Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Hoshea, the last king, reigns in Israel: for when he refuses tribute, Shalmaneser transfers the remaining five tribes of Israel to Assyria, and sends Assyrian colonists to Samaria, who serve there both the God of Israel and their own gods and idols.
Vulgate Text: 4 Kings 17:1-41
1. In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah reigned in Samaria over Israel nine years. 2. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord; but not like the kings of Israel who had been before him. 3. Against him came up Shalmaneser king of the Assyrians, and Hoshea became his servant and rendered him tribute. 4. And when the king of the Assyrians discovered that Hoshea, trying to rebel, had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, so as not to pay tribute to the king of the Assyrians as he had been accustomed every year, he besieged him and sent him bound to prison. 5. And he overran the whole land: and going up to Samaria, he besieged it three years. 6. And in the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of the Assyrians took Samaria and transferred Israel to Assyria: and he placed them in Halah and in Habor, by the river Gozan, in the cities of the Medes. 7. For it came to pass, when the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, they worshipped foreign gods. 8. And they walked according to the customs of the nations which the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, because they had done likewise. 9. And the children of Israel offended the Lord their God with words that were not right: and they built themselves high places in all their cities, from the watchtower to the fortified city. 10. And they made for themselves statues and groves on every high hill and under every leafy tree: 11. and they burned incense there upon altars after the manner of the nations which the Lord had removed from before them; and they did the worst deeds, provoking the Lord. 12. And they worshipped unclean things, concerning which the Lord had commanded them not to do this thing. 13. And the Lord testified in Israel and in Judah, through the hand of all the Prophets and Seers, saying: Turn back from your wicked ways, and keep My commandments and ceremonies, according to the whole law which I commanded your fathers, and as I sent to you through My servants the Prophets. 14. But they did not listen, and hardened their necks like the necks of their fathers, who would not obey the Lord their God. 15. And they rejected His statutes and the covenant which He had made with their fathers, and the testimonies with which He had adjured them: and they followed vanities and acted vainly; and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning which the Lord had commanded them not to do as they did. 16. And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God: and made for themselves two molten calves and groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven; and they served Baal, 17. and they consecrated their sons and daughters by fire: and they served divinations and auguries, and gave themselves over to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him. 18. And the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight, and there remained nothing but the tribe of Judah only. 19. But neither did Judah itself keep the commandments of the Lord their God: but walked in the errors of Israel, which it had committed. 20. And the Lord cast off all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of plunderers, until He cast them out of His sight: 21. from the very time when Israel was torn from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat their king: for Jeroboam separated Israel from the Lord, and made them commit a great sin. 22. And the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he had done: and they did not depart from them, 23. until the Lord removed Israel from His sight, as He had spoken through all His servants the Prophets: and Israel was transferred from its own land to Assyria, even to this day. 24. And the king of the Assyrians brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Avva, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim: and placed them in the cities of Samaria in place of the children of Israel, who possessed Samaria and dwelt in its cities. 25. And when they had begun to dwell there, they did not fear the Lord: and the Lord sent lions among them, which killed them. 26. And it was reported to the king of the Assyrians, and it was said: The nations which you transferred and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the customs of the God of the land; and the Lord has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the rite of the God of the land. 27. And the king of the Assyrians commanded, saying: Take there one of the priests whom you brought captive from there, and let him go and dwell with them; and let him teach them the customs of the God of the land. 28. So when one of the priests, who had been led captive from Samaria, had come, he dwelt in Bethel and taught them how to worship the Lord. 29. And each nation made its own god: and they placed them in the temples of the high places which the Samaritans had made, each nation in its cities in which it dwelt. 30. For the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth: and the men of Cuthah made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima. 31. And the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak. And those who were from Sepharvaim burned their sons in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim, 32. and nevertheless they worshipped the Lord. And they made for themselves priests of the high places from the lowest of their people, and placed them in the temples of the high places. 33. And while they worshipped the Lord, they also served their own gods according to the custom of the nations from which they had been transferred to Samaria; 34. to this present day they follow the old custom: they do not fear the Lord; nor do they keep His ceremonies, judgments, and law, and the commandment which the Lord had given to the children of Jacob, whom He surnamed Israel. 35. And He had made a covenant with them, and commanded them, saying: Do not fear foreign gods, and do not worship them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them; 36. but the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm, Him you shall fear, and Him you shall worship, and to Him you shall sacrifice. 37. And the ceremonies, and judgments, and law, and commandment which He wrote for you, keep and do all your days, and do not fear foreign gods. 38. And the covenant which He made with you, do not forget: nor worship foreign gods, 39. but fear the Lord your God, and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies. 40. But they did not listen, and continued according to their former custom. 41. So these nations indeed feared the Lord; but nevertheless served their idols as well: for both their children and grandchildren, as their fathers did, so they do even to this present day.
