2 Kings 17 (Part 2) Bible Study (Assyria Resettles Samaria) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Second Kings 17, verse 24. The dominant theme of this

2 Kings 17:24

section in Second Kings is not difficult to pinpoint.

Even a plain reading of the rest of this text will reveal a truth

that is not unfamiliar to us here at Maranatha Bible Church,

something that we hear quite often.

What you'll discover in these verses is the recurring phrase,

the fear of the Lord. You can't miss it, it's

everywhere. In fact, if you count the phrase

both on the positive and the negative, meaning to fear the

Lord or to not fear the Lord, it appears a total of eight times

in this portion of God's word. And so upon discovering this, I

was initially thinking to approach the study with you by

taking all the observations that we make and relating it back to

that theme, the what, who, when, how of fearing God.

But we're not going to limit our study to that narrow framework.

Instead, we're going to approach these verses with a wider lens

while still acknowledging the unavoidable insights regarding

this God word. Ah, but it's worth making a note

for yourself that if you ever want to learn more about the

fear of the Lord, or if you are teaching somebody about that

glorious truth, this is a wonderful passage to use.

There is great insight regarding that.

And this tax is rich for many reasons.

Beyond that, as we will discover now, we won't be reading a large

portion right away. Let's just look at verse 24 and

continue with that pace until we complete this chapter together.

Second king 1724 and the king of Assyria brought people from

Babylon, Katha, Ava, Hamas, and Safar Vayim and placed them in

the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel, and they

took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.

Hopefully you remember that the Assyrians have finally taken,

removed, displaced the northern Kingdom of Israel.

Does anybody remember the Last King of Israel named here in our

study? Well, if you just look down,

it's right there in the beginning of chapter 17, Hoshea,

he was the Last King of this Kingdom before Syria invaded and

removed the entire population, at least most of the population

from their homeland. And what we discovered in this

verse is a policy of the Assyrian Kingdom.

And one of the things that they would do when they would

conquest and when they would take over a place is that they

would repopulate that vacant land.

And so this is was this was an imperial strategy.

It was when a dominating nation would come remove a people and

take other subjects that they have dominated and replace those

that have left an area desolate. And there are many advantages to

this. One of them would be that it

would hinder any unified attempt to cause an uprising or

overthrow those that were conquering them.

Besides that, you also had the exploitation of goods and and

bringing these foreign groups this mixed people and forcing

them to labor to extract goods for again the dominant power.

And we can imagine how much psychological warfare is

included in this. But the one thing that we're

supposed to be gripped by is the fact that this land, this Holy

Land, the Bible calls it, this promised land, is now desolate.

I mean, you got to imagine this now, the very same land that was

promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the very same country

that God help Joshua and a particular generation of

Israelites conquer, is now empty.

This is staggering. This is almost surreal.

It's so difficult to imagine. But it happened.

And sadly, some erroneously believe and reference this

imperative moment in Israel's history to make wild claim about

the Israelites. So what do you mean?

Well, there are some who would claim that since the Assyrian

exile, 10 out of the 12 tribes virtually disappeared into

history. You probably heard this term the

the 10 lost Tribes of Israel. Maybe not.

But the implication of some assert is that the exile served

as a catalyst for these 10 tribes, a major portion of the

descendants of Abraham, to essentially be dispersed and

assimilate to the point of being irrelevant.

And there are others who are confident about strange

conspiracies, ideas and legends, including cults that attempt to

gain authority for the false teachings by claiming descent

from the scattered tribes of Israel.

Here's what they will argue that since the Jews were removed from

their land, many migrated to Europe, Africa, the Americas.

And since they are of those particular regions or

ethnicities, they also come from the same stock of Abraham and

the patriarchs and therefore claim the same covenantal

blessings. There are groups who base their

doctrine on that false assumption, and it's possible

that you might be at some point in your life faced with such

claims. So what do you do?

What do you do with movements that would even come to a text

like this, the one that we're studying, to try to defend a

certain system of belief that is clearly an error?

It's very simple. You know your Bible well.

You know your Bible well. And the way to silence those who

might come from cults and strange ideas is to remind them

that though these 10 tribes were displaced, they were never, ever

lost. They were never lost.

And a common argument as well. You never read in the Bible how

these 10 tribes returned to the land.

