Chapter 17

Melachim ב (Kings II (A Teachers' Guide

 

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Chapter 17

Verses 1-2:

בשנת שתים עשרה לאחז מלך יהודה מלך הושע בן אלה בשומרון על ישראל תשע שנים

ויעש הרע בעיני ה' רק לא כמלכי ישראל אשר היו לפניו

בשנת שתים עשרה לאחז מלך יהודה

* Here, too, the years of the kings don't match what has been said previously. The commentators deal with the problem The upshot of it is that the counting of the nine years of Hoshea's reign starts from the year that he stopped being a vassal of Assyria, and rebelled against him. See Rashi and Abarbanel.

 

Rashi on this verse brings the three stages of the destruction of the kingdom of Israel: First, in the fourth year of Ahaz's reign, Tiglat Pileser exiled the people of Iyon, Dan and all of the land of Naftali (see Melachim II 15:29, and above, in the commentary on it); then, in Ahaz's twelfth year, he exiled Reuven and Gad, and then, in Hizkiyahu's sixth year, he captured Shomron and exiled all the rest of the Ten Tribes.

רק לא כמלכי ישראל אשר היו לפניו

1.    Hoshea was not as evil as the kings of Israel before him - Since the golden calves that Yerovam had made had both been captured by Assyria, Hoshea removed the sentries which Yerovam had stationed at the southern borders of the kingdom so that the people wouldn't be able to go up to Jerusalem (*see Radak on Melachim I 12:28). Now, at last, they were free to go up three times a year for the festivals.

 

       Ironically, by doing this, Hoshea caused the decree against the people to be sealed: Up till then, they didn't go up to Jerusalem, because they would have been killed if they had tried. Now, they showed that even without the royal decree against doing the mitzvah of aliya laregel, they did not come up to Jerusalem; and for that, they were punished by being exiled from their land. (Rashi)

 

2.    The day that Hoshea removed the sentries was the 15th of Av, and that is the source of the custom to make a holiday on that day every year. (Radak)

Verse 3:

עליו עלה שלמנאסר מלך אשור ויהי לו הושע עבד וישב לו מנחה

וישב לו מנחה

1.    "Vayashev - He returned." Every year, Hoshea would pay the set levy decreed by Shalmaneser. He paid, and paid again and again - so that it was like he was returning it, year after year. (Metzudat David)

 

2.    After several years of rebellion, Hoshea was confronted by Shalmaneser, and paid the levies for all the years he hadn't paid them. (Malbim)

Verse 4:

 וימצא מלך אשור בהושע קשר אשר שלח מלאכים אל סוא מלך מצרים ולא העלה מנחה למלך אשור כשנה בשנה ויעצרהו מלך אשור ויאסרהו בית כלא

וימצא מלך אשור בהושע קשר

The king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea was again planning a rebellion: He had contacted the king of Egypt for help, and had not paid the levies required of him. (Metzudat David)

ויעצרהו מלך אשור ויאסרהו בית כלא

When the king of Assyria found out about the planned rebellion, Hoshea was visiting him, and so he arrested him immediately, and prevented him from returning to Shomron. (Metzudat David)

Verses 5-6:

ויעל מלך אשור בכל הארץ ויעל שומרון ויצר עליה שלוש שנים

בשנת התשיעית להושע לכד מלך אשור את שומרון ויגל את ישראל אשורה ויושב אותם בחלב ובחבור נהר גוזן וערי מדי

ויעל מלך אשור בכל הארץ

First the king of Assyria conquered all of the kingdom of Israel, and then he turned to conquer the capital, Shomron. (Radak)

בשנת התשיעית להושע

1.         This was the ninth year since Hoshea rebelled. (Rashi)

2.    This was the ninth year of Hoshea's actual kingship, and even of those nine years, he spent three years in jail. (Metzudat David)

ויושב אותם בחלח ובחבור נהר גוזן

The king of Assyria settled them in Hlah and Havor, both of which were on the Gozan river. (Metzudat David)

 

From here on, until verse 23, the prophet details the deeds of the Children of Israel, for which they were punished by this terrible exile.

