Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 17
The Bible emphasises God’s patience towards the people in northern and central Israel, who were doing so many evil things.
Their evil acts began with Jeroboam, their first king, who established his wrong religion (1 Kings 12:28-33). God could have acted against them and their religion at once, but he chose to wait (1 Kings 13:1-2). The reason why God often delays punishment is to give people an opportunity to turn back to him (Ezekiel 18:30-32; 2 Peter 3:9). He does not want people to suffer for their evil deeds – rather, he urges them to turn back to him so that he can forgive them.
However, most of the people did not turn back to God. For more than 200 years, their families continued in this wrong religion – and they added even worse religions to it. In the end, God’s judgment happened. The people lost their place in the country that God had given to them. At the time when the author of 2 Kings wrote his book, their families were still living in foreign countries.
We may ask what happened to them after that. The answer is that God still continued to be patient with them. He still wanted them to turn back to him. He still promised to bring them back to their own country (Deuteronomy 30:1-10). God still considered them to be his people.
The first people who returned to Israel were from the tribes (family groups) called Judah, Benjamin and Levi. They came from families that had formerly lived in Judah (southern Israel). However, they believed that they were re-establishing their nation on behalf of all 12 tribes of Israel (Ezra 6:17). It seems likely that people from the other tribes returned only slowly to Israel. There is a reference to a family from the northern tribe of Asher in Luke 2:36. Probably many people would not still know to which tribe they belonged. Their families may have been away from Israel for many centuries. However, still they returned, as God had promised (Isaiah 43:6; Jeremiah 31:36; Amos 9:15; Micah 7:18-20).
Next part: Foreigners come to live in Israel's towns (2 Kings 17:24-25)
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