2 Kings 17:9

9 And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built themselves 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 For so it was that the children 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 they walked in the statutes of the heathen whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.

9 And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built themselves high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city.

10 And they set up for themselves images and Asherah poles in every high hill and under every green tree;

11 and there they burned incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them, and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger.