2 Kings 17:25

25 When they first settled there, they did not worship the Lord, and so he sent lions, which killed some of them.

2 Kings 17:25 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 17:25

And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that
they feared not the Lord
Did not serve him in any manner, but their idols only, which they brought with them; whereas it was usual with Heathens to serve the gods of the country, as they reputed them, where they came, along with their own; but even this those men did not do:

therefore the Lord sent lions among them;
even into their cities, into which lions sometimes came ^F12, especially when old, out of the thickets of Jordan and other places where they haunted, see ( Jeremiah 49:19 )

which slew some of them;
this the Lord did to assert his sovereignty, authority, and mighty power, and to let them know that he could as easily clear the land of them, as they, by his permission, had cleared the land of the Israelites, Josephus ^F13 calls this a plague that was sent among them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 44. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 16.
F13 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 9. c. 14. sect. 1.)

2 Kings 17:25 In-Context

23 until at last the Lord banished them from his sight, as he had warned through his servants the prophets that he would do. So the people of Israel were taken into exile to Assyria, where they still live.

24 The emperor of Assyria took people from the cities of Babylon, Cuth, Ivvah, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the exiled Israelites. They took possession of these cities and lived there.

25 When they first settled there, they did not worship the Lord, and so he sent lions, which killed some of them.

26 The emperor of Assyria was told that the people he had settled in the cities of Samaria did not know the law of the god of that land, and so the god had sent lions, which were killing them.

27 So the emperor commanded: "Send back one of the priests we brought as prisoners; have him go back and live there, in order to teach the people the law of the god of that land."