Some of Shalmaneser's advisors, upon hearing this news, told him that the reason for the bold and repeated lion attacks was likely that the "gods of Samaria" weren't pleased with the foreign settlers because the settlers didn't know the requirements of those gods. They suggested to the king that he send someone to instruct the settlers how to perform the proper rites and rituals.
Scholars and historians don't know quite what to make of these lion attacks. Some of them, especially those who are not Jewish or Christian, believe the lion attacks occurred because so many soldiers and citizens as well had been slain in the battle for Samaria. They state that the smell of blood and of buried or unburied bodies drew the lions to the city. Others believe what the author of 2 Kings believed: that the Lord sent the lions among the settlers so Shalmaneser would have to send a priest to instruct them in the laws of the Lord. (2 Kings 17:25) I am going to agree with the author of 2 Kings on this matter because something about the lion attacks must have been unusual---unusual enough for the king to feel he must take action to protect his newly-conquered city.
If it had simply been a case of the lions being attracted to the scent of blood and decomposition, I believe the Assyrians would have already seen this same thing happening in other cities they've conquered and I believe they'd have taken steps to remove from the city the material that was attracting predators. Something about these lion attacks suggested there was a supernatural purpose behind them and Shalmaneser's advisors shrewdly concluded that the "gods" of Samaria wanted the new settlers to observe their religious rituals.
When we concluded our last study session we talked about how the sending of an Israelite priest back from Assyria to teach the settlers could have been a good thing. It would have been a good thing if the priests of the northern kingdom had still been worshiping the Lord in the right ways. But the religion this priest teaches is the perverted religion introduced to the northern kingdom by Jeroboam I---the one that uses the golden calves as representations of the Lord. Because the priest was teaching them an adulterated version of the truth, no great revival breaks out. These pagan people don't turn from their false gods to the living God; they simply blend their own religions with the religion of the northern kingdom.
"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. The people from Babylon made Sukkoth Benoth, those from Kuthah made Nergal, and those from Hamath made Ashima; the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire as sacrifices to Adrammelek and Anammelek, the gods of Sepharvaim. They worshiped the Lord, but they also appointed all sorts of their own people to officiate for them as priests in the shrines at the high places. They worshiped the Lord, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought." (2 Kings 17:29-33)
Did anyone at all become curious about the God of Israel and convert wholly to Him? On the one hand I think the reason He sent the lions into the city in order to get a priest there may have been so that at least some people who heard about Him would believe that He is the only God, then they could repent of their idolatry and be saved. A small percentage of the settlers in Samaria may have accepted the Lord as their God after they were taught about Him. On the other hand, perhaps He knew that no one would forsake their false gods and give their hearts fully to Him but He wanted to give them the opportunity. If they heard the word of God and did not accept it, they can never claim at His judgment seat that they were never given a chance to believe in the Lord.
We don't know whether even one person was saved; we only know that they weren't left in the dark about who the God of Israel was. The priest would have had to read the Lord's laws and commandments to them in order to obey King Shalmaneser's orders to let them know what was required of the people who lived in the land formerly under the authority of Israel. But based on the words of the author of 2 Kings, we know that the vast majority of these people didn't accept the God of Israel as their Savior and they didn't renounce the false gods of their former nations. "To this day they persist in their former practices. They neither worship the Lord nor adhere to the decrees and regulations, the laws and commands that the Lord gave the descendants of Jacob, whom He named Israel." (2 Kings 17:34)
What became of the citizens the Assyrians did not deport? They may be among those we will later find in 2 Chronicles 30 coming to Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts appointed by the Lord. If that's the case, the poor who were left by the Assyrians in the land were either already faithful to the Lord or became faithful to Him after their nation fell to the enemy. Those who were left in the land also, in many cases, intermarried with the mixed multitude the Assyrians imported to settle the land, which is the main reason we find so many people of Judah in Jesus' time harboring prejudice toward the "Samaritans". The Samaritans of Jesus' day were mainly a mixture of various cultures and even most of them who claimed the Lord as their only God were mixing some heathen rituals in with their worship of Him. But Jesus considered the souls of the people in Samaria equally valuable with the souls of people anywhere else and He visited them, lodged with them, and preached the gospel to them. In John 4 we find many Samaritans believing in Him and accepting Him as Lord.
But here in 2 Kings we don't find a revival breaking out in Samaria. Instead most of the people there mix a little bit of the Israelite religion in with their own. They pick and choose bits from the religions of the people inhabiting Samaria with them, creating a "customized worship plan" that suits their fallen human natures instead of giving their hearts to the One who can lift them up out of their fallen and lost condition. These people were taught at least this much by the priest: "When the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites, He commanded them: 'Do not worship any other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them. But the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt with mighty power and outstretched arm, is the One you must worship. You must always be careful to keep the decrees and regulations, the laws and commands He wrote for you. Do not worship other gods. Rather, worship the Lord your God; it is He who will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.'" (2 Kings 17:35-39)
Chapter 17 ends on this sad note: "They would not listen, however, and persisted in their former practices. Even while these people were worshiping the Lord, they were serving idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their ancestors did." (2 Kings 17:40-41)
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