Matthew Poole and continuators on 2 Kings 17:9

9 And the children of Israel did secretly th[illegible: 1+ letters]e things that were not right, against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen, to the fenced city .

This belongs, either 1. to their gross Idolatries, and other abominable practises, which they were ashamed to own before others; Compare Ezek. 8. 12. Or, 2. to the worship of Calves: And so the words are otherwise [illegible: 1+ letters]ndered, and that agreeably to the Hebrew Text; th[illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1+ letters] ed, or disguised, or covered things that were not [illegible: 1 word] against, or before, or towards the Lord: i. e. They [illegible: 1 word] their idolatrous worship of the Calves, with fair pre[illegible: 1+ letters]ences of necessity, the Two Kingdoms being now divided, and at enmity; and of their honest intention of serving the true God, and retaining the substance of the Iewish Religion, from which they alledged, that they differed onely in circumstances of Worship.

In all parts and places, both in Cities, and in the Country; yea, in the most uninhabited and neglected parts, where few or none dwell, beside the Watchmen, who are left there in Towers, to preserve the Cattel and Fruits of the Earth, or to give notice of the approach of Enemies.