2 Kings 17 Introduction

Structure and Formatting

At the start of this chapter (verses 1–6), the author tells the story of Hoshea, who was the last king of the northern kingdom of Israel. During his reign, the Assyrians conquered that kingdom and exiled its people. So in the following chapters, the author tells what the kings were like who ruled the kingdom of Judah in the years afterward.Much of this chapter (verses 7–23) is devoted to an explanation that Yahweh allowed the exile of the people of the northern kingdom because they persistently disobeyed him and engaged in idolatry and wickedness despite repeated warnings from his prophets. This can be understood as the closing argument, applied initially to the northern kingdom, of the case that the author or authors of these historical books have been building that Yahweh was not at fault when the Israelites were conquered and exiled from their land. Instead, this happened because the people disobeyed Yahweh and broke their covenant with him.The remainder of the chapter (verses 24–31) describes how the Assyrians resettled other peoples in the land of Israel and how those peoples worshiped other gods in addition to Yahweh.