Instead, worship the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm. You are to bow down to Him and offer sacrifices to Him. But worship the LORD your GodThe phrase begins with a directive, emphasizing the exclusive worship of Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel. The Hebrew word for "worship" here is "yare," which conveys a sense of reverence and awe. This command is a reminder of the first commandment, underscoring the importance of monotheism in Israel's faith. Historically, this was a counteraction against the prevalent idolatry in the region, where many gods were worshipped. who brought you out of the land of Egypt
This phrase recalls the Exodus, a foundational event in Israel's history. The Hebrew word for "brought" is "yatsa," indicating a powerful act of deliverance. The Exodus is a recurring theme in the Old Testament, symbolizing God's saving power and faithfulness. Archaeologically, while direct evidence of the Exodus is debated, the cultural memory of such an event is deeply embedded in Israelite identity. with great power and an outstretched arm
The "great power" refers to God's omnipotence, demonstrated through the plagues and the parting of the Red Sea. The "outstretched arm" is a metaphor for God's active intervention in history. In Hebrew, "zeroa" (arm) often symbolizes strength and might. This imagery reassures the Israelites of God's ability to save and protect them, contrasting with the impotent idols of surrounding nations. You are to worship Him and bow down to Him
This reiteration emphasizes the posture of submission and humility before God. The Hebrew word for "bow down" is "shachah," which means to prostrate oneself, indicating total surrender and devotion. This act of worship is not just physical but involves the heart and spirit, aligning with the Shema's call to love God with all one's heart, soul, and strength. and you are to sacrifice to Him
Sacrifice was central to Israelite worship, symbolizing atonement and thanksgiving. The Hebrew word "zabach" means to offer a sacrifice, often involving the shedding of blood, pointing to the seriousness of sin and the need for reconciliation with God. This practice foreshadows the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, in the New Testament, fulfilling the sacrificial system's purpose. Persons / Places / Events 1. The LORD (Yahweh)The one true God of Israel, who delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. 2. The IsraelitesThe people of God who were brought out of Egypt and commanded to worship Yahweh alone. 3. EgyptThe land from which the Israelites were delivered, symbolizing bondage and oppression. 4. The ExodusThe event of God delivering the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, demonstrating His power and faithfulness. 5. The Northern Kingdom of IsraelThe context of 2 Kings 17, where the Israelites were warned against idolatry and reminded of their covenant with God. Teaching Points Exclusive WorshipGod demands exclusive worship because of His unique role as Creator and Redeemer. Reflect on areas in your life where you might be tempted to place other "gods" before Him. Remembering DeliveranceJust as the Israelites were to remember their deliverance from Egypt, Christians are called to remember their deliverance from sin through Christ. How does this remembrance shape your daily worship? The Power of GodAcknowledge God's "great power and an outstretched arm" in your life. Consider how His power is evident in your personal history and the history of the Church. Sacrificial WorshipWorship involves sacrifice, whether it be time, resources, or personal desires. Evaluate what sacrifices you are making in your worship of God. Covenant FaithfulnessThe call to worship God alone is rooted in His covenant with His people. Reflect on the faithfulness of God to His promises and how you can respond with faithfulness in return. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the command to worship God alone in 2 Kings 17:36 challenge the cultural idols present in today's society? 2. In what ways can remembering God's deliverance in your life enhance your worship and devotion to Him? 3. How does the concept of God's "great power and an outstretched arm" provide comfort and assurance in times of difficulty? 4. What are some practical ways you can offer sacrifices to God in your daily life, reflecting the call to worship in 2 Kings 17:36? 5. How does understanding God's covenant faithfulness in the Old Testament deepen your appreciation for the New Covenant through Jesus Christ? Connections to Other Scriptures Exodus 20:2-3The first commandment, where God commands the Israelites to have no other gods before Him, directly relates to the call to worship only Yahweh in 2 Kings 17:36. Deuteronomy 6:13-14Reinforces the command to fear the LORD and serve Him only, echoing the call to exclusive worship. Psalm 136:12Celebrates God's deliverance with a "mighty hand and outstretched arm," paralleling the description in 2 Kings 17:36. Isaiah 45:22Calls all the earth to turn to God and be saved, emphasizing the exclusivity of worship due to Him alone. John 4:23-24Jesus speaks of true worshipers who worship the Father in spirit and truth, aligning with the call to genuine worship in 2 Kings 17:36. 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 Alone, Arm, Bow, Egypt, Fear, Mighty, Offer, Offerings, Outstretched, Out-stretched, Power, Sacrifice, Sacrifices, Stretched, Stretched-out, Worship, YourselvesDictionary of Bible Themes 2 Kings 17:36 5138 bowing
5504 rights
8608 prayer, and worship
8624 worship, reasons 2 Kings 17:24-41 7560 Samaritans, the 2 Kings 17:34-41 8831 syncretism 2 Kings 17:35-36 8623 worship, of God 2 Kings 17:35-38 8763 forgetting
8799 polytheism 2 Kings 17:35-39 7525 exclusiveness
8769 idolatry, in OT 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 17:36 NIV2 Kings 17:36 NLT2 Kings 17:36 ESV2 Kings 17:36 NASB2 Kings 17:36 KJV
2 Kings 17:36 Commentaries
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