2 Kings 17:24-26 (NKJV) - Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities. And it was so, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they did not fear the Lord; therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them. So they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, "The nations whom you have removed and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the rituals of the God of the land; therefore He has sent lions among them, and indeed, they are killing them because they do not know the rituals of the God of the land."
A little background: the people of Israel (not Judah) finally ran out of time. God kept calling them to repent but they refused. So he gave the land to the king of Assyria, and the Israelites were exiled and carried away to other countries.
The king of Assyria also resettled other people groups in the land of Israel. That led to problems, because those peoples did not fear the LORD and he sent lions amongst them to kill them.
I must admit this did not sit well with me. Doesn’t God know that those people had absolutely no clue of what his law and judgments require of them? Wasn’t he too harsh with them? But this showed me two things:
- 1) The God of all the earth is very territorial - when he set his heart upon the land, he pays special attention to it, and expects a lot more from those who dwell there; and
- 2) God could have been that harsh with the Israelites immediately when they departed from him to serve other gods. But he didn’t. He patiently and painstakingly wooed them over many generations. These new settlers were not in covenant with him at all, and so he answered them with judgment immediately.
Side note: I don’t like what God did here. It still doesn’t seem right to me. But it is not my job to make God and his ways acceptable to other people. He is the Judge of all the earth, it is OUR job to make ourselves acceptable to him!
2 Kings 17:27-28 (NKJV) - Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, "Send there one of the priests whom you brought from there; let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the rituals of the God of the land." Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord.
What exactly did this priest teach? Did he teach the entire Pentateuch? The sacrificial system? The moral law? I believe this unnamed priest taught the entire Torah to the people there. But the people were not receptive.
2 Kings 17:29-33 (NKJV) - However every nation continued to make gods of its own, and put them in the shrines on the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities where they dwelt. The men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, and the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. So they feared the Lord, and from every class they appointed for themselves priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. They feared the Lord, yet served their own gods--according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away.
This was very messy. The peoples took on SOME aspects of worshiping the Lord God of Israel, but yet kept their previous ways. They continued to worship their own gods, even sacrificing their children to them.
We need to watch out for this in this day and age. Many other religions are now freely available in the world. Obscure Asian religions have made their way to Europe and America, Africa and Indonesia have always had their own native animistic religions. And that is before we include various worldly philosophies that have as much power over people’s hearts and minds as a religion would have.
As the gospel of Christ takes new ground and regains lost territory, we will have people in our churches who used to worship other gods before they turned to Jesus. It is up to us to ensure that they fear the LORD and reject their old ways and practices!
As for us…
I see a parallel to my life in this passage.
The promised land, where the Israelites dwelt, were for the Jews. God also promised them a Messiah who would deliver them. As the pagan settlers found themselves in a land that was not originally intended for them, likewise I found myself resettled by God into a salvation that was originally intended for the Jews first.
Romans 1:16 (ESV) - For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
In order to fully understand this salvation, I have to not only know what Jesus did, I also need to know the old covenant that he came to fulfil. More importantly, I have to choose to let go of my former way of life and my old way of thinking in order to embrace this salvation fully.
Ephesians 4:22-24 (NIV 84) – You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your mind; and to put on your new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
If I choose to keep my old way, the Word of God says that I am NOT fearing the LORD.
2 Kings 17:34 (NKJV) - To this day they continue practicing the former rituals; they do not fear the Lord, nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances, or the law and commandment which the Lord had commanded the children of Jacob, whom He named Israel.
What I find interesting is that God chose to tolerate all this. He could have continued to send the lions until all the people there followed his laws completely, or were totally driven out of the land. But he did not. He chose to show the people mercy, just as he had shown to the Israelites earlier.
Like those people, we have a lion to watch out for.
1 Peter 5:8 (NIV 84) – Be self-controlled and alert. You enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
I personally believe that because of our highly exalted status in Christ and the great mercy of God, we don’t need to be very devoted to God in order for the devil to be rendered powerless in our lives. In fact, if you read the accounts of great men of God falling, you will discover that they had to throw open the front doors of their lives (through greed, lust or ill-temper) before the devil could destroy their lives and ministries. And even when they did that, it took the devil years to finally bring about their downfall.
Which leads to the question: are you serving God because you are afraid of the devil ruining your life, or are you serving God because you really love him?
In the end, the new settlers there missed out. Check this out.
2 Kings 17:35-39 (NKJV) - … with whom the Lord had made a covenant and charged them, saying: "You shall not fear other gods, nor bow down to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them; but the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm, Him you shall fear, Him you shall worship, and to Him you shall offer sacrifice. And the statutes, the ordinances, the law, and the commandment which He wrote for you, you shall be careful to observe forever; you shall not fear other gods. And the covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods. But the Lord your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies."
This is what God had spoken to the Israelites. This was his covenant with them.
2 Kings 17:40-41 (NKJV) - However they did not obey, but they followed their former rituals. So these nations feared the Lord, yet served their carved images; also their children and their children's children have continued doing as their fathers did, even to this day.
Now we see that the same covenant, the same opportunity was extended to the settlers. God wanted them to enter into that same covenant with him, that he might extend to them the same benefits and relationship he extended the children of Israel. But they rejected that opportunity, and settled for a half-baked truce with God, just enough for them to avoid the lions and yet keep serving their old gods.
I can understand that.
Those settlers were sent to the land pretty much by fluke. It was the luck of the draw, a whim of the king, that led to them being sent there instead of other territories conquered by the Assyrians. They could have just resented the king for sending them to a place where the God was fussier and pickier than the other gods they knew before. The settlers could have also resented God too. Why impose the requirements of his covenant upon them when they were not the ones God rescued out of Egypt?
But I have no excuse
It was not just a fluke or the luck of the draw that brought me into my salvation in Christ. God paid for my salvation with the blood of his Son, Jesus Christ.
Acts 20:28 (NIV 84) – Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
And now God calls me to forsake my old ways and walk closely with him. He calls me to fear the LORD, not half-heartedly as those settlers did but whole-heartedly. He punished the Egyptians of old to rescue the Israelites, but he punished Jesus for my sins to rescue me.
And so I have no excuse, just a high call of God that, by the grace of God, I will fulfil. Will you join me? I pray you do!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment