Scripture Daily

Context No. 300 of 4322 · 2 Kings

Context · Reflection

2 Kings 17:24-28: in context

24The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, from Cuthah, from Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities. 25So it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they didn’t fear the LORD. Therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them. 26Therefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations which you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria don’t know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them; and behold, they kill them, because they don’t know the law of the god of the land.” 27Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Carry there one of the priests whom you brought from there; and let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the law of the god of the land.” 28So 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.

After Assyria destroyed the northern kingdom and carried its people into exile, the empire refilled the emptied land with foreigners, peoples imported from Babylon and other conquered places, resettled in the towns of Samaria. This passage is what happened when they arrived, and it is a small study in a very common way of relating to God.

At first, the text says, the settlers did not fear the LORD, so the LORD sent lions among them, and some were killed. Their response is telling. They send word to the king of Assyria with a diagnosis: the problem is that these transplanted peoples do not know the law of the god of the land, so that god has sent lions. To them the LORD is a local deity, the god of this particular territory, with a set of rules you have to learn if you want to live safely on his ground. So the king sends back one of the deported Israelite priests to teach the newcomers how to fear the LORD, and he settles at Bethel and instructs them. But notice the motive underneath it. They are not learning to love God. They are learning the local rules so the lions will stop, managing a territorial power in order to be left alone.

That is a religion of pure risk management, and it is easy to slip into. God gets reduced to a force in charge of a certain area of life, and I learn just enough of his requirements to keep him off my back. Is my own fear of the LORD actually knowing and loving him, or is it mostly learning the rules of the local god so the lions will leave me alone?

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