Sunday Morning Service (II Kings 17:7-41)

II Kings 17:7-41

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“God's Closing Argument” • 9.17.17 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service

Intro

- In our last session, we witnessed the end of the northern Kingdom. Assyria, after initially occupying a large portion of their land, set up a King with the contingency that he serve their interest.

- When King Hoshea sought to betray that agreement by enlisting the help of Egypt, Shalmaneser displayed his power and moved against the capital city of Samaria.

- In 722 BC, after a three year siege, the inhabitants of the northern Kingdom were removed from their land and scattered among other Assyrian conquered nations.

- We aren't surprised. The record has been clear in the palace: The Kings of Israel all chose to live evil, God forsaking lives! The minor prophets paint the same picture on the street level.

- But in the section before us, God calls upon His author to lay out His case once and for all. Let's pick it up in verse 7.

Text

• II Kings 17:7-12 : "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 they had feared other gods, and had walked in the statutes of the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.'" :  This section, read from the heart of God, is heartbreaking. If you have ever trained up a child in the way that they should go and seen them depart for a time, know that God understands!

- Generally speaking, Israel sinned against the Lord their God. From a worldly perspective, it may have seemed inevitable geopolitically. Assyria was a dominant and aggressive regional power.

- But that wasn't the reason for Israel's collapse. God says that it was because of their sin!

- The word "sin" means "to miss the goal or path of right and duty." Israel not only missed it, they seemed to be aiming in another direction!

- They sinned against the Lord their God. We would like to believe that our actions are independent choices, judged on the basis of their impact upon another.

- Sin is primarily an offense against God. King David's famous words that He wrote when he sinned with Bathsheba establishes this: "Against You and You only have I sinned!" (Ps. 51:4)

- When you sin against a great human, you should expect a terrifying sentence. Imagine then the consequence of sinning against the God of the Universe!

- They couldn't even claim ignorance. They were not ignorant of His character or His activity. This God had rescued them from the previous regional power represented by the land of Egypt!

- He took them out from under the determined hand of the Pharaoh, who would have kept them enslaved until they fell off the face of the earth! God's faithful love emanicipated them!

- Israel was guilty of sinning against light and love! Instead of spending their lives living out a testimony of gratitude, these people chose to give their respect and reverence to other gods!

- Consider that for a moment: God had defeated the gods of Egypt when He delivered them. The gods of the Canaanites were powerless against Him. But they gave themselves to them anyway!

- A life which gives preference to something over God will eventually lead to a character that emulates all nations that have fallen under God's judgment.

- What you worship will eventually shape your character. If you worship financial gain, Baal, expect to be greedy and to treat people like disposable commodities.

- If you worship pleasure, Molech, expect to value people as tokens of sexual expression!

- Likewise, the people of Israel worshipped the gods of the nations that God rejected and they naturally lived a life that led them to being rejected by God! Verse 9.

• II Kings 17:9-12 : "Also the children of Israel secretly did against the Lord their God things that were not right, and they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from watchtower to fortified city. They set up for themselves sacred pillars and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree. There they burned incense on all the high places, like the nations whom the Lord had carried away before them; and they did wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger, for they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, 'You shall not do this thing.'" : Verse 9 reads ackwardly in the NKJV. The NASB and the CSB both translate the words "things" as words spoken. Literally, they spoke things against the Lord secretly.

- The author doesn't mean that they could actually do something that was unknown to God.

- Rather, the people of Israel were speaking covertly, privately, against the Lord, things which were not right. God is allowing them to go into judgment because of what they said about Him!

- A good example of what the author refers to can be found in Hosea 11:7 (NLT). "They call me the Most High, but they don’t truly honor me." We would call this hypocrisy!

- The nation of Israel continued to acknowledge God, but without any intention of honoring Him as God! What did that result in? The build up of false religious infrastructure. It was everywhere!

- They set up pillars and images throughout their territory. There was no difference between them and the nations that had acted in this exact manner.

- Their continual wickedness was a provocative act against the Lord and His Word.

- "You shall not do this thing!" This is a summation of all the passages that addressed God's prohibition upon creating an idol.

- You can reference Exodus 20:3-5, Leviticus 26:1, Deuteronomy 5:7-9 and 12:1-4.

- Their Bibles were repelete with verses that ministered this same truth. They had the law and we'll see in the next verse, that they also had the prophets! Verse 13.

