We left off last week with the 10 northern tribes being taken away to Assyria. Did they ever return? The biblical answer is no. Let us finish the chapter we started with last week.
2 Kings 17:24 The king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from Cuthah and from Avva and from Hamath and Sephar-vaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the sons of Israel. So they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities.
Assyria settled the people of Israel throughout the kingdom and resettled the land with people from other parts of the kingdom. There is no real returning of these 10 tribes to the land of Samaria. They were spread out and lived their idolatrous lives in the land that fostered this idolatry. They fit right into their new surroundings.
17:25 At the beginning of their living there, they did not fear the LORD; therefore the LORD sent lions among them which killed some of them.
17:26 So they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, "The nations whom you have carried away into exile in the cities of Samaria do not know the custom of the god of the land; so he has sent lions among them, and behold, they kill them because they do not know the custom of the god of the land."
So here we discover their first problem or lie, they only considered that God was only over the land in question. They had no consideration for the God who created all the heavens, all the earth, and all the people.
17:27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, "Take there one of the priests whom you carried away into exile and let him go and live there; and let him teach them the custom of the god of the land."
17:28 So one of the priests whom they had carried away into exile from Samaria came and lived at Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.
Here is the world’s solution to a problem that has no worldly solution. Let us appease this local god. Let us bring back one of the priests of this local diety and let him teach them just enough to rid the land of lions.
17:29 But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the houses of the high places which the people of Samaria had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived.
17:30 The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, 17:31 and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech the gods of Sepharvaim.
The vast plurality of names of false gods only serves to bring to mind the range of cultures and languages. Satan uses the same gods, but lets the local culture and language worship and identify with it. Thus we find sun worship throughout the world. We find child sacrifice and fertility rites everywhere as well. Most often, it is the same idol with just a name from the language of the people in each area or nation.
17:32 They also feared the LORD and appointed from among themselves priests of the high places, who acted for them in the houses of the high places. 17:33 They feared the LORD and served their own gods according to the custom of the nations from among whom they had been carried away into exile.
This seems to be an oxymoron; how can you fear the LORD and worship idols at the same time? Idolatry doesn’t make sense, even as it is practiced throughout the world today. Customs and traditions of men are preferred over the doctrines of the LORD, even in ‘Christian’ churches today.
17:34 To this day they do according to the earlier customs: they do not fear the LORD, nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances or the law, or the commandments which the LORD commanded the sons of Jacob, whom He named Israel; 7:35 with whom the LORD made a covenant and commanded them, saying, "You shall not fear other gods, nor bow down yourselves to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them. 17:36 "But the LORD, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, Him you shall fear, and to Him you shall bow yourselves down, and to Him you shall sacrifice.
Has God not made this abundantly clear? Does the Bible not detail His warnings, His redemption from Egypt, and His bringing them into the Promised Land? It is too easy to see the sins of the twelve tribes in the desert and in the 10 tribes of Samaria, but so hard to see it right under our own noses!
17:37 "The statutes and the ordinances and the law and the commandment which He wrote for you, you shall observe to do forever; and you shall not fear other gods. 17:38 "The covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods.
17:39 "But the LORD your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies."
Two problems! One we don’t really know God’s word as we should. We also forget what He has said. Neither is right, neither is safe, and neither is without eternal consequences.
17:40 However, they did not listen, but they did according to their earlier custom. 17:41 So while these nations feared the LORD, they also served their idols; their children likewise and their grandchildren, as their fathers did, so they do to this day.
Be aware of the strength and resiliency of false beliefs, traditions, and membership in a ‘church’. Church membership has no more bearing on your eternal salvation than does circumcision.
What have we learned?
The 10 northern tribes never returned to Samaria.
Adding a little worship of God to your plurality of other gods only increases your condemnation.
Having a little or small concept or understanding of God is eternally dangerous.
The world and the church is full of false teachers.
More next Saturday