2 Kings 17:8

8 ¹and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel, ²and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced.

2 Kings 17:8 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 17:8

And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord cast
out from before the children of Israel
Meaning the Canaanites, in whose idolatrous ways they walked, and whom they imitated; though their ejection out of the land should have been a warning to them, and they were the more inexcusable, as they were particularly cautioned against walking in them, ( Leviticus 18:3 )

and of the kings of Israel, which they had made;
their laws and statutes, to worship the golden calves, and not go up to Jerusalem to worship.

2 Kings 17:8 In-Context

6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

7 And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods

8 and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced.

9 And the people of Israel did secretly against the LORD their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city.

10 They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree,

Cross References

• 1. Leviticus 18:3; Deuteronomy 18:9
• 2. ver. 19; 2 Kings 16:3