Verse 7:

ויהי כי חטאו בני ישראל לה' אלוקיהם המעלה אותם מארץ מצרים מתחת יד פרעה מלך מצרים וייראו אלוהים אחרים

ויהי כי חטאו בני ישראל לה' אלוקיהם המעלה אותם מארץ מצרים

The Children of Israel sinned against Hashem, Who had saved them from Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. It is fitting, therefore, that they should be punished by being sent into an exile even further away than Egypt, and even more difficult, and that this exile should be even longer than that of the period of Egyptian bondage. (Note that the Ten Tribes have yet to return to the land of Israel.) (Abarbanel)

Verses 8-9:

וילכו בחוקות הגויים... ומלכי ישראל אשר עשו

ויחפאו בני ישראל דברים אשר לא כן על ה' אלוקיהם ויבנו להם במות בכל עריהם ממגדל נוצרים עד עיר מבצר

ומלכי ישראל אשר עשו

The sentence should read: "They went in the ways of the Gentiles... and in the ways of the kings of Israel..." - the word בחוקות applying both to the Gentiles and to the kings of Israel. (Metzudat David)

ויחפאו בני ישראל דברים אשר לא כן על ה' אלוקיהם

1.    The verb ויחפאו means to cover; The Children of Israel claimed wrongly that Hashem does not see everything, and that He has left the world to its own devices, ח"ו. Accordingly, they went ahead and worshipped other deities. (Ralbag)

 

2.    They spoke their minds secretly, saying things that should not be said about Hashem, such as that He does not know everything ח"ו. (Metzudat David)

ויבנו להם במות..  ממגדל נוצרים עד עיר מבצר

They built places of worship to the other deities all over the country, in every nook and cranny: in small guard posts as well as in big forts. (Metzudat David)

Verses 10-12:

ויציבו להם מצבות ואשרים... ויקטרו שם בכל במות ... ויעשו דברים רעים להכעיס את ה'... ויעבדו הגילולים אשר אמר ה' להם לא תעשו את הדבר הזה

להכעיס את ה'... ויעבדו הגילולים אשר אמר ה' להם לא תעשו

All the things that they did were done rebelliously, in order to anger Hashem. And the proof of that is that they even worshipped disgusting  deities. (Abarbanel)

 

The Abarbanel shows in his commentary on these verses, how the people received their due punishment, measure for measure: The people said that Hashem couldn't see everything, and therefore He hid His face from them in punishment: they  defiled the entire land, and so the entire land was taken from them.

Verses 13-14:

ויעד ה' בישראל וביהודה ביד כל נביאי (קרי) / נביאו (כתיב) כל חוזה לאמור שובו מדרכיכם הרעים... ולא שמעו ויקשו את ערפם כעורף אבותם אשר לא האמינו בה' אלוקיהם

ויעד ה' בישראל

Hashem warned them, and since warning is usually done in the face of witnesses, the verb ויעד is used, עד meaning witness. (Metzudat David)

ויקשו את ערפם

They were stiff-necked, like their ancestors in the desert (see Shemot 32:9; Devarim 9:6, for instance).

 

 

 

 

 

* This section of the chapter - verses 7-17 - is full of references to prophecies, both from the Torah and from the Prophets, in which the Children of Israel were warned not to do these acts, for they would be punished for them. For extra credit, the students can use a concordance in order to find some of these references - such as וילכו אחרי ההבל ויהבלו, which appears in Yirmiyahu, ויעבירו את בניהם ואת בנותיהם באש... וינחשו, which appears in Devarim. The point of such an exercise would be to show that the people knew that they were not to do these things - they had heard admonitions again and again from prophets, and yet they went ahead and did them anyway.

Verses 15-17:

וימאסו את חוקיו ואת בריתו אשר כרת את אבותם... וילכו אחרי ההבל ויהבלו ואחרי הגויים אשר... ציווה ה' אותם לבלתי עשות כהם

ויעזבו את כל מצוות ה' אלוקיהם ויעשו להם מסכה שנים עגלים... ויעבירו את בניהם ואת בנותיהם באש... ויתמכרו לעשות הרע בעיני ה' להכעיסו

וימאסו את חוקיו

At a certain point in their actions, they reached the stage of extreme evil - that of being disgusted by the mitzvas, as it says in Vayikra 26:15, at the beginning of the tochehah. (Malbim)

וילכו אחרי ההבל

They forsook the ways of Hashem in disgust, and chose instead meaningless  beliefs. (Malbim)

ויעזבו את כל מצוות ה'

Up till now, we were being told what single individuals did; from now on it is a description of what the nation, as a whole, did: They left all of the Mitzvas; made the two golden calves, and indulged in all manner of idol worship. (Malbim)

Verses 18-19:

ויתאנף ה' מאוד בישראל ויסירם מעל פניו לא נשאר רק שבט יהודה לבדו

גם יהודה לא שמר את מצוות ה' אלוקיהם וילכו בחוקות ישראל אשר עשו

לא נשאר רק שבט יהודה לבדו

Actually, it was not only the tribe of Yehudah which remained, but all of the kingdom of Yehudah, which included some of the tribe of Binyamin and Shimon. (Abarbanel)

