מלכים ב, פרק י״ז, פסוק י״א

The Israelites adopted the customs of the nations that lived in the land before them, completely ignoring the consequences of their choices. They offered sacrifices on high places and committed a variety of other wicked deeds specifically intended to anger God [ביאור שטיינזלץ].

This behavior revealed a profound historical blindness. The Israelites failed to consider that these despicable practices offered no benefit or protection to the land's previous inhabitants. Instead of learning from the past, they repeated it, ignoring the reality that these exact actions were the direct reason the land expelled those earlier nations and prompted God to drive them out [רלב״ג].