• II Kings 17:13 : "Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His prophets, every seer, saying, 'Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.'" : The people of Israel did not fall into idolatry ignorantly or without a witness.

- In a sense, one could say that God has them "dead to rights." They are openly guilty.

- And yet! God "testified," the language indicating that He kept testifying or witnessing to them. The word "protest" would also be appropriate when using this Hebrew word.

- He kept providing warnings by or through these individuals, the prophets. They are speaking, but it was God who was protesting through them! This is a vital distinction for us to consider.

- These were human authors trapped in their own time, informed by their own distinct culture, commenting upon what they saw. What came through was beyond them.

- It was God breathing out His message for them to hear. When you read Hosea, Joel, Zechariah, and Isaiah, you see different personalities.

- Some were given dramatic plays to act out for the nation, but all had a united voice of God!

- What has been preserved, what has been written is God's final revelation. His Word is complete. Whatever can be read in the prophetic books, can be boiled down to verse 13.

- "Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments!" God never calls for a tolerance of our own evil ways. He calls us to turn from them! But that is only half of the equation.

- It does you no good to turn from your evil ways to a state of neutrality. That only leaves you open to adopting new evil ways!

- He called them to turn from their evil ways and then to turn to the keeping of His commandments and statutes that He had given them through His servants.

- Did you notice that? He doesn't call His people to anything new. He recalls them to that which they had already known! God's Word is not only sufficient. It's eternal! It transcends time!

- The people of God needed to return to the Word of God if they were to experience the favor of God! It's that simple! The prophets did their job, but the problem was in the people! Verse 14.

• II Kings 17:14-18 : "Nevertheless they would not hear, but stiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God. And they rejected His statutes and His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them; they followed idols, became idolaters, and went after the nations who were all around them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them. So they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, made for themselves a molded image and two calves, made a wooden image and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; there was none left but the tribe of Judah alone." : The people of Israel could hear, but they would not listen! They refused to alter their course. They doggedly pursued their own course, making their necks increasingly stiff.

- They had their chance, but instead, took after their ancestors, specifically, those which came out of the Exodus, who did not trust the Lord.

- After the Lord led them through the wilderness, miraculously providing for their needs, the people stopped short of entering Canaan because of the bad report of 12 elders!

- That is the summary of Numbers 13. In the very next breath, they threaten to replace Moses with a new leader so that they can return to Egypt! (Numbers 14:4)

- That group of people rejected His statutes, covenant and testimonies, and became idolators. Instead of being distinct from the neighboring nations, they became just like them!

- This was true of the first generation of Israelites and it had become true of this final generation of Israelites!

- As we have been studying, we have noted their abandonment of God's religion for the sake of their molded image and the two calves. This represented Jeroboam's religion.

- But that was merely a gateway which opened the nation to the worship of astrology and Baal, the God of fertility! When that wasn't enough, they sacrificed their own infant children to Molech!

- The people practiced witchcraft, the NLT adding that the "people consulted fortune tellers." They bought into enchantments, the whispers of an oracle.

- Israel sold themselves into slavery and God removed them from His sight! Verse 19.

• II Kings 17:19-23 : " Also Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them from His sight. For He tore Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord, and made them commit a great sin. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them, until the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria, as it is to this day." : The author lets us know that Israel was not alone in it's rebellion. Judah was also beginning to walk in the same paths as Israel had.

- The author, writing in retrospect, sees the North's actions as an infection that spread to all of Israel. Eventually, in 135 years, Judah will be led into exile as well.

- Israel's idolatry was already influencing the life of Judah's King Ahaz and the people were following right along. These were events that God's prophets were predicting.

- As Israel was carried away captive, nobody could claim that their messages were metaphors! This was a physical removal that should stand as a deep warning to Judah. Verse 24.

• II Kings 17:24 : "Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities." : The Assyrians had a very specific plan to settle conquered lands. They would relocate the brightest and most influential people other conquered lands to repopulate an area.

- The trick was that these were all members of rival nations, whose mixed customs and languages would create an environment of chaos.

- While Israel is being deported en masse, the people from these nations are coming in. Note the prominence of Babylon. At this time, Assyria was dominating Babylon.

- The citizens from these countries all had this in common: They had been humiliated and devastated by the Assyrian empire and were now being brought into this foreign land. Verse 25.

