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“Why Israel Fell”
Categories: Bulletin Articles
2 Kings 17 is one of the most overlooked great chapters of the Bible. In the first part of the chapter, the wicked nation of Israel meets with its final defeat. In the rest of the chapter, the author of Kings explains why this happened. It wasn’t due to military inferiority. It was due to their refusal to honor God. In particular, he identifies these sins:
- They feared other gods. (17:7)
- They walked in the customs of the nations that had preceded them. (17:8)
- They followed their leaders when those leaders did evil. (17:8)
- They practiced secret sin. (17:9)
- They worshiped God in unlawful high places. (17:9)
- They mixed the worship of God with idolatry. (17:11)
- They served idols. (17:12)
- They ignored God’s prophets. (17:14)
- They despised God’s statutes, covenant, and warnings. (17:15)
- They were unfaithful to God. (17:15)
- They imitated the nations around them. (17:15)
- They abandoned the commandments of God. (17:16)
- They made their own gods. (17:16)
- They sacrificed their sons and daughters. (17:17)
- They used witchcraft. (17:17)
In 17:18, we see the result: “Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of His sight.” If you’re feeling in need of a shudder, just contemplate what it means to have the Lord not only angry, but very angry at you! More subtle, but no less ominous, is the thought of being removed from His sight forever.
All of this is not some mere historical footnote. We serve God under a different covenant, but it’s all too possible for us to imitate the sin of Israel. In one way or another, nearly everything on the list is something that can ensnare us. We too can destroy ourselves by imitating the people around us, worshiping idols (money, pleasure, the good opinion of others, and so on), despising the commandments of God, and ignoring those who try to warn us. In fact, it’s probably true that every day, Christians fall away from the Lord by doing exactly these things.
Israel was destroyed, but we don’t have to be. However, if we want to avoid Israel’s fate, we have to be faithful where she chose to be faithless. If we fail in this, God will surely remove us from His sight too.
