2 Kings 17:27

27 The king of Assyria gave this command: "Bring one of the priests you captured from there. Let him go back to teach them the customs of the god of that country."

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 came to live there, they didn't worship the LORD. So the LORD sent lions to kill some of them.

26 Then someone said to the king of Assyria, "The people you took as captives and settled in the cities of Samaria don't know the customs of the god of that country, so he sent lions. Now the lions are killing them because they don't know the customs of the god of this country."

27 The king of Assyria gave this command: "Bring one of the priests you captured from there. Let him go back to teach them the customs of the god of that country."

28 So one of the priests who had been taken prisoner from Samaria went to live in Bethel. He taught them how to worship the LORD.

29 But each group [that settled in Samaria] continued to make its own gods. They put them at the illegal places of worship, which the people of Samaria had made. Each group did this in the cities where they lived: