2 Kings 17 - You Are What You Worship

Those who follow vanity quickly become vain.

SINCE WE LAST LEFT OFF... The LORD restrained Judah from waging war against the northern tribes of Israel, confirming that the kingdom’s division was from His hand. What followed was not a recovery, but a steady descent—especially in Israel, which immediately established a rival system of worship with golden calves, setting a pattern of idolatry that every northern king after followed.

Though prophets like Elijah and Elisha powerfully confronted this rebellion and called the people back to covenant faithfulness, their warnings largely went unheeded. Kings rose and fell in rapid succession, many through violence and assassination, each one doing evil in the eyes of the LORD and leading the people further astray.

Meanwhile, Judah fared only slightly better, with occasional faithful kings interrupting a pattern of compromise and decline. Ultimately, after generations of persistent idolatry and refusal to listen to the LORD’s prophets, the northern kingdom reached its breaking point. Assyria conquered Israel, carried its people into exile, and scattered them among the nations—just as the LORD had long warned.

2 Kings 17:7–20 (NIV)

⁷ All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods ⁸ and followed the practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced. ⁹ The Israelites secretly did things against the LORD their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city they built themselves high places in all their towns. ¹⁰ They set up sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. ¹¹ At every high place they burned incense, as the nations whom the LORD had driven out before them had done. They did wicked things that aroused the LORD's anger. ¹² They worshiped idols, though the LORD had said, “You shall not do this.” ¹³ The LORD warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: “Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your fathers to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.”

¹⁴ But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who did not trust in the LORD their God. ¹⁵ They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their fathers and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the LORD had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.”

¹⁶ They forsook all the commands of the LORD their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal. ¹⁷ They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sought omens and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, arousing his anger.

¹⁸ So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left, ¹⁹ and even Judah did not keep the commands of the LORD their God. They followed the practices Israel had introduced. ²⁰ Therefore the LORD rejected all the people of Israel; he afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers, until he thrust them from his presence.

Heidelberg Catechism

Q&A 94

Q. What does the Lord require in the first commandment?

A. That I, not wanting to endanger my very salvation,

avoid and shun

all idolatry...

Summary

Today's passage is a sad summary statement showing how quickly David's kingdom had toppled from its zenith and quickly hit rock bottom. Our narrator uses sweeping words to describe the totality of the infection: all of this took place because the Israelites had sinned... they built themselves high places in all of their towns... they set up sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree... and at every high place they did as the nations whom the LORD had driven out before them had done.

The text makes clear that the LORD didn't just sit back and let His stiff-necked people go. The LORD warned Israel and Judah through all His prophets and seers, calling them to once again observe His commands and decrees.

Verses 14 & 15 show how it is that this infection so quickly spreads among God's people - Israel then and us now. It starts with a refusal to listen to God's Word. All throughout the Bible, God primarily communicates audibly with His people. Sometimes He did so in ways everyone could hear, as He did from Mount Sinai, other times through individual prophets. But He did so most often through fathers talking about God's commandments at home with their children (Deuteronomy 6:4).

Once the people refuse to listen, their descent accelerates: they no longer trust the LORD their God. Next they rejected His decrees and the covenant He had made with their fathers and the statutes He had warned them to keep. All of those old prescriptions seemed so repressive to the people that longed to imitate the nations around them. But in jettisoning them, they not only lost the pragmatic blessings that come from living the way God designed people to live, but more importantly they were no longer distinct from their pagan neighbors. In other words, they were no longer the holy people that God had called them to be.

  Dig Deeper  

The final sentence of verse 15 captures in a few words the entire essence of those who reject the LORD: They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. The author here uses a loaded Hebrew term which is translated by the NIV as worthless, so it's not surprising to see other translation use other words, since no one English word can completely capture the full meaning:

• ESV: They went after false idols and became false...

• NET: They paid allegiance to worthless idols, and so became worthless [to the LORD].

• Perhaps the KJV captures the idea the best: They followed vanity, and became vain.

This is the same Hebrew word that gets used in the book of Ecclesiastes: hěʹ·ḇěl, where it's often translated as meaningless. It's something that looks solid and attractive from a distance, but that can be never fully apprehended, because like smoke it just dissipates when grabbed. So those who refuse to listen, reject God's covenant law and chase vanity may look good from a distance, but ultimately there's nothing substantial to them.

Peter describes you as having become part of God's chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. The way He sovereignly holds you in this position is through audibly proclaiming His Word to you. Don't make the mistake these Israelites of old made. Don't stop listening and thereby trade your holiness for vanity.

AAA Prayer (About)

• ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who rejects those who do not listen to Him;

• ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that listening to God's Word will be your top priority, that it might shape you into the holiness that Christ has won for you;

  ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

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