Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 17
The priest who taught the foreigners about Israel’s God did not teach them to serve the true God only. Nor did he teach them to offer sacrifices (the gift of animals) only at the temple, God’s house in Jerusalem. Rather, he re-established Bethel as the most important place for religion (17:28). That was one of the towns where Jeroboam set up his idols (images) of oxen, farm animals (1 Kings 12:28-29).
Perhaps this priest also directed the foreigners to pray to God in front of the image of an animal. Most of the idols that they made for their national gods seem to be images of different animals. These people came from many different countries. Each of these countries had its own false gods and its own forms of religion. Some of these religions were especially cruel and wicked, as they demanded the murder of children. However, the foreigners still followed these religions in Israel, even as they had done in their own countries.
These people clearly had not understood what it means to serve the true God. He alone made heaven and earth; he alone deserves praise and honour from the people of every nation. However, these people were not distinguishing between the true God, and their false gods. They considered the true God, like their false gods, to be an angry spirit whom they had to satisfy. So they prayed and offered gifts in front of the images of all their gods. They tried hard to please them all, both the true God and their false gods.
God did not at once act in judgment against them. Instead, he handed them over to their wrong desires (Romans 1:22-24). He did not stop them in their wrong acts of religion, although his anger was against these wrong religions.
Next part: God's people should teach people from other nations about him (2 Kings 17:34-41)
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