2 Kings 17:2

And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him. He did not worship Baal, as some of them had done; and he could not worship the calves, as…

Not as the kings of Israel that were before him - The repentance of a nation like that of an individual, may be “too late.” God is long-suffering; but after national sins have reached a certain…

We have here the reign and ruin of Hoshea, the last of the kings of Israel, concerning whom observe,

I. That, though he forced his way to the crown by treason and murder (as we read Kg2 15:30), yet he…

but not as the kings of Israel that were before him We have no record of the doings of Hoshea, so as to specify in what points he was better than his predecessors. A long persistence in evil doing had…