Commentaria in IV Regum
Chapter 17. Synopsis of the Chapter
Osee reigns last in Israel: for as he refused the tribute, Salmanasar carries away the remaining five tribes of Israel into Assyria, and sends Assyrian colonists into Samaria, who there serve both the God of Israel and their own gods and idols.
1. In the twelfth year of Achaz king of Juda, Osee the son of Ela reigned in Samaria over Israel nine years. 2. And he did evil before the Lord; but not as the kings of Israel that were before him. 3. Against him came up Salmanasar king of the Assyrians, and Osee became his servant, and paid him tribute. 4. And when the king of the Assyrians found that Osee, endeavouring to rebel, had sent messengers to Sua king of Egypt, that he might not pay tribute to the king of the Assyrians, as he had done every year, he besieged him, and bound him, and cast him into prison. 5. And he went through all the land: and going up to Samaria, he besieged it three years. 6. And in the ninth year of Osee, the king of the Assyrians took Samaria, and carried Israel away to the Assyrians: and he placed them in Hala, and in Habor, by the rivers of Gozan, in the cities of the Medes. 7. For it came to pass, when the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharao king of Egypt, they worshipped strange gods. 8. And they walked according to the way of the nations, which the Lord had destroyed in the sight of the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, because they had done in like manner. 9. And the children of Israel offended the Lord their God with things that were not right: and built themselves high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. 10. And they made themselves statues and groves on every high hill, and under every shady tree: 11. And they burnt incense there upon altars, after the manner of the nations which the Lord had removed from their face; and they wrought wicked things, provoking the Lord. 12. And they served abominations, concerning which the Lord had commanded them that they should not do this thing. 13. And the Lord testified to them in Israel and in Juda, by the hand of all the prophets and seers, saying: Return from your wicked ways, and keep my precepts and ceremonies, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and as I have sent to you in the hand of my servants the prophets. 14. And they hearkened not, but hardened their necks like the neck of their fathers, who would not obey the Lord their God. 15. And they rejected his statutes, and the covenant that he made with their fathers, and the testimonies which he testified against them: and they followed vanities, and acted vainly; and they followed the nations that were round about them, concerning which the Lord had commanded them that they should not do as they did. 16. And they forsook all the precepts of the Lord their God: and made to themselves two molten calves and groves, and adored all the host of heaven; and served Baal, 17. And they consecrated their sons and their daughters through fire: and they used divinations and soothsayings, and delivered themselves up to do evil before the Lord, to provoke him. 18. And the Lord was exceedingly angry with Israel, and removed them from his sight, and there remained only the tribe of Juda. 19. But neither did Juda keep the commandments of the Lord his God: but walked in the errors of Israel, which they had done. 20. And the Lord cast off all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, till he cast them away from his face: 21. From that time that Israel was rent from the house of David, and made themselves Jeroboam the son of Nabat king: for Jeroboam separated Israel from the Lord, and made them sin a great sin. 22. And the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he had done: and they departed not from them, 23. Till the Lord removed Israel from his face, as he had spoken in the hand of all his servants the prophets: and Israel was carried away out of their land to the Assyrians unto this day. 24. And the king of the Assyrians brought people from Babylon, and from Cutha, and from Avah, and from Emath, 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. 25. And when they began to dwell there, they feared not the Lord: and the Lord sent lions among them, which killed them. 26. And it was told the king of the Assyrians, and said: The nations which thou hast removed, and made to dwell in the cities of Samaria, know not the ordinances of the God of the land; and the Lord hath sent lions among them, and behold they kill them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land. 27. And the king of the Assyrians commanded, saying: Carry thither one of the priests whom you brought from thence captive, and let him go, and dwell with them, and let him teach them the ordinances of the God of the land. 28. So one of the priests, who had been carried away captive from Samaria, came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should worship the Lord. 29. And every nation made its own god: and they put them in the temples of the high places, which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities where they dwelt. 30. For the men of Babylon made Sochothbenoth: and the men of Cuth made Nergel, and the men of Emath made Asima. 31. And the Hevites made Nebahaz and Tharthac. And they that were of Sepharvaim burnt their children in fire to Adramelech and Anamelech, the gods of Sepharvaim, 32. And nevertheless they worshipped the Lord. And they made to themselves of the lowest of the people priests of the high places, and they placed them in the temples of the high places. 33. And when they worshipped the Lord, they served also their own gods, according to the custom of the nations out of which they were brought to Samaria; 34. Unto this day they follow the old manner: they fear not the Lord, neither do they keep his ceremonies, judgments, and law, and commandment which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he surnamed Israel. 35. And he made a covenant with them, and commanded them, saying: Fear not strange gods, and adore them not, nor worship them, nor sacrifice to them; 36. But the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power, and a stretched out arm, him fear, and him adore, and to him sacrifice. 37. And the ceremonies, and judgments, and law, and commandment which he wrote for you, keep and do always, and fear not strange gods. 38. And the covenant that he made with you, forget not: and fear not strange gods. 39. But fear the Lord your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies. 40. But they hearkened not, but did according to their former custom. 41. So these nations were fearing the Lord indeed; but nevertheless serving their idols: for their children also, and their grandchildren, as their fathers did, so do they unto this day.
