Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Kings 17

THE REIGN OF HOSHEA, THE LAST KING OF SAMARIA. THE FALL OF SAMARIA. CAPTIVITY OF ISRAEL, AND RE-PEOPLING OF THE LAND BY FOREIGNERS.

In the twelfth year of Ahaz. —If Pekah reigned thirty years (see Note on 2 Kings 15:27), and Ahaz succeeded in Pekah’s seventeenth year (2 Kings 16:1), Ahaz must have reigned thirteen years concurrently with Pekah. Hoshea, therefore, succeeded Pekah in the fourteenth year of Ahaz.

Began Hoshea. —See the inscription of Tiglath Pileser, quoted at 2 Kings 15:30, according to which, Hoshea (A-u-si-ha) only mounted the throne as a vassal of Assyria. On the news of the death of Tiglath, he probably refused further tribute.

But not as the kings of Israel who were before him. —The preceding phrase is used of all the northern kings except for Shallum, who reigned for only a month and had no time to display his religious policy. We can hardly assume that Hoshea abandoned the calf-worship of Bethel, but he may have discountenanced the cultus of the Baals and Asheras. The Seder Olam states that Hoshea did not replace the calf of Bethel, which, it assumes, had been carried off by the Assyrians in accordance with the prophecy of Hosea (Hosea 10:5). We may remember that the last sovereigns of falling monarchies have not always been the worst of their line—for example, Charles I or Louis XVI.

Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria. —Shalmaneser IV. (Shalmânu-ushshir, “Shalman be gracious!”), the successor of Tiglath Pileser II., and predecessor of Sargon, reigned 727-722 B.C. No annals of his reign have come down to us in the cuneiform inscriptions, but a fragment of the Eponym-list notes foreign expeditions for the three successive years 725-723 B.C. This agrees with what Menander states (Josephus, Ant. ix. 14, 2), according to whom Shalmaneser made an expedition against Tyre (and no doubt Israel, as the ally of Tyre), which lasted five years—i.e., was continued beyond Shalmaneser’s reign into that of Sargon. Nothing is known of the death of Shalmaneser.

Conspiracy — that is, as is explained shortly, a conspiracy with the king of Egypt against his suzerain. Shalmaneser regarded Hoshea, and probably the king of Egypt also, as his “servant” (2 Kings 17:3). (Compare 2 Kings 12:20 and Jeremiah 11:9.) Thenius wishes to read “falsehood,” after the Septuagint, ἀδικίαν (Micah 6:12), a change involving transposition of two Hebrew letters (sh è qer for q è sher); but the change is needless.

So. —The Hebrew letters should be pointed differently, so as to be pronounced S è w è , or Sĕwç, as this name corresponds to the Assyrian Shab’i, and the Egyptian Shabaka, the Greek Sabaco, the first king of the 25th, or Ethiopian dynasty, whom Sargon defeated at Raphia in 720 B.C. Sargon calls him “prince,” or “ruler,” (shiltân), rather than “king” of Egypt; and it appears that at this time Lower Egypt was divided among a number of petty principalities, whose recognition of any central authority was very uncertain—a fact which rendered an Egyptian alliance of little value to Israel.

Brought. —Rather, offered. The word elsewhere is always used of sacrifice.

As he had done. —Omit. The Hebrew phrase (according to a year, in a year), which is not found elsewhere, denotes the regular payment of yearly dues. This Hoshea failed to discharge.

Therefore ... shut him up. —Compare Jeremiah 33:1; Jeremiah 36:5; Jeremiah 32:2–3. This statement seems to imply that Shalmaneser took Hoshea prisoner before the siege of Samaria: a supposition which finds support in the fact that Sargon, who ended the siege, makes no mention of the capture or death of the Israelite king.

Then (and) the king of Assyria came up ... and besieged it three years. —Sargon states that he took Samaria (Samer ί na) in his first year. Shalmaneser therefore had besieged the city some two years before his death.

The brief narrative before us does not discriminate between the respective shares of the two Assyrian sovereigns in the overthrow of the kingdom of Israel, but it is noticeable that it does not say that Shalmaneser “besieged Samaria three years,” and “took Samaria.” (Compare to 2 Kings 18:11; 2 Kings 18:11.)