2Ki 17:16-17
The climax of their apostasy: “They made themselves molten images, two (golden) calves” (1Ki 12:28), which are called מסּכה after Exo 32:4, Exo 32:8, and Deu 9:12, Deu 9:16, “and Asherah,” i.e., idols of Astarte (for the fact, see 1Ki 16:33), “and worshipped all the host of heaven (sun, moon, and stars), and served Baal” - in the time of Ahab and his family (1Ki 16:32). The worshipping of all the host of heaven is not specially mentioned in the history of the kingdom of the ten tribes, but occurs first of all in Judah in the time of Manasseh (2Ki 21:3). The fact that the host of heaven is mentioned between Asherah and Baal shows that the historian refers to the Baal and Astarte worship, and has borrowed the expression from Deu 4:19 and Deu 17:3, to show the character of this worship, since both Baal and Astarte were deities of a sidereal nature. The first half of 2Ki 17:17 rests upon Deu 18:10, where the worship of Moloch is forbidden along with soothsaying and augury. There is no allusion to this worship in the history of the kingdom of the ten tribes, although it certainly existed in the time of Ahab. The second half of 2Ki 17:17 also refers to the conduct of Ahab (see at 1Ki 21:20).