2 Kings 17:2

2Ki 17:2 And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him.

Ver. 2. But not as the kings of Israel that were before him.] For he suffered his subjects to go up to the passover celebrated by Hezekiah when he invited them, {2Ch 30:11} and to worship the Lord as they thought meet. Sulpitius Severus therefore is out when he saith of Hoshea, Hic ultra omnes superiores reges impius, &c.; this king being wicked above all that went before him, procured to himself punishment from God, and to his nation perpetual captivity. For he was better than his predecessors, as here appeareth; and the iniquity of the people was now full. It is not the last sand that exhausteth the hour glass, nor the last stroke of the axe that felleth the tree; so here.

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.

2Ki 17:2. But not as the kings of Israel that were before him — For he neither worshipped Baal, as many of his predecessors had done, nor compelled the people to worship the calves, one of which, that of Dan, being destroyed or carried away before this time, as the Hebrew writers affirm. And whereas the kings of Israel had hitherto maintained guards upon the frontiers, to hinder their subjects from going to Jerusalem to worship, Hoshea took away those guards, and gave free liberty to all, to go and pay their adoration where the law had directed; and, therefore, when Hezekiah had invited all Israel to come to his passover, this prince permitted all that would to go: and when, upon their return from that festival, they destroyed all the monuments of idolatry that were found in the kingdom of Samaria, instead of forbidding them, in all probability he gave his consent to it; because, without some tacit encouragement, at least, they durst not have ventured to do it. — Prideaux. And yet God, whose judgments are a great deep, brought destruction on the kingdom of Israel in the reign of this king. The fact was, that the Israelites had now completely filled up the measure of their iniquities, and God, by bringing ruin upon them at this time, when their king was less guilty than his predecessors, designed to show that he was punishing, not only the sins of that generation, but of the foregoing ages, and reckoning with them for the iniquities of their fathers. Add to this, that if Hoshea was not so bad as the generality of their former kings, yet the people were quite as wicked as those that went before them; and it was an aggravation of their wickedness, and brought ruin on them the sooner, that their king did not set them so bad an example as the former kings had done, nor hinder their reforming. He gave them leave to abandon their idols and their sins, and to return to the worship of the true God, and obedience to his laws: but they persisted in their idolatries and other vices, which laid the blame of their sin and ruin wholly upon themselves.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17:2 Hoshea’s evil deeds were not to the same extent as his forebears, though what this means exactly is not explained.

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

Though he invented no new idolatry, or impiety as others did, yet he sought for help at the Egyptians, which God had forbidden.

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

he did evil . . . but not as the kings of Israel--Unlike his predecessors from the time of Jeroboam, he neither established the rites of Baal, nor compelled the people to adhere to the symbolic worship of the calves. [See on Ch2 30:1.] In these respects, Hoshea acted as became a constitutional king of Israel. Yet, through the influence of the nineteen princes who had swayed the scepter before him (all of whom had been zealous patrons of idolatry, and many of whom had been also infamous for personal crimes), the whole nation had become so completely demoralized that the righteous judgment of an angry Providence impended over it.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(2) But not as the kings of Israel that were before him.—The preceding phrase is used of all the northern kings but Shallum, who only reigned a month, and had no time for the display of his religious policy. We can hardly assume that Hoshea abandoned the calf-worship of Bethel, but he may have discountenanced the cultus of the Baals and Asheras. The Seder Olam states that Hoshea did not replace the calf of Bethel, which, it assumes, had been carried off by the Assyrians in accordance with the prophecy of Hosea (Hos_10:5). We may remember that the last sovereigns of falling monarchies have not always been the worst of their line—e.g., Charles I. or Louis XVI.

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

2. but not as the kings of Israel that were before him] We have no record of the doings of Hoshea, so as to specify in what points he was better than his predecessors. A long persistence in evil doing had however corrupted the whole nation, and the cutting short which had begun under the house of Jehu (2Ki_10:32) was now very nearly completed.

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 he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him. He did not worship Baal, as some of them had done; and he could not worship the calves, as all of them had, for they were carried away by the Assyrians in the former captivities, as the Jews (s) say; and who also observe (t), that he removed the garrisons set on the borders of the land to watch the Israelites, that they might not go up to Jerusalem; and this being done on the fifteenth of Ab, that day was afterwards observed as a festival on that account; and they further remark (u), that the captivity of the ten tribes was in the reign of this king, who was better than the rest, to show that it was not barely the sins of the kings on whom the Israelites would cast the blame, that they were carried captives, but their own, according to Hos 5:3.

(s) Seder Olam Rabba, c. 22. (t) T. Bab. Gittin, fol. 88. Kimchi in loc. (u) Seder Olam Raba, ut supra. (c. 22.)

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

Not as the kings of Israel that were before him - The repentance of a nation like that of an individual, may be “too late.” God is long-suffering; but after national sins have reached a certain height, after admonitions and warnings have been repeatedly rejected, after lesser punishments have failed - judgment begins to fall. Forces have been set in motion, which nothing but a miracle could stop; and God does not see fit to work a miracle in such a case. Compare Butler, ‘Analogy, ‘ Pt. I ch. 2 end.

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

Him. The Jews say, that he did not hinder his subjects from going to Jerusalem to adore. One of the golden calves had been sent away by Manahem, Osee x. 5. (Calmet) --- Yet under the less wicked king the nation is destroyed, as their crimes were come to the height; and Osee had not sufficient virtue to suspend the stroke of divine justice any longer. (Haydock)

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).

For he neither worshipped Baal, as many of his predecessors did; nor compelled the people to worship the calves; one of them, that of Dan, being destroyed, or carried away before, as the Hebrew writers affirm; nor, as some add, hindered those by force who were minded to go to Jerusalem to worship; and yet, the measure of the Israelites’ sins being now full, vengeance comes upon them without remedy: compare 2Ki 23:26.

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

2. Not as the kings of Israel that were before him — “It looks,” says Ewald, “like the bitter irony of fate that this Hoshea, who was to be the last king, was a better one than any of his predecessors. The words of the true prophets who had uttered so many and such important truths concerning this kingdom during the last fifty years, may, perhaps, have exercised a powerful influence over him, and instilled into him better principles. But they had always predicted its fall as certain; and now the irresistible force of history was to prove that no single man, whatever might be his position and superiority, could be strong enough to delay the ruin of the whole structure, if the right moment for its reformation had passed.”

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

And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him. Hoshea"s general attitude towards Jehovah was much the same as that of former kings of Israel. De maintained the calf-worship, leant upon "arms of flesh," and turned a deaf ear to the teaching of the prophets e.g, Hoshea and Micah, who addressed their warnings to him. But he was not guilty of any special wickedness he set up no new idolatry; he seems to have allowed his subjects, if they pleased, to attend the festival worship at Jerusalem. (2Ch_30:11, 2Ch_30:18) The rabbis add that when the golden calf of Bethel had been carried off by the Assyrians in one of their incursions, he did not replace it ("Seder Olam," 2Ki 22); but it is not at all clear that the image was carried away until Hoshea"s reign was over. (see Dr. Pusey"s comment on Hos_10:6 in his "Minor Prophets," p. 64)

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

But not, &c. - For he neither worshipped Baal, as many of his predecessors did; nor compelled the people to worship the calves; (one of them, that of Daniel, being destroyed, or carried away before, as the Hebrew writers affirm;) nor, as some add, hindered those by force, who were minded to go to Jerusalem to worship. And yet, the measure of the Israelites sins, being now full, vengeance comes upon them without remedy.

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

But not like the kings of Yisroel. For he abolished the sentries who were stationed on the roads from the days of Yorovom, to guard against the [Bnei] Yisroel from going up and performing the pilgrimage for the festivals, and this one abolished them, because the golden calves had already been exiled in the two [previous] exiles. In the first exile, [it states,] “he took Iyon and Dan,” [i.e.,] he exiled the calf that was in Dan. And in the second [exile], when Reuvein and Gad were exiled, he took the calf that was in Beis Eil, to fulfill what was stated, ”That too, will be transported to Ashur.” And because the sentries were abolished, and they [nonetheless] refrained from going up and performing the pilgrimage for the festivals, therefore, their verdict to be exiled in his days was sealed, for until now, they had blamed the corruption on their kings, but now they had no one to blame. This is what Hoshei'a the son of Be'eiri said, ”For now you have gone astray, Ephrayim, Yisroel has become defiled.” [i.e.,] now your evil has been revealed.

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.