מלכים ב י״ז:כ״ד-מ״א

לא יראו את ה'. אף על פי שהעמים עובדי גלולים הם יראים מפניו, וקרו ליה אלהא דאלהיא, כענין שנאמר (מלאכי א יד): ושמי נורא בגוים, ואלו לא יראוני, כי אמרו אלו היתה בו יראה, לא נתן עמו לגלות:

They did not fear Adonoy. Even though the pagan nations fear Him and call him the God of the gods, in the manner as it is stated, ”And My Name is feared among the nations,”²⁸Malachi 1:14. but these did not fear Me, for they said, “If He were worthy of fear, He would not have allowed for His people to be exiled.”

אשר עשו השומרונים. ישראל בעודם שם:

That the citizens of Shomron had made. [I.e.,] the [Bnei] Yisroel while they were still there.

גוי גוי אלהיו. לאומה ואומה עבודת גלולים שהיו עובדים בארצם, אף כאן עשו כן כל גויי העיר אשר הורישם סנחריב שם בערי ישראל:

Each nation … its own god. [I.e.,] each nation, [placed] the deity they had worshiped in their land, here, too, each nation did so in the city which Sancheiriv had given them as a possession there in the cities of Yisroel.

סכות בנות. דמות תרנגולת עם אפרוחיה:

Succos Benos. [This idol was in] the form of a hen and her chicks.²⁹סכות stems from שכוי, being that a ‘ש’ and a ‘ס’ are interchangeable. The Gemara in Maseches Rosh Hashanah 26a cites a region where ‘שכוי’ is ‘a rooster.’ It follows then that ‘שכות’ or ‘סכות’ is a hen. Thus, סכות בנות is “a hen and her chicks.”—See Radak

נרגל. דמות תרנגול:

Neirgal. [This idol was in] the form of a rooster.³⁰See Maseches Sanhedrin 63b.

אשימא. דמות תיש וכן קרוין בלשון כל אומה ואומה, וכן פירשו רבותינו בסנהדרין (סג ב):

Ashimo. [This idol was in] the form of a goat.³¹אשימא stems from שמם [=desolation], and a goat has no wool is considered “desolate.” Or, אשימא stems from אשם [=guilt offering], for which a sheep is used.—Radak They are called [these names] in the language of each nation, and so did our Rabbis explain in [Maseches] Sanhedrin.³²63b.

נבחז. דמות כלב:

Nivchaz. [This idol was in] the form of a dog.³³נבחז stems from נבח [=bark], as in “they cannot bark [=לנבח],” in Yeshayohu 56:10; נבחז is a contraction of נבח and חז, i.e. when a dog barks [=נבח] it shows [=חז] its teeth.—Radak

תרתק. דמות חמור:

Tartok. [This idol was in] the form of a donkey.

לאדרמלך. דמות פרד:

To Adramelech. [This idol was in] the form of a mule.³⁴אדרמלת is a contraction of דאדר ליה למריה [= it honors its master] by carrying his burdens.—Radak

וענמלך. דמות סוס (שם):

Anamelech. [This idol was in] the form of a horse.³⁵ענמלת is a contraction of דעני ליה למריה בקרבא [= it responds to its master in battle].—Radak

כמשפט הגוים אשר הגלו אותם משם. אותם עבודת כוכבים ומזלות שעובדים הגוים אשר הגלן סנחריב ואוכלוסיו משם, היו אלו עובדין כאן:

As was the custom of the nations from which they had been exiled. Those deities that are worshiped by the nations whom Sancheiriv and his armies had exiled (these) from there, they would worship here.³⁶Alternatively, כמשפט הגוים refers to some of the Bnei Yisroel who also worshiped idols while worshiping God.—Radak

אינם יראים את ה'. יראה שלימה כמשפט ישראל, ואף על פי שנתגיירו מיראת האריות, אין יראתם את ה' יראה שלימה, כמו שמפרש והולך, שאינם עוסקים בתורה ובמצות אשר צוה ה' את בני יעקב, ואינם עושים כחקותם וכמשפטם שהיה עליהם לעשות משנתגיירו, אלא כמו שהורם הכהן שהיה מן השמרונים שהיו עובדים עבודה זרה:

They do not fear Adonoy. A complete fear as is the custom of the [Bnei] Yisroel. And although they converted out of fear of the lions, [nonetheless,] their fear of Adonoy was not a complete fear, (like [Bnei] Yisroel's custom) as it goes on to elaborate, that they were not engaged in Torah [study] and [in performing] the commandments which God commanded the Bnei Yaakov, and they do not practice according to their statutes and according to their law, which they are obligated to practice once they converted, but as the priest who was of the people of Shomron, instructed them.³⁷Alternatively, the verse refers to the exiled Bnei Yisroel who “until this day” have not repented from the idolatrous practices, but continue to combine the worship of God with the worship of idols as they had practiced in Shomron.—Radak—who were idolatrous,

ויכרת ה' אתם ברית. כשנתן להם תורה בהר סיני:

And Adonoy enacted a covenant with them. When He gave them the Torah at Mount Sinai.