MPV Commentary

7. The Israelites had sinned in a way that was particularly egregious, and this sinning led to their punishment. God's patience with them had been exhausted due to their perversion of true worship and propensity for idolatry.

24-28. The king of Assyria brought people from various provinces, including Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, to settle in the cities of Samaria. These colonists were placed among the remaining Israelites, who were mostly poor and lower-class individuals. As a result, the prevailing culture in Samaria became a mix of heathen and Jewish influences.

The Assyrian colonizers formed partial marriages with the remaining Jews, creating a mixed-race population that was no longer distinctively Israelite. They also acquired a hybridized form of worship, which was incomplete and inaccurate. Due to their small numbers, these people were unable to repopulate the land, leading to an increase in lion attacks.

Recognizing these attacks as a judgment from God, whom they had not worshipped, they petitioned the Assyrian court for Jewish priests who could instruct them in proper worship. The king sent one of the exiled Israelite priests to Beth-el, where he taught them how to fear and worship the Lord.

29. However, each nation established its own gods, and these colonists combined their worship with that of the God of Israel. They did not acknowledge Him as the sole deity but rather incorporated various idols into their pantheon.

30. Succoth-benoth refers to "the tents or booths of the daughters," a term associated with impure rites in Babylonian culture. Nergal, often depicted as a cock, was likely an idol representing Mars, the god of war. Ashima took the form of a bald he-goat.

31. Nibhaz was worshipped under the guise of a dog, a common animal in ancient Syrian worship. Tartak may have been represented by an ass or possibly the planet Saturn. Adrammelech was associated with Molech and the sun, often depicted as a mule or peacock. Anammelech was worshipped in the form of a hare or goat.

34. At that time, their religion was a strange mixture of worshiping God and idols. This was the initial settlement of the people who would later be known as Samaritans, sent from Assyria to colonize the land after Israel's kingdom was overthrown.