1. IN THE TWELFTH YEAR OF ACHAZ KING OF JUDA, OSEE THE SON OF ELA REIGNED IN SAMARIA.—This 12th year of Achaz was the eighth after the death of Phacee; for Phacee reigned 20 years, and died in the fourth year of Achaz, as is plain from what was said in chapter 16, v. 1. Wherefore there was here an interregnum of 8 years in Israel, namely from the fourth year of Achaz, in which Phacee died, to the twelfth year of Achaz, in which Osee succeeded Phacee. It seems, therefore, that the reign of Osee in Israel was interrupted by the arms either of the Syrians or of rivals of the family of Phacee, says Abulensis, Question 17, for eight years, until in the eighth year of Osee, his strength being resumed, he began again to reign in the 12th year of Achaz. So Richard of St. Victor in the Concord of the years of the kings of Israel and Juda, Cajetan and others. See what was said
2. AND HE DID EVIL (the evil usual to Israel, namely worshipping the golden calves set up there by Jeroboam, as household gods, or gods proper to Israel and of their fathers) BEFORE THE LORD, BUT NOT AS THE KINGS THAT WERE BEFORE HIM;—because, as the Hebrews relate in the Seder Olam, ch. 22, Osee, though he himself worshipped the golden calves, yet permitted his people who wished to go to Jerusalem and there worship the God of the Jews in the temple, which the other kings of Israel had not permitted, but rather intercepted those who went by guards posted by themselves. Hence Osee permitted the Israelites invited by Ezechias to Jerusalem to celebrate the Pasch to go thither, as is plain from 2 Paralipomenon 30:11 and 18.
3. AGAINST HIM CAME UP SALMANASAR—the son of Theglathphalasar, the son of Phul. Genebrard thinks that Salmanasar is the one whom Ptolemy calls Nabonassar. But Salmanasar was an Assyrian, Nabonassar a Chaldean, as the names themselves indicate. So Serarius. Wherefore Nabonassar was Baladan.
AND OSEE BECAME HIS SERVANT, AND PAID HIM TRIBUTE—for five or six years, after which he refused the tribute, relying on the help of the king of Egypt. Wherefore Salmanasar invaded Israel, and bound Osee, and besieged Samaria for three years, and took it in the third year; which was the ninth and last year of Osee, in which Salmanasar carried away the remaining five tribes of Israel into Assyria and Media, as Theglathphalasar his father fourteen years before had carried the five nearer tribes to the same place. This was the second and full captivity of Israel, or of the ten tribes, from which they never returned, made in the sixth year of Ezechias king of Juda, and that as a testimony that Christ is the Messias long since expected by them from the books of the Old Testament, says Cajetan; for no hope remains to them of restoring an earthly kingdom, since they are plainly scattered and dispersed, but only the hope of a spiritual kingdom, and of eternal salvation which Christ brought to all the nations that wish to believe in him. Further, at that time Tobias was carried away from Israel into Assyria; for he was of the tribe of Nephthali: wherefore his history is to be appended here; for it happened at this time under Salmanasar.
