2 Kings 17:4

4 but Shalmaneser discovered that Hoshea had been operating traitorously behind his back - having worked out a deal with King So of Egypt. And, adding insult to injury, Hoshea was way behind on his annual payments of tribute to Assyria. So the king of Assyria arrested him and threw him in prison,

2 Kings 17:4 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 17:4

And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea
That he was forming a scheme to rebel against him, and cast off his yoke; of this he had intelligence by spies he sent, and placed to observe him very probably:

for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt;
to treat with him, and enter into alliance with him, to help him against, and free him from, the king of Assyria. This king of Egypt is supposed to be Sabacon the Ethiopian, who reigned in Egypt ninety years; of whom Herodotus ^F25 and Diodorus Siculus ^F26 make mention; by Theodoret he is called Adramelech the Ethiopian, who dwelt in Egypt:

and brought no presents to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by
year;
did not pay him his yearly tribute:

therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison;
that is, after he took Samaria, the siege of which is next related; unless it can be thought that he met with him somewhere out of the capital, and seized him, and made him his prisoner, and after that besieged his city; which is not so likely.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 137.
F26 Bibliothec l. 1. p. 59.

2 Kings 17:4 In-Context

2 As far as God was concerned, he lived a bad life, but not nearly as bad as the kings who had preceded him.

3 Then Shalmaneser king of Assyria attacked. Hoshea was already a puppet of the Assyrian king and regularly sent him tribute,

4 but Shalmaneser discovered that Hoshea had been operating traitorously behind his back - having worked out a deal with King So of Egypt. And, adding insult to injury, Hoshea was way behind on his annual payments of tribute to Assyria. So the king of Assyria arrested him and threw him in prison,

5 then proceeded to invade the entire country. He attacked Samaria and threw up a siege against it. The siege lasted three years.

6 In the ninth year of Hoshea's reign the king of Assyria captured Samaria and took the people into exile in Assyria. He relocated them in Halah, in Gozan along the Habor River, and in the towns of the Medes.