True to which I would respond. But you also read that not every

single member of these tribes were removed completely to begin

with. We have to remember that almost

immediately after Israel's schism, after it becoming 2

kingdoms, you had a righteous remnant, a righteous remnant who

really wanted to worship the true and living God in the

northern Kingdom of Israel that migrated to the southern Kingdom

where the temple was so that they can honor God the way he

prescribed. And one of the earliest accounts

of this is found in the book of Second Chronicles.

So let's turn to the Second Chronicles in Chapter 11, verse

16. You may not recognize the need

for this information now, but you never know.

So be equipped tonight. Second Chronicles 11, verse 16.

2 Chronicles 11:16

This is when Jeroboam was ruling in the northern parts and

Rehoboam was still in charge in the southern parts.

And what do we find in Second Chronicles 1116?

And those who had set their hearts to seek the Lord God of

Israel came after them, From which tribes, all the tribes of

Israel, to Jerusalem, to sacrifice to the Lord, the God

of their fathers. They strengthened the Kingdom of

Judah, and for three years they made Rehoboam the son of Solomon

secure, for they walked for three years in the way of David

and Solomon. That should settle the matter.

You have a remnant from all the tribes that made their way to

the southern Kingdom to worship the true and living God.

And if that doesn't settle the matter, let's consider what we

find after the Assyrian exile when Hezekiah becomes the king

in Judah, which we're going to study next week, and how he

invited and he sent a message to all the peoples of the land to

join him in his efforts to reinstate the Passover.

So we're still in Second Chronicles.

Go to chapter 30 and look at verse 6.

Second Chronicles 30, verse 6. So couriers went through all

2 Chronicles 30:6

Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his Princess,

as the king had commanded, saying, O people of Israel,

return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that

he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the

hand of the kings of Assyria. So not only is Hezekiah reaching

out to all of Israel, but he is addressing the remnant of

Israel. Remember, he's the king of the

southern Kingdom of Judah, and he's reaching out to the

northern parts. And he's specifically calling

for those who survived the conquest that we're studying

here in Second King 17. Which means what?

That even though most of the tribes were removed, you still

had those representing every tribe who were left behind who

have escaped. So you have tribes that early on

came to Jerusalem, and even after the exile in the northern

parts, you have people who remained.

And if there's any confusion of the confirmation of this

remnant, go to verse 10 of Second Chronicles 30.

So the couriers went from city to city through the country of

Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun, But they laughed

them to scorn and mock them. However, some men of Asher, of

Manasseh, and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to

Jerusalem. So they're lost.

How can you say they're lost? Yes, a majority of them were

removed, but not completely erased.

And even if this conversation were to continue, there is

evidence in the New Testament that confirms the preservation

of these tribes. Any ideas come to mind?

Any references? Any occurrence of the in the New

Testament that would help us make this case?

You can actually answer if you know.

Paul. Tribe of what?

Sure, tribe of Benjamin. But Benjamin was a part of the

Kingdom of the South with Judah. Correct?

But that's still a good answer. I'm talking more about the

northern tribes that were removed by the Assyrians.

Anything that we find in the New Testament, the Day of Pentecost,

that's a good answer as well. Any references to the tribe

specifically though? Let me ask you a question.

When the Lord Jesus as a child was brought into the temple by

his earthly parents, there was a prophetess by the name of where

was she from? Let's go to Luke chapter 2.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

I think I've held you in suspense long enough.

Luke 2 verse 36 and we'll look at another answer in the book of

Luke 2:36

Luke, Luke 236 reads and there was a prophetess, Anna, the

daughter of Fanuel of the tribe of Asher, one of the tribes from

the northern Kingdom. She was advancing years, having

lived with her husband seven years from when she was a

virgin. Let's look at another answer and

Luke that we can go to other places.

Go to Luke 22. Let's consider the words of the

Lord Jesus Christ. You are those who have stayed

with me in my trials. He is speaking to the disciples,

and I assigned to you as my father assigned to me a Kingdom,

that you may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom, and sit on

Thrones. Judging who?

The 2 tribes of Israel. Which tribes?

