"They feared the Lord, yet served their own gods -- according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away."
Interesting to me that they not only knew there was a God, but they even feared Him. They eased their conscience enough by fooling themselves with a false religion, but were carried away by the rituals of their culture because they served their own gods.
"This described the pagan peoples that the Assyrians brought into populate the area of the northern kingdom of Israel. They gave a measure of respect to the God of Israel – after all, they did not want to be eaten by lions. Yet they also served their own gods and picked and chose among religious and spiritual beliefs as it pleased them.... this describes common religious beliefs in the modern world." (Guzik)
“Are you sure this is not a true description of your own position? You pay an outward deference to God by attending his house, and acknowledging his day, whilst you are really prostrating yourself before other shrines.” (Meyer)
“Is not worldly piety, or pious worldliness, the current religion of England? They live among godly people, and God chastens them, and they therefore fear him, but not enough to give their hearts to him. They seek out a trimming teacher who is not too precise and plain-spoken, and they settle down comfortably to a mongrel faith, half truth, half error, and a mongrel worship half dead form, and half orthodoxy.” (Spurgeon)
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