And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him.
We have here the reign and ruin of Hoshea, the last of the kings of Israel, concerning whom observe, I. That, though he forced his way to the crown by treason and murder (as we read Kg2 15:30), yet he gained not the possession of it till seven or eight years after; for it was in the fourth year of Ahaz that he slew Pekah...
Commenting on 2 Kings 17:1-6
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him. He did not worship Baal, as some of them had done; and he could not worship the calves, as all of them had, for they were carried away by the Assyrians in the former captivities, as the Jews (s) say; and...
he did evil . . . but not as the kings of Israel--Unlike his predecessors from the time of Jeroboam, he neither established the rites of Baal, nor compelled the people to adhere to the symbolic worship of the calves. [See on Ch2 30:1.] In these respects, Hoshea acted as became a constitutional king of Israel.