2 Kings 17:9

9 The children of Yisra'el did secretly things that were not right against the LORD their God: and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city;

2 Kings 17:9 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 17:9

And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were
not right against the Lord their God
As being partly conscious to themselves that they were not right, and ashamed to commit them openly; and partly as foolishly imagining, that, being done privately, they were not seen and observed of God, having imbibed some atheistical notions of him, that he was not omniscient, or saw not, and had forsaken the earth; or they "covered" ^F7 these actions of theirs under reigned and plausible pretences, that what they did they were obliged to by their kings, and with political views, and that they worshipped the true God in the calves; but these were coverings too thin not to be seen through:

and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of
the watchmen to the fenced city;
not content with those built in former times, they built new ones; and these not in their metropolis only, but in all the cities of the kingdom; and not in large cities only, but in every town and village between one fortified city and another; even wherever there was a watch tower erected, either for shepherds to watch their flocks, or for keepers of gardens, orchards, and vineyards, to watch the fruits of them, that they were not taken away.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 (wapxy) "occultaverunt", Montanus, Vatablus, Grotius; "palliaverunt", Piscator.

2 Kings 17:9 In-Context

7 It was so, because the children of Yisra'el had sinned against the LORD their God, who brought them up out of the land of Mitzrayim from under the hand of Par`oh king of Mitzrayim, and had feared other gods,

8 and walked in the statutes of the nations, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Yisra'el, and of the kings of Yisra'el, which they made.

9 The children of Yisra'el did secretly things that were not right against the LORD their God: and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city;

10 and they set them up pillars and Asherim on every high hill, and under every green tree;

11 and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the nations whom the LORD carried away before them; and they worked wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger;