Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Kings 17:34

"Unto this day they do after the former manner: they fear not Jehovah, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law or after the commandment which Jehovah commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;" — 2 Kings 17:34 (ASV)

THE RELIGIOUS STATE OF THE MIXED POPULATION OF SAMARIA IN THE TIME OF THE EDITOR.

They follow their previous customs. —They still maintain the religious customs of the first colonists.

They do not fear the Lord. —They do not fear Him in the sense of a right fear; they do not honor Him in the way He has prescribed in the Torah. The Septuagint omits both nots in this verse.

After their statutes, or after their ordinances. —The writer here thinks of the remnant of the Ten Tribes who amalgamated with the new settlers (2 Kings 23:19; 2 Chronicles 34:6; 2 Chronicles 34:9; 2 Chronicles 34:33; John 4:12).

Ordinances. —Hebrew, ordinance, or judgment.

Or after the law and commandment. —This pair of terms is exegetical of the preceding pair. Probably, however, the original reading was, “after the statutes, and after the ordinances,” as in 2 Kings 17:37, where the same four terms recur. Then the sense will simply be that the Samaritans contemporary with the writer do not worship Jehovah according to the Torah.