2 Kings 17:19-23: a reflection

The account of Israel's exile traces its cause not to a single sin but to a long, persistent walking in wickedness from which the people would not turn. They walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did, the account says; they didn't depart from them, until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight. The tragedy was not only that Israel sinned, but that they persisted in it, did not depart from it, kept walking in the same sinful course generation after generation, refusing to turn back, until at last judgment came. It was the persistence, the not departing, that finally brought ruin. This warns us of the danger not merely of falling into sin, but of persisting in a sinful course rather than departing from it, of continuing in a known wrong without turning back. To persist in sin, refusing to depart from it, is what brought Israel to ruin; the danger is not only committing sin but continuing in it. Persisting in a sinful course, rather than departing from it, leads to ruin. It is the not departing that undoes us. To continue in known sin without turning back is the danger.

Notice what the account emphasizes about Israel's sin: they did not depart from it. It was not a single lapse but a persistent course; they walked in the same sins, generation after generation, and did not turn from them. This persistence, this refusal to depart from a known sinful course, is what finally brought judgment. The danger the account highlights is not only the falling into sin, which is serious enough, but the continuing in it, the not turning back, the persisting in a wrong course rather than departing from it. We can fall into sin and then turn from it, or we can persist in it, refusing to depart; and it is the persisting, the not departing, that hardens into ruin. To continue in a known sin, walking in it without turning back, is a graver danger than a single fall, for it becomes a settled course leading to judgment. The call is to depart from sin, to turn from a wrong course rather than persist in it. It is not the fall alone but the failure to depart that brings ruin. To turn from sin rather than persist in it is the way of life. Departing from a sinful course, not continuing in it, is what matters.

That is worth taking to heart, for persisting in a sinful course, rather than departing from it, leads to ruin, and we are called to turn from sin rather than continue in it. We can fall into sin and then persist in it, refusing to depart, continuing in a known wrong course rather than turning back; but it was Israel's not departing from their sins, their persisting in them, that finally brought judgment. The danger is not only falling into sin but continuing in it. There is life in departing from a sinful course, and ruin in persisting in it. Do not persist in a known sinful course, refusing to depart; turn from it, as Israel would not, to their ruin. Depart from a known sinful course rather than persisting in it, turning back rather than continuing in a wrong you know, as Israel walked in their sins and did not depart from them until the LORD removed them from his sight; for the danger is not only falling into sin but persisting in it, refusing to turn back, and it is the not departing, the continuing in a known wrong course generation after generation, that hardens into ruin, so that the way of life is to depart from sin, to turn from a wrong course rather than persist in it, and the failure to depart is what finally undoes us.