In the lengthy catalog of indictments against the northern kingdom (17:7–23), it is as though the author comes out from behind the curtain to address the audience directly. The catalog is self-explanatory and requires little commentary, and scholars agree that it constitutes a theological explanation for the fall of the north. It is not just the leaders who are guilty—although they are implicated beyond doubt—but there has been widespread collaboration of all the people in covenant unfaithfulness and chasing after what the NIV translates as “worthless idols” (or “vanities,” the same word that begins Ecclesiastes). Interla…