2 Kings 17:16

2Ki 17:16 And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, [even] two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.

Ver. 16. And they left all the commandments of God.] So they will soon do, who take liberty to leave any; for the whole law is but one copulative, as the schools speak.

All the host of heaven.] So the heavenly bodies, sun, moon, and stars are called, for their (1.) number; (2.) order; (3.) obedience.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17:16-17 all the commands of the Lord: The narrator lists specific examples of Israel’s disobedience: the two calves made from metal erected at Dan and Bethel (1 Kgs 12:28-30), the Canaanite fertility symbol known as an Asherah pole (2 Kgs 13:6; 17:10; 1 Kgs 14:23; 16:33; Mic 5:14), the persistent worship of Baal (1 Kgs 16:31-33; Hos 2:13; 13:1), and the detestable Molech rites (2 Kgs 16:3; Ps 106:37).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

That is, the sun, the moon, and stars, Deut. 4:19.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(16) Molten images.—1Ki_12:28. Literally, a casting.

A grove.—An Asherah (1Ki_14:23; 1Ki_16:33). Schlottmann writes: “That Ashera was only another name for the same supreme goddess (i.e., Ashtoreth) is at once shown by the parallelism of ‘Baal and Ashtaroth’ (Jdg_2:13) with ‘Baal and Asherim’ (the plural of Ashera) in Jdg_3:7. In quite the same way Baal and Ashera stand side by side in Jdg_6:28, 2Ki_23:4; and in 1Ki_18:19 the 450 prophets of the Baal and the 400 of the Ashera. further, in 2Ch_15:16; 2Ch_24:18, the LXX. render Ashera by Astarte; and in other passages Aquila, Symmachus, and the Peshito do the same thing.” He then refers to 1Ki_14:23 and Isa_17:8; Isa_27:9, and continues: “according to these and many other passages, Ashera was used as the designation of the commonest material representation of the goddess. It consisted of a block of wood, of considerable size (Jdg_6:26), and resembling a tree, as is shown by the expressions used in connection with it, such as ‘setting up,’ ‘planting,’ and ‘cutting down’ (2Ki_17:10; Deu_16:21; Jdg_6:28; 2Ki_18:4, &c). In Isa_27:9 the LXX. actually renders tree; ‘and so the Peshito in Deut. vi 21, Mic_5:13. Hence, we must not think of pillars like the Greek Hermae, but of a real trunk planted in the ground, rootless, but not branchless; for which purpose pines and evergreens were preferred. The tree signifies, according to an ancient and widespread conception, nature, or the world, which in this case stands as goddess at the side of the Baal——the lord of the world. (Comp. the Norse tree, Yggdrasil, and the Assyrian sacred tree.) Hence, the Ashera was set up by the altar of Baal (Jdg_6:28). (Comp. Deu_16:21.)” Schlottmann adds that Movers is wrong in making Astarte and Ashera two different goddesses, the former being “the stern, cruel virgin,” the latter, “the goddess who excites to pleasure;” and he justly observes that, as in the case of Baal, the same deity may be conceived under contrary aspects (Riehm’s Handworterbuch Bibl. Alterthums, pp. Ill—114). For the Hebrew conception of Astarte see Jer_7:18; Jer_44:17 seq. Kuenen, Rel. of Isr. i. 88 seq., agrees with Movers, but hardly proves his case.

Worshipped all the host of heaven.—2Ki_21:3; comp. 2Ki_23:4.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. And they left [R.V. forsook] all the commandments] The R.V. adopts the most usual rendering of the verb, which is stronger in such a combination than ‘left’. It is noteworthy that the sin of the calves is connected with the casting away of all the divine law. As soon as any other object is set up instead of God, all that He values has perished from man’s worship.

a grove] R.V. an Asherah. See above on verse 10.

and worshipped all the host of heaven] On the temptation to this worship of the heavenly bodies, and its prohibition, cf. Deu_4:19; Deu_17:3. See also what is said of Hezekiah’s and Josiah’s reformations. That God’s people did fall into this sin we know from Jer_8:2; Jer_19:13; Zep_1:5. Most likely it was introduced through the communications of Ahaz with Assyria.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God,.... Which their idolatry led them to; and indeed he that offends in one point is guilty of them all, Jam 2:10.

and made them molten images, even two calves; which they set up at Dan and Bethel, in the times of their first king Jeroboam, Kg1 13:28.

and made a grove; as Ahab, another of their kings, did, Kg1 16:33.

and worshipped all the host of heaven: not the angels, sometimes so called, but, besides the sun and moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Venus:

and served Baal; which was service to the sun, as Abarbinel interprets it; this was the god of the Zidonians Ahab worshipped, having married a princess of that people, Kg1 16:31.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

In 2Ki 17:10 there is a reference to the old high-place worship, which was professedly a worship of Yahweh, but with unauthorized rites and emblems; here the reference is to Ahab’s setting up a grove to Baal in the city of Samaria (marginal reference).

And worshipped all the host of heaven - Astral worship has not hitherto been mentioned as practiced by the Israelites. Moses had warned against it Deu 4:19; Deu 17:3, so that it no doubt existed in his day, either among the Canaanite nations or among the Arabians Job 31:26-28. Perhaps it was involved to some extent in the Baal worship of the Phoenicians, for Baal and Astarte were probably associated in the minds of their worshippers with the Sun and moon. Later in the history we shall find a very decided and well-developed astral worship prevalent among the Jews, which is probably Assyro-Babylonian (2Ki 21:3 note).

