2 Kings 17:16 - Exposition

They left all the commandments of the Lord their God ; i.e. neglected them, rendered them no obedience, offered none of the stated sacrifices, attended none of the appointed feasts, broke the moral law ( Hosea 4:1 , Hosea 4:2 , Hosea 4:11 ; Hosea 7:1 , etc.) by swearing, and lying, and stealing, and committing adultery, by drunkenness, and lewdness, and bloodshed. And made them molten images, even two calves. These at least were undeniable—there they were at Dan and Bethel, until the Captivity came ( Hosea 8:5 ; Hosea 10:5 , Hosea 10:6 ; Hosea 13:2 ; Amos 8:14 ), worshipped, sworn by ( Amos 8:14 ), viewed as living gods ( Amos 8:14 ), offered to, trusted in. Every king had upheld them, so that Bethel was regarded as "the king's court," and "the king's chapel" ( Amos 7:13 ); all the people were devoted to them, and "brought their sacrifices to Bethel every morning" ( Amos 4:4 ), "and their tithes after three years." And made a grove. The "grove "( asherah ) which Ahab set up at Samaria ( 1 Kings 16:1-34 :38), and which remained there certainly to the time of Jehoahaz (see the comment on 2 Kings 13:6 ). And worshipped all the host of heaven. This worship had not been mentioned before; and it is nowhere else ascribed to the Israelites of the northern kingdom. Manasseh seems to have introduced it into Judah ( 2 Kings 21:3 ; 2 Kings 23:5 , 2 Kings 23:11 ). Such knowledge as we have of the Western Asiatic religions seems to indicate that astral worship, strictly so called, was a peculiarity of the Assyro-Babylonian and Arabian systems only, and did not belong to the Syrian, or the Phoenician, or the Canaanite. It may be suspected that the present passage is somewhat rhetorical, and assigns to the Israelites the "worship of the host of heaven," simply because an astral character attached to Baal and Ashtoreth, who were associated in the religion of the Phoenicians with the sun and moon. On the ether hand, it is just possible that the Assyro-Babylonian star-worship had been introduced into Israel under Menahem, Pekah, or Hoshea. And served Baal. The Baal-worship, introduced by Ahab ( 1 Kings 16:31 ), was not finally abolished by Jehu ( 2 Kings 10:28 ). Like other popular religions, it had a revival Hosea, writing under the later kings from Jeroboam II . to Hoshea, alludes to the Baal-worship ( Hosea 2:8 , Hosea 2:17 ) as continuing.