2 Kings 17:25

25 It happened that when they began living there, they did not fear Yahweh, so Yahweh sent lions among them, and they were killing them.

2 Kings 17:25 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 17:25

And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that
they feared not the Lord
Did not serve him in any manner, but their idols only, which they brought with them; whereas it was usual with Heathens to serve the gods of the country, as they reputed them, where they came, along with their own; but even this those men did not do:

therefore the Lord sent lions among them;
even into their cities, into which lions sometimes came ^F12, especially when old, out of the thickets of Jordan and other places where they haunted, see ( Jeremiah 49:19 )

which slew some of them;
this the Lord did to assert his sovereignty, authority, and mighty power, and to let them know that he could as easily clear the land of them, as they, by his permission, had cleared the land of the Israelites, Josephus ^F13 calls this a plague that was sent among them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 44. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 16.
F13 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 9. c. 14. sect. 1.)

2 Kings 17:25 In-Context

23 until Yahweh removed Israel from his presence as he had foretold by the hand of all his servants, the prophets. And so he deported Israel from upon his land to Assyria until this day.

24 The king of Assyria brought from Babylonia, from Cush, from Arva, from Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and he settled [them] in the cities of Samaria in place of the {Israelites}, so they took possession of Samaria and lived in her cities.

25 It happened that when they began living there, they did not fear Yahweh, so Yahweh sent lions among them, and they were killing them.

26 So they said to the king of Assyria, "The nations whom you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the customs of the God of the land, so he sent lions among them, and now they are killing them because they do not know the customs of the God of the land."

27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, "Release one of the priests whom you deported from there, and let him go and settle there. Let him teach them the customs of the God of the land."

Footnotes

• [a]. Leviticus 26:22 warns that non-belief will result in attacks from wild animals.