2 Kings 17:27

27 Then the king of Assyria issued a command: "Send back one of the priests you deported. Have him go and live there so he can teach them the custom of the God of the land."

2 Kings 17:27 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 17:27

Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying
Gave the following orders and directions:

carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence;
for they carried away all the people of every class, civil and religious:

and let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of
the God of the land;
it is in the plural number, "let them go" {o}; there might be more priests than one ordered, or, however, others, to attend and assist him in his work; the Jews say ^F16, two were sent to circumcise them, and teach them the book of the law; and they give their names, Dosthai, or Dosithaeus, and Zachariah; and Josephus ^F17 says, the people desired that priests might be sent to them of the captives.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 (wbvyw wkly) "eant et sedeant", Montanus.
F16 Pirke Eliezer, c. 38.
F17 Antiqu. l. 9. c. 14. sect. 3.

2 Kings 17:27 In-Context

25 When they first lived there, they did not fear the Lord. So the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them.

26 The settlers spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, "The nations that you have deported and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the custom of the God of the land. Therefore, He has sent lions among them, which are killing them because the people don't know the custom of the God of the land."

27 Then the king of Assyria issued a command: "Send back one of the priests you deported. Have him go and live there so he can teach them the custom of the God of the land."

28 So one of the priests they had deported came and lived in Bethel, and he began to teach them how they should fear the Lord.

29 But [the people of] each nation, in the cities where they lived, were still making their own gods and putting them in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made.