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Heaven: sun and mood; and the stars, which were like the soldiers of the two former. This expression is very common in Scripture.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

They left all the commandments of the Lord; they grew worse and worse; from a partial disobedience to some of God’s laws, they fell by degrees to a total apostacy from all of them.

The host of heaven; the stars, as Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, &c. See Deu 4:19.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

16. Two calves — See at 1Ki_12:28.

Grove — See note on 1Ki_14:15.

Worshipped all the host of heaven — In our note on 2Ki_16:10 we observed that the Assyrian astral worship was probably introduced into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah in the times of Pekah and Ahaz, and 2Ki_21:3; 2Ki_23:5; 2Ki_23:11 show that it was common in Judah in the times of Manasseh and Ammon. But long anterior to this it may have been introduced in connexion with the Baal and Ashtoreth worship of Phenicia, for Ashtoreth was not without a sidereal character. “It is not by any means easy,” says Wilkins, (Phenicia and Israel, p. 171,) “to determine the exact form which the worship of the heavenly bodies took in the various nations of Western Asia. The purest form of star worship was that of the Assyrio-Persian magism; it admitted of no images of the deity, and in its adoration of the heavenly bodies it drew its deepest inspiration from the thought of their perfect beauty. This was the cultus to which Job (xxxi, 26) felt himself tempted when he ‘beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness.’ Compare Deu_4:19. A second mode of regarding the stars was that of the Phenicians, by whom they were looked upon as the originators of the growth and decay of nature — the embodiment of the creative and generative principle; and from this view there was readily developed a further symbolism, which led ere long to the grossest idolatry. The third great system of astral worship was that whose leading tendency was to dwell rather on the contemplation of the eternal unchangeableness of the heavenly bodies, as contrasted with the chances and changes of this transitory life. This was the form most common among the Chaldeans, and naturally produced the astrology for which they were famous. It is not always possible to determine which form of the worship of the host of heaven was that which presented itself as a temptation to the children of Israel; on the whole, we may assume it to have been the second, not only from the connexion in which it is mentioned, but also from the circumstances of the case.”

Served Baal — See note on 1Ki_16:31.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 16, 17. The main sins of Israel are now specified, that they themselves may stand self-convicted, and that others may be warned against doing the like. First, generally.

They left all the commandments of the Lord their God; i.e. neglected them, rendered them no obedience, offered none of the stated sacrifices, attended none of the appointed feasts, broke the moral law (Hos_4:1, Hos_4:2, 11 7:1, etc.) by swearing, and lying, and stealing, and committing adultery, by drunkenness, and lewdness, and bloodshed. And made them molten images, even two calves. These at least were undeniable there they were at Dan and Bethel, until the Captivity came (Hos_8:5 Hos_10:5, 6 13:2; Amo_8:14) worshipped, sworn by, (Amo_8:14) viewed as living gods, (Amo_8:14) offered to, trusted in. Every king had upheld them, so that Bethel was regarded as "the king"s court," and "the king"s chapel"; (Amo_7:13) all the people were devoted to them, and "brought their sacrifices to Bethel every morning", (Amo_4:4) "and their tithes after three years." And made a grove. The "grove "(asherah) which Ahab set up at Samaria, (1Ki_16:3-8) and which remained there certainly to the time of Jehoahaz. (see the comment on 2Ki_13:6) And worshipped all the host of heaven. This worship had not been mentioned before; and it is nowhere else ascribed to the Israelites of the northern kingdom. Manasseh seems to have introduced it into Judah. (2Ki_21:3 2Ki_23:5, 2Ki_23:11) Such knowledge as we have of the Western Asiatic religions seems to indicate that astral worship, strictly so called, was a peculiarity of the Assyro-Babylonian and Arabian systems only, and did not belong to the Syrian, or the Phoenician, or the Canaanite. It may be suspected that the present passage is somewhat rhetorical, and assigns to the Israelites the "worship of the host of heaven," simply because an astral character attached to Baal and Ashtoreth, who were associated in the religion of the Phoenicians with the sun and moon. On the ether hand, it is just possible that the Assyro-Babylonian star-worship had been introduced into Israel under Menahem, Pekah, or Hoshea. And served Baal. The Baal-worship, introduced by Ahab, (1Ki_16:31) was not finally abolished by Jehu. (2Ki_10:28) Like other popular religions, it had a revival Hosea, writing under the later kings from Jeroboam II to Hoshea, alludes to the Baal-worship (Hos_2:8, Hos_2:17) as continuing.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Left all - They grew worse and worse; from a partial disobedience to some of God's laws, they fell by degrees to a total apostacy from all. The host - The stars, as Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

The summary of Yahweh's judgment on Israel continues.

cast metal figures

Cast metal figures are objects made by pouring melted metal into a form (or mold) to make a shape.

used ... enchantments

used magic to say what would happen in the future

sold themselves to do that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh

To "sell themselves" is a metaphor for committing completely to do that which was evil. AT: "committed themselves to do things that Yahweh said were evil" (See: Metaphor)

removed them out of his sight

"Sight" is metonymy for being within the attention of Yahweh so he no longer cared for them. AT: "removed them from his attention" (See: Metonymy)

translationWords

cow

worship

Asherah

heaven

Baal

sacrifice

fire

burnt offering

divination

evil

anger

tribe

kingdom of Judah

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Two molten calves. In Beis Eil and in Dan.

The Baal. A pagan deity named Baal.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.