The 12, The 12 tribes of Israel. Now, some try to spiritualize

this passage, but the way we should honor it is he is

speaking about a time when he will rule and reign, and he will

dispatch his apostles to also give judgment to specific

jurisdiction, and that is the 12 tribes of Israel.

This is about the millennial reign of Christ.

So again, there are people out there that really want to argue,

especially in the New Covenant, that the Jewish people have no

relevance anymore, and they would backtrack it even to the

Exiles that we see, namely the Assyrian one.

But I'm here to tell you that God hasn't lost any of them.

In fact, as we study Revelation on Sundays, we're going to

realize that many of those tribes will be there even in the

final days of history. Put that in your pocket for

another time. Let's come back to our main text

and let's continue reading. In verse 25, we read.

And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not

fear the Lord. Therefore the Lord sent lions

among them, which killed some of them.

So you have this entire group of people known as the northern

Kingdom of Israel removed from their homes, removed from the

boundaries of Israel, and they are now replaced with Gentiles

who clearly worship different gods.

And though we have new settlers now in this area, they're

quickly going to learn who really owns this land.

God. Now, some here we try to explain

this simply as a natural overpopulation of animals

resulting from an unregulated region due to the absence of

humans present. That misses the point.

What do we read here? That it was the Lord.

It was the Lord who sent lions among them.

So this is how God welcomes these new people in a sense.

They arrive in this place and he wants to introduce these

newcomers to his awesome and terrifying power, His presence.

Now think about this. The Lord did not need any king,

any army, any walls, any Chariots to defend what was his.

He could recruit animals to do his bidding.

And there's so many things that we can say about this, but this

teaches us at least one main thing, that when darkness

spreads and evil invades, God is still in control.

That's the beauty of this verse. He is still in power.

Israel might have been conquered, but the promises and

the purposes of God we're not right at the beginning.

He is proving to us that things are still in operation.

His plans and His purposes are still in motion, and He's

letting these foreigners know the same.

And this serves as a wonderful reminder for you and I when we

look out into the world and we are witnessing A weakening

Christendom. And perhaps the temptation is to

be discouraged as we see professing Christians and

churches and ministries faltering and being overcome by

deception and evil. You can never afford to forget

this truth. Christ is never defeated.

Never. And we see here in the Old

Testament, and surely it is just as true in the New Testament.

It is true in this covenant as well.

And so we find here that the Lord introduces himself in a

particular way. Matthew Henry said something

wonderful about this passage. He said the Lord of hosts can

serve his own purposes by which he pleases small or great lice

or lions. I love that He doesn't need us.

He delights to use us, and we should be delighted to be used.

But he can call a lice or he can recruit lions.

He can do whatever he pleases. I'm meditating on this and I'm

thinking there's more to learn from that one verse.

I find it interesting that the Lord held these pagans

responsible to relate and to respond to God, the true God

appropriately. Look back again at the verse.

It says that they did not fear the Lord, therefore it wasn't

just because they moved in, it's because they didn't recognize

them the way they should have. Therefore the Lord sent lions

among them. So how do we make sense of this?

What's quite simple, the Scriptures tell us over and over

and over again that God has many ways of awakening man in his

sin, awakening man in his falsehood, in order for them to

be placed on the path of truth. And in this particular account,

we find that the Lord unleashes an unusual series of tragedies,

right? People died because of these

lions in order to alarm them. And the question that we should

have as we read this is how are these people going to respond?

How are they going to interpret these events?

And our answer comes in the next verse.

So let's read it together. So the king of Assyria was told,

The nations that you have carried away and placed in the

cities of Samaria do not know the law of the God of the land.

Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are

killing them, because they do not know the law of the God of

the land. Then the king of Assyria

commanded, Send there one of the priests whom you carried away

from there, and let him go and dwell there, and teach them the

law of the God of the land. So one of the priests whom they

had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel and

taught them how they should fear the Lord.

There is both a positive aspect and a clear -1 in these verses.

The +1 is that these foreigners reacted to the warnings of God

much better than Israel did in the past.

Don't you think we we can applaud them?

Why? Because they responded to this

divinely orchestrated suffering by looking up, by looking for

answers, by inquiring. They didn't just dismiss it as

coincidence. They didn't try to manage their

own pain. They were on a quest now to look

for answers, to try to reconcile themselves to, in their limited

understanding, the God of this region.

