The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 182, The Resettling Of Samaria, Part One

We learned earlier in the week that after King Shalmaneser of Assyria conquered the Israelite capital of Samaria, he deported the majority of the city's citizens to Assyria. It was a common practice in ancient times for a conquering nation to deport everyone except the lowest classes from a city or region they defeated in battle. They would leave the poorest and least educated people in the land in order to put them to forced labor.

Shalmaneser now resettles Samaria with people of his choice. This was also a common practice in the ancient world. A conquering king would resettle a newly-conquered region with a mixed group of people from regions the king had already conquered. The intent was that the mixed group of people (from different cultures, religions, and languages) would not become a cohesive group of rebels due to their differences. The hope was that, in time, they would become reconciled to their new circumstances and would eventually assimilate into the ways of the nation that conquered them, which in this case is Assyria. 

"The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in its towns. When they first lived there, they did not worship the Lord; so He sent lions among them and they killed some of the people. It was reported to the king of Assyria: 'The people you deported and resettled in the towns of Samaria do not know what the god of that country requires. He has sent lions among them, which are killing them off, because the people do not know what He requires.'" (2 Kings 17:24-26) 

While it's true that due to the Israelites' idolatry the Lord allowed Israel (the name "Samaria" is often used interchangeably with "Israel") to fall to the enemy, He lets the king of Assyria know on no uncertain terms that there is still a God in Israel. And He is a God to be reckoned with! The Lord made a covenant with Abraham regarding the promised land and the Lord has a special fondness for the land. He has a special fondness for His covenant people too and some of the lowest peasants of Israel are still in the promised land and the Lord regards the plight of the lowly. The Lord regards the plight of His covenant people wherever they are in the world, which is why those who were carried away into captivity are not "lost"---not to Him!---even though we often find them referred to as "the lost tribes of Israel". 

Ancient pagan people believed that gods were gods of particular regions. For example, when the Arameans were defeated by the Israelites in a battle in the hill country in 1 Kings 20, the officials of the king of Aram advised him to engage the forces of Israel in the plains next time, for they believed that the "gods" of Israel were gods of the hill country and not of the plains. In this same manner, Shalmaneser's advisors tell him that he'd better do something to appease the gods of Samaria or else his settlements there will be decimated. Shalmaneser sends a priest there to instruct the mixed multitude. "Then the king of Assyria gave this order: 'Have one of the priests you took captive from Samaria go back to live there and teach the people what the god of the land requires.' So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria came to live in Bethel and taught them how to worship the Lord." (2 Kings 17:27-28) 

The sending of the priest could have been a good thing except that the priests of the northern kingdom had become corrupt. Shalmaneser didn't know that the religious sites at Bethel and at Dan were in violation of the Lord's commands. Shalmaneser didn't know that the golden calf statues weren't supposed to exist and that no one was supposed to be making offerings and sacrifices to the Lord at these altars. The priest who was sent back to teach at Bethel taught the people about the right God but in the wrong way. This is why no great revival broke out. This is why we do not find the settlers forsaking the gods of their ancestors and turning wholeheartedly to the Lord.

"Nevertheless, each national group made its own gods in the several towns where they settled, and set them up in the shrines the people of Samaria had made at the high places." (2 Kings 17:29) In our next study session, when we conclude our look at Chapter 17, we will find these people blending their pagan practices with the worship of the Lord. They will simply incorporate the things taught to them by the priest into their own religions. We will talk about how this is the background behind the distaste with which the people of Judah (in the New Testament) viewed the people they referred to as "Samaritans".