Verse 1: Hoshea the Son of Elah Reigned in Samaria
1. IN THE TWELFTH YEAR OF AHAZ KING OF JUDAH, HOSHEA THE SON OF ELAH REIGNED IN SAMARIA. This twelfth year of Ahaz was the eighth after the death of Pekah; for Pekah reigned twenty years and died in the fourth year of Ahaz, as is clear from what was said in chapter 16, verse 1. Therefore there was an interregnum of eight years in Israel, namely from the fourth year of Ahaz, when Pekah died, to the twelfth year of Ahaz, when Hoshea succeeded Pekah. Therefore the reign of Hoshea in Israel seems to have been interrupted by the forces either of the Syrians or of the rival family of Pekah, says Abulensis, Question 17, for eight years, until in the eighth year Hoshea, having recovered his strength, began to reign again in the twelfth year of Ahaz. So Richard of St. Victor in his harmony of the years of the kings of Israel and Judah, Cajetan, and others. See what was said at chapter 15:30.
Verse 2: He Did Evil Before the Lord
2. AND HE DID EVIL (the customary evil of Israel, namely by worshipping the golden calves erected there by Jeroboam, as household gods or Israel's own ancestral gods) IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD, BUT NOT LIKE THE KINGS WHO WERE BEFORE
HIM; because, as the Hebrews relate in the Seder Olam chapter 22, Hoshea, although he himself worshipped the golden calves, nevertheless permitted his subjects who wished to go to Jerusalem and worship the God of the Jews in the temple, which the other kings of Israel had not permitted; rather, through guards stationed by them, they would intercept those going. Hence Hoshea allowed the Israelites, invited by Hezekiah to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, to proceed there, as is clear from 2 Chronicles 30:11 and 18.
Verse 3: Shalmaneser King of the Assyrians Came Up
3. AGAINST HIM CAME UP SHALMANESER, the son of Tiglath-pileser the son of Pul. Genebrardus thinks Shalmaneser is the same one whom Ptolemy calls Nabonassar. But Shalmaneser was an Assyrian, while Nabonassar was a Chaldean, as the names themselves indicate. So Serarius. Therefore Nabonassar was Baladan, of whom chapter 20, verse 12.
AND HOSHEA BECAME HIS SERVANT AND PAID HIM TRIBUTE for five or six years, at the end of which he refused the tribute, relying on the help of the king of Egypt. Therefore Shalmaneser invaded Israel, bound Hoshea, and besieged Samaria for three years, and in the third year took it; which was the ninth and last year of Hoshea, in which Shalmaneser carried away the remaining five tribes of Israel to Assyria and Media, just as his father Tiglath-pileser fourteen years before had carried away the five nearest tribes to the same place. This was the second and complete captivity of Israel, or of the ten tribes, from which they never returned, occurring in the sixth year of Hezekiah king of Judah, and this was as a testimony that Christ was the awaited Messiah promised to them long ago in the books of the Old Testament, says Cajetan; for no hope remains to them of restoring an earthly kingdom, since they are completely scattered and dispersed, but only the hope of a spiritual kingdom and eternal salvation which Christ brought to all nations willing to believe in Him. Moreover, at that time Tobit was carried away from Israel to Assyria; for he was of the tribe of Naphtali: therefore his history should be connected here, for it happened at this time under Shalmaneser.
Verse 6: He Placed Them in Halah and Habor
6. And he placed them in Halah and Habor by THE RIVER GOZAN, IN THE CITIES OF THE MEDES. Josephus says they were taken to Media and Persia. Scaliger thinks they were transferred to the Colchians and Iberians. I however, says Genebrardus, think that old Tartary lies near the Belgian desert in the corner of the northeast, from which they, under the leader Genghis, burst forth around the year 1200 of Christ, having been unknown before both in place and name, and established the Tartar empire of the Khan which is remembered today. For in the Hebrew annals according to R. Solomon on Isaiah 27, the ten tribes were lost in the East, and there easily embraced Islam: because they had been circumcised from of old and were tinged with a certain corrupt semblance of the Mosaic religion. Genebrardus confirms this from the fact that certain hordes among the Tartars are said to have retained the names Dan, Naphtali, and Zebulun, and that other monuments of the law and Hebrew traditions exist among them: so that it is not surprising that Russia, Sarmatia,
Livonia, and Muscovy abound with Jews, who even now, as also in Europe, are most tenacious of their ancestral superstition. Genebrardus adds that many also penetrated into America; for there underground tombs with Hebrew letter inscriptions were found, and this migration is indicated in 4 Esdras 13:40: "These are the ten tribes," it says, "who were taken captive from their land in the days of Hoshea the king, whom Shalmaneser king of the Assyrians led captive, and he transferred them beyond the river, and they were transferred to another land, etc."
Finally Genebrardus thinks that this dispersion of the Israelites throughout the East and the North, and as it were the scattering of the Jews, gave rise to the fable that they are confined enclosed behind the Caspian mountains.
Here therefore the kingdom of Israel, or of the ten tribes, comes to an end, which from its first king Jeroboam, who made the schism from Rehoboam king of Judah, stood for 236 years; and this is the Assyrian captivity, which preceded the Babylonian captivity, in which the tribe of Judah was led away and Jerusalem destroyed under king Zedekiah, by 134 years.
Moreover many, foreseeing this captivity, had fled to other provinces, and many also, worshippers of the true God, migrated to the tribe of Judah and joined themselves to it, as is clear from what follows.
Verse 9: The Children of Israel Offended the Lord
9. AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL OFFENDED THE LORD WITH WORDS THAT WERE NOT RIGHT. "Words," that is, deeds and works, namely idolatries and superstitions. For "word" in Scripture often signifies the thing signified by the word through metonymy, as here in verse 11. FROM THE WATCHTOWER TO THE FORTIFIED CITY. He calls "watchtower" a rural tower, which is erected in fields and vineyards so that guards may dwell in it to watch over grapes, fruits, and crops, as if to say: The Israelites set up idols in places and towns both small and great, namely both in villages and hamlets, and in fortified towns and cities. So Vatablus.
Verse 11: They Did the Worst Deeds
11. And they did the worst deeds (that is, works), as I have already said.
Verse 13: The Lord Testified in Israel and in Judah
13. AND THE LORD TESTIFIED (protested) IN ISRAEL AND IN JUDAH THROUGH THE HAND OF ALL THE PROPHETS; for then God sent prophets, namely Hosea, Isaiah, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, and Micah, as is clear from their prologues. For under Azariah, or Uzziah the king, Hosea and Isaiah began to prophesy, who on God's behalf protested to Israel and Judah about the injury and impiety committed against God, namely that having abandoned God they worshipped idols, and about His punishment, namely that God would devastate them through the Assyrians and lead them away captive; for they threatened and prophesied this to them.
Verse 15: They Followed the Nations Around Them
15. AND THEY FOLLOWED THE NATIONS THAT WERE AROUND them. Behold, this was the occasion and cause of idolatry for the Israelites, namely that through commerce, intermarriage, and familiarity with neighboring peoples, they learned and absorbed their customs and superstitions. So in our century Germany, France, Sweden, Denmark, England, Scotland, etc., from neighboring Saxony absorbed the heresy of Luther the Saxon through mutual commerce, especially of heretical merchants.
Verse 16: They Worshipped All the Host of Heaven
16. AND THEY WORSHIPPED ALL THE HOST OF HEAVEN, namely the sun, moon, morning star, and other stars, which are like the "army" and ordered battle line of God, which always goes its circuit, keeps its stations, serves God, and at His command hurls storms, thunder, and lightning against the faithless and impious.
Verse 20: The Lord Cast Off All the Seed of Israel
20. AND THE LORD CAST OFF ALL THE SEED OF ISRAEL (namely of both the ten tribes and the tribe of Judah, of which the preceding discourse spoke), UNTIL HE CAST THEM FROM HIS SIGHT, that is, until He fully and irrevocably rejected them from Himself. Let the Jews take note here, namely that they are utterly rejected and cast off by God, so that they should not hope for the liberation of their nation from the captivity which they have suffered for 1,600 years, nor for the restoration of the Synagogue, but mixed and mingled with the other nations, they must believe in Christ together with them, if they wish to be freed from both temporal and eternal servitude.
Verse 24: The King of the Assyrians Brought Men From Babylon
24. AND THE KING OF THE ASSYRIANS BROUGHT MEN FROM BABYLON. Hence it is clear that Shalmaneser had dominion not only over Assyria but also over Babylon: for from there he transferred colonists to Samaria. AND FROM CUTHAH. Hence these colonists transferred to Samaria were called Cutheans, just as from Samaria they were called Samaritans. Therefore they were Babylonians and Assyrians, not Jews or Israelites.
Verse 26: They Do Not Know the Customs of the God of the Land
26. THEY DO NOT KNOW THE CUSTOMS OF THE GOD OF THE LAND, that is, they do not know the rite and ceremonies by which the God of Samaria wills to be legitimately worshipped: for this reason He, angered, sent lions among them, as was said above.
Verse 30: The Men of Babylon Made Succoth-Benoth
30. FOR THE MEN OF BABYLON MADE SUCCOTH-BENOTH as their own image and idol. Vatablus notes that these words are Syriac and Chaldean, and signify the following: Succoth-benoth means the same as hens with their chicks. Nergal is a rooster. Ashima is a wild goat. Nibhaz is a dog, because it is accustomed to bark, or when angry bares its teeth. Tartak is an ass. Adrammelech and Anammelech is a mule and an ass. See and marvel here at the stupidity of the Cutheans or Samaritans, who worshipped the most stupid animals, such as the mule, horse, and ass, as gods: God permitted this to show into what absurd deities those fall who abandon the true divinity of God.
Verse 33: They Worshipped the Lord and Also Served Their Own Gods
33. AND WHILE THEY WORSHIPPED THE LORD, THEY ALSO SERVED THEIR OWN GODS. This was a new folly of the Cutheans, that they worshipped God together with their idols, as if God were the Lord of the land of Israel which they inhabited, while the idols were the ancestral gods of their own lands from which they had been brought to Samaria.
Verse 41: These Nations Feared the Lord
41. SO THESE NATIONS INDEED FEARED (worshipped, sacrificed to, honored) THE LORD. NEVERTHELESS THEY ALSO SERVED THEIR IDOLS. FOR BOTH THEIR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN, AS THEIR FATHERS DID, SO THEY DO EVEN TO THIS PRESENT DAY. These then are the Cutheans or Samarites or Samaritans, who worshipped the God of Israel together with the idols of the nations, and therefore were hateful to the Jews, who worshipped God alone, as though they were anathema, as is clear from the Samaritan woman conversing with Christ, John 4. For from the whole flood and mixture of the nations' gods and religions, they fashioned a kind of religion patched together from many, like a monstrous patchwork. Therefore they had various errors, which St. Epiphanius, Philastrius, and others list under their heresy.
From the Jews they borrowed circumcision, the observance of the sabbath, and the ceremonies prescribed by Moses. For they accepted only the Pentateuch of Moses, but rejected the other prophets and the sacred writings. From other nations they borrowed their idols, pagan rites, superstitions, etc. Philastrius adds, and from him Gabriel Prateolus in his work on the heresy of the Samaritans, that they: first, did not expect a future judgment; second, denied the resurrection of the dead; third, denied the immortality of the soul; fourth, did not believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, promised by the prophets; fifth, St. Epiphanius, heresy 9, near the middle: "They have," he says, "certain other ancient customs of folly, namely that they wash themselves with urine when they return from foreigners, being defiled obviously. And that they plunge themselves into water together with their clothes when they have touched someone of another nation." On other errors of the Samaritans see Epiphanius, heresies 10, 11, 12, 13. Moreover the Samaritans, when things went well for the Jews, wanted to be Jews; when things went badly, they shunned them -- like Aesop's bat, which among birds wanted to be a bird because of the wings it has, and among mice a mouse; for in body it is a mouse, but in wings a bird. Hence Josephus, book XI of the Antiquities, chapter 8, and book XII, chapter 7, writes that the Samaritans, when they saw Alexander the Great favorable to the Jews, boasted that they were Jews and practiced the same religion as they: but when they saw Antiochus Epiphanes hostile and menacing to them, they denied being Jews and shunned them.