And that's something that we can compare with these children of

Jacob and how stubborn they were even in their suffering.

That being said, there is a downside to this.

And the downside is that Israel, Israel had failed yet again to

fulfill the purposes of God in the particular area of shining

the light of the truth to their neighbors.

How can we make that claim from these verses?

Well, we just learned that even after the exile, there was a

remnant who remained in the land.

So here's my question. If there were people who

understood who the true God was, what he asked of them, then why

then they seized the moment and reach out to their bewildered,

confused neighbors and guide them to the truth.

That's a question, right? A worthy question to ask the the

plain answer is that they clearly were not in right

relationship with God for themselves, which is extremely

sad because God from the days of Exodus deliver this people from

Egypt for many reasons, including this wonderful truth

that they would be a holy nation, that they would be a

priesthood to mediate to some degree and to guide people,

namely their neighbors to understanding who the true God

is. And they failed.

They failed over and over even when these neighbors came to

their front step. And this is something for us to

consider because we can't just criticize these Israelites.

We got to examine our own hearts as followers of Jesus Christ.

We need to take heed to instructions like what we find

in Colossians 4-5 as an example, which says walk in wisdom toward

outsiders. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders.

And one of the ways that you and I walk in wisdom in the presence

of unbelievers is that we are continually mindful and alert of

their needs, of the opportunities for us to be able

to give them the hope of the gospel.

One of my favorite examples of this is with Joseph.

Joseph's story is a fascinating 1 And the script of his life

really changed when he was in prison because, as you know, he

interpreted the dreams of two individuals. 1 was the cup

bearer Pharaoh, the other the chief Baker.

And that would essentially be the means for him to be

delivered and promoted to be second command in Egypt.

But did it just start with him interpreting dreams

spontaneously? Now you have to read your Bibles

carefully one day because Joseph was promoted to be the

supervisor in that prison. He's walking through the halls.

He's making his rounds. He's checking off his To Do

List. And he notices something.

Why don't we turn there anyway? I was a planter.

But let's go there. Go to Genesis chapter 40.

Genesis 40 · chapter mention

Hopefully this will inspire us afresh to read our Bibles

carefully and to draw practical wisdom from stories like what we

find here. Genesis 40.

Let's look at verse 5. And one night they both dreamed,

that is, the chief Baker and the cupbearer.

They both dreamed the cupbearer and the Baker of the king of

Egypt, who were confined in the prison.

Each his own dream and each dream with its own

interpretation. When Joseph came to them in the

morning, he saw that they were troubled.

I have different colors underlining that specific part

of the verse. He saw that they were troubled.

He was aware of the distress on their faces, but he he didn't

just make a mental note about it.

Look what happens in verse 7. So he asked.

He asked Pharaoh's officers who are with him in custody in his

master's house. Why are your faces downcast

today? You know what I asked myself,

reading this many years ago when it first came to me?

What if he had just ignored it? What do you just went on with

his day because he had so many responsibilities?

What would he have missed if you fail to seize the opportunity

here to realize disillusionment, despair, and then to see it as a

way, not realizing the full potential at the moment, but at

least to be caring enough to inquire and that being the means

for him to knowing a greater testimony.

This is something for you and I to consider.

Because if you and I are not prepared to sacrifice, to step

in the lives of people who are hurting, who have questions, who

don't know how to make sense of life, their own lives, what

we're seeing in the world, if we neglect that, if we ignore that,

if we don't feel the responsibility to give clarity,

they will look to another source.

And in this case, instead of the remnant stepping in, they turn

to the king of Assyria. Now we might be excited because

we read there in verse 27 of Second Kings 17 that the ruler

of this Syrians decides to send back a priest that was carried

away in exile to teach these new dwellers of how to honor the God

of the land. But whatever excitement we might

have, even though we seem to be initially excited, He taught

them how they should fear the Lord. 1 Little detail will pop

the balloon of any excitement that you might have enjoyed

quite quickly. What do I mean by that Revisit?

28 So one of the priests whom they had carried away from some

from Samaria, came and lived in where Bethel, and taught them

how they should fear the Lord. Should Bethel remind you of

anything in our study of the Book of Kings, both 1st and 2nd

Kings? What was special about the area

called Bethel? Any ideas?