• II Kings 17:25-27 : "And it was so, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they did not fear the Lord; therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them. So they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, 'The nations whom you have removed and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the rituals of the God of the land; therefore He has sent lions among them, and indeed, they are killing them because they do not know the rituals of the God of the land.' Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, 'Send there one of the priests whom you brought from there; let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the rituals of the God of the land.'" : When these various people groups came to dwell in the land, they didn't respect the Lord or realize that this was His land.

- Even though God's people had been defeated, He had not been dethroned as their gods had.

- Living without any fear of God, without respect to His person in His land brought about severe consequences in which several people lost their lives.

- Whatever representatives were in Samaria came to speak to the King and advised him of the situation. They realized that the new population was offending the God of the land.

- How did they come to this conclusion? How could they have known? It's plausible that some of the least influential that had been left, had conveyed the information. We aren't sure.

- But when the King received this news, he called for an Israeli priest to return to Samaria to teach the people the rituals of the land. Two things should jump out to you at this juncture.

- The first relates to the purpose that is served by the content before us.

- At the very least, someone randomly deduced that there was a God who ruled over Israel, who could be offended. At best, someone responded positively to another person's testimony.

- Either way, a group of complete heathens sought to right their wrong! They sought to appease the God of Israel. They sought to make a change.

- With just that much light, they rightly responded to the God of Israel! How much more does that condemn the nation of Israel!?

- Second, it's interesting that the King of Assyria would seek out a priest from Samaria to teach the customs of how to live before God. Do you think that he had Israel's best intentions in mind?

- Don't you think it was a calculated move to keep the land of Samaria from succeeding? Send in an Israelite priest, one who only knew how to compromise and antagonize God!

- I believe that the Assyrian King knew exactly what he was doing. Look at the fruit of that decision. Verse 28.

• II Kings 17:28-33 : "Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord. However every nation continued to make gods of its own, and put them in the shrines on the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities where they dwelt. The men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, and the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. So they feared the Lord, and from every class they appointed for themselves priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. They feared the Lord, yet served their own gods—according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away." : This unnamed priest returned right back to one of the centers of Jeroboam's religion and began to teach on the fear of the Lord.

- What did that mean to him? Did he teach them a few old songs? Did he show them how to make an offering? Whatever he taught them, he got it wrong!

- Every nation continued to make gods of it's own! God will not be one of many. He will be all in all or not at all! These heathens were judged upon the revelation given to them.

- This priest however will be held accountable for teaching an entire generation that it's good to worship God and acceptable if you want to indulge yourself!

- There is no such teaching in scripture and living a life like this will only lead to your destruction. These people were allowed to endure. Verse 34.

• II Kings 17:34-41 : "To this day they continue practicing the former rituals; they do not fear the Lord, nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances, or the law and commandment which the Lord had commanded the children of Jacob, whom He named Israel, with whom the Lord had made a covenant and charged them, saying: 'You shall not fear other gods, nor bow down to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them; but the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm, Him you shall fear, Him you shall worship, and to Him you shall offer sacrifice. And the statutes, the ordinances, the law, and the commandment which He wrote for you, you shall be careful to observe forever; you shall not fear other gods. And the covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods. But the Lord your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.' However they did not obey, but they followed their former rituals. So these nations feared the Lord, yet served their carved images; also their children and their children’s children have continued doing as their fathers did, even to this day." : This section doesn't really require much comment. Instead, I will say that here is the true guilt of the people of Israel. Even after all of their chastisement, here is the enduring fruit.

- When the priest returned from Assyria, he had the opportunity to reset the people in the ways of the Lord, to turn himself back to the law of God and to turn the people in that direction.

- Instead, he taught them to do the same thing that he had helped to teach Israel to do. The nations feared the Lord. The respected Him, but they served their carved images!

- They believed that He had a place among the gods, but they chose to expend their duties toward themselves! That was going on until that very day and indeed many years after the fact!

Conclusion
- Israel turned her back upon the God that had shown her His greatest love. He delivered them when they were powerless, from the nation of Egypt that would have extinguished them.

- When He settled them in Canaan, He warned them not to pursue the gods of the land and when they did, He patiently worked to convince them to return to Him.

- When they proved that they would not be turned, He judiciously handed them over to judgment, making good on His promise.

- How much more should we consider this? God has provided a deliverance from the very hands of the Devil Himself?

- He has called us to look unto Jesus Christ, His Savior and to turn from the idols that are representative of our own desires.

- If we turn, He will show us greater love and mercy as a Father. If we resist, He will be our judge and we will have nothing to say. May we consider our ways and be found in Him!