2 Kings 17 - NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible
17:4 So king of Egypt. As well as failing to render tribute to Assyria, Hoshea had also entered a conspiracy with Egypt. The Egyptian ruler of the time is apparently named in this verse, although it is not certain that “So” is intended as a personal name rather than a place-name (perhaps “Sais”). The pharaoh in question may have been Osorkon IV (see NIV text note), the last pharaoh of the Dynasty 22 (730–715 BC, with “So” being an abbreviation of Osorkon) or Tefnakht, founder of the overlapping and rising Dynasty 24 (727–720 BC), which was based in Sais.
17:6 He settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in the towns of the Medes. Deportation became a standard tactic of Assyrian kings after Tiglath-Pileser III (see note on 15:29), which was in part designed to reduce the chance of future trouble from a conquered city or state by dispelling any strong sense of community and leadership. Halah. Possibly a town and district northeast of Nineveh. Gozan. Tell Halaf on the modern Turkish-Syrian border. Habor River. A tributary of the Euphrates River now named al-Khabur. Medes. A people of central western Iran who would shortly ally themselves with the Babylonians to overthrow the Assyrian Empire in 612 BC.
17:16 calves. See notes on 10:29; 1Ki 12:28–29. Baal. See the article “Baal.” starry hosts. The worship of the starry hosts, along with sorcery (v. 17), has not been introduced to us thus far in the narrative. Both will appear in the account of Manasseh’s reign (21:3–6; see note on 21:3; see also the article “Manasseh of Judah and Ashurbanipal”).
17:17 sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. See notes on 3:27; 16:3; 1Ki 11:5; Lev 20:2; Jer 7:31). divination. See notes on Ge 30:27; Dt 18:10–11; see also the article “Balaam.” sought omens. Prohibited by Dt 18:10 and probably itself is to be understood as divination (see note on 2Ki 16:15), as implied by the NIV translation in Dt 18:10: “Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens.” (Note further that this same Hebrew term is translated “divination” in Ge 30:27; 44:5, 15). No doubt a distinction is intended in Dt 18:10 (see note there) between two different kinds of divination, but we cannot be sure what the distinction is.
17:24 Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim. The ruins of ancient Babylon lie in the suburbs of modern Baghdad in Iraq. In the second half of the eighth century BC, and for most of the seventh, Babylonia was under Assyrian control, although the region was the focal point for frequent unrest and the target of frequent Assyrian military campaigns designed to restore order. The most notable of the anti-Assyrian agitators in Babylonia in the late eighth century BC was Marduk-apla-iddina II, who appears in 20:12–19 as Marduk-Baladan. When Sargon II ascended the Assyrian throne in 722 BC, Marduk-Baladan had himself crowned king at Babylon. It is the ongoing attempts to depose Marduk-Baladan that provide a possible context for deportations to the cities of Samaria from Babylon and Kuthah (commonly identified with Tell Ibrahim, 20 miles [32 kilometers] northeast of Babylon).
17:25 lions. Wild beasts were one of the ways deities could express displeasure, along with famine and disease. Devastation by wild animals was linked to treaty violations, and Assyrian negative omens from the period commonly refer to lions and wolves.
17:26 The people . . . do not know what the god of that country requires. The idea that people could run afoul of a local deity for want of knowledge of the proper way in which to worship him is also found in a text from Ashur of uncertain date, in which the writer seeks to persuade the reader of the crucial importance of honoring the god Marduk in his temple, Esagila, in Babylon. The writer of the text does this by establishing a connection between the piety of the worshipers and their fates at the hands of Marduk. Inscriptions from the time of Sargon indicate that he introduced religious syncretism into the region with the express purpose of diffusing nationalistic tendencies.
17:30–31 Sukkoth Benoth . . . Nergal . . . Ashima . . . Nibhaz and Tartak . . . Adrammelek and Anammelek. The only deities in this list who are clearly known from other sources are the West Semitic god Ashima and the Mesopotamian god Nergal, who was an underworld god associated with famine, drought, plague and death and whose cult was centered in the city of Kuthah. The combination Sukkoth Benoth alludes at least to the goddess Banitu and possibly also to Sakkut (Ninurta). Nibhaz and Tartak may be Elamite deities, while Adrammelek and Anammelek may be Phoenician and Emarite gods, respectively.
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