2 Kings 17:4

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.

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 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.

6 In Hoshea's ninth year, the Assyrian king captured Samaria. He sent Israel into exile to Assyria, resettling them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes.