“They worshiped the Lord, but they also served their own gods.”
2 Kings 17 :33 (New International Version)
Hoshea, Israel’s final king, tries to juggle tribute between Assyria
and Egypt, and the empire of Tiglath-Pileser III (followed by
Shalmaneser V and Sargon II) snuffs out the kingdom in 722 BC.
• Assyrian annals (now in the Louvre and the British Museum) boast:
“I carried off 27,290 inhabitants of Samaria.”
• Layers of ash at Samaria and nearby Megiddo match the biblical
date.
• The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III shows Jehu bowing—earlier
evidence of the same vassal pattern.
Cross-reference
2 Chronicles 28 :19; Hosea 10 :5-8; Deuteronomy 28 :47-52.
Reflection
Israel did not fall in a day; compromise hollowed it out. What loyalties
am I trying to juggle?
The narrator pauses the history and reads the indictment. Notice the
crescendo in verses 13-17—four verbs revealing God’s
passion:
1. Spoke through prophets (patient warning).
2. Warned (urgent plea).
3. Rejected (people’s response).
4. Removed (judgment).
Key Hebrew nuance
“Stiff-necked” (קָשָׁה קְשִׁי־עֹרֶף, qashah qedî
’ōrep) paints a pack-animal that will not turn. Each refusal
hardened the next.
Theological theme
Covenant is not mechanical; it is relational. Exodus-Sinai love vows
(Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 6) have relational consequences (Deuteronomy
30). The prophets are marriage counselors calling an adulterous spouse
home.
Historical voices
• Augustine said Israel shows “the shadow of the City of Man—loved for
itself and not for God.”
• Calvin observed the “terrible tendency of the human heart to fashion
gods more pliable than the living One.”
“Only Judah was left…” The phrase trembles with longing. Yet the chronicler knows Judah, too, will fall (ch. 25). Exile is both punishment and pruning; God removes what destroys in order to heal what can be saved (Jeremiah 24).
Literary device
Watch the inclusio: verse 18 (“the Lord was very angry…”) pairs
with verse 23 (“until he removed them from his presence”). The bracket
signals completeness—judgment is not random but just.
Spiritual practice
Sit silently for two minutes. Imagine God “removing” unfaithfulness from
your life. Ask, “What departure may feel like loss now yet spare me
greater ruin later?”
Assyria repopulates the land with peoples from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim. Their clash with local wildlife (“the Lord sent lions,” v. 25) sounds odd to Western ears, yet lions prowled the Levant until the Crusader era. In the ancient Near East, unexplained disasters were read as the displeasure of local deities. The solution? Add that deity to your shelf.
Birth of the Samaritans
The imported peoples learn a form of Yahwism from an exiled priest, yet
keep ancestral gods. Syncretism becomes the DNA of Samaritan religion
(see John 4). Centuries later, Jesus will heal this fracture at Jacob’s
well.
Archaeological note
A temple on Mount Gerizim—discovered in the 1980s—shows parallel worship
practices by the 5th century BC, confirming the mixed tradition.
“Fear” (Hebrew יָרֵא, yārē’): not terror but reverent awe that shapes allegiance. Sixteen times in the chapter the verb yārē’ appears—almost rhythmic, like a drumbeat: Whom do you fear? Our fears reveal our gods.
Verse 40 forms the tragic refrain: “They would not listen, but persisted.” The Hebrew root for “persisted/held fast” (חָזַק, ḥāzaq) is normally positive (Joshua 23 :8). Here it clings to ruin. Even good tenacity can be bent toward idols.
• Exile is not the last word; it is preparation for return,
Messiah, and Spirit.
• Syncretism is humanity’s default; holiness is Spirit-enabled
resistance.
• God’s faithfulness endures even when national identity collapses
(Romans 11 :1-5).
• The chapter anticipates Jesus, who will embody undivided obedience and
reconcile “Jews and Samaritans” (Ephesians 2 :14).
“Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” (1758).
Pray especially verse 2—“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it”—as an honest
counterpoint to Israel’s story.
Holy and jealous God,
You warned, waited, and wept over Your people when their hearts
fractured.
Guard us from half-hearted worship.
Teach us the holy fear that sets us free from lesser fears.
Pluck out every hidden idol; plant undivided love for Your Son.
And when we wander, exile our sin, yet never send us away from Your
presence.
For Jesus’ sake. Amen.