It was a designated place of worship for the Golden calf

since the days of Jeroboam, so we should remember.

This should in a sense trigger us.

Oh, Bethel priest teaching trouble, How so?

Well, since the days of Jeroboam, when he instituted

golden calf worship in the land, there was no true priesthood,

only counterfeit priests. And so we have every right to

question the legitimacy of this priest who returned to Israel,

because he must be one of the false ones that was removed from

the land. And this is the one who's going

to come back now and teach these people how they should fear God.

So we should be concerned. We should be worried.

What is he going to tell them? And this got me thinking, What's

just as spiritually lethal? Someone ignoring an opportunity

to guide unbelievers is someone who misrepresents the truth in

the name of God. Be very careful where you seek

spiritual answers. Listen, be careful and

thankfully God has graciously given us His words so we have

the ability to examine everything that we hear because

this is the book by which He will hold every man accountable.

That's why I believe in Scripture alone, because over

and over in the Bible we're told that He's going to judge us by

the content of this book. So what excuse do people have,

especially here in the West, of being deceived when God has

given us His complete revelation?

And so on one side you have a remnant of Israelites who fail

to reach out to these darkened Gentiles, and on the other side

we have now a priest who's teaching them who knows what

because he comes from the questionable priest that

Jeroboam promoted. Unfortunately, we are about to

witness the fruit of this nameless priests distorted

compromise teaching and it's heartbreaking.

Let's read in verse 29. But every nation still made gods

of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that

the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which

they lived. Before we explain this further,

I want to highlight a word that appears for the first time in

the Old Testament and the only time in the Old Testament did

you see the word in the verse that we just read?

If you know it, say it out loud. Samaritans, right?

It appears only here in the Hebrew Scriptures, and we know

that it appears a handful of times in the Gospels.

And we should be persuaded that there's something about this

account that explains something of the history of the Samaritans

and the animosity that the they had towards the Jews and the

Jews had towards them during the days of the ministry of the Lord

Jesus Christ. And there are answers here.

Who are these Samaritans? Well, the best explanation is

that they originated from the Israelites of the Northern

Kingdom. But they developed a new

identity, especially after this moment, because these Samaritans

now intermarried with these pagans, and over time they

became a new breed. And this consistent

intermingling eventually caused the Hebrews of the Southern

Kingdom to deem these Samaritans as illegitimate Jews in regards

to their religion and their race.

And we see this hostility developing as we continue in our

study of redemptive history. And there's one place where it

becomes incredibly clear. It's in the book of Ezra, when

the southern Kingdom will eventually be removed from the

land. By who?

Not the Assyrians, but the Babylonians.

But later they're permitted to return to the land to restore

the temple and their homes. Something occurs when those Jews

of the southern Kingdom return and they are greeted by a people

who remained in the land. Let's turn to Ezra chapter 4,

Ezra 4 · chapter mention

beginning in verse one. Now when the adversaries of

Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were

building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, pause.

So right there in verse one, we have to ask yourself, who are

these adversaries? Well, one thing we know about

them is what we find in verse 2, They approached Zerubabel.

So whoever these adversaries were, they abided in the land,

in the promised land. They were there, They were

waiting in a sense. And so the people of Judah and

Benjamin, they returned. They represent the southern

Kingdom. They come back to their homeland

and they are approached by what the Scripture says, adversaries.

They approached verse 2, Zerubbel and the heads of

Father's houses, and said to them, let us build with you, for

we worship your God as you do. Again, we're thinking, who are

you? And we know what the remaining

part of this verse. And we have been sacrificing to

him ever since the days of senior Haddon, king of Assyria,

who brought us here. Do we know who they are now?

Yes, these are the Samaritans and they trace their roots back

to the time when the king of Assyria dropped off these pagans

in the northern parts of Israel. And over time they intermarried

and they developed their own people group and they're

claiming the right to be able to join them in this effort to re

establish the worship of the temple.

We worship your gods. We worship your God, namely.

And what's the response of the Jews who returned in verse 3?

But Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the rest of the heads of the

father's houses in Israel said to them, You have nothing to do

with us in building a house to our God, but we alone will build

to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of

Persia, has commanded us. Verse 4.

Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah

and made them afraid to build. And this tension only builds

over the years, over the centuries, and it peaks at the

time of Christ. But here's what's so

fascinating. The Lord Jesus Christ, the

Jewish Messiah, does not interact or reference these

Samaritans in the way that the average Jew did of his time.

In fact, when we consider the interaction that we just read,

you can say that there is a thematic reversal in this

exchange in one of the Gospel accounts.

Hopefully this makes sense. Let's turn to John chapter 4.

John 4 · chapter mention

We know this chapter very well. It's when Jesus visits the woman

at the well, and she's from Samaria as we know.

But look at John 4 verse 7. A woman from Samaria came to

John 4:7

draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a

drink, for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy

food. The Samaritan woman said to him,

How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of

Samaria? For Jews have no dealings with

Samaritans. Now think back to what we just

read in Ezra chapter 4. In Ezra chapter 4, you had the

Ezra 4 · chapter mention Ezra 4 · chapter mention

Samaritans who approached the Jews and asked to participate in

an effort for something good, right?

And what happens? The Jews, led by Zerubbabel

among other leaders, denied their request.

And the response of the people, the land then was to harass them

and to annoy them and to stifle and to try to hinder their

efforts. It just made them even more

embittered. But hundreds of years pass now

and we stumble upon a Jewish man and he approaches and makes a

request to who? A Samaritan.

And initially his appeal was denied as well.

What did she say? She said how?

How are you a Jew asking a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?

Now here's what this gets even more brilliant.

I don't want to overwhelm you with these references, so let me

try to speak slowly because when I get excited I tend to speak

fast. In Matthew 112 you can turn to

if you want, we learn that Jesus is a descendant of Zerubbabel

and that interesting the same Zerubbabel that we read of in

Ezra. So you have the descendant of

Zerubbabel now engaging with a Samaritan.

She rejects his appeal, but what does he do in response to her

stiff armed response? Does he insult her?

Does he rebuke her? Does he denounce her?

No, He patiently leads her to the truth and he grants her one

of the clearest confessions and all of the Gospels that he was

the Messiah. Who would have thought that?

You can make a connection with the Lord Jesus Christ in Ezra

Ezra 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4 and Second Kings chapter 17, and we see it here.

2 Kings 17 · chapter mention

The Lord draws this woman not just to himself, but to the

truth, and she goes back to the Samaritans of her village and

preaches her testimony with the limited knowledge that she had

and it brought revival to her town.

That warmed my heart. I hope it did something to

yours. Let's come back to our main text

in verse 32nd, King 17. Forgive me if I mispronounce

these names. I will try my best.

The men of Babylon made Sukhoth Binoth, the men of Koth made

Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, and the Avites made

Nibaz and Tartak. And the Sephirvites burned their

children in the fire of Adra Malik and Anna Malik, the gods

of Sephirvan. They also fear the Lord, and

appointed from among all, among themselves all sorts of people,

as priests of the high places, who sacrifice for them in the

shrines of the high places. So they fear the Lord, but also

serve their own gods after the manner of the nations from among

whom they had been carried away. At first glance these verses

seem very troubling. How can you say that they fear

the Lord and in the same breath say that they serve their own

gods? Seems like a contradiction.

Well, it's clarified with context.

All you have to do is keep reading and it begins to make a

little bit more sense. So look briefly at verse 34.

To this day, they do. According to the former manner,

they do not fear the Lord and they do not follow the statutes

or the rules or the law or the commandment that the Lord

commanded the children of Jacob. So this helps us understand

what's really going on here, that whatever allegiance that

these people groups show to the Lord, it was not the way God

designed it to be. It was a measure of respect.

It was a partial recognition. It was a diluted devotion.

But in reality, they simply added Yahweh to their pantheon.

To them, he was just the God of this land, not the God of all

things. And so they thought what was

demanded of them was just to add Yahweh to their other list of

idols. And surely this inept priest

from Bethel didn't make things easier for them to decipher.

Did he know? If anything, he probably

encouraged them to worship all these false gods.

And here's what we can make of this for ourselves.

Like any truth that's found in the Word of God, our sinful

inclinations and tendencies can warp what God asks of us, all

the while thinking we're really honoring Him.

Let me give you an example. Are there people out there who

misinterpret and misapply the grace of God?

