2 Kings 17:2

2 He did what was evil in the LORD's eyes, but he wasn't as bad as the Israelite kings who preceded him.

2 Kings 17:2 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 17:2

And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but
not as the kings of Israel that were before him.
] He did not worship Baal, as some of them had done; and he could not worship the calves, as all of them had, for they were carried away by the Assyrians in the former captivities, as the Jews F19 say; and who also observe F20, that he removed the garrisons set on the borders of the land to watch the Israelites, that they might not go up to Jerusalem; and this being done on the fifteenth of Ab, that day was afterwards observed as a festival on that account; and they further remark F21, that the captivity of the ten tribes was in the reign of this king, who was better than the rest, to show that it was not barely the sins of the kings on whom the Israelites would cast the blame, that they were carried captives, but their own, according to ( Hosea 5:3 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F19 Seder Olam Rabba, c. 22.
F20 T. Bab. Gittin, fol. 88. Kimchi in loc.
F21 Seder Olam Raba, ut supra. (c. 22.)

2 Kings 17:2 In-Context

1 Hoshea, Elah's son, became king in Samaria in the twelfth year of Judah's king Ahaz. He ruled over Israel for nine years.
2 He did what was evil in the LORD's eyes, but he wasn't as bad as the Israelite kings who preceded him.
3 Assyria's King Shalmaneser marched against Hoshea, and Hoshea became Shalmaneser's servant, paying him tribute.
4 But the Assyrian king discovered that Hoshea was a traitor, because Hoshea sent messengers to Egypt's King So. Hoshea stopped paying tribute to the Assyrian king as he had in previous years, so the Assyrian king arrested him and put him in prison.
5 Then the Assyrian king invaded the whole country. He marched against Samaria and attacked it for three years.
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