A Study of 2 Kings 17:6-23
The literal definition of the word exile is a state or period of forced or voluntary absence from one’s country or home.
I’ve never experienced this literal sense of exile from an earthly point of view.
But news headlines help me know this happens around the world, often because of wars.
The passage we’re studying today describes a literal exile that the northern tribes of Israel experienced in 722 B.C.
What can we learn from this that will help us today, even if we’re not experiencing a literal exile ourselves?
Are there other types of exile we can experience beyond the literal sense?
Are You Experiencing Exile?
A Study of 2 Kings 17:6-23
In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.[1]
Describe Hoshea (see 2 Kings 17:1-5)
What happened in Samaria during Hoshea’s reign over Samaria?
If you only had 2 Kings 17:1-6, what reason would you give for the king of Assyria’s actions?
And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods 8 and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced.[2]
List the reasons supplied by the narrator of 2 Kings for why the Israelites are experiencing exile.
What is the point being made by the narrator?
And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. 10 They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, 11 and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger, 12 and they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this.”[3]
Why is the word “secretly” used to describe the people of Israel’s actions?
Why did this provoke the Lord to anger?
Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.” [4]
How did the Lord initially deal with Israel’s disobedience?
What do you learn about the Lord’s mercy and patience from His behavior?
But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God. 15 They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them. [5]
Describe Israel’s attitude towards the Lord.
And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. 17 And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. [6]
Describe the depth of the Israelite’s disobedience.
Why does this anger the Lord?
Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only. 19 Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced. 20 And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight. [7]
How did Israel (the northern tribes) affect Judah (the house of David)?
What action does the Lord take against Israel (the northern tribes)?
When he had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord and made them commit great sin. 22 The people of Israel walked in all the sins that Jeroboam did. They did not depart from them, 23 until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had spoken by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day. [8]
Review 2 Kings 17:16. Why was Jeroboam’s behavior so hideous to the Lord? (Also see Exodus 3:15-17 and 1 Kings 12:26-30)
How did the Lord keep His word? (See Deuteronomy 28:58-68)
What hope do you find for Israel’s future in verses 22-23 above?
Are You Experiencing Exile?
A Study of 2 Kings 17:6-23 | Application
Having studied the above passage, what does it mean to be in exile from God, even if we’re not experiencing a literal one from an earthly point of view?
Are you experiencing any sense of exile from God today? Why or why not?
What is our responsibility toward God based on Leviticus 26:40-45?
Write out God’s promise in Leviticus 26:44-45.
What does this promise reveal about God?
Now consider Romans 8:1-4.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.[9]
How does this support God’s promise from Leviticus 26:44-45?
Who has God placed in your life to help remind you of His care and guidance for you? How will you thank them this week?
Who are you helping know God’s care and guidance for them? How will you encourage them this week?
Warmly,
Barbara Seibel
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), 2 Ki 17:6.
[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), 2 Ki 17:7–8.
[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), 2 Ki 17:9–12.
[4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), 2 Ki 17:13.
[5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), 2 Ki 17:14–15.
[6] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), 2 Ki 17:16–17.
[7] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), 2 Ki 17:18–20.
[8] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), 2 Ki 17:21–23.
[9] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), Ro 8:1–4.