Absolutely. Other many who attempt to

justify even reference Scripture to defend their sin.

Yes, which means that there is a right and wrong understanding of

the grace of God. And that's a distinction that

the New Testament even makes. And where my mind went to when

meditating on this earlier today is how Peter ends his initial

epistle. What is he saying?

First, Peter 5, He says, it's in verse 12.

I have written briefly to you exhorting and declaring that

this is oh, I wish we had it on the screen.

It's in your Bibles, though, He says, let me say it again.

I have written briefly to you exhorting and declaring that

this is the true grace of God. Stand for a minute.

So as he's wrapping things up with his letter, he wants to

confirm that everything that he explained to them is the true

grace of God. Which implies what?

That there's a false grace of God.

In like manner, can we not say that there is a true fear of God

and there is a false form of fear of God?

What we're seeing here with this, this people group is the

embracing and the deception of a false fear of God, an

acknowledgement of him, but not the way God intended it to be.

And so the Holy Spirit wants to confirm in verse 34 that they

did not really fear the Lord. They added the Lord.

They had some concept of the Lord, they did things for the

Lord, but the true fear of the Lord is total devotion to the

Lord. And So what do we find?

Let's revisit verse 34. To this day.

They do according to the former manner.

They do not fear the Lord, and they do not follow the statutes,

or the rules, or the law, or the commandment that the Lord

commanded the children of Jacob, whom He named Israel.

The Lord made a covenant with them and commanded them.

You shall not fear other gods, or bow yourselves to them, or

serve them, or sacrifice to them, but you shall fear the

Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power

and with an outstretched arm. You shall bow yourselves to him,

and to Him you shall sacrifice, and the statutes and the rules

and the law and the commandment that He wrote for you, you shall

always be careful to do. You shall not fear other gods,

and you shall not forget the covenant that I've made with

you. You shall not fear other gods,

but you shall fear the Lord your God, and He will deliver you out

of the hand of all your enemies. However, they would not listen,

but they did according to their former manner.

So these nations fear the Lord and also serve their carved

images. Their children did likewise, and

their children's children as their fathers did so they do to

this day. You want to know how this

continued, how far it continued? Today's of the Samaritan woman.

This chapter closes with an important flashback of the

covenant of the Lord made with the children of Jacob.

Moreover, it highlights that this new synchronistic religion

that has permeated Samaria, something that violated the

expectations that God had with this covenant, with this people.

You know, you have some people who in our day are trying to

achieve what happened in Samaria.

Here they're fighting for the erasure of the exclusivity of

truth claims they praise, and they're trying to promote the

the merging of different religious paths.

Well, they're just different expressions, different ways to

the same God. But what man applauds, what man

exalts, God condemns and he sees as an abomination.

And that's what I want to try to convey by reading this to you in

one reading, to understand that as the Lord reviews this, he

wants to ensure that he does not want this.

It's a violation to what he expected from his people.

And just in case that there is anyone under the false

assumption who believed for some reason that God's passion for

the truth somehow evolves, and it evolves in the New Testament,

let me remind you what Jesus Christ said to somebody who

belonged to this group of people.

The very same woman that Christ had compassion toward is the

very same Jesus who said the following in John 422.

You worship what you do not know.

We worship what we know for what?

For salvation is from the Jews. I have read and I've even heard

preachers appeal to John chapter 4 to try to make a case for

John 4 · chapter mention

racial justice, overcoming social barriers, the

reconciliation of our differences, how to achieve

harmony with different backgrounds.

And I believe they missed the point.

Yes, there is an element here of the Lord doing something outside

of the norms of his culture. But what's the goal?

To bring this woman to saving faith?

And he was willing to do what? To tell her in the process.

You don't know what worship is about.

You're in error. The way you think you relate to

God is wrong. So he was willing to this woman,

yes, who had a very shattered history with men, a very sinful

past, very ashamed, and yet he had to say you are not in the

right, but I'm here to tell you the truth.

And so the same heartbeat that we find here in 2nd 17, as the

Lord now gives commentary, what's taking place here among

the Samaritans continues in Christ.

He is still passionate about the truth.

He's still inviting people in air to come to the light.

You worship what you do not know.

We worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

And He leads her step by step. All the patience of Christ, even

in His evangelism. She wasn't getting it right

away, but He was willing to bring her through this process

until she arrived at the knowledge that would change her

life forever. But there's another thing that

stands out from these verses. I mean, you heard it over and

over. Do not fear other gods.

You shall fear the Lord. It's everywhere.

It's just it's peppered all over these verses.

But something stood out to me and we'll close with this

observation in verse 40. After mentioning the fear of God

in different ways so many times, the author writes, however, they

would not listen those 4 words. They would not listen, but they

did according to their former manner.

One way we can be certain that we fear the Lord is that we

listen. We listen to God's Word not just

with our ears, but with our hearts.

We are eager to obey. In other words, the extent to

which this book has authority over your life is a key

indicator of the strength of your awe of God.

You fear God. I fear God.

OK, what does this book mean to you?

Does this book have the final say, no matter what it

challenges with your predispositions and what you

hold too dearly? What's rooted in you?

What's been passed down generationally, what you've

heard in your own church background?

What does the Bible have to say, and do you agree with it?

That tells you and I so much about a person's fear of God.

They would not listen. I love to make these claims

because they're biblical and then just compact it with more

Bible. And so as I'm reading 2nd 17,

earlier in this week, I'm revisiting the book of Exodus.

And what I found in Exodus, what I was reminded of in a

particular place, just makes the point that I'm ending with that

much more strong. So we come to a particular

plague in Exodus 9. Why don't we turn there and

we'll finish with it? In Exodus Chapter 9, Moses

Exodus 9 · chapter mention

confronts Pharaoh yet again with the 7th plague, which was the

threat of unusual hail crashing on everything.

And notice what he says here in verse 19.

Now therefore send get your livestock and all that you have

in the field and to safe shelter.

For every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought

home will die when the hail falls on them.

Notice what happens in the next verse.

Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of

Pharaoh, hurried. They hurried his slaves and his

livestock into the houses, but whoever did not pay attention to

the word of the Lord left his slaves and his livestock in the

field. Connect fearing the Lord with

paying attention to the word of the Lord, and connect not

fearing the Lord with not paying attention to the word of the

Lord. Does that not confirm what we

read in Second Kings 17? They would not listen and every

word matters here, right? Once they heard what Moses said

in verse 20, it says that the servants of Pharaoh, they

hurried, they didn't drag their feet.

I argue that they echoed what we find there in Genesis 22 when

the Lord visits Abraham and he says, Abraham, I want you to

give up your son. Yes, the son whom you love.

And read there in the introduction of that chapter

that he rose early. He didn't delay, he didn't toss

back and forth in bed. What was that a dream?

Was that really the Lord? He got up, he packed his bags,

he brought his son, he brought company, and they made their way

towards the mountains of Moriah. They hurried.

How does your heart respond when you hear something that confirms

or convicts you to the degree that the word of the Lord has?

That kind of force in your soul is the measure of the pulse of

your absolute reverence and awe towards God.

Isn't it wonderful? It's not necessarily a feeling,

though feeling is included. It's about response.

It's about conviction. It's about what's authoritative

in your life. And so let me end the way we

ended last week that everything went wrong for this people

because they fail to fear God. It's no different for people

today. You can trace everything back to

that. A refusal, denial, or a

weakening in this place of your heart, seeing God for who He

truly is. May the Lord inspire fresh fear

of Him. As we close this chapter, we

thank you, Lord, that you've led us through this wonderful text,

instrumental in our understanding of the history of

your works in this world. Help us be able to retain it,

not forget it. Help us walk away with ears that

are open and remaining open. Lord, we love you because even

in this we can see your Son, the Lord Jesus.

Even in this we can see principles that apply to us in

the New covenant. And for this, Lord, we want to

worship you. We want to rejoice, we want to

give you our awe. You are gracious to us.

O God and Lord, we pray that you would even give us a fresh seal

to reach out to those around us. Help us overcome fear and the

things that we try to convince ourselves with.

To not be bold and not be clear and not be caring enough to look

at people that we know, even strangers.

Be willing to step in so that they can be delivered.

Help us love the truth. Help us hold on to this word

with absolute delight and treasure.

And Lord, help us live for you. We ask these things in Jesus

name, Amen.