גם יהודה לא שמר מצוות ה'

Admittedly, Yehudah, too, went in the evil ways of the kings of Israel, but even so, Yehudah was not exiled at the same time as Israel, for several possible reasons:

 

a)         They had the benefit of having the Temple in their territory;

b)         Their kings were not as evil as the kings of Israel

c)    The exile of Israel came in the time of Hizkiyahu, who was a righteous king, and his merit protected them;

d)    The hope was that the people of Yehudah would do teshuva after seeing the destruction of the kingdom of Israel. (Abarbanel)

Verse 20:

וימאס ה' בכל זרע ישראל ויענם ויתנם ביד שוסים עד אשר השליכם מפניו

ויענם ויתנם ביד שוסים עד אשר השליכם מפניו

There are three stages here - first, afflicting them with famine and other such troubles, second,  bringing upon them marauders, and third, casting them away from the land completely. (Ralbag)

Verse 21:

 כי קרע ישראל מעל בית דוד וימליכו את ירבעם בן נבט וידא (כתיב) / וידח (קרי) ירבעם את ישראל מאחרי ה' והחטיאם חטאה גדולה

כי קרע ישראל מעל בית דוד

"Israel tore itself away from the House of David". One might ask: But didn't Yerovam do what he did following the decree of the prophet Ahiyah? (Melachim I 11:29-39) The answer is that the people of Israel themselves began the process, without consulting with a prophet. (Metzudat David)

וידח ירבעם את ישראל מאחרי ה'

Because Yerovam saw that the people of Israel had rebelled against the House of David, he was afraid that they would rebel against him too, and that is why he set up the two golden calves, in order to prevent them from going up to the Temple and being exposed to propaganda. Again, no prophet was consulted about this move of his. (Metzudat David)

Verses 22-23:

וילכו בני ישראל בכל חטאות ירבעם אשר עשה לא סרו ממנה

עד אשר הסיר ה' את ישראל מעל פניו כאשר דיבר ביד כל עבדיו הנביאים וייגל ישראל מעל אדמתו אשורה עד היום הזה

לא סרו ממנה

Once the people started to worship the golden calves, they never stopped, even after Hoshea removed the guards preventing them from going up to Jerusalem (see above, verse 2). (Metzudat David)

עד היום הזה

The Ten Tribes are still in exile; they did not return with Yehudah at the time of the Second Temple. This is connected with what was said above - they  never left their evil ways, which they embraced of their own free will, and therefore they have not merited salvation. (Metzudat David)

*   *  *

Verse 24:

ויבא מלך אשור מבבל ומכותה ומעווא ומחמת ומספרוויים ויושב בערי שומרון תחת בני ישראל ויירשו את שומרון וישבו בעריה

ויושב בערי שומרון

It doesn't say that the king of Assyria settled the people in the city of Shomron, but in the "cities of [the area of] Shomron". The capital city, Shomron, had been totally destroyed, as the prophet Michah had prophesied (Michah 1:6). (Radak)

Verse 25:

 ויהי בתחילת שבתם שם לא יראו את ה' וישלח ה' בהם את האריות ויהיו הורגים בהם

לא יראו את ה'

Most Gentiles believed in Hashem, and saw the idols they worshipped as mere mediators between them and Hashem. Not so the Gentiles settled in Shomron. They claimed that if Hashem allowed His people to be vanquished and exiled, then He wasn't worthy of their awe and recognition. (Abarbanel)

 

וישלח ה' בהם את האריות

The result of this total renunciation of any sort of belief in the one, true G-d, was that they lost the basic human attribute of being feared by the animal kingdom. And so, the lions came and attacked them. (Abarbanel)

Verses 26-27:

ויאמרו למלך אשור לאמור הגויים אשר הגלית... לא ידעו את משפט אלוהי הארץ וישלח בם את האריות והינם ממיתים אותם...

ויצו מלך אשור לאמור הוליכו שמה אחד מהכוהנים אשר הגליתם משם וילכו וישבו שם ויורם את משפט אלוהי הארץ

ויאמרו למלך אשור

The king's servants told him what was happening to the people he had settled in Shomron. (Metzudat David)

אחד מהכהנים

The priests were also the teachers of the Torah, and so it was a priest who was sent from Assyria to Shomron to teach the Gentiles there how to worship Hashem.

Verse 28:

ויבוא אחד מהכוהנים אשר היגלו משומרון וישב בבית אל ויהי מורה אותם איך ייראו את ה'

איך ייראו את ה'

The Gentiles who settled in Shomron could not be required to become full Jews - for them, idol worship was an intrinsic part of life. But the land of Israel cannot tolerate idol worshippers who believe that the idols are solely responsible for their welfare. In order to be tolerated by the land, the new settlers had to learn from the priest that these idols should be viewed as mediators between them and Hashem, and that they must avoid certain practices about which it is said that the land of Israel will expel anybody who engages in them (See Vayikra, chapter 18). (Radak)

 

* Radak on this verse gives a long explanation about the nature of the idol worship which the Jews engaged in, and the reasons for it. Deep down, all the kings knew that Hashem was the one true G-d, and they always turned to Him in time of need.

 

Verse 29:

ויהיו עושים גוי גוי אלוהיו ויניחו בבית הבמות אשר עשו השומרונים גוי גוי בעריהם אשר הם יושבים שם

ויהיו עושים גוי גוי אלוהיו

The settlers continued their former practices in the places of worship in Shomron. (Radak)

בבית הבמות אשר עשו השומרונים

They used the places of worship which the Jews had erected in Shomron. (Radak)

Verses 30-31:

ואנשי בבל עשו את סוכות בנות ואנשי כות עשו את נרגל ואנשי חמת עשו את אשימא

והעווים עשו נבחז ואת תרתק והספרווים שורפים את בניהם באש לאדרמלך וענמלך אלוהי ספרוויים

סוכות בנות... נרגל... אשימא... נבחז... תרתק

These two verses detail the various deities that were brought into the land of Israel - each group of exiles bringing its deity with it. All these deities took the form of animals, such as chickens, rams, dogs, donkeys, and horses. (Radak)

Verses 32-33:

ויהיו יראים את ה' ויעשו להם מקצותם כוהני במות...

את ה' היו יראים ואת אלוהיהם היו עובדים כמשפט הגויים אשר הגלו אותם משם

כמשפט הגויים אשר הגלו אותם משם

1.    The Gentiles' worship was like that of the nation that was exiled from Shomron - the Jews'. Like the Jews, they combined fear of G-d with the worship of other deities. (Radak)

 

2.    The Gentiles' worship was like it was in their countries of origin - idol worship. (Radak)

Verse 34:

עד היום הזה הם עושים כמשפטים הראשונים אינם יראים את ה' ואינם עושים כחוקותם וכמשפטם וכתורה וכמצווה אשר ציווה ה' את בני יעקב אשר שם שמו ישראל

עד היום הזה הם עושים כמשפטים הראשונים... ואינם עושים... אשר ציווה ה' את בני יעקב אשר שם שמו ישראל

1.    The Jews are still behaving the way they behaved in Shomron: They do not fear G-d enough in order to stop practicing idolatry - which is the true fear of G-d, as in Yaakov's words to his clan in Breishit 35:2. It is after Yaakov's command that his family fear G-d, that Hashem says to him that "Israel will be your name" (Breishit 35:10). (Radak)

 

2.    The Gentiles are still behaving in the same way: they fear G-d only because of their fear of the lions. They retain their previous practices, and do not behave according to the Torah  and Mitzvah which Hashem gave the children of Yaakov. (Radak)

 

Radak brings these two possible explanations of these verses, and ends by saying that "the first explanation [that the verses are referring to the Jews] seems to me to be the right one".

Verses 35-40:

ויכרות ה' אתם ברית ויצוום לאמור לא תיראו אלוהים אחרים ולא תשתחוו להם... כי אם את ה' אשר העלה אתכם מארץ מצרים... אותו תיראו... ואת החוקים ואת המשפטים והתורה והמצווה אשר כתב לכם תשמרון לעשות...

והברית אשר כרתי אתכם לא תשכחו...

כי אם את ה' אלוקיכם תיראו והוא יציל אתכם מיד כל אויביכם

ולא שמעו כי אם כמשפטם הראשון הם עושים

ויכרות ה' איתם ברית...

All of these verses refer to the Children of Israel, who were required to keep the Torah fully, without worshipping idols. The new settlers did not follow this way, but practiced a combination of religions.

ולא שמעו כי אם כמשפטם הראשון

1.    The Children of Israel did not heed the words of Hashem, and kept on in their evil ways. (Radak)

 

2.    The Gentiles did not pay attention to these obligations which converts to Judaism must observe just like born Jews, but kept on in their idol worship. (Metzudat David)

Verse 41:

ויהיו הגויים האלה יראים את ה' ואת פסיליהם היו עובדים גם בניהם ובני בניהם כאשר עשו אבותם הם עושים עד היום הזה

ויהיו... יראים את ה' ואת פסיליהם היו עובדים

This is a summary of way of life adopted by the new settlers: a semi-conversion, accepting some of the ideas of Judaism, but not becoming full Jews in the sense of renouncing idol worship.

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