2 Kings 17:16

16 They deserted all the commandments of the LORD their God. They made themselves two metal idols cast in the shape of calves and made a sacred pole. They bowed down to all the heavenly bodies. They served Baal.

2 Kings 17:16 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 17:16

And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God
Which their idolatry led them to; and indeed he that offends in one point is guilty of them all, ( James 2:10 )

and made them molten images, [even] two calves;
which they set up at Dan and Bethel, in the times of their first king Jeroboam, ( 1 Kings 13:28 1 Kings 13:29 )

and made a grove;
as Ahab, another of their kings, did, ( 1 Kings 16:33 )

and worshipped all the host of heaven:
not the angels, sometimes so called, but, besides the sun and moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Venus:

and served Baal;
which was service to the sun, as Abarbinel interprets it; this was the god of the Zidonians Ahab worshipped, having married a princess of that people, ( 1 Kings 16:31 1 Kings 16:32 ) .

2 Kings 17:16 In-Context

14 But they wouldn't listen. They were stubborn like their ancestors who didn't trust the LORD their God.

15 They rejected his regulations and the covenant he had made with their ancestors, along with the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless images so that they too became worthless. And they imitated the neighboring nations that the LORD had forbidden them to imitate.

16 They deserted all the commandments of the LORD their God. They made themselves two metal idols cast in the shape of calves and made a sacred pole. They bowed down to all the heavenly bodies. They served Baal.

17 They burned their sons and daughters alive. They practiced divination and sought omens. They gave themselves over to doing what was evil in the LORD's eyes and made him angry.

18 So the LORD was very angry at Israel. He removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was spared.

Footnotes

• [a]. Heb asherah, perhaps an object devoted to the goddess Asherah