unfaithfulness. Only the tribe of Judah remained
This phrase highlights the division of the united monarchy into two kingdoms after Solomon's reign: Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Judah's survival at this point is significant, as it is the tribe from which David's lineage comes, and through which the Messiah, Jesus Christ, would eventually be born (Matthew 1:1-16). The preservation of Judah is seen as part of God's redemptive plan, maintaining a remnant through which His promises would be fulfilled. Despite Judah's own failings, they were spared at this time, possibly due to the reforms of kings like Hezekiah and Josiah, who sought to return to the worship of Yahweh. This remnant theme is crucial in biblical theology, emphasizing God's faithfulness to His covenant even amidst human unfaithfulness. Persons / Places / Events 1. The LORD (Yahweh)The covenant God of Israel, who is just and righteous, and whose anger is kindled against Israel due to their persistent disobedience and idolatry. 2. IsraelThe Northern Kingdom, consisting of ten tribes, which repeatedly turned away from God, leading to their eventual exile by the Assyrians. 3. JudahThe Southern Kingdom, consisting of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, which remained after Israel's exile. Although not without fault, Judah was spared at this time. 4. ExileThe event where the Northern Kingdom of Israel was conquered and its people were taken captive by the Assyrians, signifying God's judgment. 5. AssyriaThe dominant empire at the time, used by God as an instrument of judgment against Israel. Teaching Points The Consequences of DisobedienceGod's anger is a response to persistent sin and rebellion. Israel's exile serves as a sobering reminder of the consequences of turning away from God. The Faithfulness of GodDespite Israel's unfaithfulness, God remains faithful to His covenant. His actions are just and aimed at bringing His people back to righteousness. The Remnant of JudahJudah's survival at this time highlights God's mercy and the hope for redemption. It serves as a call to remain faithful and seek God's presence. The Role of ProphetsProphets like Hosea and Jeremiah warned Israel of impending judgment, emphasizing the importance of heeding God's word and repenting. Application to Modern BelieversBelievers today are called to examine their lives for areas of disobedience and idolatry, seeking to align themselves with God's will and remain in His presence. Bible Study Questions 1. What specific actions led to God's anger against Israel, and how can we avoid similar pitfalls in our own lives? 2. How does the concept of a "remnant" in Judah provide hope for believers today? 3. In what ways can we heed the warnings of the prophets in our current spiritual journey? 4. How does understanding the historical context of Israel's exile enhance our comprehension of God's justice and mercy? 5. What are some modern-day "idols" that can lead us away from God's presence, and how can we guard against them? Connections to Other Scriptures Deuteronomy 28This chapter outlines the blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience, which Israel experienced as they turned away from God. 2 Kings 18-19These chapters describe the reign of Hezekiah in Judah, who sought to reform and return to the LORD, contrasting with Israel's fate. Jeremiah 3This passage speaks of Israel's unfaithfulness and God's call for repentance, highlighting the persistent issue of idolatry. Hosea 4The prophet Hosea addresses the spiritual adultery of Israel, which ultimately leads to their downfall. 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 Angry, Aside, Except, Face, Itself, Judah, Kept, None, Presence, Removed, Sheweth, Sight, Tribe, TurnethDictionary of Bible Themes 2 Kings 17:18 5790 anger, divine
7145 remnant 2 Kings 17:3-18 7560 Samaritans, the 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 17:15-18 8799 polytheism 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 17:18 NIV2 Kings 17:18 NLT2 Kings 17:18 ESV2 Kings 17:18 NASB2 Kings 17:18 KJV
2 Kings 17:18 Commentaries
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