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2 Kings 17
Book of Kings
2 Kings 17:1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of
Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.
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.
3 Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his
servant, and gave him presents.
4 And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers
to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had
done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in
prison.
5 Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to
Samaria, and besieged it three years.
6 In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried
Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of
Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
7 For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their
God, which 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 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 them high places in all their cities,
from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.
10 And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every
green tree:
11 And there they burnt 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:
12 For they served idols, whereof the Lord had said unto them, Ye shall not do
this thing.
13 Yet the Lord testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the
prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye 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.
14 Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the
neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God.
15 And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their
fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed
vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them,
concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them.
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.
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Host of heaven = sun, moon and stars
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Jeremiah 8:2 And they shall spread them before
the sun, and the moon, and all the host of
heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have
served, and after whom they have walked, and
whom they have sought, and whom they have
worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be
buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of
the earth.
17 And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and
used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of
the Lord, to provoke him to anger.
18 Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his
sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
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They Lord has rejected Israel
19 Also Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the
statutes of Israel which they made.
20 And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and
delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his
sight.
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God wanted to be their King, but they rejected
God
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Jeremiah 3:8 And I saw, when for all the causes
whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I
had put her away, and given her a bill of
divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared
not, but went and played the harlot also.
21 For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of
Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the Lord, and made them
sin
a great sin.
22 For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did;
they departed not from them;
23 Until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his
servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to
Assyria unto this day.
24 And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from
Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of
Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt
in the cities thereof.
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The king of Assyria brought men from Babylon =
confusion
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They have mixed with other races and other
religions
25 And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not
the Lord: therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them.
26 Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou
hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the
God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay
them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.
27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests
whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach
them the manner of the God of the land.
28 Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and
dwelt in Beth-el, and taught them how they should fear the Lord.
29 Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of
the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities
wherein they dwelt.
30 And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal,
and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
31 And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their
children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
32 So they feared the Lord, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them
priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high
places.
33 They feared the Lord, and served their own gods, after the manner of the
nations whom they carried away from thence.
34 Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the Lord,
neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the
law and commandment which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he
named Israel;
35 With whom the Lord had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall
not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice
to them:
36 But the Lord, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power
and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him
shall ye do sacrifice.
37 And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which
he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear
other gods.
38 And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall
ye fear other gods.
39 But the Lord your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand
of all your enemies.
40 Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner.
41 So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images, both their
children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto
this day.
• Exactly 2520 years from the exile
of Benjamin, Iceland became an independent nation.
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The first tribe to be
conquered by the Assyrians was Manasseh,
in 745 B.C. Exactly 2520 years later America became a nation on July 4, 1776.
(Leviticus. 26: 28-46) God warned Israel that if they persisted in continually
breaking His Laws, not only would curses come upon them.
He would punish them for seven times, (a time being 360 years, seven times would
be 2520 years) and would banish them from the land of Palestine and scatter them
among the heathens (like lost sheep)
• Study the book: Abrahamic Covenant,
(A study outline of the identity of God's people) By E. Raymond Capt
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