6. AND HE PLACED THEM IN HALA AND HABOR BY THE RIVERS OF GOZAN, IN THE CITIES OF THE MEDES.—Josephus says they were carried away into Media and Persia. Scaliger thinks they were transferred to the Colchians and Iberians. But I think, says Genebrard, that ancient Tartary is by the desert of Belgia in the north-eastern corner of the East, from which they, about the year of Christ 1200, breaking out under the leader Cignis, though before unknown in place and name, founded the empire of the Cham of the Tartars, which is remembered today. For in the annals in Rabbi Solomon on Isaias 27, the ten tribes were lost in the East, and there easily embraced Mahometanism: because they had long been circumcised, and were tinged with a corrupted form of the Mosaic religion. Genebrard confirms this from the fact that certain hordes among the Tartars are said to have retained the names of Dan, Nephthalim and Zabulon, and that other monuments of the law and of Hebrew things exist among them; so that it is no wonder that Russia, Sarmatia, Livonia and Muscovy abound in Jews, who even now, as also in Europe, are most tenacious of their ancestral superstition. Genebrard adds that many penetrated into America; for there subterranean tombs with inscriptions in Hebrew letters have been found, and this journey is indicated in 4 Esdras 13:40: “These are the ten tribes,” he says, “which were carried away captive out of their own land in the days of Osee the king, whom Salmanasar king of the Assyrians led away captive, and he carried them over the river, and they were transferred into another land, etc.” Finally Genebrard thinks that this dispersion of the Israelites through the East and North, and as it were infusion of Jews, gave occasion to the fable that they are held shut up by the Caspian mountains. Here, then, ends the kingdom of Israel, or of the ten tribes, which from their first king Jeroboam, who made the schism from Roboam king of Juda, stood 256 years; and this is the Assyrian captivity, which preceded the one in which the tribe of Juda was carried away and Jerusalem destroyed under king Sedecias by Nabuchodonosor.
Further, many foreseeing this captivity had fled into other provinces, and many also worshippers of the true God migrated into the tribe of Juda, and joined themselves to it.
9. AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL OFFENDED THE LORD WITH THINGS THAT WERE NOT RIGHT.—“Things,” that is, deeds and works, namely idolatries and superstitions. For “word” often in Scripture by metonymy signifies the thing signified by the word, as here
FROM THE TOWER OF THE WATCHMEN TO THE FENCED CITY.—“Tower of the watchmen” he calls a rustic tower, which is built in the fields and vineyards, that in it may dwell watchmen who guard the grapes, fruits and crops; as if to say: the Israelites set up idols in places and towns both small and great, namely both in villages and hamlets and in fenced towns and cities. So Vatablus.
11. AND THEY WROUGHT (that is, did) WICKED THINGS,—as I have already said.
13. AND THE LORD TESTIFIED (protested) IN ISRAEL AND IN JUDA BY THE HAND OF ALL THE PROPHETS;—for then God sent prophets, namely Osee, Isaias, Joel, Amos, Abdias and Micheas, as is plain from their prologues. For under Azarias, or king Ozias, Osee and Isaias began to prophesy, who on God’s behalf protested to Israel and Juda about the injury and impiety committed against God, namely that, leaving God, they worshipped idols, and about his chastisement, namely that God would lay them waste by the Assyrians and carry them away captive; for this they threatened and foretold to them.
15. AND THEY FOLLOWED THE NATIONS THAT WERE ROUND ABOUT THEM.—Behold, this was the occasion and cause of idolatry for the Israelites, namely that through commerce, intermarriage and familiarity with the neighbouring nations they learned and drank in their customs and superstitions. So in our age Germany, France, Sweden, Denmark, England, Scotland, etc., have drunk in the heresy of the Saxon Luther from neighbouring Saxony through mutual commerce, especially of heretical merchants.
16. AND ADORED ALL THE HOST OF HEAVEN,—namely the sun, moon, morning star and the other stars, which are as it were the “host” and ordered line of battle of God, which always goes round, and goes its rounds of stations, and serves as God’s soldiery and, at his command, hurls storms, thunders and lightnings against unbelievers and the impious.
20. AND THE LORD CAST OFF ALL THE SEED OF ISRAEL (namely both the ten tribes and the tribe of Juda, of which the discourse has preceded), TILL HE CAST THEM AWAY FROM HIS FACE,—that is, till he fully and irrevocably cast them away from himself. Let the Jews note here that they are plainly cast off and thrown away by God, so that they ought not to hope for deliverance of their nation from the captivity which they have suffered for 1600 years, nor for the restoration of the Synagogue, but, mixed and mingled with other nations, ought to believe in Christ with them, if they wish to be freed from servitude both temporal and eternal.
24. AND THE KING OF THE ASSYRIANS BROUGHT MEN FROM BABYLON.—Hence it is plain that Salmanasar ruled not only Assyria but also Babylon; for from there he transferred colonists to Samaria.
The colonists in Samaria were called Cutheans, as from Samaria they were called Samaritans. Wherefore they were Babylonians and Assyrians, not Jews or Israelites.
26. THEY KNOW NOT THE ORDINANCES OF THE GOD OF THE LAND,—that is, they know not the rite and ceremonies by which God wishes to be lawfully worshipped in Samaria; for this reason he in anger sent lions among them, as has preceded.
30. FOR THE MEN OF BABYLON MADE SOCHOTHBENOTH—as their own image and idol. Vatablus notes that these words are Syriac and Chaldaic, and signify: Succhoth Benoth is the same as hens with their chickens. Nergel is a cock. Asima is a wild goat. Nebahaz is a dog, because he is wont to bark, or when angry to show his teeth. Tharthac is an ass. Adramelech and Anamelech are a mule and an ass. See and wonder here at the stupidity of the Cutheans or Samaritans, who worshipped as gods the most stupid animals, such as the mule, the horse and the ass: God permitted this, to show into what absurd divinities those fall who forsake the true God.
33. AND WHEN THEY WORSHIPPED THE LORD, THEY SERVED ALSO THEIR OWN GODS.—This was a new folly of the Cutheans, that they worshipped God with their idols, as though God were the Lord of the land of Israel, which they inhabited, while the idols were the national gods of their own lands, from which they had been brought into Samaria.
41. SO THESE NATIONS WERE FEARING (worshipping, sacrificing to, honouring) THE LORD, BUT NEVERTHELESS SERVING THEIR IDOLS. FOR THEIR CHILDREN ALSO, AND THEIR GRANDCHILDREN, AS THEIR FATHERS DID, SO DO THEY UNTO THIS DAY.—These, therefore, are the Cutheans or Samaritans, who worshipped the God of Israel together with the idols of the nations, and therefore were hateful to the Jews, who worshipped God alone, as anathemas, as is plain from the Samaritan woman talking with Christ, John 4. For from the whole medley and mixture of the gods and religions of the nations they made a certain religion put together out of many, like a monstrous patchwork. Wherefore they held various errors, which St. Epiphanius, Philastrius and others reckon up in their heresy. From the Jews they borrowed circumcision, the observance of the sabbath, and the ceremonies prescribed by Moses. For they admitted only the Pentateuch of Moses, but despised the other prophets and the hagiographers. From the other nations they borrowed their idols, heathen rites, superstitions, etc. Philastrius adds, and from him Gabriel Prateolus in the heresy of the Samaritans, that they, first, do not expect a future judgment; second, deny the resurrection of the dead; third, deny the immortality of the soul; fourth, do not believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, promised by the prophets; fifth, St. Epiphanius, Heresy 9, near the middle: “They have,” he says, “certain other ancient customs of madness, namely that they wash themselves with urine when they have come from abroad, as being polluted. And that they plunge into water together with their clothes when they have touched another of another nation.” Of the other errors of the Samaritans this is one: the Samaritans, when all things went prosperously with the Jews, wished to be Jews; when things went ill with them, they shunned them, like the bat of Aesop, which wished to be a bird with the birds because of the wings it has, and a mouse with the mice; for in body it is a mouse, but in wings a bird. Hence Josephus, Antiquities, book 11, ch. 8, and book 12, ch. 7, writes that the Samaritans, when they saw Alexander the Great friendly to the Jews, boasted that they were Jews and practised the same religion with them; but when they saw Antiochus Epiphanes hostile and harsh to them, they denied that